Printer Paper Meandering Correction Guide Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printer mechanisms for correcting paper meandering are complex and costly due to their numerous components, which complicates the structure and increases expenses.
Innovation Solution
A printer design that includes a transport path with a drive roller and a downstream roller, along with a pair of guide members outside the paper's side edges to correct meandering by limiting the paper's edge positions, ensuring a simple structure with fewer components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a meandering correction mechanism is implemented to correct paper meandering, then paper positioning accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member is divided into multiple sections with different spacing characteristics. The first portion has wider spacing to accommodate paper meandering, while the second portion has narrower spacing equal to the paper width for precise positioning. This segmentation allows a single component to perform both meandering correction and precise positioning functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide member extends in the thickness direction of the paper, creating a three-dimensional structure with varying spacing. By utilizing the thickness dimension, the guide member can provide gradual spacing reduction from upstream to downstream, enabling meandering correction without requiring complex mechanical adjustments.
2Manufacturing precision
If a meandering correction mechanism with many components is used, then paper positioning accuracy is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member integrates multiple functions into a single component: meandering correction, paper positioning, and jam prevention. By merging what would traditionally require multiple separate mechanisms into one guide member structure, the invention reduces component count and manufacturing cost while maintaining positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide member utilizes changes in spacing parameters along its length to achieve different functions. The spacing between guide member surfaces transitions from wider upstream to narrower downstream sections, allowing the same component to correct meandering and ensure precise positioning without requiring multiple adjustable mechanisms.
3Manufacturing precision
If guide members with narrow spacing are used throughout, then paper positioning accuracy is improved, but paper jamming risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member provides preliminary action by gradually narrowing spacing from upstream to downstream sections. This gradual transition allows the paper to adapt its shape and position progressively, preventing sudden constriction that would cause jamming while still achieving precise positioning in the downstream section.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide member creates a dynamic spacing configuration where the effective constraint on the paper changes along its length. The varying spacing accommodates the dynamic shape changes of the paper as it is guided through different regions, allowing the system to adapt to paper meandering without creating rigid constraints that would cause jamming.
Data Source
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AI summary
To correct the meandering of paper with a simple structure having a small number of components, a printer (100) includes a feeding path (81), a reversing roller (77c), a gripping roller (77d), and a pair of left and right guide members (51). The guide member (51) is formed of an upstream first portion (51b) and a downstream second portion (51a). The first portions (51b) are formed to have a spacing that narrows gradually in a sending direction, such that their sections closest to the reversing roller (77c) have a spacing (L2) wider than the width (W1) of a paper (201) and that their sections closest to the second portions (51a) have a spacing (L1) substantially equal to the width (W1). The second portions (51a) are formed to be substantially parallel to have the spacing (L1) substantially equal to the width (W1). The printer includes a second cam (53b) that retracts the reversing roller (77c) in a state in which the front end of the paper (201) has reached the downstream portion (51a), and a first cam (53a) that moves a movable guide member (52).