KR101085927B1 - Image forming devicd with low noise and power consumption - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus for reducing noise and power consumption is disclosed. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention relates to a wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprising a developer corresponding to at least one color and a supply motor provided for each color to provide the developer to the photosensitive drum. A rotation amount information storage unit having rotation amount information for the rotation amount of the supply motor corresponding to each color according to the print amount of the print data provided, and the rotation amount of the supply motor with reference to the rotation amount information, thereby setting the rotation amount of the supply motor. An engine control unit for controlling the supply amount of the developer is provided. According to the image forming apparatus, the amount of rotation of the supply motor provided in the wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus can be minimized according to the printing environment, thereby reducing unnecessary noise and power consumption generated in the image forming apparatus.

Supply motor, wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus, developer, rotation amount

Description

Image forming devicd with low noise and power consumption

1 is a view for explaining a printing method of a general wet electrophotographic printer;

2 is a view showing an example of a pulse applied to a conventional supply motor, and

3 is a waveform diagram for conceptually explaining a driving method of a supply motor according to the present invention.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

110: image processing unit 111: RAM

112: ROM 113: Processor (CPU)

120: engine control unit 121: area determination unit

122: duty ratio variable unit 130: rotation amount information storage unit

140: engine unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus capable of reducing noise and power consumption generated by a wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus by controlling driving of a motor supplying a developer. will be.

The wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus in which an image is formed by a liquid developer, and the developer has a form in which a toner and a carrier for dissolving the toner are mixed. The wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus using such a developer includes developer for four colors of C (Cyan), M (Magenta), Y (Yellow), and K (blacK), and the photoresist corresponding to each developer. This is provided to the drum, and an organic photo conductor is superimposed on an intermediate transfer belt (ITB) to realize an image.

1 is a view for explaining a printing method of a general wet electrophotographic printer.

As shown in the drawing, a wet electrophotographic printer includes an intermediate transfer belt (ITB), a developer (10-40) for transferring the developer to the intermediate transfer belt (ITB), and a developer transferred by each developer (10-40). Is provided, and a fixing unit 50 is fixed to the paper P.

The developing units 10 to 40 are provided for C (Cyan), M (Magenta), Y (Yellow), and K (blacK) colors, and each developing unit 10 to 40 has an independent photosensitive drum (11 to 41). Equipped. Accordingly, the developing devices 10 to 40 provided for each color need a structure for collecting the remaining developer after supplying the liquid developer to the intermediate transfer belt (ITB), and maintaining the constant height so that the developer transfers the intermediate transfer belt. It requires a structure that allows the developer to be transferred at a constant concentration. In the drawing, the developing device 10 includes a first tank 13 in which a developer is stored, and a second tank 13a provided on the first tank 13, and the second tank 13a exceeds a predetermined height. It is comprised so that the developing solution to collect to the 1st tank 13 may be. Accordingly, the developer stored in the second tank 13a can maintain a constant height, and the developer is provided to the photosensitive drum 11 by the rotational movement of the feed rollers 12a and 12b immersed in the second tank 13a. do. On the other hand, when the developer is provided to the photosensitive drum (eg, 11) through the supply rollers 12a and 12b, the developer stored in the second bath 13a is consumed, and the height of the second bath 13a is lowered. At this time, the first tank 13 provides the stored developer to the third tank 14, and the developer provided to the third tank 14 is provided to the second tank 13a by the supply motor 15. When the developing solution supplied to the second water tank 13a by the supply motor 15 exceeds the height of the second water tank 13a, the second water tank 13a supplies the overflowing developing solution to the first water tank 13. The developer stored in the second tank 13a by such a circulation system always maintains a constant height.

2 shows an example of a pulse applied to a conventional supply motor 15.

As shown, the supply motor 15 provided according to each color (C, M, Y, and K) is driven according to a preset duty ratio (for example, duty ratio 50) when print data is applied from the host. The supply motor provided according to each color by such a pulse is rotated at a constant speed, the same amount of developer is supplied to the second tank (for example 13a). At this time, when the print data performs only mono printing, for example, when printing characters on the paper P using only the K developer, the developer of C, M, and Y colors does not need to be supplied to the second tank 13a. Only unnecessary noise and power wasted. In addition, when the amount of printing is large and the amount of developer is supplied to the second tank (13a) is constant, the supply motor is driven even when the printing amount is small, there is a problem that the noise and power consumption generated in the image forming apparatus increases. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent unnecessary noise and power consumption in an image forming apparatus by controlling the amount of printing in accordance with the print data applied from the host and the amount of rotation of the supply motor for supplying the developer according to the printing mode. There is this.

According to the present invention, a wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprising a developer corresponding to at least one color, and a supply motor provided for each color to provide the developer to the photosensitive drum. A rotation amount information storage unit having rotation amount information on the rotation amount of the supply motor corresponding to each color according to the print amount of the print data provided from the color data, and setting the rotation amount of the supply motor with reference to the rotation amount information. This is achieved by the engine control unit which controls the supply amount of the developer.

The engine controller generates video data for the print data, calculates a print amount calculated for each line to be printed based on horizontal and vertical synchronization signals included in the video data, and calculates the print amount for each line. It is preferable to calculate the rotation amount of the supply motor.                     

The rotation amount information storage unit preferably includes information on the rotation amount of the supply motor corresponding to the printing amount for each line.

The rotation amount information storage unit preferably includes rotation amount information of the supply motor for each of the print data corresponding to the color printing and the mono printing.

When the print data corresponds to mono printing, it is preferable that the engine controller reduces the amount of rotation of the supply motor provided in the color developer in the developer.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.

3 is a waveform diagram for conceptually explaining a driving method of a supply motor according to the present invention.

The illustrated waveform diagram shows an example of a pulse applied to a supply motor (for example 15) provided in each of the developing devices 10 to 40. As shown in the drawing, when the print data is printed on a mono area of the paper P (area for printing according to K color on the paper), the developer for C, M, and Y colors is shown. Reduce the supply of, and vice versa to restore the supply of developer for C, M, and Y colors. In addition, although not shown in the drawing, the duty ratio of the pulse applied to the supply motor (for example, 15) may be increased when the printing amount of the mono area or the color area is larger than the preset value. When the duty ratio of the pulse increases, the amount of rotation of the supply motor 15 is further increased, and when the amount of rotation of the supply motor 15 is increased, the developer provided to the second water tank 13a is increased. That is, the rotation amount of the supply motor 15 is determined according to the duty ratio of the pulse applied to the supply motor 15, and the amount of the developer supplied to the second tank 13a according to the increase or decrease of the rotation amount is also proportionally increased or decreased. Done.

4 shows a block diagram according to an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

The illustrated image forming apparatus includes an image processing unit 110, an engine control unit 120, a rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT), and an engine unit 140. The image processing unit 110 interfaces with a host and receives print data (eg, PCL, PDL data, etc.) provided from the host and converts the data into a bitmap format. The image processing unit 110 includes a ROM 112 having a program for converting print data received from a host into data in a bitmap format, and a control program for controlling an image forming apparatus. A processor (CPU) 113 for converting data into a bitmap format, and a RAM (111) for providing temporary storage space that the processor (CPU) 113 requires for data conversion.

The engine controller 120 generates a control signal for controlling the engine 140 based on the bitmap format data converted by the image processor 110. In addition, the engine control unit 120 calculates a print amount according to the print data based on the data provided by the image processing unit 110, and rotates the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) information of the rotation amount information of the supply motor corresponding to the calculated print amount. Is provided). The printing engine 140 controls the rotation amount of the supply motor for supplying the developing solution to the second tank 13a based on the rotation amount information provided from the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT).                     

The rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) has a form of a lookup table and includes information for controlling the rotation amount of the supply motor 15 based on the data provided by the image processing unit 110. The rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) may have information in the form shown in Table 1 below.

     dot / line       Rotational amount (rpm)      10 to 20       500      20-30       600 .
.
. .
.
.      6000-7000       2500

As shown in Table 1, the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) has information on the rotation amount of the supply motor 15 according to the printing amount printed for each line of the paper (P). In Table 1, when the number of dots printed per line is 10-20, the supply motor 15 rotates at 500 RPM (Rotation per minute), and when the number of dots printed per line is 6000 or more, 2500 RPM is used. Will rotate.

Meanwhile, the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) may have information in the form shown in Table 2 below.

     dot / line       Color (rpm)        Mono (rpm)      10 to 20       500       500      20-30       500       600 .
.
. .
.
. .
.
.      6000-7000       500       2500

As shown in Table 2, the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) defines the rotation amount of the supply motor 15 for the case of performing mono printing on the paper P. FIG. Table 2 shows that when the printed matter printed on the paper (P) is a mono print, the rotation amount of the supply motor for color (C, M, Y) is limited to 500 rpm, and only the rotation amount for mono (K) It is possible to vary between 500 and 2500. Here, the color developer is supplied even when mono printing is performed on the paper, which means that only a minimal developer is supplied to reduce friction between the intermediate transfer belt (ITB) and the photosensitive drum.

Meanwhile, in Table 2, the rotation amount information corresponding to the mono printing on the paper P is shown. However, the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) has information opposite to that shown in Table 2, namely, It may also be defined for the case of performing color printing. At this time, the information corresponding to the performance of the color printing is in the form opposite to that shown in Table 2, that is, the position with respect to the color and mono is changed.

Preferably, the engine controller 120 includes an area determining unit 121 and a duty ratio variable unit 122.

The area determining unit 121 analyzes the data converted by the image processing unit 110 to determine whether the data is data for color printing or data for mono printing. When the determination result of the area determination unit 121 is for mono printing, the rotation amount information as shown in Table 2 is applied to the engine controller 120. On the contrary, the rotation amount information opposite to that shown in Table 2 is applied to the engine control unit 120. That is, when the data is for color printing, the K color developer supplies the developer to the second tank 13a at a speed of 500 rpm per minute.                     

The duty ratio variable unit 122 generates a pulse of the duty ratio corresponding to the rotation amount provided from the rotation amount information storage unit 130 (LUT) according to the determination result of the area determining unit 121 and supplies the supply motor 15. ) In addition, when the number of dots to be printed per unit line is large in the data supplied from the image processor 110 to the engine controller 120, the duty ratio variable unit 122 has a duty ratio corresponding to the number of dots in response thereto. The pulse is generated and provided to the supply motor 15. This is in accordance with Table 1 above. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention keeps the rotational amount of the supply motor 15 requiring the supply of the developer according to the print data to a minimum, thereby suppressing the unnecessary driving of the supply motor 15, and to the supply motor 15. It is possible to reduce the noise and power consumption.

As described above, the present invention can reduce unnecessary noise and power consumption generated in the image forming apparatus by minimizing the amount of rotation of the supply motor provided in the wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to the printing environment.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Anyone of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications, as well as such changes are within the scope of the claims.

Claims (5)

A wet electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprising: a developer corresponding to at least one color; and a supply motor provided for each color to provide the developer to the photosensitive drum, A rotation amount information storage unit having rotation amount information on the rotation amount of the supply motor corresponding to each color according to the printing amount of the print data provided from the host; And And an engine controller configured to set the rotation amount of the supply motor with reference to the rotation amount information, thereby controlling the supply amount of the developer. The rotation amount information storage unit, And rotation information of the supply motor for each of the print data and the mono print. The engine control unit, And when the print data is mono-printed, reducing the amount of rotation of the supply motor provided in the color developer in the developer. The method of claim 1, The engine control unit, Generate video data for the print data, calculate a print amount calculated for each line to be printed on the basis of horizontal and vertical synchronization signals included in the video data, and generate a circuit of the supply motor according to the calculated print amount for each line. An image forming apparatus for reducing the noise and power consumption, characterized in that for calculating the total amount. 3. The method of claim 2, The rotation amount information storage unit, And the information about the rotation amount of the supply motor corresponding to the print amount for each line. delete delete

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