JP2013011674A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that allows efficient pre-maintenance to reduce costs for image formation.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus includes: consumables that are replaceably attached to the image forming apparatus, and have function durable amount set thereto, which is the upper limit of operation amount; and a life management unit that manages life of the consumables. The life management unit calculates the life of the consumables (the number of printable sheets left, and the number of operating days left) on the basis of the function durable amount, and the operation amount and the number of printed sheets or the number of operating days of the consumables from the time the consumables are attached to the image forming apparatus to the present time.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with replaceable consumable parts.

  Conventionally, in color image forming apparatuses (copiers, printers, facsimiles, etc.) using electrophotographic process technology, an intermediate transfer system using an intermediate transfer member such as an intermediate transfer belt has become the mainstream. In the intermediate transfer method, toner images of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) formed on the photosensitive drum are transferred to the intermediate transfer member (primary transfer), and the intermediate transfer method is performed. In this method, toner images of four colors are superimposed on a transfer body and then transferred (secondary transfer) to a sheet.

Such an image forming apparatus includes a large number of consumable parts having different durability (for example, a photosensitive drum, a lubricant application roller, and the like). These consumable parts have an upper limit (a so-called life) of an operation amount that can exhibit a function with a certain quality. For example, the function of the photosensitive drum is guaranteed until the total traveling distance reaches 130 km. In other words, when the deterioration of the photosensitive drum does not proceed to such an extent that a normal toner image cannot be formed, the upper limit of the operating amount of the photosensitive drum Is 130 km in mileage. The upper limit of the operation amount is referred to as a functional durability amount.
Further, the value obtained by converting the functional durability of the consumable part into the number of prints based on the standard use condition is the maximum number of printable sheets (maximum printable number) using the consumable part.

By the way, an image forming apparatus used in the field of production and printing (PP field, commercial printing or mass printing in a company) has a large number of consumable parts to be managed, and individual replacement times are also various. And if the labor cost required for replacement of consumable parts increases, the image forming cost increases. Further, if the downtime (the time during which the system is stopped) increases due to the replacement of the consumable parts, the image forming cost also increases.
Therefore, an image forming apparatus used in the PP field is required to be able to perform pre-maintenance efficiently from the viewpoint of reducing the image forming cost.

In conventional image forming apparatuses, pre-maintenance efficiency is improved by managing the number of printable sheets (number of remaining prints) for each consumable part (for example, Patent Document 1). The remaining number of printable sheets is obtained from the difference between the maximum number of printable sheets and the actual number of printed sheets.
In Patent Document 1, the replacement time (remaining operating days) is predicted based on the remaining printable number of sheets, and the consumable parts are substantially determined based on the difference between the functional durability amount and the actual operating amount (remaining operating amount). An image forming apparatus that predicts the replacement time from the viewpoint of durability is also disclosed.

JP 2009-53465 A

  However, the degree of deterioration of consumable parts varies depending on the use conditions of the image forming apparatus by the user (paper type, image forming mode (low / high image quality), presence / absence of post-processing apparatus, etc.). In particular, in the PP field, there are various users, and there are many cases where the apparatus is operated under quality higher than the quality assumed by the manufacturer, that is, under conditions that are tighter than the standard use conditions.

Therefore, the remaining number of prints that can be obtained from the difference between the maximum number of prints that can be set based on the standard use conditions for each consumable part and the actual number of prints should be appropriate for the user's use conditions. Must not.
Further, even if the remaining operation amount of the consumable part is converted into the number of prints based on the standard use condition, it does not become an appropriate remaining printable number according to the use condition of the user. By applying the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to predict the number of remaining working days based on the operating amount and the functional durability amount of consumable parts, but in this case as well, it is calculated based on the standard usage conditions. Therefore, it will not be the remaining working days according to the user's usage conditions.

As described above, since the conventional image forming apparatus calculates the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days based on the standard use conditions, information useful for the user (highly accurate remaining printable number of sheets and remaining working days). Can not present. As a result, there is a risk that the functional durability of the consumable parts will reach the functional durability before replacement and the image quality will deteriorate, or the usage efficiency of the consumable parts will be reduced by replacing it extremely quickly before reaching the functional durability. .
In addition, since the calculation accuracy of the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days is low, it is difficult to appropriately set the timing when a plurality of consumable parts are replaced together.
That is, in the conventional image forming apparatus, it cannot be said that the pre-maintenance is efficiently performed, and there is room for further improvement in order to reduce the image forming cost.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus that can efficiently perform pre-maintenance and reduce image forming costs.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a consumable component that is replaceably mounted and has a functional durability amount that is an upper limit of an operation amount;
A life management unit for managing the life of the consumable parts, and an image forming apparatus comprising:
The life management unit calculates the life of the consumable part based on the functional durability and the operation amount of the consumable part and the number of prints or the operation days from when the consumable part is mounted. To do.

According to the present invention, the life of the consumable parts (for example, the remaining number of printable sheets or the remaining working days) is calculated based on the actual working amount, the number of printed sheets, and the working days. The life calculation accuracy is improved as compared with the case where the life is calculated based on the above. Therefore, the user can perform pre-maintenance efficiently.
Further, downtime and labor costs due to the pre-maintenance are reduced, so that the image forming cost is significantly reduced.

1 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a main part of a control system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a lifetime calculation process. It is a figure which shows an example of the lifetime management data of a consumable part. It is a flowchart which shows an example of a lifetime alerting | reporting control process.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a main part of a control system of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment.
An image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is an intermediate transfer type color image forming apparatus using electrophotographic process technology. That is, the image forming apparatus 1 transfers (primary transfer) each color toner image of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) formed on the photosensitive member to the intermediate transfer member, An image is formed by superimposing four color toner images on the intermediate transfer member and then transferring (secondary transfer) to a sheet.
In addition, the image forming apparatus 1 employs a tandem system in which photoconductors corresponding to four colors of CMYK are arranged in series in the running direction of the intermediate transfer member, and each color toner image is sequentially transferred to the intermediate transfer member in one procedure. Has been.

  As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an image reading unit 10, an operation display unit 20, an image processing unit 30, an image forming unit 40, a conveyance unit 50, a fixing unit 60, and a control unit 100. Yes.

The control unit 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, and the like. The CPU 101 reads a program corresponding to the processing content from the ROM 102 and develops it in the RAM 103, and centrally controls the operation of each block of the image forming apparatus 1 in cooperation with the developed program. At this time, various data stored in the storage unit 120 are referred to. The storage unit 120 is configured by, for example, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory (so-called flash memory) or a hard disk drive.
The control unit 100 also exchanges various data with an external device (for example, a personal computer) connected to a communication network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network) via the communication unit 110. Send and receive. For example, the control unit 100 receives image data transmitted from an external device and forms an image on a sheet based on the image data (input image data). The communication unit 110 is configured by a communication control card such as a LAN card, for example.

The image reading unit 10 includes an automatic document feeder 11 called an ADF (Auto Document Feeder), a document image scanning device (scanner) 12, and the like.
The automatic document feeder 11 transports the document D placed on the document tray by a transport mechanism and sends it out to the document image scanning device 12. The automatic document feeder 11 can continuously read images (including both sides) of a large number of documents D placed on a document tray all at once.
The document image scanning device 12 optically scans a document conveyed on the contact glass from the automatic document feeder 11 or a document placed on the contact glass, and reflects light from the document to a CCD (Charge Coupled Device). ) An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the sensor 12a, and an original image is read. The image reading unit 10 generates input image data based on the reading result by the document image scanning device 12. The input image data is subjected to predetermined image processing in the image processing unit 30.

  The operation display unit 20 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) with a touch panel, and functions as a display unit 21 and an operation unit 22. The display unit 21 displays various operation screens, an image status display, an operation status of each function, and the like in accordance with a display control signal input from the control unit 100. The operation unit 22 includes various operation keys such as a numeric keypad and a start key, receives various input operations by the user, and outputs an operation signal to the control unit 100.

  The image processing unit 30 includes a circuit that performs digital image processing corresponding to initial settings or user settings on input image data. For example, the image processing unit 30 performs various correction processes such as gradation correction, color correction, shading correction, and compression process on the input image data under the control of the control unit 100. The image forming unit 40 is controlled based on the image data subjected to these processes.

  The image forming unit 40 includes image forming units 41Y, 41M, 41C, and 41K, and an intermediate transfer unit for forming an image using each color toner of Y component, M component, C component, and K component based on input image data. 42 etc. are provided.

  The Y, M, C, and K component image forming units 41Y, 41M, 41C, and 41K have the same configuration except for the color of the toner. For convenience of illustration and description, common constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and in order to distinguish each, Y, M, C, and K are added to the reference numerals. In FIG. 1, only the components of the Y-component image forming unit 41Y are denoted by reference numerals, and the constituent elements of the other image forming units 41M, 41C, and 41K are omitted.

  The image forming unit 41 includes an exposure device 411, a developing device 412, a photosensitive drum 413, a charging device 414, a drum cleaning device 415, a lubricant coating device 416, and the like.

  The photosensitive drum 413 has, for example, an undercoat layer (UCL), a charge generation layer (CGL), a charge transport layer (CGL) on the peripheral surface of an aluminum conductive cylinder (aluminum tube). It is a negatively charged organic photoreceptor (OPC: Organic Photo-conductor) in which CTL (Charge Transport Layer) is sequentially laminated.

The charging device 414 uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductive drum 413 to a negative polarity.
The exposure device 411 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor laser, and irradiates the photosensitive drum 413 with laser light corresponding to the image of each color component. A positive charge is generated in the charge generation layer of the photosensitive drum 413 and is transported to the surface of the charge transport layer, whereby the surface charge (negative charge) of the photosensitive drum 413 is neutralized. An electrostatic latent image of each color component is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 413 due to a potential difference from the surroundings.
The developing device 412 contains a developer of each color component (for example, a two-component developer composed of a toner having a small particle diameter and a magnetic material), and causes the toner of each color component to adhere to the surface of the photosensitive drum 413. Thus, the electrostatic latent image is visualized to form a toner image.

The drum cleaning device 415 includes a drum cleaning blade (hereinafter referred to as a DCL blade) that is in sliding contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 413. Transfer residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 413 after the primary transfer is scraped off and removed by the DCL blade.
The lubricant application device 416 includes a roller-like lubricant application brush that is in sliding contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 413. As the photosensitive drum 413 rotates, the lubricant adhering to the lubricant application brush is applied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 413.

  The intermediate transfer unit 42 includes an intermediate transfer belt 421 serving as an intermediate transfer member, a primary transfer roller 422, a secondary transfer roller 423, a driving roller 424, a driven roller 425, a belt cleaning device 426, and the like.

The intermediate transfer belt 421 is an endless belt, and is stretched around a driving roller 424 and a driven roller 425. The intermediate transfer belt 421 travels at a constant speed in the direction of arrow A by the rotation of the driving roller 424. When the intermediate transfer belt 421 is pressed against the photosensitive drum 413 by the primary transfer roller 422, the toner images of the respective colors are sequentially superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 421 and primarily transferred. When the intermediate transfer belt 421 is pressed against the sheet S by the secondary transfer roller 423, the toner image primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 421 is secondarily transferred to the sheet S.
The belt cleaning device 426 includes a belt cleaning blade (hereinafter referred to as a BCL blade) that is in sliding contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 421. Transfer residual toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 421 after the secondary transfer is scraped off and removed by the BCL blade.

The fixing unit 60 includes a pressure unit that forms a nip for nipping and conveying the paper S, a heating unit that contacts the paper S on which the toner image is transferred, and heats the paper S at a fixing temperature. This is a heat belt type fixing device. In the heat belt type fixing device, an upper pressure unit in which an endless fixing belt 62 is stretched between the heating roller 63 and the fixing roller 61, and a lower pressure unit including the pressure roller 64 are used to apply heat. A pressure part is formed. The fixing belt 61 serves as a heating unit.
When the pressure roller 64 is pressed against the fixing roller 61 via the fixing belt 62, a nip portion that nipping and transporting the paper S is formed. The fixing unit 60 fixes the toner image on the paper S by heating and pressurizing the conveyed paper S at the nip portion.

  The transport unit 50 includes a paper feed unit 51, a transport mechanism 52, a paper discharge unit 53, and the like. In the three paper feed tray units 51a to 51c constituting the paper feed unit 51, paper (standard paper, special paper) S identified based on the basis weight, size, etc. of the paper is stored for each preset type. Is done.

The sheets S accommodated in the sheet feed tray units 51a to 51c are sent one by one from the top, and are conveyed to the image forming unit 40 by a conveyance mechanism 52 having a plurality of conveyance rollers such as a registration roller 52a. At this time, the registration section provided with the registration rollers 52a corrects the inclination of the fed paper S and adjusts the conveyance timing.
In the image forming unit 40, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 421 is secondarily transferred onto one side of the sheet S at a time, and a fixing process is performed in the fixing unit 60. The sheet S on which the image has been formed is discharged out of the apparatus by a discharge unit 53 having a discharge roller 53a.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 includes the photoconductive drum 413, the charging device 414 that uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductive drum 413, and the surface of the photoconductive drum 413 by light irradiation. An exposure device 411 that forms a latent image, a developing device 412 that forms a toner image by visualizing the electrostatic latent image by attaching toner to the surface of the photosensitive drum 413, and an intermediate transfer belt 421 or paper And an intermediate transfer unit 42 for transferring to a transfer body such as S.

A large number of consumable parts are mounted on the image forming apparatus 1 in a replaceable manner.
For example, in the image forming unit 41, the developing roller of the developing device 412, the photosensitive drum 413, the charging electrode of the charging device 414, the DCL blade of the drum cleaning device 415, the lubricant applying brush of the lubricant applying device 416, and the like are consumable parts. . In the intermediate transfer unit 42, the intermediate transfer belt 421, the primary transfer roller 422, the secondary transfer roller 423, the BCL blade of the belt cleaning device 426, and the like are consumable parts. In the fixing unit 60, the fixing roller 61, the fixing belt 62, the pressure roller 64, and the like are consumable parts.

  These consumable parts have a function index for defining the upper limit (functional durability) of the operation amount. Table 1 shows the correspondence between consumable parts, function indicators, and functional durability.

Table 1 will be described by taking the photoconductive drum 413 as an example. The function index of the photoconductive drum 413 is the travel distance of the photoconductive drum 413, and the travel distance is set to 130 km as the functional durability. The same applies to the DCL blade slidably contacted with the photosensitive drum 413.
That is, when the travel distance of the photosensitive drum 413 reaches 130 km, the lifetime of the photosensitive drum 413 and the DCL blade is reached. Therefore, the photosensitive drum 413 and the DCL blade are replaced with reference to when the traveling distance of the photosensitive drum 413 approaches 130 km (for example, when the functional durability reaches 100% (threshold)). The functional durability for each consumable part is normally preset on the manufacturer side, but may be changed according to the quality required on the user side.

The image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment measures the amount of operation, the number of working days, and the number of printed sheets for each consumable part, and calculates the life of the consumable part (the number of remaining prints and the number of remaining working days) based on these. Manage.
That is, in the image forming apparatus 1, the control unit 100 functions as a life management unit that manages the life of consumable parts. When managing the life of the consumable parts, the functional durability amount for each consumable part as shown in Table 1 is stored in the storage unit 120, for example.

  In addition, for each consumable part, the operation amount, the operation days, and the number of prints from when the consumable part is mounted to the current time are stored in the storage unit 120, for example. These values are reset when the consumable part is replaced. These values are updated as the image forming apparatus 1 is operated. Based on these pieces of information stored in the storage unit 120, the control unit 100 calculates the lifetime (remaining printable number of sheets and remaining working days) for each consumable part.

  The amount of operation and the number of working days for each consumable part are measured based on the detection result indicating the operating state of the consumable part, for example, by sensors S1, S2, S3 (see FIG. 2) provided for each consumable part. Further, the number of prints is measured based on a detection result indicating that the paper on which the image is formed is discharged by a paper discharge sensor (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus 1, for example.

Note that the method of measuring the amount of operation, the number of working days, and the number of printed sheets for each consumable part is not limited to the above-described method, and a known method can be used as appropriate.
The operating amount for each consumable part is the amount that the consumable part actually operates, and is different from the operating amount associated with image formation in the image forming apparatus 1. This is because the consumable part operates even during warm-up before image formation, for example.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the life calculation process. The life calculation process shown in FIG. 3 is performed in a predetermined manner in which the CPU 101 is stored in the ROM 102, for example, after the daily operation of the image forming apparatus 1 is completed or periodically (for example, once a day) during the image forming operation. This is realized by executing the program. This life calculation process is performed for all consumable parts that are managed.

  In step S101 of FIG. 3, the control unit 100 displays the functional durability (A), the operation amount (B), the number of printed sheets (C), and the operation days (D) stored in the storage unit 120 for each consumable part. get. At this time, the relationship between the operation amount (B) and the number of printed sheets (C) varies depending on the use conditions of the image forming apparatus 1 by the user (paper type, image forming mode (low / high image quality), presence / absence of post-processing apparatus, etc.) To do. That is, the operating conditions (B), the number of printed sheets (C), and the operating days (D) acquired in step S101 reflect the use conditions up to the present time of the image forming apparatus 1.

  In step S102, the control unit 100 calculates the remaining operation amount based on the functional durability amount (A) and the operation amount (B). The remaining operation amount is represented by AB. The calculated remaining operation amount will be the remaining operation amount when the image forming apparatus 1 is operated under the same use conditions in the future.

  In step S103, the control unit 100 calculates the number of prints per unit operation amount based on the operation amount (B) and the number of prints (C). The number of prints per unit operation amount is represented by C / B. The number of prints per unit operating amount is also a value specific to the use conditions of the image forming apparatus 1.

  In step S104, the control unit 100 can multiply the remaining operation amount (AB) calculated in step S102 by the number of prints (C / B) per unit operation amount calculated in step S103. Calculate the number of sheets. The number of remaining printable sheets is represented by (A−B) · C / B. The remaining number of printable sheets is stored in the storage unit 120, for example, as the lifetime of the consumable part.

  In step S105, the control unit 100 calculates the number of prints per day based on the number of prints (C) and the number of working days (D). The number of prints per day is represented by C / D. The number of prints per day is also a value specific to the use conditions of the image forming apparatus 1.

  In step S106, the control unit 100 divides the remaining printable number ((A−B) · C / B) calculated in step S104 by the number of prints per day (C / D) calculated in step S105. Then, the remaining working days are calculated. The remaining working days are represented by (A−B) · D / B. The remaining working days are stored in the storage unit 120, for example, as the lifetime of the consumable part.

  Even if the remaining operation amount of the consumable part calculated in step S102 is presented to the user, the user cannot clearly grasp the life of the consumable part. Therefore, the image forming apparatus 1 converts the remaining operation amount into the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining operation days and presents it. At this time, by using the number of printed sheets per unit operation amount (C / B) obtained in step S103 and the number of printed sheets per day (C / D) obtained in step S105, The actual usage conditions of the user are also reflected in the remaining working days.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of results (life management data of consumable parts) obtained by the life calculation process of FIG.
As an example, a photosensitive drum 413 and a DCL blade having a functional durability (A) of 130 km will be described. When the current operation amount (B) of the photosensitive drum 413 and the DCL blade is 110 km, the number of prints (C) is 82.5 × 10 ³ sheets, and the operation days are 28 days, the life calculation process of FIG. 3 is followed. The remaining number of printable sheets is 15 × 10 ³ sheets, and the remaining working days are 5 days. For other consumable parts, the number of remaining printable sheets and the remaining working days are calculated in the same manner.

  In FIG. 4, the operation amount and the number of prints of the intermediate transfer belt 421 are 0, indicating that the intermediate transfer belt 421 has not been operated yet after the replacement. In this case, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days are calculated using, for example, a preset number of printed sheets per unit working amount (C / B) and a number of printed sheets per day (C / D). Further, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining number of working days are calculated using the number of prints per unit operation amount (C / B) and the number of prints per day (C / D) for the consumable part before replacement. Good.

The remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days calculated in the life calculation process are displayed on the display unit 21 as a life notification unit, for example, when an operation for displaying the life is performed by the user.
Further, for example, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days calculated in the life calculation process may be transmitted to the maintenance company server via the communication unit 110. In this case, since the service life of consumable parts is managed by a service person skilled in maintenance, the maintenance efficiency is further improved. Further, when a user owns a plurality of image forming apparatuses 1, these lifetimes may be aggregated in a maintenance company's server. In this case, the maintenance company can easily create an efficient maintenance plan.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the life notification control process. The life notification control process illustrated in FIG. 5 is realized by the CPU 101 executing a predetermined program stored in the ROM 102 in accordance with, for example, a user operation on the operation unit 22.

  In step S201 of FIG. 5, the control unit 100 acquires life information (see FIG. 4) for each consumable part.

In step S202, the control unit 100 extracts information on the consumable parts to be displayed. The lifetimes of all consumable parts may be displayed. However, it is desirable that the user wants to check the consumable parts that are approaching the end of life, so that it is desirable to extract and display them.
For example, information on consumable parts whose remaining life (remaining printable number of sheets and remaining working days) is below a preset threshold is extracted. When the consumable part has a life as shown in FIG. 4 and the remaining printable number of sheets is set to 40,000, information on the photosensitive drum 413, the DCL blade, and the lubricant application brush is extracted.

  In step S203, the control unit 100 causes the operation display unit 20 to display the information extracted in step S202. At this time, only information useful for the user, for example, only the consumable part name, the remaining printable number of sheets, or the remaining operation days may be displayed.

As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 is replaceably mounted and has a consumable part (for example, the photosensitive drum 413) set with a functional durability amount that is the upper limit of the operation amount, and a control for managing the life of the consumable part. Unit 100 (lifetime management unit).
Then, the control unit 100 as the life management unit includes the functional durability (A), the operating amount (B) of the consumable part, the number of prints (C), and the operating days (D) up to the present time after the consumable part is mounted. The remaining printable number of sheets (((AB) · C / B) and remaining working days ((AB) · D / B) until reaching the functional durability amount are calculated based on

According to the image forming apparatus 1, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days for the lifetime are based on the functional durability (A), the actual working quantity (B), the number of printed sheets (C), and the working days (D). Therefore, the calculation accuracy of the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days is improved as compared with the conventional case where the lifetime is calculated on the assumption of standard use conditions.
Therefore, the user can perform pre-maintenance efficiently. Further, downtime and labor costs due to the pre-maintenance are reduced, so that the image forming cost is significantly reduced.

When there are a plurality of consumable parts whose remaining printable number and remaining working days are reduced to the same extent, the user can also replace them with reference to the remaining printable number and remaining working days. For example, when the pre-maintenance of the image forming apparatus 1 is periodically performed, it is possible to accurately determine a consumable part that will have a lifetime until the next pre-maintenance. And pre-maintenance efficiency improves by exchanging these consumable parts collectively.
In addition, the calculation accuracy of the remaining number of printable sheets and the remaining working days is high, so consumable parts reach the end of their life before pre-maintenance, or they are replaced even if sufficient life remains, reducing the use efficiency of consumable parts I don't do it.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be changed without departing from the gist thereof.

  For example, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days for each consumable part can be calculated independently. That is, the algorithm for calculating the remaining printable number of sheets or the remaining working days is not limited to the method described in the embodiment.

  For example, the remaining working days ((A−B) · D / B) can be calculated by the remaining working amount (A−B) / the working amount per day (B / D). At this time, the remaining number of printable sheets ((A−B) · C / B) can be calculated by the number of remaining working days ((A−B) · D / B) × the number of printed sheets per day (C / D). it can.

  Further, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining number of working days are calculated using the maximum printable number of sheets calculated from the functional durability (A) × the number of prints per unit operation amount (C / B) = A · C / B. You can also. That is, the remaining printable sheet number ((A−B) · C / B) can be calculated by the maximum printable sheet number (A · C / B) −print sheet number (C). The remaining working days ((A−B) · D / B) can be calculated from the remaining number of printable sheets ((A−B) · C / B) / number of printed sheets per day (C / D).

  Further, the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days can be calculated using the maximum working days calculated from the functional durability (A) / the daily working quantity (B / D) = A · D / B. . That is, the remaining working days ((A−B) · D / B) can be calculated by the maximum working days (A · D / B) −operating days (D). The remaining number of printable sheets ((A−B) · C / B) can be calculated by the number of remaining working days ((A−B) · D / B) × the number of printed sheets per day (C / D).

Further, as the life of the consumable parts, both the remaining printable number of sheets and the remaining working days may be calculated and displayed, or either one may be calculated and displayed.
In the embodiment, information on consumable parts with a short life (consumable parts whose life has fallen below the threshold) is extracted and presented to the user (the flowchart in FIG. 5). Information on the consumable parts of the part may be presented to the user.

Further, when exchanging consumable parts, the functional durability of the newly installed consumable part may be changed according to the reason for replacement. Reasons for replacing parts include, for example, (1) replacement due to irregular causes (for example, damage to consumable parts), (2) periodic replacement due to the end of life, and (3) high user-required quality Possible exchanges.
Among these, the reason for replacement (3) is that the required quality of the user is higher than the quality expected by the manufacturer, so it is required before the end of the life calculated based on the set functional durability. This means that the quality has not been met and the consumable parts have been replaced.

In this way, the functional durability of consumable parts can be changed to accommodate cases where the lower limit of quality needs to be raised (when the functional durability for the user is lower than the functional durability set by the manufacturer). It is desirable that
In this case, the total amount of operation at the time of replacement of the consumable part can be regarded as the functional durability for the user. Therefore, if the total amount of operation at the time of replacement is set as a new functional durability, an appropriate life according to the quality required by the user can be calculated.
It should be noted that the setting of the functional durability amount may be performed by the control unit 100 as the life management unit, or may be manually performed by the user.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 10 Image reading part 20 Operation display part 21 Display part (life notification part)
22 Operation unit 30 Image processing unit 40 Image forming unit 41 Image forming unit 411 Exposure device 412 Developing device 413 Photosensitive drum 414 Charging device 415 Drum cleaning device 416 Lubricant coating device 42 Intermediate transfer unit 421 Intermediate transfer belt 422 Primary transfer roller 423 Second Next transfer roller 424 Drive roller 425 Driven roller 426 Belt cleaning device 50 Conveying unit 60 Fixing unit 100 Control unit (life management unit)
110 communication unit 120 storage unit

Claims (8)

Consumable parts that are mounted in a replaceable manner and have a functional durability amount that is the upper limit of the operation amount,
A life management unit for managing the life of the consumable parts, and an image forming apparatus comprising:
The life management unit calculates the life of the consumable part based on the functional durability and the operation amount of the consumable part and the number of prints or the operation days from when the consumable part is mounted. Image forming apparatus.   Based on the functional durability amount and the operating amount of the consumable part and the number of printed sheets up to the present time after mounting the consumable part, the life management unit until the functional durability amount is reached as the life of the consumable part. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of remaining printable sheets is calculated.   Based on the functional durability amount and the operating amount and operating days of the consumable component up to the present time after mounting the consumable component, the life management unit until the functional durability amount is reached as the lifetime of the consumable component The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the remaining working days are calculated.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a life notification unit that displays a life calculated by the life management unit. A plurality of the consumable parts;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the life management unit notifies the life when the life falls below a threshold set for each of the plurality of consumable parts. A plurality of the consumable parts;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the life management unit sorts the lifespans of the plurality of consumable parts in ascending order and causes the life notification unit to notify the lifespan part.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the functional durability can be changed based on a result of replacement of the consumable part.   The total amount of the operation amount at the time of replacement is set as the functional durability when it is necessary to increase the lower limit value of quality based on the reason for replacement of the consumable parts. Image forming apparatus.

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