Conveyor Guide Member Groove Overlap for Suction Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor devices for inkjet recording apparatuses face fluctuations in suction force due to staggered arrangement of grooves, leading to irregular air flow and instability in conveying recording media.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor device with a guide member featuring adjacent grooves in the conveyance direction, where the ends of each groove overlap perpendicularly, creating a continuous suction path to stabilize the suction force and prevent fluctuations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If grooves are arranged in a staggered pattern independent of one another, then the suction air flow is dispersed and local excessive increase is restricted, but fluctuations in suction force occur leading to instability in conveying recording medium
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges adjacent grooves by making their ends overlap in the width direction, creating a continuous suction path that eliminates gaps between grooves. This combining of previously separate suction regions prevents fluctuations in suction force while maintaining dispersed air flow patterns, thereby resolving the contradiction between stability and harmful fluctuations.
Solution Approach 2:
The overlapping groove ends are designed in advance to create continuous suction paths before the recording medium encounters potential suction force gaps. This preliminary structural arrangement ensures that suction force remains stable throughout the conveyance process, preventing instability that would otherwise occur at groove boundaries.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If grooves are arranged staggered and independent, then suction force fluctuations are restricted through air flow dispersion, but conveyance stability deteriorates due to irregular suction force
Solution Approach 1:
By overlapping the ends of adjacent grooves in the width direction, the invention merges previously independent suction regions into continuous paths. This maintains the beneficial air flow dispersion of staggered grooves while eliminating the harmful conveyance instability caused by gaps between independent grooves.
Solution Approach 2:
The overlapping groove ends create continuous suction paths that eliminate interruptions in the suction force application. This continuity ensures stable conveyance of the recording medium while preserving the dispersed air flow characteristics that prevent local excessive suction.
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
This configuration ensures stable and uniform suction force along the conveyor belt, reducing irregularities and improving the durability and accuracy of inkjet recording processes.
Implementation Method 1
A recording medium is sucked onto the conveyor belt by negative pressure exerted through recesses (grooves) and suction holes (through holes) in the guide member and sequentially through belt holes (suction holes) in the conveyor belt.
Implementation Method 2
The suction section sucks on the recording medium via the conveyor belt
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor device includes a conveyor belt and a suction section. The conveyor belt conveys a recording medium. The suction section sucks on the recording medium via the conveyor belt. The suction section includes a guide member that supports the recording medium via the conveyor belt. The guide member has a plurality of grooves including at least one pair of grooves that are adjacent in a conveyance direction of the recording medium. Each of the grooves in the pair has an end adjacent to an end of the other groove in the pair. The adjacent ends of the respective grooves in the pair each have a portion overlapping with a portion of the adjacent end of the other groove in the pair (groove overlapping region) in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction.