JPH07212510A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the influence of exhaust wind and an operation sound by means of an exhaust fan when the facsimile equipment of an electronic photograph recording system is arranged at the left back-side of an office desk so as to use it. CONSTITUTION:In the printer part 41 of the electronic photograph recording system, a developing part 71 and a fixing part 72 are arranged along a printing route 73 formed in a back/forth direction in a facsimile main body 11. The exhaust fan 122 is arranged near the left end of the fixing part 72 and at the left surface part of the facsimile main body 11. The exhaust fan 122 exhaust air in the facsimile main body 11 to an external part at the left and stops at the time of a power-saving mode.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus using an electrophotographic recording type printer section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a facsimile machine, when a received image or the like is recorded on a recording sheet made of plain paper, an electrophotographic recording type printer section having a developing section and a fixing section is used.

The developing section applies an electric charge to the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum and irradiates a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image of a recording pattern, and a toner composed of a pigment, plastic powder, etc. on the electrostatic latent image. And the toner image adhering to the photosensitive drum is transferred onto the recording paper.

The fixing unit heats the fixing roller with a heater,
The recording paper having the toner transferred to the fixing roller is pressed by the pressure roller to fix the toner on the recording paper. The temperature of the fixing roller is generally set to about 150 ° C., and the temperature is controlled by a temperature detecting element (thermistor) and a control circuit. Also,
Since the temperature inside the facsimile machine rises due to the heat generated in the fixing section, an exhaust fan for cooling is installed near the fixing section, and the exhaust fan exhausts the air inside the facsimile machine to the outside, and The temperature rise is prevented and the electric parts and the like in the facsimile machine are protected.

[0005]

In the conventional facsimile apparatus using the electrophotographic recording type printer unit, a heat-sensitive recording type printer is provided with an exhaust fan in order to prevent a temperature rise in the facsimile apparatus due to heat generation of the fixing unit. When using it by arranging it on the left side of the office desk like a desk-top type facsimile machine using the parts, if an exhaust fan is installed on the right side surface of the facsimile machine, the exhaust air exhausted to the outside on the right side. As a result, documents on the office desk may be skipped, which may affect the office work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to prevent the influence of exhaust air or operation noise from an exhaust fan in a facsimile apparatus using an electrophotographic recording type printer unit. To do.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a facsimile main body, and an electrophotographic recording type printer section in which a developing section and a fixing section are arranged along a print passage formed in the facsimile main body in the front-rear direction. The exhaust is provided near the left end of the fixing unit on the left side surface of the facsimile main body, exhausts the air inside the facsimile main body to the outside on the left side, and shuts off the power supply to the printer when not receiving power. It is equipped with a fan.

[0008]

In the present invention, the air in the facsimile main body is exhausted to the outside by the exhaust fan to suppress the temperature rise in the facsimile apparatus due to the heat generation of the fixing section. When the facsimile machine is placed on the left back side of the office desk and used, the exhaust fan is placed on the left side surface of the facsimile body and exhausts outward to the left side, so the facsimile body is placed by the exhaust air. The documents on the office desk do not fly, the exhaust fan is stopped in the power saving mode, there is no operation noise of the exhaust fan, and the office work is not affected.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of an embodiment of the facsimile apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the facsimile machine.
Is a facsimile main body, and the facsimile main body 11 includes a lower case 12, an upper case 13, upper covers 14a and 14b, and a rear cover 15 (shown in FIG. 1). The surfaces 16a and 16b are formed in a substantially wedge shape.

The lower case 12 is formed with a concave recording paper storage portion 21 having a bottom surface and front and rear surfaces opened at the center of the bottom surface, and rubber feet 22 are attached to the four corners of the bottom surface.

The upper case 13 has an upper and lower surface opened, and an upper surface is formed in a frame shape in which the front portion is low and the rear portion is high. A document and recording paper outlet 23 is formed in the center of the front surface of the upper case 13. The left side surface of the upper case 13 is formed with an exhaust port 13a composed of a plurality of slits communicating with a space 121 to be described later.

The upper surface covers 14a and 14b are rear surface upper surface covers than the inclination angle of the inclined surface 16a of the front side upper surface cover 14a.
The inclination angle of the inclined surface 16b of 14b is formed to be large.
The front top cover 14a is a support shaft on the front end side of the upper case 13.
It is mounted rotatably forward from a position shown in the drawing which covers the upper surface of the upper case 13, with 24 (shown in FIG. 1) as a fulcrum. The upper cover 14b on the rear side is attached rotatably rearward from a position shown in the drawing which covers the upper surface of the upper case 13 with a support shaft 25 (shown in FIG. 1) on the rear side of the upper case 13 as a fulcrum.

The operation portion 26 is provided on the upper surface of the front side upper surface cover 14a.
Are formed. The operation unit 26 is provided with a display 27, a ten-key pad 28, a one-touch dial key 29, a start key 30, and the like. These indicators 27 and keys 28-
The operation unit main body 31 (shown in FIG. 1) of 30 is a front side top cover 14
It is attached to the back of a.

A document tray 32 is integrally formed on the rear side upper cover 14b. This document tray 32 is provided with a document placing surface portion 33 that is inclined so as to enter from the rear end portion of the rear side upper surface cover 14b toward the front and below the upper surface of the rear side upper surface cover 14b. Between the leading edge of 33 and the front edge 34 of the rear top cover 14b, the document insertion slot 35
Are formed. Paper guides 36 having a substantially L-shaped cross section for guiding both sides of the document are attached to both sides of the upper surface of the document placement surface portion 33 so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. Also, it is slid in the left and right directions in a relative and opposite direction synchronously by an interlocking mechanism (not shown).

A mounting portion 37 is attached to the left side portion of the upper case 13, and a handset 38 is mounted on the mounting portion 37.

Next, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the internal structure of the facsimile apparatus. A recording paper storage section 21 is arranged at the bottom of the facsimile main body 11, and a printer section is provided above the recording paper storage section 21 on the rear side. A document reading unit 42 is provided on the front side while 41 is provided.

The recording paper storage portion 21 is formed by the upper wall portion 51 and the side wall portions 52 of the lower case 12 so that the lower surface and front and rear surfaces are open, and the rear surface cover 15 is disposed on the rear surface. .

A pickup roller 53 is supported by a support shaft 54 on the upper rear side of the recording paper storage portion 21, and the pickup roller 53 is formed in a fan shape having a cutout portion 55 on its peripheral surface. The state of facing downward is the standby position, and the sheet is driven one rotation in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing during sheet feeding.

At the rear of the facsimile main body 11, there is provided a U-turn transport path 56 for transporting the recording paper from the upper rear side of the recording paper storage unit 21 toward the printer unit 41. The U-turn transport path 56 includes a guide plate 57 on one side and a rear surface cover 15 on the other side.
It is formed between the guide portion 64 and the guide plate 58. The transport roller 59 is provided on one side of the starting end of the U-turn transport path 56.
A pinch roller 60, which is arranged in pressure contact with the conveying roller 59, is rotatably attached to the rear cover 15 on the other side of the starting end of the U-turn conveying path 56.

A rib 61 is formed on the inner surface of the rear cover 15, and the rear cover 15 is rotatable about a supporting shaft 62 provided on the rib 61 as a fulcrum between a closed position shown in the figure and an open position tilted rearward. Paper feed cassette 111, which will be described later, at a position lower than 62
An abutting portion 63 with which the rear surface abuts is formed. A guide portion 64 that constitutes the other side of the starting end of the U-turn conveying path 56 is formed on the rib 61 of the rear surface cover 15, and the pinch roller 60 is rotatably attached.

A printing passage 73 is formed from the U-turn conveyance path 56 toward the front discharge port 23 for passing the recording paper to the developing section 71 and the fixing section 72 of the printer section 41.

The developing unit 71 of the printer unit 41 includes a photosensitive drum 74.
A charge is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 74 by a charger 75, and a laser beam is emitted from the optical system unit 76 to the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 74 to form an electrostatic latent image of a recording pattern. Toner is attached to the photosensitive drum 74 by the developing unit 77.
The toner image adhered to is transferred onto recording paper by the transfer device 78. At the entrance of the developing unit 71, a conveying roller 79 and a pinch roller 80 that comes into pressure contact with the conveying roller 79 are arranged.

The fixing unit 72 presses the recording paper on which the toner is attached to the heated fixing roller 81 by the pinch roller 82 to fix the toner on the paper. At the exit of the fixing unit 72, a carry-out roller 83 and a pinch roller 84 that comes into pressure contact with the carry-out roller 83 are arranged.

The optical system unit 76 includes the facsimile main body 11
The rear side of the facsimile main body 11 is disposed at the substantially highest part of the height dimension, and the polygon mirror 86 deflects and controls the laser beam emitted from the laser emitter 85. The laser beam is emitted from the laser emitting section 88 to the photosensitive drum 74 via the plurality of mirrors 87. The laser emitting unit 88 is arranged at the position where the height of the facsimile body 11 is the highest, and a required laser irradiation distance is secured between the laser emitting unit 88 and the photosensitive drum 74.

A printing passage 73 from the fixing portion 72 to the discharge port 23 is formed between a recording paper guide plate portion 92c on the upper side, which will be described later, and a lower guide plate 89.

Next, the document reading section 42 is disposed above the printing passage 73 between the fixing section 72 of the printer section 41 and the discharge port 23 and on the front side of the fixing section 72, and has a document insertion opening. A document passage 91 is formed from 35 to the front discharge port 23.

A document guide body 92 having a document guide plate portion 92a continuous with the front end of the document placing surface portion 33 of the document tray 32 is provided at the start end side of the document passage 91. A pull-in roller 93 and a separating plate 94 are arranged at the start end of the document passage 91. The sheets are drawn one by one into the original passage 91. Further, in the middle of the document passage 91, a reading scanner 96 having a reading surface 95 as an upper surface, and a white roller 97 that conveys the original while pressing the original against the reading surface 95 of the reading scanner 96 are provided. Before and after the reading position by the reading scanner 96, one set of conveying rollers 98 is provided.

The document guide body 92 is formed from a material having a heat insulating property along the left-right width direction of the facsimile main body 11, and projects substantially vertically from the leading end of the document guide plate portion 92a to the printer unit 41. A shielding portion 92b that shields between the fixing portion 72 and the document reading portion 42 is integrally formed, and a recording paper guide plate portion 92c that guides the recording paper by protruding forward from the lower end of the shielding portion 92b in parallel with the guide plate 89. Is integrally formed, and a wall portion 92d is integrally formed so as to cover the rear surface of the fixing portion 72 from the upper end of the document guide plate portion 92a. Then, the document guide plate portion 92a, the shielding portion 92b and the wall portion 92d are used to fix the fixing portion 72.
A space 121 for accommodating is formed in the entire left and right width areas of the facsimile main body 11.

The upper case 13 is provided at the rear of the printer unit 41.
A substrate 101, on which electric components such as a control circuit are mounted, is arranged facing the rear surface.

Further, the recording paper storage portion of the facsimile main body 11
A paper feed cassette 111 for storing the recording paper P is detachably attached to the recording paper storage unit 21 through the front surface thereof. This paper feed cassette 111 is formed in a rectangular frame shape for accommodating a plurality of recording papers P in a laminated state from a bottom surface portion 112, both side surface portions 113, a front surface portion 114 and a rear surface portion 115, and a facsimile is formed on the front surface thereof. A handle portion 116 having a width substantially the same as the lateral width of the main body 11 is formed to project. Then, guide protrusions (not shown) are formed on the outer surfaces of the side surface portions 113, and the guide protrusions slide on guide groove portions (not shown) formed along the front-rear direction on the wall portions 52 on both sides of the recording paper storage portion 21. By engaging as much as possible, the paper feed cassette 111 is horizontally inserted and removed in the front-rear direction. Further, the paper feed cassette 111 is provided with a locking structure that locks the paper feed cassette 111 at the most inserted position in the recording paper storage portion 21.

A push-up plate 117 that supports the bottom surface of the recording paper P is arranged at the bottom of the paper feed cassette 111, and the front end side of the push-up plate 117 is swingably supported at a fulcrum portion (not shown) and the rear end side. Is biased upward by a spring 118.

An exhaust fan 122 is provided on the left side surface of the facsimile body 11 near the left end of the fixing section 72 and inside the exhaust port 13a. The exhaust fan 122 includes a fan and a motor that rotates the fan, and
Atmospheric air in the fixing unit 72 inside the 121 is forcedly exhausted to the outside on the left side.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a control block diagram of the facsimile apparatus, in which 131 is an MCU (Micropro
gram control unit), ROM 132 storing programs and the like on the bus of this MCU 131, RAM 133 capable of writing and reading various data, NC connected to a telephone line
U (Network Control Unit) 134, modem 135 for performing facsimile communication via NCU 134, display 27 and keys
An operation unit 26 including 28 to 30 is connected.

The bus of the MCU 131 further includes a printer control circuit 136 for controlling the printer unit 41, a reading control circuit 137 for controlling the document reading unit 42, an encoding / decoding unit for encoding the reading data and decoding the received data. The conversion circuit 138 is connected. The reading control circuit 137 includes a reading scanner.
96 is connected, and a document driving motor 139 for driving the rollers 93, 97, 98 is connected.

The MCU 131 has a timer 140.

Next, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the heater control of the printer unit 41, in which the printer control circuit 136 includes the fixing unit 72.
Of the thermistor 141, which is arranged near the fixing roller 81 and detects the temperature, is inputted to the switch circuit 142.
The exhaust fan 122 is controlled to be turned on and off. The switch circuit 142 is connected between the heater 143 such as a halogen heater for raising the temperature of the fixing roller 81 and the fuse 144 for preventing overcurrent and the power source 145, and switches the energization to the halogen heater 143.

The operation mode of the facsimile apparatus by the MCU 131 includes a normal mode for operating the functions of the entire facsimile apparatus including the function of the printer section 41 and a power saving mode for stopping only the functions of the printer section 41. In the power saving mode, the heater 143 of the fixing unit 72 is turned off, or the heaters 143 of the developing unit 71 and fixing unit 72 are turned off.

Then, the MCU 131 sets the normal mode at the time of print output such as reception and switches the normal mode to the power saving mode at the end of print output at the end of reception. The exhaust fan stop means has a function of automatically stopping the exhaust fan 122 in response to the mode switching. The function of the exhaust fan stopping means of this embodiment is a method of stopping after a predetermined time when the mode is switched from the normal mode to the power saving mode.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the facsimile main body 11 is arranged on the office desk, the facsimile main body 11 is arranged on the left back side of the office desk in consideration of taking the handset 38 with the left hand and taking a note with the right hand.

To feed the recording paper P, the recording paper P is stored on the push-up plate 117 of the paper feed cassette 111, and the paper feed cassette 111 is inserted into the recording paper storage portion 21 of the facsimile main body 11 from the front. With the insertion of the paper feed cassette 111, the abutting portion 63 of the rear cover 15 is pushed rearward by the rear surface portion 115 of the paper feed cassette 111 to move the rear cover 15 to the closed position and hold it. Further, when the paper feed cassette 111 is inserted to a predetermined insertion position in the recording paper storage unit 21, the paper feed cassette 111 is locked by the locking structure.

The recording paper P in the paper feed cassette 111 is pushed up by the spring 118 via the push-up plate 117, but the pickup roller 53 has the notch 55 facing downward, so Do not touch.

Next, the operation at the time of reception will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The function of the exhaust fan stop means is a method of stopping after a predetermined time when the mode is switched from the normal mode to the power saving mode.

In the standby state, the power-saving mode is set. In this power-saving mode, when an incoming call arrives (step 1 (the step number is abbreviated as circled numbers)) and a call signal for facsimile communication is detected. , The power saving mode is switched to the normal mode, the facsimile reception operation is started (step 2), the exhaust fan 122 and the heater 143 are turned on (steps 3 and 4), and the encoded and compressed image data is displayed. Receive (step 5), RAM133
Accumulate in. Then, when the temperature of the fixing roller 81 of the fixing unit 42 rises to a predetermined temperature, the image data is sent from the RAM 133 to the printer unit 41 page by page, and the printer unit 41 outputs the image data 1 page.
Print output for each page (step 6).

In the print output operation, the pickup roller 53 is rotationally driven and the uppermost recording sheet P of the sheet feeding cassette 111 is printed.
Is sent to the entrance of the U-turn transport path 56, is sandwiched between the transport roller 59 and the pickup roller 60, and is taken into the U-turn transport path 56 and transported. The transport roller
When the conveyance of the recording paper P is started by 59, the notch 55 of the pickup roller 53 faces the recording paper P, and the conveyance of the recording paper P is switched to the conveyance roller 59 side.

The recording paper P conveyed to the printing passage 73 through the U-turn conveying passage 56 has the toner transferred to the developing portion 71 of the printer portion 41 and the toner fixed to the fixing portion 72 to form a guide plate 89. It is carried out toward the discharge port 23 through the space between the document guide body 92 and the recording paper guide plate portion 92c, and the printing surface is the upper surface on the office desk surface on which the facsimile main body 11 in front of the facsimile main body 11 is arranged. (Face up)
Is discharged as.

Further, in the normal mode, the temperature of the air in the space 121 rises due to the heat generated in the fixing unit 72, but since the air in the space 121 is exhausted to the outside by the exhaust fan 122, it is generated by the hot air. It is prevented that the document guide body 92 is heated and the document reading unit 42 is thermally affected. Moreover, since the exhaust fan 122 is arranged on the left side surface of the facsimile main body 11 and exhausts to the outside on the left side, documents such as the documents on the office desk on which the facsimile main body 11 is arranged are not blown by the exhaust air, which saves the work. Exhaust fan 122 in power mode
Is stopped, there is no operating noise of the exhaust fan 122, and the office work is not affected.

When the reception is completed and the print output is completed (step 7), the mode is switched from the normal mode to the power saving mode, the heater 143 is turned off (step 8), and the exhaust fan 122 is stopped after a predetermined time. The timer 140 starts counting the waiting time for the operation (step 9). During this waiting time, since the temperature of the residual heat of the fixing unit 72 is high even after the heater 143 is turned off, the exhaust fan 122 continues to exhaust the gas, and the temperature drops until the other parts are not thermally affected. Time is set.

If there is a new incoming call during the waiting time (step 10), the process returns to step 3 to perform print output, and when the time is up (step 11), the exhaust fan 122 is stopped (step 12). , Return to the standby state.

As described above, since the exhaust fan 122 is stopped in the power saving mode in which the facsimile apparatus is in the standby state, the operating noise of the exhaust fan 122 is eliminated and the power consumption can be suppressed.

Next, at the time of reading the original, the paper guides 36 on both the left and right sides of the original tray 32 are adjusted to the width of the original, and the original is read between the paper guides 36 with its reading surface facing down (face down).
As a result, the front side of the document is inserted into the document insertion port 35, and the rear end side is placed on the document placing surface part 33 of the document tray 32 with the face of the document placed facedown. The leading edge of the document is guided between the drawing roller 93 and the separating plate 94 through the document guide plate portion 92a of the document guide body 92.

When the document reading operation is started, the pull-in roller 93 is rotated to pull the documents one by one into the document passage 91, and the document is carried to the reading position between the reading scanner 96 and the white roller 97. It At the reading position, the white roller 97 conveys the original while pressing it against the reading surface 95 of the reading scanner 96, and the reading scanner 96 reads the original. The document that has passed the reading position is discharged through the discharge port 23 onto the office desk surface in front of the facsimile main body 11 where the facsimile main body 11 is arranged.

Next, another embodiment of the receiving operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The function of the exhaust fan stop means of the other embodiment is a method of stopping when the temperature detected by the thermistor 141 falls below a predetermined temperature.

In the standby state, the power saving mode is set. When a call is received in this power saving mode (step 21) and a call signal for facsimile communication is detected, the mode is switched from the power saving mode to the normal mode and the facsimile receiving operation is performed. Is started (step 22), the exhaust fan 122 and the heater 143 are turned on (steps 23 and 24), and the encoded and compressed image data is received (step 25) and stored in the RAM 133. When the fixing roller 81 of the fixing unit 72 has risen to a predetermined temperature, the image data is sent from the RAM 133 page by page to the printer unit 41, and the printer unit 41 prints out the image data page by page (step 26). .

Then, when the reception is completed and the print output is completed (step 27), the mode is switched from the normal mode to the power saving mode, the heater 143 is turned off (step 28), and the fixing portion 72 detected by the thermistor 141. Monitoring of the temperature is started (step 29). During this temperature monitoring, exhaust by the exhaust fan 122 is continued to prevent the residual heat of the heater 143 from exerting a thermal influence on other parts.

If a new incoming call is received during temperature monitoring (step 30), the process returns to step 13 to perform print output, and if the fixing unit 72 has a predetermined temperature or lower (step 31),
The exhaust fan 122 is stopped (step 32) to return to the standby state.

As described above, even when the electrophotographic recording type facsimile apparatus is used as a table-top type apparatus arranged on the left rear side of the office desk, the exhaust fan 122 is used as the facsimile main body 11.
Since it is installed on the left side surface and exhausts to the outside on the left side, documents such as documents on the office desk where the facsimile main body 11 is placed do not fly due to exhaust air, and the exhaust fan 122 is stopped in the power saving mode. , There is no operating noise of the exhaust fan 122, and the influence on office work is eliminated.

Moreover, in the power saving mode in which the facsimile apparatus is in the standby state, the exhaust fan 122 is stopped after the temperature of the fixing unit 72 is lowered, so that the operating noise of the exhaust fan 122 is eliminated and the power consumption can be suppressed.

[0060]

According to the present invention, the exhaust fan is arranged on the left side surface of the facsimile main body to exhaust the air inside the facsimile main body to the left outside. Therefore, the facsimile main body is arranged on the left back side of the office desk. When used as an exhaust air, the exhaust air will not cause documents such as documents on the office desk where the fax machine is placed to fly, and the exhaust fan will stop in the power saving mode. Disappear.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the entire facsimile apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of heater control of the printer unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a receiving operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a receiving operation according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Facsimile unit 41 Printer section 71 Developing section 72 Fixing section 73 Printing path 122 Exhaust fan

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile main body, an electrophotographic recording type printer section in which a developing section and a fixing section are arranged along a printing passage formed in the front and rear direction in the facsimile main body, and near a left end of the fixing section. An exhaust fan is provided on the left side surface of the facsimile main body, which exhausts the air inside the facsimile main body to the outside on the left side and stops in the power saving mode for shutting off the power supply of the printer unit when not receiving. And a facsimile machine.