EP0427212A2 - Aufzeichnungsverfahren und -vorrichtung durch Thermoübertragung für Zeilendruck - Google Patents

Aufzeichnungsverfahren und -vorrichtung durch Thermoübertragung für Zeilendruck Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0427212A2
EP0427212A2 EP90121236A EP90121236A EP0427212A2 EP 0427212 A2 EP0427212 A2 EP 0427212A2 EP 90121236 A EP90121236 A EP 90121236A EP 90121236 A EP90121236 A EP 90121236A EP 0427212 A2 EP0427212 A2 EP 0427212A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
thermal transfer
ink
line
transfer recording
recording material
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.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP90121236A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0427212A3 (en
Inventor
Toshio Narita
Michinari Tsukahara
Kazumichi Shimada
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.)
Seiko Epson Corp
Original Assignee
Seiko Epson Corp
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
Priority claimed from JP15635490A external-priority patent/JPH03218858A/ja
Application filed by Seiko Epson Corp filed Critical Seiko Epson Corp
Publication of EP0427212A2 publication Critical patent/EP0427212A2/de
Publication of EP0427212A3 publication Critical patent/EP0427212A3/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current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
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/345—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads characterised by the arrangement of resistors or conductors
    • 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
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/325—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads by selective transfer of ink from ink carrier, e.g. from ink ribbon or sheet

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus such as a thermal transfer recording type printer, copy machine, facsimile machine, and the like. Particularly, the invention relates to a line-type thermal transfer recording apparatus using a thermal transfer recording material suitable for multiple transfer type color thermal transfer recording.
  • thermal transfer recording apparatus heats and melts a thermal transfer ink so as to transfer characters or images to a transfer paper with the molten ink.
  • the thermal transfer recording material is basically composed of a substrate, a heat resisting layer for preventing the substrate from being heated by the thermal head, and a thermal transfer ink.
  • color thermal transfer recording methods used in conventional line-type thermal transfer recording apparatuses are dither methods. These employ a thermal transfer recording medium where a thermal transfer ink is equally coated, an area tone method, such as a centralised heating method, or a soak-out type tone method, which uses a thermal transfer recording medium in a three-dimensional structure.
  • the area tone method cannot satisfactorily provide tone performance.
  • the soak-out type density tone method has a low sensitivity to heat, and thereby the printing efficiency is low.
  • An object of the present invention is to solve such problems and to provide a line-type thermal transfer recording method and apparatus using a thermal transfer recording material which is multiply transferable so as to improve the printing quality.
  • the present invention provides a line-type thermal transfer recording apparatus with a high ink tone properly and a wide color reproduction range in a multiple color surface sequence printing method without increasing the film cost and degrading the printing efficiency.
  • the line-type thermal transfer recording apparatus uses a line thermal head for a recording head, wherein the line thermal head is disposed in the vicinity of an end surface of the head.
  • the thermal transfer ink is immediately peeled off from a transfer paper.
  • the speed of the thermal transfer recording material differs from that of the transfer paper when the thermal transfer ink is heated and transferred.
  • the heating member of the thermal head is disposed in the vicinity of the end surface of the head, the thermal transfer recording material is peeled off from the transfer paper just after it is heated, and the relative speed between the thermal transfer recording material and the thermal paper are changed, thereby the operation of destroying the cohesion of the thermal transfer ink is capable of being stably controlled.
  • the multiply transferable thermal transfer recording material provides a high printing quality.
  • the color thermal transfer recording paper provides an improvement of the ink tone property without degrading printing efficiency. Thus, when a color picture is printed using a multiple color surface sequence printing method, a clear picture with a wide color reproduction range can be accomplished.
  • Fig. 1(A) and (B) are cross-sectional views showing the basic structure of a line-type thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.
  • reference numeral 1 indicates a thermal transfer recording material feed roll; 2, a thermal transfer recording material take up roll; 3, a platen roll; and 4, a thermal head.
  • the thermal head 4 includes a heat radiation plate 4a formed of aluminum or the like and a heat resistant insulating substrate 4b made of alumina or the like, the heat resistant insulating substrate 4b carrying a heating member.
  • the heating member on the thermal head 4 is disposed on a glazed glass portion on the end surface of the insulating substrate.
  • Reference numeral 8 indicates a transfer paper, and reference numeral 9 a thermal transfer recording material.
  • Fig. 2 which is a sectional view, in the present embodiment, the glazed glass portion is disposed in the vicinity of the end surface of the thermal head, and a heating resistor is formed thereon.
  • a common electrode is disposed under the glaze glass.
  • reference numeral 11a corresponds to a common electrode; 11b, a discrete electrode; 12, a protective film; and 13, the position of a heating member 14.
  • the transfer paper 8 with the thermal transfer ink 9a is passed to a peel-off position on the end surface of the thermal head.
  • the thermal transfer ink 9a At the peel-off position, with the thermal transfer ink 9a still molten or softened, due to the fact that the thermal transfer ink 9a is peeled off the transfer paper 8 at a particular angle by means of a peeling-off roller 6 changing the path of movement of the thermal transfer recording material 9 in a direction away from the transfer paper 8, the cohesion of the thermal transfer ink 9a is internally destroyed.
  • the time period from the heating of the thermal transfer ink 9a by the heating member to the time of peel-off of the thermal transfer ink 9a should be established taking into account the temperature characteristics of the thermal transfer recording material, it is preferable that the time period be in the range where the thermal transfer ink 9a is still molten or softened when it is peeled off.
  • the preferable peel-off angle of the thermal transfer recording medium ranges from 5° to 80° with respect to the direction of movement of the surface to which the ink is transferred.
  • the structure of the multiply transferable thermal transfer recording material 9 is as shown in Fig. 4.
  • the substrate 9b it is possible to use a known film or paper.
  • a polyethylene terephthalate film whose thickness was approximately 6 ⁇ m was used.
  • an intermediate layer 9c whose major component is a resin and a thermal transfer ink layer 9a whose cohesion strength is low were formed.
  • the thickness of the thermal transfer ink layer 9a was thicker than the conventional one-time thermal transfer recording material so that the quality of the thermal transfer ink layer 9 was not degraded after it is multiply transferred.
  • a thermal transfer recording material of which the thickness of the thermal transfer ink 9a was approximately 10 ⁇ m was used.
  • the thermal head was driven at 2.0 msec/dot so as to multiply transfer the ink to the transfer paper.
  • Example 2 Using the same thermal transfer recording material as in Example 1 and a line-type thermal transfer recording apparatus with a thermal head where the distance x between the heating member and the end surface was 200 ⁇ m and the head resolution was 300 dpi, and the same line speed as in Example 1, the ink was multiply transferred to thermal paper.
  • the distance x between the heating member and the head end surface depends on the line speed and the properties of the thermal transfer ink material to some extent, the preferable distance x is 500 ⁇ m or less.
  • the relative speed between the transfer paper and the thermal transfer recording material was changed so as to cause shearing. This operation was conducted by, after the ink layer is melted or softened and then adhered to the transfer paper, moving the thermal transfer recording material faster or slower than the transfer paper. Thereby a deviation occurs in the ink layer, making the operation of destroying the cohesion of the ink take place more easily.
  • the winding force of the thermal transfer recording material was increased so that the thermal transfer recording material was moved faster than the transfer paper.
  • staining other than in the printing portion undesirably took place.
  • Example No. 3 Example No. 4
  • Example No. 5 Time period from heating to peel-off 10 msec 20 msec 30 msec Head pressure 300 g/cm 300 g/cm 300 g/cm Peel-off angle 20 degrees 28 degrees 35 degrees Head Density 200 dpi 200 dpi 200 dpi Maximim pulse width 1.5 msec 1.5 msec 1.5 msec Type of transfer paper coated paper coated paper coated paper coated paper
  • Table 2 lists transfer conditions for Comparison Example 2, where the time period from heating to peel off is long and thereby the ink is peeled off after it is completely cooled. TABLE 2 Comparison Example No. 2 Time period from heating to peel-off 2.0 sec Head pressure 300 g/cm Peel-off angle 35 degrees Head density 200 dpi Maximum pulse width 1.5 msec Type of transfer paper coated paper
  • thermal transfer recording material the following full color thermal transfer recording material having three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan, composed as listed in the following Table 3, was used.
  • TABLE 3 Composition Y M C Hansa yellow 10 - - Brilliant carmin 6 B - 10 - Phthalocyanine blue - - 10 Polyester 25 25 25 Polyethylene 10 10 10 EVA 5 5 5 EEA 5 5 5 Carnauba wax 10 10 10 10 Paraffin wax 20 20 20 Polyethylene oxide wax 15 15 15 15 TOTAL 100 100 100 100 EVA : Copolymer of ethylene vinyl acetate EEA : Copolymer of ethylene ethyl acrylate
  • the vertical axis and the horizontal axis respectively represent reflection OD value where the maximum OD value is standardized to 1.0 and transfer energy.
  • Fig. 5 shows the tone property of first color magenta in Examples 3 to 5.
  • Fig. 6 shows the tone property of second color cyan in the Examples 3 to 5.
  • Fig. 7 shows the tone property of third color yellow in Examples 3 to 5.
  • Fig. 8 shows the tone property of first color magenta in Comparison Example 2.
  • Fig. 9 shows the tone property of second color cyan in Comparison Example 2.
  • Fig. 10 shows the tone property of third color yellow in Comparison Example 2.
  • Comparison Example 2 was inferior in ink transfer property in the low density range. In addition, the density sharply increased between the intermediate density and the high density. With respect to the ink superimposing property, the transfer condition of Comparison Example 2 was inferior in the tone property in the order of the first color to the third color.
  • the speed of the thermal transfer recording material relative to that of the transfer paper was set to 92%, and then a full color picture was printed by superimposing the three colors, each color having 64 tones.
  • the resultant picture was smooth and clear over a wide color range.
  • ink be supplied on an intermediate layer supported by a substrate, the ink being peeled off from the intermediate layer so as to shade density tones by heating the rear surface of the substrate, the ink being kept in the molten state or soft state while the ink is peeled off from the intermediate layer.
  • control the operation of destroying the cohesion of the ink by controlling the relative speed between the thermal transfer recording material and the transfer paper.
  • the present invention is not limited to those colors. For instance, it is possible to apply the present invention to color printers using four colors including black and using two colors.

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  • Electronic Switches (AREA)
  • Thermal Transfer Or Thermal Recording In General (AREA)
EP19900121236 1989-11-06 1990-11-06 Line-type thermal transfer recording method and apparatus Withdrawn EP0427212A3 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP28839789 1989-11-06
JP288397/89 1989-11-06
JP31027189 1989-11-29
JP310271/89 1989-11-29
JP15635490A JPH03218858A (ja) 1989-11-06 1990-06-14 ライン型熱転写記録装置
JP156354/90 1990-06-14

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0427212A2 true EP0427212A2 (de) 1991-05-15
EP0427212A3 EP0427212A3 (en) 1991-11-27

Family

ID=27320990

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19900121236 Withdrawn EP0427212A3 (en) 1989-11-06 1990-11-06 Line-type thermal transfer recording method and apparatus

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0427212A3 (de)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0523884A2 (de) * 1991-07-19 1993-01-20 Rohm Co., Ltd. Wärmekopf und elektronische Geräte
EP0528429A2 (de) * 1991-08-21 1993-02-24 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Thermisches Aufzeichnungsgerät
EP0622215A2 (de) * 1993-04-30 1994-11-02 Kabushiki Kaisha TEC Linearer Wärmekopf
EP1116593A1 (de) * 2000-01-14 2001-07-18 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha Thermotransferaufzeichnungsgerät und Verfahren zur thermischen Aufzeichnung durch Übertragung

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4557616A (en) * 1983-12-12 1985-12-10 International Business Machines Corporation Resistive ribbon thermal transfer printing system and process
EP0198646A2 (de) * 1985-04-13 1986-10-22 Konica Corporation Integrierte Halbleiteranordnung
JPS61273991A (ja) * 1985-05-30 1986-12-04 Canon Inc 感熱転写材
JPS6331763A (ja) * 1986-07-28 1988-02-10 Nec Corp 熱転写プリンタ

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4557616A (en) * 1983-12-12 1985-12-10 International Business Machines Corporation Resistive ribbon thermal transfer printing system and process
EP0198646A2 (de) * 1985-04-13 1986-10-22 Konica Corporation Integrierte Halbleiteranordnung
JPS61273991A (ja) * 1985-05-30 1986-12-04 Canon Inc 感熱転写材
JPS6331763A (ja) * 1986-07-28 1988-02-10 Nec Corp 熱転写プリンタ

Non-Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
1985 SID INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM DIGEST OF TECHNICAL PAPERS, May 1985, pages 160-163, chapter 9.7, Palisades Institute for Research Services, Inc., New York, US; S. ANDO et al.: "A basic study of thermal transfer printing for improvement of print quality" *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 11, no. 135 (M-585)[2582], 28th April 1987; & JP-A-61 273 991 (CANON INC.) 04-12-1986 *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 12, no. 241 (M-716)[3088], 8th July 1988; & JP-A-63 31 763 (NEC CORP.) 10-02-1988 *

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0523884A2 (de) * 1991-07-19 1993-01-20 Rohm Co., Ltd. Wärmekopf und elektronische Geräte
EP0523884A3 (en) * 1991-07-19 1993-10-06 Rohm Co., Ltd. Thermal head and electronic equipments
US5424758A (en) * 1991-07-19 1995-06-13 Rohm Co., Ltd. Thermal head having a tropezoidal glaze layer
EP0528429A2 (de) * 1991-08-21 1993-02-24 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Thermisches Aufzeichnungsgerät
US5534906A (en) * 1991-08-21 1996-07-09 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Electric field assisted thermal recording apparatus
EP0528429B1 (de) * 1991-08-21 1996-11-27 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Thermisches Aufzeichnungsgerät
EP0622215A2 (de) * 1993-04-30 1994-11-02 Kabushiki Kaisha TEC Linearer Wärmekopf
EP0622215A3 (de) * 1993-04-30 1995-05-24 Tokyo Electric Co Ltd Linearer Wärmekopf.
US5923357A (en) * 1993-04-30 1999-07-13 Kabushiki Kaisha Tec Line thermal printer
EP1116593A1 (de) * 2000-01-14 2001-07-18 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha Thermotransferaufzeichnungsgerät und Verfahren zur thermischen Aufzeichnung durch Übertragung
US6452619B2 (en) 2000-01-14 2002-09-17 Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha Thermal transfer recording apparatus and method for thermal transfer recording

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
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