Image forming system and charge eliminating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11952235-B2
Application number	US-202117405078-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2021
Priority date	Apr 9, 2021
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

An image forming system includes: an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium; a post-processing apparatus configured to perform post-processing on the recording medium on which an image is formed by the image forming apparatus; a relay apparatus having a function of changing a transport speed of the recording medium on which an image is formed by the image forming apparatus to a transport speed of the post-processing apparatus and transporting the recording medium to a subsequent stage; and a charge eliminating apparatus configured to perform charge elimination on the recording medium that is charged, by reducing a charge amount of the charged recording medium, and the charge eliminating apparatus is provided at a stage that is after the relay apparatus and before the post-processing apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming system comprising:
an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium;
a post-processing apparatus configured to perform first post-processing on the recording medium on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus;
a relay apparatus having a function of changing a transport speed of the recording medium on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus to a transport speed of the recording medium in the post-processing apparatus and transporting the recording medium to a subsequent stage; and
a charge eliminating apparatus configured to perform charge elimination on the recording medium that is charged, by reducing a charge amount of the charged recording medium,
wherein the charge eliminating apparatus is positioned after the relay apparatus and before the post-processing apparatus in a processing direction.

2. The image forming system according to claim 1 , wherein the relay apparatus has a function of performing second post-processing on the recording medium on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus.

3. The image forming system according to claim 2 , wherein the function of performing the second post-processing performed by the relay apparatus comprises at least one of a function of cooling the recording medium, a curl correction function, a slipsheet insertion function, an image density reading function, and a punching function.

4. The image forming system according to claim 1 , wherein the relay apparatus has a transport path longer than the recording medium in a transport direction.

5. The image forming system according to claim 1 , wherein the post-processing apparatus has at least one or of a function of a creasing function, a cutting function, a bookbinding function, a binding function, a stacking function, an alignment function, a punching function and a sheet discharge function for the recording medium on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus.

6. The image forming system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a slipsheet insertion apparatus configured to insert a set slipsheet in a middle of a transport path,
wherein the charge eliminating apparatus is provided at a stage after the slipsheet insertion apparatus.

7. The image forming system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an inspection apparatus configured to inspect whether the image is normally formed on the recording medium,
wherein the charge eliminating apparatus is provided at a stage before the inspection apparatus.

8. The image forming system according to claim 1 , wherein the charge eliminating apparatus is configured to be connected, relative to the processing direction, immediately after a sheet feeding apparatus, immediately before a discharge apparatus, immediately before the post-processing apparatus, or immediately after the post-processing apparatus.

9. The image forming system according to claim 1 , wherein the charge eliminating apparatus comprises:
two charge eliminating rollers to which voltages of different potentials are applied respectively, the two charge eliminating rollers configured to perform the charge elimination by reducing a charge amount of the recording medium when the recording medium passes through the two charge eliminating rollers, and
a peeling member abutted against a surface of one of the two charge eliminating rollers, the peeling member being configured to peel off the recording medium adhering to the one of the two charge eliminating rollers with rotation of the one of the two charge eliminating rollers.

10. A charge eliminating apparatus comprising:
two charge eliminating rollers to which voltages of different potentials are applied respectively, the two charge eliminating rollers performing charge elimination by reducing a charge amount of a recording medium when the recording medium passes through the two charge eliminating rollers; and
a peeling member abutted against a surface of only one of the two charge eliminating rollers, the other of the two charge eliminating rollers having no peeling member abutted thereagainst, the peeling member being configured to peel off the recording medium adhering to the one of the two charge eliminating rollers with rotation of the one of the two charge eliminating rollers, wherein:
the two charge eliminating rollers are respectively provided on lower and upper sides of the charge eliminating apparatus in a vertical direction, and the peeling member is abutted against only the one of the two charge eliminating rollers which is provided on a non-power supply side in the vertical direction and is grounded.

11. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein a top end of the peeling member is abutted against a downstream surface of the one of the two charge eliminating rollers in a forward rotation direction at an acute angle.

12. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the peeling member is positioned where the peeling member peels off the recording medium adhering to the surface of the one of the charge eliminating rollers with the rotation of the one of the charge eliminating rollers.

13. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the peeling member is provided at a plurality of positions in a width direction of a transport path through which the recording medium is transported.

14. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the peeling member is abutted against the surface of the one of the charge eliminating rollers by being biased in a direction toward the surface of the one of the charge eliminating rollers by an elastic member.

15. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising:
a controller configured to control rotation of the two charge eliminating rollers,
wherein the controller controls, before controlling the two charge eliminating rollers to perform a forward rotation operation of rotating in a forward rotation direction in which the recording medium passes through between the two charge eliminating rollers and is transported to a subsequent stage, the one of the charge eliminating rollers provided with the peeling member to perform reverse rotation operation of rotating in a reverse rotation direction opposite to the forward rotation direction.

16. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to control the one of the charge eliminating rollers to perform the reverse rotation operation at both a start of printing processing on the recording medium and after the printing processing on the recording medium based on a printing instruction.

17. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to control the one of the charge eliminating rollers to stop after the reverse rotation operation and to perform the forward rotation operation after the stop.

18. The charge eliminating apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein in response to the one of the charge eliminating rollers performing the forward rotation operation after the reverse rotation operation, the controller is configured to perform control to gradually increase a rotation speed of the one of the charge eliminating rollers during the forward rotation operation until steady rotation.

19. A charge eliminating apparatus comprising:
two charge eliminating rollers to which voltages of different potentials are applied respectively, the two charge eliminating rollers performing charg

Assignees

• Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp

Inventors

• Hamabata Naoto
• Tanaka Katsumi
• Kurita Tomokazu
• Kaneyama Kiyotoshi
• Mitsui Taro

Classifications

• B65H2301/5133

  Removing electrostatic charge · CPC title

• B65H37/00 Primary

  Article or web delivery apparatus incorporating devices for performing specified auxiliary operations (incorporating cutting or line-perforating devices B65H35/00) · CPC title

• B65H29/14

  and introducing into a pile · CPC title

• G03G15/6573

  Feeding path after the fixing point and up to the discharge tray or the finisher, e.g. special treatment of copy material to compensate for effects from the fixing · CPC title

• G03G15/6576

  Decurling of sheet material · CPC title