JP2006264969A - Sheet material carrying device and device installing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet material carrying device capable of very precisely adjusting moving force by an aligning roller. <P>SOLUTION: In this sheet material carrying device 11, since a control device controls the moving force (abutting force to a pressure sensor 54 of one end part in the width direction of paper P) by the aligning roller 48 on the basis of output of the pressure sensor 54, not only a position of one end part in the width direction of the paper P but also in which degree of pressure acts on this one end part can be detected (the abutting force to the pressure sensor 54 of one end part in the width direction of the paper P can be analogically and quantitatively detected) differently from a case of using a light sensor, and thus, the moving force by the aligning roller 48 can be very precisely (optimally) adjusted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying apparatus that conveys a continuous sheet material in a long belt shape.

  In an image forming apparatus (for example, refer to Patent Document 1) that forms an image on continuous paper (hereinafter simply referred to as “paper”), a type that uses paper in which feed holes are processed and a paper that does not have feed holes are used. There are some types. In an image forming apparatus that uses paper without feed holes (hereinafter referred to as “pinless continuous paper printer”), it is possible to print up to the full width of the paper, and it is necessary to discard both ends of the paper after printing. There is no advantage.

  By the way, in the pinless continuous paper printer, since the paper does not have a feed hole as a reference for the paper conveyance speed, the paper is between the back tension roller provided on the upstream side in the conveyance direction and the drive roller provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction. By transporting with tension, printing position accuracy is ensured.

  Further, in the pinless continuous form printer, the aligning roller is used to press the edge in the width direction of the paper against the edge guide installed in front of the toner transfer position, and the position of the width direction edge (paper edge) is optically detected. By detecting the sensor and adjusting the angle and position of the aligning roller (contact pressure to the paper), the positional accuracy and straightness of the paper in the width direction are ensured.

  Here, when the paper itself is thick and relatively resistant to stress, it is possible to transport the paper while correcting it strongly with the aligning roller. However, when the paper itself is thin, the rigidity of the paper is low. Since buckling at the edge is likely to occur, it is required to convey the sheet with low stress while suppressing the moving force as much as possible. In other words, in order to transport and print a thin medium, it is necessary to reduce the pressure acting on the paper edge and the moving force in the width direction as much as possible while applying a paper tension capable of ensuring the printing position accuracy in the transport direction. is necessary.

  However, since the pinless continuous form printer configured as described above is configured to detect the position of the paper edge by the optical sensor as described above, only the position of the paper edge can be detected, and how much pressure acts on the paper edge. Cannot be detected. For this reason, there is a problem that precise adjustment of the moving force by the aligning roller is difficult.

  On the other hand, in order to ensure the straightness of the paper even if the moving force in the paper width direction is reduced, the straightness of the conveyance path itself including the relative positional relationship between the back tension roller and the drive roller is important. In order to improve the straightness of the conveyance path itself, it is necessary to improve the installation accuracy of the apparatus. However, in an image forming apparatus in which the entire conveyance path is divided by a plurality of housings, the installation accuracy of the apparatus is It also depends greatly on the level of installation location and slight steps.

Conventionally, the level of the device is checked using a level, etc., and the installation accuracy of the device itself (levelness / parallelism of the device, transport guide) is confirmed while confirming the transportability and transport stability of several types of paper. Adjusting the tilt of the paper, the relative positional relationship between the back tension roller and the drive roller, etc., especially when the target paper is thin, high-precision adjustment is necessary, and the adjustment work is complicated. There is a problem that time becomes long. Moreover, even if the installation accuracy is adjusted with high accuracy, the installation accuracy must be adjusted again each time the apparatus is moved, and there is a demand for improving the reproducibility of the installation accuracy.
JP 2002-12350 A

  In view of the above facts, an object of the present invention is to obtain a sheet material conveying apparatus capable of precisely adjusting the moving force by an aligning roller.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus installation method capable of easily and quickly adjusting the installation accuracy of the sheet material conveying apparatus.

  A sheet material conveying apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a conveying unit that conveys a continuous sheet material in a long strip shape, and an edge disposed on one end side in the width direction of the sheet material in the middle of the conveying path of the sheet material A guide, a pressure sensor provided on the edge guide and opposed to a width direction one end of the sheet material, and provided on one side in the thickness direction of the sheet material corresponding to the edge guide, An aligning roller that applies a moving force toward the edge guide to the sheet material by contacting the surface of the sheet material during conveyance of the sheet material, and the pressure sensor, and the pressure sensor And a control means for adjusting the moving force of the aligning roller based on the output of the aligning roller.

  The sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the sheet material is conveyed by the conveying means, the aligning roller applies a moving force toward the edge guide side to the sheet material, and one end in the width direction of the sheet material is an edge. It abuts on a pressure sensor attached to the guide. The output of this pressure sensor is proportional to the contact force to the pressure sensor at one end in the width direction of the sheet material, that is, the resultant force of the moving force by the aligning roller and the reaction force to the paper from the transport route based on the device installation accuracy. The control means adjusts the moving force by the aligning roller based on the output of the pressure sensor. Thereby, the positional accuracy and straightness of the sheet material in the width direction are ensured.

  Thus, in this sheet material conveying apparatus, the control means controls the moving force (the contact force to the pressure sensor at one end in the sheet material width direction) based on the output of the pressure sensor. Unlike the case of using, it is possible to detect not only the position of one end portion in the sheet material width direction but also how much pressure is applied to the one end portion (the contact force of the one end portion in the sheet material width direction to the pressure sensor). Thus, the moving force by the aligning roller can be precisely adjusted.

  The sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 2 is the sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is disposed upstream of the aligning roller in the conveying direction of the sheet material. A pressure sensor; and a downstream pressure sensor disposed downstream of the aligning roller in the conveying direction of the sheet material.

  In the sheet material conveyance device according to the second aspect, the straightness of the sheet material during conveyance can be quantitatively detected based on the difference between the output of the upstream pressure sensor and the output of the downstream pressure sensor.

  A sheet material conveying apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the pressure sensor is detachable from the edge guide. Yes.

  In the sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 3, the pressure sensor can be attached to and detached from the edge guide. Therefore, for example, when the installation accuracy of the apparatus itself is good and the conveyance stability of the sheet material is ensured without applying a moving force to the sheet material by the aligning roller, the pressure sensor is removed from the edge guide. be able to. That is, an increase in cost can be suppressed by using an expensive pressure sensor only when the apparatus is installed.

  The apparatus installation method of the invention which concerns on Claim 4 is an apparatus installation method applied when installing the sheet material conveying apparatus of any one of the said Claim 1 thru | or 3 in a predetermined installation place, A contact force to the pressure sensor generated in the sheet material based on a moving force by the aligning roller is set in advance corresponding to an optimum conveying state of the sheet material, and the pressure sensor is set when the apparatus is installed. The installation accuracy of the apparatus is adjusted while comparing the output value of the above and the set value of the contact force.

  5. The apparatus installation method according to claim 4, wherein in the sheet material conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the contact force to the pressure sensor generated in the sheet material based on the moving force by the aligning roller. Are set in advance corresponding to the optimum conveying state of the sheet material. When the apparatus is installed at a predetermined installation location, the installation accuracy of the apparatus is adjusted while comparing the actual output value of the pressure sensor with the set value of the contact force. Therefore, the installation accuracy of the apparatus can be adjusted easily and quickly as compared with the case where the installation accuracy of the apparatus is adjusted by visual observation as in the prior art.

  In the case of the sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 3, the pressure sensor can be removed from the edge guide after the installation accuracy of the apparatus is adjusted well and the conveying state of the sheet material is optimally adjusted. it can.

  As described above, according to the sheet material conveying device of the present invention, it is possible to finely adjust the moving force by the aligning roller.

  Moreover, according to the apparatus installation method of this invention, the installation precision of an apparatus can be adjusted easily and rapidly.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 to which the sheet material conveying apparatus 11 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. The configuration of the main part of the image forming apparatus 10 is shown in a schematic front view.

  In the first embodiment, the sheet material that is continuous in the form of a long belt is the paper P that is continuous paper, and the upstream side in the transport direction of the paper P is simply “upstream”, and the downstream side in the transport direction is simply “ Say “downstream”.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the paper P is wound in a roll shape and held by the holder 12, and is sent out into the image forming apparatus 10 by a sending mechanism (not shown). In the image forming apparatus 10, the sheet P is conveyed by a sheet material conveying apparatus 11 (hereinafter simply referred to as “conveying apparatus 11”) according to the present embodiment.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a conveying mechanism 14 that forms a sheet material conveying apparatus 11 and continuously conveys paper P before image formation (before printing processing), and An image forming unit 20 that forms an image on the paper P by an electrophotographic method, a paper discharge roller 16 as a conveying unit that discharges the paper P on which an image has been formed (printed) to the outside of the image forming apparatus 10, A control device 58 or the like as control means for controlling each part is provided.

  The image forming unit 20 includes a photosensitive drum 22 that can be rotated by a driving mechanism (not shown), a toner hopper 24 that stores toner as a developer, and a fixing device that fixes a toner image transferred to the paper P. 36 etc. Around the photosensitive drum 22, a charging device 26, an exposure device 40, a developing device 28, a transfer device 30, a cleaning device 32, and a charge eliminating device 34 are arranged in this order, and are discharged downstream of the fixing device 36. A paper roller 16 is provided.

  Here, the image forming process in the image forming unit 20 will be described. The photosensitive drum 22 is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2 by a driving mechanism (not shown), and the surface thereof is first charged substantially uniformly by the charging device 26. The Then, exposure is performed by the exposure device 40, and an electrostatic latent image based on the image data is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 22. Next, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 28, and a toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 22.

  On the other hand, the paper P is supplied to the transfer device 30 by the transport mechanism 14, and the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 22 is transferred to the paper P by the transfer device 30. The sheet P on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 36 by the conveying mechanism 14, and the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 30.

  The paper P on which the toner image is fixed is discharged to the outside of the image forming apparatus 10 by the paper discharge roller 16. The fixing device 36 employs a flash fixing method in which a xenon lamp (not shown) emits light, and the toner is melted by the heat to be fixed on the paper P.

  On the other hand, toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 22 without being transferred to the paper P by the transfer device 30 is removed by the cleaning device 32. Then, the surface of the photosensitive drum 22 is neutralized by the neutralization device 34 and is again charged substantially uniformly by the charging device 26 again. In this way, the image forming unit 20 sequentially forms images on the paper P by repeating such processes.

  Next, the transport mechanism 14 in the image forming apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described.

  The transport mechanism 14 includes a pair of rollers 45 and 47 around which the paper P is wound, and a back tension roller 46 disposed opposite to one (upstream side) roller 45. The tension of the paper P is maintained by 46.

  In addition, the transport mechanism 14 includes an edge guide 52. The edge guide 52 is a plate-like member formed in an arc shape, and is disposed on one end side in the width direction of the paper P corresponding to the portion where the paper P is wound around the rollers 45 and 47. The edge guide 52 is configured to be slidable in the width direction (main scanning direction) of the paper P by a slide mechanism (not shown), and is in the width direction (main scanning direction) of the paper P before being supplied to the transfer device 30. ) Position can be adjusted.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a pressure sensor 54 is attached to the center of the edge guide 52 in the longitudinal direction (curving direction) with, for example, a screw (in FIG. 3, the conveyance direction of the paper P is indicated by an arrow S). ). The pressure sensor 54 slightly protrudes from the surface of the edge guide 52 on the side of the paper P and faces the one end of the paper P in the width direction so as to be able to come into contact (contact). ing.

  Further, an aligning roller 48 is disposed on the downstream side of the back tension roller 46 at a position on the side of the pressure sensor 54 and facing the other (downstream) roller 47. The aligning roller 48 is a roller having a narrower width at each stage than the rollers 45 and 47 and the back tension roller 46, and a rotating shaft (not shown) obliquely intersects the transport direction of the paper P. Arranged in contact. The aligning roller 48 applies a moving force toward the edge guide side (so-called correction force for making the transport direction of the paper P appropriate) as the paper P is transported. Thus, one end in the width direction of the paper P is brought into contact with (abutted against) the pressure sensor 54 (edge guide 52), and the skew of the paper P is corrected.

  The aligning roller 48 is supported by a drive mechanism (not shown) that constitutes the control means. When this drive mechanism is operated, the contact pressure on the surface of the paper P and the angle with respect to the transport direction of the paper P (that is, The moving force applied to the paper P can be adjusted.

  Here, in the image forming apparatus 10, the control device 58 controls the operation of the back tension roller 46 and the paper discharge roller 16 based on the outputs (detection results) of the pressure sensor 54 and the skew sensor 56, thereby The transport state of P (such as the position in the transport direction) is appropriately adjusted.

  Further, in this image forming apparatus 10, the control device 58 appropriately adjusts the position of the edge guide 52 based on the outputs of the pressure sensor 54 and the skew sensor 56, and the contact pressure of the aligning roller 48 to the surface of the paper P and The angle with respect to the conveyance direction of the paper P is adjusted as appropriate. Thereby, the position of the paper P in the width direction is adjusted as appropriate.

  Next, the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  First, the paper P is transported by the transport mechanism 14, and the position of the paper P is detected by the pressure sensor 54 and the skew sensor 56. At this time, the control device 58 adjusts the position in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction) of the paper P based on the detection result, if necessary, using the back tension roller 46 and the paper discharge roller 16.

  At this time, the aligning roller 48 applies a moving force toward the edge guide 52 to the paper P, and one end in the width direction of the paper P is brought into contact with the pressure sensor 54 attached to the edge guide 52. The output of the pressure sensor 54 is applied to the sheet from the conveyance route based on the contact force to the pressure sensor 54 at one end in the width direction of the sheet P, that is, the moving force applied to the sheet P by the aligning roller 48 and the apparatus installation accuracy. The control device 58 operates a drive mechanism (not shown) based on the output of the pressure sensor 54 to move the moving force (contact pressure on the surface of the paper P and the paper P). The angle with respect to the transport direction). Thereby, the positional accuracy and straightness of the paper P in the width direction are ensured.

  On the other hand, a drawing command based on the image data is transmitted from the control device 58 to the exposure device 40 of the image forming unit 20, and an electrostatic latent image of the image data is formed on the photosensitive drum 22 by the exposure head 42. The formed electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 28, and a toner image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 22. The toner image is transferred onto the paper P by the transfer device 30.

  Here, in the image forming apparatus 10 (sheet material conveying apparatus 11), as described above, the control device 58 uses the moving force (pressure at one end in the paper P width direction) by the aligning roller 48 based on the output of the pressure sensor 54. Unlike the case where an optical sensor is used, it is possible to detect not only the position of one end portion in the paper P width direction but also how much pressure is applied to the one end portion. (Abutting force to the pressure sensor 54 at one end portion in the width direction of the paper P can be detected in an analog and quantitative manner), whereby the moving force by the aligning roller 48 can be adjusted precisely (optimally).

  In addition, as described above, since the moving force by the aligning roller 48 can be finely adjusted, even when the image forming unit 20 is forming an image on the paper P (during printing), the width of the paper P can be adjusted. Good position accuracy and straightness can be secured. Therefore, it is possible to improve the image quality of the image formed on the paper P by the image forming unit 20.

  Moreover, in the image forming apparatus 10 (sheet material conveying apparatus 11), the conveyance state of the paper P (the conveyance state of the paper P including the contact force of the paper P with the pressure sensor 54) is changed based on the output of the pressure sensor 54. Analogue and quantitative confirmation. Therefore, if the contact force (pressing force) to the pressure sensor 54 generated on the paper P based on the moving force by the aligning roller 48 is set in advance corresponding to the optimum conveyance state of the paper P, the apparatus is predetermined. The installation accuracy of the device (the levelness / parallelism of the device, the inclination of the conveyance guide not shown, the back), comparing the actual output value of the pressure sensor 54 with the set value of the contact force The relative positional relationship between the tension roller and the drive roller can be adjusted. That is, compared to the case where the installation accuracy (conveyance stability of the paper P) is visually confirmed as in the past, the installation accuracy of the device can be confirmed and grasped easily and quickly. Installation accuracy can be improved. In addition, since the installation accuracy of the apparatus can be adjusted easily and quickly, the time required for installation can be shortened.

  Even when the apparatus is moved to another installation location and the installation accuracy is adjusted again, by adjusting the actual output value of the pressure sensor 54 to the output value set above, the optimum of the paper P can be obtained again. A good transport state can be ensured (the reproducibility of the installation accuracy of the apparatus can be improved).

  Further, in the image forming apparatus 10 (sheet material conveying apparatus 11), the pressure sensor 54 can be attached to and detached from the edge guide 52. Therefore, for example, when the installation accuracy of the apparatus is well adjusted and the conveyance stability of the paper P is ensured without applying a moving force to the paper P by the aligning roller 48, the pressure sensor 54 is used as an edge guide. 52 can be removed. That is, an increase in cost can be suppressed by using the expensive pressure sensor 54 only when the apparatus is installed. In addition, after removing the pressure sensor 54 from the edge guide 52, it is good also as a structure which detects the position of the width direction of the paper P with an inexpensive optical sensor.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus 10 (sheet material conveying apparatus 11) according to the embodiment of the present invention, the moving force by the aligning roller 48 can be finely adjusted.
<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are given to the configurations and operations basically similar to those in the first embodiment, and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the configuration of the main part of the sheet material conveying apparatus 60 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The sheet material conveying device 60 has basically the same configuration as the sheet material conveying device 11 according to the first embodiment, but instead of the pressure sensor 54 according to the first embodiment, an edge guide. An upstream pressure sensor 62 attached to the upstream end of 52 (upstream of the aligning roller 48) and a downstream attached to the downstream end of the edge guide 52 (downstream of the aligning roller 48) The control device 58 operates a driving mechanism (not shown) based on the outputs of both the upstream pressure sensor 62 and the downstream pressure sensor 64 to align the two pressure sensors. The moving force by the roller 48 is adjusted.

  In this sheet material conveying device 60, the control device 58 more precisely and quantitatively determines the straightness of the paper P during conveyance based on the difference between the output of the upstream pressure sensor 62 and the output of the downstream pressure sensor 64. Therefore, the moving force by the aligning roller 48 can be adjusted more precisely, and the straightness of the paper P can be adjusted better.

  Further, as described above, since the straightness of the paper P can be detected in more detail and quantitatively, the straightness of the paper P can be more accurately confirmed even when adjusting the installation accuracy when the apparatus is installed. As a result, the adjustment accuracy can be improved.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus configured by applying a sheet material conveying device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic front view illustrating a configuration of a main part of an image forming apparatus configured by applying a sheet material conveying device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of the principal part of the sheet material conveying apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic plan view which shows the structure of the principal part of the sheet material conveying apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Sheet material conveying apparatus 14 Conveying mechanism 16 Paper discharge roller (conveying means)
48 aligning roller 52 edge guide 54 pressure sensor 58 control device (control means)
60 Sheet Material Conveying Device 62 Upstream Pressure Sensor 64 Downstream Pressure Sensor P Paper (sheet material continuous in a long belt shape)

Claims (4)

Conveying means for conveying a sheet material continuous in a long belt shape;
An edge guide disposed on one end side in the width direction of the sheet material in the middle of the conveyance path of the sheet material,
A pressure sensor provided on the edge guide and facing the one end of the sheet material in the width direction;
Corresponding to the edge guide, provided on one side in the thickness direction of the sheet material, the sheet material is provided with a moving force toward the edge guide side by contacting the surface of the sheet material when the sheet material is conveyed. And an aligning roller capable of adjusting the moving force,
Control means for adjusting the moving force of the aligning roller based on the output of the pressure sensor;
A sheet material conveying apparatus. The pressure sensor is
An upstream pressure sensor disposed upstream of the aligning roller in the conveying direction of the sheet material;
A downstream pressure sensor disposed downstream of the aligning roller in the conveying direction of the sheet material;
The sheet material conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material conveying device is provided.   The sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is detachable from the edge guide. An apparatus installation method applied when installing the sheet material conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 at a predetermined installation place,
A contact force to the pressure sensor generated in the sheet material based on a moving force by the aligning roller is set in advance corresponding to an optimal conveyance state of the sheet material,
Adjusting the installation accuracy of the device while comparing the output value of the pressure sensor and the set value of the contact force when the device is installed;
The apparatus installation method characterized by the above-mentioned.

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