Sheet Registration Motor Pivot Axis for Skew Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sheet registration systems in high-speed printers face challenges with increased speed and acceleration, leading to motor power requirements and potential early failure due to mechanical disadvantages and increased complexity, especially when correcting skew and lateral offset, which can result in paper jams and higher costs.
Innovation Solution
A sheet registration system with a lateral motion assembly and de-skew assembly, where the lateral motion motor and nip and idler roller assembly are pivoted about a pivot axis close to the lateral motion motor, minimizing inertia and mechanical disadvantage, allowing for efficient correction of skew and lateral alignment without the need for large motors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the nip rollers are accelerated to increase productivity, then the sheet registration speed is improved, but the motor power requirement increases and mechanical stress increases leading to early failure
Solution Approach 1:
The sheet is pre-aligned using a guide roller and alignment marks before entering the nip rollers. This preliminary alignment action reduces the registration distance required, allowing the nip rollers to operate at lower speeds and accelerations while maintaining high productivity, thus reducing motor power requirements and mechanical stress
2Manufacturing precision
If the nip rollers are accelerated to correct skew within shorter time, then the registration accuracy is improved, but the motor size must be increased to provide additional power
Solution Approach 1:
A guide roller acts as an intermediary element between the sheet and the nip rollers. The guide roller performs the preliminary skew correction function, allowing the nip rollers to operate with reduced speed and acceleration requirements, thereby maintaining skew correction accuracy without requiring oversized motors
3Manufacturing precision
If loop registration process is used to correct skew, then the skew correction ability is improved, but the apparatus size increases due to required loop space
Solution Approach 1:
The skew correction function is extracted from the loop registration process and implemented separately using a guide roller with alignment marks. This eliminates the need for a large loop space while maintaining effective skew correction capability, thereby reducing the overall apparatus size
4Reliability
If additional equipment is added to handle high rigidity sheets, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guide roller is designed with adjustable parameters including pressure, angle, and position. These parameter changes allow the same simple guide roller structure to effectively handle sheets of varying rigidity without requiring additional specialized equipment, thereby maintaining reliability while avoiding increased device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for registering a sheet includes a lateral motion motor coupled to a nip and idler roller assembly that provides lateral alignment of the sheet. A de-skew assembly pivots the lateral motion motor and the nip and idler roller assembly about a pivot axis that is proximate to the lateral motion motor to de-skew the sheet.