Fuser assemblies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11047630-B2
Application number	US-201916713998-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2019
Priority date	May 14, 2018
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

Some examples include a fuser assembly to operate with a roller including a fuser housing, and an array of fusers disposed in the fuser housing, each fuser including a heating element exposed along a surface of the fuser housing and adjacent to an outer surface of the roller.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuser assembly to operate with a roller, comprising:
a fuser housing; and
an array of fusers, each fuser including a heating element exposed along a surface of the fuser housing and adjacent to an outer surface of the roller, wherein each respective fuser is to apply a force that is independent of a force applied by a remainder of the array of fusers.

2. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the array of fusers comprises:
a metal housing contained within the fuser housing, the metal housing open along an outward side;
a plastic mount contained within the metal housing; and
a ceramic substrate attached to the plastic mount and exposed along the outward side;
wherein the heating element includes a resistive trace disposed on an outer surface of the ceramic substrate.

3. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein array of fusers extend along the fuser housing in spaced apart parallel rows.

4. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , comprising:
a tubular belt disposed around the fuser housing, wherein the tubular belt is movable along a surface of the fuser housing and the array of fusers.

5. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the array of fusers is moveably disposed within the fuser housing to independently apply a normal force on the roller.

6. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein the array of fusers is fixedly disposed within the fuser housing.

7. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises plastic.

8. A media conditioner to operate with a printing apparatus, comprising:
a roller;
a fuser housing disposed parallel to the roller; and
an array of fusers disposed in the fuser housing, each of the array of fusers including a heating element exposed along a surface of the housing, each respective fuser is to apply a force that is independent of a force applied by a remainder of the array of fusers,
wherein each of the array of fusers defines a contact zone disposed adjacent the roller, and
wherein the contact zone provides at least one of drying of printing fluid and smoothing fibers of a media.

9. The media conditioner of claim 8 , wherein the fuser housing is curved to correspond to the radius of the roller and position each of the array of fusers against the outer surface of the roller.

10. The media conditioner of claim 8 , comprising:
an array of rollers, and wherein the fuser housing positions each of the array of fusers adjacent to a respective one of the array of rollers.

11. The media conditioner of claim 8 , wherein the fusers are movably mounted within the housing to apply a normal compressive force against the roller.

12. A method of conditioning media, comprising:
rotating a roller in a first direction;
rotationally moving a tubular belt in a second direction around an array of fusers disposed within a fuser housing;
passing media between the array of fusers and the roller;
applying heat from the array of fusers to the passing media;
applying a force to compress the media between the roller and the array of fusers, wherein each respective fuser is to apply a force that is independent of a force applied by a remainder of the array of fusers;
deforming the roller against the array of fusers;
forming a contact area along each of the fusers in the array of fusers against the roller; and
drying a printing fluid applied to the media and smoothing fibers of the media.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein each of the array of fusers includes resistor traces for applying heat.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying the force includes each of the array of fusers applying a normal force toward the roller, and wherein the fuser housing is stationary.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying the force includes the roller and at least one additional roller applying a normal force toward the array of fusers.

16. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein each fuser among the array of fusers includes:
a first heating element exposed at a first end of the respective opening and adjacent to the outer surface of the roller; and
a second heating element exposed at a second end of the respective opening opposite the first end and adjacent to the outer surface of the roller.

17. The fuser assembly of claim 1 , wherein the heating element includes a conductive wire disposed on a substrate and extending in a plurality of rows along a length of the respective fuser.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying heat from the array of fusers to the passing media includes separately controlling heating elements on the array of fusers.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein applying heat from the array of fusers to the passing media includes delivering a graduated heat level among the array of fusers.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Rasmussen Steve O

Classifications

• F28F5/02 Primary

  Rotary drums or rollers · CPC title

• B41J11/0005 Primary

  Curl smoothing, i.e. smoothing down corrugated printing material, e.g. by pressing means acting on wrinkled printing material · CPC title

• B41J11/0024

  using conduction means, e.g. by using a heated platen · CPC title

• B41J13/076

  Construction of rollers; Bearings therefor · CPC title

• G03G15/2064

  combined with pressure · CPC title