Patent ID: 7327979

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a heating unit, a surface of the heating unit contacting a surface of a sheet of paper and fixing toner on the sheet of paper; a pressure unit; a pressure roller having a first diameter; a separation roller having a second diameter smaller than the first diameter; and a first belt which connects the pressure roller and the separation roller to form the pressure unit, wherein the pressure roller presses the heating unit through the first belt to fix a toner image on the sheet of paper passing through a nip portion between the heating unit and the pressure unit, wherein the sheet of paper is conveyed by the first belt after being separated from the heating unit at an end of the nip portion, and the sheet of paper conveyed by the first belt is separated from the first belt at the separation roller at a position where the surface of the heating unit does not contact the sheet of paper, and wherein the separation roller is positioned such that a direction (S 2 ) of the first belt from the pressure roller to the separation roller coincides with a tangent (S 3 ) at an outlet of the nip portion to an imaginary circle which the pressure roller forms at the nip portion or is located on a pressure roller side with respect to the tangent (S 3 ).