Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus

Abstract

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet supporting unit which supports a plurality of sheets, a sheet feeding unit which feeds the sheet one by one from a stack of sheets supported by the sheet supporting unit, an air blowing unit which blows air to an end portion of the stack of sheets supported by the sheet supporting unit, the air blowing unit being able to change wind velocity of the blown air, a material setting unit which sets arbitrarily and registers the wind velocity of the air blown by the air blowing unit in accordance with a type of the sheet, and a sheet feeding control unit which controls the wind velocity of the air blown by the air blowing unit based on data registered by the material setting unit.

1 . A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: 
 sheet supporting means for supporting a plurality of sheets;    sheet feeding means for feeding the sheet one by one from a stack of sheets supported by said sheet supporting means;    air blowing means for blowing air to an end portion of the stack of sheets supported by said sheet supporting means, said air blowing means being able to change wind velocity of the blown air;    material setting means for setting arbitrarily and registering the wind velocity of the air blown by said air blowing means in accordance with a type of the sheet; and    sheet feeding control means for controlling the wind velocity of the air blown by said air blowing means based on data registered by said material setting means.    
   
   
       2 . A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: 
 sheet supporting means for supporting a plurality of sheets;    sheet feeding means for feeding the sheet one by one from a stack of sheets supported by said sheet supporting means;    air blowing means for blowing air to a side surface of the stack of sheets supported by said sheet supporting means, said air blowing means being able to change wind velocity of the blown air;    material setting means for setting arbitrarily and registering the wind direction of the air blown by said air blowing means in accordance with a type of the sheet; and    sheet feeding control means for controlling the wind direction of the air blown by said air blowing means based on data registered by said material setting means.    
   
   
       3 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising material fine adjustment setting means for setting and registering fine adjustment of the wind velocity of the air in accordance with the type of the sheet, and said sheet feeding control means controls the wind velocity of the air blown by said air blowing means based on a setting value registered by said sheet feeding control and said material fine adjustment setting means.  
   
   
       4 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein said air blowing means is configured to be able to swing in a vertical direction, and said material setting means sets and registers ON/OFF of a swing of said air blowing means and changes a wind direction of the air by performing ON/OFF of the swing of said air blowing means based on the setting by said material setting means.  
   
   
       5 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to claims  1  or  2 , further comprising environmental measurement means for measuring environment near said sheet supporting means, and said sheet feeding control means performs control based on the setting of said material setting means and measurement result of said environmental measurement means.  
   
   
       6 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to claims  1  or  2 , wherein said material setting means comprises a material storage table in which initial data is stored in each material, said material setting means controlling the air blowing of said air blowing means based on the initial data of the material storage table when the registration is not performed by said material setting means.  
   
   
       7 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to claims  1  or  2 , wherein said material setting means comprises a material storage table which stores data registered in each material, the initial data suitable to each material is stored in the material storage table, and said material setting means controls the air blowing of said air blowing means based on the initial data of the material storage table when the registration is not performed by said material setting means.  
   
   
       8 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to claims  1  or  2 , wherein said sheet feeding means comprises suction belt which sucks the uppermost sheet of the sheets supported by said sheet supporting means, said material setting means can set arbitrarily and register strength of suction force of the suction belt, and said sheet feeding control means controls the suction force based on the data registered by said material setting means.  
   
   
       9 . A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: 
 a paper deck which supports a plurality of sheets;    a suction belt which is arranged above said paper deck, said paper deck sucking and feeding the uppermost sheet;    an air blowing duct which is provided in front of a stack of sheets supported by said paper deck;    a blowing fan which supplies air to said air blowing duct;    material setting means for setting arbitrarily and registering the wind velocity of the air blown by said air blowing means in accordance with a type of the sheet; and    sheet feeding control means for controlling the wind velocity of the air blown by said air blowing means based on data registered by said material setting means.    
   
   
       10 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein said air blowing duct comprises a shutter which can swing in a vertical direction, and said material setting means sets and registers ON/OFF of a swing of the shutter and changes a wind direction of the air by performing ON/OFF of the swing of the shutter based on the setting by said material setting means.  
   
   
       11 . A sheet feeding apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein said air blowing duct comprises a swing nozzle which can swing in the vertical direction, and said material setting means sets and registers ON/OFF of the swing of the swing nozzle and changes the wind direction of the air by performing ON/OFF of the swing of the swing nozzle based on the setting by said material setting means.  
   
   
       12 . A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: 
 a sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of  claims 1  to  11 ; and    an image forming portion which forms an image fed by the sheet feeding apparatus.