Torque assist method and apparatus for reducing photoreceptor belt slippage in a printing machine
US6421513B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 29, 2000 |
| Grant date | Jul 16, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 29, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG03G2215/017
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A belt drive module and a corresponding method includes or employs a belt that moves along a path, at least one support roller or other structure that supports the belt as it moves along the path, a drive roller that effects movement of the belt along the path, a tension roller that applies a tension force to the belt in order to maintain engagement of the belt with the drive and/or support rollers, at least one processing station (e.g., an image processing station) disposed along the path that performs a process relative to a predetermined position of the belt, and a torque assist drive that applies a torque assist force Td at a location between the drive roller and the tension roller. Torque assist may be provided by a current limited DC motor or by a constant torque friction clutch applied to a roller, e.g., a stripper roller of an electrophotographic imaging system. Advantageously, the torque assist force Td facilitates accurate positioning of the belt (e.g., latent image registrations in a color imaging process employing multiple imaging processing stations) by reducing slippage between the drive roller and the belt that may be encountered due to belt wear, toner contamination…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.