US 12,321,113 B2
Fixing apparatus to fix a toner image to a printing material
Fuyuko Koyama, Kanagawa (JP); and Kenichi Ogawa, Kanagawa (JP)
Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Oct. 16, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/487,792.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-166627 (JP), filed on Oct. 18, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0126195 A1, Apr. 18, 2024
Int. Cl. G03G 15/20 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/2028 (2013.01) [G03G 15/2064 (2013.01); G03G 2215/2035 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fixing apparatus to fix a toner image to a printing material on which the toner image is formed while nipping and conveying the printing material at a fixing nip, the fixing apparatus comprising:
a film having a tubular shape around an inner space of the film;
a guide member that is configured to guide rotation of the film and is in the inner space of the film;
a nip-forming member that is plate-like and is in a recess of the guide member;
a roller in contact with an outer circumferential surface of the film,
wherein the roller sandwiches the film with the nip-forming member to form the fixing nip, the recess is larger in width than the nip-forming member in a conveying direction of the printing material, and, when disposed in the recess, the nip-forming member is movable in a direction parallel to the conveying direction;
a support member fixed to an end of the nip-forming member in a longitudinal direction; and
a moving mechanism configured to move the nip-forming member in the direction parallel to the conveying direction by moving the support member relative to the guide member in the direction parallel to the conveying direction.