JP2007206198A - Cooling method, cooling device, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow cooling individual portions where temperatures rise within an image forming apparatus, and to stably cool a plurality of portions where the temperatures rise in variable ways, in various operation modes or when coping with errors. <P>SOLUTION: In the image forming apparatus, having a plurality of cooling parts which are installed in the plurality of portions where the temperatures rise, and cool these portions, a cooling method selectively switches each cooling part to a cooling state or a non-cooling state to selectively cool these portions, whereby only the portions that need to be cooled can be cooled stably and the cooling efficiency is improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling method, a cooling device, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a cooling method in which a cooling liquid is circulated through a temperature rising portion of the image forming apparatus to cool.

  Image forming apparatuses used for printers, facsimiles, copying machines, and the like record images such as characters and symbols on recording media such as paper and OHP sheets based on image information. There are various methods for such a recording apparatus. Among them, electrophotographic image forming apparatuses are widely used because they can record high-definition images on plain paper at high speed. In a general electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an optical device reads an original, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on an image carrier by a writing device based on the information. A developing device forms a toner image from the electrostatic latent image. The toner image is transferred onto a recording medium, and the toner on the recording medium is fixed by heating, melting and pressurizing with a fixing device. Each of these steps is accompanied by heat generation and temperature rise. In the optical apparatus, a scanner lamp that scans a document and a scanner motor that drives the scanner lamp generate heat, and in the writing apparatus, a motor that drives a polygon mirror that rotates at high speed generates heat. In the developing device, the temperature rises due to frictional heat generated by stirring the toner and the developer when the toner is charged. In the fixing device, the temperature of the peripheral portion is increased due to the heat of the heater for fixing, or fixing. Since the subsequent recording medium becomes high temperature, the temperature of the duplex unit or the like as the subsequent transport path is increased. Therefore, in general, each part of the apparatus is cooled by forced convection transfer of heat using a cooling fan and a duct. However, in recent years, due to the increase in temperature of each unit due to the increase in speed and the increase in the density in the equipment accompanying the downsizing and colorization, the duct space becomes smaller and it is becoming difficult to supply an airflow sufficient for cooling.

On the other hand, liquid cooling is mentioned as a method for cooling a narrow space with high efficiency. A temperature rising point is formed by forming a flow path at a temperature rising point or by closely contacting a cooling part having a flow path and connecting it to a pump, a tank, and a heat radiating part via a pipeline and supplying cooling water to the water channel. It takes heat away from it. Since a liquid having a larger heat capacity than air is used, a large amount of heat can be absorbed with a small amount. Thereby, sufficient cooling can be performed without requiring a large space. Several cooling methods using such cooling water have been conventionally proposed. As one of them, Patent Document 1 discloses a cooling unit and a unit that cools a unit containing toner by flowing a cooling liquid through a flow path, and drains the heat around the flow path by flowing the cooling liquid through the flow path. On the other hand, an image forming apparatus that is urged by an urging unit has been proposed. Further, Patent Document 2 includes a cooling unit that cools an image forming unit made of a process kit or the like by a liquid cooling method, and a heat radiating unit that releases heat accumulated in cooling water by the cooling unit. A cooling means for an image forming apparatus provided in the front cover portion of the forming apparatus has been proposed. Further, in Patent Document 3, in a cooling device that cools a heat generating member existing in an image forming apparatus with a liquid, a plurality of pipelines branched from a tank for cooling a member to be cooled, which is a plurality of heat generating members, There has been proposed a cooling device including a first heat exchanger that exchanges heat with a member to be cooled, a drive source for circulating liquid, and a second heat exchanger that performs heat exchange for adjusting liquid temperature.
JP 2005-164927 A JP 2005-010388 A JP 2005-148659 A

  On the other hand, when a liquid cooling device is mounted on an image forming apparatus, it is desirable to share a pump, a tank, a heat radiating portion, etc. from the viewpoint of space and cost. However, as described above, there are a plurality of places where the temperature rises, there are places where cooling is necessary and places where cooling is not necessary depending on the operation mode, and the necessary amount of heat absorption changes. Also, when an error such as a paper jam occurs or during maintenance, it is necessary to pull out the unit where the error occurred and work, and it is difficult to ensure reliability with a unit pull-out mechanism with a cooling unit with the pipe connected. is there. Furthermore, since the overall heat absorption / heat dissipation conditions are changed, there is a problem that it is difficult to maintain the temperature at other temperature rising points.

  The present invention is for solving these problems, and enables cooling at each temperature rise location in the image forming apparatus, and a plurality of temperatures at which the state of temperature rise changes in various operation modes and error handling. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooling method, a cooling device, and an image forming apparatus that can realize stable cooling of a rising portion.

  In order to solve the above problem, according to the cooling method of the present invention, the cooling method of the present invention includes a plurality of cooling units that are installed at a plurality of temperature rising points in the image forming apparatus and cool the temperature rising points. It is characterized by selectively switching the state or the non-cooled state and selectively cooling each temperature rise portion. Therefore, it is possible to realize stable cooling only at the temperature rising portion where cooling is required, and the cooling efficiency can be improved.

  In addition, by controlling the amount of heat absorbed by the cooling unit based on the temperature at the temperature rise location, it is possible to perform cooling appropriately and accurately with respect to the temperature rise at the temperature rise location.

  Furthermore, by selecting the cooling state or non-cooling state of each cooling unit based on the information on the amount of heat generated at the temperature rising point in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus, the temperature increases during various operation modes and error handling. On the other hand, it is possible to cool appropriately and accurately.

  The cooling unit includes a liquid cooling unit to which a cooling liquid is supplied or an air cooling unit.

  Further, a cooling device according to another invention is installed at a plurality of temperature rising points in the image forming apparatus, and selectively selects a plurality of cooling units that cool the temperature rising points and a cooling state or an uncooled state of each cooling unit. And a switching means for switching between the two. Therefore, it is possible to realize stable cooling only at the temperature rising portion in the image forming apparatus that needs to be cooled, and the cooling efficiency can be improved.

  In addition, a temperature rise portion in the image forming apparatus is provided by including a temperature sensor provided in the vicinity of the temperature rise portion and a control unit that controls the heat absorption amount of the cooling unit based on the temperature at the temperature rise portion by the temperature sensor. Therefore, it is possible to perform cooling appropriately and accurately with respect to the state of temperature rise.

  Further, the image forming apparatus further includes a storage unit that stores information on the amount of heat generated at the temperature increase portion in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus, and the switching unit stores the heat generation amount at the temperature increase portion in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus stored in the storage unit. Based on this information, by switching the cooling state or the non-cooling state of each cooling unit, it is possible to perform cooling appropriately and accurately with respect to various operation modes and the state of temperature rise during error handling.

  The cooling unit is a liquid cooling unit to which a cooling liquid is supplied or an air cooling unit.

  Furthermore, by having a connecting means for detachably connecting the cooling section and the flow path for supplying / discharging the cooling liquid to the cooling section, the unit at the temperature rising portion in the image forming apparatus that needs to be removed can be cooled. It can be taken out while maintaining the state.

  In addition, each cooling unit is connected in parallel through a flow path for supplying and discharging the cooling liquid to each cooling unit, and the switching unit controls the flow rate of the cooling liquid to each cooling unit, thereby achieving stable cooling. It becomes feasible.

  Furthermore, the switching means includes a first flow path in which each cooling unit is connected in series via a flow path for supplying and discharging a cooling liquid to each cooling unit, and the switching means is provided in parallel for each cooling unit. By switching whether the coolant is supplied to either of the second flow paths, it is possible to reduce the influence of the temperature rise points where cooling is not necessary, other than the cooling unit, The supply amount of the coolant to the cooling unit can be controlled by the time ratio.

  The switching means controls the flow rate so that the flow rate is the same as the flow rate supplied to the first flow channel when the coolant is switched to the second flow channel side and the coolant is supplied to the second flow channel. In addition, it is possible to reduce the change in the flow rate of the coolant to the cooling unit other than the cooling unit at the temperature rising portion that does not require cooling.

  Furthermore, an image forming apparatus as another invention is characterized in that the cooling device is mounted. Therefore, an image forming layer capable of cooling only the cooling portion of the temperature rising portion in the image forming apparatus that needs to be cooled, and further reducing the influence on portions other than the temperature rising portion where cooling is not necessary, and at the same time improving the cooling efficiency. Can provide value.

  According to the cooling method of the present invention, it is possible to cool only the cooling portion at the temperature rising portion where cooling is required, and further, the cooling efficiency can be improved while reducing the influence on other than the temperature rising portion where cooling is not necessary.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a cooling device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The cooling device 10 of the present embodiment shown in the figure includes a pump 11, a pressure control valve 12, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, The fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, the double-sided cooling unit 13-5, the cooling unit 13 including the electrical unit cooling unit 13-6, the reserve tank 14, and the radiator 15 are connected in an annular manner in this order. The coolant is circulated. In addition, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, a fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, a double-sided unit cooling unit 13-5, and an electrical unit The cooling units 13-6 are connected in parallel, and valves 17-1 to 17-6 that can be independently operated are provided in the flow paths immediately before the respective cooling units. When the valves 17-1 to 17-6 are opened, the cooling liquid is cooled by the optical unit cooling unit 13-1, the writing unit cooling unit 13-2, the developing unit cooling unit 13-3, and the fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13. -4, the cooling unit 13-5 for both surfaces and the cooling unit 13-6 for electrical parts are respectively cooled and the supply of the cooling liquid is stopped when the valves 17-1 to 17-6 are closed. It becomes an uncooled state.

  According to the cooling device 10 of this embodiment having such a configuration, the valves 17-1 to 17-6 can be selectively opened and closed according to the mode of the image forming apparatus and the status of maintenance / failure. Thus, individual cooling in each cooling unit is possible. Further, since the pressure of the coolant is kept constant by the pressure control valve 12, since the coolant having a constant flow rate is supplied to the temperature rise location to be cooled, the influence of switching the cooling location can be reduced. . Further, the flow rate can be adjusted by controlling the pressure of the coolant with the pressure control valve 12 to control the total heat absorption.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the cooling device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same components. The cooling device 20 of the present embodiment shown in the figure includes a pump 11, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, and a fixing unit peripheral cooling. The cooling unit 13-4, the cooling unit 13-5 for both sides, the cooling unit 13 including the electrical unit cooling unit 13-6, the reserve tank 14, and the radiator 15 are connected in an annular manner in this order, and the cooling liquid is supplied. It is configured to circulate. In addition, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, a fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, a double-sided unit cooling unit 13-5, and an electrical unit The cooling units 13-6 are connected in parallel, and flow control valves 21-1 to 21-6 that can be independently operated are provided in the flow channels immediately before the respective cooling units. The flow control valves 21-1 to 21-6 allow the optical unit cooling unit 13-1, the writing unit cooling unit 13-2, the developing unit cooling unit 13-3, the fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, and both surfaces. It is possible to individually control the flow rate of the coolant supplied to the cooling unit for parts 13-5 and the cooling unit for electrical parts 13-6.

  According to the cooling apparatus 20 of the present embodiment having such a configuration, the flow rate control valves 21-1 to 21-6 cool the temperature rising points according to the mode of the image forming apparatus, maintenance, and failure status. The flow rate to the part can be changed. Therefore, the endothermic amount can be accurately controlled in accordance with the situation of each temperature rise location.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the cooling device according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 denote the same components. The cooling device 30 of the present embodiment shown in the figure includes a pump 11, a flow rate control valve 31, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, The fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, the double-sided cooling unit 13-5, the cooling unit 13 including the electrical unit cooling unit 13-6, the reserve tank 14, and the radiator 15 are connected in an annular manner in this order. The coolant is circulated. In addition, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, a fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, a double-sided unit cooling unit 13-5, and an electrical unit The cooling unit 13-6 is connected in series. Further, an optical unit cooling unit 13-1, a writing unit cooling unit 13-2, a developing unit cooling unit 13-3, a fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, a double-sided unit cooling unit 13-5, and an electrical component unit. The cooling unit 13-6 is provided with bypasses 32-1 to 32-5 in parallel with each other, and an independently controllable switching that switches the supply of the coolant to either the cooling unit or the bypass at the branch point Valves 33-1 to 33-5 are provided. Therefore, the coolant is sent to the next cooling unit through the cooling unit or the bypass. In this embodiment, the tubes are connected in the above order from the positional relationship in the cooling unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the order of connection is based on conditions such as the rising temperature, the amount of heat generation, and the target temperature. To decide.

  Here, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a cooling state when a paper jam is dealt with in the double-sided portion 13-5 in the third embodiment. In order to handle a paper jam, the double-sided portion 13-5 is pulled out of the apparatus along a guide (not shown). When the double-sided portion 13-5 is pulled out, a coupler (not shown) that connects the tube 13-5 and the tube 16 is separated, thereby interrupting the circulation of the coolant. At the same time, the coolant is supplied to the bypass 32-5 side by the switching valve 33-5.

  As described above, according to the cooling device 30 of the third embodiment, the switching valve 33-1 to 33-5 is switched according to the mode of the image forming apparatus, the maintenance, or the failure state, so Cooling can be selectively switched. Further, since the flow rate of the coolant is kept constant by the flow rate control valve 31, it is possible to reduce the influence of the cooling conditions due to switching of the cooling points. Furthermore, the heat absorption amount of each cooling unit can be controlled by switching the switching valves 33-1 to 33-5 with time. Further, by making the pressure loss in the bypasses 32-1 to 32-5 equal to that of the cooling unit, the same cooling condition can be obtained without the flow control valve 31. Furthermore, the overall heat absorption amount can be controlled by adjusting the flow rate of the coolant by the flow rate control valve 31.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the cooling device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 denote the same components. In the cooling device 40 of the present embodiment shown in the figure, the configuration different from the cooling device 20 of the second embodiment is that the temperature sensors 41-1 to 41-1 are installed at each temperature rising point where each cooling part is closely fixed. 41-6 is provided, and the temperature at each temperature rise point is measured. Based on the temperature information of the temperature sensors 41-1 to 41-6, the control device 42 controls the flow rate control valves 21-1 to 21-6 to cool the optical unit cooling unit 13-1 and the writing unit cooling unit 13-2. The flow rate of the coolant supplied to the developing unit cooling unit 13-3, the fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, the double-sided unit cooling unit 13-5, and the electrical unit cooling unit 13-6 is adjusted. . Thereby, each temperature rise location is cooled so that it may become each target temperature.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a cooling device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 denote the same components. The cooling device 50 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 7 obtains the amount of heat generated in each operating mode or at the time of an error in advance by experiment as shown in the table shown as an example in FIG. Is stored in the storage unit. Based on this information, the control device 42 controls the flow rate control valves 21-1 to 21-6 to cool the optical unit cooling unit 13-1, the writing unit cooling unit 13-2, the developing unit cooling unit 13-3, The flow rate of the coolant supplied to each of the fixing unit peripheral cooling unit 13-4, the double-sided cooling unit 13-5, and the electrical unit cooling unit 13-6 is adjusted. Note that the amount of heat generated at the temperature rise can also be estimated from the input power.

  In each of the embodiments described above, the pipe connection of the cooling unit is configured in parallel and only in series, but a connection in which they are combined may be used, and is not limited thereto. Moreover, although the pump and the reserve tank are also configured one by one, a plurality may be used. Furthermore, although only liquid cooling is used as the cooling method, air cooling with a fan and combinations with other cooling methods are possible.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus equipped with the cooling device of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 100 equipped with the above-described cooling device includes an apparatus main body 101, an automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as ADF) 102, and an automatic sorting apparatus 103. The apparatus main body 101 includes a document reading unit 104, a writing unit 105, an engine unit 106, and a paper feeding unit 107. The document reading unit 104 corresponding to the optical unit 13-1 in FIGS. 1 to 6 includes a light source, a carriage 108 having a plurality of mirrors, a lens 109, a CCD 110, and a buffer 111, and scans the document sent by the ADF 102. read. A writing unit 105 corresponding to the writing unit 13-2 in FIGS. 1 to 6 includes a laser light source, a polygon mirror, and the like, and emits a laser beam 112 including image information to the engine unit 106. The engine unit 106 corresponds to the image forming unit 113, the primary transfer unit 114, and the secondary transfer unit 115 corresponding to the developing unit 13-3 in FIGS. 1 to 6 and the fixing unit 13-4 in FIGS. A fixing unit 116 is included. The image forming unit 113 includes a charging charger 118 disposed around the photoconductor 117 and an irradiation portion of the laser beam 112 from the writing unit 104 and cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), black (K ) And a drum cleaning unit 120, and an electrostatic latent image is formed by the laser beam 112 on the photosensitive member 117 charged by the charging charger 118, and the formed electrostatic latent image is converted into the color developing unit 119. To visualize the toner image. The primary transfer unit 114 includes an intermediate transfer belt 121, a primary transfer unit 122, a tension roller 123, a secondary transfer roller 124, a cleaning unit 125, and a reference position sensor 126, and intermediates a toner image formed on the photoconductor 117. Primary transfer is performed on the transfer belt 121. The intermediate transfer belt 121 is formed larger than A3 which is the maximum transfer paper size in the image forming apparatus 100. When the transfer paper to be used is A4 size or less, the intermediate transfer belt 121 holds toner images for two surfaces. Can do. The intermediate transfer belt 121 is separated from the surface of the photoreceptor 117 by a contact / separation mechanism (not shown) except when the toner image on the photoreceptor 117 is primarily transferred, and only when the image is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121. It is pressed against the surface of 117. The secondary transfer unit 115 secondarily transfers the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121 onto the recording paper. The fixing unit 116 fixes the toner image transferred to the recording paper with heat and pressure. The paper feed unit 107 has a plurality of paper feed cassettes 127 a to 127 c and a manual feed tray 128, and sends recording paper to the secondary transfer unit 115.

  The ADF 102 sends the original to be read to the original reading unit 104 and collects the original read by the original reading unit 104. The automatic sorting apparatus 103 has a plurality of sorting bins 129a to 129n, and sorts and discharges the recording sheets on which images are formed.

  When the image forming cycle of the original read by the original reading unit 104 in the image forming apparatus 100 starts, if the image to be formed is one color, a toner image is formed on the photoconductor 117 based on the read image data of the original. The transferred toner image is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121. The secondary transfer unit 115 secondarily transfers the toner image onto the recording paper fed in accordance with the leading edge of the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121. The recording paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is sent to the fixing unit 116 and fixed by heating and pressing. The recording paper on which the toner image is fixed is discharged to the automatic sorting device 103. Further, the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 121 is collected by the cleaning unit 125.

  When the image to be formed has two or more colors, the document is read by the document reading unit 104 based on the detection of the reference mark provided on the intermediate transfer belt 121 by the reference position sensor 126, and the read image data is stored in the image memory. The first color toner image is formed on the photoconductor 117 based on this image data, and the toner image formed on the photoconductor 117 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121. Subsequently, a second color toner image is formed on the photoconductor 117 based on the image data stored in the image memory, and the toner image formed on the photoconductor 117 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121. The image formation on the photoreceptor 117 and the primary transfer on the intermediate transfer belt 121 are repeated for each color. That is, when forming a two-color image, the intermediate transfer belt 121 is rotated twice, and when forming a full-color image, the intermediate transfer belt 121 is rotated four times. The toner images are primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121, and the images of the respective colors are superimposed without any positional deviation. After the toner image of a predetermined color is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121, the toner image is secondarily transferred to the recording paper fed in accordance with the leading end of the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121, and heated by the fixing unit 116. , Press to fix.

  Further, when forming a full-color image, the intermediate transfer belt 121 is rotated four times, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive member 117 is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121 for each rotation to position each color image. Overlay without deviation. After the toner image of a predetermined color is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121, the toner image is secondarily transferred to a recording sheet fed in accordance with the leading end of each toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 121, and is fixed by the fixing unit 116. The recording paper on which the image is formed is discharged by fixing by heating and pressing.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications and substitutions are possible as long as they are described within the scope of the claims.

It is the schematic which shows the structure of the cooling device which concerns on the 1st Example of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the cooling device which concerns on the 2nd Example of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the cooling device which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the cooling state at the time of the paper jam correspondence in a double-side part in the example of 3rd Embodiment. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the cooling device which concerns on the 4th Example of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the structure of the cooling device which concerns on the 5th Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the table content which memorize | stored the emitted-heat amount of the temperature rise location at the time of each mode and an error. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the structure of the image forming apparatus carrying the cooling device of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10, 20, 30, 40, 50; cooling device,
11; Pump, 12; Pressure control valve, 13; Cooling unit,
13-1; Cooling unit for optical unit, 13-2; Cooling unit for writing unit,
13-3; Development unit cooling unit, 13-4; Fixing unit peripheral cooling unit,
13-5; Cooling unit for double-sided part, 13-6; Cooling unit for electrical component part,
14; Reserve tank, 15; Radiator,
16; Coolant supply tube, 17-1 to 17-6; Valve,
21-1 to 21-6; flow rate control valve, 31; flow rate adjustment valve,
32-1 to 32-5; bypass, 33-1 to 33-5; switching valve,
41-1 to 41-5; temperature sensor, 42; control device,
100: an image forming apparatus.

Claims (15)

In a cooling method having a plurality of cooling units installed at a plurality of temperature rise points in the image forming apparatus and cooling the temperature rise points,
A cooling method characterized by selectively switching a cooling state or a non-cooling state of each cooling section and selectively cooling each temperature rising portion.   The cooling method according to claim 1, wherein an endothermic amount of the cooling unit is controlled based on a temperature of the temperature rising portion.   The cooling method according to claim 1, wherein a cooling state or an uncooled state of each of the cooling units is selected based on information on the amount of heat generated at the temperature rising portion in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus.   The said cooling part is a cooling method in any one of Claims 1-3 which has a liquid cooling means with which a cooling fluid is supplied.   The cooling method according to claim 1, wherein the cooling unit includes an air cooling unit. A plurality of cooling units installed at a plurality of temperature rising points in the image forming apparatus and cooling the temperature rising points;
And a switching unit that selectively switches a cooling state or an uncooled state of each of the cooling units.   The cooling device according to claim 6, further comprising: a temperature sensor provided in the vicinity of the temperature rise portion; and a control unit that controls an endothermic amount of the cooling portion based on a temperature at the temperature rise portion by the temperature sensor.   Storage means for storing information on the amount of heat generated at the temperature rise location in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus, and the switching means stores the temperature rise location in the operation mode of the image forming apparatus stored in the storage means. The cooling device according to claim 6, wherein the cooling state or the non-cooling state of each of the cooling units is switched based on information on the heat generation amount.   The cooling device according to claim 6, wherein the cooling unit is a liquid cooling unit to which a cooling liquid is supplied.   The cooling device for an image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the cooling unit is an air cooling unit.   The cooling device according to claim 9, further comprising a connecting unit that detachably connects the cooling unit and a flow path for supplying and discharging a cooling liquid to and from the cooling unit.   The cooling units are connected in parallel through flow paths for supplying and discharging a cooling liquid to the cooling units, and the switching unit controls the flow rate of the cooling liquid to the cooling units. The cooling device according to any one of 9.   The switching means includes a first flow path in which each of the cooling sections is connected in series via a flow path for supplying and discharging a coolant to each of the cooling sections, and the switching section is parallel to each of the cooling sections. The cooling device according to claim 6, wherein the cooling liquid is switched to be supplied to any one of the second flow paths provided in the first flow path.   The switching means controls the flow rate so that the flow rate is the same as the flow rate supplied to the first flow channel when the coolant is switched to the second flow channel side and the coolant is supplied to the second flow channel. The cooling device according to claim 13.   An image forming apparatus comprising the cooling device according to claim 6.

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