JP7702076B2 - Mounting mechanism, device equipped with mounting mechanism, belt device, conveying device, cooling device, and printing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an attachment mechanism, a device equipped with an attachment mechanism, a belt device, a conveying device, a cooling device, and a printing device.

Conventionally, there is known a belt device in which an endless belt supported by multiple rollers is arranged between a pair of side plates that support both ends of the multiple rollers. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sheet conveying device with a cooling function that includes a cooling member inside the endless belt circulation path of such a belt device.

In a belt device, the parallelism of the multiple support rollers is important to prevent the belt from shifting. Also, from the perspective of ease of assembly, it is preferable to make the belt device a module and adjust the parallelism of the multiple support rollers in the module state. However, when the module side plate is attached to the main body side plate of the device using an attachment mechanism, the parallelism of the multiple support rollers may deteriorate. It is not just the parallelism of the multiple rollers that deteriorates when the module is incorporated into the device. The parallelism of the pair of side plates of the module may also deteriorate.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an attachment mechanism for attaching one of a pair of side panels of a module to a main body side panel of a device in which the module is incorporated, the attachment mechanism having a retaining member for holding the one of the module side panels, the attitude of the one of the module side panels relative to the main body side panel being adjustable when assembling the module, and the retaining member having an adjustable retaining member for maintaining the adjusted attitude even when the module is removed .

The present invention makes it possible to suppress deterioration of the parallelism of each part of the module when the module is incorporated into an embedded device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a printing apparatus. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of a paper cooling device constituting a cooling section. FIG. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams of a fixing method of a belt module according to a comparative example. 11A and 11B are explanatory diagrams of a fixing method using a belt offset adjustment mechanism as an attachment mechanism according to an embodiment. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an adjustment method using a belt deviation adjustment mechanism. 13A and 13B are explanatory diagrams of a fixing method using a belt shift adjustment mechanism related to deformation. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the opening and closing structure of the belt module 400a. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another example of a belt module. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a modified example of the belt module.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a printing device.
[Overall explanation]
1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment mainly includes a paper feed section 100, an image forming section 200, a drying section 300, and a paper discharge section 500. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 forms an image on paper P, which is a recording material as a sheet material fed from the paper feed section 100, in the image forming section 200 using ink, which is a liquid for image formation. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 dries the ink attached to the paper in the drying section 300, and then discharges the paper to the paper discharge section 500.

[Paper feed section]
The paper feed section 100 mainly includes a paper feed tray 110 on which a plurality of sheets P are stacked, a feed device 120 that separates and sends out sheets one by one from the paper feed tray 110, and a pair of registration rollers 130 that sends the sheets to the image forming section 200. The feed device 120 may be a feed device of any type, such as a device using rollers or a device using air suction. After the leading edge of the sheet sent out from the paper feed tray 110 by the feed device 120 reaches the pair of registration rollers 130, the pair of registration rollers 130 is driven at a predetermined timing to feed the sheet to the image forming section 200. There is no limitation on the configuration of the paper feed section 100, as long as it sends out the sheet P to the image forming section 200.

[Image forming unit]
The image forming unit 200 has a receiving cylinder 201 that receives the fed paper P, and a paper carrying drum 210 that carries and carries the paper P carried by the receiving cylinder 201 on its outer circumferential surface. The image forming unit 200 also has an ink ejection unit 220 that ejects ink toward the paper P carried by the paper carrying drum 210, and a transfer cylinder 202 that transfers the paper P carried by the paper carrying drum 210 to the drying unit 300. The paper P transported from the paper feeding unit 100 to the image forming unit 200 has its leading edge gripped by a paper gripper provided on the surface of the receiving cylinder 201, and is transported as the surface of the receiving cylinder 201 moves. The paper transported by the receiving cylinder 201 is delivered to the paper carrying drum 210 at a position facing the paper carrying drum 210.

The paper carrying drum 210 has a paper gripper on its surface. The leading edge of the paper is gripped by the paper gripper. The paper carrying drum 210 also has multiple suction holes formed and distributed on its surface. A suction device 211 generates a suction air current in the direction toward the inside of the paper carrying drum 210 at each suction hole. The leading edge of the paper P transferred from the receiving cylinder 201 to the paper carrying drum 210 is gripped by the paper gripper, and the paper P is adsorbed to the surface of the paper carrying drum 210 by the suction air current, and is transported as the surface of the paper carrying drum 210 moves.

The ink ejection unit 220 ejects four colors of ink, C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black), to form an image, and is provided with individual liquid ejection heads 220C, 220M, 220Y, and 220K for each ink. There are no limitations on the configuration of the liquid ejection heads 220C, 220M, 220Y, and 220K, and any configuration may be used as long as they eject liquid. If necessary, liquid ejection heads that eject special inks such as white, gold, and silver inks, or liquid ejection heads that eject liquids that do not form an image, such as surface coating liquids, may be provided.

The ejection operation of the liquid ejection heads 220C, 220M, 220Y, and 220K of the ink ejection unit 220 is controlled by a drive signal corresponding to image information. When the paper P held by the paper carrying drum 210 passes through an area facing the ink ejection unit 220, each color of ink is ejected from the liquid ejection heads 220C, 220M, 220Y, and 220K, and an image corresponding to the image information is formed. There are no limitations on the configuration of the image forming unit 200, so long as it deposits liquid on the paper P to form an image.

[Drying section]
The drying section 300 has a drying mechanism 301 for drying the ink attached on the paper P in the image forming section 200, and a transport mechanism 302 for transporting the paper P transported from the image forming section 200. The paper P transported from the image forming section 200 is received by the transport mechanism 302, then transported to pass through the drying mechanism 301, and delivered to the paper discharge section 500. When the paper P passes through the drying mechanism 301, the ink on the paper P is subjected to a drying process, whereby liquid components such as moisture in the ink evaporate, the ink is fixed on the paper P, and curling of the paper P is suppressed.

[Cooling section]
The cooling section 400 has a conveyor belt 401 for conveying the paper and a cooling member 402 for cooling the paper. By passing through the cooling section, the temperature of the paper is reduced to a temperature at which the paper can be stacked.

[Paper output section]
The paper discharge section 500 has a paper discharge tray 410 on which a plurality of sheets of paper P are stacked. The sheets of paper P conveyed from the drying section 300 are sequentially stacked and held on the paper discharge tray 510. There are no limitations on the configuration of the paper discharge section 500 as long as it can discharge the sheets of paper P.

[Other functional parts]
The inkjet recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is composed of a paper feed unit 100, an image forming unit 200, a drying unit 300, and a paper discharge unit 500, but other functional units may be added as appropriate. For example, a pre-processing unit that performs pre-processing of the image formation may be added between the paper feed unit 100 and the image forming unit 200, and a post-processing unit that performs post-processing of the image formation may be added between the drying unit 300 and the paper discharge unit 500.

Examples of the pre-processing section include a processing liquid application process that applies a processing liquid to the paper P to react with the ink and suppress bleeding. There are no particular restrictions on the content of the pre-processing section. Examples of the post-processing section include a paper inversion and transport process that inverts the paper on which an image has been formed in the image forming section 200 and sends it back to the image forming section 200 to form images on both sides of the paper, and a process that binds multiple sheets of paper on which images have been formed. Examples of the post-processing section include a correction mechanism that corrects paper deformation and a cooling mechanism that cools the paper. There are no particular restrictions on the content of the post-processing section.

In this embodiment, the printing device is described as an inkjet recording device. The "printing device" is not limited to a device equipped with a liquid ejection head that ejects liquid toward the surface of a sheet material to be dried, and is used to visualize meaningful images such as characters and figures. For example, it also includes devices that form patterns that have no meaning in themselves. The material of the sheet material is not limited, and it can be anything to which liquid can be attached even temporarily, such as paper, thread, fiber, cloth, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, and ceramics. For example, it may be used for film products, cloth products such as clothing, building materials such as wallpaper and flooring, and leather products. In addition, the "printing device" can also include means related to the feeding, conveying, and discharging of items to which liquid can be attached, as well as pre-processing devices and post-processing devices.

The "liquid" is not particularly limited as long as it has a viscosity and surface tension that allows it to be ejected from the head, but it is preferable that the viscosity is 30 mPa·s or less at room temperature and pressure, or by heating or cooling. More specifically, it is a solution, suspension, emulsion, etc. that contains a solvent such as water or an organic solvent, a colorant such as a dye or pigment, a functionalizing material such as a polymerizable compound, a resin, or a surfactant, a biocompatible material such as DNA, amino acids, proteins, or calcium, an edible material such as a natural dye, etc. These can be used, for example, in applications such as inkjet inks and surface treatment liquids.

In addition, the term "printing device" includes devices in which the liquid ejection head and the sheet material move relative to one another, but is not limited to this. Specific examples include serial type devices in which the liquid ejection head moves, and line type devices in which the liquid ejection head does not move.

A "liquid ejection head" is a functional component that ejects and sprays liquid from an ejection hole (nozzle). As an energy generation source for ejecting liquid, ejection energy generation means such as a piezoelectric actuator (a laminated piezoelectric element and a thin-film piezoelectric element), a thermal actuator that uses an electrothermal conversion element such as a heating resistor, and an electrostatic actuator consisting of a vibration plate and an opposing electrode can be used. There are no limitations on the ejection energy generation means used.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of a paper cooling device constituting the cooling section 400. The illustrated paper cooling device has a conveyor belt 401, which is an endless belt for conveying paper 2 as a paper conveying mechanism, and a driven roller 408 and a drive roller 405, which are multiple support rollers that support the conveyor belt 401. The paper cooling device also has a cooling member 402 and a pressure roller 406 that presses paper 2 against the cooling member 402.

The cooling member 402 is disposed inside the loop of the conveyor belt 401 so as to contact the rear surface of the conveyor belt 401. The cooling member 402 has a flow passage pipe 403 through which a cooling liquid flows as a refrigerant. The flow passage pipe 403 is connected to the refrigerant cooling device 409 via a tube, and the cooling liquid is caused to flow by a pump. In this embodiment, the conveyor belt 401, the drive roller 405, the driven roller 408, and the cooling member 402 in the paper cooling device are modularized.

Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram of the belt module 400a. Figure 3(a) is a perspective view of the belt module 400a alone, and Figure 3(b) is a left side view showing the belt module 400a in a state where it is assembled with the drying unit housing. The belt device shown in Figure 3 is different from the example in Figure 2 in that one cooling member is arranged in the center of one conveying direction inside the circulation path of the lower conveyor belt 401. Inside the circulation path of the upper conveyor belt 401, cooling members are arranged upstream and downstream in the conveying direction. A pressure roller is arranged at a location facing the cooling member of the other belt. It is sufficient that the conveyor belt 401 is wrapped around the belt module 400a, and the conveyor belt 401 may be, for example, one sheet only on the lower side, or two sheets on the top and bottom as shown in the example. Three or more sheets may also be used.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the module front plate 412 and the module rear plate 413 support both ends of the drive roller 405, the driven roller 408, and the cooling member 402 for the lower conveyor belt 401. The front plate and the rear plate supporting both ends of the drive roller 405, the driven roller 408, and the cooling member 402 for the upper conveyor belt 401 will be described later with reference to FIG. 8. The front plate and the rear plate for the upper conveyor belt 401 are separate from the module front plate 412 and the module rear plate 413 for the lower conveyor belt 401, and can be said to be a separate module from the module for the lower conveyor belt 401. Both are attached to the drying unit housing as an integrated module via the module front plate 412 and the module rear plate 413.

The cooling member 402 has a certain rigidity and functions as a stay member between a pair of side plates (412, 413, etc.). In addition to the cooling member, a dedicated stay member can be added. The mounting positions of the ends of the drive roller 405 and the driven roller 408 on the pair of side plates (412, 413, etc.) are adjusted so that they are parallel during the module assembly process. The stay member maintains the parallel relationship between the drive roller 405 and the driven roller 408.

As shown in FIG. 3(b), the module front side plate 412 and the module rear side plate 413 are fixed to the drying section housing front side plate 311 and the drying section housing rear side plate 312, respectively. The drying section housing front side plate 311 and the drying section housing rear side plate 312 are erected on the drying section housing bottom plate 313. The module front side plate 412 of the belt module 400a is fixed to the drying section housing front side plate 311 by a removable front holding member 450 as a holding member.

When the belt module 400a is assembled into the drying section housing, it is assembled in the direction indicated by the arrow B, that is, in the direction from the front to the rear in the spacing direction between the drying section housing front side plate 311 and the drying section housing rear side plate 312. When assembled, the front holding member 450 can engage with the module front side plate 412 and the drying section housing front side plate 311 with the module rear side plate 413 attached to the drying section housing rear side plate 312. When assembled, the engagement portion of the front holding member 450 with the module front side plate 412 and the engagement portion with the drying section housing front side plate 311 can engage with the counterpart engagement portion by an attachment operation from the direction of the arrow B. The direction of the arrow B is also the direction from the front to the rear in the spacing direction between the pair of side plates of the belt module 400a.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of a basic fixing method of the belt module 400a. Figure 4 shows details of the attachment part to the drying section main body as a device to incorporate the module. Figure 4(a) is an oblique view, and Figure 4(b) is a plan view. The belt module 400a is supported at four points by the front side plate 311 of the drying section housing and the rear side plate 312 of the drying section housing. Two positioning pins protrude from the front and back sides of the belt module 400a side. These are called the module front right pin 414, the module front left pin 415, the module rear right pin 416, and the module rear left pin 417. Holes 316 (see Figure 4(b)), 317, 453, and 454 are opened in the rear side plate 312 of the drying section housing and the front holding member 450 so that these can be attached. These shapes do not necessarily have to be circular. In addition, the pins and the holes may be formed on the opposite side to the example shown in the figure. That is, pins may be provided on the rear side panel 312 of the drying unit housing and the front holding member 450 side, and holes may be provided on the belt module 400a side.

The front holding member 450 has a front holding positioning right pin 451 and a front holding positioning left pin 452. The front side plate 311 of the drying section housing has holes 314, 315 for attaching these pins 451, 452. If it is completely fixed in this state, distortion of the drying section housing side or misalignment of the hole position will twist the belt module 400a. This will result in a different belt deviation from the value confirmed for the single unit. In particular, the investigation results show that the "twist" caused by moving one of the four fixing points up or down is a major cause of the belt deviation. In particular, in the belt module 400a which has multiple belts on the top and bottom as shown in Figure 3(a), both the top and bottom belts are affected by the twist.

In general, when an endless belt is driven, the belt meanders. To solve this problem, a mechanism is provided to automatically correct the belt misalignment. However, since the automatic adjustment mechanism alone cannot adjust for large belt misalignment, it is necessary to keep the misalignment within a certain range during the process. However, when the module adjusted after assembly is mounted on the main body structure, slight misalignment of the positioning pins causes distortion of the module and belt misalignment occurs. In particular, when replacing the module in the market, delicate adjustment of the belt misalignment must be performed on-site. In an embodiment to solve this problem, the following mounting mechanism is used as a mounting mechanism for mounting one of the pair of module side plates to the main body side plate of the device in which the module is incorporated. In other words, a holding member is provided to hold one of the module side plates, and the attitude of one of the module side plates relative to the main body side plate can be adjusted when assembling the module.

Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing method using a belt offset adjustment mechanism as an attachment mechanism according to the embodiment. In order to avoid being affected by distortions on the drying unit housing side as described above, a mechanism for adjusting the hole position on the drying unit housing side (main body side) of the belt module 400a is provided as shown in Figure 5. The module front right pin 414 erected on the module front side plate 412 is modified so that it is fixed to a separately provided adjustment holding member 460. The adjustment holding member 460 can rotate around a rotation center axis 461. It can also be fixed to the front holding member 450 at any angle with a screw or the like.

The adjustment holding member 460 is formed with an insertion hole 462 for fixing the module front right pin 414, a horizontally long through hole 463 for passing the screw shaft, and a vertically long through hole 464 for passing the screw shaft. A large through hole 456 is formed in the front holding member 450 at the location facing the module front right pin 414. The adjustment holding member 460 is also formed with a hole 455 for inserting the rotation center shaft 461, and two screw holes 457, 458 for fixing.

Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram of the adjustment method using the belt offset adjustment mechanism, and is a view from the A-side in Figure 5. Figure 6(a) shows a state in which the adjustment holding member 460 is not tilted relative to the front holding member 450. Figure 6(b) shows a state in which the adjustment holding member 460 is tilted relative to the front holding member 450. By rotating the adjustment holding member 460 as shown in Figure 6(b), the insertion hole 462 for fixing the module front right pin 414 moves upward (in the direction of the arrow).

As shown in FIG. 6, the fixing hole of the module front right pin 414 of the four positioning pins 414, 415, 416, and 417 of the belt module 400a is moved. This causes the front surface of the belt module 400a to twist relative to the back surface. This causes the rollers to become misaligned. By reproducing the alignment between the rollers during the assembly process, the belt deviation amount can be adjusted individually before shipping. In addition, the adjustment holding member 460 can be fixed to the front holding member 450 with a screw 465. Therefore, even if the belt module 400a is removed for maintenance of the belt module 400a, the original adjustment position can be returned to as long as the screw 465 is not removed. Therefore, the fixed position of the adjustment holding member 640 relative to the front holding member 450 represents the adjustment amount, and the adjustment amount is recorded by fixing it with the screw 465.

The above example shown in Figures 5 and 6 is an example in which the module side plate engages with the holding member at two points, and the holding member engages with the main body side plate at two points, and the position of one of the engagement parts of the module side plate on the holding member is adjustable during assembly. Instead of the position of one of the engagement parts of the module side plate on the holding member, the position of one of the engagement parts of the holding member with the main body side plate on the main body side plate may be adjustable during assembly. Using the same principle as the example shown in Figures 5 and 6, it is also possible to move either the front holding positioning right pin 451 or the front holding positioning left pin 452 instead of the positioning pins 414, 415, 416, and 417 of the belt module 400a.

7 is an explanatory diagram of a fixing method using a belt shift adjustment mechanism according to such a modified example. The illustrated example is an example in which the front holding positioning right pin 451 is movable. The front holding positioning right pin 451 is provided on the adjustment holding member 460, not on the front holding member 450. The front holding member 450 has a through hole 459 formed therein, which is large enough that the front holding positioning right pin 451 can move when the adjustment holding member 460 rotates. The front holding positioning right pin 451 passes through this through hole 459 and is inserted into the mounting hole 314 of the front side plate 311 of the drying unit housing. The through hole 456 in the front holding member 450 into which the module front right pin 414 is inserted is different from the examples in FIGS. 5 and 6 and is a size according to the diameter of the pin. When the tip of the module front right pin 414 is made to have a length that passes through the through hole 456 and reaches the adjustment holding member 460, the insertion hole 462 of the adjustment holding member 460 into which this tip enters is made a large hole so that the adjustment holding member 460 can rotate.

In this example, the belt module 400a is completely fixed to the front holding member 450. The belt module 400a moves when the front holding member 450 moves. Even in this case, the adjustment holding member 460 is fixed to the front holding member 450, so even if the belt module 400a is removed, it can be returned to its original adjustment position as long as this fixation is not removed.

Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram of the opening and closing structure of the belt module 400a. The upper conveyor belt 401 has a front plate 470 and a rear plate 471 that support both ends of the drive roller 405, the driven roller 408, and the cooling member 402. A bracket 474 is fixed to the rear plate 471. A bracket 475 is also fixed to the module rear plate 413 of the lower conveyor belt 401. These brackets 474 and others form a pivot point for the front plate 470 of the upper conveyor belt 401 to move upward away from or approach the module front plate 412 of the lower conveyor belt 401, as shown in Figure 8 (b). A tension spring 472 is provided between the two brackets 474 and 475. The front plate 470 of the upper conveyor belt 401 has a lock claw 473 that restricts the rise of the front plate 470 against the biasing force of the tension spring 472.

The above embodiments relate to a conveying device of a printing device or a belt device of a cooling device, but they can also be applied to belt devices used in other devices. In addition, they can be applied not only to belt devices but also to devices that need to ensure the parallelism of a pair of side plates. The belt device may also be provided with a means for measuring the belt deviation speed and a display means for displaying the measurement result of the belt deviation speed. This allows adjustments to be made while checking the belt deviation speed.

Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the belt module 400a. Figure 9(a) is a perspective view, and Figure 9(b) is a cross-sectional view of the upper transport roller unit. The belt module 400a constituting the cooling section 400 of the inkjet recording device 1 performing high-speed printing as shown in Figure 1 requires a highly efficient cooling system to cool the paper printed at high speed down to a temperature at which it can be stacked. It is difficult to bring the paper immediately after drying by the drying mechanism 301 of the inkjet recording device 1 in Figure 1 into contact with rollers or the like, as transporting the paper by rollers or the like would cause image scratches.

The paper is sandwiched between the upper and lower endless conveyor belts 401, 401 for transport, so image scratches are unlikely to occur. In addition, the paper is pressed against the cooled cooling plate 703 by multiple pressure rollers 704, and the paper is cooled by contact heat transfer. Because cooling is achieved by contact heat transfer, more efficient cooling is achieved. At the same time, pressing against the driven belt allows the conveying function to be achieved by the friction of the belt. Liquid flows inside the cooling plate 703, and by cooling this liquid, cooling can be achieved with a high thermal conductivity, but the cooling method is not limited to liquid cooling. The upper and lower conveyor belts 401, 401 are each supported by multiple rollers 705-709. In the figure, the conveying force is provided by the upper and lower drive rollers 705, 706, respectively, but the function and arrangement of each are not important.

The belt module 400a in FIG. 9 achieves both sufficient belt misalignment correction force and precise control of belt misalignment by devising a method for winding the tension rollers and a method for tensioning the belt. This point will be described in detail below. A method is known in which one of the tension rollers is tilted to suppress and control belt meandering (hereinafter, this tilting roller is referred to as a steering roller). When belt misalignment is detected by a well-known belt misalignment detection means, the rotation angle of this steering roller around a specified rotation axis is automatically controlled.

There are two methods for tilting the steering roller. One is to rotate and tilt the steering roller around an axis perpendicular to the steering roller in a plane perpendicular to the belt tension direction. With this method, there is a concern that the belt deviation is not proportional to the rotation angle, which makes control complicated, or that the tension is uneven on the left and right, which affects the paper conveyance. The other is to rotate the steering roller around an axis parallel to the belt tension direction. With this method, the belt deviation can be caused by the same amount depending on the rotation angle. However, for the same tilt angle, the belt deviation can only be suppressed by about one third. The two methods are compared in Table 1 below.

The following requirements are generally met when it comes to meandering control of belt conveying devices. For example, in a printing machine that conveys paper using upper and lower belts, even a slight misalignment of the belt can cause a large deviation over the conveying length, resulting in image damage, and so more precise control of the belt misalignment is required. Also, in configurations where the conveying surface occupies a large area during belt conveyance, disturbances caused by passing paper are also large, and a force to correct the belt misalignment is also required. For these reasons, a meandering suppression method is required to achieve both the ability to correct belt misalignment and precise control. However, conventional methods have been insufficient.

The belt module 400a in FIG. 9 rotates the upper steering roller 710 as shown by arrow C around the center of rotation 711, which is an axis parallel to the tension direction. Rotating in this direction allows for more precise control. It is preferable for the rotation axis to be located at the center of the roller's width, but it does not have to be at the center as long as the roller can be tilted. Increasing the wrap angle of the belt around this steering roller increases the sensitivity to belt misalignment, making it possible to more minutely suppress belt misalignment. It has been found that increasing the wrap angle of the steering roller increases the sensitivity to belt misalignment. Approximately 60 degrees is optimal.

In addition, among the tension rollers, a roller for equalizing the tension in the belt width direction (hereinafter referred to as the tension adjustment roller) is required. In the illustrated example, the upper tension adjustment roller 712 is subjected to force in the belt tensioning direction by, for example, a spring 750, and applies a constant tension in the belt width direction. It has been found that even if this upper tension adjustment roller 712 moves in an inclined manner, it also affects the belt deviation. The upper tension adjustment roller 712 also operates when the upper steering roller 710 moves in order to keep the belt tension constant in the belt width direction. During this operation, the upper tension adjustment roller 712 also causes the belt to deviate.

The smaller the wrap angle θ3 of the upper tension adjustment roller 712, the less sensitive the upper steering roller 710 will be. The wrap angle θ3 of the upper tension adjustment roller 712 should be smaller than the wrap angle θ2 of the upper steering roller 710. In the figure, in order to ensure the wrap angle θ2 of the upper steering roller 710, the upper tension adjustment roller 712 is pressed from the outside of the belt toward the inside to apply tension. Alternatively, tension may be applied from the inside.

The belt wrap angle θ1 of the drive roller 705, which applies the conveying force, is the largest of all the rollers. The upper steering roller 710 has the second largest wrap angle θ2. The diameter of the upper tension adjustment roller 712 is larger than that of the upper steering roller 710. By making it larger, the wrap angle of the upper tension adjustment roller 712 can be made smaller.

The same can be done for the lower conveyor belt 401 unit. That is, the lower steering roller 720 and the lower tension adjustment roller 722 are configured in the same way as the upper steering roller 710 and the upper tension adjustment roller 712. Reference numeral 751 in FIG. 9(a) indicates a spring for the lower tension adjustment roller.

Figure 10 is an explanatory diagram of a modified example. Figures 10(a) and 10(b) show different modified examples. This modified example is equipped with a manual belt offset adjustment mechanism in addition to the meandering control mechanism of Figure 9. When multiple rollers are tensioned, if the belt offset increases further, it may become difficult to control the belt offset using only the upper steering roller 710. The belt offset that cannot be fully adjusted using the steering roller inclination adjustment mechanism can be adjusted during the unit assembly process or when replacing parts. This is a manual belt offset adjustment mechanism that can be used in addition to or instead of the belt offset adjustment mechanism of the belt module described using Figures 3 to 8.

The example in Figure 10(a) is an example in which the entrance front roller 707 is moved in the adjustment direction E. In Figure 10(a), the roller is tilted by moving only the front side of the entrance front roller 707 in the direction of the arrow D, which is the belt tension direction. An alignment adjustment mechanism is provided that can tilt the roller in this way. The roller is tilted by rotating it around a rotation axis perpendicular to the roller axis in a plane perpendicular to the belt tension located at the rear end of the entrance front roller 707.

The adjustment direction does not necessarily have to be direction D, but by doing so, the amount of belt misalignment adjustment is large, as shown in Table 1. When using this method, the wrap angle of the upper tension adjustment roller 712 changes to absorb tension fluctuations, but the effect can be suppressed because the wrap angle θ3 is small. The control method is to use the adjustment roller to adjust the belt misalignment within the control range in advance, and then adjust for other disturbances (temperature changes, whether or not paper has entered, differences due to paper type, etc.) by operating the upper steering roller 710.

Adjustment can also be achieved with other rollers. For example, as shown in FIG. 10(b), the upper tension adjustment roller 712 is tilted by moving only the front side in the adjustment direction E. With this method, the only roller that needs to be moved for adjustment is the upper tension adjustment roller 712, making adjustment easier.

The configuration of the belt module 400a described above using Figures 9 and 10 can be applied to other belt modules than those constituting the cooling section 400 of the inkjet recording device 1 that performs high-speed printing as shown in Figure 1. It can also be applied to belt devices that do not have the belt deviation adjustment mechanism of the belt module described using Figures 3 to 8. In addition, it can achieve unique effects for each of the following aspects.

(Aspect A)
A belt device including a first endless belt supported by a plurality of rollers including a drive roller and a driven roller, a second endless belt supported by a plurality of rollers including a drive roller and a driven roller and in contact with the first endless belt only in a certain section, and a pressure is applied to the contact section where the first endless belt and the second endless belt are in contact so as to convey paper and have a conveying force, at least one of the rollers supporting the first endless belt and the second endless belt rotates around an axis parallel to the belt tension direction, and has a steering mechanism that can adjust the belt deviation, and a roller that automatically moves in the belt tension direction to adjust the tension in the belt width direction, and the winding angle of the steering roller is the second largest after one roller that is the standard for roller parallelism. This realizes both ensuring the belt deviation correction force and precisely controlling the belt deviation.

(Aspect B)
In the embodiment A, the tension adjustment roller is a roller that presses the belt from the outside toward the inside of the belt around which it is wound. With this, the winding angle of the steering roller can be made larger by winding the belt from the outside.

(Aspect C)
In the embodiment A or B, the roller that the belt touches just before or just after it touches the steering roller is a roller that automatically moves in the belt tension direction to adjust the tension in the belt width direction. In this way, the tension adjustment roller is adjacent to the belt, and the responsiveness toward the belt is good.

(Aspect D)
In the embodiments A to C, a detection means is provided for detecting the belt deviation of either or both of the first and second endless belts, and the rotation angle of the rotation roller is automatically controlled, thereby automatically changing the inclination of the belt deviation adjustment roller according to the belt position.

(Aspect E)
In the embodiments A to D, at least one roller alignment adjustment mechanism is provided as a manual belt deviation adjustment means. This allows belt deviation that cannot be fully adjusted by the steering roller inclination adjustment mechanism to be adjusted during the unit assembly process or when replacing parts.

(Aspect F)
In the embodiment E, the manual roller alignment adjustment mechanism is a roller that automatically moves in the belt tensioning direction to adjust the tension in the belt width direction. This makes adjustment easy because the only roller that moves for adjustment is the tension applying roller.

(Aspect G)
In the aspects A to F, at least one of the rollers supporting the belt is fixed to a pair of fixing members, one at the front and one at the back, and the fixing members are supported by the housing at two or more points on the front and rear, and a mechanism is provided that can adjust the belt misalignment by moving one or more of the supporting points in any direction, and the adjustment amount can be recorded in the main body. This allows the belt misalignment caused by distortion of the belt conveying unit main body to be adjusted. For example, it is also possible to individually respond to belt misalignment caused by distortion of the installation location of the housing and other factors that are not caused by roller alignment.

(Aspect H)
In the embodiments A to G, in the contact section between the first endless belt and the second endless belt, a contact member is provided on the inside of either belt, which slides against the inside of the belt. The contact member is provided with a means for heating or cooling the contact member. This makes it possible to add a function of cooling or heating the transported object by heating or cooling the contact member.

1: Inkjet recording device 2: Paper 100: Paper feed section 110: Paper feed tray 120: Feeding device 130: Registration roller pair 200: Image forming section 201: Receiving cylinder 202: Transfer cylinder 210: Paper carrying drum 211: Suction device 220: Ink ejection section 220C: Liquid ejection head 220K: Liquid ejection head 220M: Liquid ejection head 220Y: Liquid ejection head 300: Drying section 301: Drying mechanism 302: Transport mechanism 311: Drying section housing front side plate 312: Drying section housing rear side plate 313: Drying section housing bottom plate 314: Hole 315: Hole 316: Hole 400: Cooling section 400a: Belt module 401: Transport belt 402: Cooling member 403: Flow path pipe 405: Drive roller 406 : Pressure roller 408 : Driven roller 409 : Refrigerant cooling device 410 : Paper discharge tray 412 : Module front side plate 413 : Module rear side plate 414 : Module front right pin 415 : Module front left pin 416 : Module rear right pin 417 : Module rear left pin 450 : Front holding member 451 : Front holding positioning right pin 452 : Front holding positioning left pin 455 : Hole 456 : Through hole 457 : Screw hole 458 : Screw hole 459 : Through hole 460 : Adjustment holding member 461 : Rotation center shaft 462 : Insertion hole 463 : Through hole 464 : Through hole 465 : Screw 470 : Front side plate 471 : Rear side plate 472 : Tension spring 473 : Lock claw 474 : Bracket 475 : Bracket 500 : Paper discharge section 510 : Paper output tray 640 : Adjustment holding member B : Arrow P : Paper

Patent No. 6191912

Claims (10)

An attachment mechanism for attaching one of a pair of side plates of a module to a side plate of a main body of an apparatus into which the module is to be incorporated, comprising:
a holding member for holding the one module side plate, and a posture of the one module side plate relative to the main body side plate is adjustable when assembling the module;
An attachment mechanism , characterized in that the holding member includes an adjustable holding member that maintains the adjusted posture even when the module is removed . 2. The attachment mechanism of claim 1,
an attachment mechanism characterized in that the one module side plate engages with the retaining member at two points, the retaining member engages with the main body side plate at two points, and at least one of the position of the one engagement portion of the one module side plate on the retaining member and the position of the one engagement portion of the retaining member with the main body side plate on the main body side plate is adjustable during assembly. 3. The attachment mechanism according to claim 1 or 2,
An attachment mechanism characterized in that, during the assembly, the retaining member is capable of engaging with one of the pair of side plates, the module side plate, and the main body side plate when the other of the pair of side plates is attached to the main body side plate. 4. The attachment mechanism of claim 3,
An attachment mechanism characterized in that, during assembly, the engagement portion of the retaining member with one of the module side plates and the engagement portion with the main body side plate can engage with the opposing engagement portion by an attachment operation performed from the same direction in the spacing direction between the pair of side plates. An apparatus having a module including a pair of module side plates, the apparatus including an attachment mechanism for attaching one of the pair of side plates of the module to a main body side plate, the apparatus comprising:
An apparatus comprising the attachment mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4 as said attachment mechanism. A belt device having a module including an endless belt supported by a plurality of rollers and a pair of module side plates, the belt device further including an attachment mechanism for attaching one of the pair of module side plates to a main body side plate, the belt device comprising:
A belt device comprising the attachment mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4 as the attachment mechanism. A belt device having a module including an endless belt supported by a plurality of rollers and a pair of module side plates, the belt device further including an attachment mechanism for attaching one of the pair of module side plates to a main body side plate, the belt device comprising:
The attachment mechanism includes:
a holding member for holding the one module side plate, and a posture of the one module side plate relative to the main body side plate is adjustable when assembling the module;
At least one of the plurality of rollers has a steering mechanism that rotates around an axis parallel to the tension direction of the belt and can adjust the belt deviation, and at least one of the rollers automatically moves in the belt tensioning direction to adjust the tension in the belt width direction, and the belt device is characterized in that the belt wrap angle of the roller having the steering mechanism is larger than the wrap angle of the roller that adjusts the tension. A conveying device that conveys a sheet using a belt device,
A conveying device comprising the belt device according to claim 6 or 7 as the belt device. A cooling device including a cooling member disposed inside a rotation path of an endless belt of a belt device,
A cooling device comprising the belt device according to claim 6 or 7 as the belt device. A printing device equipped with at least one of the conveying device of claim 8 and the cooling device of claim 9.

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