IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PERFORMING PHASE CONTROL OF ROTATIONAL POLYGON MIRROR

• US 20190324380A1
• Filed: 04/17/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Nakajima, Yuki
• Granted Patent: US 10,705,448 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/043 with means for controlling illumination or exposure G03G15/041 takes precedence

Abstract

In a case of performing a second rotation control to match the rotation phase of a first rotational polygon mirror with the rotation phase of a second rotational polygon mirror in a rising period, a period during which a non-image region is irradiated with light from both or one of a first light source and a second light source is controlled to be a second period longer than a first period.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a first light source;

a first rotational polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces and configured to deflect light emitted from the light source while rotating;

a first drive unit configured to drive the first rotational polygon mirror;

a first detection unit configured to detect the light deflected by the first rotational polygon mirror;

a second light source;

a second rotational polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces and configured to deflect light emitted from the light source while rotating;

a second drive unit configured to drive the second rotational polygon mirror;

a second detection unit configured to detect the light deflected by the second rotational polygon mirror; and

a control unit configured to control driving of the first drive unit based on a result detected by the first detection unit, control driving of the second drive unit based on a result detected by the second detection unit, and control a period during which light is emitted from the first light source and the second light source,

wherein the control unit causes the first light source and the second light source to irradiate an image region on a photosensitive member with light to form an electrostatic latent image, and causes the first light source and the second light source to irradiate a non-image region outside of the image region with light so that the first detection unit and the second detection unit detect the light, and

wherein, in a rising period in which the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror are accelerated to reach a rotation speed for image forming, in a case of performing a first rotation control for controlling rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror, the control unit causes the first light source and the second light source to irradiate the non-image region with light in a first period and independently controls the rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror, and in the rising period, in a case of performing a second rotation control to match a rotation phase of the first rotational polygon mirror with a rotation phase of the second rotational polygon mirror, the control unit controls a period during which both or one of the first light source and the second light source irradiate the non-image region with light to be a second period longer than the first period.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case of performing the second rotation control, the control unit controls a timing of emitting light from both or one of the first light source and the second light source to attain the second period longer than the first period.

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

in a case of performing the first rotation control, the control unit performs a control to cause the first light source to emit light based on a timing obtained by multiplying a cycle of a signal detected by the first detection unit by a first coefficient, and to cause the second light source to emit light based on a timing obtained by multiplying a cycle of a signal detected by the second detection unit by the first coefficient, and

in a case of performing the second rotation control, the control unit performs a control to cause the first light source to emit light based on a timing obtained by multiplying the cycle of the signal detected by the first detection unit by a second coefficient smaller than the first coefficient, and to cause the second light source to emit light based on a timing obtained by multiplying the cycle of the signal detected by the second detection unit by the second coefficient.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs the first rotation control until the rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror reach a predetermined speed, and the control unit performs the second rotation control after the rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror have reached the predetermined speed.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs the first rotation control until a predetermined time elapses since the rotation of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror is started, and the control unit performs the second rotation control after the predetermined time has elapsed.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, under the second rotation control, when a phase difference between the rotation phase of the first rotational polygon mirror and the rotation phase of the second rotational polygon mirror becomes smaller than a predetermined value, the control unit switches to the first rotation control.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit compares a cycle of a signal output in response to the detection of the light by the first detection unit and the second detection unit with a cycle of a signal as a reference, and performs rotation phase control by accelerating or decelerating both or one of the rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror in accordance with a comparison result.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, before performing the first rotation control and the second rotation control, the control unit performs a control to perform forced light emission to cause the first light source and the second light source to irradiate both the image region and the non-image region with light.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control unit performs a control to perform the forced light emission by irradiating an entire region in a main scanning direction as a direction of light scanning with light.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case of matching the rotation phases by decelerating the first rotational polygon mirror during the second rotation control, when the rotation speed of the first rotational polygon mirror is a first speed, the control unit performs a control to output a deceleration instruction for controlling the rotation phase of the first rotational polygon mirror at a first frequency, and when the rotation speed of the first rotational polygon mirror is a second speed higher than the first speed, the control unit performs a control to output the deceleration instruction at a second frequency higher than the first frequency.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case of matching the rotation phases by decelerating the first rotational polygon mirror during the second rotation control, when the rotation speed of the first rotational polygon mirror is a first speed, the control unit performs a control to output a deceleration instruction for controlling the rotation phase of the first rotational polygon mirror for a first length, and when the rotation speed of the first rotational polygon mirror is a second speed higher than the first speed, the control unit performs a control to output the deceleration instruction for a second length larger than the first length.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in a case of performing the second rotation control, the control unit achieves rotation phase matching by accelerating, in priority to decelerating, both or one of the rotation speeds of the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets a cycle obtained by averaging cycles of signals detected by the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror as a cycle of a signal serving as a reference in the second rotation control.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets one of cycles of signals detected by the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror as a cycle of a signal serving as a reference in the second rotation control.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the control unit sets a cycle of a signal from the first rotational polygon mirror or the second rotational polygon mirror at the highest rotation speed as a cycle of a signal serving as a reference in the second rotation control.

16. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a first light source;

a first rotational polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces and configured to deflect light emitted from the light source while rotating;

a first drive unit configured to drive the first rotational polygon mirror;

a first detection unit configured to detect the light deflected by the first rotational polygon mirror;

a second light source;

a second rotational polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces and configured to deflect light emitted from the light source while rotating;

a second drive unit configured to drive the second rotational polygon mirror;

a second detection unit configured to detect the light deflected by the second rotational polygon mirror; and

a control unit configured to control driving of the first drive unit based on a result detected by the first detection unit, control driving of the second drive unit based on a result detected by the second detection unit, and control a period during which light is emitted from the first light source and the second light source,

wherein the control unit causes the first light source and the second light source to irradiate an image region on a photosensitive member with light to form an electrostatic latent image, and causes the first light source and the second light source to irradiate a non-image region outside of the image region with light so that the first detection unit and the second detection unit detect the light, and

wherein, in a rising period in which the first rotational polygon mirror and the second rotational polygon mirror are accelerated to reach a rotation speed for image forming, the control unit performs a control to match a rotation phase of the first rotational polygon mirror with a rotation phase of the second rotational polygon mirror.