JP2000118841A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the generation of a poor loading of transfer papers, while allowing to load numerous sheets of transfer papers to the paper exhaust part in a device. SOLUTION: To the in-trunk paper exhaust part (in-device paper exhaust part) 2 in a device main body 1, a paper exhaust tray 3; a movable paper exhaust tray 6; and a transfer paper loading position detecting means which consists of a filler 4 and a transmission type sensor 5, and detects the position of the paper surface at the upper-most position of transfer papers which are exhausted and loaded; are provided. When the transfer paper P is exhausted to the in-trunk paper exhaust part 2 at the first time, a motor 11 is driven to raise the movable paper exhaust tray 6 to the position suitable to load the transfer paper where its tray surface 6a is made to the position a little lower than the height of a paper exhaust roller couple, and when the number of the transfer papers on the movable paper exhaust tray 6 is increased, the movable paper exhaust tray 6 is rotated gradually to make in a lower position according to the above increase, so as to continue to maintain the position suitable for loading the transfer papers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-apparatus paper discharge unit (in-body paper discharge unit) provided in an apparatus main body and capable of taking out transfer paper after image formation discharged onto a paper discharge tray from the outside. ).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an image forming apparatus, for example, a copying machine, a discharge tray on which a transfer sheet on which an image is formed is placed without being projected from a side of the apparatus main body, and is transferred to the transfer tray in the apparatus main body. A paper discharge type in a device in which the paper is provided at a position where the paper can be taken out from the outside to reduce the installation space in the width direction of the device has been put to practical use (see, for example, JP-A-8-337347). .

As described above, in an image forming apparatus having a paper discharge section in the apparatus main body, the height of the entire apparatus is generally set to the upper limit of the height of the document table in consideration of operability. Therefore, the space in the height direction of the paper discharge section in the apparatus sometimes becomes a very limited range. for that reason,
In such an image forming apparatus, it is generally difficult to load a large amount of transfer paper. On the other hand, increasing the height of the entire image forming apparatus is not preferable because the operability of the operator deteriorates.

[0004]

In such a situation, if it is attempted to discharge as much transfer paper as possible onto the paper discharge tray while employing the paper discharge unit in the apparatus,
As shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to arrange the sheet ejection tray 63 as far as possible from the sheet ejection roller pair 68 as far as space permits. However, in this case, the distance L1 until the transfer paper P discharged from the discharge roller pair 68 comes into contact with the discharge tray 63 becomes long, so that a stacking defect (stack defect) is likely to occur. There was a problem of becoming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and even if a paper discharge unit in the apparatus is provided, a limited number of sheets can be effectively utilized by making the most of the limited space. It is an object of the present invention to be able to stack transfer papers, and to prevent the transfer papers from causing a stacking failure.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided in an apparatus body provided inside an apparatus body and capable of taking out an image-formed transfer sheet discharged on a sheet discharge tray from outside. In an image forming apparatus provided with a paper discharge unit, a transfer paper loading position detecting unit that detects a position of a top surface of the transfer paper discharged and stacked in the paper discharge unit in the apparatus,
A movable paper discharge tray movable so that a tray surface on which the transfer paper is placed is displaced in the stacking direction of the transfer paper, and a movable paper discharge tray movable such that the movable discharge tray is displaced in the stacking direction of the transfer paper A discharge tray moving means, and driving the movable discharge tray moving means in accordance with the transfer paper loading position detected by the transfer paper loading position detection means to move the movable discharge tray to a position suitable for loading the transfer paper. And a movable paper ejection tray movement control means for moving the paper ejection tray.

With this configuration, even when the transfer paper is first discharged to the paper discharge section in the apparatus, the movable discharge tray movement control means drives the movable discharge tray moving means to move the movable discharge tray. Since the tray surface is moved to a position suitable for stacking the transfer paper near the paper discharge port of the apparatus main body, stacking failure does not occur.

Further, as the number of transfer papers stacked on the movable paper discharge tray increases, the movable paper discharge tray moves to a position suitable for stacking the transfer papers in accordance with the increase. The height of the uppermost transfer paper stacked on the discharge tray is kept at a substantially constant height. Therefore, even if the transfer sheets are stacked on the movable discharge tray up to the limit of the stackable number allowed by the space, the stacking failure does not occur.

When the movable discharge tray is moved to the lowermost position, at least the leading end side of the movable discharge tray in the transfer paper discharge direction is a surface on which the transfer paper is placed on the discharge tray. It is preferable to provide a groove portion that sinks below the lower side and allows a hand to be inserted into a part of the lower side of the transfer paper placed on the paper discharge tray. Then, the transfer papers placed on the paper discharge tray can be collectively photographed by inserting a hand into the groove, and can be easily taken out from the paper discharge tray.

The movable paper discharge tray movement control means drives the movable paper discharge tray movement means to move the movable paper discharge tray to the lower position when all the set number of images have been formed. It is preferable that the means also performs control for stopping the movement of the movable paper discharge tray after the movement. Then, when all of the set number of image formations are completed, the movable discharge tray is automatically moved to the position below the lower side, and the transfer paper on the movable discharge tray is placed on the discharge tray. It is a position that is easy to take out.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing the entire configuration of the image forming apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the image forming apparatus in a partially broken manner.

This image forming apparatus is provided in the apparatus main body 1 as shown in FIG. 1, and enables the transfer paper P after image formation discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3 to be taken out from the outside of the front of the apparatus. An in-body paper discharge unit 2 which is a paper discharge unit in the apparatus is provided. Then, a filler 4 and a plurality of fillers 4 functioning as transfer paper loading position detecting means for detecting the position of the uppermost paper surface of the transfer paper P discharged and stacked on the paper discharge tray 3 in the in-body paper discharge section 2. A transmission sensor 5 having a detection element is provided.

Further, the tray surface 6a on which the transfer paper P is placed can be moved (rotated) in the in-body paper discharge section 2 such that the tray surface 6a is displaced in the stacking direction of the transfer paper P (the direction of arrow A). Movable discharge tray 6, a tray drive gear 7 functioning as a movable discharge tray moving means for moving the tray surface 6a of the movable discharge tray 6 to be displaced in the stacking direction, and mesh with the tray drive gear 7. There is also provided an idle gear 8 and a motor 11 which is a stepping motor for rotating the idle gear 8 by a motor gear 9 fixed to a rotating shaft.

The image forming apparatus includes a filler 4
The movable paper discharge tray 6 is moved to a position suitable for loading the transfer paper P by driving the motor 11 of the movable paper discharge tray moving means in accordance with the loading position of the transfer paper P detected by the sensor and the transmission type sensor 5. A control device 50 functioning as a movable paper ejection tray movement control means is provided.

The control device 50 includes a central processing unit (CPU) having various judgment and processing functions, a ROM storing each processing program and fixed data, a RAM serving as a data memory for storing processing data, Circuit (I /
O). The control device 50 receives a signal output from the transmission sensor 5 in accordance with the loading position of the transfer paper P, and sends a signal for driving the motor 11 in accordance with the input signal to the motor 11. Output at a predetermined timing.

When the movable discharge tray 6 moves to the lowermost position as shown by a solid line in FIG. 1, the movable discharge tray 6 is moved to the leading end side of the movable discharge tray 6 in the transfer paper discharge direction (see FIG. 1). 1 is left below the surface 3a of the discharge tray 3 on which the transfer paper P is placed, and a part of the lower side of the transfer paper P placed on the discharge tray 3, that is, In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a groove 12 for inserting a hand is formed at the center in the paper width direction orthogonal to the paper discharging direction.

In this image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, of a plurality of paper feed cassettes 13 provided at the lower portion of the apparatus, a transfer paper P
And the image forming unit 20 provided in the apparatus main body 1 there.
Of the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 21 of the developing device 2
The toner image formed by visualization at step 4 is transferred by the transfer transfer belt 22.

Then, the transfer paper P is conveyed to a fixing unit 23 where heat and pressure are applied to fuse and fix the toner image on the transfer paper P. The transfer paper P is transferred to the inner discharge unit 2. The paper is discharged by the paper discharge roller pair 18. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes an automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a document to an exposure position, and reference numeral 30 denotes a scanner unit for scanning the document fed to the exposure position. Reference numeral 40 denotes a plurality of control boards constituting the control device 50 described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, the discharge tray 3 of the internal discharge unit 2 is lower on the right side than on the left end side, so that the transfer paper P discharged onto the discharge tray 3 is reduced. Due to its own weight, the rear end abuts on the rear end position regulating wall 14 and is aligned.
The movable discharge tray 6 has a central portion curved upward as shown in the figure, and has a shaft portion formed at the end on the side of the rear end position regulating wall 14. 1
In the direction of arrow C.

A tray drive gear 7 is fixed to one end of the shaft as shown in FIG. As described above, the idle gear 8 meshes with the tray drive gear 7, and the motor gear 9 fixed to the rotation shaft of the motor 11 meshes with the idle gear 8.
When the motor 11 is rotated in the forward direction, the tray driving gear 7 is rotated by the motor gear 9 via the idle gear 8, whereby the movable discharge tray 6 is centered on the shaft (center coincides with the tray driving gear 7). The tip (the left side in FIG. 1) pivots upward.

Conversely, when the motor 11 is rotated in the reverse direction, the tray drive gear 7 is rotated in the reverse direction by the motor gear 9 via the idle gear 8, so that the movable discharge tray 6
As a result, the tip rotates about the shaft formed at the right end toward the lower side. The pivotal position of the movable discharge tray 6 is detected by the filler 4 whose leading end contacts the tray surface 6a, and the rear end of the filler 4 is a light shielding portion 4a. The turning position of the movable sheet ejection tray 6 is detected by shielding the corresponding detecting element of the transmission sensor 5 from light in accordance with the turning angle of the moving sheet 4. When the transfer paper P is stacked on the movable discharge tray 6, the filler 4 and the transmission type sensor 5 determine the position of the uppermost transfer paper P on the movable discharge tray 6 in the height direction. To detect.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 4, of a movable discharge tray driving process performed by a microcomputer included in the control device 50 of the image forming apparatus. When the microcomputer of the control device 50 starts the routine of FIG.
To determine whether a print signal has been input. That is, it is determined whether or not a print signal is input by turning on the print key or issuing a print command of the personal computer.

If the print signal has not been input, the control waits as it is, and when the print signal is input, the motor 11 is rotated forward in step 2 and the movable discharge tray 6
Is rotated so that the tip side (the left side in FIG. 1) ascends about the shaft portion. Next, in step 3, it is determined that the tray surface 6a of the movable discharge tray 6 is at a reference setting position (a position indicated by a virtual line in FIG. 1) which is a position suitable for stacking the transfer paper P. It is determined whether or not the sensor 5 (abbreviated as the sensor 5 in FIG. 4) has detected. If the reference set position has been detected, in step 4, the normal rotation of the motor 11 is stopped, and the rise of the movable discharge tray 6 is stopped. This completes the preparation for paper ejection.

In the next step 5, it is determined whether or not the transmission type sensor 5 has detected the upper limit setting position where the detector 4b of the filler 4 is slightly above the reference setting position. That is, when the transfer paper P is stacked on the movable discharge tray 6 that has been moved up to the reference setting position and stopped, the detection unit 4b of the filler 4 is pushed up, and the filler 4 rotates.
The transmission type sensor 5 detects that it has rotated to the upper limit setting position.
It is determined whether or not is detected.

Therefore, if the transmission sensor 5 has not yet detected the upper limit setting position, the movable discharge tray 6 is kept at the same rotation position, and the stacking on the movable discharge tray 6 is continued. If the transmission sensor 5 has detected the upper limit setting position (determination of YES), the motor 11 is rotated in the reverse direction in step 6 to rotate the movable discharge tray 6 downward about the shaft. .

In the next step 7, whether or not the number of transfer papers P stacked on the movable discharge tray 6 has reached a preset maximum stacking amount is determined by the number of steps of the motor 11 for the movable discharge tray. The determination is made based on whether or not the number of steps when the maximum amount of transfer paper P is stacked on the tray 6 has been reached.

As described above, in step 7, it is determined whether or not the number of transfer sheets P stacked on the movable discharge tray 6 has reached a preset maximum stacking amount. Immediately after this, the motor 11 has not reached the maximum load capacity and the number of steps does not correspond to the maximum load capacity. In this case, the movable paper discharge tray 6 can be rotated downward, so Then, it is determined whether or not the transmission sensor 5 has detected the reference setting position. Therefore, if the transmission sensor 5 has not yet detected the reference setting position, the process waits as it is, and when the reference setting position is detected, the process proceeds to step 9 where the motor 11 is stopped.
The movable discharge tray 6 is again set to a position suitable for stacking the transfer paper.

In the next step 10, it is determined whether or not all the specified prints have been completed. Therefore, if all printing has not been completed yet, the process returns to step 5, and the determination and processing after step 5 are repeated. When all printing has been completed, the process proceeds to step 11, where the motor 11 is rotated in the reverse direction to move the movable discharge. After rotating the paper tray 6 to the lower limit on the lower side, the motor 11 is stopped, and this routine ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 7 that the number of transfer sheets P stacked on the movable discharge tray 6 has reached the maximum stacking amount, the process proceeds to step 12, in which the printing operation is temporarily stopped and the standby state is set. I do. And the next step 13
It is determined whether or not the transmission sensor 5 has detected the lower limit. That is, when the operator removes the transfer paper P stacked on the movable discharge tray 6 and the discharge tray 3, the filler 4 rotates, and the filler 4 is moved below the position shown by the solid line in FIG. Then, it is determined whether or not the transmission sensor 5 has detected the lower limit when the detection unit 4b reaches the lower limit position in contact with the tray surface 6a.

Therefore, if the transmission sensor 5 has not yet detected the lower limit, the process waits as it is, and when the lower limit is detected, returns to step 2 and repeats the processing and judgment after step 2. That is, the motor 11 is rotated forward again to raise the movable discharge tray 6 to the reference set position, and the printing operation is restarted.

As described above, this image forming apparatus is suitable for stacking transfer paper in which the movable paper discharge tray 6 has a tray surface 6a slightly lower than the height of the paper discharge roller pair 18 at the start of image formation. And moves to a lower position as the number of transfer sheets on the movable discharge tray 6 increases, and keeps a position suitable for stacking the transfer sheets. Therefore, it is possible to always always load the transfer paper without causing the discharge failure. Even in such an in-body paper discharge section 2 provided in the apparatus main body 1, the limited space in the apparatus main body 1 is used as efficiently as possible, and the space is used for loading the transfer paper. be able to.

The movable discharge tray 6 is positioned at the lowermost position so that a hand can be inserted into a lower part of the transfer paper P placed on the discharge tray 3 at a position where the movable discharge tray 6 is lowered. At the position where the transfer paper is moved, at least the front end side (the left side in FIG. 1) of the movable discharge tray 6 in the transfer paper discharge direction sinks below the surface 3a of the discharge tray 3 on which the transfer paper is placed. Any position can be used as long as it can be inserted. Therefore, the movable paper discharge tray 6 has the entire tray surface 6a at the position where the movable paper discharge tray 6 sinks.
Of course, it may be one that sinks below the surface 3a.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the movable discharge tray 6 in which the tray surface 6a is displaced in the transfer paper stacking direction by rotating is shown, but the movable discharge tray does not rotate. It may be of a type that moves up and down in the vertical direction.

[0034]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, even if the paper discharge unit in the apparatus is adopted, the movable paper discharge unit is first discharged to the paper discharge unit in the apparatus. When the paper tray is located at a position suitable for stacking the transfer paper close to the paper output port of the main unit, and the number of transfer papers stacked on the movable paper discharge tray increases, the movable paper discharge tray moves down accordingly. Side and move to a position suitable for stacking transfer paper, so that stacking failure does not occur. That is, good stackability is obtained.

At the position where the movable discharge tray is moved to the lowest position, at least the leading end of the movable discharge tray in the transfer paper discharge direction is lower than the surface of the discharge tray on which the transfer paper is placed. And a groove that allows the user to insert a hand into a part of the lower side of the transfer paper placed on the output tray at the position where the movable output tray sinks. With this configuration, the transfer paper placed on the discharge tray can be collectively photographed by inserting a hand into the groove, and can be easily taken out from the discharge tray.

Further, the movable discharge tray movement control means includes:
When the formation of the set number of images is completed, the control of driving the movable discharge tray moving means to move the movable discharge tray to the position below the lower side, and then stopping the movement of the movable discharge tray is also performed. It is good to be a means to perform. Then, when all of the set number of image formations are completed, the movable discharge tray is automatically moved to the position below the lower side, and the transfer paper on the movable discharge tray is placed on the discharge tray. The operability is improved because the position is easy to take out.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a main part of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the image forming apparatus in a partially broken manner.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a movable discharge tray driving process performed by a microcomputer included in a control device included in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration in which a discharge tray is disposed below a discharge roller pair so as to be able to discharge as much transfer paper as possible therein by employing a discharge unit in the apparatus; It is an explanatory view for explaining a situation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Apparatus main body 2: Internal discharge section (discharge section in apparatus) 3: Output tray 3a: Surface 4: Filler 5: Transmission sensor 6: Movable output tray 6a: Tray surface 7: Tray drive gear 8 : Idle gear 9: Motor gear 11: Motor 12: Groove 50: Control device P: Transfer paper

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus provided in an apparatus main body and having an in-apparatus paper discharge unit capable of taking out an image-formed transfer paper discharged on a paper discharge tray from the outside, wherein A transfer paper loading position detecting means for detecting the position of the top surface of the transfer paper discharged and loaded on the paper portion, and a tray surface on which the transfer paper is loaded is displaced in the loading direction of the transfer paper. A movable paper discharge tray that is movable, and a movable paper discharge tray moving means for moving the movable paper discharge tray so that the tray surface is displaced in the loading direction are provided, and the transfer paper loading position detection means detects the paper. A movable discharge tray movement control means for driving the movable discharge tray moving means in accordance with the transfer paper loading position to move the movable discharge tray to a position suitable for loading the transfer paper; Image forming apparatus. 2. When the movable discharge tray moves to the lowermost position, at least the leading end side of the movable discharge tray in the transfer paper discharge direction places the transfer paper on the discharge tray on the discharge tray. The groove according to claim 1, characterized in that a groove is provided below the transfer sheet placed on the discharge tray so that a hand can be inserted into the lower part of the transfer sheet placed on the discharge tray. Image forming device. 3. The movable paper discharge tray movement control means drives the movable paper discharge tray movement means when all of the set number of images have been formed, and sinks the movable paper discharge tray to the lower side. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising control means for stopping the movement of the movable discharge tray after moving the movable discharge tray.