IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• Main Authors: ENDO TAKESHI, HIRANO DAISUKE, SHIDA HARUO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 27.09.2021
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS

To provide an image forming apparatus that, even when the number of a plurality of heater elements connected in parallel is increased, can appropriately detect a failure in the heater elements based on the current value of a current flowing in the heater elements.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus comprises: a plurality of heater elements that generate heat to fix an image to a medium; a lighting control element that turns on or off a current flowing in the plurality of heater elements; and a failure detection unit that detects a failure in the heater elements based on the current value of the current flowing in the heater elements. In a current connection path for causing the current to flow in the plurality of heater elements, on a current supply source side with reference to the heater elements, the plurality of heater elements are divided into first heater elements connected in parallel to each other and second heater elements connected in parallel to each other, and a difference in number between the first heater elements and the second heater elements is 1 or less.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3 【課題】並列接続される複数の発熱素子の数が多くなった場合でも、発熱素子に流れる電流の電流値に基づいて、発熱素子の故障を的確に検知可能とする画像形成装置を提供する。【解決手段】本発明は、発熱して媒体に画像を定着させる複数の発熱素子と、前記複数の発熱素子に流れる電流をオンまたはオフする点灯制御素子と、前記発熱素子に流れる電流の電流値に基づいて、前記発熱素子の故障を検知する故障検知部と、を備え、前記複数の発熱素子へ電流を流す電流接続経路において、前記発熱素子を基準として電流の供給元側で、前記複数の発熱素子が、互いに並列接続される第１発熱素子と、互いに並列接続される第２発熱素子に分割され、かつ、前記第１発熱素子の数と前記第２発熱素子の数の差が１以下である。【選択図】図３