Stacking Apparatus with Movable Guides and Curved Tray
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing stacking apparatuses face challenges in conveying and stacking curled sheets, leading to damage, buckling, and misalignment due to level differences and insufficient guidance, especially when dealing with large or varied sheet sizes.
Innovation Solution
A sheet stacking apparatus with a tray having an inclined surface and a curved surface, equipped with movable guides that adjust based on sheet width, ensuring proper alignment and preventing level differences by using clamp guides that project and retract to manage sheet curl and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a supplementary tray is used to guide sheets from discharge port to stacking tray, then sheet conveyance is improved, but level difference gap remains between supplementary tray and stacking tray causing conveyance failure
Solution Approach 1:
The supplementary tray is designed to be movable in the conveyance direction, transitioning between projected and retracted states. When projected, it bridges the level difference gap to guide the leading end of the sheet. When retracted, it allows the sheet rear end to drop to the stacking surface. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by adapting the tray position to different stages of sheet conveyance.
Solution Approach 2:
The supplementary tray projects in advance before the sheet reaches the stacking tray, creating a guide path for the leading end of the sheet. This preliminary projection ensures the sheet is properly guided before contact with the stacking tray, preventing conveyance failure.
2Ease of operation
If the supplementary tray projects to cover the level difference gap, then sheet guidance is improved, but the tray structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a complex fixed structure, a movable supplementary tray is used that can project and retract. This dynamic structure achieves effective sheet guidance while maintaining relatively simple construction through single-axis movement.
3Manufacturing precision
If the concave configuration is provided on the stacking tray to restrict sheet rear end, then sheet alignment is improved, but the stacking tray structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The stacking tray is divided into functional regions: an inclined surface for sheet conveyance, a curved surface for sheet curl management, and a concave configuration for rear end restriction. This segmentation allows each region to perform its specific function effectively while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
A curved surface is provided on the stacking tray to manage sheet curl. The curved geometry naturally guides the sheet rear end into the concave configuration, achieving alignment without complex mechanical restrictions.
4Productivity
If the tray has an inclined surface to convey sheets, then sheet stacking is improved, but sheet curl increases causing damage and buckling
Solution Approach 1:
A curved surface is provided on the tray to gradually reduce sheet curl. The curved geometry allows the sheet to transition smoothly from the inclined surface, preventing sharp bends and reducing curl-induced damage while maintaining stacking efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray structure dynamically manages sheet curl through the combination of inclined and curved surfaces. As the sheet moves from the inclined surface to the curved surface, the curl is gradually reduced, adapting the sheet shape during conveyance to prevent damage.
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 apparatus stabilizes the conveyance and stacking of sheets, preventing damage and buckling by ensuring proper alignment and reducing curl, even with large or varied sheet sizes, through adjustable guides that manage level differences and sheet alignment effectively.
Implementation Method 1
a stacking tray for holding the discharged sheets is placed in a position downward in the gravity direction from the discharge port of a discharging apparatus and the discharged sheets respectively drop in order due to each own weight of the sheets to be stacked thereon
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a stacking apparatus capable of stably conveying and stacking sheets without occurrence of damage or buckling of the sheets in the structure of discharging the curled sheets one by one. In regard to each of a plurality of clamp guides which project toward stacking trays from a conveyor to guide sheets S, the projecting position varies in accordance with a size and an amount of stacked sheets on the stack trays. The stacking tray comprises an inclined surface and a curved surface. An upper guide is located to face the inclined surface by a predetermined interval, and the upper guide is located not to face the curved surface or is located to face it by an interval larger than a predetermined interval.