Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorMunehisa Fuda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sheet feeding device includes: a lift-blowing unit which blows air to a plurality of sheets stacked on a tray to lift an uppermost sheet from the sheets; a sheet absorbing unit which absorbs the sheet lifted by the lift-blowing unit by a negative pressure; an air suctioning unit which supplies the negative pressure to the sheet absorbing unit by air suction; a handling-blowing unit which handles the sheets by blowing air to the sheets absorbed onto the sheet absorbing unit; and a sheet transporting unit which transports the absorbed sheet, wherein the handling-blowing unit adjusts a volume of air blown thereby.
Claims14
A sheet feeding device comprising:
- a lift-blowing unit which blows air to a plurality of sheets stacked on a tray to lift an uppermost sheet from the sheets;
- a sheet absorbing unit which absorbs the sheet lifted by the lift-blowing unit by a negative pressure;
- an air suctioning unit which supplies the negative pressure to the sheet absorbing unit by air suction;
- a handling-blowing unit which handles the sheets by blowing air to the sheets absorbed onto the sheet absorbing unit, wherein at least one of the handling-blowing unit, the lift-blowing unit, and the air suctioning unit includes:
- a swingable element which moves in accordance with a change in the volume of air blown or suctioned by the handling-blowing unit, the lift-blowing unit or the air suctioning unit;
- and
- a swing position detecting sensor which detects a position of the swingable element, wherein the handling-blowing unit, the lift-blowing unit or the air suctioning unit adjusts the volume of air blown or suctioned thereby, in accordance with an output of the swing position detecting sensor;
- and
- a sheet transporting unit which transports the absorbed sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.