JP5200921B2 - Power consumption calculation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a power consumption calculation apparatus for calculating power consumption in a printing apparatus.

  Today, the preservation of the global environment is screamed globally, and greenhouse gas emission regulations are being realized, centering on the Global Warming Prevention Conference. Under such circumstances, a reduction in power consumption is also demanded in printing apparatuses such as printers and copiers. For this reason, calculation of the power consumption of the printing apparatus is indispensable, and it is required to calculate the power consumption efficiently and without using a large memory.

Calculation of power consumption in a conventional printing apparatus has been performed using the following calculation formula. That is, the calculation of “heater integrated power + motor integrated power + other integrated power” is performed to calculate the power consumption of the printing apparatus.
Here, the integrated power of the heater is calculated by the product of the rated power of the heater, the energization time and the heater coefficient, and the heater coefficient is determined in consideration of the inrush current of the heater. The other integrated power is standby power, sleep power, and printing power, standby power is calculated by the product of standby time, sleep power is calculated by the product of sleep time, and printing power is the product of printing time. Is calculated by

The motor integrated power is motor power for conveying paper, fixing, belt driving, and various rollers in the developing device. For color printing, for example, cyan (C), black (K), If four colors of magenta (M) and yellow (Y) are used, four times as many motors are required to drive the developing device. Also, the integrated power of the motor varies depending on the type of recording medium (paper) to be used. For example, in the case of plain paper, thick paper, and OHP paper, it is calculated based on the following printing speed and power value.

Printing mode Printing speed Color Monochrome
[mm / s] [W] [W]
Plain paper 130 130 78
Cardboard 100 100 60
OHP paper 50 50 30

For this reason, the integrated electric power of the motor is calculated by the following calculation formula.
"Motor integrated power = (plain paper color power value x plain paper color printing time) + (thick paper color power value x thick paper color printing time) + (OHP paper color power value x OHP paper color printing time) ) + (Monochrome power value for plain paper x monochrome print time for plain paper) + (monochrome power value for thick paper x monochrome print time for thick paper) + (monochrome power value for OHP paper x monochrome print time for OHP paper) "

As prior art relating to integrated power, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention of a simple power consumption display device in an electric floor heating system, and Patent Document 2 includes a used power cumulative table for storing the calculated total power. An invention of an image forming apparatus used is disclosed, and Patent Document 3 discloses an invention of an image forming apparatus that clearly calculates the power reduction in the power saving mode.
JP 2007-170708 A JP 2004-085985 A JP 2005-132045 A

However, the conventional power consumption calculation method has the following problems.
The table shown below explains the memory capacity for calculating the above-described heater power, standby power, printing power, sleep power, motor integrated power, and determining the power consumption of the entire printing apparatus.


Item Unit Number of bits Remarks Heater 1 ON time Second 22 500W 300,000 prints and standby for 1,000 hours Heater 2 ON time Second 22 500W 300,000 prints and standby for 1,000 hours Standby time Second 28 5-year guaranteed printing time Second 22 1 sheet 13s 300,000 sheets guaranteed sleep time seconds 28 5-year guaranteed plain paper color printing time seconds 22 Same number of bits as above printing time Card color printing time seconds 22
OHP color printing time seconds 22
Reserve seconds 22
Reserve seconds 22
Plain paper monochrome printing time Second 22
Cardboard monochrome printing time seconds 22
OHP monochrome printing time seconds 22
Reserve seconds 22
Reserve seconds 22

For example, when the heater power is calculated, if 300,000 pages are printed and the standby time is 1000 hours, a 22-bit memory capacity is required to record the heater on time. For example, if two heaters 1 and 2 are used, A 44-bit memory capacity is required. As for standby power and sleep power, for example, it is assumed that the warranty is five years, and a memory capacity of 28 bits is required for recording the standby time and the sleep time. Further, in the calculation of printing power, if 300,000 sheets are guaranteed assuming that printing is performed in 13 seconds per sheet, a memory capacity of 28 bits is required for recording the printing time.

  Furthermore, when using the above three types of plain paper, thick paper, and OHP paper, 22 x 6 bits of memory capacity is required to record the printing time, including color printing and monochrome printing, which is extremely large. Memory is required.

  Further, the reserve shown in the above table secures a memory necessary for loading a new paper type, and secures a memory capacity of 22 × 4 bits, for example. Therefore, conventionally, the memory capacity is also required. Furthermore, when changing the printing speed, the power value must be changed depending on the paper type.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a power consumption calculation apparatus that can calculate the power consumption of a printing apparatus with a small memory capacity, does not require a reserved memory capacity, and can easily cope with a change in printing speed.

The above object is achieved according to the present invention, in the power consumption computing apparatus of a printing apparatus which performs printing in accordance with print data to the record medium, a motor for driving the conveying mechanism of the recording medium, the drive amount of the motor Calculating means for determining the integrated power of the motor from the transport distance of the recording medium determined according to the power and the power consumed by the motor per unit transport distance of the recording medium according to the type of the recording medium. This can be achieved by providing a power consumption calculation device.

Further, the problem according to the second invention, power which the motor consumes can be achieved by providing a color printing and monochrome printing, the power consumption calculation device having a memory means for each Ru is set.

In addition, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the integrated power of the motor can be calculated by providing a power consumption calculation device that performs a constant interval or at the end of the printing process.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a power consumption calculation apparatus that can calculate the power consumption of a printing apparatus with a small memory capacity, does not require a reserved memory capacity, and can easily cope with a change in printing speed.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of a printing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a printer apparatus) according to the present embodiment.
The printer apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an electrophotographic secondary transfer tandem color printer apparatus, and includes four image forming units 2, an intermediate transfer belt unit 3, a sheet feeding unit 4, and double-sided printing. It is composed of a transport unit 5.

  The image forming unit 2 has a configuration in which four image forming units 6 (6M, 6C, 6Y, and 6K) are arranged in a multistage manner from right to left in FIG. Of the four image forming units 6, the three upstream image forming units 6M, 6C, and 6Y are magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow, which are subtractive three primary colors, respectively. A color image is formed using the (Y) color toner, and the image forming unit 6K forms a monochrome image using black (K) toner mainly used for dark portions of characters and images.

  Each of the image forming units 6 has the same configuration except for the color of the toner stored in the toner container. Accordingly, the configuration of the black (K) image forming unit 6K will be described below as an example.

  The image forming unit 6 includes a photosensitive drum 7 at the bottom. The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is made of, for example, an organic photoconductive material, and the cleaner 8, the charging roller 9, the optical head 11, and the developing roller 13 of the developing device 12 are arranged around the peripheral surface. ing.

  The developing device 12 is arranged in a toner container on the upper side, and any one of magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) toners as indicated by M, C, Y, and K in FIG. A toner replenishing mechanism at the lower part, a developing roller 13 at the side opening at the lower part, a toner stirring member inside, a toner supply roller for supplying toner to the developing roller 13, A doctor blade or the like that regulates the toner layer on the developing roller 13 to a constant layer thickness is provided.

  The intermediate transfer belt unit 3 has an endless transfer belt 14 that extends in a flat loop shape from substantially the left and right sides of the figure in the approximate center of the main body, and the transfer belt 14 is stretched over the transfer belt 14. A driving roller 15 and a driven roller 16 are provided to circulate and move 14 in the counterclockwise direction in the figure.

  The toner image is directly transferred to the belt surface (primary transfer) on the transfer belt 14, and the toner image is further transferred to the paper (secondary transfer) to the transfer position to the paper. The entire unit is shown as an intermediate transfer belt unit.

  The intermediate transfer belt unit 3 includes a belt position control mechanism 17 in the loop of the flat loop-shaped transfer belt 14. The belt position control mechanism 17 includes a primary transfer roller 18 made of a conductive foam sponge that presses against the lower peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 7 via the transfer belt 14.

  The belt position control mechanism 17 supports the three primary transfer rollers 18 corresponding to the three image forming units 6M, 6C, and 6Y of magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y) in a bowl shape. A single primary transfer roller 18 corresponding to the black (K) image forming unit 6K is rotated and moved at a rotational movement period different from the period of the three primary transfer rollers 18 around the axis. The transfer belt 14 is moved away from the photosensitive drum 7, and the full-color mode (all four primary transfer rollers 18 are in contact with the transfer belt 14) and the monochrome mode (only the primary transfer roller 18 corresponding to the image forming unit 6K are provided). And a non-transfer mode (all four primary transfer rollers 18 are separated from the transfer belt 14).

In the intermediate transfer belt unit 3, a belt cleaner unit is disposed further upstream of the image forming unit 6M on the uppermost stream side in the belt movement direction on the upper surface, and is flat and thin so as to be almost along the entire lower surface. A waste toner collecting container 19 is detachably disposed.
The paper feed unit 4 includes three paper feed cassettes 21a to 21c arranged in three upper and lower stages, and each of the three paper feed cassettes 21a to 21c has a sheet near the paper feed port (right side in the figure). A take-out roller 22, a feeding roller 23, a separating roller 24, and a standby conveying roller pair 25 are arranged. In the paper conveyance direction (vertical upward direction in the figure) of the standby conveyance roller pair 25, a secondary transfer roller 26 that is in pressure contact with the driven roller 16 via the transfer belt 14 is disposed, and the secondary transfer portion to the paper is arranged. Forming.

  Further, different recording media are stored in the three paper feed cassettes 21a to 21c, for example, plain paper is stored in the paper feed cassette 21a, thick paper is stored in 21b, and OHP paper is stored in 21c. Is stored. Then, according to the control described later, the corresponding paper is carried out from the designated paper feed cassettes 21a to 21c.

  A belt-type heat fixing device 27 is disposed on the downstream side (upward in the drawing) of the secondary transfer unit, and on the further downstream side of the belt-type heat fixing device 27, the fixed sheet is fed with the belt-type heat fixing device 27. A pair of carry-out rollers 28 for carrying out the paper and a pair of paper discharge rollers 31 for discharging the carried paper to a paper discharge tray 29 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus are provided. In addition, the belt type heat fixing device 27 is provided with two heaters 41 and 42, and a heater power calculation described later is performed.

  The duplex printing conveyance unit 5 includes a start return path 32a that branches from the intermediate conveyance path between the carry-out roller pair 28 and the discharge roller pair 31 to the right lateral direction in the drawing, and then an intermediate return path 32b that bends downward. A terminal return path 32c that bends in the left lateral direction opposite to the above and eventually reverses the return sheet, and four return roller pairs 33a, 33b, 33c, and 33d disposed in the middle of these return paths. ing. The exit of the end return path 32c communicates with a conveyance path to the pair of standby conveyance rollers 25 corresponding to the sheet feeding cassette 21 below the sheet feeding section 4.

  In this example, a cleaning unit 35 and a take-in roller 36 are disposed on the upper surface of the intermediate transfer belt unit 3. The cleaning unit 35 abuts on the upper surface of the transfer belt 14 to scrape and remove the waste toner, and the take-in roller 36 takes over the waste toner removed by the cleaning unit 35 and serves as a temporary storage unit of a belt cleaner unit (not shown). The accumulated waste toner is conveyed to the upper part in the dropping cylinder by a conveying screw and is collected in a waste toner collecting container 19 through the dropping cylinder.

Further, in order to bring the cleaning unit 35 into pressure contact with the transfer belt 14 with an appropriate pressure, a pressure roller 37 is provided on the intermediate transfer belt unit 3 side to press the transfer belt 14 toward the cleaning unit 35 from below. ing. The various rollers are driven by a motor (not shown), and the rotation speed of the motor is measured.
Further, data such as the number of rotations of the motor, the driving time of the heaters 41 and 42, the waiting time of the apparatus described later, and the sleeping time are recorded in the EEPROM 40a of the control unit 40 of the printing apparatus 1.

Next, calculation of the specific power value used in this example will be described with reference to FIG.
The driving power of the motor is substantially proportional to the sheet conveying speed. For example, the integrated power for conveying the sheet by 1 m is as follows.
First, in the case of color printing on plain paper, as shown in FIG. 2, the motor power is 130 W, and when the motor rotates for 1 hour, the integrated power becomes 130 Hh. Further, the distance that the paper advances in one hour is 130 mm / s × 3600 s = 468000 mm (468 m). Therefore, the integrated power (specific power value) of 1 m is 130 Wh ÷ 468000 mm × 1000 mm≈0.278 Wh / m.

  Further, in the case of color printing on thick paper, the motor power is 100 W as shown in FIG. 2, and when the motor rotates for one hour, the integrated power becomes 100 Wh / m. Similarly to the above, the distance that the paper advances in one hour is 100 mm / s × 3600 s = 360,000 mm (360 m). Accordingly, the integrated power of 1 m is 100 Wh ÷ 360,000 mm × 1000 mm≈0.278 Wh / m, and the same specific power value as that of plain paper is obtained even in the case of thick paper. Further, the same applies to OHP paper, and the specific power value is about 0.278 Wh / m.

On the other hand, if the same calculation is performed in the case of monochrome printing on plain paper, the specific power value is 0.167 Wh / m, and the same value is obtained for thick paper and OHP paper as in the case of color printing.
Therefore, in this example, when calculating the integrated power of the motor, a specific power value of 0.278 Wh / m is used for color printing, and a specific power value of 0.167 Wh / m is used for monochrome printing. These data are stored in the aforementioned EEPROM 40a.

Next, the processing operation of this example will be described.
FIG. 3 is a main flowchart for explaining the processing of this example. First, the printing apparatus 1 is initialized, and data necessary for calculation of power consumption is read from the above-described EEPROM 40a (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1). The data read at this time is the data of the specific power value and the data of the on time, the standby time, the printing time, and the sleep time of the heaters 41 and 42 shown in FIG. Note that these times are data that are sequentially updated in the EEPROM 40a by processing to be described later, and power is calculated based on these data (S2).

The flowchart shown in FIG. 5 shows specific power consumption calculation processing, and calculates the sum of heater integrated power, motor integrated power, standby power, printing power, and sleep power. Specifically, the process (S3) shown in FIG. 5 is executed.
First, as heater power of the heater 41, 500 W × on time of the heater 41 × coefficient 1 ÷ 3600 is calculated. In this case, the coefficient 1 is a value in consideration of the inrush current when the heater 41 is turned on, and the division of 3600 is for conversion into one hour. Similarly, the heater power of the heater 42 is calculated by 500 W × on time of the heater 42 × coefficient 2 ÷ 3600. Also in this case, the coefficient 2 is a value in consideration of the inrush current when the heater 42 is turned on, and the division of 3600 is for conversion into one hour. The process for measuring the on-time of the heaters 41 and 42 will be described later.

  Next, the integrated power of the motor is calculated. The integrated power of the motor is calculated by multiplying the specific power value by the paper movement distance during color printing, multiplying the specific power value by the paper movement distance during monochrome printing, and adding them. Specifically, it is obtained by performing a calculation process of (0.278 × number of motor revolutions during color printing + 0.167 × number of motor revolutions during monochrome printing) / 10. Note that the division of 10 is converted to 1 m units since the movement distance of 100 mm units is recorded in the EEPROM 40a.

  According to this example, the integrated power per meter can be calculated using the specific power value of 0.278 Wh / m in the case of color printing even if the print mode is changed, and the specific power value of 0.167 Wh in the case of monochrome printing. / m can be calculated by calculating (color power × color printing distance + monochrome power × monochrome distance). That is, in the conventional method of measuring the printing time and calculating the integrated power, the power per unit time changes in proportion to the printing speed, so it is necessary to store the printing time at which printing speed. However, in this example, the integrated power can be calculated from the printing distance, and the integrated power of the motor can be calculated by simple calculation.

  Next, standby power is calculated. This standby power can be calculated by (standby power × standby time). Also, the printing power can be calculated by printing power × printing time, and the sleep power can also be calculated by sleeping power × sleeping time.

  Next, returning to the processing shown in FIG. 3, it is determined whether there is print data (S4). Here, if the print data has not been input, the input of the print data is awaited (S4 is NO). If the print data is input (S4 is YES), it is determined whether the image creation is completed (S5). If the image creation process is not completed, the process waits for the completion of the image creation (S5 is NO). If the image creation is completed (S5 is YES), the printing process in the designated print mode is started (S6). .

  For example, in the case of plain paper printing, plain paper is unloaded from the paper feed cassette 21a of the paper feed unit 4 and conveyed to the image forming unit 2 through the above-described conveyance path, and print processing is performed according to the print data. In the case of thick paper printing, the paper is unloaded from the paper feed cassette 21b of the paper feed unit 4 and is transported to the image forming unit 2 through the above-described transport path, and print processing is performed according to the print data. Further, in the case of OHP paper, the paper is unloaded from the paper feed cassette 21c of the paper feed unit 4 and transported to the image forming unit 2 through the above-described transport path, and print processing is performed according to the print data.

  During this time, if color printing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 1 is YES), each time the printing process for 100 mm proceeds (ST2), color corresponding to the rotational speed of the motor is performed. Is incremented by 1 (ST3). If the printing is monochrome printing (ST1 is NO, ST4), every time the printing process for 100 mm proceeds (ST5), the monochrome printing distance is incremented by 1 (ST6) corresponding to the motor rotation speed. The count values are sequentially recorded in the EEPROM 40a.

  On the other hand, with respect to the heater time used for the calculation of the heater power, it is first determined whether or not there is temperature control (step (hereinafter referred to as STP) 1) according to the flowchart shown in FIG. ), The heater 41 is turned off, and a heater monitoring timer (not shown) is stopped (STP2). On the other hand, when there is temperature control (STP1 is YES), it is determined whether the temperature is equal to or higher than a preset temperature (STP3). If the temperature is not higher than the set temperature (STP3 is NO) and the heater monitoring timer is stopped, the heater monitoring timer is started (STP4, STP5). If the heater monitoring timer is operating, the heater monitoring is started. The timer waits for 1 second to elapse (STP6), and the heater time is incremented by 1 (STP7).

  The same applies to the heater 42. First, it is determined whether or not there is temperature control for the heater 42 (step (hereinafter referred to as W) 1) according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, and when there is no temperature control (W1 is NO). The heater 42 is turned off, and a heater monitoring timer (not shown) is stopped (W2). On the other hand, if there is temperature control (W1 is YES), it is determined whether the temperature is higher than a preset temperature (W3). If it is not higher than the preset temperature (W3 is NO) and the heater monitoring timer is stopped. For example, the heater monitoring timer is started (W4, W5). If the heater monitoring timer is operating, the heater monitoring timer waits for 1 second to elapse (W6), and the heater time is incremented by 1 (W7).

The count value of the heater monitoring timer counted in this way is sequentially recorded in the EEPROM 40a and used for the calculation of the heater integrated power described above.
Further, regarding the counting of the standby time, it is first determined whether or not the standby state is in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 (step (hereinafter referred to as U) 1). The standby monitoring timer is stopped (U2). On the other hand, if the standby monitoring timer is stopped (U3), if the standby monitoring timer is stopped (U4), the standby monitoring timer is started (U4). If the timer is operating, it waits for 1 second of the standby monitoring timer (U5) and increments the standby time by 1 (U6).

The count value of the standby monitoring timer thus counted is sequentially recorded in the EEPROM 40a and used for the above-described calculation of standby power.
Also, regarding the counting of the printing time, it is first determined whether or not the printing state is in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 (step (hereinafter referred to as V) 1). The print monitoring timer is stopped (V2). On the other hand, if it is in the print state (V1 is YES), it is determined whether the print monitor timer is stopped (V3). If the print monitor timer is stopped, the print monitor timer is started (V4) and the print monitor is monitored. If the timer is operating, it waits for the print monitoring timer to elapse 1 second (V5), and increments the printing time by 1 (V6).

  The count value of the print monitoring timer counted in this way is sequentially recorded in the EEPROM 40a and used for the calculation of the printing power described above.

  Further, regarding the counting of the sleep time, it is first determined whether or not there is a sleep state according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11 (step (hereinafter referred to as X) 1). The sleep monitoring timer is stopped (X2). On the other hand, if it is in the sleep state (X1 is YES), it is determined whether the sleep monitoring timer is stopped (X3). If the sleep monitoring timer is stopped, the sleep monitoring timer is started (X4) and the sleep monitoring is performed. If the timer is operating, it waits for 1 second of the sleep monitoring timer to pass (X5), and increments the sleep time by 1 (X6).

  The count value of the sleep monitoring timer thus counted is sequentially recorded in the EEPROM 40a and used for the above-described calculation of the sleep power.

  Next, returning to the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 described above, when the printing process ends (YES in S7), the power calculation is performed again (S8). In this case, the printing distance, heater time, standby time, printing time, and sleep time data for color printing and monochrome printing described in FIGS. 6 to 11 are updated and stored in the EEPROM 40a, and new data is stored. Based on this, power consumption is calculated. At this time, the data stored in the EEPROM 40a has a small memory capacity.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the amount of data to be stored in the EEPROM 40a is smaller than before, and the memory capacity for 22 × 6 bits for calculating the integrated motor power required in the past is reduced to 22 ×. The memory capacity can be reduced to 2 bits. Further, it is possible to eliminate the reserve memory capacity that has been conventionally required.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to secure a new memory area even when the printing speed is changed, and can be easily handled.

1 is a configuration diagram of a printer apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure explaining the specific electric power value used by this embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the process of this embodiment. It is a figure explaining each time, such as heater time. It is a flowchart which calculates power consumption. It is a flowchart which counts the movement distance of a color printing process or a monochrome printing process. It is a flowchart which counts the drive time of a heater. It is a flowchart which counts the drive time of another heater. It is a flowchart which counts waiting time. It is a flowchart which counts printing time. It is a flowchart which counts sleep time.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer 2 ... Image formation part 3 ... Intermediate transfer belt unit 4 ... Paper feed part 5 ... Duplex printing conveyance unit 6, 6M, 6C, 6Y, 6K ... Image formation unit 7... Photosensitive drum 8... Cleaner 9... Charging roller 10 .. optical head 11 .. charging device 12 .. developing device 13 .. developing roller 14 .. transfer belt 15. -Follower roller 17-Belt position control mechanism 18-Primary transfer roller 19-Waste toner collection container 21-Paper feed cassette 22-Paper take-out roller 23-Feed roller 24-Rolling roller 25-Standby Conveying roller pair 26, secondary transfer roller 27, belt-type heat fixing device 28, discharge roller pair 29, discharge tray 31, discharge roller pair 32a, start return path 32b, intermediate return path 32c ..Terminal return path 3 a, 33b, 33c, 33d ·· return path 35 ... cleaner 36 ... pick roller 37 ... pressing roller 40 ... control unit 40a ... EEPROM
41, 42 ... Heater

Claims (3)

In the power consumption computing apparatus of a printing apparatus performing according to the print data to the record medium printing process,
A motor for driving a conveyance mechanism of the recording medium;
The integrated power of the motor is obtained from the conveyance distance of the recording medium obtained according to the driving amount of the motor and the electric power consumed by the motor per unit conveyance distance of the recording medium according to the type of the recording medium. Calculation means;
A power consumption calculation device comprising: Power to the motor is consumed, color printing and the monochrome printing, the power consumption calculation device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a storage means for each Ru is set.   The power consumption calculation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calculation of the integrated power of the motor is performed at regular intervals or at the end of the printing process.