JPH0218255A - Roll paper detecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a tension detecting mechanism and to enable automatic mounting of a roll sheet by a method wherein the presence of a roll paper is detected from a paper feed amount counted by a moving amount counting circuit and an elapsing state of a rotation time of a winding shaft or a rotation time of a feed shaft based on a preset paper feed amount and feed time. CONSTITUTION:A control circuit 5 issues a rotation command so that a roll paper 7 is conveyed to a feed shaft 1 or a winding shaft 2 for a specified time specified by a timer circuit 6 and simultaneously checks a moving amount of a paper counted by a moving amount counting circuit 4 through a moving amount detecting sensor 3. In this case, when a scheduled amount of papers is moved during a period of time in which a specified time passes, it is decided that a roll paper 7 is present, and when the scheduled amount of sheets is not moved, it is decided that no roll paper 7 is present. As a result, the presence of the roll paper 7 can be detected without using a tension detecting means having a lever and the like, and automatic mounting of the roll paper 7 can take place without mounting the lever of a tension detecting means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to means for detecting the presence or absence of paper in an apparatus incorporating means for transporting roll paper.

[Summary of the invention]

When detecting the presence or absence of roll paper, the present invention uses a sheet movement amount detection mechanism using optical means attached to the roll paper conveying means, and combines this with the rotational movement of the supply shaft and the winding shaft to detect the roll paper. It is designed to do the following.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional roll paper detection means, especially when both ends of the roll paper are not completely fixed to a drive shaft such as a supply shaft or a take-up shaft, include:
The presence or absence of paper was detected by a tension detection means 9 as shown in FIG. That is, when the paper is stretched with a tension above a certain level between the supply shaft and the winding shaft, the lever 10 is pressed down by the rolled paper and keeps the switch of the tension detection means 9 in the ON state. However, when most of the roll paper attached to the supply shaft is wound onto the take-up shaft and one end of the paper comes off the drive shaft and the tension applied to the paper is lost, the lever 10 is released. Then, the tension detection means 9 is turned off. In this way, it is detected that the tension applied to the roll paper has been lost,
At this point, they decided that they had run out of paper.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In devices that have a means for transporting roll paper, the problem is how to increase and remove wrinkles that occur on the roll paper, but among the various methods available, there is a method that can be achieved at low cost. There is a method called releasing the tension that was applied to origami. However, in conventional devices, a lever is pressed against the paper as a means of detecting tension, so in order to release the tension, it is necessary to feed out more paper than the stroke of the lever, and it is not easy to use a method to loosen the tension. hard. Furthermore, when the roll paper is pulled out from the supply shaft and fixed to the take-up shaft along with the paper transport system, the lever protrudes from the paper transport system, which becomes an obstacle to fixing the paper. Particularly in devices having a mechanism for automatically loading roll paper, the lever becomes a significant obstacle, so a means such as retracting the lever must be provided.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention does not use a mechanism such as a tension detection means having a lever or the like, but instead uses a rotation command from a control circuit to a supply shaft or a winding shaft and a movement amount detection sensor. The presence or absence of roll paper is detected by conditionally determining the amount of roll paper movement counted by the movement amount counting circuit.

[Effect]

The control circuit issues a rotation command to the supply shaft or take-up shaft to convey the roll paper for a certain period of time specified by the timer circuit, and at the same time the movement amount is counted by the movement amount counting circuit via the movement amount detection sensor. Check the amount of paper movement. At this time, if the scheduled amount of paper has moved before a certain amount of time has passed, it is determined that the roll paper exists, and if the scheduled amount of paper has not moved, it is determined that the roll paper does not exist. It is something to do.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and shows the configuration of the device. The roll paper 7 attached to the supply shaft 1 is fixed to the take-up shaft 2 while being wound around the shaft of a movement amount detection sensor 3 that detects the amount of paper movement based on the amount of rotation of the shaft according to the paper conveyance system. The supply shaft 1 and the take-up shaft 2 are given rotational force by a drive means (not shown). The control circuit 5 has at least a function of transmitting a drive command to the drive means, a function of receiving the output of the movement amount detection sensor 3 and reading a value of a movement amount counting circuit 4 that counts the amount of paper movement, and a timer circuit 6. It has the function of managing time by outputting.

Now, the means for detecting the presence or absence of roll paper during conveyance of roll paper will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Let Nl be the feed amount of the roll paper. First, the control circuit 5 sets the time limit (limit time TI) required to feed the roll paper in an amount of Nl in the timer circuit 6 (11), and then sets the time limit (limit time TI) required to feed the roll paper in an amount of Nl in the timer circuit 6 (11). A command to rotate the roll paper in the winding direction is transmitted (12) to the movement amount counting circuit 4.
It is repeatedly determined whether the counted value has reached N1 (13) and whether the limit time TI has been reached from the value of the timer circuit 6 (14). When the roll paper is normally present between the supply shaft 1 and the take-up shaft 2, tension is applied to the paper as it is conveyed. Since the shaft is rotated according to the amount of movement of the paper, the amount of movement of the paper is detected. On the other hand, if the roll paper 7 comes off from the supply shaft l and the tension applied to the paper is lost, the roll paper and the shaft will no longer make normal contact, so even if the roll paper is conveyed, the amount of movement will be is no longer detected normally, and the amount of paper movement counted by the movement amount counting circuit 4 becomes smaller than the actual amount of paper movement. Here, among the two condition judgments (13) and (14), the count value is N first.
If it becomes 1, it is determined that the roll paper has been conveyed normally, and the process moves to the next step (15). Conversely, if the condition that the processing time reaches the limit time T1 is satisfied first, it is determined that the roll paper has not been conveyed normally, and the process moves on to identify the content of the abnormality by rewinding the roll paper. . Let the amount of rewinding of the roll paper be N2. In the same manner as before, the control circuit 4 sets the time limit (limit time T2) required to rewind the roll paper by the amount of N2 in the timer circuit 6 (
16). Next, a command to rotate the roll paper in the rewinding direction is transmitted to the drive means (not shown) of the supply shaft 1 (17), and a judgment is made as to whether or not the count counted by the movement amount counting circuit 4 has reached N2. 18) Limit time T from the value of timer circuit 6
It is repeatedly determined whether or not 2 has been reached (19). 2
If the count value becomes N2 in one of the two condition judgments, it is assumed that the roll paper was rewound normally but the winding on the winding shaft 2 could not be done normally. If it is determined that the winding shaft drive system is defective, 20) the defective part is restored (21). Conversely, the processing time is the limit time T
If the condition of reaching 2 is satisfied first, the roll paper 7 attached to the supply shaft 1 becomes empty (no longer available) because the roll paper was not transported normally and the winding and unwinding were not performed normally. 22) Perform the roll paper replenishment process. Send a command to the winding shaft drive means (not shown) to wind up the roll paper, and wind up the remaining paper in the paper conveyance system (23) ). When it can be determined that the winding has been completed after a certain period of time has elapsed, the drive of the winding shaft 2 is stopped, and a display is made to instruct the operator to replenish the roll paper via a display means (not shown). 24) Wait for next processing.

Next, the operation for automatically loading roll paper will be described according to the flowchart in FIG. 4. Assume that there is no paper in the paper conveyance system and the roll paper 7 is attached to the supply shaft 1. The leading end of the roll paper 7 is pulled out a little and fixed to the sheet driving means 8.

Here, an instruction means (not shown) instructs the control circuit 5 to start the automatic mounting operation. When the control circuit 5 is instructed to start the automatic mounting operation, it starts the operation according to the procedure shown in FIG. A limit time T3 predicted to be necessary for the automatic mounting operation is set in the timer circuit 6 (25). Next, the sheet driving means 8 is instructed to send out the roll paper (2
6) When the sheet driving means 8 is instructed to start driving,
While pulling out the roll paper 7 attached to the supply shaft 1, the paper is sent out according to the paper conveyance system. A guide plate (not shown) is attached to the paper conveyance system as necessary to correct the direction of paper movement. Furthermore, since there are no levers or the like placed in the paper transport system to detect tension, there are no particular obstacles, and the leading edge of the roll paper moves through the paper transport system extremely smoothly. .

In this way, the leading edge of the roll paper 7 fed out by the sheet driving means 8 and oriented by the guide plate reaches the position of the winding shaft 2 after a certain period of time. By this time, the winding shaft 2 has started rotating in the winding direction according to instructions from the control circuit 5 so as to generate a winding speed faster than the paper feeding speed of the sheet driving means 8 (27
). Furthermore, there is a guide plate (not shown) around the winding shaft 2, which is set to press the tip of the roll paper 7 against the winding shaft 2.The surface of the winding shaft 2 has a large frictional force against the roll paper 7. The winding shaft 2 acts to wind up the roll paper 7 in the rotating direction of the shaft at the same time that the tip of the roll paper 7 touches its surface.

Furthermore, as the roll paper 7 is fed out by the sheet drive means 8, multiple layers of the roll paper 7 are wound around the winding shaft 2, so that not only frictional force but also the paper feed speed of the sheet drive means 8 and the winding Tension is applied to the roll paper 7 according to the difference in the winding speed of the shaft 2, and this tension acts to tighten the winding shaft 2, making it easier to attach the roll paper 7 to the winding shaft 2. It becomes certain. The above-mentioned limit time T3 is set within a range in which the operations up to this point are reliably performed, and the end of the series of operations up to this point is managed by the limit time T3 (28). Following the above-mentioned operations, whether or not the roll paper is attached to the winding shaft 2 is checked by feeding the roll paper a certain amount. Let the amount of feed of the roll paper be N4. First, the control circuit 4 sets the time limit (limit time T4
) is set in the timer circuit 6 (29). Next, a command to rotate the roll paper in the winding direction is transmitted to the drive means (not shown) of the winding shaft 2 (30), and a judgment is made as to whether or not the count counted by the movement amount counting circuit 4 has reached N4. (31)
It is repeatedly determined (32) whether the limit time T4 has been reached based on the value of the timer circuit 6. Here, two conditional judgments (
31) If the count value reaches N4 first in (32), it is determined that the roll paper has been loaded normally, and the end of the automatic loading operation is displayed on a display means (not shown), and the next step is performed. The process moves on to (33). Conversely, if the condition that the processing time reaches the limit time T4 is satisfied first, it is determined that the roll paper was not loaded normally.
4) Execute abnormality processing such as rewinding the entire roll paper and executing the automatic loading operation again, or checking the presence or absence of the roll paper again as shown in FIG.

Note that the symbols N and T used in this notation represent the feed amount of the roll paper and the limit time, respectively, but these are designed values and can be changed arbitrarily.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a roll paper detection means without particularly providing a tension detection mechanism, and there is no need to provide a protrusion such as a lever attached to the tension detection means in the paper conveyance system. Because of this, it is easy to realize the function of automatically loading the roll paper, and it has the effect of realizing an inexpensive and highly functional roll paper conveying device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional roll paper detection means. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure for feeding roll paper. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for automatically loading roll paper and the procedure for checking. 1... Supply shaft 2... Winding shaft 3 ・ ・ 4 ・ 5 ・ ・ 7 ・ ・ Movement amount detection sensor Movement amount counting circuit Control circuit Timer circuit Roll paper and above Applicant: Seiko Electronic Industries Co., Ltd. Agent Patent attorney Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the conventional roll M. Off-flowchart Figure 7 shows the automatic installation and shoulder section on page 1.
4 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] It consists of a supply shaft, a winding shaft, a movement amount detection sensor that detects the amount of sheet movement, a movement amount counting circuit, a control circuit, and a timer circuit. A roll paper detection means used in a roll paper conveyance device that intermittently conveys paper that has been wound into a roll after being fixed with adhesive force to the winding shaft, and is configured to detect a preset paper feed amount and Roll paper detection means that detects the presence or absence of roll paper based on the paper feed amount counted by a movement amount counting circuit with respect to the paper feed time and the arrival status of the rotation time of the take-up shaft or the rotation time of the supply shaft.