Sheet Conveying Apparatus with Movable Regulating Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet conveying apparatuses face challenges in correcting sheet displacement without increasing apparatus size, as they require a significant length for sheet conveyance to ensure accurate alignment with reference guides.
Innovation Solution
A sheet conveying apparatus featuring a pair of conveying rollers, an endless conveying belt, balls for nipping the sheet, and regulating guides that move to guide and retract positions to correct sheet displacement, allowing for precise alignment without the need for extensive conveyance length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the sheet is conveyed obliquely to correct displacement by abutting against the reference guide, then side registration and side skew are corrected simultaneously, but the apparatus size increases due to the required conveyance length
Solution Approach 1:
The regulating guides are made movable rather than fixed, allowing them to dynamically adjust their positions during the sheet conveying process. The guides move from an initial position where they do not restrict sheet movement to a final position where they abut against the sheet end edge to perform displacement correction, enabling correction without requiring excessive conveyance length
Solution Approach 2:
The regulating guides are positioned in advance at locations where they will not interfere with sheet conveyance initially, then moved to the corrective position after the sheet has been conveyed a short distance. This preliminary positioning allows the system to prepare for correction without immediately constraining the sheet, reducing the required apparatus length
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables effective correction of sheet displacement in the sheet width direction while maintaining a compact apparatus size, ensuring accurate image formation on the sheet without increasing the apparatus's dimensions.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of balls that is disposed in the conveying direction so as to face the conveying surface and configured to be rotatable in any direction while nipping the sheet with the conveying surface
Implementation Method 2
an endless conveying belt that is provided downstream of the conveying roller in the conveying direction, the belt having a conveying surface extending in the conveying direction and conveying the sheet passed to the conveying surface in the conveying direction
Implementation Method 3
a pair of conveying rollers that receives and conveys a sheet
Implementation Method 4
a pair of regulating guides that is disposed on both sides of the conveying belt in a sheet width direction crossing the conveying direction and guides both end edges in the sheet width direction of the sheet conveyed while being nipped by the conveying belt and the balls
Data Source
AI summary
A sheet conveying apparatus for conveying a sheet in a conveying direction includes a pair of conveying rollers receiving and conveying a sheet; an endless conveying belt conveying the sheet; a plurality of balls to be rotatable in any direction while nipping the sheet with the conveying surface; a pair of regulating guides disposed on both sides of the conveying belt; a guide moving unit that moves the pair of regulating guides; and a roller moving unit that moves at least one of the pair of conveying rollers to a nip position and a nip release position. Before a rear end of the sheet passes the pair of conveying rollers, the pair of conveying rollers is moved to the nip release position by the roller moving unit, and then, the guide moving unit makes each of the pair of regulating guides reach the guide position from the retracting position.