Patent ID: 7848668
Filing Date: 2010-12-07
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. A fuser for fusing toner on a medium, comprising: at least two modules arranged along a process direction of the fuser, each module having an ON state in which the module discharges a hot gas away from the module and an OFF state in which the module does not discharge the hot gas; and a controller connected to the modules for controlling the ON/OFF state of each module to control the discharge of the hot gas away from each module onto the medium as the medium is transported past the modules in the process direction; wherein at least one sensor is operatively associated with each respective module, each sensor being connected to the controller and adapted to sense a process condition or a characteristic of the medium as the medium is transported past the respective module; and target values of the process condition or characteristic of the medium are input to the controller, each of the sensors sends an output signal to the controller based on the sensed process condition or characteristic of the medium, and the controller controls the ON/OFF state of each module using feedback control based on the sensed process condition or characteristic of the medium.