JPH03211147A - Skew detecting device for paper sheet conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent such a situation as shifts to a state of being skewed at a time when being conveyed, by setting up a front sensor, which detects a fact that paper sheets have been skewed after their insertion, at each insert port side of two paper sheet detecting sensors set up at a specified interval along a direction orthogonal with the conveying direction. CONSTITUTION:A front end of a paper sheets contact traveling area 23 in each of endless belts 20, 21, installed up and down and at least a part of them contacts and travels, is set down to a paper sheets insert port 25, through which paper sheets are inserted thereinto along vertical guides 31, 32. Two rear sensors 35, 36 are set up in each of proximate position of nip parts of respective belt pulleys 27, 30 at an interval in a direction orthogonal with the conveying direction, and each front sensor 40 is set up in the front specified positions of these sensors 35, 36. After these sensors 35, 36 are turned to ON and paper sheets are inserted into the insert port 25 with no skew, if their skewing occurs, either of the front sensors 40 is turned off, thus a drive motor is no longer driven. Therefore transition to the skewing is thus prevented at a point of time leading to the traveling area 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an improvement of a device such as a vending machine that is equipped with a mechanism for accepting paper sheets such as banknotes, and particularly relates to the improvement of a device such as a vending machine that is equipped with a mechanism for accepting paper sheets such as banknotes, and particularly for paper sheets inserted in a straight forward position. The present invention relates to a skew detection mechanism for a sheet conveying device that can detect that a skew has occurred just before a belt nip and prevent conveyance in a skewed state.

(Conventional technology) Banknotes like vending machines, cash withdrawal machines, etc.

In a paper sheet insertion section of an apparatus equipped with a mechanism for inserting paper sheets such as tickets, a transport mechanism as shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) is used, for example.

This conveyance mechanism consists of endless bells I-1 and 2 which are arranged in a vertical positional relationship and at least partially travel in contact with each other, and one end of the contact travel area (conveyance area) 4 has a paper sheet insertion slot. It is 5. The first belt l located below is a drive side belt, and is stretched endlessly by a pulley 7 and a drive pulley 8 located on the insertion port 5 side. The second belt located above is a driven belt, and is stretched endlessly by a pulley 10 located on the insertion port side and other bridles (not shown). Paper sheets P such as banknotes are guided into the insertion slot by a guide 11.

Paper sheets inserted through the insertion port 5 are drawn into the contact running area 4 by being nipped by the belt 1.2 around the outer periphery of each pulley 7.10.

Near the pulley 7.10 on the insertion port side, two pairs of photosensors 15.1 are installed along the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of paper sheets.
6 is placed.

Each photosensor 15.16 consists of a light-receiving element and a light-emitting element arranged vertically, and only when the leading edge of the paper sheet enters each photosensor 15.16 at the same time,
A detection signal indicating that a paper sheet has been inserted in a straight forward posture is output to a control section (not shown).

Based on this detection signal, the control section outputs a control signal to a drive motor (not shown) to start driving the drive pulley 8 in the insertion direction. Each belt 1.2 is driven by the drive pulley 8.
starts traveling in the direction of the arrow, nips the paper sheets in the contact traveling area 4, and conveys them to the back side.

If the paper sheet is inserted in a skewed state, the leading edge of the paper sheet cannot enter each sensor 15, 16 at the same time, so each sensor detects the skew and outputs a skew detection signal to the control section. Since the control section does not output a control signal to the drive motor, the belt remains in a stopped state.

However, in this device, depending on the force applied by the finger holding the paper sheet, the belt 1.2 starts driving after the paper sheet reaches the sensor 15.16 in a straight forward posture.
Skew may occur before it is nipped. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, paper sheets P are detected by the sensor 15.
Even if you maintain a normal straight posture when reaching 16, there may be various uncertain factors such as the direction of pressure applied by your fingers being biased, the tendency of paper sheets to bend, or the strength of your hips. Therefore, the paper sheet P° shown by the chain line may become skewed at the time of the nip.

If the paper is transported in a skewed state, it may cause jams inside the machine or malfunction of the machine due to the jam, it may become impossible to identify the paper by an identification device, and it may even cause problems such as damage to the paper sheets. There was a risk of it happening.

(Objective of the Invention) The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the paper sheets inserted in the paper sheet transport area are It is an object of the present invention to provide a skew detection mechanism for a paper sheet conveyance device that can prevent a situation in which the paper sheet transfers to a skew state at the time of conveyance.

(Summary of the Invention) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes a first belt stretched in an endless manner, and a part of the first belt that contacts to form a paper sheet conveying area. at least two second belts disposed at predetermined intervals along a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction near the insertion end of the conveyance area of each of the belts.
In a paper sheet conveying device having two paper sheet detection sensors,
The at least two paper sheet detection sensors are characterized in that a front sensor is disposed on the insertion port side for detecting that the paper sheet is skewed after insertion.

Further, the front sensor is arranged at one or both of the edges in the width direction of the paper sheet insertion slot.

Further, both the paper sheet detection sensor and the front sensor are ON.
The front sensor is turned off before a predetermined period of time has elapsed since
The present invention is characterized by comprising a control section that controls the respective belts so as not to start driving when the belts are driven.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a front view showing the configuration of main parts of a paper sheet conveyance device to which the skew detection mechanism of the present invention is applied, and this paper sheet conveyance device includes a vending machine, a It is mainly applied to devices equipped with a mechanism for inserting paper sheets such as banknotes and tickets, such as cash withdrawal machines.

The retraction structure of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1(al(b)) is as follows:
It consists of two endless belts 20 and 21 that are arranged vertically and at least partially run in contact with each other, and the front end of the sheet conveyance area (contact running area) 23 is connected to the sheet insertion slot 25. It becomes.

The first belt 20 located below is, for example, a drive belt, and is stretched endlessly by a pulley 27 located on the insertion port 25 side and a drive boob 928 located on the back side.

The second belt 2 located above is, for example, a driven belt, and is stretched endlessly by a pulley 30 located on the insertion port side and other bobbins (not shown). Reference numerals 31 and 32 are upper and lower guides for inserting the sheet P.

A belt 20.21 is wound around each pulley 2730 located at the insertion end of the insertion opening 25, and this portion serves as the insertion end of the sheet conveyance area 23. Two photosensors (rear sensors) 35, 36 are arranged near the insertion end (in this embodiment, immediately before the nip portion of each pulley 27, 30), as in the conventional example. As each photosensor 35, 36, for example, a photo ink sensor consisting of a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element arranged vertically is used. Place it along the Note that not only a reflective photosensor but also a sensor other than a photosensor such as a limit switch may be used.

When the paper sheet inserted through the insertion slot is traveling straight, the sensor 35.
36, detection signals are output from the sensors 35 and 36 to a control section (not shown). If the leading edge of the paper sheet enters the sensor in a skewed state, one of the sensors 35 and 36 will not operate. Information for controlling the drive motor is stored in the ROM of the control unit, and the CPU turns the drive element on and off based on this control information.

Further, a front sensor 40 is arranged at a predetermined position in front of each sensor 35, 36 (to the left in the drawing). The front sensor 40 is arranged, for example, on the side wall 25a side of the insertion port 25.

Note that the front sensor 40 is a sensor for preventing skew from occurring immediately before being nipped by the sheet conveying area 23 after the rear sensor 35, 36 detects that the sheet is in a normal straight posture. . The front sensor 40 is turned ON (or OFF) when the rear sensors 35 and 36 detect entry in the normal posture P, as shown in FIG.
When the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the nip of the belt 20.21 in the stopped state, one side (
The occurrence of skew is detected when the output of one of the sensors 40 becomes 0FF (or ON) when the sensor 40 is skewed (on the opposite side to the front sensor 40). When a skew detection signal is output from the front sensor 40, the control section does not output a control signal for driving the drive motor. Therefore, the paper sheets will not be taken into the paper sheet transport area 23 in a skewed state.

By providing the front sensors on both side walls in this manner, skew in both directions can be detected.

In the above embodiment, the front sensor 40 is provided on both side walls 25a of the insertion port 25, but if it is sufficient to detect the skew on one of the sides, the front sensor 40 may be installed on only one of the side walls. may be provided.

The positional relationship between the front sensor 40 and one of the rear sensors 36 is set to be suitable for detecting skew of banknotes and the like.

In the above configuration, when paper sheets are inserted from the insertion slot 25 in a normal straight posture, the leading edge of the recording paper P blocks the front sensor 40 and then reaches the rear sensors 35 and 36 and simultaneously However, at this point, the control section does not output a control signal to the drive motor. All sensors 40.
35 and 36 are ONL, the control unit starts driving the drive motor only if the front sensor 40 continues to be ON even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. During this predetermined time, the front sensor 4
If 0 is OFF, it means that a skew of paper sheets has occurred, so the drive element-1 is not driven. In this case, the person who inserted the paper must take it out and reinsert it again.

In addition, although the above-mentioned embodiment illustrated a mechanism in which paper sheets are conveyed by a belt wound around a boot, the present invention is also applicable to a case where paper sheets are conveyed by a conveying means other than a belt, such as a roller.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the side wall (widthwise edge) of the insertion port is located in front of the rear sensor for detecting the leading edge of paper sheets, which is disposed immediately before the insertion end of the paper sheet nip portion. Even if the front sensor is placed along the line and the front and rear sensors are turned on when paper sheets are inserted in a straight line, skew will occur if the front sensor is turned off after a predetermined period of time. It was determined that this was the case, and the drive element was controlled so as not to operate.

1. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a paper sheet inserted in a straight state until it reaches the sensor after detecting a skew shifts to a skew state at the time when it is transported by the paper sheet transport area.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1(a) and (b) are a plan view and a front view showing the main part configuration of a paper sheet conveying device to which the skew detection mechanism of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the skew state according to the present invention, FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are a plan view and a front view of a conventional example, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a detection state according to the conventional example. 20.21...Belt 23...Paper sheet conveyance area (
Contact travel area) 25... Paper sheet insertion slot 27.30.
...Pulley on the insertion port side 31.32...Guide 35
．． 36... Rear sensor 40... Front sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A first belt stretched in an endless manner, and a second belt that contacts a part of the first belt to form a sheet conveyance area.
and at least two paper sheet detection sensors arranged at a predetermined interval in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction near the insertion end of the conveyance area of each of the belts. A skew detection mechanism for a paper sheet conveying device, characterized in that a front sensor for detecting that a paper sheet is skewed after insertion is disposed on the insertion port side of the at least two paper sheet detection sensors. (2) The skew detection mechanism for a paper sheet conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the front sensor is disposed at one or both widthwise edges of the paper sheet insertion slot. (3) Both the paper sheet detection sensor and the front sensor are ON.
The front sensor is turned off before a predetermined period of time has elapsed since
2. The skew detection mechanism for a paper sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit configured to control each belt so as not to start driving when the belts are driven.