EP0091073B1 - Tête d'impression électrostatique - Google Patents

Tête d'impression électrostatique Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0091073B1
EP0091073B1 EP83103115A EP83103115A EP0091073B1 EP 0091073 B1 EP0091073 B1 EP 0091073B1 EP 83103115 A EP83103115 A EP 83103115A EP 83103115 A EP83103115 A EP 83103115A EP 0091073 B1 EP0091073 B1 EP 0091073B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
electrodes
recording medium
print head
insulating film
drum
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP83103115A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0091073A1 (fr
Inventor
Patrice Playe
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Alcatel Lucent SAS
Original Assignee
Alcatel SA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alcatel SA filed Critical Alcatel SA
Publication of EP0091073A1 publication Critical patent/EP0091073A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0091073B1 publication Critical patent/EP0091073B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/385—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective supply of electric current or selective application of magnetism to a printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/39—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective supply of electric current or selective application of magnetism to a printing or impression-transfer material using multi-stylus heads
    • B41J2/395—Structure of multi-stylus heads

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to electrostatic image printing on a recording medium; it relates more particularly to an electrostatic printhead with multiple electrodes which, brought to high voltage, create by electrical discharge in air a latent electrostatic image on the recording medium moving past them.
  • This printing mode therefore requires that an air slot be made between the electrodes of the print head and the facing surface of the recording medium on which this latent image is printed.
  • an air slot be made between the electrodes of the print head and the facing surface of the recording medium on which this latent image is printed.
  • the recording medium consists of a conductive paper substrate carrying on one of its faces a dielectric layer a few micrometers thick
  • the natural roughness of the paper or the use of spacers embedded in the dielectric layer makes it possible to obtain this discharge slot between the electrodes and the dielectric surface.
  • the recording medium has an almost smooth surface state, which is particularly the case when it is constituted by a dielectric film, or a metal drum covered with a dielectric layer, used as an intermediate medium on which is generated latent image which will later be transferred, after development, to a final support, it is necessary to provide, at the level of the print head itself, means creating this discharge slot.
  • Document FR-A-2138 789 describes a device for generating charge images, with geometrically limited space for the reproductive parts of an arrangement of electrodes, located opposite the highly ohmic dielectric layer of the information carrier.
  • an arrangement of electrodes is formed by distinct conductive styles and is embedded in an insulating material having, at this arrangement, a hollow defined at the diameter of the styles, or, as a variant, is formed by a conductive style in the form of a symbol and is embedded in an insulating material, the hollow of which is defined in the profile of the symbol, so that the lower surface of the electrode arrangement does not lie flush with the lower surface of the insulating material and that this hollow then constitutes the essential discharge slot.
  • an arrangement of electrodes is constituted by a thin very conductive layer covering the walls of bores or openings made in an insulating material, or alternatively, by profiled recesses made in a conductive material ; also in these two cases, the discharge inside the bores, openings or recesses makes it possible to create the load images.
  • electrostatic heads designed so that the necessary electrical discharge slot is defined therein do not lend themselves to easy industrial production. In addition, they do not seem adaptable to rapid and high resolution printing (up to 8 points per millimeter) obtained by multi-electrode electrostatic heads (1,728 electrodes), currently operating with a paper covered with a dielectric layer with surface irregularities, which use printed circuit technology to define, by the end portions of conductive tracks, the functions of electrodes.
  • the object of the present invention is to produce a printhead in which an electrical discharge slot is provided at its electrodes to allow it to operate with a recording medium with a smooth surface state and in which the technology is used.
  • printed circuits to define a linear arrangement of electrodes compatible with very high printing performance.
  • Another object of the present invention is to keep the distance separating each of the electrodes from the recording medium constant, regardless of defects which would normally cause variations in this distance.
  • the subject of the present invention is therefore an electrostatic printhead bearing on a recording medium with an almost smooth surface state, comprising a plurality of electrodes disposed recessed relative to the surface of said recording medium to define therebetween and said surface a discharge slot responding to the Pashen curves in the air, characterized in that said electrodes are constituted by the end portions of conductive tracks of a flexible printed circuit, and that said printed circuit is mounted, at the very less at the level of the electrodes and of the adjacent parts of the tracks, the back pressed against a convex support structure, and with its outer face coated, in outside the end portions of the conductive tracks, an insulating film of selected thickness so that by pressing on the recording medium it maintains said slot between said electrodes and said recording medium.
  • Such a head is therefore particularly suitable for an industrial production of heads with high printing performance on a recording medium with a smooth surface state such as a metal drum covered with a thin dielectric layer or dielectric strip running on a metal roller serving counter electrode.
  • the supporting structure of the printed circuit or the metal roller on which the recording medium runs when the latter is a dielectric strip, is made of elastic material and is subjected to a pressure means holding the recording medium and the insulating film applied one against the other.
  • the electrostatic print head comprises a flexible printed circuit 1, with conductive tracks such as 2 printed on one of the faces of the flexible substrate organized in two distinct networks of tracks, the parts of which facing terminals are aligned in two parallel rows and constitute the printing electrodes (not referenced in these two figures). It further comprises an insulating film 3, 10 to 20 fJ.m thick deposited on the printed face of circuit 1, at least outside the end portions of the tracks constituting the electrodes and the interval between the two rows of electrodes which are therefore not covered. This film 3 will advantageously be divided into two parts deposited identically on one and the other of these two networks of conductive tracks.
  • the printed circuit 1 is mounted with the back pressed against a supporting structure formed by a drum 4, so that the rows of electrodes defined on the external face of the printed circuit are arranged substantially along two generatrices of this drum.
  • the drum 4 will advantageously be chosen of small diameter, of the order of 1 to a few centimeters, to obtain a head of small thickness but also so that it defines at the level of. electrodes a very convex convex profile which will be possibly deformable according to the choice which will be made as for the material constituting the drum.
  • the drum 4 is associated with an auxiliary support structure formed here by a U-shaped support 5.
  • the lateral branches of this support receive the portions of the printed circuit 1 which are situated on either side of its median portion held on the drum and which define the connection ends of the conductive tracks to an electrode control circuit (this external control circuit of the problem treated by the present invention is therefore neither illustrated nor described).
  • This U-shaped support can be secured to the axis 6 of the drum 4.
  • the printed circuit against the drum 4 and against the support 5 can be maintained by means of an adhesive or an adhesive polyester film.
  • these tracks are organized in two distinct networks and terminate in the longitudinal portion of the printed circuit, concerns the two networks, respectively in two parallel rows separated from each other by a distance x equal to one or a few printing lines.
  • these electrodes 8 are of regular pitch along their row and are offset between them by a half-step from one row to another.
  • the conductive tracks 2 of one and the other of the two networks extend respectively towards one and the other of the longitudinal edges of the printed circuit and end, advantageously in a stepped manner by group for obvious facilities for connection with the control circuit of the electrodes to be connected to these so-called connection ends.
  • the conductive tracks are organized in groups of sixteen and that the connection ends for each group, noted 8-1, ... 8-8, 8-9 ... 8- 16 for one of the groups, are effectively tiered.
  • These ends have moreover been advantageously brought into two parallel lines along which they are regularly distributed by being two by two facing each other, or, in a variant not illustrated, offset from one line to another.
  • the printed circuit portions including these connection ends, or at least the connection ends themselves, are not covered by the insulating film 3.
  • the conductive tracks can be arranged in different groups, taking into account the number of electrodes that the head comprises (for example 1728 electrodes), of the control circuit which will be associated with the print head and of facilities for connecting this control circuit to the ends of these tracks.
  • the printhead by mounting the printed circuit on a convex surface, it is the terminal portions of the tracks, and not their front end faces which constitute the electrodes.
  • the dimensions of these electrodes are then limited, depending on the desired size of the individual dots to be printed on the one hand by the width of the tracks, but also by the insulating film 3 appropriately positioned relative to the ends correspondan- - your tracks for leave only the desired lengths of end portions serving as printing electrodes uncovered.
  • the insulating film 3 by the extra thickness it creates on either side of the electrodes, constitutes the bearing face of the head on the recording medium, with respect to which the electrodes remain distant, and cleaning between the electrodes and the recording medium, whatever the even perfectly smooth surface condition that it may have, the ion discharge slot necessary for the generation of latent images.
  • the writing of the latent image is then carried out by placing the individual electrodes and the metal drum at suitable potentials creating an ionic discharge in the air layer between the individual electrodes and the dielectric layer, normally defined by the thickness of the film. insulator 3 (from 10 to 20 fJ.m).
  • the drum 4 of the support structure of the head will advantageously be made of an elastic material and will receive a pressure P, for example of the order of 1 kg applied to its axis 6.
  • the flexible print head comes to be applied strictly against the rigid drum 10 and adapts to its periphery.
  • This arrangement makes it possible to get rid of any machining defects in this recording drum which would affect the thickness of the air layer along the rows of electrodes facing the dielectric layer, by compensating for them. by crushing the printhead which ensures positioning of each of the electrodes at a constant distance opposite the periphery of the printing drum.
  • the film of dielectric material 11, possibly electrostatically charged by an illustrated corona device 13 and mounted opposite a metal guide 15, is driven in front of the print head while being supported, at its level for a conductive roller 14 serving as a counter-electrode and then belonging to the print head.
  • the drum 4 of the support structure of the head will also be made of flexible material and subjected to a pressure P applying it rigorously against the periphery of the fixed roller 14 or, in the illustrated variant, it is the roller 14 which will be deformable and applied against the drum 4 then rigid and fixed with respect to it.

Landscapes

  • Printers Or Recording Devices Using Electromagnetic And Radiation Means (AREA)
  • Electrophotography Using Other Than Carlson'S Method (AREA)
  • Dot-Matrix Printers And Others (AREA)
EP83103115A 1982-04-02 1983-03-29 Tête d'impression électrostatique Expired EP0091073B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR8205725A FR2524389A1 (fr) 1982-04-02 1982-04-02 Tete d'impression electrostatique
FR8205725 1982-04-02

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0091073A1 EP0091073A1 (fr) 1983-10-12
EP0091073B1 true EP0091073B1 (fr) 1986-05-28

Family

ID=9272685

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP83103115A Expired EP0091073B1 (fr) 1982-04-02 1983-03-29 Tête d'impression électrostatique

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US4607269A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
EP (1) EP0091073B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS58187379A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CA (1) CA1191189A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE3363709D1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR2524389A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Families Citing this family (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5030975A (en) * 1988-04-12 1991-07-09 Delphax Systems Charge transfer imaging cartridge
US5150134A (en) * 1991-05-29 1992-09-22 Xerox Corporation Counter electrode for an electrostatic recorder
FR2713143B1 (fr) * 1993-12-06 1996-01-26 Dol Christian Tête d'écriture notamment pour machine d'impression sur papier électrosensible.
AUPN846496A0 (en) * 1996-03-05 1996-03-28 Research Laboratories Of Australia Pty Ltd Electronic printing for display technology
GB2366246A (en) * 2000-09-01 2002-03-06 Mbna Internat Bank Ltd Method of electrostatically printing onto a substrate by charging the substrate to form a latent image thereon and developing the image thereafter
JP2002172813A (ja) * 2000-09-29 2002-06-18 Seiko Epson Corp 画像形成装置
JP2002178554A (ja) 2000-09-29 2002-06-26 Seiko Epson Corp 画像形成装置
CN2629069Y (zh) * 2002-03-29 2004-07-28 精工爱普生株式会社 写入头和使用它的图像形成装置

Family Cites Families (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3624661A (en) * 1969-05-14 1971-11-30 Honeywell Inc Electrographic printing system with plural staggered electrode rows
US3771634A (en) * 1971-05-06 1973-11-13 Bausch & Lomb Surface pattern stylus board
DE2125302A1 (de) * 1971-05-21 1972-11-30 Philips Patentverwaltung Vorrichtung zur Ladungsbilderzeugung bei der elektrostatischen Elektrographie
DE2253625C3 (de) * 1972-11-02 1979-11-08 Philips Patentverwaltung Gmbh, 2000 Hamburg Elektrodenanordnung für den elektrostatischen Matrixdruck
FR2394399A1 (fr) * 1977-06-13 1979-01-12 Cit Alcatel Barrette d'impression d'une image
US4287525A (en) * 1977-09-21 1981-09-01 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Multi-pin record electrode assembly and driving method of the same
FR2456626A1 (fr) * 1979-05-14 1980-12-12 Jaouannet Alain Tete d'impression pour imprimante electrostatique par points a tete fixe
JPS57138959A (en) * 1981-02-23 1982-08-27 Fuji Xerox Co Ltd Holding mechanism of electrostatic recording head

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS58187379A (ja) 1983-11-01
US4607269A (en) 1986-08-19
DE3363709D1 (en) 1986-07-03
CA1191189A (fr) 1985-07-30
FR2524389B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1984-05-11
EP0091073A1 (fr) 1983-10-12
JPH0343992B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1991-07-04
FR2524389A1 (fr) 1983-10-07

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