Cooling unit and method of cooling an electrophotographic apparatus
AssigneeFujitsu Limited
InventorsFumihiro Itoh, Takeo Kojima, Yoshihiro Watanabe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The ratio detecting unit detects, upon stoppage of printing, a fixing control ratio K which represents a ratio of time during which the fixing unit was controlled to the printing temperature in a certain period of time in the past. The predicting unit predicts a fan driving time Tf after stoppage of printing in response to the thus detected fixing control ratio K. The fan control unit rotation-controls the cooling fan 42 during printing, keeps the fan controlling status for printing for a fan driving time Tf upon stoppage of printing, and upon lapse of the fan driving time Tf, fan stoppage or high-speed rotation is switched over to low-speed rotation.
Claims8
A cooling control unit of an electrophotographic apparatus comprising:
- a fixing unit, of which the temperature is controlled to a prescribed printing temperature by a heater during printing to fix toner to a sheet of paper, and controlled to a prescribed standby temperature during stoppage;
- a cooling fan rotation-controlled to prevent increase in the machine internal temperature;
- a ratio detecting unit which detects during stoppage of printing, a fixing control ratio representing a ratio of time during which said fixing unit is controlled to the printing temperature for a certain period of time in the past;
- a predicting unit which predicts a fan driving time after stoppage of printing in response to said fixing control ratio;
- and
- a cooling fan control unit which rotation-controls a cooling fan during printing, and upon stoppage of printing, keeps a fan control status of printing during said predicted period of time.
A cooling control method of an electrophotogaphic apparatus having a fixing unit, of which the temperature is controlled by a heater to a prescribed printing temperature during printing to fix toner on a sheet of paper, and upon stoppage of printing, controlled to a prescribed standby temperature, and a cooling fan rotation-controlled to prevent increase in the machine internal temperature;
- said method comprising the steps of:
- detecting, during stoppage of printing, fixing control ratio representing a ratio of time during which the fixing unit is controlled to a printing temperature in a certain period of time in the past;
- predicting a fan driving time after stoppage of printing in response to said fixing control ratio;
- and
- rotation-controlling the cooling fan during printing, and upon stoppage of printing, keeping a fan control status for printing during said predicted time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.