IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• US 20190317442A1
• Filed: 02/28/2019
• Published: 10/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2018
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Inventors: NISHINOUE, Kazunori, WAZUMI, Toshihiro, HIRONAKA, Motoki
• Application Number:
  US16/288,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20190317442A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/2039 with means for controlling the fixing temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/553 Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: an image former that forms a toner image on a recording material; a fixing device that pressurizes and heats the toner image formed on the recording material by the image former to be fixed on the recording material; and a hardware processor that estimates a remaining life of a predetermined fixing member on the basis of a temperature history in a temperature control period including a non-sheet passage time of the fixing member that forms a fixing nip in the fixing device and is raised in temperature and rotated.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

an image former that forms a toner image on a recording material;

a fixing device that pressurizes and heats the toner image formed on the recording material by the image former to be fixed on the recording material; and

a hardware processor that estimates a remaining life of a predetermined fixing member on the basis of a temperature history in a temperature control period including a non-sheet passage time of the fixing member that forms a fixing nip in the fixing device and is raised in temperature and rotated.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the hardware processor estimates the remaining life of the fixing member on the basis of the temperature history in all the temperature control periods including a sheet passage time and the non-sheet passage time.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the hardware processor estimates the remaining life for each of the fixing members forming the fixing nip in the fixing device.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the temperature history includes a set temperature in raising the temperature of the fixing member and a time in which the temperature of the fixing member has been controlled at the set temperature.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the temperature history includes the temperature of the fixing member detected by a temperature sensor and a time in which the temperature is continued.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the hardware processor sets a lifetime of the fixing member at a reference temperature, and estimates the remaining life of the fixing member by subtracting the lifetime on the basis of the temperature history.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein

the hardware processor changes a correction coefficient for the remaining life of the fixing member at the reference temperature according to the temperature of the fixing member, corrects a time indicated by the temperature history, and subtracts the time from the lifetime.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the hardware processor sets a subtraction coefficient according to a lighting rate of a heater that raises the temperature of the fixing member, and further corrects the time indicated by the temperature history with the subtraction coefficient.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the hardware processor sets a subtraction coefficient according to a rotation speed of the fixing member, and further corrects the time indicated by the temperature history with the subtraction coefficient.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the hardware processor sets a subtraction coefficient according to whether the temperature history is the temperature history in a period during sheet passage or is the temperature history in a period during non-sheet passage, and further corrects the time indicated by the temperature history with the subtraction coefficient.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the hardware processor sets a subtraction coefficient according to a type of a sheet during sheet passage, for the temperature history in a period during sheet passage, and further corrects the time indicated by the temperature history with the subtraction coefficient.