Flexible Guide Member for Stable Duplex Image Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image formation apparatuses experience issues with medium warpage during two-sided printing, leading to misalignment and poor image transfer quality due to the leading end of the medium becoming unstable relative to the conveyance belt.
Innovation Solution
Incorporation of a flexible guide member upstream in the conveyance direction that approaches the conveyance belt as it extends downstream, ensuring the leading end of the medium contacts and slides along the guide member, maintaining stable conveyance and preventing contact with the image carrier.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If two-sided printing is performed without additional guide members, then printing efficiency is maintained, but medium warpage causes leading end instability and image transfer quality degradation
Solution Approach 1:
A flexible guide member is introduced as an intermediary element between the medium and the conveyance system. This guide member mediates the interaction by providing a stable contact surface that guides the leading end of the medium through the transfer zone, preventing warpage-induced instability while maintaining continuous operation for two-sided printing
2Stability of the object's composition
If the conveyance belt is positioned closer to the image carrier, then conveyance stability improves, but the leading end of the medium may contact and scrape the image carrier, damaging the image
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible guide member serves as a protective intermediary that positions the leading end of the medium along a safe path. It acts as a physical barrier and guide, ensuring the medium follows the intended trajectory without contacting the image carrier, thereby preventing scraping damage while maintaining conveyance stability
3Stability of the object's composition
If a rigid guide structure is used to prevent medium warpage, then leading end stability improves, but the structure becomes complex and may interfere with medium conveyance
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member is designed as a flexible component rather than a rigid structure. This flexibility allows it to adapt to the medium's shape and conveyance dynamics without requiring complex mounting mechanisms or adjustment systems, thereby providing stable guidance while maintaining structural simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The guide member is positioned and designed to dynamically interact with the moving medium during conveyance. Its flexible nature allows it to respond to real-time conditions in the transfer zone, adapting its position to maintain optimal guidance without requiring active control systems or complex mechanical structures
Data Source
AI summary
An image formation apparatus according to an embodiment includes: a conveyance belt configured to convey a medium supplied from a medium feeder toward a fixation device along a conveyance direction; an image transfer part configured to transfer an image formed on an image carrier at a transfer position to the medium being conveyed by the conveyance belt; and a flexible guide member that is provided upstream in the conveyance direction of the transfer position, and is arranged to approach the conveyance belt as the guide member extends downstream in the conveyance direction. The shortest distance from a guide member end, which is one of end portions of the guide member located closer to the conveyance belt than the other to the conveyance belt, to the conveyance belt is greater than a maximum medium thickness specified in the apparatus specifications of the image formation apparatus.