IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• Main Authors: IMADA TAKAHIRO, ISHIGAYA YASUNORI, WAIDA TAKUMI, TAKAGI HIROTADA, SASAKI YOSHIKUNI, HATTORI YOSHIO, SHOJI KEITARO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 02.08.2021
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS

To provide an image forming apparatus that appropriately contacts and separates a cleaning member in accordance with a user's use condition.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises at least a fixing member 11 and a pressure member 21 that forms a nip part with the fixing member 11, conveys a recording medium carrying an unfixed toner image to the nip part, and fixes the unfixed toner image to the recording medium, and the image forming apparatus comprises: a cleaning member 31 that is provided to be contactable to and separable from any one member of the pressure member 21 and the fixing member 11 and cleans a surface of any one member of the pressure member 21 and the fixing member 11; an operation unit that prompts a user to select any one mode from a plurality of operation modes; and a contact and separation operation mechanism that causes the cleaning member 31 to perform contact and separation operations based on the mode selected by the user. The plurality of modes have a contact mode for bringing the cleaning member 31 into contact with any one member of the pressure member 21 and the fixing member 11 and a separation mode for separating the cleaning member from any one member.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1 【課題】ユーザの利用条件に応じて、クリーニング部材を適切に当接・離間する画像形成装置を提供すること。【解決手段】定着部材１１と、定着部材１１との間にニップ部を形成する加圧部材２１とを少なくとも備え、ニップ部に未定着トナー像を担持した記録媒体を搬送し、未定着トナー像を記録媒体に定着させる画像形成装置において、加圧部材２１と定着部材１１とのいずれかの部材に接離可能に設けられ、加圧部材２１と定着部材１１とのいずれかの部材の表面を清掃するクリーニング部材３１と、複数の動作モードからいずれかのモードを選択することをユーザに促す操作部と、ユーザが選択したモードに基づいて、クリーニング部材３１を接離動作させる接離動作機構と、を備える。複数のモードは、加圧部材２１と定着部材１１とのいずれかの部材に対してクリーニング部材３１を、当接させる当接モードと、離間させる離間モードとを有する。【選択図】図１