JP2944175B2 - Printing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that uses a continuous sheet and has an improved fixing process.

[Conventional technology]

A printing device or the like as an output device of an information processing device, in particular, a so-called electrophotographic type in which a toner image such as a character or a figure is formed on a photosensitive drum using a laser beam, and this is transferred to paper or the like and printed out. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printing apparatuses and the like have been strongly required to have higher speed and higher quality.

The printing process in an electrophotographic printing apparatus includes exposure,
It is well known that the process consists of five processes: latent image formation, development, transfer, and fixing.

If the performance of any one of these five processes is inferior, the print quality deteriorates and the desired function cannot be exhibited. Of these processes, particularly important is the fixing process.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic mechanical configuration of the printing apparatus.

In FIG. 2, characters that have been exposed and latent images formed on the drum 1 by electrophotography, and have been developed with toner,
Image information such as graphics is transferred and printed on the paper 4 conveyed by the tractor 2 by the high voltage applied to the wire 3, and is fixed by the heater in the fixing unit 6.

At this time, feeding of the paper 4 to the fixing unit 6 is performed by a feed roller (F / R) 7 driven by a feed roller motor (not shown) and an idle roller 8 for pressing the paper 4 against the feed roller 7. Fixing unit 6
The sheet 4 fixed in the step (1) passes through the feed roller 7 and the idle roller 8, and is then stored in the stacker 9. At this time, the arm 10 applies a proper tension to the paper 4 existing between the tractor 2 and the feed roller 7 to maintain a proper running state of the paper 4 and to perform the fixing operation in the fixing unit 6 well. It has become.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional electrical configuration of the printing apparatus.

In FIG. 3, a main processor (MP) 11 is a unit for controlling the whole, and a fixed processor (FP) 12, which receives an instruction from a host device and controls fixing,
A step processor (SP) 13 for controlling printing is operated.

The fixed processor 12 receives a command from the main processor 11 and controls a solid-state relay (SSR) 19 composed of a solid-state element to input an AC power input (A
C IN)) is turned on and off, whereby the feed roller motor 18 is intermittently driven. The feed roller motor (FRM) 18 has a feed roller (F / F /
R) 7 is a driving motor, which is slightly higher in rotation speed than the drum motor (DM) 17 for rotating the drum 1 and the paper feed motor (PFM) 16 for paper feeding, and thereby the arm 10 is designed to increase the tension effect on paper.

The step processor 13 receives a command from the main processor 11 and generates a drive output for the paper feed motor 16 (A) 14 and a driver (B) for generating a drive output for the drum motor 17.
Drive 15 Paper feed motor 16 is tractor 2
And the drum motor 17 drives the drum 1,
The step processor 13 controls so that the speed of the supplied paper and the rotation speed of the drum 1 are always the same.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the above-described conventional printing apparatus, the rotation speed of the feed roller is set to be several percent to several tens of percent higher than the process speed (the rotation speed of the tractor 2 and the drum 1). Indicates that the roller diameter is reduced or deformed due to friction with the paper 4,
It is no longer possible to maintain the specified number of revolutions, and therefore, there has been a problem that fixing failure and running failure occur.

In addition, since the feed roller motor 18 uses an AC motor, when an instantaneous interruption of AC or the like occurs, the rotation speed of the feed roller motor 18 becomes slow because the specified rotation speed cannot be maintained. Depending on the operation of the arm 10, the slack of the sheet may not be completely absorbed by the operation of the arm 10, which often causes serious troubles such as a fixing failure and a running failure.

[Object of the invention]

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem of the related art, and prints an image such as a character or a figure on a sheet of paper with a toner or the like in a printing unit and fixes the printed image in a fixing unit. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of constantly synchronizing printing and fixing.

[Means for solving the problem]

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing an image such as a character or a graphic on a sheet (4) with toner or the like in a printing unit (1, 2, 3) using a toner or the like and fixing the printed image in a fixing unit (6). The PFM sensor (22) detects rotation information of the paper feed motor (16) that supplies paper to the printing unit (1,2,3), and the FRM sensor (23) detects the rotation information of the printing unit (1,2,3).
3) The rotation information of the feed roller motor (18) for discharging the paper passing through the fixing unit (6) through the fixing unit (6) is detected, and the printing unit (1, 2, 3) and the feed roller motor are detected by the arm position sensor (20). The angle of the arm (8), which changes according to the slack of the sheet during (18), is detected, and the addition unit (21) generates information in which the rotation amount of the paper feed motor (16) is added.

The control unit 24 compares the rotation information of the FRM sensor (23) corrected by the addition information of the addition unit (21) with the rotation information of the PFM sensor (22), and determines the angle of the arm position sensor (20). The target value of the next rotation amount in the feed roller motor (18) is determined so that the information becomes a predetermined value determined by the paper, and the feed roller motor (18) is rotated according to the target value to perform printing. Part (1,
The printing in (2) and (3) is synchronized with the fixing in the fixing section (6).

[Action]

By correcting the rotation information of the feed roller motor that discharges the paper that has passed through the printing unit through the fixing unit based on the information obtained by adding the rotation amount of the paper feed motor, the roller diameter changes due to long-term use of the feed roller motor. The information on the amount of driving of the paper is obtained by correcting the influence of slippage due to deformation, deformation, and adhesion of paper dust.

By comparing the rotation information of the FRM sensor and the rotation information of the PFM sensor, the target value of the next rotation amount of the feed roller motor is determined so that the angle information of the arm position sensor indicating the slack of the paper becomes a predetermined value. Then, the feed roller motor is rotated according to the target value. At this time, the angle information of the arm position sensor indicating the tension of the sheet greatly varies depending on the width, thickness, and the like of the sheet. Determine a predetermined angle.

Thus, the rotation of the feed roller motor is always appropriate, and the printing in the printing unit and the fixing in the fixing unit can be synchronized.

〔Example〕

 FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, the main processor (MP) 11, fixed processor (FP) 12, step processor (SP) 13, driver (A) 14, paper feed motor (PFM) 16, and feed roller motor (FRM) 18 are the same as the conventional example. Therefore, the description is omitted.

20 is an arm position sensor indicating an angle in the arm 10,
21 is an adding unit for adding the operation amount of the step processor 13,
22 is a PF that generates rotation information of the paper feed motor 16
M sensor, 23 is an FRM sensor that generates rotation information of the feed roller motor 18, 24 is a control unit that generates information of the target value of the rotation amount of the feed roller motor 18 based on the information, 25 is the width and thickness of the paper Etc., 26 is AND circuit, 27
Is an amplifier.

According to the present invention, a PFM sensor 22 is provided in a printing apparatus which prints an image such as a character or a graphic on a sheet 4 with toner or the like in a printing section 1, 2, or 3 and fixes the printed image in a fixing section 6. The rotation information of the paper feed motor 16 that supplies paper to the printing units 1, 2, and 3 is detected, and an FRM sensor 23 is provided. The paper passing through the printing units 1, 2, and 3 passes through the fixing unit 6 and passes through the fixing unit 6. The rotation information of the feed roller motor 18 to be discharged is detected, and an arm position sensor 20 is provided so that the printing units 1, 2, 3
The angle of the arm 8 that changes according to the slack of the paper between the feed roller motor 18 and the feed roller motor 18 is detected, and an adder 21 is provided to generate information in which the rotation amount of the paper feed motor 16 is added.

Then, a control unit 24 is provided to compare the rotation information of the FRM sensor 23 and the rotation information of the PFM sensor 22 corrected by the addition information of the addition unit 21 to obtain a predetermined value at which the angle information of the arm position sensor 20 is determined by the paper. Thus, the target value of the next rotation amount of the feed roller motor 18 is determined, and the feed roller motor 18 is rotated in accordance with the target value. Is synchronized with the fixing in the above.

The adder 21 monitors the command from the step processor 13, adds and stores the rotation amount of the paper feed motor 16 up to now, that is, the print amount of the printing apparatus, and sends the information to the controller 24.

The PFM sensor 22 detects rotation information of the paper feed motor 16 and sends it to the control unit 24.

Similarly, the FRM sensor 23 detects the rotation information of the feed roller motor 18 and sends it to the control unit 24.

The arm position information 20 is information obtained by detecting the angle of the arm 10, and thereby detects information on the slack of the sheet 4 between the drum 1 and the feed roller 7. The arm position information 20 is sent to the control unit 24.

The paper information 25 is information such as the width, width and amount of printing paper, and is input to the control unit 24 as information.

The control unit 24 calculates the rotation information of the paper feed motor 16 from the PFM sensor 22, the rotation information of the feed roller motor 18 from the FRM sensor 23, the paper information 25, and the arm angle information from the arm position sensor 20. Perform the operation,
A target value of the rotation amount of the feed roller motor 18 is calculated and output.

That is, the addition information of the addition unit 21 indicates a change or deformation of the roller diameter due to long-term use of the feed roller motor, an influence of a slip due to the adhesion of paper powder, and the like, thereby correcting the rotation information of the FRM sensor 23. By doing
These effects on the rotation of the feed roller motor 18 can be compensated.

The rotation information of the FRM sensor 23 thus corrected and P
The arm position sensor is compared with the rotation information of the FM sensor 22.
The target value of the next rotation amount of the feed roller motor 18 is determined so that the angle information of 20 becomes a predetermined value determined by the sheet. The angle information of the arm position sensor 20 is determined by the force of the spring provided on the arm 8. By balancing with
Since the tension is represented on the sheet 4, a rotation amount target value of the feed roller motor 18 for giving an appropriate tension according to the sheet is obtained.

At this time, since the tension to be applied to the paper greatly varies depending on the width and thickness of the paper, these values are provided in advance as the paper information 25.

The output of the control unit 24 is ANDed with the rotation command from the fixed processor 12 in the AND circuit 26, so that while the rotation command from the fixed processor 12 is issued, the amplifier 27 is used as the next target value. And is supplied to the feed roller motor 18 to rotate the same.

Therefore, according to this target value, the feed roller motor 18
By rotating the paper, the paper can always be ejected while giving an appropriate tension, and the printing and fixing units in the printing units 1, 2, and 3 can be prevented without running out of paper and unnecessary loosening of the paper. 6 can be synchronized with the fixing operation, so that a stable fixing operation can always be performed in the fixing section.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the present invention, in the control unit 24,
The calculation is performed using the print amount of the paper, the arm position information, the rotation information of the feed roller motor, the paper information 25, and the like, and a target of the rotation amount for the feed roller motor is given to rotate the feed roller motor. It is possible to obtain the number of rotations synchronized with the paper feed motor and the drum motor, so that it is possible to realize a stable printing apparatus free from fixing failure and running failure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing a schematic mechanical configuration of a printing apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a view showing a conventional electrical configuration in the printing apparatus. 1,2,3 printing section, 4 paper, 6 fixing section, 10
Arm, 16 Paper feed motor, 18 Feed roller motor, 20 Arm position sensor, 21 Addition unit, 22 PFM sensor, 23 FRM sensor, 24 Control unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65H 23/18-23/198 B41J 11 / 42,15 / 16 G03G 15/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for printing an image such as a character or a figure on a sheet of paper with a toner or the like in a printing unit and fixing the printed image in a fixing unit. A PFM sensor that detects and outputs rotation information of a motor, a FRM sensor that detects rotation information of a feed roller motor that discharges a sheet passing through the printing section through a fixing section, and a section between the printing section and the feed roller motor. An arm position sensor that detects and outputs the angle of the arm that changes in accordance with the slack of the paper in (1). By comparing the rotation information of the FRM sensor with the rotation information of the PFM sensor, the angle information of the arm position sensor is determined by the paper. A control unit for determining a target value of the next rotation amount in the feed roller motor so as to be a constant value. The printing and fixing unit in the printing unit by rotating the feed roller motor according to the target value Wherein the fixing is synchronized with the fixing.