1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, and a multi-function printer includes a type provided with a sheet processing apparatus in a main body of the image forming apparatus and configured to perform processing such as binding or the like on sheets discharged from the main body of the image forming apparatus. Example of the sheet processing apparatus as described above includes a type configured to discharge a sheet discharged from the main body of the image forming apparatus once into a process tray, align the sheet with a sheet already stacked on the process tray, bind the sheets if needed in the process tray, and then discharge the processed sheets on a stacking tray as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-128315.
The shape of the knurled belt 1161 is changed by an moving roller X.
That is, as illustrated in
In the sheet processing apparatus of the related art as described above, when the knurled belt 1161 is deformed, the distance between the sheet discharge roller 103 and the moving roller X changes. Therefore, tensile force of the knurled belt 1161 is increased in comparison with the case where the number of stacked sheets is small.
When the tensile force is increased, a conveying force of the knurled belt 1161 increases correspondingly. When the conveying force is increased, the sheet P in abutment with the trailing end stopper 108 may be bent between the knurled belt 1161 and the trailing end stopper 108 and, consequently, alignment of the sheet may be impaired.
As a countermeasure, a method of controlling the amount of movement of the moving roller X by considering a change in tensile force of the knurled belt 1161 is conceivable. However, if the hardness of the knurled belt 1161 is changed by a change in atmospheric temperature or time degradation, a deviation occurs between the amount of movement of the moving roller X and the conveying force. This deviation is increased with increase in amount of movement. Accordingly, when an actual conveying force is smaller than a desired conveying force, the sheet P does not reach the trailing end stopper 108. In contrast, when the actual conveying force is larger than the desired conveying force, the sheet P is bent between the knurled belt 1161 and the trailing end stopper 108 and, consequently, alignment is impaired.
According an aspect of the present invention, a sheet processing apparatus including a sheet stacking portion on which a sheet is stacked, an endless belt configured to convey the sheet by coming in contact with an upper surface of the sheet stacked on the sheet stacking portion, an aligning portion against which the sheet conveyed by the endless belt is abutted and aligning a position in a sheet conveying direction of the sheet, a drive rotating member configured to contact with an inner peripheral surface of the endless belt, a shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction, a supporting portion configured to be swingable about the shaft, rotatably supporting the drive rotating member, and supporting the endless belt through the drive rotating member, and a lifting portion configured to raise and lower the endless belt by swinging the supporting portion.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Here, the image forming portion 900B includes photoconductive drums (a) through (d) configured to form toner images in four colors, namely, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and an exposing unit 906 configured to radiate a laser beam on the basis of image information and form electrostatic latent images on the photoconductive drums. The photoconductive drums (a) through (d) are driven by a motor, not illustrated. Each photoconductive drum is provided with a primary charger, a developing unit and a transfer charger arranged in the periphery thereof and is unitized with them as process cartridges 901a through 901d.
The image forming portion 900B includes an intermediate transfer belt 902 driven and rotated in a direction indicated by an arrow, and a secondary transfer portion 903 configured to transfer a full-color image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 902 in sequence to a sheet P. By applying a transfer bias to the intermediate transfer belt 902 by transfer chargers 902a through 902d, the respective color toner images on the photoconductive drums are sequentially transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 902 in a superimposed manner. Accordingly, a full-color image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt.
The secondary transfer portion 903 includes a secondary transfer counter roller 903b configured to support the intermediate transfer belt 902 and a secondary transfer roller 903a configured to abut against the secondary transfer counter roller 903b through the intermediate transfer belt 902. In
Next, an image forming operation of the image forming apparatus 900 having the above-described configuration will be described. When the image forming operation is started, first of all, the exposing unit 906 radiates a laser beam on the basis of image information from a personal computer or the like, not illustrated, and exposes surfaces of the photoconductive drums (a) through (d), the photoconductive drums (a) through (d) being uniformly charged to predetermined polarity and potential in sequence, and forms electrostatic latent images on the photoconductive drums (a) through (d) respectively. Subsequently, the electrostatic latent images are developed and visualized by toner.
For example, the photoconductive drum (a) is irradiated with a laser beam on the basis of an image signal having a yellow color component of an document via a polygon mirror or the like of the exposing unit 906 to form an electrostatic latent image of yellow on the photoconductive drum (a). The electrostatic latent image of yellow is developed by yellow toner from a developing unit and hence is visualized as a yellow toner image. Subsequently, the toner image arrives at a primary transfer portion where the photoconductive drum (a) and the intermediate transfer belt 902 come into contact with each other in association with the rotation of the photoconductive drum (a). When the toner image arrives at the first transfer portion, the yellow toner image on the photoconductive drum (a) is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 902 by a primary transfer bias applied to the transfer charger 902a (primary transfer).
Subsequently, when the portion of the intermediate transfer belt 902 carrying the yellow toner image moves, a magenta toner image formed on the photoconductive drum (b) in the same manner as describe above by this time is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 902 over the yellow toner image. In the same manner, as the intermediate transfer belt 902 moves, a cyan toner image and a black toner image are transferred over the yellow toner image and the magenta toner image in a superimposed manner at respective primary transfer portions. Accordingly, a full-color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 902.
In parallel to the toner image forming operation, the sheets P stored in the sheet feed cassette 904 are fed by the pickup roller 908 one by one. Next, the sheet P arrives at a registration roller 909 and is conveyed to the secondary transfer portion 903 at timing adjusted by registration roller 909 with the toner image. Subsequently, the toner image of four colors on the intermediate transfer belt 902 is transferred at once to the sheet P by the secondary transfer bias applied to the secondary transfer roller 903a, i.e., the transfer portion, in the secondary transfer portion 903 (secondary transfer).
Subsequently, the sheet P having the toner image transferred thereto is conveyed from the secondary transfer portion 903 to a fixing portion 905 while being guided by a conveyance guide 920 and receives heat and pressure so that the image is fixed when the sheet p passes through the fixing portion 905. Subsequently, the sheet P having the image fixed thereto passes through a discharge passage 921 provided on the downstream of the fixing portion 905, and then is discharged by a discharge roller pair 918, and is conveyed to the finisher 100.
The finisher 100 receives the sheet P discharged from the apparatus main body 900A in sequence as illustrated in
The intermediate processing tray 107 is provided with front and back aligning plates 109a and 109b that regulate (align) both side end positions in the width direction (the depth direction) of the sheet conveyed into the intermediate processing tray 107 from a direction orthogonal to the depth direction of the apparatus main body 900A.
The front and back aligning plates 109a and 109b as the side end aligning portion configured to align the side end positions in the width direction of the sheet stacked in the intermediate processing tray 107 are driven by an alignment motor M253 illustrated in
The front and back aligning plates 109a and 109b are normally moved to a receiving position where the sheet is received by the alignment motor M253 driven on the basis of a detection signal detected by an alignment HP sensor, not illustrated. When regulating the both side end positions of the sheet stacked on the intermediate processing tray 107, the alignment motor M253 is driven to move the front and back aligning plates 109a and 109b along the width direction into abutment with the both side ends of the sheets stacked on the intermediate processing tray 107.
A take-in paddle 106 and a knurled belt portion 116 are arranged above the intermediate processing tray 107. The take-in paddle 106 is configured to be moved downward by driving of the puddle lifting motor M252 illustrated in
The knurled belt portion 116 includes a knurled belt 1161, i.e., an endless sheet conveyance portion (endless belt), rotated by a conveyance motor M250 illustrated in
In
The trailing end assist 112 is moved from a position not interfering with the movement of the stapler 110 to a receiving position where the sheet is received by an assist motor M254 driven on the basis of a detection signal from an assist HP sensor S244 described later and illustrated in
The finisher 100 is provided with an inlet roller 101 and a sheet discharge roller 103 configured to take the sheet into the apparatus, and the sheet P discharged from the apparatus main body 900A is delivered to the inlet roller 101.
At this time, the sheet delivering timing is detected by an inlet port sensor S240 simultaneously. The sheet P delivered to the inlet roller 101 is discharged to the intermediate processing tray 107 in sequence by the sheet discharge roller 103, i.e., a sheet discharge portion, and subsequently, is brought into abutment with the trailing end stopper 108 by returning portion such as the take-in paddle 106 or the knurled belt 1161. Accordingly, alignment of the sheet P in the sheet conveying direction is performed and an aligned sheet bundle is formed.
In
Reference numeral 104 denotes a destaticizing needle, and reference numeral 115 denotes a bundle holder. The bundle holder 115 presses the sheet bundle stacked on the stacking tray 114 by being rotated by a bundle holding motor M255 described later and illustrated in
In
The image signal control portion 206 outputs the data to a printer control portion 207, and the printer control portion 207 outputs the data from the image signal control portion 206 to an exposure control portion, not illustrated. It is noted that an image of the document read by an image sensor, not illustrated, provided in the image reading apparatus 950 is output from an image reader control portion 205 to the image signal control portion 206, and the image signal control portion 206 outputs the image output to the printer control portion 207.
An operating portion 210 includes a plurality of keys used for setting respective functions relating to image formation, a display portion configured to display a set state, and the like. Key signals corresponding to an operation of respective keys by a user are output to the CPU circuit portion 200, and on the basis of the signal from the CPU circuit portion 200, corresponding information is displayed on the display portion.
The CPU circuit portion 200 is configured to control the image signal control portion 206 according to the control program stored in the ROM 202 and the setting of the operating portion 210, and controls the document feeder 950A (see
In the present embodiment, the finisher control portion 220 as a control portion is mounted on the finisher 100, and performs drive control of the finisher 100 by sending and receiving information with the CPU circuit portion 200. It is also possible to dispose the finisher control portion 220 on the apparatus main body side integrally with the CPU circuit portion 200, and control the finisher 100 directly from the apparatus main body side.
The finisher control portion 220 includes a CPU (microcomputer) 221, a ROM 222, and a RAM 223. The finisher control portion 220 exchanges data by communicating with the CPU circuit portion 200 through a communication IC 224, executes respective programs stored in the ROM 222 on the basis of an instruction from the CPU circuit portion 200, and controls driving of the finisher 100.
The finisher control portion 220 drives the conveyance motor M250, the tray lifting motor M251, the puddle lifting motor M252, the alignment motor M253, the assist motor M254, the bundle holding motor M255, and a STP motor M256 through a driver 225. The finisher control portion 220 drives a staple-less binding motor M 257 and a knurled motor M258 through the driver 225.
The inlet port sensor S240, a sheet discharge sensor S246, the tray HP sensor S241, the tray lower limit sensor S242, the puddle HP sensor S243, the assist HP sensor S244, and the bundle holder HP sensor S245 are connected to the finisher control portion 220. The sheet discharge sensor S246, a knurled belt HP sensor S247, and a counter CT configured to count the number of sheets stacked on the intermediate processing tray 107 are connected to the finisher control portion 220. The finisher control portion 220 drives the alignment motor M253, the knurled motor M258, and the like on the basis of detection signals from the respective sensors described above.
Subsequently, the sheet binding operation of the finisher 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. The sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus 900 is delivered to the inlet roller 101 driven by the conveyance motor M250 as illustrated in
Subsequently, the sheet P delivered to the inlet roller 101 is delivered in turn from the inlet roller 101 to the sheet discharge roller 103, and is conveyed while the leading end portion lifts the trailing end dropper 105. Simultaneously, the sheet P is discharged into the intermediate processing tray 107 while being destaticized by the destaticizing needle 104. The sheet P discharged into the intermediate processing tray 107 by the sheet discharge roller 103 is held by the weight of the trailing end dropper 105 from above, so that the time required for the trailing end of the sheet P to drop onto the intermediate processing tray 107 is reduced.
Subsequently, the finisher control portion 220 performs control relating to the sheet discharged to the intermediate processing tray 107 on the basis of a detection signal of the trailing end of the sheet P detected by the sheet discharge sensor S246.
That is, as illustrated in
When the trailing end of the sheet P is delivered to the knurled belt 1161, the puddle lifting motor M252 is driven in the reverse direction to cause the take-in paddle 106 to move upward. When the puddle HP sensor S243 detects that the take-in paddle 106 arrives at the HP, the finisher control portion 220 stops driving of the puddle lifting motor M252.
Subsequently, the sheet P delivered to the knurled belt 1161 is drawn by the knurled belt 1161, and the trailing end abuts against the trailing end stopper 108.
After the trailing end of the sheet P has brought into abutment with the trailing end stopper 108, the knurled belt 1161 rotates while slipping with respect to the sheet P, so that the sheet P is constantly biased toward the trailing end stopper 108. With this slipping conveyance, skewing of the sheet P abutting against the trailing end stopper 108 may be corrected.
Subsequently, after the sheet P has brought into abutment with the trailing end stopper 108 in this manner, the finisher control portion 220 drives the alignment motor M253 to move the aligning plate 109 in the width direction of the sheet P, and align the position in the width direction of the sheet P. By performing a series of operations described above for a predetermined number of sheets to be bound repeatedly, the sheet bundle PA aligned on the intermediate processing tray 107 as illustrated in
Subsequently, after the aligning operation has been performed, if the binding mode is selected, binding is performed by the binding portion. That is, in the case where binding is performed on the sheet bundle with a staple, the sheet bundle is bound by driving the STP motor M256 that drives the stapler 110. In the case where the staple-less binding is performed on the sheet bundle, the sheet bundle is bound by driving the staple-less binding motor M 257 configured to drive the staple-less binding portion, not illustrated.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Subsequently, as illustrated in
It is noted that if the stacking tray 114 is moved downward and blocks light toward the tray lower limit sensor S242 during the operations, the full of the stacking tray 114 is detected and the finisher control portion 220 notifies the full of the stacking tray 114 to the CPU circuit portion 200 of the image forming apparatus 900. The CPU circuit portion 200 stops formation of the image when the full of the stacking tray 114 is notified. Subsequently, when the sheet bundle on the stacking tray 114 are removed, the stacking tray 114 moves upward until blocking light to the tray HP sensor S241 and then moves downward to bring the tray HP sensor S241 into a light-transmitting state, whereby the sheet plane of the stacking tray 114 is determined again. Accordingly, image formation of the image forming apparatus 900 is restarted.
The knurled belt portion 116 further includes a frame 11610 illustrated in
As described later, when the knurled belt 1161 is raised, the frame 11610, i.e. a supporting portion, configured to rotatably support the second gear (second drive force transmitting rotating member) 1163 and the driven roller 1165 swings about the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 as a supporting point. That is, the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 serves as a swinging shaft (lifting shaft) of the frame 11610 provided above the intermediate processing tray 107 so as to be rotatable (so as to be raised and lowered), and the third gear 1164 is provided on the swinging shaft of the frame 11610.
The rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 is rotated upon reception of a drive force from the conveyance motor M250 illustrated in
In the embodiment, the first gear 1162 and the driven roller 1165 as a driven rotating member configured to nip the knurled belt 1161 with the first gear 1162 constitute a rotating portion 116A configured to rotate the knurled belt 1161. The first, second and third gears 1162, 1163 and 1164 are configured to rotate at the same velocity. Accordingly, the knurled belt 1161 moves between the first gear 1162 and the third gear 1164 while maintaining a constant tensile force without being tensed nor sagged.
In the embodiment, the knurled belt portion 116 includes two sets of the first through third gears 1162 through 1164 corresponding to two knurled belts 1161 as describe above and each set of gears is provided at predetermined interval on the rotation shafts 1166, 1167, and 1168. A retainer 1161a is provided at a widthwise center between the sets of gears in the width direction orthogonal to the direction of rotation of the knurled belt 1161. Retention of the knurled belt 1161 is achieved by positioning the retainer 1161a between the two sets of the first through third gears 1162 to 1164.
The holder 11612 is fixed to a holder shaft 11613 configured to driven by the knurled motor M258 capable of rotating in normal and reverse directions illustrated in
The holder 11612 includes a supporting shaft 11611 fixed at one end thereof to the frame 11610 so as to be locked thereto. Accordingly, when the holder 11612 is turned upward and downward, the frame 11610 swings about the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 through the supporting shaft 11611, whereby the knurled belt 1161 is raised and lowered. That is, when the knurled motor M258 rotates, the holders 11612 are turned upward and downward, and the knurled belts 1161 move to abutment positions where the knurled belts 1161 come into contact with the sheet on the intermediate processing tray 107 and to the home position as a separate position where the knurled belts 1161 separates from the sheet on the intermediate processing tray 107.
The abutment position of the knurled belt 1161 needs to be shifted upward in association with an increase in the number of stacked sheets so as to avoid conveying forces of the knurled belts 1161 in conveying the sheet from becoming excessive.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the finisher control portion 220 changes the position of the knurled belts 1161 according to the number of stacked sheets of the sheet bundle on the processing tray (on the sheet stacking portion) to make the sheet conveying forces of the knurled belts 1161 fall within a predetermined range. In other words, the finisher control portion 220 controls the knurled motor M258 such that the endless belt is positioned at a position corresponding to a number of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion.
Here, in this embodiment, a pulse motor is used as the knurled motor M258 as a drive portion configured to drive the holders 11612 as lifting portion configured to raise and lower the frames 11610. The raising and lowering amount (swinging amount) of the knurled belt 1161 that moves upward and downward integrally with the frame 11610 is controlled by driving the knurled motor M258 at the number of pulses according to the number of stacked sheets.
Subsequently, a sheet processing operation of the finisher 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart illustrated in
Subsequently, the sheet P is discharged into the intermediate processing tray 107 by the sheet discharge roller 103 (ST2), and the sheet P is conveyed to the knurled belt portion 116 by the take-in paddle 106 (ST3).
Subsequently, the finisher control portion 220 drives the knurled motor M258, and lowers knurled belt 1161. At this time, the finisher control portion 220 determines whether the number of sheets stacked on the intermediate processing tray 107 falls within a range from 0 to 20 from information from the counter CT (ST4). When the number of stacked sheets falls within the range from 0 to 20 (Y in ST4), the finisher control portion 220 increases the lowering amount of the knurled belt 1161 as illustrated in
If the number of stacked sheets does not fall within the range from 20 to 40 (N in ST6), the number of stacked sheets is determined to fall within a range from 40 to 50. Therefore, the lowering amount is further reduced as illustrated in
When the alignment of the sheet P with sheet already stacked on the intermediate processing tray 107 in the sheet conveying direction by the trailing end stopper 108 is terminated, the finisher control portion 220 drives the knurled motor M258 to rotate in the reverse direction, and raises the knurled belts 1161. When the knurled belt HP sensor S247 detects the flag 11613a of the holder shaft 11613, the knurled motor M258 is stopped and makes the knurled belts 1161 wait at the home position (ST10). Subsequently, the alignment motor M253 illustrated in
After a series of aligning operations are terminated, the finisher control portion 220 determines whether the sheet P is the last sheet (ST12). When it is not the last sheet (N in ST12), the number of sheets to be counted by the counter CT is incremented by one (ST13). When it is the last sheet (Y in ST12), the presence or absence of the following binding job is determined (ST14).
When a binding job is selected (Y in ST14), the STP motor M256 or the staple-less binding motor M 257 is driven, and binding is executed by the stapler 110 or the staple-less binding portion (ST15). Subsequently, the assist motor M254 is driven and the sheet bundle is discharged to the stacking tray 114 by the trailing end assist 112 (ST16). If the binding job is not selected (N in ST14), the sheet bundle is discharged by the trailing end assist 112 to the stacking tray 114 (ST16).
In the present embodiment, as described above, the lowering amount of the knurled belts 1161 is controlled by driving the knurled motor M258 at the number of pulses corresponding to the number of stacked sheets. Also, the frame 11610 that hold the rotation shafts 1166 and 1167 of the first and second gears and the rotation shaft 1169 of the driven roller 1165 is supported so as to be swingable about the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 in the present embodiment.
Accordingly, when lowering the knurled belt 1161 corresponding to the number of stacked sheets, the knurled belts 1161 can be lowered while maintaining the positional relationship at least between the first gear 1162 and the third gear 1164 constant by lowering the frames 11610. Consequently, the tensile force between the first gear 1162 and the third gear 1164 of each knurled belt 1161 can be maintained constant.
In other words, even though the positions of the knurled belts 1161 are changed according to the number of stacked sheets, the tensile force of the knurled belts 1161 may be maintained constant.
As described thus far, in the present embodiment, the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164 as the lifting shaft of frame 11610 is provided inside the knurled belt 1161. When lowering the knurled belts 1161 according to the number of stacked sheets, the frame 11610 is swung about the rotation shaft 1168 of the third gear 1164, so that the knurled belt 1161 is lowered integrally with the frame 11610. In this manner, since the knurled belt 1161 is raised and lowered according to the number of stacked sheets and is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed, the circular shape can be maintained without deforming the knurled belt 1161 by a centrifugal force. Therefore, the tensile force may be maintained constant.
Accordingly, even when lowering the knurled belts 1161 according to the number of stacked sheets, the positional relationship (distance) between the first gear 1162 and the third gear 1164 can be maintained constant so that the tensile forces of the knurled belts 1161 are maintained constant. Consequently, increase in conveying force can be prevented, so that the position of the sheet in the sheet conveying direction may be aligned by the knurled belt 1161 without impairing alignment of the sheet. Even when the hardness of the knurled belts 1161 is changed due to a change in atmospheric temperature or time degradation, the tensile force of the belt is not changed due to the movement of the knurled belt 1161, so that deviation in conveying force may be restrained.
Next, a second embodiment of the invention will be described.
As illustrated in
In this embodiment as well, in the same manner as the first embodiment described above, the lowering amount of the knurled belts 1161 is controlled by driving the knurled motor M258 at the number of pulses according to the number of stacked sheets. Accordingly, as illustrated in
In the second embodiment, with the provision of a plurality of auxiliary gears 11614 and 11615, a circular shape of the knurled belt 1161 is prevented from being deformed or sagging significantly downward by distortion or the like at the time of rotating. Accordingly, the surface area that the knurled belts 1161 come into contact with the upper surface of the sheet is increased, so that the alignment of the sheet is prevented from being impaired by the load of the knurled belts 1161 at the time of alignment with the aligning plate 109.
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. 2013-162893, filed Aug. 6, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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