Bent Substrate Heater for Image Forming Apparatus Warpage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heaters in image forming apparatuses face challenges with warpage and temperature responsiveness, leading to inefficiencies in fixing processes, particularly in high-speed machines with high toner printing rates, where the temperature of the film significantly drops when the recording material passes through the nip portion, causing issues with fixability and loadability.
Innovation Solution
A heater design featuring a thin, long metal substrate with an insulating layer and a heat generating element, where specific regions of the substrate are bent to improve bending strength and thermal responsiveness, allowing for effective heat distribution and temperature detection, thereby curbing warpage and enhancing the fixing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a thin, long metal substrate is used in the heater, then thermal responsiveness and heat distribution are improved, but warpage occurs due to thermal stress
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is designed with bent portions at both ends in the thickness direction, creating a curved configuration rather than a flat one. This curvature compensates for thermal expansion and contraction during heating operations, preventing warpage while maintaining thermal responsiveness. The bent portions allow the substrate to flex without distorting the heat generating element or insulating layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate's physical configuration is changed by introducing bent portions with specific curvature radii. This parameter change in the substrate's geometry allows it to accommodate thermal stress better, maintaining dimensional stability while preserving the thin, long structure needed for thermal responsiveness and heat distribution.
2Temperature
If the substrate is made thin and long to improve heat distribution, then temperature uniformity increases, but bending strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The bent portions at the ends of the substrate provide structural reinforcement without adding significant mass. The curvature creates a more rigid configuration that resists bending forces better than a flat substrate of the same thickness, while the substrate remains thin and long enough to maintain excellent heat distribution and temperature uniformity across its surface.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If a metal substrate is used to improve strength against thermal stress, then durability increases, but warpage resistance is insufficient in high-speed printing
Solution Approach 1:
The bent portions at both ends of the substrate create a configuration that actively resists warpage during high-speed printing operations. The curvature allows the substrate to flex and absorb thermal stress without deforming, maintaining dimensional stability and preventing warpage while preserving the durability provided by the metal substrate material.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The proposed heater design effectively reduces warpage, maintains optimal adjusted temperatures, and increases the number of loadable recording materials, improving fixability and loadability while maintaining sensitivity to temperature changes, thus addressing the inefficiencies in conventional systems.
Implementation Method 1
a heat generating element that is provided on the insulating layer
Implementation Method 2
an insulating layer that is provided on the substrate
Data Source
AI summary
A heater includes: a substrate; an insulating layer that is provided on the substrate; and a heat generating element that is provided on the insulating layer, and in a case where a region including a center of the substrate is defined as a first region, a region on a side closer to one end portion than the first region is defined as a second region, and a region on a side closer to the other end portion than the first region is defined as a third region in a transverse direction that is orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of a surface of the substrate on which the insulating layer is provided, the first region is a plane, and the second region and the third region are bent from the first region in a thickness direction of the substrate that is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction.