Solid state fuser heater and method of operation

• Main Authors: Gillis, Brian J, Rechlin, Donald N, Tress, Tab A, Thompson, Allen J, Fayette, Michael A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.09.2018
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS

A fusing apparatus includes a heater that heats a fuser belt at a nip between the fuser belt and a pressure roll through which a sheet is conveyed to permanently fuse an image onto the sheet. The heater has a silicon wafer with a smooth side that contacts and heats the fuser belt at the nip, and circuitry at a second side, with the circuitry generating heat through the silicon wafer to heat the fuser belt. The circuitry may include a plurality of heat producing integrated circuits etched in the silicon wafer, with each heat producing integrated circuit configured to heat the fuser belt. Each integrated circuit may self-control its amount of heat produced to the silicon wafer, for example, by automatically switching back and forth between a heat-on-state and a heat-off-state to maintain a desired temperature within the silicon wafer that heats the fuser belt.