Paper Transport Roller Pressure and Guide Adjustment for Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image forming apparatuses face challenges in suppressing transport errors of recording media to transfer parts, particularly due to inconsistent contact pressure and path width settings that do not adapt to the type of recording medium, leading to issues like transport resistance, registration errors, and image defects.
Innovation Solution
A transport device with a position changing mechanism that adjusts the positions of guide parts and a pressure changing mechanism that alters contact pressure between transport rollers, tailored to the type of recording medium, ensuring optimal alignment and pressure for both thick and normal papers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If constant contact pressure and path width are used for all recording medium types, then device complexity is reduced, but transport precision deteriorates due to inability to adapt to different paper types
Solution Approach 1:
The guide parts are made movable rather than fixed, allowing them to adjust their positions dynamically based on the type of recording medium. The first guide part can move in the thickness direction and the second guide part can move in the transport direction, enabling the system to adapt to different paper types while maintaining transport precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact pressure between transport rollers is made variable through a pressure changing mechanism that adjusts the pressure based on the recording medium type. Additionally, the positions of guide parts are changed according to paper type, allowing optimization of transport parameters for different mediums without increasing overall device complexity.
2Manufacturing precision
If fixed guide part positions are used, then device complexity is reduced, but transport error increases due to improper alignment for different paper types
Solution Approach 1:
The first guide part is configured to move in the thickness direction of the recording medium, and the second guide part moves in the transport direction. This dynamic positioning allows the guide parts to automatically adjust to different paper types, improving alignment precision without requiring a completely complex reconfiguration system.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide parts are positioned and adjusted before the recording medium enters the transport path. The position changing mechanisms pre-align the guide parts according to the detected paper type, ensuring optimal alignment is established in advance of the actual transport process.
3Productivity
If constant transport path width is used, then device complexity is reduced, but transport resistance increases for certain paper types due to suboptimal path configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The second guide part is made movable in the transport direction, allowing the transport path width to be dynamically adjusted based on the recording medium type. This enables optimization of the transport path for different papers, reducing resistance and improving efficiency without requiring multiple fixed path configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A transport device includes: a pair of registration rollers that transport a recording medium to a transfer part at a predetermined timing; a pair of transport rollers that are provided upstream of the pair of registration rollers in a recording-medium transport direction and transport the recording medium toward the pair of registration rollers that are not rotated; a first guide part that is provided downstream of the pair of transport rollers in the recording-medium transport direction and guides the recording medium to the pair of registration rollers; a second guide part that is provided downstream of the pair of registration rollers in the recording-medium transport direction and guides the recording medium to the transfer part; a position changing mechanism that changes positions of the first guide part and the second guide part according to a type of the recording medium; and a pressure changing mechanism that changes a contact pressure between the pair of transport rollers in conjunction with the first guide part that has been moved by the position changing mechanism.