Method of driving a fuser roll in an electrophotographic printer
View Patent ↗A method of operating an electrophotographic printer includes the steps of: transporting a print medium at a first operating speed using a print medium transport assembly; transporting the print medium from the print medium transport assembly to a fuser assembly, the fuser assembly including a fuser roll; creating a bubble in the print medium between the paper transport assembly and the fuser assembly; determining a temperature associated with the fuser roll; and rotating the fuser roll at a second operating speed which is dependent upon the determined temperature.
1. A method of operating an electrophotographic printer, comprising the steps of:
transporting a print medium at a first operating speed using a print medium transport assembly to a fuser assembly including a fuser roll;
determining a temperature associated with said fuser roll; and
rotating said fuser roll at a second operating speed which is dependent upon said determined temperature such that a bubble in the print medium between said paper transport assembly and said fuser assembly is created.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first operating speed is a linear speed and said second operating speed is a rotational speed.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said rotational speed is dependent upon an effective diameter of said fuser roll, said effective diameter being dependent upon said determined temperature.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said effective diameter increases up to 2.5% of a nominal fuser roll diameter over an operating temperature range of said fuser roll.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said effective diameter increases up to 1.2% of a nominal fuser roll diameter over an operating temperature range of said fuser roll.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determined temperature is between approximately 60° C. to 190° C.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said determined temperature is between approximately 145° C. to 170° C.
8. The method of claim 1 , including the step of setting a nominal operating temperature of said fuser roll, dependent upon physical properties of the print medium.
9. The method of claim 1 , including the step of changing said second operating speed to a different second operating speed when a print medium is not present at said fuser roll.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said bubble in the print medium is created by driving said fuser roll at a second operating speed corresponding to a linear speed which is slower than said first operating speed.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining step comprises one of:
determining said temperature of said fuser roll using a look-up table; and
sensing a temperature of said fuser roll.
12. A method of operating an electrophotographic printer, comprising the steps of:
transporting a print medium at a first operating speed using a print medium transport assembly to a fuser assembly including a driven member, said print medium transport assembly including at least one of a belt and a plurality of rolls and said driven member including one of a roll and a belt;
determining a temperature associated with said driven member; and
driving said driven member at a second operating speed which is dependent upon said determined temperature such that a bubble is created in the print medium between said print medium transport assembly and said fuser assembly.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said driven member is a fuser roll, said first operating speed is a linear speed and said second operating speed is a rotational speed.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said rotational speed is dependent upon an effective diameter of said fuser roll, said effective diameter being dependent upon said determined temperature.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said effective diameter increases up to 2.5% of a nominal fuser roll diameter over an operating temperature range of said fuser roll.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said effective diameter increases up to 1.2% of a nominal fuser roll diameter over an operating temperature range of said fuser roll.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein said effective diameter increases approximately 0.37% for a legal size print medium, and increases approximately 0.57% for a letter size print medium.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein said determined temperature is between approximately 60° C. to 190° C.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein said determined temperature is between approximately 145° C. to 170° C.
20. The method of claim 12 , including the step of setting a nominal operating temperature of said driven member, dependent upon physical properties of the print medium.
21. The method of claim 12 , wherein said determining step comprises one of:
determining said temperature of said driven member using a look-up table; and
sensing a temperature of said driven member.
22. The method of claim 12 , including the step of changing said second operating speed to a different second operating speed when a print medium is not present in a fusing region of said fuser assembly.
23. The method of claim 12 , wherein said bubble in the print medium is created by driving said driven member at a second operating speed corresponding to a linear speed which is slower than said first operating speed.