JP2011180619A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of quickly increasing temperature by increasing power to be used by a heating means, and capable of maintaining stable performance for a long period by suppressing the deterioration of an auxiliary power supply device, while coping with high printing speed. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes: a fixing device 10 for fixing an image formed by an image formation part and transferred to paper P on the paper P while holding the paper P between a heating member 1 and a pressure member 7; the auxiliary power supply device 3 having an accumulator function of accumulating power from a commercial power supply 202 and capable of supplying the accumulated power to the image formation part and the fixing device 10; an auxiliary power controller 600 capable of supplying power from both of the commercial power supply and the auxiliary power supply device to the fixing device or a load device other than the fixing device and controlling power supply from the auxiliary power supply device 3; and a pressure member temperature detector 80 for detecting the temperature of the pressure member 104, wherein power supply from the auxiliary power supply device 3 is controlled in accordance with the temperature detection result of the pressure member temperature detector 80. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

    The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of supplying power from both a commercial power supply and an auxiliary power supply to a fixing device and other load devices.

  An image forming apparatus represented by a copying machine, a printer, a FAX, or a complex machine of these forms an image in an image forming unit and transfers the image onto a sheet-like recording material such as paper or OHP. . There are various types of image recording methods used in image forming apparatuses. Among them, the electrophotographic method is widely used in the above-mentioned apparatuses in terms of high speed, image quality, cost, and the like. .

  In the electrophotographic system, a fixing device is generally used to fix an unfixed toner image transferred onto a recording material onto the recording material with heat and pressure. As a fixing method using a fixing device, a heat roller method is currently most frequently used in terms of high speed and safety. The heat roller system is a counter rotating body that forms a mutual pressure contact portion called a pressure nip portion that is disposed in opposition to a heating member such as a heating roller that is heated by a heat generating member such as a halogen heater and is pressed against the heating member. The recording material that is to be heated as viewed from the heating member is passed through and heated. As the heating member, a metal roller in which iron, aluminum or the like is used as a core metal is mainly used. The heating member is formed thick in order to suppress the amount of deformation at the time of press contact, and its heat capacity is large. For this reason, in order to raise the temperature to about 180 ° C., which is a temperature at which the toner can be melted and used (fixing temperature), a long rise time of several minutes to several tens of minutes is required.

  Therefore, in the image forming apparatus, even when the apparatus user is not performing printing, power is supplied to the heating member provided in the heating member, and the temperature is kept at a preheating temperature slightly lower than the usable temperature (fixing temperature). . Thus, the so-called first print time is shortened so that the heating roller immediately rises to a usable temperature (fixing temperature).

  If the rise in temperature is emphasized in this way, even when the apparatus is not used, it is not necessary directly for image formation, so to speak, extra power is consumed by the heating member as standby power. There is also a survey result that the standby consumption energy accounts for about 70 to 80% of the energy consumption of the image forming apparatus.

  In recent years, energy conservation regulations have been enacted in each country due to increased awareness of environmental protection. In Japan, the Energy Conservation Law has been amended and strengthened, and energy conservation programs such as Energy Star and Zero Energy Star Mode (ZESM) have been established in the United States. When trying to save power in image forming devices to comply with these regulations and programs, reducing energy consumption during standby will have a significant energy saving effect, so there is a demand for zero power supply when the device is in standby mode. ing.

  If the power of the apparatus is set to zero while maintaining the conventional fixing device configuration, it takes time to raise the temperature of the heating roller at the time of restarting, and the standby time is long and the usability of the apparatus deteriorates. End up. For this reason, a configuration in which the temperature of the heating roller is quickly increased is required for realizing both usability and energy saving in the image forming apparatus. For example, in the ZESM, there is a demand for extremely strict content that the apparatus once stands up and the restart time from a so-called standby state such as a sleep state is set to 10 seconds or less.

  In order to shorten the temperature raising time, it is conceivable to reduce the heat capacity of the heating member or increase the input power to the heating member (heating member). Regarding the reduction in heat capacity, the thickness of the heating roller or fixing roller as the heating means is reduced from the conventional several mm to 1 mm or less, and the film or belt member is used as the heating means, so that 50 cpm (50 sheets) In a medium / low speed printing speed range of up to about 1 minute), a rise in a short time of about 10 to 30 seconds is realized, and it is possible to shorten the temperature raising time.

  On the other hand, in order to increase the input power to the heating means, the supply voltage or the supply voltage may be increased. However, a commercial power source such as a general office outlet in Japan is generally 100 V / 15 A (ampere). In fact, since 1500 W is the upper limit of the supply power, it is difficult to increase the supply power to the heating means with a general commercial power source alone.

  In such a medium / low speed printing speed range, lowering the heat capacity of the heating means is effective for raising the temperature in a short time, but in a high speed printing speed range of 60 cpm (60 sheets / min) or more, per unit time Since the number of sheets passing through the recording material increases, the amount of heat taken away from the heating means by the recording material is larger than the amount of heat heated by the heating means, and if the heating member has a small heat capacity, the temperature of the heating means is maintained at a predetermined temperature. It was difficult. In the image forming apparatus, such a temperature maintenance, that is, a temperature drop of the heating means causes a fixing defect.

  In order to solve this problem, some image forming apparatuses that can handle printing speeds up to a high speed range include a device that supplies a large amount of power with a power supply voltage of 200 V. However, it is necessary to perform special work on the power supply at the installation site. Yes, it's not a general solution. In addition, a product that raises the total input power amount by using two systems of 100V15A has been put into practical use, but it is difficult to install unless the outlets of the two systems are nearby. For this reason, until now, even if an attempt is made to raise the temperature of the heating roller (heating means) in a short time, the upper limit of the input energy has not been raised.

  Against this background, as a technique for increasing the maximum power supply amount and preventing the temperature of the fixing device from being lowered, an image forming apparatus having a chargeable auxiliary power supply device different from the commercial power supply (100V-15A) has been proposed. ing. For example, in Patent Document 1, a heating unit is provided with a plurality of heaters as heating members, one of the heating members is supplied with electric power from a commercial power source as a main power source, and the other heating member is supplied with electric power from an auxiliary power supply device. Supplying it increases the maximum amount of power supply to the heating means, thereby shortening the rise time and preventing temperature drop. Secondary batteries such as lead-acid batteries and CADNICA batteries are typical examples of auxiliary power supply devices. However, secondary batteries are charged and discharged repeatedly, causing the batteries to deteriorate and reduce their capacity. The longer the service life, the shorter the life.

  Even in a CADNICA battery, which is generally considered to have a long life with a large current, the number of charge / discharge cycles is about 500 to 1000 times. For example, if the charge / discharge cycle is repeated 20 times a day, the battery life is about one month. Will come. This takes time to replace the battery, and the running cost such as battery cost is very high. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of charging time, it takes time to charge a large capacity, and therefore it cannot be used for applications in which charging and discharging are repeated many times a day, and it has been difficult to realize practically. Although it is possible to increase the number of repetitions by increasing the capacity of the secondary battery and using the charge / discharge cycle shallowly, it is difficult to put it to practical use because of the long time required for charge / discharge. As described above, since the secondary battery has practical problems, it is also described in Patent Document 1 that a large-capacity capacitor such as an electric double layer capacitor is used as the auxiliary power supply device.

  The large-capacity capacitor has the following advantageous characteristics as compared with the battery. First, the number of repetitions of charging and discharging is almost unlimited at tens of thousands or more, charging characteristics are hardly deteriorated, and regular maintenance is unnecessary. Secondly, the charging time is several tens of minutes to several hours for a battery which is a secondary battery, but it can be set to several tens of seconds to several minutes. In addition, an electric double layer capacitor can supply a large current of several tens to a hundred amps, and can supply a large amount of power.

  Even when the power storage device is used as the auxiliary power supply device, it is necessary to charge the battery after discharging to prepare for the next power supply. Although it takes a few minutes to charge, it is necessary to reduce unnecessary discharge and reduce power consumption as well as shorten the charging time.

  Further, in order to maintain the performance of the image forming apparatus for a long time and improve the reliability, it is an important issue to stably maintain the performance of the auxiliary power supply apparatus. As described above, when a large-capacitance capacitor is used as an auxiliary power supply device, the cycle life due to repeated use is long and durability is very high as compared with a battery, but its characteristics gradually deteriorate with long-term use.

  It is known that the temperature is greatly affected by the deterioration, and that the deterioration proceeds faster as the temperature is higher. Repeated charging / discharging of a large-capacity capacitor has a phenomenon that the temperature rises due to its own heat generated by internal resistance, and this has an effect on long-term characteristic maintenance.

  The present invention increases the power that can be used by the heating means to enable a temperature rise in a short time, and can cope with a high printing speed, while suppressing deterioration of the auxiliary power supply device and providing stable performance over the long term. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can be maintained.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fixing device including an image forming unit that forms an unfixed image on a recording material and a heating member that is heated by a heating member in order to control the amount of auxiliary power supplied by the pressure roller temperature. And a power supply function for supplying power from the commercial power source to the image forming unit and the fixing device, and storing power from the commercial power source, and an auxiliary power supply device capable of supplying the stored power. A heating member in an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary power control unit that can supply power from both a commercial power supply and an auxiliary power supply unit to a load other than the apparatus and that controls power supplied from the auxiliary power supply unit Pressure member temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the pressure member facing the auxiliary member, and auxiliary power control means for controlling the power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device in accordance with the temperature detection result of the pressure member temperature detecting means. It is characterized in.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the pressurizing member temperature during the warm-up operation by the pressurizing member temperature detecting means is used so that the auxiliary power supply is not performed when the temperature is raised for a short time even when the start-up is not performed at a high temperature. When the detection result is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the power supply from the auxiliary power supply device is prohibited or the power supply amount is limited.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the pressure member temperature detecting means detects the pressure member temperature during the printing operation so that the auxiliary power is not supplied when the temperature does not decrease even if the temperature is not assisted at the time of passing the paper. When the detection result is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the power supply from the auxiliary power supply device is prohibited or the power supply amount is limited.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming portion for forming an unfixed image on a recording material and a heating member heated by a heat generating member in order to control charging and discharging based on the detection result of the auxiliary power source temperature. The fixing device includes: a fixing device; and an auxiliary power supply device that includes a power storage device that stores power from the commercial power source and supplies power from the commercial power source to the image forming unit and the fixing device. Alternatively, in an image forming apparatus having an auxiliary power control unit that can supply power from both a commercial power supply and an auxiliary power supply device to a load other than the fixing device, and that controls power supplied from the auxiliary power supply unit. Auxiliary power supply temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the auxiliary power supply apparatus, and a charge / discharge operation control means for controlling the charging operation or discharging operation for the auxiliary power supply apparatus according to the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means It is characterized in that. In this case, when a capacitor is used as the auxiliary power supply device, the capacitor is focused on the characteristic that the temperature rises at the time of charging and the temperature decreases at the time of discharging, and charging / discharging is controlled according to the temperature.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the charging current is reduced by the detection result of the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device, and the charging current to the auxiliary power supply device is reduced when the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means is higher than a predetermined temperature. It is characterized by letting.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the productivity is controlled by the detection result of the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device. When the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means is higher than a predetermined temperature, the image forming unit produces the image. It is characterized by reducing the performance.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, an image forming unit that forms an unfixed image on a recording material, a fixing device that includes a heating member that is heated by a heating member, and power from a commercial power source are supplied to the image forming unit and the fixing device. A power storage device that stores power from the commercial power supply and includes an auxiliary power supply device that can supply the stored power, and the power supply of the commercial power supply and the auxiliary power supply device with respect to a load other than the fixing device or the fixing device. In the image forming apparatus that can supply power from both and has auxiliary power control means for controlling power supplied from the auxiliary power supply means, the image forming apparatus has auxiliary power supply temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device, According to the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means, the power supply amount from the commercial power supply to the image forming apparatus is reduced and the power supply amount from the auxiliary power supply device is increased.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a power storage function for storing electric power from a commercial power source according to the temperature detection result of the pressure member temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the pressure member facing the heating member of the fixing device. Since the power supplied from the auxiliary power supply that can supply the generated power to the image forming unit and the fixing device is controlled, the amount of auxiliary power supplied is controlled according to the temperature of the pressure member, so that the fixing device temperature is sufficiently high. When auxiliary power is not required, unnecessary auxiliary power feeding can be prevented, and unnecessary energy consumption can be prevented while shortening the charging time.

  According to the present invention, the pressure member temperature detecting means detects the pressure member temperature during the warm-up operation, and when the detection result is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the power supply from the auxiliary power supply device is prohibited or the power is Since the supply amount is limited, when the image forming apparatus is started up, the auxiliary power is not supplied when the temperature is raised for a short time without assistance at a high temperature. Energy consumption can be prevented.

  According to the present invention, the pressure member temperature detecting means detects the pressure member temperature during the printing operation, and when the detection result is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the power supply from the auxiliary power supply device is prohibited or the power supply is prohibited. Since the amount is limited, when the temperature does not drop even if it is not supported at a high temperature when passing paper, auxiliary power is not supplied, so unnecessary auxiliary power can be prevented, and charging time is shortened and unnecessary energy consumption is prevented. can do.

  According to the present invention, the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the auxiliary power supply apparatus, and the charge / discharge operation control means for controlling the charging operation or discharging operation to the auxiliary power supply apparatus according to the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means. Therefore, the power storage type auxiliary power supply device has a characteristic that the temperature rises at the time of charging and the temperature decreases at the time of discharging, so the auxiliary power supply device is charged according to the detection result of the auxiliary power supply device, that is, the ambient temperature of the auxiliary power supply device And by controlling the discharge, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device from rising and to ensure long-term durability.

  According to the present invention, when the auxiliary power supply temperature detection result is higher than the predetermined temperature, the charging current to the auxiliary power supply device is reduced by the discharge operation control means, so that the temperature rise of the auxiliary power supply device during charging can be suppressed, Long-term stable performance can be maintained.

  According to the present invention, when the detection result of the auxiliary power source temperature detection means is higher than a predetermined temperature, control is performed so as to reduce the productivity of image formation by the image forming unit. Along with the decrease, the required power is reduced and the auxiliary power supply is not used, or the charge / discharge amount is reduced, so that the temperature rise of the auxiliary power supply can be suppressed and stable performance can be maintained for a long time.

  According to the present invention, the amount of power supplied from the commercial power supply to the image forming apparatus is reduced and the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply is increased according to the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means. As a result, the auxiliary power supply is discharged and the temperature can be lowered, and the temperature rise of the auxiliary power supply can be suppressed and stable performance can be maintained over the long term.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a roller fixing type fixing device to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a belt fixing type fixing device to which the present invention is applied. It is sectional drawing which shows one form of the heating means comprised by the magnetic flux generation means. (A) is a block diagram in which the heat generating members are disposed in substantially the entire region in the roller axis direction, and (b) is a block diagram in which the heat generating members are shifted in the roller axis direction. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a relationship between a heating device, a fixing device fed from the heating device, and a drive system as a load device other than the fixing phase device. It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning form of an auxiliary power supply temperature detection means. It is a figure which shows the electric power feeding pattern which uses an auxiliary power supply device at the time of paper passing. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between power fluctuation on the power supply unit side, power consumption on the image forming apparatus side, and temperature fluctuation of the heating roller. It is a figure which shows the temperature characteristic of the heating member by the difference in the electric power supply means at the time of paper passing. It is a figure which shows the electric power feeding pattern which uses an auxiliary power supply device from the time of starting. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between power fluctuation on the power supply unit side, power consumption on the image forming apparatus side, and temperature fluctuation of a heating member. It is a figure which shows the temperature characteristic of the heating member by the difference in an electric power supply means. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing another form of a heating device, a fixing device fed from the heating device, and a drive system as a power request unit of the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the relationship between charging / discharging operation | movement of an auxiliary power supply device, and a temperature change. It is sectional drawing which shows one form of the fixing device of a roller fixing system provided with the main heat generating member and the sub heat generating member. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conventional heating power source provided with the main heat generating member and the sub heat generating member, and the relationship of a power feeding destination. It is a figure which shows the electric power feeding pattern by the structure of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus as an example of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus includes a drum-shaped photoconductor 41 as an electrostatic latent image carrier (image carrier) inside the main body. The photoreceptor 41 is configured to be rotationally driven in a clockwise direction indicated by an arrow in the drawing by a drive motor (not shown). Around the photosensitive member 41, a charging device 42 for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive member, a developing device 44 having a developing roller 44a for developing a latent image on the photosensitive member, and an image (toner image) on the photosensitive member are recorded. A transfer device 48 that is a material and is transferred to a sheet P as a heated body, and a cleaning device 46 that cleans the surface of the photoconductor is disposed in the rotation direction of the photoconductor 41.

  On the surface of the photoreceptor 41 uniformly charged by the charging device 42, the writing laser beam Lb is reflected by the reflecting mirror 43 and irradiated as exposure light to the exposure unit 150 between the charging device 42 and the developing device 44. Is done. As a result, a latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor. The writing system laser beam Lb is irradiated from a known writing unit including a reflecting mirror 43 and a polygon not shown. The latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member is visualized by the supply of toner as a developer (also referred to as developer) by the developing roller 44a of the developing device 44.

  The transfer device 48 is disposed to face the surface of the photoreceptor, and a transfer portion 47 is formed between the two. The sheet P is conveyed to the transfer unit 47 from a sheet feeding tray 51 of the sheet feeding device 50 via a sheet feeding roller 110 and a registration roller pair 49 that constitute a conveying system. A toner image (a visible image) on the photoreceptor 41 is electrostatically transferred to the conveyed paper P by a transfer bias applied from the transfer device 48 in the transfer unit 47.

  The sheet P on which the toner image (the visible image) has been transferred is appropriately transported to the fixing device 10 disposed downstream of the transfer unit 47 by a transport roller (not illustrated) that configures a transport system (not illustrated). The fixing device 10 is disposed on a paper conveyance path indicated by a broken line in the drawing, and is a heating member 1 that is heated by receiving power supply from a power supply control device 200 described later, and a fixing roller, and the heating roller 1. A pressure roller 7 which is a pressure member arranged oppositely and which serves as a counter-rotating body is provided. The heating roller 1 and the pressure roller 7 are in contact with each other to form a pressure contact nip portion 52 for fixing. When the paper P conveyed to the fixing device 10 passes through the pressure nip portion 52, it is thermally fixed to the paper P by the heat from the heating roller 1 and the pressure applied to the pressure nip portion 52, and on a paper discharge tray (not shown). To be discharged.

  Residual toner remaining on the photoreceptor 41 without being transferred to the paper P by the transfer unit 47 reaches the cleaning device 46 as the photoreceptor 41 rotates. Then, when passing between the cleaning member 46a of the cleaning device 46 and the photosensitive member 42, the cleaning member 46a scrapes off and cleans.

The fixing device and related components will be described.
As the fixing device 10, there are a roller fixing system shown in FIG. 2 and a belt fixing system shown in FIG. Although the roller fixing method shown in FIG. 2 is used for the fixing device 10 of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the belt fixing method shown in FIG. 3 may be used.

  The fixing device 10 includes a heating roller 1 that is rotated by a driving source (not shown), and a pressure roller 7 that presses against the outer peripheral surface of the heating roller 1 to form a pressure nip portion 52, and is not fixed to the pressure nip portion 52. The toner image T, which is an image, is introduced into the paper P and is nipped and conveyed, whereby the toner image T is fixed to the paper P with heat and pressure. The heating roller 1 includes a halogen heater 60 as a heat generating member therein, and the surface of the heating roller 1 is heated to a predetermined fixing temperature by supplying electric power to the halogen heater 60 to generate heat. . In FIG. 2, a toner image indicated by a symbol T indicates a state before fixing.

  A belt fixing type fixing device 100 shown in FIG. 3 includes a fixing belt 101 as a fixing member constituted by an endless belt, a fixing roller 102 and a heating roller 103 as a plurality of backup members around which the fixing belt 101 is wound, A pressure member 104 that forms a pressure nip 52 between the fixing belt 101 and the fixing roller 102 as one roller with the fixing belt 101 interposed therebetween is provided with a pressure roller 104 that is a counter rotating body. The toner image T is fixed to the paper P with heat and pressure by introducing the paper P onto which the image T has been transferred and nipping and conveying it.

  The heating roller 103 includes a halogen heater 60 as a heat generating member therein, and constitutes a heating member. The heating roller 103 is heated by the electric power supplied to the halogen heater 60, thereby raising the temperature of the surface of the fixing belt 101 to a fixing temperature as a predetermined temperature via the roller. In the fixing device 100, in order to convey the paper P, the fixing roller 102 and the pressure roller 104 are configured to receive a driving force from a driving motor serving as a driving source (not shown).

  Therefore, in FIG. 3, the fixing roller 102 is rotated in the clockwise direction, the fixing belt 101 is also rotated in the same direction, and the pressure roller 104 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction. As a driving form, either the fixing roller 101 or the pressure roller 104 may be driven to rotate by receiving a driving force.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the heating roller 1 includes a halogen heater 60 inside a cylindrical roller base 63 made of metal. The halogen heater 60 is configured to raise the roller surface temperature by heating the roller base 63 with the radiant heat. Since the roller base 63 functions as the base of the heating roller 1, it is desirable that the roller base 63 is made of metal such as aluminum or iron in view of durability and deformation due to pressure. In this embodiment, a release layer 1a for preventing adhesion of toner or the like is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the roller base 63 serving as the roller surface. It is desirable that the inner surface of the roller, that is, the inner peripheral surface of the roller base 63 is subjected to a blackening process for efficiently absorbing the heat of the halogen heater 60. The pressure roller 7 is formed with an elastic layer 7b such as rubber on the outer periphery of the metal core 7a, and is configured to be elastically deformed when pressed against the heating roller 1 so that the pressure nip portion 52 is sufficiently formed. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the heating roller 103 has a smaller diameter than the fixing roller 102. The heating roller 103 includes a halogen heater 60 inside a cylindrical roller base 103a made of metal. The halogen heater 60 is configured to heat the roller base 103a with its radiant heat to raise the temperature of the roller surface and to heat the fixing belt 101. Since the heating roller 103 does not face the pressure roller 104 and functions to apply tension to the fixing belt 101, the roller base 103a is thinner than the heating roller 1 in FIG. For this reason, since the metal portion has a small diameter and is thinned, the heat capacity thereof is smaller than that of the heating roller 1, and a conventional auxiliary heater becomes unnecessary. It is desirable that the inner surface of the roller, that is, the inner peripheral surface of the roller base 103a, be subjected to a blackening process for efficiently absorbing the heat of the halogen heater 60. The pressure roller 104 is formed such that an elastic layer 104b such as rubber is formed on the outer periphery of the core metal 104a, and is elastically deformed when pressed against the heating roller 102 so that the pressure nip portion 52 is sufficiently formed. ing.

  In this invention, it has the pressurization member temperature detection means 80 which detects the temperature of the pressurization member 1 as shown in FIG.2, FIG.3. Examples of the pressure member temperature detection means 80 include a contact type such as a thermistor and a thermocouple, and a non-contact type that detects temperature by infrared rays. In this embodiment, the pressure member temperature detection means 80 is installed so as to detect the surface temperature of the pressure rollers 7 and 104 itself as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the detected temperature information is stored in the image forming apparatus. In addition to performing control, the information is transmitted to a control unit 600 (to be described later) that controls the power supplied to the components of the image forming apparatus including the fixing device 10 and used as information for determining the operation of the image forming apparatus.

  In this embodiment, one halogen heater 60 having a power of 1200 W at 100 V is used. The halogen heater 60 may be provided in the entire area in the axial direction of each roller as shown in FIG. 5A, or the first heater 61 that heats only the central part of each roller as shown in FIG. 5B. And a second heater 62 that heats only both ends of the roller may be provided, and the power supply to each heater may be controlled according to the paper size to prevent the temperature rise of the non-sheet passing portion. In this case, although there are a plurality of heat generating members, either one does not function as an auxiliary heater, but both function as a main heater.

  In this embodiment, each heating member is heated by the halogen heater 60 as a heat generating member, but the heating form is not limited to such a form. For example, a plate-like ceramic heater may be disposed inside each roller. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, a magnetic flux generating means 700 is configured by winding a coil 702 around an arc-shaped core 701, and a high frequency is passed through the coil 702 to inductively heat the core 701 with an alternating magnetic field to raise the temperature. It is good also as a structure. In this case, the heating member becomes the coil 702 and the heat generating member becomes the core 701. As such a heating mode, the heating roller 103 itself may not be heated.

  The merit of using the magnetic flux generation means 700 as a heating means is that on / off control, phase control, or zero cross control is generally used to adjust the electric power of the halogen heater 60, but the output control has both on time and off time. This is a method for adjusting the average power. For this reason, it is preferable in terms of temperature rise characteristics (rise characteristics), but it is difficult to strictly adjust the power. On the other hand, in the induction heating configuration, since the output power for heating can be changed by changing the frequency to the coil 702, it is advantageous that the power adjustment is easy. Alternatively, the halogen roller may be included in the heating roller at the same time so that the entire roller can be heated even when the roller is not rotating, such as in a standby state.

  Next, the configuration of the heat generation control means 200 and the heating device 400 will be described. In this embodiment, an example in which the heating roller 1 of the fixing device 10 of the roller fixing system shown in FIG. 2 is heated will be described. However, the heating roller 103 of the fixing device 100 may be heated.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus includes a heat generation control unit 200 and a heating device 400. As shown in FIG. 6, the heating device 400 supplies current to the heating roller 1 including the halogen heater 60 that generates heat by supplying power, and to a plurality of drive systems 300 that are power request units that consume power and serve as image forming units. Power supply means 500 for supplying the power supply, and control means 600 for controlling the power supply means 500. This control means 600 functions as an auxiliary power control means.

  The power supply means 500 has a main power supply device 2 as a plurality of power supply means, an auxiliary power supply device 3 constituted by a power storage device, a charger 4 to the auxiliary power supply device 3, and an output voltage of the auxiliary power supply device 3 substantially constant. A voltage adjustment circuit 5 serving as a constant voltage circuit to be maintained, a charge / discharge switching unit sw1, and a known switch element 6 such as a triac serving as a main power control unit for controlling power supply from the main power supply device 2 and a power distribution unit 9 are provided. ing.

  The main power supply device 2 obtains electric power from the outlet of the commercial power supply 202 via the plug 201 shown in FIG. 1, and is a power request unit of the halogen heater 60 and the image forming apparatus, and a plurality of drives as load devices other than the fixing device Power is supplied to each system 300. In Japan, the current capacity is limited to about 15 A at a voltage of 100 V, so the maximum power of the power from the main power supply 2 is about 1500 W.

  Auxiliary power supply device 3 switches charge / discharge when the stored power charged from main power supply device 2 to auxiliary power supply device 3 is at an arbitrary timing when more power supply is desired, such as when the device is started up or during continuous paper feeding. The unit sw1 is switched to be discharged and supplied with power exceeding the supply power of the main power supply device 2 to the plurality of drive systems 300. The auxiliary power supply 3 is configured by connecting a plurality of capacitor cells made of electric double layer capacitors.

  In this embodiment, as the power storage device, an electric double layer capacitor that is a large-capacity capacitor is used. Large-capacity capacitors have also been called electrochemical capacitors, and can be classified into several types, such as electric double layer capacitors and pseudo capacitors, depending on the operating principle. It is desirable to do. Unlike a secondary battery which is another form of the storage-type auxiliary power supply device 3, the capacitor has the following excellent characteristics because it does not involve a chemical reaction.

  When a general nickel-cadmium battery as a secondary battery is used as the auxiliary power supply 3, it takes several tens of minutes to several hours even if rapid charging is performed. This is not practical because it can be realized only a few times. On the other hand, when a capacitor is used as the auxiliary power supply device 3, rapid charging of several tens of seconds to several minutes is possible. Therefore, the number of times of heating using the auxiliary power supply device 3 is increased to a practical number. Can do.

  Since the nickel-cadmium battery has 500 to 1000 charge / discharge cycles, it has a short life as an auxiliary power supply device for heating, and there is a problem in labor and cost of replacement. On the other hand, the storage-type auxiliary power supply device 3 using a capacitor generally has a characteristic that it can be discharged and charged 10,000 times or more and has a long life, and is less deteriorated by repeated charging and discharging. Also, unlike lead-acid batteries, there is no need for liquid replacement or replenishment, so little maintenance is required. Since the electric double layer capacitor has an internal resistance of 5 mΩ or less, which is smaller than that of a storage battery, it can be used with a large current exceeding 20 A, and has a lower loss and higher power than a secondary battery such as a lithium battery or nickel metal hydride battery. Easy to get. In recent years, electric double layer capacitors have been developed that can store a large amount of electric energy, and their use in electric vehicles and the like is also being studied. For example, an electric double layer capacitor developed by Nippon Chemi-Con Co., Ltd. has a capacitance of about 2000F at 2.5V. JEOL Ltd. has also announced a technology called a nanogate capacitor in which the withstand voltage is increased to 3.2 to 3.5 V and the power density is 50 to 75 wh / kg, which is 5 to 10 times the conventional one.

  In this embodiment, auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 90 for detecting the temperature of each part of the auxiliary power supply 3 is provided. The auxiliary power source temperature detecting means 90 is composed of a thermistor, a thermocouple, and the like, and preferably has a configuration attached to the cell of the auxiliary power source device 3 (capacitor) as shown in FIG. This is because when charging / discharging with a large current, the temperature of the cell rises due to the internal resistance, so that the influence can be detected quickly. In addition, since the cell temperature rises when the ambient temperature of the auxiliary power supply 3 rises, the ambient temperature of the auxiliary power supply 3 or the surrounding member temperature may be detected. For example, it may be configured to detect the case temperature or the temperature inside the case by adding to the case 150 containing the cells. When an electric circuit member that easily generates heat, such as a switching element (not shown), is installed inside the case that houses the cell, temperature detecting means may be installed in the vicinity of the circuit member. The auxiliary power source temperature detection means 90 may be a non-contact type that detects the temperature by infrared rays. As an installation form of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 90, it may be attached to a plurality of cells constituting the auxiliary power supply device 3, and an average value or maximum value of each cell temperature may be used as a control parameter as temperature data.

  In this embodiment, the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 90 is used as a form of temperature detection of the auxiliary power supply device 3, but the temperature data is obtained by performing processing such as temperature estimation of a part where the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 90 is not installed. May be configured to output.

  The charger 4 performs voltage adjustment and AC / DC conversion of the main power supply according to the auxiliary power supply 3A, and supplies power to the auxiliary power supply 35A to store electricity. The heating device 400 includes an operation state detection unit 95 that is connected to the control unit 600 and detects an operation state of the power request unit. The operating state of the apparatus is the remaining power of the auxiliary power source 3A, and the operating state detecting means 95 detects the remaining power of the auxiliary power source 3A. That is, the charging state of the auxiliary power source 3A is detected by the operation state detection unit 95, and when it is determined that the control unit 600 has sufficiently charged, the charging is stopped and it is determined that the stored current is small. It is controlled to start charging. That is, the operation state detection unit 95 also functions as an auxiliary power state detection unit that detects the state of the auxiliary power source 3A.

  In this embodiment, the auxiliary power supply 3A is configured as a 20V module in which eight capacitor cells having a rating of 2.5V-1200F, an internal resistance of 5 mΩ or less, a diameter of 40 mm, and a length of about 120 mm are connected in series. In order to ensure the voltage balance of each cell when connected in series, it is possible to ensure long-term stability of operation by providing a voltage balance circuit (not shown). The auxiliary power source 3A starts power supply at 200w from the fully charged state of 20V, and the control unit 600 stops the discharge when the voltage is detected by the operation state detecting unit 95 and discharged to about half of about 10V.

  The amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power source 3A is smaller than the rated power of the halogen heater 60. Furthermore, the maximum rated power (1200 W) of the halogen heater 60 and the auxiliary power source 3A shown in FIG. 8 are not used. The power is supplied within the difference (300 W = 1200 W−900 W) from the power Wfus_run (900 W).

  The voltage adjustment circuit 5 has a transformer such as a DC / DC converter, and is configured to adjust the output power from the auxiliary power supply 3A to a predetermined voltage corresponding to the load on the image forming apparatus side.

  The voltage adjustment circuit 5 supplies power from the main power supply device 2 to a plurality of drive systems 300 other than the fixing device 10. The voltage adjustment circuit 5 uses a constant voltage output of DC24V that supplies power to a device with relatively large power consumption, such as a motor, by a plurality of drive systems 300. However, the voltage adjustment circuit 5 is not limited to a constant voltage, and input tolerance of the load of the drive system 300 When the voltage range is wide, the voltage may be varied accordingly.

  In the above-described configuration, the voltage adjustment circuit 5 outputs eight 2.5V rated cells and outputs a range from 20V to 10V to 24V. For this reason, the DC / DC converter 5 is a booster circuit. Even when the amount of power is increased, even if 12 lines are output in the range of 30V to 15V to 24V, the functions of step-up and step-down are provided, while the structure of 20 lines has the function of step-down outputting 24V to the range of 50V to 25V. It does not matter if it is configured. In particular, when a configuration with a large output power of 400 W or more is used, in a low voltage region of about 10 V, the current output from the auxiliary power source 3A composed of a capacitor increases, so the loss increases, and it is desirable to have a step-up / step-down or step-down configuration. Since the circuit of the DC / DC converter 5 can be simplified, it can be said that a step-down configuration is more desirable.

  The switch element 6 is connected to the control means 600, and is energized to the halogen heater 60 by being turned on by the control means 600, and is continuously turned on / off so that the halogen heater is turned on. The amount of heat generated is adjusted by controlling the total energization flow to 60.

  The power distribution unit 7 is connected to the control unit 600 and is configured to switch the power supply from the main power supply device 2 and the power supply from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the plurality of drive systems 300 by the control unit 600. That is, when there is remaining power from the auxiliary power supply 3A, power is supplied from the auxiliary power supply 3A to the hard disk drive (HDD) 301 and the transport drive system 302 among the plurality of drive systems 300, and there is no remaining power. Switching control is performed so that power is supplied from the main power supply device 2. For this reason, it is possible to always supply necessary electric power to the hard disk device (HDD) 301 and the transport drive system 302 and to set the drive state. On the other hand, among the plurality of drive systems 300, each drive system other than the hard disk drive (HDD) 301 and the transport drive system 302 cannot receive power from the auxiliary power supply 3A, and always receives power from the main power supply 2. It is comprised so that it may drive.

  The control unit 600 includes a known computer arithmetic circuit, and includes a storage unit such as a ROM and a RAM (not shown), and a connector connected to each device and sensor. The control unit 600 supplies power to the halogen heater 60 only from the main power supply device 2 and also includes a first power supply mode for supplying power to the plurality of drive systems 300 from both the main power supply device 2 and the auxiliary power supply device 3. In addition, power is supplied to the plurality of drive systems 300 from only the main power supply device 2, and power is supplied to the halogen heater 60 from only the main power supply device 2. The second power supply mode is smaller than 1200 w) in the embodiment. The control means 600 is set so that the power supplied to the halogen heater 60 in the first power supply mode is larger than the power supplied to the halogen heater 60 in the second power supply mode. The control means 600 is configured to control the power supplied to the halogen heater 60 in the first power supply mode to be smaller than the maximum rated power (1200 W) of the halogen heater 60.

  The control unit 600 is electrically connected to a heat generation state detection unit 8 that detects the heat generation state of the heating roller 1. The heat generation state detection unit 8 is a temperature sensor that detects the surface temperature of the heating roller 1, and transmits the detection result to the control unit 600. The control unit 600 is configured to change the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply 3 </ b> A to the plurality of drive systems 300 according to the detection information of the heat generation state detection unit 8. That is, when the temperature detected by the heat generation state detection means 8 is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature preset in the control means 600, the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the plurality of drive systems 300 is reduced. I have control.

  The control unit 600 performs control so as to suppress the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the power request unit when the remaining amount of power detected by the operation state detection unit 3a is lower than a preset setting value. To do. That is, the control unit 600 changes the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the drive system 300 and changes the productivity of the printed matter according to the remaining amount of power detected by the operation state detection unit 3a. In addition, each part is controlled. Specifically, when the remaining amount of power detected by the operation state detection unit 3a is lower than a preset set value (including zero), the amount of power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the drive system 300 is set. The drive system 300 is controlled so as to suppress and reduce the productivity of printed matter.

  In this embodiment, the operation of the image forming apparatus is determined by detecting the temperature of the pressure roller 7, and based on the temperature information of the pressure roller 7 detected at the time of the temperature rise from the warm-up or at the start of printing, When the temperature of the pressure roller 7 is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature stored in the control unit 600 in advance, the auxiliary power feeding is prohibited or stopped halfway.

  This is because the temperature of the pressure roller 7 is low because the temperature of the heating roller 1 decreases immediately after the start of printing. This is because energy is used to heat the pressure roller 7 rather than to heat the paper P, and thus the temperature of the heating roller 1 rapidly decreases. That is, when the temperature of the pressure roller 7 is sufficiently high immediately before the start of printing or at the start of printing, the temperature of the heating roller 1 (fixing roller) is not lowered, that is, the image quality is hardly deteriorated. By stopping the power supply, unnecessary energy consumption can be prevented and the charging time can be shortened. In addition, the temperature is raised while rotating the heating roller 1 and the pressure roller 7 at the time of warm-up. Even at this time, if the temperature of the pressure roller 7 is high, the warm-up is performed within a predetermined time even if the required power is small. Therefore, it is possible to prevent unnecessary discharge by stopping the auxiliary power supply to the auxiliary power supply device 3.

  Even when an electric double layer capacitor having a long life is used for the auxiliary power supply device 3, its performance gradually deteriorates when used for a long period of time, and it is assumed that a necessary amount of power cannot be secured sufficiently. In the capacitor, the temperature greatly affects the performance degradation, and the performance degradation increases as the temperature increases.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the temperature of the electric double layer capacitor as the auxiliary power supply device 3 is detected by the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means 90, and the charging or discharging operation is determined according to the detected temperature information. That is, when the temperature detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection device 90 is higher than a predetermined temperature, the charging current to the auxiliary power supply device 3 is decreased and the charging time is lengthened. Usually, in order to protect the charger 4 and the wiring and other devices, a predetermined upper limit is set for the charging current, and the charging current is controlled so as not to exceed this. In order to reduce the charging current, the charging current should be limited to a value lower than the upper limit value of the charging current, and since the current is small, the auxiliary power supply device 3 (electric double layer capacitor) by charging in relation to the amount of heat released to the air Temperature rise can be suppressed.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the auxiliary power supply 3 (electric double layer capacitor) gradually increases in surface temperature when charging / discharging operations are continuously performed. It sometimes shows the phenomenon of rising. Further, the temperature rise during charging depends on the charging current and the charging time, and the temperature rise is smaller as the current is smaller. Therefore, the temperature rise of the electric double layer capacitor can be mitigated by lowering the charging current. Moreover, in the discharge, the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device 3 (electric double layer capacitor) is reduced due to the endothermic effect, and this also has a lower temperature depending on the discharge current and the discharge time. It becomes possible to control to some extent.

  When the electric double layer capacitor temperature is high, it is desirable not to perform the charge / discharge operation and to suppress the temperature rise due to the heat generation phenomenon of the power storage device. For this reason, in this configuration example, the power required for printing is reduced by reducing the printing speed by reducing the productivity of image formation, thereby reducing the power of auxiliary power supply. As a result, the charging power for recovering the discharging power is reduced or no longer required, so that the temperature of the electric double layer capacitor can be prevented from rising. In the present embodiment, since the control of the charging operation or discharging operation is executed by the control unit 600, the control unit 600 also functions as a charging / discharging operation control unit.

  Since the electric double layer capacitor used as the auxiliary power supply device 3 exhibits an endothermic phenomenon at the time of discharging, it can be configured to discharge more positively. This is because when the temperature detected by the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 90 is higher than a predetermined value, the power supply amount from the main power supply device 2 is reduced and the supply amount from the auxiliary power supply device 3 is increased to cause more discharge. by. By doing in this way, it becomes possible to reduce the temperature of the electric double layer capacitor which comprises the auxiliary power supply device 3 by the heat absorption phenomenon by discharge. Even in this case, since the temperature rises again when charging is performed normally, it is desirable to set a predetermined time interval until the start of charging, or to combine with a configuration that limits the charging current as described above. Based on the detection result of the temperature of the electric double layer capacitor by the auxiliary power source temperature detection means 90, a cooling device such as a fan (not shown) may be operated to more actively lower the temperature of the electric double layer capacitor. Needless to say, it is more desirable. That is, a cooling device may be provided as a device configuration, and this cooling device may be controlled by the control means 600.

  The power supply pattern by the heating device 400 described above will be described in comparison with a conventional power supply pattern. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the operating state of the image forming apparatus and the supplied power, where the vertical axis indicates the supplied power and the horizontal axis indicates time. FIG. 8 shows the temperature of the heating roller 1 (heating member) at the time of continuous paper feeding, power consumption in the drive system 300 serving as the halogen heater 60 and the non-heating unit, and power supplied from each power supply device serving as power supply means. This shows the relationship. As shown in FIG. 8, in the temperature rising section Twu of the heating roller 1, power is supplied from the main power supply device 2 to the halogen heater 60 at 1200 W (Wfus_wu), and 300 W is supplied to the drive system 300 as another load to form an image. The total power supply to the entire device is 1500W. In this state, the drive system 300 to be driven is a drive system that consumes relatively little power, such as the hard disk device 301 and the engine control unit shown in FIG. For this reason, at the time of the start-up shown in FIG. 8, the power consumption in each part can be covered by the single power supply from the main power supply device 2.

  When printing is started from this state and continuous paper feeding is started, a reading drive system 303 such as a lamp shown in FIG. 6, a conveyance drive system 302 (motor), a development drive system 304 (motor), a polygon mirror, and the like are written. The power is supplied to the drive system 305 and each sensor, and the power supplied to the devices other than the halogen heater 60 exceeds 300 W in the start-up section Twu shown in FIG. For example, about 500 W is required for the system 300. Further, the power required for the halogen heater 60 is about 900 W (Wfus_run) when the fixing system including the heating roller 1 is sufficiently warmed, and is 1400 W (Wall_run) when combined with the required power 500 W of the driving system 300. Printing becomes possible.

  However, in the fixing device 10 of the present application in which the heat capacity of the heating roller 1 is reduced in order to improve start-up performance in a short time, the amount of heat taken away by the paper P is larger than the amount of heat to be heated, and the heating roller 1 is sufficiently heated. The electric power required increases immediately after starting up. For example, in the case where printing starts at 30 seconds from the start of the apparatus and prints at a printing speed of about 65 cpm, power of about 1100 W (Wfus_edlc_run) is required by the halogen heater 60 only immediately after startup. That is, in order for the halogen heater 60 to sufficiently maintain the temperature of the heating roller 1 in the fixing temperature range, the required power of the halogen heater 60 is 1100 W (Wfus_edlc_run), and the required power of the driving system 300 other than the fixing is 500 W. If power is to be supplied as it is, a total of 1600 W (Wall_edlc_run) is required, which exceeds the rated power of 1500 W of the main power supply device 2.

  However, high power (1100 W: Wfus_edlc_run) at the halogen heater 60 is not always necessary during continuous paper feeding, but only for a short time of about several minutes immediately after startup. Therefore, while the power supply to the drive system 300 is subsidized for about 200 W from the auxiliary power supply device 3 for several minutes as in this embodiment (Tedlc), 1100 W (Wfus_edlc_run) is supplied from the main power supply device 2 to the halogen heater 60. It becomes possible to do.

  That is, 200 W of the power 500 W consumed by the drive system 300 serving as a load device other than the fixing device 10 of the image forming apparatus is supplied from the main power supply device 2 to the drive system 300 by supplying 200 W from the auxiliary power supply device 3. Electric power can be reduced to 300W. Since the rated power of the main power supply device 2 is 1500 W (Wall_wu), the main power supply device 2 can use up to 1500 W-300 W = 1200 W for the halogen heater 60, which is necessary to obtain a temperature necessary for fixing. Thus, there can be enough room to supply 1100 W (Wfus_edlc_run).

  On the other hand, in the conventional heating roller in which the roller base is thick and the heat capacity is not reduced, an auxiliary heater to which electric power is supplied only from the auxiliary power supply device 3 is provided in the roller, and the auxiliary heater generates heat and is necessary for the heating roller. Supplemented the heating. For this reason, when the amount of heat taken away by the paper P by continuous paper passing is large, as shown by the broken line in the temperature characteristic diagram in which the vertical axis is the temperature of the heating roller and the horizontal axis is the time in FIG. There is a case where the fixing power is not sufficient only by the power supply, and the temperature is lower than a predetermined minimum temperature (the minimum temperature at which fixing is possible). However, in this embodiment, since power is supplied from the auxiliary power supply 3 to the drive system 300 of the image forming apparatus serving as the system unit, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 10, the temperature of the heating roller 1 drops without providing an auxiliary heater. Can be reduced. For this reason, the diameter of the heating roller 1 can be reduced, and the paper P (thick paper) thicker than plain paper when applied to an image forming apparatus with a large number of paper passes per unit time, that is, a high printing speed. Even if the paper is passed, the fixing performance is stable with few fixing defects, and good image quality can be obtained.

  In the present embodiment, the remaining power of the auxiliary power supply device 3 is detected by the operation state detecting means 95. If the remaining power is less than a predetermined value (including the remaining amount of zero), the auxiliary power feeding is stopped during the image forming operation. Since the printing speed (cpm), which is the productivity of the printed matter, is reduced to reduce the productivity, the image quality can be ensured. If it can be confirmed that there is no remaining power before printing, the printing speed (cpm) may be reduced from the start of printing to ensure image quality.

  As a form of power supply control by the control means 600, it is not a configuration in which power is supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the drive system 300 at the time of continuous paper feeding, but from the auxiliary power supply device 3 at the apparatus startup time as shown in FIGS. Power may be supplied to the drive system 300. By doing so, it is possible to shorten the startup time.

  FIG. 11 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between power supply to the drive system 300 of the image forming apparatus and replenishment power supply at the time of startup. FIG. 12 shows the temperature of the heating roller 1 (heating member) at the time of power supply and startup, and the halogen heater 60. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the temperature rise characteristics of the heating roller 1. FIG. 13 shows the relationship between the power consumption in the drive system 300 as the non-heating unit and the power supplied from each power supply device. In FIG. 11, the vertical axis represents the required electric energy, and the horizontal axis represents time. In FIG. 13, the vertical axis indicates the temperature of the heating roller 1, and the horizontal axis indicates time.

  That is, in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, when the required power in the drive system 300 is 300 W and the power used in the fixing system (halogen heater 60) is 1200 W at the start-up time Thu when no power is supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3, The rated power (Wfus_edlc_wu) of the halogen heater 60 is set to a large value in advance, for example, 1350 W, and the increased power (150 W) is supplied from the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the drive system 300 until a predetermined temperature (fixing temperature) is reached. By supplying power to the power, the power available from the main power supply device 2 for the halogen heater 60 can be increased. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 13, rather than using only the main power supply device 2, using the main power supply device 2 and the auxiliary power supply device 3 at the same time and feeding the auxiliary power supply device 3 to the drive system 300 increases the temperature rise time. Can be shortened.

  In the configuration shown in FIG. 6, the power supply destination of the auxiliary power supply device 3 is switched by the power distribution means 9. However, as shown in FIG. 14, the main power supply device 2 and the auxiliary power supply device 3 are connected to the power distribution means 9. Then, the power from both sides may be appropriately distributed and supplied to the plurality of drive systems 300. In this embodiment, when there is remaining power in the auxiliary power supply 3, power supplied from both the auxiliary power supply 3 and the main power supply 2 is supplied to each drive system 300 of the image forming apparatus, and there is no remaining power. It is only necessary to supply power to the hard disk device 301 and the transport drive system 302 with only power from the main power supply device 2.

  In addition to the configuration in which the power supplied from the auxiliary power supply 3 is supplied to the drive load and the power to the fixing device 10 is increased, the power supplied from the auxiliary power supply 3 is fixed as shown in FIGS. It is also possible to take a configuration in which the heat generation power is increased by directly supplying the heat generation member of the apparatus 10.

  FIG. 16 shows an embodiment of a roller fixing type fixing device in which the heat generating member 60 of the fixing device 10 is composed of a main heater 60a and a sub heater 60b as a main heat generating member and a sub heat generating member. The fixing device shown in FIG. 16 has the same configuration as that of the fixing device 10 of FIG. 2 except that it includes 10 and two heaters 60a and 60b.

  FIG. 17 is a circuit schematic diagram when the auxiliary heater 60b is added to the fixing device 10 as a heat generating member. As shown in FIG. 17, the auxiliary heater 60b is connected to the auxiliary power supply device 3 by a switching element such as an FET indicated by reference numeral 6b. By turning on / off the switching element 6b, the auxiliary power supply device 3 transfers to the auxiliary heater 60b. Is supplied. Similar to the heater 60 shown in FIG. 6, the main heater 60a is connected to the auxiliary power supply device 3 through a known switch element 6 such as a triac.

  As shown in FIG. 18, in the method of supplying auxiliary power to the sub-heater 60b, when the maximum power of the main heater 60a serving as the main heat generating portion is (for example, 1200 W) and the maximum power of the sub-heater 60b (for example, 700 W), A large amount of power (for example, 1900 W) can be supplied to the heat generating member, so in the case of a heating means with a low heat capacity in consideration of the start-up property, an excessive temperature rise occurs when the device runs away for any reason. It may be invited.

  However, by controlling the sub heater 60b at the same time as the main heater 60a, the heating time can be shortened and the temperature of the heating roller 1 can be prevented from being lowered during printing. Further, regarding the control operation using the pressure member temperature detecting means 80 for detecting the temperature of the pressure roller 7 and the auxiliary power source temperature detecting device 90, the control form described in the configuration of FIG. It is possible to suppress power feeding and to suppress a temperature increase of the auxiliary power supply device 3 and to maintain stable performance for a long time.

  In the embodiment described above, the present invention is applied to the image forming apparatus, more specifically, the fixing device 10 or the fixing device 100 included in the image forming apparatus. However, the present invention relates to another apparatus using electric power as a main energy source. Of course, the present invention may be appropriately applied.

1,103 Heating member 3 Auxiliary power supply (capacitor)
7, 104 Pressure member 10,100 Fixing device 60, 60a, 60b, 61, 62 Heat generating member 80 Pressure member temperature detection means 90 Auxiliary power supply temperature detection means 202 Commercial power supply 300 Load device 600 Control means (auxiliary power control means, Charge / discharge operation control means)
P Recording material T Unfixed image

JP 2003-140484 A

Claims (7)

An image forming unit for forming an unfixed image on a recording material;
A fixing device including a heating member heated by a heating member;
While supplying power from a commercial power source to the image forming unit and the fixing device,
A power storage function for storing power from the commercial power source, and an auxiliary power supply device capable of supplying the stored power,
For loads other than the fixing device or the fixing device,
Power can be supplied from both the commercial power source and the auxiliary power device,
Auxiliary power control means for controlling power supplied from the auxiliary power supply means;
In an image forming apparatus having
Pressure member temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the pressure member facing the heating member;
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an auxiliary power control unit that controls power supplied from the auxiliary power supply device according to a temperature detection result of the pressure member temperature detection unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The pressure member temperature detecting means detects the pressure member temperature during a warm-up operation, and prohibits power supply from the auxiliary power supply or power supply amount when the detection result is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature. An image forming apparatus characterized by restricting The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The pressure member temperature detecting means detects the pressure member temperature during a printing operation, and when the detection result is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, prohibits power supply from the auxiliary power supply or sets the power supply amount. An image forming apparatus that is limited. An image forming unit for forming an unfixed image on a recording material;
A fixing device including a heating member heated by a heating member;
While supplying power from a commercial power source to the image forming unit and the fixing device,
A power storage function for storing power from the commercial power source, and an auxiliary power supply device capable of supplying the stored power,
For loads other than the fixing device or the fixing device,
Power can be supplied from both the commercial power source and the auxiliary power device,
Auxiliary power control means for controlling power supplied from the auxiliary power supply means;
In an image forming apparatus having
Auxiliary power temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the auxiliary power device;
An image forming apparatus comprising charge / discharge operation control means for controlling a charging operation or a discharging operation for the auxiliary power supply device in accordance with a detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detecting means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
The image forming apparatus, wherein the charge / discharge operation control means reduces a charging current to the auxiliary power supply device when a detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means is higher than a predetermined temperature. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
The charging / discharging operation control means reduces the productivity of image formation by the image forming unit when the detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means is higher than a predetermined temperature. An image forming unit for forming an unfixed image on a recording material;
A fixing device including a heating member heated by a heating member;
While supplying power from a commercial power source to the image forming unit and the fixing device,
A power storage function for storing power from the commercial power source, and an auxiliary power supply device capable of supplying the stored power,
For loads other than the fixing device or the fixing device,
Power can be supplied from both the commercial power source and the auxiliary power device,
Auxiliary power control means for controlling power supplied from the auxiliary power supply means;
In an image forming apparatus having
Auxiliary power supply temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the auxiliary power supply device,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the power supply amount from the commercial power supply to the image forming apparatus is reduced and the power supply amount from the auxiliary power supply apparatus is increased in accordance with a detection result of the auxiliary power supply temperature detection means.

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