JP2011057373A - Sheet carrying device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet carrying device having simple construction for avoiding the lowering of carrying force with the lapse of time while utilizing a sheet sucking and carrying air flow for collecting foreign matters which are collected by a belt cleaning member. <P>SOLUTION: In a mechanism for sucking sheets P to a belt and carrying them, the cleaning member 31 is installed on the opposite face to the face of the belt 24 which draws the sheets P with air suction force, for removing dirt and foreign matters 40 from the sheets. The cleaning member 31 is installed in an air duct to be used for sucking the sheets P. The foreign matters 40 peeled from the belt 24 by the cleaning member 31 are sucked and collected by the air flow. The used cleaning member 31 is a blade-shaped member which abuts directly on the belt 24 for removing the foreign matters, a roller-shaped member which rotationally contacts the belt 24 for removing the foreign matters 40 while reducing a load on the belt 24, or a brush-shaped member which has a number of fibrous members for contacting the belt 24 to remove the foreign matters 40. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device mounted on an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine of these, and an image forming apparatus using the same.

  Based on the recent demand for strengthening the paper type compatibility in the market, the air feeding method that attracts and conveys sheets using the suction effect of air is attracting attention from the conventional feeding pad method and FRR separation method. It's getting on. Also, not only in the paper feeding method, but in the process of guiding the sheet to the fixing device after transferring the toner image, in order to eliminate the influence on the image surface, the sheet is adsorbed to the belt side by the force of air rather than being conveyed by a roller. There are many image forming apparatuses that employ a method of transporting a sheet.

  On the other hand, a belt conveyance system that does not use air has matured as a conventional technique, and a cleaning and foreign matter removal system using a web or a roller has been introduced as a known technique.

    For example, in the sheet adsorbing and conveying apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, a mechanism that charges a sheet by bringing a charging roller into contact with the belt and adsorbs the sheet by electrostatic adsorption and performs conveyance (turning of a booklet). This shows a method of removing foreign matters and dirt adhering to the belt and the charging roller by providing a cleaning roller that rotates in contact with both the charging roller and the belt.

  Further, according to Patent Document 2, the belt conveying member has a rubber blade that can be brought into contact with and separated from the cleaning web. The blade removes foreign matters and dirt that cannot be cleaned by the web, and reverses the belt to clean the cleaning web again. Shows the system to collect.

  However, in the conventional configuration, in addition to requiring a large size of the device and an increase in cost with a complicated configuration, as a method of processing the collected dirt and foreign matter, it requires replacement and maintenance of the device, There are concerns that the customer engineer (CE) will be dispatched and that downtime will increase.

  Further, according to Patent Document 3, in the sheet conveying means, there is shown means for spraying compressed air to an optical sensor for detecting a sheet, blowing up foreign matter and dirt, and collecting them by a suction device. In addition to the need for a compressed air generator and a suction device and two air flow generators, there is a concern that foreign matter and dirt can be removed to the details of the object to be cleaned because of non-contact suction means. .

  In view of the above-described conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a device excellent in maintainability by securing a transport force and a cleaning performance in a belt transport mechanism with a simple configuration.

  The sheet conveying apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is a sheet conveying apparatus that adsorbs and conveys a sheet to a belt-like member by air, and is a foreign substance that comes into contact with the belt-like member and adheres to the belt-like member. A foreign matter removing means for removing the foreign matter, and collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means with air used for the air suction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to the first aspect, the foreign matter removing means is a blade-like member that contacts the belt-like member and scrapes off the foreign matter.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to the first aspect, the foreign matter removing means is a roller-like member that contacts the belt-like member and removes the foreign matter.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to the first aspect, the foreign matter removing means is a static elimination brush.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the foreign matter removing means is provided on a surface opposite to the sheet conveying surface of the belt-shaped member, and the sheet is It is arranged immediately before the sheet conveying surface.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, a duct for collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means is provided, and the opening of the duct is installed downward. It is characterized by that.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the foreign matter removing means is arranged avoiding the suction holes on the belt-like member. .

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, a filter for removing the foreign matter from the air is disposed on a path for collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means. It is characterized by becoming.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet conveying apparatus according to the eighth aspect, the filter is provided so as to be replaceable near the outside of the path on the path.

  An image forming apparatus according to a tenth aspect is characterized in that the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to ninth aspects is provided for conveying a sheet for forming an image.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect, the image forming apparatus is any one of a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, a printer, an ink jet recording apparatus, or at least two of them. It is a multi-function machine that combines functions.

  According to the present invention, since the air flow for adsorbing and conveying the sheet is used for collecting the foreign matter collected by the belt cleaning member, the sheet conveying apparatus and the image forming that do not decrease the conveying force with time even with a simple configuration. Equipment can be provided.

Schematic showing one configuration example of an image forming apparatus that is an object of the present invention The figure which shows an example of the sheet conveying apparatus using the suction | attraction force of air 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of a sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. The figure which shows the example which used the cleaning member in the Example of FIG. The figure which shows the example which made the position of the cleaning member different from FIG. Schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of a sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating a third embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the invention. Schematic showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus using a sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. The perspective view which expands and shows the site | part shown by the arrow X of FIG. Top view of the same part showing the filter replacement status

An embodiment of a paper feeding device of the present invention will be described.
In the present invention, the air flow for sheet adsorption conveyance is used for collecting foreign substances collected by the belt cleaning member. Therefore, the sheet conveying apparatus has a simple structure in which the conveying force does not decrease with time.

  Further, by using an elastic blade as the belt cleaning member and using an elastic roller, the conveyance force can be prevented from decreasing over time without impairing the durability of the conveyance belt. Further, by using the static eliminating brush as a belt cleaning member, foreign matters adhering to the belt due to static electricity can be effectively collected, and the conveyance force can be prevented from decreasing over time.

  Further, by installing the cleaning member immediately before the sheet suction surface of the belt, the sheet suction can be performed in a state where the conveying force is higher immediately after the cleaning. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the conveyance force from decreasing more effectively. And by making the collection | recovery direction of a foreign material into a self-weight direction, effective cleaning can be performed and it can be set as the apparatus with higher conveyance quality.

  Furthermore, by not affecting the portion of the belt that is in contact with the air intake hole, it is possible to suppress the early tearing of the belt and the like, to achieve higher durability, and to prevent the conveyance force from decreasing over time.

  In addition, by using a filter as a method for treating the collected foreign matter, scattering of the foreign matter to the outside of the apparatus can be suppressed, and the user can easily replace the filter according to the procedure. And, as a method of processing the collected foreign matter, it is only necessary to replace the filter, so that it can be replaced without stopping the device, reducing downtime and making the device highly productive. be able to.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the illustrated image forming apparatus, and can be applied to various apparatuses that perform image formation.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of an image forming apparatus that is an object of the present invention. In this apparatus, the sheets P stacked in the sheet storage apparatus 1 are sent one by one to the vertical conveyance path 3 by the sheet feeding apparatus 2. Thereafter, the image of the sheet P is transferred by the image forming unit 4, passes through the conveyance belt 5, and is sent to the fixing device 6. After the image is fixed by the fixing roller pair 7, the sheet P is discharged out of the apparatus by a paper discharge path 9 branched by the branching claw 8, or passes through the double-sided path 10 and again to the image forming unit 4. Sent.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a sheet conveying apparatus using air suction force. This apparatus will be described as an example of air feeding in which a sheet is attracted to a belt by the force of air as a sheet feeding apparatus 2 installed in the sheet storage apparatus 1 and conveyed. It is not limited to.

  The sheet feeder 2 in the illustrated example includes a belt conveyance unit 21, a fan 22, and a duct 23. Air is sucked by a fan 22 from a vent hole (not shown) on the belt 24 of the belt conveyance unit 21, and the sheet P is discharged. It is an apparatus that transports the belt 24 while adsorbing it.

  As described above, in the mechanism that adsorbs and conveys the sheet P to the belt 24, the area where the sheet P and the belt 24 are rubbed is large, and it is not uncommon for paper dust, dirt, and other foreign matters to adhere to the belt 24. When foreign matter such as paper dust adheres to the belt 24, the coefficient of friction decreases, and coated paper such as coated paper or art paper that originally has a small coefficient of friction has a weak holding power on the belt 24, and is double-fed. There is a concern that it will develop into problems such as non-feeding. Therefore, as described above, an object of the present invention is to make the device capable of cleaning the belt 24 with a simple configuration and having good maintainability.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, as a mechanism for adsorbing and conveying the belt, a cleaning member 31 for removing dirt and foreign matter 40 on the sheet is installed on the surface opposite to the surface on which the belt 24 attracts the sheet P by the suction force of air. Has been. The cleaning member 31 is installed in the duct 23 of the main flow (see FIG. 3A) or the diversion flow (see FIG. 3B) used for sucking the sheet P. By the cleaning member 31, the belt 24 The foreign matter 40 peeled from above is sucked and collected by the air flow.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, the cleaning member 31 is directly brought into contact with the belt 24 to remove a foreign substance from the blade-like member 31a, or reduces the load on the belt 24 by rotating contact. For example, a roller-like member 31b that removes the foreign matter 40 while removing the foreign matter 40 by bringing an infinite number of fibrous members into contact with the belt 24 can be considered.

  The blade-like member 31a is preferably an elastic body as much as possible in consideration of durability to the belt 24, and preferably has a hardness equal to or less than that of the belt 24. The roller-like member 31b is also the same. Further, a sponge-like member having a hardness of belt 24 or less is desirable. However, in the case of a low-hardness roller, the foreign matter 40 and dirt peeled off from the belt 24 are retained / residual in the vicinity of the roller surface layer, and there is a concern about deterioration in cleaning performance and reattachment to the belt 24. When using the member 31b, as shown in FIG. 4 (d), a blade member 31a or the like is further provided on the surface of the roller member 31b opposite to the surface to be in contact with the belt 24, and further contact is made. The foreign matter 40 remaining on the surface layer of the roller-shaped member 31b is always cleaned by removing and removing the foreign matter 40, and the contact surface of the belt 24 has a small load because the soft roller is in rotational contact. The durability and cleaning performance of the belt 24 can be maintained. In addition, it is considered that by maintaining the effect, it can be a maintenance-free device that does not require repair and replacement of the cleaning member 31.

  Further, the brush-like member 31c may be configured to sweep out the foreign matter 40 with a soft material as much as possible in consideration of the influence on the surface of the belt 24. In addition to physically sweeping the surface of the belt 24 to remove the foreign matter 40, for example, when the sheet P is fed and conveyed, the contact friction between the sheets P or the contact friction between the sheet P and the belt 24. Thus, if a situation occurs in which static electricity is charged on the belt 24 and the foreign matter 40 adheres to the belt 24, the static electricity is removed by using a static elimination brush on the brush-like member 31c as a cleaning member. A method of separating from the surface of the belt 24 and collecting it is conceivable.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning member 31 is disposed immediately upstream of the surface on which the sheet P is attracted and conveyed, so that the sheet P is conveyed on the surface of the clearer belt 24 immediately after cleaning. Can be.

  FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, as the belt suction / conveyance mechanism 21 for the sheet P, a system in which the belt 24 is below the sheet P and the sheet P is attracted and conveyed downward is also conceivable. In this case, since the cleaning surface of the belt is downward, the suction recovery duct 23 must also be installed below the belt conveyance surface. In such a configuration, the foreign material 40 is peeled and removed in the direction of its own weight by the cleaning member 31 when the foreign material 40 attached to the belt 24 is removed, so that more effective cleaning can be performed. It is done.

  FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. The air suction hole 35 is generally vacant on the sheet adsorbing surface on the belt 24. However, the contact-type cleaning member has a side effect such as being caught on the edge of the hole and rupturing the belt 24. Concerned. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a relief shape is provided in a portion that comes into contact with the hole as in the cleaning member 31d so as not to make contact. By adopting such a structure, it is possible to secure the conveyance force of the belt 24 because it is possible to clean most of the sheet material contact area of the belt 24 while maintaining the durability of the belt 24.

  8 to 10 show a fourth embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a filter 41 is provided in the middle of a path that joins the air flow for sucking and conveying the sheet and is carried to the outside of the apparatus. For this reason, as described in the above embodiment, the separated foreign matter is collected by the filter 41 in the middle of the path to be carried out of the machine. As shown in FIG. 9 (part indicated by arrow X in FIG. 8), the filter 41 is preferably installed as close to the exterior surface as possible and can be accessed (replaced) by opening the dedicated cover 42 and the like. By doing so, it is excellent in maintainability and can be replaced without stopping the apparatus, so that the downtime of the image forming apparatus can be reduced and the productivity can be improved.

  In addition, if the filter 41 is pushed into the shutter member 43 on the duct 23 and installed as shown in the modification shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of filters 41 are provided so that a new filter 41 can be inserted as shown. Therefore, it is possible to remove the filter 44 in which foreign substances are accumulated, so that it is possible to maintain a cleaner environment without discharging dust, dust and the like outside the apparatus.

1 sheet storage device 2 paper feeding device 3 vertical conveyance path 4 image forming unit 5 conveyance belt 6 fixing device 7 fixing roller pair 8 branching claw 9 paper discharge path 10 double-sided path 21 belt conveyance unit 22 fan 23 duct 24 belt 31 cleaning member 31a Blade-like member 31b Roller-like member 31c Brush-like member 35 Vent hole 40 Foreign matter 41 Filter 42 dedicated cover 43 Shutter member 44 Filter P sheet with accumulated foreign matter

JP-A-10-194488 JP 2006-264893 A JP 2008-290789 A

Claims (11)

In the sheet conveying apparatus that conveys the sheet by adsorbing the sheet to the belt-like member with air,
A foreign matter removing means that contacts the belt-like member and removes the foreign matter attached to the belt-like member;
Collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means with air used for the air suction,
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1,
The foreign matter removing means is a blade-like member that contacts the belt-like member and scrapes out the foreign matter.
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1,
The foreign matter removing means is a roller-like member that contacts the belt-like member to remove foreign matter,
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1,
The foreign matter removing means is a static elimination brush;
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The foreign matter removing means is provided on a surface opposite to the sheet conveying surface of the belt-shaped member, and the sheet is disposed immediately before the sheet conveying surface;
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A duct for collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means;
The opening of the duct is installed downward,
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The foreign matter removing means is arranged avoiding the suction holes on the belt-like member,
A sheet conveying apparatus. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A filter for removing the foreign matter from the air is disposed on the path for collecting the foreign matter removed by the foreign matter removing means.
A sheet conveying apparatus. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 8,
The filter is provided to be replaceable near the outside of the route on the route,
A sheet conveying apparatus.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1 for conveying a sheet for forming an image. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image forming apparatus is any one of a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, a printing machine, an ink jet recording apparatus, or a combined machine combining at least two functions thereof. It is characterized by that.