JP3659372B2 - Conveyor apparatus and electrophotographic apparatus system using the same - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a conveyor device and an electrophotographic apparatus system using the conveyor device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As one form of an electrophotographic apparatus known as a laser printer or the like, there is one that records an image as a toner image on a continuous paper that is long and is called a so-called continuous paper. Conventionally, in this type of electrophotographic apparatus, paper discharged after image recording has been discharged while being folded into a paper stacker provided in the main body of the electrophotographic apparatus.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In recent years, in this type of electrophotographic apparatus, super-high-speed printing of 300 pages / min or more has been realized, and with such increase in printing speed, the toner image is cooled between the fixing process and the paper folding process. There is a problem of lack of time. That is, in a toner image fixing device of an electrophotographic apparatus, an unfixed toner image transferred onto a sheet is heated (or heated and pressurized), and the unfixed toner image is fixed on the sheet by melting and softening. . Therefore, if the paper is folded while the melted and softened toner cannot be cooled and solidified at the time of fixing, the overlapped papers stick to each other due to the adhesion of the softened toner (hereinafter this phenomenon is referred to as “toner stick”). As a result, a defective product is generated as a printed matter. This problem is more likely to occur as the printing speed increases and the conveyance amount increases, and the sheet cooling (air cooling) time per unit page between the fixing device and the sheet stacker is shortened.
[0004]
Accordingly, the inventors of the present application proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 8-116399 in order to provide an electrophotographic apparatus system that improves the cooling effect of the continuous paper after being heat-fixed and hardly generates a toner stick. Yes.
[0005]
Here, in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-116399, the moving speed of the paper transport surface in the conveyor arranged at the last stage is set to be constant regardless of the paper thickness of the paper to be used. The total thickness of the paper transported per unit length was different depending on the paper thickness of the paper used.
[0006]
That is, if the length of the paper to be used is L (inch) and the printing speed (paper feeding speed) of the electrophotographic apparatus is V ₁ (inch / second), the number of pages of paper discharged from the electrophotographic apparatus per unit time. V ₁ / L (pages / second), where V ₂ (inch / second) is the moving speed of the paper transport surface of the conveyor and H (inch) is the thickness of the paper. The sheet transport thickness is (V ₁ × H) / (L × V ₂ ) inches.
[0007]
Accordingly, when the paper length is the same, the thicker the paper thickness, the thicker the total paper transport thickness per inch of the paper transport surface. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the inclination angle (θ) of the paper 10 when stacking on the conveyor 16 becomes larger as the paper thickness increases, so that the friction generated in the delivery of the paper from the conveyor 15 to the conveyor 16. It has been found that the resistance increases and the paper may not be neatly aligned depending on the paper thickness.
[0008]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor apparatus and an electrophotographic apparatus system using the same, in which stacking with good alignment is ensured even if the sheet thickness of the sheet to be used is changed.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The above object is achieved by making it possible to switch the moving speed of the second transport surface provided immediately after the first transport surface in accordance with the thickness of the paper to be used. By switching the moving speed of the second conveying surface according to the thickness of the paper to be used, the inclination angle of stacking on the second conveyor is constant for any paper thickness. Accordingly, the frictional resistance generated when the paper is transferred from the first conveyor to the second conveyor is constant regardless of the paper thickness, and stable stacking can be ensured.
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, in the electrophotographic apparatus A, when a printing operation start signal is output from a controller (not shown), the photoconductive photoconductor 1 rotates at a speed corresponding to the printing speed. For example, a positive (+) high voltage is applied to the photosensitive member 1 by the charger 2, and the surface of the photosensitive member 1 is uniformly charged.
[0011]
The polygon mirror 3 starts rotating when the power of the electrophotographic apparatus is turned on, and rotates at a constant high speed as long as the power is turned on.
[0012]
The laser light output from the laser tube 4 is reflected by the polygon mirror 3 and scans on the photosensitive member 1 through the Fθ lens 5. Character data and graphic data converted into a dot image from the controller are transmitted to the electrophotographic apparatus as a laser light ON / OFF signal, and the photosensitive member 1 is irradiated with the laser light.
[0013]
In the portion where the charge on the photoconductor 1 disappears due to the laser light irradiation, the positively charged toner by the developing device 6 is attracted by static electricity and adheres to the photoconductor 1 to form a toner image. The toner image formed on the photosensitive member 1 is transferred onto the paper 10 conveyed by the tractors 8 and 9 by the transfer unit 7, and further preheated by the preheating plate 11 disposed in the fixing unit, and then heated by the heat roller. 12 and the pressure roller 13 are heated and pressurized to be melt-fixed on the paper 10.
[0014]
The printed paper 10 is distributed to the first conveyor 15 of the paper transport conveyor device B while being sorted by the swinging motion of the swing fins 14 that are folding devices according to, for example, folding perforations provided in the paper 10 in advance. Stacked.
[0015]
The paper transport conveyor device B is mainly composed of a first conveyor 15 for gaining paper cooling time, a second conveyor 16 for mainly securing a stacking capacity, and a paper vertical stacking unit 17. The paper vertical stacking portion 17 is supported so as to be rotatable about a shaft 17a. When the amount of paper fed from the second conveyor 16 reaches a predetermined amount, the paper vertical stacking portion 17 is in the state shown in FIG. Then, the paper is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise, and the horizontally stacked sheets are changed to the vertically stacked state and taken out.
[0016]
In the first conveyor 15, the driving roller 19 to which the driving force of the motor 18 is transmitted rotates at a high speed, so that the belt 20 rotates at a high speed. Or the gap between the valley folds) is transported in a horizontally stacked state while being largely shifted in the transport direction. As a result, a gap is formed between adjacent sheets, and efficient cooling of the sheet can be performed by blowing cooling air from the sheet cooling means 21 into the gap.
[0017]
In the second conveyor 16, the driving roller 23, to which the driving force of the stepping motor 22 is transmitted, rotates at a low speed, so that the belt 24 also rotates at a low speed, and the sheet 10 conveyed from the first conveyor 15 is rotated. Make sure the stacking capacity is high by securing the horizontal stacking condition.
[0018]
The sheet conveyance thickness per inch of the belt (conveying surface) 24 of the second conveyor 16 is (V ₁ × H) / (L × V ₂ ) inch, and there is no sheet conveyance defect or stacking defect, and one inch. When the maximum value of the total sheet transport thickness is W (inches) and the transport speed of the belt 24 is S, W = (V ₁ × H) / (L × S). Here, S is obtained from S = (V ₁ × H) / (L × W).
[0019]
According to the sheet thickness information input by the operator on the switch panel 15, the control device 26 rotates the stepping motor 22 so that the transport speed of the belt 24 of the second conveyor 16 obtained in advance for each sheet thickness by the above formula is S. Control the number.
[0020]
With the above configuration, even if the sheet thickness of the sheet changes, the total thickness of the sheet conveyed per unit length on the second conveyor 16 can be made constant.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a conveyor apparatus and an electrophotographic apparatus system in which stacking with good alignment is ensured even if the sheet thickness of a sheet to be used is changed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an electrophotographic apparatus system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an inclination angle (θ) at the time of stacking on the second conveyor.
[Explanation of symbols]
A ... Electrophotographic apparatus, B ... Paper transport conveyor device, 12 ... Heat roller, 13 ... Pressure roller, 14 ... Swing fin (folding device), 15 ... First conveyor, 16 ... Second conveyor, 22 ... Stepping motor, 25 ... Switch panel, 26 ... Control device.

Claims (4)

A conveyor device for moving a continuous paper fed from a folding device in a horizontal direction, the conveyor device having at least two conveying surfaces arranged in series, and provided on an upstream side with respect to a paper moving direction. In addition, the movement speed of the first conveyance surface is regulated to be faster than the movement speed of the second conveyance surface provided immediately after the first conveyance surface, and the movement speed of the second conveyance surface is A conveyor device, characterized in that control is performed so that the thickness of a sheet to be used increases as the thickness increases .   2. The conveyor apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the total thickness of the sheets conveyed per unit length of the second conveying surface is controlled to be constant with respect to all the sheet thicknesses. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising: a fixing device that heats the toner transferred on the continuous paper to fix the toner on the continuous paper; and a folding device that applies a folding force to the continuous paper fed from the fixing device;
An electrophotographic apparatus system having a conveyor device disposed in a subsequent stage of the electrophotographic apparatus and moving a continuous paper fed from the folding apparatus in a horizontal direction;
The conveyor device has at least two conveying surfaces arranged in series, and the moving speed of the first conveying surface provided immediately after the electrophotographic apparatus is provided immediately after the first conveying surface. The electrophotography is characterized in that the moving speed of the second conveying surface is regulated to be faster than the moving speed of the second conveying surface, and the moving speed of the second conveying surface is controlled so as to increase as the thickness of the paper used increases. Equipment system.   4. The electrophotographic apparatus system according to claim 3, wherein the total thickness of the sheet conveyed per unit length of the second conveying surface is controlled to be constant for all the sheet thicknesses.

Images