JP4325341B2 - Paper orientation conversion device, post-processing device, and image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet orientation conversion apparatus , a post-processing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus . More specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet orientation conversion apparatus , a post-processing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus that change the orientation by rotating the orientation of the long side and the short side of a sheet having a long side and a short side by 90 degrees. .

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a sheet orientation conversion apparatus that conveys a sheet of a sheet having a long side and a short side is configured to convey a sheet in a longitudinal direction (short side tip) or in a short direction (long side tip). It is optimally selected in consideration of the appropriateness of processing in the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus. That is, there are merits and demerits of a method of conveying a sheet at the front end of the short side and a method of conveying the paper at the end of the long side.

  For example, when the paper is transported at the front end of the short side, the contact length with the transport guide is longer than when the paper is transported at the front end of the long side, the posture of the transported paper is stable, and the accuracy of image formation on the paper is high. It can be.

  Also, when transporting paper at the front end of the long side, it is possible to transport a large number of papers at a shorter pitch than when transporting the paper at the front end of the short side. Since the size can be reduced and a large number of sheets can be conveyed at a short pitch, the processing capability can be improved.

  In recent years, as an on-demand printing system, a system that performs all bookbinding processes from printing to binding processing to cutting with a single image forming apparatus has been proposed. Both sexes are required.

  Therefore, in accordance with the processing in the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus, the posture of the paper is changed from conveyance at the short side tip to conveyance at the long side tip, or vice versa, that is, the paper is rotated by 90 degrees on the plane. Thus, there has been proposed a paper posture changing device that can change the posture by switching the long side and the short side.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a long side and a short side of a sheet are exchanged by using a peripheral speed difference between two transport rollers. The two transport rollers are driven and controlled by independent motors. The control of the transport roller is started based on a paper passage detection signal of a sensor disposed upstream in the transport direction of the transport roller.

  In Patent Document 2, the conveyance posture of the paper is changed from the short-side tip to the long-side tip by revolving the paper by the conveying means while holding the paper between the drive shaft and the guide shaft and rotating the paper. It has been converted to.

In Patent Document 3, a sheet to be conveyed is sandwiched between rotating members facing each other, the rotational angular velocity of the sheet is made variable according to the size of the sheet, and the long side and the short side of the sheet are interchanged to thereby change the size of the sheet. On the other hand, reliable paper rotation is performed to achieve high speed conversion of paper posture.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-133944 JP 2001-266215 A JP 2002-234636 A

  However, in the paper orientation conversion device described in Patent Document 1, since the long side and the short side of the paper are switched using the peripheral speed difference between the two transport rollers, the peripheral speed of the two transport rollers is changed. High precision is required for this control, and the peripheral speed sensor and the control device become large-scale, and it becomes even larger when trying to cope with various paper sizes. Also, if you attempt to transport multiple sheets in a stacked state to increase the processing speed, more complicated control is required so that the stacked sheets do not shift, and the scale of the device increases. Is inevitable.

  Further, in the paper attitude conversion devices described in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, since the long side and the short side of the paper are interchanged in a state where the paper is sandwiched, it is necessary to secure a space corresponding to the rotational radius of the paper. Therefore, it is inevitable to increase the size of the device. In addition, when rotating large-sized sheets or multiple stacked sheets, the moment of inertia during rotation of the sheet and the frictional load between the sheet and the rotating disk increase, and the pressure contact force at the center of rotation. If it is small, it is difficult to rotate it reliably and stop it accurately at a predetermined angle, and it is likely to cause bending of the paper or poor conveyance. For this reason, in Patent Document 3, when changing the posture of a large size paper, the rotational angular velocity of the paper is set slower than the rotational angular velocity of the small size paper, thereby reducing the moment of inertia and at the rotational center of the rotating means. However, as a result, when a large-size sheet is conveyed, the sheet conveyance speed is lowered.

  Furthermore, when the long side and the short side of the paper are exchanged after reversing the front and back sides of the paper, the paper posture changing device described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 must further include a paper front and back reversing device. The scale has become even larger, and paper conveyance defects are likely to occur.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a paper posture changing device that solves the above-described problems and achieves high speed of paper posture changing while being simple and small.

  In addition, the present invention performs reliable sheet orientation conversion on sheets of different sizes or a plurality of stacked sheets, achieves speeding up of the sheet orientation conversion, and allows the apparatus to be simplified and miniaturized. An object is to provide a posture change device.

  The object of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitution.

(Claim 1)
In a paper posture conversion device that changes the posture by rotating the direction of the long side and the short side of the conveyed paper by 90 degrees,
Conveying means for conveying the paper in a first conveying direction;
A first deflecting means for deflecting the paper in a second transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper transported by the transporting means, with one side serving as the leading edge of the paper transported by the transporting means being the leading edge;
With the other side intersecting with one side which is the leading edge of the paper deflected by the first deflecting means as the leading edge, the paper is fed in a third transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper deflected by the first deflecting means. Second deflecting means for deflecting;
With the other side intersecting with one side which is the leading end of the sheet deflected by the second deflecting unit as the leading end, the sheet is fed in a fourth transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the sheet deflected by the second deflecting unit. Third deflecting means for deflecting ;
Holding means for holding a plurality of sheets of paper deflected by the first deflecting means in a stacked state;
The paper posture conversion device, wherein the second deflection means and the third deflection means deflect the paper held by the holding means in a stacked state .
(Claim 2)
The first deflecting unit deflects the sheets conveyed by the conveying unit one by one,
2. The sheet orientation conversion apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a displacement unit configured to displace the sheet deflected sheet by sheet by the first deflecting unit to a predetermined position of the holding unit.
(Claim 3)
3. The sheet orientation changing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an aligning unit configured to align a plurality of sheets held in a state of being superimposed on the holding unit.
(Claim 4)
A post-processing device comprising the paper attitude conversion device according to claim 1.
(Claim 5)
An image forming apparatus comprising the post-processing device according to claim 4.

According to the invention of any one of claims 1 , 4 , and 5 , it is transported by combining three deflection means for deflecting in another transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the transported paper. Since the paper's long side and short side are interchanged while maintaining the transport direction, there is no need to control the paper transport speed with high precision or control the attitude conversion speed based on the paper size. In addition, since the sheet is always deflected in a direction perpendicular to the sheet surface, the space required for the deflection is extremely small, and it is possible to speed up the sheet posture conversion while being simple and small. .
In addition, a plurality of sheets deflected by the first deflecting unit are held in a stacked state, and the second deflecting unit and the third deflecting unit deflect in a state in which the sheets are stacked. Can be speeded up.

  In addition, in the paper orientation conversion, only the process of deflecting in the other transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the transported paper is repeated, so that the transport and deflection of the paper is highly stable, and different size papers are stacked. It is possible to perform reliable sheet orientation conversion for a plurality of sheets.

  In addition, since the paper subjected to the paper orientation conversion is reversed, it is not necessary to provide a paper front / back reversing device, and the paper posture conversion can be speeded up while being simple and compact.

According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, the plurality of sheets deflected by the first deflecting means by the displacing means for displacing the sheets to a predetermined position of the holding means and the aligning means for aligning the plurality of sheets. After adjusting the position, the second deflecting means and the third deflecting means deflect in a state where the sheets are overlapped, so that it is possible to perform reliable sheet orientation conversion on a plurality of stacked sheets. It becomes possible.

  In the following, an example of a sheet orientation changing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a post-processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus provided with a paper attitude conversion device according to the present invention.

  Here, the post-processing device and the image forming apparatus provided with the paper posture conversion device are a post-processing device with a built-in paper posture conversion device or an external treatment device with a built-in paper posture conversion device as shown in the figure. An integrated image forming apparatus. It should be noted that the post-processing device incorporating the paper posture changing device according to the present invention can be configured to be used alone.

  In each figure, arrows X, Y, and Z are coordinate axes representing directions. In FIG. 1, X represents a horizontal direction, Y represents a vertical direction, and Z represents a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. Instead of the direction and the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2, the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction are used. In addition, the positive direction of each coordinate is represented by an X direction, a Y direction, and a Z direction (from the back to the front of FIG. 1), and the negative direction is represented by a reverse X direction, a reverse Y direction, and a reverse Z direction.

  A is an image forming apparatus, DF is an automatic document feeder, LT is a large capacity feeder, and B is a post-processing apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus A includes an image reading unit (image input device) 1, an image processing unit 2, an image writing unit 3, an image forming unit 4, paper feed cassettes 5A, 5B, and 5C, a manual paper feed tray 5D, and a first paper feed. Sections 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6E, a second sheet feeding section 6F, a fixing device 7, a sheet discharge section 8, a transport path switching plate 8A, an automatic duplex copy sheet feeding section (ADU) 8B, and the like.

  An automatic document feeder DF is mounted on the upper part of the image forming apparatus A.

  A post-processing apparatus B is integrally connected to the left side of the image forming apparatus A shown in the drawing on the paper discharge unit 8 side.

  The document d placed on the document table of the automatic document feeder DF is conveyed in the direction of the arrow, and an image on one or both sides of the document is read by the optical system of the image reading unit 1 and read by the image sensor CCD.

  The analog signal photoelectrically converted by the image sensor CCD is subjected to analog processing, A / D conversion, shading correction, image compression processing, and the like in the image processing unit 2 and then sent to the image writing unit 3 as an image information signal. .

  The image forming unit 4 is a part where an image is formed using an electrophotographic process, and processing such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, separation, and cleaning is performed on the photosensitive drum 4A. In the exposure processing step, output light of a semiconductor laser (not shown) based on the image information signal is applied to the photosensitive drum 4A to form an electrostatic latent image. Further, in the developing process, a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image is formed.

  When any one of the sheet feeding cassettes 5A to 5C, the manual sheet feeding tray 5D, the large capacity sheet feeding device LT, and the first sheet feeding units 6A to 6E corresponding thereto is selected, the sheet S is transferred to the transfer unit 4B. And the toner image on the photosensitive drum 4A is transferred.

  The sheet S carrying the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 7 and sent from the paper discharge unit 8 to the post-processing device B.

  In the case of double-sided image formation, the sheet S having an image formed on one side is sent to the automatic double-sided copy paper feeding unit 8B by the conveyance path switching plate 8A, and image formation and fixing are performed on the opposite side in the image forming unit 4. It is discharged from the crack discharge unit 8 and sent to the post-processing apparatus B.

  Next, an outline of the post-processing apparatus B will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of paper in the post-processing apparatus incorporating the paper attitude conversion device according to the present invention, and arrows X, Y, and Z are coordinate axes representing the same direction as shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, the case where the short side of the paper S is conveyed as the leading end will be described as an example. However, in the case where the long side is the leading end, the “long side” in the present embodiment is set to “short”. This can be implemented by replacing “short side” with “long side” as “side”. Further, when the long side and the short side of the paper S have the same length, that is, when the paper S is a square, an arbitrary one side is a long side, and the other side that intersects the one side is a short side.

  The sheet S that has been imaged by the image forming apparatus and discharged with the short side as the leading edge is transported at the entrance 201 of the post-processing apparatus B without being processed by the transport path switching means, or is transported as it is, or The sheet is conveyed to one of the conveyance paths R <b> 2 where the center folding process and the saddle stitching process are performed.

  The sheet S branched to the conveyance path R1 is nipped and conveyed by the conveyance rollers, and is conveyed to the sub-discharge tray (top tray) 209, the conveyance path R3, or the conveyance path R4 sent to another post-processing device or the like. It is conveyed to either.

  The sheet S transported to the transport path R <b> 2 that performs the center folding process and the saddle stitching process is subjected to the first deflection by the first deflecting unit 120 and then to a predetermined position (position P <b> 1 shown in FIG. 2). The paper is temporarily stopped and held in the paper holding means 100, and the subsequent small number of paper S is also superposed here.

  The paper S held and superposed on the paper holding means 100 is transported through the transport path R5 in a state of being superposed, and subjected to the second deflection by the second deflecting means 130, and then a predetermined position (FIG. 2). And then transported along the transport path R6, the third deflection means 140 performs the third deflection, and the center folding means 230 transports it. When the third deflection is completed, the posture of the sheet S is a posture in which the long side and the short side are respectively rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the state before the first deflection is performed, and the front and back are reversed. It has become.

  The sheet S that has been folded in the short side direction by the center folding unit 230 is transported by the center folded sheet transport unit 250 along the transport path R7 with the long side as the leading edge, and is stacked on a stacking unit (not shown) in the sheet binding step 300. Is loaded with the folds aligned. When the number of sheets S stacked on the stacking unit reaches a predetermined number, staples SP are driven at two centrally distributed locations along the folds of the sheet bundle on the stacking unit by a binding unit (not shown).

  The sheet bundle SA subjected to the saddle stitching process in the sheet binding process 300 is taken out in the direction having the short side of the paper S as the leading edge in the take-out process 400, placed on the transport belt 500, and further rotated. Thus, the sheet S is transported to a predetermined position (position P3 shown in FIG. 2) in a direction having the short side of the sheet S as a leading end. At the predetermined position, the fore edge (the free end portion on the opposite side of the fold) of the sheet bundle SA is not uniform due to the number of sheets in the sheet bundle SA, and is cut by the cutting means (trimmer) 700 to align the fore edge. After that, the paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray 900 disposed outside the front surface of the post-processing apparatus B.

  Details of the first deflecting means, the second deflecting means, and the third deflecting means constituting the paper attitude converting apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a front view of a post-processing apparatus having a built-in sheet posture changing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a right side view thereof, and arrows X, Y, and Z are the same directions as those shown in FIGS. Is a coordinate axis representing.

  The first deflection unit includes a conveyance path switching unit G1, a guide plate 121, and a conveyance roller 122.

  The transport path switching means G1 is driven by a solenoid (not shown) to switch the transport path of the paper S to either R1 or R2. When the transport path of the paper S is set to R2, it cooperates with the paper guide 121. Then, the sheet S conveyed in the X direction which is the first conveying direction is deflected in the reverse Y direction which is the second conveying direction by the entrance roller 202 which is conveying means.

  The transport roller 122 is a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwiches the paper S, is driven by a motor (not shown), and rotates, so that the paper is deflected by the cooperation of the transport path switching unit G1 and the paper guide 121. Transport S in the reverse Y direction.

  The second deflection unit 130 includes a conveyance roller 131 that is a first conveyance roller pair, a conveyance release mechanism 131a that is a first conveyance release mechanism, a paper guide 132 that is a first paper guide, a conveyance roller 133, and a conveyance roller. 134 and a transport release mechanism 134a.

  The conveying roller 131 is a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwiches a sheet S held by a sheet holding unit 100 described later, and is driven by a motor M1 shown in FIG. 5 is transported in the Z direction. The transport roller 131 can press and separate the roller pair by the operation of the transport release mechanism 131a, and can switch between transport and non-transport of the paper S.

  Here, details of the transport release mechanism 131a will be described with reference to FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the transport roller 131 and the transport release mechanism 131a of FIG. 4 as viewed from the reverse Y direction.

  The conveyance release mechanism 131a is supported by the shaft 131b fixed to the guide plate 104, and is swingably supported by the shaft 131b. The swing lever 131c rotatably supports the transport roller 131 at one end, and the other end of the swing lever 131c. A solenoid 131d that engages and swings the swing lever 131c about a shaft 131b.

  In FIG. 7, the transport rollers 131 are in pressure contact with each other at the openings provided in the guide plates 103 and 104. The paper S sandwiched between the transport rollers 131 is driven by the motor M1. By rotating in the direction of arrow A, it is conveyed in the direction of arrow B.

  When the solenoid 131d is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow C, the swing lever 131c swings about the shaft 131b, and the conveying roller 131 that is in pressure contact is separated in the direction indicated by the arrow D, and the sheet S is transported by the conveying roller 131. The non-conveyance state due to the movement becomes possible, and it is possible to move without receiving the action of the conveyance roller 131.

  Returning to FIGS. 3 and 4, the paper guide 132 is a plate-like member that forms the transport path R <b> 2, and has a curved shape when viewed from the Y direction in the drawing. The paper guide 132 cooperates with the transport roller 131 and the transport roller 133 to deflect the paper S transported in the Z direction, which is the fifth transport direction, in the X direction, which is the third transport direction.

  The transport roller 133 is a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwiches the paper S, is driven by a motor M1 through a pulley, and rotates to transport the paper S deflected by the paper guide 132 in the X direction.

  The transport rollers 134 are a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwich the paper S, and are driven and rotated by a motor M1 through a pulley to transport the paper S deflected by the paper guide 132 in the X direction. Note that, similarly to the transport roller 131, the transport roller 134 can press and separate the roller pair by the operation of the transport release mechanism 134a, and can switch between transport and non-transport of the paper S.

  The third deflection unit 140 includes a transport roller 141 that is a second transport roller pair, a transport release mechanism 141a that is a second transport release mechanism, a paper guide 142 that is a second paper guide, a transport roller 143, and a transport belt. Mechanism 144.

  The transport rollers 141 are a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwich the paper S, and are driven and rotated by a motor (not shown) to transport the paper S in the Y direction. As with the transport roller 131, the transport roller 141 can press and separate the roller pair by the action of the transport release mechanism 141a, and can switch between transport and non-transport of the paper S.

  The paper guide 142 is a plate-like member that forms the transport path R6, and has a curved shape when viewed from the X direction in the figure. The paper guide 142 cooperates with the transport rollers 141 and 143 to deflect the paper S being transported in the Y direction, which is the sixth transport direction, in the reverse Z direction, which is the fourth transport direction.

  The transport rollers 143 are a pair of rollers facing each other, sandwich the paper S, and are driven and rotated by a motor (not shown) to transport the paper S deflected by the paper guide 142 in the reverse Z direction.

  The transport belt 144 mechanism includes a drive roller that is driven and rotated by a motor (not shown), an endless belt stretched around the drive roller, a support roller that stretches and supports the endless belt, and a transport provided on the endless belt. The upper surface of the endless belt that supports the paper S moves in the reverse Z direction by the rotation of the driving roller, and the transport claw 144A presses the rear end of the paper S to reverse the paper S. The sheet is conveyed in the Z direction, and the short side of the sheet S is aligned in cooperation with the sheet aligning member 231 in the center folding processing unit 230.

  Details of the sheet holding means 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the sheet holding means 100.

  A conveyance roller 122 and a displacement unit 102 are disposed on the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction of the inlet roller 202 and the conveyance path switching unit G1 disposed in the inlet unit 201 of the post-processing apparatus B. The guide plates 103 and 104 form a transport path R2 through which the paper S passes.

  A sheet holding means 100 is configured vertically below the transport path R2. The sheet holding unit 100 includes a stopper 105, a guide bar 106, an endless belt 109, a locking member 110, and the like.

  The short side, which is the leading end of the sheet S that passes between the guide plates 103 and 104 and falls, hits the stopper 105 and stops. The stopper 105 slides on the guide bar 106 and is supported so as to be reciprocally movable in the vertical direction. The guide bar 106 is fixed vertically to the post-processing apparatus main body.

  A stepping motor (hereinafter referred to as a motor) M5 rotates the pulley 107 and rotates the endless belt 109 that is stretched between the pulleys 107 and 108 that are arranged above and below. One end of the endless belt 109 and the stopper 105 are locked by a locking member 110. By the forward / reverse rotation driving of the stepping motor M5, the endless belt 109 is rotated forward / reversely, the stopper 105 moves up and down, and the short sides of the paper S are aligned. At this time, the stopper 105 functions as an alignment means.

  Details of the displacement means 102 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the displacement means 102.

  The displacement means 102 includes a swing shaft 102a and a sheet guide portion 102b, is connected to a solenoid (not shown), and is driven to swing. Returning to FIG. 5, in FIG. 5, the sheet guide unit 102 b is in a closed state. At this time, the first sheet S introduced to the holding position of the conveyance roller 122 is placed on the right side of the sheet guide unit 102 b in the drawing. Along the transport path R2.

  In FIG. 6, it is driven by a solenoid (not shown) and is swung counterclockwise (shown), so that the paper guiding portion 102b is opened. Thereafter, when the paper guide portion 102b is driven clockwise by a solenoid (not shown) and the paper guide portion 102b is swung clockwise, the left side surface of the paper guide portion 102b presses the rear end portion (upper end portion in the drawing) of the paper. Then, the rear end portion of the sheet S is moved to the left side in the figure. In this way, the displacing unit 102 displaces the sheet S to a predetermined position of the sheet holding unit 100.

  The operation of the paper attitude conversion device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 shows the operation of the conveying roller 122 as the first conveying means, the raising and lowering of the stopper 105 as the aligning means, the opening and closing of the displacing means 102, the operation of the conveying roller 131 constituting the first conveying roller pair, and the conveying roller 134. 6 is a timing chart showing the operations of, the operation of the transport roller 141 constituting the second transport roller pair, the operation of the transport roller 143, and the operation of the transport belt mechanism 144. The horizontal axis represents elapsed time. Note that these operations are performed in accordance with a control program stored in a ROM (not shown) by a CPU (not shown), which is a control means of the present invention, and cooperates with each component. It is realized by doing.

  The sheet S that has been imaged by the image forming apparatus and discharged from the short side as the leading edge is conveyed in the X direction by the entrance roller 202 at the entrance 201 of the post-processing apparatus B, and then the conveyance path switching means G1 and the sheet guide. 121, the sheet is transported along the transport path R2 in the reverse Y direction, temporarily stopped at a predetermined position (a chain line portion shown in FIG. 4, position P1 shown in FIG. 2), and held by the paper holding means 100.

At this time, the conveyance roller 122 rotates (ON) (t ₀ ), and the first sheet S introduced into the nipping position of the conveyance roller 122 is closed (closed) in the sheet guide portion 102b of the displacement means 102. Is conveyed along the right side of the figure and descends. On the other hand, the conveyance roller 131 is in a state where the conveyance is released (OFF) by the conveyance release mechanism 131a.

  The leading edge of the descending sheet comes into contact with the stopper 105 and stops, and is placed at a fixed position, whereby the introduction of the first sheet is completed.

The displacement means 102 is driven by a solenoid (not shown) and is swung counterclockwise as shown to hold the gate open (t ₂₁ ). Then, by driving the motor M5, the stopper 105 is raised, the paper held by the stopper 105 rises (t _11).

The displacing means 102 is driven by a solenoid (not shown) and is swung in the clockwise direction shown in the figure to be closed (t ₂₂ ). The left side surface in FIG. 6 of the sheet guide portion 102b of the displacing means 102 presses the rear end portion of the sheet, and brings the rear end portion of the first sheet toward the left side in FIG.

Subsequently, the second sheet is introduced to the nipping position of the rotating conveying roller 122 (t ₁ ), and is conveyed along the right side surface in FIG. 6 of the sheet guiding portion 102b of the displacing means 102 in the closed state. It descends along the first sheet S.

When the motor M5 is driven, the stopper 105 is lowered (t ₁₂ ), and after the two sheets of paper held by the stopper 105 are lowered, the displacement means 102 is driven by a solenoid (not shown) and held in the open state (t ₂₃ ).

By driving the motor M5, the stopper 105 rises (t _13), 2 sheets of paper held in the stopper 105 is raised. Subsequently, the displacement means 102 is closed (t ₂₄ ). The paper guiding unit 102b presses the rear end portion of the paper and brings the rear end portion of the second paper to a predetermined position.

  In this way, the leading edge of the second sheet introduced into the sheet holding unit 100 is placed on the sheet holding unit 100 in advance by the swinging drive of the displacement unit 102 and the raising / lowering drive of the stopper 105. In addition, they are securely stacked and stored without interfering with the rear end of the first sheet.

Subsequently, the third sheet is introduced by the conveying roller 122 (t ₂ ), and the preceding sheet is moved by the swinging drive of the displacement means 102 and the raising / lowering driving of the stopper 105 in the same manner as the second sheet conveying described above. The trailing edge of the sheet and the leading edge of the succeeding sheet are prevented from interfering with each other and stored.

  As described above, the three sheets S are held by the sheet holding unit 100 while maintaining the order in which they are output from the image forming apparatus A. The number of sheets S held by the sheet holding unit 100 is three in the present embodiment, but is not limited to this and can be set as appropriate. Further, the number of sheets held by the sheet holding unit 100 may be one. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the sheet S is simply referred to as the sheet S instead of the three sheets (or a plurality of sheets).

When the three sheets S are held by the sheet holding means 100, the conveyance roller 131 whose conveyance has been released (OFF) moves (ON) to a position where the sheet S can be conveyed and conveyed by the conveyance release mechanism 131a. At the same time, the stepping motor M1 rotates to drive the conveying roller 131, and the conveying roller 131 starts conveying the sheet S in the Z direction (t ₃ ). At this time, the conveyance roller 141 is in a state in which conveyance is canceled (OFF) by the conveyance cancellation mechanism 141a.

The sheet S is deflected in the X direction by the sheet guide 132, and then moved (ON) to a position where the sheet S can be nipped and conveyed by a conveyance release mechanism 134a synchronized with the conveyance release mechanism 131a, and the stepping motor M1 Are transported by a transport roller 134, a transport roller 134, and a transport roller 133 driven by. The stepping motor M1 starts rotating and then stops when a predetermined number of steps are counted, so that the sheet S stops at a predetermined position (a chain line portion shown in FIG. 3, a position P2 shown in FIG. 2) (t ₄ ). .

Subsequently, the transport roller 141 whose transport has been canceled (OFF) by the transport cancel mechanism 141a is moved (ON) to a position where the paper S can be transported while being sandwiched (ON), and at the same time, the transport roller 131 is moved by the transport cancel mechanism 131a. It is moved to a position where the conveyance is released (OFF) (t ₄ ). A stepping motor (not shown) rotates to drive the conveying roller 141, starts conveying the sheet S in the Y direction by the conveying roller 141 (t ₄ ), and the conveying roller 134 releases the conveyance by the conveyance releasing mechanism 134a ( It is moved to a position to be turned off (t ₅ ).

The paper S is deflected in the reverse Z direction by the paper guide 142 and then started to be transported by a transport roller 143 driven by a motor (not shown) (t ₆ ). The rear end of the transport of the paper S is the transport belt mechanism 144. to when passing through the conveying claw 144A provided, conveyance by the conveying belt mechanism 144 driven by a motor (not shown) is started (t _7), it conveys the sheet S to the predetermined position of the center-folding means 230, After aligning the short sides of the sheet S in cooperation with the sheet aligning member 231, the conveyance of the conveyance belt mechanism 144 is completed (t ₈ ), and the folding process by the folding unit 230 is performed.

  The transport claw 144A of the transport belt mechanism 144 presses the rear end portion of the paper S transported by the transport roller 143 to move it to the alignment member 231 and further presses the rear end portion of the paper S to move the front end portion of the paper S. The paper is aligned by contacting the alignment member 231. At this time, the posture of the sheet S was the direction having the short side as the leading end with respect to the X direction when passing through the entrance 201, but rotated 90 degrees in the direction having the long side as the leading end with respect to the X direction. It has been converted. Further, the front and back of the paper S are in an inverted state.

  As described above, each of the first to third deflecting units is extremely simple and small in size, which deflects in another transporting direction perpendicular to the surface of the transported paper. The deflection is not applied. Therefore, the paper attitude conversion device according to the present invention combining these three deflecting means is simple and compact, and can speed up the paper attitude conversion processing, and has high stability of paper conveyance and deflection, Reliable paper orientation conversion can be performed on papers of different sizes or a plurality of stacked papers.

  In addition, since the paper subjected to the paper orientation conversion is reversed, it is not necessary to provide a paper front / back reversing device, and the paper posture conversion processing can be speeded up while being simple and compact.

  Furthermore, the sheet S is continuously conveyed until the first deflection by the first deflection unit including the image formation, but the sheet by the second deflection unit and the third deflection unit. For the deflection and transport of S, it is necessary to switch the transport by the transport release mechanism, and a transport stop time for transport switching is inevitably required. Therefore, by holding a plurality of sheets S in which the first deflection has been completed in the sheet holding unit and performing a plurality of subsequent deflections together, the conveyance stop time is minimized, and the sheet attitude conversion speed is increased. High productivity is realized as a product.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a post-processing device and an image forming apparatus that include a paper attitude conversion device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of paper in a post-processing apparatus. The schematic front view of a post-processing apparatus. The right view of the post-processing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sheet holding unit 100. Sectional drawing of the displacement means. Sectional drawing which looked at the conveyance roller 131 and the conveyance cancellation | release mechanism 131a of FIG. 4 from the reverse Y direction. 6 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of each unit of the paper attitude conversion device.

Explanation of symbols

A Image forming apparatus B Post-processing apparatus 100 Paper holding means 102 Displacement means 103, 104 Guide plate 105 Stopper 120 First deflecting means 121 Paper guide 122 Carrying roller 130 Second deflecting means 131, 133, 134 Carrying rollers 131a, 134a Conveyance release mechanism 132 Paper guide 140 Third deflecting means 141, 143 Conveyance roller 141a Conveyance release mechanism 142 Paper guide 144 Belt conveyance mechanism 230 Middle folding means

Claims (5)

In a paper posture conversion device that changes the posture by rotating the direction of the long side and the short side of the conveyed paper by 90 degrees,
Conveying means for conveying the paper in a first conveying direction;
A first deflecting means for deflecting the paper in a second transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper transported by the transporting means, with one side serving as the leading edge of the paper transported by the transporting means being the leading edge;
With the other side intersecting with one side which is the leading edge of the paper deflected by the first deflecting means as the leading edge, the paper is fed in a third transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the paper deflected by the first deflecting means. Second deflecting means for deflecting;
With the other side intersecting with one side which is the leading end of the sheet deflected by the second deflecting unit as the leading end, the sheet is fed in a fourth transport direction perpendicular to the surface of the sheet deflected by the second deflecting unit. Third deflecting means for deflecting ;
Holding means for holding a plurality of sheets of paper deflected by the first deflecting means in a stacked state;
The paper posture conversion device, wherein the second deflection means and the third deflection means deflect the paper held by the holding means in a stacked state . The first deflecting unit deflects the sheets conveyed by the conveying unit one by one,
2. The sheet orientation conversion apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a displacement unit configured to displace the sheet deflected sheet by sheet by the first deflecting unit to a predetermined position of the holding unit. 3. The sheet orientation changing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an aligning unit configured to align a plurality of sheets held in a state of being overlapped with the holding unit. A post-processing device comprising the paper attitude conversion device according to claim 1. An image forming apparatus comprising the post-processing device according to claim 4.

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