IMAGE FORMING DEVICE

• US 20120177389A1
• Filed: 01/11/2012
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oki Data Corporation (OKI Electric Industry Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Oki Data Corporation (OKI Electric Industry Company Limited)
• Inventors: SHIRAISHI, Toyokazu
• Granted Patent: US 8,693,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/43
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/2046 specially for the influence of heat loss, e.g. due to the contact with the copy material or other roller
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/657 Feeding path after the transfer point and up to the fixing point, e.g. guides and feeding means for handling copy material carrying an unfused toner image

Abstract

An image forming device includes a carrying part, an image forming part, a fuser, a fusion temperature controller, a winding part, a storage part and a controller. The controller stops a carrying of recording medium by the carrying part and heating by the fusion temperature controller, after the carrying part carries the recording medium by a predetermined length while the fusion temperature controller heats the fuser, when printing is started in a state where the recording medium is not wound on the winding part, and resumes the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part and the heating by the fusion temperature controller upon detection that the time measured by the measurement part has reached the stop time for the recording medium stored in the storage part.

Claims

1. An image forming device, comprising:

a carrying part that carries a continuous length of a recording medium as the recording medium in a roll is unrolled;

an image forming part that forms a development image on the recording medium carried by the carrying part;

a fuser that thermally fixes the development image formed on the recording medium;

a fusion temperature controller that controls a temperature of the fuser in accordance with the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part;

a winding part that winds the recording medium on which the development image is thermally fixed;

a measurement part that measures a stop time, during which the carrying part stops the carrying of the recording medium;

a storage part that stores the stop time for the recording medium as operation time for attaching a front end of the recording medium onto the winding part; and

a controller that stops the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part and heating by the fusion temperature controller, after the carrying part carries the recording medium by a predetermined length while the fusion temperature controller heats the fuser, when printing is started in a state where the recording medium is not wound on the winding part, and that resumes the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part and the heating by the fusion temperature controller upon detection that the time measured by the measurement part has reached the stop time for the recording medium stored in the storage part.

2. The image forming device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a temperature detector that detects the temperature of the fuser and that notifies the controller of the detected temperature, wherein

the image forming part starts forming the development image when the controller determines that the temperature of the fuser detected by the temperature detector is within a printable temperature range after the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part and the heating by the fusion temperature controller are resumed.

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

the predetermined length by which the carrying part carries the recording medium when the printing is started in the state where the recording medium has not been wound on the winding part corresponds to a distance for which the front end of the recording medium is carried to reach a core of the winding part.

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

the fusion temperature controller heats up the fuser to a target temperature of the fuser that is higher than a median of the printable temperature range of the recording medium when the carrying part carries the recording medium.

5. The image forming device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an input part that receives an input operation that notifies the controller that the front end of the recording medium has been attached to the winding part, wherein

the controller resumes the carrying of the recording medium by the carrying part and the heating by the fusion temperature controller when the input operation is received by the input part after the time measured by the measurement part has reached the stop time for the recording medium stored in the storage part.

6. The image forming device according to claim 5, wherein

the fusion temperature controller heats up the fuser to a target temperature of the fuser that is higher than a lower limit of the printable temperature range of the recording medium from when the controller detects that the time measured by the measurement part has reached the stop time for the storage medium stored in the storage part to when the input operation is received by the input part.

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

the controller causes the fusion temperature controller to heat the fuser while the controller causes the carrying part to carry the recording medium by a carrying amount that corresponds to a length of a contact part of a fusion roller and a pressure application roller of the fuser in a carrying direction of the recording medium.

8. An image forming device, comprising:

a fuser roller that thermally fixes a development image formed on a recording medium;

a winding part that winds the recording medium; and

a controller that sends an instruction to stop carrying of the recording medium and a fusion temperature control for the fuser for a predetermined amount of time after a predetermined length of the recording medium has been carried before image formation begins, and that sends an instruction to resume the carrying of the recording medium and the fusion temperature control after at least one of the predetermined amount of time has elapsed and an input from an operator has been received.

9. The image forming device according to claim 8, wherein

the predetermined amount of time corresponds to time needed for a front edge of the recording medium to be attached to the winding part.

10. The image forming device according to claim 9, wherein

the predetermined amount of time is 10 to 30 seconds.

11. The image forming device according to claim 8, wherein

the controller sends an instruction to start forming an image after the carrying of the recording medium and the fusion temperature control have been resumed and after a surface temperature of the fusion roller reaches a lower limit of a printable temperature range for the recording medium.

12. The image forming device according to claim 8, wherein

a surface temperature of the fusion roller when the carrying of the recording medium and the fusion temperature control are stopped is maintained above the median of a printable temperature range for the recording medium such that the surface temperature is maintained around or above a lower limit of the printable temperature range at the time when the carrying of the recording medium and the fusion temperature control are resumed.

13. The image forming device according to claim 8, wherein

when the receipt of the input from the operator takes places after the predetermined amount of time, and when the carrying of the recording medium and the fusion temperature control are resumed after the receipt of the input from the operator, the fusion roller is heated so that the surface temperature of the fusion roller is maintained around or above the lower limit of the printable temperature range.