1. A fixing roller of a fixation assembly for fixing a developed image transferred onto a recording sheet by application of heat and pressure on the recording sheet,
the fixing roller delivering the recording sheet by holding the recording sheet with a pressing roller and having an empty room and a heater in the empty room,
characterized in that the fixing roller comprises a reinforcing member for pushing by contact outward an inside wall face surrounding the empty room, and a portion of contact between the reinforcing member and the inside wall face is kept conductive and a non-contact area of the reinforcing member and the inside wall face is colored black.
2. The fixing roller according to claim 1, wherein film a substance for black-coloring is heat-resistant.
3. The fixing roller according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the non-contact area of the reinforcing member and the inside wall is colored black by applying a black paint and baking the black paint.
4. A process for producing a fixing roller of a fixation assembly for fixing a developed image transferred onto a recording sheet by application of heat and pressure onto the recording sheet, the fixing roller delivering the recording sheet by holding the recording with a pressing roller, and having an empty room and a heater in the empty room,
characterized in that the process comprises the steps of:
inserting a reinforcing member into the empty room so as to be in contact with an inside wall face surrounding the empty room and to push the inside wall outward, and
coloring black a non-contact area of the reinforcing member and the inside wall face with a portion of contact between the reinforcing member and the inside wall face being kept conductive.
5. The process for producing the fixing roller according to claim 4, wherein the reinforcing member is inserted into the empty room, and then a black paint is applied and baked on the non-contact area to color the non-contact area black.
6. A fixation assembly, which is provided with any of the fixation rollers set forth in any of claims 1 to 3, and transfers a developed image onto a recording medium by pressing a pressing roller against the said fixing roller.
7. A fixing roller, comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room;
a coiled wire extending in the empty room of the cylindrical roller in the length direction of the cylindrical roller, being in contact with an internal peripheral face of the cylindrical roller, and fastened at a first end thereof to a first lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller; and
a gear fastened to a second lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller and fixed to a second end of the wire; and the cylindrical roller is rotated by driving the gear in a direction of enlarging the coil diameter of the coiled wire.
8. The fixing roller according to claim 7, wherein the first end of the coiled wire is inserted into a hole formed at the first lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller to be fastened detachably.
9. The fixing roller according to claim 7 or 8, wherein a driving force of the gear is transmitted directly to the second lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller,
the directly transmitted driving force is weaker than the driving force transmitted from the gear directly to the second end of the coiled wire.
10. The fixing roller according to claim 9, wherein a recess is formed at the second lengthwise end thereof, and the gear has a projection to be fit into the recess.
11. The fixing roller according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the coiled wire pulls the gear toward the first lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller.
12. A fixing roller, comprising a cylindrical roller having an empty room;
a coiled wire extending in the empty room in the length direction of the cylindrical roller, being in contact with an internal peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to push the inside wall face outward; and
a gear fixed to the end of the wire at second lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller so as to be pulled toward the first lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller.
13. The fixing roller according to claim 12, wherein
the cylindrical roller has a recess at the second lengthwise end thereof,
the gear has a projection to be engaged to the recess, and a hole for inserting the end of the wire, and
the wire pulls the gear toward the first end of the cylindrical roller by fastening by inserting the end thereof into the hole of the gear.
14. A fixing roller comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room, and
a coiled wire extending in the empty room in the length direction of the cylindrical roller and being in contact with an internal peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to push the inside wall face outward; and
the direction of coiling of the wire is reversed at a prescribed position in the lengthwise length direction of the cylindrical roller.
15. The fixing roller according to claim 14, wherein the direction of coiling of the wire is reversed at a lengthwise middle position of the cylindrical roller.
16. The fixing roller according to claim 14 or 15, wherein an upstream portions of the coiled wire in the rotation direction of the cylindrical roller is nearer to the lengthwise middle position of the cylindrical roller than the downstream portions of the coiled wire in the rotation direction adjacent to the upstream portion.
17. The fixing roller according to claim 14, 15, or 16, wherein the coiled wire in contact with the inside peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to press the inside peripheral face outward is constituted of plural fractions of the coiled wire shorter than the cylindrical roller and are linked together.
18. The fixing roller according to any of claims 14 to 17, wherein the wire is constituted of an elastic material.
19. A fixing roller comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room;
a coiled wire constituted of combination of two wire fractions each shorter than the cylindrical roller, extending in the empty room in the length direction of the cylindrical roller and being in contact with an inside peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to push the inside wall face outward; and
the directions of coiling of the two coiled wire fractions are reversed.
20. The fixing roller according to claim 19, wherein upstream portions of the coiled wire fractions in the rotation direction of the cylindrical roller are nearer to a lengthwise middle position of the cylindrical roller than downstream portions of the coiled wire fractions in the rotation direction adjacent to the upstream portion.
21. A fixing roller comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room, and
a rib formed in a coil and extending in the empty room in the length direction of the cylindrical roller; and
the coiling direction of the rib is reversed at a prescribed position in the lengthwise length direction of the cylindrical roller.
22. The fixing roller according to claim 21, wherein the coiling direction of the rib is reversed at a lengthwise middle position of the cylindrical roller.
23. The fixing roller according to claim 21 or 22, wherein an upstream portions of the coiled rib in the rotation direction of the cylindrical roller are nearer to a lengthwise middle position of the cylindrical roller than the downstream portions of the rib in the rotation direction adjacent to the upstream portions.
24. A fixing roller comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room,
a coiled wire extending in the empty room from a first lengthwise end to a second lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller and being in contact with an internal peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to push the inside wall face outward, and
bearings for supporting the cylindrical roller at both lengthwise ends rotatably by contact with the outside periphery of the cylindrical roller; and
the coiled wire presses outward the portions of the outside of the peripheral face opposing to the bearings at a stronger pressure than the other portion.
25. A fixing roller comprising
a cylindrical roller having an empty room,
a coiled wire extending in the empty room from a first lengthwise end to a second lengthwise end of the cylindrical roller and being in contact with an internal peripheral face of the cylindrical roller to push the inside wall face outward, and
bearings for supporting the cylindrical roller at the both lengthwise ends rotatably by contact with the outside periphery of the cylindrical roller; and
the wire having a coil pitch shorter at the portions opposing to the bearings than that in other portion.
26. The fixing roller according to claim 25, wherein the portion of the outside peripheral face where the coil pitch of the wire is not shorter corresponds to the portion of nipping the recording medium.
27. A fixation assembly for fixing thermally a developing agent, comprising
a fixing roller, set forth in claims 1, 4, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 24 or 25.
28. The fixation assembly according to claim 27, wherein the first temperature sensor is placed at or near a middle of the recording medium path region for use for temperature control of the fixing roller.
29. The fixation assembly according to claim 27 or 28, wherein the first temperature sensor is placed at the paper discharge side at the peripheral direction at a roller central angle of not more than 45 degrees relative to perpendicular line to the fixation nip.
30. The fixation assembly according to claim 27, 28, or 29, wherein the assembly comprising a second sensor placed at an upstream side in the recording medium delivery direction of the nip between the fixing roller and the pressing roller, the second temperature sensor detects abnormal high temperature rise of the fixing roller.
31. (canceled)
32. An image-forming apparatus comprising a fixing assembly set forth in any of claims 27 to 30.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A solar dehumidifying and cooling system comprising:
a solar hot water device that produces hot water by using solar heat;
a hot water supply device that supplies the hot water; and
a dehumidifying and cooling device that performs cooling through heat exchange with the hot water that is supplied from the solar hot water device.
2. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 1, wherein the humidifying and cooling device comprises:
a casing that comprises a partition wall formed therein;
a first channel and a second channel that are disposed in the casing, are divided by the partition wall, and allow air to flow therein;
a dehumidifying rotor that is provided on the partition wall and is disposed to extend over the first channel and the second channel;
a regenerator that is disposed to transfer heat to the air in the second channel; and
a cooler that cools the air in the first channel,
wherein the regenerator transfers the heat of the hot water that is supplied from the solar hot water device to the air in the second channel.
3. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 1, wherein the hot water supply device further comprises:
an auxiliary heat source that supplies heat to the hot water that is produced by the solar hot water device; and
a controller that adjusts the amount of heat that is supplied from the auxiliary heat source by controlling an operation of the auxiliary heat source.
4. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 3, wherein the controller controls the operation of the auxiliary heat source to cause a temperature of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device to be equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature.
5. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 3, further comprising a sensor that measures a temperature or a humidity of external air,
wherein the controller controls the operation of the auxiliary heat source to change a temperature of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device according to the temperature or the humidify, or information about the temperature and the humidity output from the sensor.
6. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 5, wherein the sensor comprises a flow meter,
wherein the controller comprises a flow rate adjusting device that controls a flow rate of the hot water that is supplied to the regenerator from the solar hot water device,
wherein the flow meter transmits information about the flow rate of the hot water to the flow rate adjusting device.
7. The solar dehumidifying and cooling system of claim 2, wherein the regenerator comprises a heating medium circulation circuit comprising a heating medium that receives heat through the heat exchange with the hot water that is supplied from the solar hot water device and transfers the heat through heat exchange with the air in the second channel.
8. A method of controlling a temperature of hot water that is supplied to a dehumidifying and cooling device, the method comprising:
comparing the temperature of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device with a preset temperature; and
when the temperature of the hot water is lower than the preset temperature, controlling an operation of an auxiliary heat source to supply heat to the hot water.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the preset temperature according to a temperature or a humidity of external air.
10. A method of controlling a temperature of hot water that is supplied to a dehumidifying and cooling device, the method comprising:
comparing the temperature of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device or is retrieved from the dehumidifying and cooling device with a preset temperature; and
when the temperature of the hot water is higher than the preset temperature, controlling a flow rate of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the preset temperature according to a temperature or a humidity of external air.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein when the temperature of the hot water is higher than the preset temperature, the flow rate of the hot water that is supplied to the dehumidifying and cooling device is reduced.