JP3612949B2 - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method used for a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, and the like, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that enable formation of a high-quality image.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, offset printing machines have been widely used as high-resolution image forming apparatuses. Normally, image formation in offset printing is performed in the following order. First, a plate material prepared by applying a hydrophobic photosensitive layer to the surface of a hydrophilic material is prepared. Next, the plate material is exposed to light carrying image information. Next, in the case of a negative type plate material, the exposed plate material is chemically processed to leave only the photosensitive layer of the non-image area that has not been exposed, while leaving the exposed photosensitive layer of the image area. By removing by processing, a plate composed of a hydrophobic image portion and a hydrophilic non-image portion is formed. Next, water (fountain solution) is adhered to the non-image area of the plate, and then a hydrophobic ink is applied to the plate. As a result, due to the repulsive force of water and oil, the non-image area to which dampening water is attached repels ink, and ink is applied only to the image area not wetted with water, thereby forming an image. In this way, the surface of the offset printing plate is different between the image area and the non-image area, and each has a structure that easily retains ink and water. It is possible to print the image.
[0003]
However, since there are parts that are not automated in creating an offset printing plate, there is a problem that it takes time and effort. It is good to print a large number of copies using a single plate, but when only a small number of copies with different images are required, the cost per printed matter increases and the printing time also increases.
[0004]
In view of this, various methods have been proposed in which a plate is automatically created and printed materials having different high-resolution images are formed in a short time. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-4661 discloses the following image forming method. That is, an image support having a photosensitive layer whose conductivity is changed by light is exposed to a light and dark pattern to form a pattern due to the change in conductivity, and then an electric field is applied to the image support, An electrostatic latent image is obtained by forming a high electric field in a region with increased conductivity and a low electric field in a region with low conductivity. The region of the high electric field formed in this way is easily wetted by the hydrophobic liquid. Therefore, an ink made of a colored hydrophilic liquid is supplied by supplying a colorless hydrophobic liquid near the image support carrying the electrostatic latent image and moistening only the region where the high electric field is formed with the hydrophobic liquid. Is supplied to an image support, and only a region where a low electric field is formed is wetted with ink to obtain a visible image.
[0005]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-208144 discloses that an ink jet method is used to attach minute droplets made of a hydrophilic or lipophilic liquid so as to correspond to an image, thereby making the hydrophilic or lipophilic liquid. An image forming method is disclosed in which a latent image composed of a liquid distribution is formed, and an image is formed by transferring hydrophilic or oleophilic ink to the latent image using the latent image as a template.
[0006]
Further, a method has been proposed in which a photocurable ink is applied on one surface of an image support, and a portion corresponding to a background portion is exposed and cured, and then uncured ink is transferred to a recording medium.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the image forming method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-4661, since the surface material of the high electric field region and the low electric field region on the image support is the same, the holding power of the hydrophobic liquid and the ink is weak. The boundary between the area wetted by the hydrophobic liquid and the area wetted by the ink is likely to bleed, and the contrast between the high electric field area and the low electric field area cannot be sufficiently obtained, causing image fogging or resolution. Often decreases.
[0008]
In the image forming method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-208144, the transfer of the ink to the latent image is caused by the affinity between the hydrophilic liquid for the latent image and the hydrophilic ink, and the lipophilic liquid for the latent image. Since it depends only on the affinity with the oleophilic ink, ink transfer failure tends to occur.
[0009]
Further, when a photo-curing resin is used, since light with high energy such as an electron beam or ultraviolet rays is used for solidifying at high speed, a problem of high power consumption arises.
[0010]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of automatically forming a high-resolution printed matter in a short time with low energy.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The object is to provide an image forming agent applying mechanism for applying an image forming agent on the image support, and an image pattern forming mechanism for supplying a first solidified liquid for solidifying the image forming agent to the image forming agent on the image support. And an image transfer mechanism for transferring an unsolidified portion of the image constituent agent on the image support to a recording medium, and a second solidified liquid for solidifying the image constituent agent to the image constituent agent on the recording medium. This is achieved by an image forming apparatus having an image fixing mechanism.
[0012]
Here, as the image forming agent, one comprising at least a polysaccharide polymer, water, and a colorant can be used. The first and second solidification liquids can be made of the same material, and at least a metal salt and water can be used. When a solidification solution as described above is applied to this type of image forming agent, the metal salt dissolved in the water in the solidifying solution is instantly diffused into the polysaccharide polymer dissolved in the water in the image forming agent. Then, water as a solvent is held in, so that the image forming agent is instantly solidified. The present invention utilizes such a phenomenon.
[0013]
As the polysaccharide polymer, one or a combination of algin, alginic acid, monovalent metal salt of alginic acid, carrageenan, and pectin can be used. The molecular weight of the polysaccharide polymer is preferably 10,000 or more and 1,000,000 or less. The proportion of the polysaccharide polymer in the image forming agent is in the range of 1% by weight to 20% by weight. The pH of the solidified liquid is in the range of 6 to 9.
[0014]
The object is also to provide an image forming agent on the image support, and to supply a first solidification liquid for solidifying the image forming agent to the image forming agent on the image support according to image pattern information. A step of transferring an unsolidified portion of the image constituent agent on the image support to a recording medium, and a step of supplying a second solidification liquid for solidifying the image constituent agent to the image constituent agent on the recording medium. This is achieved by an image forming method.
[0015]
In this case, in the next image forming cycle, by omitting the first solidification liquid supply step, the solidified portion of the image forming agent remaining on the image support after the transfer can be used as a repeated plate, and the same easily. An image can be output. Constituently, a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the image support after the transfer of the image forming agent is disposed so as to be retractable with respect to the image support, and a doctor provided between the image forming agent forming mechanism and the image transfer mechanism. This can be done by arranging the blade to be retractable with respect to the image support.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 100 includes an image support 1 that rotates in the direction of arrow A, a thin film forming apparatus 10 that supplies an ink 12 to the image support 1 to form an ink thin film, and an image support 1 that is solidified. An image pattern forming device 3 for applying a liquid and partially solidifying the ink thin film to form an image pattern of solidified / unsolidified ink, and an image fixing device 7 for solidifying the ink 12 transferred onto the recording medium 5 Have.
[0017]
The thin film forming apparatus 10 rotates in the direction of an arrow B and supplies an ink carrier 10b that supplies ink 12 onto the image support 1, an ink tank 10a that holds the ink 12, and an ink layer thickness on the ink carrier 10b. And a blade 10c for regulating the above. The ink carrier 10b carries a film-like ink, and contacts with the image support 1 to transfer a uniform thin film of the ink 12 on the image support 1 due to the adhesion between the ink and the image support 1. Let At this time, the peripheral speed between the ink carrier 10b and the image support 1 is controlled by the amount of ink transferred onto the image support 1, and the rotation direction is not limited to the direction indicated by the arrow B, and may be the opposite direction. . In addition, the ink carrier 10b is not necessarily provided. In short, the thin film forming apparatus 10 may be any device that uniformly applies ink onto the image support 1, and directly supplies the ink 12 onto the image support 1. Then, a method of smoothing with a blade may be used. On the contrary, when using ink having higher viscosity, a method in which the ink carrier 10b is multistaged is used.
[0018]
The image pattern forming apparatus 3 uses the ink jet method to apply the solidified liquid transferred from the solidified liquid tank (not shown) to the image pattern forming apparatus 3 corresponding to the non-image portion of the ink thin film on the image support 1. To grant. As described above, most of the components of the solidified liquid are composed of water, and colorants such as dyes and pigments such as inkjet inks and dispersants for the colorants are not mixed therein. Therefore, since the viscosity is low and there is no component to be fixed, there is no concern about clogging even if the nozzle diameter is reduced, and high resolution can be achieved. In consideration of the resolution of the output image, the droplet diameter of the discharged solidified liquid is more preferably 63.5 μm (equivalent to 400 dpi) or less, and further 31.8 μm or less (equivalent to 800 dpi).
[0019]
The image fixing device 7 includes a solidifying liquid application roll 7a that rotates in the direction of arrow E to supply the solidifying liquid 11 to the recording medium 5, and a blade 7b that regulates the amount of the solidifying liquid 11 on the solidifying liquid application roll 7a. The Since the amount of the solidified liquid applied to the recording medium 5 may be a minimum amount necessary for the ink 12 to solidify, it may be changed depending on the amount of the ink 12 transferred to the recording medium 5. Further, the image fixing device 7 is not limited to the above-described method, and only the image portion or the image portion and the image portion using a method of supplying the solidified liquid 11 from the slit, a method of spraying in a mist form, or an inkjet method. A method of supplying to the vicinity can also be used.
[0020]
Further, the image forming apparatus 100 is provided with a cleaning device 8 composed of a transfer roll 6 rotating in the direction of arrow D, a cleaning roll 8a, and a cleaning blade 8b. The transfer roll 6 transfers the image formed on the image support 1 to the recording medium 5 by the action of pressure, and the cleaning device 8 removes the remaining solid ink on the image support 1 to remove the image support. The surface of 1 is cleaned.
[0021]
The image forming apparatus 100 forms an image roughly as follows. First, when the image writing area on the surface of the image support 1 rotating in the direction of arrow A reaches the area in contact with the thin film forming apparatus 10, an ink thin film having a uniform thickness is formed on the image support 1 by the ink carrier 10b. Is done. The non-image portion of the ink thin film is solidified by the image pattern forming device 3, and an image pattern is formed on the image support 1 using solidified or unsolidified ink. The image formed on the image support 1 is transferred to the recording medium 5 moving in the direction of arrow C by the transfer roll 6. At this time, the solidified ink is not transferred to the recording medium 5, and only the non-solidified ink is transferred to the recording medium 5. The image fixing device 7 applies the solidified liquid 11 to the image formed on the recording medium 5, whereby the unsolidified ink is instantaneously solidified to become a final image. The surface of the image support 1 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaning roll 8a and the cleaning blade 8b of the cleaning means 8, and the image forming process is completed.
[0022]
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing details of the image forming process according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3A, the ink thin film 2 is formed by uniformly applying the ink corresponding to the first image forming agent on the image support 1 by the thin film forming apparatus 10. Considering that the ink thin film 2 is finally formed on the recording medium, the thickness of the ink thin film 2 is 20 μm or less, preferably about 0.5 to 5 μm.
[0023]
Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), using the image pattern forming device 3, the portion corresponding to the background portion of the image of the ink thin film 2 on the image support 1 on the portion corresponding to the background portion of the image. Only the solidified liquid for solidifying the ink (corresponding to the second image forming agent) is ejected to form the image pattern 4 composed of the solidified ink 4a and the unsolidified ink 4b. As will be described later, since the ink is solidified almost simultaneously when the solidified liquid adheres, the solidified liquid does not spread on the ink thin film 2, and a high-resolution image pattern 4 that does not bleed can be formed in a short time. . Conventionally known thermal ink jet method and piezoelectric ink jet method can be optimally used as the image pattern forming apparatus 3 because the ink thin film 2 can be supplied in a non-contact manner. In addition, if the ink jet method is used, the energy for discharging the liquid can be made extremely small. However, the image pattern forming apparatus 3 is not limited to this, and any apparatus capable of attaching the solidified liquid to the ink thin film 2 according to the image information without disturbing the ink thin film 2 may be used.
[0024]
Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the unsolidified ink 4 b is transferred to the recording medium 5. The transfer is performed by applying pressure from the back surface of the recording medium 5 using a roll (not shown). At this time, the solidified ink 4 a is not transferred because there is no adhesion to the recording medium 5, and only the unsolidified ink 4 b is transferred onto the recording medium 5. Further, since the viscosity of the unsolidified ink is relatively high, even when the recording medium 5 is plain paper, image quality such as bleeding does not deteriorate and a high resolution image can be obtained. Furthermore, there is an advantage that transfer by pressure can be realized with a simple configuration and energy consumption is small.
[0025]
Finally, as shown in FIG. 3D, the image fixing means 7 applies a solidified liquid to the unsolidified ink 4b on the recording medium 5 and solidifies it to obtain a final output image. At this time, unlike the conventional electrophotographic system, since it is not necessary to apply heat during transfer, the energy consumption is very small. The output image has high water resistance due to the reaction between the ink and the solidified liquid, as will be described later, as well as high resolution for the reasons described above.
[0026]
Next, ink and solidified liquid will be described. Solidification of the ink by the solidifying liquid is performed by holding water as a solvent instantaneously while diffusing the metal salt dissolved in water into the polysaccharide polymer dissolved in water.
[0027]
The amount of the polysaccharide polymer in the ink is an amount that can sufficiently hydrate the water that is a component of the ink and the solidified liquid, and is sufficient to fix the colorant to the image support 1 and the recording medium 5. The amount is important and is 1% by weight or more, preferably 3% by weight or more. Below 1% by weight, there is water that is not hydrated, and the water penetrates into the paper. The upper limit is 20% by weight. Above this, the ink containing the polysaccharide polymer becomes too hard, and the spreadability to the image support 1 becomes poor. The molecular weight of the polysaccharide polymer is 10,000 or more, preferably 50,000 or more and 1,000,000 or less. When the molecular weight is low, the film forming ability is insufficient, and the fixing strength of the image composition composed of the ink and the solidified liquid to the recording medium 5 is low. In the case of 1,000,000 or more, the ink containing the polysaccharide polymer becomes too hard and the spreadability to the image support 1 becomes poor.
[0028]
The pH of the aqueous metal salt solution varies depending on the type of polysaccharide polymer, but is preferably in the range of pH 6 to 9, and preferably in the range of pH 6.5 to 8.5. This is because that a liquid having a strong acidity or alkalinity is in contact with a recording medium, particularly paper, adversely affects its durability.
[0029]
Polysaccharide polymers include agar (agarose), carrageenan, sodium alginate, curdlan, pectin, konjac mannan, gellan gum, xanthan gum, starch, galactomannan, nitrocellulose, pectinin, proteoglycan, glycoprotein, beigelan, etc. However, it is not limited to these.
[0030]
Examples of metal salts include potassium ions, cesium ions, calcium ions, magnesium ions, strontium ions, barium ions, aluminum ions, iron ions, copper ions, vanadium oxide ions, but are not limited to these. Absent. Further, there are preferable types of metal salts depending on the types of polysaccharide polymers used. For example, in the case of sodium alginate, polyvalent metal salts having calcium ions, barium ions, aluminum ions and the like are preferable. In the case of carrageenan, metal salts having potassium ions, cesium ions and the like are preferable.
[0031]
More specific examples of polysaccharide polymers include algin, alginic acid, and monovalent salt of alginic acid. Alginic acid is a natural polysaccharide polymer extracted from brown algae and is contained in wakame and kelp. Alginic acid is mainly used as a sodium salt in various fields such as foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, as a water-soluble thickener, as a jelly by adding calcium, or as an enzyme-immobilized bead. The structure of sodium alginate is a sodium salt composed of a polymer of β-1,4-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-1,4-L-guluronic acid (G). Sodium alginate forms a gel by forming a chelate with a polyvalent metal salt such as calcium and taking in water. When these are linked to form a polymer, the gel-forming ability is remarkably different depending on the ratio of GM, MM, and GG. In the GG cluster region, molecules are bent, and calcium ions enter into the GG cluster region to form an egg box type structure, forming a strong polymer and solidifying. The gel formed has a film-forming ability that increases as the molecular weight of alginic acid increases, and a film that does not dissolve in water or oil is formed. The molecular weight is 10,000 or more, preferably 50,000 or more.
[0032]
The carrageenan mentioned above as an example of the polysaccharide polymer is a seaweed polysaccharide extracted from red algae. The chemical structure of carrageenan is a linear polymer having a molecular weight of hundreds of thousands to millions, and is composed of D-galactose, 3,6-anhydro-D-galactose, and a sulfate group. There are three types, κ type, λ type, and τ type, depending on the sulfate group content. The κ type is preferred in that the resulting gel has a strong mechanical strength. This gels instantaneously in the presence of monovalent or polyvalent cation ions such as potassium and cesium. Carrageenan has a helical structure in the molecular chain. It is said that the part of this helical structure aggregates via a cation ion to form a gel.
[0033]
By applying the film-forming ability of these polysaccharide polymer gels, the ink is solidified on an image support or a recording medium. The film after solidification has excellent water resistance. The ink is an aqueous solution composed of a polysaccharide polymer and a colorant. Other commonly known components such as a colorant dispersant may be added thereto.
[0034]
Well-known water-soluble dyes and organic pigments can be used as the colorant. However, it is not possible to have a metal ion species involved in gel formation as a counter ion of the water-soluble dye or pigment in the image forming agent. Since it is not preferable, a dye or pigment that does not participate in gel formation is selected according to the polysaccharide polymer species to be used.
[0035]
In order to further stabilize the dissolution and dispersion state of dyes and pigments, so-called surfactants, dispersants, inclusion compounds, etc. may be added. Since it is not preferable to have it as a counter ion in the agent, an additive that does not participate in gel formation is selected according to the polysaccharide polymer species to be used.
[0036]
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. This apparatus is used when outputting a plurality of images that are the same as the current output image. Of course, this apparatus can also be used in the above-described example, but it can be output more easily. 1 differs from the apparatus of FIG. 1 in that the cleaning means 8 can be retracted with respect to the image support 1 and a retractable doctor blade 9 is provided. As a result, a plurality of the same images can be easily output.
[0037]
The image forming apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 2 forms an image as follows. First, the doctor blade 9 is held in a state of being separated from the image support 1 with a sufficient distance so as not to touch the ink thin film 2 shown in FIG. When the image writing area on the surface of the image support 1 rotating in the direction of arrow A reaches the area in contact with the thin film forming means 10, the ink thin film 2 having a uniform thickness is formed on the image support 1 by the ink carrier 10b. Is done. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the non-image portion of the ink thin film 2 is solidified by the image pattern forming apparatus 3, and the image pattern 4 is formed on the image support 1 using solidified or unsolidified ink. The The image formed on the image support 1 is transferred to the recording medium 5 that moves in the direction of arrow C by the transfer roll 6. At this time, the solidified ink 4a is not transferred to the recording medium 5 as shown in FIG. 3C, and only the non-solidified ink 4b is transferred to the recording medium 5. As shown in FIG. 3D, the image fixing unit 7 applies the solidified liquid 11 to the image formed on the recording medium 5 so that the unsolidified ink is instantaneously solidified to become a final image.
[0038]
When an image different from the current output image is output next, the same method as described in the above example is used. That is, the surface of the image support 1 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaning roll 8a and the cleaning blade 8b of the cleaning device 8 to prepare for outputting the next image.
[0039]
On the other hand, when outputting a plurality of images that are the same as the current output image, after the unsolidified ink 4b is transferred to the recording medium 5, the solidified ink remaining on the image support 1 is not removed and the non-image portion is removed. Reuse the corresponding solidified ink image pattern as a plate. By doing so, the amount of ink used can be reduced. In the process of outputting the second and subsequent images, first, the cleaning device 8 is held at a sufficient distance from the image support 1, and solidified ink corresponding to the non-image portion remaining on the image support 1. The ink 12 is applied by the thin film forming apparatus 10 while leaving Then, as shown in FIG. 4A, the non-solidified ink 4b is applied on the image support 1 and the solidified ink 4a so as to cover it. Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the excess ink adhering to the non-image part is removed by bringing the doctor blade 9 into contact with the image support 1, and the unsolidified ink 4b is applied only to the image part. Hold. Since the image pattern has already been formed at this point, it is not necessary to operate the image pattern forming unit 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 4C, the image formed on the image support 1 is transferred to the recording medium 5 by the transfer roll 6. At this time, the solidified ink 4a is not transferred to the recording medium 5, and only the non-solidified ink 4b is transferred to the recording medium 5. As shown in FIG. 4D, the image fixing device 7 applies the solidified liquid 11 to the image formed on the recording medium 5. As a result, the ink is fixed on the recording medium 5 to form a final image.
[0040]
When the third and subsequent sheets are output, the same operation as that for the second sheet is performed. When a different image is output, the surface of the image support 1 after transfer may be cleaned by the cleaning unit 8.
[0041]
【Example】
(Example 1)
As an ink, 1.5% by weight of special black Bayer A-SF (manufactured by Bayer) and 0.1% by weight of sodium sulfonic acid formalin condensate are dispersed in ion-exchanged water, and subsequently sodium alginate having a molecular weight of 110,000 (Wako Pure) Black ink was prepared by adding and dispersing 5% by weight of Yakuhin Kogyo). Next, a 10% by weight aqueous solution of calcium chloride (pH 7.8) was prepared as a solidifying solution.
[0042]
Using the apparatus of FIG. 1, the ink is applied to the image support 1 with a thickness of 3 μm by the thin film forming apparatus 10, and then the portion corresponding to the background portion of the image with a 720 dpi line head using the thermal ink jet method When the solidified liquid was discharged, the solidified instantly and an image pattern free from defects such as bleeding was obtained.
[0043]
Next, after the unsolidified ink was transferred onto plain paper FX-J paper (manufactured by Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.) using the transfer roll 6, the solidified liquid was applied with an image fixing device, and the unsolidified ink solidified instantaneously. An image having high resolution and excellent water resistance without image defects such as blurring was obtained. In addition, the energy consumption used at this time was 1/10 or less that of a conventional electrophotographic printer.
(Example 2)
As an ink, 1.5% by weight of special black Bayer A-SF (manufactured by Bayer) and 0.1% by weight of sodium sulfonic acid formalin condensate are dispersed in ion-exchanged water, followed by κ-carrageenan (Japanese sum) having a molecular weight of 800,000. A black ink was prepared by adding and dispersing 2% by weight (manufactured by Kojun Pharmaceutical). Further, a 10% by weight aqueous solution of potassium chloride (pH 7.9) was prepared as a solidifying solution.
[0044]
Using the apparatus of FIG. 3, the ink is applied on the image support 1 to a thickness of 5 μm by the thin film forming apparatus 10, and then the portion corresponding to the background portion of the image with a 600 dpi line head using the piezoelectric inkjet method When the solidified liquid was discharged, the solidified instantly and an image pattern free from defects such as bleeding was obtained.
[0045]
Next, after the unsolidified ink is transferred onto plain paper FX-L paper (manufactured by Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.) using the transfer roll 6, the solidified liquid is applied by the image fixing device 7, and the unsolidified ink is solidified instantaneously. In addition, an image with high resolution and excellent water resistance without image defects such as blurring was obtained.
[0046]
Further, the solidified ink remaining on the image support 1 is reused without cleaning by keeping the cleaning device 8 in non-contact with the image support, and the ink 12 is applied again by the thin film forming device 10, and the doctor blade When the ink adhering to the background portion was removed in step 9, an image pattern almost the same as that of the first sheet was obtained. Furthermore, when the unsolidified ink was transferred several tens of times using the transfer roll 6 and fixed by the image fixing device 7, all the output images were free from image defects such as blurring and had high resolution and water resistance. Excellent image.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, a high-resolution printed matter can be automatically formed in a short time with low energy.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image forming process according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the image forming process of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Image support
2 Ink thin film
3 Image pattern forming means
4 Image pattern
4a Solidified ink
4b Unsolidified ink
5 recording media
6 Transfer roll
7 Image fixing means
7a Solidified liquid application roll
7b blade
8 Cleaning means
8a Cleaning roll
8b Cleaning blade
9 Doctor blade
10 Thin film forming means
10a Ink tank
10b Ink carrier
10c blade
11 Solidified liquid
12 ink
100 Image forming apparatus according to first embodiment
200 Image forming apparatus according to second embodiment

Claims (18)

An image forming agent applying mechanism for applying an image forming agent on the image support, an image pattern forming mechanism for supplying a first solidified liquid for solidifying the image forming agent to the image forming agent on the image support, and the image An image transfer mechanism for transferring an unsolidified portion of the image constituent agent on the support to a recording medium; and an image fixing mechanism for supplying a second solidification liquid for solidifying the image constituent agent to the image constituent agent on the recording medium; An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the image support after the transfer of the image forming agent is arranged to be retractable with respect to the image support. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a doctor blade disposed between the image forming agent applying mechanism and the image transfer mechanism so as to be retractable with respect to the image support. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first solidified liquid and the second solidified liquid are made of the same material. An image support on which an image is supported, a thin film forming apparatus for forming a thin film of an image constituent agent on the image support, and a solidification liquid for solidifying the thin film of the image constituent agent is supplied to the background portion corresponding to the image An image pattern forming apparatus for forming an image pattern of solidification / non-solidification of the thin film on an image support; and an image transfer apparatus for transferring an unsolidified portion of the thin film corresponding to an image portion of the image pattern to a recording medium; An image forming apparatus comprising: an image fixing device that supplies a solidified liquid to the thin film transferred onto the recording medium. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming agent comprises at least a polysaccharide polymer, water and a colorant, and the solidified liquid comprises at least a metal salt and water. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the polysaccharide polymer is one of alginate, alginic acid, alginate monovalent metal salt, carrageenan, and pectin, or a combination thereof. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the polysaccharide polymer has a molecular weight of 10,000 or more and 1,000,000 or less. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a proportion of the polysaccharide polymer in the image forming agent is 1% by weight to 20% by weight. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the pH of the solidified liquid is in the range of 6 to 9. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image pattern forming apparatus applies a solidified liquid to the thin film of the image forming agent on the image support by an ink jet method. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image transfer apparatus transfers an unsolidified portion of the thin film to the recording medium by applying pressure. A step of applying an image forming agent on the image support, a step of supplying a first solidifying solution for solidifying the image forming agent to the image forming agent on the image support according to image pattern information, and A step of transferring an unsolidified portion of the image forming agent to a recording medium, and a step of supplying a second solidified liquid for solidifying the image forming agent to the image forming agent on the recording medium. Image forming method. After the transfer of the image constituent agent, the step of applying the image constituent agent again on the image support without cleaning the image support, and the image constituent agent formed again on the image support on the recording medium The image forming method according to claim 13, further comprising a transferring step. The image forming method according to claim 14, further comprising a step of removing an excess of the image forming agent applied again on the image support. 14. The image forming method according to claim 13, wherein the first solidified liquid and the second solidified liquid are made of the same material. A step of supplying an image forming agent to an image support on which an image is supported to form a thin film, and a portion corresponding to an image background portion by supplying a solidified liquid to the thin film of the image forming agent formed on the image support Solidifying the portion corresponding to the image portion to be unsolidified, transferring the thin film of the image forming agent in the unsolidified portion to a recording medium, and solidifying liquid to the thin film of the image forming agent on the recording medium And an image forming method. A step of supplying an image forming agent to an image support on which an image is supported to form a thin film, and a portion corresponding to an image background portion by supplying a solidified liquid to the thin film of the image forming agent formed on the image support Solidifying the portion corresponding to the image portion to be unsolidified, transferring the thin film of the image forming agent in the unsolidified portion to a recording medium, and solidifying liquid to the thin film of the image forming agent on the recording medium And a step of repeatedly outputting the same image using the solidified portion of the image forming agent remaining on the image support after transfer as a plate.

Images