A unique color fusing technology using induction heating has been developed, which has been adopted in a newly released one-pass color laser printer. The color fusing unit consists of a thin fusing belt made of heat resistant resin containing metal, a heating roller with low thermal capacity, a fusing roller, and a pressure roller to press the fusing roller with the fusing belt in between. An induction heater is disposed along and adjacent to the outer circumference of the fusing belt and heating roller. The newly developed fusing belt has a low thermal capacity, with a thickness of only several hundred micrometers, and has a structure that self-heats at high efficiency, since eddy currents are generated inside the belt by electromagnetic induction. In addition, the eddy currents generated by the alternating magnetic field heats the heating roller. This design shortens the warm-up time of the fusing unit from cold start to only 20 sec. This color laser printer eliminates the need to preheat the fusing unit during stand-by time by employing the induction heating technique and achieves energy saving of 90% or more compared with conventional printers.
Masahiro Samei, Tomoyuki Noguchi, Hideki Tatematsu, Masaru Imai, Naoaki Ishimaru, Kazunori Matsuo, Tadafumi Shimizu, "Color Fusing Technology Using Induction Heating" in Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 2004, pp 480 - 485, https://doi.org/10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2004.48.6.art00004