JP2000280460A - Recorder and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer and a printing method in which an appropriate quantity of powder for absorbing an ink liquid drop sufficiently can be applied easily, and both non-reusable powder and reusable powder can be separated and reused without requiring any special separator, or the like. SOLUTION: The recording method comprises a step for previously forming a layer of a material 11 soluble into a liquid or swelling with a liquid to increase the viscosity thereof onto an intermediate transfer body belt 21 separably therefrom, a step for forming a visible image onto the intermediate transfer body belt 21 by ejecting a liquid 33 in response to a signal, and a step for transferring the visible image onto a recording body 42, wherein the material layer is formed by filling the recessed in the intermediate transfer body belt 21 having protrusions and recesses 25 with the material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording method and apparatus suitable for forming an image by ejecting droplets containing a coloring material in accordance with an image signal, like an ink jet head recording apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a recording method and apparatus for forming an image on plain paper such as high quality paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As in an ink jet recording method, a recording method in which a liquid containing a colorant is ejected as droplets onto a recording material in accordance with an image signal to perform recording,
It is an important technical problem to perform recording with little bleeding on plain paper such as high-quality paper. For this reason, various inventions have been conventionally proposed. As a prior art, for example,
The invention described in Japanese Patent No. 89067 is a recording apparatus called an intermediate transfer body type ink jet system, in which an ink image is once formed on an intermediate transfer body, and is transferred to a recording paper when the ink has a moderate viscosity. To solve ink bleeding and the like. However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
The invention described in Japanese Patent No. 89067 discloses a method in which a surfactant is applied to an intermediate transfer member in advance to increase the wettability. Therefore, it takes a considerable amount of time until a moderate viscosity is obtained. Bleeding occurs on the transfer body, and eventually on the recording paper, and is unsuitable for high-speed recording.Especially, in the case of a solid image, the bleeding tends to be large. There was a limit to speeding up in terms of bleeding. The applicant has already proposed a recording method and apparatus for solving the problems inherent in the above-mentioned prior art (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-359208). The invention described above is a method of dissolving or swelling in advance by droplets and a powder capable of increasing the viscosity of the droplets, and a powder that is a material different from a surfactant or the like, on the intermediate transfer member. Since it is applied and forms a visible image on a recording medium by spraying droplets according to a signal after application, in image recording using plain paper or the like, high speed and bleeding are performed. No good images were to be obtained. However,
The particle size of the powder used is on the order of sub-micron.To apply a sufficient amount of powder to absorb all the ink droplets dropped by this powder, it is necessary to laminate the powder in multiple layers. is there. If the absorption of the ink droplets is insufficient, bleeding occurs in the image during transfer. For this reason, in order to stack the powder uniformly and in multiple layers over the entire intermediate transfer body, the relative positional accuracy between the application roller and the intermediate transfer body and the supply of the powder from the powder storage container to the application roller are required. However, there is a problem that the driving accuracy of the auxiliary application roller or the like must be increased. Also, if an insufficient amount is applied (replenished) by an application roller without removing unused powder remaining on the intermediate transfer body after transfer, the thickness of the powder layer becomes uneven. Therefore, transfer unevenness is likely to occur during transfer to recording paper. Therefore, it is required to remove unused powder remaining on the intermediate transfer member by using a dedicated removing member such as a blade or a brush. But,
Normally, the area of the non-image part is larger than the area of the image part in one image.Therefore, if unused powder is removed and discarded and not used at all, the absolute amount of powder used becomes There is also a problem in terms of cost. Therefore, when trying to reuse the removed powder, some of the removed powder swelled by the ink droplets but were not transferred, and those that could not be reused were reusable. Since the powders are mixed, there is also a problem that a device for separating the two is required.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional recording method and apparatus, in order to uniformly and multiple layers of the powder over the entire intermediate transfer member, a coating roller and an intermediate transfer member are required. However, there is a problem that the relative positional accuracy with respect to the above and the driving accuracy of the auxiliary application roller for supplying the powder from the powder container to the application roller must be high. In addition, since the powder application area of the non-image part is usually larger than that of the image part, if the unused powder is removed and not used at all, the absolute usage amount of the powder increases and the cost is reduced. In order to solve this problem, if you try to reuse the removed powder, there is a mixture of non-transferred powder that cannot be reused and powder that can be reused. Therefore, a new problem has arisen that a large-scale device for separating the two is required. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problem. That is, it is possible to easily apply an appropriate amount of powder that sufficiently absorbs ink droplets, and to remove powder that cannot be reused at the same time without removing reusable powder. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording method and apparatus capable of separating and reusing a powder capable of being used without using a special separation device or the like.

[0004]

According to the recording method of the present invention, a material which can be dissolved or swelled in advance with a liquid on an intermediate transfer member, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and can be separated from the intermediate transfer member is provided. After that, a liquid is ejected according to a signal to form a visible image on the intermediate transfer member,
Next, in the recording method of transferring the visible image onto a recording medium, the most main feature is to fill a material into a concave portion of the concave and convex portion provided on the intermediate transfer member. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the recording method according to the first aspect, the average diameter of the protrusions of the concave and convex portions provided on the intermediate transfer member is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the material. In addition, the main feature is that the material layer is formed by forming the material layer to be smaller than the recordable minimum dot diameter and filling the concave portion with a material. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method according to the first aspect, wherein the concave portion of the intermediate transfer member is formed into a curved surface, and the concave portion is filled with a material. Is the main feature. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus which forms a layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and is peelable on the intermediate transfer member. A recording apparatus comprising: a layer forming unit; a visible image forming unit configured to eject a liquid in accordance with a signal to form a visible image on an intermediate transfer body; and a transfer unit configured to transfer the visible image onto recording paper. The most important feature is that the concave and convex portions are formed on the transfer body. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the convex portion of the intermediate transfer member has an average diameter equal to or more than the particle diameter of the powder and a minimum dot capable of recording. The main feature is that the diameter is not more than the diameter. The recording apparatus according to the present invention, as described in claim 6, is characterized in that, in the recording apparatus according to claims 4 and 5, at least the concave portion among the concave and convex portions of the intermediate transfer member has a curved surface shape.

[0005]

According to the recording method of the present invention, as described in the first aspect, the intermediate transfer member can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and can be separated from the intermediate transfer member. Forming a visible image on an intermediate transfer member by ejecting a liquid in response to a signal, and then transferring the visible image onto a recording member. Since the material is filled in the concave portions of the formed concave and convex portions, a uniform and appropriate amount of a powder layer can be easily formed in the concave portions, the transfer unevenness of the image on the recording paper can be reduced, and the image quality can be improved, and It is possible to provide a recording method capable of reducing the required accuracy of an apparatus for forming a uniform powder layer and reducing costs. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the recording method according to the first aspect, the average diameter of the protrusions of the concave and convex portions provided on the intermediate transfer member is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the material. In addition, since the material layer is formed by filling the material into the concave portions and forming the material layer to be smaller than the recordable minimum dot diameter, the transfer by the ink droplets that cannot be absorbed at the convex portions with less powder that absorbs the ink droplets It is possible to provide a recording method that does not cause deterioration in image quality due to later bleeding or omission. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method according to the first aspect, wherein the concave portion of the intermediate transfer member is formed into a curved surface, and the concave portion is filled with a material. Is formed, the deterioration of the releasability due to the provision of the concave and convex portions is improved, and a recording method capable of making the transfer to the recording paper more reliable can be provided. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus which forms a layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and is peelable on the intermediate transfer member. A recording apparatus comprising: a layer forming unit; a visible image forming unit configured to eject a liquid in accordance with a signal to form a visible image on an intermediate transfer body; and a transfer unit configured to transfer the visible image onto recording paper. Since the concave and convex portions are formed on the transfer body, a uniform and appropriate amount of powder layer can be easily formed in the concave portion, and the required accuracy of an apparatus for forming a uniform powder layer can be reduced, and cost can be reduced. It is possible to provide a recording device capable of reducing the amount. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein the convex portion of the intermediate transfer member has an average diameter equal to or more than the particle diameter of the powder and a minimum dot capable of recording. Since the diameter is less than or equal to the diameter, in the convex portion with less powder that absorbs ink droplets,
It is possible to provide a recording apparatus that does not cause deterioration of image quality due to bleeding or omission after transfer due to ink droplets that cannot be absorbed. According to the recording apparatus of the present invention, as described in claim 6, in the recording apparatus of claims 4 and 5, at least the concave portion among the concave and convex portions of the intermediate transfer member has a curved surface shape. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus in which a decrease in releasability due to the provision is improved and transfer to recording paper can be made more reliable.

[0006]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional recording method and a conventional recording apparatus for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and includes a powder applying means 10 for applying a powder (hereinafter, referred to as a setting agent), Transfer body 20, printing means 3
0, paper feeding means 40, transfer means 50, paper discharging means 60, and set agent removing means 70. The operation of the recording apparatus having such a configuration is as follows. First, when a printing start signal is received from a host machine or the like (not shown),
The application auxiliary roller 12 and the application roller 13 apply the setting agent 11 to the intermediate transfer belt 21 of the intermediate transfer body 20. In conjunction with the operation of the setting agent applying means 10, the intermediate transfer body 20 also operates, and the setting agent applying means 10 and the intermediate transfer body 2
0 on the intermediate transfer belt 21 by contact with the set agent 1
1 is applied. The gist of the present invention lies in this part, and details thereof will be described later. The surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 on which at least the setting agent 11 is applied is an elastic body such as silicone rubber, fluoro rubber, epichlorohydrin rubber, etc., but the elastic body is provided on a resin belt such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or polyimide. A structure in which the elastic body is provided on a metal drum or a metal drum is also possible. The intermediate transfer member 20 includes three rollers 22, 23, and 24, the intermediate transfer member belt 21, a drive motor (not shown),
The intermediate transfer belt 21 includes a position control encoder, a housing, and the like. The intermediate transfer belt 21 is rotated by transmitting the rotational force of the drive motor to the rollers 22, 23, and 24.

When the set agent 11 is applied to the intermediate transfer member belt 21 and the set agent application portion moves to the position of the printing means 30, the printing operation starts, and the ink jet head 31 of the printing means 30 starts the printing operation on the intermediate transfer member 21. Set agent 11
The image information is printed by ejecting the ink droplets 33 thereon. The ink droplets 33 dissolve or swell with the setting agent 11 on the intermediate transfer member belt 21 to form a swelling setting agent 34. In the present embodiment, the inkjet head 31 of the printing unit 30 is shown in a shuttle scanning system in which the inkjet head 31 slides along a rod-shaped member 32 as a guide rod in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. May be configured.
When the printing mechanism is constituted by line heads, it is characterized in that printing and transfer are performed at high speed and continuously. During printing or when printing is completed, paper feeding means 4
The recording paper 42 is sent out from the 0 paper cassette 41 and sent to the registration rollers 43. The recording paper 42 is sent out from the registration roller 43 in synchronization with the image information printed on the intermediate transfer belt 21,
The image information formed on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is transferred to the recording paper 42 by the transfer roller 51 pushing up the recording paper 42 from the back surface. Thereafter, the paper is discharged and stocked by the paper discharging means 60. After the transfer is completed, the setting material 11 that has not been transferred to the recording paper 42 remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is peeled off by the scraping blade 71 of the setting material removing means 70.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the structure of the intermediate transfer belt 21 of the intermediate transfer body 20 and the method of applying the setting agent, which are features of the present invention, will be described in further detail. Unlike the prior art, the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 21 used in this recording method has an uneven portion 25 (see an enlarged view of FIG. 3) in advance.
Are formed. The uneven portion 25 may be formed by a roughening process by sand blast, or may be formed by preparing a mold of an uneven pattern in advance and applying the uneven pattern to the material of the intermediate transfer body belt 21 by the mold. Absent. The depth of the concave portion of each concave-convex portion 25 is set to such a depth that an amount of the setting agent 11 that can sufficiently absorb the droplet ejected from the ink jet recording head 31 can be accumulated. That is, the setting agent having a high water absorption can be made shallower. The individual concave portions and convex portions constituting the unevenness 25 are:
For example, the planar shape is configured to have various shapes such as a substantially circular shape, an elliptical shape, a polygonal shape, and the like, and these are scattered on the surface of the intermediate transfer body 20 regularly or irregularly in close proximity. Constitute. This makes it possible for the powder remaining in the recesses to be evenly present on the intermediate transfer body, and the droplets dropped at any positions are mixed with the powder in the recesses to form a high-viscosity swelling setting agent 34. Can be configured.

The setting agent applying means 10 includes an application replenishing roller 12 and an application roller 13. Application roller 1
The amount of the set agent on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is determined by the amount of the set agent required from the application supply roller 12 or slightly larger.
And the application roller 13 is supplied with the set agent 1 supplied.
1 is packed into the concave portion of the intermediate transfer body belt 21 so as to be imprinted. As a result, it is not necessary to adjust the pressure of the setting agent application of the application roller 13 in order to form the setting agent layer having a constant thickness as in the related art. Is removed so as to form an appropriate amount of a setting agent layer for absorbing ink droplets very simply. However, in this case, the setting agent 11 is applied more firmly by the frictional force between the setting agents than when the setting agent layer is formed by a pressure from above in a planar manner. Although the peeling does not occur, there is a concern that the transfer performance to the recording paper 42 is deteriorated. However, as the material of the intermediate transfer belt 21, a material that enhances the releasability between the swollen setting agent and the intermediate transfer belt 21, for example, a material such as silicon rubber or fluorine rubber, or the intermediate transfer belt 21 is used. By preliminarily applying a material for improving the releasability on the upper side, it is possible to prevent the transfer performance from deteriorating due to the lowering of the releasability due to the formation of the uneven portion 25 on the intermediate transfer body belt 21. In addition, in order to further improve the releasability, as shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the shape of the uneven portion formed on the intermediate transfer member is a smooth uneven surface 26, that is, a curved surface. The shape of the curved surface may be a circular or sinusoidal curved surface. By forming the intermediate transfer belt 21 in this manner, the recording paper 4 can be easily formed as shown by the arrow in FIG.
2 will be transferred. Further, the swelling setting agent 34 can be easily removed after the transfer or before the application. That is, since the reusable setting agent is in the concave portion, only the remaining swelling setting agent 34 above the convex portion may be scraped off and removed by the blade 71, and the reusable setting agent and the reusable setting agent may be used. The unsettable setting agent can be reliably separated only by the scraping blade 71 without using a special device or the like. Also, even if re-coating, the thickness of the setting agent layer is determined by the depth of the uneven portion,
It is possible to always form a uniform and appropriate amount of the setting agent layer.

Next, the size of the uneven portion 25 will be described with reference to FIG. The size of the above uneven part (particularly the diameter of the convex part)
However, if the minimum of one dot of the droplet ejected from the printing means 30 is equal to or more than one dot, the ink droplet colliding with the convex portion where the setting agent is not sufficiently present is because the amount of the setting agent is insufficient. , Unabsorbed droplets seep around,
This may cause bleeding or the image may not be reproduced. Therefore, as a measure against such a problem, the problem is solved by forming a concavo-convex portion on the intermediate transfer body belt 21 in which the average size (diameter) of the convex portion is equal to or less than a minimum of one dot of the ink droplet. can do. The size of the convex portion and the size of the concave portion need not be equal, and the size of the concave portion may be at least one dot or more. In this case,
It is necessary that the average diameter of the projections is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the powder used. The reason is that the purpose of the invention is to obtain a high-quality image without bleeding by transferring a high-viscosity liquid obtained by absorbing liquid droplets with powder applied in the concave portion onto a recording medium. It is. When the diameter of the concave portion is smaller than the particle diameter of the powder, the powder does not completely enter the concave portion, so that it is impossible to obtain good image quality as described above. More specifically, since no powder is present on the convex portion, if the average diameter (top area) of the convex portion is larger than at least one dot of the droplet, the droplet dropped on the convex portion Part or all of the powder remains on the convex portion and is kept in a state of not mixing with the powder. If transfer is performed on a recording medium in this state, bleeding or the like will occur, and image quality will deteriorate. On the contrary,
If the average diameter of the projections is sufficiently smaller than the minimum one dot of the droplet, at least one concave portion will always be located within the minimum one dot of the dropped droplet. It can penetrate and mix with the powder. Therefore, it is possible to form high quality dots without blur after transfer.

[0011]

According to the above description, the effects of the present invention are clarified as follows. That is, as described in claim 1, a layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled with a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and is peelable from the intermediate transfer body is formed on the intermediate transfer body, and thereafter, In a recording method in which a liquid is ejected according to a signal to form a visible image on an intermediate transfer member, and then the visible image is transferred onto a recording member, a material is filled in concave portions of the concave and convex portions provided in the intermediate transfer member. Since the material layer is formed by filling, a uniform and appropriate amount of the setting agent layer can be easily formed in the concave portion, the uneven transfer of the image on the recording paper can be reduced, and the image quality can be improved, and Thus, it was possible to provide a recording method capable of lowering the required accuracy of an apparatus for forming a uniform and appropriate amount of a setting agent layer and reducing costs. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the recording method according to the first aspect, the average diameter of the convex portions of the concave and convex portions provided on the intermediate transfer body is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the material and equal to or smaller than the minimum dot diameter that can be recorded. And the material layer was formed by filling the concave portion with a material, so that in the convex portion with a small amount of powder absorbing the ink droplets,
It is possible to provide a recording method that does not cause deterioration in image quality due to bleeding or omission after transfer due to ink droplets that cannot be absorbed. As described in claim 3, in the recording method according to claim 1, the shape of the concave portion of the intermediate transfer body is configured to be a curved surface shape, and the material layer is formed by filling the concave portion with a material. A decrease in the releasability due to the provision of the concave and convex portions was improved, and a recording method capable of more reliably transferring the image onto recording paper could be provided. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus which forms a layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and is peelable on the intermediate transfer member. A recording apparatus comprising: a layer forming unit; a visible image forming unit configured to eject a liquid in accordance with a signal to form a visible image on an intermediate transfer body; and a transfer unit configured to transfer the visible image onto recording paper. Since the uneven portion is formed on the transfer body, a uniform and appropriate amount of the setting agent layer can be easily formed in the concave portion, and the required accuracy of an apparatus for forming a uniform and appropriate amount of the setting agent layer can be reduced. A recording device capable of reducing costs can be provided. Claim 5
As described in the above, in the recording apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the convex portion of the intermediate transfer member has an average diameter that is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the powder and equal to or smaller than the minimum dot diameter that can be recorded, thereby absorbing ink droplets. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus that does not cause deterioration in image quality due to bleeding or omission after transfer due to ink droplets that cannot be absorbed in a convex portion having a small amount of setting agent.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the fourth and fifth aspects, since at least the concave portion among the concave and convex portions of the intermediate transfer body has a curved surface shape, the releasability due to the provision of the concave and convex portion is provided. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus in which the reduction is improved and the transfer to recording paper can be made more reliable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a conventional recording method and a conventional recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a structure of an intermediate transfer member, a set agent applying unit, and a set agent removing unit of the recording method and apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a detailed structure of an intermediate transfer member of the recording method and apparatus according to the present invention, and a state in which droplets are ejected onto an uneven portion rubbed with a setting agent and transferred.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 means for applying powder (setting agent), 11 setting agent, 1
2 Coating supply roller, 13 Coating roller, 20 Intermediate transfer member, 21 Intermediate transfer member belt, 22, 23, 24 roller, 25 Uneven portion, 26 Curved uneven portion, 30 Printing means, 31 Ink jet head, 32 Rod member, 3
Reference Signs List 3 ink droplets, 34 swelling set agent, 40 paper feeding means, 41 paper feeding cassette, 42 recording paper, 43 registration roller, 50 transfer means, 51 transfer roller, 60
Paper discharging means, 70 powder (setting agent) removing means, 71 scraping blade;

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance, can increase the viscosity of the liquid, and can be peeled off from the intermediate transfer body, is formed on the intermediate transfer body, and then the liquid is supplied in response to a signal. Forming a visible image on the intermediate transfer member by spraying the recording medium, and then transferring the visible image onto a recording member, wherein the material is filled in the concave portions of the concave and convex portions provided on the intermediate transfer member. A recording method comprising forming a layer. 2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the average diameter of the convex portions of the concave and convex portions provided on the intermediate transfer member is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the material and equal to or smaller than the minimum dot diameter for recording. And a material layer is formed by filling the concave portion with a material. 3. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the concave portion of the intermediate transfer member has a curved shape, and a material layer is formed by filling the concave portion with a material. 4. A material layer forming means for forming a layer of a material which can be dissolved or swelled by a liquid in advance and which can increase the viscosity of the liquid and which can be peeled off on the intermediate transfer member, and the liquid is supplied in response to a signal. In a recording apparatus having a visible image forming means for ejecting and forming a visible image on an intermediate transfer body, and a transfer means for transferring the visible image onto recording paper, an uneven portion is formed on the intermediate transfer body. Recording device. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the convex portion of the intermediate transfer member has an average diameter equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the powder and equal to or smaller than a minimum dot diameter that can be recorded. . 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein at least a concave portion among the concave and convex portions of the intermediate transfer member has a curved surface shape.