Image forming apparatus and method for controlling image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10564564-B2
Application number	US-201816184881-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2018
Priority date	Nov 10, 2017
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: a photoreceptor including a surface layer; a storage that stores a target value of a variation of a film thickness of the surface layer; and a hardware processor that acquires a variation of the film thickness in a first period within which the photoreceptor rotates a predetermined number of times, and sets a margin that is an amount of a portion for allowance with respect to a proper value of a parameter related to control of the photoreceptor, the margin being to be employed after the first period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a photoreceptor including a surface layer;
a storage that stores a target value of a variation of a film thickness of the surface layer; and
a hardware processor that:
acquires a variation of the film thickness in a first period within which the photoreceptor rotates a predetermined number of times, and
sets a margin that is an amount of a portion for allowance with respect to a proper value of a parameter related to control of the photoreceptor, based on a deviation of the acquired variation of the film thickness in the first period from the target value of the variation of the film thickness, the margin being a margin to be employed after the first period.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a charging roller that charges the photoreceptor,
wherein the parameter is a peak-to-peak voltage of an AC component of a charging voltage applied to the charging roller.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the storage further stores information indicating a relationship between the variation of the film thickness and the margin,
the target value is an estimated variation of the film thickness when the photoreceptor rotates the predetermined number of times in a state where the parameter is set to the proper value,
the hardware processor estimates the margin having been employed in the first period based on the variation acquired by the hardware processor and the information, and
the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed after the first period based on the margin estimated by the hardware processor.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein when the variation of the film thickness acquired by the hardware processor is larger than the target value, the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed after the first period to a value smaller than the margin estimated by the hardware processor.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein when the variation of the film thickness acquired by the hardware processor is larger than the target value, the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed after the first period to a value obtained by subtracting an offset amount from the margin, the offset amount being a necessary proportion of the margin estimated by the hardware processor.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein when the variation of the film thickness acquired by the hardware processor is smaller than the target value, the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed after the first period to a value equal to the margin estimated by the hardware processor.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the hardware processor acquires a variation of the film thickness in a second period within which the photoreceptor rotates the predetermined number of times with the parameter set by the hardware processor,
the hardware processor sets a margin to be employed after the second period to a value obtained by subtracting an offset amount that is a necessary portion of the margin having been employed in the second period from the margin having been employed in the second period in a case where the variation of the film thickness acquired by the hardware processor is larger than a predetermined range of film thickness variation including the target value, and
the hardware processor sets the portion of the offset to be larger when the variation of the film thickness acquired by the hardware processor is larger than an estimated variation of the film thickness in a case where the photoreceptor rotates the predetermined number of times in a state where the margin set by the hardware processor is employed.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the hardware processor acquires the variation of the film thickness based on a relationship between a charging voltage to be applied to a charging roller that charges the photoreceptor and a current flowing through the photoreceptor by the charging voltage, and
when an accumulated number of rotations of the photoreceptor is larger than a predetermined reference number of rotations, the hardware processor sets a peak-to-peak voltage of an AC component of the charging voltage to be applied to the charging roller to be lower as compared to a case where the accumulated number of rotations of the photoreceptor is smaller than the predetermined reference number of rotations.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the hardware processor acquires the variation of the film thickness in the first period within which the photoreceptor rotates the predetermined number of times in a state where a temperature of the photoreceptor is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature reference value, and
the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed when the temperature of the photoreceptor is equal to or higher than the temperature reference value.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the hardware processor acquires the variation of the film thickness in the first period when a temperature variation of the photoreceptor within a predetermined period is within a predetermined temperature variation range, and
the hardware processor sets the margin to be employed when the temperature variation of the photoreceptor is within the temperature variation range.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the photoreceptor includes a plurality of photoreceptors carrying toner images of different colors from each other,
the hardware processor acquires the variation of the film thickness of each of the plurality of photoreceptors, and
the first periods each defining a timing for acquiring the variation of the film thickness of each of the plurality of photoreceptors are different from each other.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the hardware processor accepts an operation related to control of the photoreceptor, and
the hardware processor resets the margin to an initial value or changes the margin in accordance with the operation.

13. A method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a photoreceptor including a surface layer, and a storage that stores a target value of a variation of a film thickness of the surface layer, the method comprising:
acquiring a variation of the film thickness in a first period within which the photoreceptor rotates a predetermined number of times; and
setting a margin that is an amount of a portion for allowance with respect to a proper value of a parameter related to control of the photoreceptor, based on a deviation of the acquired variation of the film thickness in the first period from the target value of the variation of the film thickness, the margin being a margin to be employed after the first period.

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Mandai Yuusuke

Classifications

• G03G15/0275 Primary

  Arrangements for controlling the area of the photoconductor to be charged · CPC title

• G03G15/553

  Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job · CPC title

• G03G15/5037

  the characteristics being an electrical parameter, e.g. voltage · CPC title

• G03G15/5033

  by measuring the photoconductor characteristics, e.g. temperature, or the characteristics of an image on the photoconductor · CPC title

• G03G15/0266 Primary

  Arrangements for controlling the amount of charge · CPC title