Medium winder and medium unwinding method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016236890-A1
Application number	US-201614992065-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 11, 2016
Priority date	Feb 12, 2015
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A medium winder, includes: a winding roller that winds a medium discharged from an image formation apparatus into a roll shape; first and second rollers that guide the medium to the winding roller; a dancer roller provided between the first and second rollers in the medium conveyance direction and movable upwardly and downwardly while contacting from above the medium between the first and second rollers; a winding driver that rotates the winding roller; a detector that detects the dancer roller; a dancer roller position recognition portion that recognizes the position of the dancer roller based on a detection result by the detector; and a winding drive controller that controls the winding driver. In an operation of unwinding the medium, the winding drive controller moves the dancer roller up and down by reducing or increasing the unwinding velocity of the medium based on a position of the dancer roller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A medium winder, comprising:
a winding roller configured to wind a medium discharged from an image formation apparatus into a roll shape; first and second rollers configured to guide the medium to the winding roller; a dancer roller provided between the first and second rollers, and movable upwardly and downwardly while contacting from above the medium between the first and second rollers; a winding driver configured to rotate the winding roller; a detector configured to detect the dancer roller; a dancer roller position recognition portion configured to recognize a position of the dancer roller based on a detection output by the detector; and a winding drive controller configured to control the winding driver, wherein at an operation of unwinding the medium, the winding drive controller moves the dancer roller up and down by reducing or increasing an unwinding velocity of the medium based on a position of the dancer roller.

2 . The medium winder according to claim 1 , wherein
the reduced unwinding velocity to which the medium unwinding velocity is to be reduced to is set lower than a reverse conveyance velocity of the medium in the image formation apparatus, and the increased unwinding velocity to which the medium unwinding velocity is to be increased to is set higher than the reverse conveyance velocity of the medium in the image formation apparatus.

3 . The medium winder according to claim 1 , wherein
the detector includes a first detector and a second detector provided above the first detector, and the winding drive controller is configured to reduce the medium unwinding velocity when the dancer roller is detected by the first detector and increases the medium unwinding velocity when the dancer roller is detected by the second detector.

4 . The medium winder according to claim 3 , wherein
the detector further includes a third detector provided below the first detector, and the winding drive controller is configured to stop driving the winding driver when the dancer roller is detected by the third detector.

5 . The medium winder according to claim 4 , wherein a distance between the first and second detectors is shorter than a distance between the first and third detectors.

6 . A medium unwinding method of a medium winder which includes: a winding roller configured to wind a medium discharged from an image formation apparatus into a roll shape; first and second rollers configured to guide the medium to the winding roller; a dancer roller provided between the first and second rollers and movable upwardly and downwardly while being in contact with the medium from above between the first and second rollers; and a winding driver configured to rotate the winding roller, the method comprising:
recognizing a position of the dancer roller with a detector; and in an operation of unwinding the medium, controlling the winding driver to move the dancer roller up and down by reducing or increasing a medium unwinding velocity in accordance with the position of the dancer roller.

Assignees

• Oki Data Kk

Inventors

• Wada Toshiyuki

Classifications

• B65H2801/06

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

• B65H2701/1842

  of webs · CPC title

• B65H2513/11

  angular · CPC title

• B65H2511/112

  of a loop, e.g. a free loop or a loop of dancer rollers · CPC title

• B65H2404/143

  driving roller and idler roller arrangement · CPC title