JP2001125473A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of realizing as much energy saving as possible without degradation in a function of an image forming device, moreover, by effectively using a dehumidifying heater. SOLUTION: (1) An image forming device characterized in being configured to control power supply to the dehumidifying heater, based on ambience detection information from an ambience detecting means arranged in the image forming device. (2) An image forming device having plural control parts and taking plural modes of power state, characterized in being configured to turn off power supply except that to at least one control part in a power saving mode, and to control 1st power supply to the dehumidifying heater based on the ambience detection information just before the power supply was turned off by the ambience detection means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrostatic latent image based on analog or digital information is formed on a photoreceptor as a charge holding member, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized with toner powder. An image forming apparatus for transferring a toner image onto a transfer material and fixing the transferred toner image to a transfer material via heating and pressurization to form a final copy or print is well known.

Further, from the viewpoint of energy saving, when the image forming apparatus is not used for a predetermined time or longer, the idling mode is automatically set to an idling mode, and the power is cut off except for the heater of the roller-type fixing device. In addition, there is also known an image forming apparatus which is referred to as an energy saving mode and configured so that the power supplied to the heater is lower than usual.

Further, although not related to energy saving, an image forming apparatus in which a dehumidifying heater is provided near a cassette has been proposed.

[0005]

However, for example, in an image forming apparatus having the dehumidifying heater,
As long as the main power is on, the on / off control of the dehumidifying heater is continuously performed, and it has not been sufficient from the viewpoint of energy saving.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to achieve as much energy saving as possible without deteriorating the function of an image forming apparatus and effectively using a dehumidifying heater. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus.

[0007]

The object of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitutions.

(1) An image forming apparatus characterized in that power supply control to a dehumidifying heater is controlled based on environment detection information from environment detecting means provided in the image forming apparatus.

(2) In an image forming apparatus having a plurality of control units and taking a plurality of power states, in an energy saving mode, power supply is turned off while leaving at least one control unit, and environment detection is performed. An image forming apparatus configured to perform first power supply control for the dehumidifying heater based on environment detection information immediately before the power supply is turned off by the means.

(3) After a lapse of a predetermined time from the first power supply control to the dehumidification heater, the environment detection means is operated, and based on the environment detection information of the environment detection means, the second power supply control to the dehumidification heater is performed. The image forming apparatus according to (2), wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to perform the following.

(4) The environment detection means operates via a control unit which is turned off in the power saving mode, and performs environment detection in accordance with power supply to the control unit at predetermined time intervals. The image forming apparatus according to (2), wherein power supply control to the dehumidifying heater is performed based on the detection information.

(5) The image forming apparatus according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the environmental information is temperature or humidity, or temperature and humidity.

(6) The image forming apparatus according to (3) or (4), wherein the set time of the predetermined time is variable.

(7) The image forming apparatus according to (4), wherein the power supply to the control unit for turning off the power supply in the energy saving mode is a special mode different from the normal startup mode.

(8) The image forming apparatus according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the dehumidifying heater is a PCT heater.

[0016]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the image forming apparatus.

In FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an image reading unit 10, a laser writing unit 20, an image forming unit 3,
0, a paper feeding section 40 and a transfer material reversing section 50 as main components.

An automatic document feeder 60 is shown above the image reading section 10.

The automatic document feeder includes a document table 60
0, the drum 62 in addition to the storage tray 610 for processed documents.
0, including a plurality of rollers, a passage switching member, and the like disposed therearound, after bringing the front side (first side) and the back side (second side) of the document to the reading position 105 of the image reading unit 10 , And functions to be discharged onto the storage table 610.

For the optical system (optical means) for reading, etc., the second
The following is described together with the embodiment.

The image reading section 10 has an illumination lamp 110 and a mirror 111 for illuminating an original P placed on an original table 100 made of glass, and a first movable section provided so as to be able to reciprocate in the left-right direction in the figure. Mirror unit 11
And a pair of mirrors 120 arranged in a V-shape, and 1/1 of the first mirror unit to maintain the optical path length.
The optical system includes an optical system including a second mirror unit 12 that can translate in the same direction at a speed of 2, a projection lens 13, and an image sensor 14.

The above is a description of the second mode in which the document P is directly copied on the document table 100 without using the automatic document feeder 60. It is also used as a reading means of a conveyed document.

In this case, the first mirror unit 11 and the second mirror unit 12 are fixed to a position on the left side of the position in the figure.

In either case, the image sensor 1
The image information formed on the image No. 4 is subjected to image processing, and is temporarily stored in a memory as image data.

The laser writing section 20 includes a polygon mirror 220 for deflecting a laser beam generated from a semiconductor laser (not shown), an fθ lens 230, and a mirror 240.

The driving of the semiconductor laser is controlled in accordance with the image data stored in the memory.

The image forming section 30 is a section for finally forming an image corresponding to image data on a transfer material (described later), and includes a drum-shaped charge holding member (in the embodiment, O
PC photoconductor, hereinafter referred to as photoconductor drum) 300
And a band electrode (hereinafter, referred to as a charging unit) 310 disposed around the photosensitive drum for uniformly charging the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 300, and formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 300. A developing device (hereinafter referred to as developing means) 330 including a developing sleeve 333 for converting the electrostatic latent image into a visible image (toner image), and a transfer pole (for transferring the toner image onto a transfer material described later) (Hereinafter referred to as transfer means) 34
0, a separating pole (hereinafter, referred to as a separating unit) 350 for separating the transfer material from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 300 and a cleaning unit 360 for cleaning the photosensitive drum after the transfer.

The reflected light from the mirror 240 in the laser writing unit 20 is transmitted to the charging unit 310 and the developing unit 33.
Then, the photosensitive drum 300 is irradiated with the light passing through 0.

Reference numeral 370 denotes a conveying belt, and 380 denotes a fixing device (fixing means) composed of a pair of rollers configured to rotate by pressing against each other. At least one of the rollers is a heating roller.

Reference numerals 385 and 390 denote paper discharge means, each comprising a pair of rollers. 395 is a switching unit (switching member) for switching the path of the transfer material after fixing.
And is provided between the paper discharging means 385 and 390.

The paper supply unit 40 includes a paper supply tray 400 and a paper supply roller 4 provided below the image forming unit 30.
10 is the main element.

In the figure, three paper feed trays 400 are shown, but the uppermost paper feed tray in the embodiment is built in the image forming apparatus main body, and the lower two paper feed trays are Optional (post-installation).

H is a dehumidification heater disposed in the lower space of the paper feed tray 400.

The image forming apparatus in the specification of the present application means a configuration of only the above-described image forming apparatus main body, a configuration with options as shown in the drawing, or a configuration having a plurality of paper feed trays in the image forming apparatus main body. Including both.

Reference numeral 420 denotes a transfer material, and any suitable medium such as paper and film can be used. In the embodiment, plain paper is used as the transfer material.

Reference numeral 430 denotes a conveying roller, which is provided on the supply passage 425 of the transfer material 420 in an appropriate number.

Reference numeral 440 denotes a registration roller which is driven and controlled so as to retransmit the transfer material 420 so as to overlap the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 300.

The transfer material reversing section 50 is provided with the switching means 3
95, a plurality of pairs of conveyance rollers 510 provided on the conveyance path, a conveyance path extending in a direction orthogonal to the middle of the conveyance path 500 and connected to the supply path 425. 520 and a plurality of pairs of transport rollers 530 arranged on the transport path are main elements.

The image forming process in the image forming apparatus having the above configuration is as follows.

For convenience of explanation, an example in which the automatic document feeder 60 is used will be described.

When the original P is placed on the original mounting table 600 and the start of the copying operation is instructed by operating a suitable button such as a push button, one sheet of the original P is separated from the bundle of originals, and as the drum 620 rotates, The sheet is conveyed while being pressed against the drum peripheral surface, sequentially passes through the reading position 105, and is temporarily received on the document table 100.

At this time, the rear end of the document P is held by a pair of rollers (without reference symbols) provided above the document table.

A mirror 111 of the first mirror unit 11 is fixed below the reading section 105,
Reflected light from the document based on the exposure of the illumination lamp 110 is sequentially formed on the image sensor 14 via the mirror 111, the mirror 120 on the second mirror unit, and the projection lens 13.

After image processing, the image information formed on the image sensor 14 is temporarily stored in a memory (not shown) as image data.

On the other hand, each means or member constituting the image forming section 30 operates according to the image forming operation, and the charging means 310 uniformly charges the peripheral surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 300.

Next, the image data stored in the memory is read out, and a laser exposure according to the image data is applied to the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 300 to form an electrostatic latent image.

The electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing means 330 to form a toner image (visible image).

During this time, the transfer material 420 of the designated size supplied from the paper feed tray 400 of the selected paper feed unit 40 is
The registration roller 440 is momentarily stopped in a state in which its tip bites into the registration roller 440, but is re-fed with the rotation of the registration roller, which is driven and controlled at a timing overlapping with the toner image on the photosensitive drum 300, and is transferred. Pointed to the area.

The toner image on the photosensitive drum 300 is sequentially transferred onto the transfer material 420 by the action of the transfer means 340 in the transfer area, and the transfer material 420 is transferred to the photosensitive drum 300 by the action of the separation means 350. It is separated from the peripheral surface.

The separated transfer material 420 is transferred to the transport belt 37.
0, the toner is melted by the heating and pressurizing action of the fixing unit, and the transfer material 4
20.

When the image formation is in the one-sided copy mode of the original, the transfer material having passed through the fixing means 380 is
The sheet is discharged to a discharge tray (not shown) outside the apparatus via the discharge rollers 385 and 390.

On the other hand, in the case of the double-sided copy mode, the path of the transfer material 420 after passing through the fixing means 380 is changed by the switching means 395 and descends on the transport path 500.

The leading end of the transfer material 420 descending over the transport path 500 enters a gap provided between the bottom of the image forming apparatus main body and the bottom of the paper feed tray 400.

At the end of the downward conveyance, the rear end of the transfer material 420 is nipped by the conveyance roller 510 located at the lowermost end, and moves upward by the rotation of the conveyance roller 510 in the opposite direction. Enter 520.

Then, in the process of successively entering the supply passage 425, the surface on which no image is recorded (the second surface) is inverted so as to face the photosensitive drum 300, and is conveyed toward the registration roller 440.

On the other hand, the original P is returned from the original table 100 and is wound around the drum 620 in the second state.
The document is conveyed with its surface (image surface on which no image is recorded) facing outside, is illuminated by the illumination lamp 110 by the reading unit 105, and an image is formed through the steps described above.

The original P whose second surface has been read is discharged onto the storage table 610 with the pages aligned, and the transfer material 420 that has passed through the fixing means 380 is discharged onto a discharge tray outside the apparatus. Paper.

Such an operation is repeated a required number of times, and a desired image is formed.

It is needless to say that the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 300 after the transfer step is cleaned by the cleaning means 360, and then is subjected to new image formation.

In the figure, S1 is an environment detecting means (hereinafter referred to as humidity sensor S1) comprising a humidity sensor provided near the registration roller 440, in other words, near the photosensitive drum 300, and S2 is a photosensitive sensor. Body drum 300
(Hereinafter referred to as a temperature sensor S2).

The environment detection information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 is used for on / off control of the dehumidification heater H.

The dehumidification heater H is preferably a PCT heater, but other types of heaters can be used.

FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram for explaining power supply control.

In the drawing, the same components as those described above are denoted by the same reference symbols.

The image forming apparatus (indicated by a dashed line) 1 according to the present invention includes a first control unit 800 including an arithmetic processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) 805 and a second control unit 810 including a CPU 815. It has two control units.

In the embodiment, the first control unit 800 controls the sequence of the whole image apparatus (system), and the second control unit 810 is a means for image formation called an engine, for example, FIG. Drum 30 at
0, charging means 310, semiconductor laser, paper feed roller 410
Etc. are controlled.

The image forming apparatus 1 counts a state where there is no instruction to form an image by the first controller 800, and switches to an energy saving mode when a predetermined time or more has elapsed.

In the present embodiment, the image forming process according to the image forming instruction is completed, and after a predetermined time elapses,
The power supply to the second control unit 810 is turned off so as to be in the energy saving mode.

As a matter of course, a known energy-saving method can be adopted, for example, by disabling a fan that is no longer required to be operated at present. The environment detection information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 is taken into the CPU 805 via the CPU 815 in the second control section 810, and the power supply control to the dehumidification heater H is performed based on the calculation result.

That is, when the information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 meet predetermined conditions, the power supply to the dehumidification heater H is turned off or the power supply is performed. It can be determined by various factors.

If the intended purpose can be achieved,
It goes without saying that the dehumidifying heater H may be configured to be controlled according to any one of the environment detection information of the temperature and the humidity information.

Reference numeral 820 denotes a DC power supply,
The first switching unit (synonymous with the first switch unit) 822 is turned on / off based on the calculation result of 0, and connected to the dehumidifying heater H by a line 825 so as to control the power supply to the dehumidifying heater H. I have.

Note that the DC power supply 820 has a
A plurality of output terminals such as 2 V and 5 V are provided, and the supply of power to the second control unit 810 is controlled via one of the output terminals and the line 830.

The reference numeral 833 on the line 830 indicates a second switching section (synonymous with the second switch means) for ON / OFF control.

The ON (energized) / OFF (non-energized) control of the second switching section 833 is also performed based on the calculation result of the first control section 800.

In the above configuration, when the image forming apparatus 1 does not operate even after the lapse of the predetermined time, the second switching section 833 is turned off, and the power supply to the second control section 810 is cut off.

At this time, the environment detection information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 immediately before the power supply is turned off is taken into the CPU 805, and the information needs to be supplied to the dehumidification heater H in a state where the power supply is required. In this case, the first switching unit 822 is turned on to perform the first power supply control to the dehumidifying heater H.

The first control section 800 activates the second control section 810 when a predetermined time has elapsed (first time) after the first power supply to the dehumidification heater H and the humidity sensor S1 Also, environmental information from the temperature sensor S2 is taken in, and second power is supplied to the dehumidifying heater H according to this information.

It is extremely inconvenient to save energy even if it takes too much time to start the image forming process when an image forming instruction is given, but the above-described control method can achieve the above-described energy saving while achieving energy saving. This is an effective means that can prevent such inconvenience as possible.

For this reason, it is desirable that the dehumidification heater control after entering the energy saving mode be configured to be continued for the second time and the third time by the above method.

At this time, the time interval of the environment detection at predetermined time intervals can be made variable.

For example, the second information acquisition time is made longer than the information acquisition time from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 in the first time.

The time for taking in the environment detection information may be a fixed time, and the time between measurements may be variable.

In the embodiment, the power source of the second control unit 810 is the DC power source 820, which is 5 V and 12 V in the normal mode (which indicates a mode other than the energy saving mode). Are configured to supply only 5V.

In the above configuration, the dehumidification heater H
Is controlled as follows.

In the normal mode for image formation,
Based on the sequence control of the first control unit 800, the second control unit 8
10 is operated, the process as described with reference to FIG. 1 is executed, and an image is formed.

When the image formation based on the image formation instruction is completed, the first controller 800 starts counting, and when the elapse of a predetermined time is detected, the image forming apparatus 1 is set to the energy saving mode.

The power supply to the second control unit 810 is also cut off for energy saving.

The environment detection information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 immediately before power supply to the second control unit 810 is turned off is taken into the first control unit 800 via the second control unit 810.

The first control unit 80 determines that the environment detection information requires power supply to the dehumidifying heater H.
If determined to be 0, the first switching unit 822 is turned on, and power is supplied to the dehumidification heater H via the line 825.

At this time, in order to control the dehumidification heater H, power is also supplied to the second control unit 810 in order to take in information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2.

At this time, the power supplied to the first control section 810 is not 5 V and 12 V as usual, but is only 5 V.

Then, based on the environment detection information from the two sensors S1 and S2, the power supply to the dehumidification heater H and the second control unit 810 is cut off.

At the same time, timing of the first control unit 800 is started, and when a predetermined time has elapsed, the second switching unit 8
33 is turned on, environment detection information from the humidity sensor S1 and the temperature sensor S2 is taken into the first control unit 800, and the first switching unit 8 is turned on in accordance with a calculation result.
22 is turned on to supply power to the dehumidification heater H, or if unnecessary, the second switching unit is turned off.

The above operation is repeated as appropriate.

In this state, when a new image formation instruction is issued, the second controller
When V and 12V are supplied, for example, the supply power to the heater for the heating roller constituting the fixing unit is returned to the normal state, and further, the drive system such as the conveyance roller is operated, and the predetermined conditions are satisfied. When the first control unit 800 determines, the image forming process is started.

In the above configuration, the image forming apparatus 1 has been described as being used as a single apparatus. However, as shown in the figure, the first controller 800 is connected to another apparatus, for example,
The image forming apparatus 1 is used as an alternative output unit when a printer 900 and a facsimile 910 connected to a personal computer (PC) are connected by a bus and the printer 900 cannot cover recording processing in accordance with an instruction from the PC. It can be used as a means of the facsimile 910 or used as a means in the system to function as an output means of the facsimile 910.

Further, a post-processing device 65 such as a finisher may be attached to the image forming apparatus, and the post-processing device may be controlled by the second control unit 810.

[0100]

According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the influence on the image forming process due to a change in the environment inside the apparatus, while at the same time achieving the energy saving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram for explaining power supply control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 image forming apparatus 10 image reading section 20 laser writing section 30 image forming section 40 paper feeding section 50 transfer material reversing section 60 automatic document feeder 65 post-processing apparatus 800 first control section 810 second control section 820 DC power supply 823 first Switching section 833 Second switching section H Dehumidification heater

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus, wherein power supply control for a dehumidifying heater is performed based on environment detection information from environment detecting means provided in the image forming apparatus. 2. An image forming apparatus having a plurality of control units and taking a plurality of power states, wherein in an energy saving mode, power supply is turned off except for at least one control unit, and an environment detecting means is provided. Wherein the first power supply control for the dehumidifying heater is performed based on the environment detection information immediately before the power supply is turned off. 3. After a predetermined time has passed since the first power supply control to the dehumidification heater, the environment detection means is operated, and the second power supply control to the dehumidification heater is performed based on the environment detection information of the environment detection means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to perform the processing. 4. The environment detecting means operates via a control unit which is turned off in an energy saving mode, and performs environment detection in accordance with energization of the control unit at predetermined time intervals. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein power supply control for the dehumidifying heater is performed based on the information. 5. The environmental information may be temperature or humidity, or
The temperature and the humidity are a temperature and a humidity.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the set time of the predetermined time is variable. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the power supply to the control unit that is turned off in the power saving mode is a special mode different from a normal startup mode. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dehumidifying heater is a PCT heater.