JPS60240273A - Picture forming equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect abnormal carrying of a member to be copied on the way of reciprocation transferring by using an output from a detecting means detecting the member to be copied in a storage section and the reciprocating timing of the member to be copied. CONSTITUTION:A main control section discriminates abnormal carrying of a paper sheet P by comparing the timing of ON/OFF output from a magnet switch 55 based on the turning operation with a prescribed time having some margin to a theoretical timing after the tip of the paper P in the carrying direction reciprocated reaches a detection lever 51 on the way of carrying until it is removed. That is, the ON/OFF output is not obtained from the magnet switch 55 within the said time, then the paper P is not moved within a prescribed time, then it is discriminated as the abnormal carrying such as paper jamming.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that sequentially transfers a plurality of colorants on a transfer material to a transfer material while reciprocating the transfer material to form a color image. Regarding.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] This type of device, for example, optically scans and reads an image of a document, and adjusts colorants of a transfer material having multiple colorants according to the read image information. Examples include those that form a color image corresponding to the image of a document by selectively transferring it to a transfer material.

By the way, when forming a color image with this type of device, it is necessary to overlap multiple colorants, so it is necessary to transport the transfer material back and forth with respect to the platen and thermal head, and the image formation is completed. It will be discharged for the first time. In conventional devices, a detector is installed only on the discharge conveyance path to detect conveyance abnormalities during the reciprocating conveyance of the transfer material and the discharge conveyance after image formation, and the transfer material is not discharged at a predetermined timing. In some cases, it was determined that an abnormality had occurred somewhere along the way.

However, since conveyance abnormalities are detected in the final conveyance process of the image forming process, if a conveyance abnormality such as a jam occurs during reciprocating conveyance, excessive force will be applied to various mechanisms such as the transfer material, thermal head, and pinch roller. There was a problem that it could be damaged.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to detect abnormality in conveyance during the reciprocating conveyance of a transfer material, although it has a relatively simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can contribute to preventing damage to various mechanisms caused by transport abnormalities.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention forms a color image by sequentially transferring a plurality of colorants on a transfer material onto a transfer material while reciprocating the transfer material, and forming an image. In a device that discharges the transferred material, there are two storage parts that temporarily accommodate and retreat the transferred material from the leading edge in the conveyance direction when the transferred material is reciprocated, and a transferred material in one of the storage parts. The apparatus is characterized in that it is provided with a detection means for detecting the transfer material, and a determination means for determining whether there is an abnormality in conveyance of the transfer material based on the theoretical reciprocating conveyance timing of the transfer material and the output from the detection means. It is.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Fig. 1 is an external perspective view showing the entire image forming apparatus, Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view 3 showing the internal configuration of the entire image forming apparatus, and Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of the apparatus. . In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of an image forming apparatus, and an operation panel section 1a is formed on the upper front surface of the apparatus main body 1. As shown in FIG.

Further, a document table 2 having a document holding cover 3 on the left side is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1, and the lower side of the document table 2 inside the apparatus main body 1 is used to hold the original set on the document table 2. A document scanning section (scanner section) 4 is used for scanning, and an image forming section (printer section) 5 is located on the right side of the main body 1 of the apparatus.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, in the document scanning section 4, a movable scanning section 9 of an exposure optical system optically scans the document along the lower surface of the document table 2, and photoelectrically converts this optical information to form an image. Part 5
It is designed to be input.

Further, the image forming section 5 has a configuration as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, the platen 10 is disposed approximately in the center of the image forming section 5, and a thermal head 11 as a recording head is located in front of the platen 10 (leftward in the state of FIG. 3).
It is arranged so that it can move towards and away from the

The thermal head 11 is attached to the rear end surface of the holder 12 via a heat dissipation plate that is integrally formed on the rear end surface of the holder 12, and is attached via this bracket 52 to a thermal transfer ribbon cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as a ribbon cassette) as a transfer material storage cassette. ) 14a is held, and a thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a transfer material is interposed between the thermal head 11 and the platen 10.

Further, a paper feed roller 16 is provided diagonally below the platen 10, and is adapted to sequentially take out sheets of paper P as a transfer material stored in a paper feed cassette 17 one by one. The leading edge of the picked-up voice paper P is aligned by a registration roller 18 disposed diagonally above the paper feed roller 16, and then transported toward the platen 10 and wound around the platen 10 by pressing rollers 19 and 20. The item will be sent correctly. Note that a manual feed guide 17 is located above the paper feed cassette 17 on the front side of the apparatus main body 1.
A is provided so that paper can be fed manually.

On the other hand, the thermal head 11 presses the paper P against the platen 10 via a thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a transfer material.
As shown in FIG. 4, the ink 21 as a colorant on the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is heated and melted and transferred onto the paper P.

The thermal transfer ribbon 15 has yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) ink portions 21a, 21b, approximately the same size as the paper P, as shown by range A in FIG.
21c side by side, or yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), black (
The ink portions 21a, 21b, 1c, and 21d of B) are arranged side by side, and each color is transferred one by one, the paper P is returned to its original position, and the ink portions 21a, 21b, 1c, and 21d of B) are stacked one after the other accurately.

A thermal transfer ribbon containing a black ink portion 21d is used when it is desired to produce black clearly, and even a ribbon without a black ink portion 21d can produce approximately black by overlapping three colors.

In this way, the paper P is transported back and forth by the number of colors by the rotation of the platen 10, but the path of the paper P at this time is between two storage sections, for example, the first and is guided onto the second guides 23 and 24. Both guides 23 and 24 temporarily accommodate and retreat the paper P from the leading edge in the transport direction when the paper is transported back and forth. A detection means 50 for detecting the sheet P conveyed onto the second guide 24 is provided near the lower end of the second guide 24 .

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a side view and a perspective view for explaining the detection means in detail. The detection means 50 includes a detection lever 51 pivotably supported near the lower end of the second guide 24 so as to be rotatable by its own weight, a shaft 52 provided concentrically with the detection lever 51 and rotatable together with the detection lever 51;
The actuator 53 is fixed to the end of the actuator 53, a 77 magnet 54 is attached to the actuator 53, and a magnetic switch 55 detects the approach of the magnet 54.
By rotating the detection lever 51 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6(B), the magnet 54 is separated from the magnet switch 55.

Further, the platen 10 and the pressing rollers 19 and 20 guide the paper reciprocated onto the second guide. The second distribution to guide is guide 26,
A second distribution is provided from a paper discharge roller 27 that discharges the paper P guided by the guide 26 to the paper discharge tray 22.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the overall control system. That is, in the figure, reference numeral 40 denotes a main control unit that controls the entire device, and is mainly composed of, for example, a CPU (central processing unit) and its peripheral circuits, to which a pass line 41 is connected. There is. The pass line 41 includes the operation panel section la, the display control circuit 42, the storage section 43, the scan control section 44, the photoelectric converter 45, the color conversion section 46, the transport control section 47, the thermal head drive section 48, A thermal head temperature control section 49 and a magnet switch 55 are respectively connected. The display control circuit 42 operates in response to a signal sent from the main control section 40 via the pass line 41, and controls the display section 6 provided on the operation panel section 1a.

The storage section 43 operates in response to a signal sent from the main control section 4 via the pass line 41, and stores information sent via the pass line 41 or reads out the stored information. Further, the scanning control section 44 operates in response to a signal sent from the main control section 40 via the pass line 41, and controls the front lamp 9A of the movable scanning section 9, the photoelectric converter 45, and the scanning motor (not shown), respectively. Drive control. The photoelectric converter 45 detects an image on the document according to a signal sent from the main controller 40 via the pass line 41, and outputs a light color signal as described above. The color conversion unit 46 receives and processes the signal output from the photoelectric converter 45, converts the signal into color signals of yellow, magenta, and cyan black inks, and outputs each color signal to the pass line 41.

The color conversion unit 46 also performs color conversion on the signal sent from the pass line 41, and converts the new signal to the pass line 41.
It is also possible to output to 1. The conveyance control section 47 operates in response to a signal sent from the main control section 40 via the pass line 41, and controls a motor that drives the platen 10, a motor (not shown) that drives the core of the ribbon cassette 14a, and the feeder. A motor that drives the paper roller 16, registration roller 18, paper ejection roller 27, etc., and the first motor. A solenoid (not shown) that drives the second distribution gate 25, 26 is driven and controlled. The thermal head driving section 48 operates in response to a signal sent from the main control section 40 via the pass line 41 and a signal from the thermal head temperature control section 49, and drives and controls the heating element of the thermal head 11. The thermal head temperature control section 49 outputs a temperature control signal to the thermal head driving section 48 in response to a signal sent from the main control section 40 via the pass line 41. In addition, the main control section 40
is an example of a determination means that determines whether there is an abnormality in the conveyance of the paper P based on the theoretical conveyance timing of the paper P that is reciprocated through the platen 10 and the pressing rollers 19 and 20 and the output from the magnetic switch 55. For example, during a transfer operation, the magnetic switch is activated within a theoretical timing from when the leading edge of the paper that is being transported back and forth in the transport direction reaches the detection lever 51 until it leaves the detection lever 51 with some margin. 55 to ON, O
It is configured to determine that there is a conveyance abnormality such as a paper jam when no FF output is obtained.

Next, the overall operation of the apparatus of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8(A) to 8(D).

First, the paper P supplied from the paper feed cassette 17 passes through the registration roller 18 and the first distribution portion of the guide 25, and is wound around the platen 10 [see FIG.
See A)].

Next, the platen 10 is rotated using a pulse motor (not shown) as a drive source to transport the paper P at a predetermined speed, and a heating element of a thermal head 11 (see FIG. (not shown) generates heat according to the image information, and the ink 21 of the thermal transfer ribbon 15
is transferred onto paper P.

Further, the leading edge of the paper P that has passed through the platen 10 is sent to a second sorting guide 26 onto a first guide 23 provided along the lower surface of the paper output tray 22 [see FIG.
See B)].

In this way, the paper P on which the ink 21 of one color has been thermally transferred is transported backwards by reversing the platen 10, and the first distribution is carried out by the rotational displacement operation of the guide 25. [See FIG. 8(C)].

In this way, by reciprocating the paper P a plurality of times, a plurality of colors are transferred.

Finally, the paper P to which all the color inks 21 have been transferred is guided by a guide 26 to a paper ejection roller 27 and ejected onto a paper ejection tray 22 [see FIG. 8(D)]. .

Next, the operation for determining whether there is an abnormality in conveyance of the paper P will be explained with reference to FIG. 9 as well. During the transfer operation, paper P is
When the state shown in FIGS. (B) and (C) is repeated and the paper P is transported back and forth, the leading edge of the paper P in the transport direction comes into contact with the detection lever 51 and rotates in the direction of the ninth arrow shown in the figure.
When it is separated from the paper, it is rotated in the direction of the force indicated by arrow A', and the main control unit 40 controls the timing of the ON/OFF output from the magnetic switch 55 based on this rotational movement, and the control of the timing of the ON and OFF outputs of the magnetic switch 55 and the control of the paper P being transported back and forth. Abnormalities in the conveyance of the paper P are also determined by comparing the theoretical timing from when the leading edge of the paper P in the conveyance direction reaches the detection lever 51 to when it leaves the paper P with a predetermined time with some allowance. . That is, the magnet switch 55 is turned ON within the above time.

When the OFF output is not obtained, it means that the paper P has not been moved within a predetermined period of time, so it is determined that there is a conveyance abnormality such as a paper jam. Note that when it is determined that there is an abnormality in conveyance, although not shown in the drawings, the alarm means is activated and the conveyance of the paper is stopped.

As described above, in the above embodiment, it is possible to reliably detect an abnormality in the reciprocating conveyance of the paper during the transfer operation, and since the conveyance of the paper is stopped after the conveyance abnormality is detected, it is possible to reliably detect the abnormality in the reciprocating conveyance of the paper during the transfer operation. Damage to various mechanisms (platen 10, pressing rollers 19, 20, etc.) can be prevented. This is particularly effective when the conveyance state of the paper P within the first and second guides 23, 24 cannot be visually observed by the operator.

It should be noted that the above embodiment is merely an example, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, the detection means is not limited to the structure of the detection lever, actuator, magnet switch, etc. as in the above embodiments, but the magnet switch can be replaced with a microswitch, or the detection structure can be changed to an optical detection structure.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention,
Although it has a relatively simple configuration, it has excellent effects such as being able to detect conveyance abnormalities during the reciprocating conveyance of the transferred material and contributing to the prevention of damage to various mechanisms caused by conveyance abnormalities. It is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall external perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the internal structure of the entire apparatus, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal side view of the apparatus, and FIG. A perspective view for explaining the transfer operation state, FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the ink application state of the thermal transfer ribbon, and FIGS. 6 (Δ) and (B) are side views and perspective views for explaining the detection means in detail. 7 is a configuration block diagram showing the entire control system, FIGS. 8(A) to 8(D) are explanatory diagrams of the overall operation during multicolor transfer, and FIG. 9 is an operation for determining paper conveyance abnormality. It is a side view for explanation. 15...Transfer material, 23.24...Accommodating section, 4
0...Discrimination means, 50...Detection means,
P... Transferred material. Figure 1 11 Figure 6 (A) (B) Figure 7 1 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] A device that sequentially transfers a plurality of colorants onto the transfer material while reciprocating the transfer material to form a color image, and then discharges the transfer material with the image formed thereon. Two accommodating sections temporarily accommodate and retreat the transferred material from the leading edge in the conveying direction during reciprocating conveyance, a detection means for detecting the transferred material in either of the accommodating sections, and a theoretical detection section of the transferred material. An image forming apparatus comprising: a determining means for determining abnormality in conveyance of a transfer material based on reciprocating conveyance timing and an output from the detecting means.