US-20260125231-A1 - IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

US20260125231A1US 20260125231 A1US20260125231 A1US 20260125231A1US-20260125231-A1

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a tray rotatably provided on a side surface of a main assembly and including a stacking surface, a feeding portion; and a blowing fan mounted on the tray and generating air blown to a side end of a sheet in a sheet widthwise direction perpendicular to a feeding direction of the sheet by the feeding portion. The blowing fan is disposed on an opposite side to a side where the sheet is stacked on the stacking surface so that a position of at least a part of the blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction is overlapped with a position of the stacking surface with respect to the sheet widthwise direction.

Inventors

Shingo Iwami
Hiroto Koga
Toshifumi Itabashi
Kozo Inoue
Hiroyuki Nakagawa

Assignees

CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251219
Priority Date: 20220531

Claims (11)

1 - 19 . (canceled)
20 . An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming portion configured to form an image on a sheet; a tray provided on a main assembly accommodating the image forming portion and including a stacking surface on which the sheet is stacked; a feeding portion configured to feed the sheet stacked on the stacking surface toward the image forming portion; a first side end regulate portion configured to regulate a first side end of the sheet stacked on the stacking surface with respect to a sheet widthwise direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction; a second side end regulate portion configured to regulate a second side end opposite to the first side end of the sheet stacked on the stacking surface with respect to the sheet widthwise direction; a first blowing fan configured to generate air blown to the first side end of the sheet with respect to the sheet widthwise direction; and a second blowing fan configured to generate air blown to the second side end of the sheet with respect to the sheet widthwise direction, wherein the first blowing fan and the second blowing fan are arranged at different positions with respect to the sheet feeding direction.
21 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the first blowing fan moves with the first side end regulate portion in the sheet widthwise direction, and wherein the second blowing fan moves with the second side end regulate portion in the sheet widthwise direction.
22 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein when the first side end regulate portion and the second side end regulate portion are positioned at innermost location in the sheet widthwise direction, a part of the first blowing fan is arranged so as to overlap a part of the second blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction.
23 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein when the first side end regulate portion and the second side end regulate portion are positioned at outermost location in the sheet widthwise direction, the first blowing fan is arranged so as not to overlap the second blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction.
24 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the first blowing fan is disposed on an opposite side to a side where the sheet is stacked on the stacking surface so that at least a part of the first blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction is overlapped with the tray with respect to the sheet widthwise direction, and wherein the second blowing fan is disposed on an opposite side to a side where the sheet is stacked on the stacking surface so that at least a part of the second blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction is overlapped with the tray with respect to the sheet widthwise direction.
25 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the first side end regulate portion includes a first blowing outlet configured to blow the air from the first blowing fan to the first side end of the sheet stacked on the stacking surface, and wherein the second side end regulate portion includes a second blowing outlet configured to blow the air from the second blowing fan to the second side end of the sheet stacked on the stacking surface.
26 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein the first blowing fan is disposed so that an exhausting direction faces a first outside with respect to the sheet widthwise direction, and wherein the second blowing fan is disposed so that an exhausting direction faces a second outside opposite to the first outside with respect to the sheet widthwise direction,
27 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 20 , wherein a tray is rotatably provided on the main assembly accommodating the image forming portion.
28 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein the first side end regulate portion and the second side end regulate portion include a first duct and a second duct configured to guide the air from the first blowing fan and the second blowing fan to the first blowing outlet and the second blowing outlet, respectively, and wherein the tray is provided with an opening portion configured to penetrate from a downside of the tray to an upside of the tray and to permit movement of the first duct and the second duct in a case in which the first side end regulate portion and the second side end regulate portion move in the sheet widthwise direction.
29 . An image forming apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein the first side end regulate portion and the second side end regulate portion include (1) a first another blowing outlet and a second another blowing outlet away from the first blowing outlet and the second blowing outlet, respectively, in the feeding direction and (2) a first duct and a second duct extending in the feeding direction so as to guide the air from the first blowing fan and the second blowing fan to the first blowing outlet and the second blowing outlet, respectively.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus forming an image on a sheet. In recent years, it is increasingly demanded even for an electrophotographic image forming apparatuses used in offices to produce high-quality and high image quality results using special papers such as a coated paper and a thick paper. However, because of a reason that these special papers have a high smoothness of a surface and a sticking is likely to occur between the sheets, etc., it is more difficult to separate and feed sheets one by one from a sheet bundle in a state of stacking than an ordinary plain paper or a recycled paper for office use. Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-256819 discloses an art to help separate the sheets by blowing air on side ends of a sheet bundle set on a manual feed tray. However, in a configuration of the above document, a blower is protruded outside of a sheet stacking region on the manual feed tray, and thereby making a device larger for a space required to dispose the blower. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention makes possible to save space in a configuration that blows air to the sheet. One aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus comprising, an image forming portion configured to form an image on a sheet, a tray rotatably provided on a side surface of a main assembly accommodating the image forming portion and including a stacking surface on which the sheet is stacked, a feeding portion configured to feed the sheet stacked on the stacking surface toward the image forming portion, and a blowing fan mounted on the tray and configured to generate air blown to a side end of the sheet with respect to a sheet widthwise direction perpendicular to a feeding direction of the sheet by the feeding portion, wherein the blowing fan is disposed on an opposite side to a side where the sheet is stacked on the stacking surface so that a position of at least a part of the blowing fan with respect to the sheet widthwise direction is overlapped with a position of the stacking surface with respect to the sheet widthwise direction. Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to an Embodiment 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the image forming apparatus according to the Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1 as viewed from above. FIG. 4, part(a) and (b), is a schematic view illustrating cross sections of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a cross section of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1 as viewed from above. FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1 as viewed from above. FIG. 8 is a detail view of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1 as viewed from above. FIG. 9 is a detail view illustrating an inside of a feed tray according to the Embodiment 1. FIG. 10 is a detail view illustrating a cross section of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 1. FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a manual feeding portion according to an Embodiment 2 as viewed from above. FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating a cross section of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 2. FIG. 13 is a schematic view of a manual feeding portion according to an Embodiment 3 as viewed from above. FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating a cross section of the manual feeding portion according to the Embodiment 3. FIG. 15 is a schematic view of a manual feeding portion according to an Embodiment 4 as viewed from above. FIG. 16 is a schematic view illustrating a cross section of a manual feeding portion according to an Embodiment 5. FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating a cross section of a manual feeding portion according to an Embodiment 6. FIG. 18 is a schematic view of the image forming apparatus according to the Embodiment 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, Embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present disclosure, an “image forming apparatus” refers to an apparatus forming an image on a sheet as a recording material. The image forming apparatus includes a printer, a copy machine, a multifunctional machine, a commercial printing machine, etc. Embodiment 1 Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 201 according to an embodiment (Embodiment 1). The image forming apparatus 201 is a laser beam printer of a tandem-type and of an intermediate transfe