Sheet delivery system and sheet delivery method using same

A sheet delivery system for continuously delivering a sheet, the sheet delivery system comprising:

• a roll holding unit which holds a plurality of original material rolls, each of the plurality of original material rolls being formed by winding a sheet, in a state where delivery of the sheet is allowed;
• a joining unit which joins, to an intermediate section of a sheet being delivered from a delivery-side original material roll among the plurality of original material rolls held by the roll holding unit, an end section of a sheet of a standby-side original material roll that is a roll other than the delivery-side original material roll among the plurality of original material rolls held by the roll holding unit;
• an end section detector which detects a position of the end section of the sheet of the standby-side original material roll;
• an end section conveying apparatus which holds the end section of the sheet of the standby-side original material roll and which conveys the end section of the sheet of the standby-side original material roll to the joining unit;
• an original material roll driving unit which rotationally drives the standby-side original material roll around a central axis of the standby-side original material roll;
• a first suction roller and a second suction roller, each of which is configured to come into rolling contact with an outer peripheral surface of the standby-side original material roll in accordance with the standby-side original material roll being rotationally driven, and which includes an outer peripheral surface configured to suction the end section of the sheet in order to separate the end section of the sheet from the standby-side original material roll;
• and
• a supporting shaft,
• wherein:
• the end section detector is attached at a position which enables detection of the end section of the sheet separated from the standby-side original material roll by the suction roller,
• the first suction roller and the second suction roller are attached to the supporting shaft in a state where the first suction roller and the second suction roller are rotatable around an axis of the supporting shaft and are separate from each other in a direction parallel to the axis of the supporting shaft,
• the end section detector is attached to the supporting shaft at a position which is on an inner side in a radial direction with respect to an outer circumferential surface of each of the first suction roller and the second suction roller in a view along the axis of the supporting shaft;
• and between the first suction roller and the second suction roller in a direction along the axis of the supporting shaft, and the sheet delivery system further comprises:
• a rotary supporting member to which the supporting shaft is fixed to and which is configured to rotate with respect to the roll holding unit around a rotary shaft parallel to the central axis of the standby-side original material roll so that a distance between the supporting shaft and the central axis of the standby-side original material roll is adjustable;
• a rotational angle detector configured to detect a rotational angle of the rotary supporting member;
• and
• a controller which controls the original material roll driving unit so that rotation of the standby-side original material roll stops when the end section of the sheet is detected by the end section detector and which calculates an amount of variation of the position of the end section of the sheet with respect to a reference position set in advance, based on a positional relationship between the rotary shaft and the end section detector and based on the rotational angle of the rotary supporting member detected by the rotational angle detector.