Sheet Folding Apparatus Driven Roller Shift Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet folding apparatuses face challenges in accurately folding sheets with images due to fluctuations in transport velocity and interference among multiple transport mechanisms, leading to displacement and wrinkles, and require complex timing control for folding blade alignment.
Innovation Solution
A sheet folding apparatus with a second transport path crossing the first path, featuring a folding roller pair and a driven roller that shifts from a waiting to an actuation position at a higher velocity than the sheet, ensuring accurate folding without wrinkles by reducing interference and eliminating the need for complex timing control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple transport mechanisms are used for feeding the sheet, then the sheet can be transported through the folding process, but velocity fluctuations and interference occur leading to fold position displacement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates one of the multiple transport mechanisms (specifically the downstream transport member) from the system. By using only the upstream transport member to feed the sheet to the fold position, the invention removes the velocity synchronization problems and interference that occurred between multiple transport mechanisms, thereby improving fold position accuracy without requiring complex timing control
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the transport function by dedicating the upstream transport member solely to sheet feeding while eliminating the downstream transport member's feeding function. This segmentation of responsibilities simplifies the control system and prevents velocity mismatch issues
2Ease of operation
If the driven roller shifts from waiting to actuation position at high velocity, then sheet insertion is improved, but the mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the driven roller movable between waiting and actuation positions rather than fixed. This dynamic positioning allows the driven roller to smoothly guide the sheet into the fold position during the folding operation, improving ease of operation while the simplicity of the movement mechanism avoids adding excessive complexity
Data Source
AI summary
To enable a sheet to be folded in an accurate position with a simplified folding mechanism in performing folding processing on the sheet with a pair of folding rollers, a second transport path is disposed in a direction for crossing a first transport path for guiding a sheet from a carry-in portion to a carrying-out portion, and in the cross portion are disposed a folding roller pair for performing folding processing on a sheet, and a folding deflecting member for inserting a fold of the sheet in the nip portion. Then, the folding deflecting member is comprised of a driven roller that comes into press-contact with a roller periphery of the folding roller pair, and a shift member for shifting the driven roller from a waiting position to an actuation position, and by the operation of shifting the driven roller from the waiting position outside the path to the actuation position, the sheet front end portion is fed to the nip portion from an upstream-side guide path formed in the second transport path. At this point, the shift velocity of the driven roller is made higher than the velocity of the sheet sent from the first transport path.