JP2011022571A - Bubble generating device, fixing apparatus, image forming apparatus, fixing method and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bubble generating device which generates a bubbly liquid with a desired small bubble diameter, and can be made smaller than before, and to provide a fixing apparatus having the bubble generating device, and to provide an image forming apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A fixing liquid bubbling device 500 as the bubble generating device is provided with a slit carrier pipe 510 forming a slit-shaped carrier path 511. One end of the slit carrier pipe 510 forms a bubbly fixing liquid outlet 501, and the other end forms a fixing liquid feed port 521 and an air feed port 531 composed of a plurality of opening parts, in which opening pitch width P1 as pitch width is 180 [μm], along the cross-sectional longitudinal direction (the direction of a slit width W) in the slit-shaped carrier path 511. The fixing liquid bubbling device 500 is provided with a plurality of bubble separating members 550 separating one bubble in the bubbly fixing liquid F in contact with the inside of the slit-shaped carrier path 511 into two or more bubbles. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a bubble generating apparatus applicable to a fixing device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer. Specifically, it is applied as a fixing liquid foaming means for a fixing device in which a fixing liquid that dissolves or swells resin fine particles such as toner and fixes on a recording medium is made into a foamy fixing liquid by a fixing liquid foaming means and applied to the resin fine particles. The present invention relates to a possible bubble generating device, and a fixing device and an image forming apparatus including the same.
The present invention also relates to a fixing method for generating and fixing a foamy fixing solution, and an image forming method for fixing an image onto a recording medium by the fixing method.

  Image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimile machines, and copying machines are apparatuses that form images including characters and symbols on recording media such as paper, cloth, and OHP sheets based on image information. In particular, electrophotographic image forming apparatuses are widely used in offices because they can form high-definition images on plain paper at high speed. In such an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a heat fixing method is widely used in which toner on a recording medium is heated and melted, and the molten toner is pressurized to fix the toner on the recording medium. Yes. This thermal fixing method is preferably used because it can provide a high fixing speed and high fixed image quality.

However, more than half of the power consumption in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus adopting such a heat fixing method is consumed for heat treatment in the heat fixing type fixing device. On the other hand, an image forming apparatus with low power consumption (energy saving) is desired from the viewpoint of countermeasures for environmental problems in recent years. Therefore, there is a demand for energy saving in the fixing device that consumes more than half of the power consumption in the conventional image forming apparatus. The conventional heat fixing type fixing device consumes a large amount of electric power for the heat treatment, and therefore, the fixing method that heats the toner extremely to fix the toner or the toner is heated much lower than before. A fixing method that does not require this is desired. In particular, a non-heat fixing method in which toner is fixed to a recording medium without heating the toner is ideal in terms of low power consumption.
In such a non-heat fixing method, a toner image is formed by applying a fixing liquid containing a softening agent that softens the toner by dissolving or swelling at least a part of the resin component of the toner to the toner image on the surface of the recording medium. There is known a wet fixing method for fixing a toner (for example, a fixing method used in a fixing device described in Patent Documents 1 to 6). In the wet fixing system, a fixing solution is applied to, sprayed, or dropped on an unfixed toner image to soften the toner that forms the toner image, and then the softened toner is dried on a recording medium to thereby form a toner image. Is fixed on the recording medium. As described above, the wet fixing type fixing device does not need to perform heat treatment to soften the toner, so that energy saving can be realized as compared with the thermal fixing type.

  The fixing device described in any of Patent Documents 1 to 4 uses a coating roller that is a contact-type fixing liquid application unit, and the fixing liquid is applied to a fixing medium such as a recording medium or an intermediate transfer body while the fixing liquid remains liquid. By applying the toner, the fixing liquid is applied to the unfixed toner image on the fixing liquid application target. In the configuration in which fixing is performed by applying such a liquid fixing solution to a toner image, it is extremely difficult to achieve both the application of a small amount of the fixing solution to the toner image on the fixing liquid application target and the prevention of toner offset to the application roller. There was a problem. Hereinafter, this problem will be described.

  In a configuration in which a fixing liquid is applied to an unfixed toner image on a fixing liquid application target using a coating roller, the thickness of the fixing liquid layer on the coating roller is undetermined in order to apply a small amount of the fixing liquid to the fixing liquid application target. When it is made thinner than the layer of the toner image, the following problem may occur. After the surface of the coating roller comes into contact with the fixing liquid application target, the surface of the coating roller peels off from the fixing liquid application target, and is generated by a liquid film of the fixing liquid that is not applied to the fixing liquid application target and remains on the coating roller surface. The toner particles in the toner layer on the fixing liquid application target are pulled by the surface tension. As a result, offset toner particles adhere to the surface of the coating roller, and the toner image on the fixing liquid application target after peeling off from the coating roller is greatly disturbed.

Conversely, if the thickness of the fixing liquid layer on the coating roller is made sufficiently thicker than that of the unfixed toner layer, the amount of liquid is large at the position where the coating roller is peeled off from the fixing liquid application target. The surface tension is less likely to act on the toner particles of the toner layer on the fixing liquid application target. This makes it difficult for toner to adhere to the application roller side, but a large amount of the fixing liquid is applied to the surface of the fixing liquid application target. For this reason, the toner particles flow due to the diffusion of the fixing liquid due to the excessive fixing liquid on the target to which the fixing liquid is applied, and the image quality deteriorates, or the drying time of the fixing liquid becomes long, causing a problem in fixing responsiveness. In addition, a remarkable residual liquid feeling (a wet feeling when touching paper) is generated on the recording medium. In addition, when the fixing solution contains water, when the amount of fixing solution applied to a recording medium containing cellulose such as paper is large, the recording medium such as paper curls remarkably, and an apparatus such as an image forming apparatus There is a risk that a paper jam will occur when the recording medium is transported inside.
As described above, in the configuration in which the fixing liquid is applied using the application roller, if the amount of the fixing liquid applied is too large, the image quality deteriorates due to the flow of toner particles, and the fixing responsiveness due to the longer drying time of the fixing liquid. And a problem that paper jam easily occurs depending on the recording medium. On the other hand, if a configuration in which a small amount of fixing solution is applied to prevent these problems, the toner particles are offset on the surface of the application roller as described above.
Therefore, in the configuration in which the fixing solution is applied by the application roller, a small amount of the fixing solution is applied to the toner layer on the object to which the fixing solution is applied and the toner to the application roller is used to improve the fixing response, reduce the residual liquid feeling, and prevent curling. It is extremely difficult to achieve both offset prevention.

  As a fixing method that can achieve both a small amount of application of a fixing solution and prevention of toner offset, Patent Documents 5 and 6 disclose that the fixing solution is a foam-like fixing solution in which bubbles are dispersed in the solution. A configuration is described in which a fixer is applied to a toner image on a recording medium to which a fixer is applied. Thus, the density of the fixing solution can be lowered by making the fixing solution foam. For this reason, it is possible to increase the film thickness of the fixing solution on the surface of the coating roller with a smaller amount of fixing solution than before, and to reduce the influence of the surface tension of the liquid on the toner particles on the fixing solution application target. Further, since the amount of the fixing solution is small, it is possible to suppress the residual liquid feeling on the recording medium. Further, since the foam-like fixing solution is less likely to flow than a normal liquid fixing solution, it is possible to prevent image deterioration caused by the toner particles on the fixing solution application target being caused to flow by the fixing solution. Therefore, fixing is performed using a foam-like fixing solution as in the fixing devices described in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6, so that the toner image can be fixed without disturbing with a smaller amount of fixing solution applied than in the past. it can.

  In order to obtain good fixability with a configuration in which a foam-like fixing solution is applied to a toner image as in the fixing devices described in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6, the bubble diameter of the foam-like fixing solution is small to some extent. It is required to be. Good fixability can be obtained by applying a foamy fixing solution containing minute bubbles to the toner image on the object to which the fixing solution is to be applied. However, when producing a foam liquid containing fine bubbles from a normal liquid liquid, it is difficult to reduce the diameter of the bubbles, and a process of foaming a normal liquid fixer by foaming (hereinafter referred to as initial foaming). It takes a long time to generate minute bubbles from the beginning. Therefore, as in the fixing device described in Patent Document 5, in the configuration in which the foamy fixing solution generated by the initial foaming is supplied to the application roller as it is and used for fixing, bubbles containing fine bubbles suitable for fixing are used. There is a problem that it takes a long time to produce the fixing solution.

  With respect to such a problem, the fixing liquid foaming device provided in the fixing device described in Patent Document 6 includes a large diameter foam generating unit that generates a foam fixing liquid having a large foam diameter by initial foaming, and a large diameter foam generation. And a small-diameter bubble generating unit that generates a foam-like fixing solution having a fine bubble diameter by separating the foam-like fixing solution generated in the part. More specifically, the liquid foaming liquid is foamed by initial foaming by passing a normal liquid fixing liquid (hereinafter referred to as a liquid fixing liquid) and air through a microporous sheet in a large-diameter foam generating unit. A foam-like fixing solution having a larger bubble diameter than the bubble diameter is produced. Thereafter, the foam-like fixing solution obtained by the initial foaming is conveyed to the small-diameter foam generating unit, and in the small-diameter foam generating unit, a shearing force is applied to the foam-type fixing solution having a large foam diameter in an apparatus having a rotating body inside. To reduce the diameter of the foam. That is, in the fixing liquid foaming device disclosed in Patent Document 6, an initial foaming device (large-diameter foam generating unit) and a small-diameter device (small-diameter foam generating unit) are provided separately. In this way, after generating a foam fixing solution containing large bubbles, a shear force is applied to the foam fixing solution to separate large bubbles to obtain a foam fixing solution with a small bubble diameter. Compared with the method of generating foamy liquid containing fine bubbles, the foamed fixing liquid containing fine bubbles of a desired size can be generated quickly compared with the method of generating foam from the liquid liquid.

However, the fixing liquid foaming device included in the fixing device of Patent Document 6 has a problem that the device becomes large. This is due to the following reason.
The fixer foaming device of Patent Document 6 is provided with a device for initial foaming and a device for reducing the diameter separately, and a foamy fixer having a large foam diameter from the device for initial foaming to the device for reducing the diameter. Is transported through piping (tube). At this time, the foam-like liquid has a larger fluid resistance than a normal liquid, and a large pressure is required if the foam-like fixer is pumped by applying pressure with a pump. The longer the piping that forms the transport path for transporting the foam-like fixer, the greater the pressure required to pump the foam-like fixer. For this reason, a pump with a large output is required to convey the fixing solution in the fixing solution foaming device, and the larger the output, the larger the size of the pump tends to increase. The device becomes large.
Further, in the fixing liquid foaming device provided in the fixing device of Patent Document 6, since the shearing force is applied to the foam fixing solution having a large bubble diameter by the rotating body to reduce the diameter, the mechanism and the rotating body including the rotating body are provided with the rotating body. A drive source for transmitting the drive is required, which leads to a large apparatus.
When the fixing liquid foaming device becomes large, it leads to an increase in the size of the fixing device and the image forming apparatus provided with the fixing liquid foaming device. Therefore, the foaming fixing device is desired to be able to generate a desired small-diameter bubble and to be small. It is.
Note that the configuration of the apparatus that performs the initial foaming is not limited to the apparatus that allows the fixing liquid and air to pass through the microporous sheet as described above. For example, initial foaming can be performed even in a configuration in which air is sent into the fixing solution from an air discharge port inserted into the stored fixing solution and foamed by bubbling. Further, even when the liquid fixing solution and air are passed through a conveyance path having rotating stirring blades instead of the microporous sheet, the initial foaming can be performed by entraining air in the liquid fixing solution by stirring. it can. These configurations have a foam diameter equal to or greater than that of the foam-like fixer obtained by initial foaming using a microporous sheet, and a device that performs initial foaming similar to the above-described fixer foaming device, In addition, a device for reducing the diameter is necessary, which causes a problem that the device becomes large.

  In the above-described problem, the problem of the fixing liquid foaming apparatus that uses a normal liquid fixing liquid as a foam-like fixing liquid has been described. However, the problem is limited to a case where the liquid to be foamed from a normal liquid is a fixing liquid. However, the same problem may arise if it is a foam generating device that generates a small-diameter foam liquid.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object is to generate a foam liquid having a desired small bubble diameter, and a foam generating apparatus that can be made smaller than before, and An object of the present invention is to provide a fixing device and an image forming apparatus having the bubble generating device.
A second object is a fixing method for fixing resin fine particles softened by applying a foamy fixing solution to a recording medium, which can simplify the step of making the fixing solution foamy. And an image forming method for fixing an image by this fixing method.

The invention of claim 1 includes a foam generating unit that mixes a liquid and a gas to generate a foam liquid, a liquid conveyance path that supplies the liquid supplied from the liquid supply means to the foam generating unit, and a gas supply In the foam generating apparatus having a gas transport path for supplying the gas supplied from the means to the foam generating unit, the foam generating unit has a cross section perpendicular to the passing direction of the space through which the foam liquid passes. A slit-shaped conveyance path having a long slit shape, one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path in the passing direction is a slit-shaped opening, and the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path in the passing direction is the liquid. A liquid supply port that connects the transport path and the slit-shaped transport path; and a gas supply port that connects the gas transport path and the slit-shaped transport path. , Along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the slit-shaped conveyance path The bubble generating section includes a plurality of openings having a pitch width of less than 2 [mm], and the bubble generating section is configured so that the liquid and the gas are simultaneously supplied from the liquid supply means and the gas supply means. The liquid is mixed with the gas to generate the foamy liquid, and the foamed liquid generated from the slit-shaped opening at the one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path is discharged. The foam-like liquid is disposed between the position where the foam-like liquid is generated in the slit-shaped conveyance path and the opening at the one end, and the foam-like liquid toward the opening is in contact with the foam. It has a separating member that separates one bubble of the foamed liquid in contact into two or more bubbles by a force acting toward the opening on the liquid bubbles. It is what.
Further, the invention according to claim 2 is the foam generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the foaming member connects two inner wall surfaces facing each other in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped transport path. And a plurality of rod-like members arranged at a pitch width equal to or less than the pitch width of the gas supply port along the longitudinal direction.
The invention according to claim 3 is the foam generating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the liquid supply port and the gas supply are provided along the longitudinal direction on the end face on the other end side of the slit-shaped conveyance path. It is characterized in that the mouths are arranged alternately.
Further, the invention according to claim 4 is the foam generating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one of the two inner wall surfaces facing each other in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction at the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path. The liquid supply port is provided on the other side, and the gas supply port is provided on the other side.
Further, the invention according to claim 5 is the foam generating device according to claim 1, 2, or 4, wherein the liquid supply port is opposed to the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. And the gas supply port.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fixing liquid foam comprising a liquid fixing liquid containing a softening agent that softens resin fine particles by dissolving or swelling at least a part of a resin, in which bubbles are dispersed in the liquid. A fixing liquid supply means for supplying the liquid fixing liquid to the fixing liquid foaming means, a gas supply means for supplying the gas to the fixing liquid foaming means, and a fixing liquid carrying the resin fine particles. In the fixing device, the fixing liquid foaming means for fixing the resin fine particles softened by applying the foamy fixing solution to a recording medium, the fixing liquid applying means for applying the foamy fixing solution to the surface of the application target The foam generating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is used as the shaping means.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fixing device of the sixth aspect, the same number of the fixing liquid supply means and the liquid as the liquid supply ports for supplying the liquid fixing liquid to each of the plurality of liquid supply ports. It is characterized by comprising a transport path, and the same number of gas supply means and gas transport paths as the gas supply ports for supplying the gas to each of the plurality of gas supply ports.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the fixing device according to the sixth aspect, wherein at least one fixing solution supply means is provided so that one fixing solution supply means supplies the liquid fixing solution to a plurality of liquid supply ports. Means and at least one gas supply means so that one gas supply means supplies the gas to a plurality of the gas supply ports.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the fixing device according to any one of the sixth to eighth aspects, the liquid fixer is composed of a plurality of fixer constituent liquids, and the fixer supply means includes the liquid fixer. A plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquid storage portions that independently store the plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquids constituting the fixing liquid, and the plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquids are supplied from the plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquid storage portions, respectively. And a fixing liquid generating means for mixing the plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquids to generate the liquid fixing liquid.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the fixing device according to any one of the sixth to ninth aspects, the fixing liquid application unit generates the bubbles at a position facing the surface of the fixing liquid supply target that moves on the surface. Arranged so that the opening at the one end of the slit-like conveyance path of the apparatus is located, the width direction which is a direction perpendicular to the surface movement direction on the surface of the fixing liquid supply target and the long direction are the same direction It is characterized by being.
The fixing device according to claim 11 is the fixing device according to claim 10, wherein the fixing liquid supply target is carried by carrying the foam-like fixing liquid on the surface and moved to the surface, and the surface at a position facing the fixing liquid application target. A fixing solution applying member for applying the above foamy fixing solution to the fixing solution application target is provided.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner image forming means for forming a toner image on a recording medium using a toner containing resin fine particles containing a resin and a colorant, and a toner carrying a toner image transferred to the recording medium. An image forming apparatus comprising: a fixing unit that applies a fixing liquid to the surface of an image carrier or a surface of a recording medium that carries a toner image as a surface to which the fixing liquid is applied, and fixes the toner image on the recording medium. A fixing device according to any one of claims 6 to 11 is used as the fixing means.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid fixer containing a softening agent that softens resin fine particles by dissolving or swelling at least a part of the resin. A dispersed foamy fixing solution is applied to the surface of the fixing solution application target carrying the resin fine particles, and the resin fine particles softened by applying the foamy fixing solution to the recording medium. In the fixing method for fixing, in the fixing solution foaming step, a cross section perpendicular to the passage direction of the space through which the foam-like fixing solution passes is a slit shape having a long one direction, and one end in the passage direction is a slit-shaped opening. The liquid fixing solution, which has a plurality of openings with a pitch width of less than 2 [mm] along the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped cross section of the space at the other end in the passing direction, A fixing liquid supply port for supplying the gas and the gas; The foam-like fixing solution is generated from the liquid fixing solution by supplying the liquid fixing solution and the gas to a slit-shaped conveyance path of a foam generating unit provided with a gas supply port provided therebetween. By passing the foam-like fixing solution through a slit-shaped conveyance path in which a foam-blowing member is disposed, bubbles forming the foam-like fixing solution are separated, and the foam-like fixing solution having a small bubble diameter is removed from the slit-like opening. The fixing solution is foamed by being discharged from the portion.
Further, the invention of claim 14 is the fixing method according to claim 13, wherein, in the fixing solution foaming step, the same number of fixing solution supply means as the number of the fixing solution supply ports for each of the plurality of fixing solution supply ports, and The liquid fixing solution is supplied by a liquid transport path, and the gas is supplied to each of the plurality of gas supply ports by the same number of gas supply means and gas transport paths as the gas supply ports. It is.
The fifteenth aspect of the present invention is the fixing method according to the thirteenth aspect, wherein in the fixing liquid foaming step, one of the fixing liquid supply means supplies the liquid fixing liquid to the plurality of fixing liquid supply ports, One said gas supply means supplies the said gas with respect to the said several gas supply port, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the fixing method according to any one of the thirteenth to fifteenth aspects, a fixing solution comprising a plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids is used as the liquid fixing solution, and the liquid fixing solution is used. Each of the plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids is independently stored, and each of the plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids is conveyed from the plurality of fixing solution constituent liquid storage portions to the fixing solution generating portion. The liquid fixing solution obtained by mixing the solutions is used as a fixing solution.
According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toner image forming step of forming a toner image on a recording medium using a toner containing resin fine particles containing a resin and a colorant, and fixing the toner image on the recording medium. An image forming method for forming an image on a recording medium by a fixing step, wherein the fixing step performs fixing by the fixing method according to any one of claims 13 to 16.

In the Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-114659 (hereinafter referred to as “prior application”), the present applicant has a configuration similar to that of a micromixer (also referred to as a microreactor) generally used for mixing and reacting two types of liquids. A fixing device has been proposed in which the provided device is used as a foam generating device that forms a liquid fixer into a foam.
In general, a micromixer is provided with two liquid supply paths that supply two types of liquids, and the two liquids are supplied to the respective liquid supply paths to mix and react with the liquid, and the resulting product is discharged into the outlet. It is the composition obtained from. The inventors of this prior application connected an air pump that sends air using one of the liquid supply paths of the micromixer as an air supply path, and connected a fixing liquid supply pump that supplies liquid fixer to the other liquid supply path. It was found that a foamy fixing solution can be obtained by feeding air and fixing solution.
Further, the foam fixing solution obtained by the foam generating device described in this prior application has a bubble diameter larger than that of the foam fixing solution obtained by the device that passes the microporous sheet described in Patent Document 6 and performs initial foaming. It is a sufficiently small foam fixing solution, and the foam fixing solution obtained at this time contains microbubbles to such an extent that good fixability can be obtained by applying the foam fixing solution to the toner image. It was confirmed to be a foamy fixer.
Furthermore, it was confirmed that the foam generating apparatus described in this prior application can generate a foam fixing liquid containing fine bubbles as quickly as the fixing liquid foaming apparatus included in the fixing apparatus of Patent Document 6.
Further, the output of the pump used as the air pump or the fixing liquid supply pump used in the foam generating apparatus described in the prior application is sufficiently smaller than the output of the pump provided in the fixing liquid foaming apparatus described in Patent Document 6. It was confirmed.

The foam generating device included in the fixing device described in the prior application and the foam generating device according to claim 1 of the present application have the following configurations.
That is, it has a bubble production | generation part which mixes a liquid and gas and produces | generates foam-like liquid, the liquid conveyance path which supplies a liquid to a bubble production | generation part, and the gas conveyance path which supplies gas to a bubble production | generation part. The foam generating section includes a slit-shaped conveyance path in which a cross-section orthogonal to the passage direction of the space through which the foam-like liquid passes is a slit shape that is long in one direction, and one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path in the passage direction is a slit. Shaped opening. In addition, the other end in the passing direction of the slit-shaped transport path includes a liquid supply port that connects the liquid transport path and the slit-shaped transport path, and a gas supply port that connects the gas transport path and the slit-shaped transport path. . Furthermore, each of the liquid supply port and the gas supply port includes a plurality of openings having a pitch width of less than 2 [mm] along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the slit-shaped conveyance path. And a bubble production | generation part produces | generates foam-like liquid by mixing a liquid and gas in a slit-shaped conveyance path by supplying a liquid and gas simultaneously from a liquid conveyance path and a gas conveyance path, and is slit-shaped. It is the structure by which the foamy liquid produced | generated from the one end opening part of the conveyance path is discharged | emitted.

Since such a foam generation device can use a pump having a smaller output than the foam generation device such as the fixing liquid foaming device described in Patent Document 6 as described above, the pump can be downsized. it can. Furthermore, there is no need for a device that applies a shearing force to the foam-like fixing solution by the rotating body to reduce the diameter, and therefore a mechanism that includes a rotating body that applies the shearing force and a drive source that transmits the drive to the rotating body are unnecessary. Become.
In this way, there is no need to provide a device for initial foaming and a device for reducing the diameter, respectively, and the pump can be made smaller than before, and a mechanism or a rotating body including a rotating body that applies a shearing force can be provided. Since a drive source for transmitting the drive is not necessary, the size can be reduced as compared with the bubble generating device provided in the conventional fixing device.

The foam-like fixer discharged from the slit-like opening of the foam generating device described in the prior application was a foam-like fixer having a sufficiently smaller bubble diameter than the device for performing initial foaming described in Patent Document 6. . However, as a result of intensive investigations by the present inventors to obtain a foam fixing solution having a smaller foam diameter, one bubble of the foam liquid is placed in the slit-like conveyance path of the foam generating device described in the previous application. By disposing a foaming member that foams the foam into two or more foams, it was possible to obtain a foamy liquid having a smaller foam diameter than that of the foam generating device not provided with the foaming member. The foam-like fixing solution obtained at this time was a foam-like fixing solution having a desired small bubble diameter to such an extent that good fixability can be obtained with a configuration in which it is applied to a toner image.
In addition to the configuration of the foam generating device included in the fixing device described in the previous application, the foam generating device according to claim 1 of the present application is in contact with the foam of the foamed liquid toward the opening, and the foamed liquid in contact with the foam generating device. When the force to go further toward the opening side acts on the foam, the foam separating member that separates one foam of the foamed liquid into two or more foams into the slit-shaped conveyance path Since it arrange | positions, the foaming liquid of a desired small bubble diameter can be produced | generated.
In addition, since the foam separating member is provided in the slit-shaped conveyance path of the foam generating device, the size of the foam generating device itself can be the same as that of the foam generating device described in the previous application. The size can be reduced as compared with the conventional foam generating apparatus in the same manner as the foam generating apparatus described.

According to the invention having the configuration of claim 1 of the present application, it is possible to generate a foam liquid having a desired small bubble diameter, and it is possible to realize a foam generating apparatus that can be miniaturized more than the conventional one. There is an excellent effect that the first purpose can be achieved.
Furthermore, if the invention has the structure of claim 12 of the present application, the step of performing the initial foaming and the step of reducing the diameter are not provided separately, and the process of making the fixing solution foamy can be simplified. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that the second object can be achieved.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing liquid foaming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a copier according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged configuration diagram illustrating a part of an internal configuration of a printer unit in the copier. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing one of four image forming units in the copier. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically illustrating a fixing device according to an embodiment. FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of a portion where the application roller of the fixing device according to the embodiment contacts the transfer paper. FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram of a foamy fixing solution. FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view of the fixing liquid foaming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment. Explanatory drawing of a mode that a foam-like fixing liquid is produced | generated by a slit conveyance pipe | tube with a foaming member. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state where a foamy fixing solution is generated by the fixing solution foaming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the structure of the shape of a foam separation member of a triangular prism. Explanatory drawing of the apparatus used in Experiment 1. FIG. Sectional explanatory drawing which looked at the fixing liquid foaming apparatus of Example 2 from three directions. FIG. 9 is a perspective explanatory view of a space through which a fixing liquid and air pass in the fixing liquid foaming apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the phase of the positions of the fixing liquid supply port and the air supply port is shifted in the fixing liquid foaming device of Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing liquid foaming apparatus according to a second embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the apparatus used in Experiment 2. FIG. Explanatory drawing of the apparatus used in Experiment 3. FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing device that mixes a plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids and uses the same as a fixing solution. The perspective explanatory drawing of an application roller and a film thickness control blade. Schematic diagram of film thickness control of foamy fixing solution by film thickness regulating blade, (a) is an explanatory diagram when the gap width is narrowed, (b) is an explanatory diagram when the gap width is widened. Explanatory drawing of the structure which uses a wire bar as a foam-like fixing liquid film thickness control member. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing device according to a modification. Explanatory drawing of the fixing apparatus of the 2nd modification. Explanatory drawing of the fixing apparatus of the 3rd modification. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a fluid supply path of the fixing device according to the embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the structure from which the supply path | route of a fluid differs from embodiment. An explanatory view when the film thickness of the fixing solution is thin in a fixing device using a liquid fixing solution, (a) is a schematic explanatory view of the fixing device, and (b) is an application roller that contacts the transfer paper and applies the fixing solution. Explanatory drawing of the application | coating position where a transfer paper contacts. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram when the film thickness of the fixing solution is sufficiently thick in the fixing device using the liquid fixing solution.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine 100), which is an image forming apparatus that forms an image by electrophotography, will be described. In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus having the fixing device including the bubble generating apparatus of the present invention is described as a copying machine. However, other image forming apparatuses such as a printer and a facsimile may be used.
First, a basic configuration of the copying machine 100 according to the embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the copying machine 100 according to the embodiment. The copying machine 100 includes a printer unit 1, a paper feeding device 40, and a document conveyance reading unit 50. The document conveyance reading unit 50 includes a scanner unit 150 that is a document reading device fixed on the printer unit 1 and an ADF 51 that is a document conveyance device supported by the scanner unit 150.

  The paper feeding device 40 separates and feeds two paper feeding cassettes 42 arranged in multiple stages in the paper bank 41, a feed roller 43 that feeds the transfer paper P from the paper feeding cassette 42, and the fed transfer paper P. A separation roller 45 supplied to the path 44 is provided. Further, a plurality of transport rollers 46 for transporting the transfer paper P to the paper transport path 37 of the printer unit 1 are also provided. Then, the transfer paper P in the paper feed cassette 42 is fed into the paper transport path 37 in the printer unit 1.

  The scanner unit 150 fixed on the printer unit 1 has a fixed reading unit 151 and a moving reading unit 152 as reading means for reading an image of the document MS. A fixed reading unit 151 having a light source, a reflection mirror, an image reading sensor such as a CCD, etc. is disposed immediately below a first contact glass (not shown) fixed to the upper wall of the casing of the scanner unit 150 so as to contact the document MS. ing. When the document MS conveyed by the ADF 51 passes on the first contact glass, the image reading sensor 153 receives the light from the light source through the plurality of reflection mirrors while sequentially reflecting the light emitted from the light source on the document surface. . Thereby, the document MS is scanned without moving the optical system including the light source and the reflection mirror.

On the other hand, the moving reading unit 152 is disposed directly below a second contact glass (not shown) fixed to the upper wall of the casing of the scanner unit 150 so as to come into contact with the document MS, and is arranged on the right side of the fixed reading unit 151 in the drawing. Therefore, an optical system including a light source and a reflection mirror can be moved in the left-right direction in the figure. Then, in the process of moving the optical system from the left side to the right side in the figure, the light emitted from the light source is reflected by a document (not shown) placed on the second contact glass and then passed through a plurality of reflecting mirrors. The light is received by an image reading sensor 153 fixed to the scanner body. Thereby, the original MS is scanned while moving the optical system.
In this way, the scanner unit 150 scans the document MS and, based on the image information obtained by the image reading sensor 153, the optical writing device 2 drives the light source, as will be described later, to form four drum-shaped photoconductors. The laser beam L is irradiated toward 4 (K, Y, M, C).

  FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged configuration diagram illustrating a part of the internal configuration of the printer unit 1 in an enlarged manner. The printer unit 1 includes an optical writing device 2, four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, and C) that form toner images of respective colors K, Y, M, and C, a transfer unit 90, and a paper transport unit 28. , A registration roller pair 33, a fixing device 60, and the like. Then, a light source such as a laser diode or LED (not shown) disposed in the optical writing device 2 is driven, and laser light L is directed toward the four drum-shaped photosensitive members 4 (K, Y, M, C). Irradiate. By this irradiation, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive member 4 (K, Y, M, C) as a latent image carrier, and this latent image is developed into a toner image through a predetermined development process. The Note that the subscripts K, Y, M, and C added after the reference numerals indicate specifications for black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. The toner corresponding to each color is made of a resin material colored in each color, and these resin materials are dissolved or swollen by a fixing solution of the fixing device 60 described later.

  Each of the image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, and C) supports the photosensitive member 4 as a latent image carrier and various devices disposed around the photosensitive member 4 as a single unit by a common support. It can be attached to and detached from the copying machine 100 main body. Taking the black image forming unit 3K as an example, this has a developing device 6K for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member 4K into a black toner image in addition to the photosensitive member 4K. Further, it also includes a drum cleaning device 15K that cleans transfer residual toner adhering to the surface of the photoreceptor 4K after passing through a primary transfer nip for K described later. In the copying machine 100, a so-called tandem type in which four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, and C) are arranged to face an intermediate transfer belt 91 described later so as to be arranged along the endless movement direction. It is configured.

  FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of one of the four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, C). The four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, and C) have substantially the same configuration except that the colors of the toners to be used are different from each other. Therefore, in FIG. , M, and C are omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming unit 3 includes a charging roller 5 as a charging device, a developing device 6, a drum cleaning device 15, a static elimination lamp 22 as a static elimination device, and the like around the photoreceptor 4.

  In the copying machine 100, a drum-shaped member in which a photosensitive layer is formed by coating a photosensitive organic photosensitive material on a base tube made of aluminum or the like is used as the photosensitive member 4. However, an endless belt may be used as the photoreceptor.

The developing device 6 carries a two-component developer containing a magnetic carrier (not shown) and a non-magnetic toner on a developing roller 12 that is a developer carrying member, and a developing region that is a facing portion between the developing roller 12 and the photosensitive member 4. Then, toner is supplied to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member 4 to visualize the electrostatic imagination. Further, the developing device 6 includes a developer accommodating portion that accommodates a two-component developer supplied to the surface of the developing roller 12, and the developer accommodating portion is provided with a stirring member (not illustrated) that agitates the accommodated two-component developer. It has been.
The developing roller 12 includes a non-magnetic cylindrical developing sleeve that is rotatably arranged, and a magnet roller that is non-rotatably provided therein. The magnet roller has a plurality of magnetic poles that are sequentially arranged in the rotation direction of the developing sleeve. Each of these magnetic poles applies a magnetic force to the two-component developer on the developing sleeve at a predetermined position in the rotation direction. As a result, the two-component developer in the developer accommodating portion is attracted and carried on the surface of the developing sleeve, and a magnetic brush is formed along the magnetic force lines on the surface of the developing sleeve.
The magnetic brush is transported to the developing area after being regulated to an appropriate layer thickness when passing through a position facing a developer regulating member (not shown) as the developing sleeve rotates. Then, development is performed by transferring toner onto the electrostatic latent image by a potential difference between the developing bias applied to the developing sleeve and the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor 4. Further, the two-component developer constituting the magnetic brush that has passed through the developing area and then returned to the developing device 6 again with the rotation of the developing sleeve is developed under the influence of the repulsive magnetic field formed between the magnetic poles of the magnet roller. After detachment from the sleeve surface, it is returned to the developer container. A toner concentration sensor (not shown) is disposed in the developer accommodating portion, and the toner concentration of the two-component developer in the developer accommodating container is within a predetermined range based on the detection result by the toner concentration sensor. As described above, a toner replenishing device (not shown) is controlled so that an appropriate amount of toner is replenished to the two-component developer.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the printer unit 1 includes the image forming process described so far in the photosensitive members 4 (K, Y, M, C) of the four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, C). As a result, K, Y, M, and C toner images are formed.

As shown in FIG. 3, a transfer unit 90 is disposed below the four image forming units 3 (K, Y, M, C). The transfer unit 90 includes an intermediate transfer belt 91 as a toner image carrier stretched by a plurality of stretching rollers (92, 93, 94), and the first stretching roller 92 sandwiches the intermediate transfer belt 91. A belt cleaning device 32 is disposed at the facing position. The belt cleaning device 32 is arranged to remove toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 91 after passing through a secondary transfer nip described later.
In the transfer unit 90, the intermediate transfer belt 91 is moved endlessly in the clockwise direction in the figure (the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3) while contacting the photoreceptor 4 (K, Y, M, C). As a result, primary transfer nips for K, Y, M, and C where the photoreceptors 4 (K, Y, M, and C) and the intermediate transfer belt 91 abut are formed. In the vicinity of the primary transfer nips for K, Y, M, and C, the intermediate transfer belt 91 is moved to the photosensitive member 4 by a primary transfer roller 95 (K, Y, M, and C) disposed in the belt loop. It is pressed toward (K, Y, M, C). A primary transfer bias is applied to the four primary transfer rollers 95 (K, Y, M, C) by a power source (not shown). Thus, in the primary transfer nip for K, Y, M, and C, primary transfer that electrostatically moves the toner image on the photoreceptor 4 (K, Y, M, and C) toward the intermediate transfer belt 91 that is a transfer body. An electric field is formed. In the drawing, toner images are successively superimposed at the primary transfer nips on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 91 that sequentially passes through the primary transfer nips for K, Y, M, and C with endless movement in the clockwise direction. Primary transcription. By this primary transfer of superposition, a four-color superposed toner image (hereinafter referred to as a four-color toner image) is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 91.
The primary transfer device according to the present embodiment employs a configuration including a primary transfer roller 95 as a primary transfer member, but a conductive brush, a non-contact corona charger, or the like can also be employed as the primary transfer member.

  In FIG. 4, untransferred toner that has not been primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 91 adheres to the surface of the photoreceptor 4 after passing through the primary transfer nip. This transfer residual toner is removed from the surface of the photoreceptor 4 by the drum cleaning device 15 of the image forming unit 3.

As the drum cleaning device 15, a device that scrapes off and removes transfer residual toner from the surface of the photoconductor 4 after passing through the primary transfer nip by a polyurethane rubber cleaning blade 16 in contact with the photoconductor 4 is used. . The cleaning blade 16 is bonded (hot melt) to a metal support member fixed to the casing of the image forming unit 3, and comes into contact with the photoconductor 4 in the counter direction. The counter direction is the direction of the blade such that the front end side of the cleaning blade 16 cantilevered by the support member is positioned upstream of the rear end side (free end side) in the rotation direction of the photosensitive member 4. .
Here, the toner recovered by the drum cleaning device 15 is recovered by the developing device 6 and reused by a recovery screw and a toner recycling device (not shown).

  The static eliminator included in the image forming unit 3 of the present embodiment has a configuration including a static eliminator lamp 22, and irradiates light to initialize the surface potential of the photoreceptor 4. The surface of the photoreceptor 4 that has been neutralized by the static elimination lamp 22 is uniformly charged by a charging roller 5 that generates a discharge with the photoreceptor 4 by applying a charging bias, and then the light from the optical writing device 2 is used. Write processing is performed. The charging device provided in the image forming unit 3 is a contact charging type charging device employing a charging roller 5. This charging device uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive member 4 by bringing the charging roller 5 into contact with the surface of the photosensitive member 4 and applying a voltage to the charging roller 5. In addition, as a charging device for uniformly charging the photosensitive member 4, a charging device of a non-contact charging type using a scorotron charger or the like can be used instead of the charging roller type.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the printer unit 1, an endless paper conveyance belt 29, which is a secondary transfer belt, is hung between a driving roller 30 and a secondary transfer roller 31 below the transfer unit 90 in the drawing. A paper transport unit 28 is provided as a secondary transfer unit that passes and moves endlessly. In the copying machine 100, the intermediate transfer belt 91 and the paper transport belt 29 are sandwiched between the secondary transfer roller 31 of the paper transport unit 28 and the lower stretching roller 94 of the transfer unit 90. As a result, a secondary transfer nip is formed in which the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 91 and the surface of the paper transport belt 29 abut. A secondary transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer roller 31 by a power source (not shown). On the other hand, the lower stretching roller 94 of the transfer unit 90 is grounded. Thereby, a secondary transfer electric field is formed in the secondary transfer nip. The member that forms the secondary transfer nip in contact with the intermediate transfer belt 91 is not limited to a belt-like member such as the paper transport belt 29, and a roller-like transfer roller may be used.

  A registration roller pair 33 is disposed on the right side of the secondary transfer nip in the figure. The registration roller pair 33 sends the transfer paper P sandwiched between the rollers to the secondary transfer nip at a timing at which the transfer paper P can be synchronized with the four-color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 91. In the secondary transfer nip, the four-color toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 91 are collectively secondary transferred onto the transfer paper P due to the influence of the secondary transfer electric field and the nip pressure, and become a full color image combined with the white color of the transfer paper P. The transfer paper P that has passed through the secondary transfer nip and has a toner image transferred to the surface thereof is separated from the intermediate transfer belt 91 and held on the surface of the paper transport belt 29, while the endless movement of the transfer paper P is performed. It is conveyed to.

  The transfer residual toner that has not been transferred to the transfer paper P at the secondary transfer nip adheres to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 91 that has passed through the secondary transfer nip. This transfer residual toner is scraped off and removed by the belt cleaning device 32 arranged so that the cleaning member contacts the intermediate transfer belt 91.

  The transfer paper P conveyed to the fixing device 60 is sent out from the fixing device 60 after the full color image is fixed by applying a fixing liquid in the fixing device 60, as will be described in detail later. 10 is discharged.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the copying machine 100, a switchback device 36 that is a transfer paper reversing device is disposed below the paper transport unit 28 and the fixing device 60. When image formation is performed on both sides, the path of the transfer paper P that has undergone image fixing processing on one side is switched to the switchback device 36 side by controlling the switching claw, and the transfer paper P is reversed there, and then again. Transport toward the next transfer transfer nip. Then, the transfer sheet P on which the image is subjected to the secondary transfer process and the fixing process on the other side is discharged onto the discharge tray 10.

Next, the fixing device 60 including the characterizing portion of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment. The resin fine particles in the present invention are toner particles.
The fixing device 60 is a foam-like fixing in which bubbles are dispersed in a liquid fixing solution 210 containing a softening agent that softens toner particles, which are resin fine particles, by dissolving or swelling at least part of the toner made of a resin material. A fixing liquid foaming device 500 which is a fixing liquid foaming means for forming the liquid F is provided. Further, a fixing solution supply pump 200 that is a fixing solution supply unit that supplies a liquid fixing solution to the fixing solution foaming device 500 and an air pump 300 that is a gas supply unit that supplies air as a gas to the fixing solution foaming device 500 are provided. Prepare. In addition, a coating roller 61 is provided as a fixing liquid application unit that applies a foamy fixing liquid F to the surface of the transfer paper P that is a fixing liquid application target that carries toner particles as an unfixed toner image T.

The fixing liquid supply pump 200 sucks the liquid fixing liquid 210 in the fixing liquid bottle 220 and supplies the liquid fixing liquid 210 to the fixing liquid foaming device 500 by pumping the liquid fixing liquid 210 to the fixing liquid transport pipe 230. In addition, the air pump 300 sucks outside air through the air filter 310 and supplies the air to the fixing liquid foaming device 500 by pressure-feeding the air to the air conveyance pipe 330. The fixer foaming device 500 supplied with the liquid fixer 210 and air generates a foamy fixer F with a configuration described in detail later, and discharges the foamy fixer F from the foamy fixer outlet 501. As a result, the foam-like fixing liquid F is supplied to the surface of the application roller 61.
The foam-like fixing solution F supplied on the surface of the application roller 61 passes through a position facing the film thickness regulating blade 63 by the surface movement of the application roller 61 rotating in the direction of arrow B in the figure, and is applied to the application roller 61. It reaches the application position C where the pressure roller 62 faces. Then, the foamy fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61 is applied to the unfixed toner image T on the transfer paper P at the application position C. The softened toner particles are fixed to the transfer paper P by applying the foamy fixing solution F to the unfixed toner image T at the application position C.
As described above, in the fixing device 60, the transfer paper P carrying the unfixed toner image T is fixed in a bubble form on the surface of the application roller 61 at the application position C where the nip is formed by the application roller 61 and the pressure roller 62. Contact liquid F. Then, the foamy fixing solution F permeates the toner layer of the unfixed toner image T by the pressure applied by the pressure roller 62. The permeated fixing solution dissolves or swells at least a part of the toner to fix the toner to the transfer paper P.

Here, an advantage of a fixing method in which a fixing liquid in the form of foam instead of a normal liquid as in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment is applied to the unfixed toner image T and fixed on the transfer paper P will be described.
First, a fixing device using a conventional wet fixing method in which a normal liquid fixing solution is applied unlike the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment will be described.

  The above-mentioned Patent Document 1 describes a wet fixing type fixing device that uses an oil-in-water type fixing solution in which an organic compound that can dissolve or swell toner and is insoluble or hardly soluble in water is dispersed and mixed in water. Has been. In this fixing device, unfixed toner is sprayed or dripped on the surface of the fixing object disposed at a predetermined position to dissolve or swell the toner, and then the fixing object is dried. is there.

  However, the fixing device of Patent Document 1 uses an oil-in-water type fixing solution in which an organic compound insoluble or hardly soluble in water is dispersed and mixed in water. For this reason, when a large amount of fixing liquid is applied to the unfixed toner, a recording medium (fixed object) such as transfer paper absorbs moisture of the fixing liquid, and wrinkles and curls are generated on the recording medium. This significantly impairs the stable and high-speed conveyance of the recording medium required for the image forming apparatus. Therefore, if water is removed from the fixing liquid applied to the recording medium by evaporating a large amount of water contained in the fixing liquid using a drying apparatus, the power consumption of the image forming apparatus using the thermal fixing method is reduced. You will need comparable power.

  In addition, several oil-based fixing solutions in which a material that dissolves or swells toner is dissolved in an oil-based solvent have been proposed as fixing solutions that do not repel water-repellent unfixed toner. As one example, for example, in Patent Document 2 described above, an aliphatic dibasic acid ester or the like having a material that dissolves or swells the resin component constituting the toner as a diluent (solvent) is diluted with nonvolatile dimethyl silicone. A fixed (dissolved) fixer has been proposed. In Patent Document 3, as a fixing solution for an unfixed toner image, 8 to 120 parts by volume of silicone oil is mixed with 100 volumes of a solvent that dissolves toner and is compatible with silicone oil. A compatible fixing solution is proposed. As a result, an unfixed toner image formed by an electrostatic method can be fixed clearly and easily on a recording medium without disturbing the image. Such an oil-based fixing solution contains an oil-based solvent having a high affinity with the water-repellent-treated unfixed toner, so that the toner is dissolved or swollen without repelling the water-repellent-treated unfixed toner, The toner can be fixed on the recording medium.

  In such a conventional wet fixing method, since the fixing liquid is applied to the toner image on the recording medium in a normal liquid state, a small amount of the fixing liquid is applied to the toner image on the recording medium and the toner offset to the fixing roller. There was a problem that it was extremely difficult to achieve both preventions. This problem will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing device 600 using a conventional liquid fixing liquid of a wet fixing system. FIG. 28A is a schematic explanatory diagram of a fixing device 600 that uses a liquid fixing solution. FIG. 28B shows the proximity of the transfer paper P, which is a recording medium, in the fixing device 600 that uses the liquid fixer, and the application roller 61, which is an application member that applies the liquid fixer 210 in contact with the transfer paper P. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 28A, in the configuration in which the liquid fixing liquid 210 is applied to the unfixed toner image T on the transfer paper P using the application roller 61, a small amount of the liquid fixing liquid 210 is applied to the transfer paper P. If the film thickness of the liquid fixing liquid 210 on the surface of the application roller 61 is smaller than the thickness of the toner layer of the unfixed toner image T, the result is as shown in FIG. The liquid fixer 210 on the surface of the application roller 61 is applied to the transfer paper P from the application roller 61 at the application position where the surface of the application roller 61 is in contact with the transfer paper P. As indicated by the arrow F1, there are some that remain on the surface of the application roller 61 even after passing through the application position. Then, at the position where the surface of the application roller 61 is separated from the transfer paper P, the unfixed toner is generated by the surface tension (working in the direction of arrow F2 in FIG. 28) generated by the liquid film of the liquid fixing liquid 210 remaining on the surface of the application roller 61. The toner particles of the image T are pulled. As a result, the offset toner particles Tb adhere to the surface of the application roller 61, and the image of the fixed toner image Ta on the transfer paper P after peeling off from the application roller 61 is greatly disturbed.

Conversely, when the film thickness of the liquid fixing liquid 210 on the surface of the application roller 61 is made sufficiently thicker than the layer thickness of the unfixed toner image T, the result is as shown in FIG. At the position where the surface of the application roller 61 is separated from the transfer paper P, the amount of the liquid fixing liquid 210 is large, so that the surface tension due to the liquid film on the surface of the application roller 61 hardly acts on the toner particles of the unfixed toner image T. This makes it difficult for the offset toner to adhere to the application roller 61 side. However, since a large amount of the liquid fixing liquid 210 is applied to the surface of the transfer paper P, toner particles on the transfer paper P are caused to flow by the excessive liquid fixing liquid 210 and image quality is deteriorated, or the liquid applied to the transfer paper P The drying time of the fixing liquid 210 becomes long and a problem occurs in the fixing response. In addition, a noticeable residual liquid feeling (a wet feeling when the paper is touched by hand) occurs on the transfer paper P. Further, when the liquid fixing liquid 210 contains water, when the amount of the liquid fixing liquid 210 applied to the transfer paper P containing cellulose such as paper as a recording medium is large, the transfer paper P such as paper is remarkably used. There is a risk of paper curling when the recording medium is conveyed in an apparatus such as an image forming apparatus.
As described above, in the configuration in which the liquid fixing liquid 210 is applied using the application roller 61, if the amount of the liquid fixing liquid 210 applied is too large, the image quality deteriorates due to the toner particles flowing, and the drying time of the liquid fixing liquid 210. There is a problem that fixing responsiveness is lowered due to the increase in length. Further, depending on the material of the recording medium, there is a problem that paper jam is likely to occur. On the other hand, if a small amount of liquid fixer 210 is applied to prevent these problems, offset toner particles Tb adhere to the surface of the application roller 61 as described with reference to FIG. End up. Therefore, it is possible to achieve both the application of a small amount of the fixing liquid to the toner layer on the transfer paper P and the prevention of the toner offset to the application roller 61 in order to improve the fixing response, reduce the residual liquid feeling, and prevent the curling. Extremely difficult.

As a fixing method that can achieve both a small amount of application of a fixing solution and prevention of toner offset, Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6 described above include a fixing solution in the form of a foam-like fixing solution in which bubbles are dispersed. A configuration is described in which a foamy fixing solution is applied to a toner image on a recording medium by an application roller. Thus, since the density of the fixing liquid (the value obtained by dividing the weight of the fixing liquid by its volume, hereinafter referred to as “bulk density”) can be lowered by making the fixing liquid foamy, the amount of the fixing liquid is smaller than the conventional amount. With this fixing solution, the film thickness of the fixing solution on the surface of the coating roller can be increased, and the influence of the surface tension of the liquid on the toner particles on the recording medium can be reduced. Also, since the amount of the fixing solution is small, the residual liquid feeling on the recording medium can be suppressed, and the foam-like fixing solution is less likely to flow than the normal liquid fixing solution. It is also possible to prevent image deterioration due to the occurrence of image deterioration. Therefore, by performing fixing using a foam-like fixing solution as in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6 described above, it is possible to fix the toner image without disturbing the toner with a smaller amount of fixing solution applied than before.
The fixing device 60 of the present embodiment is also a recording medium in the same manner as in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6 described above. In this configuration, the toner image is applied to an unfixed toner image T on the transfer paper P.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged explanatory view of a portion (application position C) where the application roller 61 contacts the transfer paper P in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 6, the liquid fixer 210 is changed to a foamy fixer F composed of bubbles by the fixer foaming device 500, so that the bulk density of the fixer can be lowered, and a small amount of fixer can be used to apply the application roller. The film thickness of the fixing solution on the surface 61 can be increased. Furthermore, since the influence of the surface tension of the fixing solution is suppressed, it has been found that the resin fine particles can be prevented from being offset to the coating roller 61 even if the amount of the fixing solution is small.

Further, as a result of extensive investigations by the present inventors, when the size of the resin fine particles is about 5 [μm] to 10 [μm], the foam fixing solution F is not yet determined to be resin fine particles without disturbing the fine particle layer. It was found that the bubble diameter range of the foam-like fixer F is about 5 [μm] to 50 [μm] for applying to the toner particles of the contact toner image T.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged schematic diagram of the foam-like fixing solution F. As shown in FIG. 7, the foam-like fixing solution F in which a large number of bubbles Fb are dispersed in the solution has the bubbles Fb and bubbles. The liquid film boundary (hereinafter referred to as the plateau boundary Fa) that divides each of the above.
The bulk density of the foam-like fixing liquid F supplied to the application roller 61 is preferably in the range of about 0.01 [g / cm ³ ] to 0.1 [g / cm ³ ].

Generally, when a foam liquid containing large bubbles of about 0.5 [mm] to 1 [mm] is generated from a normal liquid liquid, bubbles can be generated relatively easily by simple stirring or the like. A foamy liquid composed of large bubbles can be produced in a time of several seconds or less (not taking 0.1 [s]). On the other hand, when generating a foam liquid containing micro bubbles of about 5 [μm] to 50 [μm] from a normal liquid liquid, it is difficult to reduce the diameter of the bubbles, and it takes time to generate the liquid. There was a problem.
Therefore, the inventors of the present invention have produced a bubble liquid containing bubbles larger than the desired bubble diameter (about 5 [μm] to 50 [μm]) and including bubbles of a size that can be visually observed. We focused on the point that it is easy and can be obtained quickly. And the method of producing | generating rapidly the foam liquid containing the micro bubble about 5 [micrometers]-50 [micrometers] from the foam liquid with a large foam diameter was investigated earnestly. As a result, when a large bubble is separated by applying a shearing force to a foam-like liquid containing large bubbles, the desired size can be obtained very quickly compared to the method of generating fine bubbles from a normal liquid liquid as described above. It was found that a foamy liquid containing minute bubbles can be generated.

  As described above, Patent Document 6 discloses a fixing liquid foaming device including an initial foaming device that generates a large foamy liquid from a normal liquid liquid and a device that separates large foams to reduce the diameter. There is a fixing liquid foaming device provided in the fixing device described in 1). In this fixer foaming device, a foamy fixer composed of bubbles with a large bubble diameter generated by a device that performs initial foaming is passed through a transport tube (tube) to a device that reduces the diameter. Further, a foam-like fixing liquid composed of bubbles having a small bubble diameter generated by an apparatus for reducing the diameter is passed through another transport pipe to a fixing liquid supply position facing the surface of the coating roller.

As described above, the fixing liquid foaming apparatus described in Patent Document 6 can generate the foaming fixing liquid F having a desired small bubble diameter. However, this fixing liquid foaming apparatus has a new problem. Occurred.
As a first problem, in order to convey the foamed liquid through a pipe, when pressure is applied by applying pressure with a pump, a large pressure may be required due to the fluid resistance of the foam. . In the fixing solution foaming device described in Patent Document 6, the foaming fixing solution is pumped through the pipe from the device for initial foaming to the device for reducing the diameter and from the device for reducing the diameter to the fixing solution supply position. Therefore, a large pressure is required, and a large-capacity pump that generates the pressure is required. In order to uniformly apply the foamy fixing solution to the recording medium, a bubble diameter smaller than the film thickness of the fixing solution formed on the coating roller is required. The fluid resistance when pumping is increased. Further, in order to reduce the weight of the fixing solution on the recording medium, it is necessary to reduce the bulk density, but bubbles having a low bulk density and a small bubble diameter have a very high fluid resistance. For this reason, a particularly large pressure is required when pressure-feeding from the apparatus for reducing the diameter to the fixing liquid supply position by piping.

  The second problem is the deterioration of bubbles over time. A foam-like fixing solution produced by foaming a normal liquid fixing solution repeats bubble breaking over time, and the bubble diameter gradually increases. If the fixing is not performed for a certain time or longer, the foam-like fixing liquid in the foam-like fixing liquid conveyance path from the initial foaming device to the fixing liquid supply position is not in a state having the desired characteristics. Cannot be used in the process, and must be discharged out of the foam-generating system. For this reason, the larger the volume of the conveyance path from the initial foaming position to the fixing liquid supply position, the larger the amount of fixing liquid that is discarded and wasted when the fixing is not performed for a certain time or longer.

  Further, when the foam-like fixing liquid is applied to the entire surface of the application roller, the portion other than the size of the recording medium carrying the unfixed toner image (the portion outside the width direction of the recording medium in the width direction or the recording medium). The foamy fixing solution applied to the so-called paper portion between the medium and the recording medium is not used for fixing. The foamy fixer adhering to the coating roller surface after passing through the coating position needs to be cleaned, but the volume of the foamy fixer is much larger than that of the liquid fixer (several times the liquid state). ), The recovered foamy fixing solution needs to be liquefied immediately. Here, the discarded fixing solution described above is deteriorated to an extent that it is not suitable for fixing, but it needs to be liquefied when recovered. When the amount is large, there arises a problem that the load on the recovery mechanism becomes very large.

  In order to solve the first problem, the conveyance path from the initial foaming position to the fixing liquid supply position is made as short as possible. To solve the second problem, the fixing is performed from the position where the initial foaming is performed. It is necessary to make the volume of the conveyance path to the liquid supply position as small as possible.

[Example 1]
Next, a first example (hereinafter referred to as Example 1) of the fixer foaming device 500, which is a foam generating device having the characterizing portion of the present invention, will be described.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 1 provided in the fixing device 60 of the copying machine 100 of the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory perspective view of the vicinity of the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 8, the fixing liquid foaming device 500 has a cross section orthogonal to the passing direction of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 (arrow E direction in the figure), which is a space through which the foamy fixing liquid F passes. A slit transport pipe 510 having a slit shape long in the direction of the slit width W with respect to the slit depth D is provided. The slit conveying pipe 510 serves as a foam generating unit that mixes the liquid fixing liquid 210 and air inside to generate the foamy fixing liquid F. The fixer foaming device 500 includes a liquid fixer flow path 520 that is connected to the fixer transport pipe 230 and supplies the liquid fixer 210 supplied from the fixer supply pump 200 to the slit transport path 511. Further, the fixing liquid foaming device 500 includes an air flow path 530 that is connected to the air conveyance pipe 330 and supplies air supplied from the air pump 300 to the slit-shaped conveyance path 511.
Note that “511f” in FIG. 1 indicates the inner wall surface on the near side in FIG. 1 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, and “511b” in FIG. 1 indicates the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 in FIG. It points to the inner wall on the back side.

One end of the slit transport pipe 510 in the passing direction is a foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501 formed of a slit-shaped opening. On the other hand, the other end face in the passing direction of the slit conveying pipe 510 has a fixing liquid supply port 521 for supplying the liquid fixing liquid 210 to the slit-shaped conveying path 511 and an air supply port 531 for supplying air to the slit-shaped conveying path 511. Is a gas-liquid mixing unit 502 provided alternately in the direction of the slit width W. The fixing liquid supply port 521 connects the liquid fixing liquid channel 520 and the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, and the air supply port 531 connects the air flow path 530 and the slit-shaped conveyance path 511.
The fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are provided so that the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521 is less than 2 [mm] along the direction of the slit width W. A plurality of openings. In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of the first embodiment, the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521 is 180 [μm].
In the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, the liquid fixing solution 210 and air are simultaneously supplied from the fixing solution supply pump 200 and the air pump 300, whereby the fixing solution is discharged from the fixing solution supply port 521, and from the air supply port 531. Air is discharged. As a result, the liquid fixing solution 210 and air are mixed in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 in which the fixing solution supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are alternately arranged, thereby generating a foamy fixing solution F. The foam-like fixing solution F generated in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 passes through the slit-like conveyance path 511 that is the internal space of the slit conveyance tube 510, and as shown by an arrow E in the figure, from the foam-like fixing solution discharge port 501. Discharged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the fixing liquid foaming device 500 is divided between the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, which is the internal space of the slit conveying pipe 510, and the foam-shaped fixing liquid discharge port 501. A foam member 550 is included. The foaming member 550 is disposed at a position where bubbles of the foam-like fixing solution F heading from the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 toward the foam-like fixing solution discharge port 501 come into contact. Further, a force that further moves toward the foam fixing solution discharge port 501 side acts on the foam of the foam fixing solution F that has come into contact, so that two or more bubbles in contact with the foam fixing solution F are brought into contact with each other. It will be divided into bubbles.
Here, even if the foaming member 550 is not provided in the internal space of the slit conveyance pipe 510, it is possible to generate the foam-like fixing solution F having a certain small bubble diameter, but by providing the foaming member 550, Thus, it is possible to produce a foam-like fixing solution F having a smaller bubble diameter.
In addition, as an example of the fixing liquid foaming device 500 described in the present embodiment, the foaming is performed in the internal space of the portion corresponding to the slit conveyance tube 510 in the micromixer described in the above-mentioned prior application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-114659). This can be realized by arranging the member 550.

As shown in FIG. 8, the liquid fixer flow path 520 and the air flow path 530 of the fixer foaming device 500 are formed by a flow path forming member 505 and a flow path lid member 506. The flow path forming member 505 forms a space between the liquid fixer flow path 520 and the air flow path 530 of the fixer foaming device 500 at a position opposite to the position where the slit transport pipe 510 is provided on the flow path lid member 506. A flow path partition member 503 for partitioning is provided. The channel partition member 503 is a wave-shaped member having a partition pitch P3 of 180 [μm]. The broken line (502a) in the vicinity of the wavy central portion of the flow path partition member 503 matches the gas-liquid mixing portion 502 of the flow path cover member 506.
In such a fixing liquid foaming device 500, as indicated by an arrow E1 in the drawing, the liquid fixing liquid 210 supplied into the liquid fixing liquid flow path 520 hits the wavy flow path partition member 503, and the gas-liquid mixing section 502 Then, it flows into the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 that is the internal space of the slit conveyance pipe 510. On the other hand, as shown by an arrow E2 in the figure, the air supplied into the air flow path 530 hits the wavy flow path partition member 503, and the slit-shaped transport path that is the internal space of the slit transport pipe 510 from the gas-liquid mixing section 502 Flows into 511. At this time, the inflow port into which the liquid fixing solution 210 flows in and the inflow port into which air flows are alternately formed in accordance with the width of the partition pitch P3, so that as shown in FIG. In the part 502, the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are alternately provided in the direction of the slit width W.
The fixer and air are discharged from the fixer supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 that are alternately arranged, whereby the fixer and air are mixed in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 and the foamy fixer F is mixed. Is generated.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a state in which the foam-like fixing liquid F is generated in the slit transport pipe 510 having a configuration in which the foam separation member 550 is not provided in the internal space. FIG. 10 is an explanatory view schematically showing a state in which the foam-like fixing liquid F is generated in the slit conveyance pipe 510 of Example 1 in which the foam separation member 550 is provided in the internal space.
In the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the first exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, a fixing liquid film Fc is formed between two adjacent fixing liquid supply ports 521 with the air supply port 531 interposed therebetween. It is considered that bubbles are formed by supplying the air G from the air supply port 531 to the liquid film Fc.
In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, the direction of the slit depth D orthogonal to the direction of the slit width W in the slit-shaped transport path 511 that is the internal space of the slit transport pipe 510. A bar-shaped bubble separating member 550 is provided so as to connect two inner wall surfaces (511f and 511b) facing each other.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in the configuration in which the bubble separating member 550 is not provided in the internal space of the slit conveying pipe 510, the bubble diameter is relatively large with respect to the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521. Foam fixer F is produced. On the other hand, in the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, since the foam separating member 550 is provided in the internal space of the slit conveyance pipe 510, the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid are provided. Generation of a foam-like fixing liquid F having a relatively small bubble diameter with respect to the opening pitch width P1 with the supply port 521 (the bubble diameter is about 50 [μm] or less with respect to the opening pitch width P1 of 180 [μm]). Is possible.

In addition, although the shape of the foaming member 550 provided in the slit conveyance pipe | tube 510 shown in FIG. 10 is a cylinder, as a shape of the foaming member 550, a triangular prism and another shape may be sufficient as shown in FIG. 10 and 11 are arranged in a multistage manner in the direction of the slit length H (the moving direction of the foamy fixing solution F), but the positions in the direction of the slit length H are the same. The foaming members 550 are arranged such that the spacing between the foaming members 550 (the foaming member pitch width P2) is equal to or smaller than the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521. desirable. With this arrangement, the bubbles of the foam-like fixing solution F generated in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 are easily separated.
In addition, although not shown in the drawing, as the foaming member, a lattice-like member may be provided over a part or the entire area of the internal space of the slit transport pipe 510.
In order to obtain a foamy fixing solution F having a desired small bubble diameter (about 5 [μm] to 50 [μm]), the slit length H is about 1 to 10 [mm], and the slit depth D is 30 to 30 mm. The opening pitch width P1 between the fixing solution supply port 521 and the fixing solution supply port 521 is preferably about 100 to 600 [μm].

[Experiment 1]
As Experiment 1, a foam-like fixing solution F is generated using the apparatus shown in FIG. The bulk density and the bubble diameter were measured. Details of Experiment 1 are described below.
<Prescription of fixer>
Softener: Dicarbitol succinate (Higher Alcohol Industry Co., Ltd., reagent)
30.0 [wt%]
Diluting solvent: ion-exchanged water 65.0 [wt%]
Foam enhancer: Palm fatty acid diethanolamide (1: 1) type (Matsumoto Yushi Marpon MM)
0.50 [wt%]
Foaming agent: amine palmitate 2.5 [wt%]
Amine myristate 1.5 [wt%]
Amine stearate 0.5 [wt%]
(Fatty acid amine was synthesized from fatty acid and diethanolamine.)
<Configuration of Fixing Liquid Foaming Device 500>
Slit length H: 10 [mm]
Slit depth D: 35 [μm] or 70 [μm]
Slit width W: 30 [mm]
Opening pitch width P1: 180 [μm]

As the fixing liquid supply pump 200, a micro syringe pump (manufactured by Kd Scientific, model number KDS-100) is used, and a Hamilton gas tight syringe (manufactured by ASONE Corporation, model number 2-435-04) is used to convert the liquid fixing liquid into a foam-like fixing liquid. Introduced into the conversion apparatus 500.
Further, as the air pump 300, an electromagnetic air pump (manufactured by Enomoto Micropump Manufacture, model number MV-10H) was used. A mass flow meter (manufactured by Yamatake Corporation, model number MQV0002) was installed in the air conveyance tube 330 as the gas flow rate control means 350.
In the configuration in which the foaming member 550 is provided, the foaming member pitch width P2 is 180 [μm] at a position of 2 [mm] in the direction from the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 to the foamy fixing solution discharge port 501. A columnar foaming member 550 having a diameter of 30 [μm] was arranged in the inner space of the slit conveyance tube 510 in a horizontal row.

<Method for Measuring Bulk Density of Foam Fixing Solution>
As shown by an arrow E in FIG. 12, an appropriate amount (about 5 [ml]) of the foam-like fixer F discharged from the foam-like fixer outlet 501 is sampled, and a length of about 15 [mm] is obtained using a syringe. Were introduced into a silicon tube (outer diameter 5 [mm], inner diameter 3 [mm] Laboran Silicon Tube manufactured by AS ONE Corporation), and their weights were measured with an electronic balance. After the internal foam was washed away with ethanol, the weight of only the silicon tube was measured, and the bulk density was calculated from the mass difference between the two and the volume in the tube. And the same operation | work was enforced 3 times and those average values were made into the measured value.
<Method for measuring bubble diameter>
Place the generated foam fixer F on the preparation and use an optical microscope (digital microscope VHX-100 Keyence Co., Ltd.) to image the preparation with the foam fixer F from the back side. The bubble diameter was measured. Measurement was performed 20 times for each sample, and the average value thereof was taken as the measured value.

表１に示すように、実験１で用いた定着液泡状化装置５００では、嵩密度０．０３［ｇ／ｃｍ^３］以下のドライフォーム状の泡状定着液Ｆが作成可能であり、泡径も１００［μｍ］程度の小径の泡の生成が達成出来ていることが分かる。また、スリット搬送管５１０の内部空間に分泡部材５５０を配置することにより、泡の小径化を図ることができることが確認できた。 The measurement results of Experiment 1 are shown in Table 1.

As shown in Table 1, with the fixer foaming device 500 used in Experiment 1, a dry foam-like foam fixer F with a bulk density of 0.03 [g / cm ³ ] or less can be produced, and the foam diameter It can also be seen that the generation of bubbles with a small diameter of about 100 [μm] has been achieved. Further, it was confirmed that the bubble diameter can be reduced by disposing the foam separating member 550 in the internal space of the slit conveying pipe 510.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, each member is arranged so that the foamy fixing solution discharge port 501 and the surface of the application roller 61 face each other. For this reason, the foamy fixer F discharged from the foamy fixer outlet 501 is immediately applied to the application roller 61.
Thus, since the foamy fixing solution F is generated immediately before being supplied to the application roller 61, the distance for feeding the foaming fixing solution F is shortened, and a large-capacity pump is required as compared with the conventional fixing solution foaming device. Disappear.
Further, since the once-generated foam fixing solution F deteriorates with time, the foam-like fixing solution F that has passed for a certain period of time after generation must be discharged out of the foam generation system. For this reason, if the distance for feeding the foamy fixing solution F is long, the volume of the transport path from the position where the initial foaming is performed to the fixing solution supply position becomes large. Therefore, a large amount of the foaming fixing solution F must be discharged. Disappear. On the other hand, in the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of this embodiment, it is only necessary to discharge a small amount of the foaming fixing liquid F remaining in the internal space of the slit transport pipe 510 having a small volume, and the liquid fixing liquid 210 is wasted. Can be suppressed. Furthermore, it is possible to suppress the load on the recovery mechanism that recovers the foamy fixing solution F from becoming very large.

As described above, the fixer foaming device 500 of the present embodiment reduces the loss of the foamy fixer F with a space-saving fixer foaming device, and has low density and small particle size. A fixing solution F can be produced.
In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of the first embodiment, the foamy fixing liquid F initially foamed in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 is foamed with a simple configuration of a rod-shaped foaming member 550, and further, a foamy foam with a small foam diameter is used. A fixing solution F can be obtained.
On the other hand, it is difficult for the conventional foaming device or the device that performs initial foaming by bubbling to form a foam with the simple structure of the foaming member 550, and a shearing force is applied like the conventional fixing liquid foaming device. An apparatus for reducing the diameter is required separately. This is a configuration in which initial foaming is performed in the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 in the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 of Example 1, and a cross section perpendicular to the moving direction of the foamy fixing liquid F generated by the initial foaming is linear. Therefore, the movement path of the foam-like fixing solution F after the initial foaming is limited, and there is little variation between the foam diameter and the foaming position in the initial foaming. For this reason, by providing the foam separation member 550 in the limited movement path, it is possible to perform foaming with a simple configuration. On the other hand, in the conventional apparatus for performing initial foaming, the cross section perpendicular to the moving direction of the foam-like fixing liquid F generated by the initial foaming is a flat shape, and thus the degree of freedom of the moving path is high. Compared with, there are more variations in the bubble diameter and foaming position in the initial foaming. For this reason, it is difficult to perform desired foaming with a simple configuration in which the foaming member 550 is provided at a specific position.

  As described above, in the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the first embodiment, the foaming is performed with the simple structure of the foaming member 550, so that the apparatus can be simplified and downsized.

[Example 2]
Next, a second example (hereinafter referred to as Example 2) of the fixer foaming device 500, which is a foam generating device having the features of the present invention, will be described.
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 2 provided in the fixing device 60 of the copying machine 100 of this embodiment when viewed from three directions. 13A is an explanatory diagram of the ZZ ′ cross section in FIGS. 13B and 13C, and FIG. 13B is an explanatory diagram of the XX ′ cross section in FIGS. 13A and 13C. FIGS. 13C are explanatory diagrams of the YY ′ cross section in FIGS. 13A and 13B. FIG. 14 shows a space through which the fixer and air pass in the vicinity of the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 in the fixer foaming device 500 according to the second embodiment (liquid fixer channel 520, air channel 530, and slit-shaped conveyance). It is perspective explanatory drawing which showed the path | route 511) by the continuous line.

As shown in FIG. 13, the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the second embodiment includes a discharge-side casing 560 in which a slit-shaped transport path 511 is formed, a supply-side casing connected to the fixing liquid transport pipe 230 and the air transport pipe 330. 570. In the supply-side casing 570, a liquid fixer supply path 520a and an air supply path 530a are formed. Further, on the surface of the supply-side casing 570 that faces the discharge-side casing 560, grooves serving as the liquid fixer manifold portion 520b and the air manifold portion 530b are formed. On the other hand, on the surface of the discharge-side casing 560 facing the supply-side casing 570, grooves serving as a plurality of liquid fixer branch channels 520c and air branch channels 530c are formed.
Then, the discharge-side casing 560 and the supply-side casing 570 are fixed as shown in FIG. 13 by bonding or the like, so that the liquid fixing liquid manifold portion 520b, the air manifold portion 530b, the liquid fixing solution branch flow path 520c, and the air branch flow path. 530c is formed.
At this time, the liquid fixer supply path 520a, the liquid fixer manifold section 520b, and the liquid fixer branch path 520c become the liquid fixer path 520, and the air supply path 530a, the air manifold section 530b, and the air branch path 530c are air. A flow path 530 is formed.
A plurality of openings where the plurality of liquid fixing liquid branch channels 520 c are connected to the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 serve as a fixing liquid supply port 521, and a plurality of air branch channels 530 c are connected to the slit-shaped conveyance path 511. The plurality of openings serve as air supply ports 531. In Example 2, the discharge-side casing 560 in which the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 is formed serves as a slit conveyance pipe.

The fixing liquid foaming device 500 according to the first embodiment has a configuration in which the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are alternately provided on the end surface of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 opposite to the foamed fixing liquid discharge port 501. . On the other hand, in the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 2, the end surface of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 opposite to the foaming fixing liquid discharge port 501 is a wall surface. The fixing liquid supply port 521 is connected to one of the two inner wall surfaces (511f and 511b) facing each other in the direction of the slit depth D in the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 at the end on the end surface side that becomes the wall surface. And the other (511b) is provided with an air supply port 531.
The fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are at positions facing each other, and the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521 is 2 [ mm]. In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing solution supply port 521 and the fixing solution supply port 521 is 180 [μm].

In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 according to the second embodiment, the liquid fixing liquid 210 and the air are simultaneously supplied from the fixing liquid supply pump 200 and the air pump 300, whereby the fixing liquid is discharged from the fixing liquid supply port 521 to supply the air. Air is discharged from the mouth 531. As a result, the liquid fixer 210 and the air are mixed in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 positioned so that the plurality of fixer supply ports 521 and the air supply port 531 face each other, and the foamy fixer F is generated. The foam-like fixing solution F generated in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 passes through the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 and is discharged from the foam-like fixing solution discharge port 501 as indicated by an arrow E in the figure.
Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the fixer foaming device 500 includes a bubble separating member 550 between the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 and the foamy fixer discharge port 501. The foaming member 550 is disposed at a position where bubbles of the foam-like fixing solution F heading from the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 toward the foam-like fixing solution discharge port 501 come into contact. Further, a force that further moves toward the foam fixing solution discharge port 501 side acts on the foam of the foam fixing solution F that has come into contact, so that two or more bubbles in contact with the foam fixing solution F are brought into contact with each other. Foam into bubbles.

  In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 2 shown in FIG. 13, the plurality of fixing liquid supply ports 521 and the air supply ports 531 are positioned so as to face each other. As shown in FIG. 15, the positions of the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are not positions facing each other, but only a half of the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521. The position may be shifted from the phase.

[Example 3]
Next, a third example (hereinafter referred to as Example 3) of the fixer foaming device 500, which is a foam generating device having the features of the present invention, will be described.
FIG. 16 is an explanatory view schematically showing a fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 3 provided in the fixing device 60 of the copying machine 100 of the present embodiment.

In the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the second embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15, the end surface of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 opposite to the foaming fixing liquid discharge port 501 is a wall surface. The fixing liquid supply port 521 is connected to one of the two inner wall surfaces (511f and 511b) facing each other in the direction of the slit depth D in the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 at the end on the end surface side that is the wall surface. And the other (511b) is provided with an air supply port 531.
Among the configurations of the second embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15, the configurations shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 are long at the end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 opposite to the foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501. The fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are also provided so as to face each other in a direction orthogonal to the scale direction.

  The fixing liquid foaming device 500 according to the third exemplary embodiment has a fixing liquid supply port facing each other in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction at the end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 opposite to the foaming fixing liquid discharge port 501. This is an example in which the shape is different from that of the second embodiment in the configuration in which 521 and the air supply port 531 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 16, in the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 3, one end in the passing direction of the slit conveying pipe 510 is a foaming fixing liquid discharge port 501 formed of a slit-shaped opening. On the other hand, the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 at the other end in the passing direction of the slit transport pipe 510 includes a plurality of gas-liquid facing supply units 502b in the direction of the slit width W.
A fixing liquid supply port 521 and an air supply port 531 are opposed to the gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b so as to face each other in the direction of the slit depth D orthogonal to the direction of the slit width W that is the long direction of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511. Is provided. The space in the gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b communicates with the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, the fixing liquid supply port 521 connects the liquid fixing liquid channel 520 and the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, and the air supply port 531 The air flow path 530 and the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 are connected.
The fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the third embodiment is different from the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the first embodiment in that the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 includes a gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b, and the other points are the same in configuration.

  The gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b includes a protruding portion provided such that an opening pitch width P1 that is a distance between adjacent fixing solution supply ports 521 along the direction of the slit width W is less than 2 [mm]. In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 3, the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521 is 110 [μm].

  In the fixing liquid foaming device 500 according to the third embodiment, the liquid fixing liquid 210 and the air are simultaneously supplied from the fixing liquid supply pump 200 and the air pump 300, whereby the fixing liquid is supplied to the space in the gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b. Fixing liquid flows from the supply port 521, and air flows from the air supply port 531. As a result, the liquid fixing solution 210 and air are mixed in the gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b provided so that the fixing solution supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 face each other, thereby generating a foamy fixing solution F. . The foam-like fixing liquid F generated in the gas-liquid facing supply unit 502b passes through the slit-like conveyance path 511 that is the internal space of the slit conveyance pipe 510, and the foam-like fixing liquid discharge port is indicated by an arrow E in the figure. 501 is discharged.

  In the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 of Example 3 shown in FIG. 16, the fixing liquid supply port 521 is provided on one side of the slit depth D in the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, and the air supply port 531 is provided on the other side. ing. The configuration in which the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 face each other in the direction of the slit depth D is not limited to this. For example, the fixing solution supply ports 521 and the air supply ports 531 are alternately arranged in one direction of the slit depth D, and the air supply ports 531 are arranged at the other side facing the fixing solution supply port 521 on one side. The fixing solution 521 may be arranged at the other position opposite to the air supply port 531 on one side.

[Experiment 2]
Similar to the fixing solution foaming device 500 of Example 3, the outline of the experimental apparatus provided with the fixing solution foaming device 500 having a configuration in which the fixing solution supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 face each other in the direction of the slit depth D. Is shown in FIG.
Then, as Experiment 2, the foam fixing solution F is generated using the apparatus shown in FIG. 17, and the foam fixing generated with and without the foam separating member 550 in the internal space of the slit conveyance tube 510 is generated. The bulk density of the liquid F and the bubble diameter were measured. Details of Experiment 2 are described below.

<Prescription of fixer>
Softener: Dicarbitol succinate (Higher Alcohol Industry Co., Ltd., reagent)
30.0 [wt%]
Diluting solvent: ion-exchanged water 65.0 [wt%]
Foam enhancer: Palm fatty acid diethanolamide (1: 1) type (Matsumoto Yushi Marpon MM)
0.50 [wt%]
Foaming agent: amine palmitate 2.5 [wt%]
Amine myristate 1.5 [wt%]
Amine stearate 0.5 [wt%]
As the fatty acid amine, a fatty acid amine was synthesized from a fatty acid and diethanolamine.

<Configuration of Fixing Liquid Foaming Device 500>
Slit length H: 15 [mm]
Slit depth D: 50 [μm]
Slit width W: 30 [mm]
Opening pitch width P1: 110 [μm]
Defoaming member pitch width P2: 110 [μm]
Slit length direction foaming member pitch length P3: 300 [μm]

As the fixing liquid supply pump 200, a micro syringe pump (manufactured by Kd Scientific, model number KDS-100) is used, and a Hamilton gas tight syringe (manufactured by ASONE Corporation, model number 2-435-04) is used to convert the liquid fixing liquid into a foam-like fixing liquid. Introduced into the conversion apparatus 500.
Further, as the air pump 300, an electromagnetic air pump (manufactured by Enomoto Micropump Manufacture, model number MV-10H) was used. A mass flow meter (manufactured by Yamatake Corporation, model number MQV0002) was installed in the air conveyance tube 330 as the gas flow rate control means 350.
In the configuration in which the foaming member 550 is provided, the cylindrical foaming member 550 having a diameter of 30 [μm] is slit length so that the foaming member pitch width P2 is 110 [μm] in the slit width W direction. Three stages are arranged in the H direction. The slit length direction foaming member pitch length P3, which is the distance in the slit length H direction, of the foaming members 550 arranged in three stages in the slit length H direction is 300 [μm].

<Method for Measuring Bulk Density of Foam Fixing Solution>
As shown by an arrow E in FIG. 17, an appropriate amount (about 5 [ml]) of the foam-like fixer F discharged from the foam-like fixer outlet 501 is collected, and the length is about 15 [mm] using a syringe. Were introduced into a silicon tube (outer diameter 5 [mm], inner diameter 3 [mm] Laboran Silicon Tube manufactured by AS ONE Corporation), and their weight was measured with an electronic balance. After the internal foam was washed away with ethanol, the weight of only the silicon tube was measured, and the bulk density was calculated from the mass difference between the two and the volume in the tube. And the same operation | work was enforced 3 times and those average values were made into the measured value.
<Method for measuring bubble diameter>
Place the generated foam fixer F on the preparation and use an optical microscope (digital microscope VHX-100 Keyence Co., Ltd.) to image the preparation with the foam fixer F from the back side. The bubble diameter was measured. Measurement was performed 20 times for each sample, and the average value thereof was taken as the measured value.

表２に示すように、気液流量比の設定により、嵩密度０．０６［ｇ／ｃｍ^３］以下のドライフォーム状の泡状定着液Ｆが作成可能であり、泡径も１００［μｍ］程度の小径の泡の生成が達成出来ていることが分かる。また、スリット搬送管５１０の内部空間（スリット状搬送路５１１）に分泡部材５５０を配置することにより、泡の小径化を図ることができることが確認できた。 The measurement results of Experiment 2 are shown in Table 2.

As shown in Table 2, by setting the gas-liquid flow rate ratio, it is possible to create a dry-foam-like foam fixing solution F having a bulk density of 0.06 [g / cm ³ ] or less, and the foam diameter is 100 [μm]. It turns out that the generation | occurrence | production of the bubble of a small diameter is achieved. Moreover, it has confirmed that the bubble diameter can be reduced by arrange | positioning the foam separation member 550 in the internal space (slit-shaped conveyance path 511) of the slit conveyance pipe | tube 510. FIG.

[Experiment 3]
Similar to the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of the first embodiment, the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 is provided with the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 alternately in the slit width W direction. An outline of an experimental apparatus provided with the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 is shown in FIG.
Then, as Experiment 3, the foam fixing solution F is generated using the apparatus shown in FIG. 18, and the foam fixing generated with and without the foam separating member 550 in the internal space of the slit conveyance tube 510 is generated. The bulk density of the liquid F and the bubble diameter were measured. The execution method of Experiment 3 is the same as that of Experiment 2.

表３に示すように、気液流量比の設定により、嵩密度０．０６［ｇ／ｃｍ^３］以下のドライフォーム状の泡状定着液Ｆが作成可能であり、泡径も５０［μｍ］程度の小径の泡の生成が達成出来ていることが分かる。また、スリット搬送管５１０の内部空間（スリット状搬送路５１１）に分泡部材５５０を配置することにより、泡の小径化を図ることができることが確認できた。 The measurement results of Experiment 3 are shown in Table 3.

As shown in Table 3, by setting the gas-liquid flow rate ratio, it is possible to produce a foam-like fixer F in the form of dry foam having a bulk density of 0.06 [g / cm ³ ] or less, and the foam diameter is also 50 [μm] It turns out that the generation | occurrence | production of the bubble of a small diameter is achieved. Moreover, it has confirmed that the bubble diameter can be reduced by arrange | positioning the foam separation member 550 in the internal space (slit-shaped conveyance path 511) of the slit conveyance pipe | tube 510. FIG.

The liquid fixing solution 210 of the fixing device 60 is foamed and used as a foamy fixing solution F, and contains a softening agent, a foaming agent, a foaming agent, a diluent, and the like. If such a liquid fixer 210 is stored for a long time in a state where it can be used as a fixer, the fixer changes over time due to hydrolysis and the like, and the desired fixability and desired foamability are obtained. May not be possible.
When such a fixer is used, among the components constituting the fixer, components that may change over time when mixed are contained in a plurality of different fixer constituent liquids, individually stored, and fixed. It is desirable to mix when used as a liquid.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory view schematically showing a fixing device 60 that stores a plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids individually and mixes a plurality of fixing solution constituent solutions and uses them as a fixing solution immediately before generating a foamy fixing solution F. It is.
The fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 19 includes, as fixing solution supply means, a first fixing solution bottle 220a, a second fixing solution bottle 220b, a first fixing solution supply pump 200a, a second fixing solution supply pump 200b, and a fixing device. A liquid mixing unit 700 is provided. The first fixer bottle 220a and the second fixer bottle 220b are independent of the first fixer constituent liquid 210a and the second fixer constituent liquid 210b, which are a plurality of fixer constituent liquids constituting the liquid fixer 210, respectively. And a plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquid storage sections. By driving the first fixer supply pump 200a, the first fixer constituent liquid 210a in the first fixer bottle 220a is pumped through the first fixer transport pipe 230a and the fixer mixing unit 700 To be supplied. Further, by driving the second fixing liquid supply pump 200b, the second fixing liquid constituting liquid 210b in the second fixing liquid bottle 220b is pumped through the second fixing liquid transport pipe 230b and supplied to the fixing liquid mixing unit 700. Is done. In the fixing device 60 having such a configuration, the two fixing liquid constituent liquids (in the fixing liquid mixing unit 700) are driven by simultaneously driving the first fixing liquid supply pump 200a and the second fixing liquid supply pump 200b. 210a and 210b) are mixed to produce a liquid fixer 210. The generated liquid fixer 210 is immediately supplied to the fixer foaming device 500, so that the two fixer constituent liquids can be mixed immediately before foaming.

Next, the application roller 61 which is a fixing liquid application unit provided in the fixing device 60 will be described.
FIG. 20 is a perspective explanatory view of the application roller 61 and the film thickness regulating blade 63 provided in the fixing device 60 as seen from the direction of the arrow I in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, a fixing liquid foaming device 500 is disposed above the application roller 61. Fixing liquid applying means for applying the liquid F to a toner particle layer that forms an unfixed toner image on the transfer paper P. The fixing device 60 includes a pressure roller 62 at a position facing the application roller 61, and the application roller on the upstream side in the surface movement direction of the application roller 61 with respect to the application position C where the application roller 61 and the pressure roller 62 face each other. A film thickness regulating blade 63 that is close to or in pressure contact with the surface of 61 is provided. The film thickness regulating blade 63 of the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment is disposed close to the surface of the application roller 61, and the gap width with the application roller 61 can be controlled as will be described in detail later. The film thickness regulating blade 63 controls the film thickness of the foamy fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61.

On the surface of the coating roller 61 at the coating position C facing the transfer paper P, there is a film of the foam-like fixing liquid F formed through the portion facing the film thickness regulating blade 63.
In the case where the fixing liquid is applied to the unfixed toner image T, the fixing liquid penetrates the unfixed toner image depending on the fixing environment such as the thickness of the toner layer on the recording medium such as the transfer paper P, the type of the recording medium, and the environmental temperature. Easy to do.
On the other hand, when the width of the fixing nip formed by the pressure roller 62 coming into pressure contact with the application roller 61 and the conveyance speed of the recording medium are constant, the time for the recording medium to pass through the transfer nip is constant. . The toner particles forming the toner image on the recording medium are softened while passing through the fixing nip, and are fixed on the recording medium by being pressurized, so that the toner particles are sufficiently softened while passing through the fixing nip. There is a need.
At this time, by increasing the film thickness of the fixing solution applied to the toner image on the recording medium, the time for the fixing solution to penetrate the toner particles can be shortened. Unnecessary consumption of fixer. Furthermore, even if the fixing solution is foamy and has a low bulk density, if it is applied excessively, toner particles will be washed away by the excessive fixing solution, causing image quality degradation, and fixing solution responsiveness due to a longer drying time of the fixing solution. May cause problems. For this reason, if the fixing conditions allow the fixing liquid to easily penetrate into the toner particles, the film thickness of the foam-like fixing liquid F on the surface of the coating roller 61 is controlled to be thin, and the fixing conditions are such that the fixing liquid does not easily penetrate. For example, it is desirable to control so that the film thickness of the foam-like fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61 is increased.
In the fixing device 60 of the embodiment, the gap width between the film thickness regulating blade 63 and the application roller 61 can be controlled, and the film thickness of the foam-like fixing liquid F on the surface of the application roller 61 can be controlled. The film thickness of the suitable foamy fixing solution F can be obtained. Therefore, the film thickness regulating blade 63 forms a film of the foam-like fixing solution F having a film thickness that makes the amount of the fixing solution optimized with respect to the fixing solution penetration time of the layer thickness of the unfixed toner on the transfer paper P. .

  As in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the foamy fixing solution F is applied to the toner layer on the transfer paper P by the application roller 61, thereby preventing the toner particles from being offset on the surface of the application roller 61. Even if the film thickness of the foam-like fixing solution F is applied to the transfer paper P in a state where it is thicker than the resin fine particle layer, the bulk density of the foam-like fixing solution F is extremely low. When the contained bubbles break, it is possible to give a small amount to the resin fine particle layer of the fixing solution containing the softening agent. The foam-like fixer F containing the desired microbubbles generated by the fixer-foaming device 500 is provided between the film-thickness regulating blade 63 and the coating roller 61 from the foam-like fixer outlet 501 or the film thickness. It is dropped on the surface of the application roller 61 on the upstream side in the surface movement direction of the application roller 61 from the position facing the regulation blade 63.

The pressure roller 62 of the fixing device 60 includes an elastic layer, and an elastic porous body (hereinafter referred to as a sponge) is used as the elastic layer, so that the nip width can be easily changed by changing the applied pressure. Become. An elastic rubber is also suitable instead of the sponge, but the sponge can be deformed with a weaker force than the elastic rubber, and a long nip width can be secured without excessively increasing the pressure applied to the application roller 61. . The fixer contains a softening agent that softens or swells the resin component of the toner. For this reason, in the unlikely event that the fixing liquid adheres to the sponge pressure roller 62, there is a possibility that problems such as softening of the sponge material may occur, so the resin material of the sponge material does not show softening or swelling by the softening agent. Material is desirable.
In order to prevent problems such as softening of the sponge material, the pressure roller 62 may be configured such that the surface of the sponge roller is covered with a flexible film. Even if the sponge material is a material that deteriorates with a softening agent, the pressure roller 62 made of the sponge material can be prevented from being deteriorated by covering the sponge material with a flexible film that does not soften or swell with the softening agent. . As the sponge material, for example, a porous body of resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyamide is suitable. Further, as the flexible film covering the sponge, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, tetrafluoroethylene / verfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA), and the like are suitable.

  In the configuration in which the application roller 61 and the pressure roller 62 of the fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 5 are always in contact, the foamy fixing liquid F on the surface of the application roller 61 is added when the transfer paper P is not being conveyed. There is a risk of adhering to and fouling the pressure roller 62. In order to prevent such a problem, a paper leading edge detecting means (not shown) for detecting the leading edge of the transfer paper P transported toward the fixing device 60 is provided with a transporting direction of the transfer paper P with respect to the fixing device 60. Provided on the upstream side, foam fixing on the surface of the application roller 61 so that the fixing liquid is applied only from the front end of the transfer paper P to the rear in accordance with a paper front end detection signal generated by the paper front end detection means. It is desirable to form liquid F.

  Further, in the fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 5, the driving roller (not shown) separates the application roller 61 and the sponge pressure roller 62 during standby, and responds to the paper front end detection signal of the paper front end detection means only during application. The application roller 61 and the pressure roller 62 may be brought into contact with each other. In such a configuration, it is preferable that the trailing edge of the transfer paper P is also detected by the paper leading edge detection means, and the application roller 61 and the pressure roller 62 are controlled to be separated according to the paper trailing edge detection signal.

Further, the film thickness of the foamy fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61 is controlled by adjusting the gap width between the surface of the application roller 61 and the surface of the application roller 61 provided with a gap.
FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram showing a state of film thickness control of the foamy fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61 using the film thickness regulating blade 63. FIG. 21A is an explanatory diagram when the gap width with the film thickness regulating blade 63 is narrowed, and FIG. 21B is an explanatory diagram when the gap width with the film thickness regulating blade 63 is widened. is there.
When thinning the foam-like fixing liquid film Fd on the surface of the coating roller 61 after passing through the portion facing the film thickness regulating blade 63, as shown in FIG. When the fixing liquid film Fd is thickened, the gap width is increased as shown in FIG. The gap width is controlled by using a blade rotation shaft 63a having a drive (not shown) at the end of the film thickness regulating blade 63, and the penetration of the foam-like fixing liquid F with respect to the thickness of the toner layer of the unfixed toner image on the transfer paper P. Control is performed so as to obtain an optimum film thickness for adjusting the time.

  In the configuration in which the film thickness regulating blade 63 is controlled by the fixing device 60 so that the film thickness of the foam-like fixing liquid F corresponds to the thickness of the toner layer of the unfixed toner image T, the image used in the optical writing device 2 is used. Based on the information, the gap width of the film thickness regulating blade 63 is controlled. For example, when the toner image on the transfer paper P to which the foamy fixing liquid F is applied is a full-color image, the thickness of the toner layer of the unfixed toner image T is increased. Control to widen the gap width. On the other hand, in the case of a black single-color image, the thickness of the toner layer of the unfixed toner image T is reduced, so that the gap width of the film thickness regulating blade 63 is controlled to be narrowed.

As the fixing solution supply pump 200 (the fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 19, the first fixing solution supply pump 200a and the second fixing solution supply pump 200b) provided in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, a gear pump, a bellows pump, or the like. Although applicable, a tube pump is desirable. If there is a vibration mechanism or a rotation mechanism in the path through which the fixing liquid passes, such as a gear pump, the liquid bubbles in the pump, the liquid may be compressible, and the conveyance capability may be reduced. In addition, there is a possibility that the parts of the mechanism contaminate the fixing liquid, and conversely the fixing liquid deteriorates the parts of the mechanism. On the other hand, since the tube pump is a mechanism that pushes out the liquid in the tube while deforming the tube, the only member in contact with the fixing liquid is the tube. By using a liquid-resistant member as the tube, There is no contamination or deterioration of pump system parts. In addition, since the conveying force is applied to the liquid passing through the inside simply by deforming the tube, the fixing liquid does not foam, and it is possible to prevent the conveyance capacity from being lowered due to the foaming.
The fixing liquid supply pump 200 is not limited to the above-described various pumps, and may be any pump that has an output capable of applying a pressure necessary for conveying the fixing liquid. Further, in order to prevent internal pressure and flow rate pulsation due to compression, a pump with less pulsating flow equipped with a pressure sensor, a pulse damper and the like is suitable.

The fixing device 60 of the present embodiment uses a blade-like film thickness regulating blade 63 as a foam-like fixing liquid film thickness regulating member. The foam fixing solution film thickness regulating member is not limited to a blade-like member, and the thickness of the foam fixing solution F on the surface of the application roller 61 may be controlled by a wire bar.
FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which a wire bar 64 is used as a foam-like fixing liquid film thickness regulating member instead of the film thickness regulating blade 63 described with reference to FIG. Even in the configuration using the wire bar 64, similarly to the configuration using the film thickness regulating blade 63 described with reference to FIG. 21, the thickness of the foam-like fixing liquid F on the surface of the application roller 61 is controlled by the wire bar 64, A foam-like fixing liquid film Fd is formed to have a desired thickness.
The foamy fixing solution F of the fixing device 60 is generated by the above-described fixing solution foaming device 500 and is dropped between the wire bar 64 for film control and the application roller 61 from the foamed fixing solution discharge port 501. By using the wire bar 64 as the foam-like fixing liquid film thickness regulating member, the uniformity of the foam-like fixing liquid film Fd in the axial direction on the surface of the application roller 61 is improved as compared with the configuration using the blade.

[Modification]
Next, a modified example in which the configuration for applying the foamy fixing solution F to the transfer paper P is different from the fixing device 60 of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5 will be described.
FIG. 23 is a schematic explanatory view of a fixing device 60 according to a modification.
The fixing device 60 according to the modified example uses a coating belt 65 as a fixing solution application member instead of the application roller 61 of the fixing device 60 of the above-described embodiment, and forms a foamy fixing solution F on the unfixed toner image T on the transfer paper P. Is applied. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 23, the fixing device 60 according to the modification includes a pressure belt 66 instead of the pressure roller 62 of the fixing device 60 according to the embodiment.
Also in the fixing device 60 of the modified example, a foamy fixing solution F having a desired foam diameter is supplied onto the coating belt 65 from the foamed fixing solution discharge port 501 of the fixing solution foaming device 500 similar to that described above. The film thickness of the foam-like fixing solution F on the coating belt 65 is controlled by passing the foam-like fixing solution F between the film thickness regulating blade 63 whose gap width is adjusted and the coating belt 65. As the coating belt 65, for example, a member such as a seamless nickel belt or a seamless PET film coated with a release fluororesin such as PFA is used.
Thus, in the configuration using the application belt 65, the nip width can be easily increased.

Further, the configuration in which the belt member is used for the configuration in which the foam-like fixing liquid F is applied to the transfer paper P is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 23, and as shown in FIG. 24, the pressure side is not a belt but a roller. A configuration in which the belt 65 and the pressure roller 62 are combined may be used. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 25, the application side may be the application roller 61 and the pressure side may be the pressure belt 66.
As in the configuration described with reference to FIGS. 23, 24, and 25, it is possible to easily widen the fixing nip width by forming a belt configuration on at least one of the application side and the pressure side. As a result, there is no need to apply excessive force between the members forming the fixing nip, and the transfer paper P required to penetrate the fixing liquid has the same time to pass through the nip. It is possible to increase the conveyance speed of the toner, and it is possible to perform high-speed fixing.

Next, the liquid formulation of the fixing solution will be described.
As described above, the foam-like fixing solution F has a configuration in which bubbles are contained in the fixing solution containing the softening agent. The fixing solution preferably contains a foaming agent and a foam-increasing agent in order to stably contain bubbles when foamed, and to form a foam that forms a bubble layer having a uniform bubble size as much as possible. Moreover, it is desirable to contain a thickener since the bubbles are more stably dispersed in the liquid when the viscosity is higher to some extent.
As the foaming agent, an anionic surfactant, particularly a fatty acid salt is desirable. Since the fatty acid salt has surface activity, it lowers the surface tension of the fixer containing water, making it easier to foam the fixer, and the fatty acid salt has a layered lamellar structure on the foam surface. It is stronger than the surfactants and the foam stability is extremely high. In order to make the foaming property of the fatty acid salt effective, it is desirable that the fixing solution contains water. As the fatty acid, a saturated fatty acid resistant to oxidation is desirable from the viewpoint of long-term stability in the air. However, the presence of some unsaturated fatty acid salt in the fixing solution containing saturated fatty acid salt helps the water to dissolve and disperse the fatty acid salt in water, and is excellent at low temperatures from 5 [° C] to 15 [° C]. It is possible to have stable foaming in a wide environmental temperature range, and to prevent separation of fatty acid salts in the fixing solution during long-term standing of the fixing solution.

  Further, as the fatty acid used in the saturated fatty acid salt, saturated fatty acids having 12, 14, 16, and 18 carbon atoms, specifically lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid are suitable. A saturated fatty acid salt having 11 or less carbon atoms has a large odor and is not suitable for an image forming apparatus used in offices and homes using the fixing solution. In addition, saturated fatty acid salts having 19 or more carbon atoms are less soluble in water and significantly lower the stability of the fixing solution. Saturated fatty acid salts with these saturated fatty acids are used alone or in combination as a foaming agent.

  As the fatty acid salt used for the foaming agent, an unsaturated fatty acid salt may be used, and an unsaturated fatty acid having 18 carbon atoms and 1 to 3 double bonds is desirable. Specifically, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid are suitable. Since the reactivity is strong when the double bond is 4 or more, the stability of the fixing solution is poor. These unsaturated fatty acid salts with unsaturated saturated fatty acids are used alone or in combination as a foaming agent. Moreover, you may mix and use the said saturated fatty acid salt and unsaturated fatty acid salt as a foaming agent.

  Further, when the saturated fatty acid salt or the unsaturated fatty acid salt is used as a foaming agent for the fixing solution in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, it is preferably a sodium salt, potassium salt or amine salt. It is an important factor as a commercial value of the fixing device that the fixing device can be quickly fixed after the power is turned on. In order to make it possible to fix in the fixing device, it is essential that the fixing solution is in the form of a suitable foam. It can be made in a short time. In particular, by using an amine salt, it is possible to easily produce a foam-like fixing solution by foaming in a short time compared to other foaming agents when shear force is applied to the fixing solution. It is possible to create a fixable state in a short time after powering on the apparatus.

The softening agent that is softened by dissolving or swelling the resin contains an aliphatic ester. This aliphatic ester is excellent in solubility or swelling property that dissolves or swells at least a part of the resin contained in the toner or the like.
Further, the toner is fixed to the recording medium in a device that is frequently used in a sealed environment, and the softener remains in the toner even after the toner is fixed to the recording medium. Preferably does not involve the generation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and unpleasant odors. That is, the softener preferably does not contain volatile organic compounds (VOC) and substances that cause unpleasant odors. Aliphatic esters have a high boiling point and low volatility and have no irritating odor as compared to generally used organic solvents (toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, ethyl acetate, etc.).
In addition, as a practical odor measurement scale that can measure odor in office environments with high accuracy, the odor index (10 × log {substance odor is felt by the three-point comparison odor bag method, which is a sensory measurement) The dilution factor of the substance until it disappears}) can be used as an indicator of odor. The odor index of the aliphatic ester contained in the softener is preferably 10 or less. In this case, an unpleasant odor is not felt in a normal office environment. Furthermore, it is preferable that not only the softening agent but also other liquid agents contained in the fixing solution have no unpleasant odor and irritating odor.

  In the fixing solution used in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the aliphatic ester preferably contains a saturated aliphatic ester. When the aliphatic ester contains a saturated aliphatic ester, the storage stability (resistance to oxidation, hydrolysis, etc.) of the softener can be improved. Also, many saturated aliphatic esters can dissolve or swell the resin contained in the toner within 1 second. Furthermore, saturated aliphatic esters can reduce the tackiness of the toner provided on the recording medium. This is considered to be because the saturated aliphatic ester forms an oil film on the surface of the dissolved or swollen toner.

Therefore, in the fixing solution of the present invention, preferably, the saturated aliphatic ester is
R1COOR2
R1 is an alkyl group having 11 to 14 carbon atoms, and R2 is a linear or branched alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms. If the number of carbon atoms in R1 and R2 is less than the desired range, odor is generated, and if it is greater than the desired range, the resin softening ability is lowered.
That is, the saturated aliphatic ester includes a compound represented by the general formula R1COOR2, R1 is an alkyl group having 11 to 14 carbon atoms, and R2 is a linear type having 1 to 6 carbon atoms Alternatively, in the case of a branched alkyl group, the solubility or swelling property with respect to the resin contained in the toner can be improved. Moreover, the odor index of the said compound is 10 or less, and the said compound does not have an unpleasant odor and an irritating odor.

  Examples of the aliphatic monocarboxylic acid ester which is the above compound include ethyl laurate, hexyl laurate, ethyl tridecylate, isopropyl tridecylate, ethyl myristate, isopropyl myristate, and the like. Many of these aliphatic monocarboxylic acid esters which are the above compounds are soluble in oily solvents, but not in water. Therefore, for most of the aliphatic monocarboxylic acid esters which are the above-mentioned compounds, in an aqueous solvent, glycols are contained in the fixing solution as a dissolution aid and are in the form of a solution or a microemulsion.

In the fixing solution of the present invention, it is preferable that the aliphatic ester includes an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester. When the aliphatic ester contains an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester, the resin contained in the toner can be dissolved or swollen in a shorter time. For example, in high-speed printing of about 60 [ppm], it is desirable that the time until the fixing liquid is applied to the unfixed toner on the recording medium and the toner is fixed on the recording medium is within 1 second. When the aliphatic ester contains an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester, the time required for fixing the toner to the recording medium by applying the fixing solution to the unfixed toner on the recording medium is within 0.1 seconds. It becomes possible to. Furthermore, since the resin contained in the toner can be dissolved or swollen by adding a smaller amount of the softening agent, the content of the softening agent contained in the fixing liquid can be reduced.
Therefore, in the fixing solution of the present invention, preferably, the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester is
R3 (COOR4) ₂
In which R3 is an alkylene group having 3 to 8 carbon atoms, and R4 is a linear or branched alkyl group having 3 to 5 carbon atoms. If the number of carbon atoms in R3 and R4 is less than the desired range, odor is generated, and if it is greater than the desired range, the resin softening ability decreases.
That is, the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester includes a compound represented by the general formula R3 (COOR4) ₂ , R3 is an alkylene group having 3 to 8 carbon atoms, and R4 has 3 to 5 carbon atoms. In the case of the following linear or branched alkyl group, the solubility or swelling property with respect to the resin contained in the toner can be improved. Moreover, the odor index of the said compound is 10 or less, and the said compound does not have an unpleasant odor and an irritating odor.
Examples of the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid ester as the above compound include 2-ethylhexyl succinate, dibutyl adipate, diisobutyl adipate, diisopropyl adipate, diisodecyl adipate, diethyl sebacate, dibutyl sebacate and the like. Many of these aliphatic dicarboxylic acid esters which are the above compounds are soluble in oily solvents, but not in water. Therefore, in an aqueous solvent, glycols are contained in the fixing solution as a dissolution aid and are in the form of a solution or microemulsion.

Furthermore, in the fixing solution used in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the aliphatic ester preferably contains an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid dialkoxyalkyl. When the aliphatic ester contains an aliphatic dicarboxylate dialkoxyalkyl, the fixability of the toner to the recording medium can be improved.
In the fixing solution used in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the dialkoxyalkyl aliphatic dicarboxylate is preferably
R5 (COOR6-O-R7) ₂
Wherein R 5 is an alkylene group having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, R 6 is an alkylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, and R 7 is 1 carbon atom. It is an alkyl group of 4 or less. If the number of carbon atoms in R5, R6, and R7 is less than the desired range, odor is generated, and if it is greater than the desired range, the resin softening ability decreases.
That is, the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid dialkoxyalkyl is R5 (COOR6-O-R7) _2.
Wherein R 5 is an alkylene group having 2 to 8 carbon atoms, R 6 is an alkylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, and R 7 is 1 carbon atom. When the alkyl group is 4 or less, solubility or swelling with respect to the resin contained in the toner can be improved. Moreover, the odor index of the said compound is 10 or less, and the said compound does not have an unpleasant odor and an irritating odor.
Examples of the aliphatic dicarboxylate dialkoxyalkyl which is the above compound include diethoxyethyl succinate, dibutoxyethyl succinate, diethoxyethyl adipate, dibutoxyethyl adipate, diethoxyethyl sebacate and the like. In an aqueous solvent, these aliphatic dicarboxylic acid dialkoxyalkyls are contained in the fixing solution as a solubilizing agent, and dissolved or microemulsified.

  Although not fatty acid esters, citrate esters, ethylene carbonate, and propylene carbonate are also suitable as softening or swelling agents.

  By the way, in the foam-like fixing solution, if the foam-like fixing solution breaks before reaching the application position, a problem similar to the configuration in which the liquid fixing solution is applied occurs. Therefore, there is a demand for a foam having excellent foam stability so that the generated foam-like fixing solution can reach the application position in the form of foam. For this reason, it is desirable to contain a fatty acid alkanolamide (1: 1) type in the fixing solution. Fatty acid alkanolamides include (1: 1) type and (1: 2) type, but it was found that (1: 1) type is suitable for foam stability in the present invention.

The fixing solution contains a softening agent, and this softening agent generally has a strong antifoaming action. For this reason, when the liquid fixing solution is used as the foamy fixing solution as in the fixing device of the present embodiment, the higher the concentration of the softening agent in the fixing solution, the worse the foaming property and foam stability of the fixing solution. Therefore, there is a possibility that foaming is difficult to occur or the foam-like fixing solution is easily broken. If it is difficult to foam, it is impossible to obtain a foam fixing solution having a low bulk density. Even if a foam fixing solution having a desired bulk density is obtained, if the foam fixing solution easily breaks, it is This causes the same problem as the configuration in which the liquid fixer is applied.
In addition, as a foaming agent, an anionic surfactant can achieve excellent foaming properties and foam stability, and is excellent as a foaming agent. Among anionic surfactants, fatty acid salts are most excellent in foam stability and are most suitable as a foaming agent for fixing solutions.
Here, foam stability refers to the property that the fixing solution in the form of foam is difficult to become liquid. It is desirable that the foamy fixing solution to be applied to the unfixed toner in the fixing device of the present embodiment has a foam stability that does not defoam even if left for 1 minute in a foam state and can maintain the foam state. .

In order to solve the problem of deterioration of foamability and foam stability when the softener concentration in the fixing solution is increased, the present inventors have made various prototypes based on the type and concentration of the anionic surfactant. It was. Further, a prototype was made by paying attention to a technique called “super fat” described in Non-Patent Document 1, that is, a free fatty acid contained in a solid detergent (soap).
Here, to outline the technology called super fat, it is a method of adding a small amount of free fatty acids that are difficult to oxidize to increase the excess fat and oil, leaving a small amount of fat and oil that is not saponified, for example, to enhance the moisturizing action, etc. It is said to be effective. In Non-Patent Document 1, it is known that when a very small amount of fatty acid is added to a soap water-based system, the foaming performance is improved and the foam quality becomes more creamy, which is called super fat soap. It is described. Similar to this super fat, an attempt was made to foam by adding a very small amount of fatty acid to a fixing solution having a softening agent, but both foamability and foam stability were poor.

On the other hand, the present inventors use a fatty acid salt having 12 to 18 carbon atoms as a foaming agent, and further contain a fatty acid having 12 to 18 carbon atoms in the fixing solution, thereby increasing the concentration of the softening agent. The present inventors have found that it is possible to provide a foamy fixing solution that does not deteriorate the foamability of the fixing solution.
In the fixing solution containing a softening agent, compared with the case where water is simply foamed, the number of carbon atoms of the fatty acid salt is excellent in foaming property from 12 to 18. Specifically, laurate (12 carbon atoms), myristate (14 carbon atoms), palmitate (16 carbon atoms), and stearate (18 carbon atoms) are suitable. Further, pentadecylic acid (carbon number 15), margaric acid (carbon number 17), and the like are also suitable.

  Here, the action of the fatty acid and the softening agent will be described. The softening agent has an ester group in the chemical structure, and the fatty acid has a carbonyl group in the chemical structure. From this point, the ester group of the softener and the carbonyl group of the fatty acid show an electrical action in the fixing solution system, and this causes a binding action between molecules, and the fixing solution is characterized by foaming properties and Improves foam stability.

  Even in the range of 12 to 18 carbon atoms, the smaller the number of carbons, the better the foaming property, but the foam stability is poor, and the larger the number of carbons, the less foaming properties, but the foam stability is extremely excellent. ing. For this reason, a single fatty acid salt may be contained in the fixing solution, but it is more excellent to mix and contain a fatty acid salt having 12 to 18 carbon atoms. As a mixing ratio, it is desirable to contain the most myristic acid salt (14 carbon atoms) and to lower the ratio of lauric acid salt (12 carbon atoms) and stearic acid salt. More specific fatty acid salt ratios are 0: 6: 3: 1, 1: 5: 3: 1, 1: 4 by weight ratio of laurate: myristate: palmitate: stearate. : 4: 1 is suitable.

  By the way, by containing the fatty acid having the same carbon number as the fatty acid salt as the foaming agent in the fixing solution, the foaming property and foam stability can be maintained even when the concentration of the softening agent is increased. If the concentration of the softening agent is less than 10 [wt%], there is no problem in foaming properties even if no fatty acid is contained. However, when the concentration of the softening agent is 10 [wt%] or more, particularly when the concentration of the softening agent is 30 [wt%] or more, only the fatty acid salt is hardly foamed and the foamability is deteriorated. In the fixing solution in which the concentration of the softening agent is 30 [wt%], when the fatty acid having the same carbon number as the fatty acid salt is contained, the foaming property can be maintained.

  However, if the fatty acid content is too high, the ratio of the fatty acid salt, which is a foaming agent, decreases, and the foamability deteriorates again. Therefore, it is better to make the number of moles of fatty acid salt the same as or larger than the number of moles of fatty acid. Or when the ratio of a fatty acid and a fatty acid salt is in the range of 5: 5 to 1: 9, the foamability is excellent.

  In addition to the combination of fatty acid and fatty acid salt having the same carbon number, for example, the fatty acid salt is amine myristate, the fatty acid is stearic acid, the fatty acid salt is potassium palmitate, and the fatty acid is stearic acid. Different combinations in the range of 12 to 18 may be used. In short, by containing a fatty acid having 12 to 18 carbon atoms in the fixing solution, even if a high-concentration softening agent is contained, the foamability is not deteriorated, the foam stability is excellent, and the bulk density is extremely high. Allows low foaming.

  In addition, even if the fixing solution contains a fatty acid having 12 to 18 carbon atoms using other anionic surfactants such as alkyl ether sulfate (AES) as a foaming agent, the foaming property due to an increase in the concentration of the softener It turns out that it is effective in preventing it from getting worse. However, the best combination is a combination with a fatty acid salt.

  Furthermore, fatty acid sodium, fatty acid potassium, and fatty acid amine are suitable as the fatty acid salt. Furthermore, the most suitable fatty acid amine is specifically prepared by heating water, adding a fatty acid, and then adding triethanolamine, followed by heating and stirring for a certain period of time for a saponification reaction. be able to. At this time, by increasing the molar ratio of fatty acid to triethanolamine in the range of 1: 0.5 to 1: 0.9 and the fatty acid ratio, unreacted fatty acid remains after saponification, and the fixing solution Fatty acid and fatty acid amine can be mixed therein. The same is possible with sodium and potassium salts.

  By the way, when the concentration of the softening agent in the fixing solution increases, the softening agent becomes difficult to dissolve in water as a dilution solvent. Therefore, as a result of investigation, by adding polyhydric alcohols, specifically ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,3 butylene glycol, glycerin, etc., in the fixing solution, the softener can be dissolved even at a high concentration. And it was found that the foaming property by the fatty acid salt was not deteriorated, but rather the foaming property was improved. The content of the polyhydric alcohol is suitably in the range of 1 [wt%] to 30 [wt%]. If the content is more than 30 [wt%], the foamability is rather deteriorated, which is not suitable.

  The fine particles containing the resin to be fixed are not limited to toner, and any fine particles containing resin may be used. For example, resin-containing fine particles containing a conductive member may be used. Further, the recording medium is not limited to transfer paper, and may be any of metal, resin, ceramics and the like. However, it is desirable that the fixer application target is permeable to the fixer, and if the substrate to which the fixer is to be applied is not liquid permeable, the fixer application target having a liquid permeable layer on the substrate is preferable. The form in the case where the fixing liquid application target is a recording medium is not limited to a sheet shape, and may be a three-dimensional object having a flat surface and a curved surface. For example, the present invention can also be applied to applications in which transparent resin fine particles are uniformly fixed to an object to which a fixing solution is applied such as paper and the paper surface is protected (so-called varnish coating).

  Among the fine particles containing the resin, the toner used in the electrophotographic process has the highest fixing effect in combination with the fixing solution of the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment. The toner contains a colorant, a charge control agent, and a resin such as a binder resin and a release agent. The resin contained in the toner is not particularly limited. Examples of suitable binder resins include polystyrene resins, styrene-acrylic copolymer resins, polyester resins, and the like, and examples of the release agent include carbanau wax and polyethylene. And wax components. The toner may contain a known colorant, charge control agent, fluidity-imparting agent, external additive and the like in addition to the binder resin. Further, the toner is preferably subjected to a water repellency treatment by fixing hydrophobic fine particles such as hydrophobic silica having a methyl group and hydrophobic titanium oxide to the surface of the toner particles. Among the fixing liquid application targets, the recording medium is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include paper, cloth, and a plastic film such as an OHP sheet having a liquid permeable layer. The oiliness in the present invention means the property that the solubility in water at room temperature (20 [° C.]) is 0.1 [wt%] or less.

  Further, it is preferable that the foamed fixing solution has sufficient affinity for the water-repellent treated toner particles. Here, affinity means the degree of extended wetting of the liquid with respect to the surface of the solid when the liquid comes into contact with the solid. That is, it is preferable that the foamed fixing solution exhibits sufficient wettability with respect to the water-repellent treated toner. The surface of the toner subjected to water repellency treatment with hydrophobic fine particles such as hydrophobic silica and hydrophobic titanium oxide is covered with methyl groups present on the surface of hydrophobic silica and hydrophobic titanium oxide, and is approximately 20 [mN / M] surface energy. Actually, since the entire surface of the water-repellent treated toner is not completely covered with hydrophobic fine particles, the surface energy of the water-repellent treated toner is approximately 20 to 30 [mN / m]. It is guessed. Therefore, in order to have an affinity for the water-repellent toner (having sufficient wettability), the surface tension of the foamed fixing solution is preferably 20 to 30 [mN / m].

When using an aqueous solvent, it is preferable to add a surfactant to make the surface tension 20-30 [mN / m]. In the case of an aqueous solvent, it is desirable to contain a unit price or a polyhydric alcohol. These materials have the advantage of increasing the stability of bubbles in the foam-like fixing solution and making it difficult to break the bubbles. For example, monohydric alcohols such as cetanol, and polyhydric alcohols such as glycerin, propylene glycol, and 1,3 butylene glycol are desirable. Further, containing these unit price or polyhydric alcohols has an effect of preventing curling of a medium such as paper.
It is also desirable to form an O / W emulsion or a W / O emulsion containing an oil component in order to improve permeability and prevent curling of recording media such as paper in the fixing solution. As the agent, sorbitan fatty acid esters such as sorbitan monooleate, sorbitan monosterate and sorbitan sesquioleate, sucrose esters such as sucrose laurate and sucrose stearate are desirable.

  As a method for dissolving the softener or dispersing the microemulsion in the fixing solution, for example, mechanical stirring means such as a homomixer or a homogenizer using a rotary blade, and vibration such as an ultrasonic homogenizer is applied. Means are mentioned. In any case, a strong shear stress is added to the softener in the fixing solution to dissolve or disperse the microemulsion.

  In addition, the toner fixing device is configured to supply the fixing solution according to the present invention to the toner, and then pressurize the dissolved or swollen toner by a component (softener) that dissolves or swells at least a part of the resin contained in the toner. You may have a smoothing roller (hard roller). By applying pressure to the dissolved or swollen toner using a pair of smoothing rollers (hard rollers), the surface of the layer of the dissolved or swollen toner is smoothed to give gloss to the surface of the toner layer after fixing. It becomes possible. Furthermore, by fixing the dissolved or swollen toner into the recording medium, the fixability of the toner to the recording medium can be improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above and each said modification, It cannot be overemphasized that a various deformation | transformation and substitution are possible if it is described in a claim. In addition, the gas is not limited to air, but if the configuration is used for foaming by sucking outside air with an air pump, a container for housing the gas used for foaming becomes unnecessary.

As described above, the fixer foaming device 500 included in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment is a foam that generates the foamy fixer F that is a foamy liquid by mixing the liquid fixer 210 that is a liquid and the air that is a gas. A slit transport pipe 510 serving as a generation unit, a liquid fixing liquid flow path 520 serving as a liquid transport path for supplying the liquid fixing liquid 210 supplied from the fixing liquid supply pump 200 serving as a liquid supply means into the slit transport pipe 510, It is a foam generating device having an air flow path 530 that is a gas conveyance path for supplying air supplied from an air pump 300 as a gas supply means into the slit conveyance pipe 510. The slit conveying pipe 510 of the fixing liquid foaming device 500 includes a slit-shaped conveying path 511 in which a cross section perpendicular to the passing direction of the space through which the foam-like fixing liquid F passes becomes a slit shape that is long in one direction. One end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 in the passing direction is a foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501 formed of a slit-shaped opening. The other end in the passing direction of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 is a fixing liquid supply port 521 that is a liquid supply port connecting the liquid fixing liquid flow path 520 and the slit-shaped conveyance path 511, and the air flow path 530 and the slit-shaped conveyance path. The air supply port 531 which is a gas supply port which connects 511 is provided. The fixing liquid supply port 521 and the air supply port 531 are respectively a fixing liquid supply port 521 and a fixing liquid supply port 521 as pitch widths along the longitudinal direction (direction of the slit width W) of the cross section of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511. And the opening pitch width P1 is less than 2 [mm] (180 [μm] in the first embodiment). The slit conveying pipe 510 is supplied with the liquid fixing solution 210 and air from the fixing solution supply pump 200 and the air pump 300 at the same time, so that the liquid fixing solution 210 and the air are mixed in the slit-shaped conveying path 511 so that the foamy fixing solution. F is generated, and the foam-like fixing liquid F generated from the foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501 of the slit-like conveyance path 511 is discharged. In such a fixing liquid foaming device 500, it is not necessary to provide a device for initial foaming and a device for reducing the diameter, respectively, and the rotary body can be made smaller in size than the prior art and imparts a shearing force. And a drive source for transmitting the drive to the rotating body are also unnecessary. For this reason, the size can be reduced as compared with the fixing liquid foaming device 500 included in the conventional fixing device.
Further, the fixing liquid foaming device 500 provided in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of portions between the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 that is the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 and the foamed fixing liquid discharge port 501. A foam member 550 is provided. The foaming member 550 is in contact with the foam fixing solution F bubbles toward the foam fixing solution discharge port 501, and further toward the foam fixing solution discharge port 501 side with respect to the bubbles of the contacted foam fixing solution F. When the force to act acts, one bubble of the contacted foam-like fixing solution F is divided into two or more bubbles. With such a configuration, the foam-like fixing solution F generated in the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 is separated by the foaming member 550, and the finer and smaller foam-shaped fixing solution F is obtained. Can be generated.

  Further, in the fixing liquid foaming device 500 provided in the fixing device 60, the foaming member 550 is formed so as to connect two inner wall surfaces facing each other in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped transport path 511, A plurality of rod-shaped members arranged with a foaming member pitch width P2 equal to or less than the opening pitch width P1 between the fixing liquid supply port 521 and the fixing liquid supply port 521 of the air supply port 531 along the direction of the slit width W. It is a member. With such a configuration, the bubble-shaped member 550 having a simple configuration of a rod-shaped member disposed so as to cross the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 along the direction of the slit width W can be used to form a fine foam with a small bubble diameter. Fixing liquid F can be generated.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 8, the fixing liquid foaming device 500 of Example 1 is fixed along the slit width W direction on the end surface of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 on the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 side. Liquid supply ports 521 and air supply ports 531 are alternately arranged. With such a configuration, it was possible to perform the initial foaming that generates the foam-like fixing solution F having a smaller bubble diameter than the conventional configuration in which the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 performs the initial foaming.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the second embodiment has a longitudinal direction (slit width W) of the internal space at the end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 on the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 side. One of the two inner wall surfaces (511f and 511b) facing each other in the direction of the slit depth D, which is orthogonal to the direction ()), is provided with a fixing liquid supply port 521, and the other (511b) is supplied with air. A mouth 531 is provided. Even in such a configuration, as in the first embodiment, the initial foaming that generates the foam-like fixing solution F having a smaller bubble diameter than the conventional configuration in which the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 performs the initial foaming. Was able to do.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 16, the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 according to the third embodiment faces each other in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction at the end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 on the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 side. A gas-liquid facing supply unit 502 b provided with a fixing liquid supply port 521 and an air supply port 531 is provided. Even in such a configuration, as in the first embodiment, the initial foaming that generates the foam-like fixing solution F having a smaller bubble diameter than the conventional configuration in which the gas-liquid mixing unit 502 of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 performs the initial foaming. Was able to do.

  The fixing device 60 of the present embodiment is a foam-like liquid in which bubbles are dispersed in a liquid fixing solution 210 containing a softening agent that softens the toner by dissolving or swelling at least a part of the resin of the toner composed of resin fine particles. A fixing liquid foaming device 500 which is a fixing liquid foaming means to be the fixing liquid F, a fixing liquid supply pump 200 which is a fixing liquid supply means for supplying the liquid fixing liquid 210 to the fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500, and a fixing liquid foaming type. An air pump 300 that is a gas supply unit that supplies air to the image forming apparatus 500, and a fixing solution applying unit that applies a foamy fixing solution F to the surface of the transfer paper P that is a fixing solution application target that carries the unfixed toner image T. Application roller 61. Then, the toner layer that forms the softened unfixed toner image T by applying the foamy fixing solution F is fixed to the transfer paper P. The fixing liquid foaming device 500 provided in the fixing device 60 is a foam generating device that generates the fine foamy fixing solution F with a small bubble diameter as described above and can be made smaller than before. Therefore, the fixing device 60 can realize an appropriate amount of the fixing liquid applied to the unfixed toner image T and reduce the size of the device. Further, in the fixing solution foaming device 500 of the present embodiment, the moving distance of the foaming fixing solution F from the initial foaming position to the foaming fixing solution discharge port 501 is short. For this reason, the amount of the foamy fixing solution F discarded after being left for a long time can be reduced, and waste of the fixing solution can be suppressed. Further, the pressure required for transporting the foam fixing solution F, which has a higher fluid resistance than that of a normal liquid, is reduced, and the low-density, small bubble diameter foam fixing solution F is used as an unfixed toner image T. Can be granted.

The fixing device 60 of this embodiment includes at least one fixing solution supply pump 200 such that the fixing solution supply pump 200 as one fixing solution supply unit supplies the liquid fixing solution 210 to the plurality of fixing solution supply ports 521. And at least one air pump 300 so that the air pump 300 as one gas supply means supplies air to the plurality of air supply ports 531.
FIG. 26 schematically shows the liquid fixing liquid 210 and the air supply path of the fixing device 60.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 26, the liquid fixing liquid 210 is conveyed to one fixing liquid supply pump 200 and each of the fixing liquid supply ports 521 to the plurality of fixing liquid supply ports 521 of the fixing liquid foaming device 500. And a plurality of fixing solution transport pipes 230. Further, one air pump 300 is provided for the plurality of air supply ports 531, and a plurality of air conveyance pipes 330 for conveying air to the respective air supply ports 531.
As described above, the liquid fixing solution 210 is supplied to the plurality of fixing solution supply ports 521 by one fixing solution supply pump 200, and the air is supplied to the plurality of air supply ports 531 by one air pump 300. And space saving can be achieved.

Further, the configuration of the supply path is not limited to that shown in FIG. 26, and may be the configuration shown in FIG.
The fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 27 includes the same number of fixing solution supply pumps 200 and fixing solution transport pipes 230 as the fixing solution supply ports 521 that supply the liquid fixing solution 210 to each of the plurality of fixing solution supply ports 521. Furthermore, the same number of air pumps 300 and air transport pipes 330 as the air supply ports 531 for supplying air to each of the plurality of air supply ports 531 are provided.
With such a configuration, the fixing solution supply pump 200 and the air pump 300 are provided for the fixing solution supply port 521 and the air supply port 531, respectively, and the pressure required to transport the fixing solution or air is suppressed. Furthermore, the flow path of the fluid from each pump to each supply port can be shortened.

In the fixing device 60 of the example shown in FIG. 19, the liquid fixing liquid 210 is composed of two fixing liquid constituent liquids (210a and 210b), and the fixing liquid supply means is two fixing liquid supply pumps (200a and 200b). And two fixing liquid bottles (220a and 220b) as two fixing liquid constituent liquid storage portions for independently storing the two fixing liquid constituent liquids (210a and 210b) and two fixing liquid bottles (220a and 220b). And a fixing liquid mixing unit 700 which is a fixing liquid generating means for generating the liquid fixing liquid 210 by mixing two fixing liquid constituent liquids (210a and 210b).
With such a configuration, in a state where it can be used as a fixing solution, a fixing solution that can be altered by hydrolysis or the like can avoid a chemical reaction such as hydrolysis that may occur when the components of the fixing solution are mixed. it can. As a result, it is possible to prevent changes in fixability and foamability due to deterioration of the fixing solution.
The fixing device 60 shown in FIG. 19 has two fixing solution bottles (220a and 220b), and two fixing solution constituent liquids (210a and 210b) are mixed to generate the liquid fixing solution 210. However, a configuration in which three or more fixing liquid bottles are provided and three or more fixing liquid constituent liquids are mixed to obtain the liquid fixing liquid 210 may be employed.
Not limited to two,

  Further, in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the fixing liquid applying unit has one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path 511 of the fixing liquid foaming device 500 at a position facing the surface of the application roller 61 that is a surface of the fixing liquid supply target. The foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501 is located, and the width direction that is perpendicular to the surface movement direction on the surface of the coating roller 61 and the direction of the slit width W are the same direction. By disposing the surface of the application roller 61 and the foam-like fixing liquid discharge port 501 so as to face each other, the distance of the tubular conveyance path through which the foam-like fixing liquid passes can be shortened, which is necessary for the pump. Output can be suppressed. Furthermore, the amount of the foamy fixing solution F discarded after being left for a long time can be reduced, and waste of the fixing solution can be suppressed.

Further, in the fixing device 60, as the fixing liquid supply target, the foam-like fixing liquid F is carried on the surface and moved, and the foam fixing on the surface is performed at the application position C facing the transfer paper P to which the fixing liquid is applied. An application roller 61 that is a fixing liquid application member that applies the liquid F to the transfer paper P is provided. Since the foamy fixing solution F is applied instead of the conventional liquid fixing solution, the occurrence of offset can be prevented even when the application roller 61 and the transfer paper P are in contact with each other.
In the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the fixing solution applying unit includes a coating roller 61 as a coating member that supports the foamy fixing solution F on the surface and applies it to the transfer paper P. The fixing liquid foaming device 500 including the above-described features can be applied even to a fixing device that does not include an application member. For example, the present invention is also applicable to a fixing device configured to apply the foam-like fixing solution F directly to the transfer paper P carrying the unfixed toner image T from the foam-like fixing solution discharge port 501 of the fixing solution foaming device 500. The fixing liquid foaming apparatus 500 including the section is applicable.
Further, in the fixing device 60 of the present embodiment, the application roller 61 that is a fixing liquid application member applies the foamed fixing liquid F to the fixing liquid application target of the transfer paper P as a recording medium that carries the unfixed toner image T. The surface. As the fixing device 60 for fixing the toner image on the transfer paper P using the foam-like fixing liquid F, the foam-like fixing liquid F is applied to a toner image carrier such as an intermediate transfer belt carrying the toner image, and the toner image is obtained. Even if the toner image on the carrier is transferred onto the transfer paper P together with the foam-like fixing liquid F, the present invention can be applied.

  In addition, the copying machine 100 according to this embodiment includes an image forming unit 3 that is a toner image forming unit that forms a toner image on a transfer paper P that is a recording medium using toner including resin fine particles containing a resin and a colorant. And a fixing unit that fixes the toner image on the transfer paper P, and the fixing unit includes a fixing liquid foaming device 500 that is a foam generating device including the characterizing portion of the present invention as the fixing unit. Device 60 is used. Since the fixing device 60 uses a foamy fixing solution, it is possible to stably realize the prevention of toner offset to the application roller 61 that is a contact applying means at the time of applying contact to the toner layer, and to provide a small amount, and It enables fixing with extremely low power compared to the conventional case without heating. In addition, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of image fixing defects that occur in accordance with the amount of toner on the transfer paper P and the type of recording medium during image formation. The storage stability of the fixer is improved. Further, by using the small fixing liquid foaming device 500, it is possible to reduce the size of the fixing device 60 and the copying machine 100 including the same. Furthermore, the distance of the tubular conveyance path through which the fixing solution in the form of foam passes can be shortened, and the output required for the pump can be suppressed. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the amount of the foam-like fixing liquid F discarded after being left for a long time, and to suppress the waste of the fixing liquid.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer part 2 Optical writing device 3 Image forming unit 4 Photoconductor 5 Charging roller 6 Developing device 10 Paper discharge tray 12 Developing roller 15 Drum cleaning device 16 Cleaning blade 22 Static elimination lamp 28 Paper conveyance unit 29 Paper conveyance belt 30 Drive roller 31 Secondary transfer roller 32 Belt cleaning device 33 Registration roller pair 36 Switchback device 37 Paper transport path 40 Paper feed device 41 Paper bank 42 Paper feed cassette 43 Delivery roller 44 Paper feed path 45 Separation roller 46 Transport roller 50 Document transport reading unit 51 ADF
60 fixing device 61 coating roller 62 pressure roller 63 film thickness regulating blade 63a blade rotating shaft 64 wire bar 65 coating belt 66 pressure belt 90 transfer unit 91 intermediate transfer belt 92 first stretching roller 94 lower stretching roller 95 primary transfer Roller 100 Copier 150 Scanner unit 151 Fixed reading unit 152 Moving reading unit 153 Image reading sensor 200 Fixing solution supply pump 200a First fixing solution supply pump 200b Second fixing solution supply pump 210 Liquid fixing solution 210a First fixing solution configuration Liquid 210b Second fixer constituent liquid 220 Fixer bottle 220a First fixer bottle 220b Second fixer bottle 230 Fixer transport pipe 230a First fixer transport pipe 230b Second fixer transport pipe 300 Air pump 310 Air filter 330 Air Conveying Pipe 350 Gas Flow Control Unit 500 Fixing solution foaming device 501 Foam fixing solution outlet 502 Gas-liquid mixing unit 503 Channel partition member 505 Channel forming member 506 Channel lid member 510 Slit conveying tube 511 Slit conveying channel 520 Liquid fixing solution channel 520a Liquid fixing Liquid supply channel 520b Liquid fixer manifold part 520c Liquid fixer branch channel 521 Fixant supply port 530 Air channel 530a Air supply channel 530b Air manifold unit 530c Air branch channel 531 Air supply port 550 Separating member 560 Discharge side casing 570 Supply-side casing 600 Fixing device 700 using liquid fixer Fixing solution mixing part C Application position D Slit depth F Foamed fixer Fa Plateau boundary Fb Bubble Fc Liquid film Fd Foamed fixer film G Air H Slit length L Laser Optical MS Original P Transfer paper P1 Opening pitch width P2 Separating bubble pitch width P3 Partition pitch T Unfixed toner image Ta Fixed toner image Tb Offset toner particles W Slit width

Japanese Patent No. 3290513 JP 2004-109749 A JP 59-119364 A JP 2004-109747 A JP 2007-219105 A JP 2008-197188 A

Ishii Ikuo, “Engineering of Bubbles”, first edition, Techno System Co., Ltd., published on March 25, 2005, p. 489

Claims (17)

A foam generating unit that generates a foam liquid by mixing liquid and gas;
A liquid transport path for supplying the liquid supplied from the liquid supply means to the bubble generating unit;
In the foam generation device having a gas transport path for supplying the gas supplied from the gas supply means to the foam generation unit,
The foam generation unit includes a slit-shaped conveyance path in which a cross section perpendicular to the passage direction of the space through which the foam liquid passes is a slit shape that is long in one direction,
One end in the passing direction of the slit-shaped conveyance path is a slit-shaped opening,
The other end of the slit-shaped transport path in the passing direction is a liquid supply port that connects the liquid transport path and the slit-shaped transport path, and a gas supply port that connects the gas transport path and the slit-shaped transport path. With
The liquid supply port and the gas supply port each include a plurality of openings having a pitch width of less than 2 mm along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the slit-shaped conveyance path.
The foam generating unit is configured to supply the liquid and the gas simultaneously from the liquid supply unit and the gas supply unit, so that the liquid and the gas are mixed in the slit-shaped conveyance path, and the foam liquid is Generated and the foamed liquid generated from the slit-shaped opening at the one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path is discharged,
The foam-like liquid which is arranged between the position where the foam-like liquid is generated in the slit-shaped conveyance path and the opening at the one end is in contact with the foam-like foam toward the opening. It is characterized by having a foam separation member that separates one foam of the foamed liquid in contact into two or more foams by a force acting toward the opening side of the foam further. Foam generating device. The foam generating apparatus of claim 1,
The foaming member is formed so as to connect two inner wall surfaces facing each other in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped conveyance path, and a pitch width of the gas supply port along the longitudinal direction. A foam generating device comprising a plurality of rod-like members arranged with an equal or less pitch width. The foam generating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The foam generating device, wherein the liquid supply port and the gas supply port are alternately arranged along the longitudinal direction on an end face on the other end side of the slit-shaped conveyance path. The foam generating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
One of the two inner wall surfaces facing each other in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction at the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path is provided with the liquid supply port on one side and the gas supply port on the other side. Foam generating device. The foam generating device according to claim 1, 2, or 4,
The bubble generating apparatus, wherein the liquid supply port and the gas supply port are provided so as to face each other in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction at the other end of the slit-shaped conveyance path. A fixing liquid foaming means for forming a liquid fixing liquid containing a softening agent that softens resin fine particles by dissolving or swelling at least a part of the resin into a foamy fixing liquid in which bubbles are dispersed in the liquid;
Fixing solution supply means for supplying the liquid fixing solution to the fixing solution foaming means;
Gas supply means for supplying the gas to the fixer foaming means;
A fixing solution applying means for applying the foamy fixing solution to the surface of the fixing solution application target carrying the resin fine particles;
In a fixing device for fixing the resin fine particles softened by applying the foamy fixing solution to a recording medium,
A fixing device using the foam generating device according to claim 1 as the fixing liquid foaming means. The fixing device according to claim 6.
The same number of the fixing liquid supply means and liquid transport paths as the liquid supply ports for supplying the liquid fixing liquid to each of the plurality of liquid supply ports;
A fixing device comprising: the same number of the gas supply means and the gas conveyance paths as the gas supply ports for supplying the gas to each of the plurality of gas supply ports. The fixing device according to claim 6.
At least one fixing solution supply means such that one fixing solution supply means supplies the liquid fixing solution to a plurality of liquid supply ports;
A fixing device comprising: at least one gas supply unit so that one gas supply unit supplies the gas to a plurality of the gas supply ports. The fixing device according to any one of claims 6 to 8,
The liquid fixer is composed of a plurality of fixer constituent liquids,
The fixer supply means includes a plurality of fixer constituent liquid storage units that independently store the plurality of fixer constituent liquids constituting the liquid fixer, and a plurality of fixer constituent liquid storage units, respectively. A fixing device comprising: a plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquids, and a fixing liquid generating means for mixing the plurality of fixing liquid constituent liquids to generate the liquid fixing liquid. The fixing device according to any one of claims 6 to 9,
The fixing solution applying means is arranged so that the opening of the one end of the slit-shaped conveyance path of the foam generating device is positioned at a position facing the surface of the fixing solution supply target that moves on the surface,
A fixing device, wherein a width direction which is a direction orthogonal to a surface movement direction on the surface of the fixing liquid supply target and the longitudinal direction are the same direction. The fixing device according to claim 10.
Fixing by applying the foamy fixing solution on the surface as the fixing solution supply target, moving the surface, and applying the foamy fixing solution on the surface to the fixing solution application target at a position facing the fixing solution application target A fixing device comprising a liquid application member. A toner image forming means for forming a toner image on a recording medium using a toner containing resin fine particles containing a resin and a colorant;
Applying the fixing liquid with the surface of the toner image carrier carrying the toner image transferred to the recording medium or the surface of the recording medium carrying the toner image as the surface of the fixing liquid application target;
An image forming apparatus comprising fixing means for fixing the toner image on the recording medium,
An image forming apparatus using the fixing device according to claim 6 as the fixing unit. A liquid fixer containing a softening agent that softens resin fine particles by dissolving or swelling at least a part of the resin is used as a foamy fixer in which bubbles are dispersed by containing gas in the fixer foaming step,
In a fixing method of fixing the resin fine particles softened by applying the foamy fixing solution to the surface of the fixing solution application target carrying the resin fine particles and applying the foamy fixing solution,
In the fixing solution foaming step, the cross section perpendicular to the passing direction of the space through which the foamy fixing solution passes is a slit shape that is long in one direction, and one end of the passing direction is a slit-shaped opening, and the passing direction A fixing liquid supply port for supplying the liquid fixing liquid to the space at the other end of the space, comprising a plurality of openings having a pitch width of less than 2 mm along the longitudinal direction of the slit-shaped cross section of the space. And supplying the liquid fixing solution and the gas to a slit-shaped conveyance path of a bubble generating unit provided with the gas supply port for supplying the gas to the space. Generate
The foamed fixer having a small bubble diameter is separated by passing the generated foamy fixer through a slit-shaped conveyance path in which a foaming member is disposed, thereby foaming the foamy fixer having a small bubble diameter. A fixing method characterized in that the fixing liquid is foamed by ejecting the liquid from an opening of the shape. The fixing method according to claim 13.
In the fixing solution foaming step, the liquid fixing solution is supplied to each of the plurality of fixing solution supply ports by the same number of fixing solution supply means and liquid transport paths as the fixing solution supply ports,
A fixing method, wherein the gas is supplied to each of the plurality of gas supply ports by the same number of the gas supply means and gas transport paths as the gas supply ports. The fixing method according to claim 13.
In the fixing solution foaming step, one fixing solution supply means supplies the liquid fixing solution to the plurality of fixing solution supply ports,
A fixing method, wherein one gas supply means supplies the gas to a plurality of the gas supply ports. The fixing method according to any one of claims 13 to 15,
Using a fixer composed of a plurality of fixer constituent liquids as the liquid fixer,
The plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids are respectively conveyed from a plurality of fixing solution constituent solution storage units that independently contain the plurality of fixing solution constituent liquids constituting the liquid fixing solution to the fixing solution generating unit, A fixing method comprising using the liquid fixing solution obtained by mixing the fixing solution constituting solution as a fixing solution. A toner image forming step of forming a toner image on a recording medium using a toner containing resin fine particles containing a resin and a colorant;
In an image forming method for forming an image on a recording medium by a fixing step of fixing the toner image on the recording medium,
An image forming method, wherein, in the fixing step, fixing is performed by the fixing method according to any one of claims 13 to 16.

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