JPH06115794A - Paper discharge device and image forming device with paper discharge device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a simple and small paper discharging device and an image forming device provided with the paper discharge device which can save the space of the body of an accumulating means which accumulates recorded paper sheets and equip the accumulating means with a sorting function by eliminating a projection from the body. CONSTITUTION:This paper discharge device is provided with plural sheet accumulating means (sheet discharge tray 30: the first sheet discharge tray 301, the second sheet discharge tray 302) which are provided inside a surface occupied by an image forming device body, disposed in the identical horizontal surface, and which accumulate recorded paper sheets, a discharging means (paper discharge port 60) which discharges paper sheet to the sheet accumulating means, and a rotating and moving means (driving motor 306) which rotates and moves the plural sheet accumulating means to the discharging means integratedly.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, facsimile machine, printer or the like and a paper discharging apparatus used for the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, there has been a strong demand for miniaturization of OA equipment due to a substantial reduction in office space due to an increase in OA equipment or a reduction in office space itself due to an increase in rent. Conventionally, a wide variety of paper ejection devices (copiers,
Stacked sheets that have already been printed from image forming devices such as fax machines and printers have been proposed, but as part of this miniaturization, a paper discharge device is installed on the top of the device to reduce the installation area. Ordinary (often this type of printer), or a method of reducing the size by installing a paper discharge device inside the main body of the device (recorded sheets that have passed through the fixing unit are inverted and conveyed downward, and are usually of the front loading type. A configuration is known in which sheets are discharged and stacked to a portion where a paper feed tray is installed. In addition, a sorter provided in a copying machine, a printer, etc., which automatically sorts recorded sheets is very convenient as a post-processing device, but the installation area of such a post-processing device is also reduced. As a simple sorting device for achieving this, there have been many proposals for swinging the paper discharge tray (for example, the actual machine shovel 62-1).
No. 76147).

[0003]

The system in which the paper discharge device is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body or the paper discharge apparatus is provided in the main body of the apparatus is effective in reducing the installation area, but a plurality of jobs are provided. When it is desired to add the function of sorting and stacking the recording sheets based on the above to such a paper discharge device, the installation area cannot be reduced, but the installation area is increased. Further, even if the post-processing apparatus itself is simplified to some extent, the installation area will be increased to a greater or lesser extent by the amount of the post-processing apparatus attached. However, it is possible to install the post-processing device itself directly on the device body to reduce the installation area, but it is extremely unstable to attach a device having a certain size and weight to the upper part of the device, and the support mechanism itself. However, it is almost unrealistic to realize. The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and eliminates the protrusion of the accumulating means for accumulating the recorded sheets from the apparatus main body, and realizes the space saving of the apparatus main body, and the sorting function of the accumulating means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and small paper discharge device to which is added and an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device.

[0004]

The above object is to provide a plurality of sheet accumulating means for accumulating recorded sheets, which are provided in a plane occupied by the main body of the image forming apparatus and arranged in the same horizontal plane, and the sheet accumulating means. Discharging means for discharging the sheet to the means,
This is achieved by including a rotation moving unit that integrally rotates the plurality of sheet stacking units in the horizontal direction with respect to the discharging unit.

[0005]

In the present invention, among the plurality of sheet stacking means arranged in the same horizontal plane, the selected sheet stacking means is horizontal to one discharging means (sheet discharging means) provided at a predetermined position. Direction is rotated by the rotation driving means to move to a predetermined paper discharge position, and the paper discharge operation is selectively performed.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, an apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. An overview of the entire apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The apparatus is mainly composed of a document reading unit 1, a rotary discharge tray unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a fixed paper feeding unit 4, and a tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5. Detailed description of each part will be described later.
The original set on the original table 6 is read by the original reading unit 1 and converted into a digital signal. Based on the signal, the image writing unit 7 irradiates the photoconductor 8 of the image forming unit 3 with laser light. The photoconductor 8 starts to rotate when a copy start signal is input, is charged to a uniform potential by the charging charger 9, becomes a latent image by the image writing unit 7, and is visualized by the developing device 10. On the other hand, sheet 12
Is conveyed to the registration roller 15 by the paper feeding units 4 and 5, and is fed to the transfer unit at a predetermined timing. Then, the toner is transferred onto the sheet 12 by the transfer charger 11, and then the photosensitive member 8 is cleaned by the cleaning device 13 and uniformly discharged by the discharging lamp 14 to form one cycle. The sheet 12 is fixed by the fixing device 16 via the transfer device 20 after transfer, and is discharged to the rotary discharge tray unit 2. Further, this device has a double-split structure.
That is, this apparatus has a base unit 18 to which a caster 17 is added, a document reading unit 1, a rotary paper ejection tray unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a fixed paper feeding unit 4, and a tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5. It is composed of a machine body 19. With this configuration, the base portion 18 and the machine body portion 19 can rotate independently. In addition, as described above, the base portion 18
Since the machine body 19 can be independently rotated, the device has a cylindrical shape. Of the paper feed unit 21 including the fixed paper feed unit 4 and the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5, the fixed paper feed unit 4 has a normal paper feed tray 22, and the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5 has a rotary tray 23. ing. Two
4 is a slide rail for sliding each tray,
Reference numeral 25 is a drive unit, 26 is a sheet end detection sensor, 27 is a paper feed unit, 29 is a paper feed roller, and 30 is a paper discharge tray.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the image forming apparatus, and FIG.
It is a side view. As mentioned above, the device adopts a cylindrical shape. This is because the base portion 18 and the machine body portion 19 can rotate independently of each other by having the double-split structure as described above. This is also because a rotary paper feed mechanism and a rotary paper discharge mechanism are used, as will be described later. Further, as shown in the figure, a human body detection switch 31 is attached around the device. The human body detection switch 31 is used for the rotation stop position control of the device body rotation control. The front of the apparatus main body is directed toward the human body detection switch 31 pushed by the operator, so that the front of the apparatus main body is correctly oriented in the direction of the operator. 4 to 7 are front views showing the respective states of the front cover. As shown in FIG. 4, when the front cover 40 is closed, the front cover 40 is flush with the outer peripheral surface of the exterior cover 41. Next, when the front cover 40 is pulled out, the front cover 40 projects from the exterior cover 41 (FIG. 5). Further, the front cover 40 slides along the outer peripheral surface of the exterior (FIG. 6), and after the front cover 40, the opening 42 for removing the jam of the user and maintenance for the service person is obtained. (Fig. 7). Since the device has a cylindrical shape, the front cover opening can be configured as a cover slide structure in which the front cover opening is opened along the outer peripheral surface of the outer cover 41 as the outer cover opening / closing structure as described above. . As a result, this method is more advantageous than the conventional double-door type front cover opening / closing mechanism used in the box-type copying machine for space saving, which has recently been in high demand.

8 and 9 are schematic views of the main body rotating mechanism. As described above, the present apparatus has a double-split structure and has a base 17 to which a caster 17 is added, a document reading unit 1, a rotary paper ejection tray unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a fixed paper feeding unit 4, It is composed of a machine body 19 having a tandem rotary paper feeder 5. With this configuration, the base portion 18 and the machine body portion 19 can rotate independently. A roller 50 is attached to the machine body 19 and the base 1
A guide groove (not shown) of 8 is slid to rotate. The center of rotation is in the center of the machine,
Since the shape of the device is a cylinder, it is the center of the circle when viewed from above. Further, the drive motor 51, which is the drive source of the rotational movement,
Of the double split structure of the base portion 18 and the machine body portion 19, it is attached to the base portion 18. The drive transmission from the drive motor 51, which is the drive source of the rotational movement, is performed by the drive spur gear 52 attached to the shaft of the drive motor 51 and the driven spur gear 53 of the machine body 19 outside thereof. I'm running. The drive side spur gear 52 absorbs the eccentricity of the driven inner spur gear 53 by, for example, supporting the spur gear one side by a tightener method. Further, since the pitch circle diameter of the driven internal spur gear 53 can be made substantially equal to the outer diameter of the main body, it is possible to reduce the use of the reduction gear even if the main body rotation torque is large. Further, among the drive spur gear 52 and the driven inner spur gear 53 that form the drive transmission mechanism from the drive motor 51 that is the drive source of the rotational movement, the drive spur gear 52 is arranged inside. Then, the base portion 18 is replaced with the machine body portion 19
When the roller 50 is incorporated into the base portion 18, the roller 50 is completed by incorporating the roller 50 in the guide groove (not shown) so that the center of rotation of the machine body portion 19 is aligned.

Next, an outline of the rotary paper feeding mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described with reference to FIG. The sheet feeding units 4 and 5 capable of accommodating a single sheet group to a plurality of sheet groups 12 can be pulled out from the inside of the machine body 19 by the slide rails 24 on both sides to the outside of the machine body. The rotary tray 23 of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 can be automatically rotated by 360 degrees about an arbitrary point of the rotary tray 23 by the drive unit 26, and a lock (not shown) in the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is provided. Rotating tray 2 by turning off the solenoid
You can lock 3 and make it non-rotatable. Also,
The arbitrary rotation center axis of the rotary tray 23 is the machine body 1
9 is perpendicular to the installation surface of the machine body 19
The rotary tray 23 held horizontally with respect to the installation surface of
It is possible to control the rotation movement while maintaining the horizontal state. On the tandem rotary paper feeder 5, the rotation center of the rotary tray 23 is used as a fulcrum in order to prevent the sheets 12 from coming apart during the rotational movement of the rotary tray 23 and to prevent skew during sheet conveyance. A sheet end surface regulating fenestion (not shown) and an end fenestion (not shown) perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction are provided so as to be parallel to the radiation line. The number of sheets that can be stored on the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is determined according to the maximum sheet size that can be stored. For example, the rotation center is used as a fulcrum, two sets face each other, and for small size paper (A5, B6, HLT, etc.), the rotation center is used as a fulcrum and three sets can be radially stored. Furthermore, if it is a very small size paper, it is possible to store 4 sets radially with the center of rotation as the fulcrum. Therefore, it is possible to store a plurality of sheet groups for small size paper in the space for one sheet, and one sheet size of 1 to 4 can be stored in one tray (see FIGS. 12 and 13). 28a, 28b,
28c is a 1st, 2nd, 3rd sheet storage part. However, depending on the user, where only medium-sized sheets are used and where small-sized sheets are mainly used, it is possible to store 1 to 4 sheet sizes in one tray. Since the cost is reduced by the sheet end face regulation fluence and becomes demerit, the rotary tray is classified into 1, 2 sets, 3 sets and 4 sets, and can be easily removed with screws, snap rings, etc. The tray can be easily attached and detached to accommodate different types. Next, the operation of replenishing the sheet 12 will be described.
The tandem rotary paper feeder 5 is pulled out from the machine body 19. Since the tandem rotary paper feeder 5 is not connected to the machine body 19 by the power cord, the lock solenoid (not shown) is turned off, and the rotary tray 23 is fixed by the lock lever (not shown). Next, after confirming that the sheet size can be stored in the rotary tray 23, the sheet 12 is replenished after adjusting the sheet end face regulation fence (not shown) to the sheet size to be replenished. At this time, the carousel 23
For two sets, A3, B4, A4, B5, DLT, R
1 size for vertical feed of G and LT sizes, A4, B5, A
5, B6, A6, LT, HLT lateral feed and A5, B6
Vertical feed of A6, HLT size will be 2 sizes. A5, B6, A6, H for 3 sets, same size and same direction
For LT horizontal feed and B6 and A6 vertical feed, 3 sizes are available.
If there is one horizontal feed of 4, 2 sets of A6 regardless of vertical and horizontal feed,
By combining B6 vertical feed with two sizes of A6 horizontal feed, B5 horizontal feed with B6 and A6 horizontal feeds and A6 vertical feed with two sizes, a single sheet to a plurality of sheets 12 can be mixed and stored. When the tandem rotary paper feeder 5 is set in the machine body 19, the size of the sheets stacked on the rotary tray 23 is detected by a size detector (not shown),
The sheet end detection sensor 26 detects whether or not the sheet 12 is stored in each of the sheet storage portions 28a, 28b, 28c. In addition, the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is the machine main unit 19
The paper feed unit 27 and the paper feed roller 29 are kept in the rotational retreat state when they are out of the room. The sheet feeding operation will be described. One tandem rotary paper feeder 5 in the machine body 19 is paired with one paper feeding unit 27 (FIG. 1). When the sheet 12 desired by the user is on the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 but not on the paper feeding unit 27 side, the lock solenoid (not shown) of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is turned on to rotate the lock lever (not shown).
The carousel 23 is rotatable. The paper feed roller 29 of the paper feed unit 27 is released and retracted from the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5. The rotary tray 23 is rotationally moved by the drive unit 25, and the sheet 12 desired by the user is rotationally moved to the paper feeding unit 27 side and fixed. Then, the sheet feeding roller 29 of the sheet feeding unit 27 is again brought into pressure contact with the separating section (not shown) of the tandem rotary sheet feeding section 5 to be in the sheet feeding state.

Next, an outline of the rotary sheet discharging mechanism will be described.
FIG. 14 is a plan view of the rotary discharge tray unit, and FIG. 15 is a side view of the same. A paper discharge tray 30 in a rotary paper discharge tray unit 2 provided below the document reading unit 1 in the image forming apparatus.
Is completely housed inside the main body, so that in the side surface of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, there is no portion wider than the main body width. The paper ejection tray 30 is the first paper ejection tray 30.
It is divided into two parts, a first discharge tray 302 and a second discharge tray 302, and each tray can handle up to A4 size. In the case of supporting a sheet having a size larger than A4 size such as A3 size, the second paper ejection tray 302 far from the paper ejection port.
However, it is configured so that it can be raised to a substantially horizontal state by a second discharge tray supporting arm that moves up and down by a drive unit (not shown) (FIG. 15). At this time, the first paper ejection tray 301 is located on the paper ejection port 60 side. Also,
The first paper ejection tray support arm 303 and the second paper ejection tray support arm 304 that support the two trays 301 and 302 of the paper ejection tray 30 are attached to the shaft of a drive motor 306 that integrally rotates them. The second sheet ejection tray support arm 304 has a divided structure of a fixed portion attached to the motor shaft and a movable portion that performs the vertical movement because the second ejection tray support arm 304 performs the vertical movement according to the corresponding sheet size. further,
A rotation guide rail 3 is provided on the lower surface of the first paper ejection tray 301 to guide the operation of the paper ejection tray when the paper ejection tray unit rotates.
10 are provided in a circular shape. In addition, the guide rail 31
0, its mounting base, and the drive motor 306 are all attached to the drawer tray 61.
When 0 is not operating, the guide member provided on the lower surface thereof fits with the guide rails 315 and 316 and can be smoothly pulled out. When the normal copy operation is performed, the rotatable discharge tray 30 is ready to start the copy operation when the first discharge tray 301 is first on the discharge port 60 side. At the same time, this position is the home position of rotation. When the sheet size is A4 or smaller, the sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port 60 of the apparatus body are sequentially discharged to the first discharge tray 301 as they are. On the other hand, when the discharged sheet size is A4 size or more, when the discharge tray 30 is in the home position, the discharge port 60
The second discharge tray 302, which is rotatably movable in the vertical direction on the side farther from, rises to a substantially horizontal position by its support arm 304, and receives the discharged sheet. When the copy operation of the sheet of A4 size or more is completed, the second sheet ejection tray 30
When a sheet presence / absence detection sensor (not shown) provided on the sheet 2 detects that there is no sheet and the drawer tray 61 is in the set home position, the above-mentioned two solenoids (not shown) are turned off and the second sheet discharge is performed. Tray support arm 3
04 descends. The size of the discharged sheet is A
When the size is 4 or less, it is possible to sort up to 2 copies by rotating the discharge tray 30. 33
Reference numeral 9 is a light at plumb.

Next, an outline of a mechanism related to exhaust heat and ozone removal will be described. FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a part around the photoconductor and the vicinity of the fixing portion, and FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a heat exhaust duct portion. In the image forming process of the electrophotographic apparatus, when the photoconductor 8 is charged, a voltage is applied to the charging charger 9 provided around the photoconductor 8 to generate corona discharge. At that time, ozone is generated in the vicinity of the charging charger 9. If the ozone generated here stays around the photoconductor 8 as it is, it will adhere to the photoconductor 8 and eventually alter the surface of the photoconductor, resulting in image blurring, image defects, blurring, etc.
The image quality will be degraded. Therefore, it is desired to remove ozone from the periphery of the photoconductor 8. In addition, the waste heat treatment generated from the fixing device 16 for fixing the toner transferred onto the sheet is also a problem. Fixing device 1
6 melts the toner on the sheet to perform the fixing work. At this time, since the heater is heated to about 170 to 190 degrees, a considerably high temperature hot air is generated around the fixing device 16. Therefore, it is necessary to exhaust heat to the outside. As shown in the figure, the ozone generated from the charging charger 9 is discharged to the common duct 70.
The heat is sucked by the Shirotsuko fan 71, further sucked by the exhaust heat fan 72, and guided to the common duct 70 by the regulating member together with the heat exhausted from the fixing device 16. Further, the sucked ozone and the exhaust heat are conveyed downward by using the regulating member, and the exhaust can be performed from the lower side of the device.

An outline of the control mode related technology will be described below. First, the main body rotation control will be described. The rotation stop position of the apparatus main body is such that the front of the apparatus main body is directed toward the human body detection switch 31 pushed by the operator. As a result, the front of the apparatus main body is correctly oriented in the direction of the operator, and the apparatus can be easily accessed from any direction of 360 degrees. Further, at that time, since the rotation direction is set to the direction in which the rotation distance is shortened, the rotation time can be shortened and the operability is further improved. The control to prevent the power cord from kinking when rotating the main unit is based on the current home position stored in the non-volatile RAM when the front of the main unit is rotated to face the operator. Depending on CP
When the number of rotations is a predetermined number or more by U, the rotation direction is set so that the twist of the power cord is returned,
This prevents disconnection of the power cord and improves reliability. Further, when the number of rotations is less than a predetermined number of times, the operability is improved by setting the direction in which the rotation distance is shortened and switching so as to shorten the rotation time. The control for prohibiting rotation when the main body rotates will be described.
When the operator makes a rotation request for the device body, the CPU determines whether the device body is ready or not ready. If it is not ready, the operator is allowed to work by prohibiting the device body from rotating. It prevents injuries caused by careless rotation when moving and improves safety.

Next, the rotary sheet feeding control will be described. The sheet selection and the control of the rotary sheet feeding unit at the sheet end in the rotary sheet feeding control will be described. If a sheet of the same size is in another sheet feed tray at the sheet end, that sheet feed tray is automatically selected and the copy operation is continued. Furthermore, when sheets of the same size are in multiple other paper feed trays, by automatically selecting the paper feed tray that does not require rotation,
To replenish the sheets, the copying operation is continued without interruption to improve productivity. Further, when sheets of the same size are not present in another sheet feeding stage, the rotary sheet feeding unit 5 is locked by the locking mechanism, and the sheet is rotated when the operator pulls it out, which hinders the sheet replenishing operation, or the sheet is rotated. It is possible to prevent the rotary paper feeding unit 5 from being displaced from the home position when it is returned, and further to rotate the rotary paper feeding unit 5 by 90 degrees so that the rotary paper feeding unit 5 faces toward the drawer side. The seats are more easily replenished because they face the operator when they are pulled out. In addition, the amount of withdrawal is small, which improves operability.

Next, the rotary sheet discharge control will be described. The safety control of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 when the tray is rotated in the rotary paper discharge control will be described. Prevents injury by prohibiting the rotation operation when foreign matter such as the operator's hand is inserted into the paper ejection port 60 when the rotation paper ejection unit 2 is rotationally controlled or is about to be rotationally controlled. To improve safety. The sorting control of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 when the tray is rotated in the rotary paper discharge control will be described. When the number of copies is two, the rotation paper ejection unit 2 is controlled to rotate and accommodated alternately in the two trays 30a and 30b of the rotation paper ejection unit 2, so that the sorting function of two copies is realized. The control after the completion of copying of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 when the tray is rotated in the rotary paper discharge control will be described. After the copying operation is completed, the rotation and discharge portion 2 is rotationally controlled so that the tray 30 of the rotation and discharge portion 2 from which the sheets have been discharged is directed toward the operator, so that the discharged sheets can be easily taken out. To improve operability. Paper discharge tray 3 of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 when changing the sheet size in the rotary paper discharge control
The control of 0 will be described. By adjusting the state of the sheet discharge tray 30 and the sheet size, it is possible to prevent the discharged sheets from falling apart and to easily take them out, thereby improving the operability.

Next, the characteristic part of the present invention will be described. First, the rotary paper discharge mechanism will be described in detail. FIG. 18 is a detailed plan view of the rotary paper ejection tray portion, FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the first paper ejection tray and the second paper ejection tray, and FIGS. 20, 21, and 22 are the first paper ejection tray and the second paper ejection tray. FIG. 23 is a plan view centering on the tray, FIG. 23 is a simplified configuration diagram of a vertical mechanism of the second paper discharge tray, and FIG.
FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the same, FIG. 25 is a front view of a rotary paper discharge tray portion, and FIG. 26 is a perspective view of a main portion of a drawer tray. A description will be made although it partially overlaps based on these figures and FIG. 15 described above. As shown in FIG. 15, the paper output tray 30 of the rotary paper output unit 2 is divided into a first paper output tray 301 and a second paper output tray 302, and each tray has a sheet size up to A4 size. Correspondence is possible. Further, since each tray is arranged with a predetermined inclination angle, two trays corresponding to the A4 size are arranged in series, but the structure is such that the occupied area is smaller than that of the A3 size sheet. There is. In the case of supporting a sheet having a size larger than A4 size such as A3 size, the second discharge tray 302, which is distant from the discharge port 60 and capable of a division operation, is moved up and down by the drive unit 318. With the paper tray support arm 304, as shown in FIGS.
The movable part 302a is configured so that it can be raised to a substantially horizontal state. Further, a partition plate 305 is usually provided between the two trays so that the sheets do not overrun. The partition plate 305 is configured to be rotatable in the vertical direction with the upper end as a fulcrum by the drive unit 318, and is configured to operate in synchronization with the operation of the second paper ejection tray support arm 304. The partition plate 305 is made of an elastic body that does not bend when the partition plate 305 is in a horizontal state. The partition plate 305 can also rotate when it hits the bottom surface of the document reading unit 1 during rotation. The internal mechanism of the document reading unit 1 is not impacted by its rotation. A first paper ejection tray support arm 303 and a second paper ejection tray support arm 304 that support the two trays 301 and 302 of the paper ejection tray 30 are attached to a shaft 307 of a drive motor 306 that integrally rotates them. . The second discharge tray support arm 304 has a divided structure of a fixed part 308 attached to the motor shaft 307 and a movable part 309 that performs the up and down motion, because the second discharge tray support arm 304 moves up and down according to the corresponding sheet size. It is connected with. A guide 311 is provided on the lower surface of the first paper ejection tray 301 that does not move up and down so as to be fitted to a rotation guide rail 310 that guides the operation when the paper ejection tray 30 rotates. The paper discharge tray 30, a rotation guide rail 310 for guiding the operation thereof, and a drive motor 306.
Are all attached to the drawer tray 61, and when the paper discharge tray 30 is not operating, they can be integrally withdrawn in the front direction of the main body 19. The operation of the rotary sheet discharging mechanism configured as described above will be described in detail. When the drawer tray 61 is pulled out, the guide members 313 and 314 provided on the lower surface of the drawer tray 61 are fitted with the guide rails 315 and 316 to be smoothly pulled out. Rotatable output tray 30
When the normal copy operation is performed, first, the first paper ejection tray 301 is performed in the state where the first paper ejection tray 301 is on the paper ejection port 60 side. Figure 2
As shown in FIG. 0, a filler 319 provided on the lower surface of the first paper ejection tray 301 has a rotary home position detection sensor 320 provided on the drawer tray 61 at a substantially central portion of the side facing the paper ejection port 60. When it is turned off, it is recognized that the first paper ejection tray 301 faces the paper ejection port 60 side,
The copy operation can be started. At the same time, this position is the home position of rotation. When the sheet size is A4 or smaller, the sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port 60 of the apparatus body are sequentially discharged to the first discharge tray 301 as they are.
If the discharged sheet size is A4 size or larger,
When the output tray 30 is in the home position, the output port 6
The movable portion 302a of the second sheet discharge tray 302, which is rotatably movable in the vertical direction on the side far from 0, is lifted to a substantially horizontal position by its support arm 304 and receives the discharged sheet. The second paper ejection tray support arm 304 moves up and down as shown in FIG. 23 by the rotation of the plurality of eccentric discs 321 that are in contact with the lower surface of the movable portion 309. The movable part 309 of the support arm 304 is driven by the arm drive motor 32 in the drive part 318 having the configuration shown in FIG.
Drive is transmitted from 2 to the spring clutch 324, which is rotated by half a turn, by turning on and off a solenoid (not shown) via the gear 323. When a solenoid (not shown) is turned on, the shaft 325 makes a half rotation, and the plurality of eccentric discs 321 fixed to the shaft 325 raise the support arm 304. At the same time, the spring clutch 329 provided on the shaft 328 driven via the gear 327, the drive of which is transmitted from the gear 323 by the belt 326.
Thus, the shaft 330 is rotated by a quarter turn to release the partition plate 305 upward. After the copy operation for the sheet size of A4 size or more is completed, as shown in FIG. 21, the sheet presence / absence detection sensor 331 provided on the second paper ejection tray 302 detects the absence of paper, and the drawer tray 61 is set to home. The drawer tray home position sensor 332 detects that it is in the position,
Obstacle detection sensor 33 provided at the entrance of the rotary paper ejection unit 2
After 3 detects that there is no obstacle such as user's hand,
The two solenoids (not shown) described above are turned off, and the second paper ejection tray support arm 304 and the partition plate 305 are lowered. When the size of the discharged sheet is A4 size or smaller, the sheet discharge tray 30 rotates so that two sheets can be sorted. At the start of the copy operation, the discharge tray 30 is controlled so as to be in the home position described above. One sheet is discharged from the discharge port 60, and the drive motor 306 rotates the discharge tray 30 in the horizontal direction in synchronization with the signal of the timing of entering the next job. In the rotational movement operation, a pulse signal is transmitted to the drive motor 306 from the paper ejection rotation control unit so that the drive motor 306 is rotated by 180 degrees. Then, the drive motor 306 rotationally moves the paper ejection tray 30 so that the second paper ejection tray 302 faces the paper ejection port 60 side, and the ejected sheets are stacked. afterwards,
At the same timing, control is performed again so that the first paper ejection tray 301 is moved to the paper ejection port 60 side. Hereinafter, the rotation operation is repeated until all the jobs are completed. When performing the rotation operation, as described above, the rotation guide 311 provided on the lower surface of the first paper discharge tray 301 that does not rotate vertically is fitted to the rotation guide rail 310 provided on the drawer tray 61. Since it is guided, the rotating motion is smooth. Further, as shown in FIG. 25, the above-described rotation operation is performed when the obstacle detection sensor 333 provided at the entrance of the rotary sheet discharge unit 2 does not detect an obstacle such as a hand, and the user's hand rotates. It is designed so that it will not operate in a dangerous situation such as getting caught in motion. The above-described rotary paper discharge unit 2 includes the paper discharge tray 30, the rotation drive motor 306, and the second paper discharge tray support arm 3.
04 and the drive unit 318 of the partition plate 305 are also integrally provided on the drawer tray 61. Therefore, after the series of copying operations is completed, the drawer tray 61 is moved to the handle portion 6 thereof.
By grasping and pulling out the sheet 1a, the sheet discharge tray 30 is pulled out of the machine body portion 19 and the discharged sheet can be easily taken out. When the copying operation is completed, the apparatus automatically detects whether or not the paper discharge tray 30 is in the home position, and when it is in the home position, the drawer tray 61 is set to the drawable state. When pulling out the drawer tray 61, the drawer guides 313 and 314 provided on the lower surface of the drawer tray 61 are attached to the guide rails 3.
It fits on 15,316 to make the operation smooth. The drawer tray 61 is provided with a lock mechanism 335, which automatically locks when the copy start key of the operation unit is pressed, and automatically unlocks when all jobs are completed. As shown in FIG. 26, the lock mechanism 334 is provided with a plurality of lock claws 336 that are fitted in the lock grooves 335 provided on the drawer tray 61, and the plurality of lock claws 336 are not shown. It is fixed to a shaft 337 connected to a solenoid, and locks when the solenoid is turned on, and releases the lock when turned off. Further, as shown in FIG. 22, a filler 338 is provided at the rear end of the drawer guide 61 (back side in the drawer direction). The filler 338 is provided on the guide rail 315 side, and a drawer tray home position detection sensor. When 332 is cut, it is determined that the drawer tray 61 is in the home position, and the next copy operation is prepared. Since the rotary paper ejection unit 2 of this configuration is inside the machine body 19 and there are other components above it, the periphery of the rotary paper ejection unit 2 is dark, so the light-up plumbing provided above the paper ejection port 60. At 339, the discharge tray 30 is light-up at a predetermined timing to make it easier to see the discharged sheet. Further, by turning on the light-up plump 339, it is possible to easily recognize from the outside of the machine body 19 that there is a sheet in the paper discharge tray 30.

Next, the safety control when the discharge tray 30 is rotated will be described. FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing the flow of safety control when the paper discharge tray 30 rotates. In step S70, the discharge tray 30 in the rotary discharge unit 2 is rotationally controlled by the copy operation or the like, and if the rotation control is about to be performed, the CPU detects the obstacle detection sensor 333 in step S71. If it is determined whether or not a foreign matter such as a hand is inserted into the rotary paper ejection unit 2, and the CPU determines in step S72 that no foreign matter such as an operator's hand is inserted into the rotary paper ejection unit 2, S70 If it is determined that a foreign object such as the operator's hand is inserted in the rotary paper ejection unit 2, the process returns to Step S73 and the rotation control is continued, or if the rotation control is executed, the process proceeds to Step S73 to control the paper ejection rotation controller. By stopping or prohibiting the rotation operation, the operator manually operates while the discharge tray 30 inside the rotary discharge unit 2 is rotating. In contact with the paper discharge tray 30 is inserted in erroneous connexion rotating discharge unit 2, to prevent that injured.

Next, the sorting control of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 when the paper discharge tray 30 is rotated will be described. FIG. 28 is a flow chart showing the flow of the sorting control of the rotary sheet discharge section 2 when the sheet discharge tray 30 is rotated. In S80 step, it is assumed that the sorting mode for the small size two copies is set by the operator from the key input section of the operation section and the copy operation is started. And in S81 step, CPU
It is judged whether or not the copied sheet 12 is discharged from the sheet discharge port 60 according to whether or not a predetermined time has passed since the sheet 12 was fed, and after a predetermined time, the sheet 1
If it is determined that the sheet No. 2 has been discharged onto the discharge tray 30 from the discharge port 60, the CPU controls the discharge rotation control unit by the CPU in step S82 to rotate the discharge tray 30 by 180 degrees, and Wait for the sheet 12 to be discharged. Then, in step S83, the C
When it is determined by the PU that the copying is not completed, the sheet 12 that is discharged at any time is discharged to the discharge tray 3
By rotating 0 every 180 degrees, the sheets are alternately stored in the two discharge trays 301 and 302 to realize the sorting function in the case of two copies. In this way, when the number of copies is 2 and the size of the sheet 12 is small, the rotation and discharge unit 2 is controlled to rotate, and the two discharge trays 301 and 3 of the rotation and discharge unit 2 are controlled.
By alternately storing in 02, the sorting function of 2 copies is realized.

Next, the control after the copy of the discharge tray 30 of the rotary discharge unit 2 is completed will be described. FIG. 29 is a flow chart showing the flow of control after the copying of the discharge tray 30 of the rotary discharge unit 2 is completed. It is assumed that the copy operation is started in step S90. Then, in step S91, the CPU determines whether or not the copy is completed. If the copy is not completed, the copy operation is continued until the copy is completed. On the other hand, when copying is completed, the CPU controls the paper discharge rotation control unit in step S92 to rotate the paper discharge tray 30 of the rotary paper discharge unit 2 by 90 degrees to discharge the sheet 12 discharged. The paper tray 30 faces the operator. Sheet 1 ejected by doing this
2 becomes easy to take out. Then, in step S93, the presence / absence of the sheet 12 in the rotary sheet discharge unit 2 is detected by the sheet presence / absence detection sensor 331 in the rotary sheet discharge unit 2, and in step S94, the sheet 12 remains in the rotary sheet discharge unit 2 by the CPU. It is determined whether or not there is a sheet 12, and when the sheet 12 is left in the rotary sheet discharge unit 2, the sheet discharge tray 30 is left as it is, and conversely, it is determined that the sheet 12 has not been left by the operator. If yes, go to S95 step C
The PU controls the paper discharge rotation control unit to rotate the paper discharge tray 30 by 90 degrees contrary to the above, and returns the paper discharge tray 30 to the original position to end the control. In this way, after the copying operation is completed, the rotation and discharge unit 2 is rotationally controlled to direct the discharge tray 30 from which the sheets have been discharged toward the operator, so that the discharged sheets can be easily taken out. Improve operability.

Next, the control of the lamp 339 in the rotary sheet discharging section 2 after the copying is completed will be described. FIG. 30 is a flow chart showing the flow of control of the lamp 339 in the rotary paper discharge unit 2 after copying is completed. In S100 step,
It is assumed that the copy operation has started. Then, in step S101, the CPU determines whether or not the copy is completed. If the copy is not completed, the copy operation is continued until the copy is completed. On the other hand, when the copying is completed, the CPU controls the lamp control unit in step S102 to turn on the lamp 339 in the rotary paper ejection unit 2 to lighten the interior of the rotary paper ejection unit 2 to eject the paper. It is easy to take out the sheet 12 and prevent forgetting to take out the copy sheet. Then, in step S103, the presence / absence of the sheet 12 in the rotary paper discharge unit 2 is detected by the sheet presence / absence detection sensor 331 in the rotary paper discharge unit 2, and in step S104, the rotary paper discharge unit 2 is detected by the CPU.
When it is determined whether or not the sheet 12 is left inside, and when it is determined that the sheet 12 is left, the lamp 339 is attached as it is, and conversely, when it is determined that the sheet 12 is not left by the operator. Advances to step S105, the CPU controls the lamp control unit to turn off the lamp 339, and the control ends. In this way, by turning on the lamp 339 in the rotary paper discharge unit 2 after the copying operation is completed, it is easy to take out the discharged sheet 12, and it is possible to prevent forgetting to take out the sheet 12 and improve operability. Let

Next, the control of the discharge tray 30 of the rotary discharge unit 2 when changing the sheet size will be described. FIG. 31 is a flow chart showing the flow of control of the discharge tray 30 of the rotary discharge unit 2 when changing the sheet size. In step S110, it is assumed that the sheet size is set for the copy operation by the automatic sheet selection mode or the operator's input to the key input unit of the operation unit. Then, in step S111, the CPU determines whether or not the current state of the discharge tray 30 matches the set sheet size, and the current discharge tray 30 has a large size (for example, A3 or B4).
For the purpose, the set sheet size is also large, or conversely, the current discharge tray 30 has a small size (for example, A4, B5
For example, when the set sheet size is small and the current state of the sheet discharge tray 30 matches the set sheet size, the control is terminated without doing anything. . On the contrary, if the current sheet discharge tray 30 does not match the set sheet size, the process proceeds to step S112, and if the sheet discharge tray 30 is for a large size, C
The tray switching drive unit is controlled by the PU to change the discharge tray 30 for the small size, and the partition plate 305 is set for the small size. When the discharge tray 30 is for small size in step S112, the CPU controls the tray switching drive unit to change the discharge tray 30 for large size, and further the partition plate 305 for large size. After releasing, the discharge tray 30 is set in a shape suitable for the sheet size. In this way, by adjusting the state of the discharge tray 30 to the sheet size, the discharged sheet 1
2 is prevented from falling apart, making it easier to take out and improving operability.

The control modes of the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described below. First, the overall block of control will be described. FIG. 32 shows an overall block diagram of the control relationship. Reference numeral 600 denotes a control unit (controller) which stores fixed data such as program data for operating a central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU) 601, a timer 602, and a CPU 601 which constitute a microcomputer controlling the main body of the image forming apparatus. The ROM 603 to be stored, the set flags of various modes, the number of sets, the magnification, and temporary data indicating which human body detection switch 31 the front of the machine body 19 corresponds to are temporarily stored, and the data disappears when the power is turned off. Volatile RAM 604, process setting data, number of jams, number of serviceman calls,
Non-volatile RAM 605 that stores data such as the number of sheets passed and how many times and in which direction the machine body 19 rotates with respect to the home position, and the data is not lost even when the power is turned off. Operation unit 61 for obtaining various displays on the screen and various input information from the operator
0, a copying process unit 620 that controls the image forming unit 3 that performs image formation such as charging and development, a paper feed control unit 630 that controls the rotation and paper feed operations of the fixed paper feed unit 4 and the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5. , A paper ejection control unit 6 for controlling rotation of the paper ejection unit 2
40, a main body rotation control unit 650 that controls the rotation of the machine main body unit 19, various sensor groups 660 that detect information necessary for control such as presence / absence of a sheet, size and home position of various moving units, a CPU 601, and an operation unit 610. , A copy process unit 620, a paper feed control unit 630, a paper discharge control unit 640, a main body rotation control unit 650, and an I / O 606 that controls the interface with various sensor groups 660.
The copy sequence is comprehensively controlled based on the control program stored in 3. The operation unit 610 includes a CRT display for displaying various messages to the operator, a display unit 611 such as an LCD, and a key input unit 612 for detecting various input information (print key, mode set key, etc.) from the operator. Further, the paper feed control unit 63
0 is a paper feed rotation control unit 631 that controls the drive unit 25 for rotating the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5, the paper feed device 4, and the paper feed device 4.
5, a sheet feeding / conveying drive unit 632 for driving each roller and a sheet feeding / conveyance driving motor for separation and conveyance, and a solenoid 141 for moving up and down the sheet feeding roller 29 to switch between a sheet feeding state and a non-sheet feeding state. Paper feed roller drive unit 633, a bottom plate lift lever drive unit 634 for controlling the bottom plate lift motor 147 for moving the bottom plate lift lever 146 up and down to switch between a paper feed state and a non-paper feed state, and a tandem rotation feed. It is configured by a paper feed lock control unit 635 that controls a lock solenoid 120 for switching prohibition / release of the rotation operation of the paper unit 5.

The paper discharge control unit 640 also has a drive motor 306 for rotating the paper discharge tray 30 in the rotary paper discharge unit 2.
And a discharge rotation control unit 641 for controlling the discharge tray 30 and a drive for switching the discharge tray 30 for large size / small size and for switching the partition plate 305 for stopping discharged sheets to large size / small size. The tray switching drive unit 642 that controls the unit 318, and the lamp control unit 644 that controls the on / off of the lamp 339 provided in the rotary paper discharge unit 2. Further, the various sensor groups 660 include a sheet end detection sensor 26 that detects the presence / absence of a sheet at that stage during sheet feeding, and a size detection unit 13 that detects the size of the sheet.
1, a home position detection sensor 99 for detecting the home position of each rotation of the machine body 19, the rotary paper discharge unit 2, and the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5, a rotary home position detection sensor 320, a rotary tray H.H. P detection sensor 161,
Human body detection switch 3 for detecting the position of the operator with respect to the device when the operator touches
1. Obstacle detection sensor 333 that detects whether the operator's hand or the like is inside the rotary paper discharge unit 2 and the rotary paper discharge unit 2
A sheet presence / absence detection sensor 331 or the like for detecting whether or not there are remaining sheets discharged inside the sheet. Then, in the actual control, the I / O 6
The state of the device detected by the various sensor groups 660 or the operation mode input by the operator from the key input unit 612 of the operation unit 610 is transmitted via 06. Then, based on the program stored in the ROM 603 accordingly, information about the apparatus is displayed to the operator on the display unit 611 of the operation unit 610 from the CPU 601 through the I / O 606, and the copy process unit 620 is displayed.
To set the charging condition and the developing condition, to control the paper feed control unit 630 to feed the sheet, and to control the paper discharge control unit 640 to switch the tray between the large size and the small size. Alternatively, the main body rotation control unit 650 is controlled to rotate the machine main body unit 19, and so on. Furthermore, in the above apparatus, a series of determination operations of the CPU 601 may be stored in the ROM 603 or the non-volatile RAM 605 in advance. This also applies to each control operation described later.

Next, control of initialization when the power is turned on will be described. FIG. 33 shows a flow chart showing the flow of control. It is assumed that the power of the apparatus is turned on in step S120. In step S121, the process proceeds to the rotary operation check flow of the machine body 19 shown in FIG. S
In the 121-0 step, a non-volatile R is set by the CPU 601.
The rotation speed of the machine main body 19 stored in the AM 605 with respect to the home position is detected, and the CPU 601 controls the main body rotation control unit 650 in step S121-1 so that the power cord 83 is not twisted. The main body is rotated and it is confirmed by the home position detection sensor 99 that the machine main body 19 is set at the position of the home position of rotation. And S121
At step -2, the CPU 601 determines whether or not the rotation operation is normally performed. If not normally performed, at step S121-3, the display unit 611 of the operation unit 610 is determined.
Is displayed to inform the operator. Conversely, S12
When it is determined that the rotation of the machine body 19 is normally performed in the 1-2 step, the rotation speed for the home position of the machine body 19 is returned to the home position in the nonvolatile RAM 605 in the S121-4 step. Therefore, it is stored as 0 rotation, and the flow returns to the step S122 to proceed to the rotation operation check flow of the tandem rotary paper feeding section 5 shown in FIG. In step S122-0, the CPU 601 controls the paper feed roller driving unit 633 to retract the paper feed roller 29 upward, and in step S122-1 the CPU 601.
The bottom plate lifting lever drive unit 634 is controlled by the above to retract the bottom plate lifting lever 146 downward to prepare for the rotation of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5. And CP at S122-2 step
By controlling the paper feed rotation control unit 631 by the U601, the tandem rotary paper feed unit 5 is rotated to rotate the rotary tray H.H. It is confirmed by the P detection sensor 161 that the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is set at the home position of rotation. Then, in step S122-3, the CPU 601 controls the sheet feeding bottom plate raising lever drive unit 634 to set the bottom plate raising lever 146 to the sheet feeding state, and further, in step S122.
At step -4, the CPU 601 drives the paper feed roller driving unit 6
By controlling 33, the paper feed roller 29 is set to the paper feed state. Then, in step S122-5, the CPU 60 determines whether or not the rotation operation of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is normally performed.
It is determined by 1 and if it is not performed normally, S122
In step -6, the fact is displayed on the display unit 611 of the operation unit 610 to inform the operator. On the contrary, if it is determined in step S122-5 that the rotation of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 is normally performed, the flow returns to step S123 to proceed to the rotary operation check flow of the rotary paper discharging unit 2 shown in FIG. S1
In the 23-0 step, the presence or absence of foreign matter such as the operator's hand in the rotary paper discharge section 2 is detected by the obstacle detection sensor 333 provided in the rotary paper discharge section 2, and the CPU 601 rotates and discharges the foreign matter in step S123-1. When it is determined whether or not there is a foreign object by determining whether or not it is inside the paper unit 2, S123-2
In step, the display section 611 of the operation section 610 is so informed, the operator is informed, and the process returns to step S123-0. On the contrary, if it is determined that there is no foreign matter, the CPU 601 controls the paper discharge rotation control unit 641 to rotate the paper discharge tray 30 in step S123-3, and the rotary home position detection sensor 320 causes the paper discharge tray 30 to move. Make sure it is set to the home position of rotation. Then, in step S123-4, the CPU 601 determines whether or not the rotation operation of the discharge tray 30 is normally performed, and if it is not normally performed, the display unit 611 of the operation unit 610 is notified to that effect in step S123-5. Display and inform the operator. On the contrary, when it is determined in step S123-4 that the rotation of the paper discharge tray 30 is normally performed, the control ends. In this way, when the power is turned on, the machine body 1
9. By checking the rotational operation of the tandem rotary paper feeding unit 5 and the rotary paper ejecting unit 2 and setting the position to the home position, it is possible to promptly inform the operator of the fact that the machine is not operating properly. Since the positions of the paper discharge unit 2 and the tandem rotary paper supply unit 5 deviate from the home position, it is possible to prevent a paper discharge or paper feed jam. Further, in particular, by returning the machine main body 19 to the home position after the power is turned on, it is possible to prevent the power cord 83 from being twisted, so that the reliability is improved.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the invention, a plurality of sheet accumulating means provided in the occupying surface of the image forming apparatus are integrally and selectively rotated in the horizontal direction with respect to one discharging means. By doing so, it is possible to eliminate the protrusion of the accumulating means from the apparatus main body and realize the space saving of the apparatus main body, and to add the sorting function to the accumulating means, and simply,
A small paper ejection device can be realized.

According to the invention described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, by providing a holding means for integrally holding a plurality of sheet stacking means, each sheet stacking means is individually held. Without doing so, it is possible to further simplify the mechanism in the above-described horizontal rotation mechanism.

According to the third aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the invention, the sheet accommodating means held on the above-mentioned holding means can be easily selected as desired. .

According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, since the above-mentioned holding means is formed into a substantially disk shape, the outer peripheral edge of the discharging device during rotation operation becomes an obstacle. There is no risk of contact and smooth rotation can be achieved.

According to the invention of claim 5, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 1, since the sheet stacking means are arranged in series on the same line, the efficiency of the installation space can be improved.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the rotating sheet accumulating means is provided in the image forming apparatus having a substantially cylindrical casing, the outer peripheral surface of the apparatus main body is rotated during the rotating operation. The further rotating sheet stacking means does not project, and therefore a smooth rotating operation can be realized without the possibility of contacting an obstacle near the apparatus body.

According to the invention described in claim 7, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 6, since a plurality of sheet accumulating means can be integrally attached to and detached from the apparatus main body, maintainability is improved.

According to the invention described in claim 8, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 7, since a plurality of sheet stacking means and rotation moving means can be integrally attached to and detached from the apparatus main body, the maintainability is further improved. To do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a paper discharge device and an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a paper discharge device and an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating a state of a paper discharge device and an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating a state of a sheet discharge device and an image forming apparatus including the sheet discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating a state of a paper ejection device and an image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view illustrating a state of a paper ejection device and an image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a sheet discharging device and a main body rotating mechanism of an image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the main body rotation mechanism of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a sheet discharging device and a rotary sheet feeding tray unit of an image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a front view of the sheet discharging device and the rotary sheet feeding tray portion of the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing an example of a paper discharge device and a rotary tray of an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating another example of the paper discharge device and the rotary tray of the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a sheet discharging device and a rotary sheet discharging tray portion of an image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a front view of the sheet discharging device and the rotary sheet discharging tray portion of the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a part around the photoconductor and the vicinity of the fixing unit of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a sheet discharging device and an exhaust heat duct portion of an image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a detailed plan view of the rotary paper ejection tray section of the paper ejection device and the image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the first paper ejection tray and the second paper ejection tray of the paper ejection device and the image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a plan view centering on a first paper ejection tray and a second paper ejection tray of the paper ejection device and the image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a plan view centering on a first paper ejection tray and a second paper ejection tray of the paper ejection device and the image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a plan view centering on a first paper ejection tray and a second paper ejection tray of a paper ejection device and an image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vertical mechanism of a second paper ejection tray of a paper ejection device and an image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a schematic perspective view of a vertical mechanism of a second paper discharge tray of a paper discharge device and an image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a front view of the sheet discharging device and the rotary sheet discharging tray portion of the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharging device according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view of a main part of a paper ejection device and an extraction tray of an image forming apparatus including the paper ejection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart of safety control at the time of rotation of the paper discharge tray of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart of sorting control when the sheet discharge tray of the sheet discharge apparatus and the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharge apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is rotated.

FIG. 29 is a flow chart of control after the copying of the sheet discharge tray of the sheet discharge apparatus and the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharge apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is completed.

FIG. 30 is a flow chart of lamp control after completion of copying of a paper discharge tray of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart of the control of the sheet discharge tray when changing the sheet size of the sheet discharge apparatus and the image forming apparatus including the sheet discharge apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is an overall control block diagram of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a flow chart of the initialization control at the time of power-on of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart of the initialization control at the time of power-on of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a flow chart of the initialization control when the power is turned on of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart of the initialization control at the time of power-on of the paper discharge device and the image forming apparatus including the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Original Reading Section 2 Rotating Paper Ejection Tray 3 Image Forming Section 4 Fixed Paper Feeding Section 5 Tandem Rotating Paper Feeding Section 18 Base Section 19 Machine Body 30 Paper Ejection Tray 301 First Paper Ejection Tray 302 Second Paper Ejection Tray 306 Drive Motor 318 Drive

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Masato Obata 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of sheet accumulating means for accumulating recorded sheets, disposed in a plane occupied by the main body of the image forming apparatus and arranged in the same horizontal plane, and an ejecting means for ejecting the sheets to the sheet accumulating means. And a rotation moving unit that horizontally rotates the plurality of sheet stacking units integrally with the discharging unit in the horizontal direction. 2. A plurality of sheet stacking means provided in a plane occupied by the main body of the image forming apparatus for stacking recorded sheets, and a sheet is discharged to a selected sheet stacking means in the plurality of sheet stacking means. A sheet discharging apparatus comprising: a discharging unit, a single holding unit that holds all of the plurality of sheet stacking units in the same horizontal plane, and a rotating unit that horizontally rotates the holding unit. 3. The paper discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the holding means has a substantially disc shape. 4. The sheet discharging device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of sheet stacking units are arranged in series in the same horizontal plane. 5. The sheet stacking surface according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of sheet stacking means has a sheet stacking surface inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the discharging means, and the tilt angle is variable. A paper discharge device characterized by the above. 6. A plurality of sheet accumulating means for accumulating recorded sheets and arranged in the same horizontal plane, and an ejecting means for ejecting the sheet to a selected sheet accumulating means in the plurality of sheet accumulating means, The sheet stacking means is composed of a rotation moving means for integrally rotating the sheet stacking means in the horizontal direction with respect to the discharging means, and the main body of the apparatus is a casing formed in a substantially cylindrical shape. An image forming apparatus provided with a paper discharge device, wherein the image forming device is rotatably moved by the rotation moving means in the main body of the device. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of sheet stacking units are integrally detachable from the apparatus main body. 8. The image according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of sheet stacking means and the rotation moving means are integrally detachable from the apparatus main body. Forming equipment.