Sheet feeder, image forming apparatus, sheet feeding method, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12304762-B2
Application number	US-202318221828-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2023
Priority date	Jul 26, 2022
Publication date	May 20, 2025
Grant date	May 20, 2025

Abstract

A sheet feeder includes a sheet loading tray, an air blower, a side air blower, and processing circuitry. The sheet loading tray loads sheets. The air blower blows air to the sheets to float and separate the sheets. The side air blower blows air to the sheets to separate the sheets. The processing circuitry controls a tray elevator to rise the sheet loading tray to move the sheets to an upper limit position, after a predetermined time has elapsed from a time when the sheets are loaded on the sheet loading tray. The processing circuitry causes the air blower and the side air blower to blow air to the sheets to perform sheet separation and controls the tray elevator to lower the sheet loading tray to a position at which an intermediate remaining-sheet sensor is disposed, after the sheet separation ends.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sheet feeder comprising:
a sheet loading tray to load sheets;
an air blower disposed to face a leading end of the sheets loaded on the sheet loading tray in a feeding direction of the sheets, the air blower to blow air to the sheets to float and separate the sheets;
a side air blower disposed to face an end of the sheets in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the sheets, the side air blower to blow air to the sheets to separate the sheets; and
processing circuitry configured to:
control a tray elevator to rise the sheet loading tray to move the sheets to an upper limit position, after a predetermined time has elapsed from a time when the sheets are loaded on the sheet loading tray being pulled out from a housing of an image forming apparatus;
cause the air blower and the side air blower to blow air to the sheets to perform sheet separation when the sheets on the sheet loading tray are moved to the upper limit position; and
control the tray elevator to lower the sheet loading tray to a position at which an intermediate remaining-sheet sensor is disposed between the upper limit position and a lower limit position of the sheet loading tray, after the sheet separation ends.

2. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 ,
wherein the air blower includes a plurality of nozzles to blow air to the sheets along the leading end of the sheets in the feeding direction of the sheets,
wherein the side air blower includes a plurality of nozzles to blow air to the sheets along the end of the sheets in the direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the sheets, and
wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the air blower and the side air blower to blow air in a direction in which the sheets are aligned by the sheet separation to move the sheets to the direction in which the sheets are aligned.

3. The sheet feeder according to claim 2 ,
wherein the processing circuitry is configured to adjust an amount of air blown to the sheets from each one of the plurality of nozzles according to a size or thickness of the sheets.

4. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, in accordance with a remaining amount of the sheets on the sheet loading tray, change the lowered position of the sheet loading tray after the sheet separation ends, between the lower limit position and the position at which the intermediate remaining-sheet sensor is disposed.

5. An image forming apparatus comprising:
the sheet feeder according to claim 1 ; and
an image forming device to form an image on at least one of the sheets fed by the sheet feeder.

6. A sheet feeding method executed by a sheet feeder, the method comprising:
lifting a sheet loading tray, which loads sheets, to move the sheets to an upper limit position, after a predetermined time has elapsed from a time when the sheets are loaded on the sheet loading tray being pulled out from a housing of an image forming apparatus;
blowing air by an air blower and a side air blower, to perform sheet separation when the sheets on the sheet tray are moved to the upper limit position,
the air blower being disposed to face a leading end of the sheets in a feeding direction of the sheets loaded on the sheet loading tray and to blow air to the sheets to float and separate the sheets, and
the side air blower being disposed to face an end of the sheets in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the sheets and to blow air to the sheets to separate the sheets; and

lowering the sheet loading tray to a position at which an intermediate remaining-sheet sensor is disposed between the upper limit position and a lower limit position of the sheet loading tray, after the sheet separation ends.

7. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable program code that causes a computer to perform:
controlling a tray elevator to lift a sheet loading tray, which loads sheets, to move the sheets to an upper limit position, after a predetermined time has elapsed from a time when the sheets are loaded on the sheet loading tray being pulled out from a housing of an image forming apparatus;
controlling an air blower and a side air blower to blow air to perform sheet separation when the sheets on the sheet tray are moved to the upper limit position,
the air blower being disposed to face a leading end of the sheets in a feeding direction of the sheets loaded on the sheet loading tray and blow air to the sheets to float and separate the sheets, and
the side air blower being disposed to face an end of the sheets in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the sheets and blow air to the sheets to separate the sheets; and

controlling the tray elevator to lower the sheet loading tray to a position at which an intermediate remaining-sheet sensor is disposed between the upper limit position and a lower limit position of the sheet loading tray, after the sheet separation ends.

Assignees

• Edo Yohsuke
• Sugawara Tatsuya
• Takamiya Yohsuke
• Kojima Hidetoshi
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Edo Yohsuke
• Sugawara Tatsuya
• Takamiya Yohsuke
• Kojima Hidetoshi

Classifications

• B65H1/14

  comprising positively-acting mechanical devices {(B65H1/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B65H2511/20

  Location in space · CPC title

• B65H2801/06

  Office-type machines, e.g. photocopiers · CPC title

• B65H3/48 Primary

  Air blast acting on edges of, or under, articles · CPC title

• B65H2513/50

  Timing · CPC title