Fixing device having guide for guiding movement of fusing belt

摘要

A fixing device includes: a tubular member; a heater; a nip member including a base portion, a connecting portion, and a flange portion; a backup member; and a guide member. The tubular member is circularly movable in a circularly-moving direction. The guide member has a part positioned upstream of the nip member in the circularly-moving direction and configured to guide the tubular member. The part has an end portion containing a most downstream end at which the tubular member is directed to a position between the nip member and the backup member. The nip member and the guide member define a first imaginary plane containing a line connecting a first curved portion provided by a boundary region between the connecting portion and the base portion, and the most downstream end. The first imaginary plane is positioned opposite to the heater relative to a first end of the flange portion.

主权项

1. A fixing device comprising:
a heater; an endless belt extending around the heater, the endless belt having an inner peripheral surface; a nip member having a base portion, the base portion having a contact surface contactable with the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt; a backup member, the backup member and the contact surface of the base portion of the nip member nipping the endless belt therebetween to form a nip region between the backup member and the endless belt, wherein a recording sheet is to be fed in a feeding direction at the nip region; and a guide member having a part disposed upstream relative to the nip member in the feeding direction, the part being configured to contact with the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt to guide the endless belt in a guiding direction, wherein the nip member has an upstream portion disposed upstream in the feeding direction relative to the nip region, wherein the upstream portion of the nip member has:
a flange surface extending upstream in the feeding direction, the flange surface being spaced apart from the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt; anda connecting surface connecting an upstream end of the contact surface in the feeding direction and a downstream end of the flange surface in the feeding direction, the connecting surface extending in a direction away from the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt, wherein the upstream portion of the nip member is configured to hold lubricant at the connecting surface and the flange surface, and wherein the part of the guide member protrudes toward the backup member further than the flange surface of the upstream surface.