JP2001096240A - Sheet cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet cleaning device 1 having a swelling tank 4 for immersing plural sheets at the same time without making the device large-sized. SOLUTION: Plural sheets 2 are stacked and housed in a tray 5 arranged inside the swelling tank 4 where a swelling liquid 6 is stored. The sheet 2 is discharged to a pair of brush rollers 36 in housed order and passed between the pair of brush rollers 36 to remove a printing material on the surface of the sheet 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet cleaning apparatus for removing a printing material by swelling the surface of a printed sheet with a swelling liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for removing a printing material such as toner from a recording material sheet on which characters and images are printed by an electrophotographic apparatus or the like, a swelling layer which swells with water is formed on the surface. A method of swelling a swelling layer by immersing a sheet in a swelling liquid and removing the printing material in a state where the adhesion of the printing material to the sheet is weakened has been proposed. A sheet cleaning apparatus employing the above method has been proposed. It has been known.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-121072 discloses a recording medium reproducing apparatus which introduces recording media one by one into a cleaning liquid, holds the recording media for a predetermined time, and discharges the recording media from a holding unit in the order of introduction.

[0004]

However, in the above-described recording medium reproducing apparatus, since the sheets need to be held one by one in the liquid, the cleaning liquid tank becomes large. For this reason, maintenance cost of the cleaning liquid tank is required,
In addition, since the size of the regenerating device increases with the size of the cleaning liquid tank, it is difficult to secure a space for installing the regenerating device.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a sheet cleaning apparatus provided with a swelling tank capable of simultaneously immersing a plurality of sheets without increasing the size of the apparatus. It is intended for that purpose.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a swelling tank in which a swelling liquid is stored, a tray for stacking and storing a plurality of sheets in the swelling tank; And a transport means for transporting one sheet at a time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of sheets are sequentially accommodated in the tray one by one, and the conveying means conveys the sheets from the tray in the order in which the sheets are accommodated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the sheet is stored in the tray from above, and the conveying means conveys the sheet from below the tray.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the conveying means includes a conveying roller which comes into contact with the lower surface of the lowermost sheet stored in the tray.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a pair of rollers are disposed at a sheet outlet of the tray, and both the pair of rollers and the transport roller rotate in the same direction.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the pair of rollers is a brush roller.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the brush roller removes a printing material on the surface of the sheet.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a sheet cleaning apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The sheet 2 from which the printing material such as toner is removed by the sheet cleaning device 1 is a so-called reusable sheet or a reusable OHP sheet, and a swelling layer made of a water-swellable resin is formed on the surface thereof. By swelling the swelling layer, the printing material printed on the sheet 2 can be removed.

The sheet cleaning apparatus 1 includes a sheet supply unit 3 for supplying a printed sheet 2 into the main body. The sheet 2 supplied to the inside of the main body by the sheet supply unit 3 is supplied to a tray 5 disposed inside the swelling tank 4.
Is immersed in the swelling liquid 6 stored in the swelling tank 4, so that its surface (swelling layer) wets and swells.

The sheet 2 in which the swelling layer has swollen is sent to a printing material removing section 8 by a sheet conveying mechanism 7 to remove the printing material. The sheet 2 from which the printing material has been removed is conveyed out of the swelling tank 4, the surface thereof is washed away by the washing mechanism 10, and then heated by the sheet drying unit 11 to be discharged to the discharge tray 12 in a dry state. .

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of each part of the sheet cleaning apparatus 1 will be described in detail. The sheet supply unit 3 includes a tray 15 that stores the printed sheets 2. The tray 15 is urged upward by a spring 16, and the uppermost sheet 2 stored in the tray 15 abuts a supply roller 17 provided above the sheet supply unit 3, and the supply roller 17 is driven to rotate. As a result, the sheet 2 is fed to the guide plate 20 from the sheet supply port 19 formed in the side wall of the main body.

A transport roller 21 and a guide plate 22 are provided at the downstream end of the guide plate 20 in the transport direction, and the sheet 2 transported to the guide plate 20 is sent to the guide plate 22 by the transport roller 21. It has become.
The end of the guide plate 22 on the downstream side in the transport direction is inclined toward the inside of the swelling tank 4 and is provided above the tray 5 provided inside the swelling tank 4. Are stored in the tray 5. The tray 5 is provided in such a size that 40 sheets 2 can be stacked and accommodated.

The sheet conveying mechanism 7 is provided on the tray 5 through a sheet pressing portion 24 provided on the upper portion of the tray 5 and an opening 25 provided on the lower side of the tray 5 and formed on the bottom surface of the tray 5. Conveyance roller 2 abutting on stored sheet 2
6.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pressing portion 24 includes a pressing roller 27 for pressing the uppermost sheet 2 stored in the tray 5 and a cam mechanism for moving the pressing roller 27 forward and backward with respect to the tray 5. 28. The cam mechanism 28 includes a guide 31 for supporting the pressing roller 27.
The guide 31 is rotated while being in contact with the guide 31.
And the pressing roller 27 are pressed down by the plate cam 3.
3 and a spring 32 that urges the spring 3.

The lowermost sheet 2 among the sheets 2 pressed by the pressing section 24 is rotated by the transport roller 26 in the direction of the arrow 29 to thereby cause the printing material removing section 8 to rotate.
The paper is discharged from a discharge port 35 formed in the side wall of the tray 5 facing the printer 5 and is conveyed to the printing material removing unit 8. As described later, since the printing material removing unit 8 needs to process the sheets 2 one by one,
The height of the discharge port 35 may be set to a height that allows one sheet to pass. However, in order to prevent a paper jam at the discharge port 35, the discharge port 35 is formed at a height of about two sheets. .

The printing material removing section 8 is composed of a pair of brush rollers 36. The brush roller 36 has a diameter of 1
Nylon flocked brushes having a diameter of 0.1 mm and a length of 8 mm were implanted on a 4 mm shaft at a density of 400 brushes / cm ^2. The distance between the brush rollers 36 was 24.
It is set to 2 mm. These brush rollers 36
The conveying roller 26 is provided so as to rotate in the same direction as the rotating direction (the direction of the arrow 29) (the direction of the arrow 39), and when one sheet 2 passes between the rotating brush rollers 36, The printing material printed on the front and back of the sheet 2 is scraped off by a flocking brush, and a conveying force is applied.

On the downstream side of the printing material removing section 8 in the transport direction, the sheet 2 from which the printing material has been removed by the brush roller 36
Rollers 37 and a guide 38 for carrying out the swelling tank 4 from the swelling tank 4 are provided. The transport roller 37 is preferably made of metal or rubber.

The swelling tank 4 stores a swelling liquid 6 to which a surfactant is added. The swelling tank 4 includes a swelling liquid replenishing mechanism 41. This swelling liquid supply mechanism 41
It comprises a supply tank 42 in which the swelling liquid 6 is stored, a supply pipe 43, a discharge pipe 44, and a photoelectric sensor 45 for detecting the level of the swelling liquid 6 stored in the swelling tank 4. Supply tube 43
Is connected to the side of the swelling tank 4, one end of the discharge pipe 44 is connected to the bottom of the swelling tank 4, and the other end is connected to the supply tank 42 through the upper opening of the supply tank 42. Inserted inside.

A pump 46 for pumping the swelling liquid 6 stored in the supply tank 42 is attached to an end of the supply pipe 43, and a swelling liquid 6 stored in the swelling tank 4 is attached to the discharge pipe 44.
A filter 47 for removing a printing material contained in the filter is attached.

A guide 38 is provided at the end of the guide 38.
A transport roller 51 for transporting the sheet 2 supported and transported to the cleaning mechanism 10 is provided. The cleaning mechanism 10 includes a guide 52 provided on the downstream side in the transport direction of the transport roller 51, a swelling liquid recovery mechanism 53 disposed below the guide 52, and an ejection nozzle 54 disposed above.
It is composed of

The swelling liquid recovery mechanism 53 includes a funnel 55 provided below the guide 52 and a recovery tank 57 in which a cleaning liquid (water) 56 is stored. The above funnel 5
5 is connected to a collecting pipe 59 provided with a filter 58, and an end of the collecting pipe 59 is inserted into the collecting tank 57 through an upper opening of the collecting tank 57. The injection nozzle 54 is connected to a supply pipe 61 having an end connected to a pump 60. The pump 60 is disposed inside a recovery tank 57, and the cleaning liquid 56 sucked up by the pump 60 is supplied to the injection nozzle 5.
The sheet 4 is ejected onto the sheet 2 conveyed to the guide 52.

A pair of squeezing rollers 62 are provided at an intermediate portion of the guide 52 on the downstream side of the injection nozzle 54, and press the sheet 2 passing between the rollers to
It can squeeze out the water contained in the water. A sheet drying unit 11 and a guide 64 are provided at an end of the guide plate 52 on the downstream side in the transport direction. The heating unit 11 includes a pair of drying rollers 65 each having a built-in heater. The heating unit 11 heats the sheet 2 passing between the rollers, and discharges the sheet 2 to the discharge tray 12 via the guide plate 64 in a dry state. It is supposed to be.

Next, the operation of the sheet cleaning apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described. As described above, in the cleaning device 1, the 40 sheets 2 can be accommodated in a stacked state on the tray 5 provided inside the swelling tank 4 and can be swollen.

As described above, in the sheet cleaning apparatus 1, in order to batch-process the swelling of the plurality of sheets 2, the sheets 2 stored in the tray 15 of the sheet supply unit 3 are continuously driven by driving the supply roller 17. To tray 5
Stack on tray 5.

At this time, the plate cam 33 of the pressing portion 24 is rotated to move the pressing roller 27 supported by the guide 31 upward, and a predetermined number of sheets are placed between the pressing roller 27 and the bottom surface of the tray 5. A gap is formed in which sheets 2 can be stacked. When a predetermined number of sheets 2 have been stored in the tray 5 and a predetermined time has elapsed, the plate cam 33 is rotated to lower the pressing roller 27 supported by the guide 31 toward the sheet 2, and the stacked sheets are stacked. 2 is pressed with a predetermined force. Press roller 27 and transport roller 2
FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the operations 1 and 26.

If the pressing roller 27 is provided so as to rotate and is constantly rotated, the sheet 2 can be carried into the tray 15 without releasing the pressing on the sheet 2. In this case, the sheet 2 carried into the tray 15 comes into contact with the wall of the tray 15 and stops, and is stored in the tray 15. The driving of the pressing roller 27 may be stopped when the sheet 2 is carried into the tray 15.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG.
The operation of sending the sheet 2 accommodated in the printer to the printing material removing unit 8 will be described. Press roller 27 as described above
Of the sheets 2 pressed by the above, the lowermost sheet 2 is in contact with the conveyance roller 26 through the opening 25, and the conveyance roller 26 rotates in the direction of arrow 29 by the direction of arrow 71. The sheet is discharged from the discharge port 35 by applying a conveying force to the sheet.

As described above, since the thickness of the discharge port 35 is formed so that two sheets 2 can pass through the discharge port 35, the sheet 2 stacked on the lowermost sheet 2 is output from the discharge port 35. (The second sheet counted from the bottom) is discharged from the discharge port 35 while being attached to the bottom sheet 2 (in the direction of arrow 72). In this way, the lowermost sheet 2 (hereinafter abbreviated as “sheet 2a”) discharged from the outlet 35 and the sheet 2 superimposed on the sheet 2 (hereinafter abbreviated as “sheet 2b”) ) Is conveyed between a pair of brush rollers 36.

When the sheet 2a is sandwiched between the conveying rollers 37, the plate cam 33 of the pressing portion 24 is rotated as described above, and the pressing roller 27 supported by the guide 31 is rotated.
Is moved upward to form a gap between the pressing roller 27 and the uppermost sheet 2 stored in the tray 5 so that the sheet 2 can enter. Subsequently, the sheet 2 is supplied from the sheet supply unit 3 onto the uppermost sheet 2 stored in the tray 5. In this manner, if the sheet 2 is supplied from the sheet supply unit 3 to the tray 5 every time one sheet 2 is carried out from the tray 5, the swelling of the sheet 2 can be performed efficiently, and the swelling time becomes apparent.

Here, regarding the conveying force applied to the sheet 2a and the sheet 2b, the peripheral speed of the brush roller 36 is set to 2c.
A case in which m / sec is set will be described. As described above, the sheet 2a conveyed between the pair of brush rollers 36 is provided with the conveying force Fa shown in the following Expression 1. Here, F1 is the conveying force of the conveying roller 26, F2 is the conveying force of the lower brush roller 36, F3 is the conveying force of the upper brush roller 36, and μ is the coefficient of friction between the sheet 2a and the sheet 2b.

[0036]

## EQU1 ## Fa = F1 + F2-F3 × μ> 0

Similarly, the sheet 2b conveyed between the pair of brush rollers 36 is given a conveying force Fb shown in the following equation (2).

[0038]

Fb = (F1 + F2) × μ−F3 <0

As shown in the above formulas (1) and (2), a force Fa in the direction 71 drawn out from the discharge port 35 is applied to the sheet 2a, and a force Fb in the direction 73 pulled back toward the discharge port 35 on the sheet 2b. Is given.

When the force for pulling back the sheet 2a to the discharge port 35 was measured using a digital force gauge manufactured by SIMPO Industries, the pulling-back force was 7 gf / cm.
The force Fb in the direction 73 for pulling the sheet 2b back toward the discharge port 35 was 37 gf / cm. The force applied to the sheets 2a and 2b is changed by changing the diameter, length, density, core diameter, center distance, and peripheral speed of the brush implanted in the brush roller 36. be able to.

When the sheet 2b is returned to the discharge port 35 and only the sheet 2a is positioned between the pair of brush rollers 36, the sheet 2a passes through the space between the brush rollers 36 toward the transport roller 37. A force Fc shown in the following Expression 3 is applied in the direction 71 in which the sheet is conveyed.

[0042]

Fc = F1 + F2-F3> 0

The sheet 2 discharged from the discharge port 35 in this way passes between the pair of rotating brush rollers 36, and is sent to the transport roller 37 with the printing material removed, and the guide 2 Swelling tank 4 supported by 38
It is carried out from. Note that the positions of the brush roller 36 and the transport roller 37 may be interchanged, and the transport roller 37 may apply a transport force to the sheet 2b in the direction 73 for returning to the tray 5. The pressing force of the pressing roller 27 is 5 to 48.
In the case of gf / cm, only the sheet 2a is sent to the transport roller 37 as described above.

The brush roller 36 has been described as a means for returning (separating) the sheet 2b.
May be a roller other than the brush roller, such as a rubber roller. In this case, it is necessary to separately provide a brush roller for removing the printing material. In a roller other than the brush roller 36, if the rollers are rotated in a reverse direction in a state where the sheet 2 is not sandwiched therebetween, the rollers may be deteriorated due to a large frictional force between the rollers. To prevent this, a complicated control system for detecting whether the sheet 2 is sandwiched between the rollers and controlling the rotation of the rollers is required.

On the other hand, in the case of a brush roller, the frictional force between the brushes is small, and even if the brush roller is rotated in a state where the sheet 2 is not pinched, the brush is not deteriorated and complicated control is performed. No system is required. In the swelling liquid 6 to which the surfactant is added, the frictional force between the roller and the sheet 2 is reduced by rubber rollers and the like other than the brush roller 36, and the conveying force (return force) of the sheet 2 cannot be obtained. The brush roller 36 can maintain the conveying force of the sheet 2 even with the swelling liquid 6 to which the surfactant is added.

Since a brush is required to remove the printing material on the sheet 2, a brush roller for separating the sheet and a brush roller for removing the printing material are used as described in the present embodiment. It is preferable to use both. Further, all of the rollers such as the conveying roller 26 and the pressing roller 27 other than the brush roller 36 in the sheet cleaning apparatus 1 may be configured by brush rollers.

The swelling liquid 6 stored in the swelling tank 4 evaporates,
And the sheet 2 wet with the swelling liquid 6 is reduced by being carried out of the swelling tank 4. The liquid level of the swelling liquid 6 stored in the swelling tank 4 is detected by the photoelectric sensor 45, and when the liquid level decreases, that is, when the swelling liquid 6 decreases, the swelling liquid supply mechanism 41 swells the swelling tank 4 from the supply tank 42. The liquid 6 is replenished. Also, every time a predetermined number of print materials are removed,
By circulating the swelling liquid 6 between the swelling tank 4 and the replenishing tank 42, the printing material contained in the swelling liquid 6 is collected by the filter 47 of the discharge pipe 44, and the swelling liquid 6 is cleaned. .

The sheet 2 discharged from the swelling tank 4 is conveyed by the conveying roller 51 to the cleaning mechanism 10 and
After the printing material adhered to the surface is washed away by the cleaning liquid 56 sprayed from the nozzle 54 on the surface 2, the water is squeezed out by passing between the pair of squeezing rollers 62. The cleaning liquid 56 that has washed out the sheet 2 and the cleaning liquid 56 that has been squeezed out of the sheet 2 flow into the funnel 55, where the printing material is collected by the filter 58 and then collected in the collection tank 57.

The sheet 2 from which the printing material has been removed and from which the water has been squeezed out is heated by passing between the pair of drying rollers 65 in the sheet drying section 11, dried and discharged to the discharge tray 12. You.

The sheet cleaning apparatus 1 is configured such that the sheet 2 supplied from the sheet supply section 3 to the inside of the main body passes through the guide plate 22 and is sent to the tray 5. In the cleaning device 80 according to the second embodiment, a transport belt 81 is used instead of the guide plate 22.

The transport belt 81 is wound around a roller on the upper side of the transport roller 21 and a rotatable pressing roller 82, and is located on the belt 81 on the swelling tank 4 side (located at the lower side in the figure). The belt (belt) moves toward the tray 5 (in the direction of arrow 83). When the sheet 2 conveyed from the sheet supply unit 3 to the guide plate 20 is conveyed to the tray 5, the conveying belt 81 is moved in advance and the surface thereof is wetted with the swelling liquid 6, so that the sheet 2 is conveyed. 81
Can be conveyed by sticking to the lower surface of the. The sheet 2 stuck on the lower surface of the transport belt 81 as described above is separated from the transport belt 81 inside the swelling tank 4 and stored in the tray 5.

Further, in the cleaning device 80, the pressing portion 24 is constituted by the pressing roller 82 and the hydraulic cylinder 84 to which the pressing roller 83 is attached so that the pressing roller 82 can advance and retreat with respect to the tray 5. It is provided in. The other components are the same as those of the sheet cleaning apparatus 1 described above, and thus the same reference numerals are given and the description of the configuration and operation is omitted.

The sheet cleaning device 90 according to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is provided with the tray 5 so as to be able to be taken in and out of the swelling tank 4, and is connected to a motor 91 and swells a rotatable ball screw 92. It is set up inside the tank 4, and the tray 5 is attached to the ball screw 93.

In the sheet cleaning device 90, the motor 91 is driven to rotate the ball screw 92, and the tray 5 is pulled up from the swelling tank 4, and a plurality of sheets are supplied to the sheet supply port 93 formed in the top plate of the main body. 2 can be stored in the tray 5. In the sheet cleaning device 90, the pressing portion 24 for pressing the plurality of stored sheets 2 is provided with a lever 95 attached to a side wall of the tray 5.
And a spring 96 for urging the lever 95 toward the bottom of the tray 5. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the sheet cleaning apparatus 1 described above, and thus the same reference numerals are given and the description of the configurations and operations is omitted.

[0055]

As is apparent from the above description, in the sheet cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, a plurality of sheets are immersed in the swelling tank in a stacked state, so that the swelling tank can be downsized. This makes the production and maintenance of the swelling tank inexpensive, so that the cost of cleaning the sheet can be reduced. Further, the size of the sheet cleaning device can be reduced with the downsizing of the swelling tank, so that the installation space for the sheet cleaning device can be easily secured.

Further, the sheets are sequentially stored in the tray one by one by the conveying means, and the sheets are conveyed one by one from the tray in the order in which the sheets are stored. That is, since the printing material can be removed in the order in which the printing material is carried into the swelling tank, the sheet can be efficiently cleaned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a sheet cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart illustrating an operation of pressing a sheet.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of unloading a sheet from a tray.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of unloading a sheet from a tray.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view of a sheet cleaning device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view of a sheet cleaning device according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sheet cleaning apparatus, 2 ... Sheet 3, 3 ... Sheet supply part, 4 ... Swelling tank, 5 ... Tray, 6 ... Swelling liquid, 7 ... Sheet conveyance mechanism, 8 ... Print material removal part, 10 ... Cleaning mechanism.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H034 FA00 3B116 AA02 AB23 AB42 BA02 BA15 BB03 BB21 CC03 CD22 CD42 CD43 3B201 AA02 AB23 AB42 BA02 BA15 BB03 BB21 BB92 CB12 CB23 CC14 CD22 CD42 CD43 3F101 AB03 AB07 AB19 LA01 LB03

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A swelling tank in which a swelling liquid is stored, a tray for stacking and storing a plurality of sheets in the swelling tank, and conveying means for conveying the sheets one by one from the tray. Sheet cleaning device. 2. The sheet cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of sheets are sequentially stored in the tray one by one, and the conveying unit conveys the sheets from the tray in the order in which the sheets are stored. 3. The sheet cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein sheets are stored in the tray from above, and the conveying means conveys the sheets from below the tray. 4. The sheet cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the conveying unit includes a conveying roller that contacts a lower surface of a lowermost sheet stored in the tray. 5. A pair of rollers are disposed at a sheet outlet of the tray, and both the pair of rollers and the transport roller rotate in the same direction.
A sheet cleaning device according to claim 1. 6. The sheet cleaning apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said pair of rollers are brush rollers. 7. The sheet cleaning apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a brush roller removes a printing material on a surface of the sheet.