Patent ID: 7565101

Claim:
A fixing device mounted in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the fixing device comprising: fixing rollers having a heating roller and a pressure roller; a plurality of peeling claws for peeling off recording medium from the fixing roller; a fixing roller cleaning section for cleaning the fixing roller by removing developer adhered to the fixing roller; a number-of-processed-sheet detecting portion for detecting a number of processed recording mediums treated with a fixing process upon passing through the fixing roller; a peeling claw driving section for moving a plurality of the peeling claws in parallel with an axial direction of the fixing roller; and a control unit for controlling the peeling claw driving section to operate so that a relative position between the peeling claw and the fixing roller changes according to a detected output of the number-of-processed-sheet detecting portion; wherein the fixing roller cleaning section comprises: a cleaning member that is belt-shaped, wound up and provided so as to contact either one of the fixing rollers, for cleaning a surface of the fixing roller; a press-contact roller for pressing the cleaning member against the fixing roller with which the cleaning member comes into contact; a feed-out roller for feeding the cleaning member; a wind-up roller for taking the cleaning member which has been fed from the feed-out roller and then cleaned the surface of the fixing roller; and a driving source for taking up the cleaning member, wherein the driving source provided in the fixing roller cleaning section is used also as a driving source for the peeling claw driving section.