Patents by Inventor Katsuhisa Matsunaka

Katsuhisa Matsunaka 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: 9134663
    Abstract: An elastic layer of the fixing member contains a silicone rubber, an inorganic filler and vapor grown carbon fibers, relationships of 3X+30Y?170, 25?X?50 and 0.5?Y?3.1 are satisfied when a volume percent of the inorganic filler compounded in the elastic layer is expressed by X (%) and a volume percent of the vapor grown carbon fibers compounded in the elastic layer is expressed by Y (%), and a ratio of a fiber length to a fiber diameter of the vapor grown carbon fibers, aspect ratio, is 50 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Kazuo Kishino, Katsuya Abe, Takeshi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 9134664
    Abstract: Provided is a member for electrophotography including a fluorine resin surface layer formed by melting fluorine resin powder, the member being capable of stably maintaining rubber elasticity over a long time period. Further, provided are a fixing member, a fixing device, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus each capable of stably providing the image quality of an electrophotographic image. The member for electrophotography is a member for electrophotography, comprising: a substrate; a cured silicone rubber elastic layer; and a fluorine resin surface layer obtained by melting a fluorine resin powder, wherein: when a microhardness of a cured rubber forming the cured silicone rubber elastic layer is defined as H?0, and a microhardness of a rubber obtained by soaking the cured rubber in a methyl hydrogen silicone oil for 24 hours, and then further curing the cured rubber is defined as H?1, H?1/H?0 is 2.5 or more and 5.0 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Jun Miura, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Katsuya Abe
  • Publication number: 20150241822
    Abstract: Provided are an electrophotographic member having excellent durability and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The electrophotographic member includes: an elastic layer including a silicone rubber; an intermediate layer including at least one of an aromatic polyimide and an aromatic polyamideimide, and a fluororesin; and a surface layer including a fluororesin, in which the aromatic polyimide or the aromatic polyamideimide is bonded to the silicone rubber through an amide bond-containing group, and in which a carbon atom constituting the amide bond is directly bonded to a carbon atom constituting an aromatic ring in a molecule of the aromatic polyimide or aromatic polyamideimide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2015
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Inventors: Mamo Matsumoto, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yusuke Baba, Noritaka Inoue, Akeshi Asaka
  • Publication number: 20150241825
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electrophotographic member having electroconductivity for suppressing peeling offset and also having a high cracking resistance. The electrophotographic member has an endless belt shape, and includes a cylindrical or columnar substrate, a rubber elastic layer that covers a periphery of the substrate, and a fluororesin tube that covers a periphery of the rubber elastic layer, wherein the fluororesin tube is crystalline-orientated in a substantially axial direction of the substrate and includes a fluororesin and carbon black dispersed in the fluororesin, and a primary average particle diameter of the carbon black is 50 nm or more and 100 nm or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2015
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Inventors: Jun Miura, Naoki Akiyama, Katsuhisa Matsunaka
  • Publication number: 20150212461
    Abstract: Provided is a member for electrophotography. The member for electrophotography includes: a substrate; an elastic layer containing a cured silicone rubber having a methyl group bonded to a silicon atom; and a fluorine resin release layer bonded to a surface of the elastic layer by an addition-curing-type silicone rubber adhesive. The elastic layer contains a titanium oxide particle having an anatase-type crystal structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2015
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Inventors: Katsuya Abe, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yasuhiro Miyahara, Naoki Akiyama, Hiroto Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 9086664
    Abstract: Provided is a fixing device, the heat generation amount of which can be obtained with a smaller amount of a microwave absorbing material. As a result, the start-up (warm-up) time for achieving a fixing temperature can be shortened without impairing characteristics such as flexibility, releasing property, and durability. The fixing device includes a heating member; a pressurizing member; and a microwave generating unit. It is configured to fix an unfixed toner on a recording material by passing the recording material through a nip formed between the heating member and the pressurizing member. The heating member includes a heat generating layer for generating heat with microwaves generated by the microwave generating unit. The heat generating layer contains a high molecular compound and a carbon fiber having an average fiber diameter of 80-150 nm, an average fiber length of 6-10 ?m, and an absorption peak in a Raman spectrum resulting from a graphite structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yutaka Arai, Jun Miura, Jiro Ishizuka, Shuichi Tamura, Ryo Yashiro, Hiroto Sugimoto, Naoki Akiyama, Kenji Hashimoto, Yasuhiro Miyahara, Hiroki Muramatsu, Koji Sato
  • Patent number: 9063491
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to providing a fixing member that has a flexible surface and that can supply a larger amount of heat to a material to be recorded and a toner in a shorter period of time. The fixing member comprises a substrate, an elastic layer and a releasing layer, wherein thermal effusivity in a depth region from a surface of the releasing layer is 1.5 [kJ/(m2·K·sec0.5)] or more, the depth region corresponding to a thermal diffusion length when an alternating-current temperature wave having a frequency of 10 Hz is applied to the surface of the releasing layer, and a surface micro rubber hardness is 85 degrees or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Kazuo Kishino, Masaaki Takahashi, Katsuya Abe
  • Publication number: 20150168895
    Abstract: An image heating apparatus configured to heat an image formed on a recording material includes a cylindrical rotatable member including a conductive layer, a magnetic core inserted through the rotatable member, a coil helically wound around an outer side of the magnetic core within the rotatable member, and an inverter configured to supply an alternating current to the coil. A frequency of the alternating current supplied from the inverter is within a range of 20.5 to 100 kHz. The conductive layer generates heat by electromagnetic induction due to an alternating magnetic field produced from the alternating current supplied to the coil. The coil is wound at an interval of 1 mm or longer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2014
    Publication date: June 18, 2015
    Inventors: Yuki Nishizawa, Hiroshi Mano, Minoru Hayasaki, Aoji Isono, Yosuke Kitagawa, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Kimitaka Ichinose, Michio Uchida
  • Publication number: 20150147101
    Abstract: An image heating apparatus includes an endless belt configured to heat an image on a sheet at a nip potion, a heat generation device configured to cause the belt to generate heat, a nip forming member configured to form the nip portion between the nip forming member and the belt, and a pressing roller configured to press an inner surface of the belt toward the nip forming member, the pressing roller including an elastic porous layer containing a plurality of filler particles, wherein a thermal conductivity of the elastic porous layer in an axial direction of the pressing roller is in a range of 6 times to 900 times a thermal conductivity of the elastic porous layer in a radial direction of the pressing roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Publication date: May 28, 2015
    Inventors: Toshinori Nakayama, Hiroto Sugimoto, Masayuki Tamaki, Koichi Kakubari, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yutaka Arai, Jun Miura, Takeshi Suzuki, Naoki Akiyama, Shigeaki Takada, Yasuhiro Miyahara
  • Patent number: 9034474
    Abstract: A fixing belt includes a cylindrical base composed of a metal and a polyimide resin layer formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical base, in which the polyimide resin layer has an imidization rate of 70% to 93%, and comprises a polyimide resin containing a specific constitutional unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuo Kishino, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Hiroto Sugimoto, Hidekazu Maruta, Nobuyuki Kume, Keigo Kaji, Ko Nakano
  • Publication number: 20150098739
    Abstract: An electrophotographic fixing member includes a substrate, a cured silicone rubber layer and a fluorine resin layer bonded onto the cured silicone rubber layer, wherein a micro hardness of a cured silicone rubber constituting the cured silicone rubber layer is designated as H?0, and a micro hardness of a rubber obtained by soaking the cured silicone rubber in a methyl hydrogen silicone oil for 24 hours and then further curing the cured silicone rubber, is designated as H?1, H?1/H?0 is 1.5 or more and 5.0 or less, and the cured silicone rubber layer comprises a titanium oxide crystal having an anatase type structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Publication date: April 9, 2015
    Inventors: Katsuya Abe, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yasuhiro Miyahara, Naoki Akiyama, Hiroto Sugimoto
  • Publication number: 20150071690
    Abstract: A pressing rotatable member for use with an image heating apparatus including a base layer; and a porous elastic layer provided on the base layer, wherein the elastic layer has a thermal conductivity in an axial direction thereof and a thermal conductivity in a circumferential direction thereof which are not less than 6-times and not more than 900-times a thermal conductivity in a thickness direction thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Miyahara, Shigeaki Takada, Toshinori Nakayama, Daigo Matsuura, Naoki Akiyama, Shuichi Tamura, Yutaka Arai, Jun Miura, Takeshi Suzuki, Katsuhisa Matsunaka
  • Publication number: 20140356040
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to providing an electrophotographic member including a conductive elastic layer having high thermal insulation properties and excellent dimensional stability. The electrophotographic member having an elastic layer which includes a plurality of voids derived from resin microballoons connected to and made open to each other and contains an ion conducting agent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2014
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Sakakibara, Katsuhisa Matsunaka
  • Publication number: 20140255067
    Abstract: An elastic layer of the fixing member contains a silicone rubber, an inorganic filler and vapor grown carbon fibers, relationships of 3X+30Y?170, 25?X?50 and 0.5?Y?3.1 are satisfied when a volume percent of the inorganic filler compounded in the elastic layer is expressed by X (%) and a volume percent of the vapor grown carbon fibers compounded in the elastic layer is expressed by Y (%), and a ratio of a fiber length to a fiber diameter of the vapor grown carbon fibers, aspect ratio, is 50 or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Kazuo Kishino, Katsuya Abe, Takeshi Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20140255068
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to providing a fixing member that has a flexible surface and that can supply a larger amount of heat to a material to be recorded and a toner in a shorter period of time. The fixing member comprises a substrate, an elastic layer and a releasing layer, wherein thermal effusivity in a depth region from a surface of the releasing layer is 1.5 [kJ/(m2·K·sec0.5)] or more, the depth region corresponding to a thermal diffusion length when an alternating-current temperature wave having a frequency of 10 Hz is applied to the surface of the releasing layer, and a surface micro rubber hardness is 85 degrees or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Kazuo Kishino, Masaaki Takahashi, Katsuya Abe
  • Publication number: 20140248071
    Abstract: Provided is a fixing device whose required heat generation amount can be obtained with a smaller amount of a microwave absorbing material, hence start-up (warm-up) time for achieving fixable temperature of the fixing device can be shortened without impairing characteristics such as flexibility, releasing property, durability. The fixing device comprises: a heating member; a pressurizing member; and a microwave generating unit, the fixing device being configured to fix an unfixed toner on a recording material by passing the recording material through a nip formed between the heating member and the pressurizing member, wherein: the heating member includes a heat generating layer for generating heat with microwave generated by the microwave generating unit; and the heat generating layer contains a high molecular compound and a carbon fiber having an average fiber diameter of 80-150 nm, an average fiber length of 6-10 ?m, and in Raman spectrum, an absorption peak resulting from graphite structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2014
    Publication date: September 4, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Yutaka Arai, Jun Miura, Jiro Ishizuka, Shuichi Tamura, Ryo Yashiro, Hiroto Sugimoto, Naoki Akiyama, Kenji Hashimoto, Yasuhiro Miyahara, Hiroki Muramatsu, Koji Sato
  • Publication number: 20140133892
    Abstract: Provided is a member for electrophotography including a fluorine resin surface layer formed by melting fluorine resin powder, the member being capable of stably maintaining rubber elasticity over a long time period. Further, provided are a fixing member, a fixing device, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus each capable of stably providing the image quality of an electrophotographic image. The member for electrophotography is a member for electrophotography, comprising: a substrate; a cured silicone rubber elastic layer; and a fluorine resin surface layer obtained by melting a fluorine resin powder, wherein: when a microhardness of a cured rubber forming the cured silicone rubber elastic layer is defined as H?0, and a microhardness of a rubber obtained by soaking the cured rubber in a methyl hydrogen silicone oil for 24 hours, and then further curing the cured rubber is defined as H?1, H?1/H?0 is 2.5 or more and 5.0 or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Jun Miura, Katsuhisa Matsunaka, Katsuya Abe
  • Publication number: 20140107250
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a fixing member including a surface layer containing PFA, the fixing member being excellent in wear resistance and having high release properties to a toner. The fixing member includes a base member, an elastic layer provided on the surface of the base member, and a surface layer, wherein the surface layer contains a tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer having a particular partial structure, and has a surface having a contact angle of 67 degrees or more as measured in a mixed liquid for a wetting tension test having a wetting tension of 31.0 mN/m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2013
    Publication date: April 17, 2014
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Matsutaka Maeda, Katsuhisa Matsunaka
  • Patent number: 8626046
    Abstract: The image heating apparatus includes a rubber layer and a resin tube layer on a metal core. The rubber layer includes a solid rubber layer having a thermal conductivity in a thickness direction of 0.16 W/(m·K) or more and 0.40 W/(m·K) or less, and a self-bonded silicone rubber layer that contains a filler of 5 vol % or more and 40 vol % or less, and has a thermal conductivity in an axial direction of 2.5 W/(m·K) or more and a thickness of 0.5 mm or more and 5.0 mm or less, the filler having a length of 0.05 mm or more and 1 mm or less and a thermal conductivity in a length direction of 500 W/(m·K) or more, so that a pressure roller to moderate temperature rise in a non-sheet feeding area when a small sized recording material has undergone sheet feeding can be easily manufactured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuko Sekihara, Norio Hashimoto, Hiroaki Sakai, Hiroyuki Sakakibara, Atsushi Iwasaki, Kazuo Kishino, Masaaki Takahashi, Katsuhisa Matsunaka
  • Patent number: 8401450
    Abstract: A pressing member for creating a nip in which the pressing member contacts a heating member and a recording material is heated while being nip-conveyed, includes an elastic layer and a high thermal conductive elastic layer, which is provided on the elastic layer and has a thermal conductivity which is higher than that of the elastic layer. In the high thermal conductive elastic layer, carbon fibers and carbon nanofibers are dispersed in a heat-resistant elastic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuko Sekihara, Norio Hashimoto, Hiroaki Sakai, Hiroyuki Sakakibara, Kazuo Kishino, Masaaki Takahashi, Katsuhisa Matsunaka