Photoconductor wear reduction

Abstract

A photoconductor wear reduction system includes a photoconductor drum clutch and a control circuit for controlling the clutch. Wear on the photoconductor drum is reduced by mechanically decoupling the photoconductor drum from the drive train in the electrophotographic printer at the end of a print job while the drive train is still rotating. In a first embodiment of the photoconductor drum clutch, the application of electrical power is required to mechanically couple the photoconductor drum to the drive. In the second and third embodiments of the photoconductor drum clutch, the photoconductor drum clutch mechanically couples the photoconductor drum to the drive train without electrical power applied. The application of power to the photoconductor drum clutch is required to mechanically decouple the photoconductor drum from the drive train. Because the length of time during a print job that the photoconductor drum must be mechanically coupled to the drive train is typically significantly greater than the length of time that the photoconductor drum can be mechanically decoupled from the drive train to reduce wear, using the second or the third embodiment of the photoconductor drum clutch provides an energy savings over the first embodiment. Furthermore, a photoconductor drum clutch that does not require electrical power to mechanically couple the photoconductor drum to the drive train permits the use of a battery to power the photoconductor drum clutch because, in the event of the loss of battery power, the photoconductor drum is still useable.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.