JP2016150795A - Conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveying device which can peel a processed sheet S from a belt smoothly while fixing a position of the sheet S and carrying out highly-precise conveyance operation.SOLUTION: A second conveyance belt 11b which has an adhesive surface and is excellent in elasticity and flexibility, contacts with a back surface of the sheet S, and supports and conveys it over an entire conveyance path of the sheet S. In a region where predetermined processing is carried out, conveyance operation is carried out while further supporting the second conveyance belt 11b from beneath by a first conveyance belt 11a having high rigidity. The sheet S is peeled from the second conveyance belt 11b by greatly bending the second conveyance belt 11b separated from the first conveyance belt 11a at a peeling part 5 after the above processing is carried out.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus that performs a predetermined process while conveying a carried-in sheet and discharges the sheet.

  In a printer, a resin belt having a surface subjected to adhesive processing has been proposed as a configuration for reliably positioning a sheet on the belt without providing a special device such as a suction unit or a static electricity generation unit.

  Patent Document 1 uses a two-layer conveyor belt consisting of an outer belt layer of an elastic body whose surface is subjected to adhesive processing and an inner belt layer having a relatively high rigidity such as metal, and enables positioning of the sheet and high accuracy. The structure which makes conveyance compatible is disclosed.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which the sheet is easily peeled off by increasing the curvature of the belt at the part where the sheet is peeled off.

Japanese Patent No. 3997990 JP 2012-176775 A

  Here, it is assumed that a conveyance belt having a two-layer structure disclosed in Patent Document 1 is virtually used and the structure disclosed in Patent Document 2 is applied thereto. The curvature of the inner belt layer having high rigidity must be increased together with the outer belt layer of the elastic body, and the durability of the inner belt layer may cause a problem in durability. There is a need for a realistic configuration that reliably separates the processed sheet from the belt while achieving both fixing of the position of the sheet on the belt and high-precision conveyance.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a conveying device that can smoothly separate a processed sheet from a belt while fixing the position of the sheet and performing a highly accurate conveying operation.

  To this end, the present invention provides the first conveyor belt, the second conveyor belt having adhesiveness on the surface and superior in flexibility to the first conveyor belt, and the second conveyor moving in the conveyor direction. Paper feeding means for placing the sheet on the surface of the conveyor belt, and pressing the first conveyor belt against the back surface of the second conveyor belt so as to support the second conveyor belt, the first conveyor A two-layer conveying means for conveying the sheet by a conveying belt having a two-layer structure of a belt and the second conveying belt, and a predetermined amount with respect to the surface of the sheet being moved in the conveying direction by the two-layer conveying means. A processing unit that performs processing; a separating unit that is disposed downstream of the processing unit with respect to the transport direction; and that separates the first transport belt from the transport belt having the two-layer structure; and the separation with respect to the transport direction Arranged further downstream than the means It is, by bending the second conveyor belt, characterized in that it comprises a release means for separating the sheet from the second conveyor belt.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably peel the processed sheet from the belt while fixing the position of the sheet and performing a highly accurate conveyance operation.

1 is an internal configuration diagram of an ink jet printer according to a first embodiment. Block diagram for explaining the configuration of control in an inkjet printer Block diagram and internal configuration diagram of ink jet printer of embodiment 2

Example 1
FIGS. 1A and 1B are internal configuration diagrams of an ink jet printer that can be used as the conveying device of the present invention. 1A is a perspective view, and FIG. 1B is a side view. In the ink jet printer of this embodiment, the paper feed unit 1 can stack and hold a plurality of sheets (print media). When a print command is input, the adhering roller 2 whose outer peripheral surface is covered with a flexible member such as rubber rotates in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise), and the uppermost sheet S is fed into the apparatus. Make paper. Both ends of the sticking roller 2 in the X direction are supported by a roller bearing (not shown) such as a bearing, and the roller bearing is urged in the Z direction by a pressing spring (not shown). The sheet S in close contact with the pasting roller 2 is carried into the apparatus along with the rotation. Thereafter, the sheet S is placed on the conveyance belt 11 and conveyed at a predetermined speed in the Y direction (conveyance direction) in the drawing.

  The printing unit 3 prints an image on the moving sheet S according to the input image data. In the present embodiment, the print unit 3 includes four print heads 3c, 3m, 3y, and 3k arranged in parallel in the Y direction for ejecting cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, respectively. In each print head, a plurality of ejection openings for ejecting ink as droplets are arranged at a predetermined pitch in the sheet width direction (X direction). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the discharge ports are arranged at a distance (636 mm) corresponding to the width size of the full-size chrysanthemum, and the printer can print on sheets of various sizes having the width or less.

  An encoder 6 is provided directly below the printing unit 3 to detect the conveyance speed of the conveyance belt 11 located below the printing unit 3. The configuration of the encoder 6 may be such that the optical sensor detects the passage of a plurality of slits provided at regular intervals at the end of the conveyor belt 11 or measures using a laser Doppler velocimeter or the like. It may be a thing. In any case, the ejection timing of each of the print heads 3c, 3m, 3y, and 3k can be controlled in accordance with the output of the encoder 6 so that the influence of the sheet S conveyance error does not appear in the image.

  The drying unit 4 installed downstream of the printing unit 3 generates hot air toward the surface of the sheet S being conveyed, and promotes drying of the ink applied by the printing unit 3. As a drying method, in addition to hot air drying, radiant heat drying, heat transfer drying by contact with a heating roller, or the like may be employed, or a combination of these may be used. In any case, it is preferable that the ink on the sheet S has a sufficient size and power so that the ink on the sheet S is sufficiently dried at the timing when it is discharged to the paper discharge unit 9.

  The sheet S that has passed through the drying unit 4 is separated from the conveying belt 11 by the peeling unit 5 and sent to the paper discharge unit 9. The structure of the peeling part 5 is demonstrated in detail later. In the paper discharge unit 9, a plurality of sheets on which images are printed are stacked and held.

  Hereinafter, the characteristic sheet conveyance configuration of the present invention will be described in detail. The conveyor belt 11 of this embodiment is constituted by a first conveyor belt 11a and a second conveyor belt 11b. The first transport belt 11a is formed of a member having relatively high rigidity such as metal, and is suspended around the first driving roller 7a and the first tension generating roller 7b. Then, as the first driving roller 7a rotates, it rotates counterclockwise in the figure.

  In the present embodiment, the first conveyor belt 11a is a belt for realizing highly accurate conveyance, and is required to have a small belt extension and high rigidity even when a certain amount of tension is applied. Stainless steel is mentioned as an applicable material, and SUS301, SUS304, etc. are used suitably as a specific base material. Moreover, when applying a high torque to the whole conveyance belt, SUS630, SUS631, etc. are used suitably. Examples of materials other than metal include materials having high rigidity such as polyimide belts.

  On the other hand, the second conveyor belt 11b is formed of a resin member having a relatively excellent elasticity and flexibility in which an adhesive layer such as a silicone resin or a silicone elastomer is laminated. The second conveyor belt 11b is suspended around the second drive roller 12a, the second tension generation roller 12b, and the peeling roller 15 in addition to the first drive roller 7a and the first tension generation roller 7b. Has been. Then, as the first driving roller 7a and the second driving roller 12a rotate, the mechanism rotates counterclockwise in the figure. The first conveyor belt 11a and the second conveyor belt 11b are not limited to the materials exemplified above, but the Young's modulus of the first conveyor belt is relatively higher than the Young's modulus of the second conveyor belt. High is desired.

  Each of the first drive roller 7a, the second drive roller 12a, the first tension generation roller 7b, and the second tension generation roller 12b is supported by roller bearings (not shown) such as bearings at both ends in the X direction. It is supported and rotatably supported within the printer casing. The first drive roller 7a and the second drive roller 12a are connected to a conveyance motor 37, which will be described later, via a gear or the like. On the other hand, each of the first tension generating roller 7b and the second tension generating roller 12b is urged in the −Y direction by an urging means (not shown) such as a spring, a fluid pressure generating means, and a magnetic force generating means. Appropriate amounts of tension are applied to the first conveyor belt 11a and the second conveyor belt 11b.

  In the upper region of the first drive roller 7a and the first tension generating roller 7b, the first conveyor belt 11a and the second conveyor belt 11b overlap in the Z direction, and the two-layer conveyor composed of the conveyor belt 11 having a two-layer structure. Defines the composition. The first conveyor belt 11a is positioned in the lower layer, and the second conveyor belt 11b is positioned in the upper layer. These are in close contact with each other and move in the Y direction at an equal speed. For example, by forming a friction layer or adhesive layer of urethane rubber or silicone resin on the front surface of the first transport belt 11a or the back surface of the second transport belt 11b, the adhesion between these two layers can be strengthened. I can do it. Moreover, the coupling | bonding of both can also be strengthened by forming the unevenness | corrugation which mutually meshes in the surface of the 1st conveying belt 11a, and the back surface of the 2nd conveying belt 11b.

  With the above configuration, the sheet S carried in from the paper feeding unit 1 is placed on the conveyor belt 11 with its back surface in contact with the adhesive layer formed on the surface of the second conveyor belt 11b. For this reason, while passing through the printing unit 3 and the drying unit 4, the state where the sheet S is firmly positioned on the conveyance belt 11 is maintained. Further, in the area located in the printing unit 3 and the drying unit 4, the conveyance speed of the second conveyance belt 11b located in the upper layer is regulated by the conveyance speed of the first conveyance belt 11a having high rigidity. As a result, in the area located in the printing unit 3 and the drying unit 4, it is possible to suppress the conveyance error due to the bending or distortion of the second conveyance belt 11 b, and the ink droplets ejected from the print head are the droplets of the sheet S. Land at the correct position.

  Such close contact between the first conveyor belt 11a and the second conveyor belt 11b continues from the first tension generating roller 7b to the first drive roller 7a. When the traveling direction of the first conveying belt 11a that is directly suspended from the first driving roller 7a is changed by the first driving roller 7a, they are separated. Thereafter, the second conveyor belt 11b travels in the Y direction for a while, and the traveling direction is changed by the peeling roller 15.

  The peeling roller 15 has a sufficiently smaller radius of curvature than the first driving roller 7a, the second driving roller 12a, the first tension generating roller 7b, and the second tension generating roller 12b (that is, the curvature is sufficiently large). (Large) roller. By moving around the peeling roller 15 having a sufficiently large curvature, local pressure is applied to the back surface of the second conveying belt 11b, and the surface thereof is extended. As a result, due to the stress generated between the back surface of the sheet S and the second conveying belt 11b and the rigidity of the sheet S, the sheet S is peeled off from the surface of the second conveying belt 11b and supported by the peeling claw 8 while being discharged. Proceed to 9. Such stress increases as the radius of the peeling roller 15 decreases (that is, as the curvature increases), and the peeling is performed smoothly.

  In the peeling unit 5, since the first conveyor belt 11a is already separated from the second conveyor belt 11b, the curvature of the peeling roller 15 does not affect the first conveyor belt 11a. In the present embodiment, the first conveying belt 11a having high rigidity only rotates around the first driving roller 7a and the first tension generating roller 7b having a relatively small curvature, and is locally bent. Fatigue associated with is unlikely to occur. In other words, the curvature of the peeling roller 15 can be designed large without considering the fatigue of the first conveying belt 11a.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a control configuration in the ink jet printer of this embodiment. The control unit 30 includes a CPU 31, a ROM 32, and a RAM 33, and controls the entire apparatus. When image data is input from the outside via the interface I / F 34, the CPU 31 can print the print unit 3 while using the RAM 33 as a work area according to programs and parameters stored in the ROM 32. Discharge data is generated. The generated print data is temporarily stored in the RAM 33, and the CPU 31 sequentially reads out the data and causes the print head provided in the print unit 3 to eject ink through the head driver 35. On the other hand, the CPU 31 rotates the pasting roller 2 via the drive motor 38 and feeds the sheet S into the apparatus. Further, the transport motor 37 is driven to rotate the first drive roller 7a and the second drive roller 12a, and the first transport belt 11a and the second transport belt 11b are rotated. Further, the CPU 31 receives the detection signal from the encoder 6 and controls the ejection timing of each of the print heads 3c, 3m, 3y, and 3k.

  Hereinafter, the result of actually verifying the configuration described in the above embodiment will be described as a verification example. However, the present invention is not limited to the contents of the following verification examples, and it goes without saying that there are various modes within a range not exceeding the contents of the above description.

(Verification example)
High tension stainless steel having a thickness of 0.3 mm was used as the first conveyor belt 11a. In addition, as the second transport belt 11b, an adhesive made of a silicone resin as a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer with a thickness of 50 μm was used on the outer peripheral surface of a 0.8 mm-thick PET base material. As the sheet S, a new NPI high-quality paper (manufactured by Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.) having a basis weight of 81.4 g / m ² was used.

  The radius of the 1st drive roller 7a and the 2nd drive roller 12a was 150 mm, and the radius of the peeling roller 15 was 25 mm. The first driving roller 7a and the second driving roller 12a were rotated so that the conveying belt moved at a speed of 500 mm / sec. In the drying part 4, it controlled so that 100 degreeC warm air was irradiated to the sheet | seat S which passes below for 2 second at the speed | rate of 5 m / sec.

  Under such a configuration, when a predetermined color image is printed on the sheet S by ejecting ink from the four-color print head, a highly accurate conveying operation is performed in the area including the printing unit 3 and the drying unit 4. Realized and could form high-quality images without uneven transport. Moreover, in the peeling part 5, the sheet | seat S was smoothly peeled from the surface of the 2nd conveying belt 11b, without delaying conveyance, and it was able to be discharged to the discharge part 9. As a comparative example, when the radius of the peeling roller 15 was verified to be 150 mm equal to the first and second driving rollers 7a and 12a, the sheet S could not be smoothly peeled from the surface of the second conveying belt 11b in the peeling portion 5. A crease has occurred in the sheet S.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the second transport belt 11b having adhesiveness on the surface and excellent elasticity and flexibility contacts the back surface of the sheet S in the entire transport path of the sheet S. And support and transport it. In the region where the processing is performed by the printing unit 3 and the drying unit 4, the first conveying belt 11 a having high rigidity further performs the conveying operation while supporting the second conveying belt 11 b from below. On the other hand, in the peeling unit 5 after the above processing is performed, the sheet S is peeled from the second conveyance belt 11b by largely bending the second conveyance belt 11b separated from the first conveyance belt 11a. With such a configuration, it is possible to reliably peel the processed sheet from the belt while fixing the position of the sheet and performing a highly accurate conveyance operation.

(Example 2)
3A and 3B are a block diagram and an internal configuration diagram of the ink jet printer used in this embodiment. In the first embodiment, the first driving roller 7a and the second driving roller 12a are driven by the common transport motor 37. On the other hand, in this embodiment, referring to FIG. 3A, independent motors 40 and 41 are prepared for each of the first drive roller 7a and the second drive roller 12a. Then, the CPU 31 controls the first transport motor 40 and the second transport motor 41 so that the torque for the second drive roller 12a is larger than the torque for the first drive roller 7a.

  Further, in this embodiment, the tension roller 13 is prepared, and the CPU 31 moves the tension roller 13 up and down via the tension controller 42 to adjust the tension of the second transport belt 11b.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, tension is positively applied only to the second conveyor belt 11b. Therefore, the stress generated between the second conveying belt 11b and the sheet S can be made stronger than in the first embodiment, and further smooth peeling can be promoted. In addition, since the tension of the second conveyor belt can be adjusted at any time by the tension controller 42, it is possible to prevent looseness associated with the environment and use frequency and maintain an appropriate tension.

(Other examples)
In addition, although the full line type inkjet printer provided with the drying part has been described above as an example, the conveyance device of the present invention is not limited to such a form. For example, in the ink jet printer, the drying unit 4 is not necessarily required, and when the drying unit 4 is omitted, each of the first conveyance belt 11a and the second conveyance belt 11b can be made shorter than the above embodiment. . Further, in the case where more processes are prepared, such as when cutting the fed continuous sheet, each of the first conveyor belt 11a and the second conveyor belt 11b is longer than the above embodiment. You can also

  In the above embodiment, a line type ink jet printer that prints an image by transporting the sheet S at a constant speed to a fixed print head has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also applicable to a serial type printer. It can also be applied. In the case of a serial type printer, print scanning in the X direction by the print head and belt conveyance in the Y direction are performed alternately and intermittently. Even with such a configuration, it is necessary to obtain high transport accuracy in the area printed by the print head in order to obtain a high-quality image.

  Furthermore, the process applied to the sheet S is not limited to the print process. The conveyance device of the present invention can also be applied to a scanner that reads an image on the sheet S, for example, by arranging a line sensor at the position of the reading unit 3 in FIG. Even a scanner can perform an accurate reading operation with high conveyance accuracy in the reading unit, and the separation unit 5 can smoothly separate the sheet S after reading from the conveyance belt 11. For any purpose, the present invention effectively functions as long as it is necessary to perform a predetermined treatment on a sheet carried on the belt and then peel it from the belt surface. To do.

1 Paper feeder
2 Sticking roller
3 Print section
7a First drive roller
11 Conveyor belt with two-layer structure
11a First conveyor belt
11b Second conveyor belt
12a Second drive roller
15 Peeling roller
S sheet

Claims (10)

A first conveyor belt;
A second conveyor belt having adhesiveness on the surface and superior in flexibility to the first conveyor belt;
Paper feeding means for placing a sheet on the surface of the second transport belt that moves in the transport direction;
The first conveyor belt is pressed against the back surface of the second conveyor belt so as to support the second conveyor belt, and the two-layer structure of the first conveyor belt and the second conveyor belt is formed. Two-layer conveying means for conveying the sheet by a conveying belt;
Processing means for applying a predetermined process to the surface of the sheet being moved in the transport direction by the two-layer transport means;
A separating unit that is disposed downstream of the processing unit with respect to the transport direction and separates the first transport belt from the transport belt having the two-layer structure;
And a separating unit that is disposed further downstream than the separating unit with respect to the conveying direction and peels the sheet from the second conveying belt by bending the second conveying belt. Conveying device. The second conveying belt conveys the sheet by rotating in a suspended state around a plurality of rollers,
The peeling means bends the second conveying belt through rotation of a peeling roller having a relatively small radius among the plurality of rollers, and applies stress between the second conveying belt and the sheet. The conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet is peeled off from the second conveying belt by being generated.   The first conveying belt rotates while being suspended around a first driving roller, and a radius of the peeling roller is smaller than a radius of the first driving roller. The transport apparatus according to claim 2.   4. The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a Young's modulus of the first transport belt is higher than a Young's modulus of the second transport belt. 5. A detecting means for detecting a position of the transport belt having the two-layer structure that is moving in the transport direction by the two-layer transport means;
The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit adjusts the processing based on a result detected by the detection unit.   6. The conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is a printing unit that prints an image on the sheet by ejecting ink based on image data.   The transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first transport belt includes a metal.   The transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the second transport belt is a resin member formed by laminating a silicone resin or a silicone elastomer on a surface thereof.   The first conveying belt rotates while being suspended around a first driving roller, and the second conveying belt is suspended around a second driving roller different from the first driving roller. 9. The transport device according to claim 1, wherein the conveying device rotates in a state where the torque with respect to the second driving roller is larger than the torque with respect to the first driving roller. 10.   The tension roller for contacting the 2nd conveyance belt of the position separated from the 1st conveyance belt, and adjusting the tension of the 2nd conveyance belt is further provided. The transfer apparatus according to any one of the above.

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