Image forming apparatus and toner sensor status sensing method thereof
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorHan-sang Oh
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus which comprises a developing unit having a toner and a carrier therein, the apparatus includes an agitator to agitate the toner, a toner sensor to receive a control voltage and to generate an output voltage corresponding to a remaining amount of the toner in the developing unit, a pulse width modulator to supply the control voltage to the toner sensor corresponding to a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal and a controller to control the pulse width modulator to supply the control voltage to the toner sensor to adjust a duty ratio of the PWM signal and make the output voltage reach a target value. The controller determines whether the agitator is normal or abnormal based on the output voltage of the toner sensor.
Claims7
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a control unit to generate a control signal;
- and
- a developing unit comprising
- a toner/carrier compartment having toner and carrier therein,
- a toner/carrier ratio sensor to receive the control signal and to generate an output signal corresponding to a toner/carrier ratio in the toner/carrier compartment and
- an agitator to agitate the toner in the developing unit,
- wherein the control unit determines a value of the control signal which causes the toner/carrier ratio sensor of the developing unit to generate the output signal which is within a target value range, and
- wherein the control unit determines whether the agitator is normal or abnormal based on a detected periodic fluctuation of an output voltage of the toner/carrier ratio sensor, where the agitator is abnormal when a predetermined voltage is not periodically detected with the detected periodic fluctuation of the output voltage of the toner/carrier ratio sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.