US 12,147,180 B2
Heating device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus including conductor support
Yuusuke Furuichi, Kanagawa (JP); Yukimichi Someya, Saitama (JP); and Shigeo Nanno, Kanagawa (JP)
Assigned to Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Yuusuke Furuichi, Kanagawa (JP); Yukimichi Someya, Saitama (JP); and Shigeo Nanno, Kanagawa (JP)
Filed on Apr. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/304,850.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-078180 (JP), filed on May 11, 2022; and application No. 2022-086031 (JP), filed on May 26, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0367246 A1, Nov. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. G03G 15/20 (2006.01); G03G 15/00 (2006.01)
CPC G03G 15/2053 (2013.01) [G03G 15/80 (2013.01); G03G 15/2039 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A heating device comprising:
a pair of rotators in contact with each other to form a nip through which a sheet passes;
a heater configured to heat at least one of the pair of rotators;
a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heater;
a conductor having flexibility and being coupled to the temperature sensor; and
a conductor support supporting the conductor such that a first distance from the conductor to at least one position of the heater outside a predetermined region of the heater in a width direction of the sheet is larger than a second distance from the conductor to a position of the heater inside the predetermined region in the width direction, the first and second directions measured from the conductor to the heater in a direction perpendicular to the width direction of the sheet; and
a component supporting the conductor support and having a first side facing the heater and a second side opposite the first side,
wherein the at least one position of the heater is inside of a maximum sheet passing region in the width direction.