A sheet feeding apparatus, includes: a loading table on which a plurality of sheets are loaded; a flotation air supply unit that causes the sheets to float by supplying air toward the edge surfaces of the plurality of sheets which are loaded on the loading table; a suction conveying unit that suctions and conveys the topmost sheet among the plurality of sheets which are caused to float by the supply of air; an image capturing unit that captures an image of a flotation state of the plurality of sheets which are caused to float by the supply of air; a control parameter adjusting unit that adjusts control parameters of the flotation air supply unit based on information on the flotation state obtained from the image captured by the image capturing unit; and a control unit that controls the flotation air supply unit based on the control parameters.

A feeding device includes: a supply unit that supplies air to a space between a plurality of loaded media to float the media; a feeding unit that feeds out the media floated by the supply unit; and a detection unit that detects whether or not a medium bundle is present among the plurality of media in a state of being floated by the supply unit.

A feeding device includes: a supply unit that supplies air to a space between a plurality of loaded media to float the media; a feeding unit that feeds out the media floated by the supply unit; and a detection unit that detects whether or not a medium bundle is present among the plurality of media in a state of being floated by the supply unit.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes: a placer that allows a plurality of sheets to be placed on the placer; an air feeder including a front-end fan that generates an airflow from a front-edge side in a sheet feeding direction of a bundle of sheets placed on the placer toward the bundle of sheets; an attracting conveyor that attracts an uppermost sheet separated by the air feeder from the bundle of sheets placed on the placer and conveys the uppermost sheet; a detector that detects, in the conveyance of the uppermost sheet by the attracting conveyor, an amount of co-feeding of a next sheet together with the uppermost sheet; and a hardware processor that executes air-volume control to the front-end fan such that an air volume of the front-end fan increases with an increase in the amount of co-feeding detected by the detector.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes: a placer that allows a plurality of sheets to be placed on the placer; an air feeder including a front-end fan that generates an airflow from a front-edge side in a sheet feeding direction of a bundle of sheets placed on the placer toward the bundle of sheets; an attracting conveyor that attracts an uppermost sheet separated by the air feeder from the bundle of sheets placed on the placer and conveys the uppermost sheet; a detector that detects, in the conveyance of the uppermost sheet by the attracting conveyor, an amount of co-feeding of a next sheet together with the uppermost sheet; and a hardware processor that executes air-volume control to the front-end fan such that an air volume of the front-end fan increases with an increase in the amount of co-feeding detected by the detector.

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including a conveyance section, an attraction section, an image forming section, and a hardware processor. The conveyance section includes conveyance surfaces on each of which a sheet can be placed and that conveys the sheet placed thereon. The attraction section that attracts the sheet onto the conveyance surfaces by sucking air from suction holes. The image forming section forms an image on the sheet. When a decrease of an attraction force by the attraction section is caused in executing a print job, the hardware processor causes one or more of the conveyance surfaces to suck and convey a non-print job sheet and then causes the one or more of the conveyance surfaces to consecutively suck and convey a print job sheet, and does not perform image formation on the non-print job sheet and performs the image formation on the print job sheet.

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including a conveyance section, an attraction section, an image forming section, and a hardware processor. The conveyance section includes conveyance surfaces on each of which a sheet can be placed and that conveys the sheet placed thereon. The attraction section that attracts the sheet onto the conveyance surfaces by sucking air from suction holes. The image forming section forms an image on the sheet. When a decrease of an attraction force by the attraction section is caused in executing a print job, the hardware processor causes one or more of the conveyance surfaces to suck and convey a non-print job sheet and then causes the one or more of the conveyance surfaces to consecutively suck and convey a print job sheet, and does not perform image formation on the non-print job sheet and performs the image formation on the print job sheet.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a supporting unit, a feeding unit, a side regulating portion, an air nozzle, and an air supplying unit. The air nozzle is movably provided at the side regulating portion and blows air in the sheet width direction toward at least an uppermost sheet of a sheet bundle supported on a support surface. The air nozzle is positioned at a first nozzle position for blowing the air to a first blowing position when the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle supported on the support surface is positioned at a first sheet position. The air nozzle is positioned at a second nozzle position for blowing the air to a second blowing position below the first blowing position when the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle supported on the support surface is positioned at a second sheet position below the first sheet position.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a supporting unit, a feeding unit, a side regulating portion, an air nozzle, and an air supplying unit. The air nozzle is movably provided at the side regulating portion and blows air in the sheet width direction toward at least an uppermost sheet of a sheet bundle supported on a support surface. The air nozzle is positioned at a first nozzle position for blowing the air to a first blowing position when the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle supported on the support surface is positioned at a first sheet position. The air nozzle is positioned at a second nozzle position for blowing the air to a second blowing position below the first blowing position when the uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle supported on the support surface is positioned at a second sheet position below the first sheet position.