Compact Image Recorder Feed Arm Nesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image recording devices face challenges in accommodating a retracting feed arm without increasing the device's size, particularly when a movable sheet tray is inserted and removed.
Innovation Solution
The image recording device incorporates a feed guide and a return guide that pivot between different positions, allowing the feed arm to retract while ensuring the device's compact size is maintained. This configuration ensures adequate space for the feed arm to retract from the movable sheet tray without increasing the device's dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the feed arm is configured to pivot upward during insertion and removal of the tray, then adequate space for the feed arm to retract from the tray is ensured, but the size of the image recording device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The return guide is positioned to overlap with the feed arm's retraction path, allowing the return guide to nest within the space occupied by the feed arm during its upward pivot motion. This nested arrangement enables both components to share the same spatial envelope, providing feed arm retraction space without increasing the overall device footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The return guide is configured to extend in a direction that overlaps with the feed arm's movement dimension, utilizing three-dimensional space more efficiently. By arranging the return guide to overlap with the feed arm's retraction path in the vertical dimension, the design accommodates feed arm motion without expanding the device's horizontal footprint.
2Area of stationary object
If the return guide is positioned to overlap with the feed arm retraction path, then space efficiency is improved, but the complexity of coordinating the movements of the feed arm and return guide increases
Solution Approach 1:
The return guide's position is passively determined by the feed arm's retraction motion itself. As the feed arm pivots upward during tray insertion/removal, the return guide automatically occupies the overlapping space without requiring active control or coordination mechanisms. The system uses the feed arm's own movement to define the return guide's position, eliminating the need for complex coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The return guide is designed with dynamic positioning capability, allowing it to assume different positions based on the feed arm's state. When the feed arm is in its retracted upward position, the return guide occupies the overlapping space; when the feed arm is in its lower feeding position, the return guide is positioned accordingly. This dynamic arrangement adapts to the feed arm's motion without requiring active coordination.
Data Source
AI summary
An image recording device having a recording unit to record an image on a sheet is provided. The image recording unit includes a feed guide defining a first conveying path; an arm disposed between the recording unit and the tray, the arm having a feed roller rotatably disposed at a free end and configured to feed the sheet in the tray to the first conveying path. The arm pivots between a first arm position, and a second arm position. The return guide pivots between a first return guide position, and a second return guide position. A space occupied by the return guide in the first return guide position overlaps a space occupied by the arm in the second arm position. The return guide is in the second return guide position when the arm is in the second arm position which is retracted from an insertion space occupied by the tray.