Patent Publication Number: US-2015061211-A1

Title: Card feeder

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 102132016, filed on Sep. 5, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. 
     FIELD 
     The invention relates to a card feeder, more particularly, to a card feeder applicable to a card printer. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A card printer is an electronic device capable of printing patterns on cards. In recent years, the card printer has been broadly applied to personal identification documents, such as an employee ID card and so forth. Similar to a paper feeder equipped by a paper printer, the card printer is also equipped with a card feeder for supplying the cards to a printing area. In actual practice, an entire stack of cards is usually being placed into a card hopper of the card feeder, and via a feeding mechanism of the card feeder, one card at a time is outputted to the printing area. 
     However, in the process of production, the cards in the entire stack of cards are not easily to be separate from each other due to static electricity or furry edges. In addition, according to usage requirements, the cards also have a variety of thickness specification. Therefore, the design of the card feeder has to consider the factors of the cards being difficult to be separated from each other and different in thicknesses, so as to ensure that the cards can be supplied normally. 
     US Patents relating to the card feeder are U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,758, U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,527 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,576. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a card feeder for storing a plurality of cards and outputting one card at a time. 
     The invention provides a card feeder for storing a plurality of card and outputting one card at a time. The card feeder includes the following elements. A card hopper is disposed on a base to store the stacked cards, and has an exit. A conveying unit is disposed on the base to push the cards toward the exit. A friction element disposed on the base and located on a path passed by the cards, and is capable of providing friction force to the cards so as to separate the cards. 
     According to the above, the invention uses the conveying unit to push the cards into motion, and uses the friction element to provide the friction force to the cards so as to separate the cards. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a card feeder according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a partial cross-sectional view of the card feeder of  FIG. 1  along line 
         FIG. 3A  is a perspective view illustrating some components of the card feeder of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3B  is a top view of the some components of the card feeder of  FIG. 3A . 
         FIG. 4  is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a card feeder according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a card feeder according to still another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a card feeder according to an embodiment of the invention, and  FIG. 2  is a partial cross-sectional view of the card feeder of  FIG. 1  along line I-I. Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a card feeder  100  of the present embodiment is applicable to a card printer for storing a plurality of cards C (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) and outputting one card C at a time to a printing area of the card printer. The card feeder  100  includes a base  110  and a card hopper  120 . The base  110  may include a pair of side portions and a top portion located above the side portions, and the pair of the side portions are respectively located at the two (left and right) sides of the top portion. The card hopper  120  is disposed on the top portion of the base  110 , and the card hopper  120  substantially appears to be in a hollow rectangular cube-shape and is configured to store the stacked cards C. A bottom edge of the card hopper  120  has an exit  122  to output the cards C. 
       FIG. 3A  is a perspective view illustrating some components of the card feeder of  FIG. 1 , and  FIG. 3B  is a top view of the some components of the card feeder of  FIG. 3A . Referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , the card feeder  100  further includes a conveying unit  130 , the conveying unit  130  is disposed within the base  110  to push the cards C toward the exit  122 . The conveying unit  130  may include a pair of supports  131 . The supports  131  are pivoted along an axis A to the base  110 . The conveying unit  130  may further include a rotating shaft  132 , and the rotating shaft  132  is axially disposed along the axis A to the base  110  and is fixedly disposed to the supports  131 , so that the supports  131  may be pivoted along the axis A to the base  110  through the rotating shaft  132  and rotate along with the rotating shaft  132 . The conveying unit  130  may further include a transmission mechanism  133 , and the transmission mechanism  133  is disposed on the base  110  and the support  131 . The transmission mechanism  133  may include a plurality of gears  133   a  and  133   b  that are sequentially and mutually engaged, wherein the gear  133   a  is pivoted on the base  110 , the gears  133   b  are pivoted on the support  131 , and the gears  133   b  pivoted on the support  131  can swing around the axis A and along with the support  131 . In addition, the conveying unit  130  may further include a driving shaft  134 , and the driving shaft  134  is axially disposed on the base  110  and coupled to the transmission mechanism  133 . Specifically, the gear  133   a  of the transmission mechanism  133  is axially and fixedly disposed to the driving shaft  134 . Therefore, when the driving shaft  134  is in rotation, the gear  133   a  is also being driven into rotation, thereby driving the gears  133   b  pivoted on the support  131  in to rotation. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , the conveying unit  130  may further include a power module  135 , and the power module  135  is disposed at a side of the base  110  and coupled to the driving shaft  134 . In the present embodiment, the power module  135  includes a power source  135   a  (such as a motor) and a deceleration mechanism  135   b,  and the deceleration mechanism  135   b  is coupled between the driving shaft  134  and the power source  135   a  for reducing a rotational speed outputted by the power source  135   a.  In the present embodiment, the deceleration mechanism  135   b  is a deceleration gear set, which uses a difference in gear ratios to convert a high-speed rotation of low torque outputted by the power source  135   a  into a low-speed rotation of high torque, and thereby output to the driving shaft  134 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B  again, the conveying unit  130  further includes a first feed roller  136   a  axially and fixedly disposed at the driving shaft  134 , the first feed roller  136   a  is pivoted on the base  110  via the driving shaft  134 , and the first feed roller  136   a  is coupled to the power module  135  and can be driven by the power module  135  into rotation, so that the cards C move toward the exit  122 . Specifically, since the driving shaft  134  is axially disposed on the base  110  and coupled to the deceleration mechanism  135   b  and the transmission mechanism  133 , the torque generated by the power source  135   a  is transmitted to the driving shaft  134  through the deceleration mechanism  135   b,  and thus the driving shaft  134  can drive the first feed roller  136   a  and the gear  133   a  of the transmission mechanism  133  into rotation. In the present embodiment, the first feed roller  136   a  may have a rubber surface for increasing friction force to the cards C. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , the card feeder  100  further includes a second feed roller  136   b,  and the second feed roller  136   b  is pivoted on the supports  131  and coupled to the transmission mechanism  133 , and can be driven by the transmission mechanism  133  to enable the cards C to move toward the exit  122 . Specifically, the gears  133   b  of the transmission mechanism  133  and the second feed roller  136   b  are all pivoted on the supports  131 , and the second feed roller  136   b  is further fixedly disposed to the gears  133   b.  Therefore, the torque generated by the power module  135  is transmitted to the driving shaft  134  through the deceleration mechanism  135   b,  so that the driving shaft  134  can drive the gears  133   a,  and thereby drive the gears  133   b  pivoted on the support  131  to jointly drive the second feed roller  136   b  into rotation. In the present embodiment, the second feed roller  136   b  may have a rubber surface for increasing friction force to the cards C. 
     In addition, the card feeder  100  further includes a friction element  140 , and the friction element  140  is disposed on the base  110  and located on the path passed by the cards C, and is capable of providing friction force to the cards C so as to separate the cards C. In the present embodiment, the friction element  140  is an elastic pad, a fixed end of the friction element  140  is fixed to the base  110 , and a free end of the friction element  140  is located on the path passed by the cards C. The friction element  140  is located in front the outside of the exit  122  and is capable of contacting the cards that passed through the exit  122 , and the exit  122  is located between the second feed roller  136   b  and the friction element  140 , so that when the second feed roller  136   b  drives the cards C to move toward the exit  122 , the friction element  140  may provide the friction force to the cards C to separate the cards C. However,  FIG. 4  is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a card feeder according to another embodiment of the invention. Referring to  FIG. 4 , in a card feeder  100   a  of another embodiment, a friction element  140   a  may be a pinch roller, as shown in the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 4 , and the friction element  140   a  is pivoted on the base  110  and located on the path passed by the cards C for providing friction force to the cards C so as to separate the cards C. 
     In addition, the conveying unit  130  may further include an elastomer  137  (such as a coil spring), and the elastomer  137  is disposed at the support  131  and pivoted between the gears  133   b  of the support  131  for providing friction force, so that the gears  133   a  rotating along the axis A can drive the supports  131  to rotate along the axis A, thereby enabling the second feed roller  136   b  to push the cards C toward the friction element  140 . In the present embodiment, the support  131  has a rod portion  131   a,  and the elastomer  137  sleeves the rod portion  131   a  so that the elastomer  137  is able to provide the friction force to the gear  133   b  contacted by thereof in relative to the support  131 . 
     It is worth noting that, the first feed roller  136   a  provides a constant driving force to the cards C, the second feed roller  136   b  provides a compensation driving force to the cards C, and a sum of the driving forces is greater than a separation force provided by the friction element  140 , so as to ensure that the cards C can be outputted, smoothly. In addition, by driving the support  131  to rotate along the axis A so as to enable the second feed roller  136   b  to push the cards C toward the friction element  140 , when supplying the cards C of different thicknesses, the second feed roller  136   b  can provide an automatic compensation of normal force in relative to the friction element  140  to the cards C. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  again, in the present embodiment, only one gear  133   a  is pivoted on the base  110 . However, in other non-illustrated embodiments, a plurality of gears  133   a  that are sequentially and mutually engaged may also be pivoted on the base  110  for transmitting the torque generated by the power source  135   a  to the gears  133   a  that are coupled to the first feed roller  136   a  and the second feed roller  136   b  through the sequentially and mutually engaged gears  133   a  that are pivoted on the base  110 , so as to drive the first feed roller  136   a  and the second feed roller  136   b  into rotation. 
       FIG. 5  is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a card feeder according to still another embodiment of the invention. Referring to  FIG. 5 , different from the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 2 , a card feeder  100   b  of the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 5  has an elastomer  150  (such as a spring), and the elastomer  150  is disposed between the base  110  and the conveying unit  130 , so that the conveying unit  130  applies pressure on the cards C towards the friction element  140 . Specifically, the elastomer  150  can push the supports  131  of the conveying unit  130  in relative to the base  110 , so that the second feed roller  136   b  pivoted on the supports  131  can apply pressure to the cards c toward the friction element  140 . Under this circumstance, the configuration of the elastomer  137  in the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3A  may be replace. 
     In summary, the invention uses the conveying unit to push the cards into motion, and uses the friction element to provide the friction force to the cards so as to separate the cards. In addition, the invention may uses the transmission mechanism, the first feed roller and the second feed roller to convert the torque generated by a single power source into the driving force of the cards. Moreover, according to the difference in the thickness of the cards, the invention may further provide the automatic compensation of the normal force to the cards via the support, the transmission mechanism, the second feed roller, the elastomer, and the same power source, so as to ensure that the cards of different thicknesses can all be separated by the friction element successfully. 
     It will be apparent to those skills in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.