Sheet conveyance apparatus and image forming apparatus

摘要

There is provided a sheet conveyance apparatus including: a loader unit loading sheets, a feeding unit feeding the sheets from the loader unit, a separating unit separating and conveying the sheets one by one, a detecting unit detecting the sheets, and a controller. The controller is configured to: measure a time from instructing the feeding unit for operation of feeding one of the sheets to the detecting unit detecting that sheet, and determine that there is a decrease in a capability of the feeding unit or the separating unit in a case that the measured time does not fit into a time needed to convey the sheet from a position of starting a normal operation of feeding the sheet to the position of the detecting unit.

主权项

1. A sheet conveyance apparatus configured to convey sheets, comprising:
a loader unit configured to accommodate the sheets thereon in a state that the sheets are stacked in a thickness direction of the sheets; a feeding unit configured to contact with a sheet among the sheets located on the loader unit to feed the sheet from the loader unit; a separating unit provided on a downstream side of the feeding unit in a conveyance direction of the sheet to separate and convey one by one the sheets fed by the feeding unit; a detecting unit provided on the downstream side of the separating unit in the conveyance direction to detect the sheet; and a controller configured to:
measure a difference time comprising an elapsed time between a first time at which an instruction to execute a sheet feeding operation is provided and a second time at which the sheet is detected by the detecting unit,acquire a number of occurrences corresponding to each of a first case that the difference time is shorter than a lower limit time and a second case that the difference time is longer than an upper limit time, every time the feeding unit is instructed to execute the operation for feeding the sheet;determine that there is a decrease in the separation capability of the separating unit in a case that a ratio of the number of the occurrences corresponding to the first case to a number of occurrences of instructing the feeding unit for operation of feeding the sheet is greater than a predetermined value; anddetermine that there is a decrease in the feed capability of the feeding unit in a case that a ratio of the number of occurrences corresponding to the second case to a number of occurrences of instructing the feeding unit for operation of feeding the sheet is greater than the predetermined value.