Sheet Conveyer Tray Positioning to Reduce Belt Friction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing document feeders face challenges in reducing noise and improving endurance due to frictional abrasion between the feeder belt and the bottom plate, particularly when the trailing edge of the final sheet leaves the bottom plate and when sheets are motionless on the placement table.
Innovation Solution
A sheet conveyer system with a tray-driving mechanism that moves the sheet tray vertically based on the quantity of sheets, a conveyance guide, a feed roller, a separator, and a conveyer-driving mechanism with distinct transmission-active and transmission-passive portions to manage conveying velocities and reduce friction by controlling the position of the sheet tray and rollers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the bottom plate is lowered when the trailing end of the final original sheet passes through the sheet sensor, then the feeder belt can be restrained from being abraded by contacting and rubbing the bottom plate after the final sheet is conveyed, but the feeder belt continues to rub on the bottom plate until the trailing edge is detected by the sheet sensor, causing noise and abrasion
Solution Approach 1:
The bottom plate is lowered in advance before the trailing edge of the final sheet completely leaves it, based on detection by the sheet sensor. This preliminary action ensures that when the feeder belt continues moving, the bottom plate is already separated, preventing friction-induced noise and abrasion while maintaining reliable operation
2Ease of operation
If the bottom plate is moved vertically for each original sheet under uplifting and lowering control, then sheets can be properly fed and separated, but friction is still caused between the original sheets staying motionless on the original placement table and the feeder belt in motion
Solution Approach 1:
The bottom plate is made dynamically adjustable in height based on the presence and position of sheets. By lowering the bottom plate when sheets are being conveyed and maintaining it at a lowered position when no sheets are present, the system eliminates continuous friction between the feeder belt and stationary sheets while preserving proper sheet feeding operation
Data Source
AI summary
A sheet conveyer having a sheet tray, a tray-driving mechanism, a conveyance guide, a feed roller, a separator, a conveyer, a conveyer-driving mechanism, a controller, and a sheet sensor to detect sheets on the sheet tray, is provided. The conveyer-driving mechanism includes a transmission-active portion and a transmission-passive portion. A conveying velocity to convey the sheets by the conveyer is higher than a conveying velocity to convey the sheets by the feed roller and the separator. The transmission-active portion and the transmission-passive portion are rotatable about a transmission axis. The transmission-passive portion rotates passively by being pushed by the transmission-active portion. After the sheet sensor detects absence of the sheets, and before the transmission-passive portion starts rotating passively, the controller conducts a specific action to move the sheet tray downward by controlling the tray-driving mechanism.