JPS60252380A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform optimum fixing and improve the durability of a rotating body for fixing by reducing or raising the set temperature and the set speed of the fixing rotating body in accordance with the type of recording materials and displaying set conditions. CONSTITUTION:A recording material detecting means 50 detects the tyep of a recording material, and the detection signal is sent to a fixing control part 51, and the output signal is sent to a cleaning web means, and a pressing rubber roll 481 is pressed to the surface of a fixing roll 31 at a transparency fixing time. A fixing control means 51 sends signals to a temperature control means 53 and a speed control means 54. The temperature control means 53 receives the detection signal from a temperature detecting means 58, which detects the temperature of the surface of a roll 34 as the fixing rotating body, to control the supply power of a power supply means 55 to a heater 37. The speed control means 54 controls driving of the roll 34 through a driving force control means 56 to control the speed to the set speed. These set temperature and speed are displayed on a display part 52.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention A. Object of the Invention [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image recording device such as a copying machine, a (laser beam) printer, a printing machine, or a facsimile machine, particularly to a toner image on a recording material. A fixing rotor for heat fixing, a temperature control means for controlling the surface temperature of the fixing rotor to a predetermined temperature, and a speed control for driving and controlling the circumferential speed of the fixing rotor to a predetermined set speed. and a setting switching means for decreasing or increasing both the set temperature and the set speed of the fixing rotary body depending on the type of the recording material, and an image comprising a display section showing the status of the entire apparatus. It relates to a recording device.

[Prior art]

In recent years, recorded images have been made in multiple colors as well as single colors, and their fixability and clarity have been studied. In particular, in an electrophotographic device, which is a typical color image recording device, a color toner image is formed on a carrier such as a photoreceptor or dielectric material having a photoconductive layer, and this color toner image is used as a recording material. After being transferred and electrostatically supported, the recording material is heated and pressurized between a pair of rollers to obtain a full color image or a monochromatic color image on the recording material.

However, in recent years, this type of device has made it possible to use plain paper (thick letter, postcard, thin paper, etc.) as a recording material, and overhead projectors (hereinafter referred to as OHP) have become available.
It can also be used to record images on transparent resin films (hereinafter referred to as TRAPEN) used in 2015, but the fixability and sharpness of these films were unsatisfactory in some cases. In particular, it has been nearly impossible to record color toner images on trap pens, despite the extremely high demands. In other words, many new problems have arisen regarding image clarity, fixability, and degree of occurrence of offset, and the method has not been put to practical use.

Among these problems, the problem of the color tone of the image on the trap pen will be briefly explained.

Even when heated and fixed in the same way as conventional color image fixing, O
When a color image on a trap pen is projected onto a screen and observed using HP, a practical color tone cannot be obtained.For example, a projected image of yellow toner becomes dark overall, and in particular, halftone portions become gray. Furthermore, the cyan and magenta projected images were completely darkened, and the color tones shifted to pale green and red, respectively, making them unusable.

These phenomena occur because the color toner on the film is fixed in a semi-molten state, and the projection light of OHP is affected by the fact that there is an air layer inside the toner layer or the surface of the toner layer is rough. It is thought that this is caused by refraction and scattering of light when it passes through the toner layer.

Therefore, in order to improve the color tone of the projected image on the screen, the toner should be sufficiently melted and the areas where the toner is thick or densely adhered should be fused to the same level as the toner surface to minimize the air space. Also, it is necessary to make the surface of the toner even more flat.

However, if the amount of heat given to the toner is increased by known means such as: (1) increasing the temperature of the heating port, (2) decreasing the circumferential speed of the heating roller, (2) widening the nip width between the pair of fixing rollers, The toner sometimes drips onto the surface of the heating roller on the side that comes into contact with the toner, resulting in missing or smeared images in some cases. Furthermore, there is a problem in that the durability of the releasable material to be cleaned on the surface of the heating roller is significantly reduced, making it necessary to replace the heating roller at an early stage.

This interphase is often seen in color images, especially in monochromatic or multicolor images on a trapezoid. Therefore, in the fixing device, the surface temperature and circumferential speed of the heating roller are determined according to various recording materials such as plain paper and paper pens, and the optimal fixing conditions are determined for each case. The image recording device must be controlled so that only predetermined recording materials are sent to the fixing device.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus that provides optimal fixing performance to each recording material and improves the durability of the fixing rotary body. .

Summary: Structure of the Invention [Means for Solving the Problems] For the purpose of L. temperature control means for controlling the circumferential speed of the fixing rotor to a predetermined set speed; and speed control means for driving and controlling the circumferential speed of the fixing rotor to a predetermined set speed; A fixing condition M'tH part in which the set temperature and set speed of the fixing rotor are both decreased or increased, and a set temperature and set speed of the fixing rotor. the display unit that displays at least one of the times when the value reaches a predetermined value;
An image recording device characterized by having:

[Effect]

The purpose of the invention can be achieved by reducing or increasing both the set temperature and set speed of the fixing rotor depending on the type of recording material when heat-fixing a toner image, and displaying that the set conditions are being controlled. achieved.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an electrophotographic color copying apparatus as an image recording apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an electrophotographic photosensitive drum (hereinafter simply referred to as drum) having an insulating layer on its surface, which is rotatably supported by a shaft 2, and starts rotating in the direction of arrow 3 in response to a copy command. When the drum l rotates to the normal position, the original 0 placed on the original platen glass 4 is illuminated by an illumination lamp 6 integrated with the first scanning mirror 5.
The reflected light is scanned by the second scanning mirror 7. By moving the first scanning mirror 5 and the second scanning mirror 7 at a speed ratio of 1:bending, the original is scanned while the optical path length from the original O to the lens 8 is always kept constant.

-1- After the reflection structure passes through the lens 8 and the third mirror 9,
The light is separated into colors by a color separation filter 1O, and further passes through a fourth mirror 11 and a dust-proof sealing glass 12, and then is imaged onto a drum 1 by an exposure section 13.

The drum l is charged by a static eliminator 14, and then is charged by a primary charger 15.
After being charged (for example, positive) by
The image illuminated by the illumination lamp 6 is illuminated by the slit 7g. At the same time, the static electricity of the opposite polarity (for example, negative) to the AC or - is removed using the static eliminator 16, and then the entire surface is exposed using the full surface exposure lamp 17, thereby removing the charge from the drum 1.
A high contrast electrostatic latent image is formed thereon.

The electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by passing through the developing device 18. Developer 18 is yellow 181
, magenta 182, cyan 183 and black 18-4.
(It is composed of 1!L developing devices, and a designated developing device operates in accordance with the color separation filter 10 used for exposure to obtain a toner image of the required color.

A transfer material 201 as a recording material in a cassette 191 is fed into the machine by a paper feed roller 211, and the rough timing is determined by the first register roller 22, and then the accurate timing is determined by the second register roller 23. , its leading end is gripped by the grip and pawl 24 of the transfer drum 29.

The details of the transfer drum will be described later, but as the transfer drum 29 rotates, the transfer material 201 is transported while being wrapped around the drum 29, and while the transfer material 201 passes between the transfer charger 25 and the drum l, the transfer material is The I.Ner image of Dra 1.11: is transferred to. The transfer drum 29 rotates at a required number of rotations while gripping the leading end of the transfer material 201 with the gripper 24, and images of the required number of colors are transferred.

The copying machine shown in the figure is equipped with two cassettes loaded with transfer materials of different sizes and types, and is configured to feed paper in a switched manner.

After the transfer bond is completed, the transfer material is released from the gripper 24, guided by the separating claws 26 to the transport heald 2, and transferred to the heat fixing device, where it is moved to the fixing roller 31.
34, and is fixed by pressure and heating to the tray 30.
is discharged to. After the transfer, the surface of the drum 1 is cleaned by a cleaning device 28 composed of an elastic blade, and then the drum 1 is moved to the next cycle.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the above-mentioned heat fixing device, in which pressure rollers 34 and 38 of the same construction are brought into pressure contact with the top and bottom of the fixing roller 31. The fixing roller 31 is a metal pipe 32
The surface thereof is coated with an RTV silicone rubber layer 33. The upper and lower pressure rollers 34 and 38 are metal pipes 35-3.
The surface of 9 is coated with a Teflon (trade name) layer 36.40,
It is an a-configuration in which infrared lamps 37 and 41 are arranged inside.

The silicone oil 43 in the container 42 is applied to the felt 44.
The silicone oil applied to the surface of the upper pressure roller 38 is then applied to the surface of the fixing roller 31.

The coating felt 44 is supported by a rotating shaft 46 together with a presser plate 45, and is moved by an electromagnetic plunger and a tension spring (not shown) between a coating position in which it contacts the pressure roller 38 and a non-coating position in which it does not contact it. .

The cleaning web 47 is pressed onto the surface of the fixing roller 31 by moving the pressing rubber roller 481 in the direction of the arrow only when fixing the trap pen. The take-up roller 48
The roller 31 is wound up while cleaning its surface.

The reason why the cleaning web 47 is activated only when using the trap pen is that since the surface of the trap pen is smoother than that of plain paper, the toner dissolved during fixing is difficult to adhere to the trap pen side and remains on the surface of the fixing roller 31. It's for a reason.

The cleaning felt a-ra 49 is the roller 31.34
．． When the roller 38 is pressurized (synchronized with the operation of the main switch), it moves in the direction of the arrow and comes into contact with the roller 38 to clean the residual toner on the surface of the roller.

Next, a block diagram of the control system shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. Reference numeral 50 is a recording material detection means that detects the type of recording material such as material and thickness. This recording material detection means 50 may be automatic or manual, but when it detects that the recording material is a trap pen, the signal is sent to the fixing condition control section 51.
From there, a signal is sent to the cleaning web contact/separation means 57 to cause it to perform the above-described operation. The fixing condition control section 51 changes the respective magnitudes of the set temperature T of the temperature control means 53 and the set speed V of the speed control means 54 according to the detected recording material. The temperature is also variably controlled to be low. The set speed and temperature set by the fixing condition control section 51 provide fixing properties (conditions) suitable for each recording material. Further, while the variable control is being performed, a signal is sent from the fixing condition control section 51 to the display section 52, and a display indicating an inoperable state of the apparatus, which will be described later, is displayed. When this display is made, the device is rendered unusable and on standby by a predetermined means.

In order to maintain the surface temperature of the roller 34 as a fixing rotating body at a predetermined set temperature, the temperature control means 53 receives a signal from a surface temperature detection means 58 provided in contact with (or in close proximity to) the surface of the roller 34. Upon receiving the detection signal, the heater 3
Temperature control is performed by changing the power supplied to 7.

In order to maintain the surface speed of the lower pressure roller 34 at a predetermined set speed, the speed control means 54 includes a drive transmission member such as a gear or a clutch that changes the speed of the drive force, and a drive force supply means 56 such as a drive motor. , the lower pressure roller 34 is driven and controlled directly or indirectly via the lower pressure roller 38 and the fixing roller 31.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the control panel of the color copying apparatus shown in FIG. 1. Reference numeral 59 denotes a lamp (hereinafter referred to as a wait lamp) indicating whether or not the device is in a copyable state, and is lit or blinks when copying is not possible. 60 is a paper selection switch, which is used when changing the paper to be used between paper or plain paper, and the display lamps 61 and 62 are switched on accordingly.
are lit, and correspond to the recording material detection means 50 in FIG. 2. Reference numeral 63 denotes a print button, which is not activated while the wait lamp 59 is activated (lit or blinking).

The recording material on which the multicolor composite color toner image is formed is the first one.
The image is transported to the fixing device A shown in FIG. If the recording material is thin plain paper, for example, by controlling the lower pressure roller 34 for heat fixing to a set temperature To and a set speed v0, a clear color image with good fixability can be obtained. On the other hand, if the recording material is Trapen, for example, the set temperature T+ (<T
o).

The lower pressure roller is controlled to a set speed Vl (<V.) (These set values are both smaller than those for plain paper.

), the fixed image is clear and has good fixing properties, and the transmitted light of the fixed image is vivid in color. By switching these settings,
It exhibited excellent fixing properties on both plain paper and paperback recording materials, and was able to obtain color images with vivid colors and a small amount of offset.

Note that by operating the paper changeover switch 60 in FIG. 3, the fixing device operates at a predetermined fixing speed and fixing temperature that are programmed in advance.

Next, the operation after the paper changeover switch 60 is activated will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the fixing roller is normally set to paper mode conditions.

When the paper selection switch 60 is activated (step S2)
It is confirmed which mode (the recording material is plain paper or paperback) (step S3), and the fixing roller surface temperature and the circumferential speed of the fixing port J are controlled for each mode.

When setting to trapen mode, set the roller circumferential speed to Vo.
From step s4.5), the surface temperature is measured by the temperature sensor 58, and the set temperature T,
Start controlling so that

Measure the roller surface temperature and check whether it is lower than the set temperature T, and if it is, turn off the heater 37 and turn on or blink the wait lamp 59 (step s6
．． 9.10). A feature of the present invention is that the wait lamp is turned on or blinks when the heater is turned off.
Next, the roller surface temperature is checked again, and when the set temperature T1 is reached, the wait lamp 59 is turned off and the roller surface temperature is maintained at T (steps S7, 8.
11. 19).

When changing to plain paper mode, perform the same control as when changing to trap pen mode (steps 311 to 19), (p.
When setting the surface temperature of the lower pressure roller to To, the heater 37
, and the wait lamp 59 is lit or blinked, which is a known control means.

Here, the set temperature T0 and set speed vo in the paper mode, and the set temperature T8 and set speed ① in the trap mode will be explained. In full-color copying using Trapen as a recording material, it is necessary to apply sufficient heat and heating time compared to the case of plain paper. Therefore, it is possible to raise the temperature of the fixing roller 31, but increasing the temperature of the fixing roller reduces the durability of the release material on the surface of the fixing roller and causes offset of the toner to the release material. Things are more likely to happen.

So, I lowered the fixing o-tera temperature to prevent on-set □□. Ah, Bamboo 4 paper. In order to increase the supplied heat, it is better to lower the circumferential speed of the fixing roller and perform fixing during trapping.
If the circumferential speed of the fixing roller is lowered without changing the temperature of the fixing roller, an offset phenomenon will occur between the fixing roller and the trap pen. This is because the fixing roller is rotated at a low speed, so the amount of heat received by the toner on the trap pen is necessary for fixing the trap pen. This is because the amount of heat is greater than the amount of heat.

FIG. 5 shows this situation using specific numerical values. Note that this value is determined by the upper and lower pressure rollers 3 in the heat fixing device shown in Figure 2.
Both 4.38 and 50 cm in diameter, the Teflon layer is 36.4
The thickness of the fixing roller 31 is 25JL, and the diameter of the fixing roller 31 is 60JL.
The rubber layer has a thickness of 5.5 layers, and the roller 34
．． The measurements were taken with an 80011 halogen lamp installed in the 38-meter chamber.

Curve A in the figure is hot, the temperature at offset (when the temperature of the heat roller is gradually increased, the surface temperature of the heat roller when the toner image on the recording material is offset to the surface of the releasable material of the heat roller), Curve B is the heat roller surface temperature at which a good full-color image can be obtained when projecting on a trap pen and when observing plain paper as is.Curve C is the temperature at cold offset (gradually increasing the heat roller surface temperature). When the temperature is lowered, the surface temperature of the heated roller when the unmelted toner is offset is shown.

As is clear from FIG. 5, the temperature of curve A-C decreases as the circumferential speed of the heat roller is decreased. Therefore,
If the circumferential speed of the fixing roller is lowered in an attempt to obtain optimal fixing conditions for each recording material, it is necessary to lower the surface temperature of the fixing roller. To give a specific numerical example, in plain paper mode, VO is 150 mm/sec and T o is 145°C.
, in trapen mode ■, 30mm/see, T
H is 135°C.

By the way, when fixing on plain paper using the fixing conditions of this Trapen, the color tone of the fixed image is unclear and there is severe offset.
Excessive gloss in the image and curling of plain paper also occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to increase or decrease the amount of heat supplied depending on each recording material and to set optimal fixing conditions.

C. Effects of the Invention As described in detail, according to the present invention, the heating temperature of the fixing roller can be reduced or When the number is increasing, a display is displayed to prohibit the use of the device and to indicate that it is under control. By checking the display status and performing fusing, you can ensure that fusing is performed under the optimal fusing conditions. It will be held on. -Furthermore, the fixing roller has extremely little toner offset, which prevents wear and tear and improves durability. By not operating the print button while the heating temperature is being controlled, it is possible to more reliably fix the image under optimal fixing conditions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an electrophotographic color copying device, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a heat fixing device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the control panel surface of the color copying device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the fixing condition control, and is a characteristic diagram of the circumferential speed versus surface temperature of the fixing roller. 31 is a fixing roller, 34 is a lower jaw pressure roller, 38 is an upper pressure roller, 52 is a display section, and 60 is a paper selection switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A fixing rotor for heating and fixing a toner image on a recording material, a temperature control means for controlling the surface temperature of the fixing rotor to a predetermined temperature, and a circumferential speed of the fixing rotor. a speed control unit that controls the drive to a predetermined set speed; a fixing condition control unit that decreases or increases both the set temperature and set speed of the fixing rotary body depending on the type of the recording material;
the display unit that displays at least one of when the set temperature and set speed of the fixing rotor are decreasing or increasing, and when the set temperature and the set speed of the fixing rotor have reached a predetermined value; An image recording device comprising: