JPH05270669A - Sheet storage member drive unit for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the mounting and pulling-out of a sheet tray easily even by manual operation in the sheet storage member drive unit of an image forming device, such as a motor-driven tray device. CONSTITUTION:In a motor-driven tray device, a first sensor 13 is provided to detect a sheet tray 7 being in the mounted position, and a second sensor 16 is provided to detect the sheet tray 7 being in the pulled-out position. A control device is further provided to drive the sheet tray 7 in the pulled-out direction at the time of detecting the sheet tray 7 being pulled out by hand from the mounted position by the first sensor 13 and to drive the sheet tray 7 in the mounted direction at the time of detecting the sheet tray 7 being pushed in by hand from the pulled-out position by the second sensor 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet storage member driving device such as an electric tray device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a large size printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a copying machine, a paper tray for storing paper is provided so that it can be pulled out from the main body of the copying machine. When the paper in the paper tray runs out, the paper tray is pulled out to replenish the paper. After that, push in the paper tray.

Generally, the pulling-out operation and the pushing-in operation of the paper tray are performed by the user's hand, but the number of papers stored in the paper tray becomes large, for example, about several hundreds. Then, a large force is required to move the paper tray, which causes a problem that operability deteriorates.

Then, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-117527,
As disclosed in JP-A-3-13425,
An electric tray device has been proposed in which a paper tray is driven by a motor. In the apparatus described in the above publication, when the paper tray is manually inserted, the sensor provided on the apparatus main body detects the insertion of the paper tray, and the motor rotates in the direction to pull in the paper tray, so that the paper tray is inside the apparatus main body. Be attached to. When the paper tray is taken out, a motor is rotated in a direction to push the paper tray by pushing a take-out button separately provided on the operation panel or the like, and the paper tray is pulled out from the main body of the apparatus.

[0005]

In the electric tray device described in the above publication, when the paper tray is mounted,
Although the movement of the paper tray is started by directly pushing in the paper tray, it is necessary to push the take-out button provided on the operation panel or the like when pulling out the paper tray. However, the difference between the operation for mounting the paper tray and the operation for pulling out the paper tray may cause confusion in the operation. In addition, for example, if the user wants to pull out the paper tray again for some reason after pushing the paper tray by hand and once mounting it, the user must move the position of the hand and press the eject button provided on the operation panel or the like. There is a problem that the operability is poor.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in a sheet storage member driving device of an image forming apparatus such as an electric tray device, it is easy to manually attach and pull out the sheet tray. The purpose is to be able to do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a sheet storage member is provided so as to be movable with respect to a main body of the apparatus, and the sheet storage member is driven by a force of a drive source to be mounted at a mounting position. In a sheet storage member driving device of an image forming apparatus that moves between a sheet storage member and a drawing position, a first sensor that detects that the sheet storage member is in the mounting position and the sheet storage member are in the drawing position. When it is detected by the first sensor that the second sensor detects that the paper storage member has moved from the mounting position to a position other than the mounting position, the drive source is set to the paper storage member. It is biased so as to move toward the pull-out position, and is deenergized when it is detected by the second sensor that the sheet storage member has reached the pull-out position. When it is detected by the second sensor that the sheet storage member has moved from the pull-out position to a position other than the pull-out position, the drive source is urged so that the sheet storage member moves in the mounting position direction. However, a control means for deactivating the sheet storage member when it has been detected by the first sensor that the sheet storage member has reached the mounting position is provided.

[0008]

In the present invention, when the paper storage member such as the paper tray is manually pulled out a little from the apparatus main body, this is detected by the first sensor, and the drive source such as the motor moves the paper storage member in the pull-out position direction. The sheet containing member is automatically pulled out by being urged to move. When the second sensor detects that the sheet storage member reaches the pull-out position, the drive source is deenergized and the sheet storage member stops at the pull-out position. When the paper storage member is manually pushed in a little, this is detected by the second sensor, the drive source is biased to move the paper storage member in the mounting position direction, and the paper storage member is automatically mounted. To be done. When the first sensor detects that the sheet storage member reaches the mounting position, the drive source is deenergized and the sheet storage member stops at the mounting position.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The features of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a copying machine to which the sheet storage member driving device of the present invention is applied. An original placing section 2, an operation panel 3 and the like are provided on the upper surface of the copying machine 1, and an image forming section 5 for forming a toner image corresponding to an image of the original on a sheet is provided inside the copying machine main body 4. It is provided. A paper feed unit 6 for feeding the paper P to the image forming unit 5 is provided at the bottom of the copying machine body 1. A paper tray 7 for accommodating the paper P is provided inside the paper feeding unit 6 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the copying machine main body 4.

2 and 3 are a schematic cross-sectional view and a schematic front view schematically showing a drive mechanism for moving the paper tray 7 in the front-rear direction. 2A shows a state in which the paper tray 7 is in the mounting position, and FIG. 2B shows the paper tray 7.
Shows the state where is in the pull-out position. A rack 8 is provided at the side end of the bottom surface of the paper tray 7 along the moving direction of the paper tray 7, and a pinion 9 that engages with the rack 8 is provided on the main body side of the paper feed unit 6. The pinion 9 is connected to a motor 12 via a clutch 10 and a speed reduction mechanism 11, as schematically shown in FIG.

A first sensor 13 for detecting the completion of mounting of the paper tray 7 is provided on the back side (left side in FIG. 2) of the paper feed section 6. As the first sensor 13, for example, a reed switch is used, and a magnet 14 for driving the reed switch is provided at the rear end of the paper tray 7. Also,
A second sensor 16 for detecting that the paper tray 7 has been manually pushed is provided near the opening 15 on the front side (right side in FIG. 2) of the paper feeding unit 6. As the second sensor 16, for example, a photo interrupt type optical sensor is used, and a light shielding plate 17 for driving the optical sensor is provided on the bottom surface of the rear end of the paper tray 7. ..

The first and second sensors 13 and 16 are installed at positions where outputs can be obtained in accordance with the following relationship according to the movement of the paper tray 7.

1) When the paper tray 7 is in the mounting position shown in FIG. 2A, the first sensor 13 is turned on,
The second sensor 16 is turned off.

2) When the paper tray 7 is between the mounting position and the pull-out position, the first and second sensors 13, 1
All 6 will be off.

3) When the paper tray 7 is in the pull-out position shown in FIG. 2B, the first sensor 13 is turned off and the second sensor 16 is turned on.

The outputs of the first and second sensors 13 and 16 are supplied to the microcomputer 19 together with the output of the tray advancing / retreating switch 18 provided on the operation panel 3, as shown in FIG. This microcomputer 1
Based on the output of 9, the clutch drive circuit 20 controls ON / OFF of the clutch 10, and the motor drive circuit 21 controls the rotation start / rotation stop and rotation direction of the motor 12.

Next, the operation of the above-described sheet storage member driving device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Now, assume that the paper tray 7 is in the mounting position shown in FIG. At this time, the first sensor 13 is on and the second sensor 16 is off. The microcomputer 19 monitors the outputs of the first and second sensors 13 and 16 and the tray advancing / retreating switch 18, and the paper tray 7 is manually pulled out a little to turn off the first sensor 13 (step 101) or when it is detected that the tray advancing / retreating switch 18 has been pressed (step 102), the clutch 10 is connected via the clutch drive circuit 20.
Is turned on (step 103), and the motor 12 is rotated in the pull-out direction via the motor drive circuit 21 (step 104). The rotation of the motor 12 is transmitted to the pinion 9 via the speed reduction mechanism 11 and the clutch 10, the rack 8 engaged with the pinion 9 is driven in the direction of arrow A, and the paper tray 7 starts moving in the pull-out direction.

The rear end of the paper tray 7 is the opening 1 of the paper feed unit 6.
When the proximity of 5 is reached, the second sensor 16 is turned on (step 105) and the rotation of the motor 12 is stopped (step 1
06), the clutch 10 is turned off (step 107). Therefore, the paper tray 7 is stopped at the pull-out position as shown in FIG. At this time, the first sensor 13 is off and the second sensor 16 is on.

Then, the paper tray 7 is manually pushed in a little to turn off the second sensor (step 10).
9) Alternatively, when it is detected that the tray advance / retreat switch 18 is pressed (step 110), the clutch 10 is turned on (step 111) and the motor 12 is rotated in the mounting direction. The rotation of the motor 12 is transmitted to the pinion 9, the rack 8 engaged with the pinion 9 is driven in the direction of arrow B, and the paper tray 7 starts moving in the mounting direction.

When the rear end of the paper tray 7 reaches the back of the paper feed section 6, the first sensor 13 is turned on (step 113).
The rotation of the motor 12 is stopped (step 114) and the clutch is turned off (step 115). Therefore, the paper tray 7 stops at the mounting position as shown in FIG. At this time, the first sensor 13 is on and the second sensor 16 is off.

In the above-described embodiment, the clutch 10 is turned off both when the paper tray 7 is manually pulled out a little and when it is pushed in.
When the paper tray 7 is manually moved, the reduction mechanism 11 and the motor 12 do not become a load, and the paper tray 7 can be moved with a small force.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, with respect to both the pull-out direction and the mounting direction, the user first applies a force to the paper storage member in the desired direction. Then, after that, the paper storage member automatically moves to a predetermined position. Therefore, it can be operated with the same operation feeling as a normal non-electric paper tray device, and the operation is extremely simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a copying machine to which a sheet storage member driving device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view schematically showing a drive mechanism for moving the paper tray in the front-rear direction.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view schematically showing a drive mechanism for moving the paper tray in the front-rear direction.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the sheet storage member driving device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the sheet storage member driving device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 copy machine, 2 document placing section, 3 operation panel, 4 copy machine main body, 5 image forming section, 6 paper feeding section, 7 paper tray, 8 rack, 9 pinion, 10 clutch, 11
Reduction mechanism, 12 motor, 13 first sensor, 14
Magnet, 15 openings, 16 second sensor, 17 light shield, 18 tray advance / retreat switch, 19 microcomputer, 20 clutch drive circuit, 21 motor drive circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sheet storage member of an image forming apparatus, wherein a sheet storage member is movably provided with respect to an apparatus main body, and the sheet storage member is driven by a force of a drive source to move between a mounting position and a withdrawal position. In the member driving device, a first sensor that detects that the paper storage member is at the mounting position, a second sensor that detects that the paper storage member is at the pull-out position, and the first sensor When it is detected that the paper storage member has moved from the mounting position to a position other than the mounting position, the drive source is urged so that the paper storage member moves toward the pull-out position, When the second sensor detects that the sheet storage member has reached the pull-out position, it is deenergized, and the second sensor
When it is detected by the sensor that the paper storage member has moved from the pull-out position to a position other than the pull-out position, the drive source is urged so that the paper storage member moves in the mounting position direction, A sheet storage member driving device for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a control unit that deactivates the sheet storage member when the first sensor detects that the sheet storage member reaches the mounting position.