JPH08110308A - Method and device and judging fiber-orientation of paper, and device for removing image-forming material from image-holding body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To accurately measure the fiber-orientation of paper in noncontact by making a light flux incident onto a paper in an oblique direction and measuring its diffusion reflection distribution. CONSTITUTION: An light flux is made incident onto a paper 1 to be inspected by a projector 2 that is placed above and in an oblique direction. A light receiver 3 is comprised of a CCD camera, image sensing tube, etc., and a section of light flux is a circular shape of at least 10mm in diameter. The light flux is allowed to reflect on the paper 1 at about 10-40 deg. of incident angle and an oval irradiation spot is generated. The fiber-orientation of paper 1 is almost in one direction and it works like a diffraction grid against the incident light, so the diffusion distribution of the reflecting light is changed depending on which direction the orientation is directed against the light axis face. Thus, to which direction the fiber-orientation of the paper 1 is directed can be judged and the paper 1 is hardly broken, because the paper 1 can be inspected in noncontact state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for determining a paper crevice and an apparatus therefor, and an image forming method for forming an image from an image carrier on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer or a printing machine. The present invention relates to an image forming substance removing device for removing a substance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Paper has a directionality of fibers produced in its manufacturing process, that is, "paper grain" or "papermaking direction" in general.
Etc., and in this specification there are some called "paper crevices". A paper having such paper crevices is apt to expand and contract or curl and curl due to the influence of humidity on the paper crevices. Therefore, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printing machine that handles this type of paper, it is important to know the crevices of the paper in advance and prevent the above from occurring. By the way, as for which direction of the paper is the crevice of the paper, some high-grade papers show it on the package, but many do not, and it is shown on the package. Even if it is present, if you take it out of the package,
I don't understand it.

Therefore, it has been performed to judge the crevices of such paper in advance. The judgment methods are (1) a method of breaking the paper and detecting it according to the breaking method, and (2) the weight of the paper itself. A method is adopted in which the flexure is performed and the amount of flexure is measured and detected.

[0004]

However, in the method (1) as described above, the paper is torn and the paper is wasted. In the method (2), the deflection amounts in different two directions are measured, Since the detection device must be detected by the difference in the measured amount, the structure of the detection device becomes complicated, and the change in absolute value becomes large due to humidity, so that it cannot be measured during paper conveyance in a copying machine or the like. There is a problem such as.

By the way, in order to reuse an image carrier such as a copy paper which has been copied in recent years, after applying a liquid to the image carrier, the image forming substance such as toner forming an image is removed from the image carrier. An image forming substance removing method and apparatus have been published. In particular, the applicant of the present application has found that in order to remove only the image-forming substance without relatively damaging the paper quality of the image-bearing member, the adhesion between the image-forming substance and the surface of the paper is applied to the recorded image-bearing member. At least one selected from the group consisting of water as a destabilizing liquid for destabilizing the state, an aqueous solution containing a surfactant, an aqueous solution containing a water-soluble polymer, and an aqueous solution containing a surfactant and a water-soluble polymer. The method for removing an image-forming substance is proposed, in which the image-forming substance is peeled off from the image carrier by applying water or an aqueous solution, and heating or pressure-bonding the image-forming substance to the peeling member with a peeling member interposed (Patent application flat
See 4-255916).

The image bearing member, to which the image forming substance has been once removed by applying the liquid as described above, is heated and dried for reuse, but wrinkles may occur on the dried image bearing member, or during the processing step. Wrinkles and tears of the image carrier cause a conveyance failure such as a paper jam or a jam when the image carrier is transported in the apparatus. Further, depending on the conditions of the application liquid and the drying, there are problems that the removal performance of the image forming substance is deteriorated, and transfer failure occurs during copying at the time of reuse.

The inventors of the present invention have studied the cause of the occurrence of wrinkles on the image carrier, and have found that the paper crevices and the thickness of the image carrier are related to these.
For example, wrinkles and tears of the image carrier are likely to occur when the paper crevices of the image carrier and the transport direction of the image carrier in the apparatus are substantially parallel to each other. It was found to change depending on the processing conditions. Also, for example, when the thickness of the image carrier is thin, even if the liquid is applied under the same conditions, it will become too wet and rubbing, paper jams and wrinkles will occur, and even if it is dried under the same conditions, it will be too dry. Transfer defects are likely to occur at the time of image formation during reuse, and on the other hand, when the thickness of the image holding member is large, even if the liquid is applied under the same conditions, the liquid application becomes insufficient and the image forming material Removal performance deteriorates,
Even when dried under the same conditions, poor drying results in paper jams and wrinkles during image formation during reuse.

The present invention has been made on the basis of such knowledge. A first object of the present invention is to make it possible to accurately detect, in a non-destructive, non-contact state, the crevices of the image carrier paper. (EN) Provided is a method for determining a crevice and a device therefor. Next, a second purpose is to determine the paper crevices of the image carrier and to make the paper creases and the conveyance direction have a constant relationship, thereby preventing the occurrence of wrinkles of the image carrier. An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from a holder is provided. Next, a third purpose is to judge the crevices of the paper of the image carrier and change the conditions of liquid application and drying based on the result of the judgment so that the processing speed is not unnecessarily lowered, An object of the present invention is to provide a device for removing an image-forming substance from an image-holding member, which can obtain a predetermined performance of removing the image-forming substance and can prevent the occurrence of wrinkles, tears, and transfer defects at the time of reuse of the image-holding member. . Next, the fourth purpose is to detect the thickness of the image carrier and change the conditions for applying and drying the liquid based on the detection result, so that the processing speed is not lowered unnecessarily The ability to remove image-forming substances is obtained,
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier, which can prevent wrinkles, tears of the image carrier, paper jams at the time of reuse, and defective transfer.

[0009]

In order to achieve the first object as described above, the present invention according to claim 1 provides:
It is characterized in that the light flux is incident on the paper from an oblique direction and the diffuse reflection distribution is measured to judge the crevices of the paper. The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that light is incident on the paper in at least two directions orthogonal to each other, and the crevice of the paper is judged by the difference or ratio of the light amounts. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a crevice of a paper is judged by making a light beam enter the paper from an oblique direction and detecting the light amount of at least two points or more in the diffuse reflection distribution. is there. The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the incident light beams are substantially parallel. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first or third aspect of the invention, the incident light flux is divergent light. The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the incident light flux is composed of focused light. In the invention according to claim 7, in the invention according to claim 3, the detection position for detecting the light amount of two or more points is set in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the incident light beam and parallel to the test paper. It is characterized by being arranged. In the invention according to claim 8, a light flux is obliquely incident on the paper in at least two directions orthogonal to each other, and the light amount of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution is detected to determine the crevice of the paper, It is characterized in that a comprehensive judgment is made on the paper crevices based on the result of this judgment. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, the test paper is moved in a direction orthogonal or parallel to the incident light beam, and the amount of reflected light is set to an arbitrary constant time. It is characterized in that the crevice of the paper is judged by the integral value or the average value of. The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the incident light is coherent light. The invention according to claim 11 has a light incidence means for making a light beam enter the paper in an oblique direction, and a light quantity detection means for detecting the light quantity of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution, and these light incidence means It is characterized in that the means and the light amount detecting means are integrally configured. The invention described in claim 12 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 11, the incident light beams are substantially parallel. The invention described in claim 13 is the invention described in claim 11, wherein the incident light flux is divergent light. According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the incident light flux is composed of focused light. According to a fifteenth aspect of the invention, in the invention according to the eleventh aspect, the incident light flux is composed of coherent light.

In order to achieve the second object, the claims
According to the invention described in 16, there is provided a first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming material formed on a fibrous surface, and adhesion between the image forming material and the image carrier. In an image forming substance removing device including a destabilizing liquid applying unit that applies a destabilizing liquid that makes the state unstable, to the image holding member, the image holding member conveyed from the first image holding member accommodating unit. Paper crevice detection means for detecting the crevice of the paper of the body, based on the detection result of the crevice of the paper, a determination means for determining whether or not the image forming substance removal process involving application of the destabilizing liquid, A second image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier that is determined to be incapable of removing the image forming substance is provided. In the invention described above, the image carrier whose image forming substance removal processing is determined to be impossible is the second image carrier. The invention according to claim 18 is characterized in that a display or notifying means for notifying the user that the body is accommodated in the body accommodating means is provided. Rotating and conveying means for rotating the image holding body accommodated in the holding body accommodating means so that the direction thereof is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the conveying direction and for conveying the image holding body to the destabilizing liquid applying means. Is provided.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming material formed on a fibrous surface, the image forming material and the image carrier. And a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying a destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhesion state between the first image holding member and the image holding member. Based on the paper crevice detection means that detects the paper crevices of the image carrier and the detection result of the paper crevices, it is determined whether the image forming substance removal process involving the application of the destabilizing liquid is possible. And a rotating means for rotating the image holding member judged to be incapable of removing the image-forming substance so that the direction thereof is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the conveying direction. The invention according to claim 20 is the invention according to claim 1
In the invention described in any one of 7, 18 and 19, unstable based on the paper crevice detecting means for detecting again the paper crevice of the rotated image carrier and the detection result of the paper crevice. A judgment means for judging again whether or not the image-forming substance removing process involving the application of the liquidification agent and a third image-holding member accommodating means for accommodating the image holding member for which the image-forming substance removing process is judged to be impossible are provided. It is characterized by.

In order to achieve the third object, the claims
The invention described in 21 is a destabilizing method for destabilizing an adhesion state between an image forming substance and an image holding member on an image holding member on which an image made of an image forming substance is formed on a fibrous surface. Destabilizing liquid applying means for applying liquid to the image holding member, peeling means for peeling and removing the image forming substance from the image holding member to which the destabilizing liquid has been applied, and image holding member from which the image forming substance has been removed An image forming substance removing device comprising a drying means for drying
A paper crevice detecting means for detecting crevices in the paper of the image carrier, and a control means for changing the drying condition in the drying means based on the detection result of the crevices in the paper are provided. According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, in the image carrier having an image of the image-forming substance formed on the fibrous surface, the state of adhesion between the image-forming substance and the image-holding member is unstable. In a device for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, which comprises a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying the destabilizing liquid to the image carrier, the paper crevice detection for detecting the crevice of the paper of the image carrier Means and control means for changing the liquid application condition in the destabilizing liquid application means based on the detection result of the paper gap.

Next, in order to achieve the above-mentioned fourth object,
The invention according to claim 23 is the destabilizing liquid for destabilizing the adhesion state between the image forming substance and the image holding member on the image holding member on which the image made of the image forming substance is formed. A destabilizing liquid applying means for applying the destabilizing liquid to the image holding member, a peeling means for peeling and removing the image forming substance from the image holding member to which the destabilizing liquid is applied, and an image holding member from which the image forming substance is removed. In an apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier comprising a drying means for drying, a thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of the image carrier, and a drying condition in the drying means based on the thickness detection result. The invention according to claim 24, wherein the image holding member on the surface of which an image made of an image-forming substance is formed, Attach the destabilizing liquid to the image carrier to make the adhesion state with the carrier unstable. In an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier, which comprises a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying a destabilizing liquid, an instability is detected based on a thickness detecting means for detecting a thickness of the image carrier and a detection result of the thickness. And a control means for changing the liquid application conditions in the liquidification application means.

[0014]

According to the first and second aspects of the invention, the paper is irradiated with light from an oblique direction. Since the surface of the paper is not a mirror surface, the irradiated light is diffusely reflected on the surface of the paper. Then, the diffuse reflection distribution of the diffused reflected light is detected at a position separated from the irradiation position on the paper by a predetermined distance. Here, the degree of diffusion of the reflected light in the direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis surface including the optical axes of the irradiation light and the reflected light changes depending on the positional relationship between the optical axis surface and the paper crevice. For example, when the optical axis surface and the paper crevices are substantially parallel to each other, the degree of diffusion in the direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis surface decreases, and the spatial distribution of the intensity of the reflected light is concentrated in the center. It becomes the shape. On the other hand, in the case where the optical axis plane and the paper crevice are substantially orthogonal to each other, the degree of diffusion in the direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis plane becomes large, and the spatial distribution of the intensity of the reflected light shows that the intensity at the center is It becomes lower and spreads outward. By detecting such a spatial distribution of the intensity of the reflected light, it becomes possible to determine which direction the crevices of the paper face with respect to the optical axis plane.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the invention, the paper is irradiated with light from an oblique direction, and the intensities at at least two positions in the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light reflected from the paper are detected, The intensity of the reflected light at each detection position is compared with the detected value, and the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light in a predetermined direction along the detection position can be roughly known. The diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light makes it possible to determine which direction the crevices of the paper face with respect to the predetermined direction. For example, if the detection position is set at a position slightly separated in a direction substantially orthogonal to the central part of the reflected light and the optical axis surface including the optical axes of the irradiation light and the reflected light, the direction substantially perpendicular to the optical axis surface is set. By knowing the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light, it becomes possible to judge in which direction the crevices of the paper are directed with respect to the optical axis plane.

In the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the paper crevice detection means detects the paper crevice of the image carrier conveyed from the first image carrier accommodating means, and the judgment means detects the paper crevice. Based on the detection results of the crevices, if the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, it is judged that the image forming substance removal process involving application of the destabilizing liquid is possible, and It is conveyed to the destabilizing liquid application means. On the other hand, if the paper crevices are substantially parallel to the transport direction, it is determined that the image forming substance removal processing is not possible, and the image carrier is not transported to the destabilizing liquid attaching means and the second image bearing is performed. It is stored in the body storage means.

In the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the image holding member for which it is judged by the display or notifying unit that the image forming substance removing process accompanied by the application of the destabilizing liquid cannot be stored in the second image holding member storing unit. By notifying the user that the image holding member is held, the user takes out the image holding member housed in the second image holding member housing means, and the orientation of the image carrier is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction. Thus, the image forming substance can be removed from the image carrier while the paper is set again in the first image carrier accommodating means and the paper crevices are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction.

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the image carrier held in the second image carrier housing means by the rotary carrying means is automatically orientated at approximately 90 degrees with respect to the carrying direction. The image forming substance can be removed from the image carrier while being rotated so as to be converted and conveyed to the destabilizing liquid applying means, and in the state where the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. .

In a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, the paper crevice detecting means detects the paper crevice of the image carrier conveyed from the first image carrier accommodating means, and the judging means detects the paper crevice. Based on the detection results of the crevices, if the crevices of the paper are almost orthogonal to the transport direction, it is judged that the image forming substance removal process involving application of the destabilizing liquid is possible, and It is conveyed as it is to the destabilizing liquid applying means. On the other hand, when the crevices of the paper are substantially parallel to the transport direction, it is determined that the image forming substance removal processing is impossible, and the rotation means converts the orientation of the image carrier by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction. By rotating the sheet in such a manner that it is conveyed to the destabilizing liquid application means, it becomes possible to remove the image-forming substance from the image carrier in a state where the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. .

In the invention of claim 20, the paper crevice detection means detects again the paper crevice of the rotated image carrier, and based on the detection result of the paper crevice by the judgment means. If the paper is not clearly defined and is indeterminate, and it is judged again that the removal process of the image forming substance accompanied by the application of the destabilizing liquid is impossible, the image carrier is set to the third image carrier accommodating means. Accommodate.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, the paper score of the image carrier is detected by the paper score detection means,
The drying conditions in the drying means are changed by the control means based on the detection result of the paper crevices. Here, when the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction, the conveyance speed in the drying means, the drying temperature and the distance of the drying treatment step are set to the predetermined speed, temperature and distance, respectively, and the image carrier is dried. By performing the treatment, the image carrier is dried so that the liquid content of the image carrier falls within a predetermined range.
On the other hand, when the crevices of the paper are substantially parallel to the transport direction, the transport speed in the drying means is set lower than a predetermined speed, or the drying temperature in the drying means is set lower than the predetermined temperature, whereby the image carrier It is possible to prevent the image carrier from being excessively dried by further preventing the rapid drying of the image carrier and by making the distance of the drying process in the drying means shorter than a predetermined distance.

According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, the paper score of the image carrier is detected by the paper score detection means,
The liquid application conditions in the destabilizing liquid application means are changed by the control means based on the detection result of the paper gap. Here, when the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, the transport speed in the destabilizing liquid deposition means and the distance in the liquid deposition processing step are kept at the predetermined speed and distance, respectively, to the image carrier. By performing the liquid application process, the liquid can be applied to the image carrier at a predetermined content rate. on the other hand,
When the crevices of the paper are almost parallel to the transport direction, it is possible to prevent the liquid from being rapidly applied to the image carrier by making it slower than the transport speed in the destabilizing liquid applying means, and further destabilize the image carrier. The content of the destabilizing liquid in the image carrier after applying the liquid can be prevented from becoming excessively large by setting the distance in the liquid applying process in the liquid applying means to be shorter than a predetermined distance.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the invention, the thickness detecting means detects the thickness of the image carrier, and the controlling means changes the drying condition in the drying means based on the detection result of the thickness. There is. Here, when the thickness of the image carrier is thicker than a predetermined thickness, the drying process of the image carrier is performed while keeping the transport speed, the drying temperature and the distance of the drying process in the drying means at the predetermined speed, temperature and distance, respectively. By performing the above, the image carrier can be dried so that the content rate of the liquid in the image carrier falls within a predetermined range. On the other hand, when the thickness of the image carrier is smaller than the predetermined thickness, the conveyance speed in the drying unit is set lower than the predetermined speed, or the drying temperature in the drying unit is set lower than the predetermined temperature, so that the image carrier It is possible to prevent the rapid drying of, and to further reduce the distance of the drying treatment step in the drying means from a predetermined distance,
The image carrier can be prevented from being overdried.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the image carrier is detected by the thickness detecting means, and the liquid is applied by the destabilizing liquid applying means based on the detection result of the thickness by the control means. The conditions are changing. Here, when the thickness of the image carrier is thicker than the predetermined thickness, the transport speed in the destabilizing liquid applying means and the distance of the liquid applying process are kept at the predetermined speed and distance, respectively. By performing the applying process, the liquid can be applied to the image carrier at a predetermined content rate. On the other hand, when the thickness of the image carrier is smaller than the predetermined thickness, the transport speed of the destabilizing liquid applying means is set lower than the predetermined speed so that the liquid is not rapidly applied to the image carrier. In addition, the content of the destabilizing liquid in the image carrier after application of the liquid is prevented from becoming excessively large by making the distance of the liquid applying treatment step in the destabilizing liquid applying means shorter than a predetermined distance. be able to.

[0025]

【Example】

[First Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and first, a first embodiment of a method for determining a paper crevice and an apparatus therefor will be described.
In FIG. 1, the paper crevice determination device of the first embodiment measures a diffuser reflection distribution from the test paper 1 and a projector 2 as a light incident means for injecting a light beam into the test paper 1 from an oblique direction. And a light receiver 3 as a light amount detecting means.
The light projector 2 may be, for example, a combination of a lamp as a light source, a lens as an optical member, a mirror, etc., and the light receiver 3 may be an image pickup tube, a solid-state image pickup prevention device such as a CCD, or the like. . The cross-sectional shape of the light beam incident from the projector 2 is almost circular, and the diameter φ immediately before hitting the test paper 1 is about 10 mm or less,
Especially, it is desirable that the thickness is 4 mm to 8 mm. Such a light flux is obliquely incident on the test paper 1, and the irradiation spot shape on the test paper 1 becomes an ellipse. The diffuse reflection distribution can be measured if the incident angle θ of the incident light with respect to the surface of the paper 1 to be inspected is 70 degrees or less, but if it is set to about 10 to 40 degrees, the diffuse reflection distribution depending on the type of the paper to be inspected and the squares. Is desirable because it changes significantly.

FIG. 2 shows a diffuse reflection distribution by the light receiver 3, and FIG. 2 (a) is an explanatory view showing the intensity of reflected light on the light receiving surface of the light receiver 3 in contour lines, and FIG. 2 (b). 2A shows a diffuse reflection distribution I on a straight line along the one-dot chain line in FIG. 2A (direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis plane including the optical axes of incident light and reflected light). Here, since the crevices of the test paper 1 are oriented in almost one direction, they act on the incident light like a diffraction grating. Therefore, the diffuse reflection distribution I of the reflected light changes depending on which direction the crevices of the test paper 1 face with respect to the optical axis surface. For example, the crevices of the test paper 1 are A in FIG.
3A, the diffuse reflection distribution I of the reflected light is concentrated in the center of the optical axis. On the other hand, if the crevices of the test paper 1 are in the B direction of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3B, the diffuse reflection distribution I of the reflected light becomes small at the center of the optical axis,
The distribution spreads in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis plane. The reflected light intensities indicated by the symbols C and D in FIG. 3 are respectively C in FIG.
The reflected light intensities at points D and D are shown.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the light is incident on the test paper 1 from an oblique direction, and the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light reflected from the test paper 1 is measured to obtain the test paper 1. It is possible to determine in which direction the 1-slot is facing. As described above, in the first embodiment, since the crevices of the paper are judged without destroying the paper to be inspected or contacting the paper to be inspected, it is difficult to be influenced by the environment such as humidity and the like. As described above, it is possible to judge the crevice of the paper more accurately as compared with the method of judging the tearing of the test paper or judging the crevice of the paper from the deflection amount.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Although one light receiver 3 is used, the light receiver 3 is replaced by the light receiver 3 shown in FIG.
The light receiving elements 3c and 3d may be arranged at two points, that is, point C on the optical axis and point D slightly apart from the optical axis in (a). The light receiving elements 3c and 3d may be PIN photo sensors. A sensor, a phototransistor, or the like can be used.
The intensity of the reflected light measured by the light receiving elements 3c and 3d is
Corresponding to the reflected light intensities C and D in FIG. 3, the output of the light receiving element differs depending on the paper gap, so that the paper gap can be determined. At this time, the judgment of the paper gap is
(Output of light receiving element 3c) / (output of light receiving element 3d)> Arbitrary number K (numerical value set corresponding to this because it changes depending on the arrangement position of the light receiving element). In this way, the paper crevice is determined based on the ratio of the reflected light intensities at the two locations, so that the paper is not affected by the light emission intensity distribution of the light source of the projector 2 and the light reflectance of the paper. You can judge what you like.

As the luminous flux emitted from the projector 2 to the test paper 1, parallel light can be used as shown in FIG. 4 showing a cross section in the plane of the optical axis. In this case, even if the projector 2 swings in the direction of arrow E, the density of the incident light on the test paper 1 hardly changes, and the fluctuation of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light becomes small. Also, as shown in FIG.
When divergent light is used as the light beam emitted from the projector 2 to the test paper 1 instead of using parallel light on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis plane as shown in FIG. The advantage is that the distance between the light projector 2 and the light receiver 3 can be shortened, and the size can be reduced. When convergent light is used as shown in FIG. 5C, the distance between the projector 2 and the light receiver 3 can be made relatively long, which has the advantage of improving the freedom of layout design. In FIGS. 6A to 6C, the light projector 2 and the light receiver 3 are schematically arranged so that the thicknesses of the light beams on the test paper 1 and the light receiving surface of the light receiver 3 are substantially the same. Is shown in.

Although not shown, two sets of the projector 2 and the photoreceiver 3 in the first embodiment and their modified examples may be arranged on the test paper 1 in a direction orthogonal to each other.
In this case, the arrangement is such that the paper slits of the test paper 1 are substantially parallel to the optical axis surface including the optical axes of the irradiation light and the reflected light, and the paper slits of the test paper 1 are almost parallel to the optical axis surface. It is possible to detect the diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light in two arrangements of orthogonal arrangements at the same time, and by comparing the difference in the diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light in both arrangements,
Even if the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light changes depending on the paper type, it is possible to accurately determine the crevices of the paper.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the cross-sectional shape of the incident light is substantially circular, the shape of the incident spot on the paper surface becomes an ellipse. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light is vertical. That is, F in FIG.
The diffuse reflection distributions of the reflected light in the F ′ direction and the GG ′ direction are as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, respectively. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the light receiving elements are arranged at at least two places in the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light,
When the light receiving element is arranged in the FF ′ direction of (a), that is, in the direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis plane including the optical axes of the incident light and the reflected light, the change of the reflected light intensity due to the difference in the paper gaps. Is large, which makes it easy to determine the paper creases.

Further, in the first embodiment, if the surface property of the test paper 1 is poor, the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light on the light receiving surface of the light receiver 3 is a large noise distribution as shown in FIG. 7 (a). Become. Therefore, the distance between the projector 2 and the light receiver 3 and the incident position (light receiving position) on the test paper 1 is kept constant and the test paper 1 is
The noise level is averaged by configuring the measurement system so that the reflected light intensity is integrated while moving the horizontal direction, and the noise level of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light is shown in FIG. 7 (b). Can be made smaller.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, three light receiving elements 3 each including a pin photosensor as the light receiver 3 are provided.
It is also possible to construct a compact paper crevice determination device 4 by combining a, b, c and the light projector 2 integrally. In the case of this configuration example, the output of each light receiving element 3a, 3b, 3c (see FIG.
From the output values a, b, c in the figure, the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light (here, the distribution is approximated by Y = αe−βx) is estimated using an appropriate approximation formula, and the peak level is 1/2 The width value W of the level is obtained, and the crevice of the paper can be judged by this width value W. It is also possible to determine the crevice of the paper by the ratio of the width value W in the two directions. If there is no deviation between the irradiation optical axis and the reception optical axis, the output value a, the output value b, or the output value c
It may be configured to detect the crevices of the paper 1 to be inspected from the ratio of the output value a and the value (b + c) / 2.
According to this determination method, even if the irradiation optical axis and the received optical axis are deviated, it is possible to determine the crevices of the paper 1 to be inspected with good detection accuracy.

As the light projector 2, a laser light source such as an LD capable of emitting coherent light may be used.
In this case, although speckles are generated on the light receiving surface of the light receiver 3 and noise appears in the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light, the difference in the diffuse reflection distribution due to the paper crevices is large. As a result, the accuracy of the paper gap determination is improved.

[Second Embodiment] The second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
An apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier, which is an example, will be described. The second embodiment is a toner removing device for removing a heat-melting toner (hereinafter referred to as toner) as an image forming substance from a transfer paper as an image holding member on which an image is formed by a transfer type electrophotographic copying machine. Is. In the second embodiment, the toner removing apparatus main body 1 is a paper feeding unit 6 as a first image holding member accommodating means for separating and feeding the transfer papers 5 on which toner images are formed, which are accommodated in a stacked state, one by one. And a liquid applying unit 7 as a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying the destabilizing liquid to the transfer paper 5 sent from the paper feeding unit 6, and peeling the toner from the transfer paper 5 to which the liquid has been applied. Peeling and drying unit 8 for removing and then drying
And a paper receiving unit 9 for receiving the transfer paper 5 discharged from the peeling / drying unit 8.

In the paper feeding unit 6, the transfer papers 5 stacked on the paper feeding table 61 with the surface on which the toner image is formed (hereinafter referred to as the toner image surface) facing downward are fed from the lowermost paper feeding roller. 62
And the separation roller pair 63 separates the multi-fed paper, and only one transfer paper 5 is sent out by the paper feed and conveyance roller pair.
The specific configuration and operation are the same as those of the paper feeding mechanism in the electrophotographic copying machine, and therefore detailed description will be omitted.

The liquid applying unit 7 is for applying to the transfer paper 5 a liquid 71 such as water, an aqueous solution containing a surfactant in order to improve the permeability of the transfer paper 5, a solvent or the like. A liquid container 72 to be housed, an application roller 73 for applying the liquid 71 to the toner image surface of the transfer paper 5 by rotation provided so as to come into contact with the liquid in the liquid container 72, and a paper conveyance path are provided. A counter roller 74 is provided so as to face the coating roller 73 with the roller interposed therebetween. As the application roller 73, a material having a liquid retaining property, for example, a roller made of a hydrophilic porous material, sponge, or a roller made of an elastic body such as rubber or a rigid body such as metal can be used.

The peeling / drying unit 8 includes a conveying roller 81.
A peeling roller 82 as a peeling member for heating and peeling the toner on the transfer paper 5, and a cleaning roller 83 for removing and cleaning the toner adhering to the surface of the peeling roller 82.
A drying roller 84 that heats and dries the transfer paper 5 from which the toner has been peeled off, and a conveyance guide member 85 that is provided so as to face the surfaces of the rollers 81, 82, and 84 and that guides the conveyance of the transfer paper 5. Is equipped with. The surface of the peeling roller 82 is formed of a material having a larger adhesive force to the toner softened by heating than the adhesive force between the surface of the transfer paper 5 and the toner.

In a normal toner removing process by such a toner removing device, the transfer paper 5 sent from the paper feeding unit 6 is applied with liquid on the toner image surface by the liquid applying unit 7, and the peeling / drying unit 8 is used. Sent to. In the toner peeling unit 40, the toner adhered to the transfer paper 5 is softened by heating from the peeling roller 82 and adheres to the surface of the peeling roller 82. Then, when the transfer paper 5 is separated from the surface of the peeling roller 82, the toner attached to the surface of the peeling roller 82 is separated from the transfer paper 5, whereby the toner is removed from the transfer paper 5. The transfer paper 5 from which the toner has been removed is dried by the drying roller 84 and discharged to the paper receiving unit 9. By the above toner removal processing, the toner can be removed from the transfer paper 5 without damaging the paper fibers of the transfer paper 5.

Further, in order to prevent wrinkles and the like which may occur when there is an improper relationship between the crevices of the transfer paper 5 and the conveying direction, transfer is performed between the paper feeding unit 6 and the liquid applying unit 7. A paper crevice detection unit 10 as a paper crevice detection means for detecting the paper crevice of the paper 5, a judgment means for judging whether or not the toner removal processing is possible based on the detection result of the paper crevice, and a transfer A transfer paper rotating unit 11 as a rotary transfer unit that rotates the paper 5 so that the direction thereof is changed by 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction and transports the paper 5 to the crevice detection unit 10 side of the paper, and a toner. It is provided with a paper discharge tray 12 as a third image holding member accommodating means for which removal processing is not possible. As the paper scoring device 101 used for the paper crevice detection unit 10, it is preferable to use a device capable of accurately determining the crevice of the transfer paper 5 in a non-destructive non-contact manner, for example, as described in the first embodiment. A paper crevice detection device utilizing light reflection is suitable.

As the judgment means, a control unit provided in the toner removing apparatus main body for controlling other units can be used. In this control unit, a detection signal from the paper crevice detection unit 10 is input, and based on the detection signal, whether the crevices of the transfer paper 5 are substantially parallel to the transport direction or substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, Alternatively, it is determined whether or not it is indefinite, and if the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, the toner removal processing is possible. On the other hand, if the crevices of the paper are substantially parallel to the transport direction or are indeterminate, the toner removal processing is not possible. The transfer paper rotating unit 11 also includes branch claws 111 and 112 that are driven and controlled by the control unit, and a posture conversion mechanism 113 that converts the orientation of the transfer paper 5 by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction. As the posture changing mechanism 113, for example, the posture changing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-162899 can be used.

In the toner removing device as described above, the paper crevice detection unit 10 detects the crevice of the transfer paper 5 conveyed from the paper feeding unit 6, and based on the detection result by the control unit (not shown). If the paper crease direction is substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction, it is determined that the toner removal processing is possible, and the paper is directly conveyed to the liquid applying unit 7 and the toner removal processing is executed. On the other hand, when the paper creases are substantially parallel to the conveyance direction or indefinite, it is determined that the toner removal processing is impossible and the branching pawl 111 of the transfer paper rotation unit 11 is rotated to switch the conveyance path to transfer the transfer paper 5. It is conveyed to the posture changing mechanism 113. In this posture changing mechanism 113, the transfer paper 5 is rotated so that its direction is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the carrying direction, and is again carried to the paper crevice detection unit 10.

In this paper crevice detection unit 10, if the paper crevice is detected again and it is judged that the crevice of this paper is substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction, the transfer paper 5 is applied with liquid. When the paper is conveyed to the unit 7 and the toner removal processing is executed in the same manner as described above, and when it is determined that the crevices of the paper are not substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction and are indefinite, the branch claw 112 is rotated to move the conveyance path. After switching, the transfer paper 5b is discharged to the paper discharge tray 12 in which the toner removal processing is impossible. If the paper crevice detection unit 10 is configured to be able to accurately determine that the paper crevice is indefinite by one detection operation, the transfer paper 5 detects the paper crevice. After first passing through the unit 10, the branch claw 112 may be rotated to switch the transport path and eject the transfer paper 5b to the paper ejection tray 12.

According to the second embodiment, the crevices of the transfer paper 5 are detected and, if necessary, the transfer paper 5 is rotated so that its direction is changed by about 90 degrees with respect to the conveying direction, By carrying out the toner removing process including the liquid applying process by being carried in a state where the crevices are substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction,
(1) Transfer paper 5 without the user being aware of the paper gap
Even when the paper is set in the paper feeding unit 6, it is possible to prevent wrinkles from occurring on the transfer paper 5a, and (2) it is not necessary to slowly dry the transfer paper 5 to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles. The removal processing time is not delayed. Further, since the transfer papers 5b having undefined crevices are discharged onto the paper discharge tray 12, these transfer papers 5b can be collected together and the transfer paper 5a that can be subjected to the toner removal processing without causing other wrinkles.
Can be processed separately.

In this embodiment, the paper feeding unit 6
It is configured such that the transfer paper 5 can be continuously fed from the transfer paper rotating unit 11 and the transfer operation from the paper feed unit 6 is stopped only when the transfer paper 5 is conveyed from the transfer paper rotating unit 11. If it is controlled so that it is possible to reduce unnecessary time during the toner removal processing. Further, after detecting the crevices of the transfer paper 5 by the paper crevice detection unit 10, it is judged that the toner removal processing is impossible when the crevices of the paper are substantially parallel or indefinite with the conveying direction based on the detection result. The transfer paper 5 is conveyed to the posture changing mechanism 113, but instead of this, the transfer paper 5 judged to be unable to be subjected to the toner removal processing as shown in FIG. 10 is re-fed as the second image carrier accommodating means. The stack tray 114 may be once discharged. In this case, the feeding operation of the transfer paper 5 from the paper feeding unit 6 is continuously performed until the stack amount of the stack tray 114 reaches the upper limit, and when the stack tray 114 is full or the paper feeding operation is performed. When the transfer paper 5 runs out on the paper feed tray 61 of the unit 6, the transfer paper 5 is removed from the stack tray 114.
c is sequentially conveyed to the posture changing mechanism 113. Although the stack tray 114 is provided on the upstream side of the posture changing mechanism 113 in the carrying direction in this embodiment, it may be provided on the downstream side.

In the toner removing apparatus shown in FIG. 12, the sheet re-feeding section from the stack tray 114 including the sheet discharge tray 12, the branching claw 112 and the posture changing mechanism 113 to the sheet crevice detection unit 10 is not provided. You may. In this case,
When the stack tray 114 is full, or when the transfer paper 5 runs out on the paper feed tray 61 of the paper feed unit 6,
The user takes out the transfer paper 5c on the stack tray 114, rotates the transfer paper 5c so that its direction is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction, and sets it again on the paper feed tray 61. Subsequent processing is the same as in the second embodiment, and will be omitted. In the case of such a configuration, when the transfer paper 5c is present on the stack tray 114 at the time when a series of paper feeding operations from the paper feeding unit 6 is completed, as shown in FIG. A message such as "Please rotate the paper in the stack tray 90 degrees and reload it in the paper tray" is displayed on the display panel 131 of the operation unit 13 or the user can re-feed paper by issuing a sound. It may be configured to prompt.

Further, the normal start button 13 of the operation unit 13
Separately from 2, the restart button 133 for starting the processing of the transfer paper re-fed by rotation, the branching claw 112 and the paper discharge unit 12 are provided, and the restart button 133 is pressed to start the processing of the transfer paper. The transfer paper may be configured to be discharged onto the paper discharge tray 12 when it is determined that the transfer paper has an indeterminate gap.

[Third Embodiment] A third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Second in this embodiment
The same parts as those in the embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The different parts will be mainly described. In the third embodiment, after detecting the crevices of the transfer paper 5, instead of changing the orientation of the transfer paper 5 as in the second embodiment, the peeling / combining is performed based on the detection result of the crevices of the transfer paper 5. By changing the drying conditions in the drying unit 8, a predetermined image forming substance removing performance can be obtained without unnecessarily reducing the processing speed, and wrinkles or tears of the image carrier or transfer failure at the time of reuse. It is configured so as to prevent the occurrence of the above. In the third embodiment, the pressure roller 86 is brought into pressure contact with each of the peeling roller 82 and the drying roller 84 equipped with a heater, and the transfer paper 5 is sandwiched and conveyed between these rollers. There is. Also a drying roller
Two pairs of a roller 84 and a pressure roller 86 are provided, a branching claw 87 is arranged between these roller pairs, and the transfer paper 5 is connected to the downstream drying roller 84 and the pressure roller 86 as required. It is configured so that it can be conveyed to the bypass path 88 without passing through the pair. In addition, an appropriate pair of transport rollers 89 is arranged in the transport path in the peeling / drying unit 8.

In the third embodiment, the paper feeding unit 6
When the transfer paper 5 conveyed from the paper is detected by the paper crevice detection unit 10 and the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction, As shown in a), since wrinkles are hardly generated even if the conveying speed is increased, a control (not shown) is performed so that the drying process is performed by the pair of the two drying rollers 84 and the pressure roller 86 without decreasing the conveying speed. The processing is controlled by the unit to maintain a predetermined processing speed. On the other hand, when the crevices of the transfer sheet 5 are substantially parallel to the conveying direction, wrinkles are apt to occur when the conveying speed is increased as described above, so that the rotation speed of each roller is reduced and the conveying speed is reduced. Slow down the drying process. When the conveyance speed during the drying process is slowed in this way, the drying is performed excessively. Therefore, the branch claw 87 is rotated to switch the conveyance path, so that the transfer paper 5 and the drying roller 84 on the downstream side and the applying roller 5 are added. It is sent to the bypass conveyance path 88 side so as not to pass through the pair of pressure rollers 86.

When the crevices of the transfer paper 5 are substantially parallel to the carrying direction, the carrying speed during the drying process is slowed, so that the occurrence of wrinkles can be prevented. Further, when the crevices of the transfer paper 5 are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, wrinkles are less likely to occur, so that the drying process is performed at the normal transport speed to perform the drying process at the transport speed of the toner removal process. By doing so, the processing speed of the toner removal processing does not unnecessarily slow down. Further, when the transfer speed during the drying process is slowed, the transfer paper 5 is sent to the bypass transfer path 88 to shorten the transfer distance during the drying process, thereby preventing the transfer paper 5 from being excessively dried, It is possible to prevent a transfer failure from occurring during copying at the time of reuse and to prevent the transfer paper 5 from passing through an unnecessary drying step, so that the probability of wrinkling can be further reduced.

As described above, when the crevices of the transfer paper 5 are substantially parallel to the conveying direction, the rotation speed of each roller is lowered as described above to slow down the conveying speed during the drying process. As shown in FIG. 13A, since wrinkles are less likely to occur even if the drying temperature is lowered, the heating temperature may be controlled to be lowered by the drying roller 84 instead of slowing the conveying speed. If the heating temperature by the drying roller 84 is lowered here, the transfer paper 5 may be insufficiently dried. Therefore, it is desirable to combine it with control such that the distance of the drying process is lengthened or the conveying speed is slowed. Fig. 13
As shown in (b), if the conveyance speed during the liquid application process by the liquid application unit 7 is high, the transfer paper is torn and the transferability is deteriorated. Therefore, in order to prevent this, The number of rotations of the conveying roller of the applying unit 7 may be reduced to reduce the conveying speed during the liquid applying process.

In order to change the passing distance of the drying process as described above, in this embodiment, the branch claw 87 and the bypass conveyance path 88 are used.
However, instead of this, as shown in FIG. 14, two heaters 14b, c on the downstream side of the divided panel type heaters 14a, b, c are used as drying means, and the papermaking direction is the conveying direction. During the normal drying process, which is almost orthogonal to
When the heaters 14b and c are both controlled to be turned on, and when the crevices on the other hand are almost parallel to the transport direction
The passage distance of the drying process may be shortened by controlling the heater 14c at the most downstream side to be turned off. Further, as shown in FIGS. 15 (a) and 15 (b), one sheet of panel heater 14 is used to heat the transfer paper 5 at the time of peeling processing and drying, and the transport path at the central portion of the heater 14 is heated. The branch claw 15 may be arranged in the. In this example, when the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, as shown in FIG.
When the control is performed so that all 14 surfaces are passed and the crevices on the other hand are almost parallel to the transport direction,
As shown in (b), the branch pawl 15 is rotated to switch the transfer path, and the transfer paper 5 is sent from the middle of the heater 14 to the bypass transfer path 16 side to shorten the passing distance of the drying process. To do.

When the papermaking direction is substantially parallel to the conveying direction, as shown in FIG. 14 (b), when the conveying speed during the liquid application processing by the liquid applying unit 7 becomes fast, the transfer paper Since tearing and the like deteriorate the transportability, in order to prevent this, the number of rotations of the transport roller of the liquid applying unit 7 is lowered to slow down the transport speed during the liquid applying process. May be. If the transport speed during the liquid application process is slowed down, the humidification time (liquid application time) becomes longer,
Since the amount of the liquid 71 applied, that is, the amount of humidification of the transfer paper 5 increases, the paper may lose its strain, and paper jams and wrinkles may occur. Even if the speed changes, it is preferable that the amount of humidification be substantially constant. For example, in order to shorten the passing distance during the liquid applying process, as shown in FIG.
Of the liquid 71, and the branch claws 17a and 17b are arranged at two locations on the way of the in-liquid conveying path to pass both the bypass conveying paths 18a and 18b above the liquid container 72. It is possible to shorten the passage distance at the time of the liquid application process by passing the entire submerged transport path. Further, as shown in FIG. 16 (b), a liquid applying device including a liquid container 72, a coating roller 73, etc.
It is also possible to arrange them in series and to control the rotation of the branch claws 17a and 17b to change the number of liquid applying devices to be passed therethrough, thereby changing the passage distance at the time of the liquid applying process.

[Fourth Embodiment] The fourth embodiment has almost the same structure as the third embodiment, and has a paper crevice detection unit.
A difference is that a thickness sensor 19 for measuring the thickness of the transfer paper 5 is provided instead of 10, and the drying condition in the peeling / drying unit 8 is changed based on the thickness. An ultra-small displacement sensor as shown in FIG. 18 can be used as the thickness sensor 19, and this thickness sensor 19 serves as a light emitting element for irradiating the surface of the transfer paper 5 of the measurement object with convergent light. Slit 21 for reflected light from LED20 and transfer paper 5
A casing 21 having a, a PSD 22 as a position detecting element for detecting the spot position of the reflected light flux passing through the slit 21a, and the like. This thickness sensor
At 19, if the distance between the LED 20 and the transfer paper changes,
The angle of the reflected light flux passing through the slit 21a changes,
Since the position of the light receiving spot on the light receiving surface of the PSD 22 moves, the distance between the LED 20 and the surface of the transfer paper 5 can be calculated from the moving distance from the reference position.
Therefore, the thickness of the transfer paper 5 can be calculated by measuring the distance between the LED 20 and the transport surface (reference surface) with which the transfer paper 5 is in contact. The thickness sensor 19 is the LED 20
Has an emission wavelength of 940 nm, the spot diameter of the irradiation light at the measurement position is 1.3 ± 0.2 mm, the distance between the measurement surface of the thickness sensor 19 and the reference surface is 5 mm, and the displacement of the surface of the measurement object is detected. It has a range of 5 ± 1mm and a resolution of ± 10μm.

In the fourth embodiment, the paper feeding unit 6
The thickness of the transfer paper 5 conveyed from is measured by the thickness sensor 19, and when the thickness is thicker than a predetermined thickness, the conveyance speed is increased as shown in FIG. 18 (a). However, since almost no wrinkles occur, the controller (not shown) controls the drying process by the pair of the drying roller 84 and the pressure roller 86 without slowing the conveying speed to maintain the predetermined processing speed. ing. On the other hand, when the thickness of the transfer paper 5 is thinner than a predetermined thickness, wrinkles are likely to occur when the transport speed is high, as shown in FIG. 18 (a). Is slowed down and the drying process is performed. If the conveyance speed is slowed down here, excessive drying is performed, and as shown in FIG. 19, the transferability at the time of copying at the time of reuse deteriorates.Therefore, the branch claw 87 is rotated to switch the conveyance path and transfer. The paper 5 is sent to the bypass conveyance path 88 side so as not to pass through the pair of the drying roller 84 and the pressure roller 86. The range of the water content indicated by the symbol L in FIG. 20 is the proper range. Here, the moisture content is defined by (weight of transfer paper-dry weight of transfer paper) / dry weight of transfer paper.

According to this embodiment, when the thickness of the transfer paper 5 is smaller than the predetermined thickness, the conveyance speed during the drying process is slowed, so that the occurrence of wrinkles can be prevented. Further, when the thickness of the transfer paper 5 is thicker than a predetermined thickness, wrinkles are less likely to occur, and thus the drying process is performed at a normal conveying speed, so that the processing speed of the toner removing process does not become unnecessarily slow. . When the transport speed during the drying process is slowed, the transfer paper 5 is sent to the bypass transport path 88 to shorten the transport distance during the drying process, thereby preventing the transfer paper 5 from being excessively dried, Transfer defects will not occur during copying when used. At this time, since the unnecessary drying process is not performed, the probability of wrinkling can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18 (a), wrinkles are less likely to occur even if the drying temperature is lowered. Therefore, instead of slowing the conveying speed as in the modification of the third embodiment, The heating temperature of the drying roller 84 may be controlled to be lowered. Further, in order to change the passing distance at the time of the drying process, the drying unit may be configured as in the modification of the third embodiment shown in FIGS. Further, when the thickness of the transfer paper 5 is thicker than a predetermined thickness and the conveyance speed is increased as shown in FIG. 18 (b), the conveyance property is deteriorated and wrinkles are likely to occur. In addition, the number of rotations of the transport roller or the like of the liquid applying unit 7 may be lowered to slow down the transport speed during the liquid applying process.

When the transport speed during the liquid applying process is slowed in this way, the humidifying time (liquid applying time) becomes longer and the applied amount of the liquid 71, that is, the humidifying amount of the transfer paper 5 increases, and the paper is not strained. Paper jams and wrinkles may occur. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 20, when the transfer paper 5 is thin, the humidification amount sharply increases as the humidification time increases, so control is performed so as to shorten the passage distance during the liquid application process. It is preferable that the amount of humidification be substantially constant even if the transport speed changes. In order to shorten the passing distance like this,
You may comprise like the modification of FIG. 16 (a), (b) of 3rd Example. Further, as shown in FIG. 21, when the moisture content of the transfer paper 5 before the toner peeling becomes smaller than the predetermined value M, the toner removability decreases. Therefore, when the transfer paper 5 is thick, a predetermined moisture content (FIG. It is preferable to control so that the humidification time (conveyance speed × distance of the liquid application process) is lengthened so that it becomes M or more).

[0059]

The present invention is as described above. According to the invention of claim 1, a light beam is incident on a paper in an oblique direction,
The crevices of the paper are judged by measuring the diffuse reflection distribution, and the invention according to claim 2 makes light incident on the paper in at least two orthogonal directions, and the paper is determined by the difference or ratio of the light amounts. The invention according to claim 11 is for determining a crevice, and a light quantity detection means for detecting a light quantity at least two points in a diffuse reflection distribution and a light entrance means for making a light beam enter the paper from an oblique direction. Since the light incident means and the light amount detection means are integrally formed, it is possible to accurately detect the crevices of the paper in a non-destructive and non-contact manner. The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1 or 3, and the invention according to claim 12 is the invention according to claim 11,
Since the incident light beams are almost parallel, even if the light incident means is displaced in the optical axis direction, the density of the incident light on the test paper hardly changes, so that the fluctuation of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light becomes small. effective. The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 1 or 3, and the invention according to claim 13 is the invention according to claim 11, in which the incident light flux is divergent light, so that the light incidence There is an effect that the distance between the means and the light amount detection means can be shortened, and the size can be reduced. The invention according to claim 6 is the same as the invention according to claim 1 or 3,
In the invention described in claim 14, in the invention described in claim 11, the incident light flux is composed of focused light, and since the distance between the light incident means and the light amount detection means can be made relatively long, the degree of freedom in layout design is increased. There is an effect that can improve. The invention according to claim 3 is to judge the crevices of the paper by injecting a light beam into the paper from an oblique direction and detecting the light amount of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution. In the invention described in claim 3, in the invention described in claim 3, the detection position for detecting the light amount of two or more points is
Since it is arranged so that it is perpendicular to the optical axis of the incident light flux and parallel to the paper to be inspected, the change in the reflected light intensity due to the difference in the paper gap is large and it is easy to judge the paper gap. There is. In the invention according to claim 8, a light flux is obliquely incident on the paper in at least two directions orthogonal to each other, and the light amount of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution is detected to determine the crevice of the paper, Based on the result of this judgment, the paper crevices are comprehensively judged.By comparing the difference in the diffuse reflection distribution between the position almost parallel to the optical axis plane and the position almost perpendicular to the optical axis plane, the reflected light due to the paper type difference Even if the diffuse reflection distribution of is changed, it is possible to accurately determine the crevices of the paper. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, the test paper is moved in a direction orthogonal or parallel to the incident light beam, and the amount of reflected light is set to an arbitrary constant time. Since the crevices of the paper are judged by the integrated value or the average value of, there is an effect that the noise level of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light can be reduced. The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 9, and the invention according to claim 15 is the invention according to claim 11, wherein the incident light flux is coherent light. Therefore, there is a large difference in the diffuse reflection distribution due to the paper crevices, which has the effect of improving the paper crevice determination system.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming material formed on a fibrous surface, an image forming material and an image carrier. And a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying a destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhesion state between the first image holding member and the image holding member. Based on the paper crevice detection means for detecting the crevices of the paper of the image carrier and the detection result of the crevices of the paper, it is judged whether or not the image forming substance removal process involving the application of the destabilizing liquid is possible. Since the judging means and the second image holding body containing means for containing the image holding body judged to be impossible to remove the image forming substance are provided,
Even if the user sets the image carrier in the first image carrier accommodating means without paying attention to the paper creases, it is possible to prevent the image carrier from being wrinkled, and the paper creases are formed in the conveying direction. If it is almost orthogonal to, it is determined that the image forming substance removal process accompanied by application of the destabilizing liquid is possible, and since the image carrier is directly conveyed to the destabilizing liquid applying means,
The processing speed is not unnecessarily slowed down.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the sixteenth aspect, the image carrier whose image forming substance removal processing is determined to be impossible is housed in the second image carrier housing means. Since the display or notifying means for notifying the user is provided, the user is informed that the image holding member judged to be unable to remove the image forming substance is stored in the second image holding member storing means. As a result, the user takes out the image carrier housed in the second image carrier housing means, rotates it so that the direction of this image carrier is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction, and holds the first image carrier. There is an effect that the image forming substance can be removed from the image carrier when the sheet is re-set in the body accommodating means and the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction.

According to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the fifth aspect, the orientation of the image holding member housed in the second image holding member housing means is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the carrying direction. Since the image carrier is rotated so as to be rotated and the image carrier is carried to the destabilizing liquid applying unit, the user holds the image carrier in the first image carrier accommodating unit without being aware of the crevices of the paper. Even when set to, there is an effect that it is possible to prevent wrinkles from being generated on all the image carriers.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming material formed on a fibrous surface, an image forming material and an image carrier. And a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying a destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhesion state between the first image holding member and the image holding member. Based on the paper crevice detection means for detecting the crevices of the paper of the image carrier and the detection result of the crevices of the paper, it is judged whether or not the image forming substance removal process involving the application of the destabilizing liquid is possible. Since the determination means and the rotation means for rotating the image holding body determined to be unable to remove the image forming substance so that the direction of the image holding body is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the conveyance direction are provided, the user may Even if the image carrier is set in the first image carrier housing means without paying attention to the crevices , It is possible to prevent wrinkles from being generated on all image carriers, and when the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, the image forming substance accompanied by the application of the destabilizing liquid. It is determined that the removal processing is possible, and the image carrier is directly conveyed to the destabilizing liquid applying means, so that the processing speed is not unnecessarily slowed down.

According to a twentieth aspect of the invention, the destabilizing liquid is detected based on the paper crevice detecting means for detecting again the paper crevice of the rotated image carrier and the detection result of the paper crevice. Since the judgment means for judging again whether or not the image forming substance removing process accompanied by the provision of the image forming substance and the third image holding member accommodating means for accommodating the image holding member judged not to be able to perform the image forming substance removing process are provided. The crevice detecting means detects again the crevices of the paper of the image carrier rotated, and the deciding means makes the crevices of the paper unclear and indefinite. If you decide again that is not possible,
Since the image carrier is housed in the third image carrier housing means, there is an effect that the image carrier can be processed separately from the processable image carrier.

According to a twenty-first aspect of the invention, the paper crevice detection means detects the paper crevice of the image carrier, and the control means detects the paper crevice based on the detection result of the paper crevice. Is substantially parallel to the carrying direction, the carrying speed in the drying means is set lower than a predetermined speed, or the drying temperature in the drying means is set lower than the predetermined temperature to rapidly dry the image carrier. Since it can be prevented, even if the user sets the image holding body in the first image holding body accommodating means without paying attention to the crevices of the paper, it is possible to prevent the wrinkles of all the image holding bodies from occurring. Also, by making the distance of the drying process in the drying means shorter than a predetermined distance, it is possible to prevent the image carrier from being over-dried, so that the transferability at the time of image formation at the time of reuse is lowered. Without
Further, in the case where the crevices of the paper are substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction, the conveying speed in the drying means, the drying temperature and the distance of the drying processing step are the predetermined speed, temperature and distance, respectively, and the drying processing of the image carrier is performed. By performing the above, it is possible to dry the image carrier so that the content rate of the liquid in the image carrier falls within a predetermined range, and therefore, there is an effect that the processing speed does not unnecessarily slow down.

According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, the paper crevice detection means detects the paper crevice of the image carrier, and the control means detects the paper crevice based on the detection result of the paper crevice. Is substantially parallel to the transport direction, by making the transport speed in the destabilizing liquid applying means slower than a predetermined speed, it is possible to prevent rapid liquid application to the image carrier, so that the user can use it. Even if the image carrier is set in the first image carrier accommodating means without paying attention to the bending direction, it is possible to prevent wrinkles and breakage of all the image carriers, and the destabilizing liquid applying means. By making the distance of the liquid application treatment step in (1) shorter than a predetermined distance, it is possible to prevent the content of the destabilizing liquid in the image carrier after the liquid application from becoming excessively large. Preventing jams and wrinkles If the gap of the paper is substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, the transport speed in the destabilizing liquid deposition means and the distance in the liquid deposition processing step are kept at the predetermined speed and distance to the image carrier. By performing the liquid application process, it is possible to apply the liquid to the image carrier at a predetermined content rate, so that the processing speed is not unnecessarily slowed down.

According to a twenty-third aspect of the invention, the thickness of the image carrier is detected by the thickness detecting means, and the thickness of the image carrier is set to a predetermined value based on the detection result of the thickness by the control means. If it is thinner than this, by making the conveying speed in the drying means slower than a predetermined speed, or by making the drying temperature in the drying means lower than a predetermined temperature, it is possible to prevent rapid drying of the image carrier, It is possible to prevent wrinkling of the image carrier and to prevent the image carrier from being over-dried so that the distance of the drying process in the drying means is shorter than a predetermined distance. When the transferability at the time of image formation is not deteriorated and the thickness of the image carrier is larger than the predetermined thickness, the conveyance speed in the drying means, the drying temperature and the distance of the drying treatment step are set to the predetermined speeds. ,temperature The drying speed of the image carrier can be adjusted so that the content rate of the liquid in the image carrier is within the specified range by performing the drying process of the image carrier at the same distance. There is an effect that it is not slowed down and the transportability at the time of image formation at the time of reuse is not deteriorated.

According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the image carrier is detected by the thickness detecting means, and the thickness of the image carrier is set to a predetermined value based on the detection result of the thickness by the control means. When the thickness is smaller than this, by making the conveying speed in the destabilizing liquid applying means slower than a predetermined speed, it is possible to prevent abrupt liquid application to the image holding member, so that wrinkles and breakage of the image holding member occur. And the content of the destabilizing liquid in the image carrier after applying the liquid becomes excessive by making the distance of the liquid applying treatment step in the destabilizing liquid applying means shorter than a predetermined distance. Since it can be prevented from becoming large, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of jams and wrinkles due to the deterioration of the strain of the image carrier, and further, when the thickness of the image carrier is thicker than a predetermined thickness, in the destabilizing liquid applying means. Conveyance speed and liquid application process Since the liquid can be applied to the image carrier at a predetermined content rate by performing the liquid application process on the image carrier while keeping the respective distances at the predetermined speeds and distances, the processing speed does not become unnecessarily slow. At the same time, there is an effect that a predetermined image forming substance removing performance can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is an explanatory diagram of a diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light on a light receiving surface of the same paper. (b) is an explanatory view of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light in the x direction in (a).

FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram of a diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light in the x direction when the crevices of the paper in FIG. 1 are in the A direction. Figure 1 (b)
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light in the x direction when the crevices of the paper are in the B direction.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a paper crevice determination method when parallel light is used as incident light in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 (a) is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining a paper crevice when parallel light is used as irradiation light in the first embodiment.
FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining a paper crevice when diverging light is used as the irradiation light. FIG. 6C is an explanatory diagram of a method for determining a paper crevice when convergent light is used as the irradiation light.

FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of diffusely reflected light from paper in the first embodiment. (b) is an explanatory view of the diffuse reflection distribution of the reflected light in the FF 'direction of (a). (c) is an explanatory view of a diffuse reflection distribution of reflected light in the GG 'direction of (a).

FIG. 7A is an explanatory diagram of a spatial distribution when the detection values of reflected light intensity are not integrated. (b) is an explanatory view of the spatial distribution when the detected values of the reflected light intensity are integrated.

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of a light detecting means according to a modification of the first embodiment. (b) is a sectional view of the above. (c) is an explanatory view of a diffusion distribution of reflected light in the case of measuring the same as above.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a modified example of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of an operation unit of a modified example of the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 (a) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the transport speed and the drying temperature and the wrinkle rank during the drying process according to the above.
(b) is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a transport speed and a transport property when the same liquid is applied.

FIG. 14 is a schematic configuration diagram of a peeling / drying unit of a modification of the third embodiment.

FIG. 15A is a schematic configuration diagram of a peeling / drying unit according to another modification of the above. (b) is an operation explanatory view of the above.

FIG. 16A is a schematic configuration diagram of a liquid applying unit according to still another modification of the above. (b) is an operation explanatory view of the above.

FIG. 17 is a sectional view of a thickness sensor used in the toner removing device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 (a) is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the transport speed and the drying temperature and the wrinkle rank during the drying process according to the above.
(b) is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a transport speed and a transport property when the same liquid is applied.

FIG. 19 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the moisture content of the transfer paper after the toner removal processing according to the above and the transportability and transferability during recopying.

FIG. 20 is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a humidification time in the same liquid applying process and a moisture content of transfer paper.

FIG. 21 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the moisture content of the transfer paper after the same liquid applying process and the toner removability.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 test paper 2 light emitter 3 light receiver 3a, b, c light receiving element 4 paper crevice determination device 5 transfer paper (before toner removal processing) 5a transfer paper (toner removal processing) 5b transfer paper (toner removal processing not possible) 5c Transfer paper (standby for re-feeding) 6 Paper feeding unit 7 Liquid applying unit 8 Peeling and drying unit 9 Paper receiving unit 10 Paper crevice detection unit 11 Transfer paper rotating unit 12 Paper ejection tray for toner removal processing not possible 13 Operation part 14 Panel type heater 15 Branching claw 16 Bypass conveying path 17 Branching claw 18 Bypass conveying path 19 Thickness sensor 20 LED 21 Casing 22 PSD 82 Peeling roller 84 Drying roller 86 Pressure roller 87 Branching claw 88 Bypass conveying path 89 Conveying roller Pair 111, 112 Branching claw 113 Posture change mechanism 114 Refeed stack tray 131 Display panel 133 Restart button

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. A method for determining a crevice in a paper, which comprises deciding the crevice in the paper by injecting a light beam into the paper from an oblique direction and measuring a diffuse reflection distribution thereof. 2. The paper crevice determination method according to claim 1, wherein light is incident on the paper in at least two orthogonal directions, and the crevice of the paper is judged based on a difference or a ratio of the light amounts. 3. A paper crevice determination method characterized in that a crevice of a paper is judged by making a light beam obliquely incident on the paper and detecting the amount of light of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution. . 4. The method for determining a paper crevice according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the incident light beams are substantially parallel to each other. 5. The method for determining a paper crevice according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the incident light flux is divergent light. 6. The method for determining a paper crevice according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the incident light beam is a focused light beam. 7. The detection position for detecting the light amount of two or more points is arranged so as to be in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the incident light beam and parallel to the test paper. How to judge the grain of paper. 8. A crevice in a paper is judged by injecting a light beam from a diagonal direction to a paper in at least two directions orthogonal to each other, and detecting the light quantity of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution. A method for determining a paper score based on a comprehensive determination of the paper score based on the above. 9. The paper to be inspected is moved in a direction orthogonal or parallel to an incident light beam, and the crevices of the paper are judged by an integral value or an average value of the reflected light amount for an arbitrary fixed time. 9. The method for judging the crevices of paper according to any one of claims 1 to 8. 10. The method for determining a paper crevice according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the incident light is coherent light. 11. A light incident means for injecting a light beam into a sheet from an oblique direction and a light amount detection means for detecting the light amount of at least two points in the diffuse reflection distribution, and the light incident means and the light amount detection. An apparatus for determining a paper crevice characterized by comprising means integrally. 12. The paper crevice determination device according to claim 11, wherein the incident light beams are substantially parallel to each other. 13. The paper scoring device according to claim 11, wherein the incident light flux is divergent light. 14. The paper scoring device according to claim 11, wherein the incident light beam is a focused light beam. 15. The paper scoring device according to claim 11, wherein the incident light beam is a coherent light beam. 16. A first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming material formed on a fibrous surface, and an adhesion state between the image forming material and the image carrier. In an image forming substance removing device including a destabilizing liquid applying unit that applies a destabilizing liquid that makes an unstable state to an image carrier,
The destabilizing liquid is applied on the basis of the paper crevice detection means for detecting the crevices of the paper of the image carrier conveyed from the first image carrier storage means, and the detection result of the paper crevices. An image holding device comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not the accompanying image forming substance removal processing is possible; and a second image holding member accommodation unit that accommodates the image holding member for which the image forming substance removal process is determined to be impossible. A device for removing image-forming substances from the body. 17. A display or notifying means for notifying a user that the image holding member judged to be unable to remove the image forming substance is held in the second image holding member holding means. The image-forming substance removing device according to claim 16. 18. An image carrier, which is housed in the second image carrier housing means, is rotated so that the direction thereof is changed by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction, and the image carrier is destabilized. 17. The apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to claim 16, characterized in that a rotary conveyance means for conveying to the applying means is provided. 19. A first image carrier accommodating means for accommodating an image carrier having an image made of an image forming substance formed on a fibrous surface, and an adhesion state between the image forming substance and the image carrier. In an image forming substance removing device including a destabilizing liquid applying unit that applies a destabilizing liquid that makes an unstable state to an image carrier,
The destabilizing liquid is applied on the basis of the paper crevice detection means for detecting the crevices of the paper of the image carrier conveyed from the first image carrier storage means, and the detection result of the paper crevices. Judgment means for deciding whether or not the accompanying image forming substance removal processing is possible, and rotation for rotating the image holding member determined to be impossible for the image forming substance removal processing so that its orientation is converted by approximately 90 degrees with respect to the transport direction. And a means for removing the image-forming substance from the image carrier. 20. A paper crevice detecting means for detecting again the crevices in the rotated image carrier paper, and an image forming substance accompanied by application of a destabilizing liquid based on the detection result of the paper crevices. 19. A determination means for determining again whether or not the removal processing is possible, and a third image holding body accommodation means for accommodating the image holding body for which the image forming substance removal processing is determined to be impossible are provided. 20. An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier according to any one of 19 or 19 above. 21. A destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhered state between an image forming substance and an image holding member is applied to an image holding member on which an image made of an image forming substance is formed on a fibrous surface. Destabilizing liquid applying means for applying to the image holding member, peeling means for peeling and removing the image forming substance from the image holding member to which the destabilizing liquid is applied, and drying the image holding member from which the image forming substance is removed. An image-forming substance removing device comprising a drying means for controlling a paper crevice detecting means for detecting a crevice in the image carrier
An image forming substance removing device from an image carrier, comprising: a control unit that changes a drying condition in a drying unit based on a detection result of a paper crevice. 22. A destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhered state between the image forming substance and the image holding member is applied to an image holding member on which an image made of the image forming substance is formed on a fibrous surface. In an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image carrier having a destabilizing liquid applying means for applying to the image carrier, a paper crevice detecting unit for detecting a paper crevice of the image carrier, and a paper crevice An image forming substance removing device from an image carrier, further comprising: a control unit that changes a liquid applying condition in the destabilizing liquid applying unit based on the detection result of 1. 23. An image holding member having a destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhesion state between the image forming substance and the image holding member on the image holding member having an image formed of the image forming substance formed on the surface thereof. Destabilizing liquid applying means for applying the destabilizing liquid, peeling means for peeling and removing the image forming substance from the image holding body to which the destabilizing liquid is applied, and drying means for drying the image holding body from which the image forming substance is removed. In the image forming substance removing device from the image carrier, the thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of the image carrier, and the control for changing the drying condition in the drying means based on the thickness detection result. And a means for removing the image-forming substance from the image carrier. 24. A destabilizing liquid for destabilizing an adhesion state between an image forming substance and an image holding member is applied to an image holding member having an image formed of the image forming substance on the surface thereof. In the apparatus for removing the image-forming substance from the image carrier, which comprises the destabilizing liquid applying means for applying to the image forming means, the thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of the image holding body, and the An apparatus for removing an image-forming substance from an image carrier, comprising: a control unit that changes a liquid application condition in the stabilizing liquid application unit.