JP2008268758A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply electric energy for the power of a blower in an image forming apparatus, and also to control the electric energy. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with: a thermoelectric transducer for converting heat from a heat generation source into the power; a load device using the converted power; and a switching power source for supplying the power required for driving a main body. Further, the thermoelectric transducer is provided in a place where the power source generates the heat. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an effective energy utilization technique for an image forming apparatus having a heat generating member such as a printer, a FAX, or a multifunction machine thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, power is supplied to various loads such as a paper conveyance system, a motor for driving a photoconductor and the like, various chargers, a heater for a fixing device, and a control board. Under such circumstances, there is a demand for the image forming apparatus to reduce as much as possible the power required during operation. In order to reduce the power during operation, it is necessary to cover the power consumption with a battery or the like, or cover with energy that changes to a power source.

  In a conventional image forming apparatus, a typical location where heat is generated is a fixing unit. Currently, it has been proposed to convert thermal energy into electrical energy using a thermoelectric conversion element and supply it to each load with respect to unnecessary heat generated in this portion.

Here, the “image forming apparatus” disclosed in Patent Document 1 collects waste heat in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a fax machine, and its attached devices, and can be reused as electric energy for high energy saving images. Forming device. A thermoelectric converter is adjacent to the inside of the fixing roller. As the thermoelectric device, any thermoelectric conversion device, for example, a conventionally used thermoelectric conversion device based on the Seebeck effect can be used. However, in the heat generation temperature range of the fixing roller, the waste heat of the fixing roller can be converted into electric energy by a thermoelectric conversion device with high efficiency.
JP 2004-133340 A

  However, in the image forming apparatus, there are some other portions that generate heat. In addition, there is no technology that enables control only by using a power source that uses such heat for driving a load.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to control electric energy as well as supply power to a blower in an image forming apparatus.

  The invention described in claim 1 includes a thermoelectric conversion element that converts heat from a heat source into electric power, a load device that uses the converted electric power, and a switching power supply for supplying electric power necessary for driving the main body. In this image forming apparatus, the thermoelectric conversion element is provided at a location where the power source generates heat.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the portion that generates heat is a switching element for main control of a switching power supply, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the heat generating portion is a heat radiating plate provided to dissipate heat from the main control switch element of the switching power source, and the thermoelectric conversion element is provided there. It was characterized by providing.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the portion that generates heat is a regulator that generates heat from a DC power source generated from a switching power source by a voltage adjustment circuit for generating a low voltage. The thermoelectric conversion element is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the portion that generates heat is a heat radiating plate provided to radiate heat from the regulator that generates heat, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there. It was.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the portion that generates heat is a mechatronic component such as a motor, a clutch, or a solenoid that is a drive system of the image forming apparatus, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there It was characterized by providing.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the portion that generates heat is a motor driver mounted by a drive control circuit of a mechatronic component, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there. did.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, an air blower provided for cooling and an element for detecting a temperature at a location necessary for the cooling are provided. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the blower is driven by an element that detects the temperature of the fixing device and the electric power obtained from any heat generating portion.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the element for detecting the temperature is a thermistor.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the temperature detecting element is provided in a switching element for main control of the switching power supply.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect, the temperature detecting element is provided on a heat radiating plate provided to dissipate the main control switch element.

  According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the temperature detecting element is provided in a regulator that generates heat in a voltage adjusting circuit for generating a low voltage.

  According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, the temperature detecting element is a heat radiating plate provided to radiate heat from the regulator that generates heat.

  According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the temperature detecting element is provided in a mechatronic component such as a motor which is a drive system of the image forming apparatus.

  According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourteenth aspect, the temperature detection element is provided in a motor driver mounted by a drive control circuit of a mechatronic component.

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the temperature detecting element is provided in the middle of a path for discharging unnecessary heat inside the image forming apparatus to the outside of the apparatus.

  According to the present invention, electric energy can be controlled as well as supplying power to a blower in the image forming apparatus.

First, the operation of the full-color image forming apparatus in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
There are four development units, black, yellow, cyan, and magenta, from the top, and it is possible to form an image by arranging a charging unit, an exposing unit, a developing unit, a cleaning unit, a neutralizing unit, etc. on the latent image carrier. ing.

  In the image forming process, the latent image carrier is first discharged with light output from the charge removing unit, and then charged uniformly. Next, in the exposure unit, the LD is driven in accordance with the image data to irradiate the polygon mirror with laser light, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier.

  The four primary colors cyan, yellow, magenta, and black are developed on the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier, and the four color images are sequentially superimposed on the transfer body (intermediate transfer belt), and the superimposed image is transferred. A full-color image is obtained by transferring to paper and fixing with a fixing unit.

  Note that there are a stepping motor and a brushless motor as drive sources for transferring the transfer paper.

  Next, the thermoelectric conversion element will be described. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the thermoelectric conversion element.

  A thermoelectric conversion element generates electric power by heat, which converts heat energy of a heating element into electricity by the Seebeck effect.

  As this thermoelectric conversion element, for example, a PN-type thermoelectric conversion element having a configuration in which a plurality of PN elements are connected in series is used. In this embodiment, the thermoelectric conversion element is arranged in the fixing unit.

  FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a method for installing a thermoelectric conversion element on a fixing device.

  Due to the characteristics of the thermoelectric conversion element, the greater the temperature difference between the high temperature part and the low temperature part, the better the efficiency of conversion into electrical energy. The image forming apparatus uses a fixing device in order to fix the toner to the transfer paper. As a fixing method, a heater is provided in a pair of rollers, the heater generates heat, and the rollers are heated.

  When the transfer paper loaded with unfixed toner passes between the heated rollers, the toner is melted by the heat of the rollers and fixed on the transfer paper. In the present invention, this heat is utilized to the maximum extent.

  In FIG. 3, the thermoelectric conversion element is arranged above the fixing unit. However, the thermoelectric conversion element may be arranged anywhere as long as the temperature difference between the low temperature part and the high temperature part can be used.

  There are the following places where heat is generated in the image forming apparatus. First, it is generated from the main control switching element (FET) in the circuit of the power supply (switching power supply) for supplying power necessary for driving the main body, the heat sink for radiating the heat of this switching element, and the switching power supply. There is a regulator for generating a lower voltage from a DC power source and a heat sink for suppressing heat generation of the regulator. In addition, there are a stepping motor, a brushless motor, which are components of the drive system, and a motor driver necessary in the control circuit of these drive systems.

The power obtained from the thermoelectric conversion elements from the above locations is supplied to the blower and driven.
By placing the thermistor in a place where cooling is necessary, the blower can be switched ON / OFF.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the control circuit. Power for the blower is supplied from a thermoelectric conversion element. The ON / OFF switch of the blower is switched according to the output from the comparator (11).

  In this comparator, the reference voltage value, which is the divided voltage value of the resistor (9) and the resistor (10), is compared with the divided voltage value of the thermistor (7) and the resistor (8).

  The fan can be driven when the comparator outputs LOW based on the comparison result.

  In order to drive only when the temperature is higher than a certain temperature, it is necessary to set the reference voltage of the comparator.

  Further, this thermistor generates a portion that is cooled by the blower for the portion that generates heat described above, a switch element for main control of the switching power supply (FET), a heat dissipation plate for the switch element for main control, and a low voltage. Regulator, a heat sink for the regulator, a stepping motor as a drive system, a brushless motor, a motor driver required in the control circuit of this drive system, and unnecessary heat in the machine in the image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. Put it on the way to discharge.

  FIG. 5 is an example diagram. The blower (13) discharges unnecessary heat generated from the heat generating portion such as the fixing unit through the exhaust port (12) so that the heat does not accumulate in the outside air, and is in the middle of the path. The thermistor (7) is placed and the blower (13) is controlled by the control circuit example of FIG.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce power consumption during energy saving or operation of the image forming apparatus.

  In addition, it is possible to reduce power consumption during energy saving or operation of the image forming apparatus. In addition, since it is not necessary to control via a control IC such as a CPU, in the case of a configuration in which the number of control IC ports is reduced, control software is not required, and the blower is controlled via a plurality of control boards, The number of connectors can be reduced.

  Each of the above-described embodiments is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a full-color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic of the thermoelectric conversion element of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the example of the installation method to the fixing device of the thermoelectric conversion element of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a control circuit of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the Example of this invention.

Claims (16)

In an image forming apparatus comprising: a thermoelectric conversion element that converts heat from a heat source into electric power; a load device that uses the converted electric power; and a switching power supply that supplies electric power necessary for driving the main body.
An image forming apparatus, wherein the thermoelectric conversion element is provided at a location where the power source generates heat.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat generating portion is a main control switch element of the switching power source, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat generating portion is a heat radiating plate provided to dissipate heat from the main control switch element of the switching power supply, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there.   The thermoelectric conversion element is provided in a regulator that generates heat in a voltage adjustment circuit for generating a low voltage from a DC power source generated from the switching power source. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the heat generating portion is a heat radiating plate provided to radiate heat from the heat generating regulator, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided there.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat generating portion is a mechatronic component such as a motor, a clutch, or a solenoid that is a drive system of the image forming apparatus, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided therein.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the portion that generates heat is a motor driver mounted by a drive control circuit of the mechatronic component, and a thermoelectric conversion element is provided therein. In an image forming apparatus comprising an air blower provided for cooling and an element for detecting a temperature of a location necessary for cooling,
8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blower is driven by an element that detects electric power obtained from any one of the fixing devices and the temperature. .   9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the element for detecting the temperature is a thermistor.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the temperature detection element is provided in a main control switch element of a switching power supply.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the temperature detection element is provided on a heat radiating plate provided to radiate heat from the main control switch element.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the temperature detection element is provided in a regulator that generates heat in a voltage adjustment circuit for generating a low voltage.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the temperature detecting element is a heat radiating plate provided to radiate heat from a regulator that generates heat.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the temperature detecting element is provided in a mechatronic component such as a motor that is a drive system of the image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the temperature detection element is provided in a motor driver mounted by a drive control circuit of a mechatronic component.   9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the temperature detecting element is provided in the middle of a path for discharging unnecessary heat inside the image forming apparatus to the outside of the apparatus.

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