Sheet media supply and use device

Abstract

To provide a feeding device or the like for sheet-like media capable of preventing occurrence of double feeding of the sheet-like medium even when there is a medium in which a portion of a tip side at the time of carry-out bends upward in the sheet-like media loaded on a loading plate.SOLUTION: A feeding device comprises: a loading plate loading sheet-like media and moving vertically; a carry-out device carrying out an uppermost medium loaded on the loading plate to a conveyance part after making it adsorbed on a suction part to carry it out toward a supply destination; left and right side end air blasting part sending air to right and left side ends during carry-out of a loaded sheet-like medium on an upper position side; and a tip end air blasting part sending air from a position on the downstream side in a carry-out direction of the tip during carry-out of the uppermost sheet-like medium adsorbed on the suction part to a lower part of the uppermost sheet-like medium. A first operation is executed which distances a second upper sheet-like medium in which the tip during the carry-out bends upward downwardly from the adsorbed uppermost sheet-like medium when the uppermost sheet-like medium is adsorbed on the suction part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a sheet media supply and usage device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 describes a paper feeding device that includes a paper stacking table on which multiple papers are placed in a stacked state and is supported so that they can move up and down, a tip air blowing section with nozzles that blow air in a direction slightly inclined upward from the downstream direction of the paper feed direction, side end air blowing sections with nozzles for blowing air horizontally toward the paper from the left and right sides of the topmost paper located at the regulated height, a belt mechanism and a suction duct arranged inside the belt, an adsorption and feeding section that adsorbs and feeds the topmost paper, and a conveying section consisting of an insertion guide and conveying rollers that convey the paper fed by the adsorption and feeding section in the paper feed direction. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-222404 A (paragraphs 0020-0043, Figures 3, 4, etc.) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention provides a sheet media supplying device and a sheet media usage device that can prevent double feeding of sheet media even if some of the sheet media loaded on the loading plate has a leading edge that is curved upward when the media is discharged. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] This invention (1) comprises a loading plate which carries sheet media and moves up and down, a discharge device which adsorbs the top sheet media loaded on the loading plate to a suction section and then transports it to a transport section and discharges it to a destination, left and right side end air blowing sections which blow air to the left and right side ends of the topmost loaded sheet media when it is discharged, and a leading end air blowing section which blows air below the topmost sheet media from a position downstream in the discharge direction from the leading end of the topmost sheet media adsorbed to the suction section when it is discharged, The left and right side end blowers are composed of a plurality of side end blowers arranged at different positions in a conveying direction of the sheet-like medium, When the top sheet of media is attracted to the suction unit, a second side end blower that is closer to the leading edge of the sheet medium when the sheet medium is discharged, among the plurality of side end blowers, to weaken or stop blowing air; The action is performed Sheet media It is a supply device.

[0006] This invention (2) is, In the supply device of the above-mentioned invention (1), when the second action is performed, a third action of lowering the loading plate is performed. It is a supply device.

[0009] This invention ( 3 ) is the above invention (1) Or (2) sheet-like medium the supply device includes a stopper member that stops the movement of the sheet medium in the discharge direction by contacting a leading end of the sheet medium when the sheet medium is discharged at a position downstream of the stacking plate in the discharge direction, The second the third operation is an operation of moving the leading edge of the second top sheet of media at the time of conveyance below the upper end of the stopping member. Sheet media It is a supply device.

[0010] This invention (4) The above invention (2) Sheet media In the supply device, the third moving The work , the downstream end of the loading plate in the unloading direction Down It is the action of putting the body in a limp position. Sheet media It is a supply device.

[0011] This invention ( 5 ) is the above invention (1) to ( 4 ) Sheet media In the supply device, The second The operation or the third operation is performed when the humidity is 20% RH or less and the sheet-like medium is a paper medium having a basis weight of 106 gsm or less. Sheet media It is a supply device。

[0012] In addition, this invention ( 6 ) is provided with a sheet-like medium supplying device that conveys and supplies a loaded sheet-like medium to a supply destination, and a processing device that processes the sheet-like medium supplied from the supplying device, and the sheet-like medium supplying device is any one of the above inventions (1) to ( 5 ) Sheet media A sheet media user device is provided that includes a feeder. Effect of the Invention

[0013] The above invention (1 ) This makes it possible to prevent double feeding of sheet media even if some of the sheet media loaded on the loading plate have leading edge portions that are curved upward when the sheets are discharged. Furthermore, according to the above invention (1), it is easier to prevent double feeding of sheet media, compared to when the second operation is an operation that does not weaken or stop the airflow of the side end air blowing section that is closest to the leading edge of the sheet media when it is being transported out of the multiple side end air blowing sections.

[0014] The above invention ( 2) According to this, it becomes easier to ensure a sufficient gap between the leading edge of the top sheet of media sucked by the suction unit and the leading edge of the second-top sheet of media. 。

[0015] The above invention ( 3 ) according to , 2nd operation or This makes it easier to prevent double feeding of sheet media than when the third action is an action of moving the leading edge of the second-highest sheet media above the upper end of the restricting member when it is being transported.

[0016] The above invention (4) According to the third motion, The work , downstream side of the loading plate in the carrying-out direction End of of If the motion is not lowered In comparison, this makes it easier to prevent double feeding of sheet media.

[0017] The above invention ( 5 ) according to , 2nd operation orCompared to not executing the third operation when the humidity is 20% RH or less and the sheet medium is a paper medium having a basis weight of 106 gsm or less, it becomes easier to prevent double feeding of the paper medium when using a paper medium whose leading edge portion is likely to bend upward when being conveyed out. 。

[0018] The above invention ( 6 ), even if some of the sheet media loaded on the loading plate in the supply device have leading ends that are curved upward when they are removed, double feeding of the sheet media can be prevented, and the sheet media can be supplied to the processing device without double feeding. Furthermore, according to the above invention (6), the second operation in the supplying device can easily prevent double feeding of sheet media, compared to an operation that does not weaken or stop the airflow of the side end blowing section that is closest to the tip of the sheet media when it is being transported out of the multiple side end blowing sections, and the sheet media can be supplied to the processing device without double feeding. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a side view of a sheet-like medium using device according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a side view of a sheet medium supplying device according to a first embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the inside of the supply device as viewed from the side. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the inside of the supply device as viewed from above. [Diagram 5] 3 is a schematic diagram of a suction unit, a transport unit, and the like of the supply device as viewed obliquely from below. FIG. [Figure 6] 3 is a schematic diagram of a suction unit, a transport unit, and the like of the supply device as viewed from the side. FIG. [Figure 7] 1 is a schematic diagram of a suction unit and the like of a supplying device as viewed from the upstream side in a conveying direction. FIG. [Figure 8] 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a drive system of the supply device as viewed from above. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a control system of the supply device. [Figure 10] 13 is a schematic diagram of an example of a state of a normal supply operation of the supply device. FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a double-feed prevention control in the supplying device. [Figure 12] 12 is a schematic diagram of an example of a state of the supply operation when the double-feed prevention control in FIG. 11 is being executed. [Figure 13] FIG. 11 is a flowchart of double-feed prevention control in the feeding device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 14] 14 is a schematic diagram of an example of a state of the supply operation when the double-feed prevention control in FIG. 13 is executed. [Figure 15] 11A and 11B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of a state in which a double feeding occurs in the feeding device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0021] First embodiment. Fig. 1 shows a sheet-medium using device 100 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 2 shows a sheet-medium supplying device 1 according to the first embodiment. In the following description, the direction indicated by the arrow X in the drawings is the width direction of the device, the direction indicated by the arrow Y is the height direction of the device, and the direction indicated by the arrow Z is the depth direction of the device perpendicular to the width and height directions. The circle at the intersection of the arrows X and Z in the drawings indicates that the depth direction of the device (arrow Z) faces downward perpendicular to the drawing.

[0022] <Devices using sheet media> As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet media usage device 100 includes a sheet media supply device 1 that carries out and supplies stacked sheet media 9, and a processing device 120 that processes the sheet media 9 supplied from the supply device 1. The sheet medium 9 is a medium in a sheet form that can be stored and carried out by the supply device 1 and can be transported and processed by the processing device 120. Reference numeral 200 shown in Fig. 1 denotes an installation surface where the image forming system 100A and the like are installed.

[0023] This sheet-like medium using device 100 employs an image forming device 120A that forms an image on a sheet-like medium 9 as a processing device 120, and is configured as an image forming system 100A in which it is connected to and combined with a supplying device 1. As the sheet-like medium 9, a medium on which an image can be formed, such as paper cut to a predetermined size, coated paper, film, foil, sheet-like cloth, envelope, or the like, is used.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming device 120A, which is an example of a processing device 120, has a housing 121 having a required external shape, and inside the housing 121, an image forming unit 123A, which is an example of a processing unit 123 that forms an image on a sheet-like medium 9, a transport path Rt that transports the sheet-like medium 9 within the housing 121, and the like are arranged.

[0025] Image forming unit 123A is a portion configured by an image forming method such as electrophotography, ink recording, etc. Image forming unit 123A is not particularly limited in terms of its image forming method, arrangement, number, and other configurations. 1 is an introduction conveyance path that conveys the sheet medium 9 supplied from the supply device 1 to the image forming unit 123A, and is composed of conveyance rolls 125, a conveyance guide, etc. Rt2 is an output conveyance path that conveys the sheet medium 9 that has passed through the image forming unit 123A to a storage unit or post-processing unit (not shown), and is composed of conveyance rolls, a conveyance guide, etc. (not shown).

[0026] In this image forming system 100A, when a sheet medium 9 is supplied from a supply device 1 to an image forming device 120A, which is an example of a processing device 120, an image is formed on the supplied sheet medium 9 in the image forming device 120A.

[0027] <Sheet media supply device> As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the sheet medium supplying device 1 has a housing 10 which serves as a main body for accommodating and supplying a sheet medium 9.

[0028] The housing 10 is composed of a support frame that forms a required framework, exterior panels that form the exterior appearance, etc. The housing 10 is roughly divided into an upper portion 11, two upper and lower (upper and lower) supply units 12, 13 that exist below the upper portion 11, and an unloading unit 14 that exists at one end of the upper portion 11 and the supply units 12, 13, as shown in Figures 1 to 3.

[0029] As shown in Figures 1 to 4, both the upper supply section 12 and the lower supply section 13 are equipped with a container 17A, 17B such as a tray, loading sections 20A, 20B for loading sheet-like media 9, a lifting means 30 for raising and lowering the loading sections 20A, 20B up and down inside the containers 17A, 17B, and discharge means 40A, 40B for discharging the sheet-like media 9 loaded on the loading sections 20A, 20B respectively in the direction indicated by arrow D (discharging direction D) toward the discharge section 14.

[0030] First, the containers 17A and 17B are attached to the front side of the housing 10 (the upstream side in the device depth direction Z) so as to be removable. The containers 17A and 17B each have a side wall plate at an upstream end and a downstream end in the device depth direction Z, and are provided with a main body portion that is open in the device width direction X. A front wall portion 172 is attached to the side wall plate on the upstream side in the device depth direction Z, and an opening 175 for a handle is provided in an upper portion of the front wall portion 172.

[0031] Furthermore, the containers 17A and 17B are provided with a leading edge wall 173 that aligns and positions the leading edge 9s of the sheet-like media 9 loaded on the stackers 20A and 20B at one open end of the main body (downstream in the discharge direction D) that is downstream in the discharge direction D during discharge, and a moving device such as a slide rail or latch mechanism (not shown) that is provided between the left and right sides of the main body in the pull-out direction and the inner wall of the housing 10. A notched recess 173b is formed in the center of the upper end of the leading edge wall 173, as shown in Figures 4 and 7.

[0032] Next, the stacking sections 20A, 20B are composed of plate-like members (stack plates) on which a stacking surface 21 for stacking sheet-like media 9 is formed on the upper part, and are attached so as to be movable up and down inside the containers 17A, 17B.

[0033] Since the loading sections 20A and 20B have the same configuration, the loading section 20A will be described below as a representative unless otherwise necessary. 3, 4, etc., stacking unit 20A has hanging portions 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d protruding from left and right side ends that are the left and right sides when viewed from the downstream side in the discharge direction D of sheet-like media 9, and hanging portions 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d are guided along guide holes 174 provided in the side wall plates of the main body of container 17A, allowing stacking unit 20A to move up and down at least by the vertical length of guide hole 174.

[0034] 2 to 4, each loading surface 21 of the loading section 20A is provided with left and right side walls 25L, 25R and a rear end wall 26. Here, the left (L) and right (R) refer to the left and right sides when viewed from the upstream side in the discharge direction D as shown in FIG.

[0035] 4 and 5, the side walls 25L, 25R have contact surfaces 251 that come into contact with the left and right side edges of the sheet media 9, and the contact surfaces 251 align and position the left and right side edges of the sheet media 9 loaded on the loading surface 21 when the sheet media 9 is discharged, and guide the left and right side edges along the discharge direction D. The supply units 12, 13 employ a method in which the center position of the sheet media 9 in the feed width direction is used as the reference position during transport, a so-called center registration method. In this regard, the side walls 25L, 25R are provided so as to be entirely movable in the left and right directions L, R at the bottom of the containers 17A, 17B. On the other hand, rear end wall 26 has a contact surface that comes into contact with the rear end of sheet medium 9, and this contact surface aligns and positions the rear end of sheet medium 9 that is on the upstream side in the discharge direction D. For this reason, rear end wall 26 is provided so that its entirety can move relative to a slide groove formed in fixed surface portion 21A of stacking surface 21 along the discharge direction D.

[0036] As shown in Figures 3, 4, etc., the lifting means 30 includes four wires 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d, pulleys 32a, 32b, 32c, 32d and auxiliary pulleys 33a and 33b around which any of the wires 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d are passed, a left winding pulley 34L, a right winding pulley 34R, and a lifting drive device 37.

[0037] The four wires 31a, 31b, 31c, and 31d have their ends distributed and connected to hanging portions 22a, 22b, 22c, and 22d provided at four positions on the loading portion 20A, respectively. The hanging pulleys 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d are rotatably provided on the left and right side walls of the housing body 17A, one above the upper end of each guide hole 174. The auxiliary pulleys 33a and 33b are rotatably provided on the side walls of the housing body 17A so as to route the wires 31a and 31b between the hanging pulleys 32a and 32b and the left winding pulley 34L to follow a required path. The left winding pulley 34L is disposed on the bottom of the housing 17A so as to wind up the wires 31a and 31b arranged on the left side, and the right winding pulley 34R is disposed on the bottom of the housing 17A so as to wind up the wires 31c and 31d arranged on the right side.

[0038] The lifting drive device 37 is a drive device composed of a motor, a gear mechanism, etc., and can switch between forward and reverse rotation. The lifting drive device 37 is disposed at the rear side of the housing 10. One end of a rotating shaft 35, which is rotatably provided on the bottom surface of the housing 17A and has a left winding pulley 34L and a right winding pulley 34R attached thereto, is connected to the lifting drive device 37 via a detachable coupling mechanism 36.

[0039] The lifting means 30 rotates the lifting drive device 37 by a required amount in one required direction to wind up the wires 31a, 31b, 31c, and 31d, thereby moving the loading unit 20A upward. The lifting means 30 rotates the lifting drive device 37 by a required amount in the opposite direction to pay out the wires 31a, 31b, 31c, and 31d, thereby moving the loading unit 20A downward.

[0040] The lifting drive device 37 is controlled to operate using information detected by a height position sensor 71 that detects the position of the top of the sheet media 9 loaded on the loading unit 20A. Specifically, the lifting drive device 37 is stopped when it receives information that the position of the top of the sheet media 9 detected by the height position sensor 71 has reached a predetermined height position. The height position sensor 71 is disposed so as to detect the position (height position) of the top of the sheet media 9 as seen from a notch 173b in the leading end wall 173 of the container 17A, for example, as shown in Figures 3, 6, etc.

[0041] In addition, in the stacking section 20A, as shown in Figures 3, 4, 6, etc., left and right air outlets 50 are provided on the contact surfaces 251 of the side walls 25L, 25R, which constitute part of the left and right side end air blowing sections that blow air (send air) to the left and right side ends of the upper sheet-like media 9 stacked on the stacking sections 20A, 20B, respectively.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4 and other figures, the air outlets 50 include two air outlets 50A, 50B provided at an interval in the discharge direction D on the left side wall 25L, and two air outlets 50C, 50D provided at an interval in the discharge direction D on the right side wall 25R. Of these, the air outlets 50A and 50D are arranged at positions facing each other in the discharge direction D. The left air outlets 50A, 50B have an opening shape in which the blowing portion from which the air is actually blown out is elongated in the horizontal direction, for example. The right air outlets 50C, 50D have an opening shape in which the blowing portion from which the air is actually blown out is elongated in the vertical direction, for example.

[0043] As shown in Fig. 8, the air outlets 50A and 50B are connected to a left side end blower 61L constituting the remaining part of the left side end blower section arranged inside the left side wall 25L via a blower duct (not shown). On the other hand, the air outlets 50C and 50D are connected to a right side end blower 61R constituting the remaining part of the right side end blower section arranged inside the right side wall 25R via a blower duct (not shown). Each of the side end blowers 61L and 61R is provided with an on-off valve (not shown) for opening and closing the flow path in each blower duct.

[0044] When the sheet-like media 9 is adsorbed by the suction section 41 described later in the discharge means 40A, 40B, the left and right side end blowing sections blow air from the blowing openings 50A, 50B, 50C, 50D respectively to the left and right side ends of the uppermost multiple sheet-like media 9 stacked on the stacking surface 21. As a result, the uppermost sheet media 9T in the stacker 20A are lifted and separated in the vertical direction (see FIG. 8).

[0045] Furthermore, in the loading section 20A, as shown in Figures 3, 7, etc., a plurality of limiting means 55 are provided on the contact surfaces 251 of the side walls 25L, 25R to contact the upper surfaces of the left and right side ends of the sheet-like media 9 loaded on the loading sections 20A, 20B and limit them to the required height.

[0046] As shown in Figures 3, 4, etc., the restriction means 55 includes one restriction means 55A provided on the left side wall 25L at a position upstream of the air outlet 50A in the discharge direction D, and two restriction means 55B, 55C provided on both sides, downstream and upstream of the air outlet 50B in the discharge direction D. In addition, as shown in Figure 4 etc., the restriction means 55 includes one restriction means 55D provided on the right side wall 25R between the air outlet 50C and the air outlet 50D, and two restriction means 55E, 55F provided at a position downstream of the air outlet 50D in the discharge direction D.

[0047] As shown in Figure 4, etc., these limiting means 55A to 55F are configured, for example, using plate-shaped members that protrude a required length above each loading surface 21 of the loading sections 20A, 20B from a required height position of each contact surface 251 of the side walls 25L, 25R. 6 and 7, the contact surface 551 which is the lower surface of the limiting means 55A to 55F is at the same height as or higher than the height of the lowermost part 42d of the suction area VE which is the lowermost end of the frame body 42 in the suction unit 41 described later. The two-dot chain line VL in FIG. 6 etc. is an imaginary horizontal extension line passing through the lowermost part 42d of the frame body 42. Furthermore, the limiting means 55A to 55F are configured to be stored, for example, inside the side walls 25L, 25R and not to protrude from each contact surface 251 when sheet-like media 9 is being loaded onto each loading surface 21 of the loading sections 20A, 20B (when the loading section 20A, etc. is moved to the lowest position).

[0048] When air is blown from the air blowing ports 50 in the left and right side end blowing sections as described above, the upper side of the plurality of sheet-like media 9T is lifted up by the restricting means 55A to 55F. The left and right side edges of the uppermost plurality of floating sheets of media 9T (actually the uppermost sheet of media 9A) are pressed from above. As a result, in the stacking unit 20A, the floating sheet media 9T is stopped at a required height on the stacking surface 21 of the stacking unit 20A.

[0049] 4 to 6, two stopping members 176 are provided in the container 17A at a position downstream of the recess 173b of the leading edge wall 173 in the discharge direction D to stop the levitating sheet medium 9T from moving inadvertently in the discharge direction D. The stopping members 176 are, for example, made of a plate-like member, and are provided such that their upper ends are within the recess 173b of the leading edge wall 173 and protrude upward from the upper end of the leading edge wall 173 by a predetermined length.

[0050] As shown in Figures 2, 3, 5, etc., the above-mentioned discharge means 40A, 40B are equipped with a suction section 41 that adsorbs and transports the topmost sheet of media 9 among the sheet media 9 loaded on the stacking sections 20A, 20B, respectively, a transport section 45 that transports the sheet of media 9 adsorbed and transported by the suction section 41, a tip blowing section that blows air below the topmost sheet of media 9A adsorbed to the suction section 41, and a guide member (not shown) that constitutes the first discharge path Rh1 described later.

[0051] Of these, the suction section 41 is positioned facing each loading surface 21 of the loading sections 20A, 20B at an upper position inside the tip wall 173 at the downstream end of the containers 17A, 17B in the discharge direction D, as shown in Figures 3 to 8, etc. The suction section 41 is configured as a suction head including a cubic frame 42 that is hollow and has an open lower surface, a suction plate 43 that is provided at an inner position slightly shifted upward from the lower opening of the frame 42 and has a plurality of intake ports 43a arranged in a required pattern, and a plurality of branch intake pipes 44a that are branched and connected to the plurality of intake ports 43a. The suction head is connected to a suction duct or pipe 44 that is connected to the plurality of branch intake pipes 44a, and a suction drive device 63 that sucks air through the suction duct or pipe 44.

[0052] The suction unit 41 operates the suction drive device 63 to generate a suction force in the suction plate 43 of the suction head, thereby adsorbing the sheet medium 9 in a state of contact with the lower side portion 42a of the frame 42. 4 and 5, the suction unit 41 has a rectangular surface area surrounded by the lower side 42a of its frame 42 as an adsorption area VE. The adsorption area VE of the suction unit 41 in this embodiment is an area having an area facing a part near the end on the downstream side of the carrying-out direction D on each of the loading surfaces 21 of the loading units 20A and 20B and approximately the center in the left-right directions L and R intersecting with the carrying-out direction D.

[0053] In addition, as shown in Figures 5, 6, 7, etc., the suction section 41 is configured to move forward and backward in the directions of the dashed double arrows J1 and J2 along the discharge direction D at a position upstream of the conveying section 45 in the discharge direction D.

[0054] First, the suction unit 41 is attached such that the support portion 42b at the upper portion of the frame body 42 is movably attached to two guide rails 415 arranged above the support portion 42b in a state parallel to the discharge direction D. The guide rails 415 are provided on a support frame 418 arranged and fixed to the internal frame 19, which is a part of the housing 10. In addition, in the suction unit 41, a connection part 42c at the upper part of the frame 42 is fixed to a part of a moving belt 417 which is looped around a pair of pulleys 416A, 416B arranged separately on the upstream side and downstream side of the conveying direction D above the guide rail 415 and driven a required distance in a required direction. One of the pulleys, 416B, receives rotational power in the forward and reverse directions from a forward and backward driving device 64 composed of a motor, a transmission mechanism, etc., as shown in Fig. 6, and is rotated in a required direction.

[0055] When suctioning the sheet medium 9, the suction unit 41 stops at a position (suction position) where the suction area VE faces the stacking surface 21 of the stacking unit 20A. Next, after the suction is completed, the suction unit 41 operates the forward / backward drive device 64 to move the moving belt 417, thereby moving forward to a position (transfer position) where the leading edge 9s of the uppermost sheet medium 9A that has approached and been adsorbed by the conveyance unit 45 is handed over to the conveyance unit 45. Next, after the handover is completed, the suction unit 41 operates the forward / backward drive device 64 to move the moving belt 417, thereby moving backward from the handover position back to the suction position.

[0056] Next, the transport unit 45 is disposed at a position downstream of the suction unit 41 in the unloading direction D and on the outer side downstream of the tip walls 173 of the containers 17A, 17B in the unloading direction D.

[0057] As shown in Figures 5 and 6, this conveying section 45 is composed of a pair of conveying rolls consisting of a driving conveying roll 46 having multiple roll portions attached to a rotating shaft 461 and a driven conveying roll 47 that contacts the lower part of the driving conveying roll 46 and rotates in response, and a conveying guide member (not shown) that forms a passage space of the first discharge path Rh1.

[0058] As shown in Figure 5, a pair of conveying rolls consisting of a driving conveying roll 46 and a driven conveying roll 47 are arranged so that each roll portion falls within the left-right range of the recess 173b in the tip wall 173 when viewed from the upstream side in the discharge direction D. As shown in FIG. 8, the drive conveying roll 46 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow (see FIG. 6) during the unloading operation by the rotational power transmitted to the rotating shaft 461 from the unloading drive device 66 composed of a motor, a gear transmission mechanism, etc. The symbol 452 in Figure 5 indicates an introduction guide member that guides the leading edge 9s of the sheet-like medium 9, which is adsorbed and transported by the suction section 41, between the rolls of the transport section 45 (the contact area between the drive transport roll 46 and the driven transport roll 47) when the sheet-like medium 9 is transported by the suction section 41.

[0059] The transport unit 45 starts rotating upon receiving detection information from a front stage position sensor 72A that detects the passage of the leading edge 9s of the sheet medium 9 when it is discharged while being sucked by the suction unit 41 and transported to the transport unit 45, and stops rotating upon receiving detection information from a rear stage position sensor 72B that detects the passage of the trailing edge of the sheet medium 9 when it is discharged after being sent out from the transport unit 45. However, the transport unit 45 can also be configured to continue driving while the sheet medium supply operation is being performed. 6 and 8, the previous stage position sensor 72A is disposed in a position adjacent to the upstream side of a pair of transport rolls consisting of the driving transport roll 46 and the driven transport roll 47 in the discharge direction D. The subsequent stage position sensor 72B is disposed in a position adjacent to the downstream side of the pair of transport rolls consisting of the driving transport roll 46 and the driven transport roll 47 in the discharge direction D. For example, an optical non-contact sensor is used as both the previous stage position sensor 72A and the subsequent stage position sensor 72B.

[0060] Next, as shown in Figures 4 to 6 and 8, the tip blowing section is equipped with an air nozzle 48 having an outlet 48a for blowing out air, and an air guide plate 49 for guiding the air blown out from the outlet 48a in the required direction.

[0061] The air nozzle 48 is disposed at a position downstream in the discharge direction D of the leading edge 9As of the uppermost sheet medium 9A adsorbed to the suction unit 41 at the time of discharge and of the leading edge wall 173. The air nozzle 48 is disposed with the blowing outlet 48a facing upstream in the discharge direction D from the gap between the driving conveying roll 46 and the driven conveying roll 47, which are a pair of conveying rolls in the conveying unit 45, and is configured to blow air obliquely upward in the discharge direction D from the blowing outlet 48a. As shown in Figs. 6 and 8, air nozzle 48 is connected to tip air blower 65 which blows air through air passage 48b connected to outlet 48a via a blower duct (not shown).

[0062] As shown in Fig. 6, the air guide plate 49 is a plate-like member having a guide recess 49a with a curved surface that convex upwards on its underside. As shown by the curved arrow with a thick dashed line in Fig. 10, the guide recess 49a guides the air blown out from the outlet 48a of the air nozzle 48 so as to move downwardly toward the uppermost sheet medium 9A sucked by the suction unit 41. The air guide plate 49 is attached to the side portion downstream in the discharge direction D of the frame 42 of the suction unit 41. As a result, the air guide plate 49 moves in accordance with the forward and backward movement of the suction unit 41.

[0063] The air nozzle 48 of the tip blower starts and stops blowing air at the required timing when the tip blower device 65 starts upon receiving information that the suction operation of the suction unit 41 has started, for example.

[0064] As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the discharge section 14 has a first discharge path Rh1 for discharging to the outside the sheet medium 9 discharged from the upper supply section 12 by discharge means 40A, and a second discharge path Rh2 for discharging to the outside the sheet medium 9 discharged from the lower supply section 13 by discharge means 40B.

[0065] The first discharge path Rh1 and the second discharge path Rh2 are discharge transport paths that are arranged to merge along the way to ultimately reach the discharge roll 142 of the discharge outlet 18 provided on the other side 10B of the housing 10, and each of them is composed of a pair of transport rolls shown by dashed lines, a transport guide member not shown, etc.

[0066] 3 and 9, the supply device 1 is provided with a control device 15 that controls the supply device 1. The control device 15 is configured to include a central processing unit (CPU, etc.), a read-only memory (ROM), a read / write memory (RAM), an input / output device, etc. The control device 15 is not limited to being equipped in the supply device 1, but may be equipped in the image forming system 100A that uses the supply device 1 in combination, or may be configured as a part of the control device in the image forming system 100A.

[0067] The control device 15 is connected to an operation display device 16 including a liquid crystal panel for displaying various information related to input of operational settings and operation status, a communication unit 17 for communicating with an external connection terminal used in connection with the image forming system 100A, and detectors including various sensors to acquire information necessary for control. Examples of the detectors include the height sensor 71, the front stage position sensor 72A, the rear stage position sensor 72B, and the environmental sensor 73 for detecting environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity inside the housing 10 of the supply device 1. Furthermore, the control device 15 is connected to drive control circuits for the lifting drive device 37 in the lifting means 30, the left and right side end blowers 61L, 61R in the left and right side end blower sections, the suction drive device 63 and the advance / retract drive device 64 in the suction section 41, the tip blower 65 in the tip blower section, and the discharge drive device 66 in the conveying section 45, as objects to be controlled.

[0068] The control device 15 operates such that the central processing unit takes in the input setting information from the operation display device 16 and various detection information from the detectors, performs calculations according to various programs and data pre-stored in the read-only memory, and sends the required control signals to the controlled objects. The control device 15 is also configured to perform double-feed prevention control, which will be described later.

[0069] <Sheet media supply operation> Next, the operation of feeding sheet medium 9 by this sheet medium feeding device 1 will be described.

[0070] In the supply device 1, when the control device 15 receives a supply operation command from an external connection terminal or the image forming system 100A, a series of supply operations are executed after it is confirmed that the required sheet media 9 are stored in the storage units 12, 13. Here, the supply operations will be described using the upper supply unit 12 as a representative.

[0071] First, in the upper supply unit 12, the lifting means 30A starts to move the stacking unit 20A upward. As a result, inside the container 17A, the stacking unit 20A is moved upward until the top of the sheet media 9 stacked on the stacking surface 21 of the stacking unit 20A reaches the required supply preparation height while referring to the detection information of the height sensor 71, as illustrated in Fig. 10. At this time, the stacking surface 21 of the stacking unit 20A is raised to a height position h1 corresponding to the supply preparation height and stops.

[0072] Next, in the loading section 20A, when the upward movement of the loading section 20A to the supply preparation height is completed, the left and right side end blowers 61L, 61R in the left and right side end blowers on the left and right side walls 25L, 25R start to start the floating operation of the sheet-like medium 9, and the suction drive device 63 in the suction section 41 of the conveying means 40A starts to start the suction operation.

[0073] At this time, in the stacking section 20A, a required amount of air is blown out from the air outlets 50A, 50B, 50C, 50D in the left and right side walls 25L, 25R, respectively, and is blown onto the left and right side edges of the uppermost sheet media 9T among the sheet media 9 stacked on the stacking surface 21. As a result, the uppermost sheet media 9T are lifted upward by the inflow of air from the left and right side edges, and are separated from each other in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG.

[0074] At this time, the upper surfaces of the left and right ends of the uppermost sheet medium 9A of the multiple levitated sheet media 9T come into contact with the contact surfaces 551 of the limiting means 55A to 55F, preventing further upward movement, and the height of the multiple levitated sheet media 9T is restricted to approximately the same height as the height of the lowermost portion 42d in the adsorption area VE.

[0075] At this time, in the loading section 20A, a required suction force (indicated by a hollow arrow) is generated by the suction plate 43 of the suction section 41 which is stopped at a suction position where the suction work is performed. As a result, the sheet medium 9A that is at the top of the multiple levitated sheet media 9T is attracted to and adsorbed by the suction area VE, which is surrounded by the lower end of the frame 42 in the suction section 41 and is in a negative pressure state, as illustrated in Figure 10.

[0076] At this time, the topmost sheet of media 9A is slightly raised and adsorbed by the suction portion 41, so that a gap is created between it and the second-highest sheet of media 9B below it, as shown in FIG. In addition, since the leading edge 9As of the uppermost adsorbed sheet medium 9A during discharge does not face the adsorption area VE, it is left free in a position away from the adsorption area VE downstream in the discharge direction D and close to the base side of the lower surface of the air guide plate 49 attached to the frame 42.

[0077] Next, when the suction of the top sheet-like medium 9A to the suction section 41 is completed, the tip blowing device 65 in the tip blowing section starts to start the separation operation of the adsorbed top sheet-like medium 9A from the other sheet-like media 9, and the forward / backward drive device 64 in the suction section 41 starts to start the forward movement of the suction section 41 toward the conveying section 45.

[0078] At this time, in the tip blowing section, as illustrated by the thick dashed arrow in Figure 10, the required air is blown out from the outlet 48a of the air nozzle 48 diagonally upward upstream in the discharge direction D, and the air is guided by the guide recess 49a of the air guide plate 49 and sent toward the space below the uppermost sheet of media 9A adsorbed by the suction section 41. This causes the air to be blown into and move between the topmost sheet of media 9A and the second-highest sheet of media 9B, with the result that the second-highest sheet of media 9B is moved downward and away from the topmost sheet of media 9A, becoming separated therefrom.

[0079] At this time, in the discharge means 40A, the suction unit 41 moves forward from the suction position to the delivery position. As a result, the uppermost sheet medium 9A adsorbed by the suction unit 41 approaches the conveying unit 45 located downstream in the discharge direction D and is delivered to the conveying unit 45. In other words, the leading edge 9As of the sheet medium 9A adsorbed and conveyed by the suction unit 41 is introduced into the contact portion between the driving conveying roll 46 and the driven conveying roll 47, which is between a pair of rolls in the conveying unit 45.

[0080] Furthermore, at this time, when the previous stage position sensor 72A detects the passage of the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet medium 9A to be delivered, the conveying section 45 of the discharge means 40A starts the discharge drive device 66 and the discharge operation of the sheet medium 9 is started.

[0081] As a result, the topmost sheet-like medium 9A handed over from the suction section 41 is clamped and transported between the driving transport roll 46 and the driven transport roll 47 in the transport section 45, and is transported out of the stacking section 20A and the container 17A and sent into the first transport path Rh1. At this time, the sheet-like medium 9A being conveyed moves in the conveying direction D while being guided by its left and right side ends contacting the contact surfaces 251 of the left and right side walls 25L, 25R, so that the sheet-like medium 9A is conveyed in a normal state without being inclined when being conveyed out. On the other hand, when the leading edge 9s of the uppermost sheet medium 9A is introduced between the driving transport roll 46 and the driven transport roll 47 in the transport section 45, the suction drive device 63 in the suction section 41 stops operating and the suction operation ends.

[0082] At this time, when the rear stage position sensor 72B detects the passage of the rear end of the top sheet medium 9A to be discharged, the discharge drive device 66 stops operating and the discharge operation ends. Also, when the rear stage position sensor 72B detects the passage of the rear end of the top sheet medium 9A to be discharged, the suction unit 41 moves backward and returns from the delivery position to the suction position.

[0083] As a result of the above, the topmost sheet medium 9A from the upper supply section 12 is discharged from the discharge outlet 18 via the first discharge path Rh1, and then supplied to the destination image forming device 120A (the first introduction conveying path Rt1).

[0084] In the supply device 1, the sheet-like medium 9 loaded in the stacking section 20B is also discharged from the discharge outlet 18 via the second discharge path Rh2 from the lower supply section 13 in a manner similar to the above-mentioned supply operation in the upper supply section 12, and then supplied to the destination. Furthermore, in the image forming system 100A, when a sheet medium 9 is supplied from the supply device 1 to an image forming device 120A, which is an example of a processing device 120, an image is formed on the sheet medium 9.

[0085] However, in this supply device 1, as shown in Figure 15, if the leading end 9s of the sheet-like media 9 loaded on the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20A, etc. is curved upward when the sheet-like media 9 is discharged, and that upwardly curved sheet-like media 9 is present among the sheet-like media 9 below the second-highest one, including the second-highest one 9B, the topmost sheet-like media 9A adsorbed to the suction section 41 may be fed in a double-feed, including at least the second-highest curved sheet-like media 9B.

[0086] In detail, when there is an upwardly curved sheet of media 9 below, including the second-top sheet of media 9B, as shown in FIG. 15, for example, the leading edge 9Bs of the upwardly curved portion 9Bc of the second-top sheet of media 9B approaches the leading edge 9As of the uppermost sheet of media 9A that is adsorbed, resulting in a small gap between the two. As a result, the air blown from the air nozzle 48 in the tip blowing section is not sent between the tip 9As of the topmost adsorbed sheet medium 9A and the tip 9Bs of the second-highest sheet medium 9B, as illustrated by the thick dashed arrow in Figure 15, but is more likely to get in between, for example, the second-highest sheet medium 9B and the third-highest 9C. As a result, the second-highest sheet-like medium 9B is lifted by the air and approaches the topmost sheet-like medium 9B, and is not sufficiently separated from the topmost sheet-like medium 9B.As the suction section 41 moves forward from the suction position to the delivery position, it is carried to the conveying section 45 together with the topmost sheet-like medium 9A and delivered, resulting in double feeding.

[0087] <Further configuration of the supply device> Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, when the topmost sheet of media 9A is adsorbed by the suction section 41 during the supply operation, the supply device 1 is configured to execute a first operation of moving the curved leading end portion 9Ak of ​​the second-top sheet of media 9B, whose leading end portion 9Ak is curved upward when discharged, downward away from the adsorbed topmost sheet of media 9A.

[0088] The first operation is a control operation for preventing double feeding. In the present embodiment, the first operation is an operation (second operation) in which, when the uppermost sheet medium 9A is sucked by the suction unit 41, the blowing force of the left and right side end blowing units is weakened more than usual.

[0089] Here, the above-mentioned air blowing during normal operation refers to air blowing at a level of air volume or speed that is applied when floating the upper sheet medium 9T during the suction work in the supply operation.

[0090] Moreover, weakening the airflow from the side end blowers compared to normal means weakening the levitation force used to levitate the upper sheet of media 9T during the suction operation. The degree to which the air blowing is weakened at this time is to reduce the wind force (air volume or wind speed) to a level that makes it possible to move (descend) the second-highest sheet of medium 9B, which has an upwardly curved portion 9Ak, downward, so that a gap large enough to easily allow air blown from the air nozzle 48 in the tip blowing section via the air guide plate 49 to enter between the tip 9As of the top sheet of medium 9A and the tip 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of medium 9B is created.

[0091] In addition, from the viewpoint of making it easier to obtain the air blown from the tip blowing section, the degree to which the air blowing from the side end blowing section is to be weakened compared to normal should be set based on a guideline of a wind force level that enables the second-highest sheet of medium 9B, which has an upwardly curved portion 9Ak, to be lowered until its tip 9Bs reaches a position lower than the height hx of the upper end 176t of the restraining member 176 (see Figure 6).

[0092] The operation of weakening the airflow of the side-end blowers is performed by decreasing the drive speed of the left and right side-end blowers 61L, 61R in the left and right side-end blowers and by decreasing the opening degree of the on-off valve.

[0093] Moreover, the double-feed prevention control that performs the first operation is executed when the prevention control is necessary. As information that requires preventive control, for example, information that indicates that the leading edge portion 9k of the stacked sheet media 9 is curved upward is used.

[0094] The information required for double-feed prevention control can be information obtained from a leading edge upward bending detection sensor 74 (see FIG. 9) that detects whether the leading edge of the stacked sheet media 9 is curved upward. Ta It is composed of a plurality of sensors (displacement sensors, etc.) capable of detecting the distance, specifically, the distance to the top surface of the uppermost sheet medium 9A.

[0095] When using the detection information of the leading-edge upward bending detection sensor 74, the information when the leading edge portion 9Bk of the second-highest sheet medium 9B is detected to be curved upward is used as the information requiring the prevention control. In this case, the leading-edge upward bending detection sensor 74 is connected to the control device 15 as a part of the detector as shown in FIG.

[0096] The double-feed prevention control for performing such a first operation is configured to be executed as one of the control operations of the control device 15. 11, while the supplying operation is being performed by the supplying device 1, the control device 15 is configured to check whether there is information requiring prevention control, and when the control device 15 acquires information requiring prevention control, the control device 15 is configured to perform control to execute the first operation after acquiring information that the suction operation of the uppermost sheet medium 9A to the suction unit 41 has been completed. The control device 15 is also configured to terminate the first operation when, for example, it receives information indicating that the leading end portion of the sheet medium 9 is not curved upward from the detection information of the leading end upward curvature detection sensor 74, and then to perform an operation to return to the state before the first operation was performed. The program and data for executing this double-feed prevention control are stored in advance in a read-only memory.

[0097] <Double-feed prevention control> In the supply device 1 capable of performing this double-feed prevention control, when the supply operation of the sheet-like medium 9 is performed, as shown in FIG. 11, the control device 15 checks whether there is information that requires double-feed prevention control.

[0098] In this supply device 1, when the control device 15 receives information indicating that double-feed prevention control is required, such as information from the leading-edge upward curvature detection sensor 74 that detects that the leading-edge portion 9Bk of the second-highest sheet-like medium 9B is curved upward, the first operation is executed.

[0099] The first operation at this time is started when the control device 15 obtains information that the uppermost sheet medium 9A has been sucked into the suction unit 41. The first operation is an operation (second operation) of weakening the airflow from the left and right side-end blowing sections compared to normal, and is therefore executed by the control device 15 as control to reduce the opening degree of the opening / closing valves of the air blowing ducts provided in conjunction with the left and right side-end blowers 61L, 61R in the left and right side-end blowing sections, or control to reduce the output of the side-end blowers 61L, 61R.

[0100] As a result, in the feeder 1, when the uppermost sheet medium 9A is sucked by the suction unit 41, the air blown from the air blowing openings 50 of the left and right side end air blowing units becomes weaker. As a result, in the supply device 1, the multiple sheet media 9T (see FIG. 15) that had been floating in the stacker 20A until then will drop slightly due to the reduced floating effect as illustrated in FIG. 12. At this time, the second-highest sheet medium 9B will drop entirely, but in particular the tip end portion 9Bk that is curved upward will move downward away from the uppermost sheet medium 9A that has been attracted to the suction unit 41.

[0101] As a result, a gap is secured between the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet of media 9A that has been adsorbed and the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of media 9B, as shown in Fig. 12. When the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of media 9B descends to a position lower than the upper end 176t of the stopping member 176, a more sufficient gap is secured between the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet of media 9A.

[0102] The first operation at this time ends when the control device 15 obtains information indicating that the leading end portion of the sheet medium 9 is not curved upward, for example, from detection information from the leading end upward curvature detection sensor 74. When the first operation is completed, the supplying device 1 starts blowing air from the air nozzle 48 at the tip blowing section.

[0103] At this time, air from the air nozzle 48 is sent between the topmost sheet of media 9A and the second-highest sheet of media 9B, as shown by the dashed double-dashed arrow in Figure 12. As a result, the second-highest sheet of media 9B becomes sufficiently separated from the topmost sheet of media 9A due to the inflow of air. Therefore, when the suction section 41 moves forward toward the conveying section 45 to deliver the topmost sheet-like medium 9A that it has adsorbed, there is no risk that the second-top sheet-like medium 9B will be carried along with the topmost sheet-like medium 9A and delivered to the conveying section 45.

[0104] Therefore, in this supply device 1, even if the second-highest sheet medium 9B among the sheet media 9 loaded on the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20A has a leading end portion 9Bk that is curved upward when unloaded, the second-highest sheet medium 9B is transferred to the conveying section 45 together with the topmost sheet medium 9A, thereby preventing double feeding.

[0105] In addition, in this supply device 1, as the first operation, an operation (second operation) is performed in which the air blowing from the left and right side end air blowing sections is weakened below normal. Compared to performing other first operations, therefore, it is only necessary to perform the operation of weakening the air blowing below normal. This makes it possible to easily move the upwardly curved tip portion 9Bc of the second-top sheet of medium 9B downward away from the uppermost sheet of medium 9A adsorbed by the suction section 41 while suppressing a decrease in the supply efficiency of the sheet-like medium 9.

[0106] Furthermore, in this supplying device 1, the first operation is initiated when the tip upward curvature detection sensor 74 detects that the tip side portion 9Bc of the second-highest sheet of media 9B is curved upward. Therefore, compared to a case in which the first operation is not executed when such detection information is obtained, the first operation is executed at a time when double feeding of sheet media 9 is likely to occur, and double feeding is appropriately prevented.

[0107] Second embodiment. FIG. 13 shows a part of the sheet medium supplying device 1 according to the second embodiment (the configuration relating to the double-feed prevention control). The supply device 1 according to the second embodiment is different from the supply device 1 according to the first embodiment in that the first operation in the double-feed prevention control is changed, and other than that, the configuration is the same. Therefore, in the following explanation and drawings, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted unless necessary.

[0108] In the double-feed prevention control in the second embodiment, the first operation is to lower the stacking sections 20A and 20B, which are examples of stacking plates, below their normal positions when the top sheet media 9A is adsorbed by the suction section 41 (third operation).

[0109] Here, the normal position is the height position h1 of the loading surface 21 when the loading section 20A etc. is raised and stopped when performing the suction work in the supply operation.

[0110] In addition, the degree to which the sheet is lowered from its normal position at this time is to a height position (h2) of the stacking surface 21 that enables the second-highest sheet of medium 9B, which has an upwardly curved portion 9Ak, to be moved downward (lowered) so that a gap large enough to easily allow air blown from the air nozzle 48 in the tip blowing section via the air guide plate 49 to enter between the tip 9As of the top sheet of medium 9A and the tip 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of medium 9B is created. As for the degree to which the air is to be lowered from the normal position, similarly to the degree to which the airflow is weakened in the first embodiment, it is advisable to set the height of the stacking surface 21 at which the second-highest sheet of media 9B, which has an upwardly curved portion 9Ak, can be lowered until its tip 9Bs reaches a position lower than the height hx of the upper end 176t of the restraining member 176 (see Figure 6).

[0111] The operation of lowering the loading section 20A etc. is performed by operating the lifting drive device 37 in the lifting means 30 so as to move the loading plate downward by a required amount. Also, other configurations related to the double-feed prevention control that performs the first operation consisting of the third operation are substantially the same as the configurations of the double-feed prevention control in the first embodiment.

[0112] <Double-feed prevention control> In the supply device 1 of the second embodiment, when the supply operation of the sheet medium 9 is performed, as shown in FIG. 13, the control device 15 checks whether there is information that requires double-feed prevention control, and if the information is obtained, the first operation is executed.

[0113] The first operation at this time is an operation (third operation) of lowering the loading section 20A etc. below its normal position, and therefore the control device 15 executes control to operate the lifting drive device 37 so as to move the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20A etc. downward to a predetermined height position h2.

[0114] As a result, in the supplying device 1, with the uppermost sheet medium 9A being sucked by the suction unit 41, the stacking unit 20A moves downward to a predetermined height position h2 and stops there. As a result, in the supply device 1, the multiple sheet media 9T (see FIG. 15) that had been floating in the stacking section 20A drop slightly as the stacking section 20A moves downward, as illustrated in FIG. 14. At this time, air is being blown from the air outlet 50 of the side end blowing section as normal, so the floating upper sheet media 9T do not drop until they overlap the sheet media 9 remaining on the stacking surface 21 that has moved downward. Meanwhile, even at this time, the second-highest sheet media 9B drops in its entirety, but in particular the tip end portion 9Bk that is curved upward is moved downward away from the uppermost sheet media 9A that has been adsorbed by the suction section 41.

[0115] As a result, a gap is secured between the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet of media 9A that has been adsorbed and the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of media 9B, as shown in Fig. 14. When the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet of media 9B also descends to a position lower than the upper end 176t of the stopping member 176, a more sufficient gap is secured between the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet of media 9A.

[0116] When the first operation is completed, air is blown from the air nozzle 48 in the tip blower of the supplying device 1. At this time, air from the air nozzle 48 is sent between the topmost sheet of media 9A and the second-highest sheet of media 9B, as shown by the dashed double-dashed arrow in Figure 14. As a result, the second-highest sheet of media 9B becomes sufficiently separated from the topmost sheet of media 9A due to the inflow of air. Therefore, when the suction section 41 moves forward toward the conveying section 45 to deliver the topmost sheet-like medium 9A that it has adsorbed, there is no risk that the second-top sheet-like medium 9B will be carried along with the topmost sheet-like medium 9A and delivered to the conveying section 45.

[0117] Therefore, even in this supply device 1, even if the second-top sheet medium 9B, whose leading end portion 9Bk is curved upward when unloaded, is among the sheet media 9 loaded on the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20A, the second-top sheet medium 9B is transferred to the conveying section 45 together with the top sheet medium 9A, thereby preventing double feeding.

[0118] In addition, in this supply device 1, as the first operation, an operation (third operation) of lowering the stacking section 20A below its normal position is performed. Compared to performing other first operations, since an operation of physically lowering the stacking section 20A is performed, the upwardly curved tip portion 9Bc of the second-top sheet of media 9B can be easily moved downward away from the topmost sheet of media 9A adsorbed by the suction section 41.

[0119] Variations. The present invention is not limited to the configuration examples exemplified in the above-described embodiments, but also includes, for example, the following modified examples.

[0120] For the second operation as the first operation in the first embodiment, an operation of temporarily stopping the air blowing from the side-end blower section may be adopted.

[0121] When this second operation is adopted, the upper sheet media 9T that was floating is no longer subjected to the floating action at all, and if the stop time is long enough, it will descend to the extent that it overlaps with the stacking surface 21 of the stacking section 20A or the sheet media 9 that is not floating and is stacked on the stacking surface 21. Therefore, in the supplying device 1, when double feed prevention control is executed, a sufficient gap is ensured between the leading edge 9As of the uppermost adsorbed sheet media 9A and the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet media 9B.

[0122] In addition, the third operation as the first operation in the second embodiment may be configured to perform an operation of lowering the loading section 20A below its normal position, as well as an operation of weakening the airflow from the side end air blowing section below normal or an operation of stopping the airflow.

[0123] In this configuration, when the stacking unit 20A is lowered below its normal position, the floating action of the uppermost sheet-like medium 9T is weakened or eliminated, so that the sheet-like medium 9T is lowered more reliably. Therefore, when the feeding device 1 executes the double-feed prevention control, it becomes easier to ensure a sufficient gap between the leading edge 9As of the topmost sheet-like medium 9A that has been adsorbed and the leading edge 9Bs of the second-highest sheet-like medium 9B.

[0124] In addition, in the first embodiment, an example is shown of a case where the second operation is to weaken the airflow from the side end blowing section compared to normal, by weakening all of the airflow from the multiple air outlets 50A, 50B, 50C, and 50D that constitute part of the side end blowing section. However, for the second operation, it may be configured so that only the airflow from the air outlets 50 closest to the leading edge 9s of the stacked sheet-like media 9 when being discharged, among the multiple air outlets 50 arranged at different positions on the left and right sides in the discharge direction D (the set of air outlets 50A, 50B arranged on the left and the set of air outlets 50D, 50E arranged on the right side), is weakened more than usual or the airflow is stopped. In the case of the side end air blowing section in the first embodiment, for example, only the right air outlet 50C is the target of the second operation.

[0125] In this configuration, when the second operation is performed, the levitation effect of the side end blower on at least the leading end portion including the leading end 9s of the levitated uppermost sheet medium 9T is reduced or eliminated, so that only the leading end portion drops downward. Therefore, in the supply device 1, when the double feed prevention control is performed, a gap is secured between the leading end 9As of the topmost sheet medium 9A that is adsorbed and the leading end 9Bs of the second-highest sheet medium 9B. Therefore, in this case, even if the stacked sheet medium 9 includes a sheet medium with a leading end portion that curves upward, double feeding of the sheet medium 9 is easily prevented. This modification can also be applied to the modification of the second embodiment (a configuration example in which an operation to weaken the airflow of the side-end air blowing section compared to normal or an operation to stop the airflow are added).

[0126] Furthermore, in each of the above-described embodiments, the configuration example has been taken up in which the detection information of the leading-end upward curvature detection sensor 74 is used as the information necessary for performing the double-feed prevention control including the first operation. However, the information for which double-feed prevention control is required may also be other than the above, for example, when sheet media 9 loaded on the stacker 20 or the like have a leading edge portion that curves upward, information indicating the presence of sheet media 9 having a leading edge portion that curves upward or information for selecting double-feed prevention control, which may be input by the user, and the input information may be the input information. The user may be configured to input the information via the operation and display device 16 or an externally connected terminal.

[0127] In addition, information that requires double-feed prevention control can also be information that the environmental condition is one in which the humidity is 20% RH or less, or information that the supplied sheet medium 9 is a paper medium having a basis weight of 106 gsm or less, etc. In particular, when the information required for double-feed prevention control is configured to be information that the environment is dry with a humidity of 20% RH or less and that the sheet medium 9 is a paper medium having a basis weight of 106 gsm or less, thin paper will be used, which is a paper medium whose leading edge tends to curve upward when transported, making it easier to prevent double-feeding of the paper medium.

[0128] In addition, as the first operation in the double-feed prevention control, an operation (fourth operation) may be adopted in which the downstream end of the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20 in the discharge direction D is lowered below the normal position (height position h1). When such a fourth operation is adopted, measures for lowering the relevant end of the loading surface 21 of the loading section 20 can be implemented by using the lifting means 30 to move the relevant end of the loading section 20 downward to a position lower than its normal position so that the entire loading surface 21 becomes a downward sloping surface toward the downstream side of the unloading direction D, or by configuring the part of the loading section 20 on the side of the relevant end to be bent downward.

[0129] In each of the above-described embodiments, the suction section 41 in the supply device 1 may be a suction section configured by a suction belt conveying mechanism that uses a suction conveying belt that rotates to adsorb the topmost sheet-like medium 9A to the underside of the belt by suction and conveys it to the conveying section 45 in the discharge direction D.

[0130] In addition, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the image forming system 100A in which the processing device 120 is the image forming device 120A is exemplified as the sheet-like medium using device 100, but the present invention is not limited to this. The using device 100 may be any device having a processing device 120 that performs required processing on the sheet-like medium 9 supplied from the supply device 1. Examples of the device 100 used include a printing system in which the processing device 120 is a printing device that applies ink to sheet-like medium 9 or the like, a coating system in which the processing device 120 is a coating device that applies liquid paint to sheet-like medium 9 or the like, and a drying system in which the processing device 120 is a drying device that dries sheet-like medium 9. [Explanation of symbols]

[0131] 1...Sheet media supply device 9...Sheet media 9s…Tip when transporting 9A…Top sheet media 9B: Second highest sheet media 9Bc…upward curved part 20...Loading section (an example of a loading plate) 40...Export means (export device) 41...Adsorption part 45...Transportation section 48…Air nozzle (part of the tip blower) 50...Ventilator (part of the side end ventilator) 74...Tip upward bending detection sensor (one example of a detection means) 100...Device for using sheet-like media 100A...Image forming system 120... Processing device 120A: Image forming device (an example of a processing device) 176...Restraining member 176a…Top end D…Export direction L…Left R…Right h1...Height position (an example of the normal position) h2…Height position (an example of a position lower than the normal position)

Claims

1. A loading plate that loads sheet-like media and moves up and down; a conveying device that conveys the topmost sheet of media stacked on the stacking plate to a conveying section and then conveys the sheet of media to a destination; left and right side end blowers for blowing air to the left and right side ends of the uppermost stacked sheet of media when the sheet of media is being discharged; a leading end blowing section that blows air downward from a position downstream in a discharge direction of the leading end of the topmost sheet of media sucked by the suction section when the topmost sheet of media is discharged; Equipped with The left and right side end blowers are composed of a plurality of side end blowers arranged at different positions in a conveying direction of the sheet-like medium, A sheet media supplying device in which, when the topmost sheet media is adsorbed to the suction section, a second operation is executed to weaken or stop the airflow of the side end air blowing section that is closest to the tip of the sheet media when it is being transported out of the multiple side end air blowing sections.

2. A supply device as described in claim 1, wherein a third operation of lowering the loading plate is executed when the second operation is performed.

3. A stopper member is provided at a position downstream of the loading plate in the discharge direction, the stopper member being contacted by a leading end of the sheet-like medium when the sheet-like medium is discharged, to stop the movement of the sheet-like medium in the discharge direction; 3. The sheet medium supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the second or third operation is an operation for moving a leading end of the second-highest sheet medium below an upper end of the stopper member when the sheet medium is discharged.

4. A sheet media supplying device as described in claim 2, wherein the third operation is an operation of lowering the downstream end of the loading plate in the discharge direction.

5. A sheet medium supplying device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second operation or the third operation is performed in an environment where the humidity is 20% RH or less and the sheet medium is a paper medium having a basis weight of 106 gsm or less.

6. A sheet-like medium supplying device that conveys loaded sheet-like media to a supply destination and supplies the media to the supply destination; a processing device that processes the sheet medium supplied from the supply device; Equipped with A sheet-medium using device, comprising the sheet-medium supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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