Sheet feeding apparatus, control method of the same, and non-transitory computer storage medium storing control program of the same

A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:

• at least one conveying belt that conveys an uppermost or lowermost sheet of a sheet stack placed on a conveying surface of the conveying belt in a feed out direction and in which a plurality of airflow holes is formed;
• a suction unit that is arranged on a back surface side, which is the opposite side of the conveying surface of the conveying belt, and in which a first intake hole that sucks the sheet via the airflow holes is formed;
• at least one lifting plate that reciprocates between a first position located in a sheet accumulation direction with respect to the conveying surface and a second position located at the same height position as the conveying surface or on the back surface side with respect to the conveying surface, opens a second intake hole, which is different from the first intake hole, formed in the suction unit when the lifting plate is at the first position, and closes the second intake hole when the lifting plate is at the second position;
• and
• a control unit that controls movement of the lifting plate,
• wherein the control unit moves the lifting plate from the second position to the first position when the uppermost or lowermost sheet is being conveyed,
• wherein the conveying belt is formed of a plurality of conveying belts, and the conveying belts are provided in parallel spaced apart from each other by a predetermined gap in a width direction orthogonal to the feed out direction, and
• wherein the lifting plate is formed of a plurality of lifting plates, and the lifting plates are provided between the conveying belts adjacent to each other and/or to a side of the conveying belts.

A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:

• at least one conveying belt that conveys an uppermost or lowermost sheet of a sheet stack placed on a conveying surface of the conveying belt in a feed out direction and in which a plurality of airflow holes is formed;
• a suction unit that is arranged on a back surface side, which is the opposite side of the conveying surface of the conveying belt, and in which a first intake hole that sucks the sheet via the airflow holes is formed;
• at least one lifting plate that reciprocates between a first position located in a sheet accumulation direction with respect to the conveying surface and a second position located at the same height position as the conveying surface or on the back surface side with respect to the conveying surface, opens a second intake hole, which is different from the first intake hole, formed in the suction unit when the lifting plate is at the first position, and closes the second intake hole when the lifting plate is at the second position;
• a control unit that controls movement of the lifting plate;
• and
• discharge rollers that grip a leading end of a sheet conveyed from the conveying belt and discharge the sheet,
• wherein the control unit moves the lifting plate from the second position to the first position when the uppermost or lowermost sheet is being conveyed, and
• wherein the control unit moves the lifting plate from the second position to the first position when the discharge rollers grip a leading end of a sheet conveyed from the conveying belt.

A control method of a sheet feeding apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of conveying belts that convey an uppermost or lowermost sheet of a sheet stack placed on a conveying surface of the conveying belts in a feed out direction and in which a plurality of airflow holes is formed,
• a suction unit that is arranged on a back surface side, which is the opposite side of the conveying surface of the conveying belts, and in which a first intake hole that sucks the sheet via the airflow holes and a second intake hole that sucks the sheet and provided between the plurality of conveying belts are is formed, and
• a lifting plate that reciprocates between a first position at which the lifting plate projects out in a sheet accumulation direction with respect to the conveying surface and a second position located at the same height position as the conveying surface or on the back surface side with respect to the conveying surface, opens the second intake hole formed in the suction unit when the lifting plate is at the first position, and closes the second intake hole when the lifting plate is at the second position, the lifting plate being provided between the plurality of conveying belts,
• wherein the control method comprises moving the lifting plate from the second position to the first position such that the opening of the second intake hole reduces suction force of the first intake hole via the airflow holes when the uppermost or lowermost sheet is being conveyed.