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JP-2026074525-A - Image forming apparatus

JP2026074525AJP 2026074525 AJP2026074525 AJP 2026074525AJP-2026074525-A

Abstract

【assignment】 The present invention provides an image forming apparatus that can perform continuous fixing operations on different types of recording materials without causing fixing failures or interrupting the process midway. [Solution] An image forming apparatus comprising: a fixing device for fixing a toner image onto a recording material; and a control means for fixing a toner image continuously onto a plurality of recording materials, each containing a first basis weight recording material and a second basis weight recording material smaller than the first basis weight, using the fixing device, provided that the first basis weight recording material is not continuous with the second basis weight recording material, at a constant temperature common to both the first basis weight recording material and the second basis weight recording material. [Selection Diagram] Figure 8

Inventors

  • 吉原 千晶

Assignees

  • キヤノン株式会社

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20241021

Claims (7)

  1. A fixing device for fixing toner images onto recording material, When fixing toner images continuously to a plurality of recording materials, each containing a recording material of a first basis weight and a recording material of a second basis weight smaller than the first basis weight, using the fixing device, a control means is provided to fix the toner images at a constant temperature common to both the recording material of the first basis weight and the recording material of the second basis weight, provided that the recording material of the first basis weight is not continuous with the recording material of the second basis weight. An image forming apparatus characterized by having the following features.
  2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the recording material of the first basis weight is continuous with the recording material of the second basis weight, the control means fixes a toner image to the recording material of the first basis weight at a temperature controlled for fixing a toner image to the recording material of the first basis weight, and fixes a toner image to the recording material of the second basis weight at a temperature controlled for fixing a toner image to the recording material of the second basis weight that is different from the temperature controlled for fixing a toner image to the recording material of the first basis weight.
  3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a selection means for selecting whether or not to fix a toner image to the first basis weight recording material and the second basis weight recording material at a common constant temperature when the first basis weight recording material is not continuous with the second basis weight recording material.
  4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the first basis weight recording material is not continuous with the second basis weight recording material, the apparatus has a selection means that allows the user to select whether to fix a toner image to both the first basis weight recording material and the second basis weight recording material at a common, constant temperature, or to fix a toner image to the first basis weight recording material at a temperature suitable for fixing a toner image to the first basis weight recording material, and to fix a toner image to the second basis weight recording material at a temperature different from the temperature suitable for fixing a toner image to the first basis weight recording material.
  5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the common constant temperature control is set lower than the temperature control temperature for fixing the toner image to the first basis weight recording material.
  6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the common constant temperature control is set lower than the temperature control temperature for fixing the toner image to the first basis weight recording material.
  7. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the first basis weight recording material is a cover or interleaving paper, and the second basis weight recording material is inner paper.

Description

This invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, printer, facsimile machine, or a multifunction device equipped with multiple functions thereof, for fixing a toner image onto a recording material. Image forming apparatuses using electrophotography or electrostatic recording methods have a fixing device that fixes the unfixed toner image on the recording material to the recording material. A known fixing device comprises a heating rotating body equipped with a heating source for heating the unfixed toner image, and a pressure roller for pressurizing the heating rotating body. Furthermore, the fixing device has a contact/separation mechanism, allowing the pressure rotating body to move between a position of contact with the heating rotating body and a position of separation. When the pressure rotating body is in contact with the heating rotating body, a nip is formed between the heating rotating body and the pressure rotating body. When recording material carrying the unfixed toner image is transported to this nip, the heat and pressure necessary for fixing are applied, and the toner image is fixed to the recording material. When fixing a toner image to a recording material, the amount of heat removed increases with the basis weight of the recording material. Therefore, the fixing temperature of the fixing device needs to be higher as the basis weight of the recording material increases. To address this, temperature control is implemented to change the temperature of the heating element according to the type of recording material. This ensures that the amount of heat applied to the toner image on the recording material is appropriately controlled. However, this means that when fixing to different types of recording media consecutively, the continuous fixing operation must be interrupted each time the type of recording media changes until the temperature of the heating element is adjusted to the optimal temperature control temperature for that type of recording media. Thus, when fixing to different types of recording materials consecutively, changing the temperature control to the optimal temperature for each type of recording material can improve the image quality of the toner image formed on the recording material, but it also reduces productivity. Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a productivity-prioritizing mode for continuous fixing of different types of recording materials. This mode, in addition to a fixing mode that adjusts the temperature control temperature to the optimal temperature for each type of recording material, fixes the material using a common, constant temperature control temperature within the allowable temperature ranges of each type of recording material, without changing the temperature control temperature for each type of recording material, thus preventing interruption of the continuous fixing operation. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-321478 This is a configuration diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is a system configuration diagram of the image processing system shown in Figure 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is a configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus shown in Figure 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is an explanatory diagram of a display that sets a book-priority temperature control mode according to an embodiment of the present invention.This table shows the relationship between the type of media and the temperature control temperature for each temperature control mode according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the fixing sequence of a job including a cover/laminated sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention.This is a flowchart of the CPU 222 in Figure 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The following describes preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the components described in the following embodiments are merely illustrative, and the configuration, function, dimensions, materials, shape, relative arrangement, and other conditions of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied can be modified or changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the invention is not limited to the following embodiments. Figure 1 is a configuration diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1, the image processing system comprises an image forming apparatus 101 and an external controller 102. The image forming apparatus 101 is, for example, a multifunction printer, a multifunction peripheral (MFP), etc. The external controller 102 is, for example, an image processing controller, a digital