JPS58174960A - Recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute maintenance at a correct timing and to prolong life, by detecting the period for maintenance, announcing the same and changing either of an image part and a nonimage part substantially from the normal density. CONSTITUTION:A controller 18 controls the electrification potential of a photosensitive belt 1 by controlling an electrifying device 5. Upon attaining of the period for maintenance, the controller decreases the electrification potential from a normal value to make the image density of the record considerably lower than the normal density to force the operator to recognize the same; therefore, the operator is able to make maintenance at the correct period. The critical state of the device and the decreased life thereof are thus prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording method such as an electrophotographic method, an electrostatic recording method, and a -7 Dunnetograph method.

Conventionally, in recording devices such as copiers, printers, plotters, and facsimile mills, the timing of replacing the recording medium and cleaning of the charger and static eliminator are determined by recording a preset number of sheets, or by determining the number of sheets of the recording medium, etc. A signal was detected by some means to notify the operator that it was time for maintenance. However, for components such as recorders and chargers that are still capable of recording even after the maintenance period has passed, it may be fatal to continue recording under unfavorable conditions after the component's maintenance period has passed. There are many cases where the condition deteriorates or the lifespan is shortened. - If a component is made unrecordable when it reaches its maintenance period, the operator may not be aware that the above-mentioned problem will occur if the component continues to record after the maintenance period has passed. People will be dissatisfied with the fact that it was possible to record but it suddenly became impossible to record.

An object of the present invention is to provide a recording method that eliminates the above-mentioned problems.

The present invention will be described below by way of examples with reference to the drawings.

Each embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the time for maintenance such as replacement or cleaning of components such as units and parts in the recording device is detected by some means, and the operator is notified to that effect. When the maintenance period is reached, the image is output with an image quality significantly different from the normal image quality.

Significantly different image quality here means, for example, that the density of the image area is too low or blurry than the normal density, or that the density of the non-image area is too high than the normal density (so-called too much background dirt). However, the image quality must be such that the operator feels uncomfortable when printing.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus for implementing the present invention, and this recording apparatus uses an electrophotographic method.

An endless photoreceptor belt 1 includes a driving roller 2 and a driven roller 3.
The developing device 4 is
It is also available as a cassette. The photoreceptor belt 1 is uniformly charged by a charger 5, and then a light image (here, an image from a film) is projected by an exposure device 6 to form a latent image, which is developed into a latent image by a developer 4. be done. The transfer paper is fed from the paper feeding device] housing 7 and conveyed by the conveyance roller 8. After the image on the photoreceptor belt l is transferred by the transfer corona discharger 9, the image is fixed by the fixing device 10 and transferred to the tray. It is discharged to 11. Also, the photoreceptor belt 1 is +:i+i
After the image transfer, the static electricity is removed by the electricity removal lamp 12 and cleaned by the cleaner 13.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit for detecting and informing an operator that a component in the recording apparatus is due for maintenance. The sensor 14 detects the transfer paper at a predetermined position on the conveyance path, and the counter 15 counts the number of prints by counting the signal from the sensor 4. The comparator 16 outputs the value of the counter 15 aiq:?
- When the number of prints reaches the preset number and the value of the counter 15 reaches the reference value, the components are scheduled for maintenance 11.1. It is assumed that the signal has been reached and an output signal is generated.

=t7 When the toler 18 receives the output signal from the comparator 16, it drives the notification means consisting of a display and an alarm on the operation panel, and displays text and sounds to indicate that the component has reached the maintenance period. In addition to notifying the operator, a predetermined control is performed to change the image quality to something significantly different from the normal image quality as described above. This control differs depending on each embodiment of the present invention as follows.

In the first embodiment, the controller x81i controls the charger 5 to control the charging potential Vs of the photoreceptor bell (1).

Here, when the controller 18 performs positive/positive recording (recording a positive image as a positive image), the charging potential VS vs. image density ID becomes as shown in FIG. Then, by lowering VS below the normal value, the image intensity of the recorded object is significantly lowered from the normal level.In the characteristic curve diagrams shown in Figure 3 and below, the black circles indicate the normal operating point, and the white circles indicate the maintenance period. In addition, when performing negative/blank recording (recording a negative image as a positive image), the Vs vs. ID of the controller 18 will be 0 in Figure 3, so the component will need maintenance. When Vs reaches the normal value, the background of the recorded material is greatly stained.The charger 5 is generally used in a corotron or scorotron, and the controller 18 applies voltage to the charge wire. VS is controlled by controlling the potential ■G applied to df, fqVc or the grid wire (scorotron field A1).Vc vs. Vs,
The relationship between VC and Vs is as shown in ■ and @ in Figure 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the scorotron includes a casing 19, a churn wire 20. It consists of a grid wire 21 and a charge wire 20. Power supplies 22 and 23 to the grid wire 21
A predetermined potential VC.

\'G is applied, and this power supply 22 or 23 is controlled by the controller 18 as described above.

° In the second embodiment, the controller 18 sets the exposure conditions to 11
i11 rr+u L, especially controlling the exposure energy.

In other words, when the component reaches the maintenance time, the controller 18 reduces the exposure energy Qe to a lower value than the normal value (Hil!). control Therefore, as is clear from FIG. 5, when performing positive 7/' blank recording, background stains occur on the recorded material, and when performing negative/positive recording, the image temperature of the recorded material is insufficient. The controller 18 is connected to the exposure device 6 and controls the exposure energy by changing the level of the image signal in case of an internal modulation method in which a semiconductor laser or light emitting diode is used as a light source and is directly modulated with an image signal. . The exposure device 6 may be of a type in which a light beam from a gas laser is modulated into an image signal by an optical modulator made of an acousto-optic element or an electro-optic element and scanned onto the photoreceptor belt 1 by an optical deflector, a cathode ray tube or optical fiber
External modulation methods include a method in which the drum is modulated with an image signal and the emitted light is used for exposure, and a method in which the bell is illuminated with a light source and the reflected light is exposed to the photoreceptor belt 1 through an optical system and a slit. However, the controller 18 can similarly control the exposure energy for these methods as well.

In the third embodiment, the controller 18 controls image quality by controlling development conditions. The developing device 4 uses a magnetic brush developing device as shown in FIG.
The toner adsorbed onto the photoreceptor belt 1 is transported as the developing sleeve 24 rotates, and the amount of toner is adjusted by the doctor 27 to develop the latent image on the photoreceptor belt 1. The controller 18 controls the power supply 26 to control the development start potential (development bias voltage (jx2:'JB)'ir), and when the component reaches the maintenance time, the development bias potential vB is changed from the normal potential. At this time, if you want to generate background stains on the recorded material, if the charge level Vs is constant, as shown in Figure 7, in blur/positive recording, IV
The B+ will be lowered, and the IVB+ will be increased for negative/bottom records.

As shown in FIG. 8, the photoreceptor bell 1 comprises a paste 28, a conductive layer 29, a recording layer 30, and a conductive reinforcing layer 31.

In the fourth embodiment, the controller 18 controls the switch 32, and the conductive reinforcing layer 31 is normally grounded via the conductive bra/33 and the switch 32. The components are grounded via a medans element 34. Therefore, the conductive layer 29 is given a potential biased from the ground potential (generated by corona discharge current, developing current, etc. flowing through the impedance element 34), and the developing conditions change from normal conditions. In this case, the impedance of the impedance element 34 is infinite, which means that the conductive layer 29 is in a floating state.

In the fifth embodiment, the controller 18 controls the transfer conditions. As shown in FIG. 9, the transfer corona discharger 9 is
Transfer potential vT is applied by controller 1.
8 is the power supply 35 when the component reaches the maintenance period.
to lower the transcriptional type f\XVT. Therefore, as can be seen from FIG. 10, the transfer efficiency of the toner image decreases, and the image density on the transfer paper, mainly in the image area, becomes insufficient and the image becomes blurred.

As shown in FIG. 11, there is a system that performs shift control with respect to the endless photoreceptor belt (l).
6, the belt is moved vertically (A, B) and controlled by utilizing the uneven belt tension.

Therefore, a position A' is set further above the normal uppermost position, and when the component reaches the maintenance time, the lever 36 is driven by the drive unit in response to a signal from the controller 18 to move the photoreceptor belt 1. - It can also be moved to position A'. At this time, as shown in FIG. 12, the distance between the photoreceptor belt 1 and the transfer corona discharger 9 becomes large, and the 1III image on the transfer paper 37 becomes blurred.

As shown in FIG. 2, a reset switch 37 for manual reset operation is provided to prevent an abnormally bad image from being produced in special cases. ! When canceling the state of outputting the I image, it is preferable to operate the reset switch 37 (81) and use the operation signal to reset the counter 15 using the controller 18.Furthermore, the abnormal image can be output only once or for a short period of time. After that, it may be configured to indicate that output is not possible inside the recording device.This is to prevent output from being output for a long time in an abnormal state.Furthermore, each of the above actual sister examples 'ff:#-instead of multiple numbers may be set as appropriate. May be combined with

-Also, it may be possible to determine which unit or section requires maintenance such as cleaning or replacement based on the content of the abnormal image.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a component of the recording apparatus is due for maintenance, it is not only detected and notified to the operator by the notification means, but also the density of either the image area or the non-image area is detected. By changing one or both of the concentrations from the normal concentration to a noticeably different concentration, the operator is made aware of the change, allowing maintenance to be performed at the correct time and preventing the recording device from becoming fatally bad.
This prevents shortening of life, and also reduces dissatisfaction for the operator.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus for implementing the present invention.
, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the rotation circuit% As J
11 for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 4 is a raw scorotron and its power source gas circuit 14, Figure 5 is a characteristic diagram for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a developing device. Uun],
Figure 7 is a characteristic diagram for explaining the third embodiment of the present invention, Figure 8 is a diagram for explaining the fourth embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 9 is a schematic diagram showing the transfer section. , I Figure 10 is a characteristic diagram for explaining the embodiment of 'F, 5 of the present invention, Sae-11.
This figure and FIG. 12 are diagrams for explaining a sixth embodiment of the present invention. 14...Sensor, 15...Counter, 16...Comparator, 17...Mode setter, 18...Controller. 7?5Y Enraku 2■ Rod σ Enraku υg Shape C mouth ■N cause No JZ circle

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a method for recording with a recording device having predetermined components that require maintenance, the detection means detects the maintenance time of the component and informs the operator by the notification means, and the image area density and non-image density are A recording method characterized by changing either 10,000 or both swords from the normal density to a different density above the head.