Heater with Oblique Wires for Heat Equalization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heaters face challenges in achieving effective heat equalization between heating cells, especially when narrowed in the sweep direction, leading to difficulties in suppressing heat drop and maintaining thermal uniformity.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a base with rectangularly shaped heating cells featuring lateral and oblique wires forming a serpentine pattern, with specific folded parts and insulation gaps tilted to enhance heat dispersion and reduce thermal spaces, allowing for improved heat equalization even in narrower configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the heater is narrowed in the sweep direction, then the heater size is reduced, but the heat equalization property deteriorates due to increased heat drop influence
Solution Approach 1:
The heater is divided into multiple heating cells arranged in the longitudinal direction, with each cell being a separate heating element. This segmentation allows for better thermal management and reduced heat drop effects in the narrowed sweep direction, as each cell can independently contribute to heat equalization across the heater surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating cells are configured with specific local characteristics, including serpentine-shaped heating elements within each cell and tilted arrangements relative to the sweep direction. This local quality optimization ensures that heat is distributed more uniformly across the narrowed heater width, compensating for the reduced overall size.
2Temperature
If heating cells are arranged in parallel to achieve heat equalization, then temperature uniformity is improved, but the heater width increases in the sweep direction
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of arranging heating cells in parallel along the sweep direction (horizontal arrangement), the invention arranges them in the longitudinal direction (vertical arrangement relative to sweep). This dimensional change allows multiple heating cells to contribute to heat equalization without increasing the heater width in the sweep direction, thus maintaining compactness while achieving temperature uniformity.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating cells are arranged asymmetrically with respect to the sweep direction, with each cell tilted at a specific angle rather than being aligned parallel to the sweep direction. This asymmetric arrangement optimizes heat distribution across the narrowed width while maintaining a compact heater profile.
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
This configuration effectively fills thermal spaces and achieves excellent heat equalization, ensuring uniform heating across the heater, even when narrowed, by projecting heat patterns and utilizing chamfered folded parts to reduce heat generation losses.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of heating cells (C) each generating heat by energization
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a heater that is excellent in heat equalizing property even when being narrow in a sweep direction. Also provided are a fixing device, an image-forming device, and a heating device each including such a heater. A heater is configured to heat an object to be heated in such a manner that at least one of the object to be heated and the heater is swept with the heater disposed opposite the object to be heated. The heater includes a base having a rectangular shape and a plurality of heating cells each independently receiving power supply, the heating cells being disposed on the base and arranged in a longitudinal direction of the base. Each of the heating cells includes a plurality of lateral wires extending in substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the base and a plurality of oblique wires tilted relative to the lateral wires.