JP2001322304A - Heat-radiating plate, its manufacturing method and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat-radiating plate of a thermal printer which eliminates positioning for drawing and drilling an aluminum material. SOLUTION: This heat-radiating plate 11 is constituted of a thermal head- mounting part 12 formed into a sheet by press working and a base part 13 including a delivery paper-guiding part 13a formed by press working a sheet- shaped member and a curling axial part 13b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a thermal head for transferring characters to a receipt or label sheet of thermal paper, and more particularly, to a structure and a manufacturing method of a heat radiating plate to which a thermal head is attached, and to a recording apparatus. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having the heat sink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a side view showing an outline of a printing unit of a thermal printer which is a conventional recording apparatus. A printing unit of the thermal printer shown in FIG. 1 includes a platen 1 that rotates by driving a motor (not shown) to feed the roll paper 6 (thermosensitive paper) in the direction of the arrow when the roll paper 6 is ejected and when printing.
A paper guide portion 2 for guiding the roll paper 6 fed by the platen 1 and a heat radiating plate rotatably supported by a housing (not shown) of a thermal printer with a pair of pins 4 attached to both sides as fulcrums. 3 and a thermal head 5 attached to the heat sink 3.

Since the thermal head 5 is pressed against the roll paper 6 by the heat radiating plate 3, its surface is covered with a material having good abrasion resistance, and is selectively applied to a plurality of heating resistors (not shown). The Joule heat generated by energization is transmitted to the thermal paper of the roll paper 6 that develops color by heat, and characters are printed as a mosaic of dots. The heat radiating plate 3 serves as a mounting portion for the thermal head 5 as described above, serves as a guide when supplying and discharging the roll paper 6, and further controls the heat of the thermal head 5 generated when pressing the roll paper 6 and printing. It has the function of absorbing and releasing.

The conventional radiator plate 3 is a product obtained by extracting an aluminum material, and is generally manufactured by a process as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a conventional method for processing a heat sink. First, an aluminum material is drawn through a hole having the same shape as the cross section of the heat sink 3 formed in the die and drawn by a drawing machine. The formed product formed by this drawing is cut into a predetermined length by a press, and then notched. Then, holes are formed on both side surfaces of the molded product, and pins are driven into the respective holes, whereby the above-described heat sink 3 is manufactured.

[0005]

The radiator plate 3 of the conventional thermal printer described above is drawn out as described above.
Although it is manufactured through press working, drilling and pin driving, the entire working process is long and costly. In addition, since it is necessary to perform processing using different processing equipment, complete control of each apparatus and tools is required, and furthermore, dimensional inspection and appearance inspection in each processing step are required, so that quality control is difficult. Was. Further, positioning when making holes on both side surfaces of the heat sink 3 is difficult, and it is not easy to secure accuracy.

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat sink and a method of manufacturing the heat sink, which do not require drawing or positioning of holes. It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording device provided with the heat sink.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems (1) A heat sink according to the present invention comprises a thermal head mounting portion having a thermal head mounted on one surface, and a base portion mounted on the other surface of the thermal head mounting portion. Wherein the base portion is formed of a plate-like member, and includes a discharge paper guide portion formed by molding the plate-like member, and a shaft portion. In the present invention, the radiator plate is composed of a thermal head mounting portion and a base portion, and the discharge paper guide portion and the shaft portion provided on the base portion are formed by press molding, so that compared with the conventional one. It is not necessary to perform a punching process or a punching operation for driving a pin. Therefore, the processing steps can be shortened and the processing cost can be reduced.

(2) The heat sink according to the present invention is characterized in that (1)
The discharge paper guide portion of the base portion has a bent portion bent to the side where the thermal head is mounted. By this bent portion, the discharge of the roll paper during printing becomes smooth.

(3) In the heat sink according to the present invention, when the height of the apex of the bent portion of the discharge paper guide portion is H1, the thickness of the thermal head mounting portion is H2, and the thickness of the thermal head is H3, H1>
The discharge paper guide portion is provided so as to satisfy the relationship of H2 + H3.

(4) The method for manufacturing a heat sink according to the present invention comprises:
A method for manufacturing a radiator plate, comprising: a thermal head mounting portion on which a thermal head is mounted on one surface; and a base portion mounted on the other surface of the thermal head mounting portion, wherein the workpiece has a predetermined shape. The method includes at least a step of forming a discharge paper guide portion and a shaft portion on a punched workpiece having a predetermined shape, and a step of forming a base portion by a drop-out process. In the present invention, since the discharge paper guide portion and the shaft portion are integrally formed on the base portion of the heat radiating plate, there is no need for a punching process or a hole punching operation for driving a pin compared with the related art.
Processing steps can be shortened, and processing costs can be reduced.

(5) The method for manufacturing a heat sink according to the present invention comprises:
In the manufacturing method according to the above (4), a step of forming a first bent portion by bending the workpiece at least at a position which is a vertex of the discharged paper guide,
Bending the workpiece at a position near the base of the discharge paper guide to form a second bent portion; and bending the first bent portion so as to reduce the bending angle,
Forming the first bent portion as a third bent portion. The height of the third bent portion of the ejected paper guide formed by each of the steps is higher than the thickness of the thermal head and the thermal head mounting portion overlapped.

(6) The method for manufacturing a heat sink according to the present invention comprises:
In the manufacturing method according to the above (4), a step of bending the shaft portion so as to form a concave portion having a U-shaped cross section in at least a region of the workpiece to be formed with the inner wall of the shaft portion; And the step of bending the concave portion into a curling shape such that is inside. In the present invention, since the shaft portion is formed integrally with the base portion, it is not necessary to position a hole for attaching a pin serving as a shaft to the side surface of the heat sink as in the related art.

(7) A recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus for recording with a thermal head, and a thermal head mounting portion having a thermal head mounted on one surface and the other of the thermal head mounting portion. A base portion attached to the surface, the base portion is formed of a plate-shaped member, and includes a discharge paper guide portion formed by molding the plate-shaped member, and a shaft portion. It is mounted so as to be rotatable around a shaft. In the present invention, since the base portion provided with the discharge paper guide portion and the shaft portion formed by molding is used as one member of the heat radiating plate, a heat radiating plate which requires a punching process and a hole punching operation for pin driving is required. It is possible to provide an inexpensive recording apparatus as compared with the conventional recording apparatus having the above.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an outline of a printing section of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a base portion of a heat radiating plate provided in the recording apparatus. . Note that the same or corresponding parts as those of the related art described with reference to FIG.

The heat radiating plate 11 provided in the recording apparatus of this embodiment, for example, a thermal printer is formed by a thermal head mounting portion 12 and a base portion 13. The thermal head mounting portion 12 of the heat radiating plate 11 is made of, for example, an aluminum material formed in a plate shape by press working.
A thermal head 5 is mounted on a surface facing the roll paper 6. The thermal head mounting portion 12 has a function of absorbing the heat of the thermal head 5 generated during printing and transmitting the heat to the base portion 13 side. Although it has been described that the thermal head mounting portion 12 is made of aluminum,
The thermal head mounting portion 12 may be formed of a material having high thermal conductivity such as copper, silver, gold, a magnesium alloy, and tungsten steel.

The base portion 13 is made of an iron steel plate, and a discharge paper guide portion 13a bent in an inverted V-shaped side surface is formed at an upper portion by a bending process using a press progressive die described later. As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of shaft portions 13b each protruding outward on the same central axis are formed. The base portion 13 is rotatably supported by a shaft portion 13b inserted into a hole 7a provided in the longitudinal housing 7 of the thermal printer, and the thermal head 5 is rolled by a coil spring 8 disposed at the rear. Pressing against paper 6.

The thermal head mounting portion 12 and the base portion 13 are fixed to each other by a double-sided tape 14 which is easy to handle and has heat resistance and durability, as will be described later. In place of the double-sided tape 14, for example, three portions (a thermal head 5) between a pair of shaft portions 13b may be used.
The thermal head mounting portion 12 and the base portion 13 may be fixed to each other by caulking (a position that does not overlap with), or they may be fixed to each other using an adhesive having heat resistance or the like.

Here, the manufacturing method of the heat sink is shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a method of processing a base portion by a progressive press die, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a process of assembling a heat sink. Although not shown, various punches and dies are arranged at predetermined intervals in the above-described press progressive die, according to the respective processes such as an outer shape punching process, a bending process, and a dropout process. First, a steel sheet of a workpiece fixed with a stripper plate and a die plate of a mold is subjected to an outline punching process with a punch and a die (see FIG. 3A). Next, one end (the right side in FIG. 7A) of the molded product whose outer shape has been cut is bent into an inverted V-shape to form the discharge paper guide 13a, and both sides of the other end are formed. A pair of pieces (FIG. 3A, upper and lower left sides) are bent into a curling shape with a punch and a die to form a shaft portion 13b as a pair of pins (see FIG. 3B). The above-described reverse V bending and curling bending are performed in the same step. After the bending process, the tie bar is cut with a punch and a die, and the base portion 13 as a product is cut off (FIG. 3).
(C)).

One side of the double-sided tape 14 is bonded to the base 13 manufactured as described above, and the thermal head mounting portion 12 made of aluminum is fixed to the other surface of the double-sided tape 14 thus bonded. Thus, the heat radiating plate 11 is configured (see FIG. 4). The position where the thermal head mounting portion 12 is mounted on the base portion 13 is between the discharge paper guide portion 13a and the shaft portion 13b as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, and is lower than the height of the discharge paper guide portion 13a. Now, the thermal head mounting portion 12 is fixed.

Next, the bending process of the press working by the press progressive die will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a bending process for forming a discharge paper guide portion of the base portion, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a bending process for forming a shaft portion of the base portion.

In the case where the discharge paper guide 13a is formed on the molded product formed by the outer shape punching process, for example, as shown in FIG. Approximately 70 degrees to upward mountain shape (reverse V shape)
The first bent portion a is formed by being bent within a range of 90 °. Next, a portion inside the first bent portion a is bent upward, and a part of the molded product is bent 90 ° so as to form an L-shape to form a second bent portion b. Finally, the portion between the first bent portion a and the front end portion is further bent to 50 ° by a punch and a die to make the first bent portion a a third bent portion c, and a discharge paper guide portion. 13
a is molded.

In forming the shaft portion 13b, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a pair of pieces on both sides of the other end portion of a molded product formed by external punching are formed into a U-shape with a punch and a die. While being bent, it is bent to 55 ° with respect to the vertical line to be in the first bent state A. Next, the pair of pieces bent in a U-shape are bent upward by 45 °
To the folded state B. Then, in the second bent state B, the pair of pieces are further bent by 45 ° from the distal end portions thereof, to be in the third bent state C. Further, in the third bent state C, the pair of pieces are bent so as to be folded back up to 40 ° from the distal end portions thereof, thereby forming a fourth bent state D. Finally, in the fourth bent state D, the pair of pieces are bent to 50 ° from the tips of the pair to form a fifth bent state E, and the pair of shaft portions 13b are formed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the base portion 13 which is one member of the heat sink 11 is formed by a mold, so that the processing steps can be shortened and the processing cost can be reduced as compared with the related art. This has the effect. In addition, since a general steel plate is used for the base portion 13, there is an effect that the workability by the mold is excellent and the material cost is reduced. Further, since the pair of shaft portions 13b are formed integrally with the base portion 13 by using a mold, there is an effect that the accuracy of the mutual positional relationship as pins is improved.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the heat radiating plate is constituted by the thermal head mounting portion and the base portion, and the discharge paper guide portion and the shaft portion provided on the base portion are formed by molding. Therefore, there is no need to perform a punching process and a hole punching operation for driving a pin, as compared with the related art, so that the processing steps can be shortened and the processing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating an outline of a printing unit of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a base portion of a heat sink provided in the recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a method of processing a base portion using a press progressive die.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a process of assembling a heat sink.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a bending step of forming a discharge sheet guide section of a base section.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a bending step of forming a mounting shaft of a base portion.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing an outline of a printing unit of a thermal printer which is a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a conventional method of processing a heat sink.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Platen 2 Paper guide part 5 Thermal head 6 Roll paper 8 Coil spring 11 Heat sink 12 Thermal head mounting part 13 Base part 13a Discharge paper guide part 13b Shaft part 14 Double-sided tape

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigetoshi Kondo 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano Seiko Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Riichi Hanaoka 3-5-35 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano Seiko Epson Corporation F-term (reference) 2C064 CC02 CC06 CC14 2C065 CZ06 CZ15 HA10 HA27

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A heat radiating plate formed by a thermal head mounting portion to which a thermal head is mounted on one surface, and a base portion mounted on the other surface of the thermal head mounting portion, wherein the base portion is A heat radiating plate comprising a plate-shaped member, a discharge paper guide portion formed by molding the plate-shaped member, and a shaft portion. 2. The heat radiating plate according to claim 1, wherein the discharge paper guide has a bent portion bent to a side to which the thermal head is attached. 3. The height of the bent portion of the discharge paper guide is H1,
The discharge paper guide portion is formed so as to satisfy a relationship of H1> H2 + H3, where H2 is the thickness of the thermal head mounting portion and H3 is the thickness of the thermal head. The heat sink described in. 4. A method for manufacturing a radiator plate, comprising: a thermal head mounting portion on one surface of which a thermal head is mounted; and a base portion mounted on the other surface of the thermal head mounting portion. A step of punching a workpiece into a predetermined shape; a step of forming a discharge paper guide portion and a shaft portion on the punched workpiece of a predetermined shape; and a step of forming the base portion by drop-off processing. A method for manufacturing a heat sink, comprising at least: 5. A step of forming a first bent portion by bending the workpiece at least at a position of a vertex of the discharge paper guide portion, the vicinity of a base of the discharge paper guide portion. Forming a second bent portion by bending the work material at a position where the first bent portion is bent so that the bending angle of the first bent portion is reduced, and forming the first bent portion as a third bent portion The method for manufacturing a heat sink according to claim 4, wherein the heat sink is formed by the following steps. 6. A step of bending the shaft portion so as to form a concave portion having a U-shaped cross section at least in a region of the workpiece to be formed with an inner wall of the shaft portion, wherein the inner wall of the concave portion is inward. The method according to claim 4, wherein the concave portion is formed by curling the concave portion into a curling shape. 7. A recording device for recording by a thermal head, comprising: a thermal head mounting portion having one surface to which the thermal head is mounted; and a base portion mounted to the other surface of the thermal head mounting portion. The base portion is formed of a plate-shaped member, and includes a discharge paper guide portion formed by molding the plate-shaped member, and a shaft portion. The recording device main body is rotated around the shaft portion as a fulcrum. A recording device which is movably mounted.