JPH02311862A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To noiselessly operate the image recorder by providing a control means which switches a cooling fan from a low speed to high speed ventilating operation when the set number of recording papers exceeds a reference value. CONSTITUTION:Data on the set number of papers from a device 21 which sets the number of copy papers is taken into a control part 22 composed of a microcomputer; the cooling fan 12 is switched between the high speed and low speed ventilating operations according to the set number of papers, A. When a power source is first turned on, the cooling fan 12 starts the low speed ventilation thus, comes to a normal idling operation. Then, the setting reception of the number of copy papers is started; when copying starts after that, the set number of copy papers, A, is judged whether it is greater or less than the previously set reference value R. When the number of copy papers, A, exceeds the reference value R, the cooling fan 12 is switched to the high speed operation, which continues until the end of copying. Thus, the image recorder can be operated noiselessly.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image recording device having a heat generating section, and in particular to an image recording device that is made as quiet as possible by improving drive control of a cooling fan. Regarding.

[Conventional technology]

In an electrostatic recording type copying apparatus, an image recording section thereof is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, when a photoconductive photoreceptor 2 whose surface is charged with a high-voltage charge by a charging electrode 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow a and an image light 3 carrying image information is incident thereon, the charges on the surface of the photoreceptor 2 are transferred to the image light 3. , an electrostatic latent image is formed thereon, and this latent image is developed by the developing device 4 into a toner image. On the other hand, the transfer paper 8, which had been previously fed from the paper feed section 5 to the registration silencing roller 7 by the paper feeding roller 6, is re-fed from the registration silencing roller 7 at a timing that matches the leading edge of the toner image. and is carried to the transfer pole 9,
The toner image is then transferred onto the transfer paper 8. This transfer is performed by applying a potential of the same polarity higher than the potential of the photoreceptor 2 to the transfer pole 9. The transfer paper 8 to which this toner image has been transferred is placed on a separation pole 1 that generates an alternating current electric field.
0 and is separated from the photoreceptor 2 and conveyed to the thermal fixing device 11. The heat fixing device 11 includes a heating roller IIA made of an aluminum cylinder having a heater inside and a pressure roller made of a rubber roller.

Therefore, a recording apparatus incorporating such a heat fixing device 11 is provided with a cooling (exhaust) fan 2 to prevent heat from being trapped inside and causing various problems.

Conventionally, the operation of the cooling fan 12 was controlled at the timing shown in FIG. That is, operation is performed in a cycle in which low-speed exhaust (idling) starts when the power is turned on, then switches to high-speed exhaust when copying starts, and then returns to low-speed exhaust once the copying is completed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, in the past, when copying started, the exhaust operation always started at high speed, which increased the noise level and hindered the quietness of the office.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus in which the cooling fan is not operated at a low speed or is operated at a low speed except when necessary, so as not to interfere with quietness as much as possible.

[Means to solve the problem]

To this end, the present invention provides an image recording apparatus equipped with a cooling fan equipped with a control means for switching the cooling fan from low-speed exhaust operation to high-speed exhaust operation when the set number of sheets to be recorded exceeds a reference value.

The control means may be replaced by means for switching the cooling fan from off to on when the set number of recording sheets exceeds the reference value.

The reference value can be set to be smaller when the size of the transfer paper is large.

The reference value can be set to a value selected from the range of 1 to 5 sheets.

〔Example〕

Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a control circuit diagram of the cooling fan 12 of one embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the control program.

In this embodiment, the set number of copies data from the number of copies setter 21 is taken into the control section 22 made up of a microcomputer, and the operation of the cooling fan 12 is switched between low speed exhaust and high speed exhaust according to the set number of copies A. .

Hereinafter, the operation control of the cooling fan will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when the power is turned on, the cooling fan 12 starts exhausting air at a low speed and enters normal idling operation. As a result, the inside of the recording device case is normally evacuated. Next, the setting of the number of copies is accepted, and when copying is started thereafter, it is determined whether the set number of copies A is greater than a predetermined reference value R. This standard value R
is set to a value within the range of 1 to 5 sheets, for example. and,
If the number of copies A is equal to or less than the reference value R, low-speed exhaust is continued until the copying is completed. Therefore, the machine can be made quieter. However, if the number of copies A exceeds the reference value R, a switch is made to high-speed exhaust, and this continues until the copy is completed.

After copying is completed, if the cooling fan is in high-speed exhaust operation at that time, it switches to low-speed exhaust operation and waits for the next number of copies to be set.

By the way, when a large size transfer paper is used, the heat absorption in the heat fixing section increases, so the heater temperature of the heating roller IIA is controlled to a high temperature, and the internal temperature tends to rise. Therefore, in such a case, the size of the transfer paper should be taken into account when determining the reference value 'R'.

That is, the size data of the selected transfer paper is also input into the control circuit 22, and the size data of the selected transfer paper is input to the control circuit 22 to select a large size transfer paper (for example, A3
.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the cooling fan 12 performs two-stage exhaust switching of low-speed exhaust and high-speed exhaust, but it is also possible to control only the on/off of the cooling fan.
The invention is equally applicable.

In this case, turn off the cooling fan for the low-speed exhaust J as described above.
``All you have to do is turn on the cooling fan for the high-speed exhaust J.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, since the high-speed exhaust or exhaust operation is performed when a large number of sheets are to be recorded, there is an advantage that the image recording apparatus can be made quieter.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of cooling fan control according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the control program, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the image recording apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a timing chart of conventional cooling fan control. Agent Patent Attorney Tsuneaki Nagao Figure 3

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) An image recording apparatus equipped with a cooling fan, characterized in that the image recording apparatus is equipped with a control means for switching the cooling fan from low-speed exhaust operation to high-speed exhaust operation when the set number of sheets to be recorded exceeds a reference value. (2) The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means is replaced with means for switching the cooling fan from off to on when the set number of sheets to be recorded exceeds the reference value. . (3) The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reference value is made smaller when the size of the transfer paper is large. (4) The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference value is a value selected from a range of 1 to 5 images.