CN113387205A - Medium supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a medium supply device, in which a floating medium is accurately supplied. A pair of side boards (12, 12) of a pair, which is an example of a restricting part of a medium supply device (1), comprises: 1 pair of convex portions (12b ) which are an example of the 1 pair of 1-st restricting portions and which are disposed so as to face each other in a width direction (W) orthogonal to a conveying direction (D) and restrict a medium (M) loaded on a loading table (11) in the width direction (W); and 1 pair of regulating surfaces (12a ) as an example of the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating parts, which are arranged oppositely in the width direction (W) at a larger interval (S12) than the interval (S11)) between the 1 pair of convex parts (12b ), and regulate the medium (M) floating in the width direction (W). The 1 pair of convex portions (12b ) are arranged so as to be movable integrally with the 1 pair of regulating surfaces (12a ).

Description

Medium supply device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a medium supplying apparatus.

Background

Conventionally, there is known an air paper feeding system in which floating air is used to float paper, and then the uppermost paper is separated into 1 sheet and fed. In a sheet feeding device adopting such an air sheet feeding method, there is proposed a medium feeding device including: 1 pair of side fences which limit the width of the sheet bundle; and 1 pair of regulating plates which are arranged above the 1 pair of side fences independently of the side fences and regulate the width of the floating sheet, and the interval in the width direction between the 1 pair of regulating plates is narrower than the interval in the width direction between the 1 pair of side fences (for example, refer to patent document 1).

Further, there has been proposed a medium feeding device in which, in a state where air is not blown out from an air blowing port, a height of a tip end of a swing plate provided rotatably to the air blowing port is located at a position equal to or lower than a paper feeding height of a bundle of paper, and in a state where air is blown out, the height of the tip end of the swing plate is located at a position substantially equal to or higher than a conveying surface of an adsorption conveying portion (see, for example, patent document 2).

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2007-62961

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2009-120284

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

Further, the medium such as paper loaded on the loading table can freely move in the space sandwiched between the pair of side fences 1 when floating. Therefore, if there is a large gap between the pair of side fences 1 and the medium, problems such as positional deviation of an image and paper jam may occur due to deviation of the suction position of the conveyance mechanism that sucks and conveys the uppermost medium.

On the other hand, when the 1-pair-side shutter abuts against the medium, the floating behavior of the medium and the falling behavior of the medium after floating (the medium other than the uppermost medium to be conveyed) are hindered by friction between the medium and the 1-pair-side shutter, for example, non-conveyance occurs because the medium is hard to float, or multi-conveyance occurs because the floating medium is hard to fall. Further, since the medium is easily deformed, the non-conveyance of the medium may occur in particular.

Therefore, if the position of the medium to be floated in the width direction cannot be regulated at an appropriate interval, the medium cannot be accurately supplied.

As described above, in the sheet feeding device including 1 pair of side fences and 1 pair of adjustment plates disposed above the 1 pair of side fences and regulating the width of a floating sheet, unlike the 1 pair of side fences, the 1 pair of adjustment plates cannot determine the position by abutting against the sheet without floating the sheet. Therefore, the following complicated setting is required: position information of 1 pair of side fences is obtained, and 1 pair of adjusting plate positions are set.

At this time, if the size of the sheet is detected in a normal manner in which the actual size of the sheet is measured by bringing 1 pair of side fences into contact with the sheet, the interval between 1 pair of aligning plates is set with a margin equal to or larger than the size detection error amount, and a large gap is generated between 1 pair of aligning plates and the sheet. In addition, when the position of 1 pair of the adjusting plates is set by using the predetermined shape and size and the value input on the panel, in order to prevent 1 pair of the adjusting plates from abutting on the sheet, the interval between 1 pair of the adjusting plates is set by taking a margin of a predetermined value (in the case of paper having a predetermined shape and size, a paper size tolerance +2mm defined by JIS) or more with respect to the specification and size of the sheet, and a large gap is generated between 1 pair of the adjusting plates and the sheet. If a large gap is formed between the pair of adjustment plates 1 and the sheet in this manner, problems such as positional deviation of the image and paper jam may occur due to deviation of the suction position with respect to the conveyance mechanism as described above.

Here, in patent document 2, a medium supply device is also considered, which includes: a loading table that loads a plurality of media; a conveying mechanism that conveys an uppermost medium among the plurality of media loaded on the loading table; a floating air blowing mechanism that blows air to float at least the uppermost medium; and a suction mechanism for sucking air to cause the uppermost medium floated by the air blown by the floating air blowing mechanism to be adsorbed on the transport mechanism.

In such a medium supply device, when the interval between the pair of side fences that regulate the position of the medium in the width direction is made small, the medium comes into contact with the side fences at the time of floating and the time of dropping, and floating and dropping are hindered. Therefore, for example, the uppermost medium does not normally float to cause no conveyance, or the 2 nd and later media positioned at the lower part of the uppermost medium do not normally fall to cause multi-conveyance. Thus, the medium cannot be reliably supplied.

Further, if the distance between the pair of side fences is made large, resistance to floating and dropping can be suppressed, but the medium is disturbed during floating, and distortion is likely to occur.

Further, since the shape of the medium at the time of floating varies depending on the type such as the thickness, it is difficult to set the interval between the pair of side fences to an appropriate interval.

When the air blowing disappears, the swing plate of the medium supply device swings downward toward the bundle of paper sheets to press the floating and falling 2 nd and subsequent paper sheets, thereby disturbing the position of the falling paper sheets. Therefore, when the dropped paper floats again, the dropped paper may not float normally, and the paper may not be supplied reliably without conveyance or the like.

The invention aims to provide a medium supply device capable of accurately supplying floating medium. Specifically, an object thereof is to provide a medium supply device capable of accurately supplying a floating medium with simple setting. Another object of the present invention is to provide a medium supply device capable of reliably supplying a medium while suppressing distortion of the medium.

ForMeans for solving the problems

In 1 aspect, a medium supply device includes: a loading table that loads a plurality of media; a floating air blowing mechanism that blows air to float at least an uppermost medium of the plurality of media loaded on the loading table; a conveyance mechanism that conveys the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism in a conveyance direction; and a regulating section having 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions and 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions, the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions being disposed so as to face each other in a width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and regulating the medium loaded on the loading table in the width direction, the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions being disposed so as to face each other in the width direction at an interval larger than an interval between the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions and regulating the medium floated by blowing air by the floating air blowing mechanism in the width direction, the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions being disposed so as to be movable integrally with the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions.

In another 1 aspect, a medium supply device includes: a loading table that loads a plurality of media; a conveyance mechanism that conveys an uppermost medium among the plurality of media loaded on the loading table in a conveyance direction; a floating air blowing mechanism that floats at least the uppermost medium by blowing air; a suction mechanism that sucks air to cause the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism to be attracted to the transport mechanism; a1 st movable guide that is movable between a restriction position that restricts a position of the medium in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and a retreat position that is farther from the medium than the restriction position; and a control unit that controls the 1 st movable guide to move from the retracted position to the restricting position after blowing of air by the floating air blowing mechanism is started and before the uppermost medium is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, thereby restricting a position of the uppermost medium in the width direction.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

By adopting the technical scheme, the floating medium can be accurately supplied.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view showing a printing system including a medium supply device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying apparatus according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus (when supplying the medium) according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 4 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus (when no medium is loaded) according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a side guard in embodiment 1.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying apparatus according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 7 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus (when no medium is loaded) according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 8 is a front view showing a printing system including the medium supplying apparatus according to embodiment 3.

Fig. 9 is a left side view showing the medium supplying device (when no medium is supplied) of embodiment 3.

Fig. 10 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus (when supplying the medium) according to embodiment 3.

Fig. 11 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying apparatus according to embodiment 3.

Fig. 12A is (a) a left side view for explaining a restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 12B is a left side view (second view) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 12C is a left side view (third) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 12D is a left side view (the fourth) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 2 nd movable guide in embodiment 3.

Fig. 15A is (a) a left side view for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in the modification of embodiment 3.

Fig. 15B is a left side view (second view) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in the modification of the 3 rd embodiment.

Fig. 15C is a left side view (third) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in the modification of the 3 rd embodiment.

Fig. 15D is a left side view (the fourth) for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in the modification of the 3 rd embodiment.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide in the modification of embodiment 3.

Description of the reference numerals

1. 2, 3, a medium supply device; 11. a loading table; 12. a side dam; 12a, a limiting surface; 12 a-1, 12 a-2, an opening; 12b, ribs; 13. a height-limiting plate; 20. a conveying mechanism; 21. a conveyor belt; 22. 23, a belt wheel; 30. a suction mechanism; 40. a floating air blowing mechanism; 50. a separated air blowing mechanism; 41. a main floating air blowing mechanism; 51. a main separated air blowing mechanism; 42. a side floating air blowing mechanism; 52. a side separation air blow-out mechanism; 60. 1 st movable guide; 61. a width limiting portion; 62. a height restricting portion; 70. a2 nd movable guide; 80. a floating state detection unit; 81. a control unit; 82. a storage unit; 83. an interface section; 84. a loading platform lifting driving part; 85. a conveyance drive section; 91. a1 st restriction portion driving portion; 92. a side dam; 92a, a limiting surface; 93. a movable projection; 100. a printing system; 101. a printing device; 102. a side dam; a1, sucking air; a2, floating air; a3, separating air; a21, main floating air; a31, main separated air; a4, floating air on the side; a5, side separation air; D. a direction of conveyance; FA. A floating region; m, a medium; m1, top most media; m2, 2 nd medium; p11, limit position; p12, retreat position; p21, limit position; p22, retreat position; p31, limit position; p32, retreat position; PA, loading area; r, a conveying path; s11, S12, S21, S21-1, S22, spacer; w, width direction.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a medium supply device according to embodiments 1, 2, and 3 of the present invention and a modification of embodiment 3 will be described with reference to the drawings.

< embodiment 1 >

Fig. 1 is a front view showing a printing system 100 including a medium supply device 1 according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying apparatus 1 according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus 1 (when supplying the medium M) according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 4 is a left side view showing the medium supplying apparatus 1 (when the medium M is not loaded) according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the side guard 12.

Note that the respective directions of the front-back, the up-down, and the left-right shown in fig. 1 and 3 to 5, and fig. 7 to 10, 12A to 12D, and 15A to 15D described later are merely examples of the case where the conveyance direction D of the medium M is the right direction, and for example, the front-back direction and the left-right direction are horizontal directions, and the up-down direction is a vertical direction.

The printing system 100 shown in fig. 1 includes a medium supply device 1 and a printing device 101.

The medium supply device 1 supplies the medium M to the printing unit 110 of the printing device 101. The medium M supplied by the medium supply device 1 is not limited to the printing device 101, and may be supplied by another device such as a transport device or a post-processing device. The medium supply device 1 may be integrally provided in another device such as the printing device 101. The medium M is, for example, paper (sheet paper), but may be other sheet-like media such as a film. A plurality of the medium supply devices 1 are arranged, for example, vertically or in tandem, and the plurality of medium supply devices 1 may supply the medium M to another single device such as the printing device 101.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the medium supplying apparatus 1 includes a loading table 11, 1-pair side flappers 12, a conveying mechanism 20, a suction mechanism 30, a main floating air blowing mechanism 41, a main separated air blowing mechanism 51, 1-pair side floating air blowing mechanisms 42, 1-pair side separated air blowing mechanisms 52, a control section 81, a storage section 82, an interface section 83, a loading table elevation driving section 84, and a conveying driving section 85.

A plurality of media M are loaded on the loading table 11 shown in fig. 1, 3, and 4. The loading platform 11 is moved up and down by the driving of the loading platform up-and-down driving unit 84 shown in fig. 2. For example, when the number of media M loaded on the loading table 11 decreases, the control unit 81 controls the loading table elevation driving unit 84 to elevate the loading table 11 based on the amount of reflected light of light irradiated from a floating state detecting unit, not shown, at a predetermined loading surface height level.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the pair of side fences 12, 12 are disposed so as to face each other in a width direction W (front-rear direction) orthogonal to a conveyance direction D (right direction) of the medium M. Preferably, the pair of side fences 12, 12 are disposed so as to be movable in the width direction W of the medium M on the loading table 11 by, for example, a manual operation or a drive means not shown, depending on the size of the medium M. In fig. 1, the upper portions of the pair of side guards 12 and 12 are not shown to illustrate the pulley 22 and the like.

In each side flap 12 of the 1-pair of side flaps 12, a convex portion 12b that protrudes toward the medium M side from the regulating surface 12a on the medium M side is provided, for example, by about 0.5 mm. The protruding amount of the convex portion 12b from the regulating surface 12a is arbitrary, and is preferably, for example, half of the dimensional tolerance of paper for JIS (if the tolerance is 2mm, the convex portion 12b on one side is 1mm) or less. As shown in fig. 5, the convex portion 12b is, for example, a rib extending in the vertical direction. The number of the convex portions 12b is 3 at intervals in the conveyance direction D. The convex portions 12b and 12b of the 1- pair side fences 12 and 12 are examples of 1-pair 1-th regulating portions which are disposed so as to face each other in the width direction W and regulate the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W.

As shown in fig. 4, the region between the pair of side fences 12, 12 of 1 includes a loading region PA between the projections 12b, 12b and a floating region FA above the loading region PA. In the loading area PA, the medium M is not floated, but loaded on the loading table 11. In the floating area FA, the medium M floats. The portion of the regulating surface 12a above the convex portion 12b is an example of the 1-to-2 regulating portion that regulates the medium M floating in the width direction W. The 1- pair side fences 12, 12 are an example of a restricting portion having 1 pair of the 1 st restricting portions (1 pair of projections 12b, 12b) and 1 pair of the 2 nd restricting portions (1 pair of restricting surfaces 12a, 12 a).

The interval S12 in the width direction W between the regulating surfaces 12a, 12a of the 1-pair of side fences 12, 12 is larger than the interval S11 in the width direction W between the convex portions 12b, 12b of the 1-pair of side fences 12, 12.

Since the regulating surface 12a and the convex portion 12b are integrally provided on the side fence 12, that is, the regulating surface 12a and the convex portion 12b are integrally provided, for example, when the user manually moves the side fence 12 in the width direction W, the regulating surface 12a and the convex portion 12b are integrally moved in the width direction W. In this manner, in each side fence 12, the regulating surface 12a and the convex portion 12b are arranged so as to be integrally movable.

In order to prevent the jamming of the 2 nd and subsequent media M that have fallen after the uppermost medium M1 floated and conveyed, the upper ends of the projections 12b are inclined so that the thickness in the width direction W decreases upward.

Further, a concave portion may be provided in a region corresponding to the floating region FA in the regulating surface 12a of the side fence 12. In this case, the concave portion functions as an example of a2 nd regulating portion that regulates the medium M floating in the width direction W, and a portion of the regulating surface 12a where the concave portion is not provided functions as an example of a1 st regulating portion that regulates the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W. In this case, the convex portion 12b protruding from the regulating surface 12a can be omitted. The 1 st and 2 nd restricting portions may be provided independently if they are integrally movable. For example, the 1 st restriction portion is provided in the side guard 12, and the 2 nd restriction portion is disposed in a member different from the side guard 12.

The conveying mechanism 20 shown in fig. 1 includes a conveyor belt 21 and left and right 1 pairs of pulleys 22 and 23 on which the conveyor belt 21 is hung. One of the pulleys 22, 23 is a driving pulley and the other is a driven pulley. The drive pulley is rotated counterclockwise in fig. 1 by the drive of the conveyance drive unit 85 shown in fig. 2, and rotates the conveyor belt 21. Thus, the conveyance mechanism 20 conveys the uppermost medium M1, which is floated by blowing out the main levitation air a21 and the side levitation air a4 by the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 and the side levitation air blowing mechanism 42, which will be described later, in the conveyance direction D (right direction). A plurality of the conveyance mechanisms 20 may be arranged in a row in the front-rear direction, for example. In this case, only 1 suction mechanism 30, which will be described later, may be arranged, or each of the plurality of conveyance mechanisms 20 may be arranged. In fig. 3 and 4, the conveying mechanism 20 is not shown.

The conveyor belt 21 is an example of a conveying member that conveys the medium M. The conveyor belt 21 is provided with a plurality of through holes through which suction air a1 sucked by a suction mechanism 30 described later passes.

The conveying mechanism 20 may not include the conveyor belt 21, but may include other conveying members such as conveying rollers. When the conveyance mechanism 20 includes the conveyance roller, the conveyance driving unit 85 rotates the driving roller (conveyance roller) without rotating the driving pulley.

The suction mechanism 30 sucks the suction air a1 through a plurality of through holes provided in the conveyor belt 21 by driving a suction source (not shown) (for example, a suction fan), and thereby causes the uppermost medium M1 that floats among the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 to be adsorbed to the conveyor mechanism 20.

The main floating air blowing mechanism 41 is disposed downstream of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 in the transport direction D, and the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 blows out the main floating air a21 to float at least the uppermost media M1 by being driven by an air supply source (for example, an air supply fan). Preferably, the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 blows the main floating air a21 obliquely upward so as to float up, for example, about 10 media M including the uppermost media M1. As shown in fig. 3 and 4, two blowing ports of the main levitation air a21 of the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 are provided so as to be separated in the front and rear direction. Note that, in fig. 1, the lower part of the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 is not shown, and in fig. 3 and 4, the parts other than the air outlet of the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 are not shown.

The main separation air blowing mechanism 51 is disposed downstream of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 in the transport direction D, and the main separation air blowing mechanism 51 blows out the main separation air a31 for separating the uppermost media M1 and the 2 nd media M2 by driving of an air supply source (for example, an air supply fan). As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the main separated air a31 of the main separated air blowing mechanism 51 has two outlets spaced apart in the front-rear direction at positions sandwiched between the two outlets of the main floating air blowing mechanism 41. Note that, in fig. 1, the lower part of the main separated air blowing mechanism 51 is not shown, and in fig. 3 and 4, the parts other than the air outlet of the main separated air blowing mechanism 51 are not shown.

The 1-pair floating air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42 are disposed at positions further outward in the width direction W than the 1-pair flaps 12 and 12, and the 1-pair floating air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42 blow out the side floating air a4 to float at least the uppermost medium M1 by being driven by an air supply source (for example, an air supply fan). As shown in fig. 5, each of the 1-pair side floating air blowing mechanisms 42, 42 blows side floating air a4 from the lower portion of the opening 12 a-1 provided continuously in the floating region FA of the side fence 12 and the loading region PA. In this way, the 1-pair side levitation- air blowing mechanisms 42, 42 blow the side levitation air a4 from the levitation region FA of the side flap 12 (the opening 12 a-1 of the regulating surface 12 a). In other words, the air outlet (float nozzle) of the side floating air blowing mechanism 42 is provided in the floating area FA of the side dam 12. This makes it possible to easily float the medium M. In fig. 1, the blow-out port of the side floating air a4 is shown by a broken line. In fig. 1, the lower part of the side floating air blowing mechanism 42 is not shown, and in fig. 3 and 4, the side floating air blowing mechanism 42 itself is not shown.

The main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 and the 1-side levitation air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42 are examples of levitation air blowing mechanisms that levitate at least the uppermost medium M1 of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 by blowing air (main levitation air a21 and side levitation air a 4).

The 1-pair-side separation air blowing mechanisms 52, 52 are disposed at positions further outward in the width direction W than the 1-pair-side shutters 12, and the 1-pair-side separation air blowing mechanisms 52, 52 blow out the side separation air a5 for separating the uppermost medium M1 and the 2 nd medium M2 by driving of an air supply source (for example, an air supply fan). As shown in fig. 5, each of the 1-pair side separated- air blowing mechanisms 52, 52 blows the side separated air a5 from the opening 12 a-2 provided in the side fence 12. The height regulating plate 13 for regulating the height of the uppermost medium M1 to be floated is disposed so as to project from the opening 12 a-2 toward the medium M. In fig. 1, the blow-out port of the side separation air a5 is shown by a broken line. Note that, in fig. 1, the lower part of the side separation air blowing mechanism 52 is not illustrated, and in fig. 3 and 4, the side separation air blowing mechanism 52 itself is not illustrated.

The main separated air blowing mechanism 51 and the 1-side separated air blowing mechanisms 52, 52 are an example of a separated air blowing mechanism that blows out separated air (main separated air a31 and side separated air a5) for separating the uppermost medium M1 and the 2 nd medium M2.

The control Unit 81 shown in fig. 2 includes a processor (e.g., a CPU) functioning as an arithmetic Processing device that controls the operation of the entire medium supply device 1, and controls the operation of each Unit of the medium supply device 1. In addition, when the medium supply device 1 is provided integrally with another device such as the printing device 101, the control unit of the other device such as the printing device 101 may also serve as the control unit 81.

The storage unit 82 is, for example, a rom (read Only memory) which is a read Only semiconductor memory in which a predetermined control program is stored in advance, a ram (random Access memory) which is a random Access semiconductor memory used as a work memory area as needed when the processor executes various control programs, or the like. Similarly, the storage unit 82 may also serve as a storage unit 82 of another device such as the printing device 101.

The interface unit 83 transmits and receives various information to and from external devices such as the printing apparatus 101. For example, the interface 83 receives information such as a supply request and a stop supply request of the medium M from the control unit of the printing apparatus 101, and the control unit 81 controls the operations of the respective units of the medium supply apparatus 1 based on the information.

The loading platform elevation driving unit 84 includes a motor (an example of a driver) for elevating the loading platform 11.

The conveyance driving unit 85 includes a motor (an example of an actuator) that rotates a driving pulley that is one of the pulleys 22 and 23 of the conveyance mechanism 20.

Next, the printing apparatus 101 shown in fig. 1 will be explained.

The printing apparatus 101 includes a printing portion 110, a conveying portion 120, a1 st supply portion 130, a2 nd supply portion 140, a3 rd supply portion 150, a conveying roller pair 161 to a conveying roller pair 165, and a registration roller pair 166. In fig. 1, the conveyance path R extending from the medium supply device 1, the 1 st supply unit 130, the 2 nd supply unit 140, and the 3 rd supply unit 150 to the printing unit 110 is shown by a thick solid line.

The printing unit 110 includes, for example, a line head (japanese: ラインヘッド type インクジェットヘッド) for each color used for printing. The printing method of the printing unit 110 may be a printing method other than the inkjet printing method.

The conveyance unit 120 is disposed opposite to the printing unit 110. For example, the conveying unit 120 conveys the medium M by a conveyor belt while adsorbing the medium M.

The 1 st supply unit 130 includes a supply tray 131, a squeegee 132, and a pickup roller 133, the 2 nd supply unit 140 includes a supply tray 141, a squeegee 142, and a pickup roller 143, and the 3 rd supply unit 150 includes a supply tray 151, a squeegee 152, and a pickup roller 153.

A plurality of media M are loaded on the supply trays 131, 141, and 151.

The scraping roller 132 is a discharge roller that discharges and conveys the uppermost medium M among the plurality of media M loaded on the supply tray 131, the scraping roller 142 is a discharge roller that discharges and conveys the uppermost medium M among the plurality of media M loaded on the supply tray 141, and the scraping roller 152 is a discharge roller that discharges and conveys the uppermost medium M among the plurality of media M loaded on the supply tray 151.

The pickup roller 133 conveys the medium M discharged by the scraping roller 132 to the conveyance path R, the pickup roller 143 conveys the medium M discharged by the scraping roller 142 to the conveyance path R, and the pickup roller 153 conveys the medium M discharged by the scraping roller 152 to the conveyance path R.

The conveying roller pair 161 to 165 are disposed in the conveying path R from the 1 st supply unit 130, the 2 nd supply unit 140, and the 3 rd supply unit 150 to the registration roller pair 166.

The medium M fed from the medium feeding device 1, the 1 st paper feeding unit 130, the 2 nd paper feeding unit 140, and the 3 rd paper feeding unit 150 abuts on the registration roller pair 166. Thereby, the skew of the medium M is corrected.

Next, the operation of supplying the medium M by the medium supplying device 1 will be described with appropriate omission of items overlapping with the above description.

First, when the control section 81 shown in fig. 2 receives information of a supply request from the printing apparatus 101, the suction mechanism 30 is controlled to suck the suction air a1, and the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41, the main separation air blowing mechanism 51, the 1-side levitation air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42, and the 1-side separation air blowing mechanisms 52 and 52 are controlled to blow out various kinds of air (the main levitation air a21, the main separation air a31, the side levitation air a4, and the side separation air a 5).

As a result, the state in which all the media M are loaded on the loading table 11 as shown in fig. 1 changes to a state in which a part of the media M floats as shown in fig. 3. Then, the medium M floats in the floating area FA shown in fig. 4, which is larger than the loading area PA (interval S11) at the interval S12 in the width direction W. Further, in the case where the 1- pair side fences 12, 12 are disposed so as to be manually movable as described above, the position of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W is restricted by, for example, moving the 1- pair side fences 12, 12 to a position where they abut on or come close to the peripheral edge of the medium M at the convex portions 12b, 12b immediately after the loading of the medium M on the loading table 11. In the case where the 1-pair of side fences 12, 12 are disposed so as to be movable by the driving means (not shown) as described above, the position of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W is restricted by moving the 1-pair of side fences 12, 12 to a position where they abut on or come close to the peripheral edge of the medium M at the convex portions 12b, 12b at a predetermined timing such as when the medium M starts to be supplied immediately after being loaded (when printing starts).

After that, when the uppermost medium M1 is sucked onto the conveyance mechanism 20, the controller 81 temporarily stops the operation of the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 to blow out the main floating air a21 and the operation of the 1-side floating air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42 to blow out the side floating air a4 by, for example, closing the shutter.

After the conveyance mechanism 20 starts conveying the uppermost medium M1, the controller 81 starts again the operation of blowing the main floating air a21 by the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 and the operation of blowing the side floating air a4 by the 1-pair side floating air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42 by opening the shutter, for example, and causes the 2 nd medium M2 to be adsorbed on the conveyance mechanism 20. Then, the conveyance mechanism 20 starts conveying the 2 nd medium M2. Such a feeding operation of the medium M is repeated until the control unit 81 receives the information of the stop of feeding request.

In embodiment 1 described above, the medium supply device 1 includes the loading table 11, the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 and the side floating air blowing mechanism 42 as an example of the floating air blowing mechanism, the conveyance mechanism 20, and the 1- pair side fences 12, 12 as an example of the restricting portion. A plurality of media M are loaded on the loading table 11. The main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 and the side levitation air blowing mechanism 42 blow out main levitation air a21 and side levitation air a4, which are examples of air, to levitate at least the uppermost medium M1 of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11. The conveyance mechanism 20 conveys the uppermost medium M1, which is floated by blowing out the main floating air a21 by the main floating air blowing mechanism 41 and blowing out the side floating air a4 by the side floating air blowing mechanism 42, in the conveyance direction D. The 1-pair side baffle plates 12, 12 have: a pair of 1 convex portions 12b, which are an example of the pair of 1-st regulating portions, which are disposed so as to face each other in a width direction W orthogonal to the conveying direction D and regulate the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W; and 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a as an example of the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions, which are disposed so as to face each other in the width direction W at an interval S12 (> S11) larger than the interval (interval S11) between the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b and regulate the medium M in the width direction W that has been floated by blowing out the main levitation air a21 by the main levitation air blowing mechanism 41 and blowing out the side levitation air a4 by the side levitation air blowing mechanism 42. One convex portion 12b of the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b is disposed so as to be movable integrally with one limiting surface 12a of the 1 pair of limiting surfaces 12a, and the other convex portion 12b of the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b is disposed so as to be movable integrally with the other limiting surface 12a of the 1 pair of limiting surfaces 12a, 12 a.

As described above, in embodiment 1, the 1 pair of convex portions 12b and 12b that regulate the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W and the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a and 12a that regulate the medium M floating in the width direction W are arranged to be integrally movable, and the interval S12 in the width direction W is larger than the interval (interval S11) between the 1 pair of convex portions 12b and 12 b. Therefore, for example, by manually moving the side fence 12, the space S12 between the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a can be set to an appropriate space with respect to the medium M floating up, with a simple setting of setting the space S11 between the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b to an appropriate space with respect to the medium M loaded on the loading table 11. Accordingly, compared to the case where the distance S12 between the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a is too large, it is possible to suppress occurrence of an image position shift, a jam, or the like due to free movement of the floating medium M in the width direction W. Further, as compared with the case where the distance S12 between the 1 st pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a is excessively small, it is possible to suppress occurrence of non-conveyance and multi-conveyance of the medium M due to the floating behavior of the medium M and the falling behavior of the medium M after the floating behavior and the falling behavior of the medium M being hindered by friction, or occurrence of non-conveyance of the medium M due to deformation of the medium M. Therefore, according to embodiment 1, the floating medium M can be accurately supplied with a simple setting.

In embodiment 1, the 1 st pair of side fences 12 and 12 disposed to face each other in the width direction W, the 1 st pair of 2 nd regulating portions for regulating the medium M floating in the width direction W are provided on the regulating surfaces 12a and 12a of the 1 st pair of side fences 12 and 12 on the medium M side, and the 1 pair of convex portions 12b and 12b, which are one example of the 1 st pair of 1 st regulating portions for regulating the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W, are provided on the regulating surfaces 12a and 12a of the 1 st pair of side fences 12 and 12 so as to protrude from the regulating surfaces 12a toward the medium M side.

Thus, with a simple configuration in which the convex portion 12b is provided on the regulating surface 12a, the difference in the interval S11 between the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b and the interval S12 between the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a can be kept constant. Therefore, as described above, the space S12 between the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 12a, 12a can be set to an appropriate space with respect to the floating medium M by a simple setting of setting the space S11 between the 1 pair of convex portions 12b, 12b to an appropriate space with respect to the medium M mounted on the mounting table 11. Therefore, the floating medium M can be accurately supplied with a simple configuration and simple setting.

< embodiment 2 >

In contrast to the medium supply device 1 of the above-described embodiment 1, in the medium supply device 2 of the present embodiment 2, instead of the 1- pair side shutters 12 and 12, the 1- pair side shutters 92 and 92 are disposed, and the 1 st regulating-section driving portion 91 and the 1-pair movable protrusions 93 and 93 are disposed. The medium supply device 2 according to embodiment 2 can be the same as the medium supply device 1 according to embodiment 1, and therefore, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying device 2. Fig. 7 is a left side view showing the medium supplying device 2 (when the medium M is not loaded).

The medium supplying device 2 includes a1 st regulating-portion driving portion 91 shown in fig. 6, and 1 pair of side fences 92, 92 and 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93 shown in fig. 7. The medium supply device 2 includes the above-described loading table 11 (see fig. 7), the conveyance mechanism 20 (see fig. 6 below), the suction mechanism 30, the main floating air blowing mechanism 41, the main separated air blowing mechanism 51, the 1-pair floating air blowing mechanisms 42 and 42, the 1-pair separated air blowing mechanisms 52 and 52, the control unit 81, the storage unit 82, the interface unit 83, the loading table elevation drive unit 84, and the conveyance drive unit 85.

The 1 st regulating-portion driving unit 91 shown in fig. 6 includes a motor (an example of an actuator) for moving 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and 93 shown in fig. 7 in the width direction W. The 1 st regulating-portion driving unit 91 moves the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and 93 by control of the control unit 81 based on the media information and the like described later, and may move the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and 93 by a user operation in the input unit of the media supply device 1 (or the printing device 101), for example. The 1 st limiting-portion driving unit 91 may be a single driving unit, or may be a total of two driving units, i.e., a driving unit that drives one movable projection 93 and a driving unit that drives the other movable projection 93.

The 1- pair side shutters 92 and 92 shown in fig. 7 are disposed to face each other in a width direction W (front-rear direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction D (see fig. 1) of the medium M. Preferably, the 1- pair side fences 92, 92 are disposed so as to be movable in the width direction W of the medium M on the loading table 11 by, for example, a manual operation or a drive means not shown, depending on the size of the medium M.

Preferably, each side shutter 92 of the 1-pair of side shutters 92, 92 is provided with a recess or an opening capable of accommodating a movable protrusion 93 protruding toward the medium M side from the regulating surface 92a on the medium M side. Alternatively, the movable protrusion 93 may be disposed between the medium M and the regulating surface 92 a.

The movable protrusion 93 is coupled to the side guard 92 so as to be slidable along the side guard 92 in the width direction W, for example, so that the movable protrusion 93 is arranged to be movable integrally with the side guard 92 while being adjustable in position relative to the side guard 92. By arranging the side fence 92 and the movable protrusion 93 to be integrally movable, for example, when the user manually moves the side fence 92 in the width direction W, the restricting surface 92a and the movable protrusion 93 are integrally moved in the width direction W. In the case where the movable protrusion 93 is disposed so that the position thereof with respect to the side fence 92 can be adjusted manually, the 1 st limiting-portion driving unit 91 can be omitted.

The movable projection 93 extends in the vertical direction in the mounting region PA, for example, similarly to the projection 12b shown in fig. 5. The movable projections 93 may be arranged in plurality at intervals in the conveyance direction D. The 1-pair convex portions 93 and 93 are examples of 1-pair restriction portions which are disposed so as to face each other in the width direction W and which restrict the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W.

The region between the 1- pair side fences 92, 92 includes a loading region PA between the movable protrusions 93, 93 and a floating region FA above the loading region PA. In the loading area PA, the medium M is not floated, but loaded on the loading table 11. In the floating area FA, the medium M floats. The portion of the regulating surface 92a above the movable protrusion 93 is an example of 1-to-2 regulating portions that regulate the medium M floating in the width direction W. The restricting portion in embodiment 2 includes 1 pair of restricting surfaces 92a and 92a (side guards 92 and 92) and 1 pair of movable protrusions 93.

In order to prevent the jamming of the 2 nd and subsequent media M that have fallen after the uppermost medium M1 floated and conveyed, the upper end of the movable projection 93 is inclined so that the thickness in the width direction W decreases upward.

Since the movable protrusions 93 are arranged so as to be movable in the width direction W by the drive of the 1 st limiter driving unit 91, the interval S21 becomes larger (becomes the interval S21-1) when the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93 moves away from each other to the position of the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93-1, 93-1 indicated by the broken line, for example, with respect to the interval S21 in the width direction W between the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93. However, since 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93 move in the width direction W within a range that protrudes to the medium M side from the regulating surface 92a, even if the movable protrusions 93, 93 move in the width direction W, the interval S22 in the width direction W between the regulating surfaces 92a, 92a is larger than the intervals S21, S21-1 in the width direction W between the movable protrusions 93, 93.

In this way, the regulating surfaces 92a, 92a of the 1- pair side fences 92, 92 and the 1-pair movable protrusions 93, 93 are arranged so that the difference in the interval between the interval S22 between the regulating surfaces 92a, 92a and the intervals S21, S21-1 between the movable protrusions 93, 93 can be adjusted.

Preferably, the control unit 81 shown in fig. 6 adjusts the gap difference by moving 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and 93 in the width direction W and relatively moving 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and 1 pair of regulating surfaces 92a and 92a under the drive control of the 1 st regulating-portion driving unit 91, based on at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supplying apparatus 1.

Here, the medium information is, for example, information such as the size of the medium M, the orientation of the medium M, and the type of the medium M. Preferably, the control unit 81 obtains the medium information based on, for example, a print job of the printing apparatus 101, a detection result of a sensor (not shown) for detecting the size and orientation of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11, an operation corresponding to the type of the medium M performed by the user at an operation unit (for example, a lever) provided in the medium supply apparatus 1, and the like. The size of the medium M is, for example, A3 (297X 420mm), A4 (210X 297mm), or the like. The orientation of the medium M is a longitudinal direction in which the longitudinal direction of the medium M is parallel to the conveyance direction D or a lateral direction in which the longitudinal direction of the medium M is orthogonal to the conveyance direction D. The type of the medium M may be classified into plain paper, thick paper, thin paper, and the like, according to the thickness (unit area weight) of the medium M, according to the material of the medium M, according to the orientation (longitudinal texture or lateral texture) of the texture of the medium M, and the like.

The environmental information includes humidity, temperature, and air flow of the environment in which the medium supply device 1 is installed. Preferably, the control unit 81 obtains the environmental information based on, for example, a detection result of a sensor, not shown, provided in the medium supply device 1.

For example, the longer the medium M in the width direction W, the thinner the medium M, or the higher the temperature and humidity of the environment of the medium supply device 1, the weaker the toughness of the medium M, and the more easily the floating medium M deforms with respect to the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the control unit 81 controls the 1 st limiting portion driving unit 91 so as to relatively reduce the above-mentioned gap so as to separate the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93 from each other. Thus, for example, when the user manually moves the side fence 92 and the movable protrusion 93 to a position where the movable protrusion 93 abuts against the medium M, the medium M that is easily deformed in the floating area FA can be restricted by the relatively narrow space S22.

On the other hand, for example, the shorter the medium M in the width direction W, the thicker the medium M, or the lower the temperature and humidity of the environment of the medium supply device 1, the stronger the toughness of the medium M, and the less likely the floating medium M is to deform in the horizontal direction, so it is preferable that the control unit 81 controls the 1 st limiting portion driving unit 91 so that the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93 approach each other in order to relatively increase the above-described gap difference. Thus, for example, when the user manually moves the side fence 92 and the movable protrusion 93 to the position where the movable protrusion 93 abuts against the medium M, the medium M that is not easily deformed in the floating area FA can be restricted by the relatively large space S22.

The 1 st limiting-portion driving section 91 is an example of a limiting-portion driving section. The restricting portion driving unit may be a2 nd restricting portion driving unit that moves the movable protrusion 93 (the 1 st restricting portion) and the restricting surface 92a (the 2 nd restricting portion) relative to each other, and may be a unit that moves the restricting surface 92a (the side shutter 92) relative to the movable protrusion 93. Alternatively, both the 1 st regulating-section driving section 91 and the 2 nd regulating-section driving section for moving the regulating surface 92a (the side fence 92) may be arranged. Further, the 2 nd regulating-section driving unit can cause the floating uppermost medium M1 to be attracted to the transport mechanism 20 at a more appropriate position by narrowing the interval S22 between the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 92a and 92a after the floating of the uppermost medium M1 and before the medium is attracted to the transport mechanism 20.

In the above-described embodiment 2, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment 1 can be obtained, that is, the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 92a and 92a that regulate the medium M floating in the width direction W and the 1 pair of movable convex portions 93 and 93 that regulate the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 in the width direction W are arranged so as to be integrally movable, and therefore, as described above, the medium M floating can be accurately supplied with simple settings.

In embodiment 2, the movable protrusions 93, 93 as an example of the 1-pair 1-st regulating portions and the regulating surfaces 92a, 92 as an example of the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portions are arranged such that, for example, by moving the 1-pair movable protrusions 93, 93 in the width direction W with respect to the 1- pair regulating surfaces 92a, 92a (side fences 92, 92) by the 1-st regulating portion driving portion 91 or manually, the difference in the interval S21 in the width direction W between the 1-pair movable protrusions 93, the interval S21-1, and the interval S22 in the width direction W between the 1- pair regulating surfaces 92a, 92a can be adjusted.

Thus, the restriction position in the width direction W in the floating region FA by the restriction surface 92a can be adjusted with respect to the restriction position in the width direction W in the loading region PA by the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93, 93. Therefore, for example, the restriction position in the width direction W in the floating area FA can be arbitrarily adjusted by the medium M such as being enlarged to a larger extent or slightly enlarged to a larger extent than the restriction position in the width direction W in the loading area PA. Thus, the floating medium M can be supplied more accurately.

In embodiment 2, the control unit 81 adjusts the gap difference by relatively moving the 1 pair of movable protrusions 93 and the 1 pair of regulating surfaces 92a and 92a based on at least one of the medium information of the medium M and the environmental information of the medium supply device 1.

Thus, for example, in the case of a medium M which is weak in toughness and is easily deformed at the time of floating, the floating spacing S22 in the width direction W of the floating region FA is slightly enlarged relative to the spacing S21-1 in the width direction W of the loading region PA, based on the size of the medium M, the thickness of the medium M, and the temperature and humidity of the environment in which the medium supply device 1 is installed, whereby the floating medium M can be easily regulated. On the other hand, with respect to the medium M which is strong and is not easily deformed during floating, the floating medium M can be easily regulated by relatively greatly increasing the interval S22 in the width direction W of the floating region FA over the interval S21 in the width direction W of the loading region PA. Therefore, the floating medium M can be supplied more accurately.

< embodiment 3 >

Hereinafter, a medium supplying apparatus according to embodiment 3 of the present invention and its modified example will be described with reference to fig. 8 to 16. Here, for the same configuration and the like as those of the above-described 1 st and 2 nd embodiments, the same matters as those described above are appropriately omitted.

Fig. 8 is a front view showing a printing system 100 including the medium supplying apparatus 3 according to embodiment 3.

Fig. 9 is a left side view showing the medium supplying device 3 (when the medium M is not supplied) of embodiment 3.

Fig. 10 is a left side view showing the medium supplying device 3 (when supplying the medium M) according to embodiment 3.

Fig. 11 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the medium supplying device 3 according to embodiment 3.

As shown in fig. 8, the medium supply device 3 includes a loading table 11, a pair of side fences 102, a conveyance mechanism 20, a suction mechanism 30, a floating air blowing mechanism 40, a separated air blowing mechanism 50, for example, 41 st movable guides 60, for example, 42 nd movable guides 70, and a floating state detection unit 80.

As shown in fig. 11, the medium supplying apparatus 1 includes a control unit 81, a storage unit 82, an interface unit 83, a loading table elevation driving unit 84, and a conveyance driving unit 85.

A pair of side fences 102, 102 shown by two-dot chain lines (imaginary lines) in fig. 9 and 10 are disposed so as to face each other in a width direction W (front-rear direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction D of the medium M, and regulate the position of the medium M in the width direction W. Preferably, the pair of side fences 102, 102 is disposed so as to be movable on the loading table 11 in the width direction W of the medium M in accordance with the size of the medium M. In fig. 8, the upper portions of the pair of side guards 102 and 102 are not shown to illustrate the pulley 22 and the like. In fig. 9 and 10, the pair of side fences 102 and 102 are shown by two-dot chain lines to illustrate the 1 st movable guide 60 and the 2 nd movable guide 70.

The floating air blowing mechanism 40 is disposed downstream of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 in the transport direction D, and blows the floating air a2 to float at least the uppermost media M1. Preferably, the floating air blowing mechanism 40 blows the floating air a2 obliquely upward so as to float, for example, about 10 media M including the uppermost media M1 upward. Further, the floating air blowing mechanisms 40 are also preferably disposed at two positions facing each other across the medium M in the width direction W of the medium M orthogonal to the conveyance direction D.

The separation air blowing mechanism 50 is disposed downstream of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 in the conveyance direction D, and blows out separation air A3 for separating the uppermost medium M1 from the 2 nd medium M2. Further, the separated air blowing mechanisms 50 are also preferably disposed at two positions facing each other across the medium M in the width direction W of the medium M orthogonal to the conveyance direction D.

Of the 4, for example, 1 st movable guides 60, a pair of 1 st movable guides 60 facing in the width direction W of the medium M are disposed at the downstream side end and the upstream side end in the conveyance direction D of the medium M, respectively. The number of the 1 st movable guides 60 may be 1 or more, and it is preferable to arrange 1 pair of the 1 st movable guides 60 facing each other in the width direction W, and it is more preferable to arrange two or more pairs of the 1 st movable guides 60 facing each other in the width direction W. Further, each of the 1 st movable guides 60 is movable between a regulation position P11 (see fig. 10) that regulates the position of the medium M in the width direction W and a retreat position P12 (see fig. 9) that is farther from the medium M than the regulation position P11 in the width direction W, for example.

The 1 st movable guide 60 includes a width restricting portion 61 that restricts the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W, restricting the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W. In addition, it is preferable that the 1 st movable guide 60 includes a height restricting portion 62 that restricts the height of the uppermost medium M1. The 1 st movable guide 60 is formed in a shape of letter L facing downward in front view by a width regulating portion 61 and a height regulating portion 62.

As shown in fig. 10, when the 1 st movable guide 60 is at the restriction position P11, the width restriction portion 61 restricts the position in the width direction of the uppermost medium M1 before being adsorbed by the conveyance mechanism 20 (one example before being conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 20).

Preferably, the height restricting portion 62 restricts the height of the uppermost medium M1 before being adsorbed by the transport mechanism 20 at both timings when the 1 st movable guide 60 is at the restricting position P11 and when it is at the retracted position P12.

As shown by the broken lines (hatching) in fig. 8, for example, the 4 nd movable guides 70 are preferably disposed in two recesses provided on the surfaces of the pair of side fences 102, 102 on the medium M side. However, the 2 nd movable guide 70 may be disposed at a position apart from the pair of side fences 102, 102 in the left-right direction, for example.

The 2 nd movable guide 70 is disposed below the 1 st movable guide 60. Here, if the center in the height direction of the 2 nd movable guide 70 (the intermediate position between the upper end and the lower end) is located below the center in the height direction of the 1 st movable guide 60 (the intermediate position between the upper end and the lower end), it can be said that the 2 nd movable guide 70 is disposed below the 1 st movable guide 60. The number of the 2 nd movable guides 70 may be 1 or more, and it is preferable to arrange 1 pair of the 2 nd movable guides 70 facing each other in the width direction W, and it is more preferable to arrange two or more pairs of the 2 nd movable guides 70 facing each other in the width direction W.

The 2 nd movable guide 70 is movable between a restricting position P21 (see fig. 9) that restricts the position of the medium M in the width direction W and a retracted position P22 (see fig. 10) that is farther from the medium M than the restricting position P21. Preferably, the distance between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70 at the retracted position P22 is greater than the length (width) of the medium M in the width direction W and greater than or equal to the distance between the pair of side fences 102, 102 in the width direction W. The 2 nd movable guide 70 moves to the restricting position P21 as shown in fig. 9 when the medium M is not supplied, and moves to the retracted position P22 as shown in fig. 10 when the medium M is supplied, which will be described in detail later.

In the present embodiment, the 1 st movable guide 60 and the 2 nd movable guide 70 are disposed independently of the side guards 102, but the side guards 102 may function as the 1 st movable guide 60 or the 2 nd movable guide 70.

In the present embodiment, the 1 st movable guide 60 is disposed above the 2 nd movable guide 70, but for example, the 1 st movable guide 60 may be disposed further downward so as to limit the lowermost medium M loaded on the loading table 11, and the positions and sizes of the 1 st movable guide 60 and the 2 nd movable guide 70 are not particularly limited. The 2 nd movable guide 70 may be omitted.

The floating state detection unit 80 detects the floating state of the uppermost medium M1 (e.g., the symmetry of the height positions of both ends of the medium M in the width direction W). For example, the floating state detection unit 80 may detect the floating state by imaging the floating uppermost medium M1, or may detect the floating state of the medium M by irradiating detection light toward the floating medium M and detecting the floating state of the medium M from the light amount of the reflected light. The floating state detecting portion 80 may be a touch sensor such as a capacitance sensor provided in the height restricting portion 62 of the pair of first movable guides 60 facing each other in the width direction W. In this case, a deviation between the timing at which the touch sensor provided at one height restricting portion 62 detects the uppermost medium M1 and the timing at which the touch sensor provided at the other height restricting portion 62 detects the uppermost medium M1 can be detected as the floating state of the uppermost medium M1.

The floating state detector 80 may detect the presence or absence of the medium M based on, for example, reflected light of the detection light irradiated horizontally, thereby detecting the height of the loading surface of the uppermost medium M1. Further, when the medium M loaded on the loading platform 11 decreases, the control unit 81 described later preferably controls the loading platform elevation driving unit 84 to elevate the loading platform 11 based on the floating state or the loading surface height detected by the floating state detecting unit 80.

Next, the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide 60 will be described with reference to fig. 12A to 12D and fig. 13.

Fig. 12A to 12D are left side views for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide 60.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide 60.

In fig. 12A to 12D, the conveying mechanism 20 and the like are not illustrated, and only the suction mechanism 30, the pair of first movable guides 60, and the plurality of media M are illustrated.

When the control unit 81 shown in fig. 11 receives a request for feeding the medium M from the printing apparatus 101, the process shown in fig. 13 is started.

First, the control unit 81 obtains at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supplying device 3 (step S11).

Next, the controller 81 controls the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow out the floating air a2 (step S12). As a result, as shown in fig. 12A, the plurality of media M including the uppermost media M1 float. The shape of the medium M at the time of floating varies depending on the type of the thickness and the like, and the medium M floats so that the center thereof is located above both ends in the width direction W, for example. At the stage when the blowing of the floating air a2 is started in this manner, the 1 st movable guide 60 is located at the retracted position P12. When receiving the request for feeding the medium M, the controller 81 controls the separated air blowing mechanism 50 to blow the separated air A3 and controls the suction mechanism 30 to suck the suction air a 1.

Here, for example, when the medium M is thick paper and has a relatively large size, the mass of the medium M is preferably large, and therefore the air volume (for example, the blowing amount of the floating air a2 and the separation air A3, and the suction amount of the suction air a 1) is large, and when the medium M is thin paper and has a relatively small size, the mass of the medium M is preferably small, and therefore the air volume is small. For example, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity, the mass of the medium M is large, and therefore the air volume is preferably large.

Next, as shown in fig. 12B, the control section 81 repeatedly makes a determination as to whether or not the uppermost medium M1 floats up and abuts on the height restricting portion 62 of the 1 st movable guide 60 at the retracted position P12 to be restricted in height (step S13). Both ends of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W abut against the height restriction portions 62, respectively, whereby the shape of the uppermost medium M1 tends to be horizontal.

Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62 can be determined based on, for example, the time elapsed since the floating air blowing mechanism 40 started blowing out the floating air a 2. Further, the timing at which the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62 changes in accordance with the above-described medium information and environmental information, for example, the timing becomes slower as the medium M having a larger mass becomes. Therefore, the controller 81 may determine whether or not the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the restriction portion 62 and the height is restricted, based on the time elapsed from the start of blowing out the floating air a2, which is determined based on at least one of the medium information and the environment information. Further, the timing at which the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62 also varies according to the air volume of the floating air a 2.

Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62 may be determined based on the detection result of the contact sensor such as the capacitance sensor provided in the height restricting portions 62, 62 as described above.

When the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62 of the 1 st movable guide 60 at the retreat position P12 and is restricted in height (step S13: "yes"), the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 to the restriction position P11 as shown in fig. 12C (step S14).

Here, the control unit 81 may determine the limit position P11 based on at least one of the medium information and the environment information. For example, since the floating medium M is more likely to change in the horizontal direction as the medium M becomes thinner, the control unit 81 preferably determines the restriction position P11 so that the interval between the pair of 1 st movable guides 60 facing each other in the width direction W becomes smaller. Alternatively, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity, the mass of the medium M increases, and therefore, the floating medium M is less likely to change in the horizontal direction. Therefore, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity, the control unit 81 preferably determines the limit position P11 so that the distance between the pair of first movable guides 60 is large.

Further, the control unit 81 preferably performs control so that the pair of 1 st movable guides 60 disposed on both sides of the medium M in the width direction W of the medium M are moved to the restricting position P11 at different timings, respectively, based on the floating state of the uppermost medium M1 detected by the floating state detecting unit 80, as described above. For example, in the case where the height of the medium M is high on one end side and low on the other end side in the width direction W, it is preferable that the 1 st movable guide 60 on the high side of the medium M is moved to the limit position P11 first, and the 1 st movable guide 60 on the low side of the medium M is moved to the limit position P11 later.

Next, the control unit 81 determines whether or not the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 is a thin sheet (step S15).

If the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 is not thin paper (no in step S15), the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retracted position P12 as shown in fig. 12D before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20 (step S16). Further, it is preferable that the retreat position P12 is a position that is farther from the medium M in the width direction W than the retreat position P12 before moving to the restriction position P11 in order that the height restriction portion 62 does not contact the uppermost medium M1. Preferably, in the case where the height regulating portion 62 is thus moved to the retreat position P12 that is apart from the medium M in the width direction W than the retreat position P12 before the movement to the regulating position P11, thereafter, the height regulating portion 62 is moved to the retreat position P12 that abuts against the medium M as shown in fig. 12B while the floating air blowing mechanism 40 stops blowing the floating air a 2.

Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the conveyance mechanism 20 can be determined, for example, by the time elapsed since the 1 st movable guide 60 started moving from the restriction position P11 to the retracted position P12. This time varies depending on, for example, media information, environmental information, the volume of the floating air a2, and the like.

Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20 may be determined based on, for example, the detection result of a sensor, not shown, disposed in the vicinity of the conveyance mechanism 20 or the suction mechanism 30 and emitting detection light downward, for example.

When the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 is thin paper (yes in step S15), after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the conveyance mechanism 20, the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retracted position P12 as shown in fig. 12D (step S17). Further, it is preferable that the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 before the uppermost medium M1 is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 20.

In this manner, the controller 81 preferably determines whether to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20 or to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20, depending on at least one of the medium information and the environmental information, such as the sheet of thin paper.

For example, in the case where the medium M is thin paper, since the floating medium M is likely to change in the horizontal direction, the height of the uppermost medium M1 can be limited by the height limiting portion 62 even in a state where the uppermost medium M1 is attracted to the transport mechanism 20. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as described above, when the medium M is thin paper (step S15: "yes"), the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retracted position P12 after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20 (step S17).

However, for example, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high temperature and high humidity, since the medium M floating as described above is not likely to change in the horizontal direction, the control unit 81 may perform a process of moving the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the transport mechanism 20, assuming that the medium M is not thin paper (step S16). Further, the control unit 81 may be configured to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retracted position P12 (step S16) before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20, for example, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity, based on only the environment information without the medium information, and to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retracted position P12 (step S17) after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20, when the environment of the medium supply device 3 is not high-temperature and high-humidity.

After the 1 st movable guide 60 moves to the retracted position P12 (steps S16 and S17), the control section 81 determines whether a stop feeding request for the medium M is received from the printing apparatus 101 or whether feeding of the medium M is completed according to the print job (step S18).

When the supply of the medium M is not completed (no in step S18), the control unit 81 repeats the process from the process of controlling the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow the floating air a2 (step S12). The reason why the process of controlling the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow out the floating air a2 (step S12) is performed again in this manner is that the controller 81 stops blowing out the floating air a2 by the floating air blowing mechanism 40 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the uppermost medium M1 was adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20, and drops the 2 nd and subsequent media M.

On the other hand, when the supply of the medium M is finished (step S18: YES), the control unit 81 ends the processing shown in FIG. 13.

Here, as described above, the floating shape of the floating medium M changes according to the medium information, the environmental information, the air volume of the floating air a2, and the like. Therefore, for example, it is preferable that the 1 st movable guide 60 and the conveying mechanism 20 be relatively moved so that the interval in the height direction is variable by arranging the 1 st movable guide 60 so that the position in the height direction can be adjusted.

This allows the height-direction interval between the 1 st movable guide 60 and the conveyance mechanism 20 to be adjusted based on the medium information, the environmental information, the volume of the floating air a2, and the like. For example, in the case where the medium M is thin paper, the floating medium M is likely to change in the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the interval in the height direction between the 1 st movable guide 60 and the transport mechanism 20 is large, and in the case where the medium M is thick paper, the floating medium M is unlikely to change in the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the interval in the height direction between the 1 st movable guide 60 and the transport mechanism 20 is small. In addition, when the height of the conveying mechanism 20 is adjusted, it is preferable that a guide for matching the height of the uppermost medium M1 conveyed by the conveying mechanism 20 with the height of the conveyance path R be disposed at a position downstream of the conveying mechanism 20 in the conveying direction D.

Next, the restricting operation of the 2 nd movable guide 70 will be described with reference to fig. 14, 9, and 10.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 2 nd movable guide 70.

The control unit 81 shown in fig. 11 starts the processing shown in fig. 14, for example, when receiving a request to supply the medium M from the printing apparatus 101 and when receiving a request to stop the supply from the printing apparatus 101.

First, the control unit 81 determines whether or not the medium feeding operation is in progress (when the process shown in fig. 14 is started upon receiving a feeding request of the medium M) (step S21).

When the medium supplying operation is in progress (yes in step S21), the control unit 81 obtains at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supplying apparatus 3 (step S22). Further, the obtaining processing of this step S22 need not be performed separately from the obtaining processing of at least one of the media information and the environmental information in step S11 shown in fig. 13, but can be provided as common processing.

After that, the control unit 81 determines whether or not the restricting operation condition for moving the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the restricting position P21 shown in fig. 9 is satisfied (step S23). As an example, the limiting action condition is that the medium M is thin paper. This is because the thinner the medium M is, the more easily the floating medium M changes in the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is desirable to make the interval between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70, 70 facing each other in the width direction W small. Further, for example, in the case where the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity based on the environmental information, the floating medium M is less likely to change in the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the control unit 81 moves the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the retreat position P22 shown in fig. 10 so that the interval between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70 and 70 becomes large as will be described later. In this manner, the control unit 81 preferably determines whether or not to move the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the restricting position P21 when the medium M is supplied, based on at least one of the medium information such as whether the medium is thin paper or not and the environmental information such as whether the medium is hot or humid.

If the restricted operation condition is not satisfied (no in step S23), the control unit 81 moves the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the retreat position P22 shown in fig. 10 (step S24), and ends the processing shown in fig. 14.

Here, the control unit 81 may determine the retreat position P22 based on at least one of the medium information and the environment information. For example, the thinner the medium M is, the more easily the floating medium M changes with respect to the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the retreat position P22 be determined so that the interval between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70, 70 facing each other in the width direction W is small. In addition, when the retreat position P22 is determined so that the distance between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70 and 70 facing each other in the width direction W is small, the 2 nd movable guide 70 at the retreat position P22 is preferably located closer to the medium M than the side fence 102. The reason for this is that when the 2 nd movable guide 70 is located at a position farther from the medium M than the side fence 102, the medium M is restricted not by the 2 nd movable guide 70 but by the side fence 102. Further, for example, based on the environmental information, in the case where the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high-temperature and high-humidity, the floating medium M is less likely to change in the horizontal direction, and therefore, it is preferable that the control unit 81 determines the retreat position P22 so that the interval between the pair of 2 nd movable guides 70, 70 is large.

When the process shown in fig. 14 is started upon receiving the request for stopping the supply of the medium M, that is, when the medium M is not in the medium supply operation (step S21: no) or when the above-described restricting operation condition is satisfied (step S23: yes), the control unit 81 moves the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the restricting position P21 shown in fig. 9 (step S25), and ends the process shown in fig. 14.

In the present embodiment described above, the medium supply device 3 includes the loading table 11, the conveying mechanism 20, the floating air blowing mechanism 40, the suction mechanism 30, the 1 st movable guide 60, and the control unit 81. A plurality of media M are loaded on the loading table 11. The transport mechanism 20 transports the uppermost medium M1 of the plurality of media M loaded on the loading table 11 in the transport direction D. The floating air blowing mechanism 40 blows the floating air a2 to float at least the uppermost medium M1. The suction mechanism 30 sucks the suction air a1, and causes the uppermost medium M1 floated by the blowing of the floating air a2 by the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to be attracted to the conveyance mechanism 20. The 1 st movable guide 60 is movable between a limit position P11 that limits the position of the medium M in the width direction W orthogonal to the conveyance direction D and a retracted position P12 that is farther from the medium M than the limit position P11. After the start of blowing of the floating air a2 by the floating air blowing mechanism 40 and before the uppermost medium M1 is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 20, the controller 81 controls the 1 st movable guide 60 to move from the retracted position P12 to the restriction position P11, thereby restricting the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W.

In this way, after the blowing of the floating air a2 is started and before the uppermost medium M1 is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 20, the 1 st movable guide 60 moves from the retracted position P12 to the restriction position P11 that restricts the position of the medium M in the width direction W. Accordingly, at least when the blowing of the floating air a2 is started, the 1 st movable guide 60 is located at the retreat position P12, and thus the 1 st movable guide 60 can be prevented from obstructing the floating of the uppermost medium M1. Therefore, the uppermost medium M1 can be prevented from not floating normally and from being untransferred. Further, the 1 st movable guide 60 moves to the regulating position P11 before the uppermost medium M1 is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 20 to regulate the position in the width direction W of the uppermost medium M1, and thereby it is possible to suppress the uppermost medium M1 from moving randomly and easily causing skew during floating. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the medium M can be reliably supplied while preventing skew of the medium M.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the 1 st movable guide 60 includes the width regulating portion 61 that regulates the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W and the height regulating portion 62 that regulates the height of the uppermost medium M1, and the height of the uppermost medium M1 before it is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20 is regulated by the height regulating portion 62.

Therefore, the 1 st movable guide 60 restricts both the position and the height of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W, and thereby can further suppress the uppermost medium M1 from moving together and being easily skewed when floating.

In the present embodiment, after the uppermost medium M1 floats and abuts on the height restricting portion 62 of the 1 st movable guide 60 at the retracted position P12 to be restricted in height, the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 60 from the retracted position P12 to the restriction position P11.

Therefore, the 1 st movable guide 60 can restrict the position in the width direction W of the uppermost medium M1 in the state in which the height is restricted by the height restricting portion 62. This makes it possible to more reliably restrict the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W, and therefore, the occurrence of distortion can be further suppressed.

In the present embodiment, the 1 st movable guide 60 and the conveying mechanism are relatively moved so that the interval in the height direction is variable.

Therefore, for example, by adjusting the height-directional interval between the 1 st movable guide 60 and the conveyance mechanism 20 in accordance with a change in the shape of the medium M when floating, in accordance with medium information, environmental information, the volume of the floating air a2, and the like, it is possible to further suppress the uppermost medium M1 from moving randomly and easily becoming skewed when floating.

In the present embodiment, the medium supply device 3 further includes the 2 nd movable guide 70, and the 2 nd movable guide 70 is disposed below the 1 st movable guide 60 and is movable between a restriction position P21 for restricting a position of the medium M in the width direction W orthogonal to the conveyance direction D and a retracted position P22 away from the medium M from the restriction position P21. The control unit 81 controls the 2 nd movable guide 70 to move the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the restriction position P21 when the medium M is not supplied, and to move the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the retreat position P22 when the medium M is supplied.

Accordingly, when the medium M is supplied, the 2 nd movable guide 70 is located at the retracted position P22, and the 2 nd movable guide 70 can be prevented from obstructing the floating and falling of the uppermost medium M1. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the uppermost medium M1 from not normally floating and causing no conveyance or the 2 nd medium M2 from not normally falling and causing multi-conveyance. Thus, the medium M can be supplied more reliably. Further, by limiting the position of the 2 nd movable guide 70 in the width direction W of the medium M at the limiting position P21 when the medium M is not supplied, it is possible to further suppress the situation in which the uppermost medium M1 is disturbed and easily distorted at the time of floating later.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 81 determines at least one of the retreat position P22 of the 2 nd movable guide 70 and whether or not to move the 2 nd movable guide 70 to the regulation position P21 when the medium M is supplied, based on at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supply device 3.

For example, the thinner the medium M (an example of medium information), the more easily the floating medium M changes with respect to the horizontal direction. For example, the floating medium M is less likely to change in the horizontal direction as the environment of the medium supply device 3 becomes higher and higher (an example of environment information). In this way, for example, by bringing the 2 nd movable guide 70 closer to the medium M even when the medium M is supplied, it is possible to further suppress the occurrence of distortion due to the disturbance of the medium M during floating, according to the change in the shape of the medium M during floating, depending on the medium information and the environmental information. Further, the retreat position P22 is determined by, for example, bringing the retreat position P22 closer to the medium M in accordance with a change in the shape of the medium M when floating, depending on the medium information and the environment information, whereby it is possible to further suppress the medium M from moving and easily becoming skewed when floating.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 81 determines, based on at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supply device 3, at least one of the limit position P11 of the 1 st movable guide 60 after the 1 st movable guide 60 is moved from the retreat position P12 to the limit position P11, and whether to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20 or to move the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 of the 1 st movable guide 60 after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20.

Accordingly, for example, when the medium M is thin paper, and the environment of the medium supply device 3 is not high temperature and high humidity, the floating medium M is likely to change in the horizontal direction, and therefore, the position and height in the width direction W can be restricted by the 1 st movable guide 60 even in a state where the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the transport mechanism 20 by moving the 1 st movable guide 60 to the retreat position P12 after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the transport mechanism 20. Further, for example, in the case where the medium M is not thin paper, and the environment of the medium supply device 3 is high temperature and high humidity, the floating medium M is less likely to change in the horizontal direction than thin paper, and therefore, the 1 st movable guide 60 is moved to the retreat position P12 before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20, whereby the 1 st movable guide 60 can be prevented from obstructing adsorption of the uppermost medium M1 to the transport mechanism 20. Further, as described above, by determining the limit position P11 by, for example, bringing the limit position P11 close to the medium M in accordance with a change in the shape of the medium M when floating, which is caused by the medium information and the environment information, it is possible to further suppress the occurrence of distortion due to the disturbance of the medium M when floating.

In the present embodiment, the medium supply device 3 further includes a floating state detection unit 80 that detects the floating state of the uppermost medium M1. At least one pair of the 1 st movable guides 60 is disposed on both sides of the medium M in the width direction W, and the control unit 81 moves the pair of the 1 st movable guides 60 to the restricting position P11 at different timings based on the floating state detected by the floating state detecting unit 80.

Thus, for example, when the height of the medium M is high at one end side and low at the other end side in the width direction W, the 1 st movable guide 60 on the side where the height of the medium M is high is moved to the restriction position P11 first, and the 1 st movable guide 60 on the side where the height of the medium M is low is moved to the restriction position P11 later, whereby the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W can be restricted more reliably. Therefore, the occurrence of distortion can be further suppressed.

Next, the 1 st movable guide 260 in the modification will be described with reference to fig. 15A to 15D and fig. 16.

Fig. 15A to 15D are left side views for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide 260.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the restricting operation of the 1 st movable guide 260.

In fig. 15A to 15D, the conveying mechanism 20 and the like are not illustrated, and only the suction mechanism 30, the pair of first movable guides 260, and the plurality of media M are illustrated.

The 1 st movable guide 260 can be provided in the same manner as the 1 st movable guide 60 described above, except that it does not have the height restricting portion 62. Therefore, detailed description of the 1 st movable guide 260 is omitted.

For example, the 41 st movable guides 260 are movable to a restricting position P31 (see fig. 15C) for restricting the position of the medium M in the width direction W and a retracted position P32 (see fig. 15A, 15B, and 15D) away from the medium M in the width direction W than the restricting position P31, respectively

When the control unit 81 shown in fig. 11 receives a request for feeding the medium M from the printing apparatus 101, the process shown in fig. 16 is started.

First, the control unit 81 obtains at least one of the medium information of the medium M loaded on the loading table 11 and the environment information of the medium supplying device 3 (step S31).

Next, the controller 81 controls the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow out the floating air a2 (step S32). As a result, as shown in fig. 15A, the plurality of media M including the uppermost media M1 float. At the stage when the blowing of the floating air a2 is started in this manner, the 1 st movable guide 260 is located at the retracted position P32. Further, as described above, when receiving the supply request of the medium M, the controller 81 controls the separated air blowing mechanism 50 to blow the separated air A3 and controls the suction mechanism 30 to suck the suction air a 1.

Next, as shown in fig. 15B, the control unit 81 repeatedly determines whether or not the uppermost medium M1 floats and abuts on the conveyance mechanism 20 (step S33).

Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 is in contact with the conveyance mechanism 20 can be determined based on, for example, the time elapsed since the floating air blowing mechanism 40 started blowing the floating air a 2. Further, the timing at which the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the conveyance mechanism 20 varies depending on the medium information and the environmental information, as well as the timing at which the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the height restricting portion 62, for example, the timing becomes slower as the mass of the medium M becomes larger. Therefore, the controller 81 may determine whether or not the uppermost medium M1 abuts on the transport mechanism 20 and the height is limited based on the time elapsed from the start of blowing out the floating air a2, which is determined based on at least one of the medium information and the environment information. Whether or not the uppermost medium M1 is in contact with the conveyance mechanism 20 may be determined based on the detection result of a contact sensor such as a capacitance sensor, for example, as described above.

When the uppermost medium M1 comes into contact with the conveyance mechanism 20 (step S33: yes), the controller 81 controls the suction mechanism 30 to stop the suction of the suction air a1 (step S34). For example, the suction mechanism 30 stops the suction of the suction air a1 by shielding the suction air a1 with a shutter not shown.

After the suction of the suction air a1 is stopped, the control part 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 260 to the restricting position P31 as shown in fig. 15C (step S35).

After the 1 st movable guide 260 reaches the limit position P31, the controller 81 controls the suction mechanism 30 to start sucking the suction air a1 again (step S36).

Next, for example, after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed by the conveyance mechanism 20, the controller 81 moves the 1 st movable guide 260 to the retreat position P32 (step S37). In the same manner as the processing of steps S15 to S17 shown in fig. 13, the control unit 81 may determine whether to move the 1 st movable guide 260 to the retracted position P32 after the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20 or to move the 1 st movable guide 260 to the retracted position P32 before the uppermost medium M1 is adsorbed to the transport mechanism 20, depending on whether the medium M is thin paper.

Next, the control section 81 determines whether or not a stop supply request for the medium M has been received from the printing apparatus 101 or whether or not the supply of the medium M has been completed in accordance with the print job (step S38).

When the supply of the medium M is not completed (no in step S38), the control unit 81 repeats the process from the process of controlling the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow the floating air a2 (step S32). The reason why the process of controlling the floating air blowing mechanism 40 to blow out the floating air a2 (step S32) is performed again in this manner is that the controller 81 stops blowing out the floating air a2 by the floating air blowing mechanism 40 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the uppermost medium M1 was adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20, and drops the 2 nd and subsequent media M.

On the other hand, when the supply of the medium M is finished (step S38: YES), the control unit 81 ends the processing shown in FIG. 16.

With the modification described above, the same effects, that is, the effects of preventing skew of the medium M and reliably supplying the medium M, etc., can be obtained with respect to the same matters as those of the above-described embodiment.

In the present modification, after the uppermost medium M1 comes into contact with the conveyance mechanism 20, the suction mechanism 30 stops sucking the suction air a1, and after the suction of the suction air a1 stops, the 1 st movable guide 260 moves to the restriction position P31. Therefore, the 1 st movable guide 260 can regulate the position in the width direction W of the uppermost medium M1 in the state in which the height is regulated by the conveyance mechanism 20. In addition, by stopping the suction of the suction air a1 by the suction mechanism 30, it is possible to suppress the restriction of the position in the width direction W of the uppermost medium M1 by the 1 st movable guide 260 from being hindered due to the state in which the uppermost medium M1 remains adsorbed to the conveyance mechanism 20. This makes it possible to more reliably restrict the position of the uppermost medium M1 in the width direction W, and therefore, the occurrence of distortion can be further suppressed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and constituent elements can be modified and embodied in the implementation stage without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriate combinations of a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, all the constituent elements shown in the embodiments may be appropriately combined. It goes without saying that various modifications and applications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Hereinafter, the means described in the claims at the time of the original application of the present application will be described.

[ solution 1]

A medium supplying apparatus, characterized by comprising: a loading table that loads a plurality of media; a floating air blowing mechanism that blows air to float at least an uppermost medium of the plurality of media loaded on the loading table; a conveyance mechanism that conveys the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism in a conveyance direction; and a regulating section having 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions and 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions, the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions being disposed so as to face each other in a width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and regulating the medium loaded on the loading table in the width direction, the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions being disposed so as to face each other in the width direction at an interval larger than an interval between the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions and regulating the medium floated by blowing air by the floating air blowing mechanism in the width direction, the 1 pair of 1 st regulating portions being disposed so as to be movable integrally with the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating portions.

[ solution 2]

The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the regulating portion is a pair of 1-side regulating plate disposed to face each other in the width direction, the pair of 1-th regulating portions are provided on regulating surfaces of the pair of 1-side regulating plate on the medium side, and the pair of 1-th regulating portions are provided on the regulating surfaces of the pair of 1-side regulating plate and protrude to the medium side than the pair of 2-th regulating portions.

[ solution 3]

The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 1-pair 1-st regulating portion and the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portion are configured to be able to adjust a difference in interval between the 1-pair 1-st regulating portion in the width direction and the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portion in the width direction.

[ solution 4]

The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a control portion that adjusts the gap difference by relatively moving the 1-pair 1-st regulating portion and the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portion based on at least one of medium information of the medium and environment information of the medium supplying apparatus.

[ claim 5] A medium supply device, characterized by comprising: a loading table that loads a plurality of media; a conveyance mechanism that conveys an uppermost medium among the plurality of media loaded on the loading table in a conveyance direction; a floating air blowing mechanism that floats at least the uppermost medium by blowing air; a suction mechanism that sucks air to cause the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism to be attracted to the transport mechanism; a1 st movable guide that is movable between a restriction position that restricts a position of the medium in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and a retreat position that is farther from the medium than the restriction position; and a control unit that controls the 1 st movable guide to move from the retracted position to the restricting position after blowing of air by the floating air blowing mechanism is started and before the uppermost medium is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, thereby restricting a position of the uppermost medium in the width direction.

[ claim 6] the medium supplying apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the 1 st movable guide includes a width regulating portion that regulates a position of the uppermost medium in the width direction and a height regulating portion that regulates a height of the uppermost medium, and the height of the uppermost medium before the uppermost medium is adsorbed to the transport mechanism is regulated by the height regulating portion.

[ claim 7] the medium supply device according to claim 6, wherein the control unit moves the 1 st movable guide from the retracted position to the restriction position after the uppermost medium floats up and abuts against the height restriction portion of the 1 st movable guide at the retracted position to restrict the height.

[ claim 8] the medium supply device according to any one of claims 5 to 7, further comprising a2 nd movable guide that is disposed below the 1 st movable guide and is movable between a restriction position that restricts a position of the medium in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and a retreat position that is farther from the medium than the restriction position, wherein the control unit controls the 2 nd movable guide to move the 2 nd movable guide to the restriction position when the medium is not supplied and to move the 2 nd movable guide to the retreat position when the medium is supplied.

[ claim 9] the medium supplying device according to claim 8, wherein the control unit determines at least one of the retreat position of the 2 nd movable guide and whether or not to move the 2 nd movable guide to the restriction position when supplying the medium, based on at least one of medium information of the medium loaded on the loading table and environment information of the medium supplying device.

[ claim 10] the media supply device according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the control unit determines, based on at least one of media information of the media loaded on the loading table and environmental information of the media supply device, at least one of the limit position of the 1 st movable guide after moving the 1 st movable guide from the retreat position to the limit position, the movement of the 1 st movable guide to the retreat position before the uppermost media is adsorbed to the transport mechanism, and the movement of the 1 st movable guide to the retreat position after the uppermost media is adsorbed to the transport mechanism.

[ claim 11] the medium supply device according to any one of claims 5 to 10, comprising a floating state detection unit that detects a floating state of the uppermost medium, wherein at least one pair of the 1 st movable guides is disposed on both sides of the medium in the width direction, and wherein the control unit moves the pair of the 1 st movable guides to the restriction position at different timings based on the floating state detected by the floating state detection unit.

Claims (11)

1. A medium supplying apparatus, characterized in that,

the medium supply device includes:

a loading table that loads a plurality of media;

a floating air blowing mechanism that blows air to float at least an uppermost medium of the plurality of media loaded on the loading table;

a conveyance mechanism that conveys the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism in a conveyance direction; and

a regulating section having 1 pair of 1 st regulating sections and 1 pair of 2 nd regulating sections, the 1 pair of 1 st regulating sections being disposed so as to face each other in a width direction orthogonal to the transport direction and regulating the medium loaded on the loading table in the width direction, the 1 pair of 2 nd regulating sections being disposed so as to face each other in the width direction at an interval larger than an interval between the 1 pair of 1 st regulating sections and regulating the medium floated by blowing air by the floating air blowing mechanism in the width direction,

the 1 pair of 1 st restriction portions are configured to be movable integrally with the 1 pair of 2 nd restriction portions.

2. The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 1,

the restricting portions are 1 pair of side fences disposed oppositely in the width direction,

the 1 pair of 2 nd limiting parts are arranged on the limiting surface of the 1 pair of side baffles close to the medium side,

the 1 to 1 st regulating portions are provided on the regulating surface of the 1 pair of side fences and project toward the medium side than the 2 nd regulating portion.

3. The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 1,

the 1-pair 1-st regulating portion and the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portion are configured to be able to adjust a difference in interval between the 1-pair 1-st regulating portion in the width direction and the 1-pair 2-nd regulating portion in the width direction.

4. The medium supplying device according to claim 3,

the medium supplying device further includes a control portion that adjusts the gap difference by relatively moving the 1-pair 1-st limiting portion and the 1-pair 2-nd limiting portion according to at least one of medium information of the medium and environment information of the medium supplying device.

5. A medium supplying apparatus, characterized in that,

the medium supply device includes:

a loading table that loads a plurality of media;

a conveyance mechanism that conveys an uppermost medium among the plurality of media loaded on the loading table in a conveyance direction;

a floating air blowing mechanism that floats at least the uppermost medium by blowing air;

a suction mechanism that sucks air to cause the uppermost medium floated by the air blown out by the floating air blowing mechanism to be attracted to the transport mechanism;

a1 st movable guide that is movable between a restriction position that restricts a position of the medium in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and a retreat position that is farther from the medium than the restriction position; and

and a control unit that controls the 1 st movable guide to move from the retracted position to the restricting position after blowing of air by the floating air blowing mechanism is started and before the uppermost medium is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, thereby restricting the position of the uppermost medium in the width direction.

6. The medium supplying apparatus according to claim 5,

the 1 st movable guide includes a width limiting portion that limits a position of the uppermost medium in the width direction and a height limiting portion that limits a height of the uppermost medium, and the height of the uppermost medium before the uppermost medium is adsorbed to the transport mechanism is limited by the height limiting portion.

7. The medium supplying device according to claim 6,

the control unit moves the 1 st movable guide from the retracted position to the restriction position after the uppermost medium floats and abuts against the height restriction portion of the 1 st movable guide at the retracted position to be restricted in height.

8. The medium supplying apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7,

the medium supply device further includes a2 nd movable guide, the 2 nd movable guide being disposed below the 1 st movable guide and being movable between a restriction position that restricts a position of the medium in a width direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction and a retreat position that is farther from the medium than the restriction position,

the control portion controls the 2 nd movable guide to move the 2 nd movable guide to the restricting position when the medium is not supplied, and to move the 2 nd movable guide to the retracted position when the medium is supplied.

9. The medium supplying device according to claim 8,

the control unit determines at least one of the retreat position of the 2 nd movable guide and whether to move the 2 nd movable guide to the restricting position when the medium is supplied, based on at least one of medium information of the medium loaded on the loading table and environment information of the medium supply device.

10. The medium supplying apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 9,

the control unit determines, based on at least one of media information of the media loaded on the loading table and environment information of the media supply device, at least one of the limit position of the 1 st movable guide after moving the 1 st movable guide from the retracted position to the limit position, the movement of the 1 st movable guide to the retracted position before the uppermost media is attracted to the transport mechanism, and the movement of the 1 st movable guide to the retracted position after the uppermost media is attracted to the transport mechanism.

11. The medium supplying apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 10,

the medium supply device includes a floating state detection unit that detects a floating state of the uppermost medium, wherein at least one pair of the 1 st movable guides is disposed on both sides of the medium in the width direction, and the control unit moves the pair of the 1 st movable guides to the restriction positions at different timings based on the floating state detected by the floating state detection unit.

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