CENTER REGISTERED PROCESS DIRECTION HEATING ELEMENT WITH TEMPERATURE LEVELING AND/OR RESISTANCE INCREASE

摘要

Accordingly, an improved fuser is disclosed that includes a heater which provides uniformity at the surface of the fuser that contacts an imaged sheet by configuring a new heating element consisting of a resistive trace flanked by conductive paths on either side in the process direction. On one end of the resistive trace is a single continuous conductive trace referred to as the common. On the other end resistive trace are three or more separate conductive traces to allow heating for different paper widths. The resistive trace is augmented with dielectric circles to increase the overall resistivity of the heating element. Rows of dielectric can be offset from one another to insure overall thermal uniformity.

主权项

1. A xerographic device adapted to print an image onto a copy sheet, comprising:
an imaging apparatus for processing and recording an image onto said copy sheet traveling in a process direction; an image development apparatus for developing the image; a transfer device for transferring the image onto said copy sheet; a fuser for fusing the image onto said copy sheet, said fuser including a fuser roll and a pressure roll that forms a nip therebetween through which said copy sheet is conveyed in order to permanently fuse the image onto said copy sheet; and a heater in said fuser roll comprising a dielectric resistive trace (DRT) flanked by conductive paths on either side in the process direction, wherein the conductive paths are printed on a substrate using conductive ink; wherein the DRT comprises resistive ink elements and a plurality of geometric shapes of dielectric material arranged on at least one of the resistive ink elements; wherein the DRT comprises at least one or more segments, each of the segments coupled at one end by a single continuous conductive trace and on the other end by one of a multiple conductive traces that are connected at multiple contact points to said trace so as to provide heating for different paper widths; wherein the plurality of geometric shapes of dielectric material form a grid; wherein the heater comprise two or more resistive paths; wherein the plurality of geometric shapes of dielectric material is added to a resistive ink element to increase the overall resistivity.