Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9944479-B2
Application number	US-201715448835-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A sheet feeding apparatus includes an apparatus body, and an opening/closing member openable/closable with respect to the apparatus body and including a support portion supporting a sheet in a condition in which the opening/closing member is opened. The sheet supported by the support portion is fed by a feed portion. The opening/closing member is provided with a detection portion configured to detect the sheet on the support portion. The detection portion is disposed at a position where a detection wave emitted from the detection portion is not detected in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
an apparatus body;
an opening/closing member openable and closable with respect to the apparatus body and comprising a support portion configured to support a sheet in a condition in which the opening/closing member is opened;
a feed portion configured to feed the sheet supported on the support portion; and
a detection portion disposed in the opening/closing member and configured to emit a detection wave in a direction intersecting with a support surface of the support portion and detect the detection wave reflected by the sheet on the support surface, the detection portion being disposed at a position where the detection wave emitted from the detection portion is not detected by the detection portion in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a transmissive portion through which the detection wave emitted from the detection portion passes, the transmissive portion being disposed at a position facing the detection portion in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

3. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a conveyance guide configured to guide the sheet fed by the feed portion,
wherein the transmissive portion is a sheet conveyance path defined by the conveyance guide, and the detection portion is disposed such that the detection wave is emitted in a direction passing through inside of the sheet conveyance path in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

4. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the conveyance guide comprises
a first guide portion configured to be in a sliding contact with a first surface of the sheet, and
a second guide portion configured to be in a sliding contact with a second surface opposite to the first surface of the sheet and defining the sheet conveyance path with the first guide portion, and
wherein the first and second guide portions face each other with a detection range of the detection portion between the first and second guide portions in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

5. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a regulating portion which is disposed in the apparatus body and against which the sheet supported on the support portion abuts so that a position of the sheet in a sheet feeding direction of the feed portion is regulated in a condition in which the opening/closing member is opened, and
wherein the transmissive portion is disposed at the regulating portion.

6. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the transmissive portion comprises a portion defining an opening within the regulating portion.

7. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the detection portion is disposed at a position distant from a shielding object facing the detection portion by more than a detection limit distance of the detection portion in an emission direction in which the detection wave is emitted in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed, the detection limit distance being a distance beyond which the sheet is not detected by the detection portion.

8. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a low reflectance portion disposed in the apparatus body and facing the detection portion in a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed,
wherein reflectance of the low reflectance portion to the detection wave emitted from the detection portion is lower than that of surrounding portions of the low reflectance portion.

9. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising a regulating portion which is disposed in the apparatus body and against which the sheet supported on the support portion abuts so that a position of the sheet in a sheet feeding direction of the feed portion is regulated in a condition in which the opening/closing member is opened,
wherein the low reflectance portion is disposed at the regulating portion.

10. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detection portion is configured to emit the detection wave in a condition in which the opening/closing member is opened and a condition in which the opening/closing member is closed.

11. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the feed portion is configured to execute a feed operation of feeding the sheet in a condition in which the detection wave is detected by the detection portion and to execute no feed operation in a condition in which the detection wave is not detected by the detection portion.

12. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detection wave is light or sound wave.

13. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the detection wave is light, and the low reflectance portion comprises a material adsorbing the light emitted from the detection portion.

14. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the feed portion comprises a feed member configured to come into contact with an upper surface of the sheet supported on the support portion to feed the sheet, a conveyance member configured to receive the sheet fed from the feed member and convey the sheet, and a separation member configured to separate the sheet conveyed by the conveyance member from other sheets, and
wherein the detection portion is configured to detect the sheet nipped between the conveyance member and the separation member.

15. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the support portion is configured to move upward and downward with respect to a bottom part of the opening/closing member so as to move the sheet supported on the support portion between a feed position where the sheet supported on the support portion comes into contact with the feed member and a standby position below the feed position.

16. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising a pair of side end regulating members supported by the opening/closing member, being movable in a width direction orthogonal to a sheet feeding direction of the feed portion, and configured to regulate a position of the sheet supported on the support portion in the width direction, and
wherein the detection portion is disposed downstream of an abutment position where the feed member comes into contact with the sheet in terms of the sheet feeding direction and is disposed at a position which does not overlap with the feed member and which is located between movable ranges of the respective side end regulating members in terms of the width direction.

17. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detection portion is a photoelectric sensor comprising a light emission portion configured to emit light as the detection wave and a light reception portion configured to detect the light reflected by the sheet.

18. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the light emission portion is disposed in the support portion and configured to emit the light in a direction inclined with respect to a direction vertical to the support surface of the support portion.

19. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
an image forming portion configured to form an image on a sheet; and
the sheet feeding apparatus as set forth in claim 1 and configured to feed the sheet to the image forming portion.

20. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
an apparatus body;
an op

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Nakagawa Hiroyuki

Classifications

• B65H1/14

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

• B65H7/04 Primary

  responsive to absence of articles, e.g. exhaustion of pile (B65H7/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65H2402/442

  with openings for introducing material to be handled, e.g. for inserting web rolls · CPC title

• B65H2801/06

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

• B65H3/66

  Article guides or smoothers, e.g. movable in operation · CPC title