Image forming apparatus and control method thereof
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTaishi Takano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to an embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a developing device including a toner receiving portion configured to contain toner and a movable part moveable at a first speed and a second speed, the moveable part at least partially disposed within the toner receiving portion, a temperature sensor disposed adjacent to the developing device, and a control unit operatively coupled to the temperature sensor and the developing device, wherein the control unit controls the movable part to move at a first speed when the temperature sensor detects a temperature less than a first temperature and controls the movable part to move at a second speed lower than the first speed when the detected temperature is less than a second temperature that is greater than the first temperature.
Claims19
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a developing device including a developing roller and an auger that can rotate at a first speed and a second speed that is slower than the first speed, the auger being rotated while a developer is stirred and supplied to the developing roller;
- a temperature sensor disposed adjacent to the developing device;
- and
- a control unit operatively coupled to the temperature sensor and the developing device,
- wherein the control unit:
- controls the auger to rotate at the first speed during a printing operation when a temperature detected by the temperature sensor is lower than a first temperature, and controls the auger to rotate at the second speed while the printing operation is suspended when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is higher than the first temperature.
An image forming apparatus for printing an image on a print media, comprising:
- an image forming unit including an auger that is rotatable at a first speed and a second speed that is slower than the first speed and configured to move toner for printing an image on the print media;
- a temperature sensor disposed adjacent to the image forming unit and configured to detect a temperature indicative of a temperature of the image forming unit;
- and
- a control system connected to the temperature sensor, wherein the control system:
- monitors the temperature of the image forming unit using the temperature sensor, and
- suspends printing the image on the print media and controls the auger to rotate at the second speed upon detecting that the temperature of the image forming unit is equal to or above a predetermined temperature.
A method of operating an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- mixing a toner with a developer in a developing device of an image forming apparatus using an auger, the developing device being at a location adjacent to a photoreceptor of the image forming apparatus;
- performing a printing operation and rotating the auger at a first speed while detecting a temperature of the developing device;
- and
- suspending the printing operation and rotating the auger at a second speed that is slower than the first speed in response to detecting the temperature of the developing device to be equal to or higher than a first temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.