JPS63296082A - Temperature control system for fixing part of plain paper facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To curtail the power consumption by holding a temperature of a fixing part at a preheating temperature by executing an electric conduction to a control circuit and a heater, only when the temperature of the fixing part has fallen from the preheating temperature being lower than a fixing temperature. CONSTITUTION:A preheating temperature T1 being higher than a room temperature and lower than an optimum fixing temperature is set to a fixing part 2c. When it is discriminated that a plotter 2 is not in the course of a recording processing, a system control part 9, compares a temperature T of the fixing part 2c with the preheating temperature T1. When the temperature T is lower than T1, the control part 9 closes a switch S3 and executes an electric conduction to a control circuit 2g, and also, closes a switch S1 through the control circuit 2g and executes an electric conduction to a heater 23. When the temperature T rises and exceeds the preheating temperature T1, the electric conduction is stopped by turning off the switches S1, S3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a temperature control method for a fixing section in a plain paper facsimile machine that records images on plain paper.

[Prior Art] Generally, in a recording section of a plain paper facsimile machine, images are recorded on plain paper by an electrostatic electrophotographic process. The electrostatic electrophotographic process is divided into the processes of charging, exposure, development, transfer, and fixing, and the temperature of the fixing part, such as the roller part used in the fixing process to fix the toner image on the recording paper, is maintained at a predetermined high temperature. There is a need to.

On the other hand, conventional facsimile machines like this.

In order to be able to record a received image immediately when a call arrives, the temperature of the fixing section is always maintained at a predetermined high temperature.

Therefore, even during standby, it is necessary to energize control circuits such as a heater that heats the fixing section and a relay circuit that controls on/off of the heater, resulting in a problem of large power consumption.

[Objective] An object of the present invention is to provide a temperature control method for a fixing section of a plain paper facsimile machine that improves the above-mentioned problems and reduces power consumption.

[Configuration] To this end, the present invention supplies power to a control circuit that controls on/off power to drive devices such as heaters and motors in the device during execution of single-image recording processing, and ensures that the temperature of the fixing section is suitable for recording processing. When the fixing temperature drops below a certain fixing temperature, the heater is energized to maintain the temperature of the fixing unit at the fixing temperature, while during image recording processing standby, the fixing unit is maintained at a preheating temperature set lower than the fixing temperature. At the same time, in order to energize the control circuit only when necessary, the control circuit and the heater are energized to bring the temperature of the fixing section to the preheating temperature only when the temperature of the fixing section falls below the preheating temperature. It was designed to be retained.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a scanner 1 reads an original image and extracts image information of a predetermined resolution, and a plotter 2 is for recording image information on recording paper.

The plotter 2 records images on plain paper using an electrostatic electrophotographic process, and includes a writing section 2a that exposes a charged photosensitive medium and develops it with toner, and a transfer section 2b that transfers the image to the recording paper. , a fixing section 2c that fixes the transferred image
and a removal section 2d that removes and cleans the toner from the photosensitive medium.

The encoding/decoding unit 3 encodes the image information to be transmitted and decodes the received image information.The image memory 4 temporarily stores the image information to be transmitted in the case of storage transmission. be.

The network control device 5 performs predetermined call origination and incoming call operations by acquiring one line, sending out a selection signal which is an originating optical telephone number, and detecting an incoming call.

The modem 6 modulates and demodulates and transmits image information and various information for transmission control.1 The communication control unit 7 controls the network control device 5 and the modem 6 to execute facsimile transmission according to a predetermined transmission control procedure. It is something to do.

The operation display section 8 displays operation guidance and the like, and performs various operations such as specifying a destination and issuing a start-up instruction.

The system control section 9 is composed of a microcomputer system, and controls each section mentioned above to execute predetermined operations of the facsimile machine.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plotter 2 is provided with various drive devices 2f, such as a heater 2e for heating the fixing section 2c, a motor for conveying recording paper, and solenoids for driving various parts. These power sources are supplied from the power supply circuit 10, the switch S1 turns on and off the power to the heater 2e, and the switch group S2 turns on and off the power to the various drive bags Ff2f. The control circuit 2g is a relay circuit for controlling the opening and closing of the switch S1 and the switch group S2. The control circuit 2g uses, for example, 24V as a power source, and the power is supplied from the power supply circuit 10 via the switch S3. The temperature sensor 2h detects the temperature of the fixing section 2c.

The facsimile machine of this embodiment has the above configuration.

When the power is turned on, the printer enters a standby state where it can receive incoming calls at any time, and temperature control of the fixing section 2c within the plotter 2 is started.

FIG. 3 shows this temperature control process, in which the system control unit 9 first determines whether or not the plotter 2 is in the process of recording (process 21). It is executed by Assume that the routine is not currently being executed and recording processing is not in progress (N in process 21).

Next, the temperature T of the fixing unit 2c is detected by the temperature sensor 2h, and compared with a preset preheating temperature T (process 22).
).

Here, in the fixing section 2c, if the optimum temperature for fixing the toner image on the recording paper is the fixing temperature T2, the preheating temperature T1 is set to a constant value higher than room temperature and lower than the fixing temperature T2.

In the above, when the temperature T is lower than the preheating temperature T1 (V in process 22), the system control unit 9 closes the switch S3 to energize the control circuit 2g, and closes the switch S1 via the control circuit 2g to turn the heater 2e on. Process with electricity 23)
, return to process 21.

Now, switch S1 and S are connected as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and (b).
Assuming that the opening is closed at time t0 as shown in FIG. Then, if the temperature T exceeds the preheating temperature T1 at time t4, this is determined in the process 22, and the switch S1 and the switch S
is turned off, and the power supply to the heater 2e and the control circuit 2g is turned off (process 24).

After this electricity is turned off, the residual heat of the heater 2e causes the
As shown in FIG. 2, the temperature T of the fixing section 2C rises for a certain period of time, and then falls again at time 0 t2, when the temperature T falls below the preheating temperature T1, this is determined in the process 22 and the fixing section 2C is heated again. Therefore, the temperature T drops a little and then rises. In this way, while the plotter 2 is on standby and is not performing recording processing, the temperature T of the fixing section 2c is as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the temperature is maintained within a temperature range R0 having the preheating temperature T1 as the center value.

When receiving an incoming call during this standby state, the system control unit 9
performs recording processing after a predetermined reception operation. FIG. 5 shows this recording operation. First, the switch S3 is turned on and the control unit M2g is energized (process 31). Furthermore, due to the temperature control process being executed in parallel at this time, This process may not be necessary because the switch S3 is already turned on.

Next, it is determined whether the temperature T of the fixing unit 2c is within the temperature range R2 for fixing the toner image on the recording paper (process 32).
), this temperature range R3 is a temperature range of a constant width centered on the fixing temperature T2. At this time, the temperature T is in the temperature range R1
The recording process is temporarily stopped here (processing 3).
(Return to process 32 from N of 2).

On the other hand, in the temperature control process, when the start of the recording process is detected (Y in process 21 in FIG. 3), the temperature T and the fixing temperature T2 are compared (process 25), where the temperature T is the fixing temperature. When lower than T2 (Y in process 25), switch S1
is closed and the heater 2e is energized (process 26).

As a result, if the start of the recording process is detected at time t, the temperature T rises as shown in FIG. 4(c). When the temperature T rises to the temperature range R2 (FIG. 5, Y in process 32), each part of the plotter 2 is controlled to execute a predetermined recording operation (process 33), and then the switch S is turned on.
3 (process 34), and the recording process ends.

During execution of this recording process, the temperature control process continues, and when the temperature T exceeds the fixing temperature T2 (N in process 25),
Opening the switch S1 (process 27). By opening and closing the switch S8 in this way, the temperature T of the fixing unit 2C falls within the temperature range R1.
held within.

Next, if the recording process is completed and this is determined at time t (N in process 21), then as described above, the fixing unit 2c
As shown in FIG. 6(e), the temperature T of
(Processes 22 to 24).

The above describes the operation when receiving a call while on standby, but the same applies when copying a document.

According to this embodiment, when the plotter 2 is on standby for recording processing, the temperature of the fixing section 2C is equal to the fixing temperature T during operation.
While maintaining the preheating temperature T set lower than 2, the 4th
As shown in FIGS. (a) and (b), when the switch S1 is opened to turn off the heater 2e, the switch S is also opened at the same time to turn off the control circuit 2g.

Conventionally, during standby, the temperature T of the fixing section 2c is maintained at the same fixing temperature as during recording operation, but in this embodiment, the temperature T is maintained at a preheating temperature TL set lower than the fixing temperature T2. Therefore, the total time for energizing the heater 2e is shortened, and power consumption can be reduced.

Furthermore, during this standby period, when the heater 2e is turned off, the control circuit 2g is turned off at the same time, so that the power consumption of the control circuit 2g can also be reduced.

In this embodiment, the preheating temperature T was fixed at a constant value between room temperature and the fixing temperature T.
If □ is high, the power consumption during standby will be large, while if it is low, it will take time to rise to the fixing temperature T2,
The actual start of recording on recording paper will be delayed during the recording process. However, for example, when T1 is 30 degrees and T2 is 160 degrees, the time it takes for the temperature T of the fixing section 2C to rise from T to T is about several seconds at most. Therefore, the user of the facsimile device may be able to arbitrarily set an appropriate preheating temperature T1 in consideration of the temperature at that location and the frequency of recording processing.

Further, in this embodiment, the control circuit 2g is a relay circuit, but it goes without saying that a circuit using a semiconductor may be used as well.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, a preheating temperature lower than a predetermined fixing temperature is set, and during standby for image recording processing, the heater and device are turned off only when the temperature of the fixing section falls below the preheating temperature. The temperature of the fixing unit is maintained at the preheating temperature by energizing the heater and a control circuit that controls energization of the drive device inside.

The total time that the heater is energized is shortened, and the control circuit is also turned off when it is not required, reducing power consumption.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a facsimile machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plotter power supply system diagram, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the temperature control process of the fixing section, and FIG. 4 is the temperature control. A time chart of switch control in the process and a graph of temperature changes in the fixing section, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the recording process. 1...Scanner, 2...Plotter, 2a...Writing section. 2b...Transfer section, 2c...Fixing section, 2d...Removal section, 2e...Heater, 2f...Various drive devices, 2g
...Control circuit, 2h...Temperature sensor, 3...Encoding/decoding unit, 4...Image memory, 5...Network control device, 6...Modem, 7...Communication control Department. 8... Operation display section, 9... System control section, 10.
...Power supply circuit, SL, Sa...Switch, S3...
switch group.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In the temperature control method of the fusing unit of a plain paper facsimile machine that records on plain paper using an electrostatic electrophotographic process, there is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the fusing unit, a heater that heats the fusing unit, and a temperature sensor that heats the fusing unit. It is equipped with a control circuit that turns on and off power to various drive devices, and a switch circuit that turns on and off power to the control circuit. During image recording processing, the control circuit is energized and the temperature of the fixing section is recorded. When the temperature of the fixing section falls below a certain fixing temperature suitable for processing, the temperature of the fixing section is maintained at the fixing temperature by energizing the heater, while the temperature of the fixing section is kept at the fixing temperature while waiting for image recording processing. Temperature control of a fixing section of a plain paper facsimile machine, wherein the temperature of the fixing section is maintained at the preheating temperature by energizing the control circuit and the heater only when the temperature drops below a preheating temperature set lower. method.