Heating Belt Control for Fixing Roller Damage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming apparatuses with external heating belts face issues of surface temperature overshoot and damage to the fixing roller due to continued heating after an emergency stop, leading to quality defects like scars or creases on the toner image.
Innovation Solution
An image heating apparatus with a rotatable heating member, a belt unit, position detecting portion, tilting mechanism, and jam detecting portion, where the controller synchronizes the drive of the heating member and belt unit to prevent damage by interrupting the tilting operation and stopping the belt unit's rotation earlier than the heating member, maintaining contact to prevent temperature overshoot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the belt unit continues rotation after emergency stop to maintain heat conduction, then temperature overshoot is suppressed, but the fixing roller surface layer is damaged by friction and local heating
Solution Approach 1:
The controller stops the belt unit rotation in advance before stopping the fixing roller rotation. This preliminary action prevents the belt from continuing to rotate against the stationary fixing roller surface, thereby avoiding friction-induced damage such as scars and creases while still maintaining heat conduction through continued contact
Solution Approach 2:
The control system prepares for the emergency stop by coordinating the shutdown sequence of the belt unit and fixing roller. The belt unit is stopped beforehand to cushion against the potential harmful effect of friction damage, ensuring that the fixing roller surface layer is protected while temperature control is maintained
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the belt unit is stopped immediately with the fixing roller during emergency stop, then friction damage is avoided, but temperature overshoot occurs due to interrupted heat conduction
Solution Approach 1:
The controller executes a coordinated shutdown sequence where the belt unit rotation is stopped in advance before the fixing roller rotation is stopped. This preliminary stopping of the belt unit prevents friction damage while maintaining the heat conduction path through continued contact between the belt and fixing roller
Solution Approach 2:
The control system monitors the operational state of both the belt unit and fixing roller, and based on this feedback, adjusts the shutdown sequence. The controller detects the emergency stop condition and implements the coordinated stopping sequence to balance damage prevention with temperature control
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Prevents damage to the fixing roller surface and maintains image quality by ensuring the belt unit stops its rotation operation before the heating member, thus avoiding scars or creases during emergency stops.
Implementation Method 1
heat of the supporting rollers can be efficiently conducted to the fixing roller through the belt
Implementation Method 2
the high-temperature external heating belt unit is rotated, generating local heating and friction at a contact portion between the external heating belt and the fixing roller surface
Data Source
AI summary
An image heating apparatus including a rotatable heating member, a first motor configured to rotationally drive the rotatable heating member, a belt unit, a position detecting portion, a tilting mechanism, including a second motor for tilting the belt unit, a jam detecting portion, and a controller. When the occurrence of the jam is detected by the jam detecting portion during a tilting operation of the belt unit, the controller stops drive of the first motor and drive of the second motor in response to detection of the occurrence of the jam by the jam detecting portion.