JP2015059992A - Power supply controller, printer, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a power supply controller which suppresses the voltage flicker caused by turning on a heater at the time when toner is fixed and effectively reduces an amount of power consumption of the heater, and to provide a printer, a method, and a program.SOLUTION: A power supply controller of the present invention calculates the timing of turning on/off of a heater on the basis of image information so that an image area on a printing medium is heated but a non-image area is not heated by the heater. Then, the power supply controller of the present invention calculates the amount of variation in power consumed by the heater driven at the turn on timing and at the turn off timing, specifies a plurality of heaters which maximize the amount of variation in power, classifies the heaters into a plurality of groups, and changes the turn on timing and the turn off timing of the classified heaters for each group.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling power consumption of a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a power supply control apparatus, printing apparatus, method, and program for reducing power consumption during toner fixing.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a toner-type printing apparatus such as a laser printer fixes toner adhered to a print medium by pressing the print medium with a fixing belt heated by a heater and a pressure device. Usually, since the heater consumes a large amount of power for heat generation, when the toner is fixed, the power consumption of the printing apparatus increases rapidly, and the voltage of the commercial power supply drops to cause voltage flicker. .

  With respect to this point, the heater control device disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not energize these heaters at the same time when lighting a plurality of heaters. It is intended to suppress voltage flicker.

  However, since the heater control apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 employs a configuration in which the heater lighting timing and the lighting timing are simply shifted uniformly when the fixing belt is heated using a plurality of heaters, the toner adheres. There is a problem that the fixing belt in contact with the non-image area that is not heated is unnecessarily heated.

  More specifically, in the heater control device disclosed in Patent Document 1, when the image pattern to be printed shown in FIG. 6 is printed, the lighting timings of the heaters 7 to 9 that heat the fixing belt in contact with the image area on the print medium. Also, the voltage flicker is suppressed by shifting the turn-off timing. However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, even when the power fluctuation due to the lighting of these heaters is small and the influence on the voltage flicker is small, the lighting timing and the lighting timing are shifted, and the area outside the print medium which is a non-image area is shifted. This unnecessarily heats the fixing belt corresponding to the above, and thus there is a problem that power is wasted.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and suppresses voltage flicker caused by lighting of the heater during toner fixing, and effectively reduces the power consumption of the heater and printing apparatus. The object is to provide a method and a program.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the power control device of the present invention turns on the heating device so that the image area on the print medium is heated by the heating device and the non-image area is not heated based on the image information. Timing and turn-off timing are calculated. And the power supply control apparatus of this invention calculates the variation | change_quantity of the electric power consumed by the heating apparatus driven with the said lighting timing and light extinction timing, specifies the several heating apparatus which maximizes the variation | change_quantity of electric power, and is a plurality of It classify | categorizes into a group and changes the lighting timing and extinction timing of the classified heating apparatus for every group.

  The power supply control device according to the present invention employs the above-described configuration requirements, thereby suppressing voltage flicker due to lighting of the heating device during toner fixing and heating only the fixing device in contact with the image area to consume power of the heating device. Can be effectively reduced.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an internal mechanism of a printing apparatus in which a PSU control device of the present invention is incorporated. The figure which shows the function structure of the PSU control apparatus of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process which the PSU control apparatus shown in FIG. 2 performs. The conceptual diagram which shows the calculation method of the lighting timing of a heater, and a light extinction timing. The figure which shows the state of the electric power supply to a heater. The figure which shows the lighting timing and extinguishing timing control of a heater by a prior art.

  Hereinafter, although this invention is demonstrated with embodiment, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned later. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an internal mechanism of a printing apparatus in which a PSU (Power Supply Unit) control device of the present invention is incorporated.

  The printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a PSU control device 100, a PSU 102, a heater 110, a fixing belt 120, and a pressure roller 130.

  The PSU control apparatus 100 is a power supply control apparatus that controls the PSU 102 that is a power supply apparatus based on information on an image formed on a print medium 140 such as paper (hereinafter referred to as “image information”). The PSU control device 100 calculates the start and end timing of power supply to the heater 110 so that the image area of the print medium 140 to which the toner is attached is heated by the fixing belt 120, and supplies power to the heater 110 to the PSU 102. Instruct the start and end of

  The PSU 102 is a power supply device that supplies power to the heater 110 under the control of the PSU control device 100. The PSU 102 is connected to an AC power supply (not shown), and starts or ends power supply to each heater of the heater 110 at a timing instructed by the PSU control device 100.

  The heater 110 is a heating device that heats the fixing belt 120. The heater 110 includes a plurality of heaters arranged in the longitudinal direction of the fixing belt 120. When electric power is supplied from the PSU 102, each heater generates heat individually and heats the surface portion of the fixing belt 120.

  The fixing belt 120 is a fixing device that fixes the toner adhering to the print medium 140 by heat and pressure. The pressure roller 130 is a pressure device that pressurizes the print medium 140. The surface of the fixing belt 120 heated by the heater 110 and the pressure roller 130 pressurize the print medium 140, whereby the toner is fixed to the print medium 140.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the PSU control apparatus of the present invention. Hereinafter, the functional configuration of the PSU control apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The PSU control device 100 includes a control unit 200, a timing calculation unit 201, a power change amount calculation unit 202, a classification unit 203, a timing change unit 204, and a lighting time optimization unit 205. The PSU control device 100 can be realized by a semiconductor integrated circuit including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O interface, and the like.

  The control unit 200 is a control unit of the PSU control device 100. The control unit 200 controls the power supply to the heater 110 by the PSU 102 using a function unit described later.

  The timing calculation unit 201 is a unit that calculates the start timing and stop timing of power supply to the heater 110, that is, the heater lighting timing and extinguishing timing, based on the image information.

  In the present embodiment, the timing calculation unit 201 turns on the heater 110 so that the fixing belt 120 in contact with the image area of the print medium 140 is heated and the fixing belt 120 in contact with the non-image area of the print medium 140 is not heated. Timing and turn-off timing are calculated.

  In another embodiment, the timing calculation unit 201 detects the surface temperature of the fixing belt 120, the fixing belt 120 in contact with the image area of the print medium 140 is heated, and the fixing belt 120 in contact with the non-image area of the print medium 140 is heated. The lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heater 110 may be calculated so that the temperature is maintained at a predetermined temperature.

  The power change amount calculation unit 202 is a means for calculating the amount of change in power consumption of the heater 110. The power change amount calculation unit 202 calculates a change amount of power consumption of the heater 110 that is driven at the lighting timing and the extinguishing timing calculated by the timing calculation unit 201.

  The classification unit 203 is a unit that identifies a heater group that maximizes the amount of power change and classifies the heater group into a plurality of groups. The classification unit 203 identifies a heater group that maximizes the power change amount when the heater 110 is driven at the lighting timing and the extinction timing calculated by the power change amount calculation unit 202, and the heater group is set to an arbitrary number of groups. Classify into:

  The timing changing unit 204 is a unit that changes the lighting timing and / or the extinguishing timing of the heaters classified by the classification unit 203. The timing changing unit 204 shifts the lighting timing of the classified heaters by a predetermined time, and changes the lighting timing for each group.

  Further, the timing changing unit 204 determines whether the toner attached to the print medium 140 is correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120 when the heater 110 is driven at the changed lighting timing and / or extinguishing timing. When it is determined that the toner is not correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120, the timing changing unit 204 changes the lighting timing and / or the extinguishing timing of the heater so that the toner is correctly heat-treated.

  The lighting time optimization unit 205 is means for optimizing the lighting time of the heater 110. The lighting time optimization unit 205 optimizes the lighting time by shifting the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heater 110 by a predetermined time so that the lighting time of the heater 110 is not longer than the initial lighting time calculated by the timing calculation unit 201. To do.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the PSU control apparatus of the present invention. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 3, processing executed by the PSU control device 100 when fixing the toner attached to the print medium 140 will be described.

  The processing in FIG. 3 starts from step S300, and in step S301, the timing calculation unit 201 of the PSU control device 100 calculates the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heater 110 based on the image information. In step S <b> 302, the power change amount calculation unit 202 calculates the amount of change in power consumption when the heater is driven according to the turn-on timing and turn-off timing of the heater 110.

  In step S303, the control unit 200 specifies the maximum power change amount among the power consumption change amounts calculated in step S302, and determines whether or not the maximum power change amount exceeds a predetermined threshold. The predetermined threshold is preferably a power change amount that does not cause voltage flicker.

  If the maximum power change amount does not exceed the predetermined threshold (no), the process branches to step S312. On the other hand, if the maximum power change amount exceeds the predetermined threshold (yes), the process branches to step S304.

  In step S304, the classification unit 203 identifies a heater group that maximizes the amount of power change, and classifies the heater group into a plurality of groups. In step S305, the timing changing unit 204 changes the lighting timing and / or the lighting timing of the heater 110 for each group by shifting the lighting timing and / or the lighting timing for each classified group by a predetermined time. In step S306, the timing changing unit 204 determines whether the toner attached to the print medium 140 is correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120 heated by the heater 110 driven at the changed lighting timing and / or extinguishing timing. Judge whether or not.

  In the present embodiment, the timing changing unit 204 calculates the lighting time using the lighting timing after the change and the lighting timing before the change, and the image information, the lighting timing after the change, the lighting time, and the rotation of the fixing belt 120. The speed or the like can be used to determine whether the toner adhering to the print medium 140 is correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120.

  If it is determined in step S306 that the heat treatment is correctly performed at the changed timing (yes), the process branches to step S308. On the other hand, if it is determined that the heat treatment is not correctly performed at the changed timing (no), the process branches to step S307. In step S <b> 307, the timing changing unit 204 changes the lighting timing and / or the lighting timing of the heater 110 so that the toner adhering to the printing medium 140 is correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120.

  In step S308, the control unit 200 determines whether or not the lighting time of the heater 110 is increased by changing the lighting timing and / or the lighting timing. The control unit 200 calculates the lighting time before the change using the lighting timing and the lighting extinction timing calculated in step S301, and changes the lighting timing and / or the lighting extinction timing changed in step S305 and step S307. A later lighting time can be calculated to determine whether or not the lighting time of the heater 110 increases.

  If it is determined that the heater lighting time does not increase (no), the process branches to step S312. On the other hand, if it is determined that the heater lighting time is increased (yes), the process branches to step S309.

  In step S309, the lighting time optimization unit 205 shifts the lighting timing and / or the lighting timing of the heater 110 whose lighting time has increased by a predetermined time, and optimizes the lighting time of the heater. In step S310, the control unit 200 compares the lighting time before optimization of the heater with the lighting time before optimization, and determines whether or not the lighting time has decreased. If the lighting time has decreased (yes), the process branches to step S312. On the other hand, if the lighting time does not decrease (no), the process branches to step S311.

  In step S311, the control unit 200 determines whether or not the number of times of optimization of the lighting time has reached the upper limit value. In the present embodiment, any number of times can be set as the upper limit value. If the number of times of optimization of the lighting time has not reached the upper limit (no), the process branches to step S309, and the processes of step S309 and step S310 are repeated. On the other hand, if the number of times of optimization of the lighting time has reached the upper limit (yes), the process branches to step S312.

  In step S312, the control unit 200 controls the start and stop of power supply to the heater 110 by the PSU 102 based on the lighting timing and extinguishing timing for each group calculated by the above-described processing, and the processing ends in step S313. .

  FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a method for calculating the turn-on timing and the turn-off timing of the heater 110. Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 4, a calculation method of the turn-on timing and the turn-off timing of the heater 110 will be described.

  The print medium 400 is a print medium to which toner is attached based on image information. Based on the image information, the PSU control device 100 calculates the lighting timing and the lighting timing of the heater 110 so that the fixing belt 120 in contact with the image area of the printing medium 400 to which the toner has adhered is heated. The amount of change in power consumption when the heater 110 is driven at the turn-off timing is calculated.

  The heating area map 410 shows the heating area of the fixing belt 120 heated by the heater 110 driven at the lighting timing and the lighting timing. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a square area other than white in the heating area map 410 corresponds to a portion heated by the heater 110.

  For example, since the first row and first column of the print medium 400 is a non-image region to which toner is not attached, the first row and first column portion on the fixing belt 120 corresponding to the non-image region is not heated. On the other hand, since the first row and the second column of the print medium 400 are image regions to which toner is attached, the first row and second column portion on the fixing belt 120 corresponding to the image region is heated.

  In the present embodiment, each heater constituting the heater 110 heats one row of the fixing belt 120, and the power consumption of each heater is 100W. In the heating area map 410, for example, the electric power required to heat the first row portion of the fixing belt 120 is 700 W, and the electric power change amount at this time is +700 W. In addition, the electric power necessary for heating the second row portion is 700 W, and the power change amount at this time is a difference between the power consumption amounts (700 W) of the first row portion and the second row portion, and thus ± 0 W It is.

  Similarly, the power consumption amount is calculated for all the row portions, and the maximum power change amount is specified. In the heating area map 410, the maximum power change amount is 700 W, and the description will be continued assuming that the maximum power change amount exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, 400 W).

  When the maximum power change amount exceeds a predetermined threshold, the PSU control device 100 specifies a heater group that maximizes the power change amount. In the present embodiment, heaters for heating the first row, second column to eighth column portions of the fixing belt 120 correspond, and these heaters are classified into three groups. The PSU control device 100 changes the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of these heaters by shifting a predetermined time for each group.

  The heating area map 420 is obtained by changing the lighting timing and lighting extinction timing of the first heater group, the second heater group, and the third heater group. When the turn-on timing and turn-off timing of these heaters are changed, the PSU control device 100 determines whether or not the toner attached to the print medium 400 is correctly heat-processed by the fixing belt 120.

  If it is determined that the heat treatment is not correctly performed, the PSU control device 100 changes the heater turn-on timing and the turn-off timing so that the toner attached to the print medium 400 is correctly heat-treated by the fixing belt 120. To change. In the present embodiment, the heating area 422 of the second heater group and the heating area of the third heater group are changed.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in the heating region map 420, the maximum value of the power change amount can be reduced from 700 W to 300 W by changing the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heater group that maximizes the power change amount. Flicker can be effectively suppressed.

  Next, the PSU control device 100 optimizes the lighting time of the heater 110. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the heating region 412 shown in the heating region map 410 is expanded to the heating region 422 shown in the heating region map 420. Therefore, the PSU control device 100 optimizes the lighting time of the second heater group by shifting the lighting timing and lighting timing of the second heater group by a predetermined time as shown in the heating region map 430. . Thereby, the heating area | region 422 of a 2nd heater group reduces to the heating area | region 432, and can reduce electric power consumption still more effectively.

  In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, only the fixing belt portion in contact with the image area of the print medium 400 is heated, so that power consumption can be effectively reduced.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state of power supply to the heater 110. Hereinafter, the power supply to the heater 110 based on the heating region map 430 shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The PSU 102 includes a heater trigger and a triac or FET (Field Effect Transistor) corresponding to each heater of the heater 110. When the PSU control device 100 turns on the heater trigger, the triac or FET supplies power to each heater. . The PSU control device 100 performs ON / OFF control of the heater trigger in synchronization with a zero cross signal synchronized with the commercial power supply voltage.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, first, the PSU control device 100 turns on the heater trigger of the PSU 102 corresponding to the first heater group, and the triac of the PSU 102 starts supplying power to the first heater group.

  Next, when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the power supply, the PSU control device 100 turns on the heater trigger of the PSU 102 corresponding to the second heater group, and the PSU 102 triac or FET supplies power to the second heater group. Start supplying. In this embodiment, the time for two zero-cross signals is used as the shift amount, but any time can be used as the shift amount as long as the shift amount is less than one control cycle.

  Furthermore, when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of the power supply, the PSU control device 100 turns on the heater trigger of the PSU 102 corresponding to the third heater group, and the PSU 102 triac or FET supplies power to the third heater group. To start.

  In the heating area map 430, the first heater group, the second heater group, and the third heater group heat the area for four lines, the area for three lines, and the area for two lines on the fixing belt 120, respectively. To do. Moreover, in this embodiment, the area | region for 1 row shall be heated with one control period. For this reason, the power supply to the first heater group, the second heater group, and the third heater group takes four control cycles, three control cycles, two control cycles, respectively. Will continue.

  The embodiment described above is an example of heater control using a triac, but in other embodiments, heater control may be performed using an FET instead of a triac. When an FET is used, heater control can be performed in a time finer than the zero cross signal cycle.

  Although the present embodiment has been described so far, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the constituent elements of the present embodiment are changed or deleted, or other constituent elements are included in the constituent elements of the present embodiment. It can be changed within a range that can be conceived by those skilled in the art, such as adding an element, and any aspect is included in the scope of the present invention as long as the effects of the present invention are exhibited.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... PSU control apparatus, 102 ... PSU, 110 ... Heater, 120 ... Fixing belt, 130 ... Pressure roller, 140 ... Printing medium

JP 2003-217793 A

Claims (8)

A power supply control device for controlling the power supply of a printing apparatus provided with a fixing device and a plurality of heating devices for heating the fixing device,
Timing calculation means for calculating the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device so that the image area on the print medium is heated by the heating device and the non-image area is not heated based on image information;
A power change amount calculating means for calculating a change amount of power consumed by the heating device driven at the turn-on timing and the turn-off timing;
Classification means for identifying a plurality of heating devices that maximize the amount of change in power when the amount of change in power exceeds a predetermined threshold and classifying it into a plurality of groups,
A power control device comprising: timing changing means for changing the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the classified heating device for each group. The power supply control device
The power supply control device according to claim 1, further comprising optimization means for optimizing the lighting time so that the lighting time of the heating device does not become longer than the initial lighting time. The timing calculation means includes
Instead of calculating the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device so that the non-image area is not heated by the heating device, the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device are set so that the non-image area is maintained at a predetermined temperature. The power supply control device according to claim 1, wherein the power supply control device is calculated.   A printing apparatus provided with the power supply control apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3. A method executed by a power supply control device for controlling power supply of a printing apparatus provided with a fixing device and a plurality of heating devices for heating the fixing device,
Based on image information, calculating the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device so that the image area on the print medium is heated by the heating device and the non-image area is not heated,
Calculating a change amount of electric power consumed by the heating device driven at the lighting timing and the lighting timing;
When the amount of change in power exceeds a predetermined threshold, identifying a plurality of heating devices that maximize the amount of change in power and classifying them into a plurality of groups;
Changing the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the classified heating device for each group. The method
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising optimizing the lighting time so that the lighting time of the heating device does not become longer than the initial lighting time. The step of calculating the lighting timing and the lighting timing is:
Instead of calculating the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device so that the non-image area is not heated by the heating device, the lighting timing and extinguishing timing of the heating device are set so that the non-image area is maintained at a predetermined temperature. The method according to claim 5, wherein the method is calculated.   A program that is executed by a power supply control device that controls power supply of a printing apparatus, and that causes the power supply control device to execute the method according to claim 5.