JP2011042463A - Timing belt driving device, large capacity stacking device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect the occurrence of tooth skipping in a stacker for vertically moving a tray by driving through a belt, and to restore from an abnormal state of tooth skipping to a normal state that the tray is horizontally held based on the detected result. <P>SOLUTION: The timing belt driving device includes a driving side timing pulley, two driven side timing pulleys, a timing belt stretched between the timing pulleys, a driving means driving the driving side timing pulley, and a driven member moved by driving force transmitted from the timing pulley. The timing belt driving device further includes a tooth skipping detection device for detecting tooth skipping of the belt, and a tooth skipping correction means for correcting tooth skipping when tooth skipping is detected by the tooth skipping detection device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for correcting tooth skipping of a belt of a timing belt driving device.

  In a large-capacity stacking apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a stacker), sheets can be stacked on a horizontal tray, taken out from the apparatus as a carriage with the sheets placed on the tray, and transported.

  In order to satisfy such a function, the tray is moved up and down by the left and right support members. The support member can be lowered to a position where it does not come into contact with the tray. The tray is fixed on the carriage at a position where the support member is separated from the tray, and can be taken out and transported.

  When the paper is loaded on the next tray, the support member is lifted by bringing the carriage into the specified position, and is brought into contact with the tray and lifted to the paper receiving position. The support member is moved from the motor via a gear and a belt. By matching the height of the left and right support members, the tray can be held horizontally.

  In such a configuration, when the user uses it unexpectedly, belt skipping occurs and the height of the left and right support members differ, so the tray becomes non-horizontal. It becomes a problem because it stops processing.

  The belt tooth jump occurs when the belt bends due to fluctuations in load or speed, and the generated bend is higher than the height at which the teeth of the belt and the pulley mesh with each other. As a means to prevent tooth jumping, the belt tension is strengthened, and the belt tooth jump that occurs when a momentary large load is applied to the support member that contacts the tray and the technology that suppresses the deflection There is already known a technique for preventing tooth skipping by providing a prevention member in the vicinity of a generated pulley.

  Here, as a related technique, there is a technique that discloses a rotating body drive system having a timing belt as a component (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  However, in the conventional rotating body drive device, when the belt tension is increased, the load on the motor increases, leading to a large change such as changing the motor and an increase in cost. In particular, in the case of a stacker, the weight of the loaded paper may exceed 70 kg, and there is a limit in increasing the tension of the belt, and it is difficult to cope with an existing size motor.

  In addition, if the user uses an unexpected method or if there is no space to provide a tooth jump prevention member, the tooth jump cannot be prevented and the tray cannot be kept horizontal, resulting in poor alignment when loading paper. There was a problem that occurred.

  The present invention is a stacker that moves a tray up and down by driving through a belt, detects a skipped tooth, and restores the tray from a faulty abnormal state to a normal state and a horizontal state based on the detected result. With the goal.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving side timing pulley, at least two driven side timing pulleys, a timing belt stretched between these timing pulleys, and a driving means for driving the driving side timing pulley. A timing belt drive device comprising a drive mechanism and a driven member that is moved by a driving force transmitted from a timing pulley, and a tooth jump detection device that detects that the belt of the timing belt drive device has jumped A timing belt driving device comprising tooth jump correcting means for correcting tooth jump when tooth jump is detected by the tooth jump detecting device.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the timing belt driving device according to the first aspect, the jump is detected by a change in the rotational speed of the motor, and the rotational speed is detected by an encoder output.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the timing belt driving device according to the first aspect, tooth jump detection is performed based on the height information of the left and right support members.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the timing belt driving device according to the first aspect, the tooth jump is detected by combining the result of the motor rotational speed variation according to the second aspect and the indication member height information according to the third aspect. It is characterized by performing.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, after the tooth jump is detected, before the operation of the tooth jump correcting means, the user is notified on the display of the operation section, and the operation of the tooth jump correcting means is started by the user pressing the button on the operation section. 5. A large-capacity loading device comprising the timing belt driving device according to claim 1.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, after the tooth jump is detected, before the tooth jump correcting means is operated, the user is notified by the display of the operation unit provided in the image forming apparatus, and the user presses the button on the operation unit to skip the tooth jump. 5. An image forming system comprising a timing belt driving device according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the correcting means is started.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of misalignment at the time of paper stacking by tilting the tray due to tooth jumping.

It is a figure explaining the structure of the large capacity loading apparatus which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the tooth jump correction processing concerning this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the tooth jump detection means in the concrete printing process which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure explaining a tooth jump correction means other than during the concrete printing processing concerning this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the concrete tooth jump correction means concerning this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a large-capacity loading device (stacker).

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a stacker body, which introduces a sheet discharged from an unillustrated apparatus such as a copying machine from the direction of arrow A. The stacker of this example can select an operation mode of a proof discharge mode, a straight discharge mode, and a shift discharge mode.

  The proof paper discharge mode is an operation mode in which a sheet is guided and stacked on the proof tray 101 through the sheet conveyance path L1. The straight sheet discharge mode is an operation mode in which the sheet is guided to another apparatus such as a stacker provided at the subsequent stage of the stacker through the sheet conveyance path L2. The shift discharge mode is an operation mode in which sheets are discharged and stacked on the shift tray 102 through the sheet conveyance path L3. In the shift discharge mode, sheets are stacked at different shift positions on the shift tray 102.

  The shift tray 102 is placed on a support member 103 (103a, 103b) that can be raised and lowered. The four corners of the support member 103 are suspended by a total of four timing belts 104, and each timing belt 104 is wound around a total of four timing pulleys 105. These timing pulleys 105 are linked by a worm gear 106 and a gear train 107 composed of a plurality of gears, and are rotated synchronously by the driving force of the tray lifting / lowering motor 108 so that the supporting member 103 is moved together with the shift tray 102. Move up and down. Since the power transmission system is via the worm gear 106, the shift tray 102 can be kept at a fixed position. When the support member 103 is lowered to the lowest position, the shift tray 102 is placed on the carriage 109 so that the sheets stacked on the shift tray 102 can be carried out by the carriage 109.

  Reference numeral 110 denotes a paddle that rotates in conjunction with the sheet discharge roller 111 in the sheet conveyance path L3, and strikes and presses the rear end portion of the sheet discharged onto the shift tray 102 downward. The sheets stacked on the shift tray 102 push up the filler 112. The optical paper surface sensor S <b> 3 detects the stack height of the sheets on the shift tray 102 based on the movement of the filler 112.

  When the paper surface sensor S3 is ON, the shift tray 102 is lowered by the tray lifting / lowering motor 108, and the tray lifting / lowering motor 108 is stopped after the paper surface sensor S3 is turned OFF. Therefore, every time the paper surface sensor S3 is turned on by the paper stacked on the shift tray 102, the shift tray 102 is lowered by a predetermined distance.

  S1 is a paper conveyance path sensor for detecting the passage of the sheet provided at the sheet carry-in entrance, and S2 is a paper conveyance path sensor for detecting the passage of the sheet in the sheet conveyance path L3. Further, a driven roller 113 biased by a spring is pressed against the paper discharge roller 111, and a sheet is nipped between these rollers 111 and 113. Reference numeral 114 denotes an entrance roller that carries a sheet discharged from an unillustrated apparatus such as a copying machine when driven.

  The paper discharged on the shift tray 102 is aligned in the paper width direction by the jogger 210 and the sub jogger 220 and in the paper conveyance direction by the leading end stopper 230.

  The operation unit 250 displays the processing status of the stacker and instructs the tray lowering operation by the user after the printing process.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the tooth jump correction process of the present invention.

[Printing in progress]
When the paper surface sensor S3 is turned on after the printing process is started, the stacker 100 starts the tray lowering operation (step S1).

  Immediately after the tray lowering operation is started, detection processing for motor rotation abnormality is started (step S2).

  During the rotation abnormality detection process, it is always determined whether or not the tray lowering operation has been completed (step S3).

  When the tray lowering operation is not completed, the rotation abnormality detection is determined. (Step S4)

  If an abnormality is detected in the rotation abnormality detection process, the printing process is stopped (step S5).

  After stopping the printing process, a tooth jump correcting operation is started (step S6).

  The height of the left and right support members 103 is detected by the height detection means (step S7).

  If the height detection results match, the correction operation is stopped and the printing process is resumed.

[Other than during printing]
After the printing process is completed, the stacker 100 starts the tray raising operation to start the tray lowering operation for paper removal or the next printing process after paper removal (step S1).

  Immediately after the start of the tray operation, the left and right support member height detection processing is started (step S2).

  During the left and right support member height detection processing, it is always determined whether or not the tray operation has ended (step S3).

  If the tray operation is not finished, the left and right support member height detection is determined (step S4).

  If an abnormality is detected in the left and right support member height detection processing, the processing is stopped (step S5).

  After the processing is stopped, the tooth jump correction operation is started (step S6).

  The height of the left and right support members 103 is detected by the height detection means (step S7).

  If the height detection results match, the correction operation is stopped and the process is restarted.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the tooth skip detection means during a specific printing process.

  Detection of abnormal rotation of the motor during the printing process is determined by the fluctuation of the motor speed during the tray lowering operation. The encoder output is used as a criterion for determination as a fluctuation in motor speed. An encoder is attached to the other shaft where the motor pulley and gear are not attached, and read by a transmission type sensor. When tooth jump occurs during driving at a constant speed, a significant speed fluctuation is observed.

  The setting position of the encoder is not limited to the position specified in FIG. 3, and there is no particular designation in the vicinity of the pulley or the rotating shaft as long as it is within the driving device via the belt.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the tooth jump correcting means other than during a specific printing process.
When the horizontal tray is at the lower limit position when descending after the printing process or when the paper is taken out, the tooth jump is detected from the positional relationship between the left and right support members.

  Each support member 103 is provided with a position detection sensor. In this case, 10a and 11a are full detection positions for paper loading, and 10b is a detection (lower limit) position between the tray and the support member when the carriage is taken out.

When the tray is lowered without occurrence of tooth jump after the printing process, the left and right support members simultaneously pass and detect 10a and 11a (see A in FIG. 4).
If tooth jump occurs during the descent, only one of 10a and 11a is detected first (see B in FIG. 4).

When the carriage is installed at a specified position after the paper is taken out and the next printing process is performed, the support member rises from the position 10b, and if there is no tooth jump, the left and right support members are simultaneously 10a. And 11a are detected (see A in FIG. 4).
If tooth skipping occurs due to an extraction operation or the like, only one of 10a and 11a is detected first (see B in FIG. 4).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining specific tooth jump correcting means.

  Tooth jump correction means is means for forcibly generating tooth jump. Usually, the tension of the belt is set by the tensioner 116. The tensioner 116 is regulated (pulled) in the direction of arrow B by pulling the tension spring 116b with a driving source. At this time, the drive source may be either a solenoid or a stepping motor.

Simultaneously with the start of the tooth jump correction operation, release the restriction in the direction of arrow B and set the tension to a very weak tension (with the belt loosened) from the appropriate tension. A tooth jump occurs due to the fluctuation.
When rising, the 105b side skips, and when falling, the 105a side skips.

  As described above, even if the tray is tilted due to the occurrence of tooth jumping on either the left or right pulley, the other pulley different from the pulley on which tooth jumping has occurred will cause the tray to become horizontal. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of misalignment at the time of loading the sheets by tilting the tray due to the occurrence of tooth jump.

  Each embodiment described above is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Stacker main body 101 Proof tray 102 Shift tray 103 Support member 104 Timing belt 105 Timing pulley 106 Worm gear 107 Gear train 108 Tray raising / lowering motor 109 Carriage 110 Paddle 111 Paper discharge roller 112 Filler 113 Driven roller 114 Inlet roller 210 Jogger 220 Sub jogger 230 Tip Stopper 250 Operation unit L1, L2, L3 Sheet transport path S1 Paper transport path sensor S2 Transport path sensor S3 Paper surface sensor

Japanese Patent No. 4107542

Claims (6)

A drive mechanism comprising a drive side timing pulley, a driven side at least two timing pulleys, a timing belt spanned between these timing pulleys, and a drive means for driving the drive side timing pulley;
A driven member that is moved by a driving force transmitted from the timing pulley, and a timing belt driving device comprising:
A tooth jump detecting device for detecting that the belt of the timing belt driving device has run out;
Tooth jump correcting means for correcting tooth jump when tooth jump is detected by the tooth jump detecting device;
A timing belt driving device comprising:   2. The timing belt driving device according to claim 1, wherein the tooth skip is detected by a change in a rotational speed of a motor, and the rotational speed is detected by an encoder output.   2. The timing belt driving device according to claim 1, wherein the tooth jump is detected based on height information of the left and right support members.   The timing belt driving device according to claim 1, wherein the tooth jump detection is performed by combining the motor rotational speed fluctuation according to claim 2 and the result of the indication member height information according to claim 3.   After the detection of the tooth jump, before the operation of the tooth jump correcting means, the user is notified on the display of the operation section, and the operation of the tooth jump correcting means is started by the user pressing the button on the operation section. A large-capacity loading device comprising the timing belt driving device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   After detection of the tooth jump, before the operation of the tooth jump correcting means, the user is notified by the display of the operation unit provided in the image forming apparatus, and the operation of the tooth jump correcting means is performed by the user pressing the button on the operation part. An image forming system comprising the timing belt driving device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming system is started.

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