JP2010145713A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that prevents consumable articles from being successively required to be replaced. <P>SOLUTION: In the control of the image forming apparatus, man-days Cn indicating the utilization time is accumulated for each consumable article for each consumable article, setting are made which includes: a lifetime notice threshold L1n for determining that replacement time is near, when the man days Cn reach the value; a lifetime expiration threshold L2n for determining that replacement is required, when the man days reach the value; and an accompanying threshold Kn for determining that the consumable article needs to be replaced, if the man-days Cn have reached the value, when man-days Cx of another consumable article have reached a lifetime expiration value L2x. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus uses many consumables such as a toner cartridge, a developing device, a photosensitive member, a transfer belt, and a fixing device. A typical image forming apparatus counts the usage time (number of printed sheets) of each consumable, and determines that the consumable has reached the end of its life when the usage time of each consumable reaches a predetermined threshold. The user is prompted to replace the consumables and the image forming operation is prohibited.

  Further, when the usage time reaches a predetermined first threshold, it is determined that the consumable item is nearing the end of its life, and a display prompting the user to arrange replacement of the consumable item is displayed. When the predetermined second threshold value is reached, it is determined that the consumable item has reached the end of its life, and control for prompting the user to replace the consumable item is also performed.

  Each of the consumables has a different life because it has a different life and usage time. In the same image forming apparatus, when a plurality of consumables reach the end of their service life at short intervals, the user must replace the consumables each time, resulting in a decrease in productivity.

  In Patent Document 1, when the usage time of a certain consumable item reaches the threshold value indicating the lifetime, if there is another consumable item that is close to the threshold value indicating the lifetime, the threshold value is reached first. An invention is described in which the display for requesting replacement of consumables is delayed so that when other consumables reach the end of their life, a display prompting replacement is simultaneously performed. Although this can prevent a decrease in productivity, it is necessary to set a small threshold for determining the end of life, and if there are no other consumables that are near the end of their life, the consumables that can still be used will be discarded. Therefore, there is a problem that the utilization rate of the consumables decreases.

In Patent Document 2, when the waste toner container is full, if the usage time of the photoconductor is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value indicating that the life of the photoconductor is near the end of life, the process cartridge including the photoconductor is requested to be replaced. An invention is described in which waste toner is required to be discharged if the body usage time is less than the threshold value.
JP-A-2005-157201 JP 2002-99186 A

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that does not continuously generate consumable replacement requests.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention accumulates the man-hour indicating the usage time for each consumable, and determines that the replacement time is close for each consumable when the man-hour reaches the value. A life warning threshold value, a stop life threshold value that determines that replacement is necessary when the man-hour reaches that value, and a man-hour value that reaches that value when other consumables reach the stop life threshold value. If so, a companion threshold for determining that the consumable needs to be replaced is set.

  According to this configuration, when the usage time of any of the consumables reaches the stop life threshold, the other consumables whose usage time has reached the companion threshold are requested to be forwarded and replaced at the same time. There are no frequent replacement requests due to the service life, and productivity does not decrease. Even if one consumable item approaches the end of its life, if the other consumable item does not reach the end of its life, it continues to be used until it reaches the end of its life.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the companion threshold is a value between the lifetime notice threshold and the stop lifetime threshold.

  According to this configuration, the consumable replacement request is issued after the usage time reaches the life warning threshold and the user is informed of the life, so the user is prepared in advance to minimize downtime. Can be fastened.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the aspect of the invention, the companion threshold may be a procurement time addition value obtained by adding a value obtained by converting the time required for the replacement of the consumable to the man-hours to the lifetime notice threshold.

  According to this configuration, after notifying the user that it is almost time to replace the consumable, the time required to arrange replacement parts has passed. However, it can be avoided that the image forming apparatus cannot be used because there is no replacement part.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the accompanying threshold value may be a maintenance interval subtraction value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by converting an average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus into the man-hour from the stop life threshold value.

  According to this configuration, consumables that have a life longer than the average maintenance interval require the next maintenance before they reach the end of their life, even if other consumables do not have to be replaced at the same time. Probability is high. Therefore, such a consumable can increase the utilization rate by requesting replacement at the next maintenance opportunity even when the lifetime is near.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the traveling threshold value is a maintenance interval subtraction value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by converting an average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus into the man-hour from the stop life threshold value, and the lifetime notice threshold value. Of these, the larger value may be used.

  According to this configuration, when the average maintenance interval is long, the companion threshold value is set to the same value as the life warning threshold value, so that replacement of consumables is requested at an earlier stage than necessary to reduce the utilization rate of the life goods. You can prevent problems.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the aspect of the invention, the companion threshold may include a procurement time addition value obtained by adding a value obtained by converting a time required for replacement of the consumable item into the man-hours to the life warning threshold value, and the stop life threshold value. The maintenance interval subtraction value obtained by subtracting the value obtained by subtracting the average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus from the number of man-hours may be the larger value.

  According to this configuration, when the average maintenance interval is short, the maintenance interval subtraction value can be set as a companion threshold to increase the utilization rate of consumables. When the average maintenance interval is long, the procurement time addition value It is possible to prevent the exchange request from being generated before the exchange product is ready.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the man-hour is the number of printed sheets, and the time may be converted into the man-hour by multiplying the number of sheets assumed to be printed per unit time.

  In the image forming apparatus, since the correlation between the consumption level of the consumables and the number of printed sheets is high, it is effective and simple to manage the life of the consumables based on the number of printed sheets.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the man-hour is the number of printed sheets, and the time is converted into the man-hour by multiplying a value obtained by dividing an integrated value of the number of printed sheets of the image forming apparatus by a total operation time. Also good.

  According to this configuration, the companion threshold is set according to the frequency of use of the image forming apparatus by each user, so that the consumables can be used up without waste.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when the usage time of one of the consumables reaches the stop life threshold, the other consumables whose usage time has reached the companion threshold are requested to be forwarded and replaced at the same time. Therefore, replacement requests due to the life of consumables do not occur frequently, and productivity does not decrease. Even if one consumable item approaches the end of its life, if the other consumable item does not reach the end of its life, it continues to be used until it reaches the end of its life.

  Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes four developing units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K that form toner images of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, a transfer belt 3, and developing units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K, respectively. Primary transfer rollers 4Y, 4M, 4C, and 4K for transferring the toner images to the transfer belt 3 with electrostatic force, and secondary transfer rollers for transferring the toner images transferred to the transfer belt 3 to the recording paper S with electrostatic force. 5 and a fixing device 6 for fixing the toner image on the recording paper S by heating, and toner cartridges 7Y and 7M for supplying yellow, magenta, cyan and black toners to the developing units 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2K, respectively. , 7C, 7K.

  The developing units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K respectively expose the rotating drum-shaped photoconductor 8, the charger 9 that charges the photoconductor 8, and the charged photoconductor 8 to form an electrostatic latent image. The exposure device 10 includes a developing device 11 that develops a toner image on the photoconductor 8 by attaching toner to the electrostatic latent image, and a cleaner 12 that scrapes off the toner on the surface of the photoconductor 8.

  The transfer belt 3 is stretched around a driving roller 13 to be driven, a free roller 14, and a tension roller 15 that applies tension, and is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the driving roller 13. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a cleaner unit 16 that removes toner remaining on the surface of the transfer belt 3.

  The recording paper S is supplied to the paper supply unit 17, fed one by one by the supply roller 18, transported to the secondary transfer roller 5 by the transport roller 19, and discharged to the paper discharge unit 20 through the fixing device 6. .

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control device 21 that controls the operation of each component described above. The control device 21 has a CPU 22 and a memory 23. The memory 23 is at least partially composed of a non-volatile memory that retains information even when the power is turned off.

  The control device 21 counts the accumulated operation time TD and the accumulated number of printed sheets TC from when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed, and stores them in the memory 23. In addition, the control device replaces the consumables such as the transfer belt 3, the fixing device 6, the toner cartridges 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K, and the photosensitive member 8 and the developing device 11 of the developing units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K. The number of printed sheets Cx from the time (x is a number for specifying a consumable) is counted separately and stored in the memory 23. In the memory 23, the average maintenance interval Ts of the image forming apparatus 1 is registered. The average maintenance interval Ts is an interval when the serviceman checks the accumulated print number TC of the image forming apparatus 1 or performs maintenance work periodically or randomly. The number of printed sheets Cx is a man-hour that approximately indicates the time that the image forming apparatus 1 uses each consumable for the image forming operation.

  Further, the memory 23 stores a table indicating information on each consumable as shown in FIG. In the image forming apparatus 1, for each consumable, when the number of printed sheets Cx reaches that value, the life notice threshold L1x for determining that the replacement time of the xth consumable is near, and the number of printed sheets Cx are the values. Is reached, the stop life threshold L2x for determining that the xth consumable has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced is set and stored in the memory 23. In this table, the number of days (procurement delivery date) Tpx necessary for preparing a replacement for each consumable is registered.

  The image forming apparatus 1 determines that the life of the consumable is near the end when the print number Cx of any consumable reaches the life warning threshold L1x, and warns the user that replacement is necessary. To display. Further, when the number of prints Cx of any of the consumables reaches the stop life threshold L2x, the image forming apparatus 1 determines that the consumable has reached the life, prohibits the image forming operation, and prompts the user to Displays a request to replace consumables. Further, when any of the consumables reaches the end of its life, the image forming apparatus 1 allows the user to replace the consumables whose printed sheet number Cx exceeds the life notice threshold L1x and close to the stop life threshold L2x at the same time. The companion process requested to be performed.

  FIG. 3 shows the flow of the life confirmation process executed in the control device 21 of the image forming apparatus 1. The control device 21 performs this life confirmation process every time the print job is completed. First, in step S1, the control device 21 checks whether or not the number of prints Cx of each consumable has reached the stop life threshold L2x. Here, if the number of printed sheets Cx has not reached the stop life threshold L2x for any of the consumables, this life confirmation process is terminated.

  In step S1, if the print number Cx of any of the consumables has reached the stop life threshold L2x, the process proceeds to step S2 to read the accumulated operating time TD and the accumulated number of printed sheets TC from the memory 23, and in step S3. Then, the average number of printed sheets DC per day of the image forming apparatus 1 is calculated by dividing the accumulated printed sheet TC by the accumulated operating time TD.

  When the average number of printed sheets DC has been calculated, a check process is performed from step S4 to step S10. The companion confirmation process is a process in which n is a loop counter and the confirmation process for the nth consumable is repeated in order for all the consumables.

  In the companion confirmation process, first, a loop counter n is set in step S4, and in step S5, a procurement time addition value Kpn for the nth consumable item is calculated. The procurement time addition value Kpn is a value obtained by adding a value obtained by dividing the procurement delivery date Tpn of the consumable item by the average number of printed sheets DC to the lifetime notice threshold value L1n. In other words, the procurement time addition value Kpn is the time from when the number of printed sheets Cn reaches the life warning threshold L1n and prompts the user to arrange a replacement for the consumable, until the replacement is considered ready. It corresponds to the value converted into the number of sheets.

  Subsequently, in step S6, the control device 21 calculates a maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn for the nth consumable item. The maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn is a value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by dividing the average maintenance interval Tsn of the image forming apparatus 1 by the average number of printed sheets DC from the stop life threshold value L2x. That is, the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn indicates that when the number of printed sheets Cn exceeds the value for the consumable item, the consumable item is likely to reach the end of its life before the next maintenance operation occurs. Value.

  If the procurement time addition value Kpn and the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn are calculated, the control device 21 calculates the larger value of the procurement time addition value Kpn and the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn for the nth consumable in step S7. Is set as the accompanying threshold value Kn.

  In step S8, the control device 21 confirms whether or not the number of printed sheets Cn of the n-th consumable item is equal to or more than the companion threshold Kn. If the number of printed sheets Cn is equal to or greater than the companion threshold Kn, the control device 21 proceeds to step S9, determines that the consumable has reached the end of its life, sets a flag, and proceeds to step S10. If a flag indicating that the consumable item is at the end of its life is set, the control device 21 performs processing such as making a replacement request to the user. In step S8, if the number of printed sheets Cn is less than the companion threshold Kn, the consumable has a sufficient remaining life, and the process directly proceeds to step S10.

  In step S10, the loop counter is advanced, and the processing from step S5 to step S9 is repeated for the next consumable item. If the processing from step S5 to step S9 has been executed for all the consumables, the companion confirmation processing is terminated and the life confirmation processing is completed.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1, when one consumable item reaches the end of its life, the companion threshold value Kx is set between the life notice threshold value L1n and the stop life threshold value L2n for all the consumable items n. If the number of printed sheets Cn has reached the companion threshold value Kx, the consumable item is treated as having reached the end of its life at the same time as the consumable item whose life has been confirmed, and a replacement request is made to the user. As a result, it is possible to prevent another consumable from being replaced immediately after the replacement of one consumable, reduce the downtime for the consumable replacement, and the operating rate of the image forming apparatus 1 Can be high.

  Further, if the number of printed sheets Cn of any of the consumables does not reach the stop life threshold L2n, the companion control is not executed. Therefore, there are few consumables to be replaced before the life is completely reached, and the usage rate of the consumables is reduced. The decline is minimal.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus 1, the companion threshold value Kn is set to the larger value of the procurement time addition value Kpn and the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn, so that a replacement request is made before replacement parts are procured. Is preventing.

  In this embodiment, the average number of printed sheets DC is calculated by dividing the accumulated number of printed sheets TC by the accumulated operating time TD. Thereby, the accompanying threshold Kn according to the usage frequency of the image forming apparatus 1 of the individual user can be set.

  For example, if the average maintenance interval is 7 days, the accumulated print sheet TC at the time of the companion control is 60000 sheets, and the accumulated operation time TD is 900 days, the procurement time addition value Kpn of the photoconductor 8 is 99333 sheets. The interval subtraction value Ksn is 107533 sheets. Therefore, the accompanying threshold Kn of the photosensitive member 8 is 107533 sheets.

  On the other hand, even if the average maintenance interval is the same, if the accumulated printed sheet TC at the time of the companion control is 550000 sheets and the accumulated operation time TD is 600 days, the procurement time addition value Kpn of the photoconductor 8 is 103583 sheets. The maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn is 101583 sheets. Therefore, the traveling threshold value Kn of the photoconductor 8 is 103583 sheets.

  However, when the frequency of use of the image forming apparatus 1 is unstable, the average printing assumed in advance in consideration of the worst case, not the average number of printed sheets DC calculated from the integrated printed sheets TC and the integrated operating time TD. The companion threshold Kn may be calculated using the number of sheets.

  In the above embodiment, the larger one of the procurement time addition value Kpn and the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn is set as the companion threshold value Kn. However, the delivery time Tpn of the consumables and the maintenance interval Ts of the image forming apparatus 1 are specified. When it is difficult or the variation is large, a companion threshold value Kn that is considered to be appropriate from experience may be set in advance between the life warning threshold value L1n and the stop life threshold value L2n.

  In the present invention, the accompanying threshold value Kn may be determined by calculating only one of the procurement time addition value Kpn and the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn. When only the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn is used, the maintenance interval subtraction value Ksn may be smaller than the life warning threshold value L1n. In this case, by adopting the value of the life warning threshold value L1n as the companion threshold Kn, It is recommended that consumables not be replaced more quickly than necessary.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The table | surface which illustrates the information of the consumables memorize | stored in the memory of the image forming apparatus of FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a life confirmation process in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus 2Y, 2M, 2C, 2K ... Developing unit 3 ... Transfer belt (consumable)
6. Fixing device (consumable)
7Y, 7M, 7C, 7K ... Toner cartridge (consumable)
8 ... Photoconductor (consumable)
11 ... Developer (consumable)
21 ... Control device 23 ... Memory L1n ...
L2n ...
Cn: Number of printed sheets (man-hours)
DC ... Average number of printed sheets Kn ... Passage threshold Kpn ... Procurement time addition value Ksn ... Maintenance interval subtraction value TC ... Total number of printed sheets TD ... Total operation time Tpn ... Procurement delivery time (replacement preparation period)
Ts: Average maintenance interval

Claims (8)

  For each consumable item, the man-hour indicating the usage time is accumulated, and for each consumable item, when the man-hour reaches that value, the life warning threshold for determining that the replacement time is near, and when the man-hour reaches that value Stop life threshold for determining that replacement is necessary, and when other consumables reach the stop life threshold, if the man-hour has reached that value, it is accompanied by determining that the consumable needs to be replaced An image forming apparatus, wherein a threshold value is set.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the companion threshold is a value between the lifetime notice threshold and the stop lifetime threshold.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the companion threshold is a procurement time addition value obtained by adding a value obtained by converting the time required for replacement of the consumable to the man-hours to the lifetime notice threshold. .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the companion threshold is a maintenance interval subtraction value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by converting an average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus into the man-hour from the stop life threshold.   The companion threshold is a larger one of a maintenance interval subtraction value obtained by subtracting a value obtained by converting an average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus into the man-hour from the stop lifetime threshold, and the lifetime notice threshold. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The companion threshold is a procurement time addition value obtained by adding a value obtained by converting the time required for preparation of replacement of the consumables to the man-hour to the life warning threshold value, and an average maintenance interval of the image forming apparatus from the stop life threshold value. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a larger one of a maintenance interval subtracted value obtained by subtracting a value converted into the man-hour. The man-hour is the number of printed sheets,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time is converted into the man-hour by multiplying the number of sheets expected to be printed per unit time. The man-hour is the number of printed sheets,
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time is converted into the man-hour by multiplying a value obtained by dividing an integrated value of the number of printed sheets of the image forming apparatus by a total operation time.

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