Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
There has been an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer in which a toner image (an image) formed by an image forming unit is fixed on a sheet and then the sheet is discharged by a discharge roller pair formed of two discharge rollers. There has been another image forming apparatus in which a sheet, on which a toner image is fixed, is conveyed again to an image forming unit and an image is formed on the other side of the sheet.
In such an image forming apparatus, when an image is formed on the sheet, an electrostatic latent image is first formed on the surface of a photosensitive drum provided on the image forming unit and developed by a toner to form a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum. Then, the toner image is transferred onto the sheet and then the sheet is heated and pressed in a fixing unit to fix the toner image onto the sheet. A discharge roller pair is rotated forward to discharge the sheet, on which the toner image is fixed, to a sheet stacking unit. When images are formed on both sides of a sheet, the discharge roller pair is reversely rotated to convey the sheet to a re-conveyance path and again to the image forming apparatus.
In recent years, a processing speed of an image forming apparatus has been increased and the size thereof has been reduced. For this reason, a distance between a fixing unit and a discharge roller pair is decreased and a sheet which is heated and pressed by the fixing unit to be extremely high in temperature is nipped by the discharge roller pair with the sheet remained at high temperature. This may cause the toner high in temperature to stick to the surface of the discharge roller. The toner sticking thereto further sticks to the sheet to be discharged next as a roller trace, which may degrade the image quality of the next sheet.
Conventionally, a material such as fluororesin high in resistance to toner fusion has been employed as a material of a discharge roller which is brought into pressure contact with the surface of the toner image to prevent a roller trace from occurring. If the processing speed of the image forming apparatus is further increased and the size thereof is further reduced, the roller trace cannot be prevented from occurring only by increasing resistance to toner fusion on the surface of the discharge roller. There is a method for preventing the roller trace from occurring in which a plurality of discharge rollers brought into pressure contact with a discharge roller is symmetrically tilted with respect to the direction in which the sheet is conveyed with the center of the sheet in the width direction thereof orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction as a center. The discharge rollers are thus tilted to enable the rear end portion of the sheet to shave off the toner sticking to the surface of the discharge roller even if the toner at the leading edge of the sheet sticks to the surface of the discharge roller.
However, in a case where the discharge rollers are thus tilted, a problem is caused in which the end portion of the discharge roller is brought into close contact with a sheet to produce a linear trace on the sheet. The problem of the linear trace can be improved by decreasing the nip pressure of the discharge roller pair. However, it is difficult to decrease the nip pressure of the discharge roller pair because the re-conveyance path and a shutter mechanism for correcting the registration of the sheet are subjected to resistance when images are formed on both sides of a sheet.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-142328 discusses a technique in which the nip of a sub-conveyance member at the rear of the fixing unit is made attachable and detachable using an actuator such as a solenoid to solve both problems of the linear trace and required conveyance force to the re-conveyance path. However, with the structure discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-142328, the actuator is required, which remains a problem that the image forming apparatus is increased in size and the cost is increased because the number of components is increased.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus includes, an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet, a driving rotation member configured to rotate forward to discharge the sheet, on which the image forming unit has formed an image, outside a main body of the image forming apparatus, and reversely rotate to convey again the sheet to the image forming unit, a driven rotation member arranged opposing the driving rotation member, and configured to be driven to rotate by the driving rotation member, a driven rotation shaft arranged tilting with respect to a rotation shaft of the driving rotation member and configured to support the driven rotation member, a holding member configured to oscillatably hold the driven rotation member, and an urging member configured to urge the holding member to urge the driven rotation member in the direction of the driving rotation member, in which a fulcrum of oscillation of the holding member is provided on a upstream side of a straight line made by the center of the driving rotation member and the center of the driven rotation member in the direction in which the sheet is discharged.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus includes, an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet, a driving rotation member configured to rotate forward to discharge the sheet, on which the image forming unit has formed an image, outside a main body of the image forming apparatus and reversely rotated to convey again the sheet to the image forming unit, a driven rotation member arranged opposing the driving rotation member and configured to be driven to rotate by the driving rotation member, a driven rotation shaft arranged tilting with respect to a rotation shaft of the driving rotation member and configured to support the driven rotation member, and an urging portion configured to urge the driven rotation member in the direction of the driving rotation member, in which the driven rotation shaft has a portion different in diameter in the direction of the driven rotation shaft, and in which the driven rotation member is provided to be movable in the direction of the driven rotation shaft.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Various exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
A first exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanied drawings.
A sheet material 1 is stacked on a sheet material stacking member 2. The sheet material 1 is separated by a sheet feeding unit 3 sheet by sheet and conveyed to a conveyance unit 5 along a conveyance guide 4. The sheet material 1 is conveyed by the conveyance unit 5 to a transfer unit 6. A toner image formed by a laser unit 7 and the transfer unit 6 on a photosensitive drum 8 is transferred onto the sheet material 1. The sheet material 1 onto which the toner image is transferred is subjected to heat and pressure by a fixing unit 9, and the toner image is fixed to the sheet material 1. In the first exemplary embodiment, an image forming unit for forming an image on the sheet by the transfer unit 6 and the fixing unit 9 is configured.
Thereafter, the sheet material 1 is conveyed to a discharge unit 11 along a discharge guide 10. The discharge unit 11 includes a discharge roller (driving rotation member) 12 and a discharge roller (driven rotation member) 13. The discharge roller 12 receives a driving force from a driving source (not illustrated) to enable normal and reverse rotation. The discharge roller 13 is arranged at a position opposed to the discharge roller 12 and driven by the discharge roller 12.
The discharge roller 12 is rotated forward to discharge the sheet material 1 outside the main body of the image forming apparatus. In a case where images are formed on both sides of the sheet material 1, a part of the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body and when the rear edge of the sheet material 1 has passed though the discharge guide 10, the discharge roller 12 is reversely rotated. This causes the sheet material 1 on one side of which an image is formed to enter a re-conveyance guide (the re-conveyance path) 14 and the sheet material 1 is conveyed to a re-conveyance roller pair (re-conveyance unit) 15. A registration shutter (a skew correction portion) 16 provided near the re-conveyance roller pair 15 corrects the skew (tilt) of the sheet material 1. The sheet material 1 is again conveyed by the re-conveyance roller pair 15 to the conveyance unit 5, an image is transferred and fixed onto the other side thereof, and the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body from the discharge unit 11.
When the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body (when the discharge roller 12 is rotated forward), a distance over which the sheet material 1 is discharged only by the discharge unit 11 is only between the fixing unit 9 and the discharge unit 11 after the rear edge of the sheet material 1 passes though the fixing unit 9. Since the discharge guide 10 is linear, a conveyance resistance to which the sheet material 1 is subjected at this moment is small. For this reason, the nip pressure of the discharge unit 11 required in discharging the sheet material 1 outside the main body is small. The nip pressure of the discharge unit 11 refers to force in which the discharge roller 12 and the discharge roller 13 nip the sheet.
When images are formed on both sides of the sheet material 1 (when the discharge roller 12 is reversely rotated), a distance over which the sheet material 1 is conveyed only by the discharge unit 11 is between the discharge unit 11 and the re-conveyance unit 15. Thus, the distance over which the sheet material 1 is conveyed only by the discharge unit 11 is increased. The re-conveyance guide 14 has a curvature to downsize the main body, and a conveyance resistance to which the sheet material 1 is subjected at the re-conveyance guide 14 is larger than that at the discharge guide 10. Furthermore, a conveyance force for pushing and opening the registration shutter 16 which corrects a tilt due to the conveyance of the sheet material 1 is required. The nip pressure of the discharge unit 11 required for forming images on both sides of the sheet material 1 is larger than that in a case where the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body.
The discharge unit 11 according to the first exemplary embodiment is described below with reference to
As illustrated in
The nip pressure in a case where the discharge roller 12 is rotated forward to discharge the sheet material 1 outside the main body is described below.
Fn·sin θ·Ln+Ffr·cos θ·Ln=Fsp·Lsp
Fn=(Fsp·Lsp−Ffr·cos θ·Ln)/(Ln·sin θ) (1)
The discharge rollers 12 and 13 are arranged at a tilt angle α as illustrated in
For that reason, the nip pressure Fn can be expressed by subtraction of the friction force Ffr from pressure force Fsp as represented by the equation (1), so that the nip pressure in a case where the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body by rotating the discharge roller 12 forward can be decreased. This can prohibit the linear trace from being produced due to the discharge roller 13 strongly pressing the sheet material 1.
The nip pressure in a case where the discharge roller 12 is reversely rotated to form images on both sides of the sheet material 1 is described below. As illustrated in
Fn·sin θ·Ln=Fsp·Lsp+Ffr·cos θ·Ln
Fn=(Fsp·Lsp+Ffr·cos θ·Ln)/(Ln·sin θ) (2)
Since the force Ffr due to friction between the discharge roller 13 and the sheet material 1 at the time of reversely rotating the discharge roller 12 acts in the opposite direction at the time of rotating forward the discharge roller 12, the friction force Ffr is added to the pressure force Fsp. As is clear from the comparison between the equations (1) and (2), the nip pressure at the time of reversely rotating the discharge roller 12 is becomes larger by 2Ffr·tan θ than that at the time of rotating forward the discharge roller 12.
The nip pressure is high at the time of reverse rotation, so that the linear trace can be produced on the sheet material 1. In the process for forming images on both sides of the sheet material 1, however, the sheet material 1 passes through again the fixing unit 9 for the purpose of fixing the toner image on the sheet material 1, so that heat and pressure are applied to the sheet material 1 to cause the linear trace to disappear. As described above, when the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body, the nip pressure is decreased to allow the linear trace to be suppressed even in a case where an image is formed on both sides of the sheet material 1.
As the tilt angle α is larger, the difference between the nip pressures at the time of forward and reversely rotating the discharge roller 12 can be made larger. However, if the tilt angle α is excessively large, the friction between the discharge roller 13 and the sheet material 1 is also made excessively large, which may remove the toner image fixed to the sheet material 1. For this reason, it is desirable that the tilt angle α is approximately 2° to 3° as in the first exemplary embodiment.
As described above, according to the first exemplary embodiment, the nip pressure can be decreased at the time of rotating forward the discharge roller 12 and also increased at the time of reversely rotating the discharge roller 12. Therefore, in a case where the sheet material 1 is discharged outside the main body, the linear trace on the sheet material 1 can be suppressed, and in a case where images are formed on both sides of the sheet material 1, the sheet material 1 can be conveyed even if the sheet material 1 is subjected to the conveyance resistance of the re-conveyance guide 14 and the registration shutter 16. This allows the main body to be downsized and a good image quality to be achieved at a low cost without the nip pressure of roller pairs being decreased by adding the roller pair of the discharge unit 11 and without the main body being increased in size by increasing the curvature of the re-conveyance guide 14 to decrease the resistance of the re-conveyance guide 14.
A second exemplary embodiment is described below with reference to
The second exemplary embodiment is similar to the first exemplary embodiment except for the configuration of the discharge unit 22. As illustrated in
The discharge roller holding member 25 holds the rotational shaft 29 of the discharge roller 24 at the right and left portions thereof having a same diameter. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The nip pressure in a case where the discharge roller 23 is rotated forward to discharge the sheet material 1 outside the main body is described below. As illustrated in
The discharge roller 24 moves to abut on the discharge roller holding member 25 on the center side in the width direction of the sheet material 1 due to the force of F′sr. Therefore, the discharge roller holding member 25 holds the discharge roller 24 at a portion of the diameter DA. If a natural length of the pressure member 26 is L, the working length is LA, and spring constant is k, the nip pressure is expressed as F′n=k(LA−L).
The nip pressure in a case where the discharge roller 23 is reversely rotated to form images on both sides of the sheet 1 is described below. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Consequently, according to the second exemplary embodiment, the nip pressure can be decreased at the time of rotating forward the discharge roller 23 and increased at the time of reversely rotating the discharge roller 23. For this reason, according to the second exemplary embodiment, the main body can be downsized and a good image quality can be achieved at a low cost as is the case with the first exemplary embodiment.
As described above, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the nip pressure of the discharge roller pair at the time of forward and reversely rotating the discharge roller can be changed. This allows the main body to be downsized and a good image quality to be achieved at a low cost.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-184049 filed Sep. 5, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2013-184049 | Sep 2013 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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6330419 | Sano et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
20050265762 | Ahn | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20090214279 | Ito | Aug 2009 | A1 |
20100025928 | Yamamoto | Feb 2010 | A1 |
20100296831 | Sakai | Nov 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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H11-071037 | Mar 1999 | JP |
11311893 | Nov 1999 | JP |
2001-142328 | May 2001 | JP |
2005-331863 | Dec 2005 | JP |
2009-202965 | Sep 2009 | JP |
2010-247981 | Nov 2010 | JP |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20150063890 A1 | Mar 2015 | US |