JP2023114976A - Media processing unit and image formation system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a media processing unit that performs a liquid application operation with a suitable liquid application amount even if there are variations in the number of paper sheets constituting a paper bundle or the paper type.SOLUTION: A medium processing unit includes: a conveying section that conveys media; liquid-applying means equipped with a liquid-applying member that applies liquid to a portion of at least one sheet of media conveyed by the conveying section; pressure-binding means that binds, by pressurization and deformation, a media bundle including at least one sheet of the media to which liquid has been applied by the liquid-applying means; and a control unit that determines a movement amount of the liquid-applying member for at least one sheet of the media based on the height information of the media and moves the liquid-applying member to the media based on the movement amount.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to a media processing device and an image forming system.

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a media processing apparatus that binds a bundle of sheet-like media on which an image is formed. Moreover, from the viewpoint of saving resources and reducing environmental load, there is also known a media processing device that performs binding processing without using a metal binding needle (staple). This media processing device is provided with a press processing unit capable of so-called "press binding" in which a bundle of sheets is clamped and deformed under pressure by uneven binding teeth. Paper is widely known as an example of a sheet-like medium. Therefore, in this specification, when describing a sheet stack, a "sheet stack" is used as an example of a stack of sheets of paper as a medium.

With pressure binding, as the thickness of the stack of papers increases (the number of sheets that make up the stack of papers increases), the binding teeth become more difficult to bite into, weakening the holding force that maintains the binding state, and the bound papers peel off. It is also known to make maintaining the state difficult. Therefore, for the purpose of increasing the binding strength in a media processing device that performs crimp binding, water is added in advance to the position where the binding teeth contact the paper (hereinafter referred to as the "binding position"). A technique for making it easier to bite is known (see Patent Document 1, for example).

The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200002 adds water to each sheet forming a sheet bundle, but when the number of sheets in the sheet bundle increases, the relative positional relationship between the water supply unit and the sheets changes. Since the amount of water added varies depending on the amount of movement of the water addition unit for contacting the paper, the amount of water added differs if the amount of movement of the water addition unit differs in one water addition operation. As a result, the amount of water to be added becomes too large, and there arises a problem that a sufficient binding force cannot be obtained at the time of crimping.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a medium processing apparatus that performs a liquid applying operation with a suitable liquid applying amount even if the number of sheets constituting a sheet bundle and the type of paper differ.

To solve the above-described problems, one aspect of the present invention relates to a medium processing apparatus, comprising: a transport unit that transports a medium; liquid application means including an application member; pressure bonding means for pressurizingly deforming and binding a medium bundle containing at least one medium to which the liquid has been applied by the liquid application means; and based on height information of the medium, and a control unit that determines a movement amount of the liquid application member with respect to at least one medium, and moves the liquid application member with respect to the medium based on the movement amount.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform a liquid application operation with a suitable liquid application amount even if the number of sheets forming a sheet bundle and the type of paper are different.

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming system; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the post-processing device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the internal tray according to the first embodiment as viewed from above. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the binding processing unit according to the first embodiment viewed from the upstream side in the transport direction; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the binding processing unit according to the first embodiment as viewed from the side of the liquid applying unit in the main scanning direction; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the crimping means according to the first embodiment; 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control block that controls the operation of the post-processing device according to the first embodiment; FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the thickness of a sheet bundle and the operation mode of liquid applying means; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of the thickness of the sheet bundle and the operation mode of the liquid applying means; 7 is a flowchart of binding processing for press-binding a bundle of sheets at a binding position according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing initial setting processing of the first embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. 4 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. 9 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a liquid applying member according to a third embodiment of the liquid applying process in the binding process; 9 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a liquid application member according to a fourth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing; 14 is a flow chart showing a fourth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. 14 is a flowchart showing initial setting processing of the fifth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a liquid application member according to a fifth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing; 10 is a flow chart showing a fifth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a liquid applying member according to a sixth embodiment of the liquid applying process in the binding process; 14 is a flow chart showing a sixth embodiment of liquid application processing in binding processing. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the internal structure of a post-processing device according to a second embodiment; FIG. 8 is a view of the internal tray according to the second embodiment viewed from the sheet thickness direction; The schematic diagram which looked at the crimping|compression-bonding means which concerns on 2nd embodiment from the upstream of the conveyance direction. The figure which looked at the liquid provision part which concerns on 2nd embodiment from the thickness direction of the paper. Sectional drawing in XXV-XXV of FIG. Sectional drawing in XXVI-XXVI of FIG. FIG. 10 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control block of the post-processing device according to the second embodiment; 6 is a post-processing flowchart of the post-processing device according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a modification of the image forming system;

[First embodiment]
An image forming system 1 as an embodiment of the image forming system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming system 1. As shown in FIG. The image forming system 1 has a function of forming an image on a sheet of paper P, which is a sheet medium, and performing post-processing on the sheet of paper P on which the image has been formed. As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming system 1 is configured such that an image forming apparatus 2 as an image forming apparatus and a post-processing apparatus 3 as a medium processing apparatus according to the present invention can cooperate with each other.

The image forming device 2 forms an image on the paper P and discharges the paper P on which the image is formed to the post-processing device 3 . The image forming apparatus 2 mainly includes an accommodation tray in which paper P is accommodated, a conveying unit that conveys the paper P accommodated in the accommodation tray, and an image forming unit that forms an image on the paper P conveyed by the conveying unit. Prepare for. The image forming unit may be of an inkjet type that forms an image using ink, or may be of an electrophotographic type that forms an image using toner. Since the configuration of the image forming apparatus 2 is already known, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[Overview of post-processing device 3]
Next, an overview of the post-processing device 3 as an embodiment of the medium conveying device according to the present invention will be described. The post-processing device 3 includes a superimposition transport section 250 as a retraction transport path. The stacking transport unit 250 enables a “pre-stacking process” in which a preceding medium that is transported in advance is temporarily evacuated to the switchback transport path, and multiple following media that are subsequently transported are overlapped with the preceding medium. The leading medium and trailing medium that have been aligned by the pre-stacking process are conveyed to an internal tray 260, which will be described later, in an aligned state. The evacuation transport path is provided upstream in the transport direction with respect to the internal tray 260 as the loading tray.

Post-processing device 3 performs predetermined post-processing on paper P discharged from image forming device 2 as a host device. The post-processing performed by the post-processing device 3 may be controlled by a control block provided in the post-processing device 3 as described later based on information from the host device, or may be controlled by a control block on the host device side. good too.

The post-processing device 3 includes a carry-in transport section 210 that continues from a carry-in entrance into which the paper P discharged by the image forming apparatus 2 is carried in, and an upper shift discharge transport section 220 and a lower shift discharge transport section that branch downstream from the carry-in transport section 210 . 230 , and a superimposing and conveying unit 250 .

The carry-in transport section 210 is provided with a punch unit PU for punching the paper P carried into the post-processing device 3 . The paper P that has passed through the carry-in transport section 210 is transported to the upper shift tray 227 via the upper shift discharge transport section 220, or is transported to the lower shift tray 236 via the lower shift discharge transport section 230, or is superimposed. It is transported to the transport section 250 . The sorting of the transport destinations of the paper P is performed by a first branch claw bc1 and a second branch claw bc2 provided at a branch point of the transport path.

In addition, the superposing/conveying section 250 is provided with a third branch claw bc3. By means of the third branching claw bc3, the destination of the paper P is conveyed to the internal tray 260 through the overlapped conveying path D as the first conveying path, or is sent back to the evacuation conveying path E as the second conveying path. or is toggled.

In the carry-in transport section 210, a plurality of transport roller pairs (hereinafter also simply referred to as transport roller pairs) 211, 212, 213, and 214 are arranged on the carry-in transport path A from the entrance. A punch unit PU is arranged between the transport roller pair 213 and the transport roller pair 214 .

A first branch claw bc1 is arranged downstream of the conveying roller pair 214 . By switching the state of the first branch claw bc1, the transport direction of the paper P can be sorted to either the upper shift transport path B, the lower shift transport path C, or the overlapping transport path D. A second branch claw bc2 is further arranged downstream of the first branch claw bc1. By switching the state of the second branching claw bc2, the conveying direction of the sheet P can be sorted into the upper shift conveying path B or the lower shift conveying path C.

A plurality of conveying roller pairs (hereinafter also simply referred to as conveying roller pairs) 221, 222, 223, and 225 are arranged in the upper shift discharge conveying section 220 to form an upper shift conveying path B. there is The paper P that has passed through the upper shift conveying path B is discharged to the upper shift tray 227 . An upper shift sensor 226 for detecting that the paper P has been discharged to the upper shift tray 227 is provided near the discharge port.

A plurality of conveying roller pairs (hereinafter also simply referred to as conveying roller pairs) 231, 232, and 233 are arranged in the lower shift discharge conveying section 230, and a lower shift conveying path C is configured. Lower shift sensors 234 and 235 for detecting that the paper P has been discharged to the lower shift tray 236 are provided near the discharge port.

A superposing/conveying path D is formed in the superposing/conveying section 250 . A third branching claw bc3 is arranged on the superposing and conveying path D. As shown in FIG. A plurality of transport roller pairs (hereinafter also simply referred to as transport roller pairs) 251 , 252 , 253 , 254 , and 255 are also arranged in the superposing transport section 250 .

More specifically, an upstream conveying roller pair 251 is arranged upstream of the third branching claw bc3, and a downstream conveying roller pair 252 is arranged downstream of the third branching claw bc3. A contact/separate conveying roller pair 253 is arranged between the upstream conveying roller pair 251 and the downstream conveying roller pair 252 and downstream of the third branch claw bc3. In addition, a retraction conveying roller pair 254 is arranged on the retraction conveying path E. As shown in FIG.

The sheet P conveyed from upstream to downstream in the superimposing conveying section 250 is conveyed to the internal tray 260 as a conveying destination through the pair of internal tray discharge rollers 255 . The paper P discharged to the internal tray 260 is detected by the medium detection sensor 257 and notified to the controller 100, which will be described later. Therefore, the number of sheets P passing the medium detection sensor 257 toward the internal tray 260 is detected by the medium detection sensor 257 to determine whether or not the number of sheets Pb has reached the number of sheets Pb in the binding process to be described later.

In the internal tray 260, alignment processing for aligning the edges of a plurality of sheets P and liquid application processing for applying liquid to the binding position are performed. binding is performed by The sheet bundle Pb (medium bundle) for which the binding process has been completed is discharged to the lower shift tray 236 via the lower shift conveying path C. FIG.

Further, a distance measuring sensor 270 for measuring the number of sheets P stacked on the internal tray 260 is arranged. The ranging sensor 270 is attached to the liquid application frame 31a via a holding member 270a, as shown in FIGS. By arranging the distance measuring sensor 270 near the liquid applying member 44 of the liquid applying means 31 in this way, the paper P or the paper P placed on the internal tray 260 near the liquid applying member 44, which is most important, can be The distance to the top surface of the paper stack Pb (the distance between the contact portion of the liquid applying member 44 with the paper P or the paper stack Pb and the top surface of the paper P or the paper stack Pb), and the paper P and the paper P in the internal tray 260 Accurately measures the distance to the lower pressing plate 33 when the paper stack Pb is not placed (the distance between the contact portion of the liquid applying member 44 with the paper P or the paper stack Pb and the lower pressing plate 33) be able to. Note that the distance measurement sensor 270 is not limited to being attached to the liquid application frame 31a as described above, and for example, may be attached to a fixed frame provided on the main body side of the post-processing device 3 so as to face the internal tray 260. It may be fixed. By doing so, the distance measurement sensor 270 is always fixed at a fixed position regardless of the movement of the liquid applying means 31, so the detection accuracy of the distance measurement sensor 270 can be stabilized.

In addition, the distance measuring sensor 270 is installed at a position serving as a predetermined reference point, and from this reference point to the placement surface of the lower pressing plate 33 when the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are not placed on the internal tray 260. , and the distance from the reference point to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the paper stack Pb placed on the internal tray 260 . Accordingly, based on the measurement result of the distance sensor 270, the controller 100 moves the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 from the contact surface of the liquid applying member 44 to the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb. The distance to the top surface can be calculated. Instead of the distance measuring sensor 207, the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 260 is measured, and the uppermost surface of the sheets P or the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 and the liquid applying member A detection means capable of acquiring the relative distance to 44 may be used. For example, a position detection means (image sensor) capable of specifying the position of the uppermost surface of the paper P or the paper stack Pb from an image may be used.

In addition, the controller 100 determines the position of the top surface of the paper P or the stack of paper sheets Pb (from the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 to the top surface of the paper P or the top surface of the stack of paper sheets Pb) without using the measurement result of the distance measuring sensor 207 . height) can also be calculated. That is, the controller 100 multiplies the number of sheets of paper P measured by the medium detection sensor 257 by the predetermined sheet thickness value information (paper thickness information d) for each sheet of paper P, thereby allowing the number of sheets to be placed on the internal tray 260 . It is also possible to calculate the height of the placed paper P or the paper stack Pb. The default paper thickness value per sheet of paper P may be a value automatically determined according to the type of paper P arbitrarily selected by the user (plain paper, thick paper, thin paper, etc.), or may be arbitrarily specified by the user. can be any value.

In any case, the height information as a numerical value representing the height of the sheet bundle Pb can be calculated by arithmetic processing of a computer program executed by the controller 100, which will be described later.

In the post-processing device 3, the post-processing performed on the sheets P is binding processing for binding a bundle of a plurality of sheets P on which images are formed (sheet bundle Pb). More specifically, the binding process according to the present embodiment includes so-called "pressure binding" for pressurizing and deforming the sheet bundle Pb at the binding position, and "needle binding" for binding the sheet bundle Pb with a binding needle. In this specification, the description of the configuration and operation related to stapling is omitted.

[Configuration Example of Binding Processing Unit 25 and Internal Tray 260]
Here, FIG. 3 shows the binding processing unit 25 as the binding processing unit provided in the post-processing device 3 and the internal tray 260 on which the sheets P are placed when the binding processing of the sheets P is executed in the binding processing unit 25. will be used for explanation. FIG. 3 corresponds to the B view in FIG.

The paper P is conveyed to the internal tray 260 by the internal tray discharge roller pair 255 . The white arrow shown in FIG. 3 is the conveying direction in this specification. When the sheet P is discharged to the internal tray 260 after being transported by the internal tray discharge roller pair 255, it slides down on the inclined mounting surface by gravity and reaches the mounting position. In this specification, the direction indicated by the white arrow (the direction in which the mounting surface is slid down and settled) is the conveying direction.

When the binding processing unit 25 performs the binding process on the end portion of the sheet bundle Pb, alignment processing for aligning the end portion of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb in the internal tray 260 is executed. As shown in FIG. 3, the inner tray 260 is conveyed toward a pair of side fences 24 that define the positions of the side edges of the paper P or the paper bundle Pb and the binding processing unit 25 in order to perform alignment processing. An end fence 23 that defines the position of the leading edge of the paper P is provided. Edges of sheets P or bundles of sheets Pb stacked on the inner tray 260 are aligned by the side fences 24 and the end fences 23 to prepare for the execution of the binding process.

With respect to the paper P conveyed to the internal tray 260, the side edges of the paper P are aligned by the side fences 24, and the front end of the paper P conveyed toward the binding processing unit 25 hits the end fence. Alignment processing is performed. Then, the binding process is performed after the liquid application process is performed on the final sheet Pe as the final medium constituting the sheet bundle Pb. The binding process is performed on the liquid application position performed at a predetermined position in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. Then, the sheet bundle Pb that has undergone the binding process is discharged from the post-processing device 3 . Note that the liquid applying process is performed each time on the paper P for which the alignment process has been completed.

As already explained, the direction in which the paper P placed in the internal tray 260 faces the end fence 23 is defined as the "conveyance direction" (the paper conveyance direction in FIG. 3). Further, a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the paper P and the transport direction is defined as a "main scanning direction (width direction of the paper P)".

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the binding processing unit 25 viewed from the upstream side in the transport direction. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the edge binding processing unit 25 viewed from the side of the liquid applying unit 31 in the main scanning direction. As shown in FIG. 4 , the binding processing section 25 mainly includes liquid application means 31 and pressure bonding means 32 . The liquid applying means 31 and the pressure bonding means 32 are arranged adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction on the downstream side of the inner tray 260 in the transport direction.

The liquid application unit 31 applies the liquid (for example, water) stored in the liquid storage tank 43 to the paper P or the paper bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 (hereinafter referred to as "liquid application"). do.

Here, more specifically, the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 43 for "liquid application" is mainly composed of a liquid state of a compound of hydrogen and oxygen represented by the chemical formula H ₂ O. . So-called hot water or hot water may be used as long as it is in a liquid state, regardless of its temperature state. Further, the water is not limited to pure water, and may contain ionized salts as well as purified water. The content of metal ions does not matter as well, from so-called soft water to ultra-hard water.

Additives may be added in addition to the main component. It may contain residual chlorine used as tap water, and it is also desirable to add colorants, penetrants, pH adjusters, preservatives such as phenoxyethanol, anti-drying agents such as glycerin, and the like. Furthermore, since water is used as a component in inks used in ink-jet printers and inks used in water-based pens, this may be used for "liquid application."

Not limited to the specific ones listed here, even hypochlorous acid water, ethanol aqueous solution diluted for disinfection, etc. in a broad sense will work, but even if it is only for the purpose of functioning as crimp binding. Tap water, which is easy to obtain and manage, should be used. As the liquid, using a liquid containing water as a main component as exemplified above can improve the binding strength of the sheet bundle Pb more than using a liquid containing no water as a main component.

The liquid application unit 31 is configured to be movable in the main scanning direction together with the pressure bonding unit 32 by transmission of the driving force of the binding processing unit moving motor 50 . A position (liquid applying position) where the liquid applying device 31 applies the liquid to the paper P or the paper stack Pb corresponds to a binding position where the pressure binding device 32 is scheduled to perform pressure binding. Therefore, the liquid applying position and the binding position are denoted by the same reference numerals in the following description. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the liquid applying means 31 includes a lower pressing plate 33, an upper pressing plate 34 (pressing means), a liquid applying portion moving mechanism 35, and a liquid applying mechanism . Components of the liquid applying means 31 (the lower pressing plate 33, the upper pressing plate 34, the liquid applying portion moving mechanism 35, and the liquid applying mechanism 36) are held by the liquid applying frame 31a and the base member .

The lower pressing plate 33 and the upper pressing plate 34 are arranged downstream of the inner tray 260 in the transport direction. The lower pressing plate 33 supports the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 from below. The lower pressing plate 33 is provided on the lower pressing plate holder 331 . The upper pressing plate 34 is configured to move (up and down) in the thickness direction of the paper P above the paper P or the paper bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 . That is, the lower pressing plate 33 and the upper pressing plate 34 sandwich the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 in the thickness direction of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb (hereinafter simply referred to as "thickness direction"). ) are placed facing each other. Further, the upper pressing plate 34 is formed with a through hole 34 a penetrating in the thickness direction at a position facing the tip of the liquid applying member 44 attached to the base plate 40 .

The liquid applying unit moving mechanism 35 moves the upper pressing plate 34, the base plate 40, and the liquid applying member 44 in the thickness direction of the paper P or the paper stack Pb. The liquid applying part moving mechanism 35 according to the present embodiment moves the upper pressing plate 34 , the base plate 40 and the liquid applying member 44 in conjunction with the single liquid applying part moving motor 37 . The liquid applying section moving mechanism 35 mainly includes, for example, a liquid applying section moving motor 37, a trapezoidal screw 38, a nut 39, a base plate 40, columnar members 41a and 41b, and coil springs 42a and 42b.

The liquid applying section moving motor 37 generates driving force for moving the upper pressing plate 34 , the base plate 40 and the liquid applying member 44 . Therefore, by controlling the driving of the liquid applying unit moving motor 37, the moving operation start position and the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 can be changed.

The trapezoidal screw 38 extends vertically and is rotatably supported by the liquid applying frame. Also, the trapezoidal screw 38 is connected to the output shaft of the liquid applying unit moving motor 37 via a pulley, a belt, or the like. A nut 39 is screwed onto the trapezoidal screw 38 . Then, the nut 39 is moved by transmitting the driving force of the liquid application unit moving motor 37 and rotating the trapezoidal screw 38 .

The base plate 40 is arranged above the upper pressing plate 34 . Further, the base plate 40 holds the liquid applying member 44 with the tip of the liquid applying member 44 protruding downward. Furthermore, the base plate 40 is connected to the trapezoidal screw 38 and configured to be movable together with the trapezoidal screw 38 . The vertical position of the base plate 40 is detected by a movement sensor 40a (see FIG. 7).

The columnar members 41 a and 41 b protrude downward from the base plate 40 around the tip of the liquid applying member 44 . In addition, the columnar members 41a and 41b are configured to be relatively movable with respect to the base plate 40 in the thickness direction. Furthermore, the columnar members 41a and 41b hold the upper pressing plate 34 at their lower ends. In addition, stoppers are provided at the upper ends of the columnar members 41a and 41b to prevent the columnar members 41a and 41b from coming off the base plate 40. As shown in FIG. The coil springs 42a, 42b are externally fitted on the columnar members 41a, 41b between the base plate 40 and the upper pressing plate 34. As shown in FIG. The coil springs 42 a and 42 b urge the upper pressing plate 34 and the columnar members 41 a and 41 b downward with respect to the base plate 40 .

The moving amount of the liquid applying member 44 is controlled by the liquid applying unit moving mechanism 35 when the paper P is subjected to the liquid applying process. More specifically, the movement start position of the liquid applying member 44 and the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 when the liquid applying member 44 descends toward the paper P to perform the liquid applying operation are the same as those in the liquid applying process. It is controlled by the distance between the upper surface of the paper P and the contact surface of the liquid applying member 44 . More specifically, the relative distance between the lower pressing plate 33 as a stage on which the paper P is placed at the height position of the body during the liquid application process and the liquid application member 44 descending toward the paper P is , are controlled by the controller 100 that controls the operation of the liquid applying unit moving mechanism 35 . In the liquid applying section moving mechanism 35 , the initial position of the liquid applying member 44 is adjusted by the liquid applying section moving motor 37 .

The liquid application mechanism 36 applies liquid to the paper P or the paper bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 . More specifically, the liquid applying mechanism 36 applies liquid to at least one sheet of paper P constituting the paper stack Pb by bringing the tip of the liquid applying member 44 into contact with the paper P or the paper stack Pb. The liquid application mechanism 36 mainly includes a liquid storage tank 43 , a liquid application member 44 , a supply member 45 and a joint 46 .

The liquid storage tank 43 stores liquid to be supplied to the paper P or the paper bundle Pb. The amount of liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 43 is detected by a liquid level sensor 43a. The liquid applying member 44 supplies the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 43 to the paper P or the paper bundle Pb. The liquid applying member 44 is attached to the base plate 40 with its tip facing downward. Further, the liquid applying member 44 is made of a material having a high liquid absorption rate (for example, sponge, fiber, or other material capable of adsorbing and holding liquid).

The supply member 45 is an elongated member having a proximal end immersed in the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 43 and a distal end connected to the liquid applying member 44 . Also, the supply member 45 is made of, for example, a material having a high liquid absorption rate, like the liquid application member 44 . As a result, the liquid absorbed from the proximal end of the supply member 45 is supplied to the liquid application member 44 by capillary action.

The protection member 45 a is a long cylindrical body (for example, a tube) that is externally inserted into the supply member 45 . As a result, the liquid absorbed by the supply member 45 can be prevented from leaking or evaporating. Moreover, the supply member 45 and the protection member 45a are made of a flexible material. A joint 46 secures the liquid application member 44 to the base plate 40 . As a result, even when the liquid applying member 44 is moved by the liquid applying section moving mechanism 35 , the liquid applying member 44 projects downward from the base plate 40 and maintains a state in which the tip faces downward.

The crimping means 32 binds the sheet bundle Pb by pressurizing and deforming the sheet bundle Pb with uneven binding teeth 32a and 32b (hereinafter referred to as "press binding"). That is, the crimping means 32 can bind the sheet bundle Pb without using a binding needle. Components of the crimping means 32 (binding teeth 32a (upper crimping teeth), binding teeth 32b (lower crimping teeth)) are provided on a crimping frame 32c.

As described above, in the binding processing unit 25, the liquid applying means 31 for applying liquid to the paper P or the paper bundle Pb is supplied with the liquid from the liquid storage tank 43 to the liquid applying member 44 which is a liquid absorber. A predetermined amount of liquid is applied by moving the liquid applying member 44 by the liquid applying unit moving mechanism 35 and pressing it against the target position (binding position B1) with respect to the paper P. FIG.

By adjusting the amount by which the liquid applying member 44 is pressed against the paper P or the paper stack Pb, that is, the amount of movement of the liquid applying mechanism 36 including the liquid applying member 44, the crushing amount of the liquid applying member 44 as a liquid absorber can be adjusted. can be controlled. By controlling the amount of crushing, the amount of liquid to be applied to the paper P can be adjusted to a specified amount that has been specified in advance.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the crimping means 32. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the crimping means 32 comprises a pair of binding teeth 32a, 32b. The pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b are arranged to face each other in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 so as to sandwich the sheet bundle Pb. The mutually facing surfaces of the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b are formed in an uneven shape in which concave portions and convex portions are alternately formed. Also, the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b are formed with recesses and protrusions shifted so as to mesh with each other. The pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b are brought into contact with each other by the driving force of a contact/separation motor 32d (see FIG. 7).

During the process in which the plurality of sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb are supplied to the internal tray 260, the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b are separated from each other as shown in FIG. 6(A). Then, when all the sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb are placed on the inner tray 260, as shown in FIG. Deformed under pressure from As a result, the bundle of sheets Pb placed on the internal tray 260 is pressure-stitched. Also, the bundle of sheets Pb bound by pressure is discharged to the lower shift tray 236 by the conveying roller pair.

The structure of the crimping means 32 is not limited to this embodiment, as long as the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b constituting the crimping mechanism are engaged with each other. For example, a link mechanism type crimping mechanism that crimps and separates the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b using a drive source and a link mechanism that only rotates forward or reverses (for example, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 6057167) ), or a direct-acting crimping mechanism that linearly crimps and separates the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b by a screw mechanism that converts the rotary motion of the drive source into linear motion. good.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3 , the binding processing section 25 includes a binding processing section moving mechanism 47 . The binding processing unit moving mechanism 47 main-scans the binding processing unit 25 (that is, the liquid applying unit 31 and the pressing unit 32) along the downstream end in the transport direction of the sheets P placed on the internal tray 260. move in the direction The binding processing unit moving mechanism 47 mainly includes a base member 48, a guide shaft 49, a binding processing unit moving motor 50, and a driving force transmission mechanism 51, for example.

The liquid applying means 31 and the pressure bonding means 32 are attached to the base member 48 so as to be adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction. The guide shaft 49 extends in the main scanning direction on the downstream side of the inner tray 260 in the transport direction. Further, the guide shaft 49 holds the base member 48 movably in the main scanning direction. The binding processing unit moving motor 50 generates driving force for moving the binding processing unit 25 . The driving force transmission mechanism 51 transmits the driving force of the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to the base member 48 via pulleys and timing belts. As a result, the liquid applying means 31 and the pressing means 32 integrated by the base member 48 move along the guide shaft 49 in the main scanning direction.

[Control block of post-processing device 3]
FIG. 7 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control block that controls the operation of post-processing device 3. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the post-processing device 3 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 104, and an I/F 105. It has a configuration connected via a common bus 109 .

The CPU 101 is a computing means and controls the operation of the post-processing device 3 as a whole. The RAM 102 is a volatile storage medium from which information can be read and written at high speed, and is used as a working area when the CPU 101 processes information. The ROM 103 is a read-only non-volatile storage medium and stores programs such as firmware. The HDD 104 is a non-volatile storage medium that allows reading and writing of information and has a large storage capacity, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

The post-processing device 3 processes a control program stored in the ROM 103 , an information processing program (application program) loaded from a storage medium such as the HDD 104 to the RAM 102 , and the like using the computing function of the CPU 101 . A software control unit including various functional modules of the post-processing device 3 is configured by the processing. A functional block that implements the functions of the post-processing device 3 is configured by combining the software control unit configured in this way and the hardware resources installed in the post-processing device 3 . That is, the CPU 101 , RAM 102 , ROM 103 and HDD 104 constitute a controller 100 as a control block for controlling the operation of the post-processing device 3 .

The I/F 105 includes transport roller pairs (251 to 255, etc.), branching claws (bc1, bc2, bc3, etc.), side fences 24, liquid applying means 31, pressing means 32, liquid applying portion moving motor 37, contact/separation motor 32d. , the binding processing unit moving motor 50, the moving sensor 40a, the liquid volume sensor 43a, the distance measuring sensor 270, the medium detecting sensor 257, and the operation panel 170 are connected to the common bus 109. The controller 100 operates the conveying roller pair, the branch claw, the side fence 24, the liquid applying means 31, the pressure bonding means 32, the liquid applying portion moving motor 37, the contact/separating motor 32d, and the binding processing portion moving motor 50 through the I/F 105. , the movement sensor 40a, the liquid amount sensor 43a, the distance measurement sensor 270, and the medium detection sensor 257. It should be noted that FIG. 7 shows only the components that perform the pressure binding process and the liquid application process.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the image forming apparatus 2 has an operation panel 170 . Operation panel 170 includes an operation unit that receives an input operation from the user, and a display (notification unit) that notifies the user of information. The operation unit includes, for example, hard keys, a touch panel superimposed on the display, and the like. The operation panel 170 acquires information from the user through the operation unit and provides the information to the user through the display. In addition, the user inputs the attribute information (size, thickness, etc.) of the paper P via the user interface realized on the operation panel 170, and the information is held so that it can be used in the control program. A specific example of the notification unit is not limited to a display, and may be an LED lamp, a speaker, or the like. Also, the post-processing device 3 may be provided with an operation panel 170 similar to that described above.

[Relationship between number of sheets to be bound and liquid application process]
Here, when controlling the movement operation of the liquid applying member 44 in order to perform the liquid applying process with a predetermined amount of liquid applied to each sheet P when the number of sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb increases, Depending on the number of sheets P, the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 differs. Therefore, the relationship between the number of sheets P (number of sheets) and the control amount of the liquid applying member 44 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. As will be described later, when the binding process is performed, the liquid applying member 44 is lowered toward the paper P while the paper P is placed on the lower pressing plate 33 provided in the binding processing unit 25 so that the liquid applying member 44 is brought into contact with the paper P. The liquid of the applying member 44 is applied to the paper P. The amount of liquid to be applied at this time varies depending on the amount of contact of the liquid applying member 44 with the paper P. FIG.

The liquid applying member 44 is made of a liquid-absorbent material, and when pressed against the paper P, the liquid applying member 44 is crushed and applies the retained liquid to the paper P. - 特許庁Therefore, the "deformation amount" of the liquid application member 44 has a correlation with the liquid application amount. The “deformation amount” is based on the amount by which the liquid applying member 44 is pressed against the paper P. FIG. Therefore, even if the stacking height of the paper P increases, in order to keep the amount of liquid applied to each paper P constant, the operation of lowering the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the paper P is started. It is necessary to change the position (see FIG. 8) or change the amount by which the liquid applying member 44 is lowered (see FIG. 9).

8A and 8B are diagrams for explaining a case where the lowering start position of the liquid applying member 44 is changed. As shown in FIG. 8A, a movement start initial position Msd corresponding to the distance between the contact surface of the liquid applying member 44 with the paper P and the placement surface of the lower pressing plate 33 is set as the initial position. It is assumed that the position to be set is predetermined. It is also assumed that an operation amount defined by an initial movement amount Mvd as an initial movement amount corresponding to the movement amount of the liquid applying member 44 until it reaches the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 is also predetermined.

Then, the paper P is placed on the placement surface of the lower pressing plate 33, and the displacement amount Pd per sheet is acquired from the thickness information of the paper P. As shown in FIG. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 8B, the movement start position Ms when N sheets of paper P are placed is determined by the following equation (1).

Movement start position Ms
=Movement start initial position Msd
+ (displacement amount Pd×n per sheet of paper P) (n: number of sheets of paper P) (1)

From the movement start position Ms calculated by the above formula (1), the liquid applying member 44 is moved downward based on the initial movement amount Mvd. can be set to the predetermined liquid application amount.

9A and 9B are diagrams for explaining a case where the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 is changed. As shown in FIG. 9B, the amount of movement Mv when N sheets of paper P are placed is determined by the following equation (2).

Movement amount Mv
= Initial movement amount Mvd
-(displacement amount Pd×n per sheet of paper P) (n: number of sheets of paper P) (2)

Then, from the position corresponding to the movement start initial position Msd as the default position of the movement start position, the liquid applying member 44 is lowered based on the movement amount Mv calculated by the above equation (2). It is possible to set the amount of liquid to be applied to each of the N sheets of paper P constituting Pb to the predetermined amount of liquid to be applied.

As described above, the position at which the liquid applying member 44 starts to descend toward the paper P or the paper stack Pb is changed or the amount of movement is changed depending on the stacking state of the paper P constituting the paper stack Pb. By changing these in the liquid applying process, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the paper P or the uppermost paper P in the paper stack Pb becomes constant. As a result, it becomes possible to make the amount of liquid to be applied to each sheet P constituting the sheet bundle Pb constant.

[Embodiment of binding process]
Next, an embodiment of binding processing executed in the media processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG. The binding process is executed by a binding process control program executed by the controller 100 . The following processing is realized by processing executed by the controller 100 in the binding processing control program. First, the controller 100 executes initial setting processing for the liquid applying means 31 (S901). Details of the initial setting process will be described later.

Next, the controller 100 rotates the conveying roller pair to place the paper P on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus 2 on the internal tray 260 (S902). Further, in S902, the controller 100 moves the side fence 24 to align the positions of the sheet bundles Pb placed on the internal tray 260 in the main scanning direction, that is, jogging.

Next, the controller 100 executes the liquid applying process on the binding position B1 of the sheets P placed on the internal tray 260 in the previous step S902 (S903). Detailed processing contents of the liquid application processing will be described later.

Next, the controller 100 determines whether or not the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 260 has reached the predetermined number N instructed by the binding process instruction (S904). The predetermined number of sheets N corresponds to the number of sheets P constituting one sheet bundle Pb. Then, in response to determining that the number n of sheets P placed on the internal tray 260 has not reached the predetermined number N (S904: No), the controller 100 executes the processes of steps S902 and S903 again. .

That is, the controller 100 executes the processing of steps S902 and S903 each time the paper P is transported to the internal tray 260 by the pair of transport rollers. However, depending on the processing in S903, the liquid may not be applied to all the sheets P that make up the sheet bundle Pb. Then, apart from the liquid application processing determination processing in S903, the controller 100 causes the liquid application unit 31 to apply the liquid to the binding position B1 at intervals of one sheet out of n (n<1<N) sheets. may be controlled.

When the controller 100 determines that the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 260 has reached the predetermined number N (S904: Yes), the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to crimp the sheets. The pressing means 32 is moved in the main scanning direction so that the means 32 faces the binding position B1 (S905).

Next, the controller 100 press-stitches the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 and discharges it to the lower shift tray 236 (S906). That is, the controller 100 drives the contact/separation motor 32d to press the binding position B1 of the bundle of sheets Pb placed on the internal tray 260 while sandwiching it between the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b. Further, the controller 100 discharges the pressure-bound sheet bundle Pb to the lower shift tray 236 by rotating the conveying roller pair.

Then, the controller 100 determines whether or not the number of sheet bundles Pb discharged to the lower shift tray 236 has reached the required number of copies specified in advance (S907). If the number of copies is less than the required number (S907: No), the process returns to S901 and is repeatedly executed. If the required number of copies has been reached (S907: Yes), the binding processing unit moving motor 50 is driven to move the crimping means 32 to the standby position (S908).

[First embodiment]
A first embodiment of the liquid applying process according to the present invention will now be described. First, the details of the initial setting process (S901) according to the first embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, first, information (paper thickness information d) about the thickness of each sheet of paper P is obtained (S1001). The paper thickness information d may be a preset thickness setting value included in the attribute information of the paper P notified from the image forming apparatus 2, or may be a value arbitrarily set by the user. Alternatively, a paper thickness sensor may be arranged on the transport path, and the value detected by the sensor may be used.

Based on the acquired paper thickness information d, a displacement amount Pd for displacing the movement amount of the liquid applying member 44 in the liquid applying process is determined per sheet of paper P (S1002). The determined displacement amount Pd is stored in a storage area provided in the controller 100 .

Next, the details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, from the detection result of the medium detection sensor 257, the number of sheets of paper P to be notified of the transport path (passing number of sheets n) is obtained (S1101).

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved in the main scanning direction from the standby position HP toward the liquid application position B1 (S1102).

Subsequently, the controller 100 acquires the displacement amount Pd stored in the storage area, and determines the movement start position Ms of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation using the already explained formula (1) (S1103).

That is, in the "movement start initial position Msd", the "displacement amount per sheet of paper P (displacement amount for displacing the movement amount of the liquid applying member 44 based on the paper thickness information d) Pd" and the "number of sheets of paper P n ( The value obtained by multiplying the passing number n)” is added to determine the movement start position Ms.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 8B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 to the movement start position Ms calculated by the above formula (1), and from there, based on the initial movement amount Mvd, The liquid application member 44 is moved toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb, and the liquid application process is performed on the sheet P (S1104). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd (S1105).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 starts to move toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb as the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb changes. It is possible to change the position where As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of liquid application processing according to the present invention will be described. The details of the initial setting process (S901) according to the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, so a detailed description is omitted (see FIG. 11).

Next, the details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 9 and the flowchart of FIG. First, from the detection result of the medium detection sensor 257, the number of sheets P (passing number n) for which the conveyance path is to be notified is obtained (S1201).

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved in the main scanning direction from the standby position HP toward the liquid application position B1 (S1202).

Subsequently, the controller 100 acquires the displacement amount Pd stored in the storage area, and determines the movement amount Mv of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation using the already explained formula (2) (S1203).

That is, the “initial movement amount Mvd” is combined with “a displacement amount per sheet of paper P (a displacement amount for displacing the movement amount of the liquid applying member 44 based on the paper thickness information d) Pd” and “the number of sheets of paper P (passage amount n)”. The amount of movement Mv is determined by adding the value obtained by multiplying the number n).

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 9B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 from the movement start initial position Msd to the paper P based on the movement amount Mv calculated by the above formula (2). Alternatively, it is moved toward the sheet bundle Pb, and the liquid applying process is executed on the sheet P (S1204). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd (S1205).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 moves toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb in accordance with the change in the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb. It is possible to change the amount. As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the liquid applying process according to the present invention will be described. Details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 14A, the controller 100 operates in a state where the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are not placed on the inner tray 260 (when the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are placed on the lower pressing plate 33). the distance k1 from the movement start initial position Msd to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270 (S1300).

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14(B), the controller 100 moves the movement start initial position every time the sheet P is placed on the internal tray 260 (each time the sheet P is placed on the lower pressing plate 33). A distance k2 from Msd to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270 (S1301).

Note that the above distances k1 and k2 are information used for calculating control amounts for operating the liquid applying member 44, which will be described later. More specifically, the information used for controlling the liquid applying member 44 to contact the uppermost surface of the paper P or the paper bundle Pb with a specific amount of deformation. and the contact surface of the liquid applying member 44 relative to each other. Therefore, instead of using the output of the distance measurement sensor 270, an output from another sensor or a configuration capable of outputting the information based on image analysis may be used.

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved in the main scanning direction from the standby position HP toward the liquid application position B1 (S1302).

Subsequently, the controller 100 uses the obtained distances k1 and k2 to determine the movement start position Ms of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation according to the following equation (3) (S1303).

Movement start position Ms
=Movement start initial position Msd
+ (distance k1 from the initial movement start position to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 - distance k2 from the initial movement start position to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb) (3)

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 14B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 to the movement start position Ms calculated by the above formula (3), and from there, based on the initial movement amount Mvd, the liquid The application member 44 is moved toward the paper P or the paper bundle Pb, and the liquid application processing is performed on the paper P (S1304). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, as shown in FIG. 14A, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd (S1305).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 starts to move toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb as the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb changes. It is possible to change the position where As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

[Fourth embodiment]
Next, a fourth embodiment of liquid application processing according to the present invention will be described. The details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 16 for explaining the case where the amount of movement of the liquid application member 44 is changed, and the flowchart of FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 16A, the controller 100 operates in a state in which the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are not placed on the internal tray 260 (when the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are placed on the lower pressing plate 33). the distance k1 from the movement start initial position Msd to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270. FIG. (S1400) After that, as shown in FIG. A distance k2 from the start initial position Msd to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270 (S1401). In S1401, similarly to S1301, it is possible to acquire information specifying the relative distance between the uppermost surface of the paper P or the paper stack Pb and the contact surface of the liquid applying member 44, using a configuration other than the distance measurement sensor 270. configuration may be used.

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved from the standby position HP toward the liquid application position B1 (S1402).

Subsequently, the controller 100 uses the obtained distances k1 and k2 to determine the amount of movement Mv of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation according to the following equation (4) (S1403).

Movement amount Mv
=Initial movement amount Mvd
- (distance k1 from the initial movement start position to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 - distance k2 from the initial movement start position to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the stack of sheets Pb) (4)

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 16B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 from the movement start initial position Msd to the paper P based on the movement amount Mv calculated by the above formula (4). Alternatively, it is moved toward the sheet bundle Pb, and the liquid applying process to the sheet P is executed (S1404). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, as shown in FIG. 16A, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd (S1405).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 moves toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb in accordance with the change in the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb. It is possible to change the amount. As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

[Fifth embodiment]
A fifth embodiment of the liquid applying process according to the present invention will now be described. First, the details of the initial setting process (S901) according to the fifth embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 18, first, prestack information is acquired (S1501). The pre-stack information is notified from the image forming apparatus 2 and is the number of sheets P to be pre-stacked on the evacuation transport path E. FIG. The pre-stack information includes the number of sheets P that are stacked and conveyed before the liquid application process. By performing the pre-stacking process, liquid can be applied only to the uppermost sheet P of the sheet bundle Pb formed on the internal tray 260 . In this case, since the necessary binding force cannot be exhibited with the amount of liquid applied to one sheet of paper P, control for increasing the amount of liquid applied for one time is required.

Therefore, based on the acquired pre-stack information, a pre-stack adjustment amount Pdp for adjusting the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 toward the paper P or the paper bundle Pb in the liquid applying process per sheet of paper P is set. Determine (S1502). The determined pre-stack adjustment amount Pdp is stored in a storage area provided in controller 100 .

Next, the details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 19 for explaining the case where the movement start position of the liquid application member 44 is changed, and the flowchart of FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 19(A), the controller 100 operates in a state where the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are not placed on the inner tray 260 (when the paper P and the paper bundle Pb are placed on the lower pressing plate 33). the distance k1 from the movement start initial position Msd to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270. FIG. (S1600) After that, as shown in FIG. 19B, the controller 100 moves each time the paper P is placed on the internal tray 260 (each time the paper P is placed on the lower pressing plate 33). A distance k2 from the start initial position Msd to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb is obtained based on the output of the distance measurement sensor 270 (S1601).

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved in the main scanning direction from the standby position HP toward the liquid application position B1 (S1602).

Subsequently, the controller 100 uses the obtained distances k1 and k2 and the pre-stack adjustment amount Pdp to determine the movement start position Ms of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation by the following equation (5) ( S1603).

Movement start position Ms
=Movement start initial position Msd
+ (distance k1 from the initial movement start position to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 - distance k2 from the initial movement start position to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb)
-(adjustment amount Pdp for adjusting the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 based on the pre-stack information) (5)

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 19B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 to the movement start position Ms calculated by the above formula (5), and from there, based on the initial movement amount Mvd, the liquid The applying member 44 is moved toward the paper P or the paper bundle Pb, and the liquid applying process to the paper P is executed (S1604). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd as shown in FIG. 19A (S1605).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 moves toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb in accordance with the change in the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb. It is possible to change the amount. As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

[Sixth embodiment]
Next, a sixth embodiment of liquid application processing according to the present invention will be described. The details of the initial setting process (S901) according to the sixth embodiment are the same as those of the fifth embodiment, so a detailed description is omitted (see FIG. 11). The details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the sixth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 21 for explaining the case of changing the amount of movement of the liquid application member 44 and the flowchart of FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 1700), the distance k1 from the movement start initial position Msd to the mounting surface of the internal tray 260 is acquired based on the output of the distance measurement sensor 270 (S1700). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 21(B), the controller 100 moves the movement start initial position every time the paper P is placed on the internal tray 260 (every time the paper P is placed on the lower pressing plate 33). A distance k2 from Msd to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb is obtained based on the output of the distance measuring sensor 270 (S1701).

Subsequently, the controller 100 drives the binding processing unit moving motor 50 to move the binding processing unit so that the liquid application unit 31 faces the liquid application position B1 (corresponding to the binding position B1) as shown in FIG. 25 is moved in the main scanning direction from the standby position HP toward the liquid applying position B1 (S1702).

Subsequently, the controller 100 uses the obtained distances k1 and k2 and the pre-stack adjustment amount Pdp to determine the movement amount Mv of the liquid applying member 44 during the liquid applying operation using the following formula (6) (S1703 ).

Movement amount Mv
=Initial movement amount Mvd
- (distance k1 from the movement start initial position to the mounting surface of the lower pressing plate 33 - distance k2 from the movement start initial position to the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the stack of sheets Pb)
+(adjustment amount Pdp for adjusting the amount of movement of the liquid applying member 44 based on the pre-stack information) (6)

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 21B, the controller 100 moves the liquid applying member 44 from the movement start initial position Msd to the paper P based on the movement amount Mv calculated by the above formula (6). Alternatively, it is moved toward the sheet bundle Pb, and the liquid applying process to the sheet P is executed (S1704). When the liquid applying process to the paper P is completed, the liquid applying member 44 is moved to the movement start initial position Msd as shown in FIG. 21A (S1705).

As described above, in the process of forming the sheet bundle Pb, the liquid applying member 44 moves toward the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb in accordance with the change in the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet P or the sheet bundle Pb. It is possible to change the amount. As a result, the amount of deformation of the liquid applying member 44 with respect to the uppermost surface of the paper P or the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant, so the amount of liquid applied to each sheet of paper P constituting the stack of sheets Pb can be made constant. becomes.

As a result of the above process, the number of sheets of paper P is increased and the positional relationship (interval) between the liquid applying member 44 and the paper P or the uppermost paper sheet P of the paper stack Pb is displaced. It is possible to prevent the amount of liquid applied from the member 44 to the paper P from becoming unsuitable. That is, depending on the number of sheets of paper P constituting the paper stack Pb, the liquid application start position of the liquid application member 44 is changed and the liquid application downward movement amount is left as the default value, or the liquid application start position of the liquid application member 44 is changed. The amount by which the liquid applying member 44 is pressed against the paper P is made constant by changing the amount of liquid application downward movement without changing . As a result, the amount of liquid applied to the paper P by the liquid applying member 44 can be maintained constant.

In the above description, the number of sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb is calculated based on the detection result of the medium detection sensor 257. It may be calculated based on the number of sheets.

According to the above embodiment, for example, the following operational effects are obtained. That is, in the post-processing device 3, the amount of liquid to be applied using the liquid applying member 44 can be set to the default value when performing pressure binding processing. Therefore, the movement start position or movement amount of the liquid applying member 44 is changed according to the thickness of the sheet bundles Pb stacked in the internal tray 260 .

When the operation start position of the liquid applying member 44 is changed according to the height of the sheet stack Pb, the movement amount as the operation amount is set as the default value.

Further, when the operation start position of the liquid applying member 44 is not changed, the movement amount as the operation amount is changed according to the required bundle height.

In addition, the operation start position and the amount of operation are appropriately changed so that the amount of liquid to be applied to the paper P that has been pre-stacked and conveyed is an appropriate value.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a post-processing device 3A according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 23 to 31. FIG. In addition, the same reference number may be attached to the component common to 1st embodiment, and detailed description may be abbreviate|omitted.

Unlike the post-processing apparatus 3 according to the first embodiment, in which the liquid applying means 31 and the pressure bonding means 32 are provided side by side, the post-processing apparatus 3A according to the second embodiment has only the liquid applying means 131 on the upstream side of the transport path. are provided. As a result, a predetermined number of sheets of paper P can be pre-stacked after the liquid application process and conveyed to the pressure bonding means 32 of the edge binding processing section 25 provided downstream, so that the productivity of the binding process in the pressure bonding means 32 can be improved. can be improved. Also, the direction in which the transport roller pairs 10, 11, and 14 transport the paper P is defined as the "reverse transport direction" because it is the opposite direction to the "transport direction" defined above. A direction perpendicular to the reverse transport direction and the thickness direction of the paper P is defined as a "main scanning direction (width direction of the paper P)".

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the post-processing device 3A according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 24, the end binding processing section 25 includes a crimping means 32 and a staple binding means 32'. As shown in FIG. 23, the crimping means 32 and the stapling means 32' are arranged downstream of the inner tray 22 in the conveying direction. The pressing means 32 and the stapling means 32' are configured to be movable in the main scanning direction at a position where they can face the end portion of the sheet stack Pb placed on the internal tray 22 on the downstream side in the conveying direction. there is Further, the crimping means 32 and the stapling means 32' are configured to be rotatable about a rotation axis extending in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 22. As shown in FIG. That is, the crimping means 32 and the staple binding means 32' can be arranged at an arbitrary position in the main scanning direction of the bundle of sheets Pb placed on the internal tray 22, such as oblique corner binding, parallel one-point binding, and parallel two-point binding. can be bound at any angle.

Further, the pressing means 32 binds the sheet bundle Pb by pressurizing and deforming the sheet bundle Pb with the uneven binding teeth 32a and 32b (hereinafter referred to as "pressure binding"). On the other hand, the stapling unit 32 ′ can staple the bundle of sheets Pb placed on the internal tray 22 by causing a binding needle to pass through the binding position of the bundle of sheets Pb.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of the internal tray 22 viewed from the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Pb. FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of the crimping means 32 viewed from the upstream side in the conveying direction. As shown in FIG. 24, the crimping means 32 and the stapling means 32' are arranged downstream of the inner tray 22 in the conveying direction. The pressing means 32 is movable in the main scanning direction along the surface of the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 22, and a rotary shaft 340 extending in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 22. Centering on, it is constituted so that rotation is possible. Similarly, the stapling means 32' is configured to be movable in the main scanning direction of the sheet bundle Pb and rotatable about a rotation shaft 341 extending in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Pb.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 25, a guide rail 337 extends in the main scanning direction downstream of the inner tray 22 in the conveying direction. The pressing means 32 moves the surface (in other words, guide It moves in the main scanning direction along the rail 337). Furthermore, a crimping frame 32c that holds the components of the crimping means 32 has a rotation shaft 340 fixed to its bottom surface. The rotating shaft 340 is rotatably held by the base member 48 on which the crimping frame 32c is provided. The pressing unit 32 rotates around a rotation shaft 340 extending in the thickness direction of the sheets P placed on the inner tray 22 by transmitting the driving force of the rotation motor 239 to the rotation shaft 340 . do. The guide rail 337 , the crimping means moving motor 238 , the rotating motor 239 , the rotating shaft 340 , and the drive transmission mechanism 240 constitute an example of a driving mechanism for the crimping means 32 .

The crimping means 32 is configured to be movable between a standby position HP shown in FIG. 24(A) and a position facing the binding position B1 shown in FIGS. 24(B) and 24(C). The standby position HP is a position away from the sheet stack Pb placed on the internal tray 22 to one side in the main scanning direction. The binding position B1 is a position on the stack of sheets Pb placed on the internal tray 22 . However, the specific position of the binding position B1 is not limited to the example of FIG. 24, and may be any position in the main scanning direction at the downstream end of the sheet P in the transport direction, and may be plural.

Also, the crimping means 32 is changed (rotated) between the parallel binding posture shown in FIG. 24(B) and the oblique binding posture shown in FIG. 24(C). The parallel binding posture is a posture of the pressure bonding means 32 in which the longitudinal direction of the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b (in other words, rectangular pressure bonding traces) faces the main scanning direction. The oblique binding posture is a posture of the pressure bonding means 32 in which the longitudinal direction of the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b (in other words, rectangular pressure bonding traces) is inclined with respect to the main scanning direction.

Note that the rotation angle (the angle of the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b with respect to the main scanning direction) in the oblique binding posture is not limited to the example in FIG. Any angle may be used as long as the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b face each other.

The post-processing device 3A includes liquid applying means 131 and punch hole forming means 132 (processing section). The liquid applying means 131 and the punch hole punching means 132 are arranged upstream of the internal tray 22 in the reverse conveying direction. Further, the liquid applying means 131 and the punch hole punching means 132 are shifted in the reverse conveying direction at positions where they can simultaneously face one sheet of paper P conveyed by the conveying roller pairs 10-19. The liquid applying means 131 and the punch hole punching means 132 according to this embodiment are arranged between the conveying roller pairs 10 and 11 . However, the arrangement of the liquid applying means 131 and the punch hole forming means 132 is not limited to the example of FIG. For example, when the inserter 6 is arranged between the image forming apparatus 2 and the post-processing device 3A as shown in FIG. can also be set to As the inserter 6, the pre-printed medium to be transported to the post-processing device 3A together with the paper P transported from the image forming apparatus 2 is fed as a cover sheet, an insert sheet, or a partition sheet without passing through the image forming apparatus 2. A device capable of

Further, as shown in FIG. 26A, the transport roller pair 11 is arranged at a position that does not overlap the liquid applying position B1 of the paper P to which the liquid has been applied by the liquid applying head 146 of the liquid applying means 131 in the main scanning direction. It is This is to prevent the liquid amount at the liquid application position B1 from decreasing due to the roller pairs pressing the liquid application position B1 when the transport roller pair 11 conveys the paper P. As a result, when the paper P reaches the pressure bonding means 32 provided downstream of the liquid applying means 131 in the reverse transport direction, the amount of liquid at the liquid applying position B1 is the amount necessary to maintain the binding strength. Since the amount of liquid is ensured, it is possible to prevent the binding strength of the sheet bundle Pb from decreasing due to the decrease in the amount of liquid at the liquid application position B1 during the transport process.

Furthermore, by arranging a plurality of roller pairs constituting the transport roller pair 11 at a position not overlapping the liquid application position B1 of the paper P in the main scanning direction, the liquid adheres to the plurality of roller pairs and the paper P is transported. It is possible to prevent transport jams caused by deterioration of transportability and deterioration of transportability.

Although only the transport roller pair 11 has been described above, the plurality of roller pairs constituting the transport roller pairs 14 and 15 should also be arranged at positions that do not overlap the liquid application position B1 of the paper P in the main scanning direction. is preferred.

The liquid application unit 131 applies liquid (for example, water) to the paper P transported by the transport roller pairs 10 and 11 (hereinafter referred to as “liquid application”). The punch hole punching means 132 punches punch holes penetrating the paper P conveyed by the conveying roller pairs 10 and 11 in the thickness direction. It should be noted that the processing section provided in the vicinity of the liquid applying means 131 is not limited to the punch hole punching means 132, and is an inclination correcting section that corrects the skew of the paper P conveyed by the conveying roller pairs 10 and 11. It's okay.

FIG. 26 is a view of the liquid applying unit 131 according to the second embodiment as seen from the thickness direction of the paper P. FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view along XXV-XXV of FIG. 26. FIG. 28 is a cross-sectional view along XXVI-XXVI of FIG. 26. FIG. As shown in FIGS. 26 to 28, the liquid applying means 131 includes a pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b, a pair of pulleys 134a and 134b, endless annular belts 135 and 136, a liquid applying means moving motor 137, a standby A position sensor 138 (see FIG. 29) and a liquid applying unit 140 are provided.

The pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b each extend in the main scanning direction at positions separated in the reverse transport direction. The pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b are supported by the pair of side plates 4a and 4b of the post-processing device 3A. The pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b supports the liquid applying unit 140 so as to be movable in the main scanning direction.

A pair of pulleys 134a and 134b are arranged between a pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b in the reverse conveying direction. Also, the pair of pulleys 134a and 134b are spaced apart in the main scanning direction. Furthermore, the pair of pulleys 134a and 134b are rotatably supported by the frame of the post-processing device 3A around a rotation axis extending in the thickness direction of the paper P. As shown in FIG.

The endless annular belt 135 is stretched over a pair of pulleys 134a and 134b. Further, the endless annular belt 135 is connected to the liquid application unit 140 by the connecting portion 35a. The endless annular belt 136 is stretched over a pulley 134 a and a driving pulley 137 a fixed to the output shaft of the liquid applying means moving motor 137 . A liquid applying unit moving motor 137 generates driving force for moving the liquid applying unit 140 in the main scanning direction.

By rotating the liquid applying means moving motor 137, the endless annular belt 136 goes around between the pulley 134a and the drive pulley 137a to rotate the pulley 134a. In addition, the rotation of the pulley 134a rotates the endless annular belt 135 between the pair of pulleys 134a and 134b. Thereby, the liquid applying unit 140 moves in the main scanning direction along the pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b. Further, by switching the rotation direction of the liquid applying means moving motor 137, the liquid applying unit 140 reciprocates in the main scanning direction.

The standby position sensor 138 detects that the liquid applying unit 140 has reached the standby position in the main scanning direction, and outputs a standby position signal indicating the detection result to the controller 100 (see FIG. 28) described later. The standby position sensor 138 is, for example, an optical sensor that includes a light emitter and a light receiver. Then, the liquid applying unit 140 at the standby position blocks the optical path between the light emitting section and the light receiving section. The standby position sensor 138 outputs a standby position signal in response to the fact that the light output from the light emitting portion is not received by the light receiving portion. However, the specific configuration of the standby position sensor 138 is not limited to the above example.

As shown in FIG. 27, the transport path in the post-processing device 3A is defined by an upper guide plate 5a and a lower guide plate 5b that are spaced apart in the thickness direction of the paper P. As shown in FIG. The liquid applying unit 140 is arranged at a position facing the opening provided in the upper guide plate 5a. That is, the liquid applying unit 140 is arranged to face the transport path (that is, the position where it can face the paper P) through the opening of the upper guide plate 5a.

As shown in FIGS. 26 to 28, the liquid applying unit 140 includes a base member 141, a rotating bracket 142, a liquid storage tank 143, a moving means 144, a holding member 145, a liquid applying head 146, and a columnar member. 147a and 147b, a pressing plate 148, coil springs 149a and 149b, a rotating motor 150, a moving motor 151 (see FIG. 29), and a standby angle sensor 152 (see FIG. 29).

The base member 141 is supported by a pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b so as to be slidable in the main scanning direction. Also, the base member 141 is connected to the endless annular belt 135 by the connecting portion 35a. Further, the base member 141 supports components 142-152 of the liquid application unit 140. As shown in FIG.

The rotary bracket 142 is supported on the lower surface of the base member 141 so as to be rotatable about a rotary axis extending in the thickness direction of the paper P. As shown in FIG. Also, the rotary bracket 142 rotates with respect to the base member 141 by transmitting the driving force of the rotary motor 150 . Further, the rotary bracket 142 supports a liquid storage tank 143, a moving means 144, a holding member 145, a liquid applying head 146, columnar members 147a and 147b, a pressing plate 148, and coil springs 149a and 149b.

The standby angle sensor 152 (see FIG. 29) detects that the rotary bracket 142 has reached the standby angle, and outputs a standby angle signal indicating the detection result to the controller 100 . The standby angle is, for example, an angle for parallel binding. The standby angle sensor 152 is, for example, an optical sensor that includes a light emitter and a light receiver. The standby angle rotary bracket 142 blocks the optical path between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit. Then, the standby angle sensor 152 outputs a standby angle signal in response to the fact that the light output from the light emitting section is not received by the light receiving section. However, the specific configuration of the standby angle sensor 152 is not limited to the above example.

The rotating bracket 142 shown in FIG. 26(A) shows a state in which the pressing means 32 on the downstream side of the liquid applying means 131 performs parallel binding. The rotating bracket 142 shown in FIG. 26(B) shows a state in which the pressing means 32 on the downstream side of the liquid applying means 131 performs oblique binding (angle binding).

The liquid storage tank 143 stores liquid to be applied to the paper P. FIG. The moving means 144 is supported by the liquid storage tank 143 so as to be movable in the thickness direction of the paper P (for example, vertically). Further, the moving means 144 moves with respect to the liquid storage tank 143 by transmitting the driving force of the moving motor 151 . A holding member 145 is attached to the lower end of the moving means 144 . The liquid applying head 146 protrudes from the holding member 145 toward the transport path (downward in this embodiment). Also, the liquid that is stored in the liquid storage tank 143 is supplied to the liquid applying head 146 . Furthermore, the liquid applying head 146 is made of a material with a high liquid absorption rate (for example, sponge, fiber).

The columnar members 147 a and 147 b protrude downward from the holding member 145 around the liquid applying head 146 . The columnar members 147a and 147b are configured to be movable relative to the holding member 145 in the thickness direction. Furthermore, the columnar members 147a and 147b hold a pressing plate 148 at their lower ends. A through hole 148 a is formed in the pressing plate 148 at a position facing the liquid applying head 146 . The coil springs 149a and 149b are externally inserted on the columnar members 147a and 147b between the holding member 145 and the pressing plate 148. As shown in FIG. The coil springs 149 a and 149 b urge the columnar members 147 a and 147 b and the pressing plate 148 downward against the holding member 145 .

As shown in FIGS. 27A and 28A, before the sheet P is conveyed to the position facing the opening of the upper guide plate 5a, the pressing plate 148 is positioned at or above the opening. positioned. Next, when the paper P conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 10 and 11 stops at the liquid applying position B1 facing the opening, the moving motor 151 is rotated in the first direction. As a result, the moving means 144, the holding member 145, the liquid applying head 146, the columnar members 147a and 147b, the pressing plate 148, and the coil springs 149a and 149b are lowered together, and the pressing plate 148 comes into contact with the paper P. Note that the liquid applying position B1 is a position (that is, the binding position B1) that is scheduled to be pressure-bound by the end binding processing unit 25 .

By rotating the moving motor 151 in the first direction even after the pressing plate 148 contacts the paper P, the coil springs 149a and 149b are compressed, and the moving means 144, the holding member 145, the liquid applying head 146, and the The columnar members 147a and 147b are further lowered. Then, as shown in FIGS. 27B and 28B, the lower surface of the liquid applying head 146 comes into contact with the paper P through the through hole 148a. As a result, the liquid contained in the liquid applying head 146 is applied to the paper P. FIG.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 27C and 28C, the liquid applying head 146 can be pressed against the paper P more strongly by further rotating the moving motor 151 in the first direction. As a result, the amount of liquid applied to the paper P increases. That is, the liquid applying unit 131 can adjust the amount of liquid applied by changing the pressing force of the liquid applying head 146 against the paper P. FIG.

On the other hand, by rotating the moving motor 151 in a second direction opposite to the first direction, moving means 144, holding member 145, liquid applying head 146, columnar members 147a and 147b, pressing plate 148, and coil springs 149a and 149b are rotated. rise together. As a result, the liquid applying head 146 and the pressing plate 148 are separated from the paper P as shown in FIGS. 27A and 28A. That is, the liquid applying unit 131 includes a liquid applying head 146 that can be separated from the paper P. As shown in FIG.

FIG. 29 is a hardware configuration diagram of a control block that controls the operation of post-processing device 3A according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 28, the post-processing device 3A includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 104, and an I/F 105. It has a configuration connected via a common bus 109 .

A CPU 101 is a computing means and controls the operation of the post-processing device 3A as a whole. The RAM 102 is a volatile storage medium from which information can be read and written at high speed, and is used as a working area when the CPU 101 processes information. The ROM 103 is a read-only non-volatile storage medium and stores programs such as firmware. The HDD 104 is a non-volatile storage medium that allows reading and writing of information and has a large storage capacity, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

The post-processing device 3A processes a control program stored in the ROM 103, an information processing program (application program) loaded into the RAM 102 from a storage medium such as the HDD 104, and the like using the arithmetic function of the CPU 101. FIG. A software control unit including various functional modules of post-processing device 3A is configured by the processing. A combination of the software control section configured in this way and the hardware resources installed in the post-processing device 3A constitutes a functional block that implements the functions of the post-processing device 3A. That is, the CPU 101, RAM 102, ROM 103, and HDD 104 constitute a controller 100 that controls the operation of the post-processing device 3A.

The I/F 105 connects the conveying roller pairs 10, 11, 14, 15, the switching claw 20, the side fences 24L, 24R, the pressing means 32, the liquid applying means 131, the punch hole punching means 132, and the operation panel 170 to a common bus. 109 is an interface. The controller 100 controls the operations of the conveying roller pairs 10, 11, 14, 15, the switching claw 20, the side fences 24L, 24R, the pressure bonding means 32, the liquid applying means 131, and the punch hole punching means 132 through the I/F 105. do. Although FIG. 28 shows only the components that perform the edge binding process, the components that perform the saddle stitching process are also controlled by the controller 100 .

Operation panel 170 includes an operation unit that receives an input operation from the user, and a display (notification unit) that notifies the user of information. The operation unit includes, for example, hard keys, a touch panel superimposed on the display, and the like. The operation panel 170 acquires information from the user through the operation unit and provides the information to the user through the display.

FIG. 30 is a flow chart of the post-processing of the post-processing device 3A according to the second embodiment. Specifically, it is a flow chart for executing one-point binding shown in FIG.

For example, the controller 100 executes the post-processing shown in FIG. 30 in response to receiving a post-processing execution instruction (hereinafter referred to as “post-processing instruction”) from the image forming apparatus 2 . The post-processing instruction includes, for example, the number of sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb (hereinafter referred to as "predetermined number of sheets N"), the binding position B1 (corresponding to the liquid application position B1), and the binding angle (liquid application angle ) and a process (punching of punch holes in this embodiment) that is executed in parallel with the liquid application process. It is assumed that the liquid application unit 140 is positioned at the standby position HP (position corresponding to the standby position HP in FIG. 12) and the rotary bracket 142 is held at the standby angle at the start of post-processing.

First, the controller 100 drives the liquid applying means moving motor 137 to move the liquid applying unit 140 in the main scanning direction, thereby moving the liquid applying head 146 from the standby position HP to the liquid applying position B1 (binding position in FIG. 12). position corresponding to position B1). The controller 100 also drives the rotary motor 150 to rotate the rotary bracket 142, thereby rotating the liquid application head 146 from the standby angle to the liquid application angle (S801). The fact that the liquid applying head 146 has reached the position and the liquid applying angle at which it can face the liquid applying position B1 can be grasped by the pulse signals output from the rotary encoders of the liquid applying means moving motor 137 and the rotary motor 150 .

The controller 100 also drives the crimping means moving motor 238 to move the crimping means 32 from the standby position HP to a position facing the binding position B1, as shown in FIGS. (S801). Further, the controller 100 rotates the crimping means 32 from the standby angle to the crimp binding angle by driving the rotation motor 239 (S801). The pulse signals output from the rotary encoders of the crimping means moving motor 238 and rotating motor 239 allow the crimping means 32 to reach the position at which the crimping means 32 can face the binding position B1 and the crimping binding angle.

Next, the controller 100 starts conveying the sheet P on which an image has been formed by the image forming apparatus 2 by driving the conveying roller pair 10 and 11 (S802). The controller 100 continues driving the transport roller pair 10 and 11 until the liquid application position B1 of the paper P faces the liquid application unit 140 (more specifically, the liquid application head 146) (S803: No). Then, the controller 100 stops the transport roller pair 10 and 11 in response to the fact that the liquid applying position B1 of the paper P faces the liquid applying head 146 (S803: Yes) (S804). The fact that the liquid application position B1 of the paper P faces the liquid application head 146 can be grasped from the pulse signal output from the rotary encoder of the motor that drives the pair of transport rollers 10 and 11 .

The controller 100 concurrently executes the process of applying liquid to the liquid applying position B1 of the paper P by the liquid applying means 131 and the process of punching holes in the paper P by the punch hole punching means 132 (S805). ). More specifically, the controller 100 causes the liquid applying head 146 to come into contact with the liquid applying position B1 of the paper P by rotating the moving motor 151 in the first direction. Further, the controller 100 changes the pressing force of the liquid applying head 146 (that is, the amount of rotation of the moving motor 151) according to the amount of liquid applied to the paper P. FIG.

The amount of liquid to be applied to the paper P may be the same for all the papers P constituting the paper bundle Pb, or may be different for each paper P. For example, the controller 100 may decrease the amount of liquid to be applied to the paper P that is transported later. Also, the amount of rotation of the moving motor 151 can be grasped by the pulse signal output from the rotary encoder of the moving motor 151 .

Next, the controller 100 drives the transport roller pairs 10, 11, 14, and 15 to place the paper P on the internal tray 22 (S806). Further, the controller 100 moves the side fences 24L and 24R to align the positions of the sheet bundles Pb placed on the internal tray 22 in the main scanning direction (so-called jogging).

Next, the controller 100 determines whether or not the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 22 has reached the predetermined number N specified by the post-processing instruction (S807). When the controller 100 determines that the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 22 has not reached the predetermined number N (S807: No), the controller 100 executes the processes of steps S802 to S806 again.

Then, in response to determining that the number of sheets P placed on the internal tray 22 has reached the predetermined number N (S807: Yes), the controller 100 The binding position B1 of Pb (corresponding to the liquid applying position B1) is bound by the pressure bonding means 32 under pressure. Further, the controller 100 rotates the conveying roller pair 15 to discharge the pressure-bound sheet bundle Pb to the discharge tray 26 (S808).

Then, the controller 100 drives the liquid applying means moving motor 137 to move the liquid applying means 131 to the standby position HP, and drives the pressing means moving motor 238 to move the pressing means 32 to the standby position HP.

Also, the control method described above may be realized by a program or the like, for example. That is, the control method is a method executed by a computer by cooperatively operating an arithmetic device, a storage device, an input device, an output device, and a control device based on a program. Also, the program may be written in a storage device or storage medium and distributed, or may be distributed through an electric communication line or the like.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated above, and various modifications are possible without departing from the technical gist thereof, and are included in the technical idea described in the claims. All of the technical matters that are described are covered by the present invention. Although the above embodiment shows a preferred example, a person skilled in the art can realize various modifications from the disclosed contents. Such modifications are also included in the technical scope described in the claims.

Aspects of the present invention are, for example, as follows.
<1> a transport unit that transports a medium;
a liquid application unit including a liquid application member that applies liquid to a portion of the at least one medium transported by the transport unit;
a press-fitting means for pressurizingly deforming and binding a medium bundle containing at least one medium to which the liquid is applied by the liquid applying means;
a control unit that determines the amount of movement of the liquid applying member relative to at least one medium based on the height information of the medium, and moves the liquid applying member relative to the medium based on the amount of movement; A media processing device comprising:
<2> In <1>, the control unit changes the amount of movement based on the height information so that the amount of liquid applied to the medium by the liquid applying member becomes a specified amount. A media processing apparatus as described.
<3> The control unit determines the amount of movement so that the amount of liquid applied to the medium by the liquid applying member is a specified amount, and moves the liquid applying member based on the amount of movement. The medium processing device according to <1>, wherein the movement amount of the liquid applying member is set to a default value while the start position is changed.
<4> The control unit changes the movement amount of the liquid application member based on the movement amount so that the amount of liquid applied to the medium by the liquid application member becomes a specified amount, The medium processing device according to <1>, wherein the movement start position of the liquid applying member is a predetermined position.
<5> wherein the control unit acquires the height of the medium based on the number of the medium when the liquid is applied and the thickness of each medium, the <1> to the <4>; 2. A media processing device according to claim 1.
<6> The medium processing device according to <5>, wherein the control unit acquires the thickness of the medium one by one.
<7> The control unit acquires the height of the medium based on the distance from the contact surface of the liquid application member with the medium to the uppermost surface of the medium when the liquid is applied. The medium processing device according to any one of <1> to <6>.
<8> The transport unit has a transport path for transporting the medium and a retraction transport path different from the transport path,
the conveying unit temporarily conveys the preceding medium to which the liquid is not applied by the liquid applying unit to the evacuation conveying path, and then conveys the preceding medium and the succeeding medium while overlapping each other;
When applying the liquid to the superimposed subsequent medium, the controller controls the height of the preceding medium and the succeeding medium when the liquid is applied. The medium processing apparatus according to any one of <1> to <7>, wherein the amount of movement of the liquid applying member is controlled.
<9> an image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit that forms images on a plurality of media;
An image forming system, comprising: the medium processing device according to any one of <1> to <8> for press-binding a plurality of media on which images have been formed by the image forming device.

Reference Signs List 1: image forming system 2: image forming apparatus 3: post-processing device 25: binding processing section 31: liquid applying means 32: pressing means 33: lower pressing plate 35: liquid applying section moving mechanism 36: liquid applying mechanism 37: liquid applying Section moving motor 43 : Liquid storage tank 44 : Liquid applying member 47 : Binding processing section moving mechanism 48 : Base member 49 : Guide shaft 50 : Binding processing section moving motor 51 : Driving force transmission mechanism 100 : Controller 250 : Polymerization conveying section 251 : Upstream transport roller pair 252 : Downstream transport roller pair 253 : Contact/separate transport roller pair 254 : Retreat transport roller pair 255 : Internal tray discharge roller pair 257 : Medium detection sensor 260 : Internal tray 270 : Range sensor Ms : Movement Start position Msd: Movement start initial position Mv: Movement amount Mvd: Initial movement amount N: Predetermined number of sheets P: Paper PU: Punch unit Pd: Displacement amount Pdp: Pre-stack adjustment amount

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-201432

As already explained, the direction in which the paper P placed on the internal tray 260 faces the end fence 23 is defined as the "conveyance direction" (the paper conveyance direction in FIG. 3). Further, a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the paper P and the transport direction is defined as a "main scanning direction (width direction of the paper P)".

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the binding processing unit 25 as seen from the upstream side in the transport direction (corresponding to the A view in FIG. 2) . FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the edge binding processing unit 25 viewed from the side of the liquid applying unit 31 in the main scanning direction. As shown in FIG. 4 , the binding processing section 25 mainly includes liquid application means 31 and pressure bonding means 32 . The liquid applying means 31 and the pressure bonding means 32 are arranged adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction on the downstream side of the inner tray 260 in the transport direction.

That is, the controller 100 executes the processing of steps S902 and S903 each time the paper P is transported to the internal tray 260 by the pair of transport rollers. However, depending on the processing in S903, the liquid may not be applied to all the sheets P that make up the sheet bundle Pb. Then, apart from the liquid application processing determination processing in S903, the controller 100 causes the liquid application unit 31 to apply the liquid to the binding position B1 at intervals of one sheet out of n (1 < n< N) sheets. may be controlled.

Next, the controller 100 press-stitches the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 and discharges it to the lower shift tray 236 (S906). That is, the controller 100 drives the contact/separation motor 32d to press the binding position B1 of the sheet bundle Pb placed on the internal tray 260 while being sandwiched between the pair of binding teeth 32a and 32b. Further, the controller 100 discharges the pressure-bound sheet bundle Pb to the lower shift tray 236 by rotating the conveying roller pair.

Next, the details of the liquid application process (S903) according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, from the detection result of the medium detection sensor 257, the number of sheets P passing through the transport path (passing number n) is obtained (S1101).

Further, when the operation start position of the liquid applying member 44 is not changed, the movement amount as the operation amount is changed according to the height of the sheet bundle Pb .

The endless annular belt 135 is stretched over a pair of pulleys 134a and 134b. Further, the endless annular belt 135 is connected to the liquid application unit 140 by a connecting portion 135a . The endless annular belt 136 is stretched over a pulley 134 a and a driving pulley 137 a fixed to the output shaft of the liquid applying means moving motor 137 . A liquid applying unit moving motor 137 generates driving force for moving the liquid applying unit 140 in the main scanning direction.

The base member 141 is supported by a pair of guide shafts 133a and 133b so as to be slidable in the main scanning direction. Also, the base member 141 is connected to the endless annular belt 135 by the connecting portion 135a . Further, the base member 141 supports components 142-152 of the liquid application unit 140. As shown in FIG.

For example, the controller 100 executes the post-processing shown in FIG. 30 in response to receiving a post-processing execution instruction (hereinafter referred to as “post-processing instruction”) from the image forming apparatus 2 . The post-processing instruction includes, for example, the number of sheets P constituting the sheet bundle Pb (hereinafter referred to as "predetermined number of sheets N"), the binding position B1 (corresponding to the liquid application position B1), and the binding angle (liquid application angle ) and a process (punching of punch holes in this embodiment) that is executed in parallel with the liquid application process. At the start of post-processing, the liquid applying unit 140 is positioned at the standby position HP (a position corresponding to the standby position HP in FIG . 24A) , and the rotary bracket 142 is held at the standby angle. .

First, the controller 100 drives the liquid applying means moving motor 137 to move the liquid applying unit 140 in the main scanning direction, thereby moving the liquid applying head 146 from the standby position HP to the liquid applying position B1 (FIG. 24B) . ) and a position corresponding to the binding position B1 in FIG. 24(C) ). The controller 100 also drives the rotary motor 150 to rotate the rotary bracket 142, thereby rotating the liquid application head 146 from the standby angle to the liquid application angle (S801). The fact that the liquid applying head 146 has reached the position and the liquid applying angle at which it can face the liquid applying position B1 can be grasped by the pulse signals output from the rotary encoders of the liquid applying means moving motor 137 and the rotary motor 150 .

Claims (9)

a transport unit that transports the medium;
a liquid application unit including a liquid application member that applies liquid to a portion of the at least one medium transported by the transport unit;
a press-fitting means for pressurizingly deforming and binding a medium bundle containing at least one medium to which the liquid is applied by the liquid applying means;
a control unit that determines the amount of movement of the liquid applying member relative to at least one medium based on the height information of the medium, and moves the liquid applying member relative to the medium based on the amount of movement; A media processing device comprising: 2. The medium processing according to claim 1, wherein said control unit changes said movement amount based on said height information so that the amount of liquid applied to said medium by said liquid applying member becomes a specified amount. Device. The control unit determines the amount of movement so that the amount of liquid applied to the medium by the liquid application member is a specified amount, and determines a movement start position of the liquid application member based on the amount of movement. 2. The medium processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the amount of movement of the liquid applying member is set to a default value while changing. The control unit changes the amount of movement of the liquid applying member based on the amount of movement so that the amount of liquid applied to the medium by the liquid applying member becomes a specified amount. 2. The media processing device according to claim 1, wherein the movement start position of is a default position. 5. The control unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the control unit acquires the height of the medium based on the number of the medium when the liquid is applied and the thickness of each medium. media handling equipment. The medium processing device according to claim 5, wherein the control unit acquires the thickness of the medium sheet by sheet. 2. The control unit acquires the height of the medium based on a distance from a contact surface of the liquid application member with the medium to a top surface of the medium when the liquid is applied. 5. The media processing device according to any one of items 1 to 4. The transport unit has a transport path for transporting the medium and a retraction transport path different from the transport path,
the conveying unit temporarily conveys the preceding medium to which the liquid is not applied by the liquid applying unit to the evacuation conveying path, and then conveys the preceding medium and the succeeding medium while overlapping each other;
When applying the liquid to the superimposed subsequent medium, the controller controls the height of the preceding medium and the succeeding medium when the liquid is applied. The medium processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the amount of movement of the liquid applying member is controlled. an image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit that forms images on a plurality of media;
5 . An image forming system, comprising: the medium processing apparatus according to claim 1 , which binds a plurality of media on which images have been formed by the image forming apparatus.