A heating apparatus includes a heating roller that is heated by heating units, a main power supply that supplies power from an external power supply to the main heating unitl, and an auxiliary power supply that supplies power to the auxiliary heating unit. The auxiliary power supply further includes a mass capacitor of multiple capacitor cells, which are charged by the external power supply. The connection mode of the capacitor cells is changed at least at the time of electric discharge.
A heating device of the invention comprises a heater, a main power supply, and an auxiliary power supply. The heater includes a main heating element which generates heat with power supplied from the main power supply, and an auxiliary heating element which has a resistance different from a resistance of the main heating element and generates heat with power supplied from the auxiliary power supply. The auxiliary power supply is provided to supply to the auxiliary heating element a current that is different from a current supplied from the main power supply to the main heating element.
A temperature control system for a sheet support plate of a printer which has at least two power supplies for powering different sub-systems of the printer, the temperature control system containing at least one heater and a power management system adapted to use spare power capacities of the two power supplies by controlling the power supplied to said at least one heater in accordance with the load conditions of said power supplies.
A heating device, a fixing device and an image forming device are disclosed for making the life-span of a capacitor thereof longer. The heating device includes a heating part having at least one heat generation part generating heat, an electricity storage device supplying electric power at a variable output voltage to the heating part and having at least one chargeable-dischargeable capacitor, a control part controlling the output voltage of the electricity storage device, and a temperature detection part detecting a temperature of a portion heated by the heat generation part. The heat generation part generates heat by using electric power supplied from the electricity storage device. When the temperature detected by the temperature detection part is higher than or equal to a predefined temperature, the control part sets a voltage of the capacitor such that the voltage of the capacitor is lower than or equal to a maximum voltage of the capacitor.
There is provided an image forming apparatus which can implement on-demand fusing with quick rise in temperature by using the upper current (power) limit of a commercial power supply more effectively. This image forming apparatus includes a rechargeable battery device capable of charging and discharging, and is designed such that a driven load other than a heating element of a fusing device can receive power a commercial power supply and/or the rechargeable battery device. When printing is to be executed, the commercial power supply and rechargeable battery device are controlled as power supply sources for the driven load. The power supplied from the commercial power supply to the fusing device is then limited to a limit level corresponding to the control result.
