JPH0916031A - Printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a printer device capable of smoothly eliminating jammed recording sheets being stagnant in a fixing mechanical part without scattering of toner. CONSTITUTION: This device is provided with a transfer development unit 52, a toner fixing means 50, a control part 2 driving/controlling them, a sheets transfer system 51, a main body casing part housing these respective parts and an upper cover. The toner fixing means 50 is provided with a heat roller and a pressure roller, and is provided with a pair of sheets feeding rollers on its downstream side. Then, the control part 2 is provided with a whole drive/control function simultaneously driving/controlling the whole operation of respective electric systems and a fixing means drive/control function selecting/driving only the toner fixing means 50, and further, an operation command switch 3 commanding the execution of the fixing means drive/control function is arranged side by side on the control part 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a printer device in which toner fixing means, which is one of the constituent units of a printer, includes a heat roller and a pressure roller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic laser printer is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a large number of units, such as a laser oscillator and a high-voltage discharger, which are dangerous when the operator touches them easily, are provided inside the device.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, a sheet storage section 62 storing two types of recording sheets 201 and 202, and a recording sheet 201 (or 2) delivered from the sheet storage section 62.
02) to be conveyed along the conveyance path 64.
A, 65B, 65C 65D, a transfer / development unit (including the photosensitive drum 66A, a transfer unit 66B, etc.) 52 and a toner fixing mechanism 53, which are installed along the conveyance path 64, and a main body housing unit 60 that accommodates them. It has and. Reference numeral 61 denotes an upper cover of the main body casing 60, and reference numeral 67 denotes a paper guide for guiding the recording paper 201 (or 202) to be sent to the outside. Reference numeral 68 indicates a pick roller.

In the above-mentioned conventional example, from the viewpoint of safety for the operator, all units related to a series of mechanisms of the printer device such as "paper feed->transfer->fixing-> recording paper discharge", for example, the paper transport shown in FIG. Drive system 5
1, the driving power sources for the transfer and development unit 52, the toner fixing mechanism 53, and the fixing heater 55 are configured to depend on the same power source unit 59 and the same power source switch (interlock switch 59A). Reference numeral 51
Reference numerals a and 51b denote conveyance rollers forming a part of the sheet conveyance drive system 51.

Here, the fixing mechanism portion (FIG. 5) in the above conventional example will be described in detail. In FIG. 5, the toner fixing mechanism 53 includes a fixing mechanism main body 53A and a main body cover 53B mounted on the fixing mechanism main body 53A. The pressure roller 53 is provided on the fixing mechanism main body 53A side.
E and a paper feed roller 54B provided downstream thereof are provided, and the heat roller 5 is provided on the body cover 53B side.
3F and a sheet feeding roller 54A provided downstream thereof are provided.

The heat roller 53F and the pressure roller 53E fix the toner T on the recording paper 201 to the recording paper 201, and the paper feeding roller 54
The recording paper 201 can be sent to the outside by A and 54B.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 201A indicates a state in which the leading end of the recording paper 201 is jammed.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the upper cover 61 (see FIG.
However, at the same time when the upper cover 61 is opened, the interlock switch 59A shown in FIG. 4 described above is actuated, whereby all the units described above are set to the power-off (OFF) state at once. It has become so.

In the above-described conventional printer, as shown in FIG. 5, when the recording paper is discharged by the toner fixing mechanism 53, the recording paper 201 is, for example, the paper guide 55.
If it becomes jammed and jams, it must be removed.

In such a case, first, the upper cover 61 of the printer device is opened, and the heat roller 53F of the toner fixing mechanism 53 and the other paper feeding roller 54B are manually turned from the outside to the jammed recording paper. The configuration is such that 201A is pulled out by hand and removed.

[0011]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, from the viewpoint of safety, the upper cover 6 of the printer device is used.
When 1 is opened, the interlock switch 59A is turned off, and the "paper feed → transfer → fixing →
All units related to a series of mechanisms of the printer device such as “printing of recording paper” are powered off. For this reason, the toner fixing unit 50 and the transport drive system 51 are also completely incorporated in the mechanism, so they stop at the same time.

In this case, the toner T, which is not yet fixed in front of the heat roller 53F and is electrostatically adhered to the recording paper 201, spills from the recording paper 201 when it is pulled out by the jammed paper removing operation. As a result, there is always the inconvenience of spilling inside and outside of the device due to vibration and wind, and soiling hands and clothes every time the jammed paper is removed.

Further, if the recording paper 201 is forcibly pulled, the recording paper 201 is sometimes broken and the fragments thereof are removed by the toner fixing mechanism 5.
There was an inconvenience such as being left inside 3.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-119555, unfixed toner is fixed after a jam and the recording paper is discharged.

However, the one described in this publication is not a means for removing a jam generated during fixing, but after removing a jam generated at another location, fixing the unjammed recording paper during fixing and immediately before fixing. And then discharge.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-55054 discloses that a lamp is provided in a fixing device, and the unfixed toner is semi-fixed by the accumulated heat to remove the jammed recording paper. There is.

However, according to such a method, although the unfixed toner can be semi-solidified, the unfixed state is maintained, so that the scattering cannot be prevented and the toner is incomplete. It was

[0018]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the conventional example, and in particular, to provide a printer device capable of smoothly removing a recording sheet jammed and retained in a fixing mechanism portion without scattering toner. The purpose is to do.

[0019]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a transfer developing unit for transferring a predetermined toner image formed on a photosensitive drum onto a recording sheet, and a toner image on the transferred recording sheet are fixed. Toner fixing means, a control part for driving and controlling the toner fixing means, a paper conveying system for introducing and discharging the recording paper, a main body housing part and an upper cover for housing these parts, and opening of the upper cover. An interlock switch for setting the power supply of each of the above parts to the off state together with the operation.

The toner fixing means includes a toner fixing section composed of a heat roller and a pressure roller, a pair of sheet feeding rollers mounted downstream of the toner fixing section for feeding a recording sheet to the outside, and a fixing unit in the heat roller. It is provided with a heater and a fixing mechanism case that houses these parts.

Further, the control section has an overall drive control function for simultaneously driving and controlling the operation of the entire electric system such as the transfer and development unit and the toner fixing means, and a fixing means drive control function for selectively driving only the toner fixing means. Along with the provision, an operation command switch for commanding the execution of the fixing unit drive control function is additionally provided to this control unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the operation command switch is constituted by an on / off switch, and
The above-mentioned fixing mechanism case includes a lower case portion (fixing mechanism main body) which is open at the upper side for holding the pressure roller rotatably, and an upper case which forms a lid portion of the lower case portion and rotatably holds the heat roller. Part (main body cover), and further, an operation command switch is mounted on the upper case part.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the heat roller is provided in addition to the toner fixing mechanism described above, and when the temperature sensor detects a predetermined temperature, the control unit controls the fixing unit drive. The configuration is set to execute the function. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0024]

[Operation] When the operator removes the paper guide 67 and then opens the upper cover 61 to remove the jammed recording paper 201, the power supply of the entire apparatus is controlled to be turned off. In this case, the jammed recording paper 2
However, when the downstream half of the jammed recording paper 201 is being fixed, the operation command switch 3 for the control unit 2 separately provided is pressed.

The operation command switch 3 is provided, for example, on the upper cover 53B of the toner fixing means 50, and can be easily turned on when the upper cover 61 is open.

Immediately after the operation command switch 3 is turned on, the fixing unit drive control function of the control unit 2 is activated, and power is applied only to the toner fixing unit 50 described above. As a result, the toner fixing means 50 is operated, and the unfixed toner T is fixed on the recording paper 201 and discharged.

[0027]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a predetermined toner image formed on the photosensitive drum is recorded on the recording paper 20.
1 and a toner fixing mechanism 53 for fixing the transferred toner image on the recording paper 201.
And a sheet conveying system 51 for introducing and ejecting the recording sheet 201
And a control unit 2 for controlling the operation of each of these units. Reference numeral 55 indicates a fixing heater. The fixing heater 50 and the toner fixing mechanism 53 constitute the toner fixing means 50. Further, reference numeral 60 indicates a main body housing portion that accommodates each of these portions, and reference numeral 61 indicates an upper cover thereof.

The toner fixing mechanism 53 has a heat roller 53F and a pressure roller 53, as in the conventional example described above.
E, the heat roller 53F and the pressure roller 5
A pair of paper feed rollers 54A and 54B that are provided on the downstream side of 3E and that feed the recording paper 201 to the outside are provided. These are the fixing mechanism main body (lower case part) 5
3A and a main body cover (upper case part) 53B are stored and equipped.

A sheet detection sensor 2A is provided between the heat roller 53F and the pressure roller 53E and the pair of sheet feeding rollers 54A and 54B. As a result, when the recording sheet 201 is present on the sheet conveying path 64 in the meantime, a predetermined signal is sent to the control unit 2 described above. In such a case, when the paper detection signal is input from the paper detection sensor 2A even though the paper conveyance system 51 is not operating, the control unit 2 determines that the recording paper 201 is jammed and the display unit 11 is determined. It is designed to be displayed externally using.

The heat roller 53F is equipped with a temperature sensor 2B, and the temperature information of the heat roller 53F is constantly sent to the controller 2. The control unit 2 thereby prevents overheating of the heat roller 53F, and controls the temperature so that the heat roller 53F can maintain a predetermined temperature set in advance at all times.

Further, the control section 2 has a normal entire drive control function for simultaneously driving and controlling the operations of the entire electric system such as the transfer and development unit 52 and the toner fixing mechanism 53 described above.
It has a fixing means drive control function for selectively driving only the toner fixing mechanism 53 and the fixing heater 55. The control unit 2 operates the entire drive control function when the upper cover 61 is not opened, and can automatically select the fixing unit drive control function when the upper cover 61 is opened. Is set.

The fixing unit drive control function of the control unit 2 is as follows.
When the temperature of the heat roller 53F becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the heat roller 53F is activated to start the operation of the paper transport system 51.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a fixing means power switch which is turned on when the operation command switch 3 is turned on and the fixing means drive control function of the control section 2 is activated. Also, the symbol S
_M indicates the main power switch.

Further, the fixing unit drive control function in the control unit 2 stops the operation of the sheet conveying system 51 when the temperature of the heat roller 53F is lower than the predetermined temperature, and the temperature of the heat roller 53F becomes higher than the predetermined temperature. In some cases, the so-called temperature dependency that activates the operation of the paper transport system 51 is provided.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. First, when the main power switch S _M is turned on in a normal state, the entire device is set to an operating state. Next, on the paper delivery side of the toner fixing mechanism 53, the recording paper 201 is jammed as in the case of the above-described conventional example, and the recording paper 201 is jammed.
When the discharge traveling of is stopped, the control unit 2 displays the occurrence of jam on the display unit 11.

Here, the jammed recording paper 20
In order to eliminate 1A, the operator uses a paper guide 6
After removing 7, after opening the upper cover 61,
At the same time, the interlock switch 59A is actuated, and the energization operation of the entire device is released. by this,
The jammed recording paper 201 can be easily taken out. In this case, when the downstream half of the jammed recording paper 201 is being fixed, the operation command switch 3 is pressed.

Immediately after the operation command switch 3 is turned on, the fixing unit drive control function of the control unit 2 is activated, and power is applied only to the toner fixing unit 50 described above. As a result, the fixing unit 50 operates, and the unfixed toner T is fixed on the recording paper 201 and discharged. For this reason, it is possible to effectively prevent the scattering of the toner T, which is caused by jamming in the conventional example and occurs each time the recording paper 201 is removed. or,
The pair of paper feeding rollers 54A and 54B are used as the recording paper 201.
Therefore, the recording sheet 201 is not forcibly pulled to damage the recording sheet 201, and the fragments do not remain inside the toner fixing unit 50.

Then, the paper detection sensor 2A causes the recording paper 2
When the end of the discharge of 01 is detected, a predetermined signal is output to the control unit 2, whereby the operations of the toner fixing unit 50 and the sheet conveying system 51 are ended.

[0039]

Since the present invention is constructed and functions as described above, according to the present invention, in order to take out jammed paper, the upper cover is set to the open state and the toner fixing means is set to the operating state. As a result, it becomes possible to fix all unfixed toner that has adhered when removing the jammed recording paper, and then automatically eject it. It is possible to completely eliminate the inconvenience of unfixed toner on the paper spilling and contaminating other paper or the inside of the device, or soiling the operator's hands or clothes, and further when removing the jammed recording paper. In particular, it is possible to remove jammed recording paper without the trouble of opening the upper case (main body cover) of the toner fixing means, which is an unprecedented advantage. The printer can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control system block circuit diagram showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially omitted sectional view showing an example of a fixing unit portion in the control system block circuit diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram showing the operation control system of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a partially omitted sectional view showing an example of a fixing means portion disclosed in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Control Section 2A Paper Detection Sensor 2B Temperature Sensor 3 Operation Command Switch 50 Toner Fixing Unit 51 Paper Conveying System 52 Transfer Development Unit 53A Fixing Mechanism Main Body 53B Main Body Cover 53E Pressure Roller 53F Heat Roller 54A, 54B Paper Feeding Roller 59A Interlock Switch 60 Main body case 61 Upper cover 201 Recording paper 201A Jamed recording paper S _M Main power switch

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transfer developing unit for transferring a predetermined toner image formed on a photosensitive drum onto a recording sheet, and a toner fixing unit for fixing the transferred toner image on the recording sheet.
A control unit for driving and controlling the toner fixing unit, a paper transport system for introducing and discharging the recording paper, a main body housing unit and an upper cover for housing these units, and an operation for opening the upper cover and a power supply for the respective units. And an interlock switch for setting the OFF state to an OFF state, wherein the toner fixing unit includes a toner fixing unit including a heat roller and a pressure roller, and a pair of downstream side of the toner fixing unit for sending the recording paper to the outside. A sheet feeding roller, a fixing heater in the heat roller,
In a printer apparatus including a fixing mechanism case that accommodates each of these units, the control unit has an overall drive control function that simultaneously controls the operation of the entire electrical system such as the transfer and development unit and the toner fixing unit. A printer device having a fixing unit drive control function for selectively driving only the toner fixing unit, and an operation command switch for instructing execution of the fixing unit drive control function is provided in addition to this control unit. 2. The operation command switch comprises an on / off switch, and the fixing mechanism case has a fixing mechanism main body whose upper side is open to hold a pressure roller rotatably, and a lid of the fixing mechanism main body. 2. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printer device comprises a main body cover that forms a unit and rotatably holds the heat roller, and the operation command switch is provided in the fixing mechanism main body. 3. The toner fixing means is provided with a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of a heat roller, and when the temperature sensor detects a predetermined temperature, the control section executes the fixing means drive control function. 2. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printer device is set to.