US 12,222,666 B2
Fixing device including pressure roller whose elastic layer has little impact on nip width due to thermal expansion
Takuya Nishimura, Nukata (JP); Makoto Souda, Nagoya (JP); Kazuna Taguchi, Nagoya (JP); Yasutada Kato, Nagoya (JP); and Shinichi Hatakeyama, Nagoya (JP)
Assigned to BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Nagoya (JP)
Filed by Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya (JP)
Filed on Jun. 23, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/340,088.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-105653 (JP), filed on Jun. 30, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0004333 A1, Jan. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. G03G 15/20 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/2057 (2013.01) [G03G 15/2064 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fixing device incorporated in a main body of an image forming apparatus, the fixing device comprising:
a heater;
a rotatable body configured to be heated by the heater; and
a pressure roller configured to form a nip region in cooperation with the rotatable body to nip a sheet at the nip region between the pressure roller and the rotatable body, the pressure roller comprising:
a shaft; and
an elastic layer covering a peripheral surface of the shaft, the elastic layer having a thickness of at least 1 millimeter to at most 3 millimeters,
wherein the pressure roller has a peripheral surface whose hardness is in a range of at least 62 to at most 67 on the Asker C scale.