FIXING APPARATUS

• US 20110299868A1
• Filed: 05/27/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: ITO, Mitsuhiro
• Application Number:
  US13/117,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20110299868A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/69
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/2039 with means for controlling the fixing temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5004 Power supply control, e.g. power-saving mode, automatic power turn-off
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5012 Priority interrupt; Job recovery, e.g. after jamming or malfunction

Abstract

An object is to perform control so that power supplied in positive half-waves and power supplied in negative half-waves are symmetric in a control period even if a safety circuit based on a hardware circuit is activated. A CPU 202a controls to supply power of six half-waves from a third half-wave to an eighth half-wave (sections of E to K of a power supply waveform) after a limitation in the supply of the power by the safety circuit is released if the safety circuit limits the supply of the power from an AC power supply 401 to a heater 301 in a third half-wave (section of C to D in the power supply waveform) in the control period.

Claims

1. A fixing apparatus comprising, a heating unit having a heating element that heats a toner image, a control unit that controls power supplied from an AC power supply to the heating element, and a limiting unit that limits the supply of power from the AC power supply to the heating element by a hardware circuit,

wherein, when N is an integer, the control unit controls to make the power supplied in positive half-waves and the power supplied in negative half-waves symmetric in a control period including a plurality of N half-waves of the AC power supply, and

when M is an integer, the control unit controls to supply the power of (N-M+1) half-waves from an M-th half-wave to an N-th half-wave after a limitation of the supply of the power by the limiting unit is released if the limiting unit limits the supply of the power from the AC power supply to the heating element at the M-th half-wave in the control period.

2. The fixing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising, a temperature detection unit that detects a temperature of the heating element,

wherein the limiting unit limits the supply of the power from the AC power supply to the heating element if the temperature detection unit detects that the temperature of the heating element exceeds a predetermined temperature.

3. The fixing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising, a pressurizing unit that forms a nip portion by pressure contacting with the heating unit, and a number of rotations detection unit that detects the number of rotations of the pressurizing unit,

Wherein the limiting unit limits the supply of the power from the AC power supply to the heating element if the number of rotations detection unit detects that the number of rotations of the pressurizing unit is smaller than a predetermined number of rotations.

4. The fixing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the supply of the power based on wave number control in the control period.

5. The fixing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the supply of the power based on a combination of phase control and the wave number control in the control period.