Static elimination device and medium processing system using the same

Abstract

To maintain an excellent static elimination effect on a medium and effectively suppress winding of the medium to static elimination rolls without damaging the surface of the static elimination rolls in a pair configuration.SOLUTION: A static elimination device 11 includes: static elimination rolls 1 (1a, 1b) in a pair configuration which respectively have a roll body 3 that extends continuously along the axial direction intersecting the movement direction of a medium S and remove static electricity by moving the medium S in a pinched state; a static elimination power supply 4 which applies a static elimination voltage to at least one of the static elimination rolls 1 in the pair configuration; and regulation means 5 which passes through a non-contact section 6 that is formed in a portion in the axial direction of a contact region CN of the static elimination rolls 1 in the pair configuration and extends to the front and rear sides in the movement direction of the medium S to regulate the movement direction of the medium S. There is also provided a medium processing system that includes the static elimination device 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a static eliminator and a media processing system using the same. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, as this type of static eliminator, for example, the one described in Patent Document 1 is already known. Patent Document 1 discloses a device that includes two static elimination rolls and a peeling member. Different potential voltages are applied to the two static elimination rolls, and the two rolls are configured to reduce the amount of charge on a sheet of paper as it passes through, thereby eliminating static electricity. The peeling member is provided in contact with the surface of one of the two static elimination rolls, and is configured to peel off the paper adhering to the static elimination roll as the static elimination roll rotates. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-161567 A (Form for implementing the invention, FIG. 6) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technical problem that the present invention aims to solve is to provide a static elimination device and a media processing system using the same that effectively suppresses the winding of a medium around a static elimination roll while maintaining good static elimination action on the medium and without damaging the surface of the paired static elimination roll. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A first technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device comprising: a pair of static elimination rolls, each having a roll body extending continuously along an axial direction intersecting the direction of movement of a medium, and moving the medium while clamping it to eliminate static electricity; a static elimination power source that applies a static elimination voltage to at least one of the pair of static elimination rolls; and a regulating means that passes through a non-contact portion formed in part of the axial direction of the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls, extends forwards and backwards in the direction of movement of the medium, and regulates the direction of movement of the medium.

[0006] A second technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the first technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means is a bridging member that bridges the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls between the front and rear fixing means. A third technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the second technical feature, characterized in that the fixing means comprises a pair of guide members that guide the movement path of the medium, and the bridging member is integrally formed with the pair of guide members. A fourth technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the first technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means has opposing ring-shaped grooves in a portion of the axial direction on the surface of each of the pair of static elimination rolls, and passes between the grooves of the pair of static elimination rolls as the non-contact portion. A fifth technical feature of the present invention is the static eliminator having the fourth technical feature, characterized in that the groove has a rectangular cross section. A sixth technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the fourth technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means is arranged in a state not protruding from the surface of the groove within the contact area of ​​the paired static elimination rolls.

[0007] A seventh technical feature of the present invention is the static eliminator having the first technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means is made of an insulating material. An eighth technical feature of the present invention is the static eliminator having the first technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means is configured to have a rectangular or circular cross section. A ninth technical feature of the present invention is a static eliminator having the first technical feature, characterized in that the regulating means is provided in an area through which all of the usable media pass. A tenth technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the ninth technical feature, characterized in that the medium moves with a reference line being the center of a cross direction that intersects with the moving direction of the medium, and the regulating means is arranged at a location including the reference line. An eleventh technical feature of the present invention is a static elimination device having the first technical feature, characterized in that, in an embodiment in which the paired static elimination rolls are provided in multiple sets in the moving direction of the medium, the paired static elimination rolls of each set are provided with the regulating means, and the regulating means of each set are arranged biased in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the medium.

[0008] A twelfth technical feature of the present invention is a media processing system comprising a processing means for performing a process involving charging a moving medium, and a static elimination device having any of the first to eleventh technical features for eliminating static electricity by passing the medium through the medium. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the first technical feature of the present invention, the static elimination effect on the medium can be maintained well, and the winding of the medium around the static elimination roll can be effectively suppressed without damaging the surface of the paired static elimination roll. According to the second technical feature of the present invention, the regulating means can be more stably positioned with respect to the non-contact portion of the de-ionization roll than when a bridging member is not used as the regulating means, and wrapping of the medium around the de-ionization roll can be more reliably suppressed. According to a third technical feature of the present invention, the bridging member can be easily constructed by utilizing an existing guide member as the fixing means. According to the fourth technical feature of the present invention, when arranging the regulating means, the non-contact portion to be formed on the paired static eliminating roll can be easily constructed. According to the fifth technical feature of the present invention, compared to a case in which the groove has a cross-sectional shape other than a rectangular shape, the non-contact portion can be easily constructed while ensuring a wide cross-sectional space of the non-contact portion. According to the sixth technical feature of the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll without impairing the static elimination effect of the paired static elimination roll. According to the seventh technical feature of the present invention, compared to when the regulating means is made of a conductive material, current leakage through the regulating means can be suppressed and the static elimination action by the paired static elimination roll can be stabilized. According to the eighth technical feature of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the regulating means is easier to arrange within the non-contact portion of the paired anti-static roll than in other shapes, and it is possible to prevent the corners from coming into contact with the medium. According to the ninth technical feature of the present invention, it is possible to achieve both the static elimination effect and the effect of preventing the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll for any usable medium. According to a tenth technical feature of the present invention, in a method in which the medium moves with the center of a direction intersecting the direction of medium movement as a reference line, it is possible to achieve both the static elimination effect and the prevention of the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll for any usable medium. According to the eleventh technical feature of the present invention, it is possible to perform static elimination on a part of the medium corresponding to the non-contact portion of the paired static elimination roll, and it is possible to perform a static elimination action on the entire area of ​​the medium. According to the twelfth technical feature of the present invention, it is possible to easily construct a media processing system including a static elimination device that can effectively suppress the winding of a medium around a static elimination roll while maintaining a good static elimination effect on the medium and without damaging the surface of the paired static elimination roll. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1]FIG. 1A is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of an embodiment of a media processing system including a static elimination device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 1B is an arrow view seen from the direction B in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in FIG. [Diagram 2] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a media processing system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus used in the media processing system in FIG. 2; [Figure 4] 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of a static eliminating unit used in the media processing system in FIG. 2. [Diagram 5] 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the static eliminator shown in FIG. 4. [Figure 6] FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a main part of a contact-type static eliminator used in the first embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a view taken along the line B in FIG. [Figure 7] 6(a) is a cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 6(b) of the contact-type static eliminator used in embodiment 1, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in (a), and (c) is an explanatory view of the main parts showing the behavior of a medium passing through the contact-type static eliminator. [Figure 8] 6(a) is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of the static elimination action by a contact-type static elimination device, (b) is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of the basic static elimination action by the contact-type static elimination device and the non-contact static elimination device shown in FIG. 5, and (c) is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of the static elimination action in the width direction of a medium by the contact-type static elimination device of the present embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 2(a) is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a first modified example of the contact-type static eliminator used in the first embodiment, and FIG. 2(b) is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a second modified example of the same contact-type static eliminator. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of a static eliminator according to a second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10(a) is a perspective view showing a main part of a contact-type static eliminator used in a second embodiment, and FIG. 10(b) is a view seen from a direction indicated by an arrow B in FIG. [Figure 12]FIG. 1(a) is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of the static elimination effect on a medium that has passed through a first static elimination section of a contact-type static elimination device, and FIG. 1(b) is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic diagram of the static elimination effect on a medium that has passed through a second static elimination section of a contact-type static elimination device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Overview of the embodiment FIG. 1(a) shows an overview of an embodiment of a media processing system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, the medium processing system includes a processing means 10 that performs processing involving charging on a moving medium S, and a static eliminator 11 that eliminates static electricity by passing the medium S therethrough. This type of media processing system only needs to be equipped with processing means 10 that requires the static elimination action of static eliminator 11, and processing means 10 broadly includes those that perform processes involving charging the transported media S (such as a process of transferring an image to the media S by applying a transfer electric field). Furthermore, the media processing system is not limited to a configuration in which the processing means 10 and static eliminator 11 are separate units, but also includes a configuration in which they are incorporated into the same unit. In this example, as shown in Figures 1(a) to (c), the static elimination device 11 comprises a pair of static elimination rolls 1 (specifically 1a, 1b) each having a roll body 3 extending continuously along an axial direction intersecting the movement direction of the medium S and moving the medium S while clamping it to eliminate static electricity, a static elimination power source 4 that applies a static elimination voltage to at least one of the static elimination rolls 1 (for example, 1a) of the pair of static elimination rolls 1, and a regulating means 5 that passes through a non-contact portion 6 formed in part of the axial direction of the contact area CN of the pair of static elimination rolls 1, extends forwards and backwards in the movement direction of the medium S, and regulates the movement direction of the medium S.

[0012] In such a technical means, the paired static elimination rolls 1 (1a, 1b) are premised on a mode in which the roll body 3 extends continuously in the axial direction. For this reason, a mode in which a plurality of roll bodies are arranged in a divided manner in the axial direction with respect to the rotation axis, such as a transport roll for transporting the medium S, is excluded. Also, it is necessary to apply a static elimination electric field to the paired static elimination rolls 1 (1a, 1b) when the medium S passes through, and for example, a static elimination power source 4 that applies a static elimination voltage to one of the static elimination rolls 1a (or 1b) may be provided, and the static elimination roll 1b (or 1a) to which the static elimination voltage is not applied may be grounded. Of course, the static elimination voltage may be distributed and applied to both of the paired static elimination rolls 1a, 1b.

[0013] Furthermore, the regulating means 5 broadly includes means for regulating the transport direction of the medium S passing through the pair of charge eliminating rolls 1. However, a non-contact portion 6 is formed in part of the axial direction of the contact area CN of the paired static eliminating roll 1, and the regulating means 5 needs only to extend forward and backward in the moving direction of the medium S so as to pass through the non-contact portion 6. In this example, since there is a concern that the medium S may wrap around either of the paired static elimination rolls 1, it is preferable to provide a pair of regulating means 5 on the front and back sides of the medium S. However, since, for example, of the paired static elimination rolls 1 (1a, 1b), the static elimination roll 1b on the ground side tends to wrap more easily than the static elimination roll 1a on the side to which the static elimination voltage is applied, the regulating means 5 may be provided only on the static elimination roll 1b on the ground side, for example.

[0014] According to this type of static elimination device 11, when a charged medium S passes through the paired static elimination rolls 1 (1a, 1b), the medium S is conveyed in a state of being sandwiched in the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 1. At this time, a static elimination voltage from the static elimination power source 4 is applied to at least one of the static elimination rolls 1, so that the area of ​​the medium S that passes through the contact area CN is eliminated. However, the area of ​​the medium S that passes through the non-contact portion 6 of the paired static elimination roll 1 does not come into contact with the roll body 3 of the static elimination roll 1, and therefore is not directly eliminated, but is indirectly eliminated to the extent that the charge in the medium S is drawn toward the static elimination portion of the area other than the non-contact portion 6. Furthermore, there is a concern that the area of ​​the medium S passing through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 1 may wind around either the static elimination rolls 1a or 1b, but even if the medium S winds around either the static elimination rolls 1a or 1b in the contact area CN, the area of ​​the medium S corresponding to the non-contact portion 6 abuts against the regulating means 5 arranged within the non-contact portion 6. Therefore, the leading end of the medium S attempting to wind around the static elimination roll 1 (1a or 1b) is peeled off from the static elimination roll 1 by the regulating means 5, and the medium S is transported in the transport direction regulated by the regulating means 5.

[0015] Next, a representative or preferred embodiment of the static eliminator according to the present embodiment will be described. First, a preferred embodiment of the regulating means 5 is a bridging member 8 that bridges between the front and rear fixing means 12 with the contact area CN of the paired static eliminating rolls 1 sandwiched therebetween. In this example, the fixing means 12 may be anything that is fixedly provided at a predetermined position, and may, for example, be made up of a pair of guide members 13 that guide the movement path of the medium S, and the bridging member 8 may be integrally configured with the pair of guide members 13. Here, the bridging member 8 may be a structure that is integrated in advance with the guide members 13 as the fixing means 12, or may be a separate member from the guide members 13 as the fixing means 12, which are later fixed integrally.

[0016] Another preferred embodiment of the regulating means 5 is, as shown in Figures 1(b) and (c), an embodiment in which the regulating means 5 has opposing ring-shaped grooves 7 in part of the axial direction on the surface of each of the paired static elimination rolls 1, and passes between the grooves 7 of the paired static elimination rolls 1 as the non-contact portion 6. In this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the recessed groove 7 may be appropriately selected from rectangular, semicircular, semi-elliptical, etc., but from the viewpoint of ensuring a large cross-sectional space, a rectangular cross-sectional shape is preferable. Furthermore, it is preferable that the regulating means 5 is positioned so as not to protrude from the surface of the groove 7 within the contact area CN of the paired de-ionizing roll 1 so that the contact state between the peripheral surface of the roll body 3 and the medium S is not impaired when the regulating means 5 passes through the paired de-ionizing roll 1.

[0017] The material of the restriction means 5 may be appropriately selected, but from the viewpoint of suppressing current leakage through the restriction means 5, it is preferable that the restriction means 5 be made of an insulating material. Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape of the regulating means 5 may be selected as appropriate, but considering the ease of arrangement within the non-contact portion 6 and the contact resistance with the medium S, it is preferable that the regulating means 5 is configured with a rectangular or circular cross-sectional shape.

[0018] As for the layout of the regulating means 5, it is preferable to place the regulating means 5 in an area where all of the media S to be used pass through. For example, in a mode in which the medium S moves with the center of the intersecting direction intersecting the moving direction of the medium S as the reference line, the regulating means 5 may be placed at a location including the reference line. The same applies to a mode in which the reference line is one side edge of the medium S in the intersecting direction. Furthermore, the pair of charge eliminating rolls 1 does not necessarily have to consist of one set, and a mode in which a plurality of sets are provided in the moving direction of the medium S is also included. In this example, each pair of static elimination rolls 1 is provided with a regulating means 5, and the regulating means 5 of each pair is preferably arranged to be biased in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the medium S. In an embodiment in which the pair of static elimination rolls 1 is a single set, the region of the medium S corresponding to the non-contact portion 6 of the static elimination roll 1 is not directly subjected to the static elimination action by the static elimination roll 1. In contrast, in this example, for example, the region of the medium S corresponding to the non-contact portion 6 of the static elimination roll 1 located in the front stage is not directly subjected to the static elimination action, but the non-static elimination action portion of the medium S passes through the contact area CN of the static elimination roll 1 located in the rear stage, and is directly subjected to the static elimination action. Therefore, in an embodiment in which the medium S passes through multiple sets of static elimination rolls 1, it is possible to perform the static elimination action on the entire region of the medium S.

[0019] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. First embodiment FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the media processing system according to the first embodiment. - Media processing system configuration example - 2, media processing system 20 includes image forming device 21 that forms an image on a medium, a first post-processing device 22 that performs predetermined post-processing on the medium that has passed through image forming device 21, an interposer 23 that inserts slip sheets, a static elimination unit 24 that eliminates static electricity from charged media, an inspection device 25 that inspects the image on the static eliminated medium, a stacker 26 that stores media on which an image has been formed, and a second post-processing device 27 that performs predetermined post-processing on the media on which an image has been formed. Note that the configuration example of media processing system 20 is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 2, and the design can of course be modified as appropriate.

[0020] <Overall configuration of image forming apparatus> FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus 21. In the same figure, the basic configuration of the image forming device 21 is that an image creation engine 31 for creating, for example, a plurality of color component images is mounted inside an apparatus housing 30, and below this image creation engine 31 there is provided a medium transport system 80 for transporting a medium to the image creation engine 31, and a fixing device 70 for fixing the image created by the image creation engine 31 to the medium. In this example, the image creation engine 31 includes image forming units 32 (specifically 32a to 32d) that form images of multiple color components (yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) in this embodiment), a belt-shaped intermediate transfer body 40 that sequentially transfers (primary transfer) and holds each color component image formed in each image forming unit 32, and a secondary transfer device (collective transfer device) 50 that secondarily transfers (collective transfer) each color component image transferred onto the intermediate transfer body 40 onto a medium (paper or film). In addition, in FIG. 3, reference numeral 60 denotes an operation panel for operating the image forming device.

[0021] <Image forming section> In this embodiment, each image forming unit 32 (32a to 32d) has a drum-shaped photoconductor 33, and around each photoconductor 33, there are arranged a charging device 34 such as a corotron or transfer roll that charges the photoconductor 33, an exposure device 35 such as a laser scanning device that writes an electrostatic latent image on the charged photoconductor 33, a developing device 36 that develops the electrostatic latent image written on the photoconductor 33 with toner of each color component of YMCK, a primary transfer device 37 such as a transfer roll that transfers the toner image on the photoconductor 33 to an intermediate transfer body 40, and a photoconductor cleaning device 38 that removes residual toner on the photoconductor 33. The intermediate transfer body 40 is stretched over a plurality of (three in this embodiment) tension rolls 41 to 43, and for example, the tension roll 41 is used as a drive roll driven by a drive motor (not shown) so that the intermediate transfer body 40 moves in a circular motion by the drive roll. Furthermore, an intermediate transfer body cleaning device 45 is provided between the tension rolls 41 and 43 to remove residual toner on the intermediate transfer body 40 after the secondary transfer.

[0022] <Secondary transfer device (collective transfer device)> Furthermore, the secondary transfer device (collective transfer device) 50 is, for example, a device in which a transfer roll 55 is placed in pressure contact with a portion facing the tension roll 43 of the intermediate transfer body 40, and the tension roll 43 of the intermediate transfer body 40 is used as an opposing roll 56 that serves as an opposing electrode of the transfer roll 55. Here, in this example, the transfer roll 55 is configured such that the circumference of a metal shaft is covered with an elastic layer made of foamed urethane rubber or EPDM mixed with carbon black, etc., and a transfer voltage is applied to the opposing roll 56 (which also serves as the tension roll 43 in this example) from a transfer power source (not shown) via a conductive power supply roll (not shown), while the transfer roll 55 is grounded to form a predetermined transfer electric field between the transfer roll 55 and the opposing roll 56, and the nip region of the intermediate transfer body 40 sandwiched between the transfer roll 55 and the opposing roll 56 functions as a secondary transfer region (collective transfer region) TR. Although the secondary transfer device 50 uses the transfer roll 55, this is not limited to this, and it is of course possible to use a transfer belt module in which a transfer belt is stretched across the transfer roll 55 as one of the tension rolls.

[0023] <Fixing device> The fixing device 70 has a heat fixing roll 71 that is arranged in contact with the image bearing surface of the medium and can be driven to rotate, and a pressure fixing roll 72 that is arranged opposite the heat fixing roll 71 and is pressed against it, rotating in accordance with the heat fixing roll 71.The image held on the medium is passed through the fixing zone between the two fixing rolls 71, 72, and the image is heated, pressurized and fixed. Here, the heat fixing roll 71 is configured to heat the roll body by, for example, incorporating a heater in the roll body or by bringing an external heater into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roll body, and it goes without saying that a heater may be added to the pressure fixing roll 72 as necessary. Note that, although this example shows an example of a roll pair configuration, the present invention is not limited to this, and the heat fixing roll 71 may be appropriately selected, for example, by configuring it with a heat fixing belt that employs an electromagnetic induction heating method.

[0024] <Media transport system> Furthermore, the media transport system 80 has multiple stages (two stages in this example) of media supply containers 81, 82, and media supplied from either of the media supply containers 81, 82 passes through a vertical transport path 83 extending in an approximately vertical direction and a horizontal transport path 84 extending in an approximately horizontal direction to a secondary transfer area TR, and then the media holding the transferred image passes through a transport belt 85 to a fixing area by the fixing device 70, and is discharged from an outlet 86 of the device housing 30 to the first post-processing device 22 (see Figure 2). Furthermore, the medium transport system 80 has a reversible branched transport path 87 that branches downward from a portion of the horizontal transport path 84 that is located downstream of the fixing device 70 in the medium transport direction, and the medium that has been reversed on the branched transport path 87 is returned again from the vertical transport path 83 to the horizontal transport path 84 via a return transport path 88, an image is transferred to the back side of the medium in the secondary transfer area TR, and the medium is discharged from an outlet 86 of the device housing 30 via the fixing device 70. Note that a branched return transport path 89 that branches off midway on the branched transport path 87 and transports the reversed medium to the outlet 86 side. In addition to position alignment rolls 90 that align the position of the medium and supply it to the secondary transfer area TR, the medium transport system 80 is provided with an appropriate number of transport rolls 91 in each of the transport paths 83, 84, 87, 88, and 89, and a discharge roll 92 is provided at the exit portion of the horizontal transport path 84 to the discharge port 86. Furthermore, on the opposite side of the discharge port 86 of the device housing 30, a manual medium supply device 95 that can supply manually inserted media toward the horizontal transport path 84 is provided.

[0025] <Components other than the image forming apparatus> The first post-processing device 22 performs post-processing such as cooling, curl correction, inserting slip sheets or punching on the medium on which the image has been formed by the image forming device 21, and conveys the medium to the interposer 23 in the downstream stage. The interposer 23 is an interleaf inserting device that inserts a set interleaf sheet into the middle of the conveying path. The charge removing unit 24 removes electricity to reduce the amount of charge on the medium that has been charged by the transfer process performed by the secondary transfer device 50 of the image forming apparatus 21. The charge removing unit 24 will be described in detail later.

[0026] The inspection device 25 receives the medium on which an image has been formed by the image forming device 21 from the preceding static eliminating unit 24, and inspects the image formed on this medium, that is, judges whether or not there is an abnormality in the image formed on the medium. Specifically, the inspection device 25 receives image data of the image to be formed on the medium from the image forming device 21, reads the image of the medium transported from the image forming device 21, and compares the image of the received image data with the read image to judge whether the image formed on the transported medium is normal or abnormal. When a medium on which an image has been formed by the image forming device 21 is conveyed, the stacker 26 stores the medium therein.

[0027] The second post-processing device 27 performs post-processing on the medium on which an image is formed by the image forming device 21. Specifically, the second post-processing device 27 has at least one or more functions of a folding function, a cutting function, a bookbinding function, a binding function, a stacking function, an alignment function, a punching function, and a paper discharge function for the medium on which an image is formed by the image forming device 21. Here, the folding function is a function of performing folding processing on the medium. The cutting function is a function of cutting the top and bottom and the fore-edge of the medium formed as a booklet. The bookbinding function is also called a booklet function, and is a function of bundling multiple media to generate a booklet. The binding function is also called a staple function, and is a function of binding multiple sheets of media using staples. The stacking function is a function of sequentially stacking the transported media on the discharge tray 27a. The alignment function is also called a tamper / jogger fence function, and is a function of aligning the width direction of the medium. The punching function is also called a punch function, and is a function of forming punch holes at predetermined positions of the medium.

[0028] -The necessity of static elimination- In this example, the image forming device 21 performs a series of image forming processes, in which an electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiating a charged photoconductor 33 with a laser beam or the like, the electrostatic latent image is developed with a coloring agent such as a toner, the developed image is transferred to a medium, and then a fixing process is performed. In particular, when a high-resistance dielectric such as a resin film is used as the medium, the amount of charge charged on the medium is likely to be large. If the surface of such a medium is charged with a negative charge, for example, a positive charge is induced on the back surface of the medium due to dielectric polarization. As a result, the media are attracted to each other due to electrostatic attraction, and if the charged media are to be post-processed in the second post-processing device 27, there is a concern that the media may be charged and adhere to each other due to overlapping of the media on the discharge tray, or that a discharge phenomenon may occur between the media and the human body. Furthermore, if a charged medium passes through the inspection device 25, noise may be generated during the inspection, which may lead to erroneous inspection results. For this reason, in this embodiment, a static elimination unit 24 for eliminating static electricity to reduce the charge on the medium is provided downstream of the image forming apparatus 21 (in this example, downstream of the interposer 23).

[0029] -Static charge removal unit- FIG. 4 shows the details of the static eliminating unit 24 used in this embodiment. In the same figure, the static electricity removal unit 24 has a box-shaped unit housing 100, which has an entrance 101 that can be connected to the interposer 23 located in the preceding stage and an exit 102 that can be connected to the inspection device 25 located in the subsequent stage, and has a media transport path 103 that extends approximately horizontally from the entrance 101 to the exit 102. In this example, the medium transport path 103 is provided with multiple pairs of transport rolls 111-113 (three in this example) that sandwich and transport the medium, and are provided at appropriate intervals from the upstream side in the transport direction of the medium S. In this example, in the medium transport path 103, the transport roll 111 is disposed immediately after the entrance 101, the transport roll 113 is disposed immediately before the exit 102, and the transport roll 112 is disposed near the center of the medium transport path 103 in the transport direction.

[0030] In the medium transport path 103, a contact-type static eliminator 120 (corresponding to the static eliminator shown in FIG. 1) is provided between the transport rolls 111 and 112, and a non-contact-type static eliminator 160 is provided between the transport rolls 112 and 113. Furthermore, in this example, in the medium transport path 103, before and after the contact static eliminator 120 and the non-contact static eliminator 160, guide chutes 131 to 133 are provided as guide members for guiding the transport path of the medium S. Each guide chute 131-133 consists of a pair of plate-shaped members arranged facing each other on the front and back sides of the medium S, and guides the medium S as it is transported to the static elimination area of ​​the contact static elimination device 120 and the non-contact static elimination device 160. In this example, each of the conveying rolls 111-113 is structured to have a divided roll body 114 divided into multiple pieces in the axial direction of the rotation shaft, and each of the guide chutes 131-133 is formed with an opening (not shown) to allow the divided roll bodies 114 of each of the conveying rolls 111-113 to escape.

[0031] -Example of contact type static elimination device configuration- 4 and 5, the contact-type static eliminator 120 has a pair of static eliminator rolls 121, 122 in a static elimination housing 127. Each of the pair of static eliminator rolls 121, 122 has a metallic rotating shaft 123 along an axial direction intersecting the transport direction of the medium S, and a roll body 124 that extends continuously along the axial direction around the rotating shaft 123, and the roll bodies 124 are arranged in contact with each other, and static elimination is performed while the medium S is sandwiched between the roll bodies 124 and moved. In this example, a driving force from a drive motor not shown is transmitted to one of the pair of discharge rolls 121, 122, for example, discharge roll 121, via a drive transmission mechanism (not shown) such as a gear, so that discharge roll 122 comes into contact with discharge roll 121 and rotates in response. In this example, a static elimination power supply 125 is connected to one of the static elimination rolls 121, and a static elimination bias Vd1 (in this example, a positive polarity DC voltage) is applied from the static elimination power supply 125, and the other static elimination roll 122 is grounded. Furthermore, the static elimination power supply 125 is provided with a switch 126, and the switch 126 is turned on and off by a control signal from the control device 170, so that the static elimination bias Vd1 is applied from the static elimination power supply 125 at a predetermined timing.

[0032] In this example, the roll body 124 of the static elimination rolls 121, 122 is configured such that an elastic layer made of urethane foam rubber or EPDM mixed with carbon black or the like is coated around a metallic rotating shaft 123, and the surface of this elastic layer is coated with a protective layer made of, for example, fluororesin or the like. A static elimination bias Vd1 from a static elimination power source 125 is applied to the metallic rotating shaft 123. In addition, the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122 are arranged in contact even when the medium S is not passing, but this is not necessarily limited to the case, and the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122 may be arranged in a non-contact state when the medium S is not passing. However, the gap between the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122 may be appropriately selected within a range in which the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122 come into contact with the front and back surfaces of the medium S when the medium S passes between the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122, and the contact pressure in the contact area with the medium S ensures the transportability of the medium S by the static electricity removing rolls 121, 122, and the static electricity removing operation with respect to the medium S is not impaired. In addition, the neutralization power supply 125 may be installed on either the front or back side of the medium S. When the neutralization power supply 125 is installed on the back side of the medium S, it is sufficient to use a neutralization bias or neutralization current of the opposite polarity to that used when the neutralization power supply 125 is installed on the front side of the medium S.

[0033] -Regulatory Mechanism- In particular, in this embodiment, the contact-type static elimination device 120 is equipped with a regulating mechanism 150 as a regulating means for regulating the movement direction of the medium S in order to prevent the medium S passing through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122 from sticking to the peripheral surfaces of the static elimination rolls 121, 122, as shown in Figures 5 to 7. In this example, as shown in Figures 6(a)(b) and 7(a)(b), the regulating mechanism 150 includes bridging members 151, 152 that pass through a non-contact portion 140 formed in part of the axial direction of the contact area CN of the paired de-ionizing rolls 121, 122 and bridge between the guide chutes 131, 132 arranged in front and behind the contact area CN. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6(b), the medium S moves with the center of the intersecting direction that intersects the moving direction of the medium S as a reference line L0, and the regulating mechanism 150 is provided in the axial center of the paired de-ionizing rolls 121, 122 so as to include the reference line L0.

[0034] <Example of non-contact part configuration> In this example, the non-contact portion 140 forms ring-shaped grooves 141, 142 facing each other in the axial center of the surface of each of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122, and secures a space between the grooves 141, 142. The cross-sectional shape of the grooves 141, 142 may be appropriately selected, but in this example, as shown in Fig. 7(a)(b), the grooves 141, 142 are formed in a rectangular cross section with a width dimension w and a depth h. Here, the width dimension w and depth h of the grooves 141, 142 may be selected so that the bridging members 151, 152 pass through the inner walls of the grooves 141, 142 in a non-contact state. However, if the width dimension w is too wide, the range in which the static elimination process cannot be performed directly on the medium S will expand, so the width dimension w may be appropriately selected within a range of, for example, 1 / 100 to 1 / 30 of the axial length of the roll body 124 of the static elimination rolls 121, 122.

[0035] <Example of bridge member configuration> The cross-sectional shape of the bridging members 151, 152 may be appropriately selected from a rectangular shape, a circular shape, etc., but in this example, they are formed to have a rectangular cross section (for example, a thin film) so that they can pass through the recessed grooves 141, 142 without contact. For example, a thread-like wire material is used as the circular cross section. In particular, in this example, the bridging members 151, 152 are arranged in a state where they do not protrude from the surfaces of the recessed grooves 141, 142 in the contact area CN of the static elimination rolls 121, 122. Furthermore, the bridging members 151, 152 are integrally formed with parts of the guide chutes 131, 132 located at the front and rear. In this case, the bridging members 151, 152 may be formed integrally in advance between the guide chutes 131, 132, or the bridging members 151, 152, which are separate members, may be fixed integrally between the guide chutes 131, 132 afterwards.

[0036] Furthermore, the bridging members 151, 152 may be made of either a conductive material or an insulating material, but in this example, the bridging members 151, 152 are made of an insulating material. In this case, if the guide chutes 131, 132 are made of an insulating material, the bridging members 151, 152 may be integrally molded. On the other hand, if the guide chutes 131, 132 are made of a conductive material, the integrally molded bridging members 151, 152 will also be made of a conductive material, but the surfaces of the bridging members 151, 152 may be covered with a coating layer made of an insulating material, or the bridging members 151, 152 made of an insulating material as separate members may be attached later.

[0037] -Non-contact static eliminator- In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the non-contact static electricity elimination device 160 has a static electricity elimination housing 161 with a channel cross-sectional shape that opens toward the front side of the medium S transported along the medium transport path 103, and multiple (two in this example) discharge wires 162 are hung along the longitudinal direction within this static electricity elimination housing 161 as discharging members, and a static electricity elimination power supply 165 is connected to this discharge wire 162 and applies a static electricity elimination bias Vd2 from the static electricity elimination power supply 165, while a guide chute 134 that defines the transport path for the medium S is arranged on the back side of the medium S. The static elimination power supply 165 is provided with a switch 166, which is turned on and off by a control signal from the control device 170, so that the static elimination bias Vd2 is applied from the static elimination power supply 165 at a predetermined timing. At this time, the static elimination power supply 165 only needs to apply the static elimination bias Vd2 containing at least an AC voltage component, but may apply a DC voltage component as necessary. The guide chute 134 is grounded and provided separately from the paired guide chute 132 or 133, but may be provided integrally with one of the components of the paired guide chute 132 or 133. In this embodiment, two discharge wires 162 are used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and one or three or more discharge wires 162 may be used. In this embodiment, a so-called corotron system is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is of course possible to use a system in which a grid plate is added as a control electrode at a location facing the opening of the static elimination housing 161 (a so-called scorotron system). Furthermore, a needle-shaped electrode may be provided instead of the discharge wire 162.

[0038] - Operation of the static elimination unit - <Outline of static elimination processing by static elimination unit> In this embodiment, the medium S on which an image has been formed by the image forming device 21 is charged by a transfer process or the like by the secondary transfer device 50, and so the medium S in a charged state enters the charge removing unit . Now, for example, if the medium S has high resistance, such as a resin film, as shown in Figure 8(a), the surface of the medium S is charged with a negative charge (-) in the secondary transfer device 50, and the back surface of the medium S is charged with a positive charge (+) due to dielectric polarization. 4 and 5, when the medium S reaches the entrance 101 of the static elimination unit 24, the medium S is first guided along the guide chute 131 to the contact static elimination device 120 and passes through the contact area CN of the pair of static elimination rolls 121, 122. Thereafter, the medium S is guided along the guide chute 132 to the non-contact static elimination device 160, undergoes static elimination processing by the non-contact static elimination device 160, and reaches the exit 102 of the static elimination unit 24 along the guide chute 133.

[0039] <Static charge elimination effect by contact type static elimination device> In this embodiment, the static elimination effect of the contact static eliminator 120 is as follows. In this example, as shown in Fig. 8(a), when the contact-type static eliminator 120 performs a static elimination operation, the static elimination power supply 125 applies a positive static elimination bias Vd1 to the static elimination roll 121. Then, a corona discharge occurs in front of and behind the contact area CN between one static elimination roll 121 and the other static elimination roll 122. In particular, in this example, a medium S having a high resistance and a high surface potential before static elimination enters the gap on the entrance side of the contact area CN of the static elimination rolls 121 and 122, so that a strong current discharge occurs in a region away from the contact area CN and a weak current discharge occurs in a region close to the contact area CN, and a medium S having a low surface potential after static elimination passes through the gap on the exit side of the contact area CN of the static elimination rolls 121 and 122, so that a weak current discharge occurs in a region close to the contact area CN. As a result, a predetermined amount of positive charge (+) is applied to the surface of the charged, highly resistive medium S, and the negative charge (-) on the surface of the medium S is neutralized by the amount of the applied charge. In this state, as the surface charge of the medium S decreases, the dielectrically polarized positive charge (+) on the back surface of the medium S also decreases. At this time, the surface potential of the medium S that has passed through the contact area CN of the pair of charge eliminating rolls 121, 122 changes from the charge potential Vc before charge elimination to a potential ΔV1 close to approximately zero, as shown in FIG. 8(b).

[0040] However, in this example, as shown in Figures 6(a) and 6(b), a non-contact portion 140 that is not in contact with the medium S exists in the axial center of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122, so that, as shown in Figure 8(c), a direct static elimination action by the static elimination roll 121 does not occur in the surface portion of the medium S corresponding to the non-contact portion 140. For this reason, the surface potential Vc1 of the portion R (corresponding to the vicinity of the center in the width direction intersecting the conveying direction of the medium S) corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 on the surface of the medium S reaches a value that is somewhat lower than the charged potential Vc before static elimination, because the charged charge is somewhat dispersed to the surroundings as the surface potential around the medium S decreases to ΔV1.

[0041] <Media transportability using contact-type static eliminator> In addition, the medium S passing through the contact type static eliminator 120 passes through the contact area CN between the pair of static eliminator rolls 121, 122 other than the non-contact area 140, and at the non-contact area 140 passes between the pair of bridging members 151, 152, which are the regulating mechanism 150. Therefore, when the medium S passes through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 121 and 122, even if the leading end of the medium S in the traveling direction tries to wrap around the circumferential surface of either the static elimination roll 121 or 122 as shown by the imaginary line in Fig. 7(c), the winding of the medium S is suppressed by the bridging members 151 and 152. Specifically, since the paired bridging members 151 and 152 passing through the non-contact portion 140 extend forward and backward across the contact area CN, the moving direction of the medium S at the portion of the medium S corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 is restricted by the bridging members 151 and 152. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 7(c), the medium S passing through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 121 and 122 moves toward the guide chute 132 without wrapping around the circumferential surface of the static elimination roll 121 or 122. In addition, in this example, the paired bridging members 151, 152 are integrally bridged to the front and rear guide chutes 131, 132, so that the medium S passing through the paired de-electrification rolls 121, 122 moves in a stable trajectory from the guide chute 131 to the guide chute 132 by the bridging members 151, 152. In this example, the bridging members 151, 152 are arranged in a pair to prevent the medium S from wrapping around either of the charge removal rolls 121, 122. However, since the medium S has a tendency to easily wrap around the charge removal roll 122 on the ground side, it is also possible to provide only one of the bridging members 152.

[0042] <Other effects of contact-type static elimination devices> In this embodiment, the paired bridging members 151, 152 are made of an insulating material, so that even if the bridging members 151, 152 come into contact with the inner walls of the grooves 141, 142, which are the non-contact portions 140, the neutralization bias Vd1 applied to the paired neutralization roll 121 does not leak through the bridging members 151, 152, and the neutralization action of the paired neutralization rolls 121, 122 is well maintained. In this example, the paired bridging members 151, 152 are arranged so as not to protrude from the surfaces of the recessed grooves 141, 142, which are the non-contact portions 140, within the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122. Therefore, the portion of the medium S passing through the portion corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 is not pushed radially outward from the circumferential surface of the roll body 124 by the bridging members 151, 152, and the contact state between the circumferential surface of the roll body 124 and the medium S is not impaired around the non-contact portion 140 of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122. Therefore, the static elimination action of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122 works effectively over the entire contact area CN.

[0043] <Static charge elimination effect by non-contact static elimination device> In this embodiment, the charge removal action of the non-contact charge removal device 160 is as follows. In this example, in the non-contact static elimination device 160, a static elimination bias Vd2 consisting of an AC voltage component is applied between the discharge wire 162 and the static elimination housing 161 as shown in FIG. At this time, a mixture of positive ions (+) and negative ions (-) are generated around the discharge wire 162 due to corona discharge and are applied to the surface of the medium S passing through the non-contact static eliminator 160, removing the negative charge (-) or positive charge (+) remaining on the surface of the medium S. In addition, since the back surface of the medium S is in contact with the grounded guide chute 134, as the charge on the surface of the medium S decreases, the dielectrically polarized charge on the back surface of the medium S also decreases. As a result, the surface potential of the medium S that has passed through the non-contact static electricity removing device 160 further decreases from the surface potential ΔV1 of the medium S before passing through to a uniform surface potential ΔV2.

[0044] In this embodiment, the static electricity removing unit 24 is a combination of the contact static electricity removing device 120 and the non-contact static electricity removing device 160, but it is of course possible to use only the contact static electricity removing device 120. In addition, in this embodiment, bridging members 151, 152 integrated with the guide chutes 131, 132 are used as the regulating mechanism 150, but this is not limited to this, and for example, the aspects shown in the modified form 1 and modified form 2 described below may be adopted.

[0045] ◎Transformation form 1 FIG. 9(a) shows a restriction mechanism according to the first modified embodiment. In the figure, the regulating mechanism 150 passes through the recessed grooves 141, 142 which are the non-contact portions 140 of the paired static eliminating rolls 121, 122, as in the first embodiment, but unlike the first embodiment, it does not bridge between the front and rear guide chutes 131, 132, but is configured as paired protruding members 157, 158 cantilevered by the front-stage guide chute 131. The paired protruding members 157, 158 are formed integrally with the front-stage guide chute 131 and extend toward the rear-stage guide chute 132, with their tips disposed adjacent to the inlet of the guide chute 132. In this example, the entrance of the rear-stage guide chute 132 has an opening larger than the gap between the pair of protruding members 157, 158, and is gradually narrowed in the traveling direction of the medium S. Therefore, the medium S that has passed through the contact-type static electricity removal device 120 is regulated in position by the pair of protruding members 157, 158, and is guided to the rear-stage guide chute 132.

[0046] ◎Transformation form 2 FIG. 9(b) shows a restricting mechanism according to the second modified embodiment. In the figure, the regulating mechanism 150 passes through the recessed grooves 141, 142 which are the non-contact portions 140 of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122, as in the first embodiment, but unlike the first embodiment, it does not bridge between the front and rear guide chutes 131, 132, but is configured as paired bridging members 181, 182 which bridge between the entrance opening 127a and the exit opening 127b through which the medium S passes in the static elimination housing 127 of the contact type static elimination device 120. The paired bridging members 181, 182 are configured integrally with the static elimination housing 127, for example. According to this example, the medium S guided by the guide chute 131 on the front side enters the entrance opening 127a of the static elimination housing 127 of the contact type static elimination device 120, passes through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 121, 122 while being positionally regulated by the paired bridging members 181, 182, is discharged from the exit opening 127b of the static elimination housing 127, and moves toward the guide chute 132 on the rear side. In this example, the pair of bridging members 181, 182 bridge between the entrance side opening 127a and the exit side opening 127b of the static elimination housing 127, but as in modified form 1, they may be configured as protruding members (not shown) cantilevered on the entrance side opening 127a of the static elimination housing 127.

[0047] ◎Embodiment 2 FIG. 10 shows a main part of a static eliminating unit according to the second embodiment. In the figure, the static electricity removing unit 24 has a contact static electricity removing device 120 and a non-contact static electricity removing device 160, similar to the first embodiment, but the contact static electricity removing device 120 has a different configuration from that of the first embodiment. Note that the same components as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here. In this example, the contact-type static eliminator 120 includes a first static eliminator 190 and a second static eliminator 200 sequentially arranged along a medium transport path 103 inside a static eliminator housing 127. In this example, an intermediate guide chute 135 is provided between the first static eliminator 190 and the second static eliminator 200 as a guide member for guiding the medium S.

[0048] In this example, a first static eliminator 190 has a pair of static elimination rolls 191, 192 having substantially the same configuration as in the first embodiment, and a regulating mechanism 150 is provided at the axial center of the static elimination rolls 191, 192. The second de-ionizer 200 has a pair of de-ionization rolls 201, 202 configured in a manner substantially similar to that of embodiment 1, and has regulating mechanisms 150 provided at two locations offset in the axial direction on either side of the axial center portion (portion including the reference line L0) of the de-ionization rolls 201, 202. Here, as shown in Figures 11(a) and (b), each regulating mechanism 150 of the second static eliminator 200 is positioned offset from the axial center of the paired static elimination rolls 201 and 202 by a distance d1, d2 (in this example, d1 = d2), but is selected so as to be at least within the range of the width dimension of the minimum usable size of the medium S.

[0049] In this example, as shown in Figures 10 and 11(a) and (b), the regulating mechanism 150 of the first static eliminator 190 has grooves 141, 142 formed as non-contact portions 140 in the axial center of the pair of static elimination rolls 191, 192, and is arranged so that bridging members 151, 152 that bridge between the guide chute 131 and the intermediate guide chute 135 pass through each groove 141, 142. 10 and 11(a)(b), the regulating mechanism 150 of the second static eliminator 200 has grooves 143-146 formed as non-contact portions 140 at two locations offset in the axial direction on either side of the axial center of the paired static eliminator rolls 191, 192, and is arranged so that bridging members 153-156 that bridge between the intermediate guide chute 135 and the guide chute 132 pass through each of the grooves 143-146.

[0050] In this embodiment, assuming that a high-resistance medium S with a negatively charged surface passes through the contact-type static eliminator 120 , the medium S first passes through the first static eliminator 190 . The medium S passes through a contact area CN between the pair of charge eliminating rolls 191, 192 while being positionally regulated by the pair of bridging members 151, 152. At this time, the surface potential of the medium S that has passed through the contact area CN of the paired static elimination rolls 191, 192 reaches a potential ΔV1 close to 0 from the charged potential Vc before static elimination, as shown in Fig. 12(a). However, the surface potential Vc1 of the portion R1 on the surface of the medium S that corresponds to the non-contact portion 140 reaches a value that is somewhat lower than the charged potential Vc before static elimination, because the charged charge is somewhat dispersed to the surroundings as the surface potential around the medium S decreases to ΔV1.

[0051] Next, the medium S that has passed through the first static eliminator 190 is guided to the intermediate guide chute 135 and then reaches the second static eliminator 200 . The medium S passes through the contact area CN of the pair of charge eliminating rolls 201, 202 while being positionally regulated by the pair of bridging members 153-156. At this time, the medium S that has passed through the contact area CN of the paired static eliminator rolls 201, 202 is further subjected to a static elimination action, and residual charge of the medium S is removed. For this reason, a portion R1 (corresponding to the vicinity of the center in the width direction intersecting the conveying direction of the medium S) corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 of the first static eliminator 190 passes through the contact area CN of the paired static eliminator rolls 201, 202 in the second static eliminator 200, so that the residual charge at the portion corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 of the first static eliminator 190 is removed when passing through the second static eliminator 200. 12(b), the surface potential of the medium S reaches a potential ΔV1' closer to 0 than the surface potential ΔV1 neutralized by the first neutralizer 190. In FIG. 12(b), at a location R2 corresponding to the non-contact portion 140 of the second neutralizer 200, there is no direct neutralization effect from the second neutralizer 200, but since the location has already been neutralized by the first neutralizer 190, the neutralization performance of that portion is not impaired.

[0052] Thereafter, the medium S having passed through the contact-type static eliminator 120 passes through the non-contact-type static eliminator 160 and is subjected to a static elimination action similar to that in the first embodiment. In this example, the de-electrification action of the contact-type de-electrification device 120 removes the residual electric charges from the medium S more uniformly than in the manner used in embodiment 1, and as a result, the de-electrification performance of the medium S that has passed through the non-contact-type de-electrification device 160 is superior to that of embodiment 1.

[0053] In this embodiment, the first static eliminator 190 and the second static eliminator 200 constituting the contact-type static eliminator 120 are incorporated in one static elimination housing 127, but this is not limited to this, and it is of course possible to provide each of them separately in separate static elimination housings. In addition, in this example, the regulating mechanism 150 employs bridging members 151, 152 or 153-156 that bridge between the front and rear guide chutes 131, 135 or between the guide chutes 135, 132, but is not limited to these forms and may of course employ, for example, those similar to those shown in modified forms 1 and 2. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the second static eliminator 200 is provided with the regulating mechanism 150 at two locations, but this is not limited thereto, and the second static eliminator 200 may be provided with the regulating mechanism at one location, or may be provided with a plurality of locations, such as three or more locations.

[0054] (Additional Note) (((1))) a pair of static elimination rolls each having a roll body extending continuously along an axial direction intersecting a moving direction of a medium, the pair of static elimination rolls moving while sandwiching the medium to eliminate static electricity; a static elimination power source that applies a static elimination voltage to at least one of the pair of static elimination rolls; a regulating means for passing through a non-contact portion formed in a part of the axial direction of the contact area of ​​the pair of static eliminating rolls and extending forward and backward in the moving direction of the medium to regulate the moving direction of the medium; A static eliminator comprising: (((2))) In the static eliminator according to (((1))), The static elimination device, wherein the regulating means is a bridging member that bridges between the front and rear fixing means across the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls. (((3))) In the static eliminator according to (((2))), The static elimination device according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprises a pair of guide members that guide a moving path of the medium, and the bridging member is integrally formed with the pair of guide members. (((4))) In the static eliminator according to any one of (((1))) to (((3))), The static elimination device is characterized in that the regulating means has opposing ring-shaped grooves in a portion of the axial direction of the surface of each of the pair of static elimination rolls, and passes between the grooves of the pair of static elimination rolls as the non-contact portion. (((5))) In the static eliminator according to (((4))), The static eliminator, wherein the groove has a rectangular cross section. (((6))) In the static eliminator according to (((4))), The static elimination device according to claim 1, wherein the regulating means is disposed so as not to protrude from the surface of the groove within the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls. (((7))) In the static eliminator according to any one of ((1)) to ((6)), The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is made of an insulating material. (((8))) In the static eliminator according to any one of ((1)) to ((7)), The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is formed to have a rectangular or circular cross section. (((9))) In the static eliminator according to any one of ((1)) to ((8)), The static eliminator according to claim 1, wherein the regulating means is provided in an area through which all of the usable media pass. (((10))) In the static eliminator according to (((9))), The medium moves with a center of a cross direction intersecting a moving direction of the medium as a reference line, The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is disposed at a location including the reference line. (((11))) In the static elimination device according to any one of ((1))) to (((10))), in an embodiment in which a plurality of pairs of static elimination rolls are provided in the moving direction of the medium, A static elimination device characterized in that the pair of static elimination rolls in each set are each provided with the regulating means, and the regulating means in each set are arranged biased in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the medium. (((12))) A processing means for performing a process involving charging a moving medium; The static eliminator according to any one of ((1))) to (((11))), which eliminates static electricity by passing the medium through the static eliminator; A media processing system comprising:

[0055] The static elimination device according to (((1))) can maintain a good static elimination effect on the medium and effectively suppress winding of the medium around the static elimination roll without damaging the surface of the paired static elimination roll. According to the static elimination device of (((2))), the regulating means can be more stably positioned with respect to the non-contact portion of the static elimination roll than when a bridging member is not used as the regulating means, and the winding of the medium around the static elimination roll can be more reliably suppressed. According to the static eliminator of (((3))), the bridging member can be easily constructed by using an existing guide member as the fixing means. According to the static eliminator of (((4))), when the regulating means is disposed, the non-contact portion to be formed on the paired static eliminator roll can be easily constructed. According to the static eliminator of (((5))), the non-contact portion can be easily constructed while ensuring a wide cross-sectional space in comparison with a case in which the groove has a cross-sectional shape other than rectangular. According to the static elimination device of (((6))), it is possible to effectively prevent the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll without impairing the static elimination effect of the paired static elimination roll. According to the static elimination device of (((7))), it is possible to suppress current leakage through the regulating means and stabilize the static elimination action by the paired static elimination roll, compared to when the regulating means is made of a conductive material. According to the static elimination device of (((8))), the cross-sectional shape of the regulating means is easier to arrange within the non-contact portion of the paired static elimination roll than when the cross-sectional shape is other shapes, and it is possible to prevent the corners from coming into contact with the medium. The static eliminator according to (((9))) can achieve both the static elimination effect and the effect of preventing the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll for any usable medium. According to the static elimination device of (((10))), in a method in which the medium moves using the center of a direction intersecting the direction of movement of the medium as a reference line, it is possible to achieve both a static elimination effect and an effect of preventing the medium from wrapping around the static elimination roll for any usable medium. According to the static elimination device of (((11))), static elimination can be performed on a part of the medium that corresponds to the non-contact portion of the paired static elimination roll, and static elimination can be performed on the entire area of ​​the medium. According to the media processing system of (((12))), it is possible to easily construct a media processing system including a static elimination device that can effectively suppress winding of the media around the static elimination roll while maintaining a good static elimination effect on the media and without damaging the surface of the paired static elimination roll. [Explanation of symbols]

[0056] 1 (1a, 1b)... static elimination roll, 3... roll body, 4... static elimination power source, 5... regulating means, 6... non-contact portion, 7... groove, 8... bridging member, 10... processing means, 11... static elimination device, 12... fixing means, 13... guide member, CN... contact area, S... medium

Claims

1. a pair of static elimination rolls each having a roll body extending continuously along an axial direction intersecting a moving direction of a medium, the pair of static elimination rolls moving while sandwiching the medium to eliminate static electricity; a static elimination power source that applies a static elimination voltage to at least one of the pair of static elimination rolls; a regulating means for passing through a non-contact portion formed in a part of the axial direction of the contact area of ​​the pair of static eliminating rolls and extending forward and backward in the moving direction of the medium to regulate the moving direction of the medium; A static eliminator comprising:

2. The static eliminator according to claim 1 , The static elimination device, wherein the regulating means is a bridging member that bridges between the front and rear fixing means across the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls.

3. The static eliminator according to claim 2, The static elimination device according to claim 1, wherein the fixing means comprises a pair of guide members that guide a moving path of the medium, and the bridging member is integrally formed with the pair of guide members.

4. The static eliminator according to claim 1 , The static elimination device is characterized in that the regulating means has opposing ring-shaped grooves in a portion of the axial direction of the surface of each of the pair of static elimination rolls, and passes between the grooves of the pair of static elimination rolls as the non-contact portion.

5. The static eliminator according to claim 4, The static eliminator, wherein the groove has a rectangular cross section.

6. The static eliminator according to claim 4, The static elimination device according to claim 1, wherein the regulating means is disposed so as not to protrude from the surface of the groove within the contact area of ​​the pair of static elimination rolls.

7. The static eliminator according to claim 1 , The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is made of an insulating material.

8. The static eliminator according to claim 1 , The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is formed to have a rectangular or circular cross section.

9. The static eliminator according to claim 1 , The static eliminator according to claim 1, wherein the regulating means is provided in an area through which all of the usable media pass.

10. The static eliminator according to claim 9, The medium moves with a center of a cross direction intersecting a moving direction of the medium as a reference line, The static eliminator is characterized in that the regulating means is disposed at a location including the reference line.

11. In the static elimination device according to claim 1, in an embodiment in which a plurality of pairs of static elimination rolls are provided in a moving direction of the medium, A static elimination device characterized in that the pair of static elimination rolls in each set are each provided with the regulating means, and the regulating means in each set are arranged biased in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the medium.

12. A processing means for performing a process involving charging a moving medium; The static eliminator according to any one of claims 1 to 11, which eliminates static electricity by passing the medium; A media processing system comprising:

Images