JPH057710B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (a) Industrial application field The present invention relates to improvements in electrophotographic copying machines, and in particular,
If you operate the start switch after the power switch is turned on but before the fusing device reaches a temperature that allows fusing, the operation status will be memorized and the copy operation will start automatically as soon as the fusing device reaches a temperature that allows fusing. This relates to an electrophotographic copying machine that was launched in .

(B) Prior Art Conventionally, in a copying machine with a built-in heat fixing device, the copying operation was not started even if the start switch was operated until the fixing device reached a fixing temperature after the power switch was turned on. This is because when a copying operation is started even though the fixing device has not reached the fixing temperature, the toner is not completely fixed on the copy paper, causing a fixing failure.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Therefore, there is a problem in that the operator has to wait by the copying machine for the time until the fixing device reaches a temperature that allows fixing (hereinafter referred to as standby time). Ta.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve these problems, the present invention provides a power switch, a copy paper fixing device that generates heat when the power switch is in a conductive state, and a start device that starts the copying operation. If the start switch is operated when the switch and fixing device have not reached a predetermined temperature, the operation state of the start switch is memorized, and the copy operation memory starts copying when the fixing device reaches the predetermined temperature. means, and if an abnormality occurs in the main body of the machine before the fixing device reaches a predetermined temperature, a start switch is activated when the fixing device does not reach the predetermined temperature even if the fixing device reaches the predetermined temperature. The present invention is characterized in that a prohibition means for prohibiting a copy operation based on the operation is provided.

(E) Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing this embodiment, in which a photosensitive drum 2 is rotatably mounted approximately in the center of a main body 1 of a copying machine. Reference numeral 3 denotes a document table that is slidably moved in the left-right direction on the upper surface of the copying machine main body 1. The image of the document placed on the document table 3 is projected onto the photoreceptor drum 2 by a short focus lens array 4 provided at the top of the photoreceptor drum 2 .
5 is a charging corotron provided upstream of the short focus lens array 4. This charging corotron 5
A lamp 6 that illuminates the surface of the document is fixed on the top of the document. A developing device 7 uses toner to develop an electrostatic latent image formed by the charging corotron 5 and the short focus lens array 4. Reference numeral 8 indicates a paper feed cassette in which copy paper 9 is stored, and reference numerals 10 and 10 indicate feed rollers for manually feeding paper. Reference numerals 11 and 11 indicate registration rollers for aligning the front edges of the fed copy sheets. On the downstream side of the registration rollers 11, 11, there is a transfer corotron 1 for transferring the toner image onto the copy paper 9.
2 and a separating corotron 13 for separating the copy paper 9 from the photoreceptor drum 2 are arranged in parallel. A conveyor 15 is provided downstream of the separating corotron 13 for conveying the copy paper 9 onto which the toner image has been transferred to the fixing device 14 . The fixing device 14 is provided with a temperature sensor 18 in contact with a heating roller 16 for heating and melting the toner, and a pressure roller 16 for pressing the copy paper 9 against the heating roller 16. A cleaning device 19 is provided above the conveyor 15, and includes a blade 20 for scraping off toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 2.
Then, the toner conveying roller 21 is inserted.

Although not shown, the power switch and
A start switch for starting the copying operation is mounted on the top of the copying machine main body 1, respectively. When the power switch is turned on, power is supplied only to the heating roller 16, and the heating roller 16 generates heat.
Even if a start switch for starting a copying operation is operated, the copying operation is not started, but is started after a predetermined temperature is reached. All operations of this embodiment are controlled by a built-in microcomputer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. First, when the start switch is operated after the power switch is turned on, the first determination part of the flow chart is <Flag A=1? ＞ Regardless of the judgment result, proceed to the second judgment part and press ＜Start key ON? > is determined.
Since the start key has been operated, the judgment result is "YES", and the third judgment section shows <Error? ＞
is determined. At this time, if the main body of the machine is normal, the judgment result will be "NO", and the fourth judgment section will ask <Heat roll temperature OK? In other words, it is determined whether the heating roller 16 has reached a predetermined temperature at which fixing can be performed. Immediately after the power switch is turned on, the heating roller 16 has not reached the predetermined temperature, so the determination result is "NO", flag A is set, and the flow returns to the first determination section.

As a result of returning, the first judgment section judges "YES" and turns on the waiting time copy lamp.
The process then proceeds to start key operation determination, error determination, and heat roll temperature determination.

In the heat roll temperature determination section, the heat roller 16
When it is determined that the temperature has reached the predetermined temperature, the flag A is set.
After RESET and lighting of the start lamp, the copy operation based on the copy program will be executed, and if the heating roller 16 has not reached a predetermined temperature, the heating roller 16 will reach the predetermined temperature. Until then, the flow will continue to circulate.
If the heating roller 16 has not reached the predetermined temperature, the above judgment is repeated, and if the heating roller 16 reaches the predetermined fixing temperature, the start lamp is turned on and the copying operation is started.

On the other hand, if an abnormality occurs in the main body of the machine even though the start key is pressed before the heating roller 16 has not reached the specified temperature immediately after the power switch is turned on, the third error determination section The judgment result is "YES", flag A is reset,
The step returns to the first determination section.

Then, the first judgment section judges "NO" and turns off the waiting time copy lamp.
Then, the process proceeds to the second judgment section, and since the start key has been operated, the process proceeds to the error judgment section again, where an error is judged and the flag A is set.
RESET, waiting time copy lamp
It will cycle through the loop leading to OFF. That is,
Even if the start key is operated in a state where the heating roller 16 has not reached a predetermined temperature, lighting of the waiting time copy lamp will be prohibited if the main body of the device is in an abnormal state.

Therefore, the operator can know that a copying error has occurred without looking at a normal error display because the waiting time copy lamp that is currently being noticed does not light up.

On the other hand, even when the heating roller 16 reaches a predetermined temperature, it will not pass through the error judgment and reach the final copy operation process, and if an abnormality occurs in the main body of the machine, the heating roller 16 will not reach the predetermined temperature. The copy operation is prohibited even though the copy operation was instructed in advance before reaching the limit.

(F) Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to reserve copy start even if the fixing device has not reached a predetermined fixing temperature, and the copy start can be scheduled until the fixing device reaches the fixing temperature. When an abnormality occurs in the copying machine, copying operations based on the operation of the start switch are prohibited, so there is no fear that the copying operation will suddenly start, improving the safety of the copying machine and the efficiency of copying operations. can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each of the drawings shows one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart. 14...Fixing device, 16...Heating roller, 18
...Temperature sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The power switch, the copy paper fusing device that generates heat when the power switch is electrically connected, the start switch that starts the copying operation, and the start switch that is operated when the fusing device has not reached the specified temperature. , a copy operation storage means for storing the operating state of a start switch and starting a copying operation when the fixing device reaches a predetermined temperature; The electrophotographic copying machine is characterized in that an electrophotographic copying machine is provided with a prohibition means for prohibiting a copy operation based on operation of a start switch when the fixing device does not reach a predetermined temperature even if the fixing device reaches a predetermined temperature. .