Sheet manufacturing apparatus and sheet manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9920478-B2
Application number	US-201514840942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2015
Priority date	Sep 5, 2014
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A sheet manufacturing apparatus according to the invention includes: a manufacturing unit which manufactures a sheet; a supplying unit which supplies a mounted material mounted thereon to the manufacturing unit; and a determination unit which determines whether or not to initiate manufacturing of the sheet in a state where the mounted material is mounted on the supplying unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
a manufacturing unit configured to manufacture a sheet of paper from a raw material;
a supplying unit configured to supply a raw material mounted thereon to the manufacturing unit;
a first sensor configured to detect whether or not the raw material is mounted; and
a second sensor configured to detect whether or not an amount of the mounted raw material is equal to or less than a ratio set in advance with respect to a maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit when the first sensor detects that the raw material is mounted;
wherein when the first sensor detects that the raw material is not mounted, a manufacturing of the sheet is not started, and
wherein when the first sensor detects that the raw material is mounted and the second sensor detects that the amount of the mounted raw material is not equal to or less than the ratio set in advance with respect to the maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit, the manufacturing of the sheet is started.

2. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second sensor detects whether or not the amount of the mounted raw material is equal to or less than the ratio set in advance with respect to the maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit at a plurality of points where the amount is equal to or less than the ratio set in advance.

3. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a determination unit configured to determine whether or not to initiate the manufacturing of the sheet,
wherein the determination unit determines not to initiate the manufacturing of the sheet when initiation of the manufacturing of the sheet is commanded or before the manufacturing is initiated in a state where the raw material is mounted on the supplying unit.

4. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the supplying unit supplies a cut-form raw material, and
a crushing unit crushes the raw material.

5. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an output unit configured to output information on how many raw materials are supposed to be additionally mounted to initiate the manufacturing of the sheet.

6. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein an indicator which shows a reference of a loading amount of the raw material which is necessary for initiating the manufacturing of the sheet is provided on the supplying unit.

7. A sheet manufacturing method, comprising:
detecting a presence or absence of the raw material mounted thereon by a first sensor;
detecting that an amount of the mounted raw material is not equal to or less than a ratio set in advance with respect to a maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit when the first sensor detects the presence of the mounted raw material;
determining whether or not to initiate manufacturing of a sheet of paper using the raw material by a determination unit in a state where the raw material is mounted on a supplying unit;
supplying the mounted raw material to a manufacturing unit from the supplying unit;
initiating manufacturing of the sheet; and
manufacturing the sheet by using the supplied raw material.

8. A sheet manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
a manufacturing unit configured to manufacture a sheet;
a supplying unit configured to supply a raw material mounted thereon to the manufacturing unit;
a first sensor configured to detect a presence or absence of the mounted raw material; and
a second sensor configured to detect whether or not an amount of the mounted raw material is equal to or less than a ratio set in advance with respect to a maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit when the first sensor detects the presence of the raw material; and
a command unit configured to initiate manufacturing of the sheet based on a detection result of the second sensor in a state where the raw material is mounted on the supplying unit,
wherein there is a case where the mounted raw material is not supplied when a command to initiate manufacturing is received from the command unit in a state where the mounted raw material is mounted on the supplying unit.

9. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising:
an output unit configured to output information that the mounted raw material is not supplied.

10. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein the output unit performs outputting of information on how many raw materials are supposed to be additionally mounted to initiate manufacture of the sheet.

11. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein an indicator which shows a reference of a loading amount of the raw material which is necessary for initiating the supply of the mounted raw material is provided on the supplying unit.

12. The sheet manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein when the first sensor detects that the raw material is mounted and the second sensor detects that the amount of the mounted raw material is equal to or less than the ratio set in advance with respect to the maximum mounting amount of the supplying unit, the manufacturing of the sheet is not started.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Murayama Yoshiaki
• Takahashi Nobuhito
• Taniguchi Seiichi

Classifications

• D21F7/00

  Other details of machines for making continuous webs of paper · CPC title

• D21F13/10 Primary

  using board presses · CPC title

• D04H1/00 Primary

  Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres · CPC title