JP2006223079A - Electric apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric apparatus that can keep its minimum operation even if a main power supply of a device is disconnected. <P>SOLUTION: This electric apparatus is constituted by comprising: an overall control part 1 that controls the operation of each part of the device; the main power supply 2 that generates a DC voltage; a heat generating element 31 that emits heat energy at driving; a thermoelectric conversion means 32 that converts the emitted heat energy to electric energy; a photoelectric conversion means 51 that converts light outside the device to electric energy; an auxiliary power supply 4 that accumulates the obtained electric energy and generates a DC voltage; and a power supply selection means 12 that selects either of the main power supply 2 and the auxiliary power supply 4 as at least a power supply of the overall control part 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to an electrical apparatus having a heating element with a relatively large allowable loss, such as an image forming apparatus provided with a heater lamp for heat fixing.

  Conventionally, when no operation state of the device or non-reception state of image data continues for a predetermined time, unnecessary operations (such as preheating operation of the fixing unit) of each part of the device are stopped to shift to a sleep state, and the power consumption is reduced. 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses having a function to reduce, that is, a so-called energy saving function, are widely used.

In the above sleep state, power supply to ICs (motor driver ICs, etc.) operating with a +24 [V] power supply, efficiency control (switching frequency switching control) of the low-voltage power supply circuit at light load, or ASIC [Application Specific The power consumption of the apparatus is reduced by performing various power saving controls such as internal clock control of the IC] (stopping the clock by writing to the internal register of the ASIC).

  In addition, the result of having investigated the past patent document about the related prior art of this invention is as follows.

  Patent Document 1 discloses and proposes a technique in which a thermoelectric conversion element is introduced as an auxiliary power supply in addition to a battery used as a main power supply in order to suppress a temperature rise of a heat generating component and extend a battery life.

  Patent Document 2 discloses and proposes a technique for switching between a power generation mode (Seebeck effect) and a cooling mode (Peltier effect) according to temperature conditions in order to achieve both power generation using heat of the heat generating components and cooling of the heat generating components. ing.

Patent Document 3 discloses and proposes a technique in which a photoelectric conversion element and a thermoelectric conversion element are introduced as a main power source in order to obtain energy such as electric power, heat source, and thrust necessary for a space facility.
JP-A-11-145666 JP 2003-269817 A JP-A-6-8896

  Certainly, if the image forming apparatus has the energy saving function as described above, it is possible to shift the apparatus to the sleep state when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and to reduce the power consumption.

  However, in the conventional image forming apparatus, after the transition to the sleep state, in preparation for the return to the standby state, confirmation of the presence / absence of user operation at the operation unit, confirmation of presence / absence of image data reception at the Centronics interface, and various sensors Various operations such as state monitoring (jam sensor, etc.) must be carried out continuously or periodically, and energy (so-called standby power such as driving power of the central processing unit) is required to perform the operations at a minimum. It had been. Therefore, the conventional image forming apparatus may cut off the power supply from the main power source (external commercial power source or the like) in order to maintain the minimum operation of the above-described apparatus even after the transition to the sleep state. Even in the sleep state, the power consumption of the device as viewed from the main power supply (primary power consumption input to the device) is not zero.

  In addition, as described above, the prior arts of Patent Documents 1 and 2 are merely for the purpose of suppressing the temperature rise of the heat-generating component, extending the battery life, or achieving both power generation and cooling using a thermoelectric conversion element, No consideration has been given to the reduction of power consumption after the transition to the sleep state (shut off of the main power supply). That is, in the prior arts of Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the thermoelectric conversion element cannot function as an auxiliary power source in the sleep state in which the heat generating component is in the non-driven state, the power supply from the main power source must be continued. The above problem could not be solved.

  On the other hand, the prior art of Patent Document 3 uses a photoelectric conversion element or a thermoelectric conversion element as a main power source in an environment where there is no energy source other than the sun, and stores the surplus power in a storage battery so that the sun is blocked. In such a case, the storage battery is used as an auxiliary power source. At first glance, it seems that the above problem can be solved by combining with the prior arts of Patent Documents 1 and 2. .

  However, the thermoelectric conversion element employed in the prior art of Patent Document 3 is not a means for recovering and reusing waste heat generated when the apparatus is driven, and for the storage battery, of the electric power obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element It was just a way to store only surplus. On the other hand, the prior arts of Patent Documents 1 and 2 both reduce the power supply amount of the main power source by the amount of power obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element, that is, all power obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element. By allocating power to the power supply, the power consumption in the standby state is reduced, and no surplus is generated in the power obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element. Therefore, the storage battery cannot be charged by the electric power obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element by simply combining the above-described conventional techniques, and the above-described problem cannot be solved.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric device capable of maintaining the minimum operation even when the main power supply of the apparatus is shut off.

  The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the electric drive unit is a display unit.

In order to achieve the above object, an electrical device according to the present invention includes an overall control unit that controls operation of each unit of the apparatus, a main power source unit that generates a DC voltage, a heating element that releases thermal energy when driven, Thermoelectric conversion means for converting thermal energy emitted from the heating element into electrical energy, photoelectric conversion means for converting light outside the device into electrical energy, electrical energy obtained by the thermoelectric conversion means, and the photoelectric conversion means Auxiliary power supply unit that stores the electrical energy obtained in step 1 to generate a DC voltage, and a power source selection unit that selects at least one of the main power supply unit and the auxiliary power supply unit as a power source for the overall control unit. It is configured as follows. With such a configuration, it is possible to maintain the minimum operation (at least the operation control of each part of the apparatus by the overall control unit) even when the main power supply of the apparatus is shut off.

  The electrical device having the above-described configuration is an electrical device that includes a sleep transition unit that shifts the device from the standby state to the sleep state, and a sleep return unit that returns the device from the sleep state to the standby state. The power selection means may be configured to select the main power supply unit if the apparatus is in a standby state, and to select the auxiliary power supply unit if the apparatus is in a sleep state. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to prepare for the return to the standby state while shutting off the power supply from the main power supply after the transition to the sleep state, thereby reducing the primary side power consumption input to the device. It becomes possible to do.

  Moreover, the electrical device having the above-described configuration includes a power generation monitoring unit that monitors the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element, and when the power generation amount is equal to or higher than the drive power of an electric drive unit that constitutes a part of the electrical device, The driving unit may be driven by the generated power of the photoelectric conversion element. With such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the power consumption of the auxiliary power supply unit.

  The electric drive unit may be a display unit. With such a configuration, it is possible to drive a display unit that displays the state of the apparatus during sleep and that consumes relatively little power.

As described above, the electric device according to the present invention can maintain the minimum operation even when the main power supply of the apparatus is shut off.

  In the following, an example in which the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus (electrophotographic copying machine, printer, facsimile, or multifunction machine having both functions) provided with a heater lamp for heat fixing and a display unit will be described. Detailed explanation.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In addition, the solid line arrow in this figure has shown the supply path | route of the electrical energy, and the broken line arrow has shown the transmission path | route of the signal for control. Moreover, the white arrow has shown the propagation path of thermal energy.

  As shown in this figure, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a general control unit 1 that controls the operation of each unit of the apparatus and an external commercial power supply (AC 100 [V]) from a desired DC voltage (in this embodiment, A main power supply unit (switching regulator) 2 that generates +24 [V] and +5 [V]), and a fixing unit 3 that heats and fixes an image obtained by an image forming unit (not shown). The display unit 5 for displaying the state of the image forming apparatus and the like, and the electric energy obtained by converting the heat energy emitted from the heating element described later and the light energy outside the image forming apparatus were obtained. And an auxiliary power supply unit 4 that stores electric energy and generates a DC voltage (+5 [V]).

  Although not shown in the drawing, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment receives an operation unit that receives a user operation, a document capture unit that captures a document and generates image data, in addition to the above components. An image forming unit that forms an image on paper based on image data, a paper storage unit that stores paper, a paper transport unit that transports paper, a Centronics interface to which image data is input from a locally connected information processing device, A network communication unit that communicates with an information processing apparatus (such as a personal computer) connected via a network (such as an in-house LAN [Local Area Network]), a modem that converts image data into a facsimile signal, and a public telephone line Network control unit that establishes connections, and a memory unit used as a development area for image data and a work area for various programs. The made have.

The overall control unit 1 includes a central processing unit 11 (hereinafter referred to as a CPU [Central Processing Unit]).
11), a power selection circuit 12, a first power cutoff circuit 13, a second power cutoff circuit 14, a heater lamp control circuit 15, a charge monitoring circuit 16, and a cooling fan control circuit 17. Have.

  The CPU 11 controls the operation of each part of the device at a predetermined control timing, and also functions as a sleep transition unit that shifts the device from the standby state to the sleep state, and a sleep return unit that returns the device from the sleep state to the standby state. In order to reduce the power consumption of the apparatus, the apparatus performs state transition control of the apparatus in accordance with predetermined conditions (such as the operation status of the apparatus). The standby state refers to a state in which power is supplied to each part of the apparatus and image forming processing can be performed at any time. On the other hand, the sleep state is a state in which power supply to a circuit unit (such as the fixing unit 3, motor driver IC, and image forming unit) with relatively large power consumption is stopped and power consumption of the apparatus is reduced. To tell.

  The power supply selection circuit 12 selects either the main power supply unit 2 or the auxiliary power supply unit 4 as the +5 [V] power supply for each unit of the apparatus based on a control command from the CPU 11. On the other hand, as a power supply destination of the power supply selection circuit 12, in addition to each circuit unit constituting the overall control unit 1, a Centronics interface and various sensors (such as a jam sensor) are connected to an output end thereof. The operation of the power supply selection circuit 12 will be described in detail later.

  The first power cut-off circuit 13 is a switch circuit provided on a +24 [V] power supply path from the main power supply unit 2 to the motor driver IC or the like, and its open / closed state is switched based on a control command from the CPU 11. . More specifically, the first power cut-off circuit 13 is closed when the apparatus is in a standby state, and is opened when the apparatus is in a sleep state. By performing such opening / closing control, the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment can perform power-off control of the motor driver IC and the like depending on whether the apparatus is in a standby state or a sleep state. .

  The second power cut-off circuit 14 is a switch circuit provided on a +5 [V] power supply path from the power supply selection circuit 12 to various sensors, and its open / closed state is determined based on a control command from the CPU 11 for a predetermined time. It is switched periodically at intervals. By performing such opening / closing control, the CPU 11 can periodically monitor the state of various sensors, so that the power consumption can be reduced compared to the case of continuous monitoring. .

  The lighting control circuit 15 performs on / off control (on / off control) of the heater lamp 31 that constitutes the fixing unit 3 based on a control command from the CPU 11. More specifically, the heater lamp control circuit 15 sends a turn-on instruction if the fixing temperature is equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold, and sends a turn-off instruction if it is equal to or higher than the threshold. By such turning on / off control, the heater lamp 31 can be maintained at a predetermined fixing temperature. On the other hand, the heater lamp control circuit 15 sends a turn-off instruction to the heater lamp 31 if the apparatus is in the sleep state. By performing such on / off control, it is possible to perform on / off control of the heater lamp 31 (that is, power-off control of the fixing unit 3) depending on whether the apparatus is in a standby state or a sleep state. It becomes. The fixing unit 3 and the heater lamp 31 will be described in detail later.

  The charge amount monitoring circuit 16 is a switch circuit provided on a conduction path from an electric double layer capacitor 41 constituting the auxiliary power supply unit 4 to an ADC [Analog / Digital Converter] (not shown) provided in the CPU 11. The open / close state is periodically switched at predetermined time intervals based on a control command from the CPU 11. That is, the CPU 11 is configured to periodically monitor the charging potential of the electric double layer capacitor 41 by converting an analog voltage input via the charge amount monitoring circuit 16 into a digital signal. The auxiliary power supply unit 4 and the electric double layer capacitor 41 will be described in detail later.

  The cooling fan control circuit 17 performs drive control of the cooling fan 34 constituting the fixing unit 3 based on a control command from the CPU 11. The fixing unit 3 and the cooling fan 34 will be described in detail later.

  As described above, the main power supply unit 2 is a switching regulator that converts an AC input voltage into a desired DC voltage. The main power supply unit 2 is configured to control the switching frequency based on a control command from the CPU 11. By adopting such a configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment can optimize the switching frequency of the main power supply unit 2 according to the load state, increase the voltage conversion efficiency, and reduce the power consumption of the apparatus. It becomes possible.

  Next, the structure of the fixing unit 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 together with FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the fixing unit 3, and FIG. 3 is an external view of the thermoelectric conversion element 32. 2A and 2B are a perspective view and a front sectional view of the fixing unit 3, respectively.

  As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the fixing unit 3 according to the present embodiment includes a heater lamp 31 that is contained in a heat roller 37 and releases heat energy when energized, and heat energy released from the heater lamp 31. (To be more precise, a thermoelectric conversion element 32 that converts thermal energy radiated from the heat roller 37 heated by the heater lamp 31) into electric energy, and a heat sink 33 attached to the heat radiation surface 32b of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 A cooling fan 34 for cooling the fixing unit 3 (particularly the heat sink 33), a first temperature sensor 35 for detecting the temperature tr of the heat roller 37, and a second temperature sensor 36 for detecting the temperature ts of the heat sink 33. It consists of

  The output terminals of the first and second temperature sensors 35 and 36 are connected to input terminals of ADCs (not shown) provided in the CPU 11, and the CPU 11 is input from the temperature sensors 35 and 36. By converting the analog voltage into a digital signal, the temperatures tr and ts of the heat roller 37 and the heat sink 33 are respectively monitored.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2B, the fixing unit 3 of the present embodiment includes a housing 38 that surrounds the heater lamp 31, the first temperature sensor, and the heat roller 37. Is provided with an opening 38 a on the wall surface facing the heat roller 37, and the thermoelectric conversion element 32 has a housing 38 in which the heat receiving surface 32 a is inside the housing 38 and the heat radiating surface 32 b is outside the housing 38. The opening 38a is fitted. With such a configuration, the temperature difference between the heat receiving surface 32a and the heat radiating surface 32b of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be widened, so that the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be improved.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the heat receiving surface 32a of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 is subjected to a blackening process (plating process, painting process, anodizing process, etc.) as shown in FIG. By setting it as such a structure, since the heat absorption performance of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be improved, the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be improved.

  In this figure, the case where the cooling fan 34 is attached to the side of the heat sink 33 is illustrated, but the attachment position of the cooling fan 34 is not limited to this, and may be attached above the heat sink 33. .

  Next, the structure of the display unit 5 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4 together with FIG. FIG. 4 is an external view of the image forming apparatus. As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 6 includes a main body unit 61, a paper storage unit 62 for storing paper, a manual paper feed unit 63, a paper discharge tray unit 64, an operation unit 65, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal). Display) 55 and a photoelectric conversion element 51 such as a solar cell for converting light energy into electric energy.

  The LCD 55 is driven by the LCD drive circuit 54, and display data and the like are transmitted from the CPU 11 to the LCD drive circuit 54. The power supply to the LCD drive circuit 54 is supplied by a display unit power supply selection circuit. The display unit power source selection circuit is connected to the operation power source of the overall control unit 1 and the power source from the photoelectric conversion element 51. Under the control of the CPU 11, one of the two power sources is selected and the LCD drive circuit 54 is selected. Supply power to.

  The output of the photoelectric conversion element 51 is input to the power supply selection circuit and the charging circuit. The power generation amount is detected by the power generation monitoring circuit 52 and connected to an input terminal of an ADC (not shown) provided in the CPU 11. The CPU 11 is configured to monitor the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element 51 by converting the analog voltage into a digital signal.

  Next, the configuration of the auxiliary power supply unit 4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the auxiliary power supply unit 4 is used to charge the electric double layer capacitor 41 with the electric double layer capacitor 41 that stores electric energy, and the electric energy obtained by the thermoelectric conversion element 32 and the photoelectric conversion element 51. The charging circuit 42 includes a DC / DC converter 43 that converts electric energy output from the electric double layer capacitor 41 into a predetermined output voltage (+5 [V]).

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 6 of the present embodiment includes the overall control unit 1 that controls the operation of each unit of the apparatus, the main power supply unit 2 that generates a DC voltage, and the heater lamp 31 that releases thermal energy when driven. Auxiliary power supply unit 4 that stores electric energy obtained by thermoelectric conversion element 32 that converts emitted thermal energy into electric energy and photoelectric conversion element 51 that converts external light into electric energy to generate a DC voltage And a power supply selection circuit 12 that selects at least one of the main power supply unit 2 and the auxiliary power supply unit 4 as a power supply for the overall control unit 1. As described above, the waste heat (thermal energy) of the fixing unit 3 generated from the printing operation to immediately after the printing operation and the light outside the image forming apparatus 6 are converted into electric energy and accumulated, and reused as an auxiliary power source for each part of the apparatus. By doing so, even if the main power supply of the apparatus is shut off, it is possible to maintain the minimum operation (at least the operation control of each part of the apparatus by the overall control unit).

  Hereinafter, the power source selection operation of the image forming apparatus having the above configuration will be described specifically and in detail along a time series.

  First, when an external commercial power supply is turned on to the image forming apparatus, the power supply selection circuit 12 is reset by the power-on reset function to a default state in which the main power supply unit 2 is selected as the power supply. Thereafter, the CPU 11 sends a control command to the heater lamp control circuit 15 to turn on the heater lamp 31 and raise the temperature of the fixing unit 3 to a predetermined fixing temperature in preparation for the printing operation. Thus, while the image forming apparatus is in a standby state (a state where power is supplied to the heater lamp 31 and image forming processing can be performed at any time), the electric double layer capacitor 41 includes the thermoelectric conversion element 32 and the photoelectric conversion. The electric energy obtained by the element 52 is charged.

  At that time, the CPU 11 compares the heat roller temperature tr with a predetermined threshold temperature (for example, 50 [° C.]), and charges the electric double layer capacitor 41 if the heat roller temperature tr is higher than the threshold temperature. If so, the charging circuit 42 is controlled to stop the charging. With such a configuration, the electric double layer capacitor 41 is charged only when the generated power of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 exceeds the power consumption of the charging circuit 42.

  The display unit power supply selection circuit 53 of the display unit 5 is controlled by the CPU 11 so that power is supplied from the operation power supply of the overall control unit 1 to the LCD drive circuit.

  While the image forming apparatus is in the standby state, the power source selection circuit 12 selects the main power source unit 2 as a power source for each part of the device in order to proceed charging of the electric double layer capacitor 41 as described above. . However, when the electric double layer capacitor 41 is fully charged and cannot be further charged, the power consumption in the standby state can be reduced by allocating the subsequent generated power to the auxiliary power of the main power supply unit 2. Is possible.

  Next, a case where the apparatus is shifted to the sleep state will be described. When the device shifts to the sleep state, the CPU 11 periodically monitors the charging potential of the electric double layer capacitor 41 by performing opening / closing control of the charge amount monitoring circuit 16. Here, the CPU 11 obtains the obtained charging potential, the first threshold (for example, a potential corresponding to 80 [%] at full charge), and the second threshold (for example, a potential corresponding to 20 [%] at full charge). And the charging circuit 42 is controlled based on the comparison result.

  Specifically, if the charge potential of the electric double layer capacitor 41 exceeds the first threshold, the CPU 11 is sufficient as drive power for each unit (such as the overall control unit 1) required for returning to the standby state. A control command is sent to the power supply selection circuit 12 so as to select the auxiliary power supply unit 4 as a power supply under the judgment that it can be used. By adopting such a configuration, after the transition to the sleep state, the power supply from the main power supply unit 2 is cut off, and in preparation for the return to the standby state, the presence / absence check of the user operation in the operation unit and the Centronics interface Since it is possible to continuously or periodically perform various operations such as confirmation of the presence / absence of receiving image data and monitoring the status of various sensors (such as jam sensors), it is possible to reduce primary power consumption input to the apparatus. It becomes possible.

  After that, the CPU 11 periodically monitors the charging potential of the double layer capacitor 41, and at the time when the charging potential falls below the second threshold, it is determined that the driving power of each part of the device is no longer sufficient. A control command is sent to the power supply selection circuit 12 so as to select the main power supply unit 2 as a power supply until the apparatus returns to the standby state. With such a configuration, there is no possibility of causing a trouble in returning to the standby state even when the sleep state is extended for a long time.

  Further, the CPU 11 periodically monitors the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element 51 of the power generation monitoring circuit 52, and stops charging when the power generation amount is higher than the power amount for driving the LCD 55 by the LCD drive circuit 54. Then, while controlling the charging circuit 42, the display unit power supply selection circuit 53 is controlled to convert the generated power of the photoelectric conversion element 51 into an LCD drive voltage (a conversion circuit is not shown) and supply it to the LCD drive circuit 54. However, when the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element 51 of the power generation monitoring circuit 52 is lower than the power amount for driving the LCD 55 by the LCD drive circuit 54, the CPU 11 controls the charging circuit 42 to start charging, and the display unit power source selection circuit 53 is controlled, and power is supplied from the operation power supply of the overall control unit 1 to the LCD drive circuit. With such a configuration, even when the sleep state is for a long time, if the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element 51 is sufficient to drive the LCD, the LCD is directly driven by the power generation of the photoelectric conversion element 51. Therefore, the power consumption of the electric double layer 41 can be suppressed, and there is no possibility of causing trouble in returning to the standby state.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the power supply selection circuit 12 selects the main power supply unit 2 when the apparatus is in the standby state, and selects the auxiliary power supply unit 4 when the apparatus is in the sleep state. Further, the display unit power selection circuit 53 selects the operation power source of the overall control unit 1 as the power source for the LCD drive circuit 54 when the apparatus is in the standby state, and the power generation monitoring circuit 52 causes the power generation amount when the device is in the sleep state. Is higher than the amount of power for driving the LCD 55, the generated power of the photoelectric conversion element 51 is selected, and when the amount of power generated by the photoelectric conversion element 51 is lower than the amount of power for driving the LCD 55, the operating power supply of the overall control unit 1 is selected. The configuration is selected. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to prepare for the return to the standby state while shutting off the power supply from the main power supply unit 2 after the transition to the sleep state, so that the primary side power consumption input to the device Can be reduced.

  Finally, drive control of the cooling fan 34 by the cooling fan control circuit 17 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams for explaining the structure of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 and the thermoelectric conversion principle. FIGS. 6A and 6B show the generated power Pz and the temperature difference (tr−) of the thermoelectric conversion element 32, respectively. It is a figure which shows the correlation with ts) and the correlation with the power consumption Pf of the cooling fan 34, and an input voltage.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the thermoelectric conversion element 32 of the present embodiment includes at least one pair of semiconductor elements composed of an n-type semiconductor element 321 and a p-type semiconductor element 322, and one end (high temperature) of each of the semiconductor elements 321 and 322. A heat receiving surface 32a side) that are connected to each other, and electrode terminals 324 and 325 that are respectively connected to the other ends of the semiconductor elements 321 and 322 (on the side of the heat radiating surface 32b that becomes low temperature). It consists of

  The thermoelectric conversion element 32 having the above-described configuration converts thermal energy into electrical energy using an effect (so-called Seebeck effect) that generates a potential difference when a temperature difference is applied to a junction between two kinds of metals and semiconductors. Accordingly, as can be seen from FIG. 6A, in the range where the temperature difference (tr−ts) is less than about 150 [K], the heat roller temperature tr on the heat receiving surface 32a side and the heat sink temperature ts on the heat radiating surface 32b side The larger the difference, that is, the lower the heat sink temperature ts by rotating the cooling fan 34, the greater the generated power Pz of the thermoelectric conversion element 32, and the thermoelectric conversion efficiency can be improved. On the other hand, in the range where the temperature difference (tr−ts) exceeds 150 [K], the power generation characteristics of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 are saturated and the thermoelectric conversion efficiency is lowered.

  Therefore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the cooling fan control circuit 17 performs cooling according to the difference value (tr−ts) between the temperatures tr and ts detected by the first and second temperature sensors 35 and 36. The drive control of the fan 34 is performed.

  More specifically, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, when the cooling fan control circuit 17 controls the driving of the cooling fan 34, the cooling fan control circuit 17 compares the heat roller temperature tr with the correlation shown in FIG. The generated power Pz of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 is calculated from the difference value (tr−ts) of the heat sink temperature ts. If the generated power Pz is larger than the power consumption Pf of the cooling fan 34, the cooling fan 34 is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed. If it is small, it is configured to stop.

  As described above, the power generation power Pz of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 is controlled by controlling the on / off of the cooling fan 34 while comparing the power generation power Pz of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 and the power consumption Pf of the cooling fan 34. Since the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat sink 33 (and thus the thermoelectric conversion element 32) can be improved within a range where the power consumption Pf exceeds the power consumption Pf of the cooling fan 34, the heat receiving surface 32a and the heat dissipation surface 32b of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be improved. Thus, the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 can be further improved.

  Alternatively, each correlation shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B (power generation characteristics of the thermoelectric conversion element 32 and power consumption characteristics of the cooling fan 34) is stored as a data table, and the cooling fan 34 is turned on. Instead of the on / off control, or together with the on / off control, the rotational speed control of the cooling fan 34 based on the data table may be performed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the present invention is applied to the image forming apparatus has been described as an example. However, the application target of the present invention is not limited to this, and the allowable loss is relatively large. The present invention can be widely applied to all electrical equipment having a heating element.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, priority is given to the user's maintainability, and the auxiliary power supply unit 4 has been described by taking as an example a configuration using the electric double layer capacitor 41 with less worry about replacement life. However, if priority is given to facilitating charge / discharge control and circuit size reduction (removal of the charging circuit 42 and the DC / DC converter 43), the auxiliary power supply unit 4 is A secondary battery (such as a lithium ion battery) may be used.

  In the above embodiment, the description has been given by taking as an example the configuration in which the thermoelectric conversion element 32 is mounted on the fixing unit 3 having the largest allowable loss in the image forming apparatus. However, the configuration of the present invention is not limited thereto. Instead of this, a high temperature heat generating device such as a power transistor or a transformer constituting the main power supply unit 2 or a structure in which a thermoelectric conversion element is attached to the heat radiating plate may be used. Moreover, it does not matter as a structure which uses two or more thermoelectric conversion elements.

  In the above embodiment, the configuration using the auxiliary power supply unit 4 after the transition to the sleep state has been described as an example. However, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to this, for example, data at the time of a power failure It can also be used for protection.

  In the above embodiment, the display unit 5 has been described as an example of a drive circuit that uses power generation by the photoelectric conversion element 51. However, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to this, and the photoelectric element A driving circuit other than the display unit may be used as long as the power consumption is smaller than the generated power 51.

  Further, a configuration in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are used may be used.

  The configuration of the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention in addition to the above embodiment.

The present invention is a useful technique for reducing the power consumption of an electrical apparatus having a heat generating element having a relatively large allowable loss, such as an image forming apparatus including a heater lamp for heat fixing.

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the structure of the fixing unit 3. These are external views of the thermoelectric conversion element 32. These are external views of the image forming apparatus 6. These are the figures for demonstrating the structure of the thermoelectric conversion element 32, and the thermoelectric conversion principle. These are the figures which show the correlation with the electric power Pz of the thermoelectric conversion element 32, and a temperature difference (tr-ts), and the correlation with the power consumption Pf of the cooling fan 34, and an input voltage.

Explanation of symbols

1 Overall Control Unit 11 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
12 power supply selection circuit 13 first power cut-off circuit (+ 24V cut-off circuit)
14 Second power cut-off circuit (+ 5V cut-off circuit)
15 Heater lamp control circuit (lighting control circuit)
16 Charge monitoring circuit (switch circuit)
17 Cooling fan control circuit 2 Main power supply (switching regulator)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Fixing part 31 Heater lamp 32 Thermoelectric conversion element 32a Heat receiving surface 32b Heat radiation surface 321 N-type semiconductor element 322 P-type semiconductor element 323 Conductive member 324, 325 Electrode terminal 33 Heat sink 34 Cooling fan 35 1st temperature sensor (high temperature part sensor)
36 Second temperature sensor (low temperature sensor)
37 Heat Roller 38 Housing 38a Opening 4 Auxiliary Power Supply 41 Electric Double Layer Capacitor 42 Charging Circuit 43 DC / DC Converter 5 Display 51 Photoelectric Conversion Element 52 Power Generation Monitoring Circuit 53 Display Power Supply Selection Circuit 54 LCD Drive Circuit
55 LCD

Claims (4)

  An overall control unit that controls the operation of each part of the apparatus, a main power supply unit that generates a DC voltage, a heating element that releases thermal energy during driving, and thermoelectric conversion that converts the thermal energy released from the heating element into electrical energy Means, photoelectric conversion means for converting light outside the device into electrical energy, and auxiliary for generating a DC voltage by storing electrical energy obtained by the thermoelectric conversion means and electrical energy obtained by the photoelectric conversion means An electric apparatus comprising: a power supply unit; and a power supply selection unit that selects at least one of the main power supply unit and the auxiliary power supply unit as a power supply for at least the overall control unit.   An electrical apparatus comprising: a sleep transition unit that shifts the device from the standby state to the sleep state; and a sleep return unit that returns the device from the sleep state to the standby state. The electrical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main power supply unit is selected if it is in a state, and the auxiliary power supply unit is selected if it is in a sleep state.   Power generation monitoring means for monitoring the power generation amount of the photoelectric conversion element, and when the power generation amount is equal to or higher than the drive power of the electric drive unit constituting a part of the electric device, the driving of the electric drive unit is controlled by the photoelectric conversion element. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the electric device is configured to generate electric power.   The electric device according to claim 3, wherein the electric drive unit is a display unit.

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