JP2005238786A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which can exert the effect of an energy saving mode to the full extent, and contributes to the extension of the life of a secondary battery. <P>SOLUTION: According to the image forming device having a main power source for supplying electric power of a commercial power source to each section of the device, and the secondary battery charged by the main power source, an energy saving control section monitors input voltage of the main power source. In the energy saving mode, it is determined whether or not the input voltage of the main power source is lower than a predetermined value (step 110), and if the answer to the question is affirmative, the secondary battery is turned off (step 114). As a result, a power supply from the secondary battery is terminated, and therefore the secondary battery is not unnecessarily discharged. When the power source is input again to the image forming device, a charging amount necessary for charging the secondary battery to an extent that can withstand use thereof in the energy saving mode, is reduced, and therefore the application of too much load on the secondary battery is dispensed with. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, an operation state in which image formation is possible (normal mode) and an operation state in which power consumption is suppressed compared to the normal mode (energy saving mode). Is related to an image forming apparatus.

  For example, some image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine, a laser printer, an ink jet printer, a sublimation printer, and a facsimile include a system in which the system is divided into a plurality of modules. Further, in an image forming apparatus in which a system is configured by a plurality of modules, there are an operation state in which image formation is possible (normal mode) and an operation state in which power consumption is suppressed compared to the normal mode (energy saving mode). Some are switchable. In the normal mode, the power consumption is about 12 W, for example. In the energy saving mode, power is supplied only to a specific module (for example, a control circuit that controls the operation of the entire system or a part thereof) among the modules of the system. Thus, the power consumption is suppressed to about 5 W, for example.

  Still further, in the image forming apparatus that can be switched between the normal mode and the energy saving mode, a main power source that supplies power supplied from a commercial power source via a power switch of the device to each module, There is a battery that is provided with a secondary battery that supplies the stored power to the specific module when the main power is turned off. Examples thereof are disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 below.

In such an image forming apparatus provided with both a main power source and a secondary battery, when the secondary battery is charged with power supplied from the main power source in the normal mode in advance and the mode is changed from the normal mode to the energy saving mode. By supplying power from the secondary battery to the specific module, the power consumption from the commercial power supply during the energy saving mode is suppressed to approximately 0 W.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-186492 JP 2003-29579 A

  However, in such an image forming apparatus, when power is supplied from the secondary battery in the energy saving mode, the user of the apparatus turns off the power switch of the apparatus or the power plug of the apparatus from an outlet. The secondary battery is configured to continue supplying power even if the battery is unplugged (that is, the device itself is turned off by an irregular operation). For this reason, the secondary battery discharges unnecessarily. As a result, when the device is turned on again and the device is used, the secondary battery is in a state where the amount of stored power is further reduced, and it is necessary to charge more than the amount of unnecessary discharge.

  In addition, if the above irregular operation is performed even in the normal mode, the secondary battery is unnecessarily discharged even though the apparatus is in a power-off state. As a result, in the same manner as described above, when the apparatus is turned on again and the apparatus is used, it is necessary to charge more than the amount of unnecessary discharge.

  Accordingly, the secondary battery is unnecessarily discharged and charged while the apparatus is repeatedly turned on and off, and the life of the secondary battery is shortened.

  In this case, since the secondary battery discharges unnecessarily as described above, to charge the secondary battery enough to withstand use in the energy saving mode by turning on the power again to the device, It takes a considerable amount of time. For this reason, when a predetermined condition for shifting from the normal mode to the energy saving mode is satisfied, the secondary battery may not be sufficiently charged. Therefore, at this time, even if it is not possible to shift to the energy saving mode, or even if it is possible to shift to the energy saving mode, the secondary battery continues to be charged and consumes power from the commercial power source, and the power of the device is as much as the user desires. Can not save.

  Further, in the energy saving mode, there are many configurations in which a lighting type operation panel such as a liquid crystal display is in an off state (light-off state). In the image forming apparatus having such a configuration, when the power plug is disconnected from the outlet for some reason, for example, a person who has passed by the apparatus hooks the power cord on the leg during the energy saving mode, the lighting type Since there is no change on the operation panel, the user of the apparatus does not notice that the power plug has been removed from the outlet. Therefore, even if an operation for switching to the normal mode is performed thereafter, the apparatus does not operate, and the user of the apparatus has a drawback that time is wasted for investigating the cause.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can maximize the effect of the energy saving mode and extend the life of a secondary battery.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: a main power source that supplies commercial power to each unit; a secondary battery that is charged by the main power source; and the main power source in the normal mode. Switching means for supplying power to each unit, stopping power supply from the main power supply in the energy saving mode, and switching so that power is supplied from the secondary battery to a predetermined part of the device, and power by the secondary battery Determining means for determining whether or not the supply is unnecessary; and when the determination means determines that the power supply by the secondary battery is no longer necessary, the power from the secondary battery to the predetermined part of the device And stop means for stopping supply.

  The main power source of the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention is connected to a commercial power source, and supplies the power supplied from the commercial power source to each part of the apparatus. On the other hand, the secondary battery is charged by supplying power from the main power source.

  In the image forming apparatus including both the main power source and the secondary battery, power is supplied from the main power source to each part of the apparatus in the normal mode. On the other hand, in the energy saving mode, power supply from the main power supply is stopped, and power is supplied from the secondary battery to a predetermined part of the apparatus. These modes are switched by switching means.

  Further, the determination means determines whether or not the power supply by the secondary battery is unnecessary. For example, as in the invention described in claim 2, the determination unit determines whether or not a voltage of a commercial power source supplied to the main power source has decreased, and when the voltage decreases, the secondary power It can be determined that the power supply by the battery is unnecessary. Further, as in the invention described in claim 3, the determination means determines whether or not a power switch between the commercial power source and the main power source is turned off, and the power switch is turned off. It can be determined that the power supply by the secondary battery is no longer necessary. When it is determined by this determination means that the power supply from the secondary battery is no longer necessary, the power supply from the secondary battery to the predetermined part of the apparatus is stopped by the stop means.

  In the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, when power supply by the secondary battery becomes unnecessary, power is prevented from being supplied from the secondary battery to the predetermined portion. , Do not discharge unnecessarily.

  As a result, when the secondary battery is charged when the apparatus is turned on again and used, the charging time of the secondary battery can be shortened. For this reason, for example, even immediately after the apparatus is turned on, it is possible to immediately shift from the normal mode to the energy saving mode.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus can be used to the fullest by further enhancing the effect of the energy saving mode.

  In addition, as described above, in the image forming apparatus, when the power supply by the secondary battery becomes unnecessary, the secondary battery does not discharge unnecessarily. As a result, the apparatus is turned on again. When the device is used, even if the secondary battery is charged, no extra load is applied to the secondary battery.

  Therefore, this image forming apparatus can extend the life of the secondary battery.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the power supply from the secondary battery is stopped when the power supply from the secondary battery is stopped. It further includes a notifying means for notifying the shift to the above.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the notification unit is further provided, when the power supply from the secondary battery to the predetermined unit is stopped, the power saving mode is switched to the power-off state. To be notified.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect can make the user of the apparatus recognize that the apparatus shifts to the power-off state. As a result, the user of the apparatus can investigate the cause of the apparatus not operating. You can avoid wasting time.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention stops the power supply from the secondary battery when the power supply from the secondary battery is no longer necessary, so that the effect of the energy saving mode can be maximized. In addition, there is an effect that the life of the secondary battery can be extended.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the image forming apparatus 10 will be described by taking an ink jet printer that forms an image by an ink jet method as an example.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a main power supply 12, a secondary battery 14, and an energy saving control unit 22 configured with a microcomputer or the like.

  The main power supply 12 is connected to a commercial power supply 38 via a power switch 36 provided on the side of the image forming apparatus 10. For this reason, the main power supply 12 is supplied with power from the commercial power supply 38 when the power switch 36 is in the on state. Further, at the subsequent stage of the main power supply 12, a motor drive unit 16 comprising a circuit for driving a paper feed and ink head moving motor via an electric power supply line 40, and an image recording unit comprising a circuit for driving the ink head 18 and a system control unit 20 that controls the entire image forming apparatus 10 (image formation, control of motors, sensors, and the like). The main power supply 12 supplies the power of the commercial power supply 38 to each of these units. Is supplied.

  Furthermore, a secondary battery 14 and an energy saving control unit 22 are provided in the subsequent stage of the main power supply 12 via a power supply line 42. The secondary battery 14 and the energy saving control unit 22 are provided by the main power supply 12. Also, the commercial power 38 is supplied.

  The secondary battery 14 is charged when power is supplied from the main power supply 12, and when power is not supplied from the main power supply 12, power disposed between the secondary battery 14 and the energy saving control unit 22. The power stored by the charging is supplied to the energy saving control unit 22 via the supply line 44.

  The energy saving control unit 22 is connected to a buzzer 30 provided on the side of the image forming apparatus 10, and can be controlled to turn on / off the buzzer 30.

  The energy saving control unit 22 includes a control circuit 24 and a front panel circuit 26.

  The control circuit 24 constituting the energy saving control unit 22 is connected to the host computer 34 on the network via the interface unit 32, receives a print instruction output from the host computer 34, and operates the image forming apparatus 10. Or the like can be notified to the host computer 34. That is, when the control circuit 24 receives the above print instruction, the image recording unit 18 drives the ink head to start printing, while the host computer 34 is notified of the operating state of the image forming apparatus 10 and the like. , Display its contents on its own monitor.

  The front panel circuit 26 that constitutes the energy saving control unit 22 together with the control circuit 24 is exposed at the upper part of the image forming apparatus 10 and is connected to a front panel 28 that is configured by a liquid crystal display or the like. It is possible to display a predetermined message on the screen 28 or to receive an instruction to cancel the energy saving mode input by operating the front panel 28 by the user of the apparatus.

  The energy saving control unit 22 as described above is connected to the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 via a control signal line through which a control signal for turning on / off the power supply of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 is transmitted. They are connected to each other, and a control signal can be output to turn on / off the power supply of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 separately.

  Conditions for outputting such a control signal are set in the energy saving control unit 22. In the present embodiment, whether the print start command or the operation of the front panel 28 from the host computer 34 has not been performed for a predetermined period or longer in the normal mode, or whether the output voltage of the secondary battery 14 is predetermined in the energy saving mode. Whether the output voltage of the secondary battery 14 has been recovered by charging from the reduced state, or whether the input voltage of the main power supply 12 has decreased below a predetermined value in the energy saving mode. Whether or not an energy saving mode cancel instruction is received from the operation panel 28 or the host computer 34 in the energy saving mode is a condition for outputting the control signal.

  In addition, when the energy saving control unit 22 executes a power supply stop processing routine described later, power is supplied to the energy saving control unit 22 not only in the normal mode but also in the energy saving mode. For this reason, the energy saving control unit 22 can switch on / off the power supply of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 even in the energy saving mode. That is, the energy saving control unit 22 can control the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 in the energy saving mode.

  The energy saving control unit 22 is connected to the main power supply 12 side (output side) of the power switch 36 via a voltage monitoring connection line. The energy saving control unit 22 monitors the voltage input to the main power supply 12 from the commercial power supply 38 via the power switch 36 by monitoring the voltage input to itself via the voltage monitoring connection line. When the energy saving control unit 22 determines that the input voltage of the main power supply 12 has decreased below a predetermined value in the energy saving mode, the energy saving control unit 22 mechanically supplies the power supplied from the secondary battery 14 via the power supply line 44. And the buzzer 30, the front panel 28, and the host computer 34 are notified that the image forming apparatus 10 shifts from the energy saving mode to the power-off state.

  Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a power supply stop processing routine executed by the energy saving control unit 22.

  When this routine is started, it is determined in step 100 whether or not a condition (energy saving condition) for shifting from the normal mode to the energy saving mode is satisfied. That is, in step 100, the energy saving control unit 22 checks a condition whether or not a print instruction from the host computer 34 or an operation of the front panel 28 has not been performed for a predetermined period. If the determination in step 100 is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 102. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 118.

  If the determination in step 100 is negative, the process proceeds to step 118, where the energy saving control unit 22 outputs a control signal to each of the main power source 12 and the secondary battery 14 to turn on the main power source 12 and the secondary power source. The battery 14 is turned off. As a result, the secondary battery 14 is supplied with electric power from the main power supply 12, and the secondary battery 14 is charged. At the same time, power is also supplied from the main power supply 12 to the energy saving control unit 22 via the power supply line 42. In step 118, power is also supplied from the main power supply 12 to the motor drive unit 16, the image recording unit 18, the system control unit 20, and the energy saving control unit 22 through the power supply line 40. Thus, when the main power supply 12 is turned on and the secondary battery 14 is turned off, the routine proceeds to step 120.

  In step 120, based on the voltage input to the energy saving control unit 22 from the main power supply 12 side of the power switch 38 via the voltage monitoring connection line, the power supply 38 is input to the main power supply 12 via the power switch 36. The energy saving control unit 22 determines whether or not the voltage has decreased below a predetermined value. That is, the power switch 36 is turned off by the user of the apparatus, or the user of the apparatus that has passed by the image forming apparatus 10 hooks a leg on the power cable of the apparatus, and the power plug of the apparatus is disconnected from the outlet. In this case (when an irregular operation is performed), since the input voltage of the main power supply 12 becomes 0 V, this determination is affirmed and it is determined that the power supply by the secondary battery 14 is unnecessary. At this time, the power supply stop processing routine is terminated while the secondary battery 14 is kept off. On the other hand, if the determination in step 120 is negative, the process returns to step 100 and the above-described processing is repeated.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 100 is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 102, where the energy saving control unit 22 outputs a control signal to each of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 to turn off the main power supply 12 and The secondary battery 14 is turned on. As a result, the secondary battery 14 is not supplied with power from the main power supply 12. At the same time, the secondary battery 14 releases the electric power stored when the main power supply 12 is in the on state. This electric power is supplied to the energy saving control unit 22 via the power supply line 44, and the energy saving control unit 22 continues to operate. In this step 102, since power is not supplied from the main power source 12 to the motor drive unit 16, the image recording unit 18, the system control unit 20, and the energy saving control unit 22 via the power supply lines 40 and 42, the commercial power source 38 is used. Does not consume power supplied from (energy saving mode).

  Next, the process immediately proceeds to step 104, and the energy saving control unit 22 reduces the output voltage of the secondary battery 14 below a predetermined value based on the voltage input from the secondary battery 14 via the power supply line 44. It is determined whether or not. If this determination is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 106, and if not, the process proceeds to step 108.

  When the determination in step 104 is affirmed and the process proceeds to step 106, the energy saving control unit 22 outputs a control signal to each of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 to turn on the main power supply 12 and turn off the secondary battery 14. Let me. As a result, power is supplied to the secondary battery 14 and the energy saving control unit 22 through the power supply line 42. Therefore, the secondary battery 14 is charged by the electric power supplied from the main power supply 12, and the energy saving control unit 22 continues to operate. In this case, the main power supply 12 does not supply power to the motor drive unit 16, the image recording unit 18, and the system control unit 20 via the power supply line 40. That is, the energy saving mode is continued. Next, the process proceeds to step 110.

  On the other hand, if the determination in step 104 described above is denied and the process proceeds to step 108, the energy saving control unit 22 outputs a control signal to each of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 to turn off the main power supply 12 and recharge the secondary battery. The battery 14 is turned on. As a result, charging of the secondary battery 14 is stopped, and power is supplied to the energy saving control unit 22 from the secondary battery 14 via the power supply line 44. Next, the process proceeds to step 110.

  When the process at step 106 is finished or when the process at step 108 is finished, the routine proceeds to step 110. In step 110, as in step 120 described above, the energy saving control unit 22 uses the commercial power supply based on the voltage input from the main power supply 12 side of the power switch 38 to the energy saving control unit 22 via the voltage monitoring connection line. It is determined whether the voltage input from 38 to the main power supply 12 via the power switch 36 has dropped below a predetermined value. That is, the power switch 36 is turned off by the user of the apparatus, or the apparatus user who has passed by the image forming apparatus 10 hooks his / her leg on the power cable of the apparatus and the power plug of the apparatus is disconnected from the outlet. In this case, since the input voltage of the main power supply 12 becomes 0 V, this determination is affirmed and it is determined that the power supply by the secondary battery 14 is unnecessary. When the determination in step 110 is affirmed in this way, the routine proceeds to step 112. On the other hand, if this determination is negative, the routine proceeds to step 116.

  If the determination in step 110 is negative and the process proceeds to step 116, it is determined whether or not the energy saving mode is canceled. Here, for example, whether or not the energy saving control unit 22 has received an instruction to cancel the energy saving mode from the front panel 28 or the host computer 34 is the determination condition. If this condition is satisfied, the energy saving control unit 22 The control signal is output to each of the main power supply 12 and the secondary battery 14 to turn on the main power supply 12 and turn off the secondary battery 14. As a result, power is supplied from the main power supply 12 to the motor drive unit 16, the image recording unit 18, the system control unit 20, the energy saving control unit 22, and the secondary battery 14 via the power supply lines 40 and 42. As a result, the energy saving mode is canceled and the mode is changed to the normal mode. As described above, when the determination in step 116 is affirmed and the energy saving mode returns to the normal mode, the process returns to step 100 and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, if the determination in step 116 is negative, the energy saving mode is continued, so the process returns to step 104 and the above-described processing is repeated.

  If the determination in step 110 described above is affirmed and the process proceeds to step 112, it is determined that power is not supplied from the commercial power supply 38 to the main power supply 12. Therefore, “the image forming apparatus 10 saves energy. “Transition from mode to power off state” is notified. In this case, the energy saving control unit 22 sounds the buzzer 30 for a predetermined period of time, and displays the characters “Move to power off” on the liquid crystal display of the front panel 28 and the monitor of the host computer 34. Accordingly, the user of the apparatus can recognize that the image forming apparatus 10 shifts to the power-off state, and as a result, the user of the apparatus wastes time to investigate the cause of the image forming apparatus 10 not operating. You can avoid that. Note that power for operating the buzzer 30 and the front panel 28 is supplied from the secondary battery 14 via the energy saving control unit 22. When such notification is performed, the process proceeds to step 114.

  In step 114, the energy saving control unit 22 outputs a control signal to the secondary battery 14 to turn off the secondary battery 14. As a result, the secondary battery 14 stops supplying power stored by the above-described charging. That is, when the power supply by the secondary battery 14 becomes unnecessary, the energy saving control unit 22 blocks the power supply of the secondary battery 14. Thereby, the secondary battery 14 is not discharged unnecessarily. As a result, when the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on again, the amount of charge required to charge the secondary battery 14 enough to withstand use in the energy saving mode is unnecessarily discharged. Compared to less.

  For this reason, the charging time of the secondary battery 14 can be shortened. For this reason, even immediately after the image forming apparatus 10 is turned on, when the above energy saving condition is satisfied, the normal mode can be shifted to the energy saving mode, or the secondary battery 14 can be charged during the energy saving mode. Therefore, the time for starting up the main power supply 12 can be shortened. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 10 can be used to the maximum with further enhanced energy saving effect.

  Further, as described above, when the power supply by the secondary battery 14 becomes unnecessary, the secondary battery 14 is not unnecessarily discharged, and as a result, the secondary battery 14 is sufficiently used for use in the energy saving mode. Since the amount of charge required to withstand the charge is reduced, the secondary battery 14 may be charged even when the image forming apparatus 10 is used by turning on the power again. Thus, no excessive load is applied to the secondary battery 14. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 10 can extend the life of the secondary battery 14.

  In this way, when the secondary battery 14 is turned off by the energy saving control unit 22, the power supply stop processing routine ends.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment can extend the life of the secondary battery 14 by forcibly preventing unnecessary discharge and charging of the secondary battery 14.

  In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 has been described as forming an image by an inkjet method. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to various image forming apparatuses such as a laser beam printer. Even when the present invention is applied to various image forming apparatuses such as a laser beam printer, the same operations and effects as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  In the above description, an example is described in which the buzzer 30, the front panel 28, and the monitor of the host computer 34 are used as notification means for notifying that the power saving mode has been switched off. And any one or two of the monitors of the host computer 34 may be combined to form the notification means.

  In the above description, the example in which the power switch 36 is disposed between the commercial power source 38 and the main power source 12 has been described. However, the power switch 36 may be omitted or between the commercial power source 36 and the main power source 12. Alternatively, the image forming apparatus 10 may be provided at another position without being interposed. In such a case, the voltage monitoring connection line connected to the main power supply 12 side of the power switch 36 may be connected between the commercial power supply 38 and the main power supply 12.

1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the electric power supply stop process routine in the energy saving control part which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 12 Main power supply 14 Secondary battery 22 Energy saving control part 28 Front panel 30 Buzzer 34 Host computer 36 Power switch

Claims (4)

A main power source for supplying commercial power to each part of the device;
A secondary battery charged by the main power source;
Switching to switch power so that power is supplied from the main power supply to the various parts of the device in the normal mode, power supply from the main power supply is stopped in the energy saving mode, and power is supplied from the secondary battery to a predetermined part of the device. Means,
Determining means for determining whether or not power supply by the secondary battery is no longer necessary;
Stop means for stopping power supply from the secondary battery to the predetermined part of the device when it is determined by the determination means that power supply by the secondary battery is no longer necessary;
An image forming apparatus including:   The determination unit determines whether or not a voltage of a commercial power source supplied to the main power source has decreased, and determines that power supply by the secondary battery is no longer necessary when the voltage decreases. The image forming apparatus according to 1.   The determining means determines whether or not a power switch between the commercial power source and the main power source is turned off, and when the power switch is turned off, power supply by the secondary battery is unnecessary. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying unit that notifies that the power saving state is shifted from the energy saving mode when the power supply from the secondary battery is stopped.

Images