JP7336067B2 - Sheet conveying device and image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device and an image forming apparatus.

Conventionally, a sheet conveying means for conveying sheets stacked on a sheet stacking means, a conveying defect detecting means for detecting a sheet conveying defect, and a control means for retrying conveying when the conveying defect detecting means detects a conveying defect are provided. A sheet conveying device having the following is known.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-100001, the above-mentioned sheet conveying device reduces the conveying speed and performs retry conveying, thereby improving the certainty of conveying against conveying failure due to slippage between the sheet conveying means and the sheet. It is described that the transportation failure during transportation is suppressed.

However, if the transport failure is not due to slippage between the sheet transport means and the sheet, even if the transport speed is reduced and the transport is retried, the transport failure may not be resolved, resulting in a paper jam. There was a possibility that the paper jam rate could not be reduced sufficiently.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a sheet conveying means for conveying sheets stacked on a sheet stacking means, a conveying defect detecting means for detecting a sheet conveying defect, and the conveying defect detecting means. A sheet conveying apparatus having control means for retrying conveying when a conveying failure is detected, comprising storage means for accumulating sheet conveying information when the sheet is conveyed, wherein the control means is stored in the memory means. Retry conveying is performed by changing the conveying setting based on the accumulated sheet conveying information, and communication is possible with external storage means storing sheet conveying information of other sheet conveying devices via an information communication network. It is characterized by

According to the present invention, the jam rate can be reduced.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming system according to the present embodiment; FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the sheet feeding device of the present embodiment provided on the side surface of the device main body; FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the sheet feeding device according to the embodiment; FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the same sheet feeding device; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts of an image forming apparatus and a sheet feeding apparatus; FIG. 10 is a control flow diagram showing an example of conventional retry feeding; FIG. 4 is a control flow diagram showing a simple flow of retry feeding according to the present embodiment; FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of feeding control of the sheet feeding device; FIG. 2 is an enlarged configuration diagram of a main part of a feeding device according to a second embodiment; FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of feeding control of the feeding device of the second embodiment; FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an example in which a storage device for storing feeding information is a server connected to a plurality of sheet feeding devices via an Internet communication network, which is an information communication network;

An embodiment of a sheet feeding apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming system 1 of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1 includes an image forming apparatus 100 as image forming means for forming an image on a sheet, and a sheet feeding apparatus 200 for feeding the sheet to the image forming apparatus 100. . The sheet feeding device 200 is provided on the side surface of the image forming apparatus 100 main body.

First, among electrophotographic and inkjet image forming apparatuses to which the sheet feeding apparatus of the present embodiment can be applied, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus will be taken as an example to describe the overall configuration and operation of the image forming apparatus. do.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus 100 according to this embodiment.
This image forming apparatus 100 is a full-color printer using four color toners of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), and a full-color copying machine having equivalent image forming functions. As shown in FIG. 2, four image forming units 101Y, 101M, 101C, and 101K for forming images with respective color toners are arranged side by side in the upper part of the apparatus main body. Since the configurations and operations of the image forming units 101Y, 101M, 101C, and 101K are substantially the same, the image forming units will be explained here by omitting the symbols (Y, M, C, and K) indicating colors. . In the image forming unit 101, a charger 103, a developing device 104, a cleaning device 105, and the like are arranged around a photosensitive drum 102 as an image carrier. An exposure unit 107 is arranged above the photosensitive drum 102 .

Below the four image forming units 101Y, 101M, 101C, and 101K, an intermediate transfer belt 108 is arranged around a plurality of support rollers. The intermediate transfer belt 108 is driven to run in the direction of the arrow DA by rotating one of the support rollers by the drive means. A transfer roller 106 as a primary transfer means is arranged so as to face the photosensitive drum 102 of each image forming unit with the intermediate transfer belt 108 interposed therebetween.

In each image forming unit 101, the photoreceptor drum 102 is driven to rotate counterclockwise in the drawing, and the surface of the photoreceptor is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity by the charger 103. FIG. Then, the charged surface is irradiated with a light-modulated laser beam emitted from the exposure means 107 , thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 102 . The electrostatic latent image is developed with toner applied from the developing device 104 and visualized as a toner image. Yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toner images formed by the image forming units are sequentially superimposed and transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 108 .

On the other hand, a feeding unit 114 having storage trays 114a and 114b is provided in the lower portion of the apparatus main body. For example, transfer paper is fed as a recording medium. The fed transfer paper is conveyed toward the registration roller 111 as indicated by an arrow DB.

The transfer paper hit against the registration roller 111 and temporarily stopped is sent from the registration roller 111 in timing with the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 108, and the secondary transfer roller 109 and the intermediate transfer belt 108 are brought into contact with each other. It is sent to the secondary transfer section. A voltage having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of the toner is applied to the secondary transfer roller 109, thereby transferring the superimposed toner image (full-color image) on the intermediate transfer belt 108 onto the transfer paper. After the toner image has been transferred, the transfer paper is transported to a fixing device 113 by a transport belt 112, and the toner is fixed on the transfer paper by heat and pressure in the fixing device 113. FIG. After the toner image has been fixed, the transfer paper is ejected outside the apparatus as indicated by an arrow DC and onto a paper ejection tray.

In the case of single-sided printing and ejection of the back side (face-down ejection), the sheet is turned upside down by being ejected outside the apparatus as indicated by an arrow DC through the sheet reversing unit 115 . In the case of double-sided printing, the sheet after fixing is re-fed to the registration roller 111 from the re-feeding path 117 via the double-sided reversing section 116, and the toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 108 to the back surface of the sheet. After the toner image has been transferred, the sheet is fixed by the fixing device 113, and is sent from the fixing device 113 as indicated by the arrow DC in the same manner as single-sided printing, or as indicated by the arrow DC via the sheet reversing section 115. It is ejected and ejected onto the paper ejection tray. Switching claws 118 and 119 for switching the sheet conveying direction are appropriately arranged.

In the case of monochrome printing, in the image forming apparatus 100 of this example, a toner image is formed using only the black (K) image forming unit 101K, and the toner image is transferred onto the transfer paper via the intermediate transfer belt 108. do. The handling of the sheet after fixing the toner image is the same as in the case of full-color printing.

A toner bottle setting section 120 for setting toner bottles 121 of respective colors containing toner to be supplied to the developing device 104 of each image forming unit is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body. An operation unit 124 having a display unit 122 and an operation panel 123 is also provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body. Further, on the side surface on the right side in the figure of the main body of the apparatus, a sheet loading section DD from a sheet feeding apparatus (see FIG. 3), which will be described later, is provided. An opening 125 for receiving a sheet and a conveying means 126 for conveying the sheet are provided in the sheet loading section DD.

Sheets include paper, coated paper, label paper, OHP sheet, film, prepreg (a sheet of carbon fiber impregnated with resin), multi-layered paper paper), metallic paper (paper with a metallic component), processed sheets (things that are bound with needles, things that have a folding configuration such as envelopes), and the like.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the sheet feeding device 200 of this embodiment provided on the side surface of the device main body.
As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet feeding device 200 includes two upper and lower storage trays 10 . Each accommodation tray 10 has a sheet stacking table 11 on which the sheet bundle P is stacked. In this embodiment, each storage tray 10 can store up to about 2500 sheets. The sheet includes paper, coated paper, label paper, OHP sheet, film, prepreg, multi-layer structure paper, metallic paper, processed sheets, and the like. Prepreg is mainly used as a material for laminates and multilayer printed wiring boards. For example, a long base material such as glass cloth, paper, non-woven fabric, or aramid cloth is continuously impregnated with a resin varnish mainly composed of a thermosetting resin such as epoxy resin or polyimide resin, dried by heating, and then cut. Thus, it is processed into a sheet material. A feeding unit 20 that separates and feeds the sheets stacked on the storage tray 10 is arranged above each storage tray 10 . The feeding unit 20 includes a suction belt 21 and an upper suction device 23, which are conveying means.

Sheets stacked on the lower storage tray 10 pass through the lower conveying path 82 and are conveyed to the main body of the image forming apparatus 100 by the exit roller pair 80 . Sheets stacked on the upper storage tray 10 pass through the upper conveying path 81 and are conveyed to the main body of the image forming apparatus 100 by the exit roller pair 80 .

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the sheet feeding device 200 of this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the sheet feeding device 200. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the suction belt 21 of the feeding unit 20 as a sheet conveying means is stretched by two stretching rollers 22a and 22b, and penetrates from the front side to the back side of the belt. Suction holes are provided in the entire circumferential direction. An upper suction device 23 is provided inside the suction belt 21 . The upper suction device 23 is connected to an upper suction fan that sucks air through an air duct that is an air flow path. It acts like adsorption.

Further, the storage tray 10 is provided with an air blowing device 24 as air blowing means for blowing air toward the upper portion of the sheet bundle P, and a downward suction device 25 as air suction means for sucking air near the upper portion of the sheet bundle P. Prepare.

The blower 24 has a front blower 26 and a side blower 27 (see FIG. 5). As shown in FIG. 4, the front blower 26 blows air toward the leading edge of the upper portion of the sheet stack P (end portion on the downstream side in the feeding direction). The front air blower 26 includes a floating nozzle 26a for blowing air in a direction to float the upper sheet of the sheet stack P, and blowing air toward the suction belt 21 and reflecting it on the suction belt 21 to form the highest sheet as the first sheet. Separation nozzles 26b are provided for ejecting air for directing the upper sheet and the other sheets downward. Further, an air chamber 31 having a floating communication passage 31a communicating with the floating nozzle 26a and a separation communication passage 31b communicating with the separation nozzle 26b is arranged. Inside the air chamber 31, a floating/separating shutter 32 is provided for momentarily blocking and opening the communication paths 31a and 31b inside the air chamber 31. As shown in FIG.

If the second sheet P2 floated on the uppermost sheet P1 attracted to the suction belt 21 over-floats and comes into contact with the uppermost sheet P1 by disturbing its behavior, it may lead to multi-feeding. Therefore, when the uppermost sheet P1 is attracted to the suction belt 21, the floating/separating shutter 32 is closed to stop the blowing of air. Then, the third sheet P3) is dropped so as not to come into contact with the first sheet P1, thereby preventing double feeding.

In the air chamber 31, a floating fan for sending air to the floating communication path 31a and a separation fan for sending air to the separation communication path 31b are arranged. The air blown from the floating nozzle 26a in the direction indicated by the arrow a1 in the drawing is called front floating air, and the air blown from the separation nozzle 26b in the direction indicated by the arrow a2 in the drawing is called separated air. The floating air and the separation air are discharged from a portion facing the upper end of the sheet bundle P (the downstream end in the feeding direction), and are blown to the upper end of the sheet bundle P (the downstream end in the feeding direction). .

As shown in FIG. 5, the side blower 27 is provided on a pair of side fences 28 for positioning so that the sheet is not skewed in the width direction corresponding to the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction. ing. The sheet feeding device 200 is a center reference that moves both of the two side fences 28 in the width direction according to the sheet size. The side fence 28 is provided with a side air blower 27 for blowing air against the vicinity of the widthwise end of the upper portion of the sheet stack P to float and separate the sheets.

The side air blower 27 includes a front side floating nozzle 27a arranged to guide air in a direction to separate and float the sheet bundle P and to face the front side of the side surface of the sheet in the feeding direction, and a side surface of the sheet. A rear side floating nozzle 27b is provided so as to be opposed to the rear side in the feeding direction. The air blown by the side floating fan from these nozzles is called side floating air. The side floating air is discharged from the discharge port provided at a portion of each side fence 28 facing the upper portion of the sheet bundle P, and is blown to the side surface of the upper portion of the sheet bundle P. As shown in FIG. Air blown from the nozzles of the front blower 26 and the side blower 27 floats the upper sheets of the sheet stack P. As shown in FIG. Further, the storage tray 10 is provided with an end fence 29 for aligning the rear ends of the sheet bundles P stacked on the sheet stacking table 11 .

As indicated by an arrow a3 in FIG. 4, the downward suction device 25 sucks air near the leading end of the upper portion of the sheet bundle P downward to generate a negative pressure, and exerts a force in a direction away from the suction belt 21. It is something that makes The downward suction device 25 is provided with a downward suction nozzle 25a for downwardly sucking air near the leading end of the upper portion of the sheet bundle P, and a downward suction air chamber 33 communicating with the downward suction nozzle 25a. The lower suction air chamber 33 is provided with a lower suction fan as a suction means for sucking air. Further, inside the lower suction air chamber 33, a lower suction shutter 34 is provided as an opening/closing mechanism for instantaneously switching between blocking/opening of ventilation in the lower suction air chamber 33. As shown in FIG.

The lower suction shutter 34 is closed when the floating/separating shutter 32 is open and air is blowing out from the floating nozzle 26a and the separating nozzle 26b. Then, the closed lower suction shutter 34 is opened to suck the air in the vicinity of the leading end of the upper portion of the sheet bundle from the lower suction nozzle 25a to create a negative pressure. By applying a negative pressure to the vicinity of the leading end of the upper portion of the sheet bundle, the falling speed of the second sheet P2 is accelerated to prevent double feeding.

Further, the gap between the upper end of the lower suction nozzle 25a and the suction belt 21 is set to be equal to or more than the thickness of one sheet and equal to or less than the thickness of two sheets. As a result, even if the second sheet P2 is attracted to the suction belt 21 together with the uppermost sheet P1 and is fed along with it, the upper end of the lower suction nozzle 25a can stop the leading edge of the second sheet P2. can be prevented.

The sheet feeding device 200 includes an elevation sensor 41 that detects the height of the top surface of the uppermost sheet and is used to determine the position and amount of elevation of the sheet stacking table 11 during feeding.
In the sheet feeding apparatus 200, the distance between the upper surface of the uppermost sheet in the storage tray, the number of which decreases as the sheets are fed, and the lower surface of the suction belt must be within a certain range. For this reason, the elevation sensor 41 detects the height of the top surface of the uppermost sheet, and based on the detection signal of the elevation sensor 41, it is the driving source of the elevation drive unit that moves the sheet stacking table 11 of the storage tray up and down. Controls the drive of the lift motor. Thereby, the height of the sheet stacking table 11 is adjusted, and the distance between the upper surface of the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle placed on the sheet stacking table and the lower surface of the suction belt 21 is controlled to be within a certain range. can do.

A pair of gripping rollers 18, which is a downstream conveying member, is arranged on the downstream side of the suction belt 21 in the conveying direction. transport to. A feed sensor 17 serving as a sheet detection sensor for detecting a sheet is arranged downstream of the grip roller pair 18 in the conveying direction. The feeding sensor 17 is switched from OFF to ON when the leading edge of the sheet reaches, and is switched from ON to OFF when the trailing edge passes. If the leading end of the sheet is not detected by the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time after the start of feeding, it is determined that the sheet has not been fed.

Further, a rotational speed detection device 2 is provided for detecting the rotational speed of the tension roller 22a. The rotation speed detection device is composed of an encoder plate 2a attached to the rotation shaft of the tension roller 22a and an optical sensor 2b. By detecting the number of rotations of the tension roller 22a, the conveying speed and acceleration of the suction belt can be detected. Further, in this embodiment, each fan such as a floating fan, a separation fan, a side floating fan, and an upward suction fan is also provided with a rotational speed detection device 2 to detect the rotational speed of each fan. A rotation speed detection device 2 is also provided in an elevation drive unit for raising and lowering the sheet stacking table 11, and the rotation speed detection device 2 detects the rotation speed of drive transmission members such as gears of the elevation drive unit.

A floating detection sensor 16 for detecting floating of the sheet is provided upstream of the feeding unit 20 in the conveying direction. It also has a paper end sensor 70 for detecting the presence or absence of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking table 11. When the paper end sensor 70 detects the absence of sheets, a message is displayed to the user to replenish the sheet stacking table. is displayed on the display unit of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 and the sheet feeding apparatus 200. As shown in FIG.
The feeding performed by the sheet feeding apparatus 200 is performed by the host control unit 67 provided in the image forming apparatus 100 based on sheet information such as the sheet size of the sheet placed on the sheet stacking table 11 set by the user through the operation unit 124, and Setting information and the like are sent to the feeding device control section 66 as control means for the sheet feeding device 200 . The feeding device control unit 66 controls the belt motor 61 that drives the suction belt 21, the floating fan 62, the separation fan 63, the upper suction fan 64, the lower suction fan 69, and the like, based on the received sheet information, user setting information, and the like. An operation instruction is issued to the elevation driving unit 65 and the like for raising and lowering the sheet stacking table 11 and controlled.

The lift drive unit 65 starts lifting the sheet stacking table 11 in response to an operation start instruction from the feeding device control unit 66 . When the elevation sensor 41 detects the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle on the sheet stacking table 11 , the elevation sensor 41 transmits a detection signal to the feeding device control section 66 . Upon receiving the detection signal from the elevation sensor 41 , the feeding device control section 66 instructs the elevation drive section 65 to stop at a predetermined timing when the set height is reached, and the elevation drive section 65 stops raising the sheet stacking table 11 . do. As a result, the distance between the upper surface of the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle placed on the sheet stacking table and the lower surface of the suction belt 21 becomes constant.

Next, the feeding device control unit 66 starts driving the fans, the belt motor 61, and the like to start the feeding operation, and also starts the timer to start time measurement. If the feeding sensor 17 does not detect the sheet by the set arrival time, the feeding device control unit 66 determines that the sheet is not fed, and performs jam processing and retry feeding as retry feeding to be described later. do That is, in the present embodiment, the feeding sensor 17 and the feeding device control section 66 constitute a defective feeding detection means for detecting defective feeding.

When the feeding sensor 17 detects the sheet within the specified time, the detection information indicating that the feeding sensor 17 has detected the sheet is transmitted to the upper controller 67 of the image forming apparatus 100 . The host controller 67 starts the image forming operation based on the received detection information of the feeding sensor 17 . Even if it is outside the specified time, the paper may reach the feed sensor before the start of the operation at the time of non-feed determination. In this case, the determination of non-feeding is not changed, and the delayed detection time information is stored as reference information.

Further, when the leading end of the sheet is not detected by the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time from the start of feeding, the feeding device control section 66 determines that the sheet is not fed, and rotates each fan and rotates the belt. The driving of the motor 61 is stopped, and the sheet feeding operation is stopped. When the retry feeding is set, the retry feeding is performed by changing the rotation speed (output) of the fan, the speed of the suction belt 21, etc., as will be described later. The rotation speed (output) of the fan may be adjusted by adjusting the driving voltage applied to the fan, or the rotation speed (output) of the fan may be adjusted by adjusting the duty ratio by PWM control. Further, the speed of the suction belt 21 may be adjusted by adjusting the drive voltage applied to the belt motor 61, or the speed of the suction belt 21 may be adjusted by PWM-controlling the belt motor 61 and adjusting the duty ratio. good.

When a jam is detected in the sheet feeding device, jam detection information is transmitted to the host controller 67 . Upon receiving the jam detection information, the host control section 67 stops the image forming operation, or displays jam information such as the jam occurrence position on the display section 122 of the operation section 124 . Further, when a paper jam occurs in the image forming apparatus 100, the host control section 67 transmits jam information to the feeding device control section 66, and the feeding device control section 66, based on the received jam information, Predetermined control such as stopping the sheet feeding operation is executed.

The feeding device control unit 66 is provided with a feeding information storage storage device 68 as storage means for storing feeding information, which is sheet feeding information. Each time the sheet is fed, the feeding information at that time is stored in the feeding information storage storage device 68, and the feeding information is accumulated. The feeding information accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 includes information on the feeding status, feeding setting information, feeding conditions, and the like.

Information on the feeding status includes information on feeding success/failure (non-feeding), measured acceleration and speed of the suction belt 21, each fan (floating fan 62, separation fan 63, side floating fan 71, upper suction fan). 64, etc.), the measured arrival time from the start of feeding until the sheet reaches the feeding sensor 17, the measured height of the sheet stacking table 11, the number of times of use (the number of times of feeding), and the floating of the floating detection sensor 16. detection results and the like. The actually measured acceleration and the actually measured speed of the suction belt 21 can be obtained from the detection result of the rotation speed detection device 2 for detecting the rotation speed of the tension roller 22a. Further, the actually measured rotation speed of each fan can be detected by the rotation speed detection device 2 provided for each fan. The height of the sheet stacking table 11 is the height based on the height reference (height 0) when the sheet stacking table 11 is positioned at the lowest position. It can be obtained from the detection result of the rotation speed detection device 2 provided in .

The feeding setting information includes the driving voltage of the belt motor 61, the driving voltage to each fan, the set arrival time, the set height of the sheet stacking table, and the like. Also, the set acceleration and set speed of the suction belt 21, the set rotation speed of each fan, and the like may be included in the feeding information as feeding setting information.

The feeding conditions include sheet information, user setting information, etc. The sheet information includes sheet size, thickness, type (glossy paper, plain paper, coated paper, label paper, OHP sheet, film, multi-layer structured paper, metallic paper, processed sheets, etc.). The user setting information is information set by the user by operating the operation unit 124, such as high speed mode or low speed mode.

Further, the feeding information is divided into successful feeding information containing information on feeding success and failure feeding information containing information on feeding failure (non-feeding). contains, in addition to the above, setting change information for retry feeding, which will be described later.

In the present embodiment, when the user operates the operation unit 124 and the sheet does not reach the feeding sensor 17 by the set arrival time and becomes "non-feeding", the sheet is fed again a plurality of times. It can be set to perform retry feeding. By setting the retry feeding, the jam occurrence rate can be reduced, and the user's work for jam handling can be reduced.

FIG. 7 is a control flow diagram showing an example of conventional retry feeding.
As shown in FIG. 7, in the conventional art, when non-feeding occurs (S101) and re-feeding is set (YES in S102), the same feeding settings as before the retry of non-feeding are used. Re-feeding is performed (S103). If non-feeding does not occur (NO in S104), normal feeding is resumed (S106).
If the non-feeding cannot be resolved even after retry feeding the specified number of times (YES in S105) or if re-feeding is not set (NO in S102), jam processing is performed (S107).

However, conventionally, for example, deterioration of the floating fan 62 causes a change in the relationship between the drive voltage and the number of revolutions. In such a case, there is a high possibility that the shortage of floating will not be resolved and feeding will not be possible even if feeding is retried the specified number of times. As a result, there is a high possibility of jamming, and the jam occurrence rate cannot be sufficiently reduced.

FIG. 8 is a control flow diagram showing a simple flow of retry feeding in this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 8, in this embodiment, when non-feeding occurs (S1) and re-feeding is set (YES in S2), the feeding setting is changed (S3) to retry feeding. send (S4). If non-feeding does not occur (NO in S5), normal feeding is resumed (S7). On the other hand, when the non-feeding cannot be resolved even after retry feeding the specified number of times (YES at S6) or when re-feeding is not set (NO at S2), jam processing is performed (S8).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the retry feeding is performed by changing the feeding setting unlike the conventional art. As for the setting change of the feeding, as will be described later, the feeding setting at the time of retry is changed based on the accumulated feeding information. In this way, by actively changing the feeding conditions at the time of subsequent retry when the retry feeding is repeated, the feeding at the time of the retry is ensured and the occurrence rate of jamming is reduced. made it

Table 1 below is a table showing causes of non-feeding and structural factors causing the causes.

As shown in Table 1, the causes of non-feeding are roughly classified into those caused by sheet characteristics, those caused by insufficient floating, and those caused by sheet conveyance (conveyance system) of the suction belt 21. be.
The cause of the sheet characteristics is a sheet that is difficult to be attracted to the suction belt 21, such as a heavy sheet such as thick paper, or a sheet that is difficult to float due to strong adhesion between the sheets. The uppermost sheet is difficult to be adsorbed on the uppermost sheet, resulting in non-feeding.

Therefore, when the sheet characteristics are the cause, the outputs (driving voltage and duty ratio) of the floating fan 62 and the side floating fan 71 are increased during retry feeding to increase the force to lift the sheet, or the upward suction fan 64 output (driving voltage and duty ratio) is increased to increase the attraction force to the sheet. Also, the set height of the sheet stacking table 11 is increased to raise the sheet stacking table 11 so that the topmost sheet can easily reach the suction belt 21.例文帳に追加

As shown in Table 1, insufficient levitation is caused by a decrease in the number of revolutions of the fans (levitation fan 62, side levitation fan 71, separation fan 63) due to deterioration, or clogging of the nozzles with foreign matter. A decrease in the amount of air blowing onto the sheet No. 27 is cited as a factor. In addition, another factor is a lift failure of the sheet stacking table 11, such as the sheet stacking table 11 not being raised to the set height due to deterioration of the lift drive unit 65, or the like. In addition, insufficient suction due to a decrease in the rotation speed of the upper suction fan 64 due to deterioration and clogging of foreign matter in the suction holes of the upper suction device 23 is also cited as a factor.

Therefore, when the cause is insufficient floating, the output (driving voltage and duty ratio) of the floating fan 62 and the side floating fan 71 is increased during retry feeding to increase the force to lift the sheet, or the upper suction fan 64 to increase the output of the suction force to the sheet. Also, the sheet stacking table 11 is raised to make it easier for the top sheet to reach the suction belt 21. - 特許庁Further, the output of the separation fan 63 is increased to increase the force for pressing the uppermost sheet against the suction belt 21, so that the uppermost sheet is easily attracted to the suction belt 21. - 特許庁

Abrasion of the suction belt 21 can be cited as a cause of non-feeding caused by the sheet conveying system. As the suction belt 21 wears, the frictional force with the sheet decreases, and after the sheet is attracted to the suction belt 21, when the suction belt 21 starts to be driven, the suction belt 21 slips on the sheet, and the set arrival time The sheet does not reach the feed sensor 17 within a few seconds, and the sheet is not fed. A reduction in belt speed and acceleration due to deterioration of the belt motor 61 is also a factor. As the belt speed and acceleration decrease due to the deterioration of the belt motor 61, the sheet does not reach the feed sensor 17 within the set reaching time, resulting in non-feeding. Short set arrival time is also a factor of non-feeding caused by the sheet conveying system.

Therefore, if the cause is the sheet conveying system, the output of the belt motor (driving voltage and duty ratio) is changed during retry feeding to change the acceleration and speed of the suction belt, or to extend the set reaching time. do.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a specific example of feeding control of the sheet feeding device 200. As shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, first, sheet information such as sheet type, thickness, and size, and setting information (for example, image forming modes such as high-speed mode and low-speed mode) set by the user through the operation unit 124 are supplied. Based on the feeding conditions, belt motor output (driving voltage and duty ratio), fan output (driving voltage and duty ratio), lift motor output (driving voltage and duty ratio), set arrival time, sheet loading table The set height and the like are set and the sheet is fed (S11). At this time, if the successful feeding information accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 has the same feeding conditions as the current feeding conditions, the feeding setting information of the feeding information is used. Then, the output of the belt motor 61, the output of each fan, the output of the lifting motor of the lifting drive unit 65, the set arrival time, the set height of the sheet stacking table 11, etc. are set, and the sheet is fed. If there are a plurality of pieces of successful feeding information with the same feeding conditions as the current feeding conditions in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68, the feeding setting information of the latest (most frequently used) feeding information is used. Then, the output of the belt motor, the output to each fan, the output of the lifting motor, the set arrival time, the set height of the sheet stacking table, etc. are set, and the sheet is fed.

On the other hand, if the successful feeding information accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 does not have the same feeding conditions as the current feeding conditions, the normal (predetermined) feeding settings are used. send.

When the sheet reaches the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time (No in S12), the feeding information at this time is stored in the feeding information storing storage device 68 as successful feeding information (S13). Specifically, information on the feeding status (information on feeding success, measured acceleration and speed of the suction belt 21, measured rotation speed of each fan, measured arrival time, measured height of the sheet stacking table 11, number of times of use, etc.) etc.), feeding conditions (sheet information, user setting information, etc.), feeding setting information (belt motor output, each fan output, lifting motor output, set arrival time, set height, etc.). It is stored in the storage device 68 for accumulating feeding information as the fed feeding information.

On the other hand, when the sheet does not arrive within the set arrival time and is not fed (Yes in S12), it is checked whether retry feeding is set (S14). When retry feeding is not set (No in S14), jam processing is performed, and a message indicating that a jam has occurred is displayed on the operation unit 124 of the image forming apparatus (S29).

On the other hand, when retry feeding is set (Yes in S14), control is executed to change the feeding setting for retry feeding. First, a search is made to see if there is information that matches the current feeding information in the accumulated failed feeding information (S15). For example, it is possible to search the stored failed feeding information for information that matches all information except the number of times of use, or to search for multiple pieces of information included in the feeding information, such as sheet information and information on the feeding status. The accumulated failed delivery information may be searched for matches in some information. In this way, there is a high possibility that the unsuccessful feeding information that matches the current feeding information is caused by the same cause as this time. As described above, the failed feeding information is stored in association with the changed feeding setting information at the time of retry feeding. Therefore, if there is information that matches the current feeding information in the accumulated failed feeding information (Yes in S15), it is associated with the failed feeding information that matches the current feeding information. The changed feeding setting information stored is read, and change control is performed to change to the read changed feeding setting information (S16). As a result, it is possible to change the feeding settings based on the cause of the current non-feeding. In this way, by performing retry feeding with the feeding setting based on the cause of non-feeding, the success rate of retry feeding can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

When there is no information matching the current feeding information among the accumulated failed feeding information (No in S15), the cause of non-feeding is identified (S17).

For example, if the sheet is changed and a sheet that has not been used in the past is set, and the sheet is not fed due to the sheet characteristics (Yes in S18), change control A is performed (S19).

If the measured number of revolutions of the fan is not within the specified range, it is determined that the cause is non-feeding due to an abnormality in the rotation output of the fan (Yes in S20). It is determined that non-feeding is caused by an abnormality in the elevation drive unit 65 (Yes in S21). If the non-feeding is caused by the malfunction of the fan or the malfunction of the elevation drive unit 65 (Yes in S20, YES in S21), change control B is performed (S22).

On the other hand, if there is no abnormality in the fan or the lifting/lowering drive unit 65 (No in S20, No in S21), it can be determined that non-feeding is caused by the belt conveying system. The causes of the belt conveying system are divided into deterioration (wear) of the suction belt, deterioration of the belt motor, etc., and other factors. If the deterioration (wear) of the belt is the cause, the slip rate between the suction belt 21 and the sheet increases as the deterioration progresses, and as the number of times of use increases, the tip of the sheet reaches the feed sensor 17 from the start of feeding. The actual measurement arrival time until reaching the point becomes longer, and the number of times of use and the actual measurement arrival time are in a proportional relationship. Similarly, when deterioration of the belt motor is the cause, as the deterioration progresses, the belt rotation speed decreases, and as the number of times of use increases, the actual measurement from the start of feeding to the arrival of the leading edge of the sheet at the feeding sensor 17 increases. The arrival time becomes longer, and the number of times of use and the measured arrival time become proportional.

Specifically, the relationship between the number of times of use and the measured arrival time is obtained from the accumulated feeding information, and it is checked whether or not there is a correlation between the obtained relationship and the measured time. Here, "having a correlation" means that, for example, the horizontal axis is the number of times of use and the vertical axis is the actual number of rotations of the fan, and on the relational line obtained from the accumulated feeding information (on the straight line if it is a linear function) , it is determined that there is a correlation when the measured number of revolutions during the current non-feeding is within the error range.

The reason why the measured arrival time can be measured even if the leading edge of the sheet has not passed the feed sensor 17 within the set arrival time and it is determined as "not fed" is as follows. That is, there is a predetermined time lag between the determination of "non-feeding" and the start of stopping of feeding. If the leading edge of the sheet passes the feeding sensor 17 during this period, the measured arrival time can be measured, and even in the case of "non-feeding", the measured arrival time can be measured. In particular, if belt wear is the cause, the measured arrival time is gradually delayed. The possibility of reaching the feed sensor 17 is high.

Therefore, if there is a correlation between the number of times of use and the actual measured arrival time, and it is not confirmed that the measured arrival time does not change as the number of times of use increases (No in S23). , the non-feeding is determined to be caused by a cause other than deterioration, and change control D is performed (S25).

On the other hand, when a change in the measured arrival time can be confirmed (Yes in S23), it is determined whether or not there is deterioration (wear) of the belt (S24). If the measured acceleration and speed of the suction belt 21 are within the specified range, it is determined that the belt has deteriorated (Yes in S24), and change control C is performed (S26). On the other hand, if the measured acceleration and speed of the suction belt 21 are not within the specified range, it is determined that the belt is not deteriorated (No in S24), and change control D is performed (S25).

In the above description, causes are identified in the order of sheet characteristics, fan abnormality, lift drive unit 65 abnormality, and belt conveying system abnormality, but the order of cause identification is not limited to this. can be done in parallel. In this way, cause identification is performed in parallel, and if, for example, both insufficient floating and sheet characteristics are suspected as causes, change control A and change control B may be integrated as change control AB. In this change control AB, for example, the first change item in change control A and the first change item in change control B are performed simultaneously. Further, the cause of non-feeding may be identified from the accumulated feeding information, and the causes may be identified in descending order of frequency of occurrence.

Table 2 below summarizes a plurality of change controls A to D corresponding to causes of non-feeding and items to be changed in each change control.

As shown in Table 2, when the cause of non-feeding is due to the sheet characteristics, there are sheets that are difficult to be attracted to the suction belt 21, such as heavy sheets such as cardboard, and characteristics that are difficult to float due to strong adhesion between sheets. This is the case, for example, with a sheet that has a handle. Therefore, the setting change in the change control A that is executed when the sheet characteristics are the cause is to increase the output (driving voltage and duty ratio) of the floating fan 62 and the side floating fan 71, increase the output (driving voltage and duty ratio) of the upward suction fan 64, and ratio) increase, and the sheet stacking table 11 is raised. By increasing the output of the floating fan 62 and the side floating fan 71, the power to float the sheet can be increased, the sheet having the property of being difficult to float can be well floated, and non-feeding can be eliminated. Further, by increasing the output of the upper suction fan 64, it is possible to cause the suction belt 21 to attract a sheet having characteristics that are difficult to attract, thereby eliminating non-feeding. Further, by increasing the set height of the sheet stacking table 11, it is possible to make it easier for the uppermost sheet to reach the suction belt 21, and to eliminate non-feeding.
Also, the output of the separation fan 63 may be increased. By increasing the output of the separation fan 63 , the force for floating the uppermost sheet to the suction belt side is increased, so that the sheet that is difficult to float can be floated up to the suction belt 21 .

The setting change of the change control B that is executed when the fan malfunction or the lift drive unit 65 malfunctions is the same as that of the change control A. That is, the outputs of the levitation fan 62 and the side levitation fans 71 are increased to increase the sheet levitation force, and the output of the upper suction fan 64 is increased to increase the sheet suction force. Also, the set height of the sheet stacking table 11 is increased to make it easier for the top sheet to reach the suction belt 21.例文帳に追加
Also, the output of the separation fan 63 may be increased. By increasing the output of the separation fan 63, the force for floating the uppermost sheet to the side of the suction belt is increased, so that insufficient floating can be resolved.

The setting changes of the change control C to be executed when the cause is deterioration (wear) of the belt are extension of the set arrival time, reduction of the belt acceleration, and increase of the belt speed. As described above, as the wear of the suction belt 21 progresses, the slip ratio between the suction belt 21 and the sheet increases. Therefore, by extending the set arrival time, even if the sheet slips on the suction belt 21 due to wear of the suction belt 21, the leading edge of the sheet can reach the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time. Non-delivery can be eliminated. In addition, by reducing the belt acceleration, it is possible to suppress the slippage between the sheet and the suction belt 21, improve the sheet conveyability, and detect the leading edge of the sheet within the set arrival time by the feeding sensor. 17 can be reached. Further, by increasing the speed of the suction belt 21, even if the sheet slips on the suction belt 21 due to wear of the suction belt 21, the leading edge of the sheet can reach the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time. As a result, non-feeding can be eliminated.

Further, the setting changes of the change control D to be executed when the sheet conveying system other than the belt deterioration is the cause are extension of the set arrival time, increase/decrease of the belt acceleration, and increase/decrease of the belt speed. By performing all the items related to the sheet conveying of the suction belt 21, non-feeding caused by the sheet conveying system can be resolved.

Tables 3 to 6 below are tables showing an example of the number of retries and change items in the change controls A to D.

As shown in Tables 3 to 6, in the first multiple times of retry feeding, the setting of one of the multiple change items is changed, and retry feeding is performed. For example, in the change control A and the change control B, during the first retry feeding, among the change items of the levitation system, the lifting system, and the suction system, the change items of the levitation system are changed (the levitation fan 62 and the side levitation system). The output of the fan 71 is increased). At the time of the second retry feeding, the problem is considered to be something other than the floating system. The change is made and the second retry feeding is performed.

The above Tables 3 to 6 are examples, and relate to the output of each fan that can be finely adjusted, the set height of the sheet stacking table 11, the speed of the suction belt, the acceleration of the suction belt, and the set arrival time to the feeding sensor 17. is a 10% change for the first setting change, a 20% change for a setting change after multiple retry feeds, and a 50% change for a setting change after multiple retry feeds, depending on the number of retries. The amount of increase may be increased accordingly.

If the non-feeding is not resolved even after changing the setting of one of the plurality of change items and retry feeding (Yes in S27 and S28, No in S29), two of the plurality of change items Retry feeding is performed after changing the above settings. For example, in change control A and change control B, there are two of the change items of the levitation system, the lifting system, and the suction system. Even if all patterns of setting change are executed for two of the multiple change items (three patterns of levitation system and lifting system, levitation system and suction system, lifting system and suction system in change control A and B) , when the non-feeding is not resolved, the change items are increased and the retry feeding is performed. Finally, retry feeding (n-th retry feeding) is performed after changing all change items. When the non-feeding is still not resolved (No in S29), the jam processing is performed, a predetermined display is displayed on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus (S31), and the feeding information is displayed as reference information of the feeding failure. Store (S30).

As shown in Table 3, in change control A, when non-feeding is not resolved, it is determined that there is an accidental entry of foreign matter or improper sheet setting, and an accidental entry of foreign matter into the operation unit 124 during jam processing. and a display prompting the user to confirm the sheet set.

Further, as shown in Table 4, when non-feeding is not resolved in change control B, the front blower 26, the side blower 27, the upper suction device 23, etc. may be out of order. 124, a display prompting repair of the feeding device 200 is displayed.

Further, as shown in Table 5, when non-feeding is not resolved in change control C, it is possible that the suction belt 21 has reached the end of its service life. .

Further, as shown in Table 6, when non-feeding is not resolved in the change control D, it is possible that the feeding unit 20 is out of order. do In addition, since the levitation detection sensor 16 is located upstream of the suction belt 21, it may not be possible to correctly detect that the uppermost sheet floats and is attracted to the suction belt 21. erroneous determination that the uppermost sheet has been adsorbed by the levitation detection sensor 16 even though it has not been adsorbed). Therefore, when the change control D is executed once and the non-feeding is not resolved, the change control B may be executed to change the setting corresponding to the cause of the insufficient flying.

In addition, for example, when the malfunction of the fan or the malfunction of the lift drive unit 65 is resolved, but the non-feeding still occurs, the change control shown in Table 5 or 6 is performed while the setting in which the insufficient floating is resolved is maintained. C or the first item of change control D is changed and retry feeding is performed.

Further, in the present embodiment, change control A and change control B are the same control except during jam processing. The change control A and the change control B may be different from each other, for example, by not changing the setting of the item of the elevator system in the change control A. Further, in the change control A and the change control B, an output increase of the separation fan 63 may be added as a setting change item.

On the other hand, if the retry feeding was successful (No in S28), the setting change information and the failed feeding information are stored in association with each other, and the feeding information at the time of the retry feeding is changed to the successful feeding information. (S30).

By storing the setting change information in association with the unsuccessful feeding information, when a similar non-feeding occurs in the future, the setting change information of the unsuccessful feeding information can be read out and changed. Non-delivery can be eliminated.

For example, it is assumed that the rotation speed of the upper suction fan 64 is insufficient, causing insufficient floating due to poor suction, resulting in non-feeding. At this time, change control B is executed during retry feeding. Then, by increasing the output of the upper suction fan 64 and increasing the rotational speed of the upper suction fan 64, non-feeding is eliminated in the second feeding retry. At this time, the unsuccessful feeding information includes the insufficient actual rotation speed of the upper suction fan 64 and the information of the output increase of the upper suction fan 64 as setting change information. Then, when non-feeding occurs again due to insufficient rotation speed of the upper suction fan 64, in step 15 in FIG. The feeding information indicating feeding is read, and the setting change at that time (increasing the output of the upper suction fan 64) is applied. This allows you to quickly change to the optimal paper feed settings.

Further, by storing the feeding information at the time of this retry feeding in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 as the feeding information of the success, the next feeding can be carried out based on this feeding information. Send settings are made. As a result, the occurrence of non-feeding caused by the cause identified in step 17 can be suppressed. The number of retries is also stored as the feeding information indicating the success of the retry feeding.

This is because, as described above, after the leading edge of the sheet does not reach the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time and it is determined that the sheet is not fed, the leading edge of the sheet reaches the feeding sensor 17, or the sheet may be conveyed by the suction belt 21 .
Since the rotation of each fan also stops when the feeding is stopped, the portion of the sheet attracted to the suction belt 21 falls to the sheet bundle by its own weight. At this time, the leading edge of the sheet may move in the direction opposite to the sheet conveying direction, and the uppermost sheet may return to its original position, but may not completely return to its original position. In this way, if the uppermost sheet does not return to its original position and is re-fed, the feeding is successful despite the fact that the feeding setting is not optimal (the leading edge of the sheet reaches the set arrival time). reaches the feeding sensor 17). Therefore, if the next feeding is performed with the feeding setting based on the feeding information when the retry feeding is successful, non-feeding will occur for the same reason as the previous time. Then, when retry feeding is performed for the second consecutive time of non-feeding, if the first change item is changed again in change control A to D, the inappropriate setting item will be changed again. , there is a risk that non-delivery will not be resolved.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, by storing the number of retries as feeding information in the feeding information of success in retry feeding, the next feeding after successful retry feeding (the previous non-feeding is When non-feeding occurs during feeding under the same feeding conditions as when it occurred, it can be determined that the setting changed at the previous retry feeding is not optimal. As a result, the setting of the next change item of the retry count of the feeding information referred to when setting the feeding (for example, if the feeding was successful in one retry feeding last time, the setting of the second change item) is changed. and can be changed to the optimum setting.

In addition, the measured values (the measured acceleration and speed of the suction belt 21, the measured rotation speed of each fan, the measured arrival time, and the measured height of the sheet stacking table 11) are not within the specified range (each fan, the lifting drive unit 65, For the belt motor), the first retry feeding may be performed by adjusting the output so that it falls within the specified range. For example, when it is confirmed that the measured speeds of the floating fan, the upper suction fan 64, and the suction belt 21 are not within the specified range, the outputs of the floating fan, the upper suction fan 64, and the belt motor are adjusted to perform the first retry feeding. send. In this manner, if the output is adjusted to fall within the specified range and the first retry feeding is performed, if a non-feeding occurs, the floating detection sensor 16 detects that the uppermost sheet is not adsorbed by the specified time. If not detected, change control B is executed, and if the levitation detection sensor 16 detects that the uppermost sheet is adhered to the uppermost sheet by the specified time, the transition of the measured arrival time is observed. If there is a transition, change control C is performed, and if there is no transition, change control D is performed.

The causes of non-feeding are mainly divided into sudden ones and deterioration of each structure (belt wear, fan, belt motor, lifting motor, etc.), but the deterioration of each structure is accumulated. It can be grasped by confirming the transition based on the feeding information (information about the feeding status). As the deterioration progresses, the actual measured arrival time gradually increases. The relationship with the arrival time is, for example, a proportional relationship. Therefore, if there is a correlation between the relationship between the number of times of use obtained from the accumulated feeding information and the measured arrival time (transition of the measured arrival time) and the measured arrival time at the time of non-feeding, the deterioration of the above structure can be presumed to be the cause.

Since the rotation speed decreases as the deterioration of the belt motor and fan progresses, if the feeding is continued for a certain period of time without changing the feeding conditions, the number of times the accumulated feeding information is used and the actual rotation speed of the fan will change. Also, the relationship between the number of times of use and the belt speed is, for example, an inversely proportional relationship. Further, as the deterioration of the lifting motor progresses, the number of revolutions decreases, so the measured height of the sheet stacking table gradually decreases, and the relationship between the number of times of use and the measured height of the sheet stacking table becomes, for example, an inversely proportional relationship. .

Therefore, when it is determined in step 23 of FIG. 9 that there is a change in the actual measured arrival time, the measured number of rotations of the non-feeding fan this time, the number of times of use obtained from the accumulated feeding information, and the actual measurement of the fan Investigate whether there is a correlation between the number of rotations (e.g., inversely proportional relationship), and if there is a correlation, determine the cause of the non-feeding fan (floating fan, side floating fan, separation fan, and upward suction fan). It may be determined that the cause is a decrease in rotation speed (reduction in rotation speed relative to the output value) due to deterioration of the engine.

In this way, when it is determined that a decrease in rotation speed due to deterioration of the fan is the cause of non-feeding, the output value (drive voltage or duty ratio) of the fan whose rotation speed has decreased due to deterioration is increased, An initial retry feed may be performed. In addition, the first retry feeding increases the output by 10%, and the second retry feeding increases the output by 20% compared to when no feeding is performed. Change control may be performed.

For the belt motor 61 as well, when it is determined in step 23 in FIG. It may be determined whether or not there is a correlation between the predetermined relationship obtained from the speed and the speed, and if there is a correlation, it may be determined that the cause of the non-feeding is the decrease in rotation speed due to the deterioration of the belt motor.

Therefore, when it is determined that the decrease in rotation speed due to the deterioration of the belt motor is the cause of non-feeding, the output value (driving voltage and duty ratio) of the belt motor is first increased, and the first retry feeding is performed. good too. In this case also, the first retry feeding increases the output by 10%, and the second retry feeding increases the output by 20% compared to when no feeding is performed. You may perform change control which raises.

In this embodiment, the height of the top surface of the uppermost sheet is detected by the elevation sensor 41, and the elevation motor of the elevation driving section 65 is driven and stopped for a predetermined time after the detection signal of the elevation sensor 41 is detected. By doing so, the height of the sheet stacking table is set to the set height. Therefore, as the number of rotations decreases due to the deterioration of the lifting motor, the measured height of the sheet stacking table gradually decreases, which causes the measured arrival time to gradually increase.

Therefore, when it is determined in step 23 in FIG. 9 that there is a change in the measured arrival time, the sheet stacking table obtained from the measured height of the sheet stacking table at the time of non-feeding this time and the accumulated feeding information It is checked whether or not there is a correlation between the measured height and the number of times of use. Then, when there is a correlation, it may be determined that the cause of the non-feeding is insufficient elevation of the sheet stacking table 11 due to deterioration of the elevation motor.

If it is determined that insufficient lifting of the sheet stacking table 11 due to deterioration of the lifting motor is the cause of non-feeding, first, the lifting motor output value (driving voltage or duty ratio) is increased, and the first retry feeding is performed. may In this case also, the first retry feeding increases the output by 10%, and the second retry feeding increases the output by 20% compared to when no feeding is performed. You may perform change control which raises.

In addition, in identifying the cause of belt wear in this case, although there is a correlation between the measured arrival time of non-feeding and the relationship between the number of times of use obtained from the accumulated feeding information and the measured arrival time, The measured speed of the feeding belt, the measured rotation speed of each fan, and the measured height of the sheet loading table are almost the target values, and the measured values such as the rotation speed of the fan and the belt speed at the time of non-feeding are accumulated. If there is no correlation with the predetermined relationship obtained from the feeding information obtained (not due to deterioration of the belt motor, lift motor, or fan), belt wear is identified as the cause.

In this way, it is possible to identify the detailed cause of the non-feeding from the accumulated feeding information, and to perform the retry feeding by changing the optimum setting corresponding to the cause. Therefore, the success rate of retry feeding can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

Moreover, although the output of the item determined to be deteriorated is increased, setting items other than the item determined to be deteriorated may be changed. For example, in a feeding failure caused by insufficient rotation due to deterioration of the upper suction fan 64, even if the drive voltage or the duty ratio is increased, the rotation speed of the upper suction fan 64 does not increase sufficiently, or the upper suction fan 64 is driven When the voltage reaches the rated voltage or the duty ratio reaches 100%, the output of at least one of the floating fan 62, the side floating fan 71, and the separation fan 63 is increased, or the sheet stacking table 11 is turned off. By increasing the set height of the upper suction fan 64, non-feeding due to insufficient rotation of the upper suction fan 64 may be eliminated. In this way, non-feeding due to deterioration of the drive system (upper suction fan 46, levitation fan 62, side levitation fan 71, separation fan 63 and elevating motor) related to levitation can be dealt with by increasing the output of other drive systems. good too.

In parallel with identifying the cause of the deterioration of each part, it is determined whether or not there is a cause in the sheet characteristics. may be combined for retry feeding.

Also, at the end of feeding, the relationship between the number of times of use obtained from the accumulated feeding information and the measured arrival time (transition of the measured arrival time), and the measured arrival time obtained as feeding information during the current feeding If a correlation is found, check the measured rotation speed of each fan and the measured speed of the belt, which were acquired as the feeding information at the time of feeding this time. You may perform control which raises the output value of what is being carried out.

Also, from the accumulated feeding information, the lower limit of the permissible range of the rotation speed of each fan and the belt speed is obtained. The next feeding may be performed. The optimum lower limit value may differ depending on the device's operating environment and operating conditions, and the lower limit value obtained in advance from the device installed in the manufacturer's test environment may not be the optimum lower limit value. be. On the other hand, by obtaining the lower limit of the permissible range of the rotational speed of each fan and the belt speed from the accumulated feeding information, it becomes possible to perform control with the optimum lower limit for each device.

As a method of obtaining the lower limit value, for example, in the case of obtaining the lower limit value of the allowable range of the rotation speed of the fan, feeding information that can be determined that the cause of non-feeding is insufficient rotation speed of the fan is specified. As an example, compare the measured number of revolutions at the time of non-feeding with the actual measured number of revolutions of the fan at the time of successful retry feeding. It can be judged that the number is insufficient. In addition, it is possible to determine that the cause of the non-feeding is the insufficient number of revolutions of the fan for the feeding information in which the cause of the non-feeding is determined to be the insufficient number of revolutions due to the deterioration of the fan. In this way, the lower limit of the allowable range is obtained from the measured number of rotations of the fan when feeding is not performed and the measured number of rotations of the fan when feeding is successful, based on the plurality of feeding information determined to be insufficient in the number of rotations of the fan. can be asked for. Similarly, the lower limit of the allowable range can be obtained for the belt speed.

Also, for example, in the case of the first jam in one week after purchase, sufficient feeding information is not accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 at the beginning of use of the apparatus, and the cause of non-feeding is specified. If it is not possible (especially to determine the deterioration (wear) of the belt or the deterioration of each component described above), retry feeding may be performed under the feeding conditions when the non-feeding occurred, or the most The retry feeding may be performed under the condition that the paper feeding efficiency is high. Alternatively, the sheet may be processed as a jam without retry feeding. Note that when retry feeding is performed under the condition with the highest paper feeding efficiency, it is difficult to define the condition with the highest paper feeding efficiency if the characteristics and environment of the sheet to be fed are taken into consideration. Therefore, when retry feeding is performed under the condition of the highest paper feeding efficiency, all the n-th changed items or the (n−1)-th changed items shown in Tables 3 to 6 are combined. For example, if all the n-th change items in Tables 3 to 6 are combined, the output of the levitation fan and the side levitation fan is increased, additional elevation control is performed, the output of the information suction fan is increased, the acceleration of the suction belt is reduced, and suction is performed. Increase the belt speed, extend the arrival time, and retry feeding. When the number of sheets to be fed exceeds the specified value and the feeding information is sufficiently accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device 68, the control is switched to the retry feeding control shown in FIG.

In addition, the cause of the sheet characteristics can be identified based on the type information of the set sheet, and the abnormality of the fan and the elevation driving unit 65 can be determined based on the information on the feeding status (actual rotation speed of the fan, Since it is possible to identify the cause from the measured height of the sheet stacking table 11), these causes may be identified from the beginning of use of the apparatus, and change control A and change control B may be performed.

Next, a second embodiment of the feeding device will be described.
FIG. 10 is an enlarged configuration diagram of a main part of the feeding device 200A of the second embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 10 , the feeding device of the second embodiment is a feeding device of the return separation type (FRR type), and includes an FRR mechanism 150 , a pair of grip rollers 155 and a feeding sensor 153 .
The FRR mechanism 150 includes a pickup roller 151 that contacts the uppermost sheet P1 of the sheet bundle P placed on the sheet stacking table 154, and a feed roller that separates and conveys the sheet P1 conveyed by the pickup roller 151 into one sheet. 156 and a reverse roller 152 .

An arm 157 is rotatably attached to the rotation shaft of the feed roller 156 . A pickup roller 151 is rotatably attached to the arm 157 . The arm 157 is biased by an elastic member such as a pull in a direction in which the pickup roller 151 is separated from the sheet bundle. The pick-up roller 151 moves between a position away from the sheet bundle and a position in contact with the uppermost sheet P1 of the sheet bundle, as indicated by an arrow X1 in the figure, by turning ON/OFF a drive means such as a solenoid. Specifically, when the driving means is turned on, the arm 157 is pushed in the direction opposite to the biasing direction of the elastic member, thereby rotating the feed roller 156 counterclockwise in the drawing about the rotation axis of the feed roller 156 . As a result, the pickup roller 151 comes into contact with the uppermost sheet P1 of the sheet bundle. When the driving means is switched from ON to OFF, the urging force of the elastic member causes the feed roller 156 to rotate clockwise around the rotational axis of the feed roller 156, and the pickup roller 151 moves away from the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle. Moving.

The reverse roller 152 is provided on the support shaft so as to be rotatable forward and backward via a torque limiter. A driving force is transmitted to the reverse roller 152 by a motor via a torque limiter, and the reverse roller 152 rotates in the direction of arrow X4 in the figure.

The feed sensor 153 is arranged between the feed roller 156 and the grip roller pair 155 .

When conveying the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle, the pickup roller 151 is brought into contact with the uppermost sheet P1 of the sheet bundle, the pickup roller 151 is rotated in the direction of the arrow X2 in the figure, and the feed roller 156 is moved in the direction of the arrow X3 in the figure. direction. By rotating the pickup roller 151 in the arrow X2 direction in the drawing, the upper sheet of the sheet bundle is conveyed to the nip between the feed roller 156 and the reverse roller 152 by frictional force.

When only the uppermost sheet P1 enters the nip between the feed roller 156 and the reverse roller 152, the torque transmitted to the reverse roller 152 is large, and the transmission of the driving force to the reverse roller 152 is canceled by the action of the torque limiter. , the reverse roller 152 is driven by the feed roller 156 to rotate, and together with the feed roller 156, feeds out the uppermost sheet P1.

On the other hand, when a plurality of sheets enter the nip between the feed roller 156 and the reverse roller 152, the torque applied to the reverse roller 152 is weakened, and the driving force is transmitted to the reverse roller 152 via the torque limiter. The roller 152 rotates in the arrow X4 direction in the figure. As a result, the second and subsequent lower sheets P 2 to Pn in contact with the reverse roller 152 are returned toward the sheet stacking table 154 . As a result, the multi-fed sheets P2 to Pn are separated, and only the uppermost sheet P1 is delivered and fed.

In the second embodiment as well, when the leading edge of the sheet does not pass the feeding sensor 153 within the set arrival time after the start of feeding, it is determined that the sheet has not been fed, and the feeding is stopped. When retry feeding is set, the setting is changed and retry feeding is performed, and when retry feeding is not set, jam processing is performed.

Also in this second embodiment, the feed roller 156 and the pickup roller 151 are provided with a rotational speed detection device having an encoder for detecting the rotational speed and an optical sensor. is measured. Also in the second embodiment, a feeding information storage device for accumulating feeding information is provided. /Failure (non-feeding) information, measured acceleration and speed of each roller, measured arrival time from the start of feeding until the sheet reaches the feeding sensor 153, measured height of the sheet stacking table 154, number of times of use ( number of times of feeding, etc.), feeding setting information (driving voltage of the feeding motor that drives each roller, driving voltage of the solenoid that raises and lowers the pickup roller 151, set arrival time, etc.) Each time it is performed, it is stored in the storage device for accumulating feeding information.

Also in this second embodiment, based on the feeding information accumulated in the feeding information accumulation storage device, the setting is changed and the retry feeding is performed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of feeding control of the feeding device of the second embodiment.
Also in the feeding apparatus of the second embodiment, when the accumulated feeding information has the same feeding condition as the current feeding condition, the feeding setting is performed based on the feeding setting information of the feeding information. If not, feeding is performed with normal feeding settings (S51).

When the sheet is fed normally (No in S52), the feeding information at that time is stored in the feeding information storing storage device. On the other hand, when the leading edge of the sheet does not reach the feeding sensor 153 within the set arrival time and the "failure to feed" occurs, and retry feeding is set (Yes in S52, Yes in S54), the It is checked whether or not there is any feeding information that matches the current feeding information in the received feeding information (S55). If there is a match, the setting is changed based on the setting change information of the matching feeding information, and retry feeding is performed (S56, S64).

On the other hand, if there is no matching feeding information, the cause of non-feeding is identified from the accumulated feeding information and the non-feeding information of this time (S57).

Specifically, if the accumulated feeding information shows a tendency of difference in arrival time for each sheet type, and if the sheet has been changed, it is determined that the non-feeding is caused by the sheet characteristics (S58). Yes). If the sheet has not been changed, the transition of the measured arrival time is confirmed from the accumulated feeding information. If the relationship between the accumulated number of times of use and the measured arrival time is a predetermined relationship (for example, a directly proportional relationship), it is determined that roller deterioration (wear) is the cause of non-feeding (Yes in S60).

When the sheet has not been changed (No in S58) and the measured arrival time cannot be measured, or when there is no change in the measured arrival time of non-feeding this time (No in S60), other sudden Judged as non-feeding due to cause.

When it is determined that the sheet characteristics are the cause (Yes in S58), change control F shown in Table 8 below is executed (S59). Change control E shown in Table 7 below is executed (S61), and when there is another sudden factor (No in S58, No in S60), change control G shown in Table 9 below is executed (S62).

It is considered that the leading edge of the sheet did not reach the feed sensor 153 within the set arrival time because the slip ratio between the roller and the sheet increased due to wear of the roller. Therefore, as shown in Table 7, the setting change items of change control E to be performed when non-feeding is caused by roller wear are: decrease in roller acceleration (acceleration of pickup roller); increase in roller speed; The time will be extended and the height of the sheet stacking table will be changed. By reducing the acceleration of the roller, it is possible to suppress the slippage between the sheet and the pickup roller, thereby improving the conveyability of the sheet. can be reached. Further, by increasing the speed of the roller, even if the sheet slips on the roller, the leading edge of the sheet can reach the feeding sensor within the set arrival time, and non-feeding can be eliminated. . Also, by extending the set arrival time, even if the sheet slips on the rollers, the leading edge of the sheet can reach the feed sensor 17 within the set arrival time, and non-feeding can be eliminated. can. In addition, by raising the sheet stacking table 154, the contact pressure between the pickup roller and the sheet can be increased, the slip between the sheet and the pickup roller can be suppressed, and the conveyability of the sheet can be improved. The leading edge of the sheet can reach the feeding sensor 17 within the set arrival time.

In addition, in the case of non-feeding due to sheet characteristics, it is considered that the main factor is that the sheet is glossy paper or the like, which has characteristics that easily slide on the roller. The change items of the change control F to be executed when the seat characteristic is the cause are the same as those of the change control E. In this example, the change items of the change control F are the same as those of the change control E, but they may be changed as appropriate. Also, the order of the items to be changed may be different from that of change control E. FIG.

In addition, as shown in Table 9, all items related to sheet feeding are changed in the change control G to be executed in the event of other sudden factors.

As for the change controls E to G, as in the embodiment, in the first retry feeding, one of the plurality of change items is changed and the retry feeding is performed (S63). If the non-feeding is not resolved even after changing one of the multiple change items and retry feeding (Yes in S64, No in S65), set two of the multiple change items. Change and retry feeding. If the non-feeding is not resolved even after executing all the setting change patterns for two of the plurality of change items, one more setting change item is added and retry feeding is performed. In this way, setting change items are increased, and finally, all change items are changed and retry feeding (n-th retry feeding) is performed. When the non-feeding is still not resolved (Yes in S65), the jam processing is performed, and a predetermined display is displayed on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus (S67), and the feeding information is displayed as reference information of the feeding failure. Store (S66).

As shown in Table 7, in change control E, when non-feeding is not resolved even after n times of feeding retries, it is determined that the roller has reached the end of its service life, and at the time of jam processing, the operation unit of the image forming apparatus is requested to replace the roller. Prompt display.

As shown in Table 8, in change control F, when non-feeding is not resolved even after retrying feeding n times, it is determined that there is an accidental entry of foreign matter or inappropriate sheet setting. A display prompting the user to confirm the accidental contamination of foreign objects and the confirmation of the sheet set is displayed in the section 124 .

Further, in the change control F, if the non-feeding is not resolved even after retry feeding n times, a display prompting repair of the feeding device is displayed.

When the set feeding setting is changed and retry feeding (S63) is performed, and the sheet is fed normally (No in S64), the feeding information is changed to the failed feeding information of this time, as in the above-described embodiment. The set items are stored in association with each other, and the feeding information at the time of retry feeding is stored as feeding information of success together with the number of retries (S67).

In the second embodiment, the sheet is conveyed to some extent when non-feeding occurs. It may not be the optimal feed setting. Therefore, in the next feeding, in the retry feeding, when feeding is performed with the setting of the feeding that was conveyed without feeding failure, and the same feeding failure occurs, the number of retries is read out. , instead of the first setting change in Table 7, the setting is changed from the continuation of the previous setting change (for example, from the third time if the retry feeding was successful in the second setting change last time). This makes it possible to find the optimum feeding setting.

Also in the second embodiment, processing may be performed to determine whether the deterioration of the feeding motor is the cause of non-feeding based on the accumulated feeding information. The decrease in the rotation speed of the roller due to the deterioration of the feeding motor can be seen in the change in the actual measured arrival time (the relationship obtained from the number of times of use and the measured arrival time, and the accumulated number of uses and the measured arrival time). ), and the measured speed of the non-feeding roller this time correlated with the relationship between the number of times of use obtained from the accumulated feeding information and the measured speed, the roller It is determined that the cause of non-feeding is a decrease in the rotation speed of the roller due to deterioration of the driving feeding motor. On the other hand, if there is no correlation between the measured speed of the non-feeding roller this time and the relationship between the number of times of use and the measured speed obtained from the accumulated feeding information, it is determined that the feeding roller is worn. do.
When it is determined that the deterioration of the feeding motor is the cause of non-feeding, the output of the feeding motor is increased to retry feeding. Alternatively, reduce the rotational acceleration to increase the reliability of paper transport.

Determination of deterioration of the feeding motor and determination of wear (deterioration) of the feeding roller cannot be made unless feeding information is accumulated to some extent. 11 without executing the flow shown in FIG. It may be processed as a jam without feeding.

Further, the feeding information storage device 68 may be a server or the like connected to the sheet feeding device via an Internet communication network serving as an information communication network. A state in which information can be exchanged between devices by physically connecting a plurality of sheet conveying devices to each other using a cable or the like is also included as one type of information communication network.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining an example in which a storage device for accumulating feeding information is a server 168 (or a management source 168) connected to a plurality of sheet feeding devices via an Internet communication network, which is an information communication network. .
Group J in FIG. 12 is a group of sheet feeding apparatuses in which the server 168 stores and manages sheet feeding information via the Internet communication network. Includes a delivery device. The sheet feeding apparatuses 200A1 to 200A3, 200B, 200C1, 200C2, 200D to 200G are the same model or compatible sheet feeding apparatuses connected to the Internet network. Further, the sheet feeding apparatuses 200A1 to 200A3 forming group H and the sheet feeding apparatuses 200C1 and C2 forming group I are sheet feeding apparatuses installed in the same place by the same administrator. The environment and usage conditions are similar. Further, K in the figure indicates a specific country or region, and L in the figure has a device group such as group H or group J like the server 168, and server Y (management source) that manages the device group. Y). In particular, Y in the drawing indicates that information can be shared or exchanged with the server 168 .

Sheet feeding information of the sheet feeding apparatuses 200A1 to 200A3, 200B, 200C1, 200C2, 200D to 200G is transmitted to the server 168 via the Internet communication network and accumulated in storage means such as an HDD of the server 168. FIG. The sheet feeding information transmitted to the server 168 includes information that can identify which user's sheet feeding device, such as sheet feeding device management information and customer inquiry information. contains.

For example, in the system configuration shown in FIG. Not only unsuccessful feeding information corresponding to the sheet feeding apparatus, but also unsuccessful feeding information of other sheet feeding apparatuses are checked to see if there is any that matches the feeding information of this time. Since a large amount of feeding information sent from a plurality of sheet feeding apparatuses can be referred to, the possibility of finding feeding information that matches the current feeding information increases. As a result, the possibility of retrying feeding by changing the feeding settings to the optimum that can solve the problem of feeding this time increases, the success rate of retry feeding can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced. can be planned.

Also, when there is no match with the current feeding information and the cause is specified from the accumulated feeding information and the current feeding information, the feeding information of multiple sheet feeding devices is also referenced to determine the cause. can be identified. Therefore, the cause can be identified with high accuracy. In addition, it is possible to identify the cause even at the initial stage of use.

However, since the usage environment and other conditions are not exactly the same, compared to using only the accumulated feeding information corresponding to the sheet feeding device, the accuracy of identifying the cause and matching with the feeding information this time are better. There is also a possibility that the success rate of retry feeding using the changed feeding setting information stored in association with the failed feeding information may decrease. Therefore, it is determined whether to use the sheet feeding information of a plurality of sheet feeding devices accumulated in the server 168 or to use the sheet feeding information corresponding only to this sheet feeding device accumulated in the storage device of the sheet feeding device. It may be set by the user.

Further, the feeding information accumulated in the server 168 may include usage environment information such as humidity and temperature. The feeding information accumulated in the server 168 may be downloaded to an SD card, an external HDD, or the like. In that case, an SD card may be inserted into a card socket inside the sheet feeding device, and an external HDD may be connected to the external HDD via a USB port inside the sheet feeding device. . Conversely, feeding information accumulated in individual sheet feeding apparatuses or image forming apparatuses may be stored in an SD card or an external HDD, and the feeding information may be transferred to another device or server.

What has been described above is only an example, and each of the following aspects has a unique effect.
(Aspect 1)
Sheet conveying means such as a suction belt 21 for conveying sheets stacked on a sheet stacking means such as the sheet stacking table 11, and conveying defect detecting means for detecting sheet conveying defects (in this embodiment, the feed sensor 17 and the sheet feeder) are provided. and a sheet feeding device control unit 66), and a control unit such as the feeding device control unit 66 that performs retry feeding when the defective feeding detection unit detects a defective feeding. The apparatus is provided with storage means such as a feeding information storing storage device 68 for accumulating sheet transport information such as feeding information when sheets are transported. Retry transport is performed by changing transport settings such as feed settings based on the transport information.
By accumulating the sheet conveying information when the sheet is conveyed in the storage means, the cause of the conveying failure is estimated based on the accumulated sheet conveying information, and the appropriate conveying setting corresponding to the cause of the conveying failure is specified. Also, it is possible to specify an appropriate transport setting that can solve the transport failure from the accumulated sheet transport information. Therefore, by changing the transport settings for the retry transport based on the sheet transport information accumulated in the storage unit, it is possible to change the transport settings to appropriate transport settings, thereby reducing the occurrence of transport failures during the retry transport. can. As a result, the jam rate can be reduced compared to Patent Document 1.

(Aspect 2)
In mode 1, the sheet conveying information (failed feeding information in this embodiment) such as the feeding information accumulated in the storage means such as the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 includes the sheet conveying information that caused the conveying failure. and the transport setting when the transport is normally performed by the retry transport are stored in association with each other. In addition, if there is a match with the sheet transport information that caused a transport failure before the retry transport, the transport settings are changed to those stored in association with the past sheet transport information, and the retry transport is performed.
According to this, as explained using the control flow of FIG. 9 (see S15 Yes, S16), the transfer setting can be changed based on the cause of the current transfer failure, and the success rate of retry transfer can be increased. It is possible to reduce the jam rate. In addition, the optimal transport settings can be found quickly.

(Aspect 3)
In mode 1 or 2, the control means such as the feeding device control unit 66 stores the sheet feeding information such as the feeding information accumulated in the storage means such as the feeding information accumulation storage device 68 and the feeding failure before the retry feeding. The cause of the defective transportation is presumed based on the sheet transportation information that has become a state, and the transportation setting is changed based on the estimated cause of the defective transportation, and retry transportation is performed.
According to this, as explained using the control flow of FIG. 9 (see S17 to S27), based on the cause of the transport failure such as non-feeding, the transport setting such as the feeding setting is changed and the retry feeding is performed. Such retry transport can be performed. As a result, the success rate of retry transport can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 4)
In mode 3, the control means such as the feeding device control unit 66 determines the feeding state (for example, Arrival time) is grasped, and the cause of the transportation failure is estimated based on the correlation between the grasped transition of the transportation state and the transportation failure before the retry transportation.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to grasp conveyance failures such as non-feeding due to deterioration of parts related to conveyance (belt wear, belt motor, each fan, lifting motor, etc.). Retry transport such as retry transport can be performed by changing transport settings such as feed settings based on the cause of component deterioration. As a result, the success rate of retry transport can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 5)
In mode 4, air blowing means such as a floating fan 62 or a side floating fan 71 for blowing air onto a sheet bundle stacked on a stacking means such as the sheet stacking table 11 to float a plurality of upper sheets in the sheet bundle; A separation fan 63 or the like blows air between the uppermost sheet and the second sheet of the floating sheets to separate the uppermost sheet from the second and subsequent sheets. Separating means and suction means such as an upper suction fan 64 for sucking the uppermost sheet of the floating sheets floated by the air blowing means to the sheet conveying means such as the suction belt 21 are provided. including the arrival time from the start of conveyance until the sheet reaches a predetermined position downstream of the sheet conveying means, the control means grasps the transition of the arrival time in the predetermined period as the conveying state, and the transition of the arrival time, If there is a correlation with the arrival time before the retry transportation, the output of at least one of the air blowing means, the separation means and the suction means is increased when performing the retry transportation.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, the air blowing means such as the floating fan 62 and the side floating fan 71, the separating means such as the separating fan 63, and the suction means such as the upward suction fan 64 gradually increase in rotational speed due to deterioration. A decrease in , gradually delays the arrival time. Therefore, it is possible to grasp these deterioration states from the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the transportation state. As a result, it is possible to change the transport setting such as the feeding setting corresponding to the deterioration of the air blowing means, the separating means, and the sucking means, and perform retry feeding such as retry feeding. As a result, the success rate of retry transport can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 6)
In mode 4, the sheet conveying information such as the sheet conveying information includes the arrival time from the start of sheet conveying to the arrival of the sheet at a predetermined position downstream of the sheet conveying means. grasps the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the conveying state, and if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time of the conveying failure before the retry conveying, when performing the retry conveying, the sheet At least one of the sheet conveying speed of the conveying means and the acceleration of the sheet conveying means is changed.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, the deterioration of the drive source such as the belt motor that drives the sheet conveying means such as the suction belt 21 causes the number of revolutions to gradually decrease, thereby increasing the acceleration and speed of the sheet conveying means. gradually decreases, and therefore the arrival time in the predetermined period gradually becomes longer. , the deterioration of the drive source can be presumed to be the cause of the transport failure such as non-feeding. Therefore, by changing at least one of the sheet conveying speed of the sheet conveying means and the acceleration of the sheet conveying means when performing the retry conveying, it is possible to eliminate the conveying failure caused by the deterioration of the driving source, and the retry conveying. It is possible to increase the success rate of the process and reduce the jam rate.

(Aspect 7)
In Aspect 4, a lifting means such as a lifting drive unit 65 for lifting and lowering a stacking means such as the sheet stacking table 11 is provided, and sheet conveying information such as feeding information is sent to a predetermined position downstream of the sheet conveying means from the start of sheet conveying. The control means such as the feeding device control unit 66 grasps the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the transportation state, and detects the transition of the arrival time and the transportation failure before the retry transportation. If there is a correlation with the arrival time, the stacking means is raised when carrying out retry transportation.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, the driving source such as the lifting motor of the lifting drive unit 65 for lifting and lowering the stacking means is deteriorated and the number of revolutions is reduced. The position relative to the height of is gradually lowered. As a result, the arrival time gradually becomes longer. Therefore, if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time at which the transportation failure occurred before the retry transportation, it is possible that the transportation failure such as non-feeding is caused by the deterioration of the lifting means such as the lifting drive unit 65. can be estimated. Therefore, if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time at which the transportation failure occurred before the retry transportation, the deterioration of the lowering device may be the cause by raising the loading means when performing the retry transportation. It is possible to eliminate transportation defects, increase the success rate of retry transportation, and reduce the jam rate.

(Aspect 8)
In any one of modes 1 to 7, the conveyance failure detection means has a sheet detection sensor such as the feeding sensor 17 which is provided downstream of the sheet conveyance means such as the suction belt 21 and detects the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance means. The sheet conveying information includes arrival time information from the start of sheet conveying until the sheet detection sensor detects the sheet.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to grasp the transition of the arrival time from the accumulated feeding information and other transport information, and to estimate the non-feeding due to the deterioration of parts related to transport. be able to.

(Aspect 9)
In any one of modes 1 to 8, the sheet conveying information includes sheet information to be conveyed.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to detect a change in the conveying state or a change in the sheet from the accumulated sheet information. It is possible to estimate whether or not the cause of the transport failure is due to the characteristics of the sheet.

(Mode 10)
In any one of modes 1 to 9, the sheet transport information includes transport settings for sheet transport.
According to this, as described in S11 of FIG. 9, when the sheet is conveyed, the optimum conveyance setting can be specified from the accumulated sheet conveyance information, and based on the accumulated sheet conveyance information. Sheets can be conveyed with optimum conveyance settings, and the occurrence of conveyance failures can be suppressed.

(Aspect 11)
In any one of Aspects 1 to 10, there is driving state detection means such as the rotation number detection device 2 for detecting the driving state of the sheet conveying means such as the suction belt 21, and the sheet conveying information is detected by the driving state detection means. It includes the drive state (belt speed and belt acceleration) of the sheet conveying means.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, changes in the drive state (actually measured belt speed and measured belt acceleration) of the sheet conveying means detected by the drive state detecting means are grasped from the accumulated sheet conveying information, It is possible to grasp the deterioration state of the driving source such as the belt motor 61 that drives the sheet conveying means. This makes it possible to estimate whether or not the cause of the sheet conveyance failure is the deterioration of the driving source of the sheet conveyance means.

(Aspect 12)
In any one of modes 1 to 11, the transport setting to be changed when performing the retry transport is at least one of the sheet transport speed of the sheet transport means and the acceleration of the sheet transport means.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, non-feeding caused by the sheet conveying system can be eliminated, the success rate of retry conveying can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 13)
In any one of modes 1 to 12, the floating fan 62, the side floating fan 71, and the like blow air onto the sheet bundle stacked on the sheet stacking means such as the sheet stacking table 11 to float the upper plural sheets of the sheet bundle. and a separation means such as a separation fan 63 for blowing air between the uppermost sheet and the second sheet of the floating sheets to separate the uppermost sheet and the second and subsequent sheets; A suction means such as an upper suction fan 64 for sucking the uppermost sheet of sheets to a sheet conveying means such as a suction belt 21 is provided. at least one of the means.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, non-feeding caused by insufficient floating can be eliminated, the success rate of retry conveyance can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 14)
In any one of modes 1 to 13, the defective conveyance detection means has a sheet detection sensor such as a feeding sensor that is provided downstream of the sheet conveyance means and detects a sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance means such as the suction belt 21. When the sheet detection sensor does not detect the sheet within the set arrival time after the start of sheet conveyance, it is determined that the sheet is not conveyed. is.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to eliminate sheet conveying failures such as non-feeding caused by wear of the sheet conveying means such as wear of the sheet conveying system or belt, and increase the success rate of retry conveying. can be increased, and the jam rate can be reduced.

(Aspect 15)
In any one of modes 1 to 14, the transport setting to be changed when performing retry transport is the height of the stacking means such as the sheet stacking table 11 .
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to eliminate sheet conveyance failures such as non-feeding caused by insufficient floating and sheet characteristics, increase the success rate of retry conveyance, and reduce the jam rate. reduction can be achieved.

(Aspect 16)
In any one of modes 1 to 15, the control means such as the feeding device control unit 66 changes the transport setting every time and retry transport a plurality of times until the transport failure is resolved. If the transport failure is not resolved, the user is notified that there is an abnormality in a component involved in sheet transport.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, it is possible to prompt the user to repair the device.

(Aspect 17)
In any one of modes 1 to 16, communication is possible with external storage means storing sheet conveying information such as feeding information of sheet conveying devices such as other sheet feeding devices via an information communication network such as the Internet communication network. is.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, based on a large amount of sheet conveying information including other sheet conveying devices, it is possible to change conveying settings such as feeding settings and perform retry conveying. As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of performing retry transportation with optimum transportation settings that can solve transportation failures such as non-feeding, increase the success rate of retry transportation, and reduce the jam rate. In addition, even when the first transport failure occurs at the beginning of use, sheet transport information of other sheet transport apparatuses accumulated in an external storage means such as the server 168 can be changed to optimum transport settings that can solve the transport failure. can.

(Aspect 18)
In mode 17, the control unit changes the transport setting based on the sheet transport information of the other sheet transport device stored in the external storage unit such as the server 168 and performs retry transport.
According to this, as described in the embodiment, based on the sheet conveying information of another sheet conveying device accumulated in the external storage means, the conveying setting such as the conveying setting is changed and the retry conveying is performed. can be done. As a result, it is possible to increase the possibility of performing retry transportation with optimum transportation settings that can solve transportation failures such as non-feeding, increase the success rate of retry transportation, and reduce the jam rate. In addition, even when the first transport failure occurs at the beginning of use, sheet transport information of other sheet transport apparatuses accumulated in an external storage means such as the server 168 can be changed to optimum transport settings that can solve the transport failure. can.

(Aspect 19)
In an image forming apparatus comprising image forming means for forming an image on a sheet and a sheet conveying device for conveying the sheet toward the image forming means, the sheet conveying device according to any one of aspects 1 to 16 is used as the sheet conveying device. Using.
According to this, the jam rate can be favorably reduced.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1: Image forming system 2: Rotational speed detection device 2a: Encoder plate 2b: Optical sensor 3: Lower suction air chamber 10: Accommodating tray 11: Sheet stacking table 16: Floating detection sensor 17: Feeding sensor 18: Grip roller pair 20 : Feeding unit 21 : Suction belt 22a : Tension roller 22b : Tension roller 23 : Upper suction device 25 : Lower suction device 25a : Lower suction nozzle 26 : Front blower 26a : Floating nozzle 26b : Separation nozzle 27 : Side blower Device 27a: Before side floating nozzle 27b: After side floating nozzle 28: Side fence 29: End fence 31: Air chamber 31a: Floating communication passage 31b: Separation communication passage 32: Separation shutter 33: Lower suction air chamber 34: Lower suction shutter 41: Elevation sensor 46: Upper suction fan 61: Belt motor 62: Levitation fan 63: Separation fan 64: Upper suction fan 65: Elevator drive section 66: Feeding device control section 67: Upper control section 68: For accumulation of feeding information Storage device 69 : Lower suction fan 71 : Side floating fan 100 : Image forming device 122 : Display unit 123 : Operation panel 124 : Operation unit 150 : FRR mechanism 151 : Pickup roller 152 : Reverse roller 153 : Feed sensor 154 : Sheet loading Table 155: Grip roller pair 156: Feed roller 157: Arm 200: Sheet feeding device P: Sheet bundle P1: Uppermost sheet

JP-A-8-169632

Claims (18)

a sheet conveying means for conveying the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking means;
a conveyance failure detection means for detecting a sheet conveyance failure;
A sheet conveying apparatus having a control means for retrying conveying when the conveying defect detection means detects the conveying defect, the sheet conveying apparatus comprising storage means for accumulating sheet conveying information when the sheet is conveyed,
the control means changes the transport setting based on the sheet transport information accumulated in the storage means to perform retry transport;
A sheet conveying apparatus capable of communicating with an external storage means storing sheet conveying information of another sheet conveying apparatus through an information communication network. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 1,
In the sheet transport information accumulated in the storage means, the sheet transport information in which the transport is defective and the transport settings when the sheet is transported normally by retry transport are stored in association with each other,
The control means, if there is a sheet conveying information having a conveying failure in the past accumulated in the storage means that matches the sheet conveying information having a conveying failure before the retry conveying, detects the past sheet conveying information. A sheet conveying apparatus that performs retry conveying by changing to conveying settings stored in association with conveying information. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 1 or 2,
The control means estimates the cause of the defective transport based on the sheet transport information accumulated in the storage means and the transport information of the sheet causing the defective transport before the retry transport, and based on the estimated cause of the defective transport. A sheet conveying apparatus characterized in that the sheet conveying apparatus performs retry conveying by changing the conveying setting by changing the conveying setting. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 3,
The control means grasps the transition of the conveying state in a predetermined period from the sheet conveying information accumulated in the storage means, and based on the correlative relationship between the grasped transition of the conveying state and the conveying failure before the retry conveying, determines the conveying state. A sheet conveying device characterized by estimating the cause of a defect. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 4,
an air blowing means for blowing air onto the sheet bundle stacked on the sheet stacking means to float the upper plurality of sheets in the sheet bundle;
Among the multiple sheets that were floated,
a separation means for blowing air between the uppermost sheet and the second sheet of the floating sheets to separate the uppermost sheet and the second and subsequent sheets;
a suction means for sucking the uppermost sheet of the floating sheets floated by the air blowing means to the sheet conveying means;
The sheet transport information includes an arrival time from the start of sheet transport until the sheet reaches a predetermined position downstream of the sheet transport means,
The control means grasps the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the transportation state, and if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time at which the transportation failure occurred before the retry transportation, the retry is performed. A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein an output of at least one of the air blowing means, the separating means and the sucking means is increased when the sheet is conveyed. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 4,
The sheet transport information includes an arrival time from the start of sheet transport until the sheet reaches a predetermined position downstream of the sheet transport means,
The control means grasps the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the transportation state, and if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time at which the transportation failure occurred before the retry transportation, the retry is performed. A sheet conveying apparatus that changes at least one of a sheet conveying speed of a sheet conveying means and an acceleration of the sheet conveying means when conveying a sheet. In the sheet conveying device according to claim 4,
an elevating means for elevating the sheet stacking means;
The sheet transport information includes an arrival time from the start of sheet transport until the sheet reaches a predetermined position downstream of the sheet transport means,
The control means grasps the transition of the arrival time in a predetermined period as the transportation state, and if there is a correlation between the transition of the arrival time and the arrival time at which the transportation failure occurred before the retry transportation, the retry is performed. A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the sheet stacking means is lifted when conveying. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
the defective conveyance detection means has a sheet detection sensor provided downstream of the sheet conveyance means and detecting a sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance means;
The sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the sheet conveying information includes arrival time information from the start of conveying the sheet until the sheet detection sensor detects the sheet. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the sheet conveying information includes sheet information to be conveyed. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
The sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the sheet conveying information includes a conveying setting at the time of conveying the sheet. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
drive state detection means for detecting a drive state of the sheet conveying means;
The sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the sheet conveying information includes the driving state of the sheet conveying means detected by the driving state detecting means. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 11,
A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the conveying setting to be changed when performing retry conveying is at least one of a sheet conveying speed of the sheet conveying means and an acceleration of the sheet conveying means. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
an air blowing means for blowing air onto the sheet bundle stacked on the sheet stacking means to float the upper plurality of sheets in the sheet bundle;
a separation means for blowing air between the uppermost sheet and the second sheet of the floating sheets to separate the uppermost sheet and the second and subsequent sheets;
a suction means for sucking the uppermost sheet of the floating sheets to the sheet conveying means;
A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the conveying setting to be changed when performing retry conveying is at least one of the air blowing means, the separating means, and the sucking means. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 13,
The conveyance failure detection means has a sheet detection sensor provided downstream of the sheet conveyance means for detecting the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance means, and detects the sheet by the set arrival time after the start of conveyance of the sheet. When the sheet detection sensor does not detect the sheet, it is determined that the sheet is not conveyed.
A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the conveying setting to be changed when carrying out retry conveying is the set arrival time. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 14,
A sheet conveying apparatus, wherein the conveying setting to be changed when carrying out retry conveying is the height of the sheet stacking means. The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 15,
The control means changes the transport settings each time until the transport failure is resolved and retry transport a plurality of times. A sheet conveying device characterized by notifying that there is an abnormality in related parts . The sheet conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 16,
The sheet conveying device, wherein the control unit changes the conveying setting based on the sheet conveying information of the other sheet conveying device stored in the external storage unit and performs retry conveying. 18. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 17 , wherein the sheet conveying device is an image forming device that forms an image on a sheet, and a sheet conveying device that conveys the sheet toward the image forming device. 1. An image forming apparatus using a sheet conveying device of.

Images