Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Takeo Seki

Takuya Murata

Hiroyuki Kiguchi

Natsuko Ishizuka

Shogo Sakamoto

Yoshihiro Takahashi

Haruyuki Suzuki

Masaru Kaneko

Shogo Nakamoto

Ko Tokumaru

Akiyoshi Nakai

According to an embodiment, a consumable management apparatus includes a detecting unit, a storage unit, an analyzing circuit, a predicting circuit, and a notifying circuit. The detecting unit detects a use condition of a consumable. The storage unit stores therein a use history of the consumable. The analyzing circuit is configured to analyze a consumption speed of the consumable based on a degree of use frequency of the consumable, the degree of use frequency being obtained from the use history of the consumable stored in the storage unit. The predicting circuit is configured to predict a replacement time of the consumable from the use condition of the consumable detected by the detecting unit and the consumption speed of the consumable analyzed by the analyzing circuit. The notifying circuit is configured to give a notice of the replacement time of the consumable predicted by the predicting circuit.

Consumable management apparatus, consumable management system, and consumable management method

A current detecting device includes: a drive signal generating unit configured to generate a control signal based on a control voltage value indicating drive force to be applied to a target; a current detecting unit configured to detect a current value output based on the control signal generated by the drive signal generating unit; and a correction unit configured to correct the current value detected by the current detecting unit, based on at least a magnitude of the control voltage value.

Current detecting device, motor controlling system, image forming apparatus, sheet conveying device, robot, and current detecting method

A motor control device includes a detecting unit configured to detect rotation of a motor to be controlled and output a rotation detection value related to the rotation; a drive control unit configured to perform drive control to rotate the motor at a control target value increasing with time based on the rotation detection value; and an abnormality detection unit configured to perform an abnormality detection process for detecting an abnormality in the drive control based on the rotation detection value and a predetermined threshold. The drive control unit performs control to stop rotation of the motor when the abnormality is detected.

Motor control device and motor control method

A contact-and-separation system includes a first roller, a second roller, and a contact-and-separation device. The first roller contacts a belt. The second roller is opposed to the first roller. The contact-and-separation device contacts or separates the belt to or from the second roller via a sheet conveyed. The contact-and-separation device includes an eccentric cam, a motor, and a circuitry. The eccentric cam is mounted on an end of a rotation shaft of the first roller. The motor rotates the eccentric cam. The circuitry controls the motor to rotate the eccentric cam to contact or separate the belt to or from the second roller via the sheet conveyed. The circuitry controls the motor to decelerate a rotation speed of the motor on contact or separation of the belt to or from the second roller between the first roller and the second roller.

Contact-and-separation system, image forming apparatus, and contact-and-separation method

There is provided a current measuring apparatus for measuring a first current used for estimating a load torque of the motor. The current measuring apparatus may include a detection unit configured to detect a first voltage, an amplification unit including a first input terminal at which the second signal is input, a second input terminal coupled to a first resistor and a second resistor by which an amplification factor is defined, and an output terminal for outputting a third signal, an input unit configured to input a second voltage at the first input terminal, a storage unit configured to store a third voltage an acquisition unit configured to acquire a fourth voltage, and a calculation unit configured to calculate the first current based on a difference between the third voltage and the fourth voltage.

Current measuring apparatus, image forming apparatus, conveyance apparatus and method for measuring current

A load torque estimation apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire a smoothed signal, the smoothed signal being obtained by smoothing a signal indicating a composite current of electric currents flowing in respective phases of an electric motor; and an estimation unit configured to estimate load torque of the electric motor based on the smoothed signal and a rotational speed of the electric motor.

Load torque estimation apparatus, image forming apparatus, load torque estimation method and recording medium

A motor control device includes a controller configured to output a control signal to a motor driver, the control signal instructing the motor driver to cut off energization of a motor when the control signal and a signal changing depending on driving the motor do not change for a first time period, determine whether the motor is in a position hold state in which control for holding the motor at a position is executed, and change the control signal in a second time period shorter than the first time period when the motor is in the position hold state.

Motor control device, image forming apparatus, motor control method, and computer-readable storage medium

Motor control device, motor control method, and computer-readable storage medium

A load torque estimation apparatus inputs a controlling value for controlling the electric motor and an actually measured value of a rotational speed of the electric motor to a model to estimate load torque of the electric motor; and derives a mechanical time constant of the electric motor corresponding to the load torque estimated by the estimation part. The load torque estimation apparatus updates the mechanical time constant included in the model by using the mechanical time constant corresponding to the load torque estimated at an (n&#x2212;1)th control period (where n denotes an integer greater than or equal to 2) and estimates the load torque of the electric motor at an nth control period by inputting the controlling value and the actually measured value acquired at the nth control period to the model acquired through the updating.

Load torque estimation apparatus, image forming apparatus, load torque estimation method and non-transitory computer-readable information recording medium

A load torque estimation apparatus estimates load torque of an electric motor. The apparatus includes an estimation part configured to input a controlling value for controlling the electric motor and an actually measured value of a rotational speed of the electric motor to a model and estimating load torque of the electric motor; and a derivation part configured to derive a mechanical time constant of the electric motor corresponding to the actually measured value of the rotational speed of the electric motor. The estimation part is configured to update, according to a timing of acquiring the actually measured value of the rotational speed of the electric motor, the mechanical time constant included in the model by using the mechanical time constant corresponding to the acquired actually measured value and estimate the load torque of the electric motor by using the updated model.

An electric motor system includes a brushless direct-current motor, a driver circuit, a position sensor, and a control circuit. The motor has an output shaft for transmitting torque. The driver circuit supplies power to the motor according to a control signal input thereto. The position sensor measures an angular, rotational position of the motor shaft. The control circuit controls operation of the motor. The control circuit includes a position sensor terminal, a reference terminal, a differential calculator, a controller, and a gain adjuster. The position sensor terminal receives a feedback signal. The reference terminal receives a reference signal. The differential calculator generates an error signal representing a difference between the measured and targeted rotational positions. The controller generates the control signal based on the error signal through a combination of control actions. The gain adjuster is connected to the controller to adjust a gain of each control action.

Electric motor system and motor control method

A motor control device to execute speed control and position control of motor simultaneously, includes a target position information provider, a target speed information provider, a detected position information detector, a processor to add position feedback information, position feed-forward information, speed feedback information, and speed feed-forward information for output as motor control information, based on the target position information, the setting target speed information, and the detected position speed information, a control voltage generator operatively connected to the processor to generate a control voltage to drive the motor in accordance with the motor control information, and a motor driver operatively connected to the control voltage generator and the motor to control rotation of the motor based on the control voltage.

Motor control device, image forming apparatus including the motor control device, and motor control method

A motor control device supplies a drive control signal to a drive circuit that drives a motor at a constant period using a motor drive signal based on the drive control signal, and shuts off the motor drive signal when a count value counted by a counter that reset the count value if a state of the motor changes exceeds a threshold corresponding to a plurality of driving periods of the motor. The motor control device includes: a control unit that controls a setting unit to set a rotational direction of the motor to a first rotational direction and a second rotational direction reverse to the first rotational direction at the constant period alternately, when a drive mode of the motor is a position holding mode to drive the motor so as to hold a rotational position of the motor.

Motor control device, motor control method, and image forming apparatus

A motor control device includes a motor lock state determining unit configured to determine whether a motor is in a rotation lock state; a position hold state determining unit configured to determine whether the motor is in a position hold state; a lock detection invalidation determining unit configured to invalidate the determination of the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state and when a predetermined condition is satisfied; a position error correction unit configured to correct an error of a target stop position of the motor when the determination of the lock state is invalidated; and a motor control unit configured to change a rotation direction of the motor in a time shorter than a time in which the motor lock state determining unit determines the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state after the error is corrected.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Takeo Seki