JPH03214170A - electrophotographic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a dry electrophotographic apparatus such as a laser printer.

[Prior Art] In recent years, for example, in laser printers, components such as a photoreceptor, a charging section, a developing section, and a transfer section, which are built into the main body of the device, are combined into one drum unit, and this unit is detachable from the main body of the device. There is something like that. This has the advantage that when the photoreceptor deteriorates due to long-term use and reaches the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced, the problem can be dealt with simply by replacing the unit, which simplifies maintenance work.

Conventionally, a technique is known in which the number of sheets printed by the printer is counted and stored in a memory element as information regarding the life of the photoreceptor, and the content of this count is displayed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62
(Refer to Publication No.-75468).

By using this technology, the operator can recognize the degree of deterioration of the photoconductor from the current number of prints, and if the operator confirms with a warning display that the number of prints has reached the preset limit, the drum unit All you have to do is exchange. By doing so, it becomes possible to prevent in advance the deterioration of print quality due to deterioration of the photoreceptor.

By the way, manufacturers of this type of laser printer usually perform printing several times to check the quality of the printing before shipping the product, and if the product is shipped as is, there will be some damage to the memory element. The product will be shipped with the printed sheet number data counted. In order to eliminate such inconveniences, conventional methods have been to remove the memory element from the printer immediately before shipping, clear the print count data of the memory element to "0" using another dedicated device, and then reinstall it. It was being shipped. In addition, if it becomes necessary to check whether or not a warning is displayed when the number of printed sheets reaches the maximum number of prints during maintenance and inspection of the printer, another dedicated device can be used to print the desired number of sheets close to the maximum number of prints in advance. A memory element in which the number of sheets has been set is installed in the printer, and the printer is checked by actually printing up to the maximum number of sheets.

[Problem 8 to be solved by the invention] As described above, in the prior art, when it becomes necessary to artificially change information regarding the life of a photoreceptor during product manufacturing work, maintenance inspection work, etc., special problems arise. Specialized equipment had to be used, resulting in poor workability.

Therefore, the present invention provides that, when it becomes necessary to artificially change information regarding the life of a photoconductor during product manufacturing work, maintenance and inspection work, etc., the change can be done with a simple operation without using any special dedicated equipment. The object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic apparatus that can improve workability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention arranges a charging section, an exposure control section, a developing section, and a transfer section around a rotationally driven photoconductor according to an electrophotographic process, and a drum unit including at least the photoconductor is installed in an apparatus. In an electrophotographic apparatus that is detachably attached to a main body, an information recording medium is provided corresponding to a drum unit to record information regarding the lifespan of a photoreceptor, and a display means for displaying information regarding the lifespan of the photoreceptor, and an information recording medium are provided. The apparatus is provided with a rewrite control means for rewriting information regarding the life of the photoreceptor recorded on the medium to a desired value.

[Function] With the electrophotographic apparatus having such a configuration, the information regarding the life span of the photoreceptor recorded on the information recording medium can be arbitrarily rewritten at any time by the rewriting control means.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of this embodiment of the apparatus, in which a drum unit 2 is provided in the center of a printer body 1 and is detachably attached to the printer body 1. As shown in FIG. The drum unit 2 includes a photosensitive drum 3 whose surface is formed of a photosensitive member. The photosensitive drum 3 is driven to rotate in one direction, and around the photosensitive drum 3 there is a charger 4 constituting a charging section, and the photosensitive drum 3 charged by the charger 4 according to the electrophotographic process. A laser scanner unit 5 serves as an exposure control section that irradiates a laser beam to record image information by exposure, a developer 6 that attaches toner as a developer to the exposed photosensitive drum 3, and a transfer charger that constitutes a transfer section. 7. A cleaning device 8 for removing toner from the photosensitive drum 3, and a charge removal lamp 9 for removing charge from the photosensitive drum 3 are provided in this order. Near the front entrance of the transfer charger 7 is a pickup roller 11 that feeds and conveys the paper stored in the paper feed section 10 toward the transfer charger 7 at a predetermined timing.
is provided. Further, behind the transfer charger 7, there is a thermal fixing device 12 for thermally fixing the transferred paper.
and a paper discharge roller 13 are provided in this order.

Furthermore, inside the printer main body l, a transport motor 14,
A fan 15, an interlock switch 16 for detecting opening of the casing of the printer body 1, and a DC power supply 17 are provided, respectively.

The laser scanner unit 5 includes a laser diode structure 21 that emits a laser beam, as shown in FIG.
A laser diode control circuit 22 that drives this laser diode structure 21, a start sensor 23 consisting of a PIN diode, etc. that detects the start position of the laser beam, a polygon motor 24 that rotates a polygon mirror, and a polygon motor drive circuit that drives and controls this motor 24. 25. A PLL control circuit 26 is provided to control the rotation speed of the motor 24 by the drive circuit 25.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic circuit configuration of this embodiment device, where 3] is a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes the main body of the control unit, and 32 is a block diagram showing program data and various tables used by this CPU 31 to control each part. ROM with etc.
(read-only memory), 33 is a RAM (random access memory) 34 that stores image information and various processing data sent from an external host computer.
is the I/10 port. These are connected by a pass line 35.

The 110 port 34 includes a motor drive circuit 36 that drives and controls the transport motor 14, a high voltage power supply circuit 37 that supplies high voltage to the laser scanner unit 5, the charger 4 and the transfer charger 7, and the developer 6.
a toner sensor circuit 40 for controlling a toner empty sensor 38 and a toner full sensor 39 provided therein, an operating section 41, vapor sensors 42, 43, 44 arranged at various locations to detect paper jams, the fan 15, Each is connected to an interface 45 that receives image information from a host computer.

The interlock switch 16 connects the DC power supply 17 to the motor drive circuit 36 and the laser scanner unit 5.
, 24 connected to the high voltage power supply circuit 37 and the fan 15
The 24V supply line is inserted into the 24V supply line, and when the casing of the printer main body 21 is opened, it is detected and the 24V supply line is cut off.

In addition, the CPU 31, ROM 32, RAM 33 and I1
+5V is supplied to the 0 port 34 from the DC power supply 17.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a specific circuit configuration related to the present invention of the device of this embodiment, in which the CPU 31 exchanges data with a memory card 51 as an information recording medium that is removably installed. The card interface 52 that performs the operations, the ROM 32, the RAM 33, and the operation unit interface 53 that exchanges signals with the operation unit 41 are controlled respectively.

Further, the reference voltage of the charging voltage power source 54 for the charging charger 4 is set using a D/A (digital/analog).
a D/A converter 57 to which a reference voltage of a transfer voltage power supply 56 for the converter 55 and transfer charger 7 is set;
A D/A converter 59 in which the reference voltage of the bias voltage power supply 58 for the developing unit 6 is set, and a D/A converter 6 in which the laser output of the laser diode control circuit 22 is set.
0 are connected to the CPU 31, respectively.

Here, the number A of sheets printed by the printer is counted and recorded in the memory card 51 as information regarding the lifespan of the photosensitive drum 3.

On the other hand, the ROM 32 has a process condition value table 70 shown in FIG. 5 formed therein. This table 70 includes electrophotographic process condition data #1, which is empirically determined to compensate for the deterioration in print quality due to deterioration of the photosensitive drum 3, corresponding to the number of printed sheets A counted by the memory card 51. ．． #2 is set and stored in advance. Here, electrophotographic process condition data #1. #2 is a charging voltage power source 54, a transfer voltage power source 56, and a bias voltage power source 58.
and the laser output value of the laser control circuit 22.

Further, the RAM 33 has the following information as shown in FIG.

A print number memory 71 for temporarily storing print number data A', a flag memory 72 for a setting flag F that is set to "1" when a setting mode is selected, and the like are formed.

As shown in FIG. 7, the operation section 41 includes dip switches such as a power switch 81 and a setting mode selection switch 82, and a set key 83, a reset key 84, an up key 85, and a down key 86 for each setting mode. key and a liquid crystal display 87 as a display means for displaying the number of printouts
and is provided.

The CPU 31 is program-controlled to first execute the process shown in FIG. 8 when the power switch 81 is turned on and the power is turned on. That is, initialization processing such as clearing the RAM 33 and resetting the I10 port 19 is executed. Thereafter, the state of the setting mode selection switch 82 provided on the operation section 41 is checked via the operation section interface 53. Then, the switch 8
2 (switch 82: ON), the setting flag F provided in the flag memory 72 of the RAM 33 is set to "1". Then proceed to the main routine.

On the other hand, when the CPU 31 starts the main routine, it is program-controlled to execute the print determination process shown in FIG. 9 and the key determination process shown in FIG. 10 at appropriate times during the main routine.

In other words, when it comes time to execute the print determination process, C
First, the PU 31 determines whether the print start state is set. If the print start state has not been set, the process immediately returns to the main routine.

When the print start state is set, the card interface 52 is controlled to read the print number data A recorded on the memory card 51 attached to the interface 52. Then, this number of printed sheets A is 0 or more and 5
000 sheets, the electrophotographic process condition data #1 of the condition value table 70 stored in the ROM 32 is read out, and each D/A converter 55 is adjusted based on the data #1.
Set the value of ゜57.59.60. That is, D/A
For the converter 55, [-6000V] is set as the reference voltage of the charging voltage power supply 54. Further, for the D/A converter 57, [-5000■] is set as the reference voltage of the transfer voltage power supply 56. Further, for the D/A converter 59, [-300V] is set as the reference voltage of the bias voltage power supply 58. Further, for the D/A converter 60, [3 mW] is set as the laser output of the laser control circuit 22. Then, the printing routine begins.

On the other hand, when the number of printed sheets A is 5,000 or more and less than 10,000, the condition value table 70 stored in the ROM 32
The electrophotographic process condition data #2 is read out, and each D/A converter 55, 57, 59 .
Set a value of 60. That is, the D/A converter 55
For the reference voltage of charged piezoelectric [54] [-70
00V is set. Further, for the D/A converter 57, the reference voltage of the transfer voltage power source 560 is [-600
0V] is set. Further, for the D/A converter 59, the reference voltage of the bias voltage power supply 58 is [-4
00V] is set. Furthermore, for the D/A converter 60, the laser output of the laser control circuit 22 is [4 m
W] is set. Then, the printing routine begins.

In the printing routine, the charger 4, laser control circuit 22, developer 6,
The transfer charger 7 operates sequentially based on the setting values of the corresponding D/A converters 55, 57, 59, and 60, and the image information sent from the host computer is printed on paper. At this time, the program is controlled so that the print number data A recorded in the memory card 51 is updated one count at a time.

Note that when the number of printed sheets A is 10,000 sheets, a message prompting the replacement of the photosensitive drum 3 is displayed on the liquid crystal display 87 provided in the operation section 41 via the operation section interface 53, thereby prohibiting the transition to the printing routine. , return to the main routine. Also, if the number of printed sheets A exceeds 10,000 sheets, the recorded information on the memory card 51 is abnormal, so please indicate the above? &, crystal display 87
is displayed, again prohibiting the transition to the print routine, and returning to the main routine.

On the other hand, when the key determination process is executed, the CPU
31, as ST (step) 1, it is checked via the operation unit interface 53 whether or not the setting mode key provided on the operation unit 41 has been input. If the reset key 84 has been input, the state of the setting flag F is checked.

Here, if the setting flag F is set to "1", the setting moto is selected, so the print number data A recorded on the memory card 51 installed in the card interface 52 is set to "0". Clear and return to main routine. If the setting flag F has been reset to "0", the process returns to the main routine without doing anything.

On the other hand, even if the set key 83 has been input in the STI, the state of the setting flag F is checked. Here, if the setting flag F is set to "1", the setting mode is selected, so the card interface 5
The print number data A recorded in the memory card 51 installed in the printer 2 is read out and written into the print number memory 71 of the RAM 33. Then, the print number data A' in the print number memory 71 is displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87. Next, it waits for any of the setting mode keys 83, 85, 86 other than the reset key 84 to be pressed manually. Here, when the up key 85 is pressed manually as ST2, rloOJ is added to the print number data A' in the print number memory 71, and the added print number data A' is blinkingly displayed on the liquid crystal display 87. Let's wait for the next key personnel. Also, if the down key 86 is pressed manually as ST3, the print number memory 71
rloooJ is subtracted from the printed sheet number data A' in the above, and the printed sheet number data A' after the subtraction is displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87, and the next key input is awaited. On the other hand, if the set key 83 is pressed manually as ST4, the setting change of the number of prints is completed, and the number of prints data A' in the number of prints memory 71 is changed to the number of prints on the memory card 51 installed in the card interface 52. It is written to the card 51 as data A. Further, the number of sheets printed at this time is continuously displayed on the liquid crystal display 87, and the process returns to the main routine.

Note that if the setting flag F has been reset to "0" while the set key 83 is pressed manually, the process returns to the main routine without doing anything.

Further, in ST1, if no key is pressed manually, or if a key other than the set key 83 or the reset key 84 is pressed manually, the process returns to the main routine without doing anything.

In the laser printer of this embodiment configured as described above, when the power switch 81 is turned on with the setting switch 82 of the operation unit 41 turned on, the setting flag F is set to "1" and the setting mode is switched on. selected. In this state, when the reset key 84 of the setting mode keys is manually operated, the print number data recorded on the memory card 51 attached to the card interface 52 will be changed to “
It is reset to 0''.

Therefore, at the stage of manufacturing the laser printer of this embodiment,
Before shipping the product, printing is performed several times to inspect the printing quality, etc. After this inspection, turn on the power switch 81 with the setting switch 82 turned on, and then press the reset key 84. With a simple operation of
It can be cleared. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a product whose printed sheet number data has already been counted from being shipped by a simple operation of a key or switch without using a special dedicated device, and it is possible to improve work efficiency before shipping.

In addition, in the laser printer of this embodiment, when the setting mode is selected, the set key 8 of the setting mode key is
When key 3 is manually operated, the card interface 52
The print number data A recorded in the memory card 51 installed in the memory card 51 is read out and stored in the print number memory 7 of the RAM 33.
1 and the number of printed sheets is displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87. In this state, when the up key 85 is manually operated, rloooJ is added to the contents of the print number memory 71, and the added number of prints is displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87. Further, when the down key 86 is manually operated, rlooJ is subtracted from the contents of the print number memory 71, and the number of prints after the subtraction is displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87. Then, when the set key 83 is pressed again, the print number data A' in the print number memory 71 at that time is set as the print number data A for the memory card 51 installed in the card interface 52. 51
will be written to. Further, the above-mentioned print number data A is continuously displayed on the liquid crystal display 87.

Therefore, when it becomes necessary to check whether or not a warning is displayed when the number of printed sheets reaches the maximum number of printed sheets during maintenance and inspection of the laser printer of this embodiment, first, the setting switch 82 is turned on. In this state, the power switch 81 is turned on, and then the set key 83 is operated. Then, the print number data recorded in the memory card 51 corresponding to the currently installed drum unit 2 will be displayed blinking on the liquid crystal display 87, so please record this in a memo or the like. Next, the user operates the up key 85 several times to add and update the number of print sheets in units of r100J, and when the number approaches the predetermined print limit, the set key 83 is operated again.

Then, the number of printed sheets close to this print limit is written to the memory card 51, so by actually printing up to the print limit after that, it is possible to check whether a message indicating drum replacement is displayed or not. .

When the maintenance and inspection are completed in this manner, the set key 83 is operated while the setting mode is selected again, and the down key 86 is then operated to subtract the number of printed sheets in units of r100J. When the number of prints approaches the number recorded in the memo, the set key 83 is operated again to write the current number of prints into the memory card 51. In this way, the laser printer can be used continuously in substantially the same condition as before maintenance and inspection.

In this way, even if it is necessary to check whether a warning is displayed when the number of printed pages reaches the printing limit during maintenance inspection, etc., it is possible to print without using any special special equipment with just a simple key operation. Since the memory card 51 having the desired print number data set close to the limit number of sheets is obtained, maintenance and inspection work can be performed easily. In addition, in order to perform this type of maintenance and inspection, remove the currently installed memory card, install another memory card, and arbitrarily change the print count data recorded on this memory card. Good too.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

For example, in the embodiment described above, an up key 85 or a down key 86 is provided to add or subtract the number of prints on the memory card 51, and the number of prints is added or subtracted in units of rloOJ by manual operation of these keys.
A numeric keypad may be provided so that desired numerical values can be directly set. Further, in the above embodiment, the memory card 51 was used as an example of the information recording medium, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other recording media such as magnetic tape may also be used. In addition, RAM, ROM with power backup,
A semiconductor memory J such as E2FROM may also be used. Further, the present invention is not limited to laser printers, but can also be applied to copying machines, etc., in which a drum unit including a photoreceptor is detachable from the main body of the apparatus. It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, when it becomes necessary to artificially change information regarding the lifespan of a photoconductor during product manufacturing work, maintenance inspection work, etc., special effects can be achieved. Changes can be made with simple operations without the need for special equipment.
It is possible to provide an electrophotographic device that can improve workability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer. Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram, Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of a laser scanner unit, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic circuit configuration. , FIG. 4 is a main circuit configuration diagram related to the present invention,
Figure 5 shows the structure of the process condition value table;
7 is a diagram showing the main memory configuration of the RAM, FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the operating section, and FIGS. 8 to 10 are flowcharts showing the main program processing routines of the CPU. 2...Drum unit, 3...Photosensitive drum, 4...
・Charger, 5...Laser scanner unit, 6...Developer, 7
...Transfer charger, 31...CPU. 41...Operation unit, 5]...Memory card (information recording medium), 87...
LCD display.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A charging section, an exposure control section, a developing section, and a transfer section are arranged around a rotationally driven photoconductor according to an electrophotographic process, and a drum unit including at least the photoconductor is freely attachable to and detachable from an apparatus main body. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: an information recording medium provided corresponding to the drum unit for recording information regarding the lifespan of the photoreceptor; a display means for displaying information regarding the lifespan of the photoreceptor; 1. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: a rewriting control means for rewriting information regarding the life of a photoreceptor to a desired value.