Paper feed device

A paper feed device comprising:

• a paper feed tray that is raised and lowered, on which a plurality of sheets of paper is placed;
• a paper feed roller that picks up a sheet of paper on the top of a bundle of paper on the paper feed tray;
• a detector that detects that a top position of the bundle of paper on the paper feed tray is at a predetermined paper feed position;
• a motor that generates a driving force for raising and lowering the paper feed tray;
• a driving mechanism that transmits the driving force of the motor to the paper feed tray to raise and lower the paper feed tray;
• and
• a controller that
• (i) when starting a paper feed operation to pick up the sheet of paper one by one from the bundle of paper on the paper feed tray by the paper feed roller, drives the motor to perform a positioning operation to raise the paper feed tray from when the detector is in an off-state where the detector does not detect that the top position of the bundle of paper on the paper feed tray is at the paper feed position till the detector is brought into an on-state in which the detector detects that the top position of the bundle of paper on the paper feed tray is at the paper feed position, and
• (ii) while performing the paper feed operation using the paper feed roller after the detector is brought into the on-state by the positioning operation, when the detector is brought into the off-state, drives the motor to perform a paper feed position following operation to raise the paper feed tray until the detector is brought into the on-state,
• wherein the controller controls the motor by setting a current limit in the positioning operation such that a current flowing to the motor does not exceed a current limit value and
• the controller controls the motor without setting the current limit in the paper feed position following operation.