JP2008207923A - Paper remaining amount detection mechanism, paper feeding device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper remaining amount detection mechanism excellent in arrangement efficiency capable of being simplified and miniaturized. <P>SOLUTION: The paper remaining amount detection mechanism 1 is equipped with two photo interrupters 21a, 21b having a light emitting part and a light receiving part, a shutter 14 which crosses the respective optical axes α, β of the two photo interrupters 21a, 21b, and a rotatable actuator 10 which has a contact part 12 connecting with the paper and a body part 11 for contacting the shutter 14 with the contacting part 12. The two photo interrupters 21a, 21b are disposed in series viewed from the plane including the crossing direction of the shutter 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a remaining paper amount detection mechanism used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a fax machine, a paper feeding device using the same, and an image forming apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers have a built-in paper feeding device that supplies paper to be subjected to image formation. FIG. 16 is a schematic configuration diagram of such an image forming apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 16, the image forming apparatus 100 generates an image as a toner image and forms an image on the sheet supplied from the manual feed tray 110 or the sheet feeding device 120, and the toner image on the sheet. An image fixing unit 140 that fixes the printed matter is provided.

  A plurality of sheet feeding devices 120 are provided below the image forming unit 130 and the like.

  Each sheet feeding device 120 includes a tray 121 on which sheets are stacked, and a carry-out roller 122 for guiding the sheets from the tray 121 to the image forming unit 130.

  In addition, in the paper feeding device 120, the second paper for passing the paper conveyed from the paper feeding device 120 located at a lower stage, separately from the first conveyance path 123 formed by the tray 121 and the carry-out roller 122. Transport path 124 is provided. An intermediate roller 125 is provided downstream of the second conveyance path 124, and in each sheet feeding device, the first conveyance path 123 and the second conveyance path 124 are joined by the intermediate roller 125. ing.

  The sheet conveyed from each sheet feeding device 120 is carried into the image forming unit 130.

  Next, FIG. 17 is a schematic side view illustrating a main part of the paper feeding device 120. As shown in FIG. 17, inside the paper feeding device 120, the tray 121 is fixed to the bottom surface 126 of the paper feeding device 120 via an elastic member 128 so as to be rotatable. The carry-out roller 122 is attached to the upper surface 127 of the paper feeder 120 via an elastic member 129, and is rotated by a drive source (not shown). Due to the action of the elastic members 128 and 129, the carry-out roller 122 comes into contact with the paper 150 loaded on the tray 121 with a constant urging force, and only one of the uppermost surfaces stacked by the rotation of the carry-out roller 122 is the first. It is carried out to one conveyance path 123.

  Further, the paper feeding device 120 is provided with a remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 for detecting the remaining amount of the paper 150 stacked on the tray 121.

  The remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 includes a rotatable actuator 210 that contacts the uppermost surface of the paper 150, and a detector 220 that detects the behavior of the actuator 210 and outputs it as an electrical signal.

  Next, FIG. 18A is a perspective view showing the configuration of the remaining sheet quantity detection mechanism 200.

  As shown in FIG. 18A, in the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200, the actuator 210 includes a contact portion 211 that contacts the sheet surface, a rotation shaft 212, a crossover portion 213 that connects the rotation shaft 212 and the contact portion 211, and A pair of shutters 214 a and 214 b provided on the rotation shaft 212 is provided. The detector 220 is composed of a pair of photo interrupters 221a and 221b of the same type.

  Taking the photo interrupter 221a as an example, the outer shape of the photo interrupter is a rectangular parallelepiped, has a U-shape when viewed from the circumferential direction of the rotating shaft 212, and allows the shutter 214a to pass between the U-shapes. As shown in FIG. 18B, the photo interrupter 221a is provided with a light receiver 222 and a light receiver 223 at a predetermined distance from the light emitter 222. When the light emitter 222 emits light, the optical axis toward the light receiver 223 is provided. Is formed.

  When the shutter 214a moves between the convex portions by the rotation of the actuator 210, the optical axis may be blocked by the shutter 214a. The light receiver 223 side detects a change in the light receiving state by the shutter 214a, and outputs this to the control system of the image forming apparatus 100 as an ON / OFF signal.

  The rotation angle of the actuator 210 changes according to the contact position of the contact portion 221 with the paper 150. As shown in FIG. 17, when the number of sheets 150 on the tray decreases, the contact portion 211 of the actuator 210 is lowered in the direction of the arrow in the figure, so that the actuator 210 rotates counterclockwise in the figure. At this time, the photo interrupters 221a and 221b detect whether or not the optical axis is blocked by the movement of the shutters 214a and 214b, and generate ON / OFF signals, respectively.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 18A, since the shutters 214a and 215b have different shapes, the ON / OFF signal output by the photo interrupters 221a and 221b with respect to the same rotation angle of the actuator 210 is used. The pattern changes. Specifically, depending on the rotation state of the actuator 210, there are a total of four ON / OFF combinations including the ON / OFF combination of the photo interrupter 221a and the ON / OFF combination of the photo interrupter 221b.

  Therefore, by determining the shape of the shutters 214a and 214b according to the angle formed by the contact portion 211 of the actuator 210 and the paper 150, the shutters 214a and 214b can change the number of sheets stacked on the tray 121. This period can be a period during which the optical axes of the photo interrupters 221a and 221b are blocked, and can be expressed by a combination of ON / OFF signals of the detector 220.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 100, the paper remaining amount detection mechanism 200 is provided in the paper feeding device 120, and a change in the remaining amount of the paper 150 in the tray 121 is turned on from the detector 220 based on the rotation of the actuator 210. This can be detected as a combination of / OFF signals and displayed to the user.

  However, the conventional paper feeding device using the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 has the following problems.

  As shown in FIG. 18A, in the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200, the actuator 210 has a configuration in which two shutters 214a and 214b are arranged along the extending direction of the rotating shaft 212 (hereinafter referred to as a parallel arrangement). The detector 220 has a configuration in which the photo interrupters 221a and 221b are arranged in parallel according to the shutters 214a and 214b.

  Such a configuration complicates the configuration of the rotating shaft and the shutter on the actuator 210 side. Further, since the two shutters are attached to the rotating shaft, the actuator is increased in size.

  On the other hand, also on the detector 220 side, the two photo interrupters 221a and 221b being arranged in parallel needs to be arranged in parallel with the rotating shafts and other members of the various rollers as viewed from the upper surface of the sheet feeding device 120. For example, the rotating shaft 212 shown in FIG. 18A needs to be connected to the inner wall of the sheet feeding device 120 at its end, resulting in poor placement efficiency.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a sheet remaining amount detection mechanism that can be simply and miniaturized and has excellent arrangement efficiency, a sheet feeding device using the same, and an image forming apparatus. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of detection units having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit,
A shutter that traverses each optical axis between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit of the plurality of detection units, a contact unit that contacts the paper, a connection member that connects the shutter and the contact unit, and a rotation shaft With a rotatable actuator,
The plurality of detection units are sheet remaining amount detection mechanisms arranged along a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis.

  Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet remaining amount detection mechanism according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the distances between the optical axes of the plurality of detection units and the rotation shaft of the actuator are different from each other on the plane. It is.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet remaining amount detecting mechanism according to the second aspect, wherein a distance across the shutter that crosses the optical axis is different in at least a part of the plurality of detecting units.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the remaining sheet amount detecting mechanism according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the plurality of detecting portions have the same rectangular parallelepiped shape and are arranged on the same plane. It is.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a stacking unit for stacking sheets;
A transport unit that transports the paper loaded on the stacking unit;
A sheet feeding device including any one of the first to fourth sheet remaining amount detecting mechanisms of the present invention that detects the remaining amount state of the sheet in the stacking unit.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a paper feeding device according to the fifth aspect of the present invention,
An image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet conveyed from the conveyance unit of the sheet feeding device;
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image fixing unit that fixes the image formed on the paper to the paper.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to provide a paper remaining amount detection mechanism that can be simply and miniaturized and has excellent arrangement efficiency, and a paper feeding device and an image forming apparatus using the same.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a main part of a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same or corresponding parts as in FIG. 17 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The sheet feeding device of the present embodiment is characterized in that the detector 20 includes a remaining sheet amount detection mechanism 1 in which two photo interrupters are arranged in series.

  In FIG. 1, the sheet remaining amount detection mechanism 1 detects the actuator 10 attached to the tip of the support 2 that fixes the carry-out roller 122 via the elastic member 129 and the behavior of the actuator 10 and outputs the detected electrical signal. And the container 20.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of the remaining sheet quantity detection mechanism 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1, the actuator 10 includes a main body 11, one end side of the main body portion 11, a contact portion 12 that contacts the surface of the paper 150, and the other end side of the main body portion 11. And a shutter 14 formed at the end of the main body 11 on the side of the rotary shaft 13. The detector 20 is composed of a pair of photo interrupters 21a and 21b of the same type.

  Photointerrupters 21a and 21b of the detector 20 have the same configuration as the conventional photointerrupters 21a and 221b shown in FIG. 18B, but are in series in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the rotating shaft 13 of the actuator 10. It differs from the conventional detector 220 in that it is arranged.

  Next, FIG. 3A shows a side view of the actuator 10, and FIG. 3B shows a perspective view of the actuator 10. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the shutter 14 of the actuator 10 has a shape of a portion 14a crossing the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a and a portion 14b crossing the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21b. It is a different plate-shaped member.

  Also, r2> r1 between the distance r1 between the rotation center O of the rotation shaft 13 of the actuator 10 and the optical axis α of the photointerrupter 21a and the distance r2 between the rotation center O and the optical axis β of the photointerrupter 21b. The relationship is given.

  In the above configuration, the photo interrupters 21a and 21b of the detector 20 correspond to the detector of the present invention, the actuator 10 corresponds to the actuator of the present invention, the shutter 14 corresponds to the shutter of the present invention, and the contact portion 12 The main body 11 corresponds to the connecting member of the present invention, and the rotating shaft 13 corresponds to the rotating shaft of the present invention.

  The basic operation of the remaining sheet amount detecting mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above-described configuration is the same as that of the conventional example, and according to the change in the contact angle between the sheet 150 and the contact portion 12. The ON / OFF signal is generated when the shutter 14 crosses the optical axis of the detector 20.

  Here, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A, the photo interrupters 21 a and 21 b are arranged in the detector 20 along the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis 13 (hereinafter, in series). The actuator 10 can be configured to include only the shutter 14 that is a single plate member. Since only one shutter 14 is provided, it can be provided on the main body 11 through which the rotary shaft 13 penetrates as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and the configuration of the rotary shaft 13 is simplified. it can.

  As described above, on the actuator 10 side, the configuration of the rotating shaft 13 and the shutter 14 is simplified and the size is reduced.

  Further, on the detector 20 side, by arranging the two photo interrupters 21a and 21b in series, it is possible to arrange them orthogonally to the rotation shafts and other members of various rollers as viewed from the upper surface of the sheet feeding device. Arrangement efficiency can be increased. In the present embodiment, the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 is arranged at the tip of the support 2 that supports the carry-out roller 122. Since there is no need to connect the rotary shaft 13 to the inner wall of the paper feeder, the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 can be laid out near the center of the main surface of the remaining paper. This also provides an effect of ensuring good contact with the contact portion 12 regardless of the size and size of the paper 150.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 of the present embodiment rotates a distance r1 between the rotation center O of the rotation shaft 13 of the actuator 10 and the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a. The position of the rotation center O of the actuator 10 is offset so that a relationship r2> r1 occurs between the center O and the distance r2 between the optical interrupter 21b and the optical axis β.

  As a result, even when one shutter 14 is used, the combination of the ON / OFF signals of the photo interrupters 21a and 21b can be used on the tray 121 in the same manner as in the configuration having two shutters with different shapes in the conventional example. It is possible to detect the remaining amount of paper in stages.

  Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 200 when the sheets 150 are stacked on the tray 121 to the full limit amount (example: 500 sheets), and FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the upper surface 150 a of the stacked paper 150 is in contact with the carry-out roller 122 and the contact portion 12 of the actuator 10. At this time, the contact angle θ with respect to the upper surface 150a of the contact portion 12 is a depression angle of θ = 11.6 ° with respect to the surface of the upper surface 150a.

  In this state, in the detector 20, the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21 a is maintained between the light emitter and the light receiver, and the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21 b is blocked by the front end portion of the shutter 14. That is, the entire detector 20 has a combination of ON / OFF signals such that (photointerrupter 21a, photointerrupter 21b) = (ON, OFF).

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, as the consumption of paper advances, the number of papers 150 on the tray 121 decreases, and the position of the upper surface 150a is lowered from before, so The contact angle θ is a depression angle of θ = 22.3 ° with respect to the surface of the upper surface 150a in the stacking limit amount. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, when the number of sheets is reduced, the tray 121 is rotated by the action of the elastic member 128 to ensure the contact between the carry-out roller 122 and the upper surface 150a. Yes.

  When the state is shifted to this state, in the detector 20, the optical axis α is also shielded by the front end portion of the shutter 14 reaching the photo interrupter 21a. The optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b continues to be blocked by the shutter 14. Therefore, the entire detector 20 has a combination of ON / OFF signals such that (photo interrupter 21a, photo interrupter 21b) = (OFF, OFF).

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, when the consumption of the paper advances, the contact angle θ of the contact portion 12 with respect to the upper surface 150a of the contact portion 12 becomes the surface of the upper surface 150a in the stacking limit amount due to the lowering of the position of the upper surface 150a of the paper 150. With the angle of depression of θ = 33.4 ° as a reference.

  In this state, in the detector 20, the optical axis α of the photointerrupter 21 a continues to be shielded by the shutter 14, while the rear end portion of the shutter 14 passes to release the optical axis β of the photointerrupter 21 b. . Therefore, the entire detector 20 has a combination of ON / OFF signals such that (photo interrupter 21a, photo interrupter 21b) = (OFF, ON).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 10, when the sheet 150 is exhausted, the tray 121 jumps up and directly contacts the carry-out roller 122 and the contact portion 12 of the actuator 10. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, the contact angle θ of the contact portion 12 with respect to the tray 121 reaches θ = 45.4 ° with reference to the surface of the upper surface 150a in the stacking limit amount shown in FIG.

  In this state, in the detector 20, as in the case shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a is shielded by the shutter 14, while the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b is opened. is there. Therefore, the combination of (photo interrupter 21a, photo interrupter 21b) = (OFF, ON) is maintained for the entire detector 20.

  Finally, as shown in FIG. 12, in a state where the tray 121 is removed from the paper feeding device 120, the actuator 10 hangs down by its own weight and rotates to the limit angle regulated by the support 2. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the angle of depression of θ = 58.6 ° is the limit angle with respect to the surface of the upper surface 150a in the stacking limit amount.

  The detector 20 in this state detects both the optical axes α and β. This is because the rear end of the shutter 14 passes through both the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a and the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b.

At this time, in this embodiment, the shape of the shutter 14 is different between the portion 14a through which the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a passes and the portion 14b through which the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b passes. This is because the crossing distance of the portion 14a crossing the optical axis α is shorter than the crossing distance of the portion 14b crossing the optical axis β with respect to the same rotation angle of the actuator 10.
Therefore, the detector 20 as a whole has a combination of ON / OFF signals such that (photo interrupter 21a, photo interrupter 21b) = (ON, ON).

  As described above, according to the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 of the present embodiment, when the remaining amount of paper loaded on the tray 121 changes, one shutter 14 is moved according to the rotation of the actuator 10 associated therewith. When passing through two photointerrupters arranged in series, four combinations of ON / OFF signals are generated.

  Table 1 shows the correspondence between the rotation angle of the actuator 10 and the combination of the ON / OFF signal of the detector 20.

  FIG. 13 schematically shows the remaining amount of paper 150 applied to each load amount shown in Table 1. As shown in FIG. 13, using the ON / OFF signal from the detector 20, the state from the maximum amount to the load amount A (A), the state from the load amount A to the load amount B (B), the load amount It is possible to detect the four stages of the state from B to the loading amount C (c) and the state from the loading amount C to the loading amount D (d) using the remaining sheet amount detection mechanism 1.

  Since the specific quantity of the loading amounts A to C can be arbitrarily determined according to the rotation angle of the actuator 10 and the shape of the shutter 14, each loading amount A to C depends on the usage status of the sheet feeding device 120. May be set equally or non-uniformly.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the state (A) is detected based on the photo interrupter 21a side, the state (B) (C) is detected based on the photo interrupter 21b side, and the state (D) is detected based on the photo interrupter 21a side. Photointerrupters that detect the states (A) to (D) can be appropriately replaced according to the distance between the axis O and the optical axes α and β, and the degree of design freedom can be increased.

  As described above, according to the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 of the present embodiment, the remaining amount of paper on the tray 121 can be detected in stages even with a simplified configuration using one shutter 14.

  In the above description, the distance r1 between the rotation center O of the rotation shaft 13 of the actuator 10 and the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a and the distance r2 between the rotation center O and the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b. In the above description, the position of the rotation center O of the actuator 10 is offset so that the relationship r2> r1 occurs. However, the present invention does not offset the position of the rotation center O of the actuator 10, The relationship between the optical axes α and β, the rotation center O of the actuator 10 and the distances r1 and r2 may be r1 = r2.

  FIG. 14 is a side view showing such an actuator 30. In FIG. 14, the same or corresponding parts as those in FIG. 3A are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In this configuration example, the detector 20 is configured by the photo interrupters 21a and 21b arranged in series, and the shutter 15 is configured by a single plate member. Therefore, the configuration of the rotating shaft 13 and the shutter 15 is a conventional parallel arrangement type. Compared to the actuator, simplification, downsizing, and improvement in arrangement efficiency are achieved.

  Furthermore, by providing a notch 15a for allowing the optical axes α and β to pass through a part of the shutter 15, four combinations of the ON / OFF signals of the photo interrupters 21a and 21b according to the rotation of the actuator 30. Is generated.

  However, in this configuration example, the optical axes α and β of the photo interrupters 21a and 21b exist on the same rotation radius of the actuator 30, so the configuration example of the above embodiment has a contact angle of 46 °. While all combinations are realized within the range, the contact angle of the actuator 30 needs to be increased. Further, the photointerrupter for detecting each of the states (A) to (D) in FIG. 13 cannot be appropriately replaced, and the degree of design freedom cannot be increased.

  Therefore, it is more preferable that the distance between the rotation center O of the actuator and the optical axis α of the photo interrupter 21a is different from the distance between the rotation center O and the optical axis β of the photo interrupter 21b.

  In the above description, the photointerrupters 21a and 21b of the detector 20 have been described as being provided on the same plane, but a step may be provided as shown in FIG. In this case, an actuator 40 in which the position of the rotating shaft 13 is closer to the center of the main body 11 can be used.

  In short, the present invention suffices if the distance between the optical axis of each of the plurality of detection units and the rotation center of the actuator can be different from each other. The actuator and the detection unit have the shutter shape, the position of the rotation axis, and the tip portion. It is not limited by the specific shape or the like or the layout of each part. In the above configuration, the detection unit is configured by two photo interrupters, but may be three or more.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the description has been made mainly on the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1. However, the present invention may be realized as a paper feeding device equipped with the remaining paper amount detection mechanism of the present invention. . At this time, the carry-out roller 122 and the elastic member 129 correspond to the transport unit of the present invention, and the tray 121 and the elastic member 128 correspond to the stacking unit of the present invention.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 16, an image forming apparatus provided with the paper feeding device of the present invention as a paper feeding device is also included in the present invention. At this time, the image forming unit 130 corresponds to the image forming unit of the present invention, and the image fixing unit 140 corresponds to the image fixing unit of the present invention.

  The present invention is simple, can be miniaturized, and has an effect of excellent arrangement efficiency, and is useful in a sheet remaining amount detection mechanism, a sheet feeding device using the same, an image forming apparatus, and the like.

It is a top view which shows the principal part of the paper feeder of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the paper remaining amount detection mechanism 1 of embodiment of this invention. (A) It is a side view which shows the structure of the actuator 10 of the paper remaining amount detection mechanism 1 of embodiment of this invention. (B) It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the actuator 10 of the paper remaining amount detection mechanism 1 of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the remaining paper amount detection mechanism 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a side view schematically illustrating a remaining state of a sheet. It is a side view which shows the other structural example of the actuator of the paper remaining amount detection mechanism of embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the other structural example of the actuator of the paper remaining amount detection mechanism of embodiment of this invention. It is a typical block diagram of the image forming apparatus by a prior art. It is a perspective view which shows typically the structure of the paper feeder by a prior art, and a paper residual amount detection mechanism. (A) It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the paper residual amount detection mechanism by a prior art. (B) It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the detection part 220 in a paper residual amount detection mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper remaining amount detection mechanism 2 Support body 10 Actuator 11 Main body part 12 Front-end | tip part 13 Rotating shaft 14, 15 Shutter 14a, 14b Part of shutter 14 15a Notch 20 Detection part 21a, 21b Photointerrupter

Claims (6)

A plurality of detection units having a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit;
A shutter that traverses each optical axis between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit of the plurality of detection units, a contact unit that contacts the paper, a connection member that connects the shutter and the contact unit, and a rotation shaft With a rotatable actuator,
The plurality of detection units are a remaining paper amount detection mechanism arranged along a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis.   The remaining paper amount detection mechanism according to claim 1, wherein a distance between each optical axis of the plurality of detection units and the rotation axis of the actuator is different from each other on the plane.   The sheet residual amount detection mechanism according to claim 2, wherein a distance of the shutter that crosses the optical axis is different in at least a part of the plurality of detection units.   The remaining paper amount detection mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of detection units have the same rectangular parallelepiped shape and are arranged on the same plane. A loading section for loading paper;
A transport unit that transports the paper loaded on the stacking unit;
5. A sheet feeding device comprising: a sheet remaining amount detecting mechanism according to claim 1, which detects a remaining state of the sheet in the stacking unit. A sheet feeding device according to claim 5;
An image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet conveyed from the conveyance unit of the sheet feeding device;
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image fixing unit configured to fix the image formed on the sheet to the sheet.

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