JP2009298510A - Paper conveying device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper conveying device capable of performing stable conveyance and saving power, and provide an image forming device provided with the paper conveying device. <P>SOLUTION: This paper conveying device 10 includes a conveying belt 11 for conveying printing paper P and suction fans 12 for bringing the printing paper P into contact with the conveyance belt 11 by suction force. The plurality of suction fans 12 are provided in a width direction orthogonal to a conveying direction. The paper conveying device 10 includes a paper conveying device control part for controlling driving of each of the suction fans 12 according to the size of the printing paper P to be conveyed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile apparatus including the sheet conveying apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a sheet conveying device that conveys a sheet while keeping the sheet in close contact with a conveying belt by a suction device such as a fan and suppressing the twisting and wrinkling of the sheet.
As such a sheet conveying apparatus, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228561 discloses a device including a control unit that controls a fan drive source so that a suction force to a sheet becomes appropriate based on sheet information. For example, the paper transport device described in Patent Document 1 increases the applied voltage applied to the fan when the paper size is large to increase the suction force, and applies the voltage applied to the fan when the paper size is small. By reducing the voltage and reducing the suction force, the power consumption is reduced by changing the number of rotations of the fan according to the type of paper and applying an appropriate suction force.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-18512

However, since the paper conveyance device described in Patent Document 1 is configured to change the suction force for the paper by changing the rotation speed of the fan, the suction force per unit area of the paper changes. When the paper size is small, there is a possibility that it becomes difficult to stably transport the paper due to insufficient suction force. Further, if the suction force is weakened, the degree of contact may be reduced, and the paper may be liable to be bent or wrinkled.
Furthermore, since the sheet conveying apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is configured to suck the entire conveying belt with a single fan, the area that does not need to be sucked when the sheet size is small is also sucked. There is a problem that the driving force for that amount is wasted.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet conveying apparatus capable of performing stable conveyance and saving labor and an image forming apparatus including the sheet conveying apparatus. To do.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a paper transport device having a transport belt for transporting paper and a suction device for bringing the paper into close contact with the transport belt by a suction force, wherein the suction device includes: A configuration is adopted in which a plurality of control devices are provided in the orthogonal direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and control each drive of the suction device according to the size of the transported paper.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, it is possible to control the driving of the plurality of suction devices according to the size of the paper.

Further, in the present invention, the control device drives the suction device provided at a position corresponding to the size of the paper with a predetermined suction force, so that the control device deviates from the position corresponding to the size of the paper. A configuration is adopted in which the driving of the suction device is stopped.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, it is possible to generate a predetermined suction force at a position where the suction of the sheet is necessary and stop the suction at a position where the suction of the sheet is not necessary. Thus, although the suction force changes as a whole, there is no change in the suction force per unit area, so that the paper can be stably conveyed according to the size of the paper.

In the present invention, a configuration is adopted in which the paper is transported by the plurality of transport belts arranged in parallel in the orthogonal direction, and the suction device is provided for each transport belt.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, it becomes possible to generate a suction force in each of the conveyor belts, and therefore, paper is brought into close contact with each of the conveyor belts to more reliably suppress twists and wrinkles. be able to.

Further, in the present invention, a configuration is adopted in which a detection sensor for detecting the size of the paper is provided, and the suction device controls each drive of the suction device based on a detection result of the detection sensor. To do.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, it is possible to accurately control the suction device based on the detection result of the detection sensor.

In the present invention, an image forming apparatus provided with the sheet conveying apparatus having the above-described configuration is employed.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, an image forming apparatus provided with the above-described sheet conveying device is obtained.

In the present invention, a second detection sensor for detecting the size of the paper is provided and a cassette for storing the paper to be conveyed is provided. The control device detects the second detection sensor. Based on the result, a configuration of controlling each driving of the suction device is adopted.
By adopting such a configuration, in the present invention, by detecting the size of the sheet conveyed by the second detection sensor provided in the cassette, each of the suction devices is driven in advance based on the detection result. Can be determined.

According to the present invention, there is provided a paper transport device having a transport belt for transporting paper and a suction device for bringing the paper into close contact with the transport belt by suction force, wherein the suction device is orthogonal to the transport direction. By adopting a configuration in which a plurality of control devices are provided in the orthogonal direction, and each drive of the suction device is controlled according to the size of the transported paper, according to the size of the paper The driving of the plurality of suction devices can be controlled respectively. For this reason, for example, by increasing the suction force of the suction device at the position where the suction of the paper is required, the paper can be stably conveyed, and the suction force of the suction device at the position where the suction of the paper is not required. It becomes possible to aim at labor saving by weakening.
Therefore, according to the present invention, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a paper conveying apparatus that can stably convey and save labor.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, an example in which the sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is applied to a copying machine (image forming apparatus) will be described. In the following drawings, the scale of each member is appropriately changed in order to make each member a recognizable size.

First, the configuration of the copying machine 1 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a copying machine 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the copying machine 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The copying machine 1 includes an image reading unit 2 that reads an image of a document, an image storage unit 3 that stores the read image, an image processing unit 4 that performs image processing on the stored image, and image-processed data. A printing unit 5 that performs printing processing, a control unit 6 that controls the operations thereof, an operation unit 7 that transmits a user command to the control unit 6, and a paper conveyance device that conveys the printing paper P while adsorbing it by suction force 10.

  The image reading unit 2 includes, for example, an automatic document feeder 21 shown in FIG. 2 and a scanner 22 that reads an image of a document. Based on a control command input from the control unit 6, an automatic document reading unit 2 is provided. The document image supplied from the feeding device 21 is read by the scanner 22 and image data such as the shape and color of the document image is output.

  The image storage unit 3 is composed of an external storage device such as a hard disk or / and a semiconductor memory. The image storage unit 3 writes and stores image data read by the image reading unit 2 based on a control command input from the control unit 6. In addition, the document image data is read and output.

  The image processing unit 4 converts the document image data input from the image storage unit 3 into print format image data based on a control command input from the control unit 6 and outputs the converted image data. Various image processing is performed on the document image data to convert it into print format image data. For example, when the image reading unit 2 reads a document on which a color image is formed, the document image data input from the image storage unit 3 to the image processing unit 4 is RGB image data corresponding to the three primary colors of light. Therefore, the image processing unit 4 converts such RGB image data into YMCK image data (Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), K (black)) corresponding to the printing format of the printing unit 5, for example. Image data as a reference color) and output.

  Based on the control command input from the control unit 6, the printing unit 5 conveys the printing paper (paper) P and attaches toner to the printing paper P, thereby inputting the image data input from the image processing unit 4. 2 is formed on the printing paper P. For example, the paper feed cassette 61, the photosensitive drum 62, the exposure device 63, the developing device 64, the cleaning unit 65, the transfer device 66, the fixing device 67, etc. shown in FIG. It is the composition provided with.

  The paper feed cassette 61 is provided with a detection sensor (second detection sensor) 61a for detecting the size of the print paper P (not shown in FIG. 2, refer to FIG. 1). The size of the accommodated printing paper P (for example, JIS standard A4 size, A3 size, etc.) is detected and output to the control unit 6. For example, the detection sensor 61a uses a combination of a plurality of well-known reflective sensors, an optical line sensor, or the like.

The operation unit 7 is configured to transmit a user command to the control unit 6, and includes, for example, an operation panel having a display unit and operation keys.
The display unit includes, for example, a touch panel, a liquid crystal display, and the like, and functions as a man-machine interface that associates the user with the copying machine 1. As is well known, a touch panel is provided with a transparent surface pressure sensor such as a resistive film type on the display surface of a display panel. When a user presses an operation button displayed on the display panel with a finger or the like, the surface shape The pressing sensor outputs an operation signal indicating the pressing position (pressing coordinate) to the control unit 6.
The operation keys are hardware keys other than the operation buttons displayed on the display unit, such as a power button, a numeric button, and a print start button, and output operation signals based on user operations to the control unit 6. ing.

  The control unit 6 includes an electronic component and an electronic circuit composed of an internal memory such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), an image reading unit 2, an image storage unit 3, an image The processing unit 4, the printing unit 5, the operation unit 7, and various input / output interface circuits that exchange data with the paper conveyance device 10. The control unit 6 having such a configuration is configured to control each component device in an integrated manner.

  The image forming operation (copying / printing operation) of the copying machine 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above is the same as the conventional one, so that the description thereof will be omitted. The configuration and operation will be described.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the sheet conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the sheet conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the paper transport device 10 is provided between the transfer device 66 and the fixing device 67, and is configured to transport the printing paper P therebetween.

  3 and 4, the sheet conveying apparatus 10 includes a conveying belt 11 that conveys the printing sheet P to the fixing device 67, and a plurality of suction fans (suction) that adhere the printing sheet P to the conveying belt 11 by suction force. Device) 12 and a sheet conveying device control unit (control device) 13 for controlling the driving of each suction fan 12 as shown in FIG.

  The conveyance belt 11 is provided so as to be able to run endlessly in the conveyance direction of the printing paper P toward the fixing device 67, and an air passage hole 11a for applying a suction force by the suction fan 12 to the printing paper P is provided on the running surface. A plurality are formed. Such a conveyor belt 11 is provided in parallel (in the present embodiment, four) in the width direction (orthogonal direction) orthogonal to the transport direction, and these are rotations that are installed in the width direction at both ends. It is configured to rotate in synchronization with the rotation of the shaft 14 around the axis.

  A plurality of suction fans 12 are linearly arranged in the width direction, and more specifically, one suction fan 12 is provided for each of the conveyor belts 11 arranged in parallel in the width direction. The suction fan 12 is integrally attached to a housing 15 provided in a space on the back side of the running surface of the conveyor belt 11 formed by stretching the conveyor belt 11 with the rotation shaft 14. The suction force is applied in the direction perpendicular to the surface.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of such suction fans 12 is electrically connected to a paper transport device control unit 13 and is individually driven to rotate based on a control command input from the paper transport device control unit 13. It has become.
In the following description, the suction fan 12A, the suction fan 12B, the suction fan 12C, and the suction fan 12D may be described in order from the suction fan 12 located at the left end in FIG.

The sheet transport device control unit 13 includes an electronic component and an electronic circuit composed of an internal memory such as a central processing unit (CPU), a read only memory (ROM), and a random access memory (RAM), and each suction fan 12 and control unit 6. And various input / output interface circuits that exchange data with the detection sensor 61a via the control unit 6.
Further, the paper transport device controller 13 stores arrangement data of the suction fan 12, calculates the width occupied by the print paper P on the transport belt 11 based on the detection result of the detection sensor 61a, and By comparing the calculation result with the arrangement data of the suction fan 12, the suction fan 12 provided at the position corresponding to the width is driven at a predetermined rotational speed, and the suction fan 12 deviated from the position corresponding to the width. It is the structure which performs the control which stops driving | operation.

Next, the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

First, the paper transport device control unit 13 acquires the detection result of the detection sensor 61a that detects the size of the printing paper P carried out from the paper feed cassette 61 via the control unit 6 (step S1).
Next, the paper transport device controller 13 calculates the width that the print paper P occupies on the transport belt 11 based on the acquired size of the print paper P. Then, the paper transport device control unit 13 compares the calculated width data with the arrangement data of the suction fan 12 stored in advance, and applies the suction force to the printing paper P, and the printing paper. By setting the suction fan 12 that does not apply a suction force to P, the drive position of the suction fan 12 corresponding to the size of the printing paper P is determined (step S2).

Next, the paper transport device control unit 13 drives the suction fan 12 provided at a position corresponding to the size of the printing paper P with a predetermined suction force based on the above setting, so that the size of the printing paper P is reached. The drive of the suction fan 12 deviated from the corresponding position is stopped (step S3).
Specifically, when the A5 size printing paper P shown in FIG. 6 is transported, the paper transport device control unit 13 uses suction fans 12B and 12C provided at positions corresponding to the size of the printing paper P in advance. The suction fans 12A and 12D deviated from the position corresponding to the size of the printing paper P are stopped. Further, when the A3-sized printing paper P shown in FIG. 7 is transported, the paper transport device control unit 13 applies all of the suction fans 12A to 12D provided at positions corresponding to the size of the printing paper P to a predetermined level. Drive with suction force.

As described above, the area on which the suction force is applied to the printing paper P can be adjusted by controlling the driving of the plurality of suction fans 12 in accordance with the size of the printing paper P. However, it is possible to eliminate the waste of driving force caused by applying a suction force at an unnecessary portion that is not placed on the conveyor belt 11. Furthermore, since the suction force per unit area is not changed as in the prior art by adjusting the respective driving of the suction fan 12 with a predetermined suction force, it is stable even if the size of the printing paper P changes. It is possible to apply a certain suction force to the printing paper P.
As described above, the paper transport device 10 transports the print paper P to the fixing device 67 while bringing the print paper P into close contact with the transport belt 11 with a certain suction force and suppressing wrinkles and twists of the print paper P. It will be.

  Returning to FIG. 5, the paper conveyance device control unit 13 acquires information on whether or not the next printing paper P is carried out from the control unit 6. When the next printing paper P is unloaded and the printing paper P is transported toward the fixing device 67, the paper transport device control unit 13 returns to step S1 and repeats the above steps again to obtain the size of the printing paper P. Accordingly, the respective driving of the suction fan 12 is controlled. On the other hand, when the printing process is finished and the next printing paper P is not carried out, the driving of the suction fan 12 is stopped and finished (step S4).

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the paper transport device 10 includes the transport belt 11 that transports the print paper P and the suction fan 12 that closely contacts the print paper P with the transport belt 11 by suction force. A plurality of fans 12 are provided in the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and have a paper transport device control unit 13 that controls the driving of the suction fan 12 according to the size of the print paper P transported. By adopting the configuration, it is possible to control the driving of the plurality of suction fans 12 according to the size of the printing paper P. For this reason, for example, by increasing the suction force at the position where the suction fan 12 needs to suck the printing paper P, the paper can be stably conveyed, and the suction fan 12 does not need to suck the paper. It is possible to save labor by weakening the suction force in the case.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, there is an effect that it is possible to provide the sheet conveying apparatus 10 that can stably convey and save labor.

  In the present embodiment, the paper transport device control unit 13 drives the suction fan 12 provided at a position corresponding to the size of the printing paper P with a predetermined suction force to deal with the size of the printing paper P. By adopting a configuration in which the driving of the suction fan 12 deviating from the position where it is moved is stopped, a predetermined suction force is generated at a position where the suction of the sheet is required, and at a position where the suction of the sheet is not required. Suction can be stopped. Thus, although the suction force changes as a whole, there is no change in the suction force per unit area, so that the paper can be stably conveyed according to the size of the paper. Furthermore, it is possible to save labor by completely stopping the suction fan 12 at a position outside the printing paper P.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which the printing paper P is transported by a plurality of transport belts 11 arranged in parallel in the width direction, and the suction fan 12 is provided for each transport belt 11. Accordingly, it is possible to generate a suction force in each of the transport belts 11, and thus it is possible to more reliably suppress creases and wrinkles by bringing a sheet into close contact with each of the transport belts 11.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the copying machine 1 provided with the sheet conveying apparatus 10 having the above-described configuration that can achieve stable conveyance and save labor can be obtained.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a detection sensor 61a for detecting the size of the printing paper P is provided, and a paper feeding cassette 61 that accommodates the printing paper P to be transported is provided. The size of the printing paper P conveyed by the detection sensor 61a provided in the paper feed cassette 61 is adopted by adopting a configuration in which the driving of each suction fan 12 is controlled based on the detection result of the detection sensor 61a. By detecting this, it is possible to determine each drive of the suction fan 12 in advance based on the detection result. That is, by detecting the size of the printing paper P in the paper feed cassette 61 on the most upstream side of the conveyance path of the printing paper P, it is possible to secure time for stabilizing the suction fan 12 to a constant rotational drive, There is an effect that the printing paper P can be more stably conveyed. Furthermore, by using the detection sensor 61a provided in the copying machine 1, it is not necessary to provide a separate detection sensor, and the cost can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring drawings, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. Various shapes, combinations, and the like of the constituent members shown in the above-described embodiments are examples, and various modifications can be made based on design requirements and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the paper transport device control unit 13 detects the size of the print paper P by the detection sensor 61a provided in the paper feed cassette 61. However, the paper transport device 10 itself has a paper size. The structure which provides the detection sensor which detects this separately may be sufficient. Moreover, the structure used together with the said detection sensor and the detection sensor 61a provided in the paper feed cassette 61 may be sufficient.

  In the above embodiment, the paper is described as the printing paper P having a size determined by the standard such as A5 or A3. However, the present invention is not limited to the printing paper P according to the standard. Paper that does not conform to the above standards may be used. In this case, for example, it is preferable that the driving of the suction fan 12 be controlled by detecting the size of the sheet by a detection sensor.

  Further, in the present invention, the control unit 6 that has received the user setting via the operation unit 7 outputs the size of the printing paper P included in the user setting to the paper transport device control unit 13, so that the printing paper P The size may be acquired.

1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a perspective view showing a paper transport device in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the paper conveying apparatus in embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the paper conveying apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the paper conveying apparatus in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Copy machine (image forming apparatus), 10 ... Paper conveyance apparatus, 11 ... Conveyance belt, 12 ... Suction fan (suction apparatus), 13 ... Paper conveyance apparatus control part (control apparatus), 61 ... Paper feed cassette (cassette) , 61a ... detection sensor (second detection sensor), P ... printing paper (paper)

Claims (6)

A paper transport device having a transport belt for transporting paper and a suction device for bringing the paper into close contact with the transport belt by suction force;
A plurality of the suction devices are provided in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to the conveying direction,
A sheet conveying apparatus comprising: a control device that controls driving of each of the suction devices according to the size of the sheet to be conveyed.   The control device drives the suction device provided at a position corresponding to the size of the paper with a predetermined suction force, and stops driving the suction device deviated from the position corresponding to the size of the paper. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1. The paper is transported by the transport belt arranged in parallel in the orthogonal direction,
The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the suction device is provided for each of the conveying belts. A detection sensor for detecting the size of the paper;
The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the suction device controls driving of each of the suction devices based on a detection result of the detection sensor.   An image forming apparatus, comprising the sheet conveying device according to claim 1. A second detection sensor for detecting the size of the paper, and a cassette for storing the paper to be conveyed;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control device controls driving of each of the suction devices based on a detection result of the second detection sensor.

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