JPH08254939A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce electric power consumption and to prevent the stain in a device body by dust by preventing a cooling means from operating at the time of a short-time recording operation and standby for the recording operation when the use working environment temp. is low. CONSTITUTION: The ax. temp. detected by a thermistor 2 is set as a first set temp. A within a range where the respective parts of an engine control unit 1 do not exceed the threshold value of heating up in the case of a standby state. The cooling operation is executed by turning a fan motor 3 on when the result of detection of this thermistor 2 rises above the first set temp. A. On the other hand, the max. temp. detected by the thermistor 2 is lower than the set temp. A and this temp. is set as a second set temp. B within the range where the engine control unit 1 and the mechanism contributing to an electrophotographic process do not exceed the threshold value of the heating up in the case of a printing operation. The cooling operation is executed by turning the fan motor 3 on when the result of the detection of the thermistor 2 rises above the second set temp. B. The fan motor 3 is stopped when there is no worry about overheating.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus such as a laser beam printer which uses an electrophotographic process and has a heater for fixing toner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image recording apparatus using an electrophotographic process and having a heater for fixing toner, a cooling means is provided while the power source of the apparatus main body is turned on regardless of the temperature of the apparatus main body. It was operating all the time.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the cooling means is always operated while the apparatus body is powered on, regardless of the temperature of the apparatus body. That is, since the cooling means is operated even when the temperature of the operating environment is low, or when the apparatus main body does not excessively rise in temperature, such as during a short-time recording operation and recording operation standby, power is wasted. At the same time, there is a problem that the inside of the main body of the apparatus is contaminated with dust.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the above-mentioned prior art. The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the power consumption and to contaminate the inside of the main body with dust. The present invention is intended to provide an image recording apparatus that prevents the above.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the image recording apparatus of the present invention is an image recording apparatus which uses an electrophotographic process and has a heater for fixing toner. Detection means, cooling means for cooling the main body of the image forming apparatus, and operating the cooling means when the detection value of the temperature detection means becomes equal to or higher than the first preset temperature uniquely set during the recording operation standby. And a control means for controlling the cooling means to operate when the detection value of the temperature detection means becomes equal to or higher than the second set temperature uniquely set during the recording operation. The set temperature is lower than the first set temperature.

In order to achieve the same purpose, the first
Is set on the basis of the service life and operating temperature of the electrical parts of the electrical component section, and the second set temperature is set on the basis of the service life and operating temperature of the mechanical parts contributing to the electrophotographic process. Is desirable.

In order to achieve the same purpose, the second
It is desirable that the set temperature of is set based on the temperature control temperature of the heater.

Further, in order to achieve the same object, the first
If a third set temperature that is lower than the set temperature of 3 and higher than the second set temperature is set and the cooling unit is operating at the end of the recording operation, the detected value of the temperature detection unit is set to the third set temperature. It is desirable to stop the operation of the cooling means by the control means when the temperature becomes equal to or lower than the set temperature.

[0009]

According to another aspect of the present invention, the image recording apparatus operates the cooling means when the detected value of the temperature detecting means is equal to or higher than the uniquely set first set temperature during the recording operation standby and during the recording operation. In the above, the control means controls the cooling means to operate when the detected value of the temperature detection means becomes equal to or higher than the second preset temperature lower than the first preset temperature uniquely set. .

According to another aspect of the image recording apparatus of the present invention, when the cooling means is in operation at the end of the recording operation, the detected value of the temperature detecting means is lower than the first set temperature and the second set temperature. The operation of the cooling means is stopped by the control means when the temperature becomes lower than the third set temperature which is higher.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the configuration of the image recording apparatus. In both figures, reference numeral 1 denotes an engine control unit, which is an electric component section including an AC power input section, a low-voltage power section, an engine control section, and a high-voltage power section. Reference numeral 2 denotes a thermistor as a temperature detecting means provided in the engine control unit 1, which detects the temperature of the engine control unit 1. Reference numeral 3 is a fan motor as a cooling means for cooling the main body of the apparatus, 4 is a heater for fixing the toner on a recording sheet as a recording medium, and 5 is a laser beam for scanning and forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum. Scanner,
6 is a main motor for driving the apparatus main body, 7 is an image controller that receives data from a host computer (not shown) and forms recording (printing) data, and 8 is a toner cartridge in which a photosensitive drum and toner are integrated.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus according to this embodiment having the above structure will be described. When the apparatus main body is in the recording operation standby state (standby state), there is a concern that the temperature rise of the electric components of the engine control unit 1 may be excessive. The limit value of the temperature rise of each electric component is specified by the operating temperature and life. For example, if the life of the device body is 45,000 hours, the guaranteed time is 105
In the case of an electrolytic capacitor having a temperature of 2000 ° C. for about 2000 hours, about 60 ° C. is specified as the limit value of temperature rise from the Arrhenius equation. Therefore, in the standby state, each component of the engine control unit 1 does not exceed the temperature rise limit value,
The maximum temperature detected by the thermistor 2 is set as the first set temperature A, and when the detection result of the thermistor 2 becomes equal to or higher than the first set temperature A, the fan motor 3 is turned on to perform the cooling operation.

On the other hand, during the recording operation (printing operation) of the main body of the apparatus, the scanner 5, the main motor 6, the image controller 7 and the toner cartridge, which is a mechanism that contributes to the electrophotographic process, in addition to the electric components of the engine control unit 1. There is concern about excessive temperature rise in item 8. Similar to the engine control unit 1, the limit value of temperature rise is specified for the electrical parts of each mechanism, and the limit value of temperature increase is specified for the other parts at the operating temperature. In the case of printing operation, the engine control unit 1
Also, the maximum temperature detected by the thermistor 2 within a range in which the mechanism contributing to the electrophotographic process does not exceed the temperature rise limit value is lower than the first set temperature A. Therefore, this temperature is set as the second set temperature B. When the temperature is set and the detection result of the thermistor 2 becomes equal to or higher than the second set temperature B, the fan motor 3 is turned on to perform the cooling operation.

As described in detail above, according to this embodiment,
When there is no concern about excessive temperature rise of the device body from the temperature detected by the thermistor 2, the fan motor 3 is stopped, and on-demand cooling that operates the fan motor 3 only when there is concern about excessive temperature rise is realized, reducing power consumption. Also, it is possible to prevent dirt from being caused by dust in the apparatus body.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In the above-described first embodiment, the second set temperature B is set based on the service life and operating temperature of the mechanical parts that contribute to the electrophotographic process, but in the present embodiment, the second set temperature B is fixed. It is set based on the temperature control temperature of the heater 4 for use.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the fixing heater 4 is temperature-controlled at a high temperature at the start of printing, and is controlled at a low temperature as the number of prints is increased. The second set temperature B is set by judging the number of prints from the temperature controlled by the fixing heater 4. That is, when the number of prints is large and there is a concern that the temperature of the main body of the apparatus may be excessively increased, the second set temperature B is set low so that the fan motor 3 is turned on and operated. On the contrary, when the number of prints is small and there is no concern about excessive temperature rise of the apparatus main body, the second set temperature B is set high so that the fan motor 3 is turned off.

As described in detail above, according to this embodiment,
By determining the number of prints from the temperature controlled by the fixing heater 4 and setting the second set temperature B, the fan motor 3 is stopped when the excessive temperature rise of the apparatus body is not a concern. On-demand cooling that operates the fan motor 3 only when there is a concern about excessive temperature rise of the main body is achieved, and it is possible to reduce power consumption and prevent dirt from dust inside the apparatus main body.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the above-described first embodiment, the first set temperature A and the second set temperature B are set, and the on / off control of the fan motor 3 is performed. However, when the fan motor 3 is turned on at the end of printing as shown in FIG. 4, the fan motor 3 is turned off at the same time as the end of printing in the first embodiment, so that the mechanism that contributes to the electrophotographic process may fail. There is concern about temperature rise.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a third set temperature C that is lower than the first set temperature A and higher than the second set temperature B is set based on the temperature rise of the mechanism that contributes to the electrophotographic process. When the fan motor 3 is turned on at the end of printing, the fan motor 3 is turned off when the detected temperature of the thermistor 2 becomes equal to or lower than the third set temperature C.

As described above in detail, according to this embodiment,
A third set temperature C, which is lower than the first set temperature A and higher than the second set temperature B, is set based on the temperature rise of the mechanism that contributes to the electrophotographic process, and the fan motor 3 is turned on at the end of printing. If the detected temperature of the thermistor 2 becomes equal to or lower than the third set temperature C, the fan motor 3 is turned off to determine the number of prints from the temperature control temperature of the fixing heater 4. By setting the second set temperature B by setting the second set temperature B, the fan motor 3 is stopped and the excessive temperature rise of the mechanism contributing to the electrophotographic process is stopped when the excessive temperature rise of the mechanism contributing to the electrophotographic process is not a concern. On-demand cooling that operates the fan motor 3 is realized only when there is a concern, and it is possible to achieve a reduction in power consumption and the prevention of dirt from dust inside the apparatus body.

[0024]

As described in detail above, according to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, when the temperature of the apparatus main body does not rise excessively, such as during a recording operation for a short time when the operating environment temperature is low and during a standby of the recording operation,
Since the cooling means is not operated, the power consumption can be reduced and the inside of the apparatus main body can be prevented from being contaminated by dust.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the configuration of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of the image recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Engine Control Unit (Electrical Parts and Control Means) 2 Thermistor (Temperature Detection Means) 3 Fan Motor (Cooling Means) 4 Fixing Heater (Heaters)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In an image recording apparatus using an electrophotographic process and having a heater for fixing toner, a temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature of an electric component portion, a cooling means for cooling an image forming apparatus main body, and a recording operation standby time. In the case where the detected value of the temperature detecting means is equal to or higher than the uniquely set first set temperature, the cooling means is operated and the detected value of the temperature detecting means is uniquely set during the recording operation. Control means for controlling the cooling means to operate when the temperature exceeds a preset temperature of 2, wherein the second preset temperature is lower than the first preset temperature. Image recording device. 2. The first set temperature is set based on the service life and operating temperature of the electrical components of the electrical component section, and the second set temperature is the service life of mechanical components contributing to the electrophotographic process. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image recording apparatus is set based on a use temperature. 3. The second set temperature is set based on a controlled temperature of the heater.
The image recording apparatus described. 4. The second temperature is lower than the first set temperature.
If a third set temperature higher than the set temperature is set, and the cooling value is below the third set temperature when the cooling means is operating at the end of the recording operation, The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the cooling unit is stopped by the control unit.