JP2007022745A - Paper aligning device, and paper post-processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper aligning device, capable of achieving favorable aligning performance to paper having curling by preventing deterioration of aligning performance of an aligning device due to curling in the paper, and a paper post-processing device comprising the paper aligning device. <P>SOLUTION: An aligning surface of an aligning member is formed to be inclined off the right angle to a paper support surface. The aligning surface comprises a flat surface and a curved surface. The inclination is preferably 60 degrees or more. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet aligning apparatus that aligns sheet-shaped sheets and a sheet post-processing apparatus having the sheet aligning apparatus.

  A high-speed image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic image forming apparatus may be used in combination with a sheet post-processing apparatus that performs post-processing such as stapling, punching, folding, and shifting on a sheet on which an image is formed. In many cases, the sheet post-processing apparatus is generally equipped with a sheet stacking apparatus that stacks a plurality of sheets to form a bundle of sheets.

  Many paper stacking devices require a function of stacking the edges of sheets fed one by one or several at a time in the vertical and horizontal directions, that is, the edges and widths in the conveyance direction of the introduced paper. A sheet aligning device for aligning the edges in the direction is provided.

For example, as described in Patent Document 1, the sheet aligning device is reciprocally moved in a direction crossing the conveying direction when introducing the sheet into the sheet stacking device, and an alignment member that aligns the side edges of the sheet. And a stopper for receiving the leading edge of the sheet, and aligns the sheet dropped on the inclined support table in the vertical and horizontal directions.
JP-A-10-297815

  A conventional sheet aligning apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

  The aligning device includes a support base SD that supports the sheet and aligning members SG1 and SG2 that align the sheet. The sheets S are collected on the support table SD, and each time the sheet S is introduced, the alignment members SG1 and SG2 reciprocate in opposite directions in the X direction to align the side edges of the sheets S. When S is curled, the sheet S in the portion close to the bottom of the bundle of stacked sheets S is in a state close to a plane due to the weight of the sheet S, but in the upper sheet S, the sheet S is pressed from above. Since there is nothing, the correction force against the curl is weakened or the correction force does not act, and the sheet S is maintained as it is without the curl being corrected at the time of introduction.

  Accordingly, the apparent length Lb of the upper sheet S is shorter than the apparent length La of the sheet S near the bottom. That is, the sheet outline SRS connecting the edges of the sheet S is inclined with respect to the alignment line SGS drawn on the alignment surface of the alignment member SG1, and the interval between the alignment line SGS and the sheet outline SRS is increased. It gets wider.

  As a result, the aligning action of the aligning members SG1 and SG2 is lowered toward the upper side, the alignability is lowered, and the edges of the sheets are not easily aligned.

  In the example shown in the drawing, the case of the upper curl in which the central portion of the paper S is swelled up is shown. However, in the case of the lower curl in which the central portion of the paper is swelled downward, the appearance of the paper S is increased as the degree of curl increases. This is the same in that the length of the sheet is shortened, and the sheet outline SRS is further away from the vertical alignment line SGS, and the alignment is deteriorated.

  The present invention prevents the above-described problem in the conventional sheet aligning apparatus, that is, the alignment of the aligning apparatus from being deteriorated due to the curling of the sheet, and provides good alignment even for the sheet having the curl. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet aligning apparatus having a sheet and a sheet post-processing apparatus having the sheet aligning apparatus.

The object is achieved by the following invention.
(Claim 1)
The aligning member that pushes the edge of the sheet in the sheet aligning apparatus having an aligning member that moves in a direction crossing the sheet conveying direction and pushes the edge of the sheet to align the position of the sheet, and a driving unit that reciprocates the aligning member A sheet aligning apparatus characterized in that the aligning surface is inclined at right angles to the sheet supporting surface.
(Claim 2)
The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the aligning surface has an acute angle portion on the sheet side with respect to the sheet supporting surface.
(Claim 3)
The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alignment surface is a flat surface.
(Claim 4)
The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alignment surface is a curved surface.
(Claim 5)
5. A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: the sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, and a support base that is inclined by 60 ° or more with respect to the horizontal and supports the sheet.
(Claim 6)
The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a binding unit configured to bind a bundle of sheets on the support base.

  According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, a sheet aligning apparatus that achieves excellent sheet alignment, in particular, alignment of a sheet with curl, and aligns the sheet satisfactorily regardless of the presence or absence of curl or the degree of curl is realized. The

  According to the invention of claim 4, a small paper post-processing apparatus having excellent paper alignment is realized.

  According to the invention of claim 5, a paper post-processing apparatus capable of producing a booklet in which the edges of paper are well aligned is realized.

  According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the binding process is performed on a bundle of sheets in which the edges of the sheets are aligned, and the quality of the bound document can be improved.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
<Image forming apparatus>
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus having a sheet post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus main body A is an image forming device in which a charging unit 2, an image exposing unit 3, a developing unit 4, a transfer unit 5A, a charge removing unit 5B, a separation claw 5C, and a cleaning unit 6 are arranged around a rotating photoreceptor 1. A portion GK, and the surface of the photosensitive member 1 is uniformly charged by the charging unit 2 and then externally via image data or a network obtained by reading the document Ge to be copied by the laser beam of the image exposure unit 3 A latent image is formed by exposure based on the image data received from the image, and the latent image is reversely developed by the developing means 4 to form a toner image on the surface of the photoreceptor 1.

  On the other hand, the recording paper RS fed from the paper feed tray 7A which is a paper feed storage means is sent to the transfer position, and the toner image is transferred onto the recording paper RS by the transfer means 5A at the transfer position. Thereafter, the charge on the back surface of the recording paper RS is erased by the charge removing unit 5B, separated from the photoreceptor 1 by the separation claw 5C, conveyed by the intermediate conveying unit 7B, and subsequently fixed by the fixing unit 8, and then discharged by the paper discharge roller 7C. Discharged.

  When image formation is performed on one side of the recording paper RS, the conveyance path switching plate 7D, which is one of the paper conveyance means, is switched to the position indicated by the dotted line.

  Further, the developer, that is, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 after the image formation is removed by the cleaning unit 6 downstream of the separation claw 5C to prepare for the next image formation.

  On the other hand, when image formation is performed on both sides of the recording paper RS, the recording paper RS heated and fixed by the fixing unit 8 is conveyed downward by switching the conveyance path switching plate 7D to the position indicated by the solid line. After switching back and upside down in the reverse conveying means 7E which is one of the paper conveying means, a new toner image is transferred to the back surface at the transfer position.

  As will be described later, when the punching process, the folding process, the binding process, and the like are performed, the recording paper RS heated and fixed by the fixing unit 8 is moved downward by switching the conveyance path switching plate 7D to the position indicated by the solid line. After being conveyed and switched back and reversed by the reverse conveying means 7E, the sheet is raised with the rear end of the sheet at the top and discharged by the discharge roller 7C.

  The recording paper RS discharged from the paper discharge roller 7C is sent to the first paper post-processing device FS1.

  An operation display unit 9 that can select and set various image forming modes, paper post-processing modes, and the like is disposed on the upper front side of the image forming apparatus main body A. An image reading device B that is an image reading unit provided with an automatic document feeder G of a document moving type reading system is installed. Image data obtained by reading by the image reading device B and image data received from the outside by facsimile communication or network communication are stored in a storage device (not shown).

  The first paper post-processing device FS1 is a paper post-processing device that performs punching processing and folding processing, and the second paper post-processing device FS2 is a paper post-processing device that performs shift processing and binding processing.

  The first sheet post-processing device FS1 includes a punching processing unit 12 and a folding processing unit 14, and the recording sheet RS discharged from the image forming apparatus main body A and the cover HS supplied from the cover sheet feeding tray 11 at the entrance 10. On the other hand, a punching process or a folding process is performed.

  As shown in the figure, the folding processing unit 14 has several branch conveyance paths, and performs various folding processes such as bi-folding and tri-folding by properly using the branch conveyance paths.

  A fixed paper discharge tray 30 used as a sub-tray is disposed on the upper stage of the second paper post-processing device FS2, the shift means 50 and the paper discharge means 60 are arranged along a substantially horizontal conveyance path h2, and the binding means is arranged on the lower stage. 70 and the middle folding means 80 are arranged.

  In addition, a main tray 90 is disposed on the left side of the second processing unit FS2 for stacking sheets that have undergone shift processing and sheets that have undergone end-stitching (stapling) processing. A lower tray 91 for discharging paper is disposed.

  Next, the structure of 2nd processing apparatus FS2 is demonstrated based on FIGS. 2 shows a main part of the second sheet post-processing device FS2, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the sheet aligning device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an example of an aligning member. In the following description, the recording paper RS and the cover HS are collectively referred to as the paper S.

  The paper S discharged from the first paper post-processing device FS1 is introduced into the inlet 20 of the second paper post-processing device FS1.

  A paper branching unit including switching gates G1 and G2 is provided on the downstream side of the inlet 20. The switching gates G1 and G2 are driven by a solenoid (not shown) to select one of three transport paths, that is, the first transport path h1, the upper second transport path h2, and the lower third transport path h3. select.

  In forming a small number of images, the switching gate G1 blocks the second transport path h2 and the third transport path h3 and opens only the first transport path h1. The sheet S travels along the first transport path h <b> 1, is nipped by the transport roller 31 on the downstream side, rises, is discharged by the discharge roller 32, and is sequentially stacked on the sub-tray 30.

  Note that a maximum of 200 sheets S can be stacked on the sub-tray 30.

  In the large-volume image forming mode in which the stapling process is not performed, the switching gate G1 blocks the first transport path h1, the switching gate G2 blocks the third transport path h3, and opens the second transport path h2 to open the sheet S. Allow the passage of. Then, the paper S is guided and discharged to the main tray 90. In the mode in which the paper S is discharged to the main tray 90 through the second transport path h2, a shift process for shifting the paper S by the shift means 50 can be performed. The shift means 50 performs a shift process for changing the paper discharge position of the paper S in the width direction every predetermined number of sheets. The main tray 90 is configured to descend sequentially when a large number of sheets S are stacked. In the case of A4 or B5, the main tray 90 can accommodate a maximum of 3000 sheets.

  In the vicinity of the paper discharge roller 61 that constitutes the paper discharge means 60, a paper sensor PS1 that detects the passage of the paper S discharged to the main tray 90 is disposed.

  The sheet S discharged from the first sheet post-processing device FS1 is transported along the third transport path h3 by the transport rollers 22 and 23, and is moved up and left on the intermediate stacker 71 by the stacker discharge roller 24. Passes through the stacker discharge roller 24, leaves the stacker discharge roller 24, and falls on the intermediate stacker 71 by gravity.

  The intermediate stacker 71 is a support for accumulating the introduced paper S, and is inclined at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal line HL as shown in the figure, in order to improve the alignment for aligning the leading edge of the paper S, and In order to reduce the size of the apparatus, it is preferable that the angle θ ≧ 60 °.

  When the lower end of the sheet S reaches the stopper 72, the pair of alignment members 73A and 73B reciprocate in the width direction that is orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet S, that is, the X direction, thereby moving the sheet S in the width direction. (See FIGS. 3 and 4). Further, the lower end of the sheet S is aligned by the stopper 72.

  The operation described above is continuously performed on the sheets S supplied to the intermediate stacker 71, and the set number of sheets S are stacked on the intermediate stacker 71 in an aligned state.

  When the set number of sheets S are stacked, the binding unit 70 operates to bind the bundle of sheets S.

  When the binding process is completed, the stopper 72 is raised in the diagonally left direction in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the belt 74 driven by the motor M1, pushes up the bundle of sheets S, and discharges it to the main tray 90.

The bundle of sheets S collected on the intermediate stacker 71 is also conveyed obliquely downward, folded in the middle by the folding unit 80, and discharged to the lower tray 91.
<Alignment of paper>
Sheet alignment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another example of the alignment member.

  The aligning members 73A and 73B are fixed to a belt 74 driven by a motor M2 as a driving means, and reciprocate in opposite directions by the forward and reverse rotation of the motor M2 to align the paper S.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the alignment member 73A has a U-shape, and includes an upper plate portion 73A1, a side plate portion 73A2, and a lower plate portion 73A3. The alignment member 73B has an inverted U-shape, It consists of a plate part 73B1, a side plate part 73B2, and a lower plate part 73B3. The left side surface of the side plate portion 73A2 and the right side surface of the side plate portion 73B2 are alignment surfaces that align the side edges of the paper 3, and the side plate portions 73A2 and 73B2 come into contact with the side edges of the paper S to align the paper S.

  The intermediate stacker 71 as a support for supporting the paper S forms a paper support surface JS for supporting the paper. The sheets S are stacked on the intermediate stacker 71 and stacked almost in parallel with the sheet support surface JS. When a large number of sheets S are stacked, the sheets S are stacked in a flat shape due to gravity at the bottom, but when the sheets S are curled as shown in the drawing, S is loaded in a curled shape.

  The alignment surface of the side plate portion 73A2, that is, the left side surface of the side plate portion 73A2, is formed so as to deviate toward the paper side by a tilt angle α1 with respect to the direction PJS orthogonal to the paper support surface JS. The tilt angle α1 is formed so as to be substantially along the contour line SRS formed by curling of a large number of sheets S.

  The contour line SRS has various angles depending on the degree of curling of the paper S, but the tilt angle α1 is set to an average value for various curls or a value close thereto.

  Similarly, the side plate portion 73B2 is formed with a side plate portion 73B2 so that the alignment surface, that is, the right side surface of the side plate portion 73B2 is tilted toward the paper side by a tilt angle α2 with respect to the direction PJS orthogonal to the paper support surface JS. The

  The tilt angles α1 and α2 are preferably 0.5 ° to 1.5 °.

  When the tilt angles α1 and α2 are smaller than 0.5 °, the alignment with the curled paper is deteriorated. On the other hand, if α1 and α2 are larger than 1.5 °, in the case of a flat sheet without curling, a bending force may act on the sheet, and the sheet may swell and deteriorate in alignment.

  By forming the side plate portions 73A2 and 73B2 as described above, good alignment can be performed for non-curled paper and curled paper.

  FIG. 5 shows another example of the alignment member.

  As shown in the figure, the alignment surfaces of the side plate portions 73A2 and 73B2 are formed in a curved surface so as to be perpendicular to the paper support surface JS in the lower part and to be inclined to the paper S side in the upper part. The example of FIG. 5 also shows high consistency with the curled paper S.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus having a sheet aligning apparatus and a sheet post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the principal part of the paper post-processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 1 is a plan view of a sheet aligning device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of an example of an alignment member. It is sectional drawing of the other example of an alignment member. It is sectional drawing of the conventional alignment member.

Explanation of symbols

A image forming apparatus main body FS1 first paper post-processing device FS2 second paper post-processing device 70 binding means 71 intermediate stackers 73A and 73B alignment member SGS alignment surface JS paper support surface

Claims (6)

The aligning member that pushes the edge of the sheet in the sheet aligning apparatus that has an alignment member that moves in a direction crossing the sheet conveyance direction to push the edge of the sheet and aligns the position of the sheet, and a driving unit that reciprocates the alignment member. A sheet aligning apparatus characterized in that the aligning surface is inclined at right angles to the sheet supporting surface. The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the aligning surface has an acute angle portion on the sheet side with respect to the sheet supporting surface. The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alignment surface is a flat surface. The sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the alignment surface is a curved surface. 5. A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: the sheet aligning apparatus according to claim 1, and a support base that is inclined by 60 ° or more with respect to the horizontal and supports the sheet. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a binding unit configured to bind a bundle of sheets on the support base.

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