Image Forming Apparatus Escape Tray Handling for Sheet Abnormalities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image forming apparatuses often cause downtime due to immediate notification of sheet abnormalities, which disrupts productivity, especially in commercial printing, and fail to efficiently manage sheet abnormalities without user intervention.
Innovation Solution
An image forming apparatus with a sheet transport mechanism, abnormality detection, and a control device that continues operations while detecting and diverting abnormal sheets to an escape tray, allowing scheduled user notification and minimizing downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the notification device immediately announces sheet abnormality, then the user is made aware of the abnormality, but the apparatus experiences downtime and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by detecting sheet abnormalities and diverting abnormal sheets to the escape tray before they can disrupt the main printing process. The control device continues the image forming operation on subsequent sheets while the abnormal sheet is separately handled, preventing downtime and maintaining productivity while ensuring reliable abnormality detection.
2Productivity
If the apparatus continues operations without immediate notification, then productivity is maintained, but the user may not be promptly aware of sheet abnormalities
Solution Approach 1:
The escape tray acts as an intermediary mechanism that separates abnormal sheets from the normal output flow. The control device uses this intermediary to continue operations on subsequent sheets while maintaining awareness of abnormalities through the detection device, ensuring both productivity and information transmission about sheet conditions.
3Productivity
If abnormal sheets are diverted to a separate escape tray, then continuous operation is enabled, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sheet transport system is segmented into two separate paths: a main transport route for normal sheets leading to the output tray, and an escape route for abnormal sheets leading to the escape tray. This segmentation allows continuous operation by directing different sheets to different destinations based on their condition, enabling productivity while managing complexity through functional separation.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device, a sheet transport mechanism, a sheet abnormality detection device, an output tray, an escape tray, a notification device, and a control device. The escape tray is provided separately from the output tray, and receives the sheet, from which abnormality has been detected by the sheet abnormality detection device, and delivered by the sheet transport mechanism. The control device causes the image forming device to again form, on another sheet, a same image formed on a sheet, from which the sheet abnormality has been detected, and delivered to the escape tray, and to continue with the image forming operation on subsequent sheets, and decides, according to a predetermined condition, whether to allow the notification device to announce the sheet abnormality.