The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-216856, filed on Nov. 29, 2019. The contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to a sheet placement device, a sheet feeding device, and an image forming apparatus.
Conventionally, sheet placement devices for use in an image forming apparatus, such as a copier or a printer, have been known, on which sheets such as paper or overhead projector (OHP) films are placed.
For example, such a sheet placement device may include, as a movable element, side fences (side limiter) that restrict the positions of lateral ends of a sheet. The side fences may be equipped with a sensor serving to detect contact between the sheet and the side fences (disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-145486, for instance).
Along with the movement of the movable element as the side fences including the sensor, wiring connected to the sensor also moves or shifts. As a result, the wiring connected to the sensor or the connection therebetween may be applied with a load, resulting in a contact failure.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a sheet placement device includes a placement member on which a sheet is placed; a limiter that is movable with respect to the placement member to limit a position of an end of the sheet placed on the placement member; a contact member provided in the limiter and to be displaced by contacting with the end of the sheet; and a detector that detects displacement of the contact member. The detector is provided in the placement member.
The accompanying drawings are intended to depict exemplary embodiments of the present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. Identical or similar reference numerals designate identical or similar components throughout the various drawings.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
In describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology may be employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that have the same function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
In the respective drawings, constitutional elements including members, parts, or components having the same functions or the same shape will be denoted by the same reference numerals as long as they are identifiable, and an overlapping description thereof will be omitted.
As illustrated in
The document feeding device 1 includes a document tray 25 on which documents are placed, a document feeder 26 that separates and feeds the documents one by one from the document tray 25 to a contact glass 32 of the image reading device 2, and a discharge tray 27 onto which the documents are discharged after image reading by the image reading device 2.
The image reading device 2 includes an optical scanning unit 31 as an image reader serving to read an image from a document. The optical scanning unit 31 includes a light source that irradiates the document on the contact glass 32 with light, a charge coupled device (CCD) serving as an image reader that reads an image from reflected light by the document. The optical scanning unit 31 may include another image sensor, such as a contact image sensor (CIS), in place of the CCD.
The image reading device 2 is configured to be switchable between a fed document reading mode and a placed document reading mode. In the fed document reading mode, the image reading device 2 reads an image of a document, fed by the document feeding device 1, on the contact glass 32 of the image reading device 2. In the placed document reading mode, the image reading device 2 reads an image of a stationary document set on the contact glass 32.
In the fed document reading mode, the optical scanning unit 31 is set at a given reading position as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The four image formation units 10K, 10Y, 10M, and 10C have the same configuration except for storing developer of different colors, black, yellow, magenta, and cyan corresponding to color components of a color image. Specifically, each of the image formation units 10K, 10Y, 10M, and 10C includes a photoconductor drum 16 as an image bearer, a charging device 17 that charges the surface of the photoconductor 16, a developing device 18 that supplies toner as developer to the surface of the photoconductor 16 to form a toner image, and a cleaning device 19 that cleans the surface of the photoconductor 16.
The transfer device 12 includes an endless intermediate transfer belt 20 that is extended over a plurality of rollers, four primary transfer rollers 21 that transfer toner images from the respective photoconductors 16 onto the intermediate transfer belt 20, and a secondary transfer roller 22 that transfers the toner images from the intermediate transfer belt 20 onto a sheet of paper.
The manual sheet feeding unit 40 includes a sheet feeding tray 44 as a placement member on which sheets of paper are placed and a feed roller 43 as a feeding member that feeds the sheets of paper from the sheet feeding tray 44. The sheet feeding tray 44 is attached to the apparatus body in an openable-closable or swingable manner. In the open state (as illustrated in
Printing operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to
In response to a printing start instruction, in the image formation units 10K, 10Y, 10M, and 10C the photoconductors 16 are rotated, and their surfaces are uniformly charged at high potential by the charging devices 17. Subsequently, the optical writing device 11 exposes the surface of each of the photoconductors 16 on the basis of image information on the document read by the image reading device 2 or print information instructed by a terminal, to lower the potential of the exposed part and form an electrostatic latent image thereon. The developing device 18 supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image, thereby forming a toner image on each of the photoconductors 16.
Along with the rotation of the photoconductors 16, the toner images thereon reach the position of the primary transfer roller 21 (primary transfer nip) and are sequentially transferred onto the rotating intermediate transfer belt 20 in a superimposed manner. Then, along with the rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 20, the toner images are conveyed to the secondary transfer roller (secondary transfer nip), and transferred thereby onto a sheet of paper, which has been fed from the paper feeding unit 4 or the manual sheet feeding unit 40. The sheet, fed from the paper feeding unit 4 or the manual sheet feeding unit 40, is temporarily stopped by the timing roller pair 13, and conveyed at timing at which the toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 20 reach the secondary transfer nip. In this manner, a full color toner image is generated on the sheet. After transfer of the toner images, the cleaning devices 19 remove remaining toner from the corresponding photoconductors 16.
The sheet having the toner images transferred thereon is conveyed to the fixing device 14, and the toner images are fixed to the sheet by the fixing device 14. The sheet is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the paper ejection roller pair 15, completing a series of printing operation.
Next, a configuration of the manual sheet feeding unit 40 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.
The manual sheet feeding unit 40 represents a sheet feeding device capable of supplying sheets other than sheets of paper, such as OHP sheets. As illustrated in
The sheet placement device 42 includes the sheet feeding tray 44 as a placement member on which the sheet S is placed, and a pair of side fences 45 serving as a lateral limiter that limits the lateral end positions of the sheet S. Each of the side fences 45 is movably set on the sheet feeding tray 44 in a lateral direction A of the sheet S. Herein, the lateral direction refers to a direction parallel to the surface of the sheet feeding tray 44 on which the sheet S is placed, among directions crossing a feeding direction B of the sheet S. The side fences 45 are moved in the lateral direction A to contact with both lateral ends Se of the sheet S, to limit the end positions of the sheet S in the lateral direction.
As illustrated in
The sheet detector 50 serves to detect presence or absence of the sheet S on the sheet feeding tray 44. The sheet detector 50 includes an oscillator member that oscillates by contacting with the sheet S when placed on the sheet feeding tray 44, a projector, and a light receiver whose optical paths are switched by the oscillator member between a light shielding state and a light transmitting state. The sheet detector 50 may be located in the vicinity of the joint between the body of the image forming apparatus and the sheet feeding tray 44, in place of in the sheet feeding tray 44.
The limiter-position detector 51 serves to detect the lateral positions of the side fences 45. Examples of the limiter-position detector 51 includes known detectors, such as an encoder or a variable resistor, which detect movement of the side fences 45 in the lateral direction. The limiter-position detector 51 detects a signal that varies with movement of the side fences 45, to thereby determine the positions of the side fences 45 in the lateral direction.
The gap detectors 52 serve to detect gaps between the side fences 45 and the sheet S. According to the present embodiment, each of the gap detectors 52 includes a link mechanism 54 that contacts and moves together with the sheet S, and a detector 53 that detects the movement of the link mechanism 54.
An exemplary structure of the gap detectors 52 will be described in detail below. The gap detectors 52 have basically the same structure except that they are bilaterally symmetric to each other at both the side fences 45. Thus, the gap detector 52 at one of the side fences 45, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The link member 56 is displaced along with the displacement of the contact member 55. Specifically, the link member 56 is displaceable with respect to the side fence 45 in a direction C (a vertical direction in
Further, the contact member 55 and the link member 56 are attached to the side fence 45. Thus, the contact member 55 and the link member 56 move in the lateral direction A together with the side fence 45.
The detector 53 serves as a sensor that senses displacement of the link member 56 and displacement of the contact member 55 linked to the link member 56. The detector 53 continuously extends in the lateral direction A inside the sheet feeding tray 44 (see
As illustrated in
The following will describe an operation of the control system from placement of the sheet S on the sheet feeding tray 44 to completion of a paper feeding preparation, with reference to
The sheet detector 50 detects the sheet S (STEP 2 in
After the control unit 60 determines presence of the sheet, the gap detector 52 detects a gap between the side fence 45 and the sheet S. As illustrated in
Thereafter, as illustrated in
In the next process, the limiter-position detector 51 detects positions of the side fences 45 in the lateral direction A (STEP 5 in
In the present embodiment the sheet placement device 42 configured as above includes the side fences 45 provided with the contact members 55 and the link members 56. Because of this, the contact members 55 and the link members 56 move together with the side fences 45 in the lateral direction A. Meanwhile, the detector 53 is provided in the sheet feeding tray 44, therefore, the detector 53 and the wiring for connecting the detector 53 and the control unit 60 do not move as the side fences 45 move. In other words, in the present embodiment, the detector 53 and the wiring connected to the detector 53 are not located in the movable side fences 45. Hence, the wiring and the connection therebetween can be avoided from receiving a load due to the movement of the side fences 45. This leads to preventing the wiring and the connection from being damaged or worn out. According to the features of the present embodiment, thus, the wiring connected to the detector 53 and the connection therebetween are less likely to be damaged, and they can be improved in durability and reliability.
Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. The following will mainly describe differences from the above embodiment, and an overlapping description of the rest will be omitted.
A sheet placement device 42 illustrated in
The side fence 45 further includes a spring 59 serving as a biasing member that biases the contact member 55. Biased by the spring 59, the inclined surface 55a of the contact member 55 is held in an inwardly protruding state from the side fence 45 in the lateral direction without contacting with the sheet S.
As illustrated in
In the present embodiment, the detector 53 is provided in the sheet feeding tray 44. Thus, the detector 53 and the wiring connected to the detector 53 do not move as the side fences 45 moves. As in the above embodiment, the wiring and the connection therebetween can be thus prevented from being damaged or worn out, and improved in durability.
In the configuration as illustrated in
In the above embodiments, the detector 53 serves as a capacitance sensor to be able to detect a gap while in no contact with the detection member (conductor 57). However, the detector 53 and the conductor 57 may not be constantly in no contact with each other. The conductor 57 may approach and contact with the detector 53 as illustrated in
As illustrated in an example in
The configurations, actions, and effects of the embodiments according to the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, the detector 53 may be another sensor, such as an optical sensor or a pressure-sensitive sensor, instead of the capacitance sensor. Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to the placement structure for the detector 53 that detects gaps between the side fences 45 and the sheet S but also to a placement structure for a detector that detects a gap between the sheet and an end fence serving as a rear-end limiter that limits the rear-end position of the sheet S. Moreover, the present invention is applicable to a paper tray that is containable in and extractable from the body of the image forming apparatus, or a document tray on which a document is placed, in addition to the sheet feeding tray attached in an openable-closable manner to the body of the image forming apparatus. Furthermore, the application of the present invention is not limited to a sheet placement device and a sheet feeding device to be incorporated in an image forming apparatus. The present invention is also applicable to a sheet placement device and a sheet feeding device to be incorporated in other apparatuses than the image forming apparatus.
According to the present invention, it is made possible to prevent a load from being applied to wiring connected to a detector and a connection between the wiring and the detector.
The above-described embodiments are illustrative and do not limit the present invention. Thus, numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, at least one element of different illustrative and exemplary embodiments herein may be combined with each other or substituted for each other within the scope of this disclosure and appended claims. Further, features of components of the embodiments, such as the number, the position, and the shape are not limited the embodiments and thus may be preferably set. It is thus to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented by one or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitry includes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. A processing circuit also includes devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA) and conventional circuit components arranged to perform the recited functions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JP2019-216856 | Nov 2019 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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8820734 | Miyakawa | Sep 2014 | B2 |
8894063 | Araaki | Nov 2014 | B2 |
9126787 | Adachi | Sep 2015 | B2 |
20200270089 | Yamaji et al. | Aug 2020 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2007-145486 | Jun 2007 | JP |
2012030939 | Feb 2012 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210163244 A1 | Jun 2021 | US |