JP2008273153A - Image forming method and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming method capable of forming an image with a high quality on a printing medium and excellent in reliability of the image quality by a simple process and without performing a complicate control. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming method includes an electrostatically charged toner sticking process in which an electrostatically charged toner 23 is uniformly stuck on a face on the printing medium side among both faces of a toner carrying body 20, and an ion irradiating process in which a face on the opposite side of the printing medium among the both faces of the toner carrying body 20 is irradiated with the ion with the same polarity as that of the electrostatically charged toner based on the image information, and the electrostatically charged toner on the toner carrying body is moved on a recording face of the printing medium arranged oppositely to the ion irradiating head by placing the toner carrying body between them to form the image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head.

In recent years, as shown in (Patent Document 1) and (Patent Document 2), an ion irradiation method, which is an electrostatic latent image forming method different from the electrophotographic method, has been developed.
The electrophotographic method is a two-step process of uniform charging + exposure, and the electrostatic charge image is formed on the photoreceptor as an electrostatic latent image carrier by releasing the charge of the exposed part on the uniformly charged photoreceptor. On the other hand, in the ion irradiation method, in an atmosphere where ions can be generated (such as in the air), only selective charging (electrostatic latent image formation charging) by irradiation of ions generated by emission of electrons from the discharge electrode is performed. Since the formation of the electrostatic latent image can be completed on the electrostatic latent image bearing member (which is not necessarily a photosensitive member as long as it is an insulator), the electrostatic latent image forming method is simplified. .

Further, (Patent Document 3) discloses a specific shape of an ion irradiation type (heat discharge type) print head compatible with a horizontal printer and an image forming apparatus provided with the shape.
In particular, the ion irradiation methods of (Patent Document 1) to (Patent Document 3) are applied with a voltage (discharge control voltage) that generates a discharge by heating without generating a discharge only by being applied to the discharge electrode. This is a heating discharge method in which the generation of ions is controlled by controlling the presence / absence of discharge by controlling the presence / absence of heating of the discharge electrode, and it is not necessary to control the voltage applied to the discharge electrode. As a result, it is possible to control the occurrence of discharge with a driver IC that supports low withstand voltage such as 5V drive used for controlling heating by a heating resistor or the like, and is the most excellent control method from the viewpoint of discharge control. It can be said that there is.

According to this ion irradiation type (heat discharge type) print head, an electrostatic development recording medium that displays an image by the action of an electric charge (electrostatic latent image) applied to the surface, as represented by digital paper. On the other hand, since an electrostatic latent image can be directly formed by ion irradiation, it is an optimum image forming apparatus that can be considered at present for writing in a non-contact manner on an electrostatic development type recording medium.
In addition, as an application of an electrostatic latent image forming method using an ion irradiation method (Patent Document 3), the electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of an electrostatic latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by ion irradiation. Based on the electrostatic latent image thus formed, a visible image is formed on the surface of the electrostatic latent image carrier by a visualization means using toner or ink, and the visible image is transferred to plain paper or OHP by a transfer means. An image forming apparatus for transferring to a print medium such as a sheet has also been proposed.
Japanese Patent No. 3725092 WO2005-056297 Japanese Patent No. 3936726

However, the above conventional techniques have the following problems.
(1) As described above, the ion irradiation method can simplify the electrostatic latent image forming process for forming the electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic latent image carrier as compared with the conventional electrophotographic method. When an image is formed on a printing medium such as paper or an OHP sheet, an electrostatic latent image forming process for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing process for forming a visible image, and a visible image transfer are performed. Three independent processes of the transfer process are necessary, and simplification of the process has been desired.
(2) In particular, the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrostatic latent image carrier in the electrostatic latent image forming step is developed on the electrostatic latent image carrier in the developing step, and the resulting visible image is transferred. Since it is transferred to the printing medium in the process, even if a high-quality electrostatic latent image can be formed in the electrostatic latent image forming process, misalignment or transfer failure may occur when transferring the visible image in the transfer process. Therefore, it cannot be used for forming an image that requires high resolution, and its application is limited, and improvement in image quality has been strongly desired. Further, the three processes of the electrostatic latent image forming process, the developing process, and the transfer process are performed at different positions, which is a major cause of occurrence of misalignment and transfer failure.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems and is an image forming method excellent in image quality reliability that can form a high-quality image on a print medium without performing complicated control in a simple process. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a simple structure, a small number of parts, and capable of forming a high-quality image on a printing medium in a short time and having excellent mass productivity, space saving, and handleability.

In order to solve the above problems, an image forming method and an image forming apparatus of the present invention have the following configurations.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming method for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head, wherein the print medium side of both surfaces of a toner carrier is provided. A charged toner adhering step for uniformly adhering the charged toner to the surface of the toner, and irradiating the surface opposite to the print medium on both sides of the toner carrier with ions having the same polarity as the charged toner based on image information And an ion irradiation step of forming an image by moving the charged toner on the toner carrier onto the recording surface of the print medium that is disposed opposite to the ion irradiation head with the toner carrier interposed therebetween. have.
This configuration has the following effects.
(1) By having the charged toner adhesion step, the charged toner can be uniformly adhered to the surface on the print medium side of both surfaces of the toner carrier without special control. It can be prepared for image formation and has excellent handleability.
(2) Printing on the opposite surface of the toner carrier to the opposite side of the print medium is irradiated with ions having the same polarity as the charged toner on the basis of the image information and the toner carrier is sandwiched between and the ion irradiation head. By having an ion irradiation process for moving the charged toner on the toner carrier onto the recording surface of the medium to form an image, an image can be formed on the print medium simply by irradiating ions based on the image information. Therefore, the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, and transfer process are simultaneously performed at the same place, and image displacement and transfer failure do not occur, and the image quality is excellent.
(3) The ion irradiation process can be regarded as a process in which the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, and transfer process are simultaneously performed, and an image is formed by only two processes, a charged toner attaching process and an ion irradiation process. Since the process is simple, a large amount of images can be formed in a short time, and the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
(4) Since the ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, the surface on which the charged toner is attached to the toner carrier by the charged toner attaching step, and the ion by the ion irradiation step. Since the irradiation surface is different, charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head, and the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.

Here, the ion irradiation head used in this image forming method is not limited as long as it can generate ions. A high voltage is applied to a wire electrode or a needle electrode to generate corona discharge, and the electrode is heated. Thus, those that emit thermoelectrons, those that generate ions by controlling the voltage applied to the electrodes and the temperature of the electrodes, and the like can be used.
In order to irradiate the toner carrier with ions generated by the ion irradiation head, grounding or voltage application is performed on a print medium disposed opposite to the ion irradiation head with the toner carrier interposed therebetween.
The print medium is not particularly limited as long as it can perform grounding and voltage application and can form an image (visible image) by adhering charged toner. Therefore, the print medium may be made of a conductor or have at least one insulating layer and a conductor layer. The conductor layer does not need to be formed in a solid shape, and may be patterned in any shape, and an insulating region and a conductive region may be mixed on the recording surface. An object of the print medium may be a material for a color filter.

The timing of grounding and voltage application to the print medium differs depending on the type of ion irradiation head. For applying a charge by irradiating the toner carrier with ions generated by a potential difference between the ion irradiation head and the print medium, driving of the ion irradiation head and grounding or voltage application to the print medium are performed in synchronization. Alternatively, by driving the ion irradiation head in a state where the print medium is grounded or voltage is applied in advance, ions generated by the ion irradiation head can be irradiated to a desired position of the toner carrier. The charged toner moves to the recording surface of the print medium by a repulsive force acting between the charged toner and ions having the same polarity, and an image can be formed.
In addition, in the case where the ion irradiation head alone emits thermoelectrons and moves it toward the toner carrier by the voltage applied to the print medium to irradiate the ions to give a charge, the ion irradiation head is driven in advance to generate heat. By applying a positive voltage to the print medium while electrons are being emitted, ions can be irradiated to a desired position on the toner carrier.

The charged toner may be positively or negatively charged and can be colored in any color. The charged toner may be a liquid toner or a powder toner (dry toner).
The toner carrier does not need to be a photoconductor, but is formed of an insulator or semiconductor film or sheet. The shape of the toner carrying member may be any of an endless loop type belt type, a winding type roll type, and a flat plate type. When the toner carrier is a roll-up roll type, the toner carrier is used while being wound from one roll to the other roll. If the toner carrier is a flat plate type, the print medium and toner carrier and the ion irradiation head may be moved relatively. Therefore, the ion irradiation head may be fixed and the print medium and the toner carrier may be moved, or the print medium and toner carrier may be fixed and the ion irradiation head may be moved.
In the charged toner attaching step, the charged toner is uniformly attached to the surface on the print medium side of both surfaces of the toner carrier, so there is no need to remove the charged toner remaining on the toner carrier after the ion irradiation step. The process can be simplified.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming method for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head, wherein charged toner is uniformly applied to a recording surface of the print medium. The charged toner adhering step to be adhered, and the ion irradiation head disposed on both sides of the toner carrier on the surface on the ion irradiation head side based on image information from the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium across the toner carrier. An ion irradiation step of irradiating ions having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner to move the charged toner on the print medium to the surface on the print medium side of both surfaces of the toner carrier, and the toner carrier; And a charged toner removing step for removing the charged toner adhering to the toner.
This configuration has the following effects.
(1) By having the charged toner adhesion step, the charged toner can be uniformly and reliably adhered to the recording surface of the print medium without special control, and can be prepared for image formation. Excellent handleability.
(2) From the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium with the toner carrier sandwiched between them, the surface on the ion irradiation head side of both surfaces of the toner carrier is irradiated with ions having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner. By having the ion irradiation step of forming the image by moving the charged toner on the print medium to the surface on the print medium side of the both sides of the toner carrier, the print medium can be obtained simply by irradiating ions based on the image information. Since an image can be formed on top, the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, and transfer process are performed at the same place at the same time, and image misalignment and transfer defects do not occur. Excellent image quality.
(3) By having the charged toner removing step for removing the charged toner adhering to the toner carrier, the toner carrier can be used repeatedly, and the reliability of the image quality and the long life of the toner carrier are excellent.
(4) The ion irradiation process can be regarded as a process in which the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, developing process, and transfer process are performed simultaneously. The charged toner attaching process, the ion irradiating process, and the charged toner removing process. Since an image can be formed by only one process and the process is simple, a large amount of image can be formed in a short time, and the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
(5) Since the ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, the print medium on which the charged toner adheres and the ion irradiation head that performs the ion irradiation process are directly The charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head without contact, and the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.

Here, the ion irradiation head, the print medium, and the toner carrier are the same as those described in claim 1, and therefore the description thereof is omitted.
As for the charged toner, either liquid toner or powder toner (dry toner) may be used as in the case of claim 1, but in the case of liquid toner, the charged toner floats between the print medium and the toner carrier. Therefore, in the ion irradiation process, not only the charged toner on the print medium is moved to the surface on the print medium side of the toner carrier by irradiating ions with the opposite polarity to the charged toner, but also the ions having the same polarity as the charged toner. The charged toner floating between the print medium and the toner carrier can be moved to the recording surface of the print medium to form an image.
In the charged toner removing step, it is sufficient that the charged toner remaining on the surface of the toner carrying member can be removed, but a cleaner that physically scrapes and cleans the charged toner is preferably used.

A third aspect of the present invention is the image forming method according to the first or second aspect, wherein the ion irradiation head includes a discharge electrode and a heating unit that selectively heats the discharge electrode. It has a configuration that is a discharge type print head.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the first or second aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) Since the ion irradiation head is a heat discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating means for selectively heating the discharge electrode, a large amount of electrons generated with the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode The charge can be selectively injected by irradiating the toner carrier with ions based on the image information, and the image forming efficiency is excellent.
(2) Since the heat-discharge type print head is a system in which discharge is performed by selective heating to the discharge electrode, a driver IC corresponding to low withstand voltage such as 5 V drive can be used for heating control, Discharge control is easy and handling is excellent.

Here, the heat discharge type print head (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-326756 and WO 2005/056297) applies a discharge control voltage to the discharge electrode and discharges by selectively heating the discharge electrode with a heating means. Therefore, it is possible to easily discharge electrons from any discharge generation part (near the heating position) of the discharge electrode to generate a discharge by selecting a heating location by the heating means.
For example, the discharge electrodes of the heat-discharge type print head are formed in a comb shape by connecting one end portions of a plurality of discharge generating portions with a common electrode, or by connecting both end portions of the plurality of discharge generating portions with a common electrode. In addition, it can be formed into a flat plate shape such as a rectangular shape or a square shape (see, for example, JP-A No. 2003-326756 and WO 2005/056297). In the discharge electrode formed in a flat plate shape, a portion where the discharge is generated by being selectively heated by the heating means is a discharge generation portion, and a portion other than the discharge generation portion is a common electrode.
By providing a common electrode in the vicinity of the discharge generator, the cooling effect of the discharge electrode and the responsiveness to heating stop can be improved and the printing speed can be increased by increasing the heat radiation area of the discharge electrode and increasing the heat capacity. it can. In addition, since a stable voltage can always be applied by reducing the resistance value, the stability of discharge can be further improved.

Any heating means for heating the discharge electrode may be used as long as it can selectively heat an arbitrary discharge generating portion of the discharge electrode, and may be heated in close contact with the discharge electrode or separated from the discharge electrode. It may be heated.
As the heating means for heating by being brought into close contact with the discharge electrode, a configuration similar to that of a thermal print head used in a conventional thermal facsimile can be suitably used. Specifically, the heat generation of the heating resistor is controlled by a driver IC electrically connected to the heating resistor.
As the heating means for heating away from the discharge electrode, those having a light irradiation part such as a method of irradiating laser light or a method of irradiating infrared rays can be suitably used. As a light irradiating unit for irradiating laser light, a combination of a laser irradiating unit and a polygon mirror or a galvano mirror, a unit that serially scans the laser irradiating unit, or the like is preferably used. Further, laser light or infrared light may be condensed by an optical fiber or a condensing lens and irradiated to the discharge electrode. In particular, when an optical fiber array in which a large number of optical fibers are arranged with high density and high precision is used, laser light and infrared rays can be selectively irradiated to the discharge generating portions of a plurality of discharge electrodes at the same time, enabling high-speed recording. Is possible.

When a heat-discharge type print head is used as the ion irradiation head, a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is set between the discharge electrode of the ion irradiation head and the print medium, and the discharge electrode is selectively heated to discharge. And ions can be irradiated to a desired position.
It is sufficient that a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is generated between the discharge electrode and the print medium, and a voltage corresponding to the discharge control voltage is directly applied between the discharge electrode and the print medium. Alternatively, a voltage (electric field forming voltage) higher than the discharge control voltage may be applied between the electric field forming electrode and the print medium which are disposed to face and separate from the discharge electrode.
The discharge control voltage is a voltage range in which discharge from the discharge electrode does not occur only by the potential difference, but discharge is generated by heating the discharge electrode. When the discharge space formed by separating the discharge electrode and the toner carrier is an atmosphere capable of generating ions such as the atmosphere, the emitted electrons ionize oxygen and nitrogen, and these are ionized on the surface of the toner carrier. The charge can be efficiently injected with a large amount of ions.

The electric field forming voltage can be appropriately selected according to the distance between the discharge electrode and the electric field forming electrode so that a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is generated between the discharge electrode and the print medium.
Further, all the voltages corresponding to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage may be applied to the discharge electrode or the electric field forming electrode, and the print medium may be grounded, or it corresponds to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage. A part of the voltage may be applied to the print medium side.
Various waveforms can be selected as the waveform of the discharge control voltage and the electric field forming voltage, and a triangular wave, a rectangular wave, a trapezoidal wave, a sin wave, etc. can be used alone or in combination, and a DC voltage or an AC voltage can be used. Can be superimposed. For example, when only an AC voltage is applied to the discharge electrode and the electric field forming electrode, positive and negative ions are generated. Therefore, to select only negative ions, a negative DC voltage is superimposed on the AC voltage, and to select only positive ions, a positive DC voltage is superimposed on the AC voltage to form a discharge electrode or an electric field forming electrode. Apply to.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the image forming method according to the third aspect, wherein the ion irradiation step is performed with a discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium. It has a configuration comprising a potential difference setting step for setting an equivalent potential difference to form an electric field, and a discharge electrode heating step for selectively heating the discharge electrode by the heating means.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the third aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) In the potential difference setting step, a potential difference corresponding to a discharge control voltage can be set between the print medium arranged so as to sandwich the toner carrier and the discharge electrode, and an electric field can be formed to prepare for the discharge. It is not necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage, and discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode by selectively heating the discharge electrode with a heating means in the discharge electrode heating process, and ions are carried on the toner by an electric field. Image formation can be performed by irradiating a desired position on the body and moving the charged toner to the recording surface of the print medium or the toner carrier by the repulsive force or attractive force acting between the charged toner and ions. Excellent in properties.

  Here, in the potential difference setting step, as described in claim 3, it is sufficient that a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is generated between the discharge electrode and the print medium, and the voltage corresponding to the discharge control voltage is directly applied. The voltage may be applied between the discharge electrode and the print medium, or a voltage (electric field forming voltage) higher than the discharge control voltage may be separated from the discharge electrode and opposed to the electric field forming electrode and the print medium. You may apply between. Further, all the voltages corresponding to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage may be applied to the discharge electrode or the electric field forming electrode, and the print medium may be grounded, or it corresponds to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage. A part of the voltage may be distributed and applied to the print medium side.

The invention according to claim 5 is the image forming method according to claim 4, wherein the discharge electrode heating step is disposed separately from the discharge electrode and selectively irradiates the discharge electrode with light. It has the structure performed by a light irradiation part.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the fourth aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) The discharge electrode heating step is performed by a light irradiating unit that is disposed apart from the discharge electrode and selectively irradiates light to the discharge electrode, so that the discharge electrode is irradiated with light such as laser light or infrared light. The discharge can be generated and the discharge generation efficiency is excellent.
(2) Since the discharge electrode and the light irradiating part are arranged apart from each other, the discharge electrode and the light irradiating part do not come into contact with each other, so that the cooling time of the discharge electrode in the heating stopped state is greatly shortened. It is possible to improve the responsiveness of the discharge stop with respect to the heating stop and switch the presence or absence of the discharge in a short time, thereby improving the image quality and the recording speed.

  Here, as the light irradiation unit, similarly to the third aspect, a method of irradiating laser light, a method of irradiating infrared rays, or the like is preferably used. As a method of irradiating laser light, a laser scanner unit similar to the conventional electrophotographic method can be used. A laser generator that is combined with an optical scanning unit such as a polygon mirror or a galvanometer mirror to scan only the laser light with respect to the discharge electrode, or a unit that serially scans the light irradiation unit with respect to the discharge electrode is suitable. Used for. Further, a condensing unit such as an optical fiber or a condensing lens may be provided between the discharge electrode and the light irradiation unit to collect light such as laser light or infrared rays emitted from the light irradiation unit and irradiate the discharge electrode. Good. In addition to scanning the optical fiber with respect to the discharge electrode, when using an optical fiber array in which a large number of optical fibers are arranged with high density and high precision, laser light or infrared rays are simultaneously applied to a plurality of discharge electrodes (discharge generating portions). Can be selectively irradiated, enabling high-speed recording and excellent practicality. At this time, each optical fiber and the discharge electrode (discharge generation part) may be made to correspond one to one, and the exit tip of the optical fiber may be fixed to the discharge electrode. Alternatively, the discharge electrode can be formed by directly depositing chromium on the light exit surface of the light collecting portion such as the exit end of the optical fiber and gold plating.

An image forming apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head, and includes a toner carrier and both sides of the toner carrier. A charged toner supply unit that uniformly attaches the charged toner to the surface of the print medium, and the ion irradiation head that is disposed to face the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween. Have.
This configuration has the following effects.
(1) By having a charged toner supply unit that uniformly attaches charged toner to the surface on the print medium side of both surfaces of the toner carrier, the toner carrier can be easily and reliably used without special control. Charged toner can be uniformly adhered to the surface on both sides of the print medium, can be prepared for image formation, and is excellent in handleability.
(2) By having the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, the charged toner on the toner carrier acts between the ions only by irradiating ions based on the image information. Since the image can be formed on the printing medium by moving to the recording surface of the printing medium by repulsive force, the image is not misaligned and the image quality is excellent.
(3) Since the ion irradiation head and the print medium are arranged opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, the surface on which the charged toner is attached to the toner carrier by the charged toner supply unit, and ions are applied by the ion irradiation head. Since the irradiation surface is different, charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head, and the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.
(4) An image can be formed only by the charged toner supply unit and the ion irradiation head, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and a high-quality image can be formed on a printing medium in a short time. Excellent space and handling.

Here, as the charged toner supply unit, a developing device that performs toner development is preferably used. The charged toner may be liquid toner or powder toner (dry toner) as described in the first aspect.
Further, since the toner carrier and the ion irradiation head are as described in the first aspect, description thereof will be omitted.

An image forming apparatus according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a print medium by the action of an electric charge using an ion irradiation head, the toner carrying body and a recording surface of the print medium. A charged toner supply unit for uniformly attaching charged toner, the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, and a charged toner removal for removing the charged toner attached to the toner carrier. And a configuration provided with a section.
This configuration has the following effects.
(1) By having a charged toner supply unit, it is possible to easily and surely adhere the charged toner uniformly to the recording surface of the print medium without special control, and to prepare for image formation. Excellent handleability.
(2) By having the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, unnecessary charged toner on the print medium can be placed between the ions only by irradiating ions based on the image information. Since the image can be formed on the print medium by moving to the toner carrier by the attractive force, the image is not displaced and the image quality is excellent.
(3) By having the charged toner removing unit that removes the charged toner adhering to the toner carrier, the toner carrier can be used repeatedly, and the reliability of the image quality and the long life of the toner carrier are excellent.
(4) An image can be formed only by the charged toner supply unit, the ion irradiation head, and the charged toner removing unit, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and a high-quality image can be formed on a print medium in a short time. Excellent in mass production, space saving and handling.
(5) Since the ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, the charged toner supply unit may directly contact the print medium to which the charged toner adheres and the ion irradiation head. In addition, since the charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head, the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.

Here, the charged toner supply unit, the charged toner, the toner carrier, and the ion irradiation head are as described in the first aspect, and thus description thereof is omitted.
As the charged toner removing unit, as described in claim 2, a cleaner that physically scrapes and cleans the charged toner is preferably used.

The invention according to claim 8 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, comprising a substrate and a separation electrode formed on the substrate, and the separation electrode is irradiated with ions. A charge injection portion into which charges are injected, and a charge channel portion having one end connected to the charge injection portion and a charge discharge portion for releasing the charge injected into the charge injection portion at the other end. A separation electrode unit is configured to be disposed between the ion irradiation head and the toner carrier.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the sixth or seventh aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) Since the separation electrode unit is disposed between the ion irradiation head and the toner carrier, the charge of electrons and ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head is temporarily stored in the separation electrode of the separation electrode unit. Since it can be discharged from the charge discharge portion to the toner carrier, the ion irradiation head does not need to be directly opposed to the toner carrier, and the ion irradiation head does not contact the toner carrier and is excellent in handleability. .
(2) Since the separation electrode unit and the ion irradiation head are separated from each other, according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head, it can be easily replaced with a separation electrode unit having a different pitch of the separation electrode. In the case where the charge discharge portion of the charge channel portion in the separated electrode unit is contaminated with dust or the like, only an inexpensive separated electrode unit can be easily replaced, and the maintenance and resource saving are excellent.
(3) The separated electrode of the separated electrode unit has a charge injection portion into which charges are injected by irradiating ions, and a charge that discharges the charge injected into the charge injection portion at one end connected to the charge injection portion. And a charge flow path section provided with an emission section, so that the shape and arrangement of the charge injection section and the charge flow path section can be appropriately selected according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head. Excellent design flexibility.

Here, the separation electrode of the separation electrode unit is preferably formed by depositing a metal such as gold, silver, copper, or aluminum on the substrate by vapor deposition, sputtering, printing, plating, etc., and then performing patterning by etching as necessary. Used for. The pattern of the separation electrode can be appropriately selected according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head.
Further, the pitch of the charge injection part and the pitch of the charge discharge part of the charge channel part may be the same, or the pitch of the charge discharge part of the charge channel part may be narrower than the pitch of the charge injection part. In particular, when the pitch of the charge discharge part of the charge channel part is narrower than the pitch of the charge injection part, a high-resolution image can be formed in a short time using an ion irradiation head with a coarse resolution. Excellent.
The shape of the charge injection portion can be arbitrarily selected, but from the viewpoint of productivity and high density arrangement, a shape formed in a substantially circular shape or a substantially rectangular shape is preferably used. Moreover, the length of each charge flow path part may be the same or different.

As the material of the substrate, any material can be used as long as it can form the separation electrode on the surface. For example, a hard material such as glass or ceramic may be used, or a flexible material formed of a thin film resin such as polyimide, aramid, or polyetherimide may be used.
The charge injection section and the charge flow path section do not need to be arranged on the same plane. When a hard substrate such as glass or ceramic is used, a charge flow path section is formed on the surface of the substrate and charge injection is performed on the end face of the substrate. A part can also be formed.
In addition, when a flexible substrate is used, the shape flexibility is excellent, so after forming the separation electrode in a planar state, the direction of the charge injection part can be easily changed by bending or bending as necessary. it can. Thereby, arrangement | positioning of an ion irradiation head with a charge injection part can be selected suitably, and it is excellent in design flexibility, mass-productivity, and versatility.

Of the charge channel part, the side opposite to the charge injection part is the charge release part, but it is preferable to cover the charge channel part except for the charge release part. As a result, it is possible to prevent the charge from being discharged from other than the charge discharge portion, and the charge injected into the charge injection portion can be intensively discharged from the charge discharge portion without waste, and the charge discharge efficiency is excellent. The charge channel portion can be protected, and the durability of the separation electrode is excellent.
The coating film is formed of an insulator, and a material such as glass, a synthetic resin such as aramid or polyimide, a ceramic such as SiO _2, or mica is preferably used. The coating film can be formed by screen printing, vapor deposition, sputtering, or the like.

As an ion irradiation head used with this separated electrode unit, what can generate | occur | produce an electron and an ion should just be used. As a device capable of emitting electrons by heat generation, a device that heats a heating resistor or the like and emits thermoelectrons from the surface thereof is preferably used. An electron emission layer may be formed on the surface of the heating resistor by a material that easily emits electrons, such as Ag, MgO, or carbon nanotube, via an insulating layer. This ensures insulation between the heating resistor and the electron emission layer, prevents deterioration of the heating resistor, and emits a large amount of electrons to form a high-quality image.
Also, ions that can be generated include those that generate a corona discharge by applying a high voltage to wire electrodes, needle electrodes, etc., and electrons that are controlled by controlling the voltage applied to the discharge electrode and the heating temperature of the discharge electrode. And those that generate ions are preferably used.

  When the area of the charge injection portion of the separation electrode is formed wider than the area of the charge flow path portion, the ion irradiation head and the charge injection portion can be easily aligned, and the electrons irradiated from the ion irradiation head Ions can be reliably received by the charge injection portion and discharged from the charge discharge portion, and the image forming reliability is excellent. In addition, since the charge injection part formed wider than the area of the charge channel part can be irradiated with a large amount of electrons and ions to store the charge, a high charge is given to the toner carrier from the charge discharge part. Can be reliable in image quality.

  By forming the charge injection part into a circular or rectangular shape with respect to the charge channel part formed in a substantially linear shape, the charge channel part can be formed wider than the charge channel part. The area can be larger than the area. The charge injection portion only needs to have an area enough to store the amount of charge necessary for image formation, and can be appropriately selected according to the characteristics of the charged toner, the resolution of the ion irradiation head, the discharge amount, and the like. Although the area of the charge injection part depends on the resolution of the ion irradiation part or the like, for example, it is preferably formed to be 2 to 5 times the area of the charge channel part. As the area of the charge injection section becomes smaller than twice the area of the charge flow path section, it becomes difficult to align the ion irradiation head and the charge injection section, and the charge injection section is insufficient in area to provide sufficient charge. It is difficult to accumulate, and the image quality tends to be lowered. As the width becomes larger than 5 times, the pitch of the charge flow path portion becomes wider, the resolution of image formation is easily lowered, and the separation electrode unit is It tends to be large and difficult to handle, both of which are not preferred.

In the case where the thickness of the charge injection portion of the separation electrode is formed larger than the thickness of the charge channel portion, the volume of the charge injection portion can be made larger than the volume of the charge channel portion and can be stored in the charge injection portion. The amount of charge that can be generated can be increased, and the amount of charge that can be emitted from the charge emission portion can be increased, resulting in excellent image formation efficiency.
Although the thickness of the charge injection portion depends on the area of the charge injection portion, etc., it is preferable to form the charge injection portion 1.1 times to 2 times the thickness of the charge channel portion, for example. As the thickness of the charge injection section becomes thinner than 1.1 times the thickness of the charge flow path section, the volume of the charge injection section becomes insufficient and it becomes difficult to accumulate sufficient charges, and the image quality tends to deteriorate. As it becomes thicker than twice, production becomes difficult and mass productivity tends to decrease, which is not preferable.

By uniformly forming the volume of each separation electrode of the separation electrode unit, the amount of charge stored in each separation electrode can be made uniform, and variation in the amount of charge discharged from the charge discharge portion of the separation electrode can be reduced. Generation can be prevented and image quality is highly reliable.
Note that the volume of each separation electrode can be appropriately selected by adjusting the area and thickness of the charge injection portion, the width, length, thickness, and the like of the charge flow passage portion.

When the pitch of the charge discharge part of the charge flow channel part in the separated electrode is formed narrower than the pitch of the charge injection part, a high resolution image can be formed in a short time using a coarse ion irradiation head. Excellent in reliability and image quality.
Note that the pitch of the charge discharge portion of the charge channel portion and the pitch of the charge injection portion in the separation electrode can be appropriately selected according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head used in combination.
By preparing in advance a plurality of spaced electrode units having different pitches for the charge discharging portion and the charge injecting portion, the resolution can be easily converted by replacing only the separated electrode unit depending on the type of the ion irradiation portion. Excellent versatility and handling.

When the separation electrode unit is provided with a temperature adjustment unit that adjusts the temperature of the separation electrode, the temperature of the separation electrode can be kept substantially constant, and is almost constant from the charge emission unit without being influenced by the environmental temperature or the like. Can be discharged, and the stability of charge emission is excellent.
Any temperature adjusting unit may be used as long as the temperature can be adjusted by heating or cooling the separation electrode. Specifically, a Peltier element or the like is preferably used. Further, when the substrate is disposed on a heat radiating plate formed of a material having excellent heat radiating properties such as aluminum, heat generated by the separated electrode unit can be quickly absorbed and radiated. When irregularities are formed on the surface of the heat sink by grooves or the like, the surface area of the heat sink can be increased, and the efficiency of heat dissipation can be improved.

The distance between the charge injection portion of the separation electrode and the ion irradiation head in the separation electrode unit is only required to be separated to such an extent that discharge occurs, and the arrangement can be appropriately selected. For example, the separation electrode unit and the ion irradiation head may be arranged in series or in parallel so as to face each other.
The distance for separating the charge injection portion of the separation electrode and the ion irradiation head in the separation electrode unit is preferably 10 μm to 500 μm, for example, although it depends on the potential difference between the ion irradiation head and the print medium. As the distance becomes smaller than 10 μm, the alignment becomes difficult, and the charge injection part and the ion irradiation head tend to come into contact with each other. Therefore, there is a tendency that the quality of the image is liable to be lowered, both of which are not preferable.

The invention according to claim 9 is the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the ion irradiation head selectively heats the discharge electrode and the discharge electrode. And a heating and discharging type print head.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of any one of claims 6 to 8, the following operation is provided.
(1) Since the ion irradiation head is a heat discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating means for selectively heating the discharge electrode, a large amount of electrons generated with the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode The charge can be selectively injected by irradiating the toner carrier with ions based on the image information, and the image forming efficiency is excellent.
(2) Since the heat-discharge type print head is a system in which discharge is performed by selective heating to the discharge electrode, a driver IC corresponding to low withstand voltage such as 5 V drive can be used for heating control, Discharge control is easy and handling is excellent.

  Here, the heat-discharge-type print head is as described in claim 3 and will not be described.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the ninth aspect, wherein a potential difference corresponding to a discharge control voltage is set between the discharge electrode of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium. And a potential difference setting unit that forms an electric field.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the ninth aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) By having a potential difference setting unit that sets an electric potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium to form an electric field, the toner carrier is arranged to be sandwiched therebetween. A potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is set between the printed medium and the discharge electrode to form an electric field to prepare for the discharge, and there is no need to selectively apply a discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage. The discharge electrode can be selectively heated to generate a discharge from the discharge electrode. By applying an electric field to a desired position of the toner carrier, ions are irradiated to the desired position by the repulsive force or attractive force acting between the charged toner and the ions. The charged toner can be moved to the recording surface of the printing medium or the toner carrier, and an image can be formed.

  Here, in the potential difference setting unit, a voltage corresponding to the discharge control voltage may be directly applied between the discharge electrode and the print medium, or a voltage (electric field forming voltage) higher than the discharge control voltage is applied to the discharge electrode. It may be applied between the electric field forming electrode and the print medium which are opposed to each other and spaced apart from each other. Further, all the voltages corresponding to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage may be applied to the discharge electrode or the electric field forming electrode, and the print medium may be grounded, or it corresponds to the discharge control voltage or the electric field forming voltage. A part of the voltage may be distributed and applied to the print medium side.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect, wherein the potential difference setting unit applies the ground or voltage application to the print medium made of a conductor or a conductor layer formed on the print medium. A medium-side voltage selection unit for performing the above.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of the tenth aspect, the following operation is provided.
(1) Since the potential difference setting unit includes a medium-side voltage selection unit that performs grounding or voltage application to a conductive print medium or a conductor layer formed on the print medium, regardless of the material of the print medium, A potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be reliably set between the discharge electrode of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium, and the versatility and reliability of the potential difference setting are excellent.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to any one of the ninth to eleventh aspects, wherein the heating means is disposed apart from the discharge electrode and light is applied to the discharge electrode. It has the structure provided with the light irradiation part which selectively heats the said discharge electrode by irradiating.
With this configuration, in addition to the operation of any one of claims 9 to 11, the following operation is provided.
(1) In order to insulate the discharge electrode from the heating means, the heating means having a light irradiation portion that is disposed apart from the discharge electrode and selectively heats the discharge electrode by irradiating the discharge electrode with light. Without providing the insulating film, the discharge electrode and the heating means can be reliably insulated, the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced, and the mass productivity and the reliability of the heating control can be improved.
(2) Since the discharge electrode and the heating means are arranged apart from each other, the separately manufactured products can be used in a simple combination, and when either the discharge electrode or the heating means is defective. In addition, it is possible to repair and replace only those that have malfunctioned, and it is excellent in maintainability and resource saving.
(3) Since the discharge electrode and the heating means are arranged apart from each other, the discharge electrode and the heating means do not come into contact with each other, so that the cooling time of the discharge electrode in the heating stopped state can be greatly shortened. In addition, it is possible to improve the responsiveness of the discharge stop with respect to the heating stop and switch the presence or absence of the discharge in a short time, thereby improving the image quality and recording speed.

  Here, the light irradiation unit is as described in claims 3 and 5, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

As described above, according to the image forming method and the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the following advantageous effects can be obtained.
According to invention of Claim 1, it has the following effects.
(1) The toner carrier can be obtained simply by irradiating the back surface of the toner carrier, to which the charged toner is uniformly adhered on the surface by the charged toner adhesion step, with ions having the same polarity as the charged toner based on the image information by the ion irradiation step. The upper charged toner can be moved onto the print medium to form an image, and the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, and transfer process can be performed simultaneously in the same place, and image misalignment and transfer It is possible to provide an image forming method excellent in image forming efficiency and high image quality that can form a large amount of high quality images in a short time without causing defects.
(2) The ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, and a surface on which the charged toner is attached to the toner carrier by the charged toner attaching step and a surface on which ions are irradiated by the ion irradiation step. Therefore, the charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head, and an image forming method excellent in maintainability and durability of the ion irradiation head can be provided.

According to invention of Claim 2, it has the following effects.
(1) A charged toner based on image information by an ion irradiation process from an ion irradiation head disposed opposite to a print medium having a charged toner uniformly adhered to a recording surface by a charged toner adhesion process with a toner carrier interposed therebetween. By simply irradiating ions with the opposite polarity, the charged toner on the print medium can be moved onto the toner carrier to form an image on the print medium. Conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, transfer The process can be performed at the same place at the same time, image misregistration and transfer defects do not occur, and high quality images can be formed in large quantities in a short time. An image forming method excellent in quality can be provided.
(2) The ion irradiation head and the print medium are arranged opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, and the print medium to which the charged toner is attached and the ion irradiation head for performing the ion irradiation process are not in direct contact with each other by the charged toner attaching step. It is possible to provide an image forming method in which charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head and the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.

According to invention of Claim 3, in addition to the effect of Claim 1 or 2, it has the following effects.
(1) Since the ion irradiation head is a heat discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating means for selectively heating the discharge electrode, a large amount of electrons generated with the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode It is possible to provide an image forming method excellent in the efficiency of image formation, in which charges can be selectively injected by irradiating a toner carrier based on image information.

According to invention of Claim 4, in addition to the effect of Claim 3, it has the following effects.
(1) In the potential difference setting step, a potential difference corresponding to a discharge control voltage can be set between the print medium arranged so as to sandwich the toner carrier and the discharge electrode, and an electric field can be formed to prepare for the discharge. It is not necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage, and discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode by selectively heating the discharge electrode with a heating means in the discharge electrode heating process, and ions are carried on the toner by an electric field. It is easy to control the discharge so that an image can be formed by irradiating a desired position on the body and moving the charged toner to the recording surface of the print medium or the toner carrier by the repulsive force or attractive force acting between the charged toner and ions. An image forming method excellent in handleability can be provided.

According to invention of Claim 5, in addition to the effect of Claim 4, it has the following effects.
(1) In the discharge electrode heating step, the discharge can be generated by selectively irradiating the discharge electrode with light such as laser light or infrared light by the light irradiating part disposed away from the discharge electrode. It is possible to provide an image forming method with excellent efficiency.
(2) Since the discharge electrode and the light irradiation part are disposed apart from each other and the discharge electrode and the light irradiation part do not come into contact with each other, the cooling time of the discharge electrode in the heating stopped state can be greatly shortened. It is possible to provide an image forming method excellent in the reliability of the discharge control that can improve the responsiveness of the discharge stop with respect to the heating stop and switch the presence or absence of the discharge in a short time, and can improve the image quality and the recording speed.

According to invention of Claim 6, it has the following effects.
(1) The toner carrier can be obtained simply by irradiating the back surface of the toner carrier having the charged toner uniformly adhered to the surface by the charged toner supply unit with ions having the same polarity as the charged toner based on the image information by the ion irradiation head. The charged toner on the top can be moved onto the print medium by the repulsive force acting between the ions, and an image can be formed without causing image misalignment, and a large amount of high-quality images can be formed in a short time. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus excellent in image forming efficiency and high image quality.
(2) The ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween, and a surface on which the charged toner is attached to the toner carrier by the charged toner supply unit and a surface on which ions are irradiated by the ion irradiation head. Therefore, the charged toner does not adhere to the ion irradiation head, and an image forming apparatus excellent in maintenance and durability of the ion irradiation head can be provided.
(3) It is possible to form an image with only the charged toner supply unit and the ion irradiation head, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and a high-quality image can be formed on a print medium in a short time. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus with excellent handling properties.

According to invention of Claim 7, it has the following effects.
(1) From an ion irradiation head disposed opposite to a print medium having a charged toner uniformly adhered to a recording surface by a charged toner supply unit with a toner carrier interposed therebetween, the polarity is opposite to that of the charged toner based on image information. By simply irradiating ions, unnecessary charged toner on the print medium can be moved onto the toner carrier by the attractive force acting between the ions and an image can be formed on the print medium, resulting in image misalignment. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that is capable of forming a large amount of high-quality images in a short period of time and has excellent image formation efficiency and high image quality.
(2) The ion irradiation head and the print medium are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier interposed therebetween. The charged toner supply unit does not directly contact the ion irradiation head with the print medium to which the charged toner is attached, and charges the ion irradiation head. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus in which toner does not adhere and the ion irradiation head is excellent in maintainability and durability.
(3) An image can be formed only by the charged toner supply unit, the ion irradiation head, and the charged toner removing unit, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and a high-quality image can be formed on a print medium in a short time. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus excellent in mass productivity, space saving, and handleability.

According to invention of Claim 8, in addition to the effect of Claim 6 or 7, it has the following effects.
(1) The charge of electrons and ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head can be temporarily stored in the separation electrode of the separation electrode unit, and discharged from the charge discharge portion to the toner carrier. It is not necessary to directly face the body, and it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus with excellent handling properties that can prevent contact between the ion irradiation head and the toner carrier.
(2) Since the ion irradiation head and the separation electrode unit are separated from each other, according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head, only the separation electrode unit can be easily replaced to convert the resolution, Provide an image forming device with excellent versatility, handleability, maintainability, and resource saving that can maintain the stability of charge emission by replacing only an inexpensive separated electrode unit whose charge emission part is contaminated with dust. can do.

According to invention of Claim 9, in addition to the effect of any one of Claims 6 thru | or 8, it has the following effects.
(1) Since the ion irradiation head is a heat-discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating means for selectively heating the discharge electrode, a large amount of electrons generated along with the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus excellent in image forming efficiency that can selectively inject charges by irradiating a toner carrier with ions based on image information.

According to the invention described in claim 10, in addition to the effect of claim 9, the following effect is obtained.
(1) The potential difference setting unit sets a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage between the print medium arranged so as to sandwich the toner carrier and the discharge electrode of the heat discharge type print head to form an electric field to prepare for discharge. It is not necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage, and a discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode by selectively heating the discharge electrode with a heating means. Excellent handling properties that can irradiate a desired position on the carrier and move the charged toner to the recording surface of the print medium or the toner carrier by repulsive force or attractive force acting between the charged toner and ions to form an image. An image forming apparatus can be provided.

According to the invention described in claim 11, in addition to the effect of claim 10, the following effect is obtained.
(1) Since the potential difference setting unit includes a medium-side voltage selection unit that performs grounding or voltage application to a conductive print medium or a conductor layer formed on the print medium, regardless of the material of the print medium, To provide an image forming apparatus excellent in versatility and reliability of potential difference setting that can reliably set a potential difference corresponding to a discharge control voltage between a discharge electrode of a heating discharge type print head and a print medium. it can.

According to invention of Claim 12, in addition to the effect of any one of Claim 9 thru | or 11, it has the following effects.
(1) In order to insulate the discharge electrode from the heating means, the heating means having a light irradiation portion that is disposed apart from the discharge electrode and selectively heats the discharge electrode by irradiating the discharge electrode with light. It is possible to reliably insulate between the discharge electrode and the heating means without providing an insulating film, and to provide an image forming apparatus excellent in mass productivity and heating control reliability that can reduce the number of manufacturing steps. it can.
(2) The discharge electrode and the heating means are arranged apart from each other, the discharge electrode and the heating means are not in contact with each other, and the cooling time of the discharge electrode in the heating stopped state can be greatly shortened. It is possible to provide an image forming method excellent in reliability of discharge control capable of improving the image quality and recording speed capable of improving the discharge stop response and switching the presence or absence of discharge in a short time.

The image forming method and the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of a main part of an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method according to the first embodiment.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of Embodiment 1 of the present invention, in which an image is formed on a printing medium 30 to be described later by the action of charges using an ion irradiation head 1A. An ion irradiation head of the image forming apparatus 1 using the head, 20 is an endless loop type belt-type toner carrier formed of an insulating or semiconductor film or sheet, and 21 is a toner arranged in an endless loop shape. A plurality of rollers 22 in contact with the carrier 20 and transporting the toner carrier 20, 22 are arranged opposite to the surface on the print medium 30 side (outer peripheral surface side) of both surfaces of the toner carrier 20. A charged toner supply unit for uniformly and positively charged charged toner 23 is attached to the toner carrier 20, 24 is a medium side voltage selection unit of a potential difference setting unit for grounding the print medium 30, and 30 is a polyester. Print media conductor layer 32 for ground insulating layer 31 formed like terephthalate or glass by medium-side voltage selector 24 are stacked, 32a is a recording surface of the print medium 32.

The image forming method of the first embodiment will be described based on the operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above.
First, in the charged toner attaching step, the charged toner 23 is uniformly attached to the surface of the toner carrier 20 on the print medium 30 side by the charged toner supply unit 22.
Next, in the ion irradiation step, the charged toner based on the image information is formed on the surface of the toner carrier 20 opposite to the print medium 30 by the ion irradiation head 1A disposed opposite to the print medium 30 with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween. 23 is irradiated with positive ions having the same polarity as 23. Accordingly, the repulsive force acting between the charged toner 23 and positive ions selectively moves the charged toner 23 on the toner carrier 20 to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 to form an image.
During the ion irradiation process, the toner carrier 20 and the print medium 30 are moved in synchronization, but the moving speed of the toner carrier 20 and the print medium 30 does not have to be the same. When the toner carrier 20 is moved at a moving speed faster than the moving speed of the print medium 30, a large amount of charged toner 23 can be attached to the same location, and the print density can be increased.

An ion irradiation head used in this image forming method will be described.
2A is a schematic cross-sectional view of the main part of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2B is an image forming method used in the image forming method of the first embodiment. It is a principal part schematic front view of the discharge unit of the ion irradiation head in an apparatus.
In FIG. 2, 2 is a discharge unit of the ion irradiation head 1A, 3 is a substrate of a translucent discharge unit 2 formed of a synthetic resin such as polyimide, aramid, or polyetherimide, and 3a has an opening 3b. The shape holding plate of the discharge unit 2 on which the substrate 3 is fixed, 4 is a heat absorption layer of the discharge unit 2 formed by applying a black paint containing carbon or the like on the substrate 3 or vapor-depositing chromium. 5 is a discharge electrode of the discharge unit 2 formed by vapor deposition, sputtering, printing, plating, etc. of a metal such as gold, silver, copper, or aluminum, and then etched to form a ladder shape. 5a is a plurality of discharge electrodes 5 A discharge generation part, 5b is a common electrode of the discharge electrode 5 connecting both ends of the plurality of discharge generation parts 5a, 5c is a discharge opening of the discharge electrode 5 formed between the discharge generation part 5a and the discharge generation part 5a, 5d is the discharge electrode An electric connection portion of the discharge unit 2 connected to one end of the common electrode 5b and disposed on one side of the shape holding plate 3a and applied with a discharge control voltage, and 6 is separated from the discharge electrode 5 of the discharge unit 2. The heating means 25 of the ion irradiation head 1 </ b> A having a light irradiation part that selectively irradiates the discharge electrode 5 with light is electrically connected to the electric connection part 5 d and applies a discharge control voltage to the discharge electrode 5. It is a discharge electrode side voltage application part of a potential difference setting part.

Next, the manufacturing method of a discharge unit is demonstrated.
First, in the heat absorption layer forming step, a black paint is applied on one surface of the substrate 3 such as a synthetic resin such as polyimide, aramid, or polyetherimide, or chromium is vapor-deposited to form the heat absorption layer 4. Form. The material of the substrate 3 is not limited to the present embodiment, the heat absorption layer 4 and the discharge electrode 5 can be formed on the surface, and the heat resistance and heat resistance that can withstand the heating by the heating means 6 can be obtained. Any heat transfer property can be used as long as the heat propagated by the light emitted by the means 6 can be transmitted to the discharge electrode 5. In addition, when the discharge electrode 5 has sufficient heat absorption, the heat absorption layer 4 does not necessarily need to be provided. Further, even if the arrangement of the substrate 3 and the heat absorption layer 4 is switched, the heat absorbed by the heat absorption layer 4 can be transmitted to the discharge electrode 5 through the substrate 3.

Next, in the discharge electrode forming step, a plurality of discharge generating portions 5a and a common electrode 5b connecting them are formed on the surface of the substrate 3 on which the heat absorption layer 4 is formed. For the formation of the discharge generating portion 5a and the common electrode 5b, a metal such as gold, silver, copper, or aluminum is formed by vapor deposition, sputtering, printing, plating, etc., and then patterned by etching, laser processing, or the like. Used for. In addition, a conductive material such as carbon may be used.
The discharge electrode 5 is formed in a ladder shape and divided into a plurality of discharge generators 5a, thereby increasing the amount of discharge from the periphery of the discharge generator 5a and improving the discharge efficiency. Further, by providing the common electrode 5b in the vicinity of the discharge generation part 5a, the cooling effect of the discharge generation part 5a and the response to heating stop are improved by increasing the heat radiation area of the discharge electrode 5 and increasing the heat capacity. Recording is possible. Furthermore, since a stable voltage can always be applied by reducing the resistance value, the discharge stability is also excellent.

In addition, the shape of the discharge electrode 5 is not limited to this Embodiment, The number and arrangement | positioning of the discharge generation part 5a can be selected suitably, and can also be arrange | positioned at zigzag form, a grid | lattice form, etc. Further, when the entire discharge electrode 5 is formed in a single flat plate shape such as a rectangular shape or a square shape, an arbitrary portion heated by the heating means 6 becomes the discharge generating portion 5a, and the other portions become the common electrode 5b. . Furthermore, only one end portion of the plurality of discharge generating portions 5a may be connected by a common electrode 5b to be formed in a comb shape (corresponding to a structure in which the common electrode 5b on the other end side of the ladder shape is separated). When a part of the discharge generating part 5a is further divided by slits or an uneven part is formed on the peripheral part, the peripheral length of the discharge generating part 5a is increased to increase the discharge amount from the peripheral part. Can do. Further, when the discharge hole portion is formed in the discharge generation portion 5a, a discharge can be generated from the periphery of the edge of the discharge hole portion, and the discharge amount is the same as when the end portion of the discharge generation portion 5a is divided by a slit or the like. Can be increased. The shape of the discharge hole portion can be formed in various shapes such as a substantially circular shape, a substantially elliptical shape, a polygon such as a quadrangle and a hexagon, and a star shape. The number, shape, and size of the discharge hole portions per location of the discharge generating portion 5a can be appropriately selected and combined.
Note that the discharge electrode 5 formed in a ladder shape by connecting both ends of the plurality of discharge generating portions 5a with the common electrode 5b as in the present embodiment forms a plurality of discharge hole portions in a flat plate-like discharge electrode. The discharge opening 5c corresponds to the discharge hole.

A method for driving the ion irradiation head configured as described above will be described.
Although various combinations of the AC voltage and DC voltage applied to the discharge electrode 5 are conceivable, in the present embodiment, a voltage of −700 V is superimposed on the discharge electrode 5 as an example by a DC bias of AC550 Vpp (triangular wave 1 kHz). And applied as a discharge control voltage. When only an AC voltage is applied to the discharge electrode 5, positive and negative ions are generated. However, by superimposing a positive DC voltage, only positive ions can be selected and the discharge can be stabilized. In order to select only negative ions, a negative DC voltage may be superimposed on the AC voltage.
By simply applying a discharge control voltage to the discharge electrode 5, no discharge occurs. Further, by separately controlling the heating means 6 and selectively heating the discharge electrode 5 from the substrate 3 side (100 to 300 ° C.), Discharge is generated from the discharge generating portion 5a of the discharge electrode 5 that is selectively heated.
When discharge occurs, ions are generated in an atmosphere capable of generating ions, and the ions are irradiated toward the toner carrier 20.

The ion irradiation head 1A according to the present embodiment controls the generation of discharge by controlling the temperature of each discharge generation part 5a of the discharge electrode 5 to which the discharge control voltage is applied. The voltage to be applied is constant and does not need to be controlled, and by controlling the presence or absence of heating by the heating means 6, it is possible to control the generation of ions and to generate a large amount of ions efficiently.
As described with reference to FIG. 1, by grounding the conductor layer 32 provided on the surface of the print medium 30, the potential difference between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30 causes the discharge electrode 5 a toward the print medium 30. Positive ions move. At this time, since the toner carrier 20 is disposed between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30, positive ions are applied to the surface of the toner carrier 20, and the charged toner 23 is transferred to the print medium by the action of the charge. 30 is moved to the recording surface 32a side, and an image is formed.
Since there is only a potential difference between the discharge electrode 5 of the ion irradiation head 1A and the print medium 30, instead of grounding the conductor layer 32 of the print medium 30 by the medium side voltage selection unit 24 of the potential difference setting unit, the discharge is performed. A part of the control voltage may be distributed and applied.
In addition, since it is sufficient that a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is generated between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30, a voltage corresponding to the discharge control voltage is directly applied between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30. Instead of applying between them, the ion irradiation head 1A, the toner carrier 20, the printing medium 30 and the like may be placed in an electric field that generates a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage. For example, a voltage (electric field forming voltage) higher than the discharge control voltage is applied between the print medium 30 and the electric field forming electrode arranged opposite to each other, and the ion irradiation head 1A is interposed between the print medium 30 and the electric field forming electrode. In addition, by disposing the toner carrier 20, a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be generated between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30.

The discharge electrode 5 of the discharge unit 2 is scanned with a laser beam (not shown) such as a polygon mirror or a galvano mirror by scanning the laser beam emitted from the light irradiation unit of the heating unit 6 or the heating unit 6 is scanned with the heating unit. By performing serial scanning with a section (not shown), an arbitrary discharge generating section 5 a can be heated, and an image can be formed on the print medium 30. At this time, with the discharge unit 2 fixed, the discharge electrode 5 can be selectively heated to generate a discharge from the discharge generator 5a, and a high-quality image without misalignment can be formed. Excellent image quality reliability. Note that the laser beam may be condensed and irradiated by an optical fiber.
Any heating means 6 may be used as long as it can selectively heat the discharge generation part 5a away from the discharge electrode 5. In addition to the means for irradiating laser light from the light irradiation part, infrared rays are collected by an optical fiber or a condenser lens. Those that are irradiated with light are preferably used.

In the present embodiment, the heat discharge type print head is used as the ion irradiation head 1A. However, the ion irradiation head used in this image forming method may be any one that can generate ions, such as a wire electrode or a needle electrode. Conventionally known devices such as a device that generates a corona discharge by applying a high voltage to the device and a device that heats an electrode to emit thermoelectrons can be used.
The print medium 30 may be any medium that can perform grounding or voltage application and can form an image (visible image) when the charged toner 23 adheres thereto. Therefore, the print medium 30 may be made of a conductor or have at least one insulating layer 31 and a conductor layer 32. Note that the conductor layer 32 does not have to be solid, and can be patterned in any shape, and the recording surface 32a may include a mixture of insulating regions and conductive regions.
In the present embodiment, the positively charged toner 23 is used. However, the charged toner 23 may be positively or negatively charged and can be colored in any color. The charged toner 23 may be a liquid toner or a powder toner (dry toner). Further, the shape of the toner carrier 20 is not limited to the present embodiment, and may be a roll-up roll type or a flat plate type.

Since the image forming method of Embodiment 1 is configured as described above, it has the following operations.
(1) By having the charged toner adhesion step, the charged toner 23 is uniformly adhered to the surface on the print medium 30 side of both surfaces of the toner carrier 20 without special control. Can be prepared for image formation, and is excellent in handling.
(2) The surface opposite to the print medium 30 on both surfaces of the toner carrier 20 is irradiated with ions having the same polarity as the charged toner 23 based on the image information, and the ion carrier 1A is sandwiched between the toner carrier 20 and the ion carrier head 1A. By having an ion irradiation step of moving the charged toner 23 on the toner carrier 20 to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 disposed so as to form an image, the print medium can be simply irradiated with ions based on the image information. Since an image can be formed on the image forming apparatus 30, the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, developing process, and transfer process are simultaneously performed at the same place, which may cause image misalignment or transfer failure. And excellent image quality.
(3) The ion irradiation process can be regarded as a process in which the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, development process, and transfer process are simultaneously performed, and an image is formed by only two processes, a charged toner attaching process and an ion irradiation process. Since the process is simple, a large amount of images can be formed in a short time, and the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
(4) Since the ion irradiation head 1A and the print medium 30 are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween, the surface on which the charged toner 23 is attached to the toner carrier 20 by the charged toner attachment process, Since the ion irradiation surface differs depending on the irradiation process, the charged toner 23 does not adhere to the ion irradiation head 1A, and the ion irradiation head 1A has excellent maintainability and durability.
(5) Since the ion irradiation head 1 </ b> A is a heat discharge type print head having the discharge electrode 5 and heating means 6 for selectively heating the discharge electrode 5, the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode 5 occurs. The toner carrying member 20 can be irradiated with a large amount of ions generated in this manner to selectively inject charges based on the image information, and the image forming efficiency is excellent.
(6) In the potential difference setting step, a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be set between the print medium 30 disposed so as to sandwich the toner carrier 20 and the discharge electrode 5 to form an electric field to prepare for the discharge. It is not necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage, and discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode 5 by selectively heating the discharge electrode 5 with the heating means 6 in the discharge electrode heating step. An ion can be irradiated to a desired position of the toner carrier 20 by an electric field, and the charged toner 23 can be moved to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 by a repulsive force acting between the charged toner 23 and the ions, thereby forming an image. Excellent controllability of image formation.
(7) The discharge electrode heating step is performed by a light irradiating unit that is disposed apart from the discharge electrode 5 and selectively irradiates the discharge electrode 5 with light, so that the discharge electrode 5 is irradiated with light such as laser light or infrared light. It is possible to generate a discharge by irradiating with an excellent discharge efficiency.
(8) Since the discharge electrode 5 and the light irradiating part are arranged apart from each other, the discharge electrode 5 and the light irradiating part do not come into contact with each other, so that the cooling time of the discharge electrode 5 in the heating stopped state is greatly increased. Therefore, it is possible to improve the responsiveness of the discharge stop with respect to the heating stop and switch the presence or absence of the discharge in a short time, thereby improving the image quality and the recording speed.

Since the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment is configured as described above, it has the following operations.
(1) By having the charged toner supply unit 22 that uniformly attaches the charged toner 23 to the surface on the print medium 30 side of both surfaces of the toner carrier 20, it is simple and reliable without special control. The charged toner 23 can be uniformly adhered to the surface on the print medium 30 side of both surfaces of the toner carrier 20, so that it can be prepared for image formation, and the handling property is excellent.
(2) By having the ion irradiation head 1A disposed opposite to the print medium 30 with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween, the charged toner 23 on the toner carrier 20 is ionized only by irradiating ions based on image information. Since the image can be formed on the print medium 30 by moving to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 by the repulsive force acting between the two, the image is not misaligned and the image has high quality. .
(3) Since the ion irradiation head 1A and the print medium 30 are arranged opposite to each other with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween, a surface on which the charged toner 23 is attached to the toner carrier 20 by the charged toner supply unit 22; Since the ion irradiation surface differs depending on the ion irradiation head 1A, the charged toner 23 does not adhere to the ion irradiation head 1A, and the ion irradiation head 1A is excellent in maintainability and durability.
(4) An image can be formed only by the charged toner supply unit 22 and the ion irradiation head 1A, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and a high-quality image can be formed on the print medium 30 in a short time. Excellent in performance, space saving, and handling.
(5) Since the ion irradiation head 1 </ b> A is a heat discharge type print head having the discharge electrode 5 and heating means 6 for selectively heating the discharge electrode 5, the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode 5 occurs. The toner carrying member 20 can be irradiated with a large amount of ions generated in this manner to selectively inject charges based on the image information, and the image forming efficiency is excellent.
(6) The toner carrier 20 is sandwiched by having a potential difference setting unit that sets an electric potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode 5 of the heat discharge type print head 1A and the print medium 30 to form an electric field. A potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is set between the print medium 30 and the discharge electrode 5 arranged in this manner, and an electric field can be formed to prepare for the discharge, and the discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage is selectively applied. There is no need, and the discharge means 5 can be selectively heated by the heating means 6 to generate a discharge from the discharge electrode 5. The charged toner 23 is irradiated with ions at a desired position by the electric field. The charged toner 23 can be moved to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 by the repulsive force acting between the ions and the ions, and an image can be formed.
(7) The heating means 6 is disposed separately from the discharge electrode 5 and has a light irradiation part that selectively heats the discharge electrode 5 by irradiating the discharge electrode 5 with light. Without providing an insulating film or the like for insulating the means 6, the discharge electrode 5 and the heating means 6 can be reliably insulated, the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced, and mass productivity and reliability of heating control can be improved. Can be made.
(8) Since the discharge electrode 5 and the heating means 6 are spaced apart from each other, they can be used in a simple combination, and there is a problem with either the discharge electrode 5 or the heating means 6. When this occurs, it is possible to repair and replace only those in which a problem has occurred, which is excellent in maintainability and resource saving.
(9) Since the discharge electrode 5 and the heating means 6 are spaced apart from each other, the discharge electrode 5 and the heating means 6 do not come into contact with each other, so the cooling time of the discharge electrode 5 in the heating stopped state is greatly increased. Therefore, it is possible to improve the responsiveness of the discharge stop with respect to the heating stop and switch the presence or absence of the discharge in a short time, thereby improving the image quality and the recording speed.
(10) Since the potential difference setting unit includes the medium side voltage selection unit 24 that performs grounding or voltage application to the conductor layer 32 formed on the print medium 30, heating discharge is performed regardless of the material of the print medium 30. It is excellent in the versatility and reliability of potential difference setting that can reliably set a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode 5 of the mold print head and the print medium 30.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of an essential part of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment, and FIG. 4A is a discharge of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment. FIG. 4B is a schematic perspective view of a main part of an ion irradiation head in an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method according to the second embodiment. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the thing similar to Embodiment 1, and description is abbreviate | omitted.
In FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that an ion irradiation head 1B is used instead of the ion irradiation head 1A. The ion irradiation head 1B will be described later.
In FIG. 3, the printing medium 30a used in the image forming method of the second embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment in that a conductive layer 32 is formed on the back side of the insulating layer 31 and the insulating layer 31 The surface is the recording surface 31a.
Since the image forming method of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 4A, the ion irradiation head 1B in the image forming apparatus 1a used in the image forming method of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the discharge electrode 5 is provided on the substrate 3 as in the first embodiment. Instead of forming, the discharge generating part 5Ba of the discharge electrode 5B is formed at the outlet end of the optical fiber 7 connected to the heating means 6, and the voltage input part 5Bb is formed integrally with the discharge generating part 5Ba on the side surface of the optical fiber 7. The discharge unit 2a having the discharge electrode 5B is used.
The discharge generating part 5Ba and the voltage input part 5Bb can be formed by directly depositing chromium on the outlet tip and side surfaces of the optical fiber 7 and performing gold plating.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (b), a large number of optical fibers 7 on which discharge electrodes 5B are formed are sandwiched from both sides by a metal heat radiating plate 16 having excellent heat radiating properties such as aluminum, and fixed by a fixing member 16a such as a screw type. By fixing, the ion irradiation head 1B is obtained. At this time, the heat sink 16 can be used as a common electrode by electrically connecting one of the heat sink 16 and the high voltage substrate (not shown) by the electric wiring 16b, and the discharge electrodes of the multiple optical fibers 7 can be used. With respect to 5B, the discharge control voltage can be simultaneously applied through each voltage input portion 5Bb, and the handleability is excellent. In addition, by filling the periphery of the optical fiber 7 with conductive silicon or the like, fixing stability can be improved without hindering conductivity.

When a high voltage substrate (not shown) for applying a discharge control voltage to the discharge electrode 5B is fixed to the side of the optical fiber 7, the electrical wiring 16b can be shortened, and the reliability of voltage supply is improved. be able to. Further, the high-voltage substrate can be handled integrally with the heating means 6 and the discharge unit 2a, and it is not necessary to handle the electric wiring 16b, so that it can be easily incorporated into the image forming apparatus 1a, and is excellent in handleability and mass productivity.
In addition, when unevenness | corrugation is formed in the surface of the heat sink 16 by the groove | channel etc., the surface area of the heat sink 16 can be expanded and the efficiency of heat dissipation can be improved.

Since the image forming method and the image forming apparatus of the second embodiment are configured as described above, in addition to the same actions as those obtained in the first embodiment, the following actions are provided.
(1) The discharge unit 2a and the heating unit 6 that are separated from each other have an optical fiber 7 that connects between the discharge electrode 5B of the discharge unit 2a and the heating unit 6, and the light emitted by the heating unit 6 is emitted from the optical fiber 7 to the discharge electrode 5B. Can be handled as an ion irradiation head 1B in which the discharge unit 2a and the heating means 6 are integrated, the alignment of the discharge unit 2a and the heating means 6 is unnecessary, and a desired discharge generating portion of the discharge electrode 5B is obtained. 5Ba can be reliably heated to generate discharge, and the discharge reliability is excellent.
(2) Since the discharge electrode 5B of the discharge unit 2a is formed at the exit tip of the optical fiber 7 connected to the heating means 6, the manufacturing process of the discharge unit 2a can be simplified and the mass productivity is excellent. The discharge unit 2a can be made compact, and is excellent in space saving and handling.
(3) The discharge electrode 5B of the discharge unit 2a has the voltage input part 5Bb integrally formed with the discharge generation part 5Ba on the side surface of the optical fiber 7, thereby electrically connecting a high voltage substrate or the like to the voltage input part 5Bb. Since the discharge control voltage can be reliably applied to the discharge generation unit 5Ba from the side surface of the optical fiber 7 via the voltage input unit 5Bb, an electrical connection portion is formed on the surface of the discharge generation unit 5Ba. In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent contact between the toner carrier 20 and the electrical connection part while bringing the discharge generator 5Ba close to the surface of the toner carrier 20, and the discharge generation reliability is excellent.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of the main part of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the third embodiment, and FIG. 6 shows the ion irradiation head and the separation electrode unit in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the third embodiment. It is a principal part model perspective view. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the thing similar to Embodiment 1 or 2, and description is abbreviate | omitted.
In FIG. 5, the image forming apparatus 1b used in the image forming method of the third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the spaced electrode unit 10 is provided between the ion irradiation head 1A and the toner carrier 20 in the first embodiment. This is the point that is arranged. The separation electrode unit 10 will be described later.
In FIG. 5, the print medium 30b used in the image forming method of the third embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment in that the print medium 30b is formed of only the conductor layer 32, and the surface of the conductor layer 32 is the recording surface 32a. This is the point.

6 is a view of the separation electrode unit 10 viewed from the ion irradiation head 1A side, and the positional relationship between the ion irradiation head 1A and the separation electrode unit 10 is reversed from FIG.
In FIG. 6, 10 is a separation electrode unit used in combination with the ion irradiation head 1A, 11 is a flexible substrate of the separation electrode unit 10 formed of a thin film resin such as polyimide, aramid, or polyetherimide, and 11a is a separation electrode described later. 12 is a heat dissipation plate of the separation electrode unit 10 fixed on the back surface of the substrate 11 as a temperature adjustment unit for adjusting the temperature of the substrate 12, 12 is a separation electrode of the separation electrode unit 10 formed on the substrate 11, and 13 is a heat dissipation plate 11a. The charge injection part of the separation electrode 12, which is arranged at the end of the electrode and into which electrons and ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head 1A are injected, 14 is connected to the charge injection part 13 at one end and injected into the charge injection part 13 at the other end. This is a charge flow path portion of the separation electrode 12 having a charge emission portion 14a that emits the emitted electrons and ions.

By using the flexible substrate 11, the shape flexibility is excellent. Therefore, after the separation electrode 12 is formed in a planar state, the direction of the charge injection portion 13 can be easily changed by bending or bending as necessary. Can do. The arrangement of the charge injection portion 13 together with the ion irradiation head 1A can be selected as appropriate, and is excellent in design flexibility, mass productivity, and versatility.
In addition, in order to make the electric charge amount stored in each separation electrode 12 uniform, the volume of each separation electrode 12 was formed uniformly. Further, the thickness of the charge injection portion 13 of the separation electrode 12 is formed to be thicker than the thickness of the charge channel portion 14. Thereby, the volume of the charge injection part 13 can be made larger than the volume of the charge channel part 14, the amount of charge that can be stored in the charge injection part 13 is increased, and the amount of charge released from the charge discharge part 14a is increased. Since it can be increased, the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
Since the separation electrode unit 10 includes the heat radiating plate 11a as a temperature adjustment unit for adjusting the temperature of the separation electrode 12, the temperature of the separation electrode 12 can be kept substantially constant, and is influenced by the environmental temperature or the like. Therefore, a substantially constant charge can be discharged from the charge discharge portion 14a, and the charge discharge can be stabilized, so that the image quality is excellent.

The image forming method of the third embodiment configured as described above is different from that of the first embodiment in that instead of directly irradiating the toner carrier 20 with ions from the ion irradiation head 1A, ions are separated from the separation electrode unit 10. It is the point which inject | pours into the charge injection | pouring part 13 of the separate electrode 12 of this.
The ions injected into the charge injection section 13 pass through the charge flow path section 14 and are discharged from the charge discharge section 14 a to the toner carrier 20. Next, as shown in FIG. 5, as in the first embodiment, the charged toner 23 moves to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30b by the repulsive force acting between the charged toner 23 and the ions to form an image. .

In the present embodiment, the pitch of the charge injection portion 13 of the separation electrode unit 10 and the pitch of the charge discharge portion 14a of the charge flow path portion 14 are formed the same, but the pattern of the separation electrode 12 is the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1A. The pitch of the charge injection part 13 and the pitch of the charge discharge part 14a of the charge channel part 14 are arbitrary.
Further, the shape of the charge injection portion 13 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape from the viewpoint of productivity and high density arrangement, but a substantially circular shape or any other shape can be selected.

  Since the image forming method of the third embodiment is configured as described above, it has the same operation as that obtained in the first embodiment.

Since the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment is configured as described above, it has the following actions in addition to the actions similar to those obtained in the first embodiment (1) to (9).
(1) Since the separation electrode unit 10 is disposed between the ion irradiation head 1A and the toner carrier 20, the charges of electrons and ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head 1A are temporarily stored in the separation electrode unit 10. Since it can be stored in the separation electrode 12 and discharged from the charge discharge portion 14a to the toner carrier 20, it is not necessary for the ion irradiation head 1A to directly face the toner carrier 20, and the ion irradiation head 1A does not need to face the toner carrier. No contact with 20 and excellent handleability.
(2) Since the separation electrode unit 10 and the ion irradiation head 1A are separated from each other, the separation electrode unit 10 having a different pitch of the separation electrode 12 can be easily replaced according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1A. When the charge discharge portion 14a of the charge flow path portion 14 in the separation electrode unit 10 is contaminated with dust or the like, only the inexpensive separation electrode unit 10 can be easily replaced, and maintainability, Excellent resource saving.
(3) The separation electrode 12 of the separation electrode unit 10 is injected into the charge injection section 13 where one end is connected to the charge injection section 13 and the other end is injected into the charge injection section 13. And the charge channel portion 14 having the charge discharge portion 14a for discharging the charge, the shape and arrangement of the charge injection portion 13 and the charge channel portion 14 are appropriately determined according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1A. , And the design flexibility of the separation electrode unit 10 is excellent.
(4) Since the potential difference setting unit includes the medium-side voltage selection unit 24 that performs grounding or voltage application to the print medium 30b made of a conductor, regardless of the material of the print medium 30b, A potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be reliably set between the discharge electrode 5 and the print medium 30b, and the versatility and reliability of the potential difference setting are excellent.

(Embodiment 4)
FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of an essential part of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 8A is a schematic diagram of an ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 8B is a schematic front view of the main part of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method according to the fourth embodiment. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the thing similar to Embodiment 1 thru | or 3, and description is abbreviate | omitted.
In FIG. 7, the image forming apparatus 1c used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that an ion irradiation head 1C and a separation electrode unit 10a are provided instead of the ion irradiation head 1A. A charged toner supply unit 22 is provided opposite to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30; and a charged toner removing unit 26 that removes the charged toner 23 attached to the toner carrier 20 is provided. Is a point.

FIG. 8 is a view of the separation electrode unit 10a viewed from the ion irradiation head 1C side, and the positional relationship between the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a is opposite to that in FIG.
In FIG. 8, the ion irradiation head 1C is different from the ion irradiation head 1A in that the discharge electrode 5 is formed in a comb shape by connecting one end portions of a plurality of discharge generation portions 5a with a common electrode 5b, and heating. The means 6 a has a heating resistor 6 b that is insulated by the insulating film 8 and is in close contact with the discharge electrode 5.
The separation electrode unit 10a is different from the separation electrode unit 10 in the third embodiment in that the separation electrode 12a is formed on a hard substrate 11b formed of ceramic, glass, or the like, and has a charge injection portion 13 and a charge discharge portion 14a. The charge channel portion 14 is arranged on the same plane, and the coating film 15 formed of an insulating material such as glass, synthetic resin such as aramid or polyimide excludes the charge injection portion 13 and the charge discharge portion 14a. This is a point covered with the separation electrode 12a.

Next, details of the heating means of the ion irradiation head will be described.
FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of the main part of the heating means of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment.
In FIG. 9, 6c is a driver IC of heating means 6a that is electrically connected to the heating resistor 6b and controls the heat generation of the heating resistor 6b, 9a is a heating common electrode for energizing the heating resistor 6b, and 9b is This is an individual electrode for heat generation for energizing the heating resistor 6b.

The ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a can be used by being detachably attached to a common fixing plate (not shown).
When aluminum having excellent heat dissipation is used as the material of the fixing plate, it becomes a heat dissipation plate that quickly absorbs and dissipates heat generated in the separation electrode unit 10a, and functions as a temperature adjustment unit that adjusts the temperature of the separation electrode 12a. . Further, a Peltier element or the like may be disposed on the substrate 11b of the separation electrode unit 10a as the temperature adjustment unit. The temperature adjusting unit can easily heat or cool the separation electrode 12a, and the temperature of the separation electrode 12a can be kept substantially constant. This is because a substantially constant charge can be emitted from the portion 14a, and the stability of charge emission is excellent.
The side opposite to the charge injection part 13 side of the charge channel part 14 is the charge release part 14a. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the charge from being discharged from other than the charge discharge portion 14a, and the charge injected into the charge injection portion 13 can be intensively discharged from the charge discharge portion 14a without waste. In addition, the charge channel portion 14 can be protected, and the durability of the separation electrode is excellent.

The image forming method of the first embodiment will be described based on the operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above.
First, in the charged toner attaching step, the charged toner 23 is uniformly attached to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 by the charged toner supply unit 22 (see FIG. 7).
Next, in the head side voltage application step in the potential difference setting step of the ion irradiation step, a discharge control voltage is applied to the discharge electrode 5 of the ion irradiation head 1C by the discharge electrode side voltage application unit 25.
Subsequently, in the discharge electrode heating step of the ion irradiation step, the heating resistor 6b is selectively heated by the driver IC 6c of the heating means 6a based on the image information, and the discharge generating portion 5a of the discharge electrode 5 is selectively heated. . As a result, a discharge is generated from the discharge generator 5a heated by the heating resistor 6b.
Negative ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head 1C by discharge are injected into the charge injection portion 13 of the separation electrode 12a of the separation electrode unit 10a.
The ions injected into the charge injection section 13 pass through the charge flow path section 14 and are discharged from the charge discharge section 14 a to the toner carrier 20. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the charged toner 23 on the print medium 30 moves to the toner carrier 20 side due to the attractive force acting between the charged toner 23 and the ions, and an image is formed on the recording surface 32 a of the print medium 30. It is formed.

Next, a modification of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment will be described.
FIG. 10A is a schematic perspective view of main parts of an ion irradiation head and a separation electrode unit in a modification of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment, and FIG. 10B is a schematic perspective view of the fourth embodiment. It is a principal part enlarged schematic plan view of the separation electrode unit in the modification of the image forming apparatus used for the image forming method.
The modification of the image forming apparatus 1c used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment is different from that of the fourth embodiment in that the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10b are arranged to face each other in parallel.
Further, the spacing electrode unit 10b in the modified example of the image forming apparatus 1c used in the image forming method according to the fourth embodiment is different from that of the fourth embodiment in that the pitch of the charge discharging portion 14a of the charge channel portion 14 in the spacing electrode 12b. P ₁ is formed to be narrower than the pitch P ₂ of the charge injection portion 13.

Note that the pitch P ₁ of the charge discharge portion 14 a of the charge channel portion 14 and the pitch P of the charge injection portion 13 in the separation electrode 12 b can be appropriately selected according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1 C used in combination. .
Also, by preparing in advance a plurality of spaced electrode units 10b having different pitches of the charge emitting portion 14a and the charge injecting portion 13, depending on the type of the ion irradiation head 1C, only the separated electrode unit 10b is replaced. The resolution can be easily converted, and the versatility and handling are excellent.
Since an image forming method using the image forming apparatus according to the modified example configured as described above is the same as that in the fourth embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

Since the image forming method of Embodiment 4 is configured as described above, it has the following operations.
(1) By having the charged toner adhesion step, the charged toner 23 can be uniformly and reliably adhered to the recording surface 32a of the print medium 30 without special control, and in preparation for image formation. Can be handled and is excellent in handling.
(2) The ion irradiation head 1C disposed opposite to the print medium 30 with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween is opposite to the charged toner 23 on the surface of the toner carrier 20 on the side of the ion irradiation head 1C based on image information. Based on the image information, there is an ion irradiation step of irradiating polar ions to move the charged toner 23 on the print medium 30 to the print medium 30 side of both surfaces of the toner carrier 20 to form an image. Since the image can be formed on the print medium 30 simply by irradiating the ions, the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, developing process, and transferring process are performed at the same place at the same time. There is no occurrence of misalignment or transfer failure, and the image quality is excellent.
(3) By having the charged toner removing step of removing the charged toner 23 attached to the toner carrier 20, the toner carrier 20 can be used repeatedly, the reliability of the image quality, the long life of the toner carrier 20 Excellent in properties.
(4) The ion irradiation process can be regarded as a process in which the conventional electrostatic latent image forming process, developing process, and transfer process are performed simultaneously. The charged toner attaching process, the ion irradiating process, and the charged toner removing process. Since an image can be formed by only one process and the process is simple, a large amount of image can be formed in a short time, and the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
(5) Since the ion irradiation head 1C, the separation electrode unit 10a (10b), and the print medium 30 are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween, the print medium 30 to which the charged toner 23 adheres in the charged toner attachment process. Since the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) for performing the ion irradiation process are not in direct contact with each other, the charged toner 23 does not adhere to the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b). The maintainability and durability of the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) are excellent.
(6) The ion irradiation head 1 </ b> C is a heat discharge type print head having the discharge electrode 5 and heating means 6 a for selectively heating the discharge electrode 5, so that electrons are emitted from the discharge electrode 5. The toner carrying member 20 can be irradiated with a large amount of ions generated in this manner to selectively inject charges based on the image information, and the image forming efficiency is excellent.
(7) Since the heat discharge type print head is a system in which discharge is performed by selective heating to the discharge electrode 5, a driver IC 6c corresponding to low withstand voltage such as 5V drive can be used for heating control. , Discharge control is easy and handling is excellent.
(8) In the potential difference setting step, a potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be set between the print medium 30 disposed so as to sandwich the toner carrier 20 and the discharge electrode 5 to form an electric field to prepare for the discharge. It is not necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage, and discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode 5 by selectively heating the discharge electrode 5 with the heating means 6a in the discharge electrode heating step. An ion can be irradiated to a desired position of the toner carrier 20 by an electric field, and the charged toner 23 can be moved to the toner carrier 20 by an attractive force acting between the charged toner 23 and the ions to form an image. Excellent controllability.

Since the image forming apparatus of the fourth embodiment is configured as described above, it has the following operations.
(1) By having the charged toner supply unit 22, the charged toner 23 can be uniformly and reliably attached to the recording surface 32 a of the print medium 30 without performing special control, thereby forming an image. It can be provided and has excellent handleability.
(2) By having the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) disposed opposite to the print medium 30 with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween, the print medium 30 can be simply irradiated with ions based on image information. The unnecessary charged toner 23 on the upper side can be moved to the toner carrier 20 side by an attractive force acting between the ions and an image can be formed on the print medium 30, so that no image misalignment occurs. Excellent image quality.
(3) By having the charged toner removing unit 26 that removes the charged toner 23 attached to the toner carrier 20, the toner carrier can be used repeatedly, reliability of image quality, and long life of the toner carrier 20. Excellent in properties.
(4) An image can be formed only by the charged toner supply unit 22, the ion irradiation head 1C, the separation electrode unit 10a (10b), and the charged toner removal unit 26, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and the printing medium 30 can be formed in a short time. A high-quality image can be formed, and the apparatus is excellent in mass productivity, space saving, and handleability.
(5) The print medium to which the charged toner 23 is adhered by the charged toner supply unit 22 because the ion irradiation head 1C, the separation electrode unit 10a (10b), and the print medium 30 are disposed opposite to each other with the toner carrier 20 interposed therebetween. 30 and the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) are not in direct contact with each other, and the charged toner 23 does not adhere to the ion irradiation head 1C and the separation electrode unit 10a (10b). In addition, the maintainability and durability of the separated electrode unit 10a (10b) are excellent.
(6) Since the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) is disposed between the ion irradiation head 1C and the toner carrier 20, the charge of electrons and ions irradiated from the ion irradiation head 1C is temporarily separated. Since it can be stored in the separation electrode 12a (12b) of the unit 10a (10b) and discharged from the charge discharge portion 14a to the toner carrier 20, there is no need to make the ion irradiation head 1C directly face the toner carrier 20. The ion irradiation head 1C does not come into contact with the toner carrier 20 and is excellent in handleability.
(7) Since the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) and the ion irradiation head 1C are separated from each other, the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) having a different pitch of the separation electrodes 12a (12b) according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1C. If the charge discharge portion 14a of the charge flow path portion 14 in the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) is contaminated with dust or the like, it can be easily replaced, and the inexpensive separation electrode unit 10a ( Only 10b) can be easily replaced, and it is excellent in maintainability and resource saving.
(8) The separation electrode 12a (12b) of the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) includes a charge injection portion 13 where ions are irradiated to inject charges, and one end connected to the charge injection portion 13 and charge injection into the other end. The charge flow path section 14 having the charge discharge section 14a that discharges the charge injected into the section 13 according to the resolution of the ion irradiation head 1C. The shape and arrangement can be selected as appropriate, and the design of the separation electrode unit 10a (10b) is excellent.
(9) Since the ion irradiation head 1 </ b> C is a heating discharge type print head having the discharge electrode 5 and the heating means 6 a for selectively heating the discharge electrode 5, the emission of electrons from the discharge electrode is accompanied. Charges can be selectively injected by irradiating the toner carrier with a large amount of generated ions based on image information, and the efficiency of image formation is excellent.
(10) Since the heat discharge type print head is a system in which discharge is performed by selective heating to the discharge electrode 5, a driver IC 6c corresponding to low withstand voltage such as 5V drive can be used for heating control. , Discharge control is easy and handling is excellent.
(11) By having a potential difference setting unit that sets an electric potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode 5 of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium 30 to form an electric field, the toner carrier 20 is sandwiched between them. A potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage is set between the print medium 30 and the discharge electrode 5 arranged in the electric field to form an electric field to prepare for the discharge, and it is necessary to selectively apply a discharge control voltage that becomes a high voltage. The discharge electrode 5 can be selectively heated by the heating means 6a, and discharge can be generated from the discharge electrode 5. By applying an electric field to the desired position of the toner carrier, the charged toner, the ion, The charged toner 23 can be moved to the toner carrier 20 by the attractive force acting between the toner and the toner, and an image can be formed.
(12) Since the potential difference setting unit includes the medium side voltage selection unit 24 that performs grounding or voltage application to the conductor layer 32 formed on the print medium 30, heating discharge is performed regardless of the material of the print medium 30. The potential difference corresponding to the discharge control voltage can be reliably set between the discharge electrode 5 of the mold print head and the print medium 30, and the versatility and reliability of the potential difference setting are excellent.

  The present invention provides an image forming method that can form a high-quality image on a print medium without performing complicated control in a simple process, and is excellent in image quality reliability. The structure is simple and the number of parts is small. By providing an image forming apparatus that can form high-quality images on print media in a short amount of time, and that excels in mass productivity, space saving, and handleability, it provides high-quality images regardless of the type of print media. Can be formed.

(A) Schematic side view of main part of an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the first embodiment (A) Schematic cross-sectional view of the main part of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the first embodiment (b) The discharge unit of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the first embodiment Main part schematic front view Schematic side view of main parts of an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment (A) Perspective schematic perspective view of the main part of the discharge unit of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment. (B) The ion irradiation head of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the second embodiment. Main part schematic perspective view Schematic side view of main parts of an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of Embodiment 3. FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of main parts of an ion irradiation head and a separation electrode unit in an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of Embodiment 3. Schematic side view of main parts of an image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of Embodiment 4. (A) Schematic side view of main part of ion irradiation head in image forming apparatus used in image forming method of embodiment 4 (b) Schematic of main part of ion irradiation head in image forming apparatus used in image forming method of embodiment 4. Front view Schematic plan view of the main part of the heating means of the ion irradiation head in the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of Embodiment 4. (A) Schematic perspective view of main parts of an ion irradiation head and a separation electrode unit in a modification of the image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment. (B) Image forming apparatus used in the image forming method of the fourth embodiment. The principal part expansion schematic plan view of the separation electrode unit in a modification

Explanation of symbols

1, 1a, 1b, 1c Image forming apparatus 1A, 1B, 1C Ion irradiation head 2, 2a Discharge unit 3 Substrate 3a Shape holding plate 3b Opening 4 Heat absorption layer 5, 5B Discharge electrode 5a, 5Ba Discharge generator 5b Common electrode 5Bb Voltage input part 5c Discharge opening part 5d Electrical connection part 6, 6a Heating means 6b Heating resistor 6c Driver IC
7 Optical fiber 8 Insulating film 9a Heat generating common electrode 9b Heat generating individual electrode 10, 10a, 10b Spacing electrode unit 11, 11b Substrate 11a Heat sink 12, 12a Spacing electrode 13 Charge injection section 14 Charge flow path section 14a Charge discharge section 15 Covered Covering film 16 Heat radiation plate 16a Fixing member 16b Electric wiring 20 Toner carrier 21 Roller 22 Charged toner supply unit 24 Medium side voltage selection unit 25 Discharge electrode side voltage application unit 26 Charged toner removal unit 30, 30a, 30b Print medium 31 Insulating layer 32 Conductor layer 31a, 32a Recording surface

Claims (12)

An image forming method for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head,
A charged toner adhesion step for uniformly adhering the charged toner to the surface of the toner carrier on both sides of the print medium; and image information on the surface of the toner carrier opposite to the print medium on both sides of the toner carrier. The charged toner on the toner carrier is moved to the recording surface of the print medium disposed opposite to the ion irradiation head by irradiating ions having the same polarity as the charged toner and sandwiching the toner carrier. And an ion irradiation step for forming the image. An image forming method for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charges using an ion irradiation head,
A charged toner adhering step for uniformly adhering charged toner to the recording surface of the print medium, and both surfaces of the toner carrier based on image information from the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium across the toner carrier. The surface of the ion irradiation head side of the toner is irradiated with ions having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner, and the charged toner on the print medium is moved to the print medium side surface of both surfaces of the toner carrier. An image forming method comprising: an ion irradiation step for forming a toner; and a charged toner removing step for removing charged toner adhering to the toner carrier. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the ion irradiation head is a heat discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating unit that selectively heats the discharge electrode. The ion irradiation step includes a potential difference setting step of setting a potential difference corresponding to a discharge control voltage between the discharge electrode of the heat-discharge type print head and the print medium to form an electric field, and the discharge by the heating means. The image forming method according to claim 3, further comprising a discharge electrode heating step of selectively heating the electrodes. 5. The image forming method according to claim 4, wherein the discharge electrode heating step is performed by a light irradiation unit that is disposed apart from the discharge electrode and selectively irradiates light to the discharge electrode. An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a print medium by the action of electric charge using an ion irradiation head, wherein the toner is uniformly charged on a toner carrier and a surface on the print medium side of both surfaces of the toner carrier. An image forming apparatus comprising: a charged toner supply unit for adhering toner; and the ion irradiation head disposed to face the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween. An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a print medium by the action of electric charge using an ion irradiation head, a toner carrier, and a charged toner supply unit that uniformly attaches charged toner to a recording surface of the print medium; An image forming apparatus comprising: the ion irradiation head disposed opposite to the print medium with the toner carrier interposed therebetween; and a charged toner removing unit that removes the charged toner attached to the toner carrier. apparatus. A substrate, and a separation electrode formed on the substrate, wherein the separation electrode has a charge injection portion into which charges are injected by being irradiated with ions, and one end portion connected to the charge injection portion at the other end portion. A separation electrode unit having a charge flow path portion having a charge discharge portion for discharging the charge injected into the charge injection portion is disposed between the ion irradiation head and the toner carrier. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus. 9. The heat discharge type print head according to claim 6, wherein the ion irradiation head is a heat discharge type print head having a discharge electrode and a heating unit that selectively heats the discharge electrode. 10. Image forming apparatus. The electric potential difference setting part which sets the electric potential difference equivalent to a discharge control voltage between the said discharge electrode of the said heating discharge type print head and the said printing medium, and forms an electric field is provided. Image forming apparatus. The said potential difference setting part is provided with the medium side voltage selection part which performs the earthing | grounding or voltage application to the said printing medium made from a conductor, or the conductor layer formed in the said printing medium. Image forming apparatus. The said heating means is provided apart from the said discharge electrode, and is provided with the light irradiation part which selectively heats the said discharge electrode by irradiating the said discharge electrode with light. The image forming apparatus according to any one of 11.

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