JP2015003489A - Sheet material conveying device and image forming apparatus equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily secure flatness of a sheet material when conveying the sheet material by generating a negative pressure in the conveyance guide member side while guiding a guided surface of the sheet material such as a sheet P with a conveyance guide member.SOLUTION: A platen 150 for guiding a sheet in contact with the guided surface (non-image recording surface) of the sheet P being conveyed has a plurality of ribs 151 which extend in the direction parallel to or inclining to the sheet conveying direction B and come into contact with the guided surface of the sheet being conveyed, and air jetting nozzles 153 for generating an air current flowing along the guided surface of the sheet being conveyed are provided in recesses 152 existing between two adjacent ribs.

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying apparatus that conveys a sheet material, and an image forming apparatus such as an ink jet copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile equipped with the sheet material conveying apparatus.

  In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a charging unit for a photosensitive member, a stirrer for frictionally charging toner, a high-voltage power supply necessary for transferring an image, and fixing a toner image on a recording medium (sheet material). There are many parts that consume large amounts of power, such as heat sources. Therefore, in order to realize an image forming apparatus with a small amount of power consumption, an ink jet system with few components that consume power is advantageous. In particular, in recent years, it has been desired to suppress an increase in power consumption in a large-sized image forming apparatus, and a movement to adopt an ink jet system for a large-sized image forming apparatus is progressing.

  Note that the inkjet image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording medium by discharging droplets. However, the material of the recording medium is not limited to paper, and may be a thread, fiber, or fabric. It means an apparatus for forming an image by discharging droplets onto any sheet-like recording medium such as leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics and the like. Image formation not only applies an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure to a recording medium but also an image having no meaning such as a pattern to the recording medium (simply ejects a droplet). ) Also means. The liquid ejected as droplets is not limited to ink used for so-called image printing, and is not particularly limited as long as it becomes liquid when ejected. For example, a DNA sample, a resist, Pattern materials and the like are also included. Therefore, it is used not only for so-called image printing, but also for three-dimensional molding technology using the ink jet technology and blood drip.

  In the inkjet method, if the recording medium is not sufficiently flat, the distance between the inkjet head and the recording medium becomes uneven on the surface of the recording medium, resulting in variations in the landing positions of the droplets, resulting in lower image quality. To do. However, in the ink jet system, a phenomenon that the recording medium swells and swells due to adhesion of droplets (hereinafter referred to as “cockling”) or a phenomenon that the recording medium curls easily occurs, so that the flatness of the recording medium tends to deteriorate. . Therefore, in the ink jet system, how to ensure the flatness of the recording medium is an important issue in suppressing the deterioration in image quality.

  In addition, in the ink jet system, when the ink jet head and the recording medium are rubbed, the recording medium is smeared with ink, causing a serious problem that a defective image or a jam is caused. . Therefore, if the flatness of the recording medium cannot be ensured sufficiently, the reference gap between the inkjet head and the recording medium must be widened. The wider the reference gap between the inkjet head and the recording medium, the greater the influence of variations in the ejection direction of each nozzle in the inkjet head on the image quality, making it difficult to form a high-quality image. Therefore, ensuring the flatness of the recording medium is an important issue in narrowing the reference gap between the inkjet head and the recording medium in order to improve image quality.

  As a method of ensuring the flatness of the recording medium, a method of adopting an air suction conveyance method has been conventionally known (Patent Document 1, etc.). The image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 conveys a recording medium by rotationally driving the platen drum while the recording medium is sucked and held on the outer peripheral surface of the platen drum. On the outer peripheral surface of the platen drum, convex portions and concave portions extending over the entire circumference along the drum rotating direction are alternately formed in the drum axial direction. A large number of suction holes are formed in the top surface of the convex portion and the bottom surface of the concave portion to hold the recording medium with a negative suction pressure. The back surface (non-image recording surface) of the recording medium is sucked and held on the top surface of the convex portion by the suction force from the suction holes formed on the top surface of the convex portion. The back surface portion of the recording medium facing the recess is attracted into the recess by the suction force from the suction hole formed on the bottom surface of the recess. Since the negative pressure suction force generated in the concave portion is weaker than the negative pressure suction force generated in the convex portion, according to Patent Document 1, the recording medium is firmly adsorbed on the convex portion, but in the concave portion. Is said to be hardly drawn. Therefore, it is possible to carry the medium while ensuring the flatness of the recording medium.

  In the air suction conveyance method, a negative pressure is generated on the conveyance guide member side such as a platen drum so that the guided surface of a sheet material such as a recording medium is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide member. However, the conventional air sucking and conveying method employs a configuration in which air is sucked out from a plurality of suction holes on the bottom surface of the concave portion arranged to face each other so as to be close to the guided surface of the sheet material, and into the concave portion of the conveying guide member. Create negative pressure. In such a configuration, the guided surface of the sheet material is likely to block the suction hole on the bottom surface of the recess due to the suction force for sucking air from the suction hole on the bottom surface of the recess, and the flatness of the sheet material may be impaired. In particular, when a sheet material with low rigidity is conveyed, such a situation is likely to occur. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure flatness of a sheet material with low rigidity in the conventional air suction conveyance method. In addition, in an inkjet image forming apparatus, if the sheet material swells due to adhesion of droplets, the rigidity of the sheet portion decreases, so the sheet portion blocks the suction hole on the bottom surface of the recess and impairs the flatness of the sheet material. Cheap. On the other hand, if the suction force for sucking out air from the suction hole on the bottom surface of the recess is weakened so as not to become excessive with respect to the rigidity of the sheet material, this time, the force for attracting the guided surface of the sheet material to the conveyance guide member becomes weaker. Therefore, it becomes difficult to ensure the flatness of the sheet material.

  In addition to inkjet image forming apparatuses, in an apparatus that requires sheet material conveyance that requires ensuring the flatness of the sheet material, stable conveyance of the sheet material and ensuring the flatness of the sheet material The coexistence of these is desired.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and an object thereof is to convey a guided surface of a sheet material while being guided by the conveyance guide member by generating a negative pressure on the conveyance guide member side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material conveying device that can easily ensure the flatness of the sheet material and an image forming apparatus including the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comes into contact with a sheet material conveying means for applying a conveying force to a sheet material, and a guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed to which the conveying force is applied by the sheet material conveying means. And a conveyance guide member for guiding the sheet material, wherein the conveyance guide member extends in a direction parallel to or inclined with respect to the sheet material conveyance direction and is guided by the sheet material being conveyed. Airflow generating means for generating an airflow that flows along the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed is provided in a concave portion that exists between two adjacent convex portions, and has a plurality of convex portions that contact the surface. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, by generating a negative pressure on the conveyance guide member side, it is easy to ensure the flatness of the sheet material when the sheet material is conveyed while being guided by the conveyance guide member. An effect is obtained.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a platen in the inkjet recording apparatus. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the platen when cut in the paper normal direction along the paper transport direction. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the example which block | closed the inlet of the air flow path in the recessed part of a platen with the air ejection nozzle. (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the example of this embodiment which does not block | close the inlet of the air flow path in the recessed part of a platen with the air ejection nozzle. (A) And (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the behavior of cockling in the case of recording an image on a sheet | seat in the state which does not generate an air current in the recessed part of a platen. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing which shows the behavior of cockling in the case of recording an image on a sheet | seat in the state which generated the airflow in the recessed part of a platen. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the diffuser effect at the time of making the recessed part bottom face part of an airflow direction downstream with respect to an image recording area into the inclined surface which inclines below toward the airflow direction downstream. It is a block diagram of the control system which controls operation | movement of each air ejection nozzle according to a paper width. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement of each air ejection nozzle when conveying a paper with a wide paper width. (B) is an explanatory view showing the operation of each air ejection nozzle when a paper having a narrow paper width is conveyed. It is explanatory drawing which shows the flow of the air in a modification.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a sheet material conveyance device according to the present invention is applied to a recording medium conveyance device of an image forming apparatus will be described.
The image forming apparatus to which the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention is applied is an ink jet recording apparatus 100 that is an ink jet type image forming apparatus, but is another image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic system or a stencil printing apparatus. May be.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.
The ink jet recording apparatus 100 according to this embodiment includes a carriage 130 that can move in the main scanning direction inside the apparatus main body. An ink jet head 140 as a liquid discharge head is mounted on the carriage 130. The inkjet head 140 forms an image by ejecting ink droplets onto the paper P transported along the paper transport path A. A platen 150 is provided as a conveyance guide member that guides the paper P on the lower side of the inkjet head 140 corresponding to the range of movement of the carriage 130 in the main scanning direction. By being guided by the platen 150, the flatness of the paper P is ensured, and high-quality image recording by the inkjet head 140 is possible. Details of the configuration and operation of the platen 150 will be described later.

  A sheet P as a sheet material, which is a recording medium for inkjet recording, is conveyed along a sheet conveyance path A with a conveyance force applied by a sheet material conveyance unit. The sheet material conveying unit in the present embodiment includes a first sheet conveying unit 120 serving as a first recording medium conveying unit positioned on the upstream side in the sheet conveying direction with respect to the inkjet head 140 serving as a liquid ejection head constituting the image forming unit. The second paper transport section 160 as a second recording medium transport means positioned downstream in the paper transport direction can be broadly classified.

  The first paper transport unit 120 sends out a single sheet P positioned at the top of a plurality of sheets stacked on the paper feed tray 110 to the paper transport path A, and is sent out from the pick-up roller 121. And a first transport roller pair 122 that feeds the paper P to the image recording area between the inkjet head 140 and the platen 150 at a predetermined timing and a predetermined transport speed.

  The second paper transport unit 160 sandwiches the paper P that has passed the image recording area and transports it to the downstream side of the paper transport path A, and the paper P transported by the second transport roller pair 161. And a pair of paper discharge rollers 162 for discharging the paper to the paper discharge tray 170.

  In order to perform high-precision image recording, the parallelism between the image recording surface (upper surface) of the paper P held by the platen 150 and the inkjet head 140, that is, the image recording surface of the inkjet head 140 and the paper P It is important that the gap (hereinafter referred to as “image recording gap”) is kept constant throughout the entire image recording area. This is because if the image recording gap is not kept constant, the landing positions of the ink droplets are disturbed. For this purpose, it is important to ensure the flatness of the paper P in the image recording area. In addition, if the flatness of the paper P cannot be ensured, the paper P and the inkjet head 140 are rubbed, and there is a possibility that the most avoidable problem that the paper P is soiled or jammed occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to set a larger reference value for the image recording gap so that the flatness cannot be secured so as to avoid such rubbing. However, when the image recording gap becomes larger, the inkjet head 140 becomes larger. The effect of the variation in the ejection direction of each nozzle on the image quality is increased, and the disturbance of the ink landing position is also increased. From these facts, it is understood how important it is to ensure the flatness of the paper P. In particular, in an apparatus that requires high-speed recording, since the inkjet head 140 and the platen 150 have a large area, it is difficult to keep the image recording gap constant.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the platen 150 in the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the platen 150 when cut in the paper normal direction along the paper conveyance direction B.
A plurality of ribs (convex portions) 151 extending in a direction substantially parallel to the paper transport direction B are formed on the surface of the platen 150 of the present embodiment on the ink jet head 140 side. These ribs 151 guide the paper P by contacting a guided surface (lower surface) which is a non-image recording surface of the paper P being conveyed. That is, the top surface of the rib 151 is a reference surface that determines the reference position of the paper P in the image recording area. Therefore, in order to maintain the parallelism between the inkjet head 140 and the paper P, the top surface of the rib 151 is arranged to be parallel to the inkjet head 140. Of course, the portion of the rib 151 that does not face the inkjet head 140 (the portion that is out of the image recording area) does not need to be parallel to the inkjet head 140, and may be designed so that the paper P can be easily guided. .

  These ribs 151 are arranged at regular intervals in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction B, and a recess 152 is formed between the ribs 151. In the present embodiment, an airflow generating means for generating an airflow that flows along the lower surface (guided surface) of the sheet P being conveyed is provided in the recess 152. As a result, when the paper P is conveyed onto the rib 151 of the platen 150, the lower surface portion of the paper P facing the concave portion 152, the two ribs 151 located on both sides of the concave portion 152, and the bottom surface of the concave portion 152. An air flow path substantially parallel to the paper transport direction is formed in a space surrounded by.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the air flow generating means for generating an air flow in the air flow path can be configured by an air ejection nozzle 153 disposed on the downstream side in the paper conveyance direction with respect to the platen 150. Thereby, in the present embodiment, an air flow from the downstream side to the upstream side in the paper conveyance direction B can be generated in the recess 152. Of course, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which an airflow from the upstream side to the downstream side in the paper conveyance direction B is generated in the recess 152.

  In the present embodiment, the air ejection nozzles 153 are individually provided for the individual recesses 152. Note that two or more recesses 152 may be set as one set, and an individual air ejection nozzle 153 may be provided for each set. It is also possible to arrange a single air ejection nozzle 153 for all the recesses 152.

There is Bernoulli's law for fluids such as air, which can be expressed by the following equation (1). This is a law of energy conservation relating to fluid. In the following formula (1), the first term on the left side is kinetic energy, the second term on the left side is potential energy, and the third term on the left side is static pressure energy. In the following formula (1), “ρ” is the density [kg / m ³ ], “v” is the flow velocity [m / s], “p” is the pressure [Pa], and “g "Is gravitational acceleration [m / s ² ], and" h "is height [m].
1/2 × ρ × v ² + ρ × g × h + p = constant (1)

  The air current flowing through the recess 152 in the present embodiment can be considered from the first term on the left side and the third term on the left side of the above formula (1) because there is no change in the potential energy of the air. As a result, when the flow velocity v increases, the pressure p in the recess 152 decreases. When the flow velocity v is slow, the pressure p in the recess 152 increases. When the flow velocity v is zero, the pressure p in the recess 152 is equal to the atmospheric pressure. It becomes a standard. From this, it can be seen that, in the concave portion 152, a negative pressure state lower than the atmospheric pressure is in a portion where the flow velocity v is high. When the pressure in the concave portion 152 becomes negative, a force for drawing the paper P into the concave portion 152 is generated, thereby generating a force for pressing the lower surface of the paper P against the top surface of the rib 151. As a result, the paper P can be transported with the lower surface of the paper P pressed against the top surface of the rib 151, and the flatness of the paper P can be secured stably.

  What should be taken care of at this time is that the air jet nozzle 153 should not block the location that becomes the inlet of the air flow path. If the inlet of the air flow path is blocked by the air ejection nozzle 153 as shown in FIG. 4A, the initial pressure in the recess 152 depends on the pressure for driving the air ejection nozzle 153. This is because even if there is a flow, negative pressure is less likely to occur. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, the air outlet nozzle 153 and a portion opened to the atmosphere are present at the inlet of the air flow path.

  By generating an air flow in the recess 152 by the air ejection nozzle 153, the paper P can be conveyed while pressing the lower surface of the paper P against the top surface of the rib 151 of the platen 150. In particular, in the present embodiment, since the air flow generated in the recess 152 flows in the direction opposite to the paper transport direction B, the flow rate of the relative air flow when viewed from the paper P can be increased, effectively. Negative pressure can be obtained.

  The height of the rib 151 (depth of the concave portion 152) is appropriately set. However, the lower the height of the rib 151, the narrower the cross-sectional area of the air flow path. Easy to get pressure. However, if the cross-sectional area of the air flow path becomes too narrow, the fluid resistance increases and it becomes difficult to increase the flow velocity. Therefore, the height of the rib 151 is set in consideration of these balances. Further, as can be seen from this description, since an air flow is generated in the space between the paper P and the bottom surface of the recess 152, the paper P and the bottom surface of the recess 152 are not in contact with each other. Although dirt due to scattered ink or the like tends to accumulate on the bottom surface of the concave portion 152, it does not adhere to the paper P even if such dirt exists.

Next, the behavior of cockling will be described.
FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing cockling behavior when an image is recorded on the paper P in a state where no airflow is generated in the recess 152.
When an image is formed on the paper P with ink, if there is a local solid image, a large amount of ink adheres only to the solid image portion, and the paper P swells due to the moisture of the ink, and is locally Paper wrinkles occur. At this time, when viewed in the thickness direction of the paper P, since the swelling starts from the ink adhering side, the initial cockling shape is the image recording surface side (inkjet) as shown in FIG. The head 140 is convex. At this time, in the example shown in FIG. 5, since no airflow is generated in the recess 152, the interior of the recess 152 is not negative. For this reason, the cockling of the paper P tends to cause the head rubbing of the paper P, which is a serious problem.

FIGS. 6A to 6C are explanatory diagrams showing cockling behavior when an image is recorded on the paper P in a state where an air flow is generated in the recess 152.
When airflow is generated in the recess 152 as in this embodiment, even if cockling occurs in the paper P as a result of the negative pressure in the recess 152, the portion is shown in FIG. Is pulled into the recess 152. As a result, the height of the cocked portion is lower than that in the example of FIG. 5 and the cockling is less likely to cause head rubbing of the paper P. Therefore, even if cockling occurs, head rubbing hardly occurs, so that the reference value of the image recording gap can be set small, and high image quality can be achieved.

  In addition, since the airflow is secured in the recess 152, the lower surface of the paper P is not drawn to the bottom surface of the recess 152, and the paper P does not come into contact with the bottom surface of the recess and adheres dirt. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6C, the portion where cockling has occurred becomes a fine wrinkle-like shape and absorbs swelling. Therefore, as compared with the case shown in FIG. 5B, variation in the image recording gap due to cockling is reduced, and high image quality can be achieved.

Next, the shape of the platen bottom will be described.
In the present embodiment, the bottom surface of the concave portion 152 of the platen 150 is formed such that at least a portion facing the inkjet head 140 (a portion in the image recording area) is substantially parallel to the top surfaces of the inkjet head 140 and the rib 151. . By doing so, the cross-sectional area of the air flow path in this portion can be made constant, and thereby the flow velocity of the airflow can be made constant. Therefore, a uniform negative pressure can be generated for this portion, and the paper P can maintain a stable posture with respect to the inkjet head 140.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the air flow path gradually increases on the downstream side in the airflow direction, that is, on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the paper P with respect to the image recording area (the portion facing the inkjet head 140). It is configured. Specifically, the concave bottom surface portion on the downstream side in the airflow direction with respect to the image recording area is an inclined surface that is inclined downward toward the downstream side in the airflow direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, a diffuser effect is generated, and it becomes easy to stably realize a high flow velocity in the concave portion 152 facing the image recording area. As a result, the plane of the sheet P in the image recording area is easily obtained. Can be ensured stably.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of recesses 152 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. And each recessed part 152 is equipped with the air ejection nozzle 153 separately. By doing so, it is easy to reduce the variation in the flow velocity between the recesses 152, and it is easy to obtain a uniform adsorption force over the entire width direction of the paper P. In particular, even when the narrow paper P is transported, it is easy to obtain a uniform suction force over the entire width direction of the paper P.

  However, when the narrow paper P is transported, it is not only a waste of electric power but also unnecessary in the apparatus to generate an air flow by the air ejection nozzle 153 with respect to the concave portion 152 that is not blocked by the paper P. Air current is generated, which causes problems such as ink landing position disturbance and mist scattering. Therefore, it is preferable that each air ejection nozzle 153 is configured to be capable of ON / OFF control individually. As a result, each of the air ejection nozzles 153 is controlled in accordance with the width of the paper P, and the air ejection nozzle 153 corresponding to the recess 152 that is not blocked by the paper P is not operated, thereby suppressing the above-described problem. It becomes possible.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control system that controls the operation of each air ejection nozzle 153 according to the width of the paper P.
In performing this control, a sheet width detecting unit 210 that detects the width of the sheet P to be conveyed is necessary. The paper width detecting means 210 can be roughly classified into the following two types. One is to detect the width of the paper P from the input paper size by the user operating the operation panel or to recognize the position of the side fence of the paper feed tray 110 when the paper P is set in the paper feed tray 110. It is a means for detecting the paper width when the paper P is set, such as a means for detecting the width of the paper P from the result. The other is means for detecting the width of the paper P by a sensor represented by an optical system arranged in the paper width direction when the paper P is actually conveyed. In this embodiment, any type of paper width detecting means can be employed.

  The sheet width information detected by the sheet width detecting unit 210 is sent to the control unit 200 as an airflow generation control unit. The control unit 200 performs a process of selecting the air ejection nozzle 153 to be driven according to the paper width information. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the air ejection nozzle 153 corresponding to the concave portion 152A blocked by the paper P is driven to generate an air flow in the concave portion 152A. At the same time, the air ejection nozzles 153 corresponding to the recesses 152B not blocked by the paper P are not driven, and no airflow is generated in the recesses 152B.

  The air suction conveyance method generally requires countermeasures against leakage, and the conventional air suction conveyance method has a very complicated configuration in order to keep the adsorption force of the paper P constant even when the width of the conveyed paper P changes. Was adopted. In the present embodiment, since the paper P is attracted to the platen 150 side using Bernoulli's law by the air flow generated in each recess 152, the paper P to be transported with a very simple configuration as described above. Even when the width of the sheet P changes, the suction force of the sheet P can be kept constant.

  Further, in the present embodiment, if the air that has been sent from the air ejection nozzle 153 to the recess 152 and reaches the downstream side of the recess 152 flows into the machine without taking any measures, there is a risk of causing problems such as ink mist scattering. There is. Therefore, an airflow design that does not cause such a problem is required. For example, an airflow design such as guiding the ink mist to a duct so as to be adsorbed by a filter can be mentioned. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the exhaust unit 154 is provided on the downstream side in the airflow direction from the image recording area. The exhaust means 154 is composed of at least a fan 155 and a duct 156, and collects the air flowing from the air ejection nozzle 153 here to prevent the airflow from flowing into the machine. The destination of the duct 156 may be anywhere as long as it can prevent in-flight contamination, but as a typical example, a filter is used to guide the exhaust system to the outside of the aircraft and prevent mist from escaping outside the aircraft. You can do something like putting it in.

[Modification]
Next, a modification of the airflow design in the embodiment will be described.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the air flow in the present modification.
In the configuration in this modification, the duct 256 of the exhaust means 254 is configured to guide the air sucked by the fans 255a and 255b to the air ejection nozzle 153 side, and a circulation type configuration is realized. With such a configuration, not only can the air flow be confined in the circulation system to prevent ink mist from scattering into the machine, but also the airflow design in the machine can be facilitated. Furthermore, since it is a circulatory system, there is almost no air flow dissipation and it is possible to generate an air flow with less energy.

What has been described above is merely an example, and the present invention has a specific effect for each of the following modes.
(Aspect A)
A sheet material conveying unit such as a first sheet conveying unit 120 or a two sheet conveying unit 160 that applies conveying force to a sheet material such as a sheet P, and a sheet material being conveyed to which a conveying force is applied by the sheet material conveying unit. In a sheet material conveying apparatus having a conveying guide member such as a platen 150 that contacts a guided surface that is a non-image recording surface and guides the sheet material, the conveying guide member is in a sheet material conveying direction (paper conveying direction B). ) In a direction parallel to or inclined with respect to), and has a plurality of ribs 151 and the like that contact the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed, and exists between two adjacent protrusions. An airflow generating means such as an air ejection nozzle 153 that generates an airflow that flows along the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed is provided in the recess 152.
According to this, due to the airflow generated in the concave portions existing between the convex portions of the conveyance guide member, a negative pressure sufficient to attract the guided surface of the sheet material to the convex portions of the conveyance guide member from Bernoulli's law. It can be generated in the recess. Although the guided surface of the sheet material is pulled into the recess by this negative pressure, it is not pulled in until it comes into contact with the bottom surface of the recess due to the presence of airflow. Therefore, since the sheet material is not deformed so as to come into contact with the bottom surface of the recess, it is easy to ensure the flatness of the sheet material.

(Aspect B)
In the aspect A, the air flow generation unit generates an air flow in the concave portion from the downstream side to the upstream side in the sheet material conveyance direction.
According to this, compared with the case where the air flow from the upstream side to the downstream side in the sheet material conveyance direction is generated, the flow velocity of the relative air flow when viewed from the sheet material can be increased, and effectively negative. It is possible to obtain pressure.

(Aspect C)
In the aspect A or B, the air flow generation means generates the air flow by a flow of air ejected from an air ejection section such as an air ejection nozzle 153 that ejects air.
According to this, a negative pressure by Bernoulli's law can be generated in the recess with a simple configuration.

(Aspect D)
The aspect C is characterized by having exhaust means 154 and 254 for exhausting the inside of the concave portion on the downstream side of the air flow.
According to this, it is possible to suppress the diffusion of the air flow ejected from the air ejection portion, and to suppress the in-machine contamination due to the scattering of the paper P due to the diffused air current and the scattering of contaminants such as ink mist.

(Aspect E)
In any one of the aspects A to D, the transport guide member has at least three or more protrusions, and the airflow generation means generates a plurality of airflows for different recesses. An air flow generation unit such as an air ejection nozzle 153 is provided, and the plurality of air flow generation units are arranged in accordance with a region where the sheet material being conveyed in the direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveyance direction passes through the conveyance guide member. It is characterized by having an air flow generation control means such as a control unit 200 that selects one or more air flow generation units from the inside and generates an air flow during conveyance of the sheet material using the selected air flow generation units. To do.
According to this, it is possible to selectively operate the air flow generation unit according to the width of the sheet material to be conveyed, and it is possible to selectively set a location where the sheet material is sucked with negative pressure.

(Aspect F)
In the aspect E, the airflow generation control means does not select an airflow generation portion for a recess where the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed does not face.
According to this, since the airflow generation unit that does not require the generation of the airflow is not operated, an unnecessary airflow is not generated in the machine, and unnecessary power consumption can be avoided.

(Aspect G)
In an image forming apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus 100 that discharges droplets such as ink droplets from a liquid discharge head such as an ink jet head 140 to a sheet material such as paper P and forms an image on the sheet material. The sheet material conveying device according to any one of the aspects A to F is used as the sheet material conveying device for conveying the material, and the sheet material conveying device is opposed to the conveyance guide member in the sheet material conveying device. The liquid discharge head is disposed at a position where the liquid discharge head is located.
According to this, even if the sheet material swells due to droplets discharged from the liquid discharge head and cockling occurs, the swollen portion is drawn into the recess of the transport guide member, so that the liquid discharge head Rubing is suppressed. As a result, the reference value of the gap (image recording gap) between the liquid ejection head and the image recording surface of the sheet material can be reduced, and higher-quality image recording can be performed. In addition, since the airflow is secured in the recess, the guided surface of the sheet material is not drawn to the bottom surface of the recess, and the sheet material does not contact the bottom surface of the recess and the dirt is attached. Furthermore, the portion where cockling has occurred becomes a fine wrinkle-like shape as shown in FIG. 6C and absorbs swelling, so that variation in the gap for image recording due to cockling is reduced. High image quality can be achieved.

(Aspect H)
In the aspect G, at least a portion of the concave bottom surface of the conveyance guide member that is opposed to the liquid ejection head is configured to be a surface parallel to the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed. To do.
According to this, it becomes easy to make constant the cross-sectional area (the cross-sectional area of an air flow path) in the recessed part in the said part, and it is easy to make the flow velocity of the airflow in the said part constant. As a result, a uniform negative pressure can be generated for the portion, and the sheet material can maintain a stable posture (planarity) with respect to the liquid discharge head, which is stable with little recording positional deviation. Image recording becomes possible.

(Aspect I)
In the aspect G or H, at least a downstream side portion of the airflow is gradually separated from a guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed, at least a portion of the concave bottom surface of the conveyance guide member that is opposed to the liquid discharge head. It is configured.
According to this, due to the diffuser effect, it becomes easy to stably realize a high flow velocity in the concave portion where the liquid discharge head faces, and as a result, the sheet material maintains a stable posture (flatness) with respect to the liquid discharge head. Therefore, stable image recording with little recording position shift becomes possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Inkjet recording apparatus 110 Paper feed tray 120 1st paper conveyance part 121 Pickup roller 122 Carriage roller pair 130 Carriage 140 Inkjet head 150 Platen 151 Rib 152 Recess 153 Air ejection nozzles 154,254 Exhaust means 155, 255a, 255b Fans 156,256 Duct 160 Second paper transport unit 161 Transport roller pair 162 Paper discharge roller pair 170 Paper discharge tray 200 Control unit 210 Paper width detection means

JP 2012-196932 A

Claims (9)

Sheet material conveying means for imparting conveying force to the sheet material;
In the sheet material conveying apparatus having a conveyance guide member that contacts the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed to which conveyance force is applied by the sheet material conveying means and guides the sheet material,
The conveyance guide member extends in a direction parallel to or inclined with respect to the sheet material conveyance direction, and has a plurality of convex portions that contact the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed,
An apparatus for conveying a sheet material, characterized in that an airflow generating means for generating an airflow flowing along a guided surface of a sheet material being conveyed is provided in a concave portion existing between two adjacent convex portions. In the sheet | seat material conveying apparatus of Claim 1,
The sheet material conveying device, wherein the air flow generating means generates an air flow from the downstream side to the upstream side in the sheet material conveying direction in the concave portion. In the sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The sheet material conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the air flow generation means generates the air flow by a flow of air ejected from an air ejection section that ejects air. In the sheet | seat material conveying apparatus of Claim 3,
A sheet material conveying apparatus comprising exhaust means for exhausting the recess in the downstream side of the air flow. In the sheet material conveyance device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The conveyance guide member has at least three or more of the convex portions,
The airflow generation means includes a plurality of airflow generation units that generate the airflow with respect to different concave portions,
One or more airflow generation units are selected from the plurality of airflow generation units according to a region where the sheet material being conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveyance direction passes through the conveyance guide member. And an airflow generation control unit that generates an airflow during the conveyance of the sheet material using the selected airflow generation unit. In the sheet material conveying apparatus according to claim 5,
The airflow generation control unit does not select an airflow generation unit for a concave portion where a guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed does not face. In an image forming apparatus that discharges droplets from a liquid discharge head to a sheet material and forms an image on the sheet material,
As the sheet material conveying device for conveying the sheet material, the sheet material conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the liquid ejection head is disposed at a position facing the conveyance guide member in the sheet material conveyance device across a sheet material conveyance path. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7.
The image forming apparatus, wherein at least a portion of the bottom surface of the concave portion of the conveyance guide member facing the liquid ejection head is configured to be a surface parallel to the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 or 8,
Of the bottom surface of the concave portion of the conveyance guide member, at least the downstream portion of the airflow is configured so as to be gradually separated from the guided surface of the sheet material being conveyed, rather than the portion facing the liquid ejection head. An image forming apparatus.

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