JP2007119189A - Sheet feeder and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of automatically cleaning rollers unless a user performs a special operation. <P>SOLUTION: Sheet materials of a predetermined quantity are normally printed according to the information on the sheets from a host. After the printing is completed, if the sheet material is determined to be a medium from which paper powder tends to be produced, a control means is installed to provide an idling operation to the rollers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a printing apparatus, a facsimile machine, a scanner, an image forming apparatus, an image reading apparatus, etc. The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding device that separates and feeds sheet materials or sheets one by one.

  Conventionally, as a recording apparatus sheet material feeding apparatus, generally, an elevating mechanism for moving a plurality of sheets stacked on a sheet feeding tray to a predetermined preparation apparatus and a sheet placed at a preparation position are fed to a separation unit. Pick-up roller, feed roller and separating means for separating and transporting the fed paper, sheet material detection sensor 30 for judging whether the transported paper is “present” or “not present”, and the front end of the paper by the registration roller The registration means for correcting the leading edge of the paper by bending between the registration roller and the feed roller, and rotating the registration roller to feed the paper onto the platen and record an image or the like according to the electrical signal A recording unit and a discharge unit for discharging the recorded paper onto a discharge tray are provided.

  As for the roller cleaning, as in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-328323, the pickup roller rotates after the pickup roller is rotated even though there is a sheet in the sheet stacking portion due to a decrease in the frictional force of the pickup roller. When the printing paper does not reach the sheet material detection lever position, the cleaning lamp is turned on. Some users who have noticed the error display place the adhesive sheet in a state where the adhesive surface is in contact with the pickup roller and perform a cleaning operation.

  As in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-63185, the separation pad of the cleaning plate that is detachably mounted on the pressure plate is pressed against the feeding roller as a cleaning member, and the rotation of the feeding roller in this state In some cases, the surface of the feeding roller is cleaned.

  As in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-114407, an error occurs when the position information of the edge of the sheet material fed by the feeding roller is not within a set range, and the frequency exceeds a certain frequency. Some of them aim to inform the user of the roller cleaning time.

As in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-128299, the sheet feeding unit is rotated a predetermined number of times while being brought into contact with at least one of the friction member provided in the sheet stacking unit and the friction member provided in the separation unit. In some cases, the cleaning mode for cleaning the surface of the sheet feeding means is manually set, and in other cases, the cleaning mode can be performed every predetermined number of sheets fed.
JP-A-8-328323 JP 2001-63185 A JP 2002-114407 A JP 2002-128299 A

  However, the conventional example has the following problems.

  The timing for performing the cleaning is determined when the stacked paper cannot be picked up or when the delay of the sheet material detection timing due to slip at the time of paper conveyance frequently occurs. There are two main causes for the occurrence of these two phenomena. One is that paper dust adheres excessively to the surface of the pickup roller. The excessively adhering paper dust does not easily return to the initial state even if it is temporarily recovered in the cleaning mode, and it tends to recur, and the frequency of the cleaning operation increases, which increases the burden on the user. The other is that the sheet is fed beyond the specification and the surface of the pickup roller is physically worn, and the required coefficient of friction is lowered. Although the friction coefficient generally decreases as the sheet continues to be conveyed, the cleaning operation rotates while the pickup roller and the friction member are in contact with each other. Therefore, when the cleaning operation is automatically performed with a predetermined number of sheets fed, the life of the pickup roller surface is shortened by performing an unnecessary cleaning operation because the user does not consider what sheet material is usually used. There was a thing that.

  Stacking means on which the sheet material is stacked, feeding means for feeding the sheet material stacked on the sheet material loading means, and advancement of the sheet material following the sheet material sent out by the feeding means, In a sheet material feeding apparatus comprising: a feeding unit and a separating unit that blocks in a pressed state; and a sheet material detecting unit that detects that a sheet material has been fed downstream of the separating unit. Based on the sheet material information, a mode in which the feeding unit rotates and a mode in which the feeding unit does not rotate can be selectively controlled after the designated number of prints is completed.

  The mode in which the feeding unit rotates is a cleaning mode in which the surface of the feeding rotating body is cleaned by rotating the feeding unit a predetermined number of times while contacting at least one of the sheet material stacking unit and the separating unit. It is characterized by being.

  A torque limiter having a pickup roller and a feed roller disposed in a sheet material feeding direction of the pickup roller, and having no drive source for picking up a sheet by the pickup roller and pressing the feed roller Only one of a plurality of sheets is selectively separated and conveyed by an attached separation roller.

  A recording apparatus comprising the sheet material transport mechanism described above and recording recording information on a sheet material by a recording means.

  The recording means is an ink jet system that performs recording on a sheet material by discharging ink from nozzles.

  With the automatic paper feeder of the present invention, at the end of feeding a sheet material containing a large amount of paper dust, the pickup roller and the feed roller are automatically rotated in the normal rotation direction a predetermined number of times so that the user is not required to perform extra operations. In addition, it is possible to prevent paper dust from excessively adhering to both roller rubber surfaces. Further, since the cleaning operation is performed only when necessary, the damage to the rubber can be minimized.

  Hereinafter, the printer of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in the figure, the printer 1 of the present invention is provided with a paper tray 3 capable of storing a large number of sheets P of a predetermined size on the left side of a case 31 (FIG. 6). The sheet tray 3 is partitioned into two upper and lower stages by a partition plate 3a. The sheet tray 3 that can store the sheet material P before recording in the lower stage and the recording sheet discharged from the recording means 11 described later in the upper stage. It consists of a paper discharge tray section 5 on which the finished sheet material P is located.

  The paper feed tray section 4 includes a part 3 b of the paper tray 3 and a part 2 a of the paper feed base 2. On the part 2a side of the paper feed base 2, the pressure plate 6 is attached to the paper feed base 2 with the fulcrum 6a formed on one side as a center of rotation so that the other side can be raised and lowered. A sheet material P before printing is placed on the pressure plate 6. Further, the pressure plate 6 is configured to be elastically urged by a spring (not shown) in the direction of arrow A with the fulcrum 6a as a rotation center, and can be moved up and down by a control shaft 26 described later.

  Further, a regulation rib 2b at the end of the sheet material when the sheet material P is stored is formed on the sheet feeding base 2 side of the sheet feeding tray unit 4. Therefore, the pickup roller 24 is positioned on the pressure plate 6 in the vicinity of the regulating rib 2b. A feed roller 7 is provided in the sheet material conveyance direction (arrow: C) of the pickup roller 24. Below the feed roller 7, a separation roller 25 with a torque limiter that does not have a drive source for separating a plurality of sheet materials fed from the pickup roller 24 and feeding them one by one has a fulcrum 28a. It is held by a separation roller holder 28 at the center of rotation, and can be elastically biased by a spring (not shown) on the feed roller 7 side. The separation roller 25 can be rotated around a fulcrum 28a via a separation roller holder 28, and is controlled by a control shaft 26 described later. In the present proposal, the above example is described as the separation means. However, the separation method is not limited to this example, and a separation pad may be used as an example. These three rollers are cylindrical and the outer peripheral part is formed of a member having a large coefficient of friction such as rubber, and is rotatable in the direction of arrow L which is the counterclockwise direction.

  When the pressure plate 6 is raised above the arrow A, the uppermost sheet material P is pressed against the lower part of the pickup roller 24. In a state where the sheet material P is pressed against the pickup roller 24, the pickup roller 24 is rotated in the direction of arrow L, whereby a plurality of sheet materials P are fed between the feed roller 7 and the separation roller 25. The plurality of fed sheet materials P are separated into one sheet, and only the uppermost sheet material P is conveyed in the direction of arrow C. The sheet material P conveyed from the paper feed tray unit 4 passes through the sending unit 4b and is conveyed to the recording unit 11 side described later. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the sheet material P already recorded by the recording means 11 is conveyed in the paper discharge direction indicated by the arrow D opposite to the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C, and passes through the upper surface of the flapper 8. Thus, the paper can be discharged to the paper discharge tray section 5. A rotation base 8 a of the flapper 8 is pivotally supported on a rotation shaft that is the rotation center of the feed roller 7. Further, the flapper 8 extends from the rotation base 8a to the registration roller 9 side, and a tongue-like opening / closing plate 8b is formed. The opening / closing plate 8b can open and close the delivery unit 4b of the sheet feeding tray unit 4 by rotating up and down. Accordingly, the flapper 8 at the time of feeding the sheet material P from the paper feed tray unit 4 opens the sending unit 4b by rotating the opening / closing plate 8b upward, and the sheet material P fed from the paper feed tray unit 4 is fed by the flapper 8. When the sheet material P is fed out from the sheet feeding toy unit 4 without touching the lower surface of the sheet, the opening / closing plate 8b rotates downward to close the feeding unit 4b as shown in FIGS. The registration roller 9 and the paper feed roller 17 enable conveyance in the paper discharge direction indicated by an arrow D opposite to the paper supply direction indicated by the arrow C. The sheet material P conveyed in the paper discharge direction indicated by the arrow D is conveyed along the upper surface of the flapper 8 and passes over the feed roller 7 and the pickup roller 24 to the paper discharge tray section 5 of the paper tray 3. The paper is discharged. The opening / closing mechanism of the flapper 8 is implemented by a cam follower 8c provided in the flapper 8 and a cam 14a formed in the rotation axis direction of the control gear 14 described later. Further, on the downstream side of the feed roller 7 in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C, a registration roller 9 and a roller 10 in pressure contact with the registration roller 9 are disposed between the recording unit 11 and the recording roller 11. Further, on the downstream side of the recording means in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C, a paper feed roller 17 and a roller 18 in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 17 are disposed.

  The registration roller 9 and the paper feed roller 17 can rotate in one direction, which is a clockwise direction, and in the other direction, which is a counterclockwise direction. The roller 10 is rotatable following the rotation of the registration roller 9. Similarly, following the rotation of the paper feed roller 17, the roller 18 is also rotatable. The sheet material P held in pressure contact with at least one of the registration roller 9, the roller 10, the paper feeding roller 17, and the roller 18 can be conveyed in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C by the rotation of both rollers in one direction. ing. Further, by rotating the paper feed roller in the other direction, it can be conveyed in the paper discharge direction indicated by arrow D opposite to the paper feed direction.

  Further, when the registration roller 9 and the roller 10 press and hold the front end portion Pa of the sheet material, the pressure plate 3 and the separation roller 25 are rotated in the directions of arrows B and X (FIG. 3) via the control shaft 26, respectively. Further, it is controlled by a control gear 14 described later. A recording unit 11 is disposed on the downstream side of the registration roller 9 in the paper feeding direction indicated by the arrow C. The recording means 11 includes a platen 12 formed wider than the width of the sheet material P, a head 13 disposed above the platen 12 and ejecting printing ink, and the head 13 is connected to the sheet material P. The carriage 19 is moved in the width direction.

  Next, an example of the paper feeding operation (S201) of the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the drive is transmitted by a motor (not shown) according to a command from the control device 100, and the registration roller 9 and the paper feed roller 17 perform normal rotation (paper discharge direction) (S101). Further, the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 are rotated forward in the direction of arrow L via the double gear 20, the idler gear 21, the pickup roller gear 22, and the feed roller gear 23 by a motor (not shown) (S102). Further, a cam shape (not shown) is formed on the back side of the control gear 14 shown in FIG. 7, and when rotating in the direction of arrow E, the separation roller 25 rises toward the feed roller 7 via the control shaft 26 (X direction). ) And then the pressure plate 6 of the paper tray 3 storing a plurality of sheet materials P is raised in the direction of arrow A, the sheet material P is pressed against the upper pickup roller 24, and the feed roller 7 and the separation roller A plurality of sheet materials P are fed into the space 25. In the plurality of fed sheet materials, the uppermost sheet material P is separated from the lower sheet material P, and only one sheet material P is sent out from the sheet feeding tray unit 4 in the sheet feeding direction indicated by the arrow C. Sent out. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7B, the opening / closing plate 8b is rotated upward (arrow: F) by the cam 14a coaxially configured with the cam follower 8c of the flapper 8 and the control gear 14, and the paper tray 3 is opened.

  The sheet material P delivered in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C is determined to be “present” or “none” based on the output of the sheet material detection sensor 30 when it passes through the sheet material detection lever 29 (S103). If the paper does not pass (N in S103), an error process (S104) is performed, and when it is determined to be “present” (Y in S103), the front end portion Pa of the sheet material fed as it is is a registration roller 9 and a roller 10. Further, the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 continue to be conveyed from the state of being in contact with the nip portion (FIG. 1), the sheet material is bent to form a loop (FIG. 2), and registration removal control is performed (S105). This loop amount is determined by setting the transport amount after the sheet material detection sensor 30 has reacted after passing through the sheet material detection lever 29 to a predetermined value. Then, the registration roller 9 starts synchronous feeding with the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7, and the front end portion Pa of the loop-shaped sheet material is held in pressure contact (FIG. 3). Then, the pressure plate 6 descends in the direction of arrow B through the control shaft 26 as the control gear 14 rotates, and the plurality of sheet materials P placed on the pressure plate 6 are released from the pressure contact from the pickup roller 24. The Thereafter, the separation roller 25 is similarly separated from the feed roller 7 by the control shaft 26, and the pressure contact from the feed roller 7 is released. Then, both the rollers are stopped after the pressure contact is released (S106). In releasing the pressure contact, the pickup roller 24 side is released before the feed roller 7 side to prevent double feeding. Further, the registration control method is not limited to this. Subsequently, the registration roller 9 in a state where the sheet material P is pressed and sandwiched is rotated in one direction, which is the direction of the arrow M, so that the sheet between the platen 12 and the head 13 on the downstream side of the registration roller 9 in the feeding direction The material P is fed, and is then held in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 17 and the roller 18 that rotate in the same direction. Subsequently, after the sheet material P is conveyed in the feeding direction indicated by the arrow C, the rear end portion Pb is detached from the flapper 8, the registration roller 9, and the roller 10, and the rear end portion Pb of the sheet material P is detached from the flapper 8. As shown in FIG. 5 (c), the cam follower of the flapper 8 and the cam 14a of the control gear rotate the opening / closing plate 8b of the flapper 8 downward (arrow: F) to close the discharge portion 4b of the paper tray 3. . In the process so far, the rear end portion Pb of the sheet material P passes through the sheet material detection lever 29. At that time, after the sheet material detection sensor 30 reacts, a predetermined set amount is conveyed to the printing start position, and the cueing control is performed (S107). Thus, the paper feeding operation (S201) is completed.

  Next, operations up to printing and paper discharge are performed. From the printing start position, the paper feed roller 17 is rotated in the other direction of the arrow N, and the sheet material P is conveyed in the paper discharge direction of the arrow D. Simultaneously with the conveyance of the sheet material P in the paper discharge direction, the carriage 19 on which the head 13 is mounted records a desired image or the like on the sheet material P while repeating the movement of the sheet material P in the width direction. Then, the rear end portion Pb of the sheet material P is again sandwiched between the registration roller 9 and the roller 10 and conveyed in the direction of arrow D, and moves on the feed roller 7 and the pickup roller 24 along the upper surface of the flapper 8. Then, the paper is conveyed to the upper discharge tray unit 5 of the paper tray 3.

  Thus, a series of paper feeding operations, printing, and paper ejection operations are completed. When feeding the next sheet material, the above operation is repeated again.

  By the way, in the case where the sheet material P to be fed is a sheet material having a large amount of paper dust or the like, the sheet feeding force of rubber attached to the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 24, the feed roller 7 and the separation roller 25 as the number of sheets fed advances Decreases. In this state, when feeding thick paper, postcard or the like having a large transport resistance, a paper feed failure may occur.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, such a case is anticipated, and a sheet with a lot of paper dust is formed before it becomes a state where paper dust is excessively attached and cannot be removed so that the paper feeding power is significantly reduced. When the material is fed, a cleaning mode is set in which the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 are rubbed against the pressure plate 6 and the separation roller 25 for a predetermined number of times in the rotation direction at the time of feeding when printing is completed. As a result, paper dust adhering to the rubber attached to the outer peripheral surfaces of the pickup roller 24, the feed roller 7, and the separation roller 25 can be removed from an early stage, so that both rollers can always be kept clean.

  Therefore, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a cleaning mode of the sheet feeding device according to the present embodiment. When the sheet feeding operation (S201) is started, the control device 100 determines that the recording material is paper based on the sheet material information 101 of the sheet material P as the recording material from the host side and the count number of the sheet feeding number counter 102. It is determined whether the sheet material is rich in powder and whether the number of fed sheets has reached the designated number of printed sheets (S202). When the number of sheets fed with a large amount of paper dust reaches the designated number of prints, the cleaning mode is entered (Y in S202). When the cleaning mode is entered, first, the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 are rotated forward (S203). Here, when the sheet material is stacked and fed more than the designated number of printed sheets, the sheet material detection sensor 30 determines that “paper is present” (Y in S204), and error processing (S205). ) Will not cause any operational problems. Normally, it is determined that there is no paper (N in S204), the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 continue normal rotation (S206), the rotation number is counted by the counter 103, and N times in the rotation direction during paper feeding. Rotate (desired set value). When the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 complete N forward rotations (Y in S207), the pickup roller 24 and the feed roller 7 are stopped (S208).

  Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 11 because the generality is not lost. When a sheet material with a lot of paper dust is fed, generally, when three or four sets are continuously fed as one set of 20 sheets, the feeding power starts to decrease. As a guideline for the cleaning timing, after 3 or 4 sets of paper are fed, the sheet material information (S202) in FIG. Based on the sheet number counter 102, it is determined whether or not the sheet number has reached the predetermined number. When the sheet number reaches the predetermined number, the cleaning mode is automatically performed. With this configuration, the cleaning operation can be reduced as much as possible, and damage to the rubber attached to the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 24, the feed roller 7, and the separation roller 25 can be reduced.

  FIG. 8 is a view showing a state of the sheet feeding device in the cleaning mode according to the embodiment of the present invention.

It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic explaining operation | movement of the printer by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part side view explaining the operation | movement of the flapper by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state of the paper feeder in the cleaning mode by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the paper feeder by one Embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a sheet feeding operation according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a cleaning mode of the sheet feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 2 Paper feed base 3 Paper tray 3a Partition plate 4 Paper feed tray part 4b Sending part 5 Paper discharge tray part 6 Pressure plate 7 Feed roller 8 Flapper 8a Rotating base 8b Opening / closing plate 8c Cam follower 9 Registration roller 10 Roller 11 Recording means 12 Platen 13 Head 14 Control gear 14 a Cam 17 Paper feed roller 18 Roller 19 Carriage 20 Double gear 21 Idler gear 22 Pickup roller gear 23 Feed roller gear 24 Pickup roller 25 Separating roller 26 Control shaft 27 Pressure plate release spring 28 Separating roller holder 29 Sheet material detection lever 30 Sheet material detection sensor 31 Case 100 Control device 101 Sheet material information 102 Paper feed number counter 103 Counter P Sheet material Pa Front end Pb Rear end

Claims (5)

Stacking means on which the sheet material is stacked, feeding means for feeding the sheet material stacked on the sheet material loading means, and advancement of the sheet material following the sheet material sent out by the feeding means, A sheet from a host in a sheet material feeding apparatus, comprising: a feeding unit and a separating unit that blocks in a pressed state; and a sheet material detecting unit that detects that a sheet material is fed downstream of the separating unit. A sheet material feeding device, wherein a mode in which the feeding unit rotates and a mode in which the feeding unit does not rotate can be selectively controlled based on material information after the designated number of printed sheets is completed.   The mode in which the feeding unit rotates is a cleaning mode in which the surface of the feeding rotating body is cleaned by rotating the feeding unit a predetermined number of times while contacting at least one of the sheet material stacking unit and the separating unit. 2. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material feeding device is provided. The feeding means is a pickup roller;
A feed roller disposed in the sheet material feeding direction of the pickup roller,
The sheet is picked up by the pickup roller, and only one of the plurality of sheets is selectively separated and conveyed by a separation roller with a torque limiter that does not have a drive source for pressing the feed roller. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 2.   A recording apparatus comprising the sheet material transport mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein recording information is recorded on a sheet material by a recording unit.   The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording unit is an ink jet system that performs recording on a sheet material by discharging ink from a nozzle.

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