JP2011100062A - Sheet ejection device and image forming apparatus equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ejection device that suppresses noise generated in the device from leaking outside the device and sucks VOC near an ejection port into the device, and to provide an image forming apparatus equipped with the device. <P>SOLUTION: Air containing VOC outside the device is sucked into the device from an opening 20a formed in the surface of a lower ejecting roller 20 of a cylindrical shape. Air passed through a filter 40a via a hollow 20b formed in the lower ejecting roller 20 is ejected outside the device. At this time, a shutter member 21 closes the opening 20a in the device and, accordingly, sound in the device is suppressed from leaking outside the device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet discharging apparatus for discharging a sheet on which an image is formed and an image forming apparatus including the apparatus.

  An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine discharges recording paper on which an image has been formed inside the apparatus to a discharge tray outside the apparatus by a pair of discharge rollers provided at a discharge port. Since noise sources such as motors and gears are arranged inside the device, noise inside the device leaks to the outside of the device through the gap between the discharge port and the discharge roller and the gap between the discharge rollers. I was sorry. In order to prevent noise from leaking to the outside of the device, a pair of cylindrical discharge rollers are brought into close contact with each other without gaps, and the gap around the discharge rollers is made as small as possible to reduce the opening of the discharge port, and the sound is There has been a proposal to suppress leakage to the outside (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-336359

  In an image forming apparatus that fixes and discharges a toner image formed on a sheet by heat, a user may feel uncomfortable due to an odor caused by VOC generated from the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus. Here, VOC is an abbreviation for Volatile Organic Compounds (volatile organic compounds).

  In general, air containing VOC generated from a sheet on a discharge tray is once sucked into the apparatus from a discharge port for discharging the sheet, and is discharged outside the apparatus after the VOC is removed by a filter. However, since the image forming apparatus using the conventional technology prevents the sound inside the apparatus from leaking to the outside of the apparatus by reducing the opening part of the discharge port, the VOC outside the apparatus is reduced from the reduced opening part of the discharge port. It was difficult to suck the contained air into the apparatus.

  Accordingly, in the image forming apparatus using the prior art, it is necessary to provide a hole for sucking air separately in order to suck the air containing VOC into the apparatus. There is a risk of leakage.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a sheet discharge device capable of suppressing the sound generated inside the apparatus from leaking to the outside of the apparatus and sucking air containing VOC outside the apparatus into the apparatus, and an image forming apparatus including the apparatus. It is.

  The present invention has a circumferential surface provided at the discharge port and formed over the entire area of the discharge port in a direction crossing the discharge direction of the sheet, and discharges the sheet from the inside of the apparatus to the outside of the apparatus by rotating. A pair of discharge rollers, a plurality of openings provided on at least one surface of the pair of discharge rollers, a hollow portion provided inside the discharge roller provided with the discharge openings, and communicating with the openings; Airflow generating means for discharging the air sucked from the opening to the outside of the apparatus through the filter through the hollow part, and provided along the inner surface of the hollow part, and during the rotation of the discharge roller, And a shutter member held so as to close the opening.

  Since an opening for sucking air is provided in the discharge roller, air including VOC outside the apparatus can be sucked from a discharge port most suitable as a suction point. Further, since the shutter member that is held so as to close the opening on the inside of the apparatus is provided, the inside and outside of the apparatus are not communicated with each other through the opening for suction. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the sound leakage from the inside of the apparatus to the outside through the opening.

Copy machine sectional view in an embodiment of the present invention Detailed view of a sheet discharging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Detailed view of a sheet discharging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Detailed view of a sheet discharging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Controller block diagram in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a copying machine 30 as an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a sheet discharge apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The configuration will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The copying machine 30 in FIG. 1 includes a reader unit 32, a sheet feeding unit 31 on which sheets P are stacked, an image forming unit 24, a thermal fixing device 25, a discharge upper roller 13 and a discharge lower roller 20, which are driven by a driving device (not shown). And a sheet cooling device 16. The copying machine 30 conveys the sheet P to the image forming unit 24 after determining the type of the sheet P sent from the sheet feeding unit 31 based on the reflected light of the laser beam 42 a of the sheet detection unit 42. Next, the copying machine 30 transfers the document image read by the reader unit 32 to the sheet P as a toner image under image forming conditions corresponding to the type of the sheet. Then, the sheet P on which the toner image is transferred is fixed by the thermal fixing device 25 and is nipped and discharged by the discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20. When the sheet P is discharged, the sheet P is cooled by the air blown from the sheet cooling device 16, and is nipped and conveyed by the upper discharge roller 13 and the lower discharge roller 20, and is stacked on the discharge tray 15. The reason for cooling the sheet P is to prevent the sheets from adhering to each other on the discharge tray 15 and at the same time to prevent the sheet from curling. As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet cooling device 16 takes in the outside air B by a fan (not shown) and blows air onto the sheet P from the air blowing ports 16 a to 16 d.

  FIG. 2 is a view of the sheet discharging apparatus of the present invention as viewed from the downstream side in the sheet discharging direction.

  The discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20 are provided at the discharge port O, and sandwich the sheet P by a circumferential surface formed over the entire area of the discharge port O in a direction intersecting the discharge direction of the sheet P. A pair of cylindrical discharge rollers for discharging. The lower discharge roller 20 has an opening 20a, which will be described in detail later. The length W1 of the upper discharge roller 13 and the lower discharge roller 20 in the direction intersecting the discharge direction of the sheet P is substantially the same as the width W2 of the discharge port O. Further, the discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20 are arranged so that the radial dimension H1 is substantially the same as the height dimension H2 of the discharge outlet O in a state where each is nipped. By arranging in this way, it is possible to suppress the leakage of sound from the discharge port O to the outside. A gap is provided between the paper discharge port O and the discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20 as a discharge roller pair so that each roller can rotate.

FIG. 3 shows a sheet discharging apparatus according to the present invention. A is the discharge direction of the sheet P.
3A is a perspective view of the sheet discharge device, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of the sheet discharge device. The lower discharge roller 20 has a plurality of openings 20a provided on the entire outer periphery and a hollow portion 20b. The shutter member 21 having a C-shaped cross section is provided along the inner surface of the hollow portion 20b.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the shutter member 21 closes the opening 20 a inside the copying machine 30 and directs the open portion toward the outside of the copying machine 30 so that the opening 20 a outside the apparatus is hollow. It is comprised so that it may communicate with the part 20b. The wall 18 is a wall that separates the inside and the outside of the copying machine 30 and is configured to make the gap between the discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20 as small as possible.

  The exhaust fan 40 that is an air flow generating means sucks air from the opening 20a and discharges the air C from the hollow portion 20b to the outside of the copying machine 30 through the hollow bearing portion 20g. Further, a filter 40 a for removing VOC is provided on the downstream side of the exhaust fan 40. Air containing VOC sucked from the opening 20 a is removed by the filter 40 a and discharged to the outside of the copying machine 30. The opening 20a provided on the outer periphery of the lower discharge roller 20 may be appropriately changed in outer diameter size according to the amount of air to be sucked. When it is desired to increase the amount of suction air, the outer diameter size may be increased to increase the opening area of the opening 20a.

  The driving unit 20h can move the shutter member 21 connected to the rotating shaft 20i to a position where the apparatus external side is opened and a position where the apparatus internal side is opened. The rotation shaft 20i and the discharge lower roller shaft portion 20f can rotate independently of each other. In other words, the rotating shaft 20 i and the shutter member 21 can be rotated independently even while the lower discharge roller 20 is rotating.

  When the open portion of the shutter member 21 having a C-shaped cross section is held toward the outside of the copying machine 30 (see FIGS. 3A and 3B), air D is sucked from the outside of the copying machine 30. can do. When the open portion of the shutter member 21 having a C-shaped cross section is held toward the inside of the copying machine 30 (see FIGS. 4A and 4B), air E is sucked from the inside of the copying machine 30. can do. That is, the shutter member 21 is configured to be able to select whether to suck air from the outside of the copying machine 30 or to suck air from the inside of the copying machine 30.

  With the above configuration, when the open portion of the shutter member 21 is directed to the outside of the copying machine 30 (see FIGS. 3A and 3B), the lower discharge roller 20 is directed to the outside of the copying machine 30. The VOC generated from the sheet P on the discharge tray 15 can be sucked from the opening 20a. However, since the shutter member 21 blocks the opening 20a on the inside of the copying machine 30, the outside of the copying machine 30 does not communicate with the inside of the copying machine 30 through the opening 20a. It is possible to suppress the generated sound from leaking outside the apparatus.

  The VOC generated from the sheet P is greatly different in its component and density depending on the type of the sheet. There are a relatively large number of sheets that generate an unpleasant odor that the user of the copying machine 30 is concerned about. The object of the present invention is to recover VOCs generated from sheets having such a strange odor. Some of such sheets generate a large amount of VOC during conveyance immediately after fixing, that is, while passing through the discharge upper roller 13 and the discharge lower roller 20, and the present invention relates to such a sheet. It is particularly effective. This is because the VOC can be collected at a position closest to the sheet passing through the discharge roller pair, that is, at a position where the concentration of VOC generated from the sheet is the highest.

FIG. 5 is a controller block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The controller 26 as control means has a CPU circuit unit (not shown). The controller 26 is connected with driving means 20h, a fixing fan, and an exhaust fan 40. The controller 26 is connected to sheet detecting means. The CPU circuit unit has a ROM (not shown) inside. The ROM stores a program corresponding to a control procedure shown in FIG. The CPU controls each unit while reading this program.

Hereinafter, the operation of the shutter member 21 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.
(S001) Start image formation.
(S002) The controller 26 detects the sheet type by the sheet detection means 42 shown in FIG.
(S003) The controller 26 determines whether the sheet is a high VOC sheet that generates a large amount of VOC or not. In general, a glossy sheet having a glossy surface is often a high VOC sheet. This is because when the glossy processing portion is heated by the heat fixing device 25, VOC is generated. Therefore, in this example, when the sheet detecting unit 42 irradiates the sheet with the laser light 42a and reads the intensity of the reflected light, the sheet is determined to be a high VOC sheet when the reflected light intensity is a certain level or more. The determination as to whether the sheet is a high VOC sheet may be performed by the user himself / herself and the determination result may be input to the copying machine 30.
(S004) When it is determined that the sheet is a high VOC sheet, the controller 26 controls the driving means 20h to hold the open portion of the shutter member 21 having a C-shaped cross section toward the discharge tray 15 (FIG. 3B). reference). At this time, the exhaust fan 40 also operates.
(S005) The controller 26 increases the rotation speed of a fixing fan (not shown). This is for recovering the cooling air discharged from the sheet cooling device 16.
(S006) If the controller 26 determines that the image forming operation has ended, the exhaust fan 40 is operated for a certain period of time to collect the remaining VOC, and then the operation ends. If not completed, the process returns to the sheet detection S002 again.
(S007) If the controller 26 determines that the sheet is not a high VOC sheet in S003, the controller 20h is controlled to direct the open portion of the shutter member 21 having a C-shaped cross section toward the inside of the copier 30 ( (Refer FIG.4 (b)). Then, the exhaust fan 40 also operates.

  According to this embodiment of the above configuration and operation, there is an advantage that the direction in which the lower discharge roller 20 sucks can be selected according to the type of sheet. By selecting a direction, the amount of suction from that direction can be increased. In this example, the shutter member 21 is controlled in accordance with the sheet type, but control may be performed in addition to the toner loading amount of the sheet in addition to the control factor. When the user cares about the smell of toner, the user's comfort can be improved by performing VOC suction from the discharge tray.

  In this embodiment, the structure in which the suction mechanism is provided on the lower discharge roller has been described. However, this suction mechanism can also be applied to the upper discharge roller, and corresponds to the VOC generation source, the concentration and amount of VOC, and the like. The effect is obtained by providing it on at least one of the upper and lower discharge rollers.

13 discharge upper roller 15 discharge tray 20 discharge lower roller 20a opening 20b hollow portion 21 shutter member 20h driving means 40 exhaust fan 40a filter O discharge port

Claims (3)

A pair of circumferential surfaces that are provided at the discharge port and have a circumferential surface formed over the entire area of the discharge port in a direction that intersects the discharge direction of the sheet, and discharge the sheet from the inside of the apparatus to the outside of the apparatus by rotating. A discharge roller;
A plurality of openings provided on at least one surface of the discharge roller pair;
A hollow portion provided inside the discharge roller provided with the opening and communicating with the opening;
An airflow generating means for discharging the air sucked from the opening to the outside of the apparatus through the filter via the hollow portion;
A shutter member which is provided along the inner surface of the hollow portion and is held so as to close the opening inside the apparatus and open the outside of the apparatus during rotation of the discharge roller;
A sheet discharging apparatus comprising: Drive means for rotating the shutter member along the inner surface of the hollow portion;
The drive means moves the shutter member to a position that closes the opening inside the apparatus and opens the apparatus outside, and a position that closes the opening outside the apparatus and opens the apparatus inside. The sheet discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet discharging apparatus is possible. Image forming means for forming an image on a sheet;
The sheet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sheet on which an image is formed is discharged.
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images