Conveying device and printing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10399362-B2
Application number	US-201715460554-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2017
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

A conveying device includes a blower and a conveyor. The blower blows air to a sheet material. The conveyor conveys the sheet material through a blowing region of the blower. The conveyor includes a surface movable member and a presser. The surface movable member conveys the sheet material with movement of a surface of the surface movable member, with a back side of the sheet material supported with the surface movable member. The presser presses at least a portion of a leading end of the sheet material toward the surface movable member in at least an area from a position upstream from the blowing region in a conveyance direction of the sheet material to a position in the blowing region of the blower.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A conveying device comprising:
a blower to blow air to a sheet material; and
a conveyor to convey the sheet material through a blowing region of the blower,
the conveyor including:
a conveyance belt to convey the sheet material with movement of a surface of the conveyance belt with a back side of the sheet material supported with the conveyance belt; and
a presser to press at least a portion of a leading end of the sheet material toward the conveyance belt in at least an area from a position upstream from the blowing region in a conveyance direction of the sheet material to a position in the blowing region of the blower, and

a width of the conveyance belt in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material is greater than a width of the sheet material in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

2. The conveying device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the presser presses the sheet material toward the conveyance belt in an area from the position upstream from the blowing region to a position downstream from the blowing region in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

3. The conveying device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the presser includes an endless belt, and
wherein a belt portion stretched from a position upstream from a pressing start position to the pressing start position in the conveyance direction of the sheet material is disposed to approach the surface of the conveyance belt from an upstream side to a downstream side in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

4. The conveying device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the presser presses only both end portions in a width direction of the sheet material perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

5. The conveying device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the presser is configured to be movable in the width direction of the sheet material.

6. The conveying device according to claim 4 ,
wherein a surface of the presser is configured to be movable in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

7. The conveying device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the surface of the conveyance belt includes a plurality of through holes, and
wherein the conveying device further comprises a suctioner to generate air flow in the plurality of through holes to attract the sheet material onto the surface of the conveyance belt.

8. The conveying device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the plurality of through holes are disposed at least in an area of the surface of the conveyance belt from a position upstream from a pressing start position to the pressing start position in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

9. A printing apparatus comprising:
a liquid discharger to discharge liquid to a sheet material; and
the conveying device according to claim 1 to blow air to the sheet material to which the liquid discharged by the liquid discharger adheres and convey the sheet material.

10. A printing apparatus comprising:
a liquid discharger to discharge liquid to a sheet material;
a pre-processing unit disposed at a position upstream from the liquid discharger in a conveyance direction of the sheet material, to apply a treatment liquid to the sheet material before the liquid discharger discharges the liquid; and
the conveying device according to claim 1 , to blow air to the sheet material to which the treatment liquid has been applied by the pre-processing unit and to convey the sheet material.

11. A conveying device comprising:
a blower to blow air to a sheet material; and
a conveyor to convey the sheet material through a blowing region of the blower,
the conveyor including:
a conveyance belt to convey the sheet material with movement of a surface of the conveyance belt, with a back side of the sheet material supported with the conveyance belt; and
a presser to press at least a portion of a trailing end of the sheet material toward the conveyance belt, in an area from a position in the blowing region to a position downstream from the blowing region in a conveyance direction of the sheet material, and

a width of the conveyance belt in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material is greater than a width of the sheet material in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

12. A printing apparatus comprising:
a liquid discharger to discharge liquid to a sheet material; and
the conveying device according to claim 11 to blow air to the sheet material to which the liquid discharged by the liquid discharger adheres and convey the sheet material.

13. The conveying device according to claim 4 , further comprising a blowing chamber including:
a wall surrounding a periphery of the blowing region; and
a sheet inlet to receive the sheet material from an upstream side of the blowing chamber in the conveyance direction of the sheet material,
wherein the presser presses the sheet material toward the conveyance belt in an area from a position upstream from the sheet inlet to a position downstream from the sheet inlet in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

14. The conveying device according to claim 13 ,
wherein a heat generator is disposed inside the blowing chamber.

15. The conveying device according to claim 14 , further comprising a controller to control a heat generation amount of the heat generator.

16. The conveying device according to claim 13 ,
wherein at least one of the conveyance belt and the presser is an endless belt to pass outside of the blowing chamber.

17. The conveying device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the presser presses only both end portions in a width direction of the sheet material perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

18. The conveying device according to claim 17 , further comprising a blowing chamber including:
a wall surrounding a periphery of the blowing region; and
a sheet outlet to eject the sheet material to a downstream side from the blowing region in the conveyance direction of the sheet material,
wherein the presser presses the sheet material toward the conveyance belt in an area from a position upstream from the sheet inlet to a position downstream from the sheet inlet in the conveyance direction of the sheet material.

19. The conveying device according to claim 18 ,
wherein a heat generator is disposed inside the blowing chamber.

20. The conveying device according to claim 19 , further comprising a controller to control a heat generation amount of the heat generator.

21. The conveying device according to claim 13 ,
wherein the conveyance belt includes a plurality of through holes,
wherein the conveying device further comprises a suctioner to generate air flow in the plurality of through holes to attract the sheet material onto the conveyance belt, and
wherein the suctioner extends from an outside of the wall to an inside of the wall through the sheet inlet.

22. The conveying device according to claim 13 ,
wherein the wall includes a sheet outlet to eject the sheet material to a downstream side from the blowing region in the conveyance direction of the sheet material,
wherein the conveyance belt includes a plurality of through holes,
wherein the conveying device further comprises a suctioner to generate air flow in the plurality of through holes to attract the sheet material onto the conveyance belt, and
wherein the su

Assignees

• Asada Kohki
• Ogawa Masato
• Sugiyama Natsuki
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Asada Kohki
• Ogawa Masato
• Sugiyama Natsuki

Classifications

• F26B13/30

  for applying suction {(F26B13/16 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• F26B13/28

  for applying pressure; for brushing; for wiping · CPC title

• F26B13/101

  Supporting materials without tension, e.g. on or between foraminous belts · CPC title

• F26B3/283

  in combination with convection · CPC title

• B41J11/007

  Conveyor belts or like feeding devices · CPC title