JPH0519655A - Fixing temperature controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the electric power consumption for heating a fixing roller and to avert the degradation in the hand of use over the entire part as far as possible since the execution of copying by waiting for heating up to a fixing temp. is restricted to the time zone where the frequencies of copying are fewer. CONSTITUTION:A copying machine having the fixing roller to be heated, etc., are provided with a clock for measuring the time and a time zone setting means which sets the time zone where the copying frequencies are least in one day as a power saving time zone. The fixing temp. of the fixing roller is set at the power saving temp. lower than the fixing temp. (step 3) and the energization to the heater is controlled when the time is within the power saving time zone (step 1) and in a standby state when the copying operation is not carried out (step 2).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fixing temperature control device for controlling a fixing roller of a copying machine to a predetermined fixing temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional copying machine, at the same time when a power switch is turned on, energization of heating means such as a heater lamp for heating a fixing roller is started to reach a predetermined fixing temperature. Until the power switch is turned off, the energization control to the heating means is continued so that the fixing roller is maintained at the fixing temperature even in the standby state where the copying operation is not actually performed.

By the way, if the time in the standby state as described above becomes long, useless power consumption increases during this period. In order to suppress this power consumption, the power switch may be turned on / off each time a copy operation is performed. In this case, it is necessary to wait until the fixing roller is heated from room temperature to a predetermined fixing temperature. It becomes necessary every time, and usability is greatly reduced. Therefore, normally, for example, the power switch is kept ON during the working hours in the morning and the afternoon.

[0004]

However, there are large variations in the copy frequency depending on the time zone, and, for example, the copy frequency is high in the time zone immediately after the start of work, and thereafter becomes a low frequency zone. Often the trend is repeated daily. Even in such a case, conventionally, in a time period when the copy frequency is low,
That is, even during the long standby time, the control for maintaining the fixing roller at the fixing temperature is uniformly continued.
This causes a problem of excessive power consumption.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to fix a fixing temperature control device capable of reducing power consumption by avoiding a decrease in usability in a copying machine or the like as much as possible. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the fixing temperature control device of the present invention controls the energization of the heating means for heating the fixing roller so that the fixing roller is maintained at the set temperature. In the fixing temperature control device provided with the energization control means, the time measuring means for measuring the time, the time zone setting means for setting the time zone, and the time measured by the time measuring means are set by the time zone setting means. A time zone determining means for determining whether or not it is within the power saving time zone, and the set temperature when the timekeeping time is determined by the time zone determining means to be within the power saving time zone and the fixing operation is not required. As a feature, there is provided a set temperature switching means for switching and setting the fixing temperature to a standby temperature lower than the fixing temperature.

[0007]

According to the above construction, for example, when the time zone in which the copy frequency is low in one day is set by the time zone setting means as the power saving time zone, during this time zone, the power saving temperature lower than the fixing temperature is set. Is switched to the set temperature, and the energization to the heating means is controlled. Therefore, the amount of power consumption is reduced as compared with the conventional case where the energization is controlled with the fixing temperature being the set temperature. On the other hand, when a copy operation is performed during the power saving time period, it is necessary to wait until the fixing roller rises from the power saving temperature to the fixing temperature. The decrease in ease of use is avoided as much as possible.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following will describe one embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 shows an operation panel of a copying machine constructed by applying the present invention. The main body of the copier is
Although not shown, it is configured to copy an original image onto a copy sheet by an indirect electrostatic copying method, and internally includes an exposure optical system, a photoconductor, a development processing unit, a fixing processing unit, and the like. Is provided, after the electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor, the developing unit visualizes the electrostatic latent image with toner, and after transferring the visualized image to copy paper,
By sending the copy sheet while pressing it with a heated fixing roller in the fixing processing section, the toner is fused to the copy sheet and copying is performed.

The operation panel 1 includes a power switch 1a.
, Color and black and white copy switches 1b and 1b,
Further, operation switches such as a numeric keypad 4 used for setting the number of copies and the like are provided, and further time setting keys 2 and 3 for selecting a power saving mode described later are provided.

The time setting keys 2 and 3 and the ten key 4 are used to set a power saving time zone, which will be described later.
For example, by inputting "1000" with the ten key 4 and then pressing the start time setting key 2, setting is made such that the start time is 10:00 am. For example, after inputting "1430" with the ten key 4, the end time is set. By pressing the setting key 3, 2 pm
A power saving time zone is set with an end time of 30 minutes. When the start time and the end time are set as described above, control in the power saving mode described later is started.

The power saving mode is released by the operation panel 1
Release switch 1c.

In the copying machine, as shown in FIG.
M (Read Only Memory) 5, RAM (Randam Access Me
mory) 6, I / O port 7 etc. connected CPU (Cent
A control device including a microcomputer having a ral processing unit 8 is provided. The ROM 5 is a read-only memory in which a program for controlling the entire copying machine is written. The RAM 6 is a memory that can be written / read at any time and has a function of temporarily storing input data for control, a calculation result in the CPU 8, and the like, and includes a set temperature of the fixing roller and the power saving time described above. The start and end set times of the band are stored. Further, sensors (not shown) are arranged in various places in the main body of the copying machine, and detection signals from these sensors are sent to the I / O port 7 or A
It is input to the CPU 8 through the / D converter 9.

The CPU 8 reads the program written in the ROM 5 and outputs various operation signals through the I / O port 7 based on the values stored in the RAM 6 and the detection signals from the sensors. The copying operation is controlled in the copying machine main body described above, but for the sake of convenience, the configuration for heating control of the fixing roller and the specific control procedure thereof will be described below.

A heater lamp (heating means) 11 for heating the fixing roller is connected to the I / O port 7 via a driver (not shown). Further, the fixing roller has a thermistor 12 for detecting its temperature.
Is attached, and the detection signal from the thermistor 12 is input to the CPU 8 via the A / D converter 9.

Further, a clock 13 as a time measuring means is connected to the CPU 8. This clock 13
Is backed up by a battery 14 so that the clock can be kept for 24 hours even if the power switch 1a of the copying machine body is turned off.

The CPU 8 also has a function as an energization control means for controlling the energization of the heater lamp 11 based on the input signals from the thermistor 12 and the clock 13 connected as described above. The selection of the power saving mode, that is, the procedure of heating control of the fixing roller performed by the CPU 8 when the power saving time zone is set will be described with reference to FIG.

First, it is determined whether or not the clocked time input from the clock 13, that is, the time at the time of input is within the power saving time zone set as described above (step S1). If it is within the power saving time zone, it is then determined whether or not the copy switch 1b is turned on (step S2), and when it is not turned on, that is, the standby state is within the power saving time zone. In some cases, the set temperature of the fixing roller is set to a power saving temperature lower than the fixing temperature at which copying is possible, for example, 100 ° C (step S
3), the heater lamp 1 so that the temperature detected by the fixing roller in the thermistor 12 is maintained at the set temperature.
The energization to 1 is controlled (step S4). After that, the process returns to step S1 and the above process is repeated. Therefore, in the standby state within the power saving time zone, the control for maintaining the temperature of the fixing roller at the power saving temperature lower than the fixing temperature is performed as described above.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S1 that the current time is not within the power saving time zone, the set temperature of the fixing roller is set to a fixing temperature required for copying, for example, 180 ° C. (Step S5), the heater lamp 11 is operated so that the fixing roller is maintained at this set temperature.
Energization is controlled (step S4). As a result, the fixing roller is always maintained at the fixing temperature during the period other than the power saving time period, so that copying is performed immediately when the copy switch 1b is operated.

In the power saving time zone, when the fixing roller is controlled by the power saving temperature, the step S
When it is determined in 2 that the copy switch 1b has been operated, the process of shifting from step S2 to S5 is performed. That is, at this time, the set temperature of the fixing roller is changed from the power saving temperature to the fixing temperature. Therefore, thereafter, copying is performed after the thermistor 12 detects that the temperature has risen from the power saving temperature to the fixing temperature.

As described above, in the above embodiment, by setting a specific time zone as the power saving time zone, during the standby in this power saving time zone, the set temperature for the fixing roller is set to the fixing temperature. The power saving temperature is switched to a lower power saving temperature, and the energization of the heater lamp 11 is controlled so that the fixing roller is maintained at this power saving temperature. Therefore,
By setting the time zone in which the copy frequency is low in one day as described above, the power consumption is reduced as compared with the conventional case where the energization control for maintaining the constant fixing temperature is performed. On the other hand, when a copy operation is performed within the power saving time period described above, it is necessary to wait until the temperature of the fixing roller rises from the power saving temperature to the fixing temperature. The decrease in overall usability is avoided as much as possible.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the time zone setting means 21 is constituted by the time setting keys 2 and 3 and the ten key 4 operated by the user has been described, but for example, by the user. It is possible to use only the power-saving mode selection key as the operated key, and when the key operation is performed, it is possible to adopt another configuration such as a configuration in which a time zone with a low copy frequency is automatically set by learning. Further, in the above embodiment, the time zone discriminating means 22 is operated in step S1 in FIG.
Although the set temperature switching means 23 is configured by, the other configuration having the same function can be used.

[0023]

As described above, the fixing temperature control device of the present invention is provided with the energization control means for controlling the energization of the heating means for heating the fixing roller so that the fixing roller is maintained at the set temperature. In the fixing temperature control device, a time measuring means for measuring time, a time zone setting means for setting a time zone, and a time measured by the time measuring means are within a power saving time zone set by the time zone setting means. The time zone determination means for determining, and when the time zone determination means determines that the measured time is within the power saving time zone, and in the standby state in which the fixing operation is not required, the setting temperature is changed from the fixing temperature to the fixing temperature. And a set temperature switching means for switching and setting to a lower standby temperature.

Thus, for example, by setting a time zone in which the copying frequency is low in one day as a power saving time zone, the power consumption for heating the fixing roller is reduced and the fixing temperature is increased. Copying after waiting for the temperature rise is limited in the above-mentioned time period, so that the frequency is low, and it is possible to avoid a decrease in overall usability as much as possible. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of fixing temperature control in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operation panel of a copying machine configured by applying the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device of the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8 CPU (energization control means) 11 Heater lamp (heating means) 13 Clock (timekeeping means) 21 Time zone setting means 22 Time zone determining means 23 Set temperature switching means

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A fixing temperature control device comprising an energization control means for controlling energization of a heating means for heating a fixing roller so as to maintain the fixing roller at a set temperature. A time measuring means for measuring time, a time zone setting means for setting a time zone, and a time zone determining means for determining whether or not the time measured by the time measuring means is within the power saving time zone set by the time zone setting means, When the result of the determination by the time zone determining means is within the power saving time zone and the standby state in which the fixing operation is not required, the setting temperature is switched from the fixing temperature to the power saving temperature lower than the fixing temperature. A fixing temperature control device, characterized in that a setting temperature switching means for setting is provided.