JP2001019245A - Line thermal head printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a line thermal head printing device devised to carry out high quality printing as desired on a printing point even when an accident takes place where the printing point of a printing object stops at a printing position or becomes lower than certain speed. SOLUTION: In a device to carry out printing by a stationarily placed line thermal head 7 against a wrapping material film 1 of a moving printing object, an arm 9 as a printing object moving device is revolved as an arrow around a pin 10 by an air cylinder 15, the wrapping material film 1 is moved at specified speed and printing on a printing point is completed when movement of the wrapping material film 1 stops or becomes lower than specified speed at a point of time when the printing point of the wrapping material film 1 comes to a place of the line thermal head 7. Consequently, slippage of printing is prevented at the time when the wrapping material film 1 is restarted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a printing apparatus which prints a printing position at a predetermined interval on a moving printing object by energizing a stationary line thermal head. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has been often required to display different characters and symbols for each printed object, such as the date of manufacture, expiration date, and serial number of manufacture. In such a case, printing on a print target using a line thermal head is widely performed. When printing is performed on an object to be printed using a line thermal head, printing is performed by heat generated by energizing certain dots of the line thermal head which is an aggregate of minute heaters.

A printing apparatus that prints on a printing target using a line thermal head includes a device called an intermittent type that prints by moving the line thermal head while the printing target is stopped, and a line thermal head. There is an apparatus called a continuous type in which a head is allowed to stand still and printing is performed in accordance with the movement of an object to be printed.

In the intermittent type apparatus, printing is performed while the printing target is stopped. Therefore, either one of the installation position of the printing device and the printing position is adjusted so that the printing target is stopped. Must be aligned.

On the other hand, in a continuous type apparatus, when the movement of the film to be printed is stopped due to film splicing or the like, a mechanism for preventing the installation location of the printing apparatus from overlapping the printing position is required. This is because if the movement of the film to be printed stops at a position where the installation location of the printing device and the printing position match, the film to be printed is displaced due to splicing of the film, etc. This is because there is a problem that the printing position is shifted when the operation is started.

In a continuous type printing apparatus using a thermal transfer ribbon tape of a hot-peeling type by a printing apparatus using an end face type or corner edge type line thermal head, a certain speed is required. Below, clear printing cannot be performed. Therefore, in this case, if the printing speed at the printing position is lower than the predetermined speed, the position becomes an inappropriate position as the printing position, and printing must be avoided.

[0007]

As described in the preceding section, in a continuous type printing apparatus using a conventional line thermal head, when the movement of the film to be printed is stopped or when the speed of the film becomes lower than a predetermined speed. In addition, a mechanism is required to prevent the installation location of the printing apparatus from overlapping the printing position on the film to be printed.

According to the present invention, in a continuous-type printing apparatus using a line thermal head, when the movement of the film to be printed is stopped, the installation location of the printing apparatus and the printing position on the film to be printed remain overlapping. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus using a thermal head configured so as not to be disturbed.

Further, the present invention provides a continuous printing apparatus using a thermal head, in which clear printing can be performed even when the movement of a film to be printed becomes lower than a predetermined speed. That is the task.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a printing apparatus according to the present invention, when a printing position on a printing target comes to a printing position by the line thermal head, the printing target stops or has a certain position. A configuration is adopted in which a print target moving device is provided which forcibly moves the print target at the print location at a speed equal to or lower than the predetermined speed when the speed falls below the predetermined speed.

In the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the printing position on the printing object coincides with the stationary position of the line thermal head when the printing object is stopped or at a predetermined speed or less as described above. In such a case, the printing target at the printing position is forcibly moved by the printing target moving device at a speed equal to or higher than the predetermined speed and the printing is completed. ,
Even if the printing object is displaced again after stopping, the printing is not affected at all. Further, a decrease in the feed speed does not deteriorate the print quality.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the movement of the printing target is stopped due to an emergency stop or the like, the printing device is stopped by setting the installation position of the printing apparatus and the printing position on the printing target so as not to overlap with each other. Further, when the printing object is fed at a speed lower than a predetermined speed, the printing object is sent at a speed necessary for performing clear printing. As described above, according to the present invention,
A printing device having a simple structure that does not require a mechanism for mechanically adjusting a printing position in accordance with a printing signal is provided.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. First, the configuration of the device according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG.
In the figure, 1 indicates a packaging film on which printing is to be performed at a predetermined position. Reference numeral 2 denotes a thermal transfer ribbon tape, which is unwound from the raw material shaft 3 and wound around a winding shaft 4. The thermal transfer ribbon tape 2 is overlapped with the packaging material film 1 on the platen plate 5 and travels by a required amount. Reference numeral 6 denotes an incremental type rotary encoder,
The amount of movement of is detected.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a line thermal head. The line thermal head 7 is configured as a continuous type that performs printing while being stationary on the moving packaging film 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes an increment type rotary encoder, which is provided to detect the amount of movement of the packaging film 1. The moving amount of the thermal transfer ribbon tape 2 is controlled based on the moving amount of the packaging film 1 detected by the rotary encoder 8, and the moving amount of the ribbon tape 2 is fed back by the rotary encoder 6.

Reference numeral 9 denotes an arm which constitutes a packaging film moving device. The arm 9 is configured to be rotated around a center pin 10 by an appropriate driving means. Rolls 11 and 12, which operate as dancer rolls, are rotatably connected to both ends of the arm 9, respectively. 1
Reference numerals 3 and 14 denote pinch rolls for feeding the packaging film 1. Reference numeral 15 denotes an air cylinder, which includes an arm 9 and a link 16.
The arm 9 is swung about the pin 10 by the expansion and contraction of the air cylinder 15.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has the above-described configuration, and its operation will be described below. As described above, this printing apparatus is a continuous type in which printing is performed on the moving packaging film 1 by the line thermal head 7 in a stationary state, and the packaging film 1 normally moves at a predetermined speed. In a normal state, printing is performed as follows.

When it is determined from the information from the rotary encoder 8 that the packaging film 1 is moving, the moving speed of the thermal transfer ribbon tape 2 detected by the rotary encoder 6 is monitored so as to be the same as the detected moving speed. Then, the winding shaft 4 of the thermal transfer ribbon tape 2 is rotated. After synchronizing the movement of the packaging film 1 and the feeding of the thermal transfer ribbon tape 2 in this way, when the printing position of the packaging film 1 comes to the installation location of the line thermal head 7, the line thermal head 7 is moved relative to the platen plate 5. A sufficient pressure is applied to perform printing, and energization control is performed to perform thermal transfer printing.

Next, in a state where the printing position of the packaging film 1 has reached the installation position of the line thermal head 7 due to some cause such as an emergency stop, the movement of the packaging film 1 is stopped or almost stopped. Rotary encoder 8
When the determination is made based on the information from, the air supply / exhaust line to the air cylinder 15 is opened and the air cylinder 15 is operated. When the air cylinder 15 is operated, the arm 9 is turned around the pin 10 via the link 16 in the direction of the arrow. The rotation of the arm 9 causes the packaging film 1 to move to the left in the drawing at a predetermined speed and to be energized to the line thermal head 7 so that printing is performed in the same manner as in normal operation.

The displacement speed of the air cylinder 15 is adjusted by the rotation of the arm 9 by the movement thereof so that the packaging film 1 has the predetermined speed as described above. When the printing on the printing portion is completed, the air cylinder 15 is operated in the opposite direction as described above, and the arm 9 rotates around the pin 10 to return to the original horizontal state.

As described above, when the movement of the packaging film 1 is stopped or becomes lower than a predetermined speed when the printing position of the packaging film 1 comes to the printing position by the line thermal head 7,
The packaging film 1 is moved at a predetermined speed by a film moving device constituted by the arm 9 and the like, and the printing on the printing location is completed.

As described above, the present invention has been specifically described based on the illustrated embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and specific structures within the scope of the present invention shown in the claims are set forth. Needless to say, various changes may be made to the configuration.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the moving device of the packaging film is constituted by the arm 9 and the air cylinder 15, but the present invention is not limited to this. If the feeding of the packaging material film at the installation position stops or falls below a predetermined speed, various mechanisms are used as long as the packaging material film can be moved at a predetermined speed just to complete printing at the printing location. May be.

[0023]

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the printing position on the printing object and the stationary position of the line thermal head are determined when the printing object is stopped or at a predetermined speed or less. If they match, the print target is moved at a predetermined speed by operating the print target moving device to perform printing, and printing at the print location is completed. Therefore, the printing quality is not affected, and in the case of a stop, even if the printing target is displaced after the stop, the printing has no influence.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when the movement of the printing object is stopped or when the speed of the printing object becomes lower than the predetermined speed, the printing signal is set so that the installation position of the printing apparatus does not overlap the printing position on the printing object. A printing device having a simple structure that does not require a mechanism for mechanically adjusting a printing position in accordance with the present invention is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Packaging film 2 Thermal transfer ribbon tape 3 Raw material shaft 4 Take-up shaft 5 Platen plate 6 Rotary encoder 7 Line thermal head 8 Rotary encoder 9 Arm 10 Pin 11 Dancer roll 12 Dancer roll 13 Pinch roller 14 Pinch roller 15 Air cylinder 16 Link

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printing apparatus configured to perform printing by a line thermal head placed at a predetermined interval on a moving printing target object at predetermined intervals, the printing location is printed by the line thermal head. A line having a printing object moving device for forcibly moving the printing object at the printing position at the predetermined speed or more when the printing object stops or falls below a predetermined speed when it comes to a position. Thermal head printer.