Patent ID: 11899385
Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 6:
7. A fixing device, comprising:
a fixing belt;
a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the fixing belt;
an inductive heater including an induction heating coil configured to heat the fixing belt to a target temperature;
a temperature control device including:
a temperature estimation unit configured to estimate the temperature of the fixing belt being heated by the induction heating coil, the temperature being estimated based on a frequency of a drive signal supplied to an inverter connected to the induction heating coil; and
a frequency generation unit configured to set the frequency of the drive signal based on the temperature estimated by the temperature estimation unit, a detected temperature of the fixing belt from the temperature sensor, and the target temperature for the fixing belt; and

a power estimation unit configured to estimate a power supplied to the induction heating coil based on the frequency of the drive signal, wherein
the temperature estimation unit additionally estimates the temperature of the fixing belt based on the estimated power supplied to induction heating coil.