JP7557597B2 - Sheet conveying device and image forming system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet transport device that transports a sheet and an image forming system .

In a sheet conveying device that conveys a sheet, there is a risk that the sheet may become misaligned during conveyance due to various factors. If the sheet is conveyed to an image forming device that forms an image on the sheet while the misalignment remains, problems such as the image being misaligned with respect to the sheet may occur. For this reason, a sheet conveying device that corrects the misalignment of the sheet during conveyance is known (for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent document 1 discloses a configuration having a fixed reference guide provided on one side in the width direction intersecting with the sheet conveying direction, a conveying belt provided at an angle to the reference guide, and a sphere. In the case of the sheet conveying device described in Patent document 1, the sheet is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveying belt and the sphere, so that the width direction edge of the sheet abuts against the reference guide. Then, the side registration (positional deviation of the sheet width direction edge) and side skew (inclination of the sheet width direction edge with respect to the sheet conveying direction) of the sheet are simultaneously corrected.

JP 2007-217096 A

If a sheet becomes stuck on the conveyor belt due to a jam or other reason, it is necessary to remove the sheet from the conveyor belt.

The present invention aims to provide a configuration that makes it easy to remove a sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt.

One aspect of the present invention is a sheet conveying device comprising: a conveying belt that conveys a sheet in a conveying direction; a plurality of spheres arranged along the conveying direction and capable of rotating together with the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt ; a holding mechanism that holds the spheres and allows the spheres to rotate in any direction while rubbing against a portion of the surface of the spheres; a regulating guide that is arranged on one side of the conveying belt in a sheet width direction that intersects the conveying direction and is movable in the sheet width direction , and that regulates the skew of the sheet when the conveying belt and the edge of the one side of the sheet conveyed by the spheres come into contact with each other ; an extraction port that is arranged on the opposite side of the regulating guide relative to the conveying belt in the sheet width direction, for removing a sheet that has stopped on the conveying belt due to a jam ; and a control unit that is capable of executing a mode to control the regulating guide to hold the regulating guide in the position when the sheet stops on the conveying belt due to a jam.
One aspect of the present invention is an image forming system comprising a conveying belt that conveys a sheet in a conveying direction, a plurality of spheres arranged along the conveying direction and capable of rotating together with the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt, a holding mechanism that holds the spheres and allows the spheres to rotate in any direction while rubbing against a portion of the surface of the spheres, a regulating guide that is arranged on one side of the conveying belt in a sheet width direction that intersects the conveying direction and is movable in the sheet width direction, and that regulates the skew of the sheet when the conveying belt and the edge of the sheet conveyed by the spheres come into contact with each other, a removal port that is arranged on the opposite side of the regulating guide relative to the conveying belt in the sheet width direction, for removing a sheet that has stopped on the conveying belt due to a jam, a control unit that is capable of executing a mode to control the regulating guide to hold the regulating guide in the position when the sheet stops on the conveying belt due to a jam, and an image forming unit that forms an image on the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt.

This invention makes it easier to remove a sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an intermediary transport device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a plan view of an intermediary transport device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view of the intermediary transport device according to the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an intermediary transport device according to the embodiment. 1A is a perspective view of a regulating guide according to an embodiment, FIG. 1B is a view from the left side of FIG. 1A, FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view taken along a direction along the sheet transport direction, and FIG. 1D is a cross-sectional view taken in a direction perpendicular to the sheet transport direction. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a contact/separation mechanism for a conveying roller according to the embodiment. 5A and 5B are side views showing a conveying roller contact/separation mechanism according to the embodiment, in which FIG. 5A illustrates a conveying roller in a nipped state and FIG. 5B illustrates a conveying roller in a released state from the nipped state. 1A and 1B are diagrams explaining the operation of a regulating guide according to an embodiment, each showing (a) the state in which a sheet is received, (b) the state in which the trailing end of the sheet has passed through the conveying rollers, (c) the state in which the sheet misalignment is corrected, and (d) the state in which a second sheet is received. 11A and 11B are diagrams for explaining that a subsequent sheet does not hit a regulating guide when correcting a positional deviation of a preceding sheet in an embodiment. 1A and 1B are diagrams explaining the operation of the regulating guide when the sheet is thick paper, showing (a) the state in which the sheet is transported onto the transport belt, (b) the state in which one edge of the sheet is abutted, and (c) the state in which the other edge of the sheet is abutted. 10A and 10B are diagrams for explaining the timing of releasing the nip of the conveying rollers when the sheet is long, showing a state in which the sheet is conveyed onto the conveying belt, and a state in which the nip of the downstream conveying rollers is released. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the intermediary transport device according to the embodiment, in a state where the opposing members are in an opposing position. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the intermediary transport device according to the embodiment, in a state where the opposing member is in a removal position. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the intermediary conveying device showing a state in which the opening and closing guide is open and the sheet is being pressed by the rear side regulating guide according to the embodiment. FIG.

The embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 15. First, the image forming system of the embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 1.

[Image forming system]
1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an image forming system including a multi-stage feeding device and an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the following description, an image forming apparatus having an image forming section will be described by taking an electrophotographic laser printer system (hereinafter simply referred to as a printer) as an example. Note that the image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system may be a copier, a facsimile, a multifunction machine, etc., in addition to a printer. Also, the image forming apparatus may be configured in a different manner, such as an inkjet type, regardless of the electrophotographic type.

The image forming system 1000 of this embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 100, a multi-stage feeding apparatus 200 as a sheet feeding apparatus connected to the image forming apparatus 100, and a feeding deck 500. As described in detail below, the multi-stage feeding apparatus 200 has a plurality of storage chambers each capable of storing a plurality of sheets, and can feed sheets from each storage chamber to the image forming apparatus 100. The feeding deck 500 also has a storage chamber capable of storing a plurality of sheets, and is disposed upstream of the multi-stage feeding apparatus 200 in the sheet conveying direction. The sheets fed from the feeding deck 500 are conveyed to the image forming apparatus 100 via a relay conveying apparatus 400 provided in the multi-stage feeding apparatus 200. Examples of sheets include plain paper, thin paper, thick paper, plastic sheets, and the like.

The image forming apparatus 100 forms a toner image (image) on a sheet in response to an image signal from a document reading device 102 connected to the image forming apparatus main body 101 or a host device such as a personal computer communicatively connected to the image forming apparatus main body 101. In this embodiment, the document reading device 102 is disposed above the image forming apparatus main body 101.

When reading an original, the original reading device 102 irradiates the original placed on the platen glass 103 with light from a scanning optical system light source, and the reflected light is input to a CCD to read the original image. The original reading device 102 also has an automatic document feeder (ADF) 104, and the original placed on a tray 105 can be automatically transported by the ADF 104 to the reading section of the original reading device 102 to read the original image. The read original image is then converted into an electrical signal and transmitted to a laser scanner 113 of the image forming section 110, which will be described later. Note that the laser scanner 113 may also receive image data sent from a personal computer, etc., as described above.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes an image forming section 110, a plurality of sheet feeding devices 120, a sheet conveying device 130, and the like. Each section of the image forming apparatus 100 is controlled by a control section 140. The control section 140 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The CPU controls each section while reading out a program corresponding to a control procedure stored in the ROM. In addition, working data and input data are stored in the RAM, and the CPU performs control by referring to the data stored in the RAM based on the aforementioned programs, etc.

Each of the multiple sheet feeding devices 120 includes a cassette 121 that stores sheets S, a pickup roller 122, and a separation and conveying roller pair 125 consisting of a feed roller 123 and a retard roller 124. The sheets S stored in the cassette 121 are separated and fed one by one by the pickup roller 122 and the separation and conveying roller pair 125, which rise and fall and rotate at a predetermined timing.

The sheet conveying device 130 includes a conveying roller pair 131 and a registration roller pair 133. The sheet S fed from the sheet feeding device 120 is passed through the sheet conveying path 134 by the conveying roller pair 131 and then guided to the registration roller pair 133. The sheet S is then fed into the image forming unit 110 at a predetermined timing by the registration roller pair 133.

Note that sheets transported from the multi-stage feeding device 200 or the feeding deck 500 described below via the transport roller pair 201 are transported into the image forming device 100 via a connection path 202 with the image forming device 100. The sheets transported from the multi-stage feeding device 200 or the feeding deck 500 into the image forming device 100 are then fed into the image forming unit 110 at a predetermined timing via the registration roller pair 133, similar to the sheets transported from the sheet feeding device 120 in the image forming device 100.

The image forming unit 110 includes a photosensitive drum 111, a charger 112, a laser scanner 113, a developer 114, a transfer device 115, a cleaner 117, etc. During image formation, the photosensitive drum 111 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and first, the surface of the photosensitive drum 111 is uniformly charged by the charger 112. Then, the charged photosensitive drum 111 is irradiated with laser light from the laser scanner 113, which is emitted in response to an image signal, to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 111. Furthermore, the electrostatic latent image thus formed on the photosensitive drum 111 is then visualized as a toner image by the developer 114.

The toner image on the photosensitive drum 111 is then transferred to the sheet S by the transfer device 115 in the transfer section 116. The sheet S onto which the toner image has been transferred is then transported to the fixing device 150 where the toner image is fixed, and is then discharged by the discharge rollers 151 onto the discharge tray 152 outside the machine.

When a toner image is formed on the back side of the sheet S, the sheet S discharged from the fixing device 150 is transported to the reversing transport path 160. Then, the sheet S is transported again to the transfer unit 116 of the image forming unit 110 in a state where it has been inverted by the reversing transport path 160. The sheet S with the toner image transferred to the back side is transported to the fixing device 150, where the toner image is fixed, and then discharged to the discharge tray 152 by the discharge rollers 151. Note that any residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 111 after transfer is removed by the cleaner 117.

[Multi-stage feeding device]
Continuing with the above, an overview of the multistage feeding device 200 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The multistage feeding device 200 includes a plurality of storage cabinets 210a to 210c, an intermediary conveying device 400, and the like. In this embodiment, the three storage cabinets 210a to 210c are arranged vertically in three stages, and the intermediary conveying device 400 is disposed between the bottom storage cabinet 210c and the second storage cabinet from the top 210b.

The sheet fed from the top storage 210a is transported to the transport path 212, the sheet fed from the second storage 210b is transported to the transport path 213, and the sheet fed from the bottom storage 210c is transported to the transport path 214. The sheet transported from the relay transport device 400 is transported to the transport path 215. The transport path 213 merges with the transport path 212 midway. The transport paths 212, 214, and 215 merge at the junction 216, and the sheet is transported to the transport roller pair 201 via the transport path 217, and is transported to the image forming device 100 via the connection path 202.

Furthermore, a multi-feed detection sensor that detects multi-feeding of sheets is disposed on the transport path 212 after merging with the transport path 213, the relay transport device 400, and the transport path 214. A sheet for which a multi-feed is detected by the multi-feed detection sensor is transported to the transport path 217. A multi-feed sheet storage section (escape tray) 218 that stores sheets for which a multi-feed is detected is disposed below the transport path 217. A sheet for which a multi-feed is detected and transported to the transport path 217 is transported to the multi-feed sheet storage section by switching the transport path by a switching member 219 provided on the transport path 217.

In addition, each part of the multi-stage feeding device 200 is controlled by a control unit 203. The control unit 203 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). In addition, the control unit 203 can communicate with the control unit 140 of the image forming device 100, and controls the timing of sheet feeding by communicating with the control unit 140.

The sheet fed from the upstream feeding deck 500 is transported to the relay conveying device 400 via the transport path 512. The multi-stage feeding device 200 is also capable of feeding sheets manually. The sheet fed manually is transported to the transport path 510 that merges with the transport path 512, and is transported by a pair of transport rollers 511 via the transport path 512 to the relay conveying device 400.

The relay conveying device 400, which will be described in detail below, includes a misalignment correction unit 410 including a conveying belt 12, a conveying roller pair 401 on the upstream side of the misalignment correction unit 410 in the sheet conveying direction, and a conveying roller pair 402 on the downstream side of the misalignment correction unit 410 in the sheet conveying direction. The sheet conveyed along the conveying path 512 is sent to the misalignment correction unit 410 by the conveying roller pair 401. The sheet is passed to the downstream conveying roller pair 402 after the side registration (misalignment of the sheet widthwise edge) and side skew (inclination of the sheet widthwise edge with respect to the sheet conveying direction) are corrected by the misalignment correction unit 410. The sheet is then conveyed to the conveying path 215 by the conveying roller pairs 402 and 403. In this way, the relay conveying device 400 corrects misalignment of the sheet conveyed from the upstream feeding deck 500, etc., and passes it to the downstream image forming device 100.

[Intermediate transport device]
Next, the relay conveying device 400 as a sheet conveying device will be described. First, the schematic configuration of the relay conveying device 400 will be described with reference to Figs. 2 to 5. The relay conveying device 400 has an upstream conveying roller pair 401, a downstream conveying roller pair 402, the above-mentioned misalignment correction unit 410, and the like, and conveys a sheet in the conveying direction X. The misalignment correction unit 410 has a conveying belt 12, a plurality of spheres 20, a pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B, a guide moving unit 420, and the like.

The conveying belt 12 is disposed downstream in the conveying direction X of the conveying roller pair 401, which serves as a conveying member for conveying the sheet. The conveying belt 12 is an endless belt stretched over pulleys 11A and 11B, and has a conveying surface 12A extending along the conveying direction X. A motor M1 serving as a drive source is connected to the pulley 11A on one side, and the conveying belt 12 is rotated by the drive of the motor M1. Such a conveying belt 12 conveys the sheet, which has been handed over to the conveying surface 12A from the conveying roller pair 401 on the upstream side of the conveying direction X, in the conveying direction X.

The spheres 20 are arranged along the conveying direction X at a position facing the conveying surface 12A of the conveyor belt 12. In this embodiment, the spheres 20 are arranged above the conveyor belt 12. The spheres 20 can rotate in any direction while sandwiching the sheet between them and the conveying surface 12A. For this reason, the spheres 20 are each held rotatably in any direction by a holding plate 18 provided above the conveyor belt 12. That is, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the holding plate 18 is a long plate arranged along the conveying direction X at a position a predetermined distance away from the conveying surface 12A above the conveyor belt 12, and has a number of holding holes 18A spaced apart from each other in the conveying direction X. The holding holes 18A each hold a sphere 20 rotatably.

As shown in FIG. 4, the spheres 20 are exposed from the holding holes 18A, placed on the conveying surface 12A of the conveyor belt 12, and are rotatable in any direction. Each of the spheres 20 abuts against the conveying surface 12A by its own weight. The number of spheres 20 may be set according to the pressing force required for the sheet conveyed on the conveyor belt 12. Since the sheet is conveyed while slipping on the conveyor belt 12 as described below, the spheres 20 are preferably made of a material such as glass or plastic that has a relatively low coefficient of friction. In this embodiment, a configuration in which multiple spheres 20 are arranged in one row along the conveying direction X has been described, but multiple spheres 20 may be arranged in multiple rows, such as two rows, each in the conveying direction X.

A pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are arranged on both sides of the conveyor belt 12 in the sheet width direction Y (in this embodiment, the direction perpendicular to the conveyor direction) that intersects with the conveyor direction X. The pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B can guide both ends of the sheet width direction Y (both ends of the sheet width direction) of the sheet that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20. The regulating guide 14B arranged on one side in the sheet width direction Y can guide one end of the sheet width direction of the sheet that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20. The regulating guide 14A arranged on the other side in the sheet width direction Y can guide the other end of the sheet width direction of the sheet that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20.

As shown in FIG. 5, each of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B has a side plate portion 15, a lower plate portion 16, and an upper plate portion 17, and the end of the sheet S conveyed by the conveyor belt 12 can enter the space surrounded by these plate portions 15, 16, and 17. The pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are supported by support shafts 421A and 421B (see FIG. 3) so that they can be moved between a guide position and a retreat position by a guide moving portion 420 described later. The support shafts 421A and 421B are each disposed approximately parallel to the sheet width direction Y, and support the end sides of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B in the conveying direction X. The pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B can move in the sheet width direction Y along the support shafts 421A and 421B.

The side plate portion 15 has a guide surface 15A that faces the edge in the sheet width direction Y (sheet width direction edge) of the sheet S that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20 at the guide position. The guide surface 15A is disposed parallel to the conveying direction X. The guide surface 15A is also a surface that is perpendicular to both the conveying direction X and the sheet width direction Y, and in this embodiment, is a surface that is aligned along a substantially vertical direction.

The lower plate portion 16 is disposed perpendicular to the side plate portion 15, and has a support surface 16A that supports the edge in the sheet width direction Y of the sheet S that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the spheres 20 at the guide position. The support surface 16A extends in a substantially horizontal direction from the vertical lower end of the guide surface 15A. The support surface 16A is also located vertically below the conveyor surface 12A of the conveyor belt 12.

Now, let us consider a case where the support surface 16A and the conveying surface 12A are at the same height, or the support surface 16A is located vertically above the conveying surface 12A. In this case, when a sheet S having high stiffness such as cardboard is conveyed between the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20 in a curled state (both ends in the width direction Y are lower than the center) as shown in FIG. 5, both ends in the width direction Y of the sheet S are supported by the support surface 16A. At this time, the center of the sheet S in the width direction Y is lifted (bridged), pushing up the sphere 20. As a result, the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20 are separated, and the conveying force of the conveying belt 12 is not transmitted to the sheet S, which may cause conveying failure. For this reason, in this embodiment, the support surface 16A is arranged vertically below the conveying surface 12A of the conveying belt 12.

The upper plate portion 17 has an opposing surface 17A that is disposed opposite the support surface 16A. At the guide position, the opposing surface 17A is located above the edge of the sheet S in the sheet width direction Y that is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the spheres 20. The opposing surface 17A is formed approximately parallel to the support surface 16A.

2 and 3, the guide movement unit 420 has a first movement unit 420A that moves the restricting guide 14A of the pair of restricting guides 14A, 14B, and a second movement unit 420B that moves the other restricting guide 14B. The guide movement unit 420 also has a motor M2 that generates a driving force to move the restricting guide 14A, and a motor M3 that generates a driving force to move the other restricting guide 14B.

The first moving part 420A has a pair of pulleys 422A, 423A, an endless belt 424A stretched between the pulleys 422A, 423A, and a connection part 425A that connects the belt 424A to the regulating guide 14A. Similarly, the second moving part 420B has a pair of pulleys 422B, 423B, an endless belt 424B stretched between the pulleys 422B, 423B, and a connection part 425B that connects the belt 424B to the other regulating guide 14B.

2, the first moving part 420A is driven by a motor M2 as a driving source, and the second moving part 420B is driven by a motor M3 as a driving source. That is, in the case of this embodiment, the motors as driving sources for moving the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are separate, and the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B can move independently. For this reason, the pulley 422A of the first moving part 420A is connected to the pulley 427A via the connecting shaft 426A, and the pulley 427A is stretched over the belt 428A between the pulley that is rotated by the motor M2. The rotational drive of the motor M2 is transmitted to the belt 424A via the belt 428A, the pulley 427A, the connecting shaft 426A, and the pulley 422A. As described above, the belt 424A is connected to the regulating guide 14A via the connection part 425A, so that when the motor M2 is driven, the regulating guide 14A moves in the sheet width direction Y along the support shafts 421A and 421B.

Similarly, the pulley 422B of the second moving part 420B is connected to the pulley 427B via the connecting shaft 426B, and the pulley 427B is connected to a pulley that is rotated by the motor M3 via the belt 428B. The rotational drive of the motor M3 is then transmitted to the belt 424B via the belt 428B, the pulley 427B, the connecting shaft 426B, and the pulley 422B. As described above, the other side regulating guide 14B is connected to the belt 424B via the connection part 425B, so that the other side regulating guide 14B moves in the sheet width direction Y along the support shafts 421A and 421B when the motor M3 is driven.

In this manner, by driving motors M2 and M3, restricting guides 14A and 14B are moved to the guide position or the retracted position, respectively. In this embodiment, motors M2 and M3 are pulse motors (stepping motors), and the positions of restricting guides 14A and 14B are controlled by the number of pulses sent to the motors. In addition, restricting guides 14A and 14B each have a home position, and a sensor for detecting restricting guides 14A and 14B is provided at each home position. Therefore, the positions of restricting guides 14A and 14B are detected at the home position, and thereafter restricting guides 14A and 14B are moved to the guide position or the retracted position depending on the number of pulses sent to the motor.

In the present embodiment, the motor M1 that drives the conveyor belt 12, the motors M2 and M3 that move the regulating guides 14A and 14B, and the motors M5, M7, and M8 described below are arranged on the other regulating guide 14B side. In particular, with respect to the conveying direction X, it is preferable to arrange the motors within the sheet conveying range of the misalignment correction unit 410 on the rear side (the one-side regulating guide 14B side) of the conveyor belt 12. This is because, as will be described in detail later, a jammed sheet is removed from the front side (the other-side regulating guide 14A side).

In the present embodiment, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a double feed detection sensor 430 that detects double feeding of sheets is disposed between the upstream conveying roller pair 401 and the conveying belt 12. The double feed detection sensor 430 is, for example, a sensor that detects that two or more sheets are conveyed overlapping each other using ultrasonic waves. When the control unit 203 (Fig. 1) of the multi-stage feeding device 200 detects double feeding of sheets using the double feed detection sensor 430, it conveys the double fed sheets to the above-mentioned double fed sheet storage unit 218 via the relay conveying device 400 and the conveying paths 215 and 217.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 13 described later, opposing members 450, 460 are disposed between the conveyor belt 12 and the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B in the sheet width direction Y, facing the underside of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor belt 12. If the edge of the sheet is conveyed without being supported by either of the regulating guides 14A, 14B, the opposing members 450, 460 support the edge of the sheet. The detailed configuration of the opposing members 450, 460 will be described later.

The relay conveying device 400 thus configured sandwiches the sheet transferred from the conveying roller pair 401 upstream in the conveying direction X to the conveying belt 12 between the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20. The sheet is then conveyed by the rotation of the conveying belt 12. At this time, as will be described in detail later, both ends of the sheet in the width direction Y conveyed by the conveying belt 12 are abutted against the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B. When the sheet abuts against the guide surfaces 15A, the sheet is conveyed in a direction parallel to the guide surfaces 15A while slipping between the conveying belt 12 and the sheet with both ends aligned with the guide surfaces 15A. At this time, the sheet is sandwiched between the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20, and since the sphere 20 can rotate in any direction, the sheet can move on the conveying belt 12 while slipping in any direction. This corrects the side registration and side skew of the sheet.

[Regulatory Guide]
Next, the detailed configuration of the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B will be described with reference to Figures 6(a) to 6(d). Note that Figures 6(a) to 6(d) only show the regulating guide 14A, but the other regulating guide 14B has a similar configuration. As shown in Figure 5, the regulating guide 14A has a side plate portion 15 having a guide surface 15A, a lower plate portion 16 having a support surface 16A, and an upper plate portion 17 having an opposing surface 17A.

6(a) and (b), the lower plate portion 16 and the upper plate portion 17 are provided continuously over almost the entire longitudinal area of the regulating guide 14A. Since the regulating guide 14A is arranged substantially parallel to the conveying direction X as shown in FIG. 2 and other figures, the range in which the lower plate portion 16 and the upper plate portion 17 are continuous in the conveying direction X is defined as the predetermined area A. Therefore, in this embodiment, the support surface 16A of the lower plate portion 16 and the opposing surface 17A of the upper plate portion 17 are provided continuously over the predetermined area A in the conveying direction X. The predetermined area A is substantially the entire area in which the sheet is conveyed by the misalignment correction unit 410.

On the other hand, as shown in Figs. 6(a) to (c), the side plate portion 15 is provided continuously over the guide region B, which is a region shorter than the specified region A. In this embodiment, the upstream end (upstream end in the conveying direction) B1 of the side plate portion 15 in the conveying direction X is located downstream of the upstream end A1 in the conveying direction X of the specified region A. In other words, the upstream end B1 in the conveying direction X of the guide surface 15A of the side plate portion 15 is located downstream of the upstream end A1 of the specified region A. In addition, the guide surface 15A is provided continuously up to the downstream end A2 of the specified region A in the conveying direction X. Therefore, the position of the downstream end B2 in the conveying direction X of the side plate portion 15 and the position of the downstream end A2 in the conveying direction X of the specified region A are approximately the same position in the conveying direction X.

In this embodiment, a notch 19C is provided upstream of the upstream end B1 of the side plate portion 15. An outer plate portion 19 is disposed in a portion of this notch 19C, which is located outside the side plate portion 15 in the sheet width direction Y. The outside in the sheet width direction Y is the side that is farther away from the conveyor belt 12 in the sheet width direction Y. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 6(c), the inner surface 19A of the outer plate portion 19 is located outside the guide surface 15A, which is the inner surface of the side plate portion 15, in the sheet width direction Y. In addition, an inclined plate portion 19B is provided between the outer plate portion 19 and the side plate portion 15 in the conveying direction X, which is inclined so as to approach the side plate portion 15 as it moves downstream.

The pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are configured as described above, so that the distance in the width direction Y between the inner surfaces 19A of the outer plate portion 19 on the upstream side in the conveying direction X is wider than the distance in the width direction Y between the guide surfaces 15A of the side plate portion 15. Therefore, as described in detail later, both end edges in the width direction Y of the sheet transferred from the upstream conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12 are located between the inner surfaces 19A on the upstream side of the conveying direction X, and are located between the guide surfaces 15A when conveyed downstream.

The outer plate portion 19 and the inclined plate portion 19B may be omitted. However, if the end of the sheet in the width direction Y that is transferred from the upstream conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12 is positioned within the notch 19C, there is a risk that the end of the sheet will get caught on the upstream end B1 of the side plate portion 15 when the sheet is conveyed further. For this reason, in this embodiment, the outer plate portion 19 and the inclined plate portion 19B are provided, so that even if the sheet is conveyed shifted in the width direction Y from the correct position, the outer plate portion 19 regulates the position, and the inclined plate portion 19B guides the end of the sheet to the guide surface 15A of the side plate portion 15.

[Contact/Separate Configuration of Conveying Roller Pair]
Next, the contact and separation configuration of the conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and with reference to FIGS. 7, 8(a) and 8(b). As described above, the conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 are disposed upstream and downstream in the conveying direction X of the conveying belt 12, respectively. Each of the conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 has a driving roller 32 and a driven roller 33 as a pair of conveying rollers. The driving roller 32 is an elastic roller having an elastic body such as rubber provided around a rotating shaft 32a. The driven roller 33 contacts the driving roller 32 to form a nip portion that sandwiches and conveys a sheet. The driving roller 32 of the conveying roller pair 401 can be rotated independently by a motor M4, the driving roller 32 of the conveying roller pair 402 can be rotated independently by a motor M5, and the driving roller 32 of the conveying roller pair 403 can be rotated independently by a motor M6.

In this embodiment, the conveying roller pair 402, 403 arranged downstream of the conveying direction X of the conveying belt 12 (downstream in the conveying direction) has a configuration that allows the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 to be brought into contact with and separated from each other. The conveying roller pair 402 can be brought into contact with and separated from the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 independently by a motor M7, and the conveying roller pair 403 can be brought into contact with and separated from each other by a motor M8. Since the conveying roller pairs 402, 403 have the same configuration, the contact and separation configuration will be described below using the conveying roller pair 402 as an example with reference to Figures 7, 8(a) and (b).

The contact/separation mechanism 31, which brings the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 into contact with and separates them, has a compression spring 34 as a biasing means, a support member 35, a motor M7, a separation cam 36, and a link member 37. The contact/separation mechanism 31 corresponds to a roller moving means that can move at least one of the pair of conveying rollers, i.e., the driven roller 33, between a nip position where the sheet can be clamped and conveyed, and a nip release position where the pair of conveying rollers are separated from the nip position.

The compression spring 34 is a spring that biases the driven roller 33 toward the drive roller 32. The support member 35 supports the rotation shaft 33a of the driven roller 33 and is supported so as to be able to swing about the swing shaft 37a. The support member 35 is biased by the compression spring 34 in a direction that presses the driven roller 33 toward the drive roller 32 about the swing shaft 37a. The support member 35 is fixed to the swing shaft 37a and rotates together with the swing shaft 37a, moving the driven roller 33 in a direction toward the drive roller 32 and in a direction away from the drive roller 32.

Motor M7 drives and rotates the separation cam 36 via pulleys 38a, 38b and belt 38c. Pulley 38a is fixed to the drive shaft of motor M7, and pulley 38b is fixed to the rotation shaft 36a of separation cam 36. Belt 38c is an endless belt that is stretched around pulleys 38a and 38b. Separation cam 36 is an eccentric cam whose outer circumferential surface is eccentric from the center of rotation shaft 36a, and rotates together with rotation shaft 36a when driven by motor M7.

The link member 37 is fixed to the swing shaft 37a and is arranged to be swingable together with the swing shaft 37a. Therefore, the link member 37 rotates in synchronization with the support member 35 via the swing shaft 37a. The link member 37 is arranged to abut against the separation cam 36 when the support member 35 is biased by the compression spring 34.

When the separation cam 36 is in the phase shown in FIG. 8(a), the driven roller 33 is pressed against the drive roller 32 by the biasing force of the compression spring 34. The state in FIG. 8(a) is the nip position. When the motor M7 rotates the separation cam 36, for example, 180 degrees from this state, the link member 37 is pushed by the separation cam 36 and swings counterclockwise around the swing shaft 37a as shown in FIG. 8(b). Then, the support member 35 connected to the link member 37 via the swing shaft 37a swings in the same direction around the swing shaft 37a. Since the driven roller 33 is supported by the support member 35 via the rotation shaft 33a, the swing of the support member 35 separates the driven roller 33 from the drive roller 32. In other words, the driven roller 33 is moved to the nip release position.

When moving the driven roller 33 from the nip release position to the nip position, the separation cam 36 is rotated another 180° by the motor M7 from the state shown in FIG. 8(b). The contact/separation mechanism that brings the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 into and out of contact with each other may be configured to move both the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33. In the above example, the contact/separation mechanism is driven by a motor, but the pair of conveying rollers may be brought into and out of contact with each other by another drive source such as a solenoid.

In the above example, the pair of conveying rollers 402, 403 on the downstream side of the conveying direction X of the conveying belt 12 can be brought into contact with and separated from each other, but only the pair of conveying rollers 402 can be brought into contact with and separated from each other. Furthermore, the pair of conveying rollers 401 on the upstream side of the conveying direction X of the conveying belt 12 can be brought into contact with and separated from each other. In this case, only the pair of conveying rollers 401 on the upstream side can be brought into contact with and separated from each other, or the pair of conveying rollers 402 on the downstream side and even the pair of conveying rollers 403 can be brought into contact with and separated from each other.

[Sheet Conveying Operation]
Next, the sheet recoil operation in the relay conveying device 400 of this embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 2, 3, etc., and with reference to Figs. 9(a) to 9(d) and 10. In this embodiment, the control unit 203 (Fig. 1) controls the motors M2 and M3 (Fig. 2) according to the conveying state of the sheet to change the positions of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B in the sheet width direction Y. As described above, the motors M2 and M3 are controlled to drive the guide moving unit 420 (Fig. 2) to move the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B to the guide position and the retracted position.

The guide position is a position where the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B can guide the edge in the width direction Y of the sheet being conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20. In this embodiment, the guide position is a position where the distance between the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B (between the guide surfaces) is longer than the length in the sheet width direction Y of the sheet being conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20.

Specifically, when the center position of the sheet in the width direction Y coincides with the center position of the guide surfaces 15A on both sides, and the edge of the sheet in the width direction Y is parallel to the guide surface 15A (center reference), the guide position is the position where the edge of the sheet in the width direction Y and the guide surface 15A are spaced a predetermined distance apart. This predetermined distance can be set appropriately by the device, but is a distance that allows for misalignment between the sheet and the image formed on the sheet even if the sheet is misaligned within this distance. This predetermined distance is, for example, 0.5 mm. In other words, at the guide position, the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are each 0.5 mm away from the edge of the sheet in the width direction Y. This guide position can be changed appropriately by the control unit 203 according to the sheet size.

In this way, since the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are positioned at a position where the distance between the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B is longer than the length of the sheet in the sheet width direction Y at the guide position, the conveying load of the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt 12 can be suppressed. For example, if the distance between the guide surfaces is the same as the length of the sheet in the sheet width direction Y, the sheet is conveyed while the end of the sheet rubs against the guide surface, and the conveying resistance becomes large. In particular, in this embodiment, the sheet is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20, so the nip pressure that sandwiches the sheet between the conveying belt 12 and the sphere 20 is small. Therefore, if the conveying resistance of the sheet is large, there is a risk that the conveying of the sheet will be delayed or that conveying failures such as the conveying of the sheet will be easily caused. For this reason, in this embodiment, the conveying resistance of the sheet is suppressed by positioning the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B at the guide position as described above.

As described above, it is preferable to transport the sheet with a central reference and correct the side registration and side skew of the sheet (perform an alignment operation) as described below. This is because in this embodiment, the sheet is slipped between the transport belt 12 and the sphere 20, and the side skew is corrected while the sheet is rotated. That is, by starting the alignment operation at a position where the center of gravity of the sheet S and the center of the regulating guides 14A and 14B approximately coincide (central reference), damage to the sheet during the alignment operation can be reduced.

On the other hand, the retracted position is a position where the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are retracted from the edge of the sheet in the width direction Y from the guide position. In other words, the distance between the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B in the width direction Y at the retracted position is wider than the distance between the guide surfaces 15A of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B in the width direction Y at the guide position. In this embodiment, the retracted position is a position where the distance between the edge of the sheet in the width direction Y transported with the above-mentioned center reference is 5 mm. Note that the sheet S is delivered to the conveyor belt 12 with the regulating guides 14A and 14B in the retracted position, but the vertical movement of the sheet S in this state is regulated by the support surface 16A and the opposing surface 17A. As a result, even if the sheet S is curled, both end edges of the sheet S can be contained within the area surrounded by the guide surface 15A, the support surface 16A, and the opposing surface 17A when the regulating guides 14A and 14B move from the retracted position to the guide position.

The operation of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B when two sheets S1 and S2 are continuously conveyed to the relay conveying device 400 will be described using Figures 9(a) to (d) and Figure 10. First, as shown in Figure 9(a), when the first sheet S1 is conveyed from the upstream conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B to the retreat position. This is because if the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are in the guide position when the sheet S1 is delivered to the conveying belt 12, and the sheet S1 is skewed or misaligned in the width direction Y, the edge of the sheet S1 may interfere with one of the regulating guides 14A and 14B, causing a conveying failure of the sheet S1.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9B, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from the retracted position to the guide position after the rear end (upstream end) of the first sheet S1 handed over from the conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12 has passed through the conveying roller pair 401. In this embodiment, the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position when the sheet S1 handed over to the conveying belt 12 is within the specified area A (within the specified area in FIG. 6B). This corrects (aligns) the side registration and side skew of the sheet S1.

That is, when sheet S1 is upstream in the transport direction X, the regulating guides 14A and 14B are located in the retracted position, and both end edges of sheet S1 are separated from guide surface 15A. Then, sheet S1 is transported further downstream, and after the rear end of sheet S1 passes through the transport roller pair 401, regulating guides 14A and 14B move to the guide position. Then, guide surface 15A is brought into contact with both end edges of sheet S1 in the width direction Y. When sheet S1 abuts against guide surface 15A, it is transported in a direction parallel to guide surface 15A while slipping between the end edge and transport belt 12 while aligning with guide surface 15A. This corrects the side registration and side skew of sheet S1.

In this embodiment, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from the retracted position to the guide position while the sheet is being conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20. This allows correction of side registration, side skew, etc. of the sheet without stopping the conveyance of the sheet, thereby improving productivity. However, it is also possible to perform an alignment operation in which the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position after temporarily stopping the conveyance of the sheet. In this case, productivity decreases, but it is possible to more reliably correct misalignment, etc.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9C, when the leading edge of the second sheet S2 transferred from the conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12 enters the specified area A, the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B remain in their guide positions. At this time, the first sheet S1 is guided by the guide surface 15A in the guide area B (FIG. 6B). That is, in this embodiment, while the first sheet S1 is being guided by the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B, the second sheet S2 begins to enter the specified area A.

As shown in FIG. 10, upstream of the upstream end B1 (FIG. 6B) of the guide surface 15A in the conveying direction X, there is an inner surface 19A of the outer plate portion 19, which is wider than the guide surfaces 15A. In FIG. 10, the inner surface 19A is inclined toward the guide surface 15A as it approaches the downstream side, but the inner surface 19A may be a surface parallel to the conveying direction X. In any case, since the inner surface 19A is located outside the guide surface 15A in the sheet width direction Y, even when the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are in the guide position, the distance between the inner surfaces 19A is wider than the distance between the guide surfaces 15A. Therefore, even if the second sheet S2 in this state enters the predetermined area A while being skewed or misaligned in the width direction Y, the end of the sheet S2 is unlikely to interfere with the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if the second sheet S2 is transported at the timing described above, sheet transport problems are unlikely to occur and productivity can be increased.

9D, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B from the guide position to the retracted position before the leading edge of the second sheet S2 reaches the upstream end B1 of the guide surface 15A in the conveying direction X. At this time, the alignment operation of the first sheet S1 is completed, and the sheet S1 is delivered to the downstream conveying roller pair 402. Therefore, even if the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved to the retracted position, the posture of the sheet S1 is not affected. In addition, since the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved to the retracted position before the second sheet S2 reaches the guide surface 15A, interference with the upstream end B1 of the guide surface 15A when the end of the second sheet S2 exceeds the inner surface 19A of the outer plate portion 19 can be suppressed, and the occurrence of sheet conveyance failure can be suppressed.

After that, as described in FIG. 9B and subsequent figures, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B from the retreated position to the guide position after the trailing edge of the second sheet S2 passes through the pair of conveying rollers 401. In this embodiment, the control unit 203 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B from the retreated position to the guide position after the leading edge of the second sheet S2 passes through the upstream end B1 of the guide surface 15A in the conveying direction X. Then, the alignment operation of the second sheet S2 is performed. If there are third or subsequent sheets, the operations of FIG. 9C, 9D, and 9B are performed. If it is the last sheet, it is handed over to the pair of conveying rollers 402 as is, and the sheet alignment operation is completed.

The control unit 203 can determine the position of the sheet in the conveying direction X described above based on, for example, the sheet size, the timing of detection of the sheet by a sensor that detects the sheet somewhere along the sheet conveying path, and the sheet conveying speed.

In this embodiment, the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position after the trailing end of the sheet handed over to the conveyor belt 12 passes through the upstream conveyor roller pair 401. This makes it possible to prevent the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from interfering with the sheet when the sheet is handed over to the conveyor belt 12. In addition, since the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B are not positioned at the guide position while the sheet is being conveyed by the upstream conveyor roller pair 401, it is possible to prevent the sheet being conveyed by the conveyor roller pair 401 from coming into contact with any of the regulating guides and becoming bent.

Furthermore, because the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved to the guide position after the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the pair of conveying rollers 401, it is possible to correct the positional deviation of the sheet, for example, without conveying the sheet at an angle and hitting it against the regulating guide. This makes it possible to correct the positional deviation of the sheet without increasing the length for conveying the sheet, and thus prevents the device from becoming larger. In other words, it is possible to correct the positional deviation of the sheet in the width direction Y while preventing the device from becoming larger.

[Thick paper transport operation]
Next, the conveying operation of a sheet S3 (e.g., cardboard) having a basis weight of a predetermined value or more will be described with reference to FIGS. 11(a) to 11(c). The predetermined value is, for example, 100 g/ ^m2 . Here, if the stiffness is high, such as a sheet having a basis weight of a predetermined value or more, as described above, when side registration or other corrections are performed by clamping both ends of the sheet between a pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B or guiding the sheet with a small gap from the guide surface 15A, there is a risk that the conveying resistance will increase. If the conveying resistance increases, a conveying delay of the sheet will occur. Therefore, in the case of a sheet such as cardboard, the regulating guides 14A and 14B are brought into contact with the edge of the sheet one by one to correct side registration or side skew. A specific description will be given below.

First, in the case of this embodiment, the guide moving unit 420 (FIG. 2) can move the regulating guides 14A and 14B independently, as described above. That is, the first moving unit 420A (FIG. 2) of the guide moving unit 420 can move one of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B, 14A, between a first guide position that guides one edge of the sheet in the width direction Y, and a first retracted position that is further retracted from the one edge of the sheet than the first guide position. Similarly, the second moving unit 420B (FIG. 2) of the guide moving unit 420 can move the other of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B, 14B, 14B, between a second guide position that guides the other edge of the sheet in the width direction Y, and a second retracted position that is further retracted from the other edge of the sheet than the second guide position.

As shown in FIG. 11A, when a sheet S3 such as cardboard is transferred to the conveyor belt 12, the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are positioned in the retracted position. That is, one regulating guide 14A is positioned in the first retracted position, and the other regulating guide 14B is positioned in the second retracted position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11B, after the trailing edge of sheet S3 passes through the pair of transport rollers 401 (e.g., FIG. 3), the control unit 203 moves one of the regulating guides 14A to the first guide position and positions the other regulating guide 14B in the second retracted position. That is, the guide surface 15A of one of the regulating guides 14A abuts against one edge of sheet S3, while the other regulating guide 14B remains in the second retracted position, and the guide surface 15A of the regulating guide 14B retracts from the other edge of sheet S3.

Then, as shown in FIG. 11C, the control unit 203 moves the other restricting guide 14B to the second guide position and moves the one restricting guide 14A to the first retracted position. That is, the guide surface 15A of the other restricting guide 14B abuts against the other edge of the sheet S3 and moves the one restricting guide 14A to the first retracted position, retracting the guide surface 15A of the restricting guide 14A from one edge of the sheet S3.

In this embodiment, the restricting guides 14A and 14B are pressed against the edge of the sheet S3 on one side at a time, and while the restricting guides are being pressed against each other, the restricting guide on the opposite side is moved away from the edge of the sheet S3. This makes it possible to prevent the conveying resistance of the sheet S3 from increasing. Note that the order in which the restricting guides 14A and 14B are pressed against each other is not limited to the above, and the restricting guide 14B may be pressed against the restricting guide 14A first.

When the basis weight of the sheet transferred from the conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12 is less than a predetermined value (e.g., plain paper), as described above in Figures 9(a) to (d), after the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the conveying roller pair 401, the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position.

[Long Sheet Transport Operation]
Next, the conveying operation of a sheet S4 (such as a long sheet) having a predetermined size or more will be described with reference to Figs. 4, 7, and 8, and with reference to Figs. 12(a) and 12(b). In the case of a sheet S4 having a length in the conveying direction X of a predetermined length or more, such as a long sheet, while the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B is correcting the side registration or side skew, the downstream or upstream side of the sheet in the conveying direction may be nipped by the pair of conveying rollers. In the state where the sheet is nipped by the pair of conveying rollers, even if the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are abutted against the edge of the sheet, the correction (alignment operation) of the side registration or the like may not be performed sufficiently, or the sheet may be bent.

On the other hand, in order to align even long sheets without being nipped by the pair of conveying rollers, it is possible to lengthen the distance in the conveying direction X guided by the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B, but this would result in an increase in the size of the device. Therefore, in this embodiment, when aligning a sheet S4 of a certain size or larger, the nip of the downstream conveying roller pair 402 is released.

As described above, the pair of conveying rollers 402, 403 on the downstream side of the conveying belt 12 can bring the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 into contact with or separate from each other (see, for example, FIG. 4). In addition, the contact/separation mechanism 31 that brings the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 into contact with or separates them has motors M7, M8 that are controlled by the control unit 203. Therefore, the control unit 203 can control the contact/separation mechanism 31 to bring the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 into contact with or separate from each other.

In this embodiment, when the guide movement unit 420 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B from the retracted position to the guide position, the control unit 203 can execute a nip release operation to move the pair of conveying rollers 402 and 403 to the nip release position. This will be specifically described below with reference to Figures 12(a) and (b).

As shown in FIG. 12A, when the sheet S4 is transferred from the upstream conveying roller pair 401 to the conveying belt 12, the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are located in the retracted position. Then, as shown in FIG. 12B, after the sheet S4 is further conveyed downstream and the trailing end of the sheet S4 passes the upstream conveying roller pair 401, the control unit 203 sets the downstream conveying roller pair 402 and 403 to the nip release position. At the same time, the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position. That is, in this embodiment, the nip release operation is performed at the same time that the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are moved from the retracted position to the guide position by the guide moving unit 420.

The alignment operation for moving the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from the retracted position to the guide position and the nip release operation do not have to be performed simultaneously. For example, if the leading edge (downstream edge) of the sheet has not yet reached the downstream conveying roller pair 402 after the trailing edge of the sheet has passed the upstream conveying roller pair 401, the alignment operation may be started first, and the nip release operation may be performed before the leading edge of the sheet reaches the downstream conveying roller pair 402. In addition, in the case of a long sheet whose leading edge reaches the conveying roller pair 402 before the trailing edge of the sheet has passed the conveying roller pair 401, the nip release operation of the conveying roller pair 402 is performed before the leading edge of the sheet reaches the conveying roller pair 402.

After the alignment operation of sheet S4 is completed, the downstream conveying roller pair 402, 403 is returned from the nip release position to the nip position, and sheet S4 is conveyed further downstream by the conveying roller pair 402, 403. Note that the timing for returning the downstream conveying roller pair 402, 403 to the nip position is at the latest before the rear end of sheet S4 passes the downstream end of the conveying belt 12.

The control unit 203 also moves the pair of conveying rollers 402, 403 from the nip release position to the nip position by the contact mechanism 31, and then moves the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from the guide position to the retracted position. If the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B is moved to the retracted position and then the sheet is nipped by the pair of conveying rollers 402, there is a risk that the sheet may become misaligned due to the operation of nipping the sheet. In contrast, since the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B is moved to the retracted position after the pair of conveying rollers 402 etc. nip the sheet first, the sheet is guided by the regulating guides 14A, 14B when the sheet is nipped, and it is possible to prevent the sheet from accidentally becoming misaligned.

In addition, by moving the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B to the retracted position after the sheet is nipped by the pair of conveying rollers 402, it is possible to prevent the next sheet from interfering with the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B when it is conveyed, thereby improving productivity. The timing at which the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B start moving to the retracted position may be simultaneous with the start of movement of the pair of conveying rollers 402, 403 from the nip release position to the nip position. By moving the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B to the retracted position earlier, it is possible to transfer the next sheet to the conveying belt 12 as soon as possible, thereby further improving productivity.

In this embodiment, by performing the nip release operation in this manner, even if the downstream side of sheet S4 has reached conveying roller pair 402 and even conveying roller pair 403, alignment operation by a pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B becomes possible. Therefore, alignment operation can be performed on sheets longer than a predetermined length without increasing the size of the device.

In addition, if the length of the sheet is less than a predetermined length, the nip release operation of the conveying roller pair is not performed during the alignment operation, so the number of times the conveying roller pair moves toward and away from each other can be reduced. When the conveying roller pair moves toward and away from each other, the components of the conveying roller pair 31 wear out and noise is generated. Therefore, by avoiding the conveying roller pair 31 from moving toward and away from each other as much as possible, wear on the components and noise generation can be suppressed.

In addition, the nip release operation of the conveying roller pair may be performed during the alignment operation as described above, not only when the length of the sheet is equal to or greater than a predetermined length. This allows the length in the conveying direction X of the misalignment correction unit 410 that performs the sheet alignment operation to be further shortened, thereby making the device more compact.

Here, in the case of a sheet whose basis weight is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, as described in Figs. 11(a) to (c), the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B are pressed against the sheet on each side to perform the alignment operation. In this way, when the sheet has a basis weight equal to or greater than a predetermined value and is also long, the pair of conveying rollers 402 and 403 are set to the nip release position during the alignment operation. That is, when the rear end of the sheet passes the pair of conveying rollers 401 on the upstream side and one of the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B moves to the guide position to start the alignment operation, the pair of conveying rollers 402 and 403 are set to the nip release position at the same time. Then, after the alignment operation is completed, the pair of conveying rollers 402 and 403 are returned to the nip position. As in the above case, the timing of the start of the alignment operation and the nip release operation may be different.

In the above description, the nip release operation is performed by the conveying roller pair 402, 403, but the nip release operation may be performed only by the conveying roller pair 402. In addition, in the case where the drive roller 32 and the driven roller 33 of the conveying roller pair 401 on the upstream side of the conveying belt 12 are configured to abut or separate, the nip release operation of the conveying roller pair 401 may be performed. That is, when the guide movement unit 420 moves the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B from the retracted position to the guide position, the control unit 203 may be capable of executing a nip release operation with the upstream conveying roller pair 401 at the nip release position. For example, in the state of FIG. 12(a), the conveying roller pair 401 may be set to the nip release position, and the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B may be moved to the guide position.

Also, all of the upstream and downstream conveying roller pairs 401, 402, and 403 may be configured to be capable of contacting and separating. In this case, the nip release operation of all conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 may be performed simultaneously with the start of the alignment operation. Alternatively, the timing of the nip release operation of the conveying roller pairs may be varied depending on the length of the sheet and the conveying situation. For example, if the sheet straddles multiple conveying roller pairs during the alignment operation, all of the multiple conveying roller pairs are set to the nip release position during the alignment operation. Alternatively, the nip release operation may be performed in order starting from the upstream conveying roller pair according to the conveyance of the sheet, so that the sheet is not nipped by any of the conveying roller pairs during the alignment operation.

The number of pairs of conveying rollers that perform the nip release operation may be changed depending on the sheet size. For example, the pair of conveying rollers 402 is a pair of first conveying rollers, and the pair of conveying rollers 403 is a pair of second conveying rollers. The pair of conveying rollers 403 is disposed at a position farther away from the conveying belt 12 than the pair of conveying rollers 402. The second roller moving means is a contact/separation mechanism 31 that can move the pair of conveying rollers 403 between the nip position and the nip release position.

In this case, the control unit 203 controls the contact mechanism 31 as the roller moving means and the second roller moving means to operate the conveying roller pair 402, 403 as follows. First, when the length of the sheet in the conveying direction is equal to or greater than a second predetermined length that is longer than the predetermined length, the conveying roller pair 402, 403 is set to the nip release position when the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B is moved from the retracted position to the guide position. On the other hand, when the length of the sheet is less than the second predetermined length but equal to or greater than the predetermined length, only the conveying roller pair 402 is set to the nip release position and the conveying roller pair 403 is left in the nip position when the pair of regulating guides 14A, 14B is moved from the retracted position to the guide position.

The above-mentioned operation of the conveying roller pairs 402 and 403 may be performed by the upstream conveying roller pair 401 and the downstream conveying roller pair 402. In addition, if all the conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 are configured to be capable of contacting and separating, and if the length of the sheet is a third predetermined length that is longer than the second predetermined length, all the conveying roller pairs 401 to 403 may be in the nip release position during the alignment operation.

The above-mentioned sheet basis weight and size are based on information inputted by an input unit (e.g., an operation panel) 1001 (FIG. 1) provided in the image forming system 1000. For example, a user inputs information such as the basis weight and size of the sheets stored in the feed deck 500 via the input unit 1001. The control unit 203 determines the basis weight and size of the sheets to be transported to the relay transport device 400 from this input information. The input unit 1001 may be an operation panel provided in either the image forming device 100, the multi-stage feed device 200, or the feed deck 500, or may be an external terminal such as a personal computer connected to the image forming system 1000.

Alternatively, the basis weight and size of the above-mentioned sheets may be detected by providing a sensor for detecting the basis weight and size of the sheets on the transport path from the feed deck 500 to the relay transport device 400 or within the feed deck 500.

[Action when sheet jam occurs]
Next, the operation of the relay conveying device 400 when a jam occurs in which a sheet stops on the conveying belt 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 and with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 13, facing members 450 and 460 that face the lower surface of the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt 12 are arranged between the conveying belt 12 and the pair of regulating guides 14A and 14B in the sheet width direction Y. Of the facing members 450 and 460, the facing member 450 on the regulating guide 14A side is movable between a facing position and a take-out position that is retracted below the facing position, as described later. The facing position is a position that faces the lower surface of the sheet conveyed by the conveying belt 12. On the other hand, the facing member 460 on the regulating guide 14B side is fixed at the facing position.

The opposing members 450, 460 have opposing surfaces 450A, 460A that face the bottom surface of the sheet at opposing positions. If the edge of the sheet is not supported by either of the regulating guides 14A, 14B and is transported by the transport belt 12, the opposing surfaces 450A, 460A support the edge of the sheet.

As shown in FIG. 13, the relay conveying device 400 also has a housing 470 that houses the above-mentioned misalignment correction unit 410. The housing 470 has an outlet 471 for removing the sheet inside the housing 470 formed at the front of the device, i.e., on one side in the sheet width direction Y. The outlet 471 is provided on the regulating guide 14A side (first regulating guide side) in the sheet width direction Y, and is an opening mainly for removing the sheet stopped on the conveying belt 12.

As shown in FIG. 13, the removal opening 471 is located below the conveyor belt 12. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the first moving part 420A and the second moving part 420B constituting the guide moving part 420 are located above the conveyor belt 12. As described above, the first moving part 420A and the second moving part 420B have pulleys 422A, 423A, 422B, 423B, belts 424A, 424B, and connection parts 425A, 425B.

If the removal opening 471 were located on the same side of the conveyor belt 12 as the first moving section 420A and the second moving section 420B, there is a possibility that the first moving section 420A and the second moving section 420B would get in the way when removing the sheet. For this reason, in this embodiment, the removal opening 471 is provided on the opposite side of the conveyor belt 12 to the first moving section 420A and the second moving section 420B. In other words, the first moving section 420A and the second moving section 420B are located above the conveyor belt 12, and the removal opening 471 is located below the conveyor belt 12.

While a sheet is being sandwiched between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20 and being conveyed, a jam may occur in which the sheet stops on the conveyor belt 12. In this embodiment, such a jammed sheet can be removed from the removal opening 471. For this reason, the opposing member 450 on the removal opening 471 side can be moved between the opposing position shown in FIG. 13 and the removal position shown in FIG. 14. The removal position is a position where the opposing member 450 retreats below the opposing position and the sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt 12 can be accessed from the removal opening 471.

As described above, the opposing member 450 is supported by the link mechanism 454 so that it can move between the opposing position and the removal position. The link mechanism 454 is a parallel link mechanism having two link members 451 and 452 and pins 451A, 451B, 452A, and 452B that support both ends of each link member 451 and 452. The pins 451A and 451B are supported by the housing 470, and the pins 451B and 452B are supported by the opposing member 450. The link member 451 is rotatably supported at both ends by the pins 451A and 451B, and the link member 452 is rotatably supported at both ends by the pins 452A and 452B. The lengths of the link members 451 and 452 are the same. This allows the opposing member 450 to move between the opposing position and the removal position while maintaining the opposing surface 450A approximately parallel to the transport direction X (approximately parallel to the horizontal direction in this embodiment).

In this way, by making it possible to move the opposing member 450 to the removal position while maintaining the opposing surface 450A in a substantially horizontal direction, it is possible to make it easier for the user to remove the sheet when the opposing member 450 is in the removal position. For example, when the opposing member 450 is in the removal position with the opposing surface 450A tilted relative to the horizontal direction, there is a risk that the space (access space) for inserting a hand or the like from the removal opening 471 through the opposing member 450 to the inside may become narrower due to the inclination of the opposing surface 450A. In contrast, in the case of this embodiment, for example, when a user inserts a hand or the like from the removal opening 471 through the opposing member 450 to the inside, this insertion space can be made wider, making it easier to remove the sheet.

In addition, a gripping portion 453 is provided at the end of the front side (left side in FIG. 13) of the opposing member 450, which the user can grab with his/her hand to move the opposing member 450 between the opposing position and the removal position. When a sheet stops on the conveyor belt 12, the user opens the door of at least the portion of the multi-stage feeding device 200 where the relay conveyor device 400 is located, grabs the gripping portion 453, and moves the opposing member 450 from the opposing position to the removal position, as shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14. This allows the user to access the sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt 12 through the removal opening 471 and the space above the opposing surface 450A of the opposing member 450 at the removal position.

At this time, the user may touch the sheet and push it toward the rear, i.e., toward the restricting guide 14B (the second restricting guide). In this case, if the rear restricting guide 14B can move further toward the rear, there is a risk that pushing the sheet will also push the rear restricting guide 14B, causing the sheet to move further toward the rear. If the sheet moves further toward the rear, it will be difficult to remove the sheet.

In this embodiment, the control unit 203 that controls the guide movement unit 420 is configured to hold the rear regulating guide 14B in the position it was in when the sheet stopped on the conveyor belt. Specifically, a holding current is applied to the motor M3 that generates the driving force to move the rear regulating guide 14B. In this embodiment, the motors M2 and M3 are pulse motors, and are held stopped by being energized.

For this reason, when the control unit 203 determines that a sheet jam has occurred on the conveyor belt 12, it energizes the motor M3 to maintain the position of the regulating guide 14B. As a result, even if a user accidentally pushes the sheet when accessing it, the rear regulating guide 14B is held in that position, preventing the sheet from moving any further back. As a result, it becomes easier to remove a sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt 12.

The control to maintain the position of the regulating guide 14B may start when the control unit 203 determines that the sheet has stopped on the conveyor belt 12, or may start a predetermined time after the determination. The control unit 203 determines that the conveyance of the sheet has stopped on the conveyor belt 12, for example, when a sensor that detects the sheet downstream of the conveyor belt 12 does not detect the sheet for a predetermined time. A sensor that detects a jammed sheet may be provided in the sheet conveyance path in the position deviation correction unit 410, and the control unit 203 may determine the stop of sheet conveyance based on the detection result of this sensor.

The position of the restricting guide 14B may be maintained when the opposing member 450 moves to the removal position or after the opposing member 450 has moved to the removal position. In this case, a sensor may be provided to detect that the opposing member 450 has moved to the removal position, and the position of the restricting guide 14B may be maintained when the sensor detects that the opposing member 450 has moved to the removal position or after a predetermined time has elapsed since this point.

In addition, in this embodiment, when a sheet stops on the conveyor belt 12, the front regulating guide 14A (the other regulating guide) is moved in a direction away from the conveyor belt 12 from the position immediately before the conveyance of the sheet stopped. Specifically, the regulating guide 14A on the outlet 471 side is moved further forward as shown by the arrow α in FIG. 14. For example, if the regulating guide 14A can move to a home position that is further away from the conveyor belt 12 than the retracted position in addition to the guide position and the retracted position, the control unit 203 moves the regulating guide 14A to the home position when it detects a sheet jam on the conveyor belt 12.

In this way, by moving the front restricting guide 14A away from the conveyor belt 12 when the conveyance of the sheet stops, it becomes easier for the user to access the sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt 12. For example, by widening the gap between the conveyor belt 12 and the front restricting guide 14A, it becomes easier for the user to insert their hand into this gap. Also, if the edge of the stopped sheet is caught in the restricting guide 14A, by moving the restricting guide 14A away from the conveyor belt 12, the sheet becomes more easily released from the catch, making it easier for the user to remove the sheet.

When sheet transport stops, the motor M2 that drives the front restricting guide 14A may be de-energized, and the front restricting guide 14A may be moved manually. In this case, the user can manually move the restricting guide 14A to widen the space for removing the sheet, which also makes it easier to remove the sheet.

In this embodiment, when the sheet stops on the conveyor belt 12, the control unit 203 moves the rear regulating guide 14B toward the removal opening 471 (removal opening side) in the sheet width direction Y as shown in FIG. 15. That is, the control unit 203 drives the motor M3 to move the regulating guide 14B to the front as shown by the arrow β in FIG. 15. This causes the sheet to be pushed by the regulating guide 14B and move toward the removal opening 14, making it easier for the user to remove the sheet. Note that the sheet is nipped between the conveyor belt 12 and the sphere 20, but because this nip pressure is small, the sheet moves to the front when pushed by the regulating guide 14B.

The timing for moving the restricting guide 14B forward may be when the control unit 203 determines that the sheet has stopped on the conveyor belt 12, or when a predetermined time has elapsed since the determination. In this way, when the control unit 203 moves the restricting guide 14B because it determines that the sheet has stopped, as described above, no control is performed to maintain the position of the restricting guide 14B.

The timing for moving the restricting guide 14B forward may be when the opposing member 450 moves to the removal position or after the movement. In this case, a sensor may be provided to detect that the opposing member 450 has moved to the removal position, and the restricting guide 14B may be moved forward when the sensor detects that the opposing member 450 has moved to the removal position or after a predetermined time has elapsed from this point. In this case, the position of the restricting guide 14B may or may not be controlled to be maintained at the position when the sheet transport was stopped.

Alternatively, a button or the like that can be operated by the user may be provided on one of the devices, and the restricting guide 14B may be moved forward by operating the button or by operating the input unit 1001. The position of the restricting guide 14B may be controlled to be held at the position when the sheet transport is stopped, and the restricting guide 14B may be moved by the user's operation.

The operation of moving the restricting guide 14B forward when the sheet transport stops is not performed if the stopped sheet straddles the transport belt 12 and the upstream transport roller pair 401 (a pair of upstream transport rollers) or the downstream transport roller pair 402 (a pair of downstream transport rollers). That is, the control unit 203 does not move the restricting guide 14B when the sheet stops in a state in which it straddles the transport belt 12 and the transport roller pair 401 or the transport roller pair 402. This is because if the restricting guide 14B is moved while the sheet is nipped by the transport roller pair 401 or the transport roller pair 402, the sheet may be damaged or torn.

However, when a sheet stops on the conveyor belt 12, the conveyor roller pairs 401 and 402 may be moved to the nip release position, and the regulating guide 14B may be moved forward. The fact that the sheet is straddling the conveyor belt 12 and the conveyor roller pair 401 or the conveyor roller pair 402 may be detected, for example, by providing sensors that detect the sheet between the conveyor belt 12 and the conveyor roller pair 401 and between the conveyor belt 12 and the conveyor roller pair 402. In other words, when the control unit 203 determines that the sheet has stopped on the conveyor belt 12, if any of the sensors detects the sheet, it can determine that the sheet has stopped straddling the conveyor belt 12 and the conveyor roller pair 401 or the conveyor roller pair 402.

<Other embodiments>
In the above embodiment, the control unit 203 for controlling the relay conveying device 400 is provided in the multistage feeding device 200, but these controls may be performed by the control unit 140 of the image forming apparatus 100. Also, the relay conveying device 400 may be provided with a control unit for controlling each unit of the relay conveying device 400. Furthermore, the sheet conveying device may have another configuration as long as it is a sheet conveying device that can shift the position of a sheet, regardless of the above relay conveying device.

12: conveyor belt / 12A: conveyor surface / 14A: regulating guide (first regulating guide, other regulating guide) / 14B: regulating guide (second regulating guide) / 15A: guide surface / 16A: support surface / 17A: opposing surface / 20: sphere / 31: contact/separation mechanism (roller moving means) / 100: image forming device / 200: multi-stage feeding device / 203: control unit / 400: relay conveying device (sheet conveying device) / 401:・・Pair of conveying rollers (conveying member, pair of conveying rollers, pair of upstream conveying rollers) / 402 ... Pair of conveying rollers (pair of conveying rollers, pair of downstream conveying rollers) / 403 ... Pair of conveying rollers (pair of conveying rollers, pair of second conveying rollers) / 420 ... Guide moving part (guide moving means) / 420A ... First moving part / 420B ... Second moving part / 450 ... Opposing member / 471 ... Removal port / M2, M3 ... Motor (drive source)

Claims (5)

A conveyor belt that conveys the sheet in a conveying direction;
a plurality of spheres arranged along the conveying direction and rotatable together with the sheet conveyed by the conveyor belt ;
a holding mechanism that holds the sphere and allows the sphere to rotate in any direction while rubbing against a portion of the surface of the sphere;
a regulating guide that is provided on one side of the conveyor belt in a sheet width direction intersecting the conveying direction and is movable in the sheet width direction, and that regulates a skew of the sheet when the conveyor belt and an edge of the one side of the sheet conveyed by the sphere come into contact with each other ;
a take-out opening provided on an opposite side of the conveyor belt from the regulating guide in the sheet width direction, for taking out a sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt due to a jam ;
A sheet conveying device equipped with a control unit capable of executing a mode that controls the regulating guide so as to hold the regulating guide in the position when the sheet stops on the conveying belt due to a jam. a support portion that supports a lower surface of the other end side of the sheet being conveyed by the conveyor belt and the sphere in the sheet width direction,
the removal opening is disposed so that the sheet can be removed from a position vertically below the support portion,
The sheet conveying device of claim 1, wherein the control unit is capable of executing control to move the support portion to a position that does not support the underside of the other end side of the sheet stopped on the conveying belt when a jam occurs and the sheet stops on the conveying belt . 2. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, further comprising an opposing member that is movable between an opposing position that faces the underside of the sheet being conveyed by the conveying belt and a removal position that is retreated below the opposing position and allows access to the sheet stopped on the conveying belt from the removal opening . A conveyor belt that conveys the sheet in a conveying direction;
a plurality of spheres arranged along the conveying direction and rotatable together with the sheet conveyed by the conveyor belt;
a holding mechanism that holds the sphere and allows the sphere to rotate in any direction while rubbing against a portion of the surface of the sphere;
a regulating guide that is provided on one side of the conveyor belt in a sheet width direction intersecting the conveying direction and is movable in the sheet width direction, and that regulates a skew of the sheet when the conveyor belt and an edge of the one side of the sheet conveyed by the sphere come into contact with each other;
a take-out opening provided on an opposite side of the conveyor belt from the regulating guide in the sheet width direction, for taking out a sheet that has stopped on the conveyor belt due to a jam;
a control unit capable of executing a mode in which, when a sheet stops on the conveyor belt due to a jam, the regulating guide is held in a position at which the conveyance of the sheet stopped;
an image forming section for forming an image on the sheet conveyed by the conveyor belt;
An image forming system comprising: a support portion that supports a lower surface of the other end side of the sheet being conveyed by the conveyor belt and the sphere in the sheet width direction,
the removal opening is disposed so that the sheet can be removed from a position vertically below the support portion,
The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit is capable of executing control to move the support portion to a position that does not support the underside of the other end side of the sheet stopped on the conveying belt when a jam occurs and the sheet stops on the conveying belt.

Images