Fuser rollers
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsGabriel Scott McDaniel, Sean Daniel FitzGerald, Jeffrey H. Luke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example print apparatus is described as including a fuser roller, a pressure device that generates wear on a section of the fuser roller surface, and a wear detection engine that identifies a degree of wear on the surface of the fuser roller. An example fuser roller may include a tube, a heating element, and a plurality of layers having a detectable pattern. An example print apparatus may include a wear detection engine having an emitter, a detector, and a controller that identifies a wear pattern based on data provided by the detector in response to activation of the emitter and determines a degree of wear based on the identified wear pattern.
Claims19
A print apparatus comprising:
- a fuser roller having a first section of a cylindrical surface and a second section of the cylindrical surface, the first section of the cylindrical surface being a media handling section;
- a pressure device couplable to the fuser roller, the pressure device to generate wear on the second section of the cylindrical surface corresponding to use of the first section;
- and
- a wear detection engine to identify a degree of wear of the second section of the cylindrical surface.
A fuser roller comprising:
- a tube;
- a heating element coupled to the tube;
- a first deteriorative layer applied to the tube, the first deteriorative layer corresponding to a first detectable pattern;
- and
- a second deteriorative layer applied to the tube, the second deteriorative layer corresponding to a second detectable pattern that is different or offset with respect to the first detectable pattern,
- wherein the first detectable pattern and the second detectable pattern are optically detectable, or the first detectable pattern and the second detectable pattern are sound-detectable.
A print apparatus comprising:
- a fuser roller comprising:
- a heatable core;
- and
- a plurality of deteriorative layers coupled to the heatable core, each deteriorative layer including a material property different from other deteriorative layers;
- a wear detection engine comprising:
- an emitter;
- a detector;
- and
- a controller including:
- a processor resource;
- and
- a memory resource having instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor resource cause the controller to:
- activate the emitter towards the fuser roller;
- identify a wear pattern based on data provided by the detector in response to activation of the emitter, the data corresponding to the material property exposed on a surface of the fuser roller;
- and
- determine a degree of wear of the fuser roller based on the identified wear pattern,
- wherein the emitter and the detector are respectively an optical emitter and an optical detector, or the emitter and the detector are respectively a sound emitter and a sound detector.
The print apparatus of 11, wherein the instructions cause the controller to:
- track an operational factor corresponding to a print component;
- and
- operate the print component at a level corresponding to the determined degree of wear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.