JP2880281B2 - Separated sheet feeding device and method for maintaining the separated sheet feeding performance - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a separation sheet feeding device in a copying machine or the like and a method for maintaining the separation sheet feeding performance.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine includes a separating sheet feeding device that separates and feeds stacked sheet-like sheets one by one. In some parts, a separation belt that rotates in a direction opposite to that of the separation belt is brought into pressure contact with the paper, and the paper is fed to separate the separation belt one by one.

As such a separate sheet feeding device, for example, a device used in a document separating section of an automatic document feeder is well known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional separation sheet feeding device used in such a document separation section, when the documents are separated and fed one by one, the separation roller and the separation belt are both pressed against the document surface (in the case of a single-sided document, Only one of them)
When the paper feeding operation was repeated, it gradually became dirty.

When the separation roller and the separation belt are not operated, the same portions are brought into close contact with each other by a predetermined pressing force with a predetermined pressing force, so that the document is separated after a while. -There was a problem that the separation performance was inferior when it was made to be fed, thereby making it easy to send a double feed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and prevents a decrease in separation sheet feeding performance of a separation sheet feeding apparatus using a separation roller and a separation belt, and extends a state close to an initial separation sheet feeding property. The purpose is to be able to maintain for a period.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a separation sheet feeding performance maintaining method capable of maintaining a state close to the initial separation sheet feeding performance for a long period of time.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a separation roller and a separation belt are pressed against each other, the separation roller rotates in a direction for conveying the set sheet, and the separation belt rotates in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction. A separating and feeding device that separates and feeds the sheets one by one during the movement of the separating belt, wherein a time measuring means for measuring a time during which the separation belt is not rotating, and a value measured by the means reaches a certain time. A control means is provided for rotating only the separation belt for a certain period of time before the separation and sheet feeding is started when a sheet is set later.

Further, the separation roller and the separation belt come into pressure contact with each other, and the separation roller rotates in a direction in which the set sheet is conveyed, and the separation belt rotates in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction, and the sheets are interposed one by one. In a separation paper feeding device that separates and feeds paper, when paper is set after a certain period of time when the separation belt is not rotating, only the separation belt is kept constant before starting the separation paper feeding. By rotating the roller with time, the pressure contact position with the separation roller is changed.

(Operation)

According to the separation sheet feeding device configured as described above, if a sheet is set after a period during which the separation belt is not rotating reaches a predetermined time, only the separation belt is started before the separation sheet is fed. Automatically rotates for a certain period of time, even if the separation roller and the separation belt are pressed against the same part for the above-mentioned certain period of time, the paper set after a certain period of time will be in the pressed position. Since the paper is separated and fed by the changed separation roller and the separation belt, the separation paper feeding performance can be prevented from lowering.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a part of an automatic document circulating and feeding device equipped with a separation sheet feeding device according to the present invention together with a control system, and FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing the entire automatic document circulating and feeding device similarly. is there.

As shown in FIG. 2, this automatic document circulating feeding apparatus includes a document table 1 for mounting a document bundle composed of a plurality of documents D, and a document having its front end aligned with a predetermined position of its front end. The lowermost original D from the original bundle placed on the
Paper feed unit 70 having call rollers 3a and 3b for feeding sheets one by one
It has.

The document D fed to the left in FIG. 2 by the paper feed unit 70 is conveyed to a document exposure position on a contact glass 101 provided at an upper portion of the copying machine main body 100. Transport section 71 having transport belt 12 for discharging original D
And a document return section 73 for returning the document D discharged from the transport section 71 via the reversing path 17 so as to overlap the document bundle placed on the document placing table 1.

The originals D on the original table 1 are provided on both sides of the original table 1 with respect to the transport direction in front (left side in FIG. 2).
Side fences 2 that regulate the position of both side edges of the document are provided, and two call rollers 3a and 3b having a missing circle are provided at intervals in the document feeding direction near the front of the document table 1. Thus, when each of the missing circles is located on the upper side as shown in the figure, they are prevented from protruding above the document placing surface 1a.

On each axis of the call rollers 3a and 3b, a slit plate where a slit is detected by a photoelectric sensor (not shown), and a positioning plate where a concave portion is arranged at a position corresponding to the missing circle of each call roller. The pressing roller is engaged with the peripheral edge of the positioning plate by a spring, and the two call rollers 3a and
3b, the cutout portion rotates synchronously with the same phase, and stops at the rotation position shown in FIG. 2 where the document table 1 and the cutout portion are coplanar by the slit plate and the photoelectric sensor. Thus, the position is positioned and held by the positioning plate and the pressing roller.

Above the call roller 3a, there is provided a pressing plate 4 for pressing down the leading end of the document D to press the call roller 3a.

Above the holding plate 4, a solenoid 67 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a position indicated by an imaginary line in FIG. 1 locks the front end of the document bundle placed on the document placing table 1 by rotating around the shaft 41 on the rear end side (right side in FIG. 1). And a stopper member 5 which can be moved to a position shown by a solid line for releasing the locking and abutting on the upper surface of the bundle of originals to lock the front end of the original D returned by the original returning portion 73. ing.

When the stopper member 5 is at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, the document bundle on the document table 1 is fed again from the document table 1 and circulated, and then again in the direction of arrow A. The function of correcting the skew by letting the leading end of the document Dr returning on the
During the feeding of the original document, the original document and the original document Dr circulating and returning to the upper surface of the original document bundle are also sorted.

The original D fed from the original mounting table 1
Is pressed by the pressing roller 3a by the pressing plate 4 at the time of paper feeding, so that the paper is reliably conveyed toward the separation paper feeding device 40 including the separation belt 7 and the separation roller 8 which are pressed against each other.

The separation sheet feeding device 40 includes a separation roller 8 and a separation belt 7.
The separation roller 8 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow B in FIG. 1 for conveying the set original (paper) D, and the separation belt 7 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow C which is opposite to the conveyance direction. In the meantime, the originals D are separated and fed one by one.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes a set sensor, which detects that the original bundle has been set on the original placing table 1, and thereby raises the stopper member 5 to move the call rollers 3a, 3b in the direction of the arrow. The document bundle is moved to a position shown in FIG. 1 (a position other than the uppermost document Dr) by rotating the document bundle by a predetermined amount.

Then, the call rollers 3a and 3b cooperate with the separation sheet feeding device 40 and also have a function of reliably feeding the lowest sheet of the document bundle at the above position.

The separation roller 8 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 1 at a speed at which the peripheral speed becomes equal to the document conveyance speed, and the separation belt 7 is pressed against the circumference of a part of the circumferential surface of the separation roller 8. Moving in the direction indicated by arrow C, which is opposite to the direction in which the document is fed, at a speed of, for example, about 1/20 of the speed at which the document is conveyed, and the friction coefficient between the separation roller 8 and the document D; By appropriately setting the coefficient of friction between the original and the original and the coefficient of friction between the originals, if there are multiple originals, only the lowermost one is separated, and if the original is one from the beginning, Can be directly transported to the pull-out rollers 9 and 10 on the downstream side.

The separation roller 8 has a built-in one-way rotating clutch, and when the document is conveyed by the pull-out rollers 9 and 10,
Even if the driving of the separation roller 8 is stopped, the separation roller 8 rotates and the document conveyance load is reduced, so that the document is conveyed at a predetermined speed.

The separation roller 8 is turned on and off by a clutch (not shown), and when the registration sensor 11 provided on the conveyance path between the paper supply unit 70 and the conveyance unit 71 detects the leading edge of the document, the clutch is turned off. As a result, the drive to the separation roller 8 is shut off.

The registration sensor 11 also detects the trailing edge of the document, and uses the signal for timing control for stopping the document D at a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass 101.

By the way, in this embodiment, the timer 61 as a time measuring means for measuring the time during which the separation belt 7 is not rotating, and the document D after the value measured by the timer 61 reaches a certain time.
When the sheet is set on the document table 1, only the separation belt 7 is moved for a certain time before the separation and sheet feeding is started, as indicated by arrow C in FIG.
Control means 60 for rotating in the direction
61 is provided in the control means 60.

The control means 60 stores a central treatment device (CPU) 62 having various judgment and processing functions as shown in FIG. 4, a processing program including a separation sheet feeding performance maintaining process of the separation sheet feeding device 40, and fixed data. ROM63, a program memory
And a RAM 64 which is a data memory for storing processing data.
And an input / output circuit (I / O) 65, which transmits data to the copying machine 100 by serial communication.

The control means 60 inputs detection signals from the set sensor 6, the registration sensor 11, and other sensors, respectively, and outputs signals for driving the respective drive systems of the separation belt 7 and the separation roller 8 of the sheet feeding unit 70. To the driver 77, and a signal for driving various driving systems such as a solenoid and a solenoid provided for the stopper 67 for driving the stopper member 5 and the conveyance unit 71 and the document return unit 73. Output to

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a routine related to a separation sheet feeding performance maintaining process of the separation sheet feeding apparatus executed by the control unit 60.

The control means 60 repeatedly executes the routine shown in FIG. 5 at a predetermined timing.

First, in step 1, it is determined whether or not the separation belt 7 has completed the rotation operation and is on standby, for example, based on whether or not a drive signal has been output to the drive unit of the separation belt 7, and
If it is operating and the document is being separated and fed (determination of NO), the process returns to the main routine. If the operation is completed and the process is on standby, the process proceeds to step 2 where the timer 61 (internal timer) of the CPU is used. Start measuring time.

Next, in step 3, it is determined whether or not the measured time has reached a predetermined time a (which can be set arbitrarily, but is set to, for example, 20 minutes). It is determined whether or not the operation is in progress. If the operation is in progress, the process proceeds to step 7 which will be described later. If the device is not in operation, the determination in step 3 is repeated again. move on.

Then, it is determined whether or not the set sensor 6 is turned on, that is, whether or not the document D has been set on the document table 1. If it is set, the process proceeds to step 6.
By driving only the separation belt 7 for a predetermined time of, for example, 130 msec (the value can be set arbitrarily), the position where the separation belt 7 is pressed against the separation roller 8 is changed to improve the separation property of the document.

Next, at step 7, the measurement time of the timer 61 is reset, and when the measurement is completed, the process returns to the main routine.

Also, if you proceeded with the above steps 3 → 4 → 7,
Since the separation belt 7 is operated (rotated) within the predetermined time a, the measurement time of the timer 61 is reset in step 7 and the process returns to the main routine.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when the time during which the separation belt is not rotating reaches a certain time, when the paper is set thereafter, only the separation belt is rotated for a certain time before the separation and feeding. In this way, the pressure contact position with the separation roller is changed, so that the separation paper feeding performance can be prevented from lowering and the separation paper feeding performance close to the initial state can be maintained for a long time.

Also, according to the above-described method for maintaining the separation sheet feeding performance, it is possible to prevent the separation sheet feeding apparatus of the separation sheet feeding apparatus from deteriorating and maintain a state close to the initial separation sheet feeding performance for a long time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a part of an automatic document recirculation feeding device equipped with a separation sheet feeding device according to the present invention together with a control system. FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing the whole document automatic recirculation feeding device. FIG. 3 is a front view showing the original and the stopper member on the original placing table, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control means 60 and its related configuration, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the routine regarding a process. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Original mounting table, 6 ... Set sensor 7 ... Separation belt, 8 ... Separation roller 17 ... Reversal path, 40 ... Separation paper feeder 60 ... Control means, 61 ... Timer (time measuring means) 70 … Paper feed unit, 71… Transport unit 73… Document return unit, D… Document (paper)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-13529 (JP, A) JP-A-56-65734 (JP, A) JP-A-3-44137 (JP, U) JP-A 64-64 50241 (JP, U) Fully open sho 59-33845 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65H 1/00-3/68

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A separation roller and a separation belt are pressed against each other, the separation roller rotates in a direction in which the set sheet is conveyed, and the separation belt rotates in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction to move the sheet therebetween. In a separation sheet feeding device for separating and feeding one sheet at a time, a time measuring means for measuring a time during which the separation belt is not rotating, and when a sheet is set after a value measured by the means reaches a predetermined time. And a control unit for rotating only the separation belt for a predetermined time before starting the separation sheet feeding. 2. A separation roller and a separation belt are pressed against each other, the separation roller rotates in a direction in which the set sheet is conveyed, and the separation belt is rotated in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction to move the sheet therebetween. In a separation sheet feeding apparatus that separates and feeds sheets one by one, when sheets are set after a certain period of time or more when the separation belt is not rotating, the separation is performed before starting the separation and feeding. A method for maintaining separation sheet feeding performance, wherein only a belt is rotated for a predetermined time to change a pressure contact position with the separation roller.