Sheet Feeder Guide Plate Orientation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sheet feeders face issues with feed defects, particularly with flexible sheets like paper or film, due to misalignment and slacking, and require complex and costly mechanisms to maintain proper orientation, which can lead to inefficiencies and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A sheet feeder design that incorporates a guide plate axially supported to be swingable and biased by a torsion spring, which projects from an inclined surface to maintain document sheet orientation, reducing slacking and feed defects by adjusting its position based on the number of stacked documents, thus stabilizing the feed performance without the need for a motor-driven lifting mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a lifting member driven by an eccentric cam and cam driving motor is used to raise the document sheet, then the entrance angle of the document sheet can be maintained almost horizontal, but the device complexity and cost increase due to the motor and cam mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the complex motor-driven cam mechanism from the system and retains only the essential lifting function through a simplified guide member that utilizes the natural inclination of the document sheet stack. This extracts the core functional requirement while eliminating unnecessary complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide member is designed to automatically adjust and maintain the document sheet orientation using the inherent gravitational force and the inclination of the stack, without requiring external motor-driven actuation. The system serves itself by leveraging the natural geometry of the document stack.
2Reliability
If the guide plate projects from the inclined surface to maintain document sheet orientation, then feed defects are reduced, but the guide plate may interfere with document sheets when the stack is low
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member is designed with dynamic characteristics where its effective projection height adjusts based on the document stack level. When the stack is high, the guide member maintains proper orientation; when the stack is low, the guide member's influence naturally decreases, preventing interference with the document sheets.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes changes in the document stack parameters (height, weight, pressure) to automatically adjust the guide member's operational state. As the stack height changes, the mechanical pressure and geometric relationships change, causing the guide member to adapt its projection effectively without manual intervention.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively stabilizes the feed performance across various sheet thicknesses and flexibilities, reducing feed defects and maintaining cost-effectiveness by eliminating the need for complex driving mechanisms, while allowing for reliable and efficient sheet separation and orientation.
Implementation Method 1
a guide plate axially supported to be swingable and biased by a torsion spring
Implementation Method 2
which projects from an inclined surface to maintain document sheet orientation, reducing slacking and feed defects by adjusting its position based on the number of stacked documents
Data Source
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AI summary
A sheet feeder includes a sheet stacking means for stacking sheets, a sheet pickup means for picking up a sheet from one side of the stacked sheets on the sheet stacking means, and a sheet separating and feeding means, formed downstream of the sheet pickup means in the sheet feeding direction, for separately feeding sheets one by one to a conveyance path. A sheet picked up from the sheet stacking means by the sheet pickup means is separately fed from the sheet stacking means to the conveyance path on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction via an inclined surface inclining in the sheet feeding direction. Between the sheet pickup means and the sheet separating and feeding means, there is provided an orientation holding means for holding the feed orientation of a sheet currently being separately fed by acting on the sheet. In the vicinity of the intersection between the sheet stacking means and inclined surface, the orientation holding means is displaceable between a position where the orientation holding means projects from the inclined surface and a position where the orientation holding means is retracted. In addition, the projection amount of the orientation holding means from the inclined surface practically increases as the number of stacked sheets decreases. In the projecting position, the orientation holding means has a function of pushing up a sheet picked up from the sheet stacking means by the sheet pickup means and holding the feed orientation of the sheet.