JPH02181774A - Preliminary rotation controlling method for fixing part of recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of fixing failure and to shorten the warming up time by varying the setting of setting time for starting preliminary rotation of a fixing part and/or setting time for stopping the preliminary rotation according to the environmental temperature. CONSTITUTION:The environmental temperature is detected by a temperature sensor and the rotation starting time and the rotation stopping timing at the time of warming up of the fixing part are set by the setting line set based on the environmental temperature. Thus, because when the environmental temperature is high, the rotation time is set short, and when the environmental temperature is low, it is set long, generation of fixing failure due to the low temperature of the environmental temperature can be prevented and at the same time, the warming up time can be efficiently shortened according to the environmental temperature.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a preliminary rotation control method for warming up the fixing section of a recording device, and particularly to a method for improving the fixing performance of a toner image immediately after warming up. The present invention also relates to a preliminary rotation control method that shortens warming-up time.

[Volume of invention]

As shown in FIG. 4, the recording device transfers a toner image formed on a photosensitive drum 1 onto a transfer paper P fed from a registration roller 2 at a transfer pole 3, and transfers this transfer paper P to a separation pole 4. After the toner image is separated from the photoreceptor drum 1, the toner image is heated in the fixing section 5 to fix the transferred toner image.

The fixing section 5 consists of a heating roller 51 and a pressure roller 52, which are in pressure contact with each other and rotate in opposite directions. A heater 51A is built into the heating roller 51, and the toner image on the transfer paper P is thermally fixed between the pressure contact portions of both rollers 51 and 52. In order to reliably perform this fixing, it is necessary to maintain the temperature of the heating roller 51 at a predetermined level or higher.

The heater 51A is for heating the heating roller 51, but the problem here is how to quickly and efficiently raise the temperature of the fixing section 5 to a predetermined temperature. In other words, this is a method for warming up the fixing section 5.

There are various methods for this warming amplifier. For example, when the main switch is turned on (heater 51A is turned on), the rotation (preliminary rotation) of the fixing unit 5 is started at the same time or after a certain period of time has passed since the heater 51A is turned on, and then the fixing unit 5 is started to rotate after a certain period of time has elapsed. In this method, the rotation of the heating roller 51 is stopped, and if the temperature of the heating roller 51 is lower than the set temperature, heating of the heating roller 51 is continued, and warming-up is completed when the temperature rises to the fixing temperature.

In the following explanation, the time from when the heater 51A is turned on to when the fixing unit 5 starts rotating is called a rotation start time, and the time from when the heater 51A is turned on until the fixing unit 5 stops rotating is called a rotation stop time. .

In this way, normal warming-up is completed when the heating roller 51 rises to a certain set temperature (fixing temperature).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in terms of -II, this rotation stop time is such that fixing is performed well when the environmental temperature (indoor temperature of the place where the recording device is used, temperature of the transfer paper P, etc.) is normal temperature (for example, 20 degrees Celsius). Therefore, when the environmental temperature is low, there is a risk that fixing may be defective.

For example, if the rotation stop time is set to a relatively short time (for example, 3 minutes), fixing will be performed well if the environmental temperature is the above room temperature, but will be insufficient at low temperatures (for example, 10 degrees). .

That is, if the environmental temperature is above room temperature, the pressure roller 52, transfer paper P, etc. are also at a temperature equal to or higher than that temperature, so there is no possibility of a temperature drop that would cause fixing failure. Good fixation is achieved. However, when the environmental temperature becomes low, the temperature of the pressure roller 52, the transfer paper P, etc. also decreases, and the heat roller 51 absorbs a large amount of heat during fixing, resulting in a temperature decrease, resulting in a fixing failure.

Therefore, in order to prevent fixing failure even when the environmental temperature is low, it is necessary to set the rotation stop time to be long (to set the pressure roller 52 at a higher temperature (e.g. 200 degrees) when the rotation is stopped (for example, 200 degrees; In this case, the temperature of the pressure roller 52 may be raised to several tens of degrees lower than that temperature.However,
If such a setting is made, the above problem will be solved, but the warming-up time will naturally become longer. Particularly when the environmental temperature becomes high (for example, 20 degrees Celsius), an unreasonable situation occurs, such as the warming-up time, which should normally be short (for example, 3 minutes), becomes unnecessarily long.

The above description has been made regarding the rotation stop time, but the same can be said about the rotation start time. Note that the rotation start time is preferably set shorter when the environmental temperature is lower.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a recording medium that prevents the occurrence of fixing failures when the environmental temperature is low, and also makes it possible to efficiently shorten the warming-up time according to the environmental temperature. An object of the present invention is to provide a preliminary rotation control method for a fixing section of an apparatus.

[Means to solve the problem]

For this purpose, the first aspect of the present invention starts preliminary rotation of the fixing section when a first set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing section, and a second set time from the start of heating. In the pre-rotation control method of the fixing unit of the recording device, the pre-rotation is stopped when the pre-rotation is stopped when the pre-rotation is stopped, wherein the first set time and/or the second set time is changed according to the environmental temperature. did.

A second invention is a recording apparatus in which preliminary rotation of the fixing section is started when the temperature of the fixing section reaches a set temperature, and the preliminary rotation is stopped when a set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the fixing section. In the pre-rotation control method of the fixing unit, the set temperature and/or the set time are changed depending on the environmental temperature.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a recording apparatus that starts preliminary rotation of the fixing section when the temperature of the fixing section reaches a set temperature, and stops the preliminary rotation when a set time has elapsed from the start of the preliminary rotation. In the pre-rotation control method of the fixing unit, the set temperature and/or the set time are changed depending on the environmental temperature.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is to start preliminary rotation of the fixing section when a set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing section, and to stop the preliminary rotation when the temperature of the fixing section reaches the set temperature. In the preliminary rotation control method, the set temperature and/or the set time are changed depending on the environmental temperature.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the preliminary rotation of the fixing section is started when a first set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing section, and the pre-rotation of the fixing section is started when a second set time has elapsed from the preliminary rotation of the fixing section. In a preliminary rotation control method of a fixing unit of a recording apparatus in which preliminary rotation is stopped, the first set time and/or the second set time are changed depending on the environmental temperature.

〔Example〕

A preliminary rotation control method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The key point of this embodiment is to change and set the rotation start time and rotation stop time during warming up of the fixing unit depending on the environmental temperature. Note that the configuration of the recording device is the same as before (FIG. 3).

FIG. 2 is a time chart during warming up of fixing. In the cough diagram, the heater 51A is turned on when the main switch is turned on.

As a result, the heating roller 51 is heated and its temperature increases. When a certain period of time (rotation start time) has elapsed since the heater 51A was turned on, rotation of the heating roller 51 and the pressure roller 52, that is, the fixing unit 5 starts.

After this, the gradient of the rise in temperature of the heating roller 51 becomes slightly gentler, but the temperature continues to rise. Then, when a certain period of time (rotation stop time) has elapsed, the rotation of the fixing unit 5 is stopped, and when the temperature of the heating roller 51 reaches the fixing temperature, warming-up is completed.

In the present invention, the rotation start time and rotation stop time are set based on the environmental temperature. Incidentally, since the setting of the holding period is performed in the same manner, the explanation of the rotation start time will be omitted.

In FIG. 1(a), A is an ideal setting line showing the relationship between the environmental temperature and the rotation stop time when fixing is performed well and the warm-up time is shortened as much as possible. That is, when the environmental temperature is high, the rotation time is set short to shorten the warming-up, and when the environmental temperature is low, the rotation time is set long to prevent fixing failure.

Therefore, in the present invention, the environmental temperature is first detected by a temperature sensor, and the rotation stop time is set and changed based on the setting line A from the detected temperature. For example, when the environmental temperature is 10 degrees, the rotation stop time is set to 5 minutes and warming-up is performed. As a result, good fixing preparation and shortened warming-up time can be achieved over a wide range of environmental temperatures.

Note that the setting cotton A is a curve, and setting the rotation stop time so as to satisfy this curve tends to complicate the control.

B in FIG. 1(a) is a setting line formed approximately along the setting line A in order to reduce the complexity of controlling the setting of the rotation stop time using the setting line A. If the rotation stop time is set based on this set line length, the control can be simplified. However, since there is a slight deviation from the setting line A, the ideality of the setting is slightly degraded, but there is no problem in actual equipment, and good fixing performance and shortening of the warming amplifier time can be achieved.

C in FIG. 1(b) is a setting line for further promoting the simplification. In this setting line C, for example, the environmental temperature is 1
5 degrees is the switching temperature for the rotation stop time, and when the environmental temperature is 15 degrees or higher, the rotation stop time is set to 3 minutes, and when it is less than 15 degrees, the rotation stop time is set to 5 minutes.
I set it to minutes. In this case, the control is
Since this is possible with off control, the control can be greatly simplified.

In the above embodiment, both the rotation start time and the rotation stop time are controlled by the set time from when the heater 51A of the fixing unit 5 is turned on, but only one of the rotation start time and the rotation stop time is controlled by the heater 51A. It is also possible to apply a method in which the temperature is set based on the time from when 51A is turned on, and the other is controlled based on the rising temperature of the fixing unit 5 (rotation start temperature, rotation stop temperature). In this case, the temperature settings are changed depending on the environmental temperature. Figure 3 (a
) and (b) are characteristic diagrams when the rotation stop temperature is controlled by the environmental temperature. Setting line A-C is the same as in FIG. In addition to combining these methods, a system in which the rotation stop time is controlled by a set time from the start of rotation of the fixing section 5 can also be combined.

In this case, the setting time is also changed depending on the environmental temperature.

Further, in any of the above methods, the heating roller 51 after completion of warming up is maintained at a level temperature near the fixing temperature by temperature feedback control of the heater 51A.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the rotation start time of the fixing section,
Since at least one of the rotation stop time, rotation start temperature, rotation stop temperature, etc. is changed based on the environmental temperature, it is possible to improve fixing performance and shorten warm-up time under a wide range of environmental temperatures. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(b) is a control characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the environmental temperature and the rotation stop time in the preliminary rotation control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a time diagram showing the operation of the fixing section in this embodiment The charts, FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are control characteristic diagrams showing the relationship between the environmental temperature and the rotation stop temperature in another example, and FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the recording apparatus. 1... Photosensitivity Body drum, 2... Registration roller, P... Transfer paper, 3... Transfer pole, 4... Separation pole, 5... Fixing section, 51... Heating roller 51.51
A... Heater, 52... Pressure roller, P... Transfer paper. Kankuhari (in Figure 3) Tahi, Uho ≧ 2 Jineesuke 1 Shichihan (

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) Preliminary rotation of the fixing unit is started when a first set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing unit, and the preliminary rotation is stopped when a second set time has elapsed from the start of heating. In the preliminary rotation control method of a fixing unit of a recording apparatus, the first setting time and/or the second setting time are changed depending on the environmental temperature. Preliminary rotation control method of the fixing unit. (2) Fixing of a recording device in which preliminary rotation of the fixing unit is started when the temperature of the fixing unit reaches a set temperature, and the preliminary rotation is stopped when a set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the fixing unit. 1. A preliminary rotation control method for a fixing unit of a recording apparatus, characterized in that the setting temperature and/or the setting time are changed depending on the environmental temperature. (3) A fixing unit of a recording device that starts preliminary rotation of the fixing unit when the temperature of the fixing unit reaches a set temperature, and stops the preliminary rotation when a set time has elapsed from the start of the preliminary rotation. A preliminary rotation control method for a fixing unit of a recording apparatus, characterized in that the setting temperature and/or the setting time are changed depending on the environmental temperature. (4) Preliminary rotation of the fixing section is started when a set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing section, and the preliminary rotation is stopped when the temperature of the fixing section reaches the set temperature. A preliminary rotation control method for a fixing unit of a recording apparatus, characterized in that the setting of the set temperature and/or the set time is changed depending on the environmental temperature. (5) Start the preliminary rotation of the fixing unit when a first set time has elapsed from the start of heating of the heating roller of the fixing unit, and start the preliminary rotation when a second set time has elapsed from the preliminary rotation of the fixing unit. In the preliminary rotation control method of a fixing unit of a recording apparatus, the first set time and/or the second set time are changed depending on the environmental temperature. A preliminary rotation control method of a fixing unit of a recording device.