Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Eijiro Ohashi

Takuya Miyashita

Yasukazu Maeda

Masayoshi Takahashi

Hideyuki Matsubara

Shimpei Matsuo

Tatsuya Hotogi

Tadashi Okanishi

Masaru Tanaka

Haruki Ishibashi

Masahiro Uehara

A motor control apparatus includes: an excitation unit configured to excite a plurality of excitation phases of each of a plurality of motors that include first to Nth motors and a control unit configured to control the excitation unit so as to perform detection excitation processing for sequentially exciting the plurality of excitation phases for each excitation cycle during each excitation period, regarding each of the first to Nth motors, and thereby detect rotor positions of the respective first to Nth motors. When detecting rotor positions of the respective first to Nth motors, the control unit delays a start timing of the detection excitation processing of at least one motor out of the first to Nth motors relative to a start timing of the detection excitation processing of another motor by a period shorter than the excitation period.

Motor control apparatus for detecting rotor positions of a plurality of motors and image forming apparatus

A motor control apparatus includes an excitation unit and a control unit. The excitation unit includes switching elements connected to a power supply and to different motor coils. The excitation unit excites an excitation phase targeted for excitation among motor excitation phases by the control unit driving the switching elements. When the excitation phases are excited, the control unit drives, in a first time period and based on a first PWM signal, a first switching element connected to a first phase coil corresponding to a first phase of the excitation phase targeted for excitation and, in a second time period and based on a second PWM signal, drives a second switching element connected to a second phase coil corresponding to a second phase of the excitation phase. The control unit controls outputting a duty ratio of the second PWM signal to the second switching element in the second time period.

Motor control apparatus and image forming apparatus

A motor control apparatus excites an excitation phase targeted for excitation among a plurality of excitation phases of a motor. The motor control apparatus, in a state in which a rotor of the motor is stopped, excites an excitation phase corresponding to a stop position of the rotor among the plurality of the excitation phases, and measures a physical quantity which changes in accordance with an inductance of at least one of a plurality of coils configuring the plurality of excitation phases. The motor control apparatus estimates a temperature of the rotor from a measurement value of the measured physical quantity, and decides a parameter value for control of the motor based on the estimated temperature.

A motor control apparatus includes: an excitation unit configured to excite a plurality of excitation phases of a motor; a measurement unit configured to measure a physical amount that changes according to an inductance of at least one of a plurality of coils that make up the plurality of excitation phases, when each of the plurality of excitation phases is excited; and a determination unit configured to determine a type of the motor based on measurement values of the physical amount measured by the measurement unit when each of the plurality of excitation phases is excited.

Motor control apparatus for determining motor type and image forming apparatus

A motor control apparatus includes: an excitation unit configured to excite a plurality of excitation phases of a motor; a measurement unit configured to measure a physical amount that changes according to an inductance of a plurality of coils that make up the plurality of excitation phases when the plurality of excitation phases are excited; and a control unit configured to control the excitation unit to excite the plurality of excitation phases sequentially, determine a first excitation phase by comparing a measurement value measured by the measurement unit in excitation of each of the plurality of excitation phases with a first threshold, and determine that a rotational position of a rotor of the motor is a rotational position at which the rotor stops when the first excitation phase is excited. The first excitation phase is determined, the control unit stops excitation.

A control apparatus includes: a driving unit configured to drive a member into rotation; a detection unit configured to detect a torque exerted on the driving unit; and a control unit configured to control the driving unit and the member. The control unit is further configured to: when a state control of the member associated with a change of the torque exerted on the driving unit is performed, determine a change timing of the torque exerted on the driving unit and a value of the torque exerted on the driving unit at the change timing on a basis of a detection result of the detection unit; and determine a start timing of the state control of a case where the state control is again performed on the member on a basis of the change timing and the value of the torque.

Control apparatus for driving a member into rotation and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a feeding unit, a regulation member, a detection unit, and a control unit. The feeding unit feeds a recording material from a storage unit to a conveying path. In the storage unit, the regulation member controls a trailing edge of the recording material in a feeding direction. The detection unit detects time until the recording material reaches a predetermined position along the conveying path after the feeding unit begins to feed the recording material. The control unit determines a state of the regulation member based on the detected time. Where the time detected by the detection unit is a value between a first threshold and a second threshold, which is larger than the first threshold, the control unit determines that the regulation member is shifting from a position corresponding to a size of the recording material in the feeding direction.

Image forming apparatus and image forming system

An rotation angle of a crank arm is calculated on the basis of a period of time in which a recording material is detected or a period of time in which the recording material is not detected and an end position of the recording material is calculated from the calculated rotation angle, so that detection of the end position of the recording material can be started regardless of a stop position of a sensor and the end position of the recording material can be accurately detected without using a dedicated drive source or member to reciprocate the sensor.

Recording material end position detection apparatus and image forming apparatus

The non-sheet-feeding portion temperature rise is reduced during warm-up operation of an image heating apparatus, the time needed for the warm-up operation is reduced, and the accuracy of the image fixing operation is improved. When a CPU determines that a temperature detected by an end portion thermistor is higher than a temperature detected by a center portion thermistor, the CPU controls the temperature of a fixing heater based on a detection result of the end portion thermistor. When the CPU determines that the temperature detected by the end portion thermistor is equal to or less than the temperature detected by the center portion thermistor, the CPU controls the temperature of the fixing heater based on a detection result of the center portion thermistor.

Image heating apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprises a developer carrier () for developing an electrostatic latent image by supplying an image carrier with developer inside a developer container (); an electrode member () opposing the developer carrier () via a space accommodating the developer; an inverter (); a transformer () for transforming an AC voltage from the inverter (); a rectifying circuit () for rectifying the output of the transformer and generating a DC voltage for image formation; a DC voltage applying unit () for applying the AC voltage, which is output from the transformer, to the electrode member (); and a developer remaining-amount detection unit () for detecting amount of developer remaining inside the developer container () based upon electrostatic capacitance between the developer carrier () and electrode member ().

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Tokyo, Japan

Eijiro Ohashi