Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with diverse-type art device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-06
2001-10-02
Pelham, Joseph (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with diverse-type art device
C399S069000, C399S334000, C430S350000, C430S353000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06297476
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a thermally developing apparatus, and in particular, to a thermally developing apparatus wherein image formation is carried out by holding a thermally developable material on the outer circumferential surface of a heated drum.
A thermally developing apparatus has been developed which is capable of forming a visible image from an image which has been formed as a latent image by continuously supplying sheet-shaped thermally developable materials to the outer circumferential surface of a heated drum to cause a thermal reaction to occur in these thermally developable materials (refer to TOKUHYOHEI 10-500497 and TOKUHYOHEI 10-500506). According to these thermally developing apparatus, a sheet-shaped thermally developable material is supplied to the outer circumferential surface of a drum rotating at a constant rotational speed, and after the drum has rotated for a predetermined rotary angle with the thermally developable material being held, the thermally developable material is detached from the outer circumferential surface of the drum, while a new thermally developable material is simultaneously supplied to the outer circumferential surface of the drum; hence, it is possible to heat sheet-shaped thermally developable materials efficiently.
However, it has been proved that, in a thermally developing apparatus which heats a thermally developable material as it is held by a heating member controlled at a predetermined thermal development temperature (for example, the apparatus disclosed in TOKUHYOHEI 10-500497), when a thermally developable material having a different size from a preceding thermally developable material is thermally developed immediately after said preceding one is thermally developed, sometimes unevenness of density appears in the succeeding thermally developable material.
In respect of this, in the description of TOKUHYOHEI 10-500506, a thermally developing apparatus wherein temperature control is made for each of the regions, that is, the central portion of the drum and its both side regions is disclosed. However, in this prior art, the purpose of dividing the region for temperature control is to eliminate the temperature difference being produced in the central portion and its both sides owing to the cooling from both sides of the drum, and no disclosure or even no suggestion is done concerning the density unevenness which may appear in the case where thermally developable materials having different sizes from one another are supplied.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a thermally developing apparatus capable of suppressing the generation of such unevenness of density and stabilizing the density of image.
The above object can be attained by the following structures.
(1-1) A thermally developing apparatus, comprises:
a heating member to heat a thermally developable material;
supplying means for supplying the thermally developable material in a predetermined supplying direction to the heating member;
the heating member comprising plural regions aligned in a direction substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction of the thermally developable material by the supplying means;
plural heaters each provided separately to one of the plural regions and to heat a corresponding one of the plural regions of the heating member; and
a controller to control heat generation of the plural heaters, the controller controlling at least one of the plural heaters in accordance with a size of the thermally developable material which is a length substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction.
(1-2) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-1), the controller controls at least one of the plural heaters in such a manner that a control target for at least one of the plural regions is made different from a control target for the other regions in accordance with the size of the thermally developable material.
(1-3) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-1), the thermally developing apparatus further comprises
a size sensor to detect the length of the thermally developable material substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction as the size of the thermally developable material,
wherein the controller controls heat generation of at least one of the plural heaters in accordance with a detection result of the size sensor.
(1-4) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-1), a control target for at least one of the plural heaters at the timing that the supplying means supplies the thermally developable material is made different from that at the other timing.
(1-5) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-4), a controller controls heat generation of the plural heaters in such a manner that a control target for at least one of heaters provided to regions to which the thermally developable material is not supplied when the supplying means supplies the thermally developable material to the heating member is made lower than a control target for the heater when the supplying means does not supply the thermally developable material to the heating member.
(1-6) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-5), a controller controls heat generation of the plural heaters in such a manner that a control target for at least one of heaters provided to regions to which the thermally developable material is not supplied when the supplying means supplies the thermally developable material to the heating member is made different in accordance with the size of the thermally developable material.
(1-7) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-4), when the supplying means supplies plural types of thermally developable materials different in length substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction, a control target for at least one of heaters provided to regions to which all of the plural types of thermally developable materials are supplied is made higher at the timing to supply a thermally developable material than that at the other timing.
(1-8) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-7), a control target for at least one of heaters provided to regions to which all of the plural types of thermally developable materials are supplied is made different in accordance with the size of the thermally developable material.
(1-9) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-4), a range between a control target at the timing to supply the thermally developable material and a control target at the other timing is smoothed by a ramp processing.
(1-10) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-4), the heating member comprises a metallic supporting member and an elastic layer located at a heating surface side of the metallic supporting member, and the heater is a plane heater provided in close contact with a surface at a side opposite to the heating surface side of metallic supporting member.
(1-11) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-1), the thermally developing apparatus is adapted to develop plural types of thermally developable materials different in length substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction, and wherein the plural regions to which a thermally developable material having the maximum size among the plural types of thermally developable materials is supplied is divided into three regions of a central region and side regions in the direction substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction and the thermally developing apparatus further comprises temperature sensors provided the side regions respectively so as to be in close contact with the heating member so that the temperature sensors detect the temperature of the heating member.
(1-12) The thermally developing apparatus of (1-11), each of the side regions of the heating member is provided a groove and each of the temperature sensors is provided in the groove.
(1-13) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-12), the grooves are located both ends of the heating member in the direction substantially perpendicular to the supplying direction.
(1-14) In the thermally developing apparatus of (1-11), the con
Kashino Teruo
Okabe Hirofumi
Shimoji Masaya
Taguchi Akira
Tamakoshi Yasuaki
Bierman, Muserlian and Lucas
Konica Corporation
Pelham Joseph
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