JP2007108376A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store sheet materials from a large size (for example, A2 or above based upon a JIS standard) to a small size in an ejected order tidily regardless of qualities of the sheet materials. <P>SOLUTION: In the image forming apparatus for a large printing size which mainly deals with the large size, when the apparatus stores the sheet material 16, on which an image forming process is finished, to a storing part 38, a guiding plate 48 is rotated to a desired position (for example, four positions of a maximum rotating position 48a, a first position 48b, a second position 48c and a home position 48d) according to the size and material quality (paper quality) to surely stack the sheet material 16 on an outside holding part 44 in the storing part regardless of the size and the material quality according to the ejected order. For example, even the sheet material 16 with low elasticity can surely be fed out to the outside holding part 44 and occurrence of jamming in the storing part can be prevented even in the sheet material 16 which is a large size such as A0. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention forms an image on a plurality of sizes of sheet materials from the large size sheet material to a small size sheet material of about A4 size, especially when the A2 size or larger under the JIS standard is made large. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a paper discharge accommodating portion that accommodates sheet materials of various sizes discharged from the image forming apparatus.

  In the horizontal discharge stacker attached to the outside of the image forming apparatus and stored in a state where the printed sheet material is horizontally discharged onto the discharge tray, the sheet material size corresponds to the sheet material size in order to accommodate a large size such as A0. Since a space is required, there is also known a paper discharge container that is attached outside the printer main body as an external type.

  Such a paper discharge accommodating device includes a vertical wall support plate that forms a substantially U-shaped (or substantially V-shaped) shape with a device vertical wall portion provided with a discharge port. The vertical wall support plate is formed with an auxiliary plate in a substantially horizontal direction continuously to the upper end portion thereof.

  Here, when a large-size sheet material such as A0 is discharged, the large-size sheet material is leaned against the vertical wall support plate in a substantially vertical direction with the discharge front end downward, and the vertical wall support portion The rear end of the sheet material exceeding the height of the sheet is bent and stored so as to lie on the auxiliary plate.

  When the large-size sheet material (preceding discharge) such as A0 is suspended and held by the auxiliary plate, there is no problem in that the vertical wall support portion holds the subsequent sheet material.

  As for the shape of the paper discharge accommodating device, the amount of sheet material accommodated can be increased as the distance between the upper end of the paper discharge accommodating device, which becomes the turning point of the sheet material, and the vertical wall portion side of the device increases.

  In addition, the longer the distance, the better the accommodating property of a size that does not return (a size smaller than the height of the accommodation device, for example, A3 vertical size).

As a related technique, Patent Document 1 discloses a tray having a substantially U-shaped cross section extending in a substantially vertical direction with an upper portion opened to receive a transfer material discharged from a transfer material outlet, and a tray depth direction along the tray. An extending magnetic support, and an adjustment member that is detachably attached to the support by magnetic attraction. The adjustment member forms a bottom surface of the tray across the tray, and the adjustment member is disposed in the depth direction of the tray. The depth of the tray can be adjusted by moving to.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 04-088459

  However, when a sheet material having a size longer than the height of the storage device (for example, A0 size) is folded, the sheet material does not withstand its own weight during the operation behavior and cannot be folded. Such a behavior becomes conspicuous especially in the case of a so-called low-waist sheet material such as tracing paper.

  Furthermore, there is a problem in that the sheet material discharged in advance blocks the tip of the subsequent sheet material, and the storage is not performed well.

  Further, in a size that is substantially close to the height of the storage device (for example, A2 vertical size), the rear end of the discharged sheet material that has been stored first is surely leaned against the vertical wall support plate, If the leading edge of the sheet material is not guided, the sheet material will not be stored in order, but in the worst case, if the preceding sheet material is rounded and closes the opening of the paper discharge storage device, the subsequent sheet material to be sequentially discharged There is a problem that the container cannot be stored and is pushed out of the storage device and dropped.

  In consideration of the above-mentioned fact, the present invention accommodates sheet materials from large sizes (for example, A2 size or more in JIS standard) to small sizes according to the discharge order and orderly regardless of the material of the sheet materials. An object of the present invention is to obtain an image forming apparatus capable of achieving the above.

  The present invention provides an image forming engine unit for forming an image on a sheet material, a device vertical wall unit provided with a discharge port for discharging the sheet material imaged by the image forming engine unit, and at least an upper end An image forming unit including a vertical wall support unit that includes a vertical wall support unit that is supported at a distance from the discharge port by a predetermined distance and that supports the sheet material discharged from the discharge port by leaning the front end in a conveyance direction downward An apparatus that controls a guide member that can be rotated within a predetermined angle range with a vicinity of the discharge port as a rotation center by a driving force of a driving unit, and a control unit that controls the driving unit so that a conveyance direction dimension of the sheet material is predetermined. If the value is less than the value, the guide member is maintained at the retracted position along the vertical wall portion of the apparatus, and when the dimension of the sheet material in the conveyance direction is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, according to the conveyance direction dimension of the sheet material. And a, a movement control means for moving to a particular position within the range of the predetermined angle from said retracted position to said guide member at a predetermined timing.

  According to the present invention, the guide member is positioned at the retracted position along the vertical wall portion of the apparatus when the conveyance direction dimension of the sheet material discharged after image formation is less than a predetermined value (hereinafter referred to as “small size” for convenience). Maintained. As a result, the small-size sheet material is stood and accommodated on the vertical wall support portion of the discharge accommodating portion without interfering with the guide member.

  On the other hand, when the conveyance direction dimension of the sheet material discharged after image formation is equal to or larger than a predetermined value (hereinafter referred to as “large size” for the sake of convenience), the rear end portion in the conveyance direction is particularly longer than the height of the vertical wall support portion The behavior of becomes unstable. Therefore, the movement control means controls the driving means to move the guide member from the retracted position to a specific position within the predetermined angle range. This specific position is preferably set in advance in accordance with the size of the large-sized sheet material (length × width size, mainly in the transport direction).

  Further, depending on the size (size substantially equal to the height dimension of the vertical wall support portion), it is preferable to consider the rotation start timing of the guide member from the retracted position.

  This guide member stabilizes the behavior of the rear end of the sheet material in the conveyance direction, and it reliably stands against the vertical wall support portion, and the stacking order is maintained when the next and subsequent sheet materials are accommodated.

  In the present invention, the movement control means moves the guide member to the specific position after the discharge front end of the sheet material having a predetermined size or more is guided below the vertical wall support portion, thereby the vertical wall. The sheet material is bent at a height equal to or higher than the support portion, and the rear end portion of the sheet material is held so as to hang outward from the upper end of the vertical wall support portion.

  As the timing for starting the rotation of the guide member, the movement control means moves the guide member to the specific position after the discharge front end of the sheet material having a predetermined size or more is guided below the vertical wall support portion.

  Thus, the sheet material can be bent in a direction away from the apparatus at a height equal to or higher than the vertical wall support portion, and the rear end portion of the sheet material can be held so as to hang outward from the upper end of the vertical wall support portion.

  Moreover, in this invention, it has an auxiliary | assistant support part for relieving the bending | flexion at the time of holding | maintenance of the rear-end part of the said sheet material which protruded from the said vertical wall support part continuously from the upper end part of the said vertical wall support part. It is characterized by that.

  By relieving the bending of the sheet material that hangs down by the auxiliary support portion, the sheet material is not curled and the quality can be maintained.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, the movement control means controls the turning operation timing of the guide member during the discharging operation of the sheet material according to the size of the sheet material under a predetermined standard. Yes.

  For example, in the JIS standard, sizes such as A0, A1,... A6 and B0, B1,... B6 are standardized, and a specific angle of the guide member according to each size (including a retracted position). If it is determined, rotation control of the guide member by the movement control means becomes easy.

  In the present invention, the movement control means controls the rotational operation position of the guide member during the discharging operation of the sheet material by the material of the sheet material.

  The sheet material may be different from plain paper, tracing paper, cardboard, and the like. Since the thick paper has a low waist, there is little behavior such as the rear end of the conveyance being deformed in the middle of discharge, but the tracing paper or the like is weak in the waist, so that the rear end of the conveyance is likely to be deformed. Therefore, by setting the operation timing and specific position of the guide member for each material of the sheet material, stable accommodation is possible regardless of the material.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the paper discharge storage portion that stores the sheet materials of various sizes discharged from the image forming apparatus is small and simple, and is securely stored in order regardless of the size. Conventionally, a sheet material having a low stiffness such as a single sheet can be accommodated, but a large number of sheets can be accommodated.

  FIG. 1 shows a printer 10 according to the present embodiment.

  The printer 10 is roughly divided into a print engine unit 12 at the top and a paper feed unit 14 at the bottom.

  The paper feed unit 14 can be loaded with a paper feed roll 18 having a width corresponding to a standard standard size such as A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, etc. 20 is provided. The paper feed roll loading unit 20 can load two types of paper feed rolls 18 in parallel.

  Here, when the size or the like of the sheet material 16 is designated, the sheet material 16 is fed out from the paper supply roll 18 having the designated size of the sheet material 16.

  A cutter 22 for cutting the sheet material 16 is disposed in the feeding direction of the sheet material 16. Here, when the length of the designated standard size is detected at the time of feeding the sheet material, the cutter 22 operates based on the length detection signal, and the standard size is conveyed to the print engine unit 12. Can do.

  At the lower part of the paper feed roll loading unit 20, a cut sheet loading unit 24 having two upper and lower stages is provided. That is, as the sheet material 16, instead of the paper feed roll 18, a sheet that has been cut in a fixed form or a film material can be used.

  The print engine unit 12 is provided with a photosensitive drum 26 that forms an image (information transfer) on a sheet material. Although not shown, a charging device, an optical scanning device, a developing device, and the like are disposed around the photosensitive drum 26.

  As a result, the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 26 is uniformly charged, and then an electrostatic latent image based on image data is formed by the optical scanning device. The formed electrostatic latent image is developed with toner by the developing device. . In addition, image data is formed on a sheet material of a specified standard size in various formats (jpeg, tiff, etc.) such as characters and images read and input from external terminal devices (personal computers, etc.) and storage media. And converted into a signal (mainly bmp) for output.

  A transfer unit 28 is provided in the lower part of the photosensitive drum 26 in FIG. 1, and the sheet material 16 conveyed from the paper feeding unit unit 14 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 26 with a predetermined pressure. pass. At this time, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 26 is transferred to the sheet material 16.

  A fixing device 30 is disposed downstream of the photosensitive drum 26 in the sheet material conveyance direction, and the sheet material 16 to which the toner image has been transferred passes and is heated and pressurized to fix the image.

  The sheet material 16 on which the image is fixed is discharged from a discharge port 34 by a pair of discharge rollers 32. A sensor 36 for detecting the sheet material 16 is provided between the paper discharge roller 32 and the discharge port 34. The sensor 36 may have a configuration in which the contact is switched by contacting the sheet material 16 such as an actuator type, or a configuration in which the contact is switched by detecting the presence or absence of the sheet material 16 in a non-contact manner such as a photoelectric conversion type. Also good.

  The printer 10 includes a console panel (not shown) having means for setting the quality and thickness of roll paper and cut paper to be used for each corresponding loading unit (feeding roll loading unit 20 and cut sheet loading unit 24). The control unit can determine the width, length, paper quality, and thickness of each sheet material 16 on which an image is formed.

  Here, the discharge port 24 of the printer 10 of the present embodiment is provided with a storage portion 38 for storing the sheet material 16 for which image formation has been completed.

  The accommodating portion 38 includes a pedestal 40 provided at a lower portion of the housing wall surface 10A provided with the discharge port 34, an inner holding portion 42 raised from the pedestal 40 along the housing wall surface 10A side of the image forming apparatus, The inner holding portion 42 and the outer holding portion 44 raised so as to face each other with a predetermined interval are formed. The inner holding part 42 and the outer holding part 44 form a substantially V-shaped sheet material accommodation part space.

  The inner holding part 42 and the outer holding part 44 are formed by a plurality of rod-like members. In the present embodiment, three inner holding parts 42 and three outer holding parts 44 are arranged in parallel to each other along the width direction of the discharged sheet material 16. Yes.

  An auxiliary support portion 46 that is bent at a substantially right angle in a direction away from the printer 10 is formed on the upper portion 44 </ b> A of the outer holding portion 44.

  The storage unit 38 of the printer 10 according to the present embodiment folds and stores A0 and A1 size sheets, and stores the upper part 44A of the outer holding unit 44 so that A2 (length 594 mm) or less and A3 and A4 are stored without being folded. The length of the auxiliary support portion 46 is set so that the tip of the A0 size sheet that is folded and accommodated does not reach the floor.

  In the present embodiment, the guide plate 48 is disposed on the lower peripheral edge of the opening of the discharge port 34 with respect to the housing portion 38 having the above configuration.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the guide plate 48 is rotatably supported on the shaft 50 via a bearing. Therefore, the guide plate 48 is in a state (substantially horizontal state) that is slightly gentler than the inclination angle of the upper surface of the auxiliary support portion 46 from the state along the housing wall surface 10A about the shaft 50 (substantially vertical state / home position 48d). / Rotation is possible within the range of the maximum rotation position 48a).

  As shown in FIG. 2, a sprocket 52 is attached to one end of the shaft 50 in the axial direction. An endless belt 54 is wound around the sprocket 52. The endless belt 54 is wound around the small diameter portion of the stepped intermediate sprocket 56. An endless belt 58 is wound around the large-diameter portion of the intermediate sprocket 56, and the endless belt 58 is also wound around a sprocket 62 attached to the rotating shaft 60 </ b> A of the stepping motor 60. For this reason, the rotating shaft 60A of the stepping motor 60 rotates, so that the guide plate 48 can be positioned at a desired position within the rotation range.

  The rotational position of the guide plate 48 is associated with the number of drive step pulses of the stepping motor 60. For control, the guide plate 48 is rotated to a desired position by specifying the number of step pulses. ing. In the present embodiment, the rotation position of the guide plate 48 includes the first position 48b, which is slightly steeper than the inclined surface of the upper surface of the auxiliary support portion 46, as the intermediate position, in addition to the porm position 48d and the maximum rotation position 48a. Positioning is performed at a second position 48c slightly rotated from the home position 48d. In addition, when the relationship between the positions is indicated by an inclination angle, when the home position 48d is the steepest inclination, the relationship is 48d> 48c> 48b> 48a.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram functionally showing control for rotating the guide plate 48 based on the size and material of the sheet material 16 set at the time of image formation by the printer 10 and positioning it to a desired position.

  When the image forming processing control unit 70 designates a loading unit (or size designation) and a print instruction, the sheet material 16 is taken out from the paper feeding unit unit 14 and conveyed to the print engine unit 12 as described above. The image forming process is executed in the unit 12.

  A loading unit-size / material conversion table 72 is connected to the image forming processing control unit 70. When the loading unit is designated, the size and material of the sheet material 16 are recognized, and the result is guided. The data is sent to the plate movement pattern specifying unit 74.

  The guide plate movement pattern specifying unit 74 reads the guide plate movement pattern from the preset guide plate movement pattern memory 76 based on the input size and material.

  As an example, the guide plate movement pattern memory 76 stores data shown in Table 1 below.

何れの場合も、センサ３６がシート材１６の後端を検出した後、１秒後に案内板４８をホームポジション４８ｄへ移動させる。

In any case, after the sensor 36 detects the rear end of the sheet material 16, the guide plate 48 is moved to the home position 48d after 1 second.

  The guide plate movement pattern specifying unit 74 is connected to the pulse number conversion unit 78. The pulse number conversion unit 78 sets a drive pulse for the stepping motor 60 based on the guide plate movement pattern data and sends it to the motor drive control unit 80.

  The motor drive control unit 80 drives the stepping motor 60 based on the input drive pulse, and this drive timing is controlled by a signal from the transport synchronization unit 82.

  The conveyance synchronization unit 82 is connected to the image forming process control unit 70 and finishes discharging after the sheet material 16 starts discharging from the discharge port 34 based on the signal from the sensor 36, the conveyance speed, and the like. The time schedule until the time is set is output to the motor drive control unit 80 as a synchronization signal. Thereby, the motor drive control unit 80 can move the guide plate 48 to a position suitable for each size at a timing corresponding to each size.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

  When the sheet material 16 of the paper feed unit 14 is selected as a medium for recording an image based on a signal input by an operator or image information input from another device, the sheet material 16 is pulled out, and the print engine unit 12 is sent.

  In the print engine unit 12, a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 26, and the toner image is transferred onto the sheet material 16 at a portion facing the transfer unit 28, and is heated and pressurized by passing through the fixing device 28. A fixed image is obtained.

  The sheet material 16 on which the toner image is fixed is discharged out of the apparatus by a discharge roller 32 from a discharge port 34 having a sufficient width to accommodate the large-size sheet material 16. Then, due to gravity, the leading end of the sheet material 16 hangs down and is dropped between the inner holding portion 42 and the outer holding portion 44 that face each other.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of a folding size (size larger than the height H, for example, A0 size), as a result of calculation from the detection timing of the sensor 36, the leading edge of the sheet material starts to be discharged from the discharge port 34. 4 enters the accommodating portion and is discharged by a predetermined length, as shown in FIG. 4, the guide plate 48 is lifted by the driving of the stepping motor 60 to guide the sheet material 16 that continues to be discharged (see FIG. 4). First position 48b).

  As a result of calculation from the detection timing of the sensor 36, when the rear end of the sheet material reaches the guide plate 48 and the accommodation of the sheet material 16 is completed, the guidance is performed before the front end of the next discharged sheet material 16 reaches the guide plate 48. The plate 48 is lowered (home position 48d), and the leading end of the next discharge sheet material 16 is guided between the inner holding portion 42 and the outer holding portion 44 (see FIG. 5).

  In the example of the sheet material 16 having a length substantially close to the outer holding portion 44 (for example, A2), the guide plate 48 is lowered until the leading end of the sheet material discharged from the discharge port 34 is guided to the storage portion. (Home position 48d) When the half of the total length of the sheet material 16 is guided between the inner holding portion 42 and the outer holding portion 44, the guide plate 48 is lifted and the sheet material 16 is moved to the outer holding portion 44 side. The posture of the sheet material 16 is assisted so as to collapse.

  The position (angle) at which the guide plate 48 is raised is preferably a high position (maximum rotation position 48a) for the sheet material 16 with weak waist such as tracing paper, so that the guide plate is preferably at a high position (maximum rotation position 48a). In order to smoothly drop the sheet material 16 between the inner holding portion 42 and the outer holding portion 44, a lower position (first position 48b) is more preferable (see FIG. 6).

  In the example of the sheet material 16 having a length shorter than the height H of the outer holding portion 44 (for example, the length of A3), the sheet material 16 is surely collapsed to the outer holding portion 44 side in the longitudinal direction accommodation. It needs to be indented. Therefore, the guide plate 48 (home position 48 d) that is stationary in the lowered state rises to the second position 48 c after the rear end of the sheet material passes through the discharge roller 32, and toward the outer holding portion 44 side of the sheet material 16. (See FIG. 7).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the image forming apparatus for a large print size that mainly handles a large size, when the sheet material 16 that has undergone the image forming process is accommodated in the accommodating portion 38, the size and material of the sheet material 16 are accommodated. Depending on (paper quality), the guide plate 48 is rotated to a desired position (for example, four positions of a maximum rotation position 48a, a first position 48b, a second position 48c, and a home position 48d), regardless of the size and material. Instead, it can be reliably stacked on the outer holding portion 44 of the accommodating portion in the order of discharge. For example, even if the sheet material 16 is weak, it can be reliably sent to the outer holding portion 44, and even a large-sized sheet material 16 such as A0 causes a so-called jam in the accommodating portion. Can be prevented.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. It is an enlarged view which shows the rotational movement drive system of a guide plate. It is the block diagram which showed functionally the control system for rotating and moving a guide plate. It is a schematic side view of the accommodating part which shows the state which accommodates the sheet material of a large size (A0 equivalent). It is a schematic side view of the accommodating part which shows the state which accommodates the sheet material of a large size (A0 equivalent). It is a schematic side view of the accommodating part which shows a state when accommodating a large sized (A2 equivalent) sheet material. It is a schematic side view of the accommodating part which shows a state when accommodating a plurality of small-sized (A3 equivalent) sheet materials.

Explanation of symbols

10 Printer (image forming device)
10A Wall surface of the housing (vertical wall of the device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Print engine part 14 Paper feed unit 16 Sheet material 18 Paper feed roll 20 Paper feed roll loading part 22 Cutter 24 Cut sheet loading part 26 Photosensitive drum 28 Transfer part 30 Fixing device 32 Paper discharge roller 34 Paper discharge port 36 Sensor 38 Housing (Paper output storage)
40 pedestal 42 inner holding part 44 outer holding part (vertical wall support part)
46 Auxiliary support 48 Guide plate (guide member)
48a Maximum rotational position 48b First position 48c Second position 48d Home position (retreat position)
50 shaft 52 sprocket 54 endless belt 56 intermediate sprocket 58 endless belt 60 stepping motor (drive means)
60A Rotating shaft 62 Sprocket 70 Image formation processing control unit 72 Loading unit-size / material conversion table (movement control means)
74 Guide plate movement pattern specifying section (movement control means)
76 Guide plate movement pattern memory (movement control means)
78 Pulse number converter (movement control means)
80 Motor drive controller (movement control means)
82 Conveyance synchronization unit (movement control means)

Claims (5)

An image forming engine unit for forming an image on a sheet material, an apparatus vertical wall portion provided with a discharge port for discharging the sheet material formed by the image forming engine unit, and at least an upper end portion of the discharge unit An image forming apparatus comprising: a sheet storage unit provided with a vertical wall support unit that supports the sheet material that is spaced a predetermined distance away from the outlet and that is ejected from the discharge port with the front end of the sheet material facing downward. ,
A guide member that is rotatable within a predetermined angle range with the vicinity of the discharge port as a rotation center by a driving force of a driving means;
When the dimension of the sheet material in the conveyance direction is less than a predetermined value by controlling the driving means, the guide member is maintained at a retracted position along the vertical wall portion of the apparatus, and the dimension of the sheet material in the conveyance direction is predetermined. A movement control means for moving the guide member from the retracted position to a specific position within the range of the predetermined angle at a predetermined timing according to the conveyance direction dimension of the sheet material when the value is equal to or greater than the value;
An image forming apparatus.   The movement control means moves the guide member to the specific position after the discharge front end of the sheet material having a predetermined size or more is guided below the vertical wall support portion, thereby increasing the height of the vertical wall support portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is bent so that the rear end portion of the sheet material is hung outward from the upper end of the vertical wall support portion.   An auxiliary support part for relaxing bending at the time of holding the rear end part of the sheet material protruding from the vertical wall support part is further provided continuously to the upper end part of the vertical wall support part. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   The movement control means controls the turning operation timing of the guide member during the discharging operation of the sheet material according to the size of the sheet material under a predetermined standard. Item 4. The image forming apparatus according to any one of Items 3 to 3.   The said movement control means controls the rotation operation position of the said guide member in the discharge | emission operation | movement of the said sheet material by the material of the said sheet material. Image forming apparatus.

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