Conveyor Roller Parallelism Adjustment for Sheet Position Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing registration techniques for conveyors used in image forming apparatuses have limited automatic correction capabilities due to the restricted inclination range of rollers, leading to increased sheet positional shifts during double-sided printing, which exceed the allowable range of correction, especially in long conveyance paths where factors like dimensional tolerance and parallelism of components affect the sheet's position.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor system with a first guide plate and a second guide plate, where the second roller has a higher hardness than the first roller, and the parallelism between the roller shafts is variable, allowing for adjustable guidance and nipping of the sheet to correct positional shifts through a positional adjustment mechanism that includes a movable guide plate and adjustable roller shafts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If one roller is inclined for automatic position correction, then position correction capability is improved, but the inclination range is limited which restricts the correction capability
Solution Approach 1:
The roller shaft is made adjustable rather than fixed, allowing the inclination angle to be dynamically changed. The adjustment mechanism includes a movable guide plate that can be positioned at different locations, and an adjustable roller shaft that can change its angle, enabling the system to adapt to various position correction requirements beyond a fixed limited range.
2Productivity
If a long conveyance path is used for double-sided printing, then both sides of the sheet can be printed, but positional shift of the sheet increases beyond the allowance range of automatic correction
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary position correction by adjusting the roller shaft inclination before the sheet completes its conveyance through the long path. The movable guide plate and adjustable roller shaft are configured to correct positional shifts proactively during the conveyance process, compensating for accumulated errors from dimensional tolerances and parallelism issues in the long conveyance path.
3Ease of manufacture
If belt conveyance is used for drying and cooling processes, then the process can be performed, but positional shift of the sheet increases as the sheet is conveyed downstream
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable roller system acts as an intermediary correction mechanism between the belt conveyance sections. The roller shaft with adjustable inclination serves as a mediator that compensates for positional shifts accumulated during belt conveyance, allowing the drying and cooling processes to proceed while maintaining position accuracy through active correction.
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor includes: a first guide plate including: a first roller shaft; and a first roller having a first hardness and attached to the first roller shaft; and a second guide plate disposed opposite to the first guide plate and including: a second roller shaft; a second roller having a second hardness higher than the first hardness of the first roller and attached to the second roller shaft, wherein parallelism between the first roller shaft and the second roller shaft is variable, and the first guide plate and the second guide plate guide the target, and the first roller and the second roller nips and conveys the target in a conveyance direction.