JPS6385764A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always fix an image under conditions conforming with the characteristics of a toner to be used, by identifying the toner which is used by a cartridge, by an identification means, and controlling it to fixing conditions conforming with the toner, by a control means. CONSTITUTION:When a cartridge 9 has been installed to a device body 12, the kind of the toner which is used by the cartridge 9 is detected through microswitches 13, 14 by its projections 11a, 11b. For instance, when the microswitch 13 is turned ON< that is, when the toner is black, an output of an operational amplifier 23 is executed preferentially, and the surface temperature of a fixing roller 17 is set to 180 deg.C. In this way, even when plural kinds of toners are used, an image can always be fixed under conditions conforming with the characteristics of the toner to be used, and an image having good quality is obtained without causing any fixing failure, offset, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an image recording device, particularly an image recording device such as a multicolor copying machine that uses multiple types of toner by replacing cartridges, and is capable of changing fixing conditions. This relates to a device that

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in this type of apparatus, toners of various colors such as black, red, blue, green, and sepia are used.

Since the black toner contains magnetic particles and the types of pigments are different among the toners of each color, the fixing temperature and offset characteristics of each toner are different. However, in the above-mentioned apparatus, since images of toner of each color are recorded under the same fixing conditions, poor fixing, offset, etc. may occur depending on the color of the toner. Therefore, attempts have been made to adjust the characteristics so that the toner properties of each color do not differ, but it is difficult to make the toner characteristics completely match, and the fixing temperature, offset characteristics, etc. differ to some extent. Therefore, at present, the fixing temperature and the like are set according to the characteristics of frequently used black toner and the like.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, this prior art has the following problems. In other words, in order to ensure the fixability of black toner that is normally used, the device is set at a high fixing temperature of 190°C, for example, and for green toner, which is not usually used, the temperature offset characteristic is 180°C or higher. Therefore, when a large amount of copying is performed using green toner, the toner offsets the fixing roller, resulting in poor cleaning and staining of contact objects such as thermistors and separation claws.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to
i! An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device that can always fix an image under conditions that match the characteristics of the toners used, even when a plurality of types of toners are used in the device.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention forms an image of a desired color on a recording material by replacing a cartridge including at least a developing device, and forms an image of a desired color on the recording material. In an image recording apparatus that records an image by fixing the above image using a fixing roller heated by a heat source, an identification means for identifying the toner used in the cartridge by an identification section provided in the cartridge; The image forming apparatus is configured to include a control means for controlling a setting condition of the surface temperature of the fixing roller based on a signal from the identification means.

(Function) In the present invention, the identification means identifies the toner used in the cartridge, and the control means controls the fixing conditions to match the toner.

(Example) The present invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the image recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. Exposure 3 is performed to form an electrostatic latent image. This electrostatic latent image is developed by a developer 4 containing toner of a desired color. This developed image is transferred onto recording paper 6 as a recording material by a transfer charger 5 and fixed by a fixing device 7. Reference numeral 8 indicates a cleaner for removing toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1. The photosensitive drum 1 and its surrounding members are integrated as a cartridge 9, as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, a projection 11 is provided on one side 10 of the cartridge 9 as an identification portion for identifying the toner used in the cartridge 9. As shown in FIG. Device body 1
As shown in FIG. 1, the cartridge 2 is provided with microswitches 13 and 14 as identification means for identifying the type of toner using the protrusion 11 when the cartridge 9 is installed. If it is toner, a protrusion is provided at the LLa position and only the microswitch 13 is operated.

Further, when red toner is used, only the microswitch 14 is operated when the protrusion 11b is provided.

FIG. 4 shows the fixing device. 17 is a fixing roller which has a heater 18 as a heat source inside, 19 is a pressure roller that comes into pressure contact with the fixing roller. The image is fixed on the recording paper 6. 20 is a thermistor that detects the surface temperature of the fixing roller.

FIG. 5 shows a temperature control circuit of the fixing device as a control means, in which the resistance value of the thermistor 20 is detected by a bridge circuit 21, and the 5SR 22 controls the energization to the heater 18 at zero cross. The resistance value of the thermistor 20 is compared by the operational amplifier 23.24, and the resistance value of the thermistor 20 is compared with the transistor Tr.
5SR22 is turned OFF to control the surface temperature of the fixing roller to be constant. The above operational amplifier 24
The potential of 10 of the operational amplifier 23 is set higher than that of 6 of the operational amplifier 23. At this time, when the signal from the microswitch 13 is input to the operational amplifier 25 and there is no output from the operational amplifier 25, the output of the operational amplifier 23 is given priority and the set temperature is set to 180° C. corresponding to black toner. Furthermore, when a signal is input from the microswitch 14 to the operational amplifier 25 and there is an output from the operational amplifier 25, the output from the operational amplifier 24 takes priority.

In the configuration of 0 or more in which the set temperature is set to 165° C. corresponding to red toner, in the image recording apparatus according to this embodiment, the fixing conditions are controlled as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the cartridge 9 is installed in the main body 12 of the apparatus, the type of toner used in the cartridge 9 is detected by the protrusions LLm and LLb via the microswitches 13 and 14. . When the microswitch 13 is ON, that is, when the toner is black, priority is given to the output of the operational amplifier z3, and the surface temperature of the fixing roller 17 is set to 180°C.

In addition, when the cartridge 9 is replaced with a cartridge using red toner, the cartridge 9 is replaced with a cartridge that uses red toner.
2, the type of toner in the cartridge 9 is
The projection 11b is detected by the microswitch 14. When the microswitch is ON, that is, when the toner is red, priority is given to the output of the operational amplifier 24, and the surface temperature of the fixing roller 17 is set to 165°C.

Next, when we actually made copies using the above device, we found that 5 consecutive copies of an original using red toner of 0.05g per sheet were used.
The offset amount when making 00 copies is shown in Table 1 below.
It became like this. It was also found that when the surface of the fixing roller was cleaned with a 10 m wide Nomex (trademark name of DuPont) felt, the life of the felt was approximately 15 times longer.

Table 1 On the other hand, it was confirmed that when black toner was continuously copied at 165° C., there was a large amount of low-temperature offset and the fixing performance was also poor.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, an operational amplifier or a transistor is used as the control means, but the invention is not limited to this, and the resistance value of the thermistor may be digitally converted and controlled by a microcomputer. good.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the case where the toner color is exchanged between black and red by exchanging the cartridge has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and toner of other colors such as blue and green can be exchanged. Of course, it can also be applied when used.

Further, in the above embodiments, the fixing roller is provided with a heat source inside the fixing roller, but the present invention is not limited to this. can also be applied.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention has the above-described structure and operation, and even when using multiple types of toner, images can always be fixed under conditions that match the characteristics of the toners used, and the fixing process can be carried out. Good quality images can be obtained without defects or offsets.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 2 is a configuration diagram showing the image recording device, Figures 3 (a) and (b) are 4 is a schematic diagram showing the fixing device, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the temperature control circuit of the fixing device, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the cartridge installed in the main body of the apparatus. be. Explanation of symbols 4...Developer 6...Recording paper 9...Cartridge lla, flb...Protrusions 13.14
... Micro switch 17 ... Fixing roller 18 ... Heater Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 (a) (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image in which a desired color image is formed on a recording material by replacing a cartridge containing at least a developing device, and the image on the recording material is fixed using a fixing roller heated by a heat source to record the image. The recording apparatus includes an identification unit for identifying the toner used in the cartridge by an identification unit provided in the cartridge, and a control unit for controlling a setting condition of the surface temperature of the fixing roller based on a signal from the identification unit. An image recording device characterized by: