Patent ID: 11927902
Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 10:
11. A control method for an image forming apparatus, the control method comprising:
estimating a temperature estimation value for a target component of a fixing unit based on a detected temperature from a temperature sensor, power supplied to a heater, a heat capacity of the heater, and a thermal resistance of the fixing unit;
controlling the temperature of the target component by varying the power supplied to the heater based on the estimated temperature estimation value and the target temperature;
acquiring a first difference between an initial detected temperature from the temperature sensor at the time of initial energization of the fixing unit and an initial temperature estimation value estimated based on the initial detected temperature;
acquiring a second difference between a latest detected temperature detected by the temperature sensor and a latest temperature estimation value estimated based on the latest detected temperature; and
comparing a temperature difference between the first difference and the second difference to a predetermined range of difference values to identify either a present necessity or a predicted necessity for maintenance of the fixing unit according to a result of the comparison between the temperature difference and the predetermined range.