Process Control - Minolta Magicolor 3100 Series Service Manual

7.4 Process Control

For a stable printing, the parameters related to the image forming must be corrected as necessary. The
control of entire printing process including parameter correction control is called "process control".
Mainly, the following two controls are made:
• Potential control
• Toner density control
To supplement these two controls, the following controls are provided:
• High Area Coverage Mode
• Admix Mode
• SENSOR ADC ASSY LED light quantity setting
7.4.1 Potential Control
To attain stable printing image density, the drum charging voltage and the developing DC voltage are
adjusted according to the developing capability of each color carrier that varies momentarily. The adjusted
drum charging voltage and the developing DC voltage are fed back to keep the printing image density
constant. The potential control is made immediately before the start of printing, if either of the following
conditions is satisfied:
• At the first printing after the power on
• When cumulative print count after the power on exceeds 16
• When a cleaning cycle is executed during continuous printing
The outline of control is as follows.
1) The SENSOR HUM TEMP (temperature and humidity sensor) detects the temperature and
humidity, and sets target values of drum charging voltage and developing DC voltage.
2) The patches of respective colors (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) for the potential control are
generated and transferred on the BTR. (For the shape of patches, see the following figure.)
3) The SENSOR ADC ASSY (density sensor) detects the density of the area on BTR where no toner is
present and the density of patches.
4) The density measured in step 3) is compared with target value set in step 1) to change the drum
charging voltage and the developing DC voltage for each color according to a difference.
6-362
About 11mm
Y
About 12mm
About 3mm
M
About 57mm
C
K