Konica Corporation

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Ken Nonaka

Kunihiro Kawachi

Kyoichi Mizuno

Kazunobu Miura

Takahiro Okubo

Shinichi Kawabata

Yusuke Kawanago

Tadashi Miwa

Toru Makino

Masaaki Ikeda

Tadayoshi Ikeda

Yoshiteru Kawakami

Masahiro Matsuo

Hiroyasu Sato

Tadashi Izawa

Osamu Yoshimura

Tarou Miyamoto

Haruki Motegi

Taro Miyamoto

An image forming apparatus includes a notification section that provides information to a user; a sheet feeding section that feeds a sheet; an image forming section that forms an image on a sheet; a first conveyance section that conveys a sheet fed from the sheet feeding section to the image forming section; a displacement detection section that detects a displacement of a sheet in the first conveyance section; a displacement correction section that corrects a lateral position of a sheet on the basis of a result of detection by the displacement detection section; and a control section that controls the notification section to notify an occurrence of a displacement error which cannot be corrected by the displacement correction section and a cause of the displacement error when the displacement error is detected by the displacement detection section.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus contains a registration correction portion correcting an inclination of the sheet of paper by hitting a forward end of the sheet of paper against a pair of registration rollers, a detection portion that detects an amount of deviation in the sheet of paper, a control portion that calculates a command value of movement for correcting the amount of deviation and a moving portion that moves the registration rollers toward a direction which is perpendicular to a sheet-conveying direction based on the command value of movement with the sheet of paper being nipped with the registration rollers. The control portion controls the moving portion so that the movement of the registration rollers finishes before a limited time of movement or below an upper limit of movement set in relation to the command value of movement.

An image forming apparatus acquires an amount of deflection of the transporting sheet from a reference position thereof and calculates a required shift amount of the sheet. It determines whether or not the sheet is shifted frontward. If so, the image forming apparatus acquires a second specified shift value which is determined based on an urging force and the required shift amount using a second correction equation. Alternatively, if the sheet is shifted backward, the image forming apparatus acquires a first specified shift value which is determined based on the urging force and the required shift amount using a first correction equation. The image forming apparatus performs a registration roller shift correction based on the acquired first or second specified shift value.

Image forming apparatus with width-wise sheet shifting mechanism

An image forming apparatus having: an image forming portion to form an image on a sheet; a fixing device to fix the image to the sheet by heating; a conveying path switching member to switch a conveying direction of the sheet, which is provided on downstream of the fixing device in a sheet conveying direction; a first conveying path which has a first curved portion and is provided on downstream of the conveying path switching member; a second conveying path which has a second curved portion and is provided on downstream of the conveying path switching member; a curl applying member which is provided on downstream of the fixing device, and on upstream of the first and second curved portions; and a control unit to control driving of the conveying path switching member and of the curl applying member.

Image forming apparatus and a sheet conveying method of the image forming apparatus

A power transmission device includes a driving gear having gears over an entire circumferential surface thereof, a follower gear including an intermittent gear having a toothless portion, and a controller for controlling the follower gear to be engaged with or disengaged from the driving gear. Each of the driving gear and the follower gear is a helical gear.

Power transmission device and sheet feeding apparatus equipped therewith

Image forming apparatus having a manual feeding tray on which transfer sheet is placed and an image forming device to form images on the transfer sheet fed from the manual feeding tray, wherein the image forming apparatus has a storage section to store the sheet feeding tray with transfer sheet thereon and the manual feeding tray has a supporting member.

Manual feeding tray and image forming apparatus

In an image forming apparatus which has a primary sheet feeder, a secondary sheet feeder for conveying a recording sheet which is fed from the primary sheet feeder to an image forming position in timed relationship with image formation, and a controller for controlling the primary sheet feeder and the secondary sheet feeder, the controller selects long and short two kind of sheet feed intervals according to a detection signal of a recording sheet detector provided upstream of the secondary sheet feeder.

Image forming apparatus and sheet feeding method for use in the image forming apparatus

A sheet feeding device includes: a conveyance path along which a recording sheet is conveyed; a separation roller that separates a recording sheet and conveys it; a registration roller that stops temporarily a recording sheet separated and conveyed by the separation roller and further conveyed along the conveyance path, and conveys the recording sheet again toward the image forming position at the prescribed timing; a detector that is provided in the conveyance path between the separation roller and the registration roller, and detects the recording sheet; a recognizing device that recognizes fluctuation of conveyance timing of the recording sheet based on the results of the detection made by the detector; and a controller that conducts conveyance control for the recording sheet at the upstream side of the registration roller based on the results of the recognition made by the recognizing device.

Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus therewith

A device for detecting a width of a sheet placed on a manual feeding tray of an image forming apparatus includes a first and a second sheet regulating member for moving in a sheet width direction so as to come in contact with both sides of the sheet and for holding the sheet therebetween, thereby regulating movement of the sheet in the sheet width direction. A first rack member, on which a first rack is arranged in the sheet width direction, moves interlockingly with the first sheet regulating member. A second rack member, on which a second rack and a sheet width-detecting rack are respectively arranged in the sheet width direction, moves interlockingly with the second sheet regulating member. The second rack is positioned so as to face the first rack on the first rack member, and a pinion engages with the first rack and the second rack. A gear engages with the sheet width-detecting rack, and a rotary variable resistor is provided which has a shaft which is coaxially joined to the gear so as to regulate rotational displacement of the rotary variable resistor relative to the gear. The rotary variable resistor is rotated when at least one of the first and the second sheet regulating members is moved so as to hold the sheet therebetween, and the rotary variable resistor has a resistance value which is varied in accordance with a rotation angle thereof. A detector is provided for detecting the width of the sheet based on the resistance value of the rotary variable resistor.

Paper width detecting device

A proper frequency of a driving system is shifted to a high frequency side by increasing the rigidity of a photoreceptor drum or the proper frequency of the driving system is shifted to a low frequency side by reducing the rigidity of the photoreceptor drum so that the proper frequency of the driving system is made so as not to conform with a frequency of a speed fluctuation component transmitted to the driving system. With this construction, the photoreceptor drum is prevented from causing the resonance and the speed fluctuation is reduced so that an image quality can be improved.

Damping device for rotating members

A developing device is provided with a clutch to engage or disengage between a sleeve and a driving motor. When the developing device is used for development, spacing rollers on the sleeve are brought in contact with a photoreceptor drum and the speed of the driving motor is reduced to a lower speed, thereafter the clutch is operated to engage the sleeve and the driving motor and the speed of the driving motor is increased to a rated speed.

Apparatus for controlling speed of a developing roller as it engages a

An apparatus for rotating a photoreceptor of a given length in its axial direction, comprises a driven system including the photoreceptor and a shaft provided at the axis of the photoreceptor and a driving system including a driving source and a transmission mechanism. The driven system and the driving system are arranged so that the proper oscillation frequency of the driven system is made lower than both the frequency of fluctuation component caused per one rotation of the driving system and the frequency of fluctuation component caused per one tooth of the transmission mechanism.

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Hachioji, Japan

Ken Nonaka