JP2008281588A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that satisfies improvement in attachment/detachment of a unit and certainty of positional accuracy thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a front cover 30 to be provided in an image forming apparatus main body 1 and rotatable between an open position and a closed position and a transport unit 40 to be arranged on the inner surface side of the front cover 30. When the front cover 30 is rotated to be moved from the closed position to the open position, the transport unit 40 is detachable from the front cover 30 by operation in the same direction as the rotation direction of the front cover 30 and it is easy to attach/detach the transport unit 40 and to ensure the positional accuracy of the transport unit 40. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, and a multifunction machine having at least two functions of these.

JP 2004-205534 A

  In developing an image forming apparatus, downsizing of the apparatus is an important issue. In order to reduce the size of the device, it is necessary to efficiently arrange the components, and as a result, extra space inside the device is reduced. As shown in Patent Document 1, there is also known an image forming apparatus in which an exterior plate of an apparatus main body is configured as a rotatable door, and a unit such as a conveying device is supported on the inner surface side of the door. Yes.

  In this type of apparatus, when the maintenance or replacement of the internal unit provided in the apparatus main body is performed, the door is opened, and at this time, the unit provided in the door interferes with the maintenance or replacement of the internal unit. Many things happened.

  Therefore, it has been proposed to detachably install the unit provided on the door and remove it from the door when the unit gets in the way, but at this time, it was attached so that the unit could be attached and detached easily If the position accuracy is easily ensured by screwing or the like, a tool or the like is used for the attachment / detachment operation, which requires time and effort.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining both unit mounting / detaching operations and ensuring unit positional accuracy which are in conflict.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an apparatus main body, a first unit provided in the apparatus main body, and a rotation provided in the apparatus main body so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position. A moving unit and a second unit supported by the rotating unit. When the rotating unit is rotated from the closed position to the open position, the first unit moves in the horizontal direction. In the image forming apparatus detachable from the apparatus main body, the first unit is disposed at a position in contact with the second unit when moved in the horizontal direction, and the second unit An image forming apparatus is proposed in which the unit is detachably attached to the rotating portion.

It is to be noted that the present invention is effective when the rotating portion has a supporting means for supporting the mounted second unit so as to be adjustable and movable in a direction in which the second unit is moved toward and away from the rotating portion.
Further, in the present invention, the rotating part includes an urging unit that constantly urges an elastic force in a direction away from the rotating unit with respect to the second unit supported by the supporting unit. Is effective.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the second unit has a positioning portion that abuts against a predetermined portion of the apparatus main body by the elastic force of the biasing means.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, when the rotating part is moved from the open position to the closed position, the positioning part is pressed against a predetermined part of the apparatus main body by the biasing means, and the second unit Once the location is determined, it is effective.

  Furthermore, the present invention includes a locking claw that is slidable between a support position for locking the locking portion of the second unit and a position for releasing the support. When the second unit is attached to the locking claw, it is effective if a tapered portion is provided that is moved from the locking position to the locking release position when the locking portion hits.

  Still further, according to the present invention, when the second unit is mounted, the locking claw is constantly urged to move the locking claw to the locking position. It is effective to return to the locking position.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the second unit includes a registration roller for registering paper.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is effective that the second unit is provided with handles that are operated at the time of removal from the rotating portion at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the second unit.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the first unit moves in the horizontal direction and comes into contact with the registration roller provided in the second unit.
Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the second unit is a conveyance unit that includes a registration roller and a transfer member and conveys a sheet fed from a sheet feeding unit to an image transfer unit.

  Furthermore, the present invention includes a roller for feeding the sheet and a separating member for separating the multi-feed sheet that contacts the roller in the sheet feeding unit, and the sheet clamping force of the registration roller is the roller. If it is larger than the sheet clamping force of the separating member, it is effective.

  Furthermore, the present invention is effective when a fixing device having a roller is provided on the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction of the registration roller, and the sheet clamping force of the fixing roller is larger than the sheet clamping force of the registration roller.

  Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the first unit is a unit including at least an intermediate transfer belt.

  According to the present invention, since the unit can be attached and detached, maintenance inside the main body is facilitated. Maintainability is improved by unifying the direction in which the unit to be removed appears and the direction of attachment / detachment.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the operation of taking out the unit is simple, and the positional accuracy of the mounted unit is improved. Furthermore, if the unit is a transport unit, an effect that jam processing is facilitated can be obtained.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus of this example is a tandem type in which an image forming unit 2 is disposed at the center of an apparatus main body 1 and a sheet feeding unit 20 for feeding a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming unit 2 is disposed below the image forming unit 2. The color image forming apparatus.

  The image forming unit 2 includes a plurality of drum-shaped photoconductors 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d configured as image carriers, and toner images of different colors are formed on the respective photoconductors. The In the illustrated example, a yellow toner image, a cyan toner image, a magenta toner image, and a black toner image are formed on the surfaces of the photoreceptors 3a to 3d, respectively. The photoconductors 3a to 3d are arranged in parallel with each other at a predetermined interval, and an intermediate transfer belt 4 as a first unit is arranged facing the lower part of the photoconductors 3a to 3d. In the example, an endless belt that is wound around a plurality of support rollers 5 and 6 and driven in the direction of an arrow is used.

  Around the photosensitive member 3, a charging device 7 for charging the surface of the photosensitive member, an optical scanning device (LSU) 8 for irradiating image information to the surface of the photosensitive member with a laser beam, and formed on the surface of the photosensitive member 3 by exposure. The developing device 9 that visualizes the electrostatic latent image, the transfer device 10 that is disposed opposite to the photoconductor 3 via the intermediate transfer belt 4, and the toner that remains on the surface of the photoconductor 3 after being transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 4 A cleaning device 11 that removes and collects water is provided.

  When image formation is started in such an image forming apparatus, the photoreceptor 3 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the figure, and at this time, the surface of the photoreceptor 3 is charged to a predetermined polarity by the charging device 7. Next, the charged surface is irradiated with laser light based on image information from the optical scanning device 8, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoreceptor 3. The electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 3 is visualized as a toner image by the developing device 9, and the toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 4 by the transfer device 10.

  At the time of color image formation, the above-described image forming operation is performed on all the photoreceptors 3, whereby the yellow toner image, cyan toner image, magenta toner image, and black toner image respectively formed on the photoreceptors 3 a to 3 d are intermediate. The images are sequentially transferred onto the transfer belt 4 in a superimposed manner. Further, the image forming apparatus is provided with a secondary transfer roller 12 facing the support roller 6 with the intermediate transfer belt 4 interposed therebetween.

  On the other hand, a sheet feeding unit 20 disposed below the image forming unit 2 is loaded on a sheet feeding tray 21 serving as a sheet storage unit for stacking sheets S made of transfer paper, resin film, or the like. A sheet feeding roller 22 serving as a feeding roller for feeding the sheet S, a friction pad 23 serving as a separating member for separating the multi-fed sheets into one sheet, a re-traveling path 24 used for forming double-sided images, and the like are provided. . The separating member may be a torque limiter type reverse roller.

  The sheet S fed from the sheet feeding unit 20 is sent out toward the registration roller pair 13 and is abutted against the registration roller pair 13 whose leading end is stopped. Thus, after the sheet S is aligned, the registration roller pair 13 causes the color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 4 to coincide with the leading end of the sheet S at the secondary transfer portion provided with the secondary transfer roller 12. The rotation is resumed at such timing, and the sheet S is sent upward toward the secondary transfer portion.

  The sheet S on which the unfixed toner image is transferred in the secondary transfer unit is sent to a fixing device 14 having a pair of fixing rollers 14a. After the unfixed toner image is fixed on the sheet S, the sheet S is provided on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 1. The discharged sheet stacking unit 16 is discharged. The transfer residual toner adhering to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 4 after the toner image transfer is removed by a belt cleaner 15.

  The printer is provided with an operation unit (not shown) including an operation panel or the like on the upper right side of FIG. 1, and therefore the right side of FIG. And the exterior board in the front of the apparatus main body 1, ie, the front cover 30, is comprised as a rotation part which can rotate between the closed position shown in FIG. 1 and the open position shown in FIG. . A unit composed of a plurality of parts is attached to the front cover 30. In the case of this embodiment, the unit includes a pair of registration rollers 13 and the sheet S fed from the sheet feeding unit 20 is secondary. It is the 2nd unit comprised as the conveyance unit 40 conveyed to a transfer part. In addition to the registration roller pair 13, the transport unit 40 includes a secondary transfer roller 12 and one guide plate 25 of the re-transporting path 24.

  In the printer configured as described above, when the maintenance or replacement of the intermediate transfer belt 4 is performed, the front cover 30 is opened, and at least the intermediate transfer belt 4 is long in the front-rear direction, that is, in the depth direction. It will be taken out by sliding in a certain arrow A direction. At this time, if the transport unit 40 is slid in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2 and pulled out from the apparatus main body 1, the intermediate transfer belt 4 hits the registration roller pair 13 as shown in FIG. Then, the intermediate transfer belt 4 is damaged and the image is disturbed. In addition, the registration roller pair 13 may be scratched, and in that case, a defect such as a scratch on the paper or an image of the damaged portion may occur.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the transport unit 40 that interferes with the removal of the intermediate transfer belt 4 is detachably attached to the front cover 30. When maintenance or replacement of the intermediate transfer belt 4 is performed, the conveyance unit 40 is removed from the front cover 30 to prevent the intermediate transfer belt 4 from colliding with the registration roller pair 13.

  By the way, when the transport unit 40 is removed from the front cover 30, it is preferable that the operation can be easily performed. However, if the positional accuracy when the transport unit 40 is remounted is insufficient, the transport of jams, skews, and the like is performed. Since there is a possibility of causing a failure, it is required to satisfy both operability and position accuracy.

In order to satisfy such a requirement, as will be described below, the present invention takes measures to simplify the operation of attaching and detaching the unit and sufficiently ensure the position accuracy.
4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the front cover 30 is opened and the transport unit 40 is removed from the front cover 30, and FIGS. It is.

  In FIG. 4, the fulcrum 31 of the front cover 30 is the lower part of the front surface (see FIG. 1). When the front cover 30 is removed from the locking claw 37 by an operation unit (not shown), the upper side is tilted forward. The sheet conveyance path from the paper unit 20 to the front of the fixing device 14 is almost opened. When the transport unit 40 is removed from the opened front cover 30, the re-transporting path 24 for double-sided printing is opened and the other guide plate 26 of the re-transporting path 24 appears as shown in FIG. . When the transport unit 40 is removed from the front cover 30, the operation of sliding the intermediate transfer belt 4 and the waste toner tank 17 in the direction of arrow A as described above can be easily performed.

  The transport unit 40 is provided with strip-shaped handles 41 having a certain width on both sides of the longitudinal direction of the unit, which is the width direction of the apparatus. Further, on both sides of the transport unit 40, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 8, an insertion projection 42, a fixing engagement piece 43, and a band that receives a pushing force by an urging means described later when the lock is released. A receiving plate 44 formed in a plate shape is provided. On the other hand, the front cover 30 has a square hole 32 as an insertion portion into which the protrusion 42 is inserted, a locking means for locking the transport unit 40 via the engagement piece 43, and the transport unit 40 from the front cover 30. There is a biasing means for constantly biasing the elastic force in the direction of leaving.

  When the front cover 30 is opened, the handle 41 is located at the upper part on both sides of the transport unit 40, so that the visibility of the handle 41 is improved, and the handle 41 is provided to be curved downward from above. Therefore, ease of handling is improved by placing a thumb on the upper surface of the handle 41 and pinching other fingers toward the lower side of the back surface.

  When the front cover 30 is opened, the protrusion 42 is located at the lower part at the back of both ends in the longitudinal direction of the transport unit 40, and is formed in a shape in which a strip-shaped elongated plate is bent into a U-shape. Further, the square hole 32 into which the protrusion 42 is inserted is formed in a rectangular cross section, and the relationship between the protrusion 42 and the square hole 32 has almost no gap in the width direction, but there is play in the vertical direction. Accordingly, the transport unit 40 in which the protrusion 42 is inserted into the square hole 32 cannot be moved in the left-right direction, but can be rotated at an angle around the protrusion 42.

  Further, the locking means provided on the front cover 30 has a locking claw 33 that engages with the engagement piece 43. The locking claw 33 is mounted so as to be slidable in the direction of the arrow B-C, and a moving force in the B direction that engages with the engagement piece 43 is urged by a spring (not shown). It is held in the locking position. When the transport unit 40 is mounted on the front cover 30, the latching claw 33 is unlocked against the action of the spring when the transport unit 40 is attached to the front cover 30. A tapered portion 33a that slides in the direction is provided. A release lever 34 is coupled to the latching claw 33, and the latching claw 33 is detached from the engagement piece 43 by moving the latching claw 33 in the direction of arrow C via the release lever 34. The stop is released.

  Further, the urging means that urges the conveying unit 40 in the direction away from the front cover 30 is guided by the storage box portion 35 so as to be movable up and down, and the upper portion is formed in a mountain-shaped cross section. A block 36 is provided. This push-up block 36 is always urged by a push-up spring (not shown) to move the conveying unit 40 upward in FIG. 5, that is, in a direction away from the front cover 30. It is held in a protruding state.

  In the printer configured as described above, when the intermediate transfer belt 4 is taken out from the apparatus main body 1 by maintenance or the like, the front cover 30 is opened as shown in FIG. 2, and then the intermediate transfer belt 4 is shown in FIG. Move horizontally to remove. However, since the transport unit 40 attached to the front cover 30 becomes an obstacle at the time of removal, the transport unit 40 must be removed from the front cover 30.

  When removing the transport unit 40 from the opened front cover, when the release lever 34 is moved in the direction of arrow C, the locking claw 33 is also moved in the direction of arrow C and is disengaged from the engagement piece 43. The locking claw 33 is disengaged from the engaging piece 43. In this state, the operator can easily remove the transport unit 40 from the front cover 30 by holding the handle 41 and pulling the projection 42 toward the front side so that the projection 42 comes out of the square hole 32.

  In this way, the removal of the transport unit 40 from the front cover is a simple operation of pulling the release lever 34 and then holding the handle 41 and pulling the transport unit 40 forward, while pulling the release lever 34. An alignment operation in which the transport unit 40 has to be pulled out is also unnecessary. When the transport unit 40 is detached, the intermediate transfer belt 4 can be moved from the apparatus main body 1 in the horizontal direction.

  When the taken-out transport unit 40 is attached to the front cover 30, high positional accuracy is required for the transport unit 40 with respect to the intermediate transfer belt 4 of the apparatus main body 1, the gear that drives the registration roller pair 13, and the front and rear transport rollers. The Therefore, in this embodiment, as will be described below, the transport unit 40 that has been taken out is locked to the front cover 30 so that the approximate position is determined by a simple operation, and then the transport unit is accurately attached to the apparatus main body 1. 40 is positioned.

  Specifically, first, the operator holds the handle 41 of the transport unit 40 with both hands, and inserts the protrusion 42 at the tip of the transport unit 40 into the square hole 32 of the front cover 30 as shown in FIG. After this insertion operation, the operator presses the rear end side of the transport unit 40 against the front cover 30, so that the engaging piece 43 at the rear end of the transport unit 40 has an edge that contacts the tapered portion 33 a of the locking claw 33. Then, the locking claw 33 moves in the direction of arrow B against the action of the spring. Then, when the engagement piece 43 exceeds the tip of the locking claw 33, the locking claw 33 moves in the direction of arrow C by the spring force and engages the engagement piece 43 as shown in FIG.

  In such a state, the position of the transport unit 40 is not accurately determined with respect to the front cover 30 and is fixed in a state in which it can be adjusted and moved. That is, the transport unit 40 that is locked to the front cover 30 by the locking means is fixed with a play that moves in a direction of moving toward and away from the front cover 30. Further, when the transport unit 40 is locked to the front cover 30, the elastic force is always urged in a direction away from the front cover 30 by the urging means.

  Then, when the front cover 30 after the conveyance unit 40 is locked is rotated from the open position to the closed position, the protrusion 45 as a positioning portion provided in the conveyance unit 40 by the elastic force of the urging means is the main body of the apparatus main body 1. It strikes a predetermined position (not shown) fixed to the frame, whereby the transport unit 40 is accurately positioned with respect to the apparatus main body 1.

  In the present invention configured as described above, the transport unit 40 holds the handle 41 and inserts the protrusion 42 on the front end side into the square hole 32 of the front cover 30 and then attaches it to the front cover 30 by a simple operation of pushing down the front side. can do. Then, the transport unit 40 is accurately positioned with respect to the apparatus body 1 by rotating the front cover 30 from the open position to the closed position.

  By the way, the conveyance unit 40 requires the position accuracy with respect to the intermediate transfer belt 4, the gear for driving the registration roller pair 13, and the front and rear conveyance rollers, which are fixed to the frame of the apparatus main body 1. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately position the transport unit 40 with respect to the main body frame of the apparatus main body 1 when the front cover 30 is rotated to the closed position. However, if the transport unit 40 is completely fixed to the front cover 30 at the time of locking, the position cannot be adjusted and the positional accuracy with respect to the apparatus main body 1 is not improved.

  In this embodiment, at the time of the locking, the transport unit 40 is in a state where the position can be adjusted only by determining the approximate position with respect to the front cover 30. Accordingly, the conveyance unit 40 is accurately positioned with respect to the apparatus main body 1 by the protrusion 45 of the conveyance unit 40 abutting on a predetermined position of the main body frame by the elastic force of the urging means by the rotation of the front cover 30 to the closed position. The

  On the other hand, if the transport unit 40 moves too much with respect to the front cover 30, when the cover is closed, the transport unit 40 hits the peripheral portion of the apparatus main body 1, and the cover does not close or transport In this embodiment, the position of the transport unit 40 relative to the front cover 30 is roughly determined by the support means because the unit 40 is damaged.

  The conveyance unit 40 shown in the present embodiment is a unit in which the transfer roller 12 to be transferred to the sheet S, the registration roller pair 13, and the conveyance guides before and after the transfer roller 12 are integrated. With this configuration, the workability of sheet jam processing is improved. That is, when the front cover 30 is opened, the transfer nip is opened, so that the visibility and handling of jammed paper becomes easy. Further, by providing both the registration roller pair 13 in the conveyance unit 40 with the pressure applied, the jammed paper applied to the conveyance unit 40 is attached to the front cover 30 together with the conveyance unit 40 without falling into the apparatus. Good jam handling. Furthermore, the conveyance guides before and after that are integrated to improve the visibility of the jammed paper and the ease of processing. Further, since the transfer roller 12, the registration roller pair 13, and the conveyance guide are configured as one unit, the conveyance guide from registration to transfer can be configured with high accuracy, so that the sheet conveyance accuracy is improved. In particular, the transfer unit is a place where an image is transferred to a sheet and it is desired to carry the sheet with high accuracy. Therefore, it is important for the image forming apparatus to accurately configure the positional relationship between the rollers and the guides during this period. Become an element.

  Further, the driving of the registration roller pair 13 is transmitted from the main body drive transmission unit, and the registration roller is opened at the opening position of the front cover 30 that is rotatably supported to the closing position and the opening position with respect to the apparatus main body 1. Since the drive transmission of the pair 13 is released, it is easy to take out the jammed paper. Further, if the sheet clamping force between the sheet feeding roller 22 and the friction pad 23 is made smaller than the sheet clamping force of the registration roller pair 13, the jammed sheet across the sheet feeding roller 22, the friction pad 23 and the registration roller pair 13 is released. Since it is attached to the transport unit 40, the processing is easy. Further, since the sheet holding force of the registration roller pair 13 is made smaller than the sheet holding force of the fixing roller pair 14a, the conveyance unit 40 is released for the jammed sheet straddling the fixing roller pair 14a and the registration roller pair 13. Then, the jammed paper comes out of the registration roller pair 13 when the front cover 30 is opened, so that the processing becomes easy.

  In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, when the front cover 30 that is a rotating part is opened, not only the front of the fixing device 14 but also the paper discharge roller 18 is opened. The present invention can also be applied to a forming apparatus. That is, the present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus having a height at which the front cover 30 reaches from the lowermost part to the uppermost part of the apparatus body. However, this apparatus is also configured not to open the fixing device 14 by opening the front cover 30.

1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a general | schematic vertical sectional view which shows the state which opened the front cover. It is a schematic vertical sectional view which shows the time of opening a front cover and removing a conveyance unit. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the conveyance unit from the front cover. It is a perspective view which shows the operation procedure of the first step which mounts a conveyance unit to a front cover. It is a perspective view which shows the operation procedure of the next step which mounts a conveyance unit to a front cover. It is a perspective view which shows the state which mounting | wearing to the front cover of a conveyance unit was completed. It is an expansion perspective view which shows the to-be-latched part of a conveyance unit. FIG. 6 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing another embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus main body 20 Paper feed part 30 Front cover 32 Square hole 33 Locking claw 33a Tapered part 36 Push-up block 40 Conveyance unit 41 Handle 42 Protrusion 43 Engagement piece 44 Receiving plate

Claims (14)

The device body;
A first unit provided in the apparatus body;
A rotation unit provided in the apparatus main body so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position;
A second unit supported by the rotating part,
In the image forming apparatus in which the first unit moves in the horizontal direction and is detachable from the apparatus main body when the rotating unit is rotated from the closed position to the open position.
The first unit is disposed at a position in contact with the second unit when moved in the horizontal direction,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the second unit is detachably provided on the rotating portion.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation unit includes a support unit that supports the mounted second unit so that the second unit can be adjusted and moved in a direction in which the second unit is moved toward and away from the rotation unit.   The said rotation part is provided with the urging means which always urges | biases the elastic force to the direction away from the said rotation part with respect to the said 2nd unit supported by the said support means. The image forming apparatus according to 2.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the second unit includes a positioning portion that is abutted against a predetermined portion of the apparatus main body by an elastic force of the biasing unit.   When the rotating portion is moved from the open position to the closed position, the urging means presses the positioning portion against a predetermined portion of the apparatus main body to determine the position of the second unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.   The support means has a locking claw that is slidable between a supporting position for locking with the locking portion of the second unit and a position for releasing the support. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the unit is mounted, a taper portion that is moved from the locking position to the locking release position when the locking portion hits is provided.   The locking claw is always urged to move to the locking position. When the second unit is mounted, the locking claw returns to the locking position when the locking part exceeds the taper part. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second unit includes a registration roller that registers paper.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second unit is provided with handles that are operated at the time of removal from the rotating portion at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the second unit.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the first unit moves in a horizontal direction, the image forming apparatus contacts with the registration roller provided in the second unit.   11. The image according to claim 1, wherein the second unit is a transport unit that includes a registration roller and a transfer member and transports a sheet fed from a paper feed unit to the image transfer unit. Forming equipment.   The sheet feeding unit includes a roller that feeds the sheet and a separation member that separates a multi-feed sheet that contacts the roller, and the sheet clamping force of the registration roller is the sheet clamping force of the roller and the separation member. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the image forming apparatus is larger.   12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein a fixing device having a roller is provided downstream of the registration roller in a sheet conveying direction, and a sheet clamping force of the fixing roller is larger than a sheet clamping force of the registration roller. .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first unit is a unit including at least an intermediate transfer belt.

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