Paper conveying apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9701501-B2
Application number	US-201615083318-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A paper conveying apparatus includes: a driving device which rotates a driving rotating body by driving force; a conveying device which conveys a paper along a conveyance path according to rotation of a driven rotating body; an endless drive transmission belt which is stretched to the driving rotating body and the driven rotating body; a conveyance amount detecting device which detects a conveyance amount of the paper; an abnormality detecting device which detects abnormality of the paper; a stopping device which stops the driving device when the abnormality is detected; a calculating device which calculates the conveyance amount in time before conveyance stops after the abnormality is detected; a degradation detecting device which compares the calculated conveyance amount and a threshold and determines that the drive transmission belt is degraded if the calculated conveyance amount is larger than the threshold; and a reporting device which reports a determination result.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A paper conveying apparatus comprising:
a driving device which rotates a driving rotating body by driving force generated by the driving device;
a conveying device which conveys a paper along a conveyance path according to rotation of a driven rotating body;
an endless drive transmission belt which is stretched to the driving rotating body and the driven rotating body;
a conveyance amount detecting device which detects a conveyance amount of the paper by the conveying device;
a processing device which is disposed in the conveyance path and applies processing to the paper;
an abnormality detecting device which is disposed on an upstream side from the processing device in the conveyance path and detects abnormality of the paper;
a stopping portion which stops the driving device when the abnormality detecting device detects the abnormality;
a calculating portion which calculates the conveyance amount of the paper in time before conveyance of the paper by the conveying device stops after the abnormality is detected;
a degradation detecting portion which compares the calculated conveyance amount and a threshold and determines that the drive transmission belt is degraded if the calculated conveyance amount is larger than the threshold; and
a reporting portion which reports a determination result of the degradation detecting portion.

2. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the conveying device is a cylinder which holds the paper to a peripheral surface; and
the driven rotating body is coupled with a shaft of the cylinder.

3. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the conveying device includes a conveyance belt which holds the paper to a surface; and
the driven rotating body is a roller to which the conveyance belt is stretched.

4. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the conveyance amount detecting device is a rotary encoder which outputs a pulse signal every unit rotation angle of the driven rotating body.

5. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the threshold includes a first threshold and a second threshold smaller than a value of the first threshold; and
the degradation detecting portion determines degradation of the drive transmission belt in two stages.

6. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the reporting portion reports that exchange of the drive transmission belt is necessary if the degradation detecting portion determines that the calculated conveyance amount is larger than the first threshold, and the reporting portion reports that adjustment of the drive transmission belt is necessary if the degradation detecting portion determines that the calculated conveyance amount is equal to or smaller than the first threshold and larger than the second threshold.

7. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the abnormality detecting device includes at least one of a float sensor, an overlap feed sensor and a jam sensor.

8. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a self-diagnosing portion which operates the abnormality detecting device in a pseudo or compulsive manner.

9. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an inactivating portion which inactivates the calculating portion and the degradation detecting portion.

10. The paper conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the processing device includes at least one of a processing liquid applying device which applies a processing liquid to the paper, an image forming device which deposits droplets to the paper and forms an image, a reading device which reads the paper, a varnish applying device which applies varnish to the paper and a drying device which dries the paper.

11. A paper conveying method comprising:
a driving step of rotating a driving rotating body by driving force generated by a driving device;
a transmitting step of transmitting the driving force from the driving rotating body to a driven rotating body by an endless drive transmission belt stretched to the driving rotating body and the driven rotating body of a conveying device;
a conveying step of conveying a paper along a conveyance path of the conveying device according to rotation of the driven rotating body;
a conveyance amount detecting step of detecting, by a conveyance amount detecting device, a conveyance amount of the paper in the conveying step;
a processing step of applying processing to the paper by a processing device disposed in the conveyance path;
an abnormality detecting step of detecting abnormality of the paper by an abnormality detecting device disposed on an upstream side from the processing device in the conveyance path;
a stopping step of stopping the driving device by a stopping portion when the abnormality is detected in the abnormality detecting step;
a calculating step of calculating, by a calculating portion, the conveyance amount of the paper in time before conveyance of the paper in the conveying step stops after the abnormality is detected;
a degradation detecting step of comparing the calculated conveyance amount and a threshold by a degradation detecting portion and determining by the degradation detecting portion that the drive transmission belt is degraded if the calculated conveyance amount is larger than the threshold; and
a reporting step of reporting, by a reporting portion, a determination result of the degradation detecting step.

12. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable recording medium including a program stored thereon, such that when the program is read and executed by a computer, the computer is configured to perform:
a driving step of rotating a driving rotating body by driving force generated by a driving device;
a transmitting step of transmitting the driving force from the driving rotating body to a driven rotating body by an endless drive transmission belt stretched to the driving rotating body and the driven rotating body of a conveying device;
a conveying step of conveying a paper along a conveyance path of the conveying device according to rotation of the driven rotating body;
a conveyance amount detecting step of detecting, by a conveyance amount detecting device, a conveyance amount of the paper in the conveying step;
a processing step of applying processing to the paper by a processing device disposed in the conveyance path;
an abnormality detecting step of detecting abnormality of the paper by an abnormality detecting device disposed on an upstream side from the processing device in the conveyance path;
a stopping step of stopping the driving device by a stopping portion when the abnormality is detected in the abnormality detecting step;
a calculating step of calculating, by a calculating portion, the conveyance amount of the paper in time before conveyance of the paper in the conveying step stops after the abnormality is detected;
a degradation detecting step of comparing the calculated conveyance amount and a threshold by a degradation detecting portion and determining by the degradation detecting portion that the drive transmission belt is degraded if the calculated conveyance amount is larger than the threshold; and
a reporting step of reporting, by a reporting portion, a determination result of the degradation detecting step.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Sumiyoshi Yuta

Classifications

• B65H63/036

  characterised by the combination of the detecting or sensing elements with other devices, e.g. stopping devices for material advancing or winding mechanism · CPC title

• B65H5/021

  by belts · CPC title

• B65H5/226

  by suction rollers · CPC title

• B65H5/224

  by suction belts (B65H11/005 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65H7/06 Primary

  responsive to presence of faulty articles or incorrect separation or feed (B65H7/14 takes precedence) · CPC title