JP2001261206A - Image forming apparatus and sheet material initial winding method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image forming apparatus which is easy to fix the front end of a sheet material and is effective for stable winding, and an initial winding method of the sheet material. When a sheet material (roll paper) 20a discharged from a plotter 10 is wound by a winding unit 30, the sheet material 20a is sent out from the plotter 10 by a predetermined amount. After the user fixes the front end portion 20b to the core body 40 of the winding unit 30, the sheet material 20a is further fed from the plotter 10 at the first speed, and the winding unit 30
To wind up the sheet material at a second speed lower than the first speed. Thereby, the sheet material is wound around the core body 40 while the sag is formed in the sheet material. When the core body 40 rotates by a predetermined rotation amount or more, the winding of the winding unit 30 is continued, and the feeding of the sheet material by the plotter 10 is stopped. After the sheet material is no longer sagged, the winding section 30
Stop winding.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a plotter which handles a long sheet material, and more particularly to a winding apparatus and an image forming apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a long sheet material is roll paper wound around a core in a roll shape. When used, it is pulled out from the roll, printed, and cut into a predetermined length. However, when printing an extremely long sheet material, the roll paper needs to be discharged for a long time without being cut in the middle. In such a case, a winding device that winds the discharged sheet material is used in order to avoid folding of the sheet material and staining of the printed image.

Usually, at the start of winding of such roll paper, the leading end of the sheet member is fixed to the winding member with a tape or the like. At this time, the user manually conveys the front end of the sheet material to a predetermined position or conveys the front end by a feeding operation, and starts winding after fixing the front end.

[0004]

However, it is difficult to accurately convey the leading edge of the sheet material to a fixed position of the take-up member by the manual conveying method or the conveying method using the feeding operation. If the feed amount is not enough, it is impossible to fix the sheet material.On the other hand, if the feed amount is too large, it is necessary to wind the sheet material into the take-up part and fix it when fixing the front end, making the work complicated and time consuming. It will cost.

[0005] Usually, if the sheet material is fed by such a length that the front end of the sheet material just reaches the front surface of the core of the winding member, the work of fixing the front end becomes easy. However, since the diameter of the core of the winding portion is relatively small, it is not easy to perform this operation reliably once. In particular, when the height difference between the operation position and the winding position is large, it is difficult to place the line of sight horizontally, and a position error easily occurs. Also, when the two positions are separated from each other in the horizontal direction, it is difficult to grasp an appropriate feeding amount.

Further, when the leading end of the sheet material is fixed to the winding portion with a tape or the like in a state where the sheet material is largely slackened, the fixed portion is easily detached, and the leading end portion is wound up due to the weight of the sheet material or something. There was a risk of falling off from the department. Further, even if the sheet material is wound without falling off, the leading end of the sheet material may be bent or wrinkled due to sagging.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and an image forming apparatus which can easily fix a leading end of a sheet material and is effective for stable winding and a method for initially winding the sheet material. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An initial winding method for a sheet material of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an initial winding method for winding a long sheet material discharged from an image forming apparatus at a winding section. After the sheet material tip is sent out by a predetermined amount from the image forming apparatus, and the user fixes the sheet material tip to the core of the winding unit, the sheet material is fed from the image forming apparatus at the first speed. As well as sending out,
By winding the sheet material at a second speed lower than the first speed by the winding unit, the sheet material is wound around a core while forming sagging on the sheet material, and the core of the winding unit is rotated. When the sheet is rotated by a predetermined rotation amount or more, while the winding of the winding unit is continued, the feeding of the sheet material by the image forming apparatus is stopped, and after the sheet material is no longer sagging, the winding of the winding unit is started. It is characterized by stopping.

As described above, by automatically feeding out a long sheet material by a predetermined amount, the front end of the long sheet material can be easily fixed to the core of the winding section. Further, after the fixing, the paper feeding section and the winding section are cleverly linked to each other, so that the leading end of the sheet material fixed to the winding section can be prevented from falling off, bent, and wrinkled.

[0010] Preferably, the first speed is lower than a normal sheet material conveying speed. Thus, it is possible to more reliably prevent the leading end of the sheet material from falling off, bending, and wrinkles.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a winding means for winding a long sheet material, a conveying means for conveying the sheet material, and a sheet material fed by the conveying means. Take-up means,
Control means for controlling the winding means and the conveying means, and when the sheet material is initially wound by the winding means, the control means controls the sheet material leading end by a predetermined amount by the conveying means. After the sheet is fed out and the user fixes the leading end of the sheet material to the core of the winding means, the sheet material is further fed at a first speed by the conveying means, and the second speed is lower than the first speed by the winding means. By winding the sheet material in, the sheet material is wound around a core while forming sagging on the sheet material, and when the core of the winding means rotates by a predetermined rotation amount or more, the winding of the winding means While the taking is continued, the feeding of the sheet material by the conveying means is stopped, and after the sag of the sheet material is eliminated, the winding of the winding means is stopped.

In this image forming apparatus, preferably,
The winding means includes a driving source for winding the sheet material, a winding mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the driving source to the core body, and a driving mechanism for driving the sheet material in an overloaded state when the sheet material is wound. A mechanism for blocking transmission of the driving force of the source to the core, and a sensor for detecting rotation stop of the core,
When a detection signal from the sensor is generated during driving by the driving source, driving of the driving source is stopped. As a result, a state in which the sheet material is automatically tensioned can be obtained.

Further, the winding device according to the present invention is a winding device for winding a long sheet material discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a winding means for winding a sheet material discharged from the image forming device. And control means for controlling the winding means and instructing the image forming apparatus,
The control means instructs the image forming apparatus to send out a predetermined amount of the leading end of the sheet material when the sheet material is initially wound by the winding means. After being fixed to the core, the image forming apparatus is instructed to further feed the sheet material at the first speed, and the second winding device is rotated by the winding means so as to be slower than the first speed.
By winding the sheet material at a speed of, the sheet material is wound around a core while forming sagging on the sheet material, and when the core of the winding means rotates by a predetermined rotation amount or more, the winding means While instructing the image forming apparatus to stop feeding the sheet while continuing the winding of the sheet, the winding of the winding means is stopped after the sag of the sheet is eliminated.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a color plotter will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a color plotter having a winding portion according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view thereof. As can be seen from these figures, the plotter 10 is fixed on the upper part of the stand 12. The plotter 10 includes an operation panel 14 for a user to operate the operation panel 14.
A paper type, an online / offline command, etc., are instructed by various switches and the like installed in the system. Of course, such information can also be supplied from a host device (not shown). A roll paper 20 (see FIG. 5) is disposed behind the plotter 10.
0, an image is formed, and the leading edge of the roll paper is discharged from the discharge port 16 in the direction of arrow A. The discharged portion (discharged portion) is wound by the winding unit 30.

The winding section 30 in the present embodiment is
The plotter 10 has a pair of stands 32 and 34 located at a lower front portion of the stand 12.
An end portion of the core body 40 having a length substantially equal to the width of the core member 40 is rotatably fixed. Both ends of the core body 40 are side plates 70 and 80, respectively.
Are rotatably fixed to the stands 32 and 34 via the. On the stand 32 side, a winding mechanism (winding means) 47 including a motor is installed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the winding section 30 in detail. One end 40 a of the core body 40 is fitted into a bearing 72 and fixed by a retaining ring 74. Bearing 7 at the other end 40b
It is set in 6. Outside the bearing 76, a gear 78
Are fixed to the core body 40 with screws 82. A motor 84 (an example of a driving source) is arranged near the gear 78,
A motor gear 88 is fixed to the motor shaft 86 via a slip mechanism described later. The motor gear 88 and the gear 78 mesh with each other. Therefore, when the motor gear 88 rotates, the core 40 also rotates. The motor 84, the motor gear 88 and other gears constitute a winding mechanism.

A slip mechanism for preventing overload of the motor 84 is incorporated near the motor gear 88. The slip mechanism is provided for the motor 84 as described in detail below. The motor shaft 86 has a motor gear 8
The motor gear holding ring 90 that holds the motor gear 8 is fixed. The motor gear holding ring 90 is in contact with a side surface of the motor gear 88 via a friction plate 92. The friction plate 94 is also in contact with the side surface opposite to this side surface. A pressing plate 96 is in contact with the outer surface of the friction plate 94. The pressing plate 96 is fixed by a pin 98 so as to be freely movable in the axial direction of the motor shaft 86. The pressing plate 96 is pressed against the friction plate 94 by a compression coil spring 100 disposed outside the pressing plate 96. The compression coil spring 100 is fixed by a stopper plate 102 so as not to fall off from the motor shaft 86. When the motor shaft 86 rotates, the pressing plate 96 also rotates together with the compression coil spring 100. The motor gear 88 itself is rotatably held on the axis of the motor gear holding ring 90, and is usually sandwiched between the friction plates 92 and 94 due to the pressure of the compression coil spring 100.
The rotation of the motor shaft 86 is transmitted to the motor gear 88 as it is.

However, the conveyance of the roll paper 20 may be stopped due to the occurrence of a trouble in the plotter 10 (FIG. 1) and the interruption of the image forming operation. In this case, if the rotation of the motor 84 continues even though the discharge of the roll paper on the plotter 10 side is interrupted, the motor 84 is overloaded. When the motor 84 is overloaded in this manner, a slip occurs between the motor gear 88 and the friction plates 92 and 94, and the torque is not transmitted to the core body 40. A sensor that can be constituted by a photo interrupter or the like (not shown in FIG. 2).
When this is detected according to 49 in FIG.
Stops. In this way, overload acting on the motor 84 is prevented. The slip force of the slip mechanism is determined by the spring force of the compression coil spring 100.

Here, a schematic configuration example of control hardware of the plotter 10 will be described with reference to FIG. This plotter 1
0 is a central processing unit (CPU) 140 for program-controlling the operation of the entire apparatus, and a ROM for storing programs executed by the CPU 140, table data, and the like.
142, a RAM 143 for providing a work area and a temporary storage area for the program, an operation unit 144 for receiving various operation instructions from the user, a display unit 145 for transmitting various information to the user, a driving source for a sheet material winding operation And a sensor 149 for detecting the rotation stop of the winding member 3.

The operation unit 144 and the display unit 145 correspond to the operation panel 14 in FIG. The display unit 145 can be configured by a display such as a liquid crystal panel that displays a message or the like, or a lamp such as an LED that functions as an indicator.

Next, the process from the state in which the roll paper is set in the paper transport section 60 to the time in which it is set in the winding section 30 will be described with reference to the side views of FIGS. 5 to 8 and the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of the plotter shown in FIG. The state in which the roll paper 20 is set in the paper transport unit 60 is shown. In response to an instruction from the operation panel 14 or the like by the user, the paper transport unit 60 moves the roll paper 20a
The paper is automatically fed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 6 by a predetermined length (conveyance amount) most suitable for being fixed at the fixing position of the winding unit 30 (FIG. 9, S11). This length is
It is incorporated in the control program of the CPU 140 in advance.

Next, the user is instructed to fix the fed roll paper leading end portion 20b to the core body 40 of the winding section 30 with tape (S12). After the fixing is completed, when the user gives a predetermined instruction on the operation panel 14 to continue the process (S13, Yes), the transport and the winding of the roll paper 20 are performed in an interlocked manner as shown in FIG. .
That is, the paper transport speed of the paper transport unit 60 is performed in the direction of arrow B at a first speed lower than the normal paper transport speed, and the winding speed of the winding unit 30 is lower than the first speed. (S14). As a result, although the roll paper sags, the roll paper front end 20b is wound around the core body 40 in the direction of arrow D with a speed difference and time such that the roll paper 20 does not come into contact with the floor surface due to excessive sagging.

Such a low-speed transport and sagging operation is performed so that an excessive external force is applied to the leading end portion 20b of the roll paper, which is temporarily fixed to the core body 40 with the tape, and the tape does not come off. Has the effect of doing In the present embodiment, this winding is performed for about 1.5 rotations of the core body 40. After 1.5 rotations (S15, Yes), the transport of the roll paper 20 by the transport unit 60 is stopped, and only the winding of the winding unit 30 is continued (S16). Thereby, the sagging of the roll paper 20 is immediately eliminated as shown in FIG. The reason why the rotation amount until the start of the sag removal operation is set to about 1.5 rotations is that the roll paper leading end portion 20b is pressed by the subsequent roll paper portion by the previous rotation, and there is no danger of falling off. This is because this rotation speed is considered to be the minimum rotation speed at which such an effect is obtained. When the dripping is completely eliminated, the above-described slip mechanism for preventing overload of the motor 84 operates, and the rotation of the core body 40 stops. When this rotation stop is detected by the sensor 149 (FIG. 4) (S17, Yes), the drive of the winding motor 84 is stopped (S18).

In this manner, the fixed portion of the leading end of the roll paper does not fall off the core body 40, and at the same time, the problem that the leading end is bent or wrinkled at some point is prevented.

In the embodiment described above, the example in which the winding unit 30 is integrated with the plotter 10 has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where the winding unit 30 is separate from the plotter 10. . FIG. 10 shows the appearance of an example of the system configuration of the second embodiment according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the paper transport unit 60 (see FIG. 3) and the winding unit 30
Is connected to the operation panel 14b by a signal cable 15, and can convey and take up the roll paper in an interlocked manner. The winding unit 30 includes a pair of stands 32 facing each other at substantially the same distance as the width of the outlet 16,
34.

In the second embodiment, the winding unit 30 also has the operation panel 14 ', and the winding unit 30
Related operations can be performed on the winding unit 30 side. The winding motor 84 in the hardware configuration shown in FIG. The motor control unit (not shown) is also located on the winding unit 30 side.
A portion corresponding to the winding mechanism 47 in FIG. 1 is not shown. In this embodiment, the winding unit 30 needs to be set at a predetermined distance from the plotter 10 in accordance with the amount of roll paper sent out when the roll paper tip is fixed. In the illustrated example, the stands 32 and 34 of the winding unit 30 are arranged adjacent to the stand 12 of the plotter 10 to secure a certain distance between them. The operation itself of the second embodiment is substantially the same as that described with reference to FIG.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0030]

According to the present invention, by automatically feeding a long sheet material by a predetermined amount, it becomes easy to fix the leading end of the long sheet material to the core of the winding section. Further, after the fixing, the paper feeding section and the winding section are cleverly linked to each other, so that the leading end of the sheet material fixed to the winding section can be prevented from falling off, bent, and wrinkled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a color plotter having a winding section according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the color plotter of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration example of a winding unit 30 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration example of control hardware of the plotter in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the plotter of FIG. 1 taken along line VV.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a sheet material initial winding procedure of the plotter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a view for explaining a sheet material initial winding procedure of the plotter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a sheet material initial winding procedure of the plotter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a sheet material initial winding procedure of the plotter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a plotter having a separate winding device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Plotter 12 Stand 14 Operation panel 16 Discharge port 30 Take-up part 32, 34 Stand 40 Core body 47 Take-up mechanism (take-up means) 70, 80 Side plate

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An initial winding method for winding a long sheet material discharged from an image forming apparatus by a winding unit, wherein a leading end of the sheet material is sent out by a predetermined amount from the image forming apparatus. After the user fixes the leading end of the sheet material to the core of the winding section, the sheet material is further fed from the image forming apparatus at a first speed, and the winding section causes the sheet material to move at a second speed lower than the first speed. By winding the sheet material, the sheet material is wound around a core body while forming sagging on the sheet material. When the core body of the winding unit rotates by a predetermined rotation amount or more, winding of the winding unit is performed. Stopping the feeding of the sheet material by the image forming apparatus, and stopping the winding of the winding section after the sagging of the sheet material is stopped, while continuing the initial winding of the sheet material of the image forming apparatus. How to take. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first speed is lower than a normal sheet material conveying speed. 3. An image forming apparatus having a winding section for winding a long sheet material, comprising: conveying means for conveying the sheet material; winding means for winding the sheet material sent out by the conveying means; Control means for controlling the winding means and the conveying means, and the control means, when the sheet material is initially wound by the winding means, the sheet material tip portion is moved by a predetermined amount by the conveying means. After the sheet is fed out and the user fixes the leading end of the sheet material to the core of the winding means, the sheet material is further fed at a first speed by the conveying means, and the second speed is lower than the first speed by the winding means. By winding the sheet material in, the sheet material is wound around the core body while forming sagging on the sheet material, and when the core body of the winding means is rotated by a predetermined rotation amount or more, winding is performed. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the feeding of the sheet material by the conveying means is stopped while the winding of the means is continued, and the winding of the winding means is stopped after the sagging of the sheet material is eliminated. 4. A winding means for winding a sheet material, a winding mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the driving source to the core, and an overload state when winding the sheet material. A mechanism for interrupting transmission of the driving force of the drive source to the core when the drive source is turned off, and a sensor for detecting rotation stop of the core, and a detection signal from the sensor during driving by the drive source. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the driving of the driving source is stopped when the occurrence of the error occurs. 5. A winding device for winding a long sheet material discharged from an image forming apparatus, comprising: winding means for winding a sheet material discharged from the image forming device; and control of the winding device. And a control means for giving an instruction to the image forming apparatus, wherein the control means sends out a predetermined amount of the sheet material leading end to the image forming apparatus when the sheet material is initially wound by the winding means. After the user fixes the leading end of the sheet material to the core of the winding means, the user instructs the image forming apparatus to further feed the sheet material at a first speed. Second later
By winding the sheet material at a speed of, the sheet material is wound around a core while forming sagging on the sheet material, and when the core of the winding means rotates by a predetermined rotation amount or more, the winding means A winding device that instructs the image forming apparatus to stop feeding the sheet material while the winding of the sheet material continues, and stops the winding of the winding device after the sag of the sheet material is eliminated.