Patents by Inventor Junji Nakai

Junji Nakai has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11312156
    Abstract: A drying device includes a contact heater unit to contact and heat a medium. The contact heater unit includes a plurality of heating members each having a curved contact face to contact the medium among plural heating members of the plurality of heating members to contact a first surface of the medium opposite a second surface of the medium on which liquid is applied. The plurality of heating members includes a first heating member and a plurality of second heating members. The first heating member has a maximum contact distance to contact the medium. The plurality of second heating members is disposed upstream from the first heating member in a direction of conveyance of the medium. Two heating members of the plurality of second heating members immediately upstream from the first heating member in the direction of conveyance of the medium contact the first surface of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai, Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Yasuhisa Katoh, Hirokazu Ikenoue, Satoshi Kitaoka, Hideaki Nishimura
  • Patent number: 11014379
    Abstract: A drying device includes a contact heater unit to contact and heat a medium. The contact heater unit includes a plurality of heating members each having a curved contact face to contact the medium among plural heating members of the plurality of heating members to contact a first surface of the medium opposite a second surface of the medium on which liquid is applied. The plurality of heating members includes a first heating member and a plurality of second heating members. The first heating member has a maximum contact distance to contact the medium. The plurality of second heating members is disposed upstream from the first heating member in a direction of conveyance of the medium. Two heating members of the plurality of second heating members immediately upstream from the first heating member in the direction of conveyance of the medium contact the first surface of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai, Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Yasuhisa Katoh, Hirokazu Ikenoue, Satoshi Kitaoka, Hideaki Nishimura
  • Patent number: 11014380
    Abstract: A heating device includes a pre-heater configured to pre-heat a medium, onto which a liquid is discharged from a liquid discharger, at a first position upstream of the liquid discharger in a conveyance direction of the medium, a print-heater configured to heat the medium at a second position opposite the liquid discharger, a post-heater configured to post-heat the medium at a third position downstream of the second position in the conveyance direction, and circuitry configured to control a temperature of each of the pre-heater, the print-heater, and the post-heater. The pre-heater includes a first pre-heater and a second pre-heater disposed closer to the print-heater than the first pre-heater, and the circuitry controls a temperature of the second pre-heater to be between a temperature of the first pre-heater and the temperature of the print-heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masafumi Yamada, Osamu Kizaki, Shizuho Katahira, Junji Nakai
  • Patent number: 11007796
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a heater, a first temperature sensor, a second temperature sensor, and processing circuitry. The heater is configured to heat a medium on which an image is formed. The first temperature sensor is configured to measure a temperature of the heater. The second temperature sensor is configured to measure a temperature of a region heated by the heater. The processing circuitry is configured to control the temperature of the heater. The processing circuitry is configured to control the heater based on a comparison between a measured temperature of the first temperature sensor and a first threshold value, and a comparison between a measured temperature of the second temperature sensor and a second threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Kizaki, Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada, Shizuho Katahira
  • Patent number: 10807388
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of heaters, a plurality of temperature sensors, an object sensor, and control circuitry. The temperature sensors are formed at positions corresponding to the heaters. The object sensor is configured to detect an overlap region of a medium and the heaters. The control circuitry is configured to correct temperature information acquired by the temperature sensors, according to the overlap region detected by the object sensor and the positions of the temperature sensors, and control the heaters based on the corrected temperature information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Kizaki, Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada, Shizuho Katahira
  • Publication number: 20200164662
    Abstract: A heating device includes a pre-heater configured to pre-heat a medium, onto which a liquid is discharged from a liquid discharger, at a first position upstream of the liquid discharger in a conveyance direction of the medium, a print-heater configured to heat the medium at a second position opposite the liquid discharger, a post-heater configured to post-heat the medium at a third position downstream of the second position in the conveyance direction, and circuitry configured to control a temperature of each of the pre-heater, the print-heater, and the post-heater. The pre-heater includes a first pre-heater and a second pre-heater disposed closer to the print-heater than the first pre-heater, and the circuitry controls a temperature of the second pre-heater to be between a temperature of the first pre-heater and the temperature of the print-heater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masafumi Yamada, Osamu Kizaki, Shizuho Katahira, Junji Nakai
  • Publication number: 20200103794
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a heater, a first temperature sensor, a second temperature sensor, and processing circuitry. The heater is configured to heat a medium on which an image is formed. The first temperature sensor is configured to measure a temperature of the heater. The second temperature sensor is configured to measure a temperature of a region heated by the heater. The processing circuitry is configured to control the temperature of the heater. The processing circuitry is configured to control the heater based on a comparison between a measured temperature of the first temperature sensor and a first threshold value, and a comparison between a measured temperature of the second temperature sensor and a second threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2019
    Publication date: April 2, 2020
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Kizaki, Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada, Shizuho Katahira
  • Publication number: 20200101766
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of heaters, a plurality of temperature sensors, an object sensor, and control circuitry. The temperature sensors are formed at positions corresponding to the heaters. The object sensor is configured to detect an overlap region of a medium and the heaters. The control circuitry is configured to correct temperature information acquired by the temperature sensors, according to the overlap region detected by the object sensor and the positions of the temperature sensors, and control the heaters based on the corrected temperature information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Publication date: April 2, 2020
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Kizaki, Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada, Shizuho Katahira
  • Patent number: 10603929
    Abstract: A drying device includes heaters disposed along the direction of conveyance of a recording medium to which liquid is applied, the heaters being configured to heat the recording medium, wherein the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters on a conveyance path including a first path on which the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters for the second time and a second path on which the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters for the second time, wherein a dried film of the liquid formed by the following method has a Martens hardness of 30 N/mm2 or greater at 120 degrees C.: method: the liquid is applied to a glass plate to form a film and the film is dried with a reduced pressure at 100 degrees C. for three hours to obtain the dried film having an average thickness of 5 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryota Iwasaki, Hiromi Sakaguchi, Yoshiki Yanagawa, Kaori Toyama, Satoshi Takahashi, Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai, Yasuhisa Katoh
  • Patent number: 10556449
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a conveyor to repeat conveyance of a recording medium by a predetermined distance and stop of conveyance of the recording medium; a liquid discharge head to discharge a liquid onto the recording medium; an irradiation device disposed downstream from the liquid discharge head in a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, to irradiate, with an electromagnetic wave, the recording medium onto which the liquid has been discharged by the liquid discharge head; and circuitry configured to control the irradiation device to irradiate the recording medium. The circuitry is configured to set a first irradiation amount during the stop of conveyance to a larger value than a value of a second irradiation amount during the conveyance of the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada
  • Publication number: 20190337307
    Abstract: A drying device includes a contact heater unit to contact and heat a medium. The contact heater unit includes a plurality of heating members each having a curved contact face to contact the medium among plural heating members of the plurality of heating members to contact a first surface of the medium opposite a second surface of the medium on which liquid is applied. The plurality of heating members includes a first heating member and a plurality of second heating members. The first heating member has a maximum contact distance to contact the medium. The plurality of second heating members is disposed upstream from the first heating member in a direction of conveyance of the medium. Two heating members of the plurality of second heating members immediately upstream from the first heating member in the direction of conveyance of the medium contact the first surface of the medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Inventors: Ken ONODERA, Sho SAWAHATA, Junji NAKAI, Toshihiro YOSHINUMA, Yasuhisa KATOH, Hirokazu IKENOUE, Satoshi KITAOKA, Hideaki NISHIMURA
  • Patent number: 10457072
    Abstract: A processing object reforming apparatus includes a plasma processing unit that acidifies at least a surface of a processing object by processing the surface of the processing object by using plasma; and a control unit that controls the plasma processing unit to plasma-process the processing object with a plasma energy amount based on a type of the processing object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yohji Hirose, Junji Nakai, Kunihiro Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 10384472
    Abstract: A drying device includes a contact heater unit to contact and heat a medium. The contact heater unit includes a plurality of heating members each having a curved contact face to contact the medium among plural heating members of the plurality of heating members to contact a first surface of the medium opposite a second surface of the medium on which liquid is applied. The plurality of heating members includes a first heating member and a plurality of second heating members. The first heating member has a maximum contact distance to contact the medium. The plurality of second heating members is disposed upstream from the first heating member in a direction of conveyance of the medium. Two heating members of the plurality of second heating members immediately upstream from the first heating member in the direction of conveyance of the medium contact the first surface of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai, Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Yasuhisa Katoh, Hirokazu Ikenoue, Satoshi Kitaoka, Hideaki Nishimura
  • Patent number: 10308058
    Abstract: According to an aspect of the present invention, a printing apparatus includes a plasma treatment unit configured to acidify at least a surface of a print medium by applying plasma treatment to the surface of the print medium, a first primer applying unit configured to apply primer treatment by applying treatment liquid to the surface of the print medium having undergone the plasma treatment, and a first recording unit configured to perform recording by inkjet recording on the print medium having undergone the primer treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroyoshi Matsumoto, Junji Nakai, Masakazu Yoshida, Toshitaka Osanai
  • Patent number: 10279604
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a plasma treatment unit that performs plasma treatment on a surface of a treatment object to acidify at least the surface of the treatment object; and a recording unit that performs inkjet recording on the surface of the plasma treatment subjected to the plasma treatment by the plasma treatment unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Nakai, Hiroyoshi Matsumoto, Masakazu Yoshida, Souichi Nakazawa, Tatsuro Watanabe, Hiroyuki Hiratsuka, Koji Nagai
  • Publication number: 20190100032
    Abstract: A liquid discharge apparatus includes a conveyor to repeat conveyance of a recording medium by a predetermined distance and stop of conveyance of the recording medium; a liquid discharge head to discharge a liquid onto the recording medium; an irradiation device disposed downstream from the liquid discharge head in a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, to irradiate, with an electromagnetic wave, the recording medium onto which the liquid has been discharged by the liquid discharge head; and circuitry configured to control the irradiation device to irradiate the recording medium. The circuitry is configured to set a first irradiation amount during the stop of conveyance to a larger value than a value of a second irradiation amount during the conveyance of the recording medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Publication date: April 4, 2019
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Nakai, Masafumi Yamada
  • Publication number: 20190084320
    Abstract: A drying device includes heaters disposed along the direction of conveyance of a recording medium to which liquid is applied, the heaters being configured to heat the recording medium, wherein the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters on a conveyance path including a first path on which the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters for the second time and a second path on which the recording medium is conveyed in contact with the heaters for the second time, wherein a dried film of the liquid formed by the following method has a Martens hardness of 30 N/mm2 or greater at 120 degrees C.: method: the liquid is applied to a glass plate to form a film and the film is dried with a reduced pressure at 100 degrees C. for three hours to obtain the dried film having an average thickness of 5 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Publication date: March 21, 2019
    Inventors: Ryota Iwasaki, Hiromi Sakaguchi, Yoshiki Yanagawa, Kaori Toyama, Satoshi Takahashi, Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai, Yasuhisa Katoh
  • Patent number: 10183503
    Abstract: A drying device includes a first heater, a second heater, a conveyance path, and an infrared heater. The first heater contacts and heats a medium on which liquid is applied. The second heater contacts and heats the medium. The second heater contacts the medium at a distance longer than a distance at which the first heater contacts the medium. The conveyance path of the medium includes a first conveyance-path portion and a second conveyance-path portion. The medium is conveyed while contacting the first heater in the first conveyance-path portion. The first conveyance-path portion is disposed upstream from the second heater in a direction of conveyance of the medium. The second conveyance-path portion is disposed downstream from the second heater in the direction of conveyance of the medium. The infrared heater is disposed in the second conveyance-path portion, to irradiate an infrared ray to the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Yasuhisa Katoh, Junji Nakai, Hirokazu Ikenoue, Sho Sawahata, Ken Onodera
  • Patent number: 10118411
    Abstract: A drying device includes a plurality of heaters and a conveyance path. The plurality of heaters is disposed side by side in a direction of conveyance of a medium to contact and heat the medium to which liquid is applied. The medium is conveyed on the conveyance path while contacting the plurality of heaters. The conveyance path includes a first path and a second path. On the first path, the medium is conveyed while contacting the plurality of heaters. On the second path, the medium is conveyed while contacting again at least one of the plurality of heaters having contacted on the first path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Yoshinuma, Ken Onodera, Sho Sawahata, Junji Nakai
  • Publication number: 20180126751
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a plasma treatment unit that performs plasma treatment on a surface of a treatment object to acidify at least the surface of the treatment object; and a recording unit that performs inkjet recording on the surface of the plasma treatment subjected to the plasma treatment by the plasma treatment unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Publication date: May 10, 2018
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Nakai, Hiroyoshi Matsumoto, Masakazu Yoshida, Souichi Nakazawa, Tatsuro Watanabe, Hiroyuki Hiratsuka, Koji Nagai