JP2019094213A - Feeding device and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a feeding device capable of preventing intrusion of a sheet into a roller pair when attaching a sheet storing part into a main body, by a simple constitution.SOLUTION: A feeding device feeding a sheet to a device being a feeding destination comprises: a sheet storing part allowing drawing-out of the sheet from the feeding device; a loading unit loading the sheet; a conveying unit having a roller pair for conveying the sheet; a detector detecting a connected state and a separated state; and a control unit. The control unit, in a state of the sheet storing part being inserted into the feeding device, sets the sheet on the loading unit at a predetermined height when the detector detects the connected state, and lowers the loading unit to set the sheet on the loading unit at the predetermined height to a position lower than the predetermined height, according to the detection of the separated state changed from the connected state, by the detector.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a feeding device capable of feeding a sheet, and an image forming system.

  There are known feeding devices such as side paper decks that can be separated from an image forming apparatus. For example, when removing a jammed sheet, the feeding device is separated from the image forming apparatus. When the feeding device is connected to the image forming apparatus after removing the sheet after separation, the direction in which the feeding device is moved and the direction in which the sheet is conveyed from the feeding device to the image forming apparatus are the same. For example, a strong force acts on the sheet in the transport direction. As a result, the sheet may enter a pair of rollers for conveying the sheet by the feeding device.

  The feeding device may be configured to be able to pull out the sheet storage unit in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction when feeding sheets. Here, if the sheet storage portion is pulled out in a state where the sheet has entered the roller pair, the sheet is pulled out in a state of being caught by the roller pair, and as a result, there is a problem that the sheet is torn.

  In Patent Document 1, in order to solve such a problem, when the sheet storage cassette is detached from the main body, the sheet feeding path from the sheet storage cassette to the roller pair is shut off, and the sheet storage cassette is mounted on the main body. A configuration for releasing the blocking of the sheet feeding path is described.

JP 2014-105070 A

  However, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-105070, although the sheet can be prevented from entering the roller pair when the sheet storage cassette is attached to the main body, the provision of a dedicated mechanism causes complication of the apparatus and an increase in cost. .

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a feeding device and an image forming system which prevent entry of a sheet into a roller pair when mounting a sheet storage unit to a main body by a simple configuration. Intended to be provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, a feeding device according to the present invention is a feeding device for feeding a sheet to a device serving as a feeding destination, which accommodates the sheet and which can be pulled out from the feeding device. Among the storage unit, a loading unit disposed so as to be able to move up and down inside the sheet storage unit, and loading the sheets, the sheet supplied from a predetermined height is transported among the sheets loaded on the loading unit A transport unit having a pair of rollers, a connected state in which the feeding device and the device serving as the feeding destination are connected so as to be capable of feeding sheets, and the feeding device and the device serving as the feeding destination When the detection unit detects the connection state while the sheet storage unit is inserted into the sheet feeding unit, the detection unit that detects the separated state and the sheet storage unit are inserted in the sheet storage unit. To the predetermined height, and the sheet on the stacking unit at the predetermined height is at the predetermined height in response to the detection unit detecting that the separated state has been entered from the connected state. And a control unit that lowers the loading unit to a lower position.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the sheet from entering the roller pair when connecting the sheet feeding device to the sheet feeding destination device with a simple configuration.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure of a feed deck part. It is a figure showing the block configuration of the control system in a feeding device. It is a flowchart of loading means drive control at the time of separation of a feed deck part. It is the schematic which shows the state which lowered | hung the sheet | seat surface at the time of separation of the feed deck part of the Example of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. . The same reference numerals are given to the same components, and the description will be omitted.

<Schematic Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system 100 in the present embodiment. The image forming system 100 includes an apparatus main body 1 and a feeding deck 2 (feeding apparatus). FIG. 1A shows a state (connection state) in which the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1, and FIG. 1B shows a state in which the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1 Is shown). When the feeding deck 2 is mounted on the apparatus body 1, the feeding deck 2 and the apparatus body 1 are connected via the feeding path 41. Further, in a state where the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, for example, the user can remove the sheet S which is the cause of the jam.

  The apparatus main body 1 includes a photosensitive drum 10, a laser scanner 11, a mirror 12, a charger 13, a developing device 14, a transfer roller 15, and a cleaner 16 as an image forming unit for forming an image on a recording medium. On the top. The charger 13 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 10. The laser scanner 11 irradiates the photosensitive drum 10 charged by the charger 13 with the pattern of the image data of the image formation target via the mirror 12. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10. The developing device 14 performs development by visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed by the laser scanner 11 into a toner image. The transfer roller 15 transfers the toner image developed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 to the sheet S. The cleaner 16 removes the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 10 after transferring the toner image. Although FIG. 1 shows the configuration according to the electrophotographic method, another recording method such as an inkjet recording method may be adopted in the apparatus main body 1.

  On the downstream side of the image forming unit in the sheet conveying direction, a conveying unit 17 for conveying the sheet S on which the toner image is transferred, and the toner image on the sheet S conveyed by the conveying unit 17 are fixed as a permanent image And a fixing device 18 for fixing the image. Further, a discharge roller 19 for discharging the sheet S on which the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 18 is provided on the downstream side of the fixing device 18. A discharged sheet stacking tray 20 for receiving the sheet S discharged by the discharge roller 19 is provided on the upper outer side of the apparatus main body 1.

  The cassette feeding trays 30a to 30d are provided at the uppermost stream in the sheet feeding path, and can store a predetermined number of sheets S. The cassette feeding roller pairs 31a to 31d are provided downstream of the cassette feeding trays 30a to 30d, and pick up the uppermost sheet S from the sheet bundle. The sheet S picked up is conveyed to the vertical conveyance path 33 by the drawing roller pairs 32a to 32d. A manual feed unit 30 e is provided on the side surface of the apparatus main body 1. A manual feed roller pair 31e is provided downstream of the manual feed portion 30e, and picks up the sheet S. The sheet S picked up is conveyed to the vertical conveyance path 33.

  The feeding deck 2 is configured to be capable of handling the stacking of relatively large-capacity sheets S, such as 1000-sheet units, and is configured to be connectable to the lower part of the manual feeding unit 30 e in the present embodiment. The feeding deck 2 conveys the uppermost sheet S from the stacked sheet bundle until the pickup roller 31 f nips the sheet S on the feeding roller pair 31 g. The feed roller pair 31 g separates the sheets S and feeds them one by one to the apparatus main body 1 side (downstream side) which is a feeding destination. As described above, since the feeding deck 2 has a large space occupied by the stacking of the sheets S, the feeding portion of the sheet S picked up by the pickup roller 31f is fed as it is to the feeding roller pair 31g due to its structure. Located at the height that can be.

  The sheet S is conveyed to the vertical conveyance path 33 by the drawing roller pair 32a. The pair of registration rollers 34 located at the most downstream position of the vertical conveyance path 33 corrects the skew of the sheet S, and aligns the timing of image writing and sheet conveyance. Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1 for the purpose of jamming etc., in FIG. The feed deck 2 moves along the rails 35 so as to be separated from the apparatus main body 1.

<Schematic Configuration of Feeding Deck>
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration view of the feeding deck 2. The feed deck 2 includes a sheet storage unit 3 (sheet storage unit) for storing the sheet S, a pickup roller 31f (pickup unit), a pair of feed rollers 31g (conveyance unit), and an attachment / detachment sensor 40.

  The sheet storage unit 3 accommodated inside the feeding deck 2 is disposed in the inside thereof so as to be capable of moving up and down, and has a stacking unit 36 (stacking unit) capable of stacking the sheet S and a stacker 36 (stacker unit) A sheet presence / absence sensor 37 (sheet detection unit) that detects the presence / absence of the sheet S, an upper surface detection sensor 38 (sheet height detection unit) that detects the upper surface of the stacked sheets S, and a maximum when the stacking unit 36 descends. And a lower limit detection sensor 42 for detecting the lower limit. The sheet storage portion 3 is configured to be able to be pulled out in a direction intersecting the feeding direction from the state stored in the inside of the feeding deck 2 by the drawer rail 43. The sheet presence sensor 37 and the upper surface detection sensor 38 have, for example, a flag unit (not shown). The sheet presence sensor 37 is, for example, a distance measuring sensor. The detection point of the sheet presence sensor 37 is provided below the detection point of the upper surface detection sensor 38, and a recess for the sheet presence sensor 37 to detect the presence or absence of the sheet S on the loading surface of the loading unit 36 ( For example, a groove is provided. When the sheet S is stacked on the stacking unit 36, the upper surface detection sensor 38 detects the uppermost surface including the stacked sheet S. On the other hand, when the sheet S is not loaded on the loading unit 36, the loading surface of the loading unit 36 is detected.

  The loading unit 36 on which the sheets S are loaded is movable in the H direction (raising and lowering direction) in FIG. 2 by a lifting mechanism (not shown) capable of lifting and lowering the loading unit 36. The stacking unit 36 is controlled by the detection results of the sheet presence sensor 37 and the upper surface detection sensor 38 so that the uppermost surface of the stacked sheet bundle always has an appropriate height for feeding.

  The feed deck 2 is provided with an attachment / detachment sensor 40. The attachment / detachment sensor 40 (detection unit) is connected to or separated from the feeding deck 2 via the feeding path 41 for feeding the sheet S to the apparatus main body 1, that is, in the connected state. It detects whether it is in a certain or separated state. The mounting and demounting rail 35 has, for example, a mechanism that expands and contracts. In the present embodiment, the mounting and demounting rail 35 is housed inside the feeding deck 2 when mounted on the apparatus main body 1. In addition, the mounting and demounting rail 35 may be configured to be housed inside the apparatus main body 1 when mounted on the apparatus main body 1.

  As described above, due to the structure, the sheet S picked up by the pickup roller 31 f is positioned at a height at which it can be fed to the feed roller pair 31 g as it is. That is, when the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus body 1, the direction in which the feeding deck 2 is moved and the direction in which the sheet S is transported from the feeding deck 2 to the apparatus body 1 are substantially the same. Then, the heights of the feed path 41 and the upper surface of the sheet are substantially the same. Therefore, if the force when the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 exerts a strong force on the sheet S in the conveying direction, the sheet S enters the feeding roller pair 31 g of the feeding deck 2 Sometimes. In addition, the sheet S may enter the apparatus main body 1 via the feed roller pair 31g and straddle it. In that case, even if the user releases the jam and mounts the feeding deck 2 on the apparatus main body 1, the jam occurs. Furthermore, if it is attempted to pull out the sheet storage unit 3 in such a state, the sheet S at the position of the jam is torn.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, the elevating mechanism is controlled to lower the upper surface position of the sheet S. With such a configuration, even when the sheet S is urged in the mounting direction, that is, in the direction of the feeding path 41 when the feeding deck is attached to the main body, the sheet S is prevented from invading the feeding roller pair 31g. be able to.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the feed deck 2. The apparatus main body 1 and the feed deck 2 are shown in FIG. The feed deck 2 includes a display unit 47 (notification unit). The display unit 47 includes, for example, an operation panel, and is configured on the top of the feed deck 2. The display unit 47 displays various user interface screens such as apparatus information, a setting screen, and job information. In addition, the display unit 47 includes, for example, a hard key, and receives a job execution instruction from the user and a setting operation of a function. The apparatus main body 1 of FIG. 4 has a controller including a CPU, and controls the apparatus main body 1 generally based on a job or the like. For example, the CPU of the apparatus main body 1 communicates with the CPU 45 of the feeding deck 2 to control a series of processes from feeding to image formation on the recording medium.

  The controller 60 of the feeding deck 2 includes a CPU 45 (control unit), a ROM 61, and a RAM 62. For example, the controller 60 controls the operation of the feeding deck 2 by the CPU 45 reading out the program stored in the ROM 61 to the RAM 62 and executing it. For example, when the CPU of the apparatus body 1 transmits a feeding request to the CPU 45 of the feeding deck 2 at the feeding timing at the time of job execution, and the CPU 45 receives the feeding request from the CPU of the apparatus body 1, The feeding deck 2 is controlled to perform a feeding operation on the apparatus body 1. The components of the controller 60 are connected to one another via a bus 63, and the bus 63 functions as a data communication path between the various components.

  Detection signals from the sheet presence sensor 37, the upper surface detection sensor 38, the attachment / detachment sensor 40, and the lower limit detection sensor 42 are transmitted to the CPU 45. When raising the loading unit 36, the CPU 45 raises the loading unit 36 until the upper surface detection sensor 38 detects the upper surface. The height of the stacking unit 36 when the upper surface detection sensor 38 detects the upper surface is a height at which the heights of the feed path 41 and the upper surface of the sheet are substantially the same, and the sheet S can be fed to the apparatus main body 1 It is height. Here, when the sheet S is stacked on the stacking unit 36, the sheet presence sensor 37 is turned on by the sheet S, and the sheet presence is detected. On the other hand, when the sheet S is not stacked on the stacking unit 36, the sheet presence sensor 37 is turned off, so that the absence of the sheet is detected. When the sheet presence / absence sensor 37 detects the absence of a sheet, the CPU 45 causes the display unit 47 to display a message urging replenishment of the sheet S.

  Further, when the attachment / detachment sensor 40 detects that the apparatus main body 1 and the feed deck 2 are separated, the CPU 45 lowers the stacking unit 36 by a predetermined amount. Thereafter, when the attachment / detachment sensor 40 detects that the feed deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1, the CPU 45 raises the stacking unit 36 to a height at which the sheet S can be fed to the apparatus main body 1. Details of the control at the time of attachment and detachment of the feeding deck will be described later.

  Furthermore, the CPU 45 drives various motors 53 on the conveyance path of the sheet S including the feeding path 41 via the motor driver 52 connected to the input / output interface (I / O) 51, and drives the various rollers. Do. Here, the various rollers include a pickup roller 31 f and a feed roller pair 31 g.

<Flowchart of elevation control of loading unit>
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a procedure of lift control of the loading unit when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1. According to the process of FIG. 4, when the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1, the sheet S intrudes into the feeding nip portion of the feeding roller pair 31g even if the sheet S is urged in the direction of the feeding path. Can be prevented. The processing of FIG. 4 is realized, for example, by the CPU 45 reading out a program stored in the ROM 61 to the RAM 62 and executing it. For example, when the power of the apparatus main body 1 is turned on, the CPU 45 starts the process of FIG. 4.

  In S101, in a state where the CPU 45 is inserted into the sheet storage unit 3 in the sheet feeding deck 2, an output signal of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 is used to determine whether the sheet feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1 or not. To detect When the output of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 is on, the CPU 45 determines that the feed deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1, and repeats the process of S101. On the other hand, when the output of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 is off in S101, the CPU 45 determines that the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, and proceeds to the processing of S102.

  In S102, the CPU 45 detects an output signal of the upper surface detection sensor 38 in order to determine whether the height of the upper surface of the stacking unit 36 or the sheet S is a height that can be fed to the apparatus main body 1. When the output of the upper surface detection sensor 38 is off, the CPU 45 determines that the height of the upper surface of the stacking unit 36 or the sheet S is lower than the height at which the sheet can be fed to the apparatus main body 1. After maintaining it, it advances to S110. On the other hand, when the output of the upper surface detection sensor 38 is ON in S102, the CPU 45 determines that the height of the upper surface of the stacking unit 36 or the sheet S is the height that can be fed to the apparatus main body 1, and proceeds to S103. .

  In S103, the CPU 45 detects an output signal of the sheet presence sensor 37 in order to determine whether the sheets S are stacked. If the output of the sheet presence sensor 37 is on, the CPU 45 determines that the sheets S are stacked, and proceeds to step S109. On the other hand, when the output of the sheet presence sensor 37 is off, the CPU 45 determines that the sheets S are not stacked, and proceeds to S104.

  In S104, the CPU 45 starts lowering of the loading unit 36. In S105, the CPU 45 detects the output signal of the lower limit detection sensor 42 in order to determine whether the loading unit 36 has reached the lower limit position. If the output of the lower limit detection sensor 42 is off, the CPU 45 determines that the loading unit 36 has not yet reached the lower limit, and returns to the process of S104. On the other hand, when the output of the lower limit detection sensor 42 is ON, the CPU 45 determines that the loading unit 36 has reached the lower limit, proceeds to S106, stops the lowering of the loading unit 36, and proceeds to S107.

  In S107, the CPU 45 causes the display unit 47 to display a message prompting the user to supply the sheet S. Thereafter, in S108, the CPU 45 determines whether the sheet S is replenished. If it is determined that the supply of the sheet S is not completed, the CPU 45 repeats the process of S108. On the other hand, if it is determined that the replenishment of the sheet S is completed, the CPU 45 returns to the process of S102. Whether or not the replenishment of the sheet S is completed is determined based on, for example, whether or not the sheet storage unit 3 is inserted into the feeding deck 2.

  Note that after the CPU 45 stops the lowering of the loading unit 36 in S106, the CPU 45 may raise the loading unit 36 and proceed to S107. The position of the loading unit 36 at this time is a position where the loading unit 36 is lowered by a predetermined amount in S109. As a result, when the user receives the no-sheet notification at S107 and replenishes the sheet S, the CPU 45 raises the stacking unit 36. Therefore, when the user feeds the sheet S until the top surface of the sheet S reaches the feedable position, and the process of FIG. 4 continues and advances to S102 to S103 to S109, the stacking unit 36 is lowered by a predetermined amount. be able to.

  In S109, the CPU 45 lowers the loading unit 36 by a predetermined amount, and proceeds to S110. When the loading unit 36 is lowered by a predetermined amount in S109, the CPU 45 displays, for example, a message of “The feed deck 2 can be connected to the apparatus main body 1” on the display unit 47. In S110, the CPU 45 outputs the output signal of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 in order to determine whether or not the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 in a state where the feeding deck 2 is inserted into the sheet storage unit 3. To detect When the output of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 is off, the CPU 45 determines that the feed deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1 and repeats the process of S113. On the other hand, when it is determined that the output of the attachment / detachment sensor 40 is off, the CPU 45 determines that the feeding deck 2 has been attached to the apparatus main body 1 and proceeds to the process of S111.

  In S111, the CPU 45 starts raising the loading unit 36. In S112, it is determined whether or not the height of the upper surface of the stacking unit 36 or the sheet S can be fed to the apparatus main body 1 by the same processing as S102. If the CPU 45 determines that the upper surface has not reached the height at which feeding is possible, the process returns to the process of S111. If the CPU 45 determines that the upper surface has reached the height at which the sheet can be fed, the process proceeds to S113, the lifting of the loading unit 36 is stopped, and then the process of FIG. 4 is ended.

  When the sheet feeding deck 2 is mounted on the apparatus main body 1 from the state where the sheet feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1 by the above-described process, the sheet S can be prevented from entering the pair of feeding rollers 31g. .

<Configuration when the loading unit is lowered by the process of S109>
FIG. 5A is a view showing a state in which the upper surface of the sheet S stacked on the feeding deck 2 is at a height at which feeding is possible. FIG. 5B is a diagram showing the upper surface of the sheet S stacked on the feeding deck 2 FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which a predetermined amount is lowered by the process of S109 of FIG. 4 from the height at which feeding is possible.

  In the state of FIG. 5A, the height of the upper surface of the sheet S and the height on the side of the stacking unit 36 of the feeding path 41 are substantially the same. Therefore, when the feeding deck 2 is vigorously attached to the apparatus main body 1, the sheet bundle is urged toward the apparatus main body 1, and the sheet S at the height of the feedable position P is on the feeding path 41. In some cases, the sheet may be thrust into the feed nip portion of the feed roller pair 31g.

  On the other hand, in the state of FIG. 5B, the height of the upper surface of the sheet S is at a position lower than the feedable position P by a predetermined amount L. Even if the feeding deck 2 is vigorously attached to the apparatus main body 1 and the sheet bundle is urged in the direction of the apparatus main body 1, the sheet S on the upper surface is the sheet storage unit 3. It is a position which does not enter into the feed nip portion of the feed roller pair 31g.

  That is, in the present embodiment, when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, the loading portion 36 is lowered by a predetermined amount L to prevent the feeding roller pair 31g from entering the feeding nip portion. . In the present embodiment, the predetermined amount L for lowering the loading unit 36 is, for example, 3 cm, and a position lowered by 3 cm in the downward direction is a predetermined position. The predetermined amount L may be arbitrarily determined within a range not to enter the feeding nip portion of the feeding roller pair 31g according to the basis weight and the friction coefficient of the sheet S.

  According to the present embodiment, when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, the CPU 45 lowers the height of the upper surface of the stacked sheets by a predetermined amount than the feeding possible position. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the sheet S from entering the feeding nip portion of the feeding roller pair 31g by the sheet S being urged by the momentum when the feeding deck 2 is mounted to the apparatus main body 1.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus body 1 in a state where the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus body 1 and the height of the upper surface of the stacked sheets S is lowered by a predetermined amount. Then, the CPU 45 raises the height of the upper surface of the sheet S to the supply available position. Therefore, even when the height of the upper surface of the sheet S is lowered by a predetermined amount, when the feeding deck 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 1, the height of the upper surface of the sheet S is The sheet S can be supplied to the apparatus body. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, when it is detected that the sheet S is not stacked when the feeding deck 2 is separated from the apparatus main body 1, the CPU 45 sets the height of the stacking unit 36 to a predetermined amount. Lower to the lowest limit. Therefore, when the sheets S are not stacked, the user can supply the sheets S in a state where the stacking unit 36 is lowered to the lower limit.

(Other embodiments)
In the embodiment described above, the CPU 45 lowers the stacking unit 36 to the position of the lower limit detection sensor 42 when the sheet presence sensor 37 is off. However, the application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, between the uppermost surface and the lower limit, the height at which the user can easily supply a sheet may be previously defined as a sheet supply position, and the CPU 45 may lower the stacking unit 36 to the sheet supply position. In this case, a position detection sensor is provided to detect that the loading unit 36 has reached the specified sheet supply position. In such a configuration, step S105 in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is a process of determining whether the position detection sensor has detected that the stacking unit 36 has reached the sheet replenishment position. The CPU 45 starts the lowering of the stacking unit 36 by the process of S104 at the time of sheet replenishment, and stops the lowering of the stacking unit 36 by the process of S106 when the sheet replenishment position is detected by the process of S105. With such a configuration, the stacking unit is stopped at a height at which sheets can be easily replenished, and sheet replenishment by the user becomes easy.

  Further, a configuration in which a plurality of position detection sensors are provided, or a configuration in which the lower limit detection sensor 42 and one or more position detection sensors are simultaneously provided may be employed. The plurality of position detection sensors may be provided, for example, at heights of one fourth, two quarters, and three quarters of the height from the lower limit to the uppermost surface. At this time, when the user operates the operation panel of the display unit 47, a desired sheet replenishment position can be selected in advance from the sheet replenishment positions detected by the lower limit detection sensor 42 or the plurality of position detection sensors described above. May be The CPU 45 starts lowering the loading unit 36 by the process of S104, and when the lower limit detection sensor 42 or the position detection sensor corresponding to the height of the selected replenishment position detects the loading unit 36 in the process of S105, The lowering of the loading unit 36 is stopped by the process of S106. With the above-described configuration, the user can select the height of the stacking unit 36 at the time of sheet replenishment from a plurality of heights.

  The number of position detection sensors is not limited, and may be two or less or four or more. In addition, the position of the position detection sensor is not limited to the above example, and can be set arbitrarily. For example, the user can efficiently supply sheets by setting the distance from the uppermost surface to the sheet supply position to an integral multiple of the predetermined thickness of the sheet bundle to be supplied.

  Furthermore, the feed deck 2 may not have a CPU. In that case, the CPU which is the control means of the apparatus main body 1 controls the stacking unit 36 of the feeding deck 2. Alternatively, the feeding deck 2 includes an ASIC for control, and the ASIC of the feeding deck controls the loading unit 36 based on an instruction from the CPU of the apparatus body.

1 Main unit 2 Feed deck 45 CPU
100 imaging system

Claims (10)

A feeding device for feeding a sheet to a feeding destination device,
A sheet storage unit that stores the sheet and can be withdrawn from the feeding device;
A loading unit disposed movably in the interior of the sheet storage unit and configured to load the sheets;
A conveyance unit including a roller pair for conveying a sheet supplied from a predetermined height among the sheets stacked on the stacking unit;
Detection for detecting a connected state in which the sheet feeding device and the sheet feeding destination device are connected so as to be able to supply a sheet, and a separated state in which the sheet feeding device and the sheet feeding destination device are separated Department,
In the state where the sheet storage unit is inserted into the feeding device, when the detection unit detects the connection state, the sheet on the stacking unit is set to the predetermined height, and the detection unit is in the connection state Control to lower the stacking unit so that the sheet on the stacking unit at the predetermined height is at a position lower than the predetermined height in response to the detection of the separation state from the sheet A unit;
A feeding device characterized by   The control unit is configured such that, in response to the detection unit detecting the connection state from the separation state, the sheet at a position lower than the predetermined height in the separation state is the predetermined height The feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the loading unit is raised so as to be.   The control unit lowers the stacking unit to a height at which the sheet does not enter a nip formed by the roller pair when the detection unit detects the separated state. Feeding device as described. A sheet detection unit that detects the presence or absence of a sheet in the stacking unit;
When it is determined that there is no sheet in the loading unit, the control unit lowers the loading unit to the lowermost position.
The feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that:   5. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies that there is no sheet when the sheet detection unit detects that there is no sheet.   When it is determined that there is a sheet in the loading unit, and the sheet loaded in the loading unit is not in a position where feeding is possible to the apparatus serving as the feeding destination, the control unit is configured to 5. The delivery device of claim 4, wherein the height is maintained. And a sheet height detection unit that detects the presence or absence of a sheet at the predetermined height,
When the sheet storage unit is inserted into the feeding device and the sheet height detection unit detects the sheet at the predetermined height while the control unit detects the separated state of the detection unit. To lower the loading unit,
The feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that:   2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pickup unit that supplies a sheet at a predetermined position among the sheets stacked on the stacking unit to the pair of rollers of the conveyance unit. The feeding device according to claim 1;
An image forming apparatus that is an apparatus serving as the feeding destination and that forms an image on a sheet fed from the feeding apparatus;
An imaging system comprising: A feeding device for feeding a sheet to a feeding destination device,
A sheet storage unit that stores the sheet and can be withdrawn from the feeding device;
A loading unit disposed movably in the interior of the sheet storage unit and configured to load the sheets;
A conveyance unit including a roller pair for conveying a sheet supplied from a predetermined height among the sheets stacked on the stacking unit;
A connection state in which the sheet feeding device and the sheet feeding destination device are connected so as to be able to supply a sheet, and a detection unit that detects a separated state in which the sheet feeding device and the sheet device are separated;
In the state where the sheet storage unit is inserted into the feeding device, when the detection unit detects the separated state, the sheet on the stacking unit is set to a position lower than the predetermined height, and the detection unit The loading unit is raised so that the sheet on the loading unit located at a position lower than the predetermined height has the predetermined height in response to the detection of the connection state from the separated state. A control unit,
A feeding device characterized by

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