Mechanical Engineering Journal (Feb 2024)
Experimental study of friction-induced noise generated from the printer fuser assembly (Generation mechanism and countermeasures)
Abstract
In a printer fuser assembly, unpleasant noise caused by friction-induced vibrations can occur owing to friction between the pad and the inner surface of the fixing sleeve. However, the vibration mode of the fuser assembly involved in the generation of friction-induced vibration has not yet been identified, and several aspects of the noise-generation mechanism remain unexplained. This study aimed to clarify the mechanism of noise generation due to friction-induced vibration in the printer fuser assembly and propose countermeasures against this noise. The relationship between the tendency of noise occurrence, friction characteristics of the fixing sleeve, and the generation mechanism of noise generation was investigated by examining the actual operating vibration modes of the fixing sleeve and pressure roller during noise generation. The results confirmed that the fixing sleeve is the main vibration source during noise generation and that the fixing sleeve’s vibration modes in the radial and circumferential directions are coupled. The effect of negative velocity gradient characteristics on the critical friction coefficient at the onset of frictional self-excited vibration caused by mode coupling was examined using a 2-degree-of-freedom lumped mass model. The friction characteristics between the sleeve and pad and the actual operating vibration mode of the sleeve during noise generation revealed that the noise generation mechanism is characterized by mode-coupling type self-excited vibration and that the noise can occur at low friction due to the negative gradient characteristic of the friction coefficient. Finally, the countermeasure was proposed against noise based on the characteristics of self-excited vibration caused by mode coupling. The authors found that placing the spacer on the trailing side and increasing the surface pressure distribution on the trailing side could control the friction-induced noise without changing the negative velocity gradient characteristics of the friction coefficient.
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