1. An apparatus comprising:
a fusing belt;
at least one fusing belt support roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the fusing belt support roller, the at least one fusing belt support roller having an axis of rotation;
a pressure roller that contacts the fusing belt to form a fusing nip, where the pressure roller and the fusing belt are configured to fuse an image on a media sheet in the fusing nip;
a belt position changing mechanism coupled to the fusing belt, the belt position changing mechanism configured to move the fusing belt axially relative to the at least one fusing belt support roller axis of rotation; and
a belt position changing control module coupled to the belt position changing mechanism, the belt position changing control module configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the at least one fusing belt support roller includes a steering roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the steering roller and
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control an angle of the steering roller relative to an axis of rotation to adaptively control the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt in a first direction and adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt in a second direction opposite from the first direction, where the belt position changing control module adaptively controls the rate of axial movement of the fusing belt in the first direction independently from adaptively controlling the rate of axial movement of the fusing belt in the second direction.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to sense the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt,
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt based on the sensed rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to sense an axial position of the fusing belt.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4,
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to determine a time it takes the fusing belt to travel a known distance based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt, and
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt based on the time it takes the fusing belt to travel a known distance.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the sensor comprises a multiple position switch coupled to an edge of the fusing belt wherein the multiple position switch is configured to sense the axial position of the fusing belt based on a position of the multiple position switch.
7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to determine the fusing belt is heading off track based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt.
8. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to control the belt position changing mechanism to reverse a direction of movement of the fusing belt based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt.
9. The apparatus according to claim 4,
wherein the sensor is configured to sense when the fusing belt has reached a first axial position and the sensor is configured to sense when the fusing belt has reached a second axial position,
wherein the belt changing position changing control module is configured to control the belt position changing mechanism to direct the fusing belt towards the second axial position based on the sensor sensing when the fusing belt has reached the first axial position, and
wherein the belt changing position changing control module is configured to control the belt position changing mechanism to direct the fusing belt towards the first axial position based on the sensor sensing when the fusing belt has reached the second axial position.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the at least one fusing belt support roller includes a steering roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the steering roller, and
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control an angle of the steering roller relative to an axis of rotation based on the angle of the steering roller relative to the axis of rotation of the fusing belt and based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt to adaptively control the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt to mitigate edge wear on the fusing belt from media sheets in the fusing nip.
12. A method in an apparatus including a fusing belt, at least one fusing belt support roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the fusing belt support roller, a pressure roller that contacts the fusing belt to form a fusing nip, where the fusing belt support roller includes an axis of rotation, the method comprising:
fusing an image on a media sheet in the fusing nip using the pressure roller and the fusing belt;
moving the fusing belt axially relative to the at least one fusing belt support roller axis of rotation; and
adaptively controlling a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
13. The method according to claim 12,
wherein the at least on fusing belt support roller includes a steering roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the steering roller, and
wherein adaptively controlling the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt includes adaptively controlling an angle of the steering roller relative to an axis of rotation.
14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising sensing the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt,
wherein adaptively controlling the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt comprises adaptively control the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt based on the sensed rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising sensing an axial position of the fusing belt.
16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising determining a time it takes the fusing belt to travel a known distance based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt,
wherein adaptively controlling a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt comprises adaptively controlling a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt based on the time it takes the fusing belt to travel a known distance.
17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:
sensing the fusing belt has reached a first axial position; and
directing the fusing belt in an opposite direction towards a second axial position based on sensing the fusing belt has reached the first axial position.
18. The method according to claim 12, wherein adaptively controlling a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt comprises adaptively controlling a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt to mitigate edge wear on the fusing belt from media sheets in the fusing nip.
19. An apparatus comprising:
a media sheet transport configured to transport a media sheet;
a fusing belt;
at least one fusing belt support roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the fusing belt support roller, the fusing belt support roller having an axis of rotation;
a heater configured to heat at least a portion of the fusing belt;
a pressure roller that contacts the fusing belt to form a fusing nip, where the pressure roller, the heater, and the fusing belt are configured to fuse an image on the media sheet in the fusing nip;
a belt position changing mechanism coupled to the fusing belt, the belt position changing mechanism configured to move the fusing belt axially relative to the at least one fusing belt support roller axis of rotation;
a sensor configured to sense an axial position of the fusing belt; and
a belt position changing control module coupled to the belt position changing mechanism, the belt position changing control module configured to adaptively control a rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt.
20. The apparatus according to claim 19,
wherein the at least one fusing belt support roller includes a steering roller, where the fusing belt is entrained on the steering roller, and
wherein the belt position changing control module is configured to adaptively control an angle of the steering roller relative to an axis of rotation based on the angle of the steering roller relative to the axis of rotation of the fusing belt and based on the sensed axial position of the fusing belt to adaptively control the rate of the axial movement of the fusing belt.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) inverter to the motor, comprising:
detecting a DC link current and a vector pattern;
determining whether a voltage vector length exceeds a predetermined value; and
adjusting the voltage vector by adding a positive or reversed voltage based upon the determining and an integrated error value.
2. The phase current detection method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the DC link current detection is carried out by sampling the current at the center of a period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through a shunt resistor.
3. The phase current detection method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the DC link current detection is carried out by sampling the current at a timing which has passed a response time from the starting of the period in response to the fact that sampling at the center of the period is impossible due to the restriction of the response time.
4. The phase current detection method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the DC link current detection is carried out by sampling the current at the center of a period when a voltage vector is output.
5. The phase current detection method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the DC link current detection is carried out by sampling the current at the center of a period which is a period obtained by removing a period for hardware becoming stable starting of the period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through the shunt resistor, from the period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through the shunt resistor.
6. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
detecting a DC link current and a vector pattern;
correcting the current detection value using a prior current estimation value; and
estimating a new current value at a desired timing using the corrected current detection value,
wherein the correction of current detection value is carried out by operating an amplitude error from the error current and by adding the amplitude error to the estimated current of the desired timing.
7. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
detecting a DC link current and a vector pattern;
correcting the current detection value using a prior current estimation value; and
estimating a new current value at a desired timing using the corrected current detection value, wherein the correction of current detection value is carried out by adding an error current to the estimated current value at the desired timing, and
wherein the estimates of the new current value are based in response to the size of the amplitude.
8. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
an output time detection section which determines whether a voltage vector length exceeds a predetermined value;
an output time enlargement section associated with the output time detection section, which enlarges an output time of the voltage vector;
a reverse vector generation section associated with the output time enlargement section, which adjusts an applied voltage by one of adding and subtracting a voltage based upon the voltage vector length; and
a selection section, associated with the output time enlargement section and the reverse vector generation section, which selects one of the enlarged voltage vector and the applied voltage for input into the PWM inverter, based upon the output of an output error integrating section.
9. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM to the motor, comprising:
a current controlling section which receives a current command and a detected current, and provides a voltage command;
an output time detection section which determines whether a voltage vector length exceeds a predetermined value, and provides an output pause command;
a voltage vector generation section, associated with the current controlling section and the output time detection section, which provides a voltage vector command based upon the voltage command and the output pause command; and
an output time enlargement section, associated with the output time detection section which varies the application interval of the voltage vector command to the PWM inverter based upon the output pause command, and enlarges an output time of the voltage vector.
10. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
a current determinator which judges whether current detection is possible during a dead time, and for carrying out current detection in response to the judgement result representing that current detection is possible;
a current controlling section which receives a current command and a phase current output from the current determination section;
a voltage vector generation section which receives a voltage command from the current controlling section, and produces a voltage vector command;
an output time detection section which determines whether the voltage vector length exceeds a predetermined value, and receives a dead time permission signal, and provides an output pause command; and
an output time enlargement section, associated with the output time detection section, which varies the application interval of the voltage vector to the PWM inverter based upon the output pause command, and enlarges an output time of the voltage vector.
11. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in one of claim 8 through claim 10, further comprising a current detector which samples current at the center of a period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through a shunt resistor.
12. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 11, wherein the current detector samples current at a timing which has passed a response time from the starting of the period given that sampling at the center of the period is impossible due to the restriction of the response time, as the current detection means.
13. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in one of claim 8 through claim 10, further comprising a current detector which samples current at the center of a period when a voltage vector is output.
14. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in one of claim 8 through claim 10, further comprising a current detector which samples current at the center of a period which is a period obtained by removing a period for hardware becoming stable starting of the period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through the shunt resistor, from the period when a current corresponding to a voltage vector is observed through the shunt resistor.
15. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
a current estimator which estimates a current from the past current values given that an applied voltage vector is too short to measure the current; and
a voltage vector generation section associated with the current estimator, which receives a voltage command based upon one of past current values and present current values, and produces a voltage vector command for input to the PWM inverter.
16. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
a current estimator which estimates a current value at a desired timing by correcting a current detection value using a current estimation value generated from past current detection values; and
a voltage vector generation section, associated with the current estimator, which receives a voltage command based upon one of past current values and present current values, and provides a voltage vector command for input to the PWM inverter.
17. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein the current estimator corrects the current detection value by adding an error current to the estimated current value at the desired timing.
18. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein the current estimator corrects the current detection value by operating an amplitude error from the error current and by adding the amplitude error to the estimated current of the desired timing.
19. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein the current estimator calculates an amplitude error from the error current and for correcting the detection current value by adding the amplitude error to the estimation current of the desired timing, given that the amplitude has a large value, and for correcting the current detection value by adding the error current to the estimation current value of the desired timing, in response to the fact that the amplitude has a small value.
20. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result, and
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein a period is calculated when current appears on a DC link, from the current flowing direction and the vector pattern to be output, and the gate-pulse width is determined so that the calculated period becomes the minimum vector output period for current detection on the DC link.
21. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein the pattern of switch operation for causing varying in output vector is estimated, and the minimum gate-pulse width is varied based upon the estimation result.
22. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein a response time is determined in correspondence with the switching devices constituting the PWM inverter, and the minimum gate-pulse width is varied to match the switching devices which cause current varying.
23. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein the direction of the current is estimated from the phase information of the current.
24. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein the direction of the current is estimated from the sequence of the current values.
25. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein the processing for estimating the direction of the current from the phase information of the current and the processing for estimating the direction of the current from the sequence of the current values are changed over, in response with the rotation speed of the motor.
26. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein pulse width restriction is applied to the vector output period excluding the dead time, in response with the fact that the estimated current is within the current estimation error.
27. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein one of the switching devices constituting the PWM inverter is turned off for a time required for current detection.
28. A motor controlling method, comprising:
calculating a motor voltage from a DC link voltage and a gate pulse width;
detecting a phase current from a DC link current and a vector pattern: and
controlling the DC link voltage based upon the motor voltage required by the motor further comprising:
calculating the switching pattern of a voltage varying timing from the direction of the current and the output vector pattern;
calculating the delay time of the devices based upon the calculation result; and
correcting the motor voltage.
29. A phase current detection method for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
estimating direction of a phase current at a current detection timing, and
varying a minimum pulse width based upon the estimation result,
wherein the pulse width is a gate-pulse width, and
wherein the gate-pulse width is calculated so that the length of the command voltage vector and the vector output period are equal to one another, in response with the fact that the vector output period is longer than the minimum vector output period.
30. A phase current detection apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor, comprising:
a current estimating section which estimates a direction of DC link current at a future time based on a prior measurement;
a vector pattern table associated with the current estimating section, which provides a voltage vector output; and
at least one gate pulse width enlargement section, associated with the vector pattern table, which varies a gate pulse width based upon the voltage vector output.
31. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus calculates the period when the current appears on the DC link from the current flowing direction and the vector pattern to be output, and determines the gate-pulse width so that the calculated period becomes the minimum vector output period for current detection on the DC link.
32. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30 or claim 31, wherein the apparatus estimates the pattern of switch operation for causing varying in output vector, and for varying the minimum gate-pulse width based upon the estimation result.
33. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus determines a response time in correspondence with the switching devices constituting the PWM inverter, and for varying the minimum gate-pulse width to match the switching devices which cause current varying.
34. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus estimates the direction of the current from the phase information of the current.
35. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus estimates the direction of the current from the sequence of the current values.
36. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus changes over the processing for estimating the direction of the current from the phase information of the current and the processing for estimating the direction of the current from the sequence of the current values, in response with the rotation speed of the motor.
37. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus applies pulse width restriction to the vector output period excluding the dead time, in response with the fact that the estimated current is within the current estimation error.
38. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus turns off one of the switching devices constituting the PWM inverter for a time required for current detection.
39. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the apparatus calculates the gate-pulse width so that the length of the command voltage vector and the vector output period are equal to one another, in response with the fact that the vector output period is longer than the minimum vector output period.
40. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 30, further comprises:
a converter for carrying out a switching operation is connected to the PWM inverter in series; and
a the converter inverter control which prohibits switching of the converter and the PWM inverter at the current detection timing.
41. The phase current detection apparatus as set forth in claim 40 further comprising: a current detection section, which is in series with respect to a smoothing condenser on the DC which detects the converter current and the inverter current.
42. A motor controlling apparatus for driving a motor by supplying outputs from a PWM inverter to the motor comprising:
a current detection section for determining a DC link current; and
a DC link voltage controlling section, associated with the current detection section, which varies the DC link voltage based upon a voltage required by a motor,
wherein the DC link voltage controlling section calculates the switching pattern of the voltage varying timing from the direction of the current and the output vector pattern, calculates the delay time of the devices based upon the calculation result, and corrects the motor voltage.