JP4543016B2 - Sheet conveying apparatus, sheet processing apparatus, and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention conveys a sheet-shaped member such as paper, recording paper, an OHP sheet, or a sheet-shaped recording medium (simply referred to as “sheet” in the present specification) and a bundle thereof (sheet bundle). Sheet conveying apparatus, sheet processing apparatus provided with binding / folding means for performing predetermined processing, for example, binding or folding, on a sheet member (sheet), and copier and printer provided with this sheet processing apparatus integrally or separately The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile or a digital multifunction peripheral.

  As this type of technology, for example, the inventions disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known. Among these, in Patent Document 1, in a sheet processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on a loaded sheet, a staple processing tray that performs alignment and stapling processing on a sheet bundle, and alignment and stippling processing in the staple processing tray are performed. The sheet bundle conveyance path is switched between a conveyance path for discharging the applied sheet bundle as it is, a bundle conveyance guide upper and lower for conveying the sheet bundle to the folding plate side for performing the middle folding process, and a conveyance path and a bundle conveyance guide upper and lower A branch guide plate and a movable guide plate are provided. When the branch guide plate and the movable guide plate are switched up and down, the sheet bundle is deflected along the outer periphery of the discharge roller located on the most downstream side of the staple processing tray. In the invention, the sheet bundle is guided up and down the bundle conveyance guide.

  In Patent Document 2, the end in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction is aligned by the jogger fence, the rear end of the sheet conveying direction is aligned by the rear end fence, and the sheet bundle on the staple tray is pushed up. An invention is disclosed in which the discharge claw to be discharged is moved in the anti-discharge direction so that the back side of the discharge is brought into contact with the front end of the sheet bundle to perform the sheet bundle aligning operation.

Further, in Patent Document 3, the upper bundle discharge roller is received by the operation control of the control device until the leading end of the sheet exceeds the downstream end of the stacking surface in the separated state of the bundle discharge roller pair. , Reversely rotate the lower bundle discharge roller and pull the sheet back to the upstream side, separate the upper bundle discharge roller at the position where the center of gravity of the sheet has passed the downstream end, and after processing, An invention is disclosed in which a bundle is discharged onto two stacking tray means and a sheet pull-back operation is effectively performed during the alignment operation to prevent alignment failure. In Patent Document 3, if more than half of the discharged sheets are discharged to the second stacking tray, it is difficult to pull in the bundle with a pull-in paddle that abuts the trailing edge of the sheet against the trailing edge stopper. The sheet ejected by a pair of sheet ejection rollers, which is a pair of ejection rollers, is sandwiched and conveyed in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction, and the sheet is pulled back onto the first stacking tray by more than half, so that the trailing edge of the sheet is pulled in by a paddle An invention is disclosed in which the rear end stopper is abutted to improve alignment.
JP 2003-95506 A JP 2000-211795 A JP-A-11-199118

  By the way, when performing saddle stitching or folding processing, after the sheet binding direction and the width direction are aligned in the edge binding processing unit, the conveyance force is applied to the sheet bundle when the sheet bundle is conveyed to the downstream saddle stitching processing unit. The feeding means for feeding is located at the upper part of the upper end binding processing unit. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the position and control of the conveying unit from hindering the sheet alignment in the edge binding processing unit. In addition, when the conveying unit moves from the standby position to the conveying position during conveyance of the sheet bundle, if the sheet bundle is moved when it comes into contact with the sheet bundle, the sheet bundle remains shifted in subsequent conveyance, which affects subsequent processing. May affect.

  However, such contact between the sheet and the conveying means is not taken into account in the inventions described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 until this is particularly avoided, and the conveyance quality deteriorates due to the contact. There was a possibility of making it.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to prevent the subsequent processing from being affected when the transport unit moves from the standby position to the transport position during sheet bundle transport.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the first means includes a storage means for temporarily storing a sheet or sheet bundle, and a processing means for performing a predetermined process on the sheet or sheet bundle stored in the storage means. In the sheet conveying apparatus provided in the storage unit and having a conveying unit that conveys the sheet or the sheet bundle, the conveying unit sets the two positions of the sheet alignment position and the sheet bundle conveyance position. A moving fulcrum is provided, and the swing fulcrum is provided at a position where the deviation of the sheet is minimized when the conveying means contacts the sheet bundle during conveyance of the sheet bundle.

  The second means is the first means, wherein the conveying means imparts a conveying force to the sheet, a driving means for swinging the roller with respect to the swing fulcrum, and the sheet bundle leading end. And a guide for holding down.

  The third means is characterized in that, in the second means, the roller rotates intermittently.

  According to a fourth means, in the second means, after the leading edge of the sheet bundle passes through the roller nip of the conveying means, the roller and the sheet bundle at the time of conveying the sheet bundle so that the roller contacts the sheet bundle. The contact timing is set.

  The fifth means is characterized in that, in any one of the second to fourth means, means for avoiding contact of the guide with the sheet bundle is provided.

  The sixth means is characterized in that in any one of the second to fifth means, the sheet is aligned in the conveying direction with the roller.

  The seventh means is characterized in that, in the sixth means, when aligning with the roller, means for adjusting the alignment force by the relative position of the roller with respect to the accommodating means.

  An eighth means is characterized in that, in the seventh means, the position is set based on any of the number of sheets, the sheet type, and the image mode.

  A ninth means is characterized in that, in any one of the second to seventh means, the roller aligns the sheet every time the sheet is discharged or a plurality of sheets are discharged.

  The tenth means further includes discharge means for discharging the sheet bundle from the storage means in any one of the first to ninth means, and the discharge means conveys the sheet bundle by the conveyance means. In this case, the sheet bundle is discharged from the storage means.

  The eleventh means is characterized in that, in the tenth means, the discharge means starts the discharge operation at the same time as or later than the timing at which the transport means starts operation when the sheet bundle is transported.

  The twelfth means is characterized in that, in the tenth means, the operation speed of the sheet bundle discharge of the discharge means is set to be equal to or lower than the transport speed of the transport means.

  A thirteenth means is characterized in that, in any one of the tenth to twelfth means, the discharge means operates at a certain distance from the rear end of the sheet bundle when the conveyance means conveys the sheet bundle. To do.

  The fourteenth means is characterized in that, in any one of the first to thirteenth means, the conveying means is provided at a position where it does not interfere with other members operating during alignment and conveyance of the sheet bundle.

  The fifteenth means cancels the conveying force applied to the sheet bundle after the sheet bundle reaches the other conveying means downstream of the conveying means in the first to fourteenth means and conveys a certain amount. It is characterized by doing.

  A sixteenth means is characterized in that, in the fifteenth means, the fixed amount is set based on any of the number of sheets, the sheet type, and the image mode.

  The seventeenth means is characterized in that the sheet processing apparatus includes the sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of the first to sixteenth means.

  The eighteenth means is characterized in that the image forming apparatus includes a sheet conveying mechanism according to any one of the first to sixteenth means.

  A nineteenth means is characterized in that the image forming apparatus includes the sheet processing apparatus according to the seventeenth means.

  In the embodiment described later, the sheet bundle is denoted by P, the storage means is by the end binding tray F, the processing means is the rear end fence 51 and the return roller 12 and the roller 601, or the jogger fence 53, or the end surface binding stapler S1. In addition, the transport device is the transport mechanism 600, the swing fulcrum is the drive shaft 602 or 602b, the roller is the reference numeral 601, the drive means is the motor M1 and the cam 605, the guide is the reference numeral 612, and the avoiding means is the guide member 609. Further, the means for adjusting the matching force corresponds to the motor M1, the cam 605, and the CPU 360, the means for releasing corresponds to the discharging claw 52a, and the CPU 360 executes control of these parts.

  According to the present invention, since the conveyance unit moves from the standby position to the conveyance position during conveyance of the sheet bundle and the conveyance unit comes into contact with the sheet bundle, the number of sheets remains at a minimum, so that subsequent processing is not affected. . As a result, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the conveyance quality of the sheet bundle subjected to the alignment process in the edge binding processing unit, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in the downstream processing quality.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image forming system including a sheet post-processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus as a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Part of the device is shown.

  In FIG. 1, the sheet post-processing apparatus PD is attached to the side portion of the image forming apparatus PR, and the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus PR is guided to the sheet post-processing apparatus PD. The sheet passes through a conveying path A having post-processing means (in this embodiment, a punch unit 100 as a punching means) for post-processing one sheet, and then to the conveying path B and the shift tray 202 that are led 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 and staple binding (hereinafter also referred to as an end face binding processing tray).

  The image forming apparatus PR includes an image processing circuit that converts input image data into printable image data, although not shown, and an optical writing device that performs optical writing on a photoconductor based on an image signal output from the image processing circuit A developing device for developing the latent image formed on the photosensitive member by optical writing, a transfer device for transferring the toner image visualized by the developing device to the sheet, and a fixing device for fixing the toner image transferred on the sheet At least the sheet on which the toner image is fixed is sent to the sheet post-processing apparatus PD, and desired post-processing is performed by the sheet post-processing apparatus PD. Here, the image forming apparatus PR is of an electrophotographic system as described above, but any known image forming apparatus such as an ink jet system or a thermal transfer system can be used. In this embodiment, the image processing circuit, the optical writing device, the developing device, the transfer device, and the fixing device constitute image forming means.

  The sheet guided to the end-face binding processing tray F through the transport paths A and D, and aligned, stapled, and the like in the end-face binding processing tray F is guided to the shift tray 202 by the guide member 609. The sheets that are fed to the saddle stitching / folding processing tray G (hereinafter also simply referred to as “folding processing tray”) are fed to the lower tray through the conveyance path H. 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 the branching claw 17. The sheet is reversed along the turn guide 8 by reversing at least the conveyance roller 9 among the conveyance rollers 9 and 10 and the staple discharge roller 11, and the trailing edge of the sheet is guided to the sheet storage portion E to be retained. And can be conveyed in a superimposed manner. By repeating this operation, two or more sheets can be stacked and conveyed.

  In the conveyance path A common to the 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 PR, an inlet roller 1, a punch unit 100, The punch and waste hopper 101, the conveying roller 2, the branching claw 15 and the branching claw 16 are sequentially arranged. The branching claws 15 and 16 are held in the state shown in FIG. 1 by a spring (not shown). When the solenoid (not shown) is turned on, the branching claws 15 and 16 are driven to change the combination of the two. The sheet is distributed to the path B, the conveyance path C, and the conveyance path D.

  When the sheet is guided to the conveyance path B, the solenoid is turned off in the state of FIG. 1, and when the sheet is guided to the conveyance path C, the branch claw 15 is moved upward by turning on the solenoid from the state of FIG. When the branching claws 16 are rotated downward, the sheet is discharged from the conveying roller 3 to the upper tray 201 via the paper discharge roller 4 and guided to the conveying path D, the branching claw 16 is in the state shown in FIG. The solenoid is turned off and the branch claw 15 is turned upward by turning on the solenoid from the state shown in FIG. 1, and the sheet is shifted through the conveying roller 5 and the discharge roller pair 6 (6a, 6b). Transport to the tray 202 side.

  In this sheet post-processing apparatus, punching (punch unit 100), sheet alignment + edge binding (jogger fence 53, end surface binding stapler S1), sheet alignment + saddle binding (saddle stitch upper jogger fence 250a, Each processing such as the saddle stitching lower jogger fence 250b, the saddle stitching stapler S2), the sheet sorting (shift tray 202), and the middle folding (folding plate 74, folding roller 81) can be performed.

2. Shift Tray Unit As shown in FIG. 1, the shift tray paper discharge unit located at the most downstream portion of the sheet post-processing apparatus PD includes a shift paper discharge roller pair 6 (6a, 6b), a return roller 13, and a paper surface detection sensor. 330, a shift tray 202, a shift mechanism (not shown) that reciprocates the shift tray 202 in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction, and a shift tray lifting mechanism that lifts and lowers the shift tray 202.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 13 denotes a return roller, and the return roller 13 comes from a sponge roller for contacting the sheet discharged from the shift discharge roller pair 6 and abutting the rear end of the sheet against the end fence for alignment. Become. The return roller 13 is rotated by the rotational force of the shift paper discharge roller pair 6. A tray lift limit switch is provided in the vicinity of the return roller 13, and when the shift tray 202 is lifted to push up the return roller 13, the tray lift limit switch is turned on and the tray lift motor is stopped. Thereby, overrun of the shift tray 202 is prevented. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a paper surface detection sensor 330 is provided in the vicinity of the return roller 13 as paper surface position detecting means for detecting the paper surface position of the sheet or sheet bundle discharged onto the shift tray 202. Yes.

  In this embodiment, the paper surface detection sensor (for stippling) and the paper surface detection sensor (for non-stipple) are turned on when blocked by the shielding portion. Therefore, when the shift tray 202 is raised and the contact portion of the paper surface detection lever is rotated upward, the paper surface detection sensor (for stippling) is turned off, and when it is further rotated, the paper surface detection sensor (for non-stipple) is turned on. When it is detected by the paper surface detection sensor (for stippling) and the paper surface detection sensor (for non-stipple) that the sheet stacking amount has reached a predetermined height, the shift tray 202 is lowered by a predetermined amount by driving the tray lifting / lowering motor. Thereby, the paper surface position of the shift tray 202 is kept substantially constant.

3. End-face Binding Processing Tray Unit 3.1 Overall Configuration of End-face Binding Processing Tray Sheets guided to the end-face binding processing tray F by the staple discharge roller 11 are sequentially stacked on the end-face binding processing tray F. In this case, alignment in the vertical direction (sheet conveyance direction) is performed by the tapping roller 12 for each sheet, and alignment in the horizontal direction (direction also orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction—also referred to as sheet width direction) is performed by the jogger fence 53. The end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven by a staple signal from the control device 350 (see FIG. 22) between job breaks, that is, between the last sheet of the sheet bundle P and the first 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 52 with the discharge claw 52a protruding, and is discharged onto the shift tray 202 set at the receiving position.

3.2 Sheet Release Mechanism The release claw 52a is configured such that the home position is detected by the release belt HP sensor 311, and the release belt HP sensor 311 is turned on / off by the release claw 52a provided on the release belt 52. . Two discharge claws 52a are arranged at opposing positions on the outer periphery of the discharge belt 52, and the sheet bundle stored in the end face binding processing tray F is moved and conveyed alternately. Further, if necessary, the discharge belt 52 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the discharge claw 52a waiting to move the sheet bundle from now on and the back side of the discharge claw 52a on the opposite side of the sheet bundle accommodated in the end face binding processing tray F It is also possible to align the tips in the transport direction. Accordingly, the discharge claw 52a also functions as a means for aligning the sheet bundle in the sheet conveyance direction.

  Further, on the drive shaft of the discharge belt 52 driven by a discharge motor (not shown), the discharge belt 52 and its drive pulley are arranged at the alignment center in the sheet width direction, and the discharge roller 56 is arranged symmetrically with respect to the drive pulley. It has been fixed. Further, the peripheral speed of these discharge rollers 56 is set to be higher than the peripheral speed of the discharge belt 52.

3.3 Processing Mechanism The hitting roller 12 is given a pendulum motion by a hitting SOL (solenoid) about a fulcrum 12a, and acts intermittently on the sheet fed to the end surface binding processing tray F, and the sheet is applied to the rear end fence 51. Strike. The hitting roller 12 rotates counterclockwise. The jogger fence 53 is driven via a timing belt by a jogger motor (not shown) capable of forward and reverse rotation, and reciprocates in the sheet width direction.

  The end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven via a timing belt by a not-shown stapler moving motor (not shown), and moves in the sheet width direction to bind a predetermined position of the sheet edge. A stapler movement HP sensor for detecting the home position of the end-face stitching stapler S1 is provided at one end of the movement range, and the binding position in the sheet width direction is determined by the movement amount of the end-face stitching stapler S1 from the home position. Be controlled. The end-face stitching stapler S1 further replaces the staple needle by rotating only the binding mechanism of the stapler S1 obliquely at a predetermined angle at the home position so that the needle driving angle can be changed parallel or obliquely with respect to the sheet edge. Is configured so that it can be easily performed. That is, the stapler S1 is rotated obliquely by the oblique motor, and when the needle replacement position sensor detects that the needle replacement position sensor has reached a predetermined oblique angle or the needle replacement position, the oblique motor stops. When the diagonal strike is finished or the needle exchange is finished, the original position is rotated to prepare for the next staple. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 310 denotes a paper presence sensor that detects the presence or absence of a sheet on the end face binding processing tray F.

4). Sheet Bundle Deflection Mechanism As shown in the enlarged views of the end face binding processing tray F and the folding processing tray G in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet bundle deflection mechanism is configured to turn the sheet bundle. And a guide member 609 for guiding the turn portion of the sheet bundle. As described above, the discharge roller 56 is provided at the upper end of the end surface binding processing tray F, and the guide member 609 is disposed on the outer periphery thereof.

  Each detailed configuration will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the roller 601 of the transport mechanism 600 is configured to transmit the driving force of the drive shaft 602 by the timing belt 603, and the roller 601 and the drive shaft 602 are armed. 604 is connected and supported, and can be swung with the drive shaft 602 as a rocking fulcrum. The roller 601 of the transport mechanism 600 is swung (position movement) by a cam 605. The cam 605 rotates around the rotation shaft 606, and the drive is transmitted from the motor M1. The home position of the cam 605 that rotates the transport mechanism 600 is detected by the sensor SN1. The rotation angle from the home position may be controlled by adding a sensor in FIG. 2, or may be adjusted by pulse control of the motor M1. A driven roller 607 is disposed at a position where the roller 601 of the conveying mechanism 600 is opposed, the sheet bundle P is sandwiched between the driven roller 607 and the roller 601, and is pressurized by an elastic material 608 constituted by, for example, a tension spring, so that the conveying force is increased. Has been granted.

  The conveyance path for conveying the sheet bundle P from the end-face binding processing tray F to the folding processing tray G includes a discharge roller 56 and a guide member 609 on the opposite side of the discharge roller 56, and the guide member 609 is centered on a fulcrum 610. The rotation is transmitted from the motor M2. The home position of the guide member 609 is detected by the sensor SN2. Further, the conveyance path for conveying the sheet bundle P from the end binding processing tray F to the shift tray 202 serving as a stacking unit is such that the guide member 609 rotates clockwise around the fulcrum 610 in the drawing. A back side (not shown) is formed by the back side and the guide plate 611.

5). Folding processing tray Saddle stitching and folding are performed in a folding processing tray G provided downstream of the end face binding processing tray F. The sheet bundle P is guided from the end face binding processing tray F to the folding processing tray G by the sheet bundle deflection mechanism. Hereinafter, the configuration of the saddle stitching middle folding processing tray will be described.

5.1 Configuration of Folding Tray As shown in FIG. 1, a folding processing tray G is provided on the downstream side of the sheet bundle deflection mechanism including the conveyance mechanism 600, the guide member 609, and the discharge roller 56. The folding processing tray G is provided substantially perpendicularly on the downstream side of the sheet bundle deflection mechanism, with the middle folding mechanism at the center, the bundle conveyance guide plate upper 92 above, and the bundle conveyance guide plate below. A lower 91 is arranged. Further, an upper bundle conveying roller 71 is provided above the upper bundle conveying guide plate 92, and a lower bundle conveying roller 72 is provided below the upper bundle conveying guide plate 92. A saddle stitch upper jogger fence 250a is arranged on both sides along the side surface of 92. Similarly, a saddle stitch lower jogger fence 250b is provided on both sides along the side surface of the bundle conveyance guide plate lower 91, and a saddle stitch stapler S2 is disposed at a place where the saddle stitch lower jogger fence 250b is installed. The saddle stitching upper jogger fence 250a and the saddle stitching lower jogger fence 250b are driven by a driving mechanism (not shown) and perform an alignment operation in a direction (sheet width direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The saddle stitch stapler S2 is a pair of a clincher portion and a driver portion, and two pairs are provided at a predetermined interval in the sheet width direction. Here, although two pairs are provided in a fixed state, a pair of clincher portions and a driver portion may be moved in the width direction of the sheet to perform two-point binding.

  A movable rear end fence 73 is arranged so as to cross the lower bundle conveyance guide plate 91, and can be moved in the sheet conveyance direction (vertical direction in the figure) by a moving mechanism including a timing belt and its driving mechanism. . As shown in FIG. 1, the drive mechanism includes a drive pulley and a driven pulley on which the timing belt is stretched, and a stepping motor that drives the drive pulley. Similarly, on the upper end side of the bundle conveying guide plate upper 92, a rear end pawl 251 and a drive mechanism thereof are provided. The trailing edge tapping claw 251 can reciprocate in a direction away from the sheet bundle deflection mechanism and a direction in which the trailing edge of the sheet bundle (the side that contacts the trailing edge when the sheet bundle is introduced) is pushed by a timing belt 252 and a driving mechanism (not shown). ing. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 326 denotes a home position sensor for detecting the home position of the rear end pawl 251.

  The middle folding mechanism is provided at a substantially central portion of the folding processing tray G, and includes a folding plate 74, a folding roller 81, and a conveyance path H that conveys the folded sheet bundle.

5.2 Folding plate and its operating mechanism Folding plate 74 is supported by loosely fitting long holes on two shafts standing on a front and rear side plate (not shown), and further, a shaft standing upright from folding plate 74 The part is loosely fitted into the long hole of the link arm, and the link arm swings around the fulcrum, whereby the folding plate reciprocates left and right in FIG. That is, the shaft portion of the folding plate driving cam is loosely fitted in the long hole portion of the link arm, and the link arm is swung by the rotational movement of the folding plate driving cam. Accordingly, in FIG. Reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to the upper bundle conveying guide plates 91 and 92.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the sheet bundle is bound for the middle folding, but the present invention can also be applied to the case of folding a single sheet. In this case, since only one sheet does not require saddle stitching, when one sheet is discharged, the sheet is fed to the folding processing tray G side, folded by the folding plate 74 and the folding roller 81, and discharged from the sheet discharge roller 83. Paper is discharged to the lower tray 203. Reference numeral 323 denotes a folded portion passage sensor for detecting a folded sheet.

  In this embodiment, a detection lever 501 for detecting the stacking height of the sheet bundle folded in the lower tray 203 is provided to be swingable by a fulcrum 501a, and the angle of the detection lever 501 is detected by the paper surface sensor 505. Then, the raising / lowering operation and overflow detection of the lower tray 203 are performed.

6). Control Device FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control device of the system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the control device 350 is composed of a microcomputer having a CPU 360, an I / O interface 370, etc., each switch of the control panel of the image forming apparatus PR main body, an inlet sensor 301, and an upper discharge sensor 302. , Shift discharge sensor 303, prestack sensor 304, staple discharge sensor 305, paper presence sensor 310, discharge belt home position sensor 311, staple movement home position sensor, stapler oblique home position sensor, jogger fence home position sensor, bundle arrival Signals from sensors 321, movable rear end fence home position sensor 322, folding section passage sensor 323, lower paper discharge sensor, paper surface detection sensors 330 and 505, SN1 and SN2 are I / O interface 37. Is input to the CPU360 through.

  Based on the input signal, the CPU 360 moves a tray raising / lowering motor for the shift tray 202, a discharge guide plate opening / closing motor for opening / closing the opening / closing guide plate, a shift motor for moving the shift tray 202, and a tapping roller motor for driving the tapping roller 12. , Solenoids for hitting SOL, a conveyance motor for driving each conveyance roller, a sheet discharge motor for driving each sheet discharge roller, a discharge motor for driving the discharge belt 52, a stapler moving motor for moving the end surface binding stapler S1, and end surface binding An oblique motor that rotates the stapler S1 obliquely, a jogger motor that moves the jogger fence 53, a motor M1 that drives the transport mechanism 600, a motor M2 that swings and drives the guide member 609, and a rear, not shown, that moves the movable rear end fence 73. End fence moving motor, folding plate moving the folding plate 74 Over gate drive motor, and controls the driving such as the folding roller drive motor (not shown) that drives the folding rollers 81.

  A pulse signal of a not-shown staple transport motor that drives the staple discharge roller is input to the CPU 360 and counted, and the hitting SOL and the jogger motor are controlled according to this count. The punch unit 100 also performs drilling according to instructions from the CPU 360 by controlling the clutch and the motor. The sheet post-processing apparatus PD is controlled by the CPU 360 executing a program written in a ROM (not shown) while using a RAM (not shown) as a work area.

7). Operation 7.1 Conveying Operation FIGS. 2 and 6 to 10 are diagrams illustrating a main part of the sheet bundle deflecting unit. When the sheet bundle is sent from the end surface binding processing tray F to the folding processing tray G, the rear end of the sheet bundle aligned by the rear end fence 51 and the jogger fence 53 in the end surface binding processing tray F as shown in FIGS. The sheet claw is pushed up by the discharge claw 52a, and the sheet bundle is sandwiched between a roller 601 positioned above the end face binding processing tray F and a driven roller 607 facing the roller 601 to give a conveying force. At this time, the roller 601 positioned on the leading end side of the sheet bundle stands by at a position where it does not hit the leading end of the sheet bundle P as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, after the leading edge of the sheet passes between the nips of the rollers 601 and 607 where the rollers 607 are opened, the roller 601 of the conveying mechanism 600 is brought into contact with the surface of the sheet to give a conveying force to the sheet bundle. . At this time, the guide member 609 and the discharge roller 56 form a curved conveyance path of the turn portion, and the sheet bundle P is conveyed to the downstream folding processing tray G along the conveyance path.

7.2 Alignment When aligning sheets with the edge binding processing tray F as shown in FIG. 2, the conveyance mechanism 600 is located at the position where the rollers 601 are retracted. The sheet bundle P is lifted, and the rollers 601 are brought into contact with the sheet bundle P with the drive shaft 602 of the transport mechanism 600 as a swing fulcrum. At this time, the rotation locus of the roller 601 changes depending on the position of the rotation fulcrum 602. For example, when the rotation fulcrum 602 is positioned above the sheet bundle P as shown in FIG. The direction is opposite to the sheet conveying direction, and the uppermost sheet of the sheet may be shifted in the direction opposite to the conveying direction. On the other hand, when the rotation fulcrum 602 is positioned below the sheet bundle P as shown in FIG. 4, the locus where the roller 601 contacts the sheet bundle P is the same direction as the sheet conveyance direction, and the uppermost sheet of the sheet is moved. It may shift in the transport direction. Therefore, in order to minimize the deviation of the sheet that occurs when the roller 601 contacts the sheet at the start of conveyance of the sheet bundle P, the thickness d of the sheet bundle P that can be conveyed is considered as shown in FIG. However, the rotation fulcrum 602 needs to be positioned within the range of the thickness d or in the vicinity of the thickness d. In other words, it is necessary to abut on the upper surface of the sheet bundle P from a substantially vertical direction. When abutting in this way, no component force is generated in the direction parallel to the upper surface of the sheet bundle P, and even if it occurs, the sheet bundle P or the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle P is shown in FIG. It does not move as in FIG. More specifically, if the horizontal component force is smaller than the frictional force between the sheet surfaces, the sheet bundle is kept in a state when aligned on the edge binding processing tray F.

As described above, in this embodiment, the alignment force (alignment force in the conveyance direction) applied to the sheet can be adjusted by the position (alignment position) at which the roller 601 is pressed against the sheet bundle P. Therefore, the number of sheets, the sheet type, and the image mode (monochrome, The alignment force is changed and adjusted according to the sheet state such as the type of image such as color, characters, and patterns, and the printing rate. The alignment position is the distance of the roller 601 from the end binding processing tray F, and the alignment force applied to the sheet by the roller 601 changes according to this distance. That is, the closer the alignment position by the roller 601 is to the end binding processing tray F, the stronger the alignment force applied to the sheet. Therefore, there are the following three cases where adjustment of the alignment force is required.
1) When it is necessary to increase the alignment force The alignment force needs to be increased when the image surface friction is small or when heavy paper (thick paper) is aligned. The case where the frictional force on the image surface is small is, for example, a case where the ratio of the printed image in the sheet, that is, the so-called printing rate is large.

2) When it is necessary to weaken the aligning force The weakening of the aligning force is required when the image surface friction is large or when a light sheet (thin paper) is aligned. Contrary to the case of 1), the case where the friction on the image surface is large is, for example, the case where the ratio of the printed image in the sheet, that is, the so-called printing rate is small.

3) When a stable alignment force is applied regardless of the number of sheets When the number of sheets is small, the rollers 601 align at a position close to the end binding processing tray F, and the rollers 601 are separated from the end binding processing tray F as the number of sheets increases. Align at the specified position.

  In each of these cases, the setting of the magnitude of the conveyance force and the distance from the end binding processing tray F varies depending on the type of sheet, the thickness of the sheet, the printing rate, and the like. This change is input from the image forming apparatus PR. The CPU 360 makes a determination according to the information, sets a distance from the end binding processing tray F, and rotates the cam 605 via the motor M1. In this case, a plurality of steps are set in advance according to the sheet state, and one of the steps is selected according to the information about the sheet. Thereby, adjustment can be performed relatively easily.

7.3 Guide In FIG. 6, when aligning the sheets in the end binding processing tray F, the conveyance mechanism 600 is located at a position where the rollers 601 are retracted, but depending on the curl state of the sheets at the time of sheet alignment, the end binding processing is performed. In some cases, the leading edge of the sheet that has entered the tray F comes into contact with the roller 601 of the transport mechanism 600 and the sheet buckles to deteriorate the alignment quality of the sheet bundle P. Therefore, in this embodiment, a guide 612 as shown in FIG. 7 is provided so that the sheet does not come into contact with the roller 601. The guide 612 has a function of preventing the conveyed sheet tip from coming into contact with the contact portion of the roller 612 with the sheet.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the guide 612 provided in the vicinity of the roller 601 (coaxial with the roller) of the transport mechanism 600 is fixed when the sheet transport is started or transported, the transport mechanism 600 is a rotation fulcrum. The guide 612 presses the sheet bundle P when the roller 601 is rotated around the center 602 and the roller 601 is brought into contact with the sheet bundle P, thereby causing conveyance resistance of the sheet bundle P. Therefore, the guide 612 is configured to be freely rotatable with respect to the transport mechanism 600. As a result, the guide 612 is lifted by the turn guide member 609 during bundle conveyance as shown in FIG. 9, or the guide 612 is made of an elastic material as shown in FIG. 10, and an excessive force (reaction force) is generated. If it occurs, even if it is elastically deformed by that amount and comes into contact with the surface of the sheet bundle P, it is possible to prevent a large conveyance resistance.

  Note that the guide 612 is freely rotatable with respect to the transport mechanism 600, and is elastically biased counterclockwise in FIG. 7 by, for example, a torsion coil spring. In the initial state, the leading end of the guide 612 has a sheet bundle as shown in FIG. Contact with the tip of P prevents contact of the roller 601 with the sheet bundle. However, it is necessary to allow the rollers 601 to contact the sheet bundle by rotating in the clockwise direction due to the reaction force from the sheet bundle P side due to the elastic force of the elastic material 608 during conveyance. Therefore, the elastic urging force applied to the guide 612 is set in a range that abuts against the front end of the sheet bundle P in the initial state and allows the rollers 601 to abut on the sheet bundle P during conveyance. The same applies to the case where the elasticity of the guide 612 itself is used.

7.4 Return Roll When aligning the sheet conveyance direction in the end binding processing tray F, the sheet is returned and aligned in the direction of the trailing edge fence 51 by the tapping roller 12 as shown in FIG. However, when the force for returning the sheet in the direction of the trailing edge fence 51 by the conveying force of the hitting roller 12 is insufficient, the sheet can be returned by the rotation of the roller 601 of the conveying mechanism 600 as shown in FIG.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 12, when the roller 601 of the conveyance mechanism 600 is rotated in the reverse direction to return the sheet toward the rear end fence 51, the roller 601 is moved by the rotation amount around the rotation fulcrum 602 of the conveyance mechanism 600. The force that contacts the sheet can be controlled. Further, when the sheet is returned to the rear end fence 51 by the rotation of the roller 601 of the conveyance mechanism 600, the conveyance force applied to the sheet by the roller 601 is controlled by intermittently rotating the roller 601 of the conveyance mechanism 600. You can also. Further, it may be performed for each sheet conveyed to the end binding processing tray F, but the sheet is moved in the direction of the rear end fence 51 even if it is executed every plural sheets in consideration of the durability of the rotation fulcrum 602 of the conveyance mechanism 600. Can be back aligned. By these controls, it is possible to prevent the sheet from being returned too much, and it is possible to improve the alignment quality.

  Further, when the sheet is returned to the trailing edge fence 51 by the roller 601 of the conveying mechanism 600 and aligned, the necessary conveying force that the roller 601 applies to the sheet changes due to friction depending on the image state of the sheet surface, and the roller 601 and the sheet The position where the contact point changes with the number of sheets, sheet thickness, and the like. Therefore, if the image state, for example, color mode or monochrome, or the ratio of the image occupying the sheet, is obtained from the image forming apparatus PR, and it is considered that the friction on the sheet surface is low based on the information, the roller 601 is Try to increase the contact force. Further, since the information on the number of sheets and the sheet thickness can be obtained from a signal from a sheet detection sensor of the image forming apparatus or the sheet conveying apparatus, the position where the roller 601 contacts the sheet can be adjusted based on this information. The position where the roller 601 contacts the sheet may be set in advance at the time of product shipment, or may be set / adjusted after shipment.

7.5 Discharge of Sheet Bundles by Discharge Claw When a sheet that has been aligned in the end binding processing tray F is transported to the saddle stitching / folding processing tray H, it faces the roller 601 of the transport mechanism 600 as shown in FIG. When the sheet bundle P is lifted by the discharge claw 52a and entered into the position where the nip is formed with the roller 607, the thick sheet bundle P enters the narrow nip between the rollers 601 and 607. In some cases, the trace of the roller may be attached to the leading end of the sheet bundle P, or the alignment state of the sheet bundle P may deteriorate.

  Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the sheet bundle after the alignment process is lifted by the discharge claw 52 a, and the nip between the sheet leading edge and the roller 607 facing the roller 601 of the transport mechanism 600 is opened, and this release is performed. After passing through the nip, the roller 601 is brought into contact with the sheet, and the roller 601 and the roller 607 convey the sheet.

7.6 Discharge Roller and Discharge Claw Depending on the image state of the sheet conveyed from the image forming apparatus PR, the friction on the sheet surface may be extremely reduced. In such a case, since the friction between the sheets is low when these sheets are aligned to form a bundle, when the sheet bundle P is conveyed by the roller 601 of the conveyance mechanism 600, as shown in FIG. There is a case where the inner sheet sandwiched between the front surface and the back surface cannot be transported and stops or slips down in the direction opposite to the transport direction. Therefore, even after the discharge claw 52a lifts the rear end of the sheet bundle P to the nip position formed by the rollers 607 facing the rollers 601 of the transport mechanism 600 as shown in FIG. 17, the rollers 601 as shown in FIG. And the rollers 607 are moved at the same speed while supporting the trailing edge of the sheet at the same speed as the conveyance performed by the rollers 607. Thereby, a sheet bundle can be reliably conveyed.

  At this time, if the operation speed of the discharge claw 52a is slightly faster than the conveyance speed of the roller 601, the discharge claw 52a may sink into the rear end of the sheet bundle P, which may cause scratches on the sheet. The operation speed of the discharge claw 52a may be slower than the conveyance speed of the sheet bundle P. Further, if the discharge claw 52a starts moving with a time difference after the conveyance of the sheet bundle P is started by the roller 601, a gap is generated between the discharge claw 52a and the rear end of the sheet bundle P, thereby preventing the sheet bundle P from being damaged. can do. Alternatively, the discharge claw 52a is operated with a certain distance from the rear end of the sheet bundle P, and the conveyance force of the discharge claw 52a is supplemented when the conveyance force by the rollers 601 decreases and the sheet bundle P shifts downward. You may comprise so that it can provide.

7.7 Prevention of Interference between Release Claw and Conveying Mechanism When the sheet bundle is conveyed by the roller 601 and the roller 607 of the conveyance mechanism 600 while supporting the rear end of the sheet bundle P by the discharge claw 52a, the discharge claw 52a It is necessary to support the rear end of the sheet bundle until the sheet is reliably conveyed. Therefore, if the movement trajectory of the discharge claw 52a may be obstructed by the conveyance mechanism 600, the roller 601 and the like, the operation of the discharge claw 52a must be stopped before the sheet bundle P is sufficiently conveyed by the roller 601. Therefore, reliable sheet bundle conveyance may not be performed. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19, the transport mechanism 600 is configured so as not to obstruct the operation trajectory of the discharge claw 52a at any position / posture.

  That is, in FIG. 19, the drive mechanism 600 is spaced apart by sandwiching the discharge belt 52, a pair of rollers 601 provided on both sides of the end binding processing tray F, and the outer side of the end binding processing tray F coaxially with the rollers 601. A pulley 601a provided on a shaft 601b, a driving shaft 602a connected to be integrally rotatable via a connecting shaft 602c, an arm 604 (not shown) for supporting the pulley 603a and the driving shaft 602a, and the pulley 603a. And a driving belt (pulley) 602b driven by a motor (not shown) for driving the driving shaft 602a and a driving force of the driving shaft 602b. A timing belt 603b for transmitting to the shaft 602a is provided. The connecting shaft 602c is separated from the end surface binding processing tray F by a distance that does not interfere with the discharge claw 52a. With this configuration, the space between the rollers 601 to which the discharge claw 52a moves and the vertical upper portion of the end surface binding processing tray F are secured so as not to interfere with the discharge claw 52a. Operation is not hindered.

  19, the drive shaft 602b functions as a swing fulcrum of the transport mechanism 600, and this drive shaft (swing fulcrum) 602b is within the range of the thickness d of the sheet bundle P shown in FIG. Alternatively, if it is set so as to be positioned in the vicinity thereof, the sheet is not displaced as described in the above 7.2. Or even if the sheet is displaced, it is kept to a minimum.

7.8 Correspondence when the sheet bundle is thick As shown in FIG. 20, when the thick sheet bundle P passes through the turn portion between the guide member 609 and the discharge roller 56, the leading end of the sheet bundle P is between the inner and outer sheets. There is a transport difference. For this reason, when the leading edge of the sheet enters the pair of bundle conveying rollers 71 located on the downstream side of the conveying mechanism 600 and the discharge roller 56, and then continues to be conveyed by the rollers 601 and 607 of the conveying mechanism 600 and the pair of bundle conveying rollers 71, Since the pair of bundle conveying rollers 71 continues to be conveyed in a state where there is a difference in conveyance, no difference in conveyance occurs at the rear end of the sheet bundle conveyed by the pair of rollers 601, 607. The outside begins to bend in the turn part. Therefore, if the sheet is conveyed while maintaining this state, wrinkles or the like may occur in the sheet bundle.

  In order to avoid this phenomenon, after the bundle conveyance roller 71 pair starts conveying the sheet bundle P, conveyance by the conveyance mechanism 600 is released after a certain amount of conveyance. In this way, since the conveyance difference that occurs when the sheet bundle P is deflected at the turn portion (along the guide member 609) appears at the rear end portion of the sheet bundle P without difficulty, bending and wrinkles can be eliminated.

  The conveyance difference that occurs when the sheet bundle P passes through the turn portion differs depending on the thickness of the sheet bundle P. Generally, the thicker the sheet bundle P, the larger the conveyance difference. When the color image or the area occupied by the image is large, the friction on the surface of the sheet is reduced, so that the friction between the sheets is also low, and the shift amount between the sheets may be large in the turn conveyance path having a large conveyance resistance. Therefore, when it is predicted from the image state information that the amount of deviation is large, the timing at which the roller 601 of the conveyance mechanism 600 is separated from the sheet bundle and no conveyance force is applied is set earlier than the default. If it is determined that the thickness of the sheet bundle is thick from information such as the number of sheets and the sheet pressure, the timing at which the roller 601 is separated from the sheet bundle and no conveying force is applied is set earlier than the default.

  By controlling in this way, the influence of the difference in conveyance is not exerted on the sheet, so that bending and wrinkles can be eliminated.

  Note that the deviation that occurs when the leading end of the sheet enters the downstream bundle conveyance roller 71 (deviation due to conveyance difference between the inside and outside of the turn member 609 + deviation due to slip that occurs between the roller 601 pair and the sheet bundle) is described above. Depending on the sheet state (number of sheets, sheet type, image mode, printing rate, etc.). Therefore, the case of adjusting the conveyance amount by the roller 601 (timing to move away from the sheet bundle after contacting the roller 601) can be considered when the conveyance amount by the roller 601 is reduced, that is, the roller 601 is moved to the sheet bundle. This is a case where the timing of separating from the front is advanced. In any case, the leading edge deviation is large. When the thickness of the sheet bundle is thick, the difference in conveyance between the inside and the outside of the turn becomes large. Also, when the friction on the image surface is small (when there are many images on the sheet), slip easily occurs between the roller 601 and the amount of deviation at the leading end of the sheet bundle increases. Needless to say, the thickness of the sheet bundle increases when the number of sheets is large, when thick paper is mixed, when the area of the image on the sheet is large, and generally the curl tends to increase.

8). Control 8.1 Initial Processing FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a control procedure at the time of initial processing of the transporter rear portion 600 and the turn portion executed by the control device 350. This control procedure is executed by the CPU 360 of the control device 350 using a program (not shown) stored in a RAM (not shown) as a work area.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 23, first, it is checked whether or not the cam 605 of the transport mechanism 600 is located at the home position (step S1). If the cam 605 is not located at the home position, the motor M1 is driven to move the cam 605 to the home position. (Step S2). If the cam 605 is located at the home position, it is checked whether the guide member 609 is located at the home position (step S3). If not at the home position, the motor M2 is driven to position the guide member 609 at the home position (step S4). In this way, the cam 605 and the guide member 609 are positioned at the home position, and the initial process is completed.

8.2 Overall Control FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing an overall control procedure of the sheet post-processing apparatus PD in the present embodiment, which is divided into FIGS. 24 (a), 24 (b), and 24 (c). However, one of the three processing procedures is shown.
In FIG. 24A, when a job is started, it is first checked whether or not saddle stitching processing is performed (step S201). When performing the saddle stitching process, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are rotated by a predetermined amount from the home position to move the roller 601 to the standby position (step S202), and the motor M2 and the guide member 609 are rotated a predetermined amount from the home position. It is moved to form a turn conveyance path (step S203—FIG. 2). Then, while the sheet is discharged to the edge binding processing tray F, the roller 601 is continuously rotated in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction (step S204), or the roller 601 is intermittently rotated in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction. (Step S205), the motor M1 and the cam 605 are driven, and the roller 601 is brought into contact with and aligned with each sheet conveyed (Step S206, Step S208), or after the processing in Step S204, the motor is moved in Step S207. The M1 and the cam 601 are driven, and the rollers 601 are brought into contact with the sheet and aligned at every predetermined number of conveyed sheets.

  After the processes in steps S206, S207, and S208, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are driven to move the roller 601 to the standby position (step S209). Starts to be released (step S211). On the other hand, if the process has not been completed, the process returns to step S202 to repeat the operation corresponding to the next sheet carry-in.

After the discharge claw 52a starts discharging the sheet bundle in step S211, it is checked whether or not the nip position of the roller 601 has passed through the leading edge of the sheet, and when it passes, the conveyance by the discharge claw 52a is stopped (step S213). ), The motor M1 and the cam 605 are rotated by a predetermined amount, and the roller 601 is moved to the transport position (step S214). Next, the roller 601 is rotated to start conveyance of the sheet bundle (step S215), and the operation of the discharge claw 52a in the conveyance direction is started (step S216). Alternatively, following the step S214, the operation of the discharge claw 52a is started simultaneously with the start of the rotation of the roller 601 (step S217). Alternatively, after a certain time has elapsed after the rotation of the roller 601 is started, the operation of the discharge claw 52a is started (step S218). In step S217,
The operation of the discharge claw 52a is started at the conveyance speed of the roller 601 ≧ the operation speed of the discharge claw 52a.

  When any of the processes in steps S216, S217, and S218 is performed and conveyed for the processing distance (step S219), the motor M1 and the cam 605 are driven to move the roller 601 to the standby position and move away from the sheet bundle P. (Step S220). These series of operations are executed until the end of the job. When the job ends, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are rotated to move the roller 601 to the home position (step S222), and the motor M2 and the guide member 609 are further moved to the home position. (Step S223), and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is not the saddle stitching process in step S201, it is checked whether the edge stitching process is performed (step S224). If it is the edge stitching process (YES in step S224), the motor M1 and the cam 605 are moved from the home position by a predetermined amount. The roller 601 is rotated to move to the standby position (step S225). Next, the motor M2 and the guide member 609 are rotated by a predetermined amount from the home position to form a conveyance path to the shift tray 202 (step S226). This conveyance path is a path formed between the outer surface of the guide member 609 and the guide plate 611 as described above.

  When the conveyance path to the shift tray 202 is formed in step S226, the roller 601 is rotated in the reverse direction for each sheet discharged onto the edge binding processing tray F (step S227). Then, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are driven, and the rollers 601 are brought into contact with each conveyed sheet (step S229), or the motor M1 and the cam 601 are driven so that the rollers 601 are provided every predetermined number of conveyed sheets. Is brought into contact with the sheet for alignment (step S230). In addition, after the processing in step S226, while the sheet is being discharged onto the end binding processing tray F, the roller 601 continues to rotate in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction (step S228), and the motor M1 and the cam 605 are turned on. For each sheet that is driven and conveyed, the rollers 601 are brought into contact with the sheet to align the sheets (step S231).

  After the process in any one of steps S229, S230, and S231, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are driven to move the roller 601 to the standby position (step S232), and the end binding process tray F is completed (step S233). ), The discharge claw 52a starts discharging the sheet bundle P (step S234). When the sheet bundle P is conveyed by a predetermined distance (step S235), it is checked whether or not the job is completed (step S236), and the process ends. If so, the motor M1 and the cam 605 are rotated to move the roller 601 to the home position (step S222), and the motor M2 and the guide member 609 are further moved to the home position (step S223) to complete the process. If not completed, the process returns to step S225 and repeats the processes after step S225 until the end of the job.

  On the other hand, if it is not the edge binding process in step S224, the process of the flowchart is ended as it is.

1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of an image forming system including a sheet post-processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus as a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of an end surface binding process tray and a folding process tray part. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the roller of the conveyance mechanism in FIG. 2, a discharge roller, and a sheet bundle. It is a figure which shows a state when the conveyance force of the conveyance mechanism in FIG. 3 differs. It is a figure which shows the other example of the relationship between the roller of the conveyance mechanism in FIG. 2, a discharge roller, and a sheet bundle. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state when a sheet is carried into an end binding processing tray and the leading end of the sheet comes into contact with a conveyance mechanism to cause buckling. It is a figure which shows the state which provided the guide in the conveyance mechanism. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of a turn conveyance unit in which a sheet bundle is conveyed to the saddle stitching processing tray side and a leading edge of the sheet bundle is pressed by a guide. It is a figure which shows the state of the turn conveyance part when conveying a sheet bundle to the saddle stitching process tray side. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a guide state of a conveyance mechanism in a turn conveyance unit when a sheet bundle is conveyed to the saddle stitching processing tray side. It is a figure which shows the state when aligning a sheet | seat with a hitting roller. It is a figure which shows the state when aligning a sheet | seat with a hitting roller and a conveyance mechanism. It is a figure which shows a state when a sheet | seat bundle is lifted with the discharge nail | claw and made it approach into the nip between the rollers 7 facing the roller of a conveyance mechanism. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state when the sheet bundle after the alignment process is lifted by a discharge claw and the leading end of the sheet is entered into an open nip between rollers facing a roller of a conveyance mechanism. It is a figure which shows the state when the nip between the said rollers is closed and the conveyance force is provided from the state of FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an inner sheet sandwiched between the front and back surfaces of a sheet bundle cannot be conveyed and slides in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction when the sheet bundle is conveyed by a roller of a conveyance mechanism. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a sheet bundle is conveyed in cooperation with a discharge claw when the sheet bundle is conveyed by a roller of a conveying mechanism. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the sheet bundle is conveyed to the saddle stitching processing tray side by being deflected by the guide member from the state of FIG. 17. It is a figure which shows an example of the conveyance mechanism comprised so that a conveyance mechanism and the discharge claw may not interfere. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of a conveyance difference at the leading end of a sheet bundle generated in a sheet bundle between a guide member and a discharge roller. It is a figure which shows a state when conveyance progresses with a conveyance difference from the state of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the control apparatus of the system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the initial operation | movement of the sheet | seat post-processing apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the first half part at the time of saddle stitching process among the whole control procedures of the sheet | seat post-processing apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the second half part at the time of saddle stitching process among the whole control procedures of the sheet | seat post-processing apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a process sequence when not performing a saddle stitching process among the whole control procedures of the sheet | seat post-processing apparatus in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

12 return roller 52a discharge claw 53 rear end fence 56 discharge roller 360 CPU
600 Transport mechanism 601 Roller 602 Drive shaft (oscillation fulcrum)
603 Timing belt 604 Arm 605 Cam 606 Rotating shaft 609 Guide member 610 Support point 612 Guide F End surface binding processing tray G Saddle binding / intermediate folding processing tray (folding processing tray)
M1, M2 Motor P Sheet bundle PR Image forming device PD Sheet post-processing device S1 End face stitching stapler SN1, SN2 sensor

Claims (19)

A storage unit that temporarily stores a sheet or a sheet bundle, a processing unit that performs a predetermined process on the sheet or the sheet bundle stored in the storage unit, and the sheet or the sheet bundle provided in the storage unit In a sheet conveying apparatus having conveying means for conveying
The conveying means includes a swing fulcrum that sets two positions, a position at the time of sheet alignment and a position at the time of sheet bundle conveyance, and the swing fulcrum is when the conveyance means contacts the sheet bundle during the sheet bundle conveyance. The sheet conveying apparatus is provided at a position where the deviation of the sheet remains at a minimum.   The conveying unit includes a roller that applies a conveying force to the sheet, a driving unit that swings the roller with respect to the swing fulcrum, and a guide that presses the leading end of the sheet bundle. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the roller rotates intermittently.   3. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the roller and the sheet bundle contact with each other when the sheet bundle is conveyed after the leading edge of the sheet bundle has passed through the roller nip of the conveying unit.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising means for avoiding contact of the guide with the sheet bundle.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the roller aligns the sheet in the conveying direction.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising means for adjusting an alignment force according to a relative position of the roller with respect to the accommodating unit when aligning with the roller.   8. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the position is set based on any of the number of sheets, the sheet type, and the image mode.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the roller aligns the sheet every time the sheet is discharged or each time a plurality of sheets are discharged.   The apparatus further comprises discharge means for discharging the sheet bundle from the storage means, and the discharge means discharges the sheet bundle from the storage means when the sheet bundle is being transferred by the transfer means. Item 10. The sheet conveying apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 9.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the discharging unit starts a discharging operation at a timing that is the same as or later than a timing at which the conveying unit starts an operation when conveying a sheet bundle.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 10, wherein an operation speed of the discharging unit for discharging the sheet bundle is set to be equal to or lower than a conveying speed of the conveying unit.   13. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the discharging unit operates at a certain distance from a rear end of the sheet bundle when the sheet bundle is conveyed by the conveying unit.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying unit is provided at a position that does not interfere with other members that operate during alignment and conveyance of the sheet bundle.   15. The conveyance device according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance unit releases the conveyance force applied to the sheet bundle after the sheet bundle reaches the other conveyance unit downstream and is conveyed by a predetermined amount. The sheet conveying apparatus according to the description.   16. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the predetermined amount is set based on any of the number of sheets, the sheet type, and the image mode.   A sheet processing apparatus comprising the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet conveying mechanism according to claim 1.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 17.

Images