Temperature control method for a fixing device
First Claim
1. A temperature control method for a fixing device incorporated in image forming equipment and having a heat roller which has a heater contained therein and a thermistor for sensing a surface temperature of said heat roller, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) moving said thermistor between a contact position contacting the surface of said heat roller, and a non-contact position spaced apart from said surface of said heat roller;
(b) on/off controlling said heater of said heat roller in response to a temperature measured at said non-contact position;
(c) correcting said temperature measured in step (b) by comparing temperatures measured at said non-contact position and said contact position, respectively; and
(d) stopping energizing said heater when a difference between said temperatures measured at said contact position and said non-contact position in step (c) does not lie in a predetermined range, thereby indicating that an error has occurred.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of controlling the surface temperature of a heat roller included in a fixing device and having a heater therein by sensing it by a thermistor. The thermistor is held in contact with the heat roller during warm-up operation and in a standby condition or spaced apart from the heat roller while a copying operation is under way. The heater is on/off controlled on the basis of a temperature measured when the thermistor is spaced apart from the heat roller. The method corrects this temperature by comparing temperatures measured in the contact and non-contact positions of the thermistor. In such a correction mode, if the difference between the two measured temperatures does not lie in a predetermined range, the method stops energizing the heater determining that an error has occurred.
-
Citations
7 Claims
-
1. A temperature control method for a fixing device incorporated in image forming equipment and having a heat roller which has a heater contained therein and a thermistor for sensing a surface temperature of said heat roller, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) moving said thermistor between a contact position contacting the surface of said heat roller, and a non-contact position spaced apart from said surface of said heat roller; (b) on/off controlling said heater of said heat roller in response to a temperature measured at said non-contact position; (c) correcting said temperature measured in step (b) by comparing temperatures measured at said non-contact position and said contact position, respectively; and (d) stopping energizing said heater when a difference between said temperatures measured at said contact position and said non-contact position in step (c) does not lie in a predetermined range, thereby indicating that an error has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
Specification