Sheet stacking tray, sheet stacking apparatus, and image forming system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11498795-B2
Application number	US-202117396937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2021
Priority date	Aug 24, 2020
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

A sheet stacking tray includes a first conveyor, a second conveyor, a sheet stopper, a first full-load detector, a second full-load detector, and a plurality of motors. The plurality of motors maintain the sheet stopper at a protruding position to block a sheet conveyed by the first conveyor until the first full-load detector outputs a signal indicating that a sheet bundle is fully loaded, shift the sheet stopper to a lowered position to allow the sheet bundle to pass when the first full-load detector outputs the signal indicating that the sheet bundle is fully loaded, drive the first conveyor and the second conveyor together to convey the sheet bundle when the sheet stopper shifts to the lowered position, and stop the second conveyor and drive only the first conveyor, when the second full-load detector detects a leading edge of the sheet bundle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet stacking tray comprising:
a first conveyor configured to sequentially convey a plurality of sheets ejected to the sheet stacking tray, in a sheet conveyance direction to form a sheet bundle;
a second conveyor disposed downstream from the first conveyor in the sheet conveyance direction;
a sheet stopper pivotable between a protruding position and a lowered position, the sheet stopper being configured to block the plurality of sheets conveyed by the first conveyor to form the sheet bundle when the sheet stopper is at the protruding position, the sheet stopper being configured to allow the formed sheet bundle to pass when the sheet stopper is at the lowered position;
a first full-load detector configured to detect that the sheet bundle blocked by the sheet stopper is fully loaded; and
a second full-load detector configured to detect that a leading edge of the sheet bundle conveyed by the second conveyor has reached a downstream end portion of the second conveyor in the sheet conveyance direction;
a plurality of motors configured to:
maintain the sheet stopper at the protruding position to block the sheet conveyed by the first conveyor until the first full-load detector outputs a signal indicating that the sheet bundle is fully loaded;
shift the sheet stopper to the lowered position to allow the sheet bundle to pass when the first full-load detector outputs the signal indicating that the sheet bundle is fully loaded;
drive the first conveyor and the second conveyor together to convey the sheet bundle when the sheet stopper shifts to the lowered position; and
stop the second conveyor and drive only the first conveyor, when the second full-load detector detects the leading edge of the sheet bundle.

2. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of motors are configured to shift the sheet stopper from the lowered position to the protruding position when both the first full-load detector and the second full-load detector do not detect a sheet after the sheet stopper is shifted to the lowered position.

3. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of motors are configured to drive the second conveyor at a speed lower than a speed of the first conveyor when both the first conveyor and the second conveyor convey a sheet.

4. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of motors are configured to drive the first conveyor and the second conveyor to convey the sheet bundle at a speed lower than a sheet conveyance speed of a sheet ejected to the sheet stacking tray.

5. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an output tray on which the first conveyor is disposed; and
an extension tray on which the second conveyor is disposed, the extension tray being coupled to the output tray, and
wherein the sheet stopper is disposed on an upstream side of the extension tray in the sheet conveyance direction.

6. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 5 ,
wherein the sheet stopper includes a pivotable member having a receiving surface and is pivotable between the protruding position at which the receiving surface is inclined with respect to an upper surface of the extension tray and the lowered position at which the receiving surface is parallel to the upper surface of the extension tray.

7. The sheet stacking tray according to claim 5 ,
wherein the first conveyor includes a plurality of first conveyance belts arranged in parallel at intervals in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction,
wherein the sheet stopper and another sheet stopper are disposed downstream from the plurality of first conveyance belts in the sheet conveyance direction, and
wherein the second conveyor includes a second conveyor disposed between the sheet stopper and said another sheet stopper.

8. A sheet stacking apparatus comprising:
the sheet stacking tray according to claim 1 ; and
a controller configured to control driving of the first conveyor, the second conveyor, and the sheet stopper of the sheet stacking tray.

9. An image forming system comprising:
an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a sheet;
a post-processing apparatus configured to fold the sheet on which the image has been formed by the image forming apparatus; and
the sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 8 configured to stack the sheet folded by the post-processing apparatus.

Assignees

• Shinoda Atsushi
• Oikawa Naoki
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shinoda Atsushi
• Oikawa Naoki

Classifications

• B65H2511/13

  Thickness · CPC title

• B65H31/28

  Bands, chains, or like moving receivers (for articles piled on edge B65H31/06) · CPC title

• B65H37/06

  for folding · CPC title

• H04N1/00631 Primary

  Ejecting or stacking (H04N1/00641 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65H43/06 Primary

  detecting, or responding to, completion of pile (B65H43/08 takes precedence) · CPC title