US 11,834,286 B2
Paper feeder, image forming apparatus, and control method
Toshiyuki Tokuno, Toyokawa (JP); and Masatoshi Hitaka, Toyokawa (JP)
Assigned to Konica Minolta, Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Jul. 31, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/944,213.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-161193 (JP), filed on Sep. 4, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0061593 A1, Mar. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. B65H 3/06 (2006.01); B65H 1/18 (2006.01); B65H 7/04 (2006.01)
CPC B65H 1/18 (2013.01) [B65H 3/0669 (2013.01); B65H 3/0676 (2013.01); B65H 7/04 (2013.01); B65H 2301/531 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A paper feeder, comprising:
a sheet storage that stores sheets;
a pick roller that delivers the sheets stored in the sheet storage to a downstream side of a conveyance path;
a pair of conveyance rollers that is located on a downstream side of the pick roller in the conveyance path and conveys the sheets delivered from the pick roller to further downstream side in the conveyance path;
a drive source that drives the pick roller and the pair of conveyance rollers;
a power transmitter capable of enabling or disabling power transmission from the drive source to the pick roller; and
a hardware processor that:
counts the number of sheets fed by the pair of conveyance rollers,
determines a cleaning time in accordance with the number of fed sheets, the cleaning time being a time period during which the drive source is driven for cleaning the pair of conveyance rollers, and
cleans the pair of conveyance rollers by driving the drive source to rotate the pair of conveyance rollers in a state of being in contact with each other until a drive time of the drive source reaches the cleaning time, while the pick roller is in contact with the sheets and the power transmitter disables power transmission from the drive source to the pick roller.