JPH0432884A - Fixing device - 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 (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a fixing device for a plain paper recording device installed in, for example, a facsimile machine, and particularly to control of preheating temperature of a fixing roller.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in facsimile machines equipped with a fixing device that uses plain paper recording, the fixing roller of the fixing device is It is necessary to always preheat to a constant temperature. FIG. 3 shows this situation, and the fixing roller is always maintained at the preheat temperature T2 while the machine is on standby. Therefore, the fixing roller is further heated at the same time as the call arrives, and 1. After that, the fixing temperature T] is reached.

A fixing operation is performed during plot-out, and when the plot-out is completed, the heater is turned off to lower the roller temperature, and it is again maintained at the standby preheat temperature.

By the way, the preheat temperature T2 is the fixing temperature T.

The time t1 required for the temperature to rise to 0.1 must be set within a time that satisfies communication standards; however, this time t1 generally varies depending on the ambient temperature (temperature of the machine). That is, when the ambient temperature is low, heat dissipation is large, so it takes longer. Therefore, the preheat temperature is set high so that the fixing temperature is reached within a time that satisfies the communication standard even when the ambient temperature is low.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) With such a configuration, when the ambient temperature is high, the fixing roller is held at a high preheat temperature even though the time to reach the fixing temperature is short. There was a problem of wasted power consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims to solve these conventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fixing device that sets and controls the preheat temperature of a fixing roller depending on the ambient temperature.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a means for detecting the temperature of a fixing roller having a built-in heater, a means for detecting ambient temperature, and a means for detecting the detected fixing roller temperature. The image forming apparatus is configured to include means for taking in information on the ambient temperature and setting and controlling the preheating temperature of the fixing roller with reference to the ambient temperature.

In addition, a means for detecting the temperature of the fixing roller with a built-in heater and information on the detected fixing roller temperature are taken in, and the inclination angle of the temperature rise curve obtained by heating the fixing roller with the heater at regular intervals is used. The present invention is configured to include means for determining the ambient temperature and setting and controlling the preheating temperature of the fixing roller with reference to the ambient temperature.

(Function) According to the above configuration, when the ambient temperature is low, the preheat temperature of the fixing roller is set relatively high, and when the ambient temperature is high, the preheat temperature is set relatively low. This makes it possible to suppress wasteful power consumption.

(Example) Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a temperature control section in a fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a thermistor that detects the temperature of the fixing roller, 2 is a thermistor that detects the ambient temperature, and 3 is the detected fixing roller. An analog switch 4 selects and captures temperature and ambient temperature information, and 4 is an A/D converter that converts the captured analog information into a digital signal. Binary data from the A/D converter is input to the CPU via bus input, and a control command is output from the CPU to control the energization of the heater 5 built into the fixing roller.

Here, the preheat temperature of the fixing roller is set relatively high when the ambient temperature is low, and is set relatively low when the ambient temperature is high. The temperature setting is such that the temperature rise time from receiving the second call until reaching the fixing temperature is within the time that satisfies the communication standards, and that there is no unnecessarily leeway before the start of plotting. The preheat temperature is set so that

In this embodiment configured in this way, as in the past, the only preheating temperature of the fixing roller is determined based on the case where the ambient temperature is low, so power is wasted when the ambient temperature is high. problem can be eliminated.

In the embodiment, an A/D converter is used, but a comparator may be used in combination.

Also, instead of installing a thermistor to detect the ambient temperature,
The fixing roller may be heated at regular intervals, the ambient temperature may be determined from the slope angle ΔT/Δt of the temperature increase curve obtained at that time, and the preheating temperature of the fixing roller may be set with reference to the ambient temperature.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a facsimile machine, and the present invention is applied to the recording section 13 thereof.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the preheating temperature of the fixing roller in the fixing device is set and controlled in consideration of the ambient temperature, thereby suppressing wasteful power consumption and reducing energy consumption. can be achieved. In addition, in devices that determine the ambient temperature from the inclination angle ΔT/Δt of the temperature rise curve obtained by heating the fixing roller, a thermistor for detecting the ambient temperature can be omitted, resulting in effects such as cost reduction. It is something to play.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a fixing roller temperature control section in a fixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a facsimile machine to which the present invention is applied, and FIG.
The figure is a diagram showing a temperature control operation of a fixing device in a facsimile machine. 1...Thermistor for temperature detection of the fixing roller, 2...
・Ambient temperature detection thermistor, 3...Analog switch, 4...A/D converter, 5...
heater. Patent applicant Rico Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A device that preheats the fixing roller of a plain paper recording device, which includes a means for detecting the temperature of the fixing roller having a built-in heater, a means for detecting ambient temperature, and a means for detecting the temperature of the detected fixing roller and the ambient temperature. A fixing device comprising means for taking in information and setting and controlling a preheating temperature of the fixing roller with reference to the ambient temperature. (2) In an apparatus that preheats a fixing roller of a plain paper recording device, a means for detecting the temperature of the fixing roller having a built-in heater, and a means for capturing information on the detected fixing roller temperature, and a means for preheating the fixing roller by the heating heater. and means for determining the ambient temperature from the inclination angle of a temperature increase curve obtained by heating the roller at regular intervals, and setting and controlling the preheating temperature of the fixing roller with reference to the ambient temperature. A fixing device characterized by: