Patent Application
20220350289
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus which conveys a sheet, a cooling apparatus with the sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming system with the sheet conveying apparatus.
An image forming apparatus is a typical apparatus equipped with a sheet conveying apparatus. In such an image forming apparatus, the configuration is widely known in which an opening/closing member is moved from a closed position to an open position to expose conveying members that convey a sheet when performing maintenance processing or jam processing by which a sheet jam is cleared. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-105812 describes a configuration in which an opening/closing member is rotatably supported via a plurality of hinges by a frame of an image forming apparatus and the opening/closing member moves between a closed position and an open position by rotating.
When the configuration is adopted where the opening/closing member is rotatably supported by the frame via hinges, as in the configuration of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-105812, there is a possibility that the opening/closing member is supported in a tilted state with respect to the frame due to the effect of the weight of the opening/closing member. This will be described below using
As shown in
The hinge 264b is attached below the hinge 264a in the vertical direction. The hinge 264b has the exterior fixed portion 264b1 fixed to the opening/closing member 260, the frame fixed portion 264b2 fixed to the frame 240, and the hinge pin 264b3. Hinge holes (not shown) through which the hinge pin 264b3 is inserted are formed on the exterior fixed portion 264b1 and on the frame fixed portion 264b2. The opening/closing member 260 rotates around the hinge pins 264a3 and 264b3 as a rotation axis.
In order to ensure that the opening/closing member 260 can be easily assembled, the hinges 264a and 264b are configured such that the inner diameters of the hinge holes (not shown) are greater than the outer diameters of the hinge pins 264a3 and 264b3. That is, there is a backlash between the inner surface of the hinge holes (not shown), and the hinge pins 264a3 and 264b3 in the radial direction. Due to the influence of the backlash and the weight of the opening/closing member 260, the opening/closing member 260 moves downward in the vertical direction and to the side where the center of gravity W of the opening/closing member 260 is located in the horizontal direction with respect to the hinge pins 264a3 and 264b3. This causes the opening/closing member 260 to tilt so that the side where the center of gravity W is located with reference to the hinges 264a and 264b in the horizontal direction moves hanging down. That is, as shown in
As shown in
In a case where the opening/closing member 260 tilts in this manner, the opening/closing member 260 may interfere or slide with other members when the opening/closing member 260 moves between the open position and the closed position since the positional relationship changes between the opening/closing member 260 and other members including an exterior cover. This may degrade the operability of the opening/closing member 260 and generate abnormal noise.
An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet conveying apparatus in which a rotating member is rotatably supported by a frame via a hinge and which can suppress the tilting of the rotating member with respect to the frame due to the influence of the weight of the rotating member.
A representative configuration of the present invention is a sheet conveying apparatus, comprising:
a frame;
a conveying member supported by the frame and configured to convey a sheet;
a first hinge;
a second hinge located at a position below the first hinge in a vertical direction; and
a rotating member rotatably supported with respect to the frame by the first hinge and the second hinge such that the rotating member is rotatable between a first position where the conveying member is covered and a second position where the conveying member is exposed,
wherein the first hinge includes:
a first portion which is fixed to the frame and which includes a first hole portion through which a first hinge pin is inserted; and
a second portion which is fixed to the rotating member and which includes:
wherein the second hinge includes:
a third portion which is fixed to the frame and which includes a third hole portion through which a second hinge pin is inserted; and
a fourth portion which is fixed to the rotating member and which includes:
wherein, in the horizontal direction, a position where the first portion of the first hinge is arranged is substantially the same as that of the third portion of the second hinge, and the fourth portion of the second hinge is arranged with respect to the second portion of the first hinge such that a center position of the second scale is located at a position farther from a gravity center of the rotating member than a center position of the first scale.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 including a sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention will be described together with image forming operations with reference to the drawings. The dimensions, materials, shapes, and relative arrangements of the components described below are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to them unless otherwise specified.
As shown in
Further, a cooling apparatus 70 for cooling the sheet S is connected to the image forming apparatus A. The cooling apparatus 70 cools the sheet S heated by the fixing apparatus described later. The cooling apparatus 70 includes the receiving roller 76 which receives the sheet S from the image forming apparatus A to convey it, the cooling unit 85 which cools the sheet S, and the discharge roller 78 which discharges the sheet S from the cooling apparatus 70. The cooling unit 85 includes the conveying belts 79a and 79b for conveying the sheet S, the heat sink 77 made of aluminum which contacts the inner peripheral surface of the conveying belt 79a, and a fan (not shown) which cools the heat sink 77 by blowing air. The post-processing apparatus 80 is connected to the cooling apparatus 70. That is, the cooling apparatus 70 is a sheet conveying apparatus which includes the receiving roller 76, the conveying belts 79a, 79b, and the discharge roller 78 as conveying members for conveying the sheet S. Further, the cooling apparatus 70 is a sheet conveying apparatus which conveys the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus A to the post-processing apparatus 80 in the image forming system 100.
When an image is formed by the image forming apparatus A, an image forming job signal is first input to a control portion (not shown). As a result, the sheet S stored in the sheet cassettes 11a and 11b is sent to the conveying path 94. After that, the sheet S passes through the conveying path 94 and is fed to the secondary transfer portion formed by the secondary transfer roller 7 and the secondary transfer counter roller 8.
Meanwhile, in the image forming portion, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y is first charged by the charging roller 2Y. After that, the laser scanner unit 3 irradiates the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y with laser light according to the image data transmitted from an external device (not shown) to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y. After that, the developing device 4Y attaches the yellow toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y to form a yellow toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y. The toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 6 by applying the primary transfer bias to the primary transfer roller 5Y.
By the same process, magenta, cyan, and black toner images are also formed on the photosensitive drums 1M, 1C, and 1K, respectively. Then, by applying a bias to the primary transfer rollers 5M, 5C, and 5K, these toner images are transferred superposedly on the yellow toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 6. As a result, a full-color image is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 6 in accordance with an image signal.
Thereafter, the full-color toner image is sent to the secondary transfer portion by the intermediate transfer belt 6 which moves while rotating. Then, a secondary transfer bias is applied to the secondary transfer roller 7 at the secondary transfer portion, so that the full-color toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 6 is transferred to the sheet S. The sheet S on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the first fixing apparatus 9a by the conveying belt 95, where the sheet S is subjected to a fixing process including heating and pressing. As a result, the toner image on the sheet S is fixed on the sheet S.
After that, the sheet S on which the toner image is fixed is conveyed to the second fixing apparatus 9b through the conveying path 97 based on the user's instruction to do so. Then, in the second fixing apparatus 9b, a gloss process for adding gloss to the image of the sheet S and a second fixing process for further improving the image fixing property are performed. When a user's instruction to perform the gloss process or the second fixing process is absent, the sheet S which has passed through the first fixing apparatus 9a is sent to the conveying path 96. The switching between the conveying paths 96 and 97 is performed by the flapper 99.
Next, when an image formation should be performed on both sides of the sheet S, the sheet S is conveyed to the conveyance path 94 again through the re-conveyance path 98. After that, an image is formed on the back surface of the sheet S in the same manner as the image formation on the front surface of the sheet S described above. Thereafter, the sheet S on which the image is formed is discharged from the image forming apparatus A by the discharge roller 17 and sent to the cooling apparatus 70.
The sheet S sent to the cooling apparatus 70 is conveyed to the cooling unit 85 by the receiving roller 76. Then, in the cooling unit 85, the sheet S is cooled by the heat sink 77 via the conveying belt 79a, while being nipped and conveyed by the conveying belts 79a and 79b. After that, the sheet S is discharged from the cooling apparatus 70 by the discharge roller 78.
Next, the sheet S discharged from the cooling apparatus 70 is sent to the post-processing apparatus 80. Then, in the post-processing apparatus 80, the sheet S is subjected to the sheet processing such as a binding process, an aligning process, and a bookbinding process. After that, the sheet S subjected to the sheet processing is discharged to the discharge tray 80a or the discharge tray 80b.
Next, the configuration of the exterior of the cooling apparatus 70 will be described.
The frame body 71 of the cooling apparatus 70, which is made of sheet metal, includes the front side plate 72 which is a front surface side frame, the back side plate 73 which is a back surface side frame, and the stays 74a to 74c. Both ends of the front side plate 72 and the back side plate 73 are bent substantially in parallel to form a square U-shape. The front side plate 72 and the back side plate 73 support the receiving roller 76, the conveying belts 79a and 79b, the discharge roller 78, and the cooling unit 85. Further, the stays 74a to 74c connect the front side plate 72 and the back side plate 73 to reinforce the front side plate 72 and the rear side plate 73. The exterior described above is supported by the frame body 71 of the cooling apparatus 70. An exterior cover is not provided at the sides of the frame body 71 of the cooling apparatus 70 where the stays 74a to 74c are placed so that the image forming apparatus A and the post-processing apparatus 80 can be connected to these sides. The two side surfaces on which the stays 74a to 74c are placed are an upstream side surface and a downstream side surface of the sheet conveying apparatus in the cooling apparatus 70.
The front surface cover 60 (rotating member) is rotatably supported by the front side plate 72 of the frame body 71 via hinges 64a and 64b. The hinge 64b (second hinge) is attached below the hinge 64a (first hinge) in the vertical direction. The front surface cover 60 is rotated between the closed position (first position) at which the front surface cover 60 covers the receiving roller 76, the conveying belts 79a and 79b, and the discharge roller 78, which are conveying members for conveying the sheet S, and the open position (second position) at which these members are exposed. When the maintenance process or the jam clearing process for clearing the jam of the sheet S is performed, a user or a service person performs these processes after having moved the front surface cover 60 from the closed position to the open position while holding the handle portion 60a of the front surface cover 60.
The metal reinforcing plate 61 for reinforcing the front surface cover 60 is attached to the inside surface of the front surface cover 60. The belt supporting plate 62, the magnet plate 63, and the hinges 64a and 64b are fixed to the reinforcing plate 61 with screws, respectively. The belt supporting plate 62 holds the stopper belt 47 in cooperation with the belt supporting plate 41 fixed to the front side plate 72. The stopper belt 47 exerts a force on the front surface cover 60 and the front side plate 72 to restrict the rotation of the front surface cover 60 such that the front surface cover 60 located in the open position does not rotate in the direction in which the front surface cover 60 further opens from the open position.
The magnet plate 63 includes the magnetizing portion 63a and the flag 63b protruding from the magnetizing portion 63a. When the front surface cover 60 is located at the closed position, the magnetizing portion 63a is fixed by magnetic force to the magnet catch 42 attached to the front side plate 72. Further, when the front surface cover 60 is located at the closed position, the magnetizing portion 61b of the reinforcing plate 61 is fixed by magnetic force to the magnet catch 43 attached to the front side plate 72. As a result, the front surface cover 60, which is located at the closed position, is restricted to rotate in the direction to the open position. Furthermore, when the front surface cover 60 is located at the closed position, the flag 63b of the magnet plate 63 enters the detection window 39a of the detection unit 39 attached to the front side plate 72. As a result, a sensor equipped with the detection unit 39 detects that the front surface cover 60 is located at the closed position.
The configuration of the hinges 64a and 64b will be described next.
As shown in
Similar to the hinge 64a, the hinge 64b includes the exterior fixed portion 64b1 (fourth portion) which is screwed to the front surface cover 60, the frame fixed portion 64b2 (third portion) which is screwed to the front side plate 72, and the hinge pin 64b3 (second hinge pin). The hinge holes 64b1a (fourth holes) and the hinge hole 64b2a (third hole) through which the hinge pin 64b3 is inserted are formed on the exterior fixed portion 64b1 and the frame fixed portion 64b2, respectively.
The hinge pins 64a3 and 64b3 are each an L-shaped member. After the hinge pin 64a3 is inserted into the hinge holes 64a1a and 64a2a of the hinge 64a, the hinge pin 64a3 is rotated by an operator such that the lower end of the hinge pin 64a3 faces the reinforcing plate 61. As a result, the lower end of the hinge pin 64a3 engages with an engaging hole (not shown) formed on the reinforcing plate 61, so that the hinge pin 64a3 is supported by the reinforcing plate 61. Similarly, after the hinge pin 64b3 is inserted into the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a of the hinge 64b, the hinge pin 64b3 is rotated by an operator such that the lower end of the hinge pin 64b3 faces the reinforcing plate 61 to engage with an engaging portion (not shown), so that the hinge pin 64b3 is supported by the reinforcing plate 61.
With this configuration, the front surface cover 60 can be rotated around the hinge pins 64a3 and 64b3. The inner diameter d1 of the hinge holes 64a1a and 64a2a is set to be greater than the outer diameter d2 of the hinge pin 64a3 in order to ensure workability when inserting the hinge pin 64a3. In this embodiment, d1=4.2 mm and d2=4.0 mm. Similarly, the inner diameter d1 of the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a of the hinge 64b is set to be greater than the outer diameter d2 of the hinge pin 64b3.
The exterior fixed portion 64a1 of the hinge 64a includes the positioning hole 64a1b, the scale 64a1c (first scale), and the adjusting hole 64a1d (first engaging hole), which are used to adjust the position of the hinge 64a. The adjusting hole 64a1d is formed at a position below the scale 64a1c and adjacent to the scale 64a1c in the vertical direction. The boss 61a1 (first protrusion) formed on the reinforcing plate 61 engages with the adjusting hole 64a1d such that the boss 61a1 is horizontally slidable inside the adjusting hole 64a1d. The position adjustment of the hinge 64a is performed as follows.
First of all, at the time of the shipment from the factory, a tool pin is inserted into the positioning hole 64a1b of the exterior fixed portion 64a1 and a hole (not shown) formed on the reinforcing plate 61. As a result, the exterior fixed portion 64a1 is positioned with respect to the reinforcing plate 61. Before the shipment of the factory, the hinge 64a is assembled such that the boss 61a1 is located at the center position 64a1c1 of the scale 64a1c. Further, the hinge 64b is assembled such that the boss 61a2 is located at the center position 64b1c1 of the scale 64b1c.
After the shipment from the factory, when the image forming apparatus A or the post-processing apparatus 80 is connected to the cooling apparatus 70, the position adjustment is performed using the scale 64a1c and the boss 61a1 to match the distance and the parallelism between the exterior of the image forming apparatus A or the post-processing apparatus 80 and the front surface cover 60 of the cooling apparatus 70. Specifically, an assembling worker performs the position adjustment while observing how much the boss 61a1 is shifted in the V direction shown in
The hinge 64b is a member of the same shape as the hinge 64a. Thus, the exterior fixed portion 64b1 of the hinge 64b similarly includes the positioning hole 64b1b, the scale 64b1c (second scale), and the adjusting hole 64b1d (second engaging hole). The adjusting hole 64b1d is formed at a position below the scale 64b1c and adjacent to the scale 64b1c in the vertical direction. The boss 61a2 (second protrusion) formed on the reinforcing plate 61 engages with the adjusting hole 64b1d such that the boss 61a2 is horizontally slidable inside the adjusting hole 64b1d. The position adjustment of the hinge 64b with respect to the reinforcing plate 61 is performed similarly as that for the hinge 64a.
The front surface cover 60 may be supported in a tilted state with respect to the front side plate 72 due to the influence of the weight of the front surface cover 60. Specifically, the front side plate 72 is deformed by the moment around the hinges 64a and 64b generated by the weight of the front surface cover 60, causing the side of the front surface cover 60 where the center of gravity W (
As shown in
The exterior fixed portion 64b1 of the hinge 64b is located at a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 in the horizontal direction than the exterior fixed portion 64a1 of the hinge 64a. As a result, the center position 64b1c1 of the scale 64b1c of the hinge 64b is located at a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 in the horizontal direction than the center position 64a1c1 of the scale 64a1c of the hinge 64a. In the state before the hinge pin 64b3 is inserted, the center position of the hinge hole 64b2a is located at a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 than the center positions of the hinge holes 64b1a, the hinge holes 64a1a of the hinge 64a, and the hinge hole 64a2a of the hinge 64a.
By arranging the hinge 64b in this way, the front surface cover 60 is tilted such that the right upper end P2 of the front surface cover 60 moves upward when the hinge pin 64b3 is inserted into the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a of the hinge 64b. That is, the hinge pin 64b3 is inserted into the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a in the state in which the positions of the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a of the hinge 64b almost overlap with each other in the horizontal direction. The front surface cover 60 is tilted as described above in order to align the horizontal position of the hinge hole 64b2a of the hinge 64b with the horizontal positions of the hinge holes 64b1a.
Further, as described above, the front surface cover 60 is provided with the reinforcing plate 61. Therefore, the front surface cover 60 is tilted such that the upper right end P2 of the front surface cover 60 moves downward due to the influence of its own weight. By arranging the hinges 64a and 64b as in this embodiment, the front surface cover 60 tilts to the opposite direction of the tilt caused by the influence of the weight of the front surface cover 60, so that the tilt caused by the influence of the weight of the front surface cover 60 is cancelled. Therefore, as shown in
Here, it is possible to experimentally calculate the vertical downward movement amount R1 of the right upper end P2 of the front surface cover 60 due to the influence of the moment around the hinges 64a and 64b generated by the weight of the front surface cover 60 from the rigidity of respective members and the weight of the front surface cover 60. It is also possible to experimentally calculate the vertical downward movement amount R2 of the right upper end P2 of the front surface cover 60 due to the influence of the backlash between the hinge pins 64a3, 64b3 and the hinge holes 64a1a, 64a2a, 64b1a, and 64b2a from the following parameters. That is, the movement amount R2 can be experimentally calculated from the inner diameter d1 of the hinge holes 64a1a, 64a2a, 64b1a, and 64b2a, the outer diameter d2 of the hinge pins 64a3, and 64b3, the vertical distance between the hinges 64a and 64b, and the horizontal length of the front surface cover 60. Further, let L be the amount of vertical upward movement of the right upper end P2 of the front surface cover 60 which moves when the above-described arrangement of the hinges 64a and 64b is adopted.
At this time, when the hinges 64a and 64b are arranged such that L−(R1+R2)=0 is satisfied, the tilt of the front surface cover 60 due to the influence of the weight of the front surface cover 60 can be completely cancelled out. However, it is possible to at least suppress the tilted support of the front surface covey 60 to the front side plate 72 due to the influence of the weight of the front surface cover 60 by setting the movement amount L on the left side of the above equation such that the absolute value of the right side of the above equation becomes small.
As mentioned above, in this embodiment, the positions of the hinges 64a and 64b can be adjusted by a service person using the scales 64a1c and 64b1c when installing the cooling system 70. This makes it possible to adjust the tilt of the front surface cover 60, which varies from apparatus to apparatus due to dimensional tolerances, etc., and to further suppress the tilted support of the front surface cover 60 to the front side plate 72.
In this embodiment, the front surface cover 60 is supported to the frame body 71 by two hinges 64a and 64b, however the front surface cover 60 can be equipped with the three hinges. When applying the configuration of this embodiment to this case, the horizontal positions of the top hinge and the bottom hinge in the vertical direction are first set. Then, the center hinge is placed on the virtual line connecting the top hinge and the bottom hinge. Even in this case, it is sufficient to arrange the three hinges such that the lower the position of a hinge is in the vertical direction, the farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 the position becomes at which the exterior fixed portion of the hinge located. In other words, the exterior fixed portion of the center hinge should be placed at a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 than the exterior fixed portion of the top hinge in the vertical direction, and the exterior fixed portion of the bottom hinge should be placed a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 than the exterior fixed portion of the center hinge. Even if three or more hinges are used in this way, the same effects as described above can be obtained by adopting this embodiment.
In this embodiment, the configuration has been described in which the exterior fixed portion 64b1 of the hinge 64b is located at a position farther from the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 in the horizontal direction than the exterior fixed portion 64a1 of the hinge 64a. However, the same effect can be obtained with the following configuration.
That is, in the horizontal direction, the exterior fixed portion 64b1 of the hinge 64b is placed at substantially the same position as that of the exterior fixed portion 64a1 of the hinge 64a. The phrase “substantially the same” here denotes the case where the positions of the exterior fixed portions 64a1 and 64b1 are completely identical in the horizontal direction as well as the case where they differ from each other within a tolerance range. Also, the frame fixed portion 64b2 of the hinge 64b is placed at a position closer to the center of gravity W of the front surface cover 60 in the horizontal direction than the frame fixed portion 64a2 of the hinge 64a. Even with this configuration, the front surface cover 60 is tilted such that the right upper end P2 of the front surface cover 60 moves upward in order to align the hinge holes 64b1a with the hinge hole 64b2a when inserting the hinge pin 64b3 into the hinge holes 64b1a and 64b2a of the hinge 64b. Accordingly, the same effects as described above can be obtained.
Although this embodiment describes the configuration in which the hinge pin 64a3 of hinge 64a and the hinge pin 64b3 of hinge 64b are separate components, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. Namely, the same effects as described above can be obtained when the hinge pin 64a3 of hinge 64a and the hinge pin 64b3 of hinge 64b are integrally formed into a single member.
In this embodiment, the cooling apparatus 70 has been described as an example of the sheet conveying apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the same effects described above can be obtained by applying the configuration of the present invention to other apparatuses which convey the sheet S. For example, the same effects as described above can be obtained by applying the configuration of this embodiment to the image forming apparatus A as a sheet conveying apparatus equipped with a conveying roller (conveying member) which conveys the sheet S in the conveying path 94. Further, the same effects as described above can be obtained by applying the configuration of this embodiment to a sheet processing apparatus which is connected to the image forming apparatus A downstream in the sheet conveying direction and which performs a binding process, a folding process, and the like for the sheet S. The same effects as described above can also be obtained by applying the configuration of this embodiment to a reading apparatus having a reading unit which reads an image on the sheet formed by the image forming apparatus A.
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. 2020-094049, filed May 29, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-094049 | May 2020 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17318012 | May 2021 | US |
| Child | 17866634 | US |
