JPS58183565A - Apparatus for sorting and receiving blank - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a high accuracy stop position by driving a vertically movable carriage for guiding blanks relative to a sorting receiving section arranged in a plurality of steps with a stepping motor and counting the step number of said motor to detect the position of the carriage. CONSTITUTION:A blank sorting receiving apparatus (sorter) 1 is provided with a transferring direction change-over section 10 located downstream of a transferring section 3 of a copier 2, and a transferring path can be changed over to first and second transferring paths 12A, 12B by the change-over operation of a guide selector 13 of the change-over section 10. And a sorting receiving section having a plurality of bins 41 is connected to the second transferring path 12B through a blank transferring section 18. In this case, a carriage 50 provided for guiding the blanks sent to said section 18 to the respective bins 41 is vertically moved through a timing belt driven by a stepping motor 54 and the position of the carriage 50 can be detected by the counted value of the step number of said motor 54.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an apparatus for sorting and storing copied sheets according to the number of copies, for example, when a plurality of copies of various types of originals are made using a copying machine.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a device (sorter) has been proposed that sorts and stores sheets by moving up and down a carriage that sorts sheets into a plurality of stages of sheet sorting and storage devices (also referred to as lower bins). A linear motor is used as the drive source for the carriage in this sorter, and the rotational force of this drive motor is transmitted to the belt via an electromagnetic brake or clutch to move the carriage fixed to the belt up and down. In this case, the position of the carriage and the desired position of the bin were aligned by a rotation detector attached to the drive motor.

However, with this device, if the motor is rotated at high speed in order to move the carriage to the next stop position within a predetermined time r9), the rotation detector cannot follow it due to the detection ability of the rotation detector. Therefore, there was a problem in that an electromagnetic brake or clutch was required. Also,
Since the rotation detector only detects the relative movement of the carriage, mechanical stress such as damage to the motor etc. occurs when the carriage attempts to move beyond the upper or lower limit, so in order to avoid this, Another problem was that multiple limit switches were required.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances, and while it is capable of maintaining the accuracy of the stop position of a moving member, it hardly requires the conventional electromagnetic brake, clutch, or multiple position detectors. The object of the present invention is to provide a paper sorting and storage device.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a stepping motor (master motor) as a drive source for a moving member,
This step and ping motor step-out phenomenon is used to set the initial position, and by counting the number of drive steps, each position υ is positioned.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an installed state of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the device, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the device, and FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view of the carriage. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the carriage and jig drive section, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of other drive means for the bin roller, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the control section.

A paper sorting/storage device (hereinafter also simply referred to as a sorter) 1 shown in the figure stores sheets copied by a copying machine 2, for example.
The sheets are carried in through the paper discharge section 3 and stored in a sorted storage section (hereinafter also referred to as sorting) or stored in a discharge section storage section (hereinafter also referred to as non-sorted).

First, as shown in FIG. 1, this sorter 1 includes a pace plate 4, a side frame 5 consisting of a wall plate attached with pace plates 4KM, and the above-mentioned P1, Z, Fv-).
4 and a frame cover 6 which is openably and closably provided on a side frame 5 opposite to the frame cover 6. Note that the side frame 5 is formed with an opening 5A that communicates with the paper discharge section 3 of the copying machine 2, and this opening 5A protrudes outward as well as the plate surface of the pace plate 4. ing. The center of gravity of the sorter 1 is also located vertically above the first figure, for example, on the side frame near the opening 5A, as shown in the same figure, a first engaging portion, for example, a pair of hooks 7 is provided, and furthermore, this hook, A second engaging portion, for example a pair of studs 8, for engaging and disengaging the lever 7 is attached to two side frames of the copying machine located near the paper discharge section 3 of the copying machine 2. When the sorter 1 is attached to the stud 8 via the hook 7, a moment (counterclockwise in the first figure) is exerted on the rotation of the stud due to its own weight, so the foot 9 for receiving this moment is attached to the pace plate. 4, and the tip of this foot 9 (5) comes into contact with the two side frames of the copying machine 2. In this way, the sorter 1 is attached to the copying machine 2 using the hooks 7 and the feet 9, and is configured to extend below the copying machine 2. Therefore, a special mounting table is required to attach the sorter 1. It is not necessary and can occupy less space. 2B is a photosensitive drum, and 2C and 2D are paper feed cassettes.

Next, the side frame 5 is provided with a conveyance direction switching section 10 that switches the conveyance direction of the paper carried in from the paper discharge section 3 of the copying machine 2 through the opening 5A. For example, as shown in FIG.
, a first conveyance path 12A and a second conveyance path 12B communicating with the opening 5A are formed by the IIC, and a guide selector 13 is located at the branch point of both the conveyance paths 12A and 12B, centered on one end on the back side. It is configured to be swingable. As shown in FIG. 3, this guide selector 13 is connected to a plunger 13D of a guide selector solenoid 13C via a guide selector rod 13A (1,) that rotates together with the guide selector 13 and a rank lever 13B. The sylanger 1'3D is biased upward in the third drawing by a biasing member 13E. When the ID selector solenoid 13C is demagnetized, the guide selector 13 assumes the position shown in FIG. 2 and selects the first conveyance path 12A. In addition, the guide selector solenoid 1
3C, the guide selector 13 rotates counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 2 to select the second conveyance path 12B.

□ A first paper transport section 1 that transports one sheet of paper fed into the first transport path 12A and guides it to the non-separated storage section.
5 is provided. For example, this is constituted by a pair of non-sort rollers 16 that pinch and convey the paper sent into the first conveyance path 12A, and the side of the A non-sorting tray 17 protruding from the frame 5 is configured as the non-sorting storage section.

Further, a second paper transport section 18 is provided connected to the second paper transport path 12B to transport the paper fed into the second transport path 12B. For example, an idle wheel 19 is placed near the second conveyance path 12B, a drive wheel 20 is placed opposite the idle wheel 19, and both wheels 19 and 20 have a large number of suction holes 21a on their surfaces. Two endless conveyor bells) 21A, 21
B are stretched at predetermined intervals. As shown in FIG. 2, a suction fan 22 is provided on the back of the pace plate 4.
is attached, and this suction fan 22 is connected to the suction hole 21a.
21A.

21B. As shown in FIG. 3, a paper transport drive unit 24 for driving the first paper transport unit 15 and the second paper transport unit 18 is provided via the pace plate 4 and the side frame 5. This paper conveyance driving section 24 can alternately drive both paper conveyance sections 15 and 18. For example, the first The first
It is comprised of a one-way latch section 27 and a second one-way latch section 28 that transmits only the rotational force of the transport motor 25 in the other direction to the second paper transport section 18 . The first one-way latch portion 27 includes, for example, a first spur gear 1 to which rotational force is transmitted via a pinion gear 30 attached to the shaft of the transport motor 25, and this first horn 4-gear. 31 and a first one-way clutch 32 inserted between the shaft 16m of the non-sort roller 16, and this first one-way clutch 32 rotates the conveyance motor 25 in the third counterclockwise direction in the drawing. This rotational force is transmitted to the non-sort roller 16 (lower roller in the figure) only when it rotates. Further, the second one-way latch portion 28 includes, for example, an idle gear 33 to which rotational force is transmitted via the pinion gear 30, and a second snow (-gear 34) that meshes with the idle gear 33.
a timing gear 35; a drive shaft 36 that rotates together with the timing gear 35; (9) the drive shaft 36 and the second spur gear 3;
4, a timing gear 38 that rotates integrally with the shaft 20m of the drive wheel 20, and the timing gear 38.
The second one-way clutch 37 transfers this rotational force to the drive wheel only when the conveyance motor 25 is rotated clockwise in the third figure. 20. In such a paper conveyance drive unit 24, during non-sort operation, the conveyance motor 25 is rotated counterclockwise in the third figure to rotate the non-sort roller 16 (lower roller in the third figure) clockwise. When performing a sorting operation, the conveyance motor 25 is rotated clockwise in the third figure, thereby rotating the drive wheel 20 clockwise and conveying the paper downward. . As a result, even if a paper jam occurs in the second paper transport section 18 or the sorted storage section 40 (described later), only the first paper transport section 15 can be driven. Non-sorted storage operations can be performed without causing jams or damage to the device, which in turn allows urgent copying needs to be met. Note that the paper conveyance drive unit 24 is not limited to the one described above, and each paper conveyance drive unit 1
5.18 may be provided with an independent drive section, or both one-way clutches may be replaced with electromagnetic clutches or ratchet wheels.

Next, a sorting storage section (hereinafter also simply referred to as a sorting section) 40 that sorts and stores the sheets conveyed by the second sheet conveying section 18 will be explained.

For example, a plurality of bins 41A to 41J protrude outward at predetermined intervals and are attached to the frame cover 6, and both the conveyor belts 21A.

A linear guide rail 42A is provided on the pace plate 4 between the conveyor belts 21A and 21B along the conveyor belts 21A and 21B, and a linear motion block 42B is slidably fitted to the linear guide rail 42A. A guide section 43 is attached to the linear motion block 42B to guide the paper transported by the transport bells 21A and 21B to a desired bin. The bins 41A to 41J are arranged below the non-sort tray 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that both non-sort and sorted sheets can be handled in one place. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of paper processing. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the guide portion 43 first has a substantially U-shaped frame 44 attached to the linear motion block 42B, and is further provided with a frame 44 in order to prevent the frame 44 from rolling horizontally. A peeling roller 45 is attached to the left end of the frame 44 in the third drawing, and a side guide 46 having an elongated hole 46A that fits into the guide roller 45 is attached to the pace plate 4. The frame body 44 has both the conveyor belts) 21A, 2
The paper conveyed by 1B is transferred to the bins 41A to 4.
A guide member that guides in the direction of 1J, for example, the upper guide 4
A lower guide 7A and a lower guide 47B are attached, and a bin roller 48 for sending out the guided paper forward is disposed opposite to and in rotatable contact with the tip of the lower guide 47B. The upper bin roller 48 in the third figure is configured to be driven counterclockwise in the third figure by a drive gear 49A, a binion gear 49B that meshes with the binion gear 49B, and a bin roller motor 49C that drives the binion gear 49B. . In particular, since the paper is fed out by the bin roller 48 and the paper is conveyed by the conveyor bells 21A and 21B at a high speed, the trailing edge of the fed paper does not stay in front of the bin. Further, the third illustrated upper end of the lower guide 47B is connected to both the conveyor belts 21A as shown in FIG.

21B, and is configured so that the conveyed paper is separated from the conveyor bells 21A and 21B and smoothly guided. and the above conveyor bell) 21A,
A carriage (the frame body 44 and both guides 47A) configured to be movable up and down along the line 21B.

47B, the bin roller 48, and the pin roller motor 49C that drives the bin roller 48) (13) Carriage drive unit 5 that moves 50 to a desired bin position
1 is provided on the pace plate 4.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, an idle gear 51A and a drive gear 51B are rotatably attached to the side restraints of the linear guide rail 42A,
Sufu 4-Gear 5 which rotates integrally with this drive gear 51B
2, a oneion gear 53 that meshes with this snow arm A' 752, a stepping motor (hereinafter also simply referred to as a carry motor) 54 with this binion gear 53 attached to the motor shaft, the idle gear 51A and the drive gear 5.
1B, and a connecting member 5 that connects the timing belt 55 and the frame 44.
6, and the carriage 50 is moved to a desired bin position by driving the carriage motor 54 a predetermined number of steps. Although the guide section 43 is configured to move the carriage 50 relative to the bins 41A to 41J fixedly arranged on the frame cover 6, the main point is that the guide members 47A, 47B
(14) By moving relative to the bins 41A to 41J, the second
It is only necessary to guide the paper transported by the paper transport section 1B to a desired bin, and it is also possible to configure the bin to be moved. The bin roller 48 is configured to be driven by a dedicated pin roller motor 49C, but as shown in FIG.
Gear 49 meshing with timing belt 39 for driving 1B
It is also possible to provide D so as to be able to rotate integrally with the pin roller 48 on the lower side in FIG.

A carriage paper discharge switch (hereinafter also simply referred to as a CRG paper discharge switch) 60 is attached to the carriage 50 to detect the paper sent out via the bin roller 48, and this is used to detect the paper discharge of the copying machine 2. For detecting paper jams from the copier paper ejection switch (hereinafter simply referred to as the COP paper ejection switch) 61 attached to the copying machine section 3 until it passes the CRG paper ejection switch 60, and detecting the drive timing of the carriage 50. (Details will be described later). Further, an initial switch 62 that comes into contact with the rear key guide 47A of the carriage 50 is provided at the upper end of the linear guide rail 42A.
It is used to position it opposite A (
(Details will be described later).

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a door switch 63 is attached to the side frame 5, and a door switch 63 is attached to the side frame 5.
Detects opening/closing.

The power source for the sorter 1 is taken out from the main body of the copying machine 2. For example, power can be supplied by simply inserting a plug into a connector (not shown) provided on the main body of the copying machine 20.

Next, the configuration of the control section of the sorter of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. In the figure, a portion 70 surrounded by a chain line is a control portion, and other portions represent mechanical portions or external devices. The mechanical parts related to the sorter shown are a transport motor 25, a carriage motor 54, a guide selector solenoid 13C2, a suction fan 22, a CRG (carriage) paper ejection switch 60, and an initial switch 62.
, a door switch 63, and a copying machine main body 2, a cop (copying machine) paper ejection switch 61 provided therein, and a power supply 80 attached to the copying machine main body 2 as external devices. In addition to this, there is a copy number setting key on the operation/armpit part of the copying machine body 2, copy button, and sorter operation start?
A display section for displaying the number of copies, the number of copies for sorting, etc. is provided, but is not particularly shown here. Similarly, the conveyance motor 25 and the carriage motor 54 use a step motor of an excitation phase switching drive type.

Before explaining the control section 70, an example of the use of the stepping motor in the present invention will be explained.

As is known, the amount of rotation of a stepping motor can be accurately controlled by controlling the number of excitations and pulses supplied. Therefore, when the stepping motor is used to drive the carriage 50, the amount of movement of the carriage 50 can be controlled by excitation (17) and counting the number of pulses, making it extremely easy to position each pin of the sorter. become. In addition, the rotational speed of a stepping motor can be controlled by changing the frequency of the excitation pulse, so when moving an object, it is first moved at a low speed, then moved at a high speed in the middle, and finally It is now possible to perform speed control in three stages, such as decelerating at a low speed and then stopping, thereby making it possible to perform positioning smoothly. In the embodiment described above, both the conveyance motor 25 and the carriage motor 54 are driven by performing the above-described speed control, but since they are used in different manners, the specific manner of control is also slightly different. That is, for example, the transport motor 2
5, the speed control is performed during the constant speed period T2 as shown in FIG.
The acceleration period TI and the deceleration period T3 are set to have substantially the same slope with respect to . On the other hand, when the carriage motor 54 moves in the upward direction of the carriage due to the weight of the carriage 500, the carriage motor 54 receives a force in the counter-rotational direction.
When the carriage moves downward, it receives a force in the rotational direction, so the speed control characteristics are switched depending on the direction of movement, as shown in FIGS. 8(b) and 8(e), respectively. In other words, (b) in the same figure shows the case where the carriage is moving upwards, so the initial speed is made small so that it takes time to accelerate, and when it stops, the weight of the carriage acts as a brake, so the deceleration time is shortened. , Figure (c) shows the case where the carriage moves downwards.When accelerating, the weight of the carriage can be used as power, increasing the initial speed and shortening the acceleration time, but when stopping, inertia due to the weight acts. Therefore, we take time to decelerate and keep the final speed low.

Such control is performed by a CPU 73, which will be described later, and a timer count controller 71 based on this command. Furthermore, a stepping motor has a characteristic that when the frequency of the excitation pulse is set to be higher than the self-starting frequency, it steps out and stops without causing mechanical stress, and when it returns to the self-starting frequency, it starts rotating again. Carriage 50 as explained in the example
By providing the initial switch 62 at the upper end of the movement area, the initial switch 62 can act as a stop horn 4 to cause the stepping motor to step out and automatically stop it. As a result, from the time the initial switch 62 operates, the carry and motor 54
The initial position can be set so that the position of the carriage 50 in a state where it is reversely rotated several times is the position of the uppermost pin 41A. Regarding the setting of this initial position, the carriage 50
The initial position is set by dropping it downward under its own weight and stopping it by contacting a stopper provided near the lower limit (for example, the stopper #19' shown by a chain line near the door switch 63 in Fig. 2). It's okay. In the above embodiment, when the sorter is used, the carriage 50, which had been moving downward, is moved upward to operate the initial switch 62. However, if a problem such as a paper jam occurs during movement, the stepping A possible problem is that the motor loses synchronization and will no longer move even if the obstacle is removed. For this reason, the driving frequency of the stepping motor is changed alternately between high and low speeds as shown in FIG.
Even if step-out occurs at , movement is restarted at time t2 at the intersection with the next self-starting frequency fo.

The control section 70 shown in FIG. 7 includes a timer counter controller 71, a timer counter section 72, a central processing control unit (referred to as cpTJ) 73, a storage section 74, an output port door 5, an input port door 6, and a driver. It consists of a section 77 and an interface section 78.

The timer/counter unit 72 is used as a timer counter 72A for controlling a transport motor, a timer counter 72B for controlling a carry motor, and a timer counter 72B for controlling a carry motor.
AM) A timer counter 72C for detection.

The driver section 77 includes a transport motor driver 77A,
It is composed of a carriage motor driver 77B, a guide (21) selector, and a suction fan driver 77C. The interface section 78 includes an output interface 78A, an input interface 78B, a sensor interface 78C, ! : It is composed of:

The storage unit 74 stores data for operating each of the stepping motors 25 and 54 as described above, timing data and clock data for detecting JAM, and program data indicating the processing procedure of the CPU 73. It also includes a RAM in which data indicating the current pin position can be rewritten in association with the amount of movement of the carriage.

Here, an example of the data stored in the storage section 7.4 will be specifically explained. First, as stepping motor drive data, time data indicating the amount of carriage movement corresponding to the spacing between pins of the sorter is stored. In this case, it goes without saying that the speed control data as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are stored. In addition, 4-bit data indicating the pin position is stored in this storage section.
Data indicating the current bin position can be sequentially selected in accordance with the amount of movement of the stepping motor after the initial position is set. Furthermore, reference data for JAM detection is stored in this storage unit. That is, the paper that has passed through the COP paper ejection switch 61 of the copying machine main body 2 is transferred to the sorter 1.
Data on the time taken to reach the CRG paper ejection switch 60 attached to the carriage 50 on the side is stored, and especially in the above embodiment, the above time differs depending on the position of the carriage 50. A plurality of time data are stored in accordance with changes in the amount of movement of the moving carriage. The reading start timing of this time data corresponds to the generation timing of the paper ejection signal EXIT.

Next, the contents of signals processed between the control section 70 and each mechanical section will be explained. A signal Sl from the conveyance motor driver 77A causes the conveyance motor 25 to rotate clockwise during sorting, and the conveyance bell) 21A.

21B, and rotates it counterclockwise during non-sorting to drive the non-sort roller 16. The signal S sent from the carry motor driver 77B is a signal for moving the carriage by rotating the carriage motor 54 forward or backward by a desired step as described above. Among the signals from the guide selector and suction fan driver 77C, one signal S3 switches the guide selector 13 to the non-sorting side by demagnetizing the guide selector solenoid 13C, and switching it to the sorting side in the energized state. The other signal S4 is a signal for driving the suction fan 22. Signals 85 to S7 input to sensor interface 78C
Of these, the signal S5 from the CRG paper ejection switch 60 is a signal sent when the paper passes the bin roller portion on the carriage 50, as described above, and is used for JAM detection. The signal S6 from the initial switch 62 is sent out when the carriage 50 reaches the initial switch, and is used to set the initial position of the carriage. Signal S7 from door switch 63
When the sorter cover is open, all motors are stopped, the use of the sort key and copy key is disabled, and the signal is used to cancel (reset) the jam signal S-JAM generated in the sorter section.

Next, the contents of various signals transmitted and received between the control section 70 and the copying machine main body 2 will be explained. Output interface 7
From 8A, sorter lady 5-RDY.

The sorter ON 5-ON, sorter bin position 5-BIN, and sorter jam S-JAM signals are output to the copying machine main body 2.
will be processed. Sorter Ready S-RDY does not turn on the corresponding lamp in the nozzle section of the copying machine body when the carriage 50 is moving to the initial position, during sort/non-sort switching operation, during sorter clear operation, or when the sorter cover is open. This is a signal that is lit at other times and indicates that the sorter can be used. Sortaon S
-ON is a signal for informing whether or not the sorter 1 is attached to the copying machine main body 2 by the connection state of the power connector. Sorter bin position 8-BIN indicates the position of the bin where the carriage (25) 50 is stopped, and a numerical value is displayed on a display section (not shown) on the panel of the main body of the copying machine based on the 4-bit signal. It looks like this. This makes it possible to easily recognize, for example, the location of a jammed bottle. Sorter jam S-JAM is a signal that is output when a jam occurs in the sorter. In particular, in the present invention, when the number of sheets to be sorted exceeds one page due to a paper jam in the sorter, the "sort storage inappropriate" signal is output. ” is used as a signal to indicate.

The input interface 78B from the copying machine main body 2 contains the following information: SORT) 5ORT, paper ejection EXIT, :ff PY end CPY
Each signal of END sosoria S-CLR is input. Sort) 5ORT is a signal that instructs the sorting state of the sorter, and upon receiving this signal, the sorter starts operating. Paper ejection EXIT is a signal output from the cop paper ejection switch 61 in the copying machine main body 2, and is kept on from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the paper, and serves as a reference signal when JAM is detected as described above. used as. Copy end CPY EN
D is the r96) signal that is output when copying the final paper, and the CLR outputs this signal in the sorting state.
is output when the power is turned on, and the control unit that receives this signal moves the carriage upward until the initial switch is activated.

Next, the operation of the apparatus of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, before explaining the overall operation, a method for controlling the driving of the stepping motor will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, CPU 73
At , a judgment is made as to whether or not to start driving the motor, and if it is, an interrupt is enabled, and the moving direction designation data in the storage section 74 is taken out and sent via the output port door 5 and the carriage motor driver 77B. In addition to specifying the excitation phase switching order, time data necessary for moving the sorter between bins is retrieved from the ROM of the storage section 74 and set in the timer counter 72B.

The timer counter 72B is the timer counter controller 7
Subtractive counting is performed by the black signal sent from 1, and when the count value reaches "zero" (timeout), the CPU 73 is notified.

Having received the timeout, the CPU 73 outputs an excitation phase switching command to the carriage driver 77B, which causes the carriage motor to rotate by one step. The data is read from the ROM again and the above operation is repeated so that the desired step rotation occurs. In order to control the speed characteristics at this time, as described above, the CPU 73 retrieves the control data from the ROM and then outputs the control data from the timer/counter controller 71.
Control is performed by giving commands to the speed characteristics shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Here, the initial position of the carriage 50 as described above is set as follows. When the sorter clear signal is output after the power is turned on, the CPU 73 continuously takes in the ROM data in the storage section 74 and drives the carry motor 54 in steps. When the carriage 50 moves upward through such step driving, it will eventually come into contact with the initial switch 62, and an initial switch-on signal S6 will be output. Upon receiving this signal s6, the CPU 73 will turn on the carriage motor. Stop the drive once. Thereafter, the CPU 73 retrieves the carry and motor reverse data from the ROM, rotates the carry and motor 54 by one step (or several steps) in the opposite direction, and sets the carriage 50 to the position of the uppermost bin 41A. Such a carry, the position of Ji5o is the initial position (
initial position). When the initial position of the carriage is set in this way, each timer counter 72A-7
2C is cleared, and among the 4-bit data indicating the bin position stored in the storage section 74, data indicating the first bin 41A is selected, and based on this data, the copying machine main body 2 Numerical values are displayed on the panel. Thereafter, each time the carriage 50 moves, the timer counter 72B performs a predetermined count, so the position of the currently used bin can be determined simply by knowing how many times this counter has counted out. , and the numerical value of the bin displayed on the panel will be updated.

(29) Next, the overall operation of the sorter will be explained with reference to the time chart of FIG. 11 and the flow chart of FIG. 12.

Non-sort operation> When the power is turned on, whether or not the sorter is installed is determined by the presence or absence of the connection of the connector described above, and if the installation signal S-ON is output, the next step is to determine whether it is sorting or non-sorting. Signal 5ORT from the sort key on the copying machine main body 2 side
It is judged by the presence or absence of.

Next, it is determined whether the sorter clear signal S-CLR is output from the copying machine main body. If neither of these conditions is satisfied, the process shifts to a non-sort operation flow. That is, since the sorter clear signal S-CLR is not generated, the output from the ID selector and suction fan driver 77C is not activated, the guide selector solenoid 13C is not energized, and therefore the guide selector 13 does not transfer the paper to the tray 17 side. It remains set to transport.

Then, the copy end signal cpygND is sent from the copying machine main body 2.
It is determined whether or not □ is displayed, and if it is not displayed, then after a copy key (not shown) is pressed on the copying machine main body 2, the copied paper is transferred to the CoP paper ejection switch 61. When the switch is activated, an EXIT signal is sent, and after a certain period of time (during which the paper moves from the copying machine's paper ejection roller to the sorter paper ejection roller), the transport motor 25
is rotated counterclockwise, and the non-sort roller 16 rotates to guide the paper to the tray 17. At this time, the rotational speed of the non-sort roller 16 is set to be equal to or slightly faster than the sheet discharge speed of the main body of the copying machine, so that the sheets are conveyed smoothly. When the paper ejection signal EXIT is cut off, the rotation of the transport motor 25 stops after a certain period of time, but if the next paper ejection signal EXIT is generated during that time, the rotation continues. The non-sorting operation is performed in this way, and when the final copy signal CPY END is output from the copying machine main body 2, the operation ends after the last sheet is stored in the tray 17.

Sorting Operation> When the sort key is pressed with the sorter attached and a sorter clear signal S-CLR is generated, the control section in the sorter that receives this signal sets the initial position of the carriage 50 as described above. That is, the carriage 50 moves upward and stops when the initial switch 62 is turned on, and then the carriage motor 54 reversely rotates several steps to position the carriage 50 at the uppermost bin 41A. At the same time, the guide selector solenoid is energized and the guide selector 13 is activated by the conveyor bell) 21A.

It is switched to the 21B side. At the same time as the guide selector is switched, the suction fan 22 also starts operating. If the copy key is pressed immediately after the sorter key is pressed, the carriage positioning operation will be performed while the paper is being transported within the copier, so there will be no waiting time problem. do not have.

Next, the CPU 73 in the control unit 70 determines whether or not the door switch, Chiro 3, which indicates the open/closed state of the sorter cover, is in the operating state.
Further, it is determined whether the carriage 5o is in the normal position based on the operating state of the timer counter 72B, and if there is no problem, a sorter ready signal S-RDY is generated, thereby confirming that copying and sorting operations are possible.

After that, the copy end signal CPY END is sent from the copying machine main body 2.
It is determined whether or not this has occurred, and if it has not occurred, the next time the copied paper passes through the copy paper ejection switch 61 in the copying machine main body 2, the paper ejection signal EXIT at this time is output to the control section of the sorter. 7 o gets hit with a big sword. After receiving this signal EXIT, the control unit 7o of the sorter drives the conveyance motor 25 after a predetermined period of time has passed, moves the conveyor bells 21A and 21B, and also moves the bin rollers 48 provided on the carriage 5o via the bin roller motor 49C. Drive rotation. In this case, the bin roller 48 is driven faster than the movement of the conveyor belt. The paper sent from the copying machine main body 2 is attracted to the conveyor bells 21A and 21B and conveyed downward. When the paper reaches the paper guide section of the carrier and the paper tray 5o set at the position of the uppermost bin 41A, it is torn off from the conveyor belt and guided to the bin roller 48 side, and further by the bin roller 48 to the uppermost bin. It is stored in 41A. Since the bin roller moves faster than the conveyor belt, storage is carried out smoothly (33). Here, by determining the operating state of the carriage paper ejection switch (CRG paper ejection switch) 60, it is possible to know whether or not a paper jam (JAM) has occurred. That is, the time required for paper movement stored in the ROM is compared with the time from when the actual EXIT signal is generated until the CRG paper ejection switch is turned on, and the CRG paper ejection switch 6o is turned on even after a certain period of time has elapsed. When the sorter does not operate, a sorter jam S-JAM is displayed, and it is determined that sorting storage is inappropriate, and the paper is shifted to the above-mentioned non-sorting operation without stopping the operation to store the sheets in the tray 17. At this time, the jam state is cleared by opening the sorter cover (frame cover) 6. When the frame cover 6 is opened, all motors will stop. The 8-JAM signal is released by the operation of the door switch and chiro 3 that come into contact with the frame cover 6. After the jam condition is cleared, the carriage 50 moves to the first bin 41A by closing the cover.
After moving to the position, move to the position of the bottle immediately before opening.

(34) This is done by the CPU 73 in the control section 70 remembering the bin position and issuing a command to move from the initial position to the current position. The copy key is disabled while the power/J- is opened. In addition, EX
The time from when the IT signal is output until the paper reaches the bin will vary depending on the bin position, but since the CPU determines the bin position in use, the corresponding reference time is always It will be judged based on the reference. Next, it is determined whether the carriage 50 is at the upper or lower limit of its movement range. This determination is made by the CPU, which remembers the current position of the carriage 50, depending on whether there is a bin in the movement direction to which the carriage should move further. Then, when the carriage position is neither the upper limit nor the lower limit, the process returns to the flow of determining whether or not the copy end signal CPY END is generated.

Such an operation is repeated to perform a sorting operation according to the set number of copies. Then, for the next document, the carriage 50 sequentially moves upward from the position of the bin containing the final number of copies last time, and a sorting operation is performed. and,
When the copy end signal c'py ww is output, the operation ends after storing the last sheet in the bin. Here, the determination when the number of copies set for sorting exceeds the number of bins will be explained.

For example, the number of bins in this sorter is 10, but if we assume that the number of copies to be sorted is 12, the 10 copies will be stored separately in the 1st to 10th bins 41A to 41J on board the ship. , for the number of copies exceeding this, in the flow of determining whether the position of the carriage 50 is the upper limit or the lower limit,
Since either condition is satisfied, the CPU
73 determines that subsequent sorting and storage is inappropriate, and the remaining two copies are stored in the tray 17 by shifting to a non-sorting operation flow.

In the above operation, the transport bells 21A and 21B will stop if no new EXIT signal is output even after a certain period of time has elapsed. In addition, the carriage motor 5
4, when specifying a sorter, the carriage 50 is kept in an excited state and fixed at the current position, but the excitation current at this time is made smaller than that during rotation, or the carriage 50 is intermittently excited, resulting in high power consumption and heat generation. It is desirable to suppress the

Furthermore, the suction fan 22 applies exhaust air to the carriage motor to cool the motor.

Interrupt copying is possible only during non-sort operation. That is, when the interrupt key is pressed during the sorting operation, the paper being transported within the copying machine body is stored in a bin, the carriage is moved in a predetermined direction, and the guide selector is switched to the non-sorting side. Next, the paper discharged from the copying machine main body (the first sheet of interrupt copying) is stored in the tray 17. When the guide selector is set to the conveyor belt side after the interruption copying is completed, the state returns to the state before the interruption, so it is possible to continue the sorting operation from the state before the interruption.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, the present invention uses a stepping motor as a drive source for a moving member, uses the step-out phenomenon to set an initial position, and positions each position by counting the number of drive steps. Therefore, while maintaining the accuracy of the stopping position at each position, (37) this provides an excellent effect in that it requires almost no additional members as in the prior art.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an installed state of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the device, FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the device, and FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view of the carriage. Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the carriage and gear drive unit, Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram of other drive means for the bin roller, Fig. 7 is a block diagram of the control unit, and Figs. 8 and 9 are speed-up steps of the stepping motor. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a control method for the drive source, FIG. 11 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention. 1... Paper sorting storage device, 2... Copying machine (main body)
, 10... Conveyance direction switching unit, 13... Guide selector, 15... First paper conveyance unit, 18... Second paper conveyance unit, 21m... Suction hole, 21A, 21B.・・・
Conveyance belt, 22... Suction fan, 24... Paper conveyance drive unit, 25... Reversible drive source (conveyance motor)
, 27...(38) First one-sided clutch section, 28... Second one-sided clutch section, 40... Separate storage section, 41A to 41J...
Bin, 47A, 47B... Guide member, 5o... Carriage, 54... Carriage motor, 70... Control unit. \r -491- total C0 time opening χ JP-A-58-183565 (15)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a device that separates and stores paper by relatively moving a key 41J that guides the paper with respect to the storage compartments arranged in multiple stages, a stepping motor is used as the drive source for the relative movement. Then, by counting the number of driving steps of this stepping motor, the carry is calculated.
1. A paper sorting/storage device characterized by having a detection means for detecting the relative position of a paper sheet. (2) If the carriage is movable with respect to the divided storage section, the detection means detects a step-out phenomenon of the stepping motor when the carriage contacts the stopper, and sets the initial position of the carriage. A paper sorting and storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that: (3) The paper according to claim 2, wherein the stopper is provided at the lower end of the carriage in the moving direction, and the initial position is set by allowing the carriage to fall freely. Separate storage device.