JP2000118825A - Picture image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain the temperature of a device body adequately, by exhausting the air flow by the heating of the device main body adequately, when a sheet processing device is connected to the picture image forming device main body. SOLUTION: When a sorter 1 as a sheet processing device is connected to a device main body 100, a conveying unit 22 to deliver the sheet is provided between a main body exhaust roller 106 and a carrying-in port 3 to carry in the sheet to the sorter. By providing an exhaust gas fan 25 to exhaust the heated air flow in the direction crossing to the conveying direction of the sheet, in this conveying unit 22, the temperature in the device main body is maintained constant, in the condition blocking the heat exhaust side in the device body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a sheet processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus body having a fixing means such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, etc., having a fixing means which generates heat during image formation. And a sheet processing apparatus for sorting or binding sheets on which images have been formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, in a copying machine as an image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG.
02, a laterally concave portion (opening portion) 3 is formed, and the lower side thereof is a discharge tray 512 for the sheet P discharged from the discharge roller 502.

The sheet P of the sheet feeding section 502 is
The sheet is fed to the photosensitive drum (image forming unit) at a predetermined timing by a registration roller 509. A well-known electrophotographic toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 510, and this toner image is transferred,
The sheet P conveyed by the conveying unit 511 is
After the toner image is fixed at step 05, the toner image is discharged onto the discharge tray 512 at the opening 503 by a discharge roller pair 502 as a main body discharge unit.

In the vicinity of the fixing device 505, there is provided a main body exhaust means (for example, a main body exhaust fan) 504 for exhausting heat (air flow) provided by the fixing device 505. Part of the air blowing by the exhaust means 504 is
It is sent to the opening 503. The apparatus main body is provided with a plurality of exhaust ports 504a for sending the wind of the main body exhaust fan 504 to the opening 503.

In such a copying machine, a sheet processing apparatus such as a sorter or a finisher may be selectively attached to the apparatus main body 1 in some cases. In such a case, since there is a gap between the discharge roller 502 and the carry-in roller of the sheet processing apparatus, a conveyance path unit that guides the sheet P discharged from the discharge position 502 to the sheet processing apparatus is provided. , Usually installed.

[0006]

However, in such a conventional copying machine, since the exhaust port of the exhaust fan 504 is blocked by connecting the sheet processing apparatus to the apparatus main body, the temperature inside the apparatus is reduced. In order to maintain a constant value, it is necessary to attach a device having a high capability of the main body exhaust means 504 in advance, and therefore an improvement in cost reduction of the apparatus has been desired.

Further, assuming that the cause is in the sheet processing apparatus that blocks the heat exhaust port of the apparatus main body, it is considered that a main body exhaust fan is mounted on the sheet processing apparatus side. Depending on the image forming apparatus to be connected, there may be no need for a fan. In that case, the cost of the sheet processing apparatus increases due to the exhaust fan,
Because it leads to an increase in power consumption, sheet processing equipment
It is desirable not to provide an exhaust fan.

Further, in recent years, particularly as printers and digital copiers have become faster and more compact, the heat discharge situation of the image fixing unit may be reduced.

If the height of the main body discharge roller of the apparatus main body is different from the height of the carry-in roller of the sheet processing apparatus, a transport unit having a buffer path for connecting the two, a digital copying machine and an analog copying machine, Then, since the page order of the discharged sheet is reversed, a sheet processing apparatus having a reversing means for once reversing the discharged sheet,
It is necessary to provide between the device body and the sheet processing device,
In this case, it is desired to take measures to prevent the lateral movement in the apparatus main body from rising due to the connection of the sheet processing apparatus. In addition, recycled paper is often used as a sheet used in an image forming apparatus, and the recycled paper is curled when discharged from the image forming apparatus due to a manufacturing method thereof. For this reason, improvement of this was desired.

The present invention is directed to a sheet processing apparatus in which, when a sheet processing apparatus is connected to an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus, heat is smoothly discharged from the apparatus main body and a sheet conveying section discharged from the apparatus main body. It is an object to provide an image forming apparatus including the apparatus.

[0011]

The invention according to claim 1 is
Image forming means for forming an image on the conveyed sheet, fixing means for fixing the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming means, main body discharging means for discharging the sheet after fixing by the fixing means, and the image forming means A sheet processing apparatus having a main body, a fixing means, and a main body discharging means therein, and a loading means connected to the main body discharging means side of the apparatus main body for loading a sheet discharged from the main body discharging means. A transport unit that delivers a sheet discharged from the main body discharge unit to the loading unit, and an exhaust unit that is provided in the transport unit and that discharges airflow in a direction that intersects the sheet transport direction. It is characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the transport unit is disposed in an opening formed on the main body discharge means side of the apparatus main body.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the transport unit moves the sheet from the apparatus main body at a position where the height of the main body discharge means of the apparatus main body is different from the height of the carry-in means of the sheet processing apparatus. It can be delivered to a sheet processing apparatus and is disposed outside the apparatus main body.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the transport unit is capable of turning over the sheet discharged from the apparatus main body and transferring the sheet to the sheet processing apparatus, and is disposed outside the apparatus main body. It is characterized by the following.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the transport unit has a transport path for transporting the sheet, and has a bent portion for curling the sheet discharged from the main body discharge means in the transport path. Features.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the apparatus main body comprises:
The image forming apparatus further includes a main body exhaust unit that exhausts an airflow near the fixing unit.

[Operation] Based on the above construction, an image is fixed by the fixing means of the apparatus main body, and the sheet discharged by the main body discharging means is disposed between the main body discharging means of the apparatus main body and the carry-in means of the sheet processing apparatus. The sheet is conveyed to the sheet processing apparatus via the provided conveyance unit. In this conveyance of the sheet, the hot airflow around the sheet immediately after fixing is exhausted to the outside by an exhaust unit that exhausts the airflow in a direction intersecting the sheet conveyance direction. Thus, even when the sheet discharge unit on the heat generation side of the apparatus main body is closed by the sheet processing apparatus connected to the apparatus main body, the high-heat airflow is generated by the exhaust fan in the conveyance unit in the sheet conveyance direction. The sheet is discharged in the crossing direction, and the temperature of the apparatus body and the transport unit is prevented from rising without interrupting the sheet transport.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine (image forming apparatus) according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention as viewed from the front.

In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus (apparatus main body)
100 is a lateral recess (opening) on the left side in the figure.
A paper discharge roller 106 is provided at the back of the inside. And the lower plane of the opening 108 is
It serves as a discharge tray 107 when the image forming apparatus 100 is used alone.

The image forming apparatus 100 scans an original placed on a platen glass (not shown) on the upper surface of the apparatus main body with an optical system (not shown) to form a photosensitive drum for forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to image information. In 103, a toner image is formed by developing the latent image by a known electrophotographic method.

The sheet feeding section 109 has a cassette 101 for storing a plurality of sheets P, a sheet feeding roller 102 and the like. The sheet P fed from the sheet feeding roller 102 is While the toner image is being transferred, the toner image is fixed by being conveyed to the fixing roller pair 105 by the conveying means 104. A transport path unit 22 is provided in the opening 108 of the image forming apparatus 100. The sorter 1 is connected to the opening 108 as described later. The sheet P on which the toner image has been fixed is transported by the main body discharge roller 106 to the transport path unit 2.
2, and further conveyed to the conveyance path 3 of the sorter 1 by the conveyance rollers 24 in the conveyance path unit 22.
21 is a support means for supporting the transport unit 22.

The sorter 1 is provided downstream of the image forming apparatus 100 in the sheet discharging direction and has a plurality of bin trays B for receiving and storing the sheets P. It has a bin unit 2 on which a bin tray B is arranged. The sorter 1 moves the bin unit 2 up and down so as to move the bin unit 2 to a predetermined bin tray B with a transfer path (loading means) 3.
(Not shown) for discharging the sheet P conveyed to the sheet discharging roller pair 4 from the discharge roller pair 4.

The sorter 1 receives its own weight by an adjuster 11 attached to a base member 10. For this reason,
The image forming apparatus 100 does not require a mechanical structure for receiving the weight of the sorter 1. Further, the image forming apparatus 100
The sorter 1 can be positioned and fixed to the image forming apparatus 100 by hooking the mounting member 13 on the step screw 12 mounted on the image forming apparatus 100. Thus, when the sorter 1 is attached to the image forming apparatus 100, the adjuster 11 can position and fix the sorter 1 under the weight of the sorter 1 under its own weight.

Here, the main power is turned on and the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on.
When 00 is operated, the temperature inside the image forming apparatus rises over time. A factor of the temperature rise is heat generated from the fixing roller pair (fixing unit) 105,
The temperature near the discharge roller 106 becomes the highest. For this reason, a main body exhaust fan 110 as a heat exhaust fan is installed at this position, and the operation thereof exhausts the heat inside the image forming apparatus to the opening 108 side.

However, when the image forming apparatus 100 is used alone, the transport path unit 22 is attached to the opening 108 which is a space, and the sorter 1 is installed further downstream thereof. With only the exhaust heat fan 110, the exhaust of heat is insufficient. Therefore, a heat-dissipating fan 25 is installed in the transport path unit 22 so as to discharge heat to the near side in the figure, and by operating the heat-dissipating fan 25, heat is discharged from a heat-discharging port (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus 1 in advance. .

For this reason, the temperature in the image forming apparatus can be kept constant, and a recording sheet having a stable image is discharged. The transport unit 22 has an exhaust fan (exhaust means) 2 for exhausting heat (air flow) therein.
5 are provided. The direction in which the airflow is exhausted by the exhaust heat fan 25 may be the depth direction and the near side direction in FIG. 1, or may be the vertical direction.
Since the sheet conveyance surface can be avoided, heat can be efficiently exhausted.

Here, by installing the exhaust heat fan 25 in the transport path unit 108, the minimum exhaust air required for using the exhaust heat fan 110 of the image forming apparatus 100 alone in the image forming apparatus 100 is provided. Since the capacity can be set, the cost can be reduced. When the sorter 1 is mounted on another image forming apparatus, the sorter 1 is changed by the image forming apparatus which mounts only the configuration of the mounting kit including the mounting base member 10, the adjuster 11, the mounting member 13, and the transport path unit 22. For this reason, the structure of the sorter 1 itself can be simplified, so that the cost can be reduced. Further, if the image forming apparatus itself has a sufficient heat exhausting capability of the main body exhaust fan 110, the mounting kit can include a transport path unit in which the exhaust heat fan 25 is eliminated to reduce the cost of the mounting kit.

<Embodiment 2> In Embodiment 1,
Although a sorter is taken as an example of the sheet processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, a position of a discharge roller 201 of an image forming apparatus 200 and a finisher (sheet processing apparatus) 203 and the like are shown in FIG. A buffer path unit (conveyance unit) 202 for transferring a sheet between the image forming apparatus 200 and the sheet processing apparatus 203 when a drop from the carry-in roller 4 of the sheet processing apparatus is large.
Need to be attached, the image forming apparatus 200
However, by providing an exhaust fan 25 for exhausting air in a direction intersecting with the sheet conveying direction in the buffer path unit 202, the exhaust side of the image forming apparatus is closed. Can be kept constant, and the temperature of the buffer path unit 202 can be kept constant.

<Third Embodiment> As a third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a conventional analog copying machine, a printer and a digital copying machine are different from each other in the page order of discharged sheets. Is reversed, the image forming apparatus 300
Since it is necessary to attach a reversing pass unit (sheet processing device) 302 for reversing a sheet between the image forming apparatus 300 and the sheet processing apparatus 303, the reversing pass unit 302 closes the discharge side of the image forming apparatus 300. However, the exhaust fan 2 that exhausts H heat to the reversing path unit 302
By disposing 5, the temperature inside the image forming apparatus 300 can be kept constant.

<Fourth Embodiment> As a fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a transport unit 402 for transferring sheets is attached between an image forming apparatus 400 and a sheet processing apparatus 403. , The transport unit 402 is disposed in an opening of the apparatus main body,
An exhaust fan 25 for discharging the heated airflow is provided.

The transport unit 402 has a transport path 4040 having a transport roller 405 in the middle, and a bent portion 404a is provided before and after the transport roller 405.

When the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port 401 of the image forming apparatus 400 is curled upward or downward due to curl, when the discharged sheet is stacked by the sheet processing apparatus 403, It is necessary to prevent the sheet alignment from being deteriorated. As a countermeasure, the heat discharging fan 25 is installed in the transport unit 402 and two bent portions 404a are provided in the sheet transport path 404 to reduce the curl amount of the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus 400. And the sheet processing apparatus 4
At 03, the sheets can be stacked in an orderly manner.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In order to transfer a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus main body to a sheet processing apparatus connected to the apparatus main body, in the image forming apparatus in which a conveying unit is interposed between the apparatus main body and the sheet processing apparatus, the sheet is discharged into the conveying unit. Means are arranged to discharge the heated airflow in a direction substantially intersecting with the sheet conveying direction.
Even if it is blocked by the connection of the transport unit, the heated airflow can be discharged outside the apparatus, and the temperature of the apparatus main body can be kept constant.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional front view showing an example of an image forming apparatus including a conventional sheet processing apparatus.

[Description of Signs] P sheet 1 Sorter (sheet processing device) 3 Loading port (loading means) 22 Transport unit 25 Exhaust fan (exhaust means as heat generating means) 100, 200, 300, 400 Image forming apparatus main body (apparatus main body) 103 Photosensitive Drum (Image Forming Means) 105 Fixing Roller Pair (Fixing Means) 106 Discharge Roller Pair (Main Body Discharge Means) 108 Opening 110 Main Body Exhaust Fan (Main Body Exhaust Means) 201 Paper Discharge Roller (Main Body Discharge Means) 202 Transport Unit 301 Main body discharge roller (main body discharge means) 302 Reverse path unit (conveyance unit) 303 Sheet processing device 403 Sheet processing device 404 Transport path 404a Bent portion

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming means for forming an image on a conveyed sheet, a fixing means for fixing a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming means, and a main body discharging means for discharging the sheet after fixing by the fixing means An apparatus body containing the image forming means, the fixing means, and the main body discharge means; and a carry-in means connected to the main body discharge means side of the apparatus main body, for carrying in a sheet discharged from the main body discharge means. A sheet processing apparatus having: a conveying unit that transfers a sheet discharged from the main body discharging unit to the carrying-in unit; and a discharge unit that is provided in the conveying unit and discharges an airflow in a direction that intersects a sheet conveying direction. An image forming apparatus comprising a sheet processing apparatus, comprising: an exhaust unit. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is disposed in an opening formed on the main body discharge unit side of the apparatus main body. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying unit is configured to transfer the sheet from the apparatus main body to the sheet processing apparatus at a position where the height of the main body discharge unit of the apparatus main body is different from the height of the carry-in unit of the sheet processing apparatus. 2. An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is disposed outside the apparatus main body. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is capable of turning over the sheet discharged from the apparatus main body and transferring the sheet to the sheet processing apparatus, and is disposed outside the apparatus main body. Item 2. An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to Item 1. 5. The conveyance unit according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance unit has a conveyance path for conveying the sheet, and has a bent portion for curling the sheet discharged from the main body discharge unit in the conveyance path. An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 4. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus main body includes a main body exhaust unit that exhausts an airflow near the fixing unit.