JP4533817B2 - Folding device and image forming system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus folding fold the carried-in sheet, and provided in front of the folding device and its copying machine to convey relative folding device the sheet on which the image is formed, a printer, an image forming apparatus for a printing machine or the like The present invention relates to an image forming system including:

  Image output (formation) devices such as copying machines, printers, and facsimiles have become multifunctional, and those equipped with a storage device capable of storing a large amount of images have become mainstream. In response to the multi-functionality of such image output devices, post-processing devices such as binding to output recording paper are also becoming more multifunctional in recent years, in addition to the conventional end-face binding. There are also products that enable binding processing. Further, since one image output device is used by many users, productivity improvement is demanded, and a post-processing device is also provided that can perform folding processing and next sheet alignment and stapling processing in parallel. As an example of such diversification, there is an apparatus that performs a so-called Z-folding process.

  On the other hand, for example, an invention described in Patent Document 1 is known as an image forming apparatus that handles an irregular recording medium. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a feeding unit that feeds an irregular recording medium to an image recording unit, a folding unit that folds a recording medium recorded in the image recording unit at a predetermined position, and an irregular recording medium. Coordinate input means for inputting and specifying the size of the medium, and moving means for moving a stopper used to determine the folding position of the folding means according to the size data input and specified by the coordinate input means. It features a configuration.

In addition, the inventions described in the following Patent Documents 2 to 4 are also known as related inventions.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-117174 JP-A-01-117172 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-117178 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 01-116569

  However, in the image forming apparatus according to the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to input and specify the paper size of the irregular paper, and the paper size is automatically detected for the conveyed paper and the size is detected. No consideration is given to setting the folding position according to the above.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to automatically detect the paper size even when the paper size is irregular, and enable high-quality paper folding.

In order to achieve the object, the first means includes a detecting means for detecting a paper length in a folding device having a folding means for diffracting a single sheet of paper carried in a plurality of directions, and a conveying direction of the one sheet . Restriction means for restricting the leading end position; and determination means for determining the position of the restriction means based on the sheet length of the one sheet detected by the detection means when an irregular-size sheet has been conveyed. , characterized in that it comprises.
In the second means, in the first means, the movement of the restricting means that defines the folding position to the initial position is started at the timing when the paper detection means provided upstream in the paper conveyance direction immediately before the folding means is turned off. It is characterized by that.
The third means is characterized by an image forming system including a folding device according to the first or second means and an image forming apparatus.

  In the embodiment described later, the folding means is the first to third folding rollers 413, 414, and 415, the detection means is the inlet sensor 401 and the CPU 301, the stepping motor 312 and CPU 301, the CPU 301 and the clock 305, and the paper detection means. Corresponds to the inlet sensor 401, the restricting means corresponds to the first and second guide plates 411 and 412, and the determining means corresponds to the CPU 301.

  According to the present invention, the non-standard size paper is measured one by one by the receiving apparatus, so that high-quality folding processing can be performed on the non-standard size paper.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the image forming system according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus PR, a sheet post-processing apparatus PD as a sheet processing apparatus, and a Z-fold processing apparatus ZF provided therebetween.

  In FIG. 1, a Z-fold processing apparatus ZF is attached to a side portion of the image forming apparatus PR, and a sheet (recording medium) discharged from the image forming apparatus PR is guided to the Z-fold processing apparatus ZF. The paper post-processing device PD is further attached to the side of the Z-folding processing device ZF, and the paper discharged from the Z-folding processing device ZF is guided to the paper post-processing device PD. The sheet passes through a conveyance path A having post-processing means (in this embodiment, a punch unit 101 as a punching means) for post-processing a single sheet, and then to the conveyance path B and the shift tray 202, which are guided to the upper tray 201. The branching claw 15 and the branching claw 16 are configured to distribute to a conveyance path C that leads to a conveyance path D that leads to a conveyance path C that leads, and a processing tray F that performs alignment, stapling, and the like (hereinafter also referred to as a staple processing tray). The tray surface 66 on which the sheets of the staple processing tray F are stacked is inclined so that the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the sheets discharged from the staple discharge roller 11 is upward, and the inclination angle is relative to the gravity direction. The angle is set to a minimum angle that does not interfere with a center folding plate 74, which will be described later, on the lower side of the inclined surface, and a driving mechanism thereof and a mechanism such as the end surface binding stapler S1.

  The paper guided to the staple processing tray F through the transport paths A and D, and aligned and stapled in the staple processing tray is guided to the shift tray 202 by the branch guide plate 54 and the movable guide 55 which are deflecting means. The sheet C is arranged so as to be distributed to a path C, a processing tray G to be folded (hereinafter also referred to as a middle folding processing tray), and a sheet subjected to folding or the like in the middle folding processing tray G passes through a conveyance path H and is a discharge roller. 83 is guided to the lower tray 203. Further, a branching claw 17 is disposed in the conveyance path D, and is held in the state shown in the figure by a low load spring (not shown). After the trailing edge of the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller 7 passes through this, the guide At least the guide roller 8 and the transport roller 9 among the rollers 8, the transport rollers 9, 10 and the staple paper discharge roller 11 are reversed so that the rear end of the paper is guided to the paper storage portion E to stay the paper and overlap the next paper. It is configured so that it can be conveyed. By repeating this operation, it is possible to convey two or more sheets in a superimposed manner.

  In the common conveyance path A upstream of the conveyance path B, the conveyance path C, and the conveyance path D, an inlet sensor 301 that detects a sheet received from the image forming apparatus, an inlet roller 1, a punch unit 101, and a conveyance downstream thereof. The roller 2, the branch claw 15 and the branch claw 16 are sequentially arranged. The branch claw 15 and the branch claw 16 are held in the state shown in FIG. 1 by a spring (not shown), and when the solenoid (not shown) is turned on, the branch claw 15 rotates upward and the branch claw 16 rotates downward. Accordingly, the paper is distributed to the conveyance path B, the conveyance path C, and the conveyance path D.

  When guiding the paper to the conveyance path B, the branching claw 15 is in the state of FIG. 1 and the solenoid is OFF. When guiding the paper to the conveyance path C, the branching claw 15 is turned on by turning on the solenoid from the state of FIG. 1 and the branch claw 16 are rotated downward. When the paper is guided by the transport rollers 3 and 4 and the paper is guided to the transport path D, the branch claw 16 is in the state shown in FIG. The branching claw 15 is turned upward by turning on the solenoid from the state shown in FIG. 1, and is discharged onto the shift tray 202 by the discharge roller 6 including the conveying roller 5 and the roller pairs 6a and 6b. .

  In this sheet post-processing apparatus, punching (punch unit 101), sheet alignment + edge binding (jogger fence 53, end surface binding stapler S1), sheet alignment + saddle stitching (jogger fence 53, saddle stitching stapler) is performed on the sheet. S2), paper sorting (shift tray 202), center folding (folding plate 74, folding rollers 81, 82), and the like can be performed.

  In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus PR performs optical writing on an image forming medium such as a photosensitive drum based on the input image data to form a latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the formed latent image is displayed. This is an image forming apparatus using a so-called electrophotographic process in which toner is developed, transferred to a recording medium such as paper, fixed, and discharged, and the image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic process itself is well known, so the details here Description and illustration of this configuration are omitted. In this embodiment, an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic process is illustrated. However, a system using a known image forming apparatus such as an inkjet or a printing machine and a printing machine (printer) may also be used. Needless to say.

<Staple processing tray>
The configuration of the processing tray F that performs sheet alignment and stapling will be described.
In the processing tray F that performs sheet alignment and stapling processing, the sheets guided to the processing tray F by the staple discharge roller 11 are sequentially stacked on the tray surface 66. In this case, alignment in the vertical direction (paper conveyance direction) is performed by the tapping roller 12 for each sheet, and alignment in the horizontal direction (paper width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction) is performed by the jogger fence 53. After that, the end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven by the staple signal from the CPU 350 between the job breaks, that is, between the last sheet of the sheet bundle and the first sheet of the next sheet bundle, and the binding process is performed. The sheet bundle subjected to the binding process is immediately sent to the shift paper discharge roller 6 by the discharge belt having the discharge claw 52a, and is discharged to the shift tray 202 set at the receiving position.

  The home position of the discharge claw 52a is detected by a discharge belt HP sensor 311. The release belt HP sensor 311 is turned on / off by a discharge claw 52a provided on the discharge belt. Two discharge claws 52a are arranged at opposing positions on the outer periphery of the discharge belt, and the sheet bundle stored in the processing tray F is moved and conveyed alternately. Further, if necessary, the discharge belt 52 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the back of the discharge claw 52a that is waiting to move the sheet bundle and the discharge claw 52a on the opposite side of the discharge claw 52a. You may align the front-end | tip of a conveyance direction.

  The drive shaft of the discharge belt driven by the discharge motor is provided with a discharge belt and its driving pulley at the alignment center in the paper width direction, and the discharge roller 56 is disposed and fixed symmetrically with respect to the discharge belt. The peripheral speed 56 is set to be faster than the peripheral speed of the discharge belt.

  The hitting roller 12 is given a pendulum motion by the hitting SOL about the fulcrum and intermittently acts on the paper sent to the processing tray F to hit the paper against the rear end fence 51. The hitting roller 12 rotates counterclockwise. The jogger fence 53 is driven via a timing belt by a jogger motor capable of forward and reverse rotation, and reciprocates in the paper width direction.

  The end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven via a timing belt by a forward / reversely movable stapler moving motor (not shown), and moves in the sheet width direction in order to bind a predetermined position of the sheet edge. A stapler movement HP sensor for detecting the home position of the end face binding stapler S1 is provided at one end of the moving range, and the binding position in the paper width direction is controlled by the amount of movement of the end face binding stapler S1 from the home position. The

  The saddle stitching stapler S2 is disposed such that the distance from the rear end fence 51 to the needle striking position of the saddle stitching stapler S2 is equal to or longer than a distance corresponding to half of the conveyance direction length of the maximum sheet size that can be saddle stitched, and Two are arranged symmetrically with respect to the alignment center in the paper width direction and are fixed to a stay (not shown). Further, the saddle stitch stapler S2 includes a needle portion, and is divided into two units of a stitcher (driver) unit S23 for driving out the needle and a clincher unit S22 for bending the needle, and the stitcher unit S23 conveys the processing tray F. It is arranged on the road D side. In the figure, reference numeral 310 denotes a paper presence / absence sensor that detects the presence / absence of paper on the staple processing tray F.

  The sheet bundle that has undergone saddle stitching in the staple processing tray F is folded in the middle of the sheet. This middle folding is performed in the middle folding processing tray G. For this purpose, it is necessary to transport the bound sheet bundle to the middle folding processing tray G. In this embodiment, a sheet bundle deflecting unit is provided on the most downstream side in the conveyance direction of the staple processing tray F, and conveys the sheet bundle to the middle folding processing tray G side.

  The sheet bundle deflection mechanism includes a branch guide plate 54 and a movable guide 55. The branch guide plate 54 is provided so as to be swingable in the vertical direction around a fulcrum. A pressure roller 57 that is rotatable is provided on the downstream side of the branch guide plate 54 and is pressed toward the discharge roller 56 by a spring.

<Folding processing tray>
The folding plate 74 is supported by loosely fitting a long hole portion with each of two shafts erected on a front and rear side plate (not shown), and the shaft portion erected from the folding plate 74 is a long hole portion of the link arm. By loosely fitting and the link arm swinging around the fulcrum, it reciprocates left and right in FIG. That is, in FIG. 1, the folding plate 74 reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to the upper and lower bundle conveyance guide plates 91 and 92.

  In the middle folding processing tray G, the lower end of the sheet bundle conveyed by the bundle conveying rollers 71 and 72 is regulated by the rear end plate 73, and the rear end position of the sheet bundle can be moved by the rotation of the pulley 322. The central portion of the sheet bundle can be opposed to the front end portion of the folding plate 74.

  In FIG. 1, reference numerals 302, 303, 304, 305, 321, 323, and 324 are sensors for detecting the conveyance state of the sheet or sheet bundle, and reference numeral 330 is stacked on the shift tray 202 and returned by the return roller 13. It is a paper surface sensor for detecting the upper surface of the printed paper.

<Z-fold processing device>
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the Z-folding processing apparatus of FIG. The Z-folding processing device ZF is attached to the side portion of the image forming device PR, and the sheet discharged from the image forming device PR is guided to an inlet roller 402 in the Z-folding processing device via an inlet sensor 401. The Z-folding processing device ZF has a first conveying path 406 arranged linearly that is switched by the switching claw 403 between the inlet 404 and the outlet 405, and a front view U below the first conveying path 406. The second and third transport paths 407 and 408 are curvedly arranged in a letter shape, and the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 are provided between the second and third transport paths 407 and 408. First and second reverse conveying paths 409, 410 and first to third folding rollers 413, 414, 415 provided respectively are provided. The first folding roller 413 is mounted on the shaft 413a with an electromagnetic clutch. The first folding roller 413 rotates when the electromagnetic clutch is on, and the shaft 413a rotates idle when the electromagnetic clutch is off. The first folding roller 413, the second folding roller 414, the third folding roller 415, and other conveying rollers are driven by one brushless motor. The first and second guide plates 411 and 412 are each driven by a stepping motor.

  A folding branch claw 417 is provided at the entrance of the second reverse conveyance path 410. The free branch side of the folding branch claw 417 shields and opens the inlets of the first and second reversal conveyance paths 409 and 410. The proximal end side of the folding / branching claw 417 is pivotally supported by a shaft 417a driven by a solenoid, and when the solenoid is driven, the folding / branching claw 417 moves to a position where the second reverse conveyance path 410 is blocked, and the solenoid is released from driving. Then, the second reverse conveyance path 410 is opened and moved to a position where the paper is conveyed.

In addition, an inlet sensor 401 is provided in the first conveyance path 406 at the entrance of the Z-folding processing device ZF, an arrival sensor 418 is provided at the lower end of the second conveyance path 407, and a sheet (sheet) is disposed in front of the first folding roller 413. The first guide plate HP sensor 420 for detecting the HP of the first guide plate 411 is located at the end of the first reverse conveyance path 409, and the second reverse conveyance path. A second guide plate HP sensor 421 that detects the HP of the second guide plate 412 is provided at the end of 410, a paper discharge sensor 422 is provided at the exit 405, and the second reversal conveyance path 410 of the folding branch claw 417 is provided. Folding / branching claw HP sensors 424 for detecting the HP of the folding / branching claws 417 are respectively provided at the retracted positions.

With such a configuration, the Z-folding apparatus generally operates as follows.
When the sheet is not Z-folded according to an instruction from the image forming apparatus PR, the switching claw 403 is switched clockwise by the solenoid 311 (see FIG. 7), and is discharged straight through the first conveyance path 406. The paper is discharged from the outlet 405 to the outside of the Z folder ZF by a paper roller 425. When the Z-folding process is instructed, the switching claw 404 is switched in the counterclockwise direction in the drawing and guided to the second transport path 407 side. Then, as shown in the operation explanatory view of FIG. 3 and the explanatory view showing the folded state of FIG. 4, the paper is guided to the first reverse conveying path 409 and the paper leading end P1 hits the first guide plate 411 (FIG. 3A )), The sheet is bent (FIG. 3B), the first folding portion P2 is guided to the nip of the first and second folding rollers 413 and 414, and the folding to the first folding portion P2 is executed. (FIG. 3C). Thereafter, the folded sheet is guided to the second reverse conveying path 410 by the first and second folding rollers 413 and 414 with the first folding part P2 as the leading end (FIG. 3D), and the second The leading end of the first folding part P2 folded on the guide plate 412 hits (FIG. 3E), the second folding part P3 is guided to the nip between the second and third folding rollers 414, 415, The second fold P3 is folded (FIG. 3 (f)). Thereafter, the paper passes through the third conveyance path 408 and is discharged from the paper discharge roller 425 to the paper post-processing apparatus PD side through the exit 405.

  As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the leading edge P1, the first folding portion P2, the third folding portion P3, the first guide plate 411, and the second guide plate 412 are the leading edge of the first sheet. P1 comes into contact with the first guide plate 411, and then the first folding portion P2 comes into contact with the second guide plate 412 and is folded at the nip of the first to third folding rollers 413, 414, and 415. .

  In addition, the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 are not illustrated in advance to positions corresponding to the respective sizes before the paper enters the second transport path 407 according to the paper size information from the image forming apparatus PR. It is moved by a stepping motor (first guide plate motor, second guide plate motor), and the folding position for each sheet size is changed depending on the positions of the first and second guide plates 411 and 412. The position is set by the number of steps of the stepping motor 312 that moves from the home position of the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 detected by the HP sensors 420 and 421.

  In the folding device according to the present embodiment, not only such folding is performed, but also, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, Z-folding is performed to halve the original size, and as shown in FIG. It is possible to fold the original paper size to approximately 1/4), or to perform one-sided folding that folds inward as shown in FIG. 5, and in this case, an arbitrary size between 1/2 and 1/4 of the original size is possible. Multiple folds up to the size are possible.

<Control device>
As shown in FIG. 7, the control device 300 of the Z-folding processing device ZF is configured around a CPU 301 that transmits and receives signals to and from the control device 350 of the image forming apparatus PR and controls each part. The CPU 301 drives the solenoid and clutch 311, the stepping motor 312, the brushless motor 313, and the like according to the input from each sensor 320 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the control device 300 is provided with a first driver 302 for driving the solenoid and clutch 311, a motor driver 303 for driving the stepping motor 312, and a second driver 304 for driving the brushless motor 313. A clock generation means (vibrator) 305 for supplying a clock to the CPU 301 is provided.

  The CPU 301 of the ZF control device 300 transmits and receives control signals to and from the CPU 351 on the control device 350 side of the image forming device PR, and receives power for driving from the control device 350 of the image forming device PR.

  In FIG. 7, the control device 300 of the Z-folding processing device ZF is connected to the control device 350 of the image forming device PR. In this case, the image forming device PR is a copier or a multifunction device, and is a printer. In other words, signals are transmitted to and received from the host device.

  The control device of the Z-folding processing device ZF is executed by the CPU 350 executing a program written in a ROM (not shown) while using a RAM (not shown) as a work area. The program data is downloaded from a server via a network or from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or SD card to a storage medium such as a hard disk device (not shown) via a recording medium driving device instead of or in addition to the ROM. It can also be used after being upgraded.

<Control action>
As described above, the Z-folding device according to this embodiment is a device that performs so-called two-folding, which is called Z-folding by a folding roller. However, the sheet fed from the image forming apparatus PR side has a fixed shape. There are sizes or irregular sizes. In addition, there are cases where a sheet that is sent to the post-processing apparatus FR without being folded and a sheet that is Z-folded and a sheet that is not subjected to Z-folding are mixedly loaded. Here, description will be made focusing on the folding operation, particularly the guide plate operation, in the case of the standard size and the case of the irregular size.

(1) In the case of a standard size When information on the paper size and folding method is received from the image forming apparatus, the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412 are both moved to the home position (however, they are folded in half). In this case, only the first guide plate 411 is moved, and the solenoid of the folding branch claw 417 is turned on). The first and second guide plates 411 and 412 that have moved to the home position start moving by an amount determined for each paper size and folding method.

  The processing procedure at this time is shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. In FIG. 8, when the sheet is carried into the Z-folding device ZF and the entrance sensor 401 is turned on (step S101), the transport motor starts to be driven (step S102). Before that, the CPU 351 of the image forming apparatus PR performs Z The CPU 301 of the folding device ZF is notified of Z-folding, and the CPU 301 drives the solenoid 311 according to this notification to switch the branching claw 403 to the side where the second conveyance path 407 is opened.

  Next, the drive of the transport motor is started, and the paper is transported from the branching claw 403 to the second transport path 407. When the paper reaches the registration detection sensor 419 (step S103), the stepping motor is excited so that the guide plates 411 and 412 do not move when the paper hits the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412. After Tms after reaching the sensor, skew correction is performed until the clutch of the first folding roller 413 is turned on, and then the sheet is conveyed to the first reverse conveying path 409 (step S104). The sheet conveyed to the first reverse conveying path 409 strikes the first guide plate 411 and bends toward the roller pair of the first folding roller 413 and the second folding roller 414 (FIG. 3B). ). As the sheet further bends, the sheet is fed into the nip of the roller pair (FIG. 3C). The sheet conveyed to the second reverse conveying path 410 hits the second guide plate 412, and the sheet is bent near the nip between the second folding roller 414 and the third folding roller 415. Further, the sheet is picked up by the nip of the roller pair (FIG. 3 (e)) and conveyed toward the third conveyance path 408 (FIG. 3 (f)). Then, the paper is discharged through a paper discharge roller 425. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that the paper discharge sensor 422 is turned on (step S105), the excitation of the stepping motor that has been excited so that the guide plates 411 and 412 do not move is released (step S106), and the paper discharge sensor 422 is turned on. The transport motor is stopped at the time when it is turned off (steps S107 and S108).

The positions of the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 need to be changed according to the paper size. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the control procedure at that time.
In this process, when a folding command is received from the image forming apparatus, if even one of the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412 is not positioned on the HP, the first guide plate motor and / or the second guide motor. And when the first guide plate HP sensor 420 and the second guide plate HP sensor 421 are both turned on, the first guide plate motor is moved to the standby position determined by the paper size and folding method. The first guide 411 is moved by forward rotation only, and the second guide plate 412 is moved by forward rotation by the amount that the second guide plate motor moves to the standby position determined by the paper size and folding method. The motors that drive the respective guide plates are stopped when the movement of the first and second guide plates is completed. Specifically, when the folding command is received from the image forming apparatus, if the first guide plate HP sensor 420 is ON (step S201), the first guide plate motor is driven in reverse (step S202). It is checked whether or not it is folded in two (step S203). If it is folded in half, the process proceeds to step S206. If it is not folded in two, it is checked whether the second guide HP sensor 421 is ON. If it is ON, the process proceeds to step S206. (Step S205), the process proceeds to Step S206.

  In step S206, it is checked whether or not the first guide plate HP sensor 420 is ON. If it is ON, the driving of the first guide plate motor is stopped (step S207). It is checked whether the guide plate HP sensor 421 is ON (step S208). If the second guide plate sensor 421 is ON in this check, the second guide plate motor is driven in reverse (step S209). If not ON, step S209 is skipped and the first and second guide plate HP sensors are again driven. It is checked whether 421 is ON (step S210).

  If both the first and second guide plate HP sensors 420 and 421 are ON in this check, the first and second guide plate motors are rotated forward to the standby position determined by the paper size and folding method ( Steps S211, S212) When the movement is completed, the motor is stopped (step S213). This completes preparation for folding. If neither HP sensor is ON in step S210, the process returns to step S206 and the subsequent processing is repeated.

(2) In the case of an irregular size When information on the irregular size and folding method is received from the image forming apparatus, both the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412 move to the home position (however, 2 In the case of folding, only the first guide plate 411 moves, and the folding branch claw solenoid is turned on. When the sheet is carried into the folding device ZF and the inlet sensor 401 is turned on, the number of pulses of the stepping motor that rotates the conveying roller 402 is started. When the entrance sensor 401 is turned off, the counting is finished, and then both guide plates 411 and 412 start to move by the amount calculated by the counting number and the folding method. When the paper reaches the registration detection sensor 419 and the sensor is turned off, the paper moves to the home position again.

The control procedure at this time is shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.
In this process, when a sheet is carried in and the entrance sensor 401 is turned on (step S301), the driving of the carry motor is started, and at the same time, the drive pulse of the driving motor is started (step S302). When the entrance sensor is turned off (step S303), the pulse count is finished (step S304), and the paper size is captured. A motor that drives the first guide plate 411 to move the first guide plate 411 to the standby position calculated based on the count value of the pulse count and the folding method transmitted from the image forming apparatus PR. Is rotated forward (step S305).

  Next, it is checked whether or not it is folded (step S306). If it is folded, the second guide plate 412 is calculated based on the count value of the pulse count and the folding method transmitted from the image forming apparatus PR. In order to move to the standby position, the motor driving the second guide plate 412 is rotated forward (step S307). If the sheet is not folded in step S306, after the motor is rotated forward in step S305 or the motor is rotated forward in step S307, the registration detection sensor 419 is turned ON (step S308), and the leading edge of the sheet is detected in registration. When the sensor 419 position is reached, the stepping motor is excited so that the guide plates 411 and 412 do not move when the sheet hits the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412 (step S309). After Tms, skew correction is performed until the clutch of the first folding roller 413 is turned on, and then the sheet is conveyed to the first reverse conveying path 409.

  When the registration detection sensor 419 is turned off (step S310), the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 are moved to the home position (step S311), and the discharge sensor 422 is confirmed to be turned on (step S312). The excitation of the stepping motor that has been excited so that the guide plates 411 and 412 do not move is released (step S313), and the transport motor is stopped when the paper discharge sensor 422 is turned from ON to OFF (step S314). S315).

The positions of the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 need to be changed according to the paper size. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for preparing to return to the home position and execute the process of FIG. 10 before that.
In this process, when a folding command is received from the image forming apparatus, if even one of the first guide plate 411 and the second guide plate 412 is not positioned on the HP, the first guide plate motor and / or the second guide motor. To control both the first guide plate HP sensor 420 and the second guide plate HP sensor 421 to be ON (steps S401 to S410), and the first and second guide plates 411 and 412 are the homes. The processing is finished assuming that the preparation for folding is completed when positioned. In addition, since the process of step S401-step S410 is the same process as step S201 to step S210 of the preparation process procedure in the case of a fixed size, description is abbreviate | omitted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
1) By measuring an irregular-size sheet one by one with a sheet post-processing device, high-quality Z-folding can be performed on an irregular-size sheet.
2) By continuously waiting the first and second guide plates at the initial positions after the Z-folding process, continuous Z-folding processing of irregular-size paper becomes possible.
3) By starting the movement of the first and second guide plates to the initial position when the trailing edge of the sheet is detected by the registration detection sensor in front of the conveyance direction of the first folding roller and the conveyance roller, It becomes possible to quickly prepare for receiving the next sheet, and it is possible to suppress a decrease in productivity.
There are effects such as.

It is a whole lineblock diagram showing the schematic structure of the whole system concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a figure which expands and shows the Z folding processing apparatus in FIG. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state of a sheet and a transition state of a folding roller when the sheet is Z-folded. It is explanatory drawing which shows how to fold the paper at the time of Z folding. It is explanatory drawing which shows how to fold the paper at the time of three folding. It is explanatory drawing which shows how to fold the paper at the time of four folding. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of Z folding processing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in the case of a standard size paper. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the folding preparation process in the case of a standard size paper. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in the case of a non-standard size paper. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the folding preparation process in the case of a non-standard size paper.

Explanation of symbols

301,351 CPU
406 1st conveyance path 407 2nd conveyance path 408 3rd conveyance path 409 1st reverse conveyance path 410 2nd reverse conveyance path 411 1st guide plate 412 2nd guide plate 413 1st folding roller 414 Second folding roller 415 Third folding roller 417 Folding / branching claw 418 Arrival sensor 419 Registration detection sensor 420 First guide plate HP sensor 421 Second guide plate HP sensor PD Paper post-processing device PR Image forming device ZF Z Folding device

Claims (3)

In a folding apparatus having a folding means for diffracting a single sheet of paper carried in multiple times,
Detecting means for detecting the paper length;
A restricting means for restricting a leading end position in the conveyance direction of the one sheet ;
A determining unit that determines a position of the restricting unit based on a sheet length of the one sheet detected by the detecting unit when an irregular-size sheet is conveyed;
A folding device comprising: 2. The folding according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the restricting unit that defines the folding position to the initial position is started at a timing when the sheet detection unit provided upstream in the sheet conveyance direction immediately before the folding unit is turned off. apparatus. Image forming system, characterized in that it comprises a folding device according to claim 1, and an image forming apparatus.

Images