KR20030080223A - Apparatus for separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device (32) for separating print media paper from a stack of porous paper (30), wherein the topmost sheet of print media (30.1) separated from the stack (30) is printed by a printing station ( 12) paper conveying device for conveying. The separator 44 is connected with a paper conveying device for separating print media paper from the dummy 30. The separator 44 includes a fluid supply 46 for injecting fluid onto the top surface of the dummy 30 to facilitate separation of the top sheet 30.1 of the print media from the dummy 30. . The catching device 54 is connected to the paper conveying device so as to capture at least a portion of the uppermost sheet 30.1 and to easily convey the uppermost sheet 30.1 to the printing station 12 by the sheet conveying apparatus. .

Description

A device for separating print media paper from a stack of paper {APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING A SHEET OF PRINT MEDIA FROM A STACK OF SHEETS}

Applicants have developed various printheads that provide high speed, photo quality printing. The printhead includes ink jet nozzles arranged in a dense array. To provide photo quality printing, the nozzles are arranged to provide resolutions up to 1600 dots per inch (DPI).

The ink jet nozzles are formed using Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) technology. With the use of the MEMS technology, it is possible to achieve very fast printing performance which can print at speeds of up to two pages per second (in duplex printing). In order to facilitate such high speed printing, first, the paper or print media supplied to the printer's printing station must be correctly aligned, so that a jam or similar situation does not occur as much as possible. It must be possible to maintain the required feed rate. Secondly, the paper should be able to be fed to the printing station at a speed sufficient to use the printing station up to its maximum limit.

The present invention relates to a printer of high speed and photographic quality. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for separating print media paper from a stack of porous paper.

The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the following attached drawings:

1 is a view of a portion of a printer including a print media feeder including an apparatus for separating print media sheets from a stack of paper according to the present invention;

2 is a three-dimensional view of a printing paper feeder including the apparatus of the present invention;

3 is a view of the printing paper feeder viewed from below;

4 is a side cross-sectional view schematically showing an operation initial stage of the printing paper feed apparatus;

Fig. 5 is a side sectional view schematically showing a subsequent operation step of the printing paper feeder.

According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus for separating print media paper from a porous paper stack, the apparatus comprising:

Paper conveying means for conveying the uppermost sheet of the print medium separated from the dummy to a printing station of the printer;

Separating means coupled to the paper conveying means for separating print media paper from the dummy, the separating means including fluid supply means for ejecting a fluid to the top surface of the stack to separate the topmost sheet of print media from the pile; And

Capturing Means connected by the paper conveying means for capturing at least a portion of the uppermost sheet and for easily transporting the uppermost sheet to the printing station by the paper conveying means.

The paper conveying means may comprise a picker assembly for picking the top paper from the stack. The picker assembly may comprise an elongate element in the form of a bar or tube and a plurality of displacement aids for assisting displacement of the top sheet from the stack, wherein the displacement aids comprise the elongate element. It is arranged at regular intervals along the length of.

The elongated element may form a plurality of fluid ports, and each displacement aid may include a footprint forming portion extending from the elongated element and surrounding the ports. In particular, each displacement aid may, in use, be in the form of a pad or a disk extending from the elongated element to the dummy. Each pad may extend from a hollow shaft received in one of the fluid ports of the elongate element. The axis may form a passageway.

The fluid conveyance means may comprise a plurality of supply conduits, each conduit in fluid communication with one of the fluid ports of the elongated element, with only certain fluid ports being connected thereto. And the remaining fluid ports are not in fluid communication with the fluid supply conduits.

The fluid supply conduit may be connected to and in communication with a fluid supply manifold.

The capture means may be a fluid suction device, the fluid suction device comprising a plurality of fluid suction conduits, each fluid suction conduit in fluid communication with one of the remaining ones of the fluid ports of the elongated element.

The fluid intake conduit may be connected to and in communication with the fluid extraction manifold.

The picker assembly is used to pick up the top paper from the paper stack and feed it to the printing station. A pair of pinch rollers may be arranged as inputs to the printing station. In a preferred embodiment, the bar of the picker assembly is installed on a pair of spaced swing arms and rotates relative to the swing arm. The swing arm is then fixedly mounted to a supported shaft for rotation on the printer. Thus, to facilitate movement of the picker assembly, the fluid supply conduits and fluid suction conduits may be in the form of a flexible hose.

The apparatus includes fluid supply means for supplying fluid to a fluid supply manifold for supplying fluid to the fluid supply conduit, and fluid extraction means for extracting fluid from the fluid extraction manifold to effect suction in the fluid intake conduit. It may include. The apparatus may further comprise drive means for driving the fluid supply means and the fluid extraction means. The fluid supply means and fluid extraction means may be in the form of an air pump and an extraction pump, respectively.

The driving means may be a driving motor. The air pump may be installed on the first output shaft of the drive motor together with the extraction pump installed on the second output shaft opposite the drive motor.

The apparatus may further comprise control means for controlling fluid supply to the fluid supply manifold and fluid extraction from the fluid supply manifold. The control device may include a valve disposed on each of the fluid supply manifold and the fluid extraction manifold. Preferably, each valve is operated electromagnetically. More specifically, each valve may be in the form of a solenoid valve arranged at the inlet opening of the fluid supply manifold and the outlet opening of the fluid intake manifold.

Referring to Fig. 1, a portion of a printer is shown generally designated with reference numeral " 10. " The printer 10 is a high speed printer that prints both sides of a print media at a speed of approximately one to two or two to four pages (ie, both sides of paper) per second. The print medium is in this case in the form of a stack of sheets. For ease of explanation, the present invention will be described with reference to a printing medium which is a stack of A4 paper paper, and more particularly, paper paper having a predetermined porosity.

The printer 10 has a printing station 12 including a pair of opposing printheads 14 to achieve high speed printing. Each printhead 14 is in the form of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) chip with an ink jet nozzle array to achieve the required high speed, photo quality printing. The nozzles are arranged in a dense array to provide resolutions of up to 1600 dots per inch (DPI) to facilitate printing of photo quality.

The printing station 12 comprises a main roller set 16 having a drive roller 18 and a driven roller 20. The main roller set 16 is arranged above the print head 14 of the printing station 12 for conveying paper sheets to the print head 14.

The print medium is arranged in the paper stack 30 as described above. The paper stack 30 is housed in a box (not shown) of the printer 10 and is held against a metal partition of the printer 10 in a suitable cabinet (not shown).

The printer 10 comprises an apparatus 32 according to the invention, wherein the paper feeder for feeding paper sheets from the paper stack 30 to the rollers 18, 20 of the main roller set 16. A portion is formed so that the paper sheet can be conveyed to the printing station 12 for printing. The paper feeder includes a pivot road or shaft 34 rotatably driven by a stepper motor 36. At each end of the shaft 34 a swing arm 38 is arranged.

The device 32 includes a picker assembly 40. The picker assembly includes an elongate element or pick up bar 42. The pickup bar 42 is rotatably supported between the free ends close to the swing arm 38. Thus, as the swing arm 34 pivots about the axis of rotation of the shaft 34, the pickup bar 42 rotates about the axis of rotation of the shaft 34.

The device 32 comprises separating means 44 connected to a pickup bar 42. The separating means 44 separates the uppermost paper sheet 30.1 from the sheet stack 30. The separating means 44 comprises fluid supply means in the form of a plurality of fluid supply conduits 46 arranged at regular intervals along the length of the bar 42. Each fluid supply conduit 46 is in the form of a flexible hose.

As shown in more detail in FIG. 3, the pickup bar 42 has a plurality of alternating fluid ports 48, 50. The outlet end of each fluid conduit 46 is open to one of the fluid ports 48 of the bar 42. The opposite inlet end of each fluid conduit 46 is connected to a fluid supply manifold 52.

The device 32 may further comprise capturing means 54 connected to the pick-up bar 42, which captures at least a portion of the uppermost sheet 30.1, wherein the sheet 30.1 is piled up. After separation from 30, the paper 30.1 is for easy conveyance by means of the pick-up bar 42 to the printing station 12, which will be described in more detail below.

The catching means 54 comprises a plurality of fluid suction conduits 56 arranged alternately with the fluid supply conduits 46 of the separating means 44. The fluid intake conduit 56 is also in the form of a flexible hose, each having an inlet end in communication with one of the fluid ports 50 of the pickup bar 42. The outlet end of each fluid suction conduit 56 is connected to the fluid extraction manifold 58 so that fluid flows in.

The picker assembly 40 further includes a plurality of displacement aids or pads 60 surrounding each fluid port 48, 50. Each pad 60 protrudes towards the bar 42 and, depending on the situation, a stem portion connected to one outlet end of the fluid supply conduit 46 or one inlet end of the fluid intake conduit 56. (Stalk Portion 62) (FIG. 4) is provided. Instead, each displacement aid may be a cup Cup of elastomer. Each cup is fixed through urging means in the form of springs in order to meet the surface of the dummy 30 having the ripple or the like.

The device 32 has drive means in the form of a drive motor (FIG. 1). An air pump 66 is arranged at the output shaft of one end of the motor 64, and an extraction pump 68 is arranged at the output shaft of the opposite end of the motor 64. The air pump 66 is in communication with the fluid supply manifold 52 via a solenoid operated valve 70 arranged at the inlet end of the manifold 52. The extraction pump 68 is in communication with the outlet end of the extraction manifold 58 via an additional solenoid operated valve 72.

As described above, the printer 10 is a high speed printer having a capacity for printing at a rate of one sheet per second. In order to utilize this capacity, it is important that the paper sheets are fed individually from the paper stack 30 to the printing station 12 in a precisely controlled manner. Therefore, it is important for the device 32 to correctly separate the paper conveyed from the paper stack 30 to the printing station 12.

Moreover, the present invention is particularly intended for use with porous print media, for example 80 GSM paper.

In use, the pick-up bar 42 is transported very close to the top surface of the paper, in order to separate the top paper 30.1 from the paper stack 30, but the pads 60 It is kept spaced apart from the top surface by a small amount, eg 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm. The drive motor 64 is operated to blow air through the fluid supply manifold 52 into each fluid supply conduit 46. Air is exhausted through the ports 48 and blown out to the top surface of the top sheet 30.1. Due to the porosity of the paper, the air also passes through the top paper 30.1, hitting the paper second from the top of the paper stack. Thus, the initial separation of the uppermost sheet 30.1 from the remaining sheets of the sheet stack 30 is performed.

Further, as a result of the local low pressure occurring between the bottom surface of each pad 60 and the top sheet 30.1 of the paper stack 30, the top sheet 30.1 is connected with the fluid supply conduit 46. At least attracted to these pads 60 of the picker assembly 40. By passing air through the uppermost sheet 30.1, it helps to separate the uppermost sheet 30.1 from the remaining sheets of the paper stack 30.

When the top sheet 30.1 rises from the sheet just below it on the pile 30, the leading edge of the top sheet 30.1 is lifted. When this situation occurs, valve 70 is closed and valve 72 is opened. This opening of the valve 72 sucks air through the fluid inlet conduit 56 to the port 50 of the pickup bar 42 and exhausts it through the fluid extraction manifold 58. As a result of this, the leading edge of the top sheet 30.1 is drawn against at least these pads 60 connected to the fluid intake conduit 56, as shown in FIG. 5, and against these pads 60. Is captured. During this situation, the pickup bar 42 is rotated in the direction of arrow 74 with respect to the axis 34. The picker assembly 40 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow 74 until the front end of the top sheet 30.1 is fed between the rollers 18 and 20 of the roller set 16. The valve 72 is closed to release the suction of the uppermost sheet 30.1 so that the rollers 18 and 20 of the roller set 16 can feed the uppermost sheet to the printhead 14 of the printing station 12. . As soon as the trailing edge of the top sheet 30.1 leaves the pad 60 of the picker assembly 40, the picker assembly 40 immediately moves to FIG. 4 to feed the next sheet to the printing station 12. FIG. Return to the position shown in. It will be appreciated that the air flow parallel to the surface of the top sheet 30.1 of the paper stack 30 results in a low friction impact that facilitates movement of the top sheet 30.1 relative to the pickup bar 42. . This allows the top sheet 30.1 to be moved by any suitable method without disturbing the picking-up of the pick-up bar 42 in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the pick-up bar 42. It also facilitates the rear end of the top sheet 30.1 to be spaced with respect to the paper stack 30 while the top sheet 30.1 is fed to the roller set 16.

Applicants note that the velocity of air in the initial "injection" direction through the fluid supply conduit 46 is not critical, and the spacing between the pickup bar 42 and the top sheet 30.1 of the paper stack 30 is also not critical. Found that no. Moreover, the weight or quality grade of the paper stack paper is not critical as long as the paper in the paper stack has porosity. In general, when air is injected onto the paper stack 30, there is a pressure of about 5 kPa in the fluid supply conduit 46. The air is supplied at approximately 1 l / s and passes through the gap between the pad 60 and the top sheet 30.1 at a pressure of about 1 kPa and a speed of about 50 m / s. The device 32 has been found to be used with high resolution, photo-quality ink jet paper from a 40 GSM rating.

Applicant has surprisingly found that separation of paper is facilitated by blowing air onto the paper of the paper stack 30. This is a completely new approach to intuition, because everyone thinks the mechanism of suction mechanism works better. However, if the paper stack 30 is porous, very good separation of the top paper paper from the stack 30 can be achieved.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many changes and / or modifications can be made without departing from the broadly described spirit or scope of the invention as shown in the specific embodiments of the invention. Accordingly, the above embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (14)

A device for separating print media from a stack of paper, wherein the stack of paper is porous, the device comprising: Paper conveying means for conveying the uppermost sheet of print media separated from the dummy to a printing station of a printer; Separating means coupled to the paper conveying means for separating print media paper from the pile, the separating means including fluid supply means for ejecting a fluid to the top surface of the pile to separate the topmost sheet of print media from the pile; And Capturing means connected to said paper conveying means for capturing at least a portion of said uppermost sheet and for easily transporting said uppermost sheet to said printing station by said paper conveying means; Apparatus for separating print media paper from a stack of paper, comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the paper conveying means comprises a picker assembly for picking the topmost sheet of paper from the paper stack. The method of claim 2, Wherein the picker assembly comprises an elongate element and a plurality of displacement aids arranged at regular intervals along the length of the elongate element to assist displacement of the uppermost sheet from the stack. A device that separates print media paper from paper. The method of claim 3, wherein The elongate element defines a plurality of fluid ports, each displacement aid comprising a footprint forming portion extending from the elongate element and surrounding one of the ports. , A device for separating print media paper from a stack of paper. The method of claim 4, wherein The fluid supply means comprises a plurality of fluid supply conduits, each conduit fluidly connected to one of the fluid ports of the elongate element, only certain fluid ports having fluid supply conduits connected thereto. And the remaining fluid ports are not in fluid communication with the fluid supply conduit. The method of claim 5, And the fluid supply conduit is connected to and in communication with a fluid supply manifold. The method of claim 6, The capture means is a fluid suction device and includes a plurality of fluid suction conduits, each fluid suction conduit being in fluid communication with one of the remaining fluid ports of the elongated element. Device for separating paper. The method of claim 7, wherein And the fluid suction conduit is in communication with and in communication with the fluid extraction manifold. The method of claim 7, wherein And fluid ports connected with the fluid supply conduit are alternately arranged with fluid ports connected with the fluid suction conduit along the length of the elongated element. The method of claim 8, And fluid supply means for supplying fluid to a fluid supply manifold for supplying fluid to the fluid supply conduit, and fluid extraction means for extracting fluid from the fluid extraction manifold to effect suction in the fluid intake conduit. A device for separating print media paper from a paper stack. The method of claim 10, And a driving means for driving the fluid supplying means and the fluid extracting means. The method of claim 8, And control means for controlling the fluid supply to the fluid supply manifold and the extraction of fluid from the fluid extraction manifold. The method of claim 12, And the control device includes a valve arranged on each of the fluid supply manifold and the fluid extraction manifold. The method of claim 13, Wherein each valve is operated electromagnetically.