JP6056350B2 - Paper feeding device, image forming device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus that use a roll-shaped print medium having an adhesive surface.

  Print on a print medium that has an adhesive surface, such as tape or non-mounting label paper, and does not have release paper on the adhesive surface (hereinafter also referred to as “linerless label paper”). 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as label printers are known that are cut into print media pieces (hereinafter also referred to as “label pieces”).

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a sheet conveying apparatus or image forming apparatus using roll paper, for example, a spool that holds a roll-like sheet and can be rotated in a feeding direction and a rewinding direction, and a conveying unit that conveys the sheet through an image forming area; And a rotation load means for applying a predetermined rotation load to the spool, so that the driving force is not transmitted to the rotation load means in the direction in which the sheet is fed, and the driving force is transmitted to the rotation load means in the direction to rewind the sheet. Is known (Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-248863 A

  By the way, when using a roll of linerless label paper that has an adhesive surface on one side, when pulling out the linerless label paper from the roll and feeding it, the force to peel the linerless label from the roll (This is called "stripping force").

  Therefore, when carrying the image for forming an image on the linerless label paper by the image forming unit, the conveyance speed and the conveyance amount change due to the influence of the peeling force generated on the paper feeding side, and the conveyance accuracy is lowered. There is a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to improve the conveyance accuracy of linerless label paper.

In order to solve the above-described problem, a paper feeding device according to the present invention includes:
A paper feeding device having an adhesive surface and loading and feeding a roll body around which a printing medium without a release paper is attached to the adhesive surface,
A spool receiving member for holding a spool into which the roll body is fitted;
The spool receiving member is provided with at least first to third rotating bodies that come into contact with and contact the peripheral surface of the spool and rotatably hold the spool.
The first and second rotating bodies are on the sides of the print medium drawn from the roll body on both sides of the print medium when viewed from the axial direction of the spool. Divided and fixedly arranged,
The third rotating body is disposed so as to be displaceable on a side opposite to a drawing position of the printing medium drawn from the roll body,
The third rotating body is configured to include a pressurizing unit that pressurizes the third rotating body toward the roll body.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the conveyance accuracy of linerless label paper.

FIG. 2 is a front explanatory view of a mechanism unit of an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is front explanatory drawing of the conveyance part of the mechanism part. It is principal part front explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a printing medium. FIG. 4 is a perspective explanatory view of a state in which a roll body provided for explanation of a paper feeding unit that is a paper feeding device according to the present invention is loaded in the paper feeding unit. It is a perspective explanatory view of the state where the roll body was similarly removed from the paper feed section. It is front explanatory drawing of the state which loaded the roll body in the paper feeding part. It is front explanatory drawing of the state which opened the opening-closing member of the paper feed part. It is front explanatory drawing of the state which took out the roll body from the paper feed part. It is front explanatory drawing which uses a driving force from the apparatus main body side for description of a transmission mechanism with respect to the spool holding a roll body.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front explanatory view of a mechanism part of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is a front explanatory view of a transport portion of the mechanism part, and FIG. 3 is a front explanatory view of a main part for explaining a print medium.

  In the image forming apparatus, a sheet feeding unit 101 serving as a sheet feeding device, an image forming unit 102 serving as an image forming unit, a transport unit 103 serving as a transport unit, and a discharge unit serving as a paper discharge transport unit are included in the apparatus main body 100. A paper transport unit 104 and guide means 106 for guiding the print medium 2 when the print medium 2 is transported and pulled back are arranged.

  A roll body 4 in which the print medium 2 is wound in a roll shape is loaded in the paper supply unit 101.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the printing medium 2 has an adhesive layer (hereinafter referred to as “adhesive surface”) 2b on one surface of a medium (hereinafter also referred to as “printing surface”) 2a capable of forming an image. It is a continuum formed, and is a linerless label paper that is rolled in a state where a backing sheet (release paper, separator) is not attached to the adhesive surface 2b.

  The image forming unit 102 includes a carriage 12 on which a recording head 11 including a liquid discharge head that discharges droplets onto the print medium 2 is mounted. The carriage 12 is movably held by the main guide member 13 and the sub-guide member 14 and is reciprocated in a direction (main scanning direction) perpendicular to the transport direction of the print medium 2.

  Here, a liquid discharge head having two nozzle arrays is used for the recording head 11, and two recording heads 11 are used, and black (K), cyan (C), and magenta (M ) And yellow (Y) ink droplets. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a line-type head can also be used.

  Ink supply to the recording head 11 is performed by supplying ink of a required color from a cartridge 15 mounted on the apparatus main body 1 in a replaceable manner via a supply tube 16 to a head tank (not shown) mounted on the carriage 12. In this method, ink is supplied from the head tank to the recording head 11.

  In addition, ink waste liquid generated by a maintenance operation for maintaining and recovering the performance of the recording head 11 is discharged and stored in a waste liquid tank 17 that is replaceably attached to the apparatus main body 1.

  The image forming unit 102 is not limited to the form of the liquid ejection head, and various image forming units that form an image in contact and non-contact can be used.

  In the conveyance unit 103, a protective belt 21 that is an endless conveyance belt is disposed below the recording head 11. The protection belt 21 is wound around a conveyance roller 22 and a driven roller 23 to which tension is applied so as to be able to move around.

  At this time, it is preferable that the protective belt 21 does not have adhesiveness to the adhesive surface 2b. However, the protective belt 21 can be re-detached from the adhesive surface 2b in order to prevent the printing medium 2 from floating from the protective belt 21 during transportation. It may have a weak adherence. By applying the protective belt 21 to the adhesive surface 2b, the adhesive surface 2b is protected, and at the same time, the adhesive surface 2b is prevented from coming into contact with the inside of the apparatus. Therefore, only the print medium 2 can be discharged.

  That is, in the present embodiment, the protection belt 21 is a transport belt and has a function of protecting the adhesive surface 2b of the print medium 2 together.

  A counter roller 24 is disposed so as to face the conveying roller 22. Conveying means for sandwiching the print medium 2 and the protective belt 21 together by a conveying roller pair (rotating member pair) composed of the conveying roller 22 and the counter roller 24 and conveying the image to the image forming area by the recording head 11 is configured. doing.

  The protective belt 21 has a number of suction holes. A suction fan 27 that sucks the print medium 2 toward the surface of the protection belt 21 through a suction hole is disposed inside the protection belt 21 so as to face the recording head 11 of the image forming unit 102. .

  Note that, here, the print medium 2 is sucked to the protective belt 21 by suction. Alternatively, the adhesive surface 2b of the print medium 2 may be fixed so as not to float from the protective belt 21 using the adhesiveness of the adhesive surface 2b.

  In addition, spur roller groups 28a, 28b, and 28c are disposed on the driven roller 23 side. The spur roller groups 28a to 28c are configured by arranging a plurality of spur rollers in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. The upstream spur roller groups 28 a and 28 b face the protective belt 21, and the most downstream spur roller group 28 c faces the receiving member 30 of the paper discharge conveyance unit 104.

  The paper discharge conveyance unit 104 cuts the print medium 2 to a desired length and prints on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the receiving member 30 that guides the print medium fed from between the protection belt 21 and the spur roller group 28b. A cutter unit 31 which is a cutting means for making a medium piece (label piece) 200 is disposed.

  The cutter unit 31 has a lower blade formed on the downstream end face of the receiving member 30 that receives the print medium 2, and a cutting blade (upper blade: cutter) 313 that cuts the print medium 2 between the lower blade. Then, the cutter 313 is moved in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction to cut the print medium 2.

  A paper discharge roller 32 is disposed on the downstream side of the cutter unit 31. A spur roller 33 is disposed facing the paper discharge roller 32. The discharge roller 32 and the spur roller 33 hold the leading end of the label piece 200 that has been cut by the cutter unit 31 in a state of being sent to the discharge port 105 of the apparatus main body 1.

  Here, the surface holding the label piece 200 of the paper discharge roller 32 is subjected to, for example, non-adhesive processing (processing in which the adhesive surface does not adhere) so that the adhesive surface 2b of the label piece 200 can be peeled off. In this case, the discharge roller 32 itself can be formed of a peelable material.

  In addition, a paper sensor 34 that detects the presence or absence of the print medium 2 is disposed. The paper sensor 34 can be constituted by a photo sensor or a combination of a mechanical lever and a photo sensor.

  The guide means 106 includes a second roller 42 serving as a separation roller disposed on the upstream side of the image forming unit 102 on the downstream side of the opposing roller 24 that also serves as the first roller constituting the conveying unit 103, and the opposing roller 24. And a third roller 43 disposed on the opposite side of the second roller 41, and an endless guide belt 44 is hung between the opposing roller 24, the second roller 42, and the third roller 43. It is turning.

  Here, the guide belt 44 is, for example, a belt-like member that uses polyimide as a base material and has a release layer (for example, silicone coating) on the surface layer to improve the release property from the adhesive surface 2 b of the printing medium 2.

  The counter roller 24, the second roller 42, and the third roller 43 are rotatably held by the holder member 45. The holder member 45 is disposed so as to be rotatable about a shaft 46. The holder roller 45 is positioned so that the opposing roller 24 faces the conveying roller 22, and the opposing roller 24 is separated from the conveying roller 22 between the opposing roller 24 and the conveying roller 22. It is possible to displace it from the position where it is opened.

  When the roll body 4 is loaded and the printing medium 2 is set on the protective belt 21, the gap between the opposing roller 24 and the conveying roller 22 is opened, and when the printing medium 2 is conveyed, the opposing roller 24 is moved to the conveying roller 22 side. Press on. Therefore, the opposing roller 24 is pressurized toward the conveying roller 22 by a pressing means such as a spring. The second roller 42 is also pressed against the protective belt 21 by a pressing means such as a spring.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the configuration is described in which image formation is performed with the adhesive surface 2b of the print medium 2 facing the protective belt 21, but the image formation is performed on the adhesive surface 2b of the print medium 2. You can also In this case, it is preferable to perform a non-adhesive treatment (a treatment in which the adhesive surface does not adhere) on the surface of the guide belt 44 described above.

  In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, the printing medium 2 drawn out from the roll body 4 loaded in the paper feeding unit 101 and the protective belt 21 are sandwiched together between the conveying roller 22 and the opposing roller 24. .

  Then, by rotating and driving the transport roller 22, the printing medium 2 is transported with the adhesive surface 2 b protected by the protective belt 21, and a desired image is formed by the recording head 11 of the image forming unit 102.

  The protective belt 21 is peeled off from the print medium 2 on which the image is formed, and only the print medium 2 is sent to the paper discharge conveyance unit 104, and is cut at a required position by the cutter unit 31 to become a label piece 200. 32 and the spur roller 33 are held in a state where they can be extracted from the discharge port 105 of the apparatus main body 1.

  Further, the guide means 106 prevents the print medium 2 from being caught in the opposing roller 24 at the time of conveyance and pullback, particularly when an image is formed on the adhesive surface 2b side of the print medium 2.

  In other words, even if the surface of the opposing roller 24 is non-adhesive, the adhesive roller 2b of the printing medium 2 is stuck to the peripheral surface of the opposing roller 24 only by the opposing roller 24 because the curvature of the opposing roller 24 is small. There is a possibility of getting involved. In this case, it is only necessary to increase the curvature of the opposing roller 24. However, in this case, the area of the nip region between the opposing roller 24 and the conveying roller 22 is reduced, and a stable conveying force cannot be obtained.

  Therefore, during conveyance, the printing medium 2 is conveyed while being pressed by the guide belt 44, and the guide belt 44 is reliably separated from the printing medium 2 by the second roller 42 serving as a separation roller having a small curvature, so that the opposing roller during conveyance 24 is prevented from being caught.

  Also, when the print medium 2 is pulled back, the adhesive surface 2 b side of the print medium 2 is received by the guide belt 44 to prevent the print medium 2 from being caught by the counter roller 24.

  At the stage where the image formation is completed and the print medium 2 is cut by the cutter unit 31, the tip of the print medium 2 is at the position of the cutter unit 31, and the area facing the image forming unit 102 of the print medium 2 is unused. It becomes an area. If the next image forming operation is resumed, the unused area of the print medium 2 is wasted. Therefore, the print medium 2 is pulled back in the pull-back direction (the direction opposite to the transport direction) to a position where the front end of the print medium 2 is in front (upstream side) of the image forming unit 102.

  Next, details of the sheet feeding unit 101 which is a sheet feeding apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 is a perspective explanatory view of a state in which the roll body is loaded in the paper feed unit, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a state in which the roll body is removed from the paper feed unit, and FIG. 6 is a state in which the roll body is loaded in the paper feed unit. FIG. 7 is a front explanatory view of a state in which the opening / closing member of the paper feeding unit is opened, and FIG. 8 is a front explanatory view of a state in which the roll body is taken out from the paper feeding unit. In FIGS. 6 to 8, the roll holder and the like are shown in a transparent state in order to clarify the positional relationship.

  As shown in FIG. 5, roll holder members 6 and 6 that rotatably hold both end portions of the spool 5 into which the core member of the roll body 4 is fitted are disposed in the paper feeding unit 101.

  In the present invention, the “spool” is not limited to a member that is provided separately from the core member and is used by being fitted into the core member. 4 may be formed integrally with the core member. When the core member of the roll body 4 is directly held, such a core member is also included in the “spool”.

  The roll holder member 6 includes a spool receiving member 7 into which both ends of the spool 5 are fitted, and an opening / closing member 8 that opens and closes the spool receiving portion 7a into which both ends of the spool 5 of the spool receiving member 7 are fitted. The opening / closing member 8 is rotatably attached to the spool receiving member 7 by a shaft 9 and is held in a closed state by hooking the claw portion 8a of the opening / closing member 8 on the hooking portion 7b of the spool receiving member 7.

  The roll holder member 6 comes into contact with the circumferential surface of the spool 5 and comes into contact therewith, and a first roller 111 and a second roller 112 which are first to third rotating bodies that rotatably hold the spool 5. And a third roller 113. In addition, as a rotating body, it can replace with a roller and a roller, a spherical body, etc. can also be used.

  Here, the first roller 111 and the second roller 112 are pulled out from the roll body 4 on the drawing direction side of the print medium 2 from the roll body 4 of the spool 5 when viewed from the axial direction of the spool 5. The print medium 2 is fixedly arranged on both sides.

  That is, the first roller 111 is rotatably held by the spool receiving member 7. The second roller 112 is rotatably held by the opening / closing member 8. The positions of the first roller 111 and the second roller 112 are fixed when the spool 5 of the roll body 4 is held. Note that “fixed” means that the first roller 111 and the second roller 112 themselves can rotate, but do not move in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction (except for a backlash that allows rotation). is there.

  On the other hand, the third roller 113 is disposed on the opposite side to the position where the printing medium 2 is drawn from the roll body 4.

  That is, the third roller 113 is rotatably held at one end portion of the roller holder 115 rotatably held by the shaft 114 on the spool receiving member 7 and is provided so as to be displaceable in a direction toward the axis of the spool 5. Yes.

  A tension spring 116 is provided between the other end portion of the roller holder 115 and the spool receiving member 7, and the third roller 113 on the one end portion side of the roller holder 115 exerts momentum in a direction in which the pressure is applied toward the spool 5 side. It has been.

  Here, the roll body 4 of the printing medium 2 on which the mount is not attached to the adhesive surface 2 b is loaded into the paper feeding unit 101, the printing medium 2 is pulled out from the roll body 4, and between the transport roller 22 and the opposing roller 24. When the paper is nipped and transported, a large peeling force for peeling the print medium 2 from the roll body 4 acts due to the adhesive force.

  At this time, if the receiving portion of the spool 5 of the roll body 4 is formed with a two-point support or a U-shaped groove, a large force acts on the roll body due to the peeling force of the adhesive surface, and the position of the spool 5 changes. End up. If the position of the spool 5 fluctuates, the printing medium 2 will not be smoothly peeled off from the roll body 4, so that the conveyance of the printing medium 2 becomes unstable.

  On the other hand, by supporting the spool 5 at the three points of the first to third rollers, the spool 5 of the roll body 4 can smoothly rotate without changing the position, and a large peeling force acts. Even if it does, it can convey the printing medium 2 stably.

  Further, the roll holder member 6 is fixedly arranged by dividing the pulling direction side of the print medium 2 from the roll body 4 of the spool 5 on both sides of the print medium 2 drawn from the roll body 4 when viewed from the axial direction of the spool 5. The first and second rollers 111 and 112 that can be rotated are held, and the third roller 113 that can rotate on the opposite side to the drawing position of the print medium 2 is held while being pressed so as to be movable.

  In the case of three-point support, in order to absorb a variation in the diameter of the spool 5 and rotate smoothly, one point needs to be held while being pressed so as to be movable. However, when one point to be held while pressing is arranged on the side of the print medium 2 in the pulling direction, if the peeling force is large, the pulling force of the roll body 4 is greater than the pressing force, and the pressing force is overcome. There is a case where the position of the spool 5 is moved. Therefore, in order not to move in the pulling direction even if the peeling force is large, the print medium 2 from the roll body 4 is on the pulling direction side and divided into both sides of the print medium 2 drawn from the roll body 4. The second rotating body is fixedly arranged.

  As a result, highly accurate conveyance can be performed, and the image quality is improved.

  Further, since the third roller 113 that holds the side opposite to the drawing position of the print medium 2 is pressurized toward the spool 5 side, there is a backlash when the roll body 4 rotates (when paper is fed). Disappear.

  Thereby, conveyance with higher accuracy can be performed.

  Next, a driving force transmission mechanism for transmitting a driving force from the apparatus main body side to the spool 5 holding the roll body 4 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory front view similar to FIG.

  For example, when the roll body 4 is an adhesive roll in which the end of the print medium 2 is bonded to the core member, or when the transport unit 103 or the like is unitized and can be pulled out from the apparatus main body 100, the protective belt of the transport unit 103 is used. It is necessary to rewind the print medium 2 conveyed up to 21 to the roll body 4 side.

  Therefore, in this image forming apparatus, of the rotational driving force from the driving source that rotates the conveying roller 22, at least the driving force in the direction of rewinding the printing medium 2 to the roll body 4 side is transmitted via the driving force transmission system 130. Then, it is transmitted to the gear 131 provided on the spool 5.

  Here, the driving force transmission system 130 transmits the rotation of the conveying roller 22 to the gear 131 of the spool 5 via gears 132 to 134 via a gear train and timing belt (not shown).

  At this time, the gear 134 that meshes with the gear 131 of the spool 5 is disposed at a position that meshes with the gear 131 from a direction substantially orthogonal to the drawing direction of the print medium 2.

  With this configuration, even if the spool 5 slightly fluctuates in the direction of the arrow by the backlash of the first roller 111 and the second roller 112 as the print medium 2 is fed and conveyed, the gear 131 and the gear 131 The meshing relationship of 134 is maintained, and the gear 134 is prevented from biting into the gear 131 and becoming unable to rotate or the rotational load becoming large.

  That is, for example, when the gear 134 is engaged with the gear 131 from the direction opposite to the fluctuation direction of the spool 5, the gear 131 bites into the gear 134 with the fluctuation of the spool 5, and the rotation becomes impossible or the rotation load increases. . If it does so, the conveyance load at the time of conveying the printing medium 2 will become large, will not be able to perform stable conveyance, and conveyance accuracy will also fall.

  Note that “image formation” in the present application not only applies an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure to a medium but also an image having no meaning such as a pattern or the like (simply a droplet). To land on the medium).

  The “ink” is not limited to an ink unless otherwise specified, but includes any liquid that can form an image, such as a recording liquid, a fixing processing liquid, or a liquid. Used generically.

  Further, the image forming apparatus includes both a serial type image forming apparatus and a line type image forming apparatus, unless otherwise limited.

2 Print medium 4 Roll body 5 Spool 6 Roll holder member 7 Spool receiving member 8 Opening / closing member 11 Recording head 21 Protective belt (conveyance belt)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 22 Conveyance roller 24 Opposing roller 31 Cutter unit 32 Paper discharge roller 33 Spur roller 100 Apparatus main body 101 Paper feed part 102 Image formation part 103 Conveyance part 104 Paper discharge part 106 Guide means 111 1st roller (1st rotation body)
112 Second roller (second rotating body)
113 Third roller (third rotating body)

Claims (4)

A paper feeding device having an adhesive surface and loading and feeding a roll body around which a printing medium without a release paper is attached to the adhesive surface,
A spool receiving member for holding a spool into which the roll body is fitted;
The spool receiving member is provided with at least first to third rotating bodies that come into contact with and contact the peripheral surface of the spool and rotatably hold the spool.
The first and second rotating bodies are on the sides of the print medium drawn from the roll body on both sides of the print medium when viewed from the axial direction of the spool. Divided and fixedly arranged,
The third rotating body is disposed so as to be displaceable on a side opposite to a drawing position of the printing medium drawn from the roll body,
A sheet feeding device comprising a pressurizing unit that pressurizes the third rotating body toward the roll body. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the first rotating body or the second rotating body is provided in a member that can be opened and closed.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet feeding device according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for forming an image by discharging a liquid onto the print medium.

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