JP2015020848A - Post-processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper sheet post-processing device including a configuration that can correct an attitude of an extra thin paper sheet as an object having been sucked to be subjected to skew correction and improve alignment in stacked paper sheets.SOLUTION: A post-processing device comprises: conveying means 102 and 105 that convey paper P toward a position for performing air suction of the paper sheet; air suction means 106 that is provided at a position for performing air suction of the paper sheet P and performs air suction of a part of the paper sheet P and air suction conveying means 109 that conveys the paper sheet P of which the suction is being performed; skew amount detecting means 103 and 104 that detect skew amounts in a conveyance direction of the paper sheet P conveyed toward the air suction conveying means 109; a rotational driving portion that rotates the air suction means 106 by making a direction perpendicular to a surface of the paper sheet P as a rotary axis; and a control portion 200, whose input side and output side are connected to the skew amount detecting means 103 and 104 and the rotational driving portion, respectively. The control portion 200 calculates a direction for correcting the skew amounts detected by the skew amount detecting means 103 and 104 and a rotation amounts so as to control driving of the rotational driving means.

Description

  The present invention relates to a post-processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a transport mechanism for a sheet after image formation.

  The so-called printed paper such as recording paper is discharged from the image forming apparatus by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a printing machine. It may be discharged after processing.

In the post-processing apparatus, a configuration for transporting a sheet sent from the image forming apparatus to a stacking position is used, and a typical configuration is a sheet nipping / conveying mechanism using a pair of rollers.
The paper that is nipped and conveyed by the pair of rollers is conveyed until the leading end in the conveying direction hits a leading edge alignment fence or the like, but alignment accuracy may not be obtained depending on the type of sheet, particularly the thickness.
In particular, in the configuration using a roller pair, it is assumed that the relationship between the bending stiffness that affects the stiffness of the paper and the contact (conveyance) resistance of the paper that occurs in the transport section is bending stiffness> contact (conveyance) resistance. It is said. For this reason, it is difficult to align the leading edge of a very thin sheet that does not satisfy this relationship during conveyance.
The paper in this case corresponds to ultra-thin paper (25 g / m ² paper, hereinafter referred to as ultra-thin paper).
That is, in the case of ultra-thin paper, since the bending rigidity is extremely small with respect to the contact resistance, the leading edge cannot be aligned because the paper is bent during the conveyance process or cannot be conveyed due to contact with the conveyance path. There is a case.

Conventionally, as a conveyance mechanism for ultra-thin paper, a conveyance mechanism using air suction instead of a roller pair has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).
In Patent Document 1, a conveyance belt having a large number of holes on a sheet adsorption surface, a blower fan that applies adsorption force to the conveyance belt, and an adsorption according to a sheet size that is disposed between the blower fan and the conveyance belt. A suction mechanism having a shutter for setting a surface is disclosed. Further, it is disclosed that a blower for blowing air for separating the adsorbed paper from the conveying belt is provided separately from the blower fan.
In the above configuration, the paper transported to the lower surface of the transport belt by the transport roller pair is transported while being attracted to the transport belt, and when the paper reaches the paper stacking surface, the shutters are closed in order to remove the suction force and remove the paper. It can be dropped by its own weight toward the loading surface.

In the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688, the sheet that has been sucked and transported only falls by its own weight when the suction is released, and thus the stacking state on the stacking surface cannot be controlled.
In particular, even when the orientation of the sheet adsorbed on the conveyance belt is inclined, the paper is dropped and stacked on the stacking surface while the inclination is generated. For this reason, at the time of post-processing work such as binding processing, there is a possibility that the post-processing may be executed in a state where the edges of the sheets are not aligned.
When the thickness of the paper is the above-described ultra-thin paper type, the behavior of the paper when dropped, that is, the posture when subjected to air resistance, is not stable, so that the state where the edges are not aligned easily occurs.

On the other hand, there is a case where the sheet stacking state on the stacking surface is not appropriate because the leading end position of the sheet is not aligned other than the above-described posture of skewing of the sheet.
The fact that the leading edge positions of the papers are not aligned leads to the fact that the post-processing position differs for each paper when the paper is fed out during post-processing. For example, if the position where the binding process is performed is different for each grouped paper, the finishing performance of post-processing is deteriorated.
Usually, in the registration adjustment, the sheet conveyance distance and the rotation amount of the sheet conveyance roller are often determined in advance.
However, when paper with a high skew occurrence frequency, such as ultra-thin paper, is targeted, the registration position may be misaligned depending on the skew state simply by prescribing the paper feed amount. The accuracy of aligning the position deteriorates.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 has taken measures against the registration position misalignment, which is one of the factors related to the paper alignment, especially the registration position alignment for ultra-thin paper that is likely to cause skew. Absent.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a configuration for correcting the posture after being sucked by correcting the posture after being picked up for ultra-thin paper, and improving the consistency of the stacked paper. It is to provide a processing apparatus.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention air-feeds the transported paper to the stacking surface, releases the air suction when it reaches the stacking surface, drops the paper toward the stacking surface, and loads it. A paper post-processing device capable of
Transport means for transporting the paper toward a position where air is adsorbed;
An air suction means for sucking a part of the paper provided at a position for air suction of the paper, and an air suction transport means for transporting the paper in a suction state;
A skew amount detecting means for detecting a skew amount with respect to a transport direction of the paper transported toward the air adsorption transport means;
A rotation drive unit for rotating the air adsorbing means about a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the paper;
The skew amount detecting means is connected to the input side, and the output side includes a control unit to which the rotation driving unit is connected,
In the sheet post-processing apparatus, the control unit performs drive control of the rotation driving unit by determining a direction and a rotation amount for correcting the skew amount detected by the skew amount detection unit.

  According to the present invention, since the suction unit that can suck and convey the sheet is operated to correct the skew according to the skew amount and the direction, the skew is eliminated even when the skew occurs in the ultrathin paper. Therefore, the consistency between sheets can be improved.

It is a figure for demonstrating the principal part structure used for the post-processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the effect | action of the skew amount detection means used for the principal part structure shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the conveyance system in the principal part structure shown in FIG. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of the control part used for the principal part structure shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the control content performed by the control part shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure and effect | action of a raising / lowering mechanism used for the principal part structure shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the registration adjustment mechanism used for the paper post-processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the effect | action of the registration adjustment mechanism shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to illustrated embodiments.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a paper stacking apparatus that constitutes a main part used in a paper post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The sheet stacking apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes conveying units 102 and 105, an air adsorbing unit 106, an air adsorbing and conveying unit 109, a sheet skew amount detecting unit 103 and 104, and a sheet having a sheet stacking surface. The stacking tray 157 is a main part.

The conveying units 102 and 105 are configured by a pair of rollers capable of nipping and conveying the sheet so that the sheet P from the image forming apparatus side is introduced into the apparatus main body 100. Among the conveying means, the conveying means indicated by reference numeral 102 is arranged on the paper introduction side of the apparatus main body 100, and the conveying means indicated by reference numeral 105 is arranged on the paper discharge side in front of the air suction means 106 described later. .
The conveying means 102 and 105 start rotating when the introduced paper P is detected by the inlet sensor 101 and convey the paper to a position where air is adsorbed.

The details of the air adsorbing means 106 and the air adsorbing and conveying means 109 are shown in FIG.
In FIG. 3, the air suction means 106 has a suction surface having a number of ventilation holes (not shown) on the lower surface, a housing having an exhaust port on the upper surface, and air in a direction in which the paper can be sucked by being disposed in the housing. It is constituted by a fan 110 capable of generating a flow (indicated by an arrow).

The air adsorbing / conveying means 109 uses an endless belt wound around a pair of rollers, and the air adsorbing means 106 is integrated with a part of the belt.
In FIG. 3, reference numeral 107 denotes a leading edge detection sensor that can detect the leading edge of the paper P that is conveyed by air suction. The leading edge detection means 107 is used for setting the operation time of the belt used for the air suction conveyance means 109 from the time when the sheet is detected. That is, the moving time based on the moving speed of the paper P is set according to the length of the paper P in the transport direction, and is used for transporting the paper P until the paper P reaches the position of the stacking surface. Further, based on the detection timing by the leading edge detection sensor 107, when the paper P reaches a position facing the paper stacking tray 157, the fan 110 in the air suction means 106 is stopped and the paper P is allowed to fall naturally. Yes.

Returning to FIG. 1, the paper stacking tray 157 on which the paper P transported by the air adsorption transport means 109 is loaded is mounted on an elevator 153 that can be raised and lowered.
The four corners of the elevator 153 are attached to a total of four timing belts 154 so as to be interlocked with the timing belts 154.

Each of the timing belts 154 is wound around a pair of pulleys 152, and one of the pulleys 152 rotates in the forward and reverse directions by the rotation transmission from the tray lifting / lowering motor 155.
The rotational force from the tray lifting / lowering motor 155 is disposed between the input side gear G1 meshed with the worm 156 driven by the tray lifting / lowering motor 155 and the output side gear G2 meshed with the pulley 152 and the gear 152G coaxially supported. Is transmitted to the pulley 152 through the gear group G.
A principle configuration excluding a gear transmission portion related to a configuration for mounting the sheet stacking tray 157 on the elevator 153 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-20840, which is a prior application of the present applicant.

  By using the worm 156 as a mechanism for transmitting the rotational force from the tray lifting / lowering motor 155 to the pulley 152, the elevator 153 is held at the lifting / lowering position, and is kept at a fixed position without causing inadvertent lowering.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and operation of the sheet skew amount detection means 103 and 104.
In the figure, skew amount detection means 103 and 104 are sensors arranged on both sides in the width direction of the paper P corresponding to the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the paper P.
The skew amount detection means 103 and 104 are used to detect the inclination amount (skew amount) and the inclination direction of the conveyed paper P.

The skew amount detection means 103 and 104 are arranged with the arrangement distance L2 as a constant value. Then, the amount of movement (L1) of the paper P that has progressed between the time when the leading edge of the paper P is first detected in the skew amount detecting means 103 and 104 and the time after which the leading edge of the paper P is detected is calculated. Can do.
The amount of inclination (skew amount) and the direction of inclination of the paper P are the amount of movement (L1) of the paper P that has progressed from the time when the leading edge of the paper P is detected until the leading edge is detected, and the arrangement distance ( L2) is used to determine the skew angle (θ) with tan (θ) = L1 / L2. Further, the inclination direction is determined by the leading edge detection order of the paper P by the skew amount detection means 103 and 104.

  That is, when the skew amount detecting means 104 positioned below in FIG. 2 detects the leading edge of the paper P in advance, the inclination is clockwise, and in the case of the detection order opposite to this, Determine that the tilt is counterclockwise.

  On the other hand, the air adsorbing means 106 can be rotated around a plane parallel to the transport direction of the paper P, that is, a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the paper P, by a rotation driving unit (not shown).

The characteristics of the present embodiment will be described as follows with the above configuration as an object.
The feature of this embodiment is that the skew generated in the paper P is eliminated when the paper P is sucked and conveyed, thereby improving the consistency between the papers.
In order to realize this feature, the control unit 200 shown in FIG. 4 is used in the present embodiment.
In FIG. 4, the control unit 200 is a part that controls overall sheet conveyance control within the apparatus main body 100 of the sheet stacking apparatus. As a configuration related to the present embodiment, a skew amount detection unit 103, 104 is connected to the rotation drive unit of the air suction means 106 on the output side.
In the control unit 200, based on the inclination amount (θ) and the inclination direction of the paper P determined by the skew amount detection units 103 and 104, drive control of the rotation driving unit of the air suction unit 106 is performed to eliminate these. .
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the control content executed by the control unit.
From the detection results by the skew amount detection means 103 and 104, it is determined that the paper P fed out from the conveyance means 105 is inclined clockwise with an angle θ with respect to the conveyance direction. The air suction means 106 rotates the air suction means 106 so as to eliminate the angle θ and the inclination direction in accordance with the result of this determination (in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the figure).
The skew of the paper P having the inclination determined by the skew amount detection means 103 and 104 is eliminated by the rotation control of the air suction means 106 during the air suction conveyance until reaching the paper stacking tray 157.

  Thus, it is different from eliminating the skew in the process of transporting to the paper stacking tray using the transport roller pair. As a result, there is no conveyance resistance to the paper that occurs when a pair of conveyance rollers is used, so that the skew amount calculated by the skew amount detection means 103 and 104 does not change midway, and the rotation amount during correction No need to change the procedure. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a tip detecting means for detecting the state after the skew is eliminated.

Next, another feature in the present embodiment will be described.
In this embodiment, the sheet P transported toward the sheet stacking tray 157 is the top surface of the uppermost sheet of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking tray 157. It is characterized by moving to a position where it is placed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration for realizing this feature.
In the figure, the air adsorbing means 106 is supported so as to be movable up and down by an elevating means 203 having a casing 106A supported on the air adsorbing and conveying means 109 side.
The lifting / lowering means 203 includes a support 203A integrated with a belt used for the air adsorption / conveyance means 109. The support 203A is connected to a screw rod 106B provided on the casing 106A on the air adsorption means 106 side. A meshing rotating nut 203B is provided.
Although not shown in detail, the rotating nut 203B is provided in a state in which it can only rotate without moving in the ascending / descending direction on the support body 203A side, and can be rotated by a drive motor also provided on the support body 103A side. It has become. During this rotation, the screw rod 106B on the side of the air adsorbing means 106 that meshes with it can be raised and lowered.

FIG. 6A shows a state in which the paper P introduced into the apparatus main body 100 is conveyed toward the paper stacking tray 157 in an air adsorbing state.
FIG. 6B shows a state in which the paper P is transported to a position opposite to the paper stacking and the stacking surface of the example 157. In this state, the lifting and lowering means 203 is driven and the suction surface of the air suction means 106 is shown. Descends along the stacking direction of the sheets toward the uppermost sheet upper surface of the stacking surface.
FIG. 6C shows a state in which the air adsorbing means 106 faces the upper surface of the sheet positioned on the uppermost position of the stacking surface, that is, a position where the conveyed sheet can be placed on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet. The air adsorbing means 106 that has been lowered to release air adsorption.

The paper stacking tray 157 can move according to the rotation amount of the worm 156. That is, the rotation amount of the worm 156 corresponds to the thickness of one sheet, and the sheet stacking tray 157 has a height at which one sheet can be stacked by rotating a predetermined amount each time the sheet P is discharged. To maintain.
For the paper full state of the paper stacking tray 157, a combination of the filler 150 and the sensor 151 is used so that it can be deformed by being pushed by the stacked paper. When a sheet is loaded up to the position of the filler 150 and the filler 150 is pushed and deformed by the sheet, the light receiving state at the sensor 151 at a position where the optical path for the filler 150 is established changes to detect a full loading state. it can.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 158 indicates a carriage for mounting the paper stacking tray 157 on which the paper P is full and carrying it out.

  In the above configuration, the air suction is not released at a position facing the upper surface of the paper stacking tray 157, but is moved to a position where the conveyed paper is placed on the uppermost paper upper surface of the stacking surface. Then release the air suction. Thus, unlike the case where the air suction is canceled above the paper stacking tray 157, the paper can be placed on the top surface of the uppermost paper without being affected by the air resistance. Disturbance can be prevented. This raising / lowering operation is repeated until a preselected number of discharged sheets is reached.

In the above configuration, when the air adsorbing means 106 moves to the paper stacking surface of the paper stacking tray 157, a downward pressure is applied to the topmost paper among the papers placed on the stacking surface. It is also possible to do. As a result, air pockets existing between the sheets can be eliminated.
As a result, it is possible to prevent a predetermined number of loads from being obtained due to air accumulation.

Next, another example according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This embodiment is characterized in that the registration of the paper from which the skew is eliminated is adjusted, and in this case, the edge alignment is performed to prevent deterioration of the consistency between the papers.
FIG. 7 shows a configuration for realizing the above feature.
In FIG. 7, the rotation shafts 109A1 and 109B1 of the pair of pulleys 109A and 109B around which the air suction transport unit 1009 that moves the air suction unit 106 in the transport direction of the paper P is wound are arranged on one end side in the axial direction of the rack 300. Is attached.
The rack 300 can move in the axial direction of the rotation shafts 109 </ b> A and 109 </ b> B by meshing with a pinion gear 303 that is coaxially supported with a pulley 302 to which rotation of a motor used as the registration driving unit 301 is transmitted. In the figure, reference numerals F1 and F2 indicate the moving directions of the rotating shafts 109A and 109B, and this direction corresponds to a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the paper P.

In the drawing, one of the rotation shafts 109A and 109B (109B) is provided with a drive unit that moves the air adsorption transport means 109 in the transport direction of the paper P at the end of the shaft.
A gear G3 interlocked with a motor used as the transport driving means 304 and a gear G4 attached to the rotary shaft 109B are used for the drive unit in the transport direction.
The gear G4 has a long tooth surface so that the meshing with the gear G3 is not released even when the rotary shafts 109A and 109B move in the axial direction.
As described with reference to FIG. 5, the air suction means 106 provided in the air suction conveyance means 109 is provided with a rotation driving unit for rotating about a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the paper.

In addition to the above-described configuration, an end detection sensor 305 that obtains position information for registration adjustment and the control unit 200 shown in FIG.
The edge detection sensor 305 is a member used for detecting the edge position of the paper P after the skew is eliminated. In this embodiment, the sheet is moved by a predetermined amount from the time when the edge of the sheet P after the skew is eliminated, and the edge positions of the sheets are aligned.

The control unit 200 shown in FIG. 4 has an end detection unit 305 connected to the input side in addition to the skew amount detection units 103 and 104 used for eliminating the skew, and in addition to the rotation drive unit on the output side. The resist driving means is connected.
In the control unit 200, assuming that the leading edge position of the paper P after the skew elimination processing is aligned, the edge of the paper P is moved in one direction, and when the edge position is detected, the control unit 200 moves in the other direction by a predetermined amount. The edge positions of the sheets are aligned by moving them back.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the control contents executed by the control unit 200.
FIG. 7A is a diagram illustrating the paper P whose front ends in the transport direction are aligned by the skew elimination process.
In this state, the paper P is interlocked with the movement of the air adsorption / conveyance means 109 shown in FIG. 7 to one side of the rotation shafts 109A and 109B (the direction indicated by reference numeral F1 in FIG. 7). Displaced.
The edge of the paper P that moves to one side in the axial direction of the rotation shafts 109A and 109B is detected by the edge detection sensor 305.
As shown in FIG. 7B, the sheet P from which the edge has been detected has the air suction and conveyance means 109 on the other side in the axial direction of the rotating shaft from the time of detection (the direction indicated by reference numeral F2 in FIG. 7). It moves in conjunction with moving back by a predetermined amount toward the back.
FIG. 7C shows the state after the movement shown in FIG. 7B, and the sheet P has its leading end position aligned for each sheet and the leading end position aligned by eliminating the skew. In this state, the edge positions of the sheets are aligned.

  In the above embodiment, since the edge positions are aligned for the paper after skew writing, the leading edge and the edge in the transport direction are reliably aligned with each other, so that the paper group is aligned after being stacked. Work can be made unnecessary.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Main body 102,105 Conveyance means 103.104 Skew amount detection means 106 Air adsorption means 109 Air adsorption conveyance means 157 Paper stacking tray 200 Control unit
203 Lifting mechanism 300 Rack 301 Registration driving means 305 End detection sensor

JP 2005-219829 A

Claims (4)

This is a paper post-processing device that can pick up air that is being transported and transports it to the stacking surface, and when it reaches the stacking surface, releases the air suction and drops the paper onto the stacking surface for stacking. And
Transport means for transporting the paper toward a position where air is adsorbed;
An adsorbing means provided at a position for air adsorbing the paper, and an air adsorbing and conveying means for conveying the paper in an adsorbed state;
A skew amount detecting means for detecting a skew amount with respect to a transport direction of the paper transported toward the air adsorption transport means;
A rotation drive unit for rotating the air adsorbing means about a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the paper;
The skew amount detecting means is connected to the input side, and the output side includes a control unit to which the rotation driving unit is connected,
The sheet post-processing apparatus, wherein the control unit performs drive control of the rotation driving unit by determining a direction and a rotation amount for correcting the skew amount detected by the skew amount detection unit. The air adsorbing and conveying means includes an elevating means for moving the adsorbing surface of the paper in the stacking direction of the paper,
The lifting and lowering means moves the sheet to a position facing the stacking surface, and then moves the sheet toward the stacking surface to a position where the sheet is placed on the uppermost sheet upper surface stacked on the stacking surface. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1.   3. The air suction unit that air-sucks the paper is released when the air suction transport unit places the paper on the stacking surface by the elevating unit. 4. Paper post-processing equipment. This is a paper post-processing device that can pick up air that is being transported and transports it to the stacking surface, and when it reaches the stacking surface, releases the air suction and drops the paper onto the stacking surface for stacking. And
Transport means for transporting the paper toward a position where air is adsorbed;
An adsorbing means provided at a position for air adsorbing the paper, and an air adsorbing and conveying means for conveying the paper in an adsorbed state;
A skew amount detecting means for detecting a skew amount with respect to a transport direction of the paper transported toward the air adsorption transport means;
A rotation drive unit for rotating the air adsorbing means about a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of the paper;
A resist driving means for moving the suction means in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the paper;
An edge detection sensor capable of detecting the edge position of the paper after the skew is eliminated;
The skew amount detection means and the end detection sensor are connected to the input side, and the output side includes a control unit to which the rotation driving unit and the resist driving unit are connected,
The controller determines a direction and a rotation amount for correcting the skew amount detected by the skew amount detection unit, drives the rotation drive unit, and moves the paper after the skew is removed in one direction to adjust the edge position. A sheet post-processing apparatus that performs control for aligning the edge positions of sheets by moving the sheet in the other direction by a predetermined amount from the detection and returning it.

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