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US 12,619,183 B2Granted
Control for conveying a continuous sheet in an image forming apparatus
AssigneeKonica Minolta, Inc.
InventorTsutomu Sakamaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided is an image forming apparatus capable of printing on continuous sheet. The image forming apparatus includes: a fixing section that fixes an image on an unfixed surface of the continuous sheet while conveying the continuous sheet by a fixing nip; a downstream-side conveyance section that is disposed on a downstream side of the fixing section in a sheet conveyance direction and conveys the continuous sheet by a downstream-side conveyance nip; a detection section that detects a physical amount related to a thermal expansion state of a fixing member that forms the fixing nip; and a control section that controls driving aspects of the fixing section and the downstream-side conveyance section based on a detection result by the detection section.
Claims18
An image forming apparatus capable of printing on continuous sheet, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a fixing section that fixes an image on an unfixed surface of the continuous sheet while conveying the continuous sheet by a fixing nip, wherein the fixing section includes a pressure-contact/separation section that brings fixing members that form the fixing nip into pressure contact with each other and that separates the plurality of fixing members from each other;
- a downstream-side conveyance section that is disposed on a downstream side of the fixing section in a sheet conveyance direction and conveys the continuous sheet by a downstream-side conveyance nip;
- a detection section that detects a physical amount related to a thermal expansion state of a fixing member of the fixing members that form the fixing nip;
- and
- a control section that controls a driving aspect of at least one of the fixing section and/or the downstream-side conveyance section based on a detection result by the detection section,
- wherein a driving start timing of a conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a pressure-contact operation of the pressure-contact/separation section and a driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a separation operation of the pressure-contact/separation section, and the control section performs an adjustment of the driving start timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to an earlier time after the start of the pressure-contact operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, an adjustment of the driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to a later time after the start of the separation operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, or both.
3 more elements
A conveyance method in an image forming apparatus capable of printing on continuous sheet, the conveyance method comprising:
- conveying the continuous sheet by a fixing nip that fixes an image on an unfixed surface of the continuous sheet, the fixing nip being formed by fixing members;
- conveying the continuous sheet by a downstream-side conveyance nip disposed on a downstream side of the fixing nip in a sheet conveyance direction;
- detecting a physical amount related to a thermal expansion state of a fixing member of the fixing members that form the fixing nip;
- controlling a driving aspect of at least one of a fixing section and/or a downstream-side conveyance section based on the detected physical amount related to the thermal expansion state, the fixing section being a fixing section in which the fixing nip is disposed, the downstream-side conveyance section being a downstream-side conveyance section in which the downstream side conveyance nip is disposed;
- and
- controlling a pressure-contact/separation section to bring the fixing members that form the pressure nip into pressure contact with each other and to separate the fixing members from each other,
- wherein a driving start timing of a conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a pressure-contact operation of the pressure-contact/separation section and a driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a separation operation of the pressure-contact/separation section, and the step of controlling a driving aspect includes adjusting the driving start timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to an earlier time after the start of the pressure-contact operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, adjusting the driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to a later time after the start of the separation operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, or both.
4 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program, the program causing a computer of an image forming apparatus to execute predetermined processing, the image forming apparatus capable of printing on continuous sheet, wherein
- the predetermined processing includes:
- conveying the continuous sheet by a fixing nip that fixes an image on an unfixed surface of the continuous sheet, the fixing nip being formed by fixing members;
- conveying the continuous sheet by a downstream-side conveyance nip disposed on a downstream side of the fixing nip in a sheet conveyance direction;
- detecting a physical amount related to a thermal expansion state of a fixing member that forms the fixing nip;
- controlling a driving aspect of at least one of a fixing section, in which the fixing nip is disposed, and a downstream-side conveyance section, in which the downstream-side conveyance nip is disposed, based on the detected physical amount related to the thermal expansion state;
- and
- controlling a pressure-contact/separation section to bring the fixing members that form the pressure nip into pressure contact with each other and to separate the fixing members from each other,
- wherein a driving start timing of a conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a pressure-contact operation of the pressure-contact/separation section and a driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section is set to be a time after a start of a separation operation of the pressure-contact/separation section, and the controlling a driving aspect includes adjusting the driving start timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to an earlier time after the start of the pressure-contact operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, adjusting the driving stop timing of the conveyance member in the downstream-side conveyance section to a later time after the start of the separation operation as the physical amount indicates that a thermal expansion amount of the fixing member increases, or both.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.