KR20050015234A - An Apparatus for feeding/separating a sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A feeding and separating device for paper is provided to cut down the manufacturing cost, to reduce noise from engagement of gears and to decrease installation space by separating and picking up a piece of paper conveniently with a single separation and transfer roller. CONSTITUTION: A paper feeding and separating device for carrying paper to a scanner is composed of a paper tray(101) loading paper, a separation and transfer roller(110) for absorbing paper from the paper tray and directly transferring paper to the scanner, a vacuum pump for generating suction force by a nozzle unit, a control unit for driving the vacuum pump, a paper guide unit(105) formed corresponding to the outer periphery of the separation and transfer roller to guide the paper carried by the separation and transfer roller, and a rubber pad(103) installed at the end of paper stacked in the paper tray to separate the paper conveniently.

Description

Paper Separation Feeder {An Apparatus for feeding / separating a sheet}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer and a scanner, and more particularly, to a paper separating and feeding apparatus for separating and conveying sheets stacked on a paper tray such as a scanner.

In general, a printer that prints predetermined data on a paper, a scanner that reads characters on a paper, or a multifunction device that can selectively perform a printer or scanner function with a single device. A paper separator feeder is provided for separating and feeding sheet by sheet.

1 is a view schematically showing a conventional paper separation paper feeding apparatus, referring to the conventional paper separation paper feeding apparatus, a paper tray 1, a pickup roller 3, an ADF roller 5, and a feed roller 9; It includes.

In the paper tray 1, the paper to be scanned is loaded, and a paper detection sensor 2 is provided at the lower end side of the paper. The sheet detection sensor 2 detects whether paper is loaded on the tray 1.

The pickup roller 3 picks up the paper by rotating it in contact with the topmost paper loaded in the paper tray 1, and is provided to selectively contact the paper by the rotation of the ADF roller 5.

The ADF roller 5 separates and conveys the sheet picked up by the pickup roller 3 one by one, and at the lower portion thereof, the ADF rubber 6 which is elastically supported upward by the spring 7 or the like is conveyed. It is installed to give frictional force. The rotational driving force of the ADF roller 5 rotates the pickup roller 3 through the relay gear 4 or the like, thereby implementing the pickup operation of the pickup roller 3 as described above. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, when the ADF roller 5 rotates clockwise, the pick-up roller 3 rotates clockwise by the relay gear 4 to pick up the paper.

The conveying roller 9 conveys the sheet separated and conveyed by the ADF roller 5 to the scanning unit 12 side. The conveying pinch roller 10 is provided on the surface in contact with the sheet to convey the sheet. Promote strength. At this time, the guide part 8 which guides the sheet | seat conveyed between the ADF roller 5 and the feed roller 9 is provided.

On the other hand, between the feed roller 9 and the scanning unit 12, a scanning sensor unit 11 is provided, and after the scanning sensor unit 11 is "on" by the leading end of the conveyed paper, scanning after a predetermined time has elapsed. Start the unit 12.

Subsequently, the paper scanned by the scanning unit 12 is discharged to the outside by the discharge roller 14 and the discharge pinch roller 15 so that the scanning operation is finally completed when there is no paper to be scanned.

In the figure, reference numeral 13 denotes a white bar, and 16 denotes a transparent window for scanning the paper by the scanning unit.

However, the conventional paper separating and feeding apparatus configured as described above must include a pickup roller 3, an ADF roller 5, a feed roller 9, and the like for picking up and feeding paper, and also rotating the rollers. As the gear part for the purpose of providing the gear part is provided, the number of components increases and the installation space becomes large. In addition, since the driving force is transmitted by the gear part, the noise is increased, and there is a problem that the reliability of the separate pick-up is lowered as the physical characteristics thereof are changed due to wear of the ADF roller 5 or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a paper separating sheet feeding apparatus such as a scanner capable of increasing the reliability of separating paper feeding even in a compact configuration.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper separating and feeding device comprising: a paper tray, a rubber pad provided at a front end side of a paper loaded in the paper tray, and a nozzle portion formed on an outer circumferential surface to separate and feed the paper by suction. And a separating / feeding roller, wherein the separating / feeding roller has an upper side spaced apart so as not to affect the lower surface of the lowest sheet loaded in the paper tray, and the lower side has a diameter in contact with the upper window of the scanning unit.

In addition, it is preferable to further include a paper guide portion for guiding the paper conveyed by the separating / conveying roller, and formed in a shape corresponding to the outer circumferential surface of the separating / conveying roller.

In addition, a paper detection sensor unit for detecting the presence or absence of paper on the paper tray, a vacuum pump for generating a suction force to the nozzle unit, a scanning sensor unit for detecting the paper conveyed in the paper guide portion, and the vacuum pump It further includes a control unit for controlling the driving.

On the other hand, it is preferable that the separation / transfer roller is a grid roller having irregularities formed on its outer circumferential surface or a sand roller on which sand paper is wound on its outer circumferential surface so as to increase frictional force on the conveyed paper. .

In addition, it is more preferable that the separation / conveyor roller is a sand roller in which a sand roller is wound around a grid roller having irregularities formed on an outer circumferential surface except for a portion adjacent to the nozzle portion so as to increase frictional force on the conveyed paper.

In addition, the nozzle unit, at least one is formed on a straight line along the axial direction of the separation / transfer roller, or at least one that does not radially coincide on two parallel straight lines along the axial direction of the separation / transfer roller. Is formed.

The control unit may drive the vacuum pump when a user's scanning command is received after the paper detection sensor unit is turned on. When the sensor unit is "on", the driving of the vacuum pump is stopped, and when the rear end of the sheet passes through the scanning sensor unit, the vacuum pump is restarted.

The control unit stops driving the vacuum pump when the paper detection sensor unit and the scanning sensor unit are “off”.

The above objects and other features will become more apparent by describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. For reference, in describing the embodiments of the present invention, the same reference numerals refer to the same parts as those in the related art.

FIG. 2A is a schematic view of a sheet separating and feeding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a schematic block diagram showing a system for driving the sheet separating and feeding apparatus shown in FIG. 2A. 2A and 2B, the paper separating and feeding device includes a paper tray 101, a separating / feeding roller 110, a vacuum pump 119, a vacuum pump driving unit 121, a control unit 120, and a paper guide unit. 105 and a rubber pad 103.

The paper tray 101 is loaded with paper to be scanned or paper used for printing, and the paper detection sensor 102 is installed to detect whether paper is loaded. The sheet sensor unit 102 includes a general actuator (not shown) and a photosensor (not shown), the photo sensor is turned on / off as the actuator is selectively rotated by the paper, thereby controlling the control unit 120 ) Detects the presence of paper.

Separation / conveying roller 110 is characterized by a paper separation sheet feeder according to the present invention, the upper side is spaced apart so as not to affect the lower surface of the lowermost paper loaded in the paper tray, the lower side of the It has a diameter in contact with the scanning window 16 located above 12). Therefore, the paper stacked on the paper tray 101 is not affected by the separating / feeding roller 110. By such a configuration, as in the conventional paper separation paper feeding apparatus, a plurality of pickup rollers (see FIG. 1), an ADF roller (see FIG. 1), and relay gears (4: FIG. The paper can be separated and picked up by one separating / feeding roller 110 without having to provide the component parts.

In addition, the separation / conveying roller 110 is formed in the form of a hollow tube 115, the outer peripheral surface 117, the friction portion is formed to increase the friction force on the paper to be conveyed, the preferred of the present invention According to an embodiment, irregularities are formed or sand paper is wound, such as a grid roller or a sand roller.

The outer peripheral surface 117 is formed with a nozzle portion 111 connected to the hollow tube 115 through the connecting pipe 113, the control unit 120 operates the vacuum pump drive unit 121 and the roller drive unit 125 As the vacuum pump 119 is driven, the separation / transfer roller 110 rotates while the paper is attracted to the outer circumferential surface 117 by the nozzle unit 111. As a result, the paper is wound around the outer circumferential surface 117 of the separation / transfer roller 110. At this time, by the outer circumferential surface of the separation / conveying roller in which the nozzle unit 111 is not formed, the lower surface of the lowermost sheet of paper and the separation / conveying roller 110 of the lowermost sheet are separated so that the paper loaded on the paper tray 101 is not picked up. The outer circumferential surface 117 is spaced apart.

In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figures 3a and 3b, irregularities are not formed or sand paper is not wound in a predetermined region in which the nozzle portion 111 is formed. This is because the nozzle portion 111 is not in close contact with the paper due to the unevenness or the sand paper, so that the suction force by the vacuum pump 119 may be lowered.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, one or more nozzles 111 are formed on a straight line along the axial direction of the separation / transfer roller 110 as shown in FIG. 3A. Also, as shown in FIG. 3B, one or more nozzle portions 111 may be formed on two straight lines along the axial direction so as not to coincide in the cylindrical direction.

The rubber pad 103 is provided at the leading end side of the paper so as to increase the reliability of separating the sheets picked up by the separation / transfer roller 110 one by one, preferably in order to generate the paper leading resistance. It is made of material.

On the other hand, the paper guide portion 105 formed in a shape corresponding to the shape of the outer circumferential surface 117 of the separation / transfer roller 110 having the diameter as described above facing the outer circumferential surface 117 of the separation / transfer roller 110 The sheet to be conveyed is guided to be conveyed to the scanning unit 12 side.

The scanning sensor unit 109 is installed on the scanning unit 12 side of the paper guide unit 105, and after the scanning sensor unit 109 is "on" by the leading edge of the conveyed paper, the control unit 120 controls the predetermined time. After the elapse of time, the scanning unit driver 123 is operated to drive the scanning unit 12. On the other hand, the pinch roller 107 is provided so as to face the separation / conveying roller 110 to achieve a paper conveying force toward the scanning unit 12 side. In the embodiment of the present invention, the pinch roller 107 is provided in front of the scanning sensor unit 109 on the paper conveyance path.

4A and 4B are views for explaining the operation of the sheet separating and feeding apparatus shown in FIG. 2A.

When a plurality of sheets of paper are loaded in the paper tray 101, the actuator of the paper detection sensor unit 102 is rotated so that the photosensor is in an "on" state. As a result, the control unit 120 detects that paper is loaded.

In this state, when the scanning command is input by the user, that is, when the scanning command is input while the paper sensor 102 is "on", the control unit 120 operates the vacuum pump driving unit 121 to operate the vacuum pump. 119 is driven. The suction force by the vacuum pump 119 is transmitted to the nozzle unit 111 through the connecting pipe 113, and as shown in Figure 4a the lower surface of the lowermost sheet of paper loaded by the suction force by the nozzle unit 111 is The nozzle unit 111 is to be adsorbed. In this state, the control unit 120 operates the roller driving unit 125 to rotate the separation / transfer roller 110. As shown in FIG. 4B, the paper is conveyed while being wound on the separation / transfer roller 110 in a state where paper is adsorbed by the rotation of the separation / transfer roller 110. At this time, the paper is securely separated by the rubber pad 103 provided on the front end side of the paper.

In this way, when the front end of the paper being wound around the separation / transfer roller 110 passes the scanning sensor unit 109 as shown in FIG. 4C, the scan sensor unit 109 is in an “on” state. The control unit 120 determines this and operates the scanning unit driver 123 after the predetermined time elapses to drive the scanning unit 12. As a result, a character, an image, or the like on the paper is scanned. At the same time, that is, when the scanning sensor unit 109 is "on", the control unit 120 stops driving the vacuum pump 119. The paper conveyance after the vacuum pump 110 is stopped is made by a rotating separating / feeding roller 110 and a pinch roller 107 facing it. Therefore, the paper stacked on the paper tray 101 is not affected by the separation / transfer roller 110, but the paper adsorbed by the vacuum pump 110 and drawn into the paper guide unit 105 is separated. / Conveyance by the roller (110).

In this manner, when the rear end of the paper to be scanned while passing completely passes the scanning sensor unit 109, the scanning sensor unit 109 is "off" and after a predetermined time has elapsed, the scanning unit 12 is in a standby state. On the other hand, after the scanning sensor unit 109 is " off, " the paper detection sensor unit 102 is still " on ", i.e., when paper is loaded on the paper tray, the control unit 120 is vacuumed. After the pump 119 is restarted, the paper is conveyed through the above process. The conveyance interval of the sheets continuously conveyed by this mechanism is approximately the arc length of the sheet guide portion 105. When the paper detection sensor unit 102 is in the "off" state after the scanning sensor unit 109 is "off", the control unit 120 does not operate the vacuum pump 119 and stops the separation / transfer roller.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if one separation / transfer roller is provided, it is not necessary to have various components such as a pickup roller, an ADF roller, and a relay gear for connecting them as in the conventional paper feeder. It is possible to increase the reliability of paper separation pickup.

In addition, according to this, not only the manufacturing cost can be reduced, but also the noise due to the gear connection can be reduced.

In addition, the installation space can be reduced, whereby a scanner or the like having a more compact design can be manufactured.

As mentioned above, although this invention was shown and demonstrated with reference to the preferred embodiment for describing this invention, this invention is not limited to the structure and operation as it was shown and described. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such suitable changes and modifications and equivalents should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

1 is a view schematically showing a conventional paper separating and feeding device in the related art;

Figure 2a is a schematic view showing a sheet separation paper feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2B is a block diagram schematically showing a system for implementing the paper sheet feeding apparatus shown in FIG. 2A;

3A and 3B are views schematically showing various embodiments of the separating / feeding roller of the sheet separating and feeding apparatus shown in FIG. 2A;

4A and 4B are views for explaining the operation of the sheet separating and feeding device shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of driving the sheet separating and feeding apparatus shown in FIG. 2A.

<Description of Symbols for Major Parts of Drawings>

101: paper tray 102: paper detection sensor unit

103: rubber pad 105: paper guide portion

107: feed pinch roller 109: scanning sensor unit

110: separation / conveying roller 111: nozzle part

113: connector 115: hollow tube

119: vacuum pump 120: control unit

121: vacuum pump driving unit 123: scanning unit driving unit

125: roller driving unit

Claims (14)

An apparatus for conveying paper to a scanning unit, A paper tray on which the paper is stacked; And And a separating / feeding roller for absorbing the sheet on the paper tray and directly conveying the sheet to the scanning unit. The method of claim 1, wherein the separation / feed roller, And the upper side is spaced apart so as not to affect the lower surface of the lowermost paper loaded in the paper tray, and the lower side has a diameter contacting the upper window of the scanning unit. The method of claim 2, And a rubber pad installed at the front end side of the paper loaded in the paper tray to facilitate the separation of the paper. The method of claim 3, wherein the separation / feed roller, And a nozzle unit is formed on an outer circumferential surface to suck the paper, and comprises a vacuum pump generating suction force to the nozzle unit. The method of claim 4, wherein And a paper guide part for guiding the paper conveyed by the separating / feeding roller and having a shape corresponding to the outer circumferential surface of the separating / feeding roller. The method of claim 5, And a paper detection sensor unit for detecting the presence or absence of paper on the paper tray, a scanning sensor unit for detecting paper conveyed and installed in the paper guide unit, and a control unit for controlling the driving of the vacuum pump. Separate paper feeder. The method of claim 6, wherein the nozzle unit, And at least one paper is formed on a straight line in the axial direction of the separation / feed roller. The method of claim 6, wherein the nozzle unit, And at least one non-matching radial direction is formed on two parallel straight lines along the axial direction of the separating / feeding roller. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the separation / transfer roller, And a friction portion formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof so as to increase the friction force on the conveyed paper. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein the separation / transfer roller, And a friction portion formed on an outer circumferential surface of the paper except the portion adjacent to the nozzle portion so as to increase the friction force on the conveyed paper. The method of claim 9, wherein the control unit, And after the sheet sensor unit is turned on, driving the vacuum pump when there is a user's scanning command. The method of claim 10, wherein the control unit, And after the sheet sensor unit is turned on, driving the vacuum pump when there is a user's scanning command. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the control unit, When the scanning sensor unit is "on" by the leading edge of the paper which is adsorbed on the outer circumferential surface of the separation / conveying roller, the driving of the vacuum pump is stopped, and when the rear end of the paper passes the scanning sensor unit, the vacuum pump is restarted. And a paper separating sheet feeding device. The method of claim 13, wherein the control unit, And the paper detection sensor unit and the scanning sensor unit are turned off to stop the driving of the vacuum pump.