Patent Application
20160060053
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-178205, filed on Sep. 2, 2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments relate to a sheet feeding device and a sheet processing apparatus.
Conventionally, there has been a sheet feeding device which feeds a plurality of sheets overlapped in an upright position, to a takeout section which takes out tipmost sheets one by one from a plurality of overlapped sheets. In this sheet feeding device, when a sheet is thin or when a sheet is soft, it becomes difficult to feed sheets to the takeout section in an upright position, and thereby there has been a possibility that the takeout section cannot properly take out sheets.
A sheet feeding device of an embodiment has a conveying belt, a first roller, a second roller, a support portion, a takeout section. The conveying belt conveys a plurality of sheets in a first conveying direction. The conveying belt is wound along a first roller, and the first roller forms a conveying terminal portion of the conveying belt in the first conveying direction. The conveying belt is wound along the second roller at a more upstream side in the first conveying direction than the first roller. The second roller forms a slope portion of the conveying belt that slopes downward toward the conveying terminal portion. The support portion supports each of the plurality of sheets dropped from the conveying terminal portion in an upright position, at a position more downward in the vertical direction than the conveying terminal portion. The takeout section takes out a topmost sheet from the plurality of sheets arranged in the support portion, and conveys the taken-out sheet in a second conveying direction. The plurality of sheets is loaded on the conveying belt in an overlapping manner. The upper sheet, out of the sheets which are overlapping on the conveying belt in the vertical direction, is arranged to relatively deviate toward a downstream side in the first conveying direction than the lower sheet.
Hereinafter, a sheet feeding device and a sheet processing apparatus of an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
A sheet processing apparatus 1 of an embodiment is provided with a controller 1a, a feeding section 2, a takeout section 3, a rejection accumulating section 4, a reading recognition section 5, a sorting and stacking section (sorting processing section) 6, as shown in
The controller 1a totally controls an operation of the sheet processing apparatus 1.
The feeding section 2 holds a plurality of stacked sheets in a prescribed posture state. The feeding section 2 moves a plurality of sheets in a first conveying direction, and thereby feeds the plurality of sheets to the takeout section 3 which exists at a forefront side in the first conveying direction. The sheets are a letter such as a postcard, and a flat document such as an envelope, for example. The sheet has a first surface on which sorting information is written or printed.
The takeout section 3 takes out, out of a plurality of sheets fed by the feeding section 2, top sheets in the first conveying direction one by one, and sends out the taken-out sheet toward a conveying section (not shown) in a second conveying direction.
The rejection accumulating section 4 is provided in the conveying section. The rejection accumulating section 4 accumulates a sheet to be rejected, out of a plurality of sheets taken out by the takeout section 3. The rejection accumulating section 4 detects a sheet with a thickness exceeding a specified thickness, and a sheet in which a foreign body is contained, and accumulates and recovers the detected sheet. In addition, the rejection accumulating section 4 detects a sheet whose conveying posture is deviated from a prescribed posture, and accumulates and recovers the detected sheet.
The reading recognition section 5 acquires sorting information given to a sheet.
The sorting and stacking section 6 sorts and stacks a sheet in accordance with the sorting information of the sheet.
A sheet feeding device 10 is provided with the feeding section 2 and the takeout section 3.
The feeding section 2 is provided with a conveying belt 21, a first roller 22, a second roller 23, a support portion 24, as shown in
The conveying belt 21 is formed of flexible material. The conveying belt 21 is a tubular endless belt formed of a flat belt, for example. The conveying belt 21 is wound along a plurality of rollers including at least the first roller 22 and the second roller 23. At least any one roller out of the plurality of rollers is a drive roller which generates a rotation driving force. The conveying belt 21 rotates by a driving force which the drive roller generates, and makes the other roller to be driven to rotate. As for the conveying belt 21, an upper surface of an outer surface 21A in which a normal line direction thereof is a vertical upward direction (a Y direction shown in
The conveying belt 21 is wound along the first roller 22, and the first roller 22 forms a conveying terminal portion 31 of the conveying belt 21 in the first conveying direction D1. The conveying terminal portion 31 is an end portion of the loading surface A of the conveying belt 21 in the first conveying direction D1. The conveying terminal portion 31 sequentially drops each of the plurality of sheets on the loading surface A toward the support portion 24 in the downward vertical direction described later. In the following, a position y1 of the central axis of the first roller 22 in the vertical direction is determined as a position of the conveying terminal portion 31 in the vertical direction, for example. The first roller 22 is provided with a displacement mechanism (not shown) which displaces the central axis in the vertical direction.
The second roller 23 is arranged upward in the vertical direction than the first roller 22, at a more upstream side in the first conveying direction D1 than the first roller 22. That is, a position y2 of the central axis of the second roller 23 in the vertical direction is set more upward than the position y1 of the central axis of the first roller 22 in the vertical direction. The conveying belt 21 is wound along the second roller 23, and the second roller 23 forms a slope portion 32 of the conveying belt 21 which slopes downward toward the conveying terminal portion 31.
The support portion 24 is arranged downward in the vertical direction than the conveying terminal portion 31. The support portion 24 supports each of the plurality of sheets P dropped downward in the vertical direction from the conveying terminal portion 31, in an upright position. The support portion 24 is provided with a bottom wall 24a forming a horizontal plane and a guide wall 24b forming a vertical plane. A position y0 of the bottom wall 24a in the vertical direction is set lower than the position y1 of the conveying terminal portion 31 in the vertical direction. The bottom wall 24a supports the lower end of each of the sheets P in an upright position. A length of the bottom wall 24a in the first conveying direction D1, that is an interval between the guide wall 24b and the takeout section 3, is formed to a length enough to maintain upright position of a prescribed number (one-several sheets, for example) of the sheets P. Or the interval between the guide wall 24b and the takeout section 3 is formed such that the guide wall 24b or the takeout section 3 can help upright position of a prescribed number (one-several sheets, for example) of the sheets P. The guide wall 24b is formed so as to approximately vertically rise from an end portion of the back side of the bottom wall 24a in the first conveying direction D1. The guide wall 24b comes in contact with a sheet P at the rearmost end in the first conveying direction D1, out of a plurality of sheets P supported by the bottom wall 24a, to help the upright position of each of the sheets P. The guide wall 24b prevents that each sheet P which has dropped from the conveying terminal portion 31 is caught into the backward side in the first conveying direction D1, by the conveying belt 21.
The takeout section 3 is provided with a guide plate 41 and a suction belt 42.
The guide plate 41 is arranged so as to approximately vertically rise from the end portion of the forward side (downstream side) of the bottom wall 24a in the first conveying direction D1. The suction belt 42 is an endless belt formed with a plurality of suction holes 42a. A negative pressure or a positive pressure (a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure) is given to a plurality of the suction holes 42a, by a valve device (not shown) provided with a vacuum pump (not shown) and an air chamber (not shown), and so on. When a negative pressure is given to the plurality of suction holes 42a by the valve device, the plurality of suction holes 42a suck and take out a front sheet P in the first conveying direction D1 from a plurality of the sheets P arranged in the support portion 24.
As for the suction belt 42, a part of a region thereof is exposed on the surface of the guide plate 41. The suction belt 42 rotates by a driving force which a drive mechanism (not shown) generates. The drive mechanism is provided with a plurality of pulleys (not shown) along which the suction belt 42 is wound, and a drive motor (not shown) coupled to at least any one of the plurality of pulleys, for example. In the suction belt 42, the region exposed on the surface of the guide plate 41 moves in a second conveying direction D2 orthogonal to the first conveying direction D1, by the driving force which the drive mechanism generates. The suction belt 42 is rotationally driven by the drive mechanism in a state that a negative pressure is given to the plurality of suction holes 42a. By this means, the suction belt 42 conveys the sheets P taken out sequentially one by one from the support portion 24 toward the conveying section of the second conveying direction D2.
Hereinafter, an operation of the sheet feeding device 10 of the embodiment will be described.
To begin with, the controller 1a sets the position of the first roller 22 in the vertical direction (that is, the position y1 of the central axis of the first roller 22 in the vertical direction), in accordance with an instruction which an operator inputs from an input device (not shown) to the controller 1a. The controller 1a sets a distance between the position y1 of the conveying terminal portion 31 and the position y0 of the bottom wall 24a of the support portion 24 to a prescribed vertical direction distance in accordance with a size of a sheet P to be conveyed, based on the instruction of the operator. The size of the sheet P is a length of the sheet P in the first conveying direction D1, for example, that is a height in the vertical direction of the sheet P which is in an upright position in the support portion 24. The prescribed vertical direction distance changes in an upward trend as a size of the sheet P increases, and changes in a downward trend as a size of the sheet P decreases. The first roller 22 moves the central axis up and down in the vertical direction by an instruction from the controller 1a, in accordance with a size of each sheet P on the loading surface A, as shown in
And, the controller 1a rotationally drives the conveying belt 21, to convey a plurality of the sheets P loaded on the loading surface A in an overlapping manner toward the conveying terminal portion 31 in the first conveying direction D1. The plurality of sheets P are stacked and arranged on the loading surface in a prescribed posture state, by a collection operation of an operator which has been previously performed. Out of the sheets P which are overlapping in the vertical direction on the loading surface A, an upper sheet P is arranged to relatively deviate toward the forward side (downstream side) in the first conveying direction D1 than a lower sheet P. The loading surface A of the conveying belt 21 is arranged horizontal to a position in front of the second roller 23 in the first conveying direction D1, and at the slope portion 32 ranging from the second roller 23 to the first roller 22, the loading surface A is arranged to form a downward slope. The conveying belt 21 conveys each sheet P from the front of the second roller 23 to the slope portion 32, to thereby change a posture of each sheet P from a horizontal state to a tilted state.
The conveying belt 21 conveys each sheet P to the conveying terminal portion 31, and thereby sequentially drops uppermost sheets P, out of a plurality of the sheets P overlapping on the loading surface A, one by one from the conveying terminal portion 31 to the support portion 24 of the vertical downward direction. More specifically, since, an upper sheet P, out of the sheets P which are overlapping, is arranged to relatively deviate toward the forward side in the first conveying direction D1 than a lower sheet P, the upper sheet P is held on the loading surface A by a friction force between the upper sheet P and the loading surface A, in a state that a part of the upper sheet P is directly in contact with the loading surface A. Since the upper sheet P gradually projects outward from the conveying terminal portion 31 earlier than the lower sheet P, in accordance with the driving of the conveying belt 21, when at least a region of the upper sheet P which is directly in contact with the loading surface A is not present, a friction force between the upper sheet P and the loading surface A is lost, and thereby the upper sheet P drops out from on the loading surface A. When the upper sheet P drops out from on the loading surface A, a part of the lower sheet is directly in contact with the loading surface A yet, the lower sheet P is held on the loading surface A, by a friction force between the lower sheet P and the loading surface A.
The conveying belt 21 drops each sheet P in a state that its posture is tilted, from the conveying terminal portion 31. By this means, it is possible to make each sheet P self-stand more easily in the support portion 24, compared with a case in which each sheet P in a state that its posture is horizontal is dropped from the conveying terminal portion 31, for example.
And, the controller 1a makes the valve device and the drive mechanism of the takeout section 3 operate, to drive the suction belt 42 which is exposed on the surface of the guide plate 41 in the second conveying direction D2, while giving a negative pressure to a plurality of the suction holes 42a of the suction belt 42. The suction belt 42 draws and sucks a front sheet P in the first conveying direction D1 from a plurality of the sheet P arranged in the support portion 24 in an upright position, and conveys it toward the conveying section of the second conveying direction D2.
According to the above-described embodiment, the sheet feeding device 10 has the conveying belt 21 on which a plurality of sheets P are loaded in an overlapping manner, and thereby, even when the plurality of sheets P are thin, or the plurality of sheets P are soft, the sheet feeding device 10 can properly convey the plurality of sheets P. The sheet feeding device 10 has the conveying belt 21 on which an upper sheet P, out of the sheets P which are overlapping, is arranged to relatively deviate toward the forward side (downstream side) in the first conveying direction D1 than a lower sheet P, and thereby can sequentially feed the plurality of sheets P one by one from the conveying terminal portion 31 to the support portion 24. The sheet feeding device 10 has the support portion 24 downward the conveying terminal portion 31 in the vertical direction, and thereby can support each sheet P dropped from the conveying terminal portion 31 in an upright position by the support portion 24. The sheet feeding device 10 has the second roller 23 to form the slope portion 32 of the conveying belt 21 which slopes downward toward the conveying terminal portion 31, and thereby can drop each sheet P in a tilted posture from the conveying terminal portion 31, and can make each sheet P easily self-stand in the support portion 24.
The sheet feeding device 10 has the first roller 22 which moves up and down in the vertical direction, to change the position of the conveying terminal portion 31 in the vertical direction, and thereby can change a dropping height of each sheet P which drops from the conveying terminal portion 31 to the support portion 24, in accordance with a size (a height in an upright position) of each sheet P.
Hereinafter, a first modification will be described.
In the above-described embodiment, a plurality of sheets P are stacked and arranged on the loading surface A in a prescribed posture state by an operator. But the embodiment is not limited to this.
The sheet feeding device 10 according to a first modification may be provided with a first position adjusting portion 51 which automatically causes a plurality of sheets P loaded on the loading surface A in an overlapping manner to be in a prescribed posture state, as shown in
The first position adjusting portion 51 slopes downward the conveying belt 21 toward the forward side of the first conveying direction D1, at the front of the second roller 23 in the first conveying direction D1, and vibrates the conveying belt 21 at an appropriate timing. By this means, the first position adjusting portion 51 relatively deviates an upper sheet P, out of the sheets P which are overlapping in the vertical direction on the loading surface A, toward the forward side (downstream side) in the first conveying direction D1 than a lower sheet P.
Hereinafter, a second modification will be described.
In the above-described embodiment, a plurality of sheets P are stacked and arranged on the loading surface A in a prescribed posture state by a collection operation of an operator which is previously performed. But a modification of the embodiment is not limited to this.
The sheet feeding device 10 according to a second modification may be provided with a second position adjusting portion 52 which automatically causes a plurality of sheets P loaded on the loading surfaces A in an overlapping manner to be in a prescribed posture state, as shown in
In the sheet feeding device 10 according to the second modification, the conveying belt 21 is provided with a pair of separation conveying belts 21a, 21a which are separated with a prescribed interval in the width direction. Each of the pair of separation conveying belts 21a, 21a is wound along a plurality of rollers including at least the first roller 22 and the second roller 23, and conveys the plurality of sheets P in the first conveying direction D1. At least one or more (for example, 3 shown in
Hereinafter, a third modification will be described.
The above-described second modification of the embodiment is provided with the second position adjusting portion 52 in the region 21b between the pair of separation conveying belts 21a, 21a. But, without being limited to this, a modification of the embodiment may be provided with a third position adjusting portion 53 in place of the second position adjusting portion 52.
In the sheet feeding device 10 according to a third modification, the third position adjusting portion 53 is provided with a blowing portion 53a to blow out air to a sheet P on the loading surfaces A, and a suction portion 53b which sucks a sheet P on the loading surfaces A by sucking air, as shown in
Hereinafter, a fourth modification will be described.
In the above-described embodiment, the first roller 22 is provided with the displacement mechanism (not shown) which displaces the central axis in the vertical direction. But a modification of the embodiment is not limited to this.
The sheet feeding device 10 according to a fourth embodiment may be provided with a support portion displacement mechanism (not shown) to displace the bottom wall 24a of the support portion 24 in the vertical direction, in place of the displacement mechanism of the first roller 22, or in addition to the displacement mechanism of the first roller 22 as shown in
Hereinafter, another modification will be described.
The above-described embodiment may be provided with a conveying portion (not shown) to convey a plurality of sheets P supported by the bottom wall 24a toward the takeout section 3, the conveying portion may be arranged at the bottom wall 24a of the support portion 24. The conveying portion is a belt or the like which slightly projects upward from the surface of the bottom wall 24a in the vertical direction, for example, and is driven toward the forward side of the first conveying direction D1.
According to at least one of the embodiments and modifications as described above, the sheet feeding device and the sheet processing apparatus have the conveying belt 21 on which a plurality of sheets P are loaded in an overlapping manner, and thereby, even when the plurality of sheets P are thin, or the plurality of sheets P are soft, they can properly convey the plurality of sheets P. The sheet feeding device and the sheet processing apparatus have the conveying belt 21 on which an upper sheet P, out of the sheets P which are overlapping, is arranged to relatively deviate toward the forward side (downstream side) in the first conveying direction D1 than a lower sheet P, and thereby can feed the plurality of sheets P sequentially one by one from the conveying terminal portion 31 to the support portion 24. The sheet feeding device and the sheet processing apparatus have the support portion 24 downward the conveying terminal portion 31 in the vertical direction, and thereby can support each sheet P dropped from the conveying terminal portion 31 in an upright position by the support portion 24. The sheet feeding device and the sheet processing apparatus have the second roller 23 to form the slope portion 32 of the conveying belt 21 which slopes downward toward the conveying terminal portion 31, and thereby can drop each sheet P in a tilted posture from the conveying terminal portion 31, and can make each sheet P easily self-stand in the support portion 24.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-178205 | Sep 2014 | JP | national |
