JP2002193542A - Stacker equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a stacker device capable of reliably detecting that sheets are disturbed during stacking and stacking the sheets, and capable of easily returning even after the stacking disorder occurs. The task is to provide. SOLUTION: In a stacker device in which a sheet material is moved by a pressing / moving means (29), the leading end of the sheet material is abutted against a guide member (31), and the sheet material is stacked on a tray (30) with the leading edges aligned. The pressing and moving means (2
9) detecting the moving amount of the sheet material moved by the detecting means (3)
2) is detected, and when the movement amount of the sheet material by the detection does not reach the predetermined movement amount, the stacking disorder is determined.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic copying machine,
The present invention relates to a stacker device for stacking sheet materials discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly to a stacker device capable of confirming whether sheet materials are stacked on a stacker in an orderly manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been known a stacker apparatus for receiving an ejected sheet material after forming an image in a copying machine, a printer, or the like, and stacking the sheets in an orderly manner. The stacker device is separately connected to the image forming apparatus or provided in the image forming apparatus. For discharging the sheet material, for example, the sheet material is stacked with one end of the sheet material aligned by abutting a leading end of the sheet material against a plate-shaped guide member orthogonal to the conveying direction.

In particular, when handling different sheet materials, it is necessary to provide a guide member at a position distant from the sheet material outlet. Therefore, the sheet material must be conveyed by a separately provided conveying means until it hits the guide member. In the case of a small-sized sheet material, the sheet cannot be conveyed by the discharge roller provided at the discharge port until it hits the guide member. For this reason, conveyance means such as a suction belt for separately conveying the sheet material between the discharge port and the guide, and / or
Alternatively, a pressing / moving unit including a transport roller for moving the sheet material in order to abut the sheet material against the guide member is provided.

The pressing and moving means is provided with a plurality of conveying rollers arranged in the conveying direction of the rotating sheet material so as to bring the leading end of the sheet material into contact with the guide member so that the speed is substantially the same as the moving speed of the sheet material. ing. When the leading end of the sheet material comes into contact with the guide, the pressing / moving means rotates the transport roller as it is and slips against the sheet material that has come into contact with and stopped. Alternatively, the drive to the sheet material is cut.

[0005]

However, when the above-described pressing and moving means is used, it is preferable that the relationship between the frictional resistance of the surface of the sheet material and the frictional resistance of the surface of the conveying roller is always constant. Since the discharged sheet material is stacked on the stacked sheet material, the moving force with respect to the surface of the sheet material depends on the number of the stacked sheet materials and the difference in the pressing force of the pressing and moving means against the sheet material. Will change. As a result, although rare, the leading end of the sheet material stops without hitting the guide and stops, and the rear end of the sheet material protrudes and the next sheet material is loaded in a loaded state. Would.

In particular, in the case of a stacker device for stacking a large number of sheet materials of a large number of thousands at a high speed, if even one sheet is disturbed, for example, a stack of one or a plurality of sheet materials on which the disturbed sheet is stacked is removed. There is a possibility that the protruding sheet material may be damaged due to stacking disorder during the work of removing the sheet material or the like. In addition, the sheet material whose loading has been disturbed must be corrected after the operator manually removes the newly loaded sheet material from the position of the disturbed sheet material. When a large number of sheets are stacked after the stacking disorder occurs, there is a problem that the amount of the sheet materials to be removed increases and the operation becomes more complicated.

Further, when the image forming speed is high, even if the disturbance of the stacking is detected and the image forming apparatus is stopped, the sheet can be stopped suddenly because the sheet material remains in the conveying path inside the apparatus. However, a considerable number of sheets are stacked thereon after the disturbance of the stacking, and even if the image formation is restarted, the sheets are stacked from the top, which causes a problem that the use is not good. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a stacker device that can reliably detect that a sheet material has been disturbed during stacking and can easily return even after the stacking disorder has occurred. The task is to

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention moves a sheet material by a moving means, abuts the leading end of the sheet material against a guide member, and stacks the sheet material on a tray with the leading ends aligned. In the stacker device, the moving amount of the sheet material moved by the moving means is detected,
When the moving amount of the sheet material by the detection does not reach the predetermined moving amount, the stacking disorder is determined.

The detecting means has an encoder and a control means for counting a signal from the encoder. If the counting does not reach a predetermined count number, it is determined that the sheet material has been disturbed. It is characterized in that, when the control means determines the disturbance of stacking of the sheet material,
The switching unit switches the transport path and discharges the sheet to a tray different from the tray.

Further, sheet materials of different sizes are discharged from the discharge port, and the leading end of the sheet material is abutted against a guide member provided at a position distant from the discharge port, and the sheet materials are stacked on the tray with the leading ends aligned. In the stacker device, conveying means for conveying the sheet material discharged from the discharge port toward the guide member, and receiving the sheet material conveyed by the conveying means, and pressing the upper surface of the sheet material while pressing the upper surface of the sheet material. Pressing moving means for moving to the member, a vertically movable loading table for loading the sheet material,
Position control means for detecting the position of the uppermost portion of the loaded sheet material and moving the loading table so as to always maintain a constant height, and detecting a movement amount of the sheet material provided near the guide member. Detecting means, and control means for counting the amount of movement of the sheet material by the detecting means, wherein when the detection does not reach the set amount of movement of the sheet material, the stacking disorder is determined. I do.

Still further, the detecting means includes an encoder,
Control means for counting a signal from the encoder, wherein a switching means for switching the conveying path of the sheet material and discharging the sheet material to another tray when the stacking disorder is detected is provided. Features.

With such a configuration, the sheet material discharged from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus is sequentially conveyed by the conveying means from the leading end of the sheet material. For example, the upper side of the sheet material is sucked and conveyed toward the pressing and moving means. The sheet material conveyed by the predetermined distance by the conveying unit then separates from the conveying unit and comes into contact with the conveying roller of the pressing and moving unit. The sheet material is moved by the moving means until the leading end of the sheet material hits the guide member. A driven roller abuts on the upper surface of the sheet material moved by the moving means, and an encoder provided so as to interlock with the roller rotates according to the movement of the sheet material, and the control means determines the number of pulses based on the signal. Count. If the count is equal to or more than the set predetermined count, the sheet material is detected to be stacked neatly by hitting the guide member, and if the number of pulses is within the predetermined count, the stacking disorder of the image forming apparatus is detected. Stop image formation. Alternatively, the conveyance path is switched by the switching means, and the subsequent sheet material is discharged to another tray.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an image forming apparatus provided with the stacker device of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a paper feed unit 2 that feeds roughly stacked sheet materials one by one, and an image forming unit 3 that forms an image on the sheet material.
And a stacker device 4 for orderly stacking sheet materials on which images have been formed. Each unit is unitized and separable.

The paper supply unit 2 includes a paper supply table 5 on which sheets of different sizes are placed, a paper supply roller 6 for picking up the uppermost sheet from the paper supply table 5, and an upper surface of the sheet material. The lift 7 is provided such that the height is always constant.
From the paper feed table 5 toward the exit 8 provided in the paper feed unit 2,
A transport path for transporting the sheet material by a transport roller or a transport belt is provided. The paper feed roller 6 is provided with a perforated paper feed belt provided with a suction means in the illustrated example, and the leading end of the paper feed belt comes into contact with the uppermost surface of the stacked sheet material and is sucked by the suction means to form the uppermost sheet material. Is separated from the second and subsequent sheet materials, picked up, conveyed toward the outlet 8 by the movement of the belt, and guided to the first conveyance path 9.

The image forming section 3 has a first conveying path 9 for guiding the image forming section 3 and a second conveying path 1 for conveying the sheet material toward an entrance 10 communicating with the stacker device 4.
And 1.

The image forming section 3 has a configuration using electrophotography, and has an image carrier 12 such as a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt at the center thereof. A charging device 13 such as one or a plurality of corona chargers or a single charging roller for uniformly charging the surface of the image carrier 12 with the image carrier 12 as a center, and original data read by a scanner or the like as LEDs. An image projection device 14 that forms a latent image on the image carrier 12 by projecting the image, a developing device 15 that supplies charged toner to the latent image to form a toner image, Transfer device 16 comprising a transfer corona discharger for transferring the toner image on the image carrier 12 onto the surface of the sheet material
A cleaning device 17 for removing toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier 12 after the transfer; and an eraser lamp 18 for uniformly removing the surface potential of the surface of the image carrier 12, and these are sequentially arranged in the image forming apparatus. It is arranged to act on the carrier 12 and forms an image as is well known.

The sheet material on which the toner image has been formed is then sent to a fixing device 19. In the illustrated example, the fixing device 19 is used.
Consists of a heating roller and a pressure roller pressed against each other,
A so-called heat fixing roller device is used, and the toner image is heated and fixed on the sheet material by passing the sheet material between these rollers.

The stacker device 4 includes a first stacking portion 20 provided above the stacker device 4, a second stacking portion 21 provided inside the stacking portion 4, and an inlet roller 2 communicating with the inlet 10.
2 and a transport path 23a and a transport path 23b for transporting the sheet material to the first loading section 20 and the second loading section 21. The first stacking section 20 has a tray 25 that extends upward from the lower position of the discharge port 24 and makes the rear end of the output sheet material contact the lower wall of the discharge port 24. To align the leading edge of the sheet material.

With such an image forming configuration, the sheet materials stacked on the sheet feeding unit 2 are picked up one by one and conveyed to the image forming unit 3. Next, the sheet material passes through the first conveyance path 9 to form an image in the image forming unit 3, and is fixed while passing through the second conveyance path to form a stacker device 4.
Sent to

FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged view of the stacker device. The second stacking unit 21 is provided as a moving unit, one end of which is in contact with or close to a discharge roller 28 provided in the discharge port 27 as a transfer unit, and the other end of the suction transfer unit 28 as a transfer unit. Pressing and moving means 29 as a moving means provided; a loading table 30 which moves vertically according to the height of the placed sheet material; and a guide member for aligning the sheet material on one side by abutting the leading end of the sheet material. 31 and detecting means 32 for detecting the movement of the sheet material.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a main part of the pressing and moving means 29 provided with the detecting means 32. Suction conveyance means 28
Is for sucking the upper surface of the discharged sheet material and conveying it so as not to contact the stacked sheet material up to the pressing and moving means 29. For example, the maximum size of the sheet material corresponding to the apparatus is A conveying belt 33 composed of a single wide endless belt or a plurality of endless belts which are appropriately divided in the width direction of the sheet material and arranged in parallel in the width direction of the sheet material; And suction means 34 (FIG. 2) which acts so as to be in close contact with and transports.
A plurality of intake ports are provided at predetermined positions on the peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 33, and an intake box having a large number of intake holes on a lower surface arranged in a space surrounded by the conveyor belt 33 is attached to a suction unit 3 such as a blower.
4 through a duct, and air is sucked from these air inlets toward the inside of the conveyance belt 33 to convey the sheet material in close contact with the peripheral surface of the conveyance belt 33. The transport speed of the suction transport unit 28 is set to be the same as the image forming speed.

A guide plate 35 is provided between the suction / conveying means 28 and the pressing / moving means 29 so as to extend obliquely downward, and the sheet material separated from the suction / conveying means 28 is directed downward by the guide plate 35. And guided by the pressing and moving means 29.

The pressing / moving means 29 moves the sheet material conveyed by the suction / conveying means 28 toward the guide member 31 while pressing the sheet material, and drives the frame 36, the conveying rollers 37a, and the conveying rollers 37a. It has a gear 38 for transmission and a drive gear 39 for receiving a drive from a drive source provided on the main body side of the stacker device 4. In the embodiment, two transport rollers 37a and 37b are arranged, but more than two may be arranged. The transport rollers 37a and 37b are moved so that the transport speed of the frame 36 is the same as the transport speed of the sheet material.
For example, the gear 39 receives the drive of the suction / conveying means 28, the gear 38 receives the drive, and transmits the drive to the gear provided on the transfer roller 37a. The transport roller 37a and the transport roller 37b synchronize both rollers by a timing belt or the like.

The frame 36 is provided with a long hole 40,
A pin 41 is inserted into the elongated hole 40 so as to be movable vertically with respect to the apparatus body. The frame 36 moves upward as the stacking amount of the sheet material increases, and moves the stacking table 30 downward when the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet material exceeds a predetermined height. The drive gear 39 is provided so that the drive position of the drive gear 39 provided on the apparatus main body side and the drive position of the gear 38 provided on the frame body 36 do not shift due to the movement of the frame 36 due to the vertical movement of the frame. The shaft provided with the shaft provided with the gear 38 is linked by a connecting plate or the like, and the shaft provided with the gear 38 and the shaft of the transport roller 37a are linked by a connecting plate or the like so that the drive gear is constantly driven. Is transmitted to the transport roller.

A plurality of rollers having a larger diameter are provided on the transport rollers 37a and 37b in a concentric circle on the axis thereof, and are arranged at predetermined intervals so as to protrude from the frame body 36. Each roller 42 is made of a silicon-based or chloroprene-based rubber material whose outer peripheral surface has a width of about several millimeters and has a small frictional resistance. Transport rollers 37a,
37b slides and moves the conveyed sheet material on the previously stacked sheet material, and a slip occurs between the sheet material and the sheet material when the leading end of the sheet material strikes the guide member 31, The sheet material has a frictional resistance that does not move any more. Alternatively, the transport rollers 37a and 37b may be stopped in accordance with a signal from the detection unit 32 described later or the timing of transport of the sheet material.

The loading table 30 has a size capable of mounting a sheet material of a maximum size corresponding to the apparatus, and is provided horizontally. It is provided movably in the vertical direction according to the height of the placed sheet material, for example, a detection sensor (not shown) detects the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet material, and the loading table is set to a predetermined height. The height of 30 is adjusted by the mechanism of the elevator 43 or the like. As a result, a constant pressing force is constantly applied to the sheet material by the pressing and moving means 28, so that stable loading can be performed. Guide member 31
Is a plate-like member made of, for example, metal or synthetic resin, and is provided so as to be orthogonal to the sheet material conveyance direction.

The detecting means 32 comprises an encoder, and is provided in a frame 36 constituting the pressing and moving means 29.
The encoder is a roller 4 that contacts and follows the surface of the sheet material.
4, a rotating plate 45 receiving rotation of the roller 44, and a rotating plate 4
And a sensor 46 for detecting the number of pulses due to the rotation of No. 5. The roller 44 is provided with a material having a high frictional resistance on its outer peripheral surface so as to reliably follow the movement of the sheet material, and is made of, for example, NBR rubber. Roller 4
4 is transmitted to the rotary plate 45 by a gear or a belt. The surface of the roller 44 may be provided with irregularities.

The roller 44 is provided so as to partially protrude from the frame 36, and the rotating plate 45, the roller 44, and the sensor 46 are integrally movably provided in the vertical direction. The central axis 47 of the rotating plate 45 and the central axis 48 of the roller 44 are linked by a connecting plate or the like so that the detecting means 32 can be moved in the frame 36 in accordance with the height of the sheet material. It is provided so that it can follow even if it changes. Thus, the roller 44 can always contact the sheet material with a constant pressing force.

The rotary plate 45 is provided with holes 49 of a predetermined size at a plurality of positions in the circumferential direction. A sensor 46 for detecting the movement of the hole 49 detects the number of pulses. In the embodiment, the rotary plate 45 is provided with the holes 49 at six places, but the number is not limited. As the sensor 46, a photo sensor is preferably used, and the rotating plate 4 is provided between the light emitting element and the light receiving element.
5, the presence or absence of the hole 49 is detected. The control means 50 counts the number of pulses based on a signal from the photo sensor 46 that detects the presence or absence of the hole 49. The number of pulses is proportional to the amount of movement of the sheet material, and the position where the roller 44 contacts the sheet material is known in advance. In addition, the number of pulses corresponding to the distance from the position where the roller 44 contacts the sheet material to the position of the guide member 31 is also known in advance, and a desired number of pulses is used to determine how much the disturbance of the stacking of the sheet material is detected. be able to.

For example, in the embodiment, when the leading end of the sheet material contacts the guide member 31 by counting 20 pulses,
The predetermined value is set to 15 pulses, and if 15 or more pulses are counted, it is determined that the sheet materials are stacked neatly, and if less than 15 pulses are counted, and if the rotating plate 45 stops, it is determined that the stacking disorder has occurred. If a stacking disturbance occurs, a signal is sent from the control unit 50 to stop the sheet feeding operation, remove the stacking disturbance, and restart the sheet feeding again. The formation takes place.

The operation of the stacker device 4 having such a configuration will be described. For example, an image forming apparatus that outputs images in the vertical direction when the maximum size is A3 and the minimum size is A3
In the case of outputting in the horizontal direction in step 4, the operator inputs conditions on the control panel and starts the image forming apparatus. First, sheet materials of the size selected by the paper feed unit 2 are picked up one by one and fed to the image forming unit 3. The sheet material forms an image on the sheet material by well-known image formation in the image forming unit 2 in the image forming unit 3, and is conveyed toward the stacker device 4.

The sheet material guided into the stacker 4 passes through the conveying path 23b and is selected by the second stacking unit 21.
It is discharged toward. Sheet material in the discharge is conveyed by sucking the upper surface of the sheet material by the suction force of the suction conveying means 28 without dripping downward, driving by the discharge roller 27 is conveyed by suction conveying means 28 even after it is no longer reach You. The leading end of the sheet material is separated from the suction / conveying means 28 by a separation claw or the like.
While being pressed by a and 37b, the sheet material slides and moves on the upper surface of the already stacked sheet material.

Next, the transport roller 37a and the transport roller 3
7b rotates with the movement of the sheet material. The rotation of the roller 44 is transmitted to the rotating plate 45.
To rotate. The photo sensor 46 detects the presence or absence of the hole 49 of the rotating rotating plate 45, and the control means 50 counts the number of pulses until the sheet material stops. If the number of pulses is smaller than the set value, it is determined that the sheet material has been disturbed in stacking, and the sheet feeding operation is stopped. Alternatively, after the sheet material remaining in the conveyance path of the image forming apparatus 1 is discharged out of the apparatus, the apparatus is stopped. Further, the switching unit 51 switches the sheet material remaining in the apparatus to a second stacking unit different from the second stacking unit 21 in which the stacking disorder has occurred,
Thereafter, the operation is restarted and the sheet material is stacked on the second stacking portion 21 of the stacker.

When the sheet material is stacked to some extent and the height of the uppermost surface of the stacked sheet material changes, a detection sensor (not shown) detects this height and moves the loading table 30 to move the uppermost surface of the sheet material. The height is controlled so as to be always within the effective range of the pressing force. By repeating the above operation, the sheets are stacked with the leading ends thereof aligned.

In the embodiment, the method of sucking with a blower has been described as the suction and conveying means 28. However, the same effect can be obtained by sucking the sheet material by a dielectric belt or a method of electrostatic attraction. Further, the configuration in which the stacker device 4 is provided so as to be connectable to the image forming unit 3 is illustrated, but a configuration in which the stacker device is built in the image forming device may be used.

[0036]

According to such a configuration, the detecting means provided in the frame located near the guide member directly counts the movement of the sheet material as the number of pulses, so that the disturbance of the stacking of the sheet material on the stacker is ensured. Can be detected. In addition, it is possible to set in advance how much load disturbance will be detected. When the disturbance of the stacking of the sheet material is detected, another tray (the first stacking unit) is connected to the second stacking unit.
Since the switching means operates so as to discharge the sheet material, when the restart is performed, the sheet material without stacking disturbance can be stacked by removing the sheet material with stacking disorder on the uppermost surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus provided with a stacker device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic sectional view showing an example of a stacker device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a main part of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 image forming apparatus 2 sheet feeding section 3 image forming section 4 stacker apparatus 20 first loading section 21 second loading section 29 pressing and moving means 30 loading table 31 guide member 36 frame 37 a, b transport roller 38 gear 40 long hole 42 roller 44 roller 45 rotating plate 46 sensor 47 central axis 48 central axis 49 hole 50 control means 51 switching means

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F048 AA02 AA05 AB01 BA02 BA04 BA21 BB02 CA05 CA09 3F054 AA01 AC02 AC05 BA02 BD02 BG11 CA06 CA08 CA11 CA21 CA31 CA40

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A stacker device for moving a sheet material by a moving means, abutting a leading end of the sheet material against a guide member, and stacking the sheet material on a tray with leading ends aligned.
A stacker device, wherein a moving amount of the moving sheet material is detected by the moving means, and if the moving amount does not reach a predetermined moving amount, a stacking disorder is determined. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit includes an encoder and a control unit that counts a signal from the encoder. If the count does not reach a predetermined count, it is determined that the sheet material has been disturbed. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
The stacker device as described. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit determines that the stacking of the sheet material is disordered, the switching unit switches the transport path and discharges the sheet to a tray different from the tray. Or a stacker device as described above. 4. A sheet material of a different size is discharged from a discharge port, and the leading end of the sheet material is abutted against a guide member provided at a position distant from the discharge port, and the sheet material is stacked on a tray with leading ends aligned. In the stacker device, conveying means for conveying the sheet material discharged from the discharge port toward the guide member, and receiving the sheet material conveyed by the conveying means, and pressing the upper surface of the sheet material while pressing the upper surface of the sheet material. A pressing and moving means for moving to the member, a vertically movable loading table for loading the sheet material, and the loading so as to always detect a topmost position of the loaded sheet material and maintain a constant height. Position control means for moving the table, detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the sheet material provided near the guide member, and control means for counting the amount of movement, wherein the detection is A stacker device that determines a stacking disorder when a set amount of movement of a sheet material has not been reached. 5. The stacker according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means has an encoder and a control means for counting a signal from said encoder. 6. The stacker according to claim 4, further comprising switching means for switching the sheet material conveyance path and discharging the sheet material to another tray when the stacking disturbance is detected. apparatus.