KR20070075094A - Recording medium supplying apparatus of image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A recording medium feeding device of an image forming apparatus is provided to move a recording medium pickup module to an optimum position for feeding a recording medium to prevent skew feeding. A recording medium feeding device of an image forming apparatus includes a guider(110), a recording medium pickup module(130), and a recording medium pickup module transfer unit(150). The guider aligns the width of a recording medium. The recording medium pickup module picks up the recording medium. The recording medium pickup module transfer unit varies the position of the recording medium pickup module when the guide is moved. The recording medium pickup mode transfer unit includes a guider rack(151) connected to the guider, a pinion unit(153) for supporting the guider rack, and a pickup rack(155) connected to the pinion unit, moved in parallel with the guider rack and combined with the recording medium pickup module.

Description

Paper feeder of image forming apparatus {RECORDING MEDIUM SUPPLYING APPARATUS OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS}

 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a recording medium feeding device of a conventional image forming apparatus;

2 is a perspective view illustrating a recording medium feeding apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a side view along arrow II of FIG. 2;

4 is a plan view along arrow III of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view illustrating the B display unit of FIG. 2.

<Description of Main Parts of Drawings>

100: paper feeder 101: recording medium supply tray

110: guider 130: recording medium pickup module

150: recording medium pickup module transfer unit 151: guider rack

153: pinion unit 153a: first circular gear

153b: 2nd circular gear 153d, 153e: relay gears

155: pickup rack 171: drive motor

171: motor shaft 171a: groove

173: pickup module shaft 173b: protrusion

The present invention relates to a paper feeding apparatus of an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a paper feeding apparatus of an image forming apparatus for moving a position of a recording medium pickup module in association with a guide unit for aligning a width of a recording medium.

 In general, an image forming apparatus such as an inkjet printer, a multifunction printer, a laser beam printer, or the like includes a paper feeding apparatus for supplying a recording medium into a main body. The paper feeding apparatus includes a recording medium guide device installed in a paper feed cassette or a paper feed tray for stacking a plurality of recording mediums and for aligning and fixing the recording medium loaded on the paper feed tray. The recording medium guide apparatus aligns and fixes various recording media having different sizes according to the sizes, and guides the recording media to be fed without skewing when the recording media are fed.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional recording medium feeding device.

Referring to FIG. 1, the automatic recording medium feeding device 1 includes a recording medium width adjusting guide 30 which is installed to be moved left and right in the directions of arrows A and B with respect to the shaft 20. The shaft 20 is made of a metal material and is rotated by a gear (not shown) assembled at one end to rotate under the driving force.

The recording medium pickup module 40 is installed at the other side of the shaft 20 opposite to the recording medium width adjusting guide 30. When the shaft 20 receives power from the drive unit, the shaft 20 rotates, and the pickup roller 41 of the recording medium pickup module 40 rotates to pick up the recording medium and feed the feed roller (not shown). Supply. The pickup roller 41 of the recording medium pickup module 40 rotates and picks up the recording medium and supplies it to a paper feed roller (not shown). Under the pickup roller 41 of the recording medium pickup module 40, a buckler 43 is formed to separate the picked up recording media so as to feed the recording medium picked up by the pickup roller 41 one by one.

One side of the recording medium width adjustment guide 30 is formed with a fixed arm 35 to be assembled to penetrate the shaft 20, the guide body for sliding surface contact with the frame 10 integrally with the fixed arm 35 ( 32) is formed. On the bottom of the guide body 32, protrusions constituting the first fixing protrusion (not shown) are formed to protrude, and a handle 34 is formed on the top surface. On the frame 10, a plurality of protrusions constituting the second fixing protrusion 11 are formed to correspond to the moving direction of the first fixing protrusion in the shaft 20 installation direction.

In the paper feeding apparatus 1 of the conventional image forming apparatus configured as described above, in order to facilitate loading of a recording medium to be printed on an inkjet printer or a multifunction printer, the user can guide the recording medium width adjusting guide 30 with one hand. Holding the handle 34 of the body 32, it moves slightly wider than the width of the recording medium to be loaded in the direction of arrow B, and removes the applied force. At this time, the first fixing protrusion of the recording medium width adjusting guide 30 is engaged with the protrusions of the second fixing protrusion 11 of the frame 10 in the direction of arrow B by the guide body 32. Will move. Then, a plurality of recording media are loaded in the frame 10 constituting the recording carrier. Subsequently, the user grasps the handle 34 of the guide body 32 of the recording medium width adjusting guide 30 with one hand and moves it in the direction of the arrow A to match the width of the recording medium. Therefore, the recording medium width adjustment guide 30 is the shaft 20 by the first fixed projection is engaged with the projections of the second fixing projection 11 of the frame 10 again in the direction of the arrow (A), the shaft 20 The upper and lower flows are prevented by the fixed arm 35 moving upwardly, and the left and right flows are prevented by the engagement of the first and second fixing protrusions 11, thereby allowing the recording medium to be adjusted. It is fixed between the guide surface of 30) and the guide reference surface 45 of the frame 10.

Then, when the print command is transmitted from the PC through the control unit of the printer, the shaft 20 is rotated by the gear connected to the drive motor, and thus the pickup roller 41 connected to the shaft 20 is the shaft 20 Rotates by means of picking up the loaded recording medium and transporting it to the buckler 43. An image or a document is printed by a printhead which ejects ink while continuously transferring the recording medium which has reached the buckler 43 by the paper feed roller.

However, in the conventional automatic sheet feeding device 1 which operates as described above, the recording medium pickup module 40 picking up the recording medium is disposed on one side, so that the feed force acting on the recording medium at the time of pick-up is meandering or skew feeding. There was a problem.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to move the position of the recording medium automatic pickup module in association with the movement of the recording medium width adjusting guide for aligning the width of the recording medium. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeder of an image forming apparatus which is always in an optimum position corresponding to the width of the recording medium.

According to an embodiment of the present invention proposed to achieve the above object, a guider for aligning the width of the recording medium; A recording medium pickup module for picking up the recording medium; And a recording medium pickup module transfer unit for changing a position of the recording medium pickup module in association with movement of the guider.

The recording medium pickup module transfer unit includes a guider rack having the guider connected to one end thereof; A pinion unit supporting the guider rack so as to reciprocate linearly; And a pickup rack connected to the pinion unit and linearly moving in parallel with the guider rack, to which the recording medium pickup module is coupled.

The guider rack and the pickup rack are moved in the same direction, it is preferable that the movement distance of the pickup rack is half of the movement distance of the guider rack.

The pinion unit comprises: a first circular gear having a predetermined pitch circle diameter; and a second circular gear forming a 1/2 pitch circle diameter of the pitch circle diameter of the first circular gear; And a relay gear connected to the second circular gear and having a pitch circle diameter equal to the pitch circle diameter of the second circular gear.

Preferably, the guide rack is connected to the first circular gear, and the pickup rack is connected to the relay gear.

A driving motor for driving the recording medium pickup module is further included; A motor shaft connected to the drive motor; It is preferable to include a pickup module shaft connected to the recording medium pickup module, coupled to the motor shaft so as to be linearly movable, and coupled to transmit rotational force of the motor shaft.

The motor shaft is made of a hollow cylindrical tube, the groove is formed in the longitudinal direction on the inner peripheral surface thereof; The pickup module shaft may be inserted into the motor shaft so as to be movable, and a protrusion corresponding to the groove may be formed.

The recording medium pickup module is preferably located at the center of the width of the recording medium.

Next, the configuration and operation of the paper feeder for the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a paper feeding device for an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the paper feeding device 100 includes a guider 110 for aligning a width of a recording medium loaded in the recording medium supply tray 101, and a recording medium loaded in the recording medium supply tray 101 (not shown). The recording medium pick-up module 130 for picking up and feeding) and the recording medium pick-up module transfer unit 150 for varying the position of the recording medium pick-up module 130 in association with the transfer operation of the guider 110.

The recording medium pickup module transfer unit 150 includes a guider rack 151 to which the above-described guider 110 is connected at one end, a pinion unit 153 for linearly reciprocating the guider rack 151, and the pinion And a pickup rack 155 connected to the unit 153 and linearly reciprocating in correspondence with the guider rack 151.

3 is a side view along arrow II of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a plan view along arrow III of FIG. 2.

3 and 4, the pinion unit 153 includes a first circular gear 153a, a second circular gear 153b, and a relay gear 153d. The pitch circle diameter D1 of the first circular gear 153a is preferably formed larger than the pitch circle diameter D2 of the second circular gear 153b, more preferably the pitch circle of the first circular gear 153a. It is preferable that the diameter D1 is formed to be twice as large as the pitch circle diameter D2 of the second circular gear 153b. In addition, the pitch circle diameter D3 of the relay gear 153d is preferably formed to be the same as the pitch circle diameter D2 of the second circular gear 153b.

Here, the first circular gear 153a is connected to the guider rack 151, and the second circular gear 153b is connected to the upper end of the first circular gear 153a in a concentric manner with the first circular gear 153a. The relay gear 153d is connected to the second circular gear 153b. In addition, the pickup rack 155 is connected to the relay gear 153d. Through this configuration, the pickup rack 155 moves in the same direction as the guider rack 151, but moves to a distance of half the moving distance of the guider rack 151.

2 and 5, a driving motor 171 is provided as a power source that provides power for driving the recording medium pickup module 130. Since the driving motor 171 is installed in a stopped state at a predetermined position, a structure corresponding to the moving recording medium pickup module 130 is required.

To this end, the motor shaft 173 connected to the drive motor 171 is configured as a hollow cylindrical tube, and the groove 173a is formed long in the longitudinal direction on the inner circumferential surface thereof. Next, the pickup module shaft 175 connected to the recording medium pickup module 130 is inserted into the above-described motor shaft 173, and the groove formed on the inner circumferential surface of the motor shaft 173 on the outer circumferential surface of the pickup module shaft 175 ( A protrusion 175a corresponding to 173a is formed. By this configuration, the pickup module shaft 175 is linearly reciprocated along the inner circumferential surface of the motor shaft 173 in connection with the linear movement of the recording medium pickup module 130, and the protrusion 175a is fitted into the groove 173a so that the motor The rotational force of the shaft 173 is transmitted to the recording medium pickup module 130.

Next, the operation principle of the paper feeding apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be described.

2 and 4, first, the guider 110 is pulled in the direction of the dotted line arrow so as to be positioned wider than the width of the recording medium. At this time, the guider rack 151 moves in the dotted line arrow direction, and the first circular gear 153a rotates clockwise along the dotted arrow direction. Accordingly, the second circular gear 153b disposed on the upper end of the first circular gear 153a is rotated in the clockwise direction along the dotted arrow direction, and the relay gear 153d that is bitten by the second circular gear 153b. Is rotated counterclockwise along the dotted arrow direction. As a result, the pickup rack 155 is linearly moved in the same direction as the guider rack 151 along the dotted arrow direction.

Next, after loading a plurality of recording media in the recording medium supply tray 101, the width of the recording medium is aligned by pushing the guider 110 in the direction of the solid arrow. At this time, the first circular gear 153a rotates counterclockwise along the solid arrow direction, and the second circular gear 153b disposed on the upper end of the first circular gear 153a rotates counterclockwise. 2 The relay gear 153d, which is bitten by the circular gear 153b, rotates clockwise along the solid arrow direction. As a result, the pickup rack 155 geared to the relay gear 153d linearly moves in the same direction as the guider rack 151 along the solid arrow direction.

The recording medium pickup module 130 thus moved is positioned at a suitable position for picking up the recording medium, for example, at the center of the width of the recording medium.

In the above operation, since the pitch circle diameter D2 of the second circular gear 153b corresponds to half (1/2) of the pitch circle diameter D1 of the first circular gear 153a, the pickup The movement distance of the rack 155 moves by half of the movement distance of the guider rack 151. As a result, the recording medium pickup module 130 can be located at the center of the width of the recording medium.

Here, the position setting of the recording medium pickup module 130 is not limited to the center of the recording medium width as described above, and may be set to other positions. In addition, although the moving direction of the recording medium pickup module 130 moves in the same direction as the moving direction of the guider rack 151, it has been described as an example, but may be implemented to move in the opposite direction. In such a case, the initial position of the recording medium pickup module 130 should be set differently from the above example.

As described above, the pickup module shaft 173 connected to the recording medium pickup module 130 slides along the inner circumferential surface of the motor shaft 171 while the recording medium pickup module 130 moves linearly.

On the other hand, the projection 173a of the pickup module shaft 173 is inserted into the groove 171a formed on the inner circumferential surface of the motor shaft 171 so that the pickup module shaft 173 rotates together when the motor shaft 171 rotates. Then, the recording medium pickup operation is performed.

 According to the paper feeding apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention as described above, the recording medium pickup module is moved in conjunction with the movement of the guider to align the width of the recording medium so that the recording medium pickup module is optimal for feeding the recording medium. There is an advantage that can be moved to the position of.

As described above, the recording medium pickup module achieves an optimal position with respect to various recording medium widths, thereby solving the problem of meandering or skew feeding due to an imbalance in the feeding force acting on the recording medium when the recording medium is picked up.

As described above, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the claims below but also by the equivalents of the claims.

Claims (9)

A guider for aligning the width of the recording medium; A recording medium pickup module for picking up the recording medium; And And a recording medium pickup module transfer unit for changing a position of the recording medium pickup module in association with movement of the guider. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recording medium pickup module transfer unit comprises: a guider rack connected to one end of the guider; A pinion unit supporting the guider rack so as to reciprocate linearly; And And a pickup rack connected to the pinion unit and linearly moving in parallel with the guider rack and having the recording medium pickup module coupled thereto. The paper feeder of claim 2, wherein the guider rack and the pickup rack are moved in the same direction. 4. The paper feeder of claim 3, wherein the pickup rack moves at half the moving distance of the guider rack. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the pinion unit comprises: a first circular gear having a predetermined pitch circle diameter; and A second circular gear constituting a 1/2 pitch circle diameter of the pitch circle diameter of the first circular gear; And And a relay gear connected to the second circular gear and having the same pitch circle diameter as the pitch circle diameter of the second circular gear. 6. The paper feeding apparatus of claim 5, wherein the guider rack is connected to the first circular gear and the pickup rack is connected to the relay gear. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a drive motor for driving the recording medium pickup module; A motor shaft connected to the drive motor; And a pickup module shaft connected to the recording medium pickup module, the pickup module shaft being coupled to the motor shaft so as to be linearly movable, and coupled to transmit the rotational force of the motor shaft.  8. The motor shaft of claim 7, wherein the motor shaft is formed of a hollow cylindrical tube, and a groove is formed in an inner circumferential surface thereof in a longitudinal direction; And the pick-up module shaft is inserted into the motor shaft so as to be movable, and a protrusion corresponding to the groove is formed. 3. The paper feeding apparatus of claim 2, wherein the recording medium pickup module is moved to be positioned at a center portion of the width of the recording medium.

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