Tray Guide Posture Mechanism for Compact Image Recording Apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image recording apparatuses with tray guides that support high-rigidity recording media, such as CDs and DVDs, tend to have a larger size due to the need for a longer support face during conveyance, leading to a higher apparatus height when the tray guide is in an upright accommodated state.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus features a tray guide with a posture-changing mechanism, allowing it to switch between three postures: one for supporting the tray during conveyance, another for retraction, and a third for adjusting the guide's position to reduce overall height, incorporating a pivot mechanism and coil springs for easy operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the tray guide is made relatively long to stably support the tray in the open state, then the tray support stability is improved, but the apparatus height increases leading to larger apparatus size
Solution Approach 1:
The tray guide is designed as a movable component that can change its position between a frontward extended state (for tray support) and a rearward retracted state (for compact storage). This dynamic positioning allows the same component to provide stable tray support when needed while minimizing apparatus height when not in use, resolving the contradiction between support stability and compact size.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray guide utilizes the depth dimension of the apparatus by extending forward into the convey path when tray support is needed, rather than increasing height vertically. This dimensional approach allows the tray guide to be long enough for stable support while keeping the overall apparatus height compact, as the extension occurs in a different spatial dimension.
2Ease of operation
If the tray guide is extended forward to support the tray in the convey path, then the tray conveyance capability is improved, but the apparatus height increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray guide transitions from a static structure to a dynamic component that can extend and retract. When tray conveyance is needed, the guide extends forward to provide adequate support and guidance. When not needed, it retracts to maintain a compact apparatus height. This dynamic behavior enables the system to achieve both good conveyance capability and compact dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray guide is segmented from the main apparatus body, allowing it to move independently. This segmentation enables the tray guide to extend forward for conveyance operations without permanently increasing the apparatus height, as it can be retracted when not in use. The separable design resolves the contradiction between operational extendability and compact storage dimensions.
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
This design allows for a compact, low-height image recording apparatus while maintaining efficient tray support and easy posture changes, enhancing user operability and reducing component count.
Implementation Method 1
a first posture-change portion configured to change the posture of the tray guide from the second posture to the third posture by pivoting the tray guide in the second posture about a downstream portion of the tray guide in the tray-enter direction
Data Source
AI summary
An image recording apparatus including: a recording portion; a tray on which a first recording medium is placed; a convey path for conveying a second recording medium and the tray; a tray guide changeable among (a) a first posture in which the tray guide supports the tray, (b) a second posture whose position is different from that of the first posture in a direction intersecting the convey path, and (c) a third posture in which an upstream portion of the tray guide in the tray-enter direction is nearer to the convey path than that in the second posture; a first posture-change portion which changes the tray guide from the second to the third posture; and a second posture-change portion which changes the tray guide from the third to the first posture.