Patent ID: 7561822

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a magnetic flux generating unit which has a coil and generates magnetic fluxes by current passing through said coil; an image heating member which has an electrically conductive layer that generates heat due to an eddy current which is generated due to said magnetic fluxes generated by said magnetic flux generating unit; an image forming means for forming an image on a recording material; an image heating unit which has said image heating member, and heats an image on a recording member; an electric circuit board which has an electric circuit that forms a high-frequency alternating current passing through said coil and is located above the image heating unit; a casing with corners having a column located near each of its corners, which surrounds a space in which said image forming means, said image heating unit and said electric circuit board are located; and a plurality of metal plates which are attached to each peripheral side of said casing and are supported by the columns; wherein each distance between each column is greater than each length of the electric circuit board facing each metal plate in a horizontal direction, and said plurality of metal plates are positioned to overlap said electric circuit board.