JP2012091342A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress transfer failure in subsequent recording cycles by reducing temperature differences that are different in locations of an intermediate transfer medium generated in a heating process.SOLUTION: In a transfer inkjet recording, a cooling unit (19) is configured to independently cool multiple locations in a region in which an intermediate image of the intermediate transfer medium is formed in accordance with the temperature or image data of the intermediate transfer medium (1) after being heated by a heating unit (15).

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer type ink jet recording type recording apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a recording apparatus of a transfer type ink jet recording method in which an intermediate image (ink image) is once formed on an intermediate transfer member by an ink jet method, and the formed intermediate image is transferred to a recording medium. Since the ink viscosity of the intermediate image is important for good transfer, the ink image is evaporated by heating the intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer member with a heater or the like to increase the viscosity. Further, in the apparatus of Patent Document 1, the surface of the intermediate transfer body is cooled by applying a cooling liquid after the transfer. A series of processes of intermediate image formation, heating, transfer, and cooling is repeated as one recording cycle, and image formation on a recording medium is repeated.

JP 2009-045885 A

  The applicant has found a phenomenon that when the intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer member is heated, the surface of the intermediate transfer member has a different temperature depending on the location. The mechanism will be described.

  FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view showing a state when a high duty region (a region where the surface of the intermediate transfer body is densely covered with ink) in a certain intermediate image is heated. Most of the heat W (thick arrow in the figure) given from the heater from above is taken away as vaporization heat for volatilizing the ink solvent leaving the color material. For this reason, the intermediate transfer member itself is not heated so much and the temperature rise is moderate. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1B, when heat W is applied to a low duty region (region where the surface of the intermediate transfer member is loosely covered with ink) in the same intermediate image, the ink solvent volatilizes. Since the heat of vaporization is small, more heat is transmitted to the intermediate transfer member than in FIG. Due to such a mechanism, even within one intermediate image forming region, a temperature difference occurs between the intermediate transfer member surface in the high duty region and the intermediate transfer member surface in the low duty region after heating. The temperature difference remains maintained in subsequent recording cycles.

  Even if the intermediate transfer body is cooled after the transfer process as in Patent Document 1, this temperature difference is not eliminated in a short time. If the process proceeds to the next recording cycle without eliminating the temperature difference, there is an increased possibility of “transfer defects” due to the mechanism described below.

  The entire intermediate image forming region with a cooling amount that sufficiently cools the surface of the intermediate transfer member (relatively low temperature) in the high duty region with respect to the intermediate transfer member after the transfer process having a temperature difference depending on the location. Is uniformly cooled. Then, since the low duty region is at a higher temperature, it is not completely cooled, and the temperature becomes higher than a predetermined temperature even after partial cooling. In the next recording cycle, the ink that has landed on the region of the intermediate transfer member that has become higher than normal is volatilized by the heat of the intermediate transfer member before being heated by the heater. The ink volatilizes excessively with the subsequent heating process, and the ink may increase in viscosity beyond an acceptable range. In the transfer process, ink with excessive viscosity strongly adheres to the side of the intermediate transfer member, so that not all of the ink can be transferred to the recording medium at normal transfer pressure, resulting in “image blurring” in the transferred image. End up. One form of “transfer defect” is “image fading”.

  Conversely, it is assumed that the entire intermediate image forming region is uniformly cooled with a cooling amount that sufficiently cools the surface of the intermediate transfer member (relatively high temperature) in the low duty region. Then, the high duty region is excessively cooled, and the temperature becomes lower than a predetermined temperature even after partial cooling. In the next recording cycle, the ink that has landed on the region of the intermediate transfer member that has become lower than normal is deprived of heat by the low-temperature intermediate transfer member during the heating process. Therefore, the volatilization of the ink solvent becomes insufficient at a predetermined heating amount, and the ink may not reach the allowable ink viscosity. In the transfer process, the ink that does not have the required viscosity spreads greatly on the recording medium due to the transfer pressure, and an “image blur” occurs in the transferred image. Another form of “transfer failure” is “image flow”.

  The present invention has been made based on the recognition of the above-mentioned problems. An object of the present invention is to reduce a temperature difference that varies depending on the location of an intermediate transfer member that occurs in a heating process, thereby suppressing a transfer failure from occurring in a subsequent recording cycle. Is an offer.

  The present invention includes an intermediate transfer member, a recording head that forms an intermediate image by applying ink to the intermediate transfer member based on image data, and a heating unit that heats the intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer member. A recording apparatus comprising: a transfer unit that transfers the intermediate image heated by the heating unit to a recording medium; and a cooling unit that cools the intermediate transfer member heated by the heating unit. A plurality of locations in the region of the intermediate transfer member where the intermediate image is formed are individually cooled based on the temperature of the intermediate transfer member after being heated by the heating means or the image data. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of transfer failure in the subsequent recording cycle by reducing the temperature difference that varies depending on the location of the intermediate transfer member generated in the heating process by individual cooling.

Diagram for explaining the phenomenon in which the surface of the intermediate transfer member has different temperatures depending on the location Sectional drawing which shows the whole structure of the recording device in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2 Block diagram of control system The figure which shows a mode that the intermediate image was divided | segmented on the intermediate transfer body The figure which shows the arrangement | sequence of the cooling element of a cooling part, or the heating element of a heating part The figure which shows another form of a cooling unit FIG. 5 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member immediately after each process in Embodiment 1 for each recording duty. Graph plotting ink solvent residual ratio against heating amount FIG. 9 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member immediately after each process in Embodiment 2 for each recording duty. Sectional drawing which shows the whole structure of the recording device in Embodiment 3. FIG. 10 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member immediately after each process in Embodiment 3 for each recording duty.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram of a transfer type ink jet recording type recording apparatus according to the first embodiment. The intermediate transfer member 1 includes two drum-like rotating members 12 that rotate in the direction of an arrow about a shaft 13 and an endless transfer belt 10 that rotates around the two rotating members 12. The transfer belt 10 is made of a metal material, and a surface layer 11 that receives ink is formed on the outer surface of the transfer belt 10.

  Around the intermediate transfer body 1, a group of units for repeatedly executing a series of processes of intermediate image formation, heating, transfer, and cooling as one recording cycle is arranged. These units are a recording head 14 (intermediate image forming process), a heating unit 15 (heating process), a transfer roller 17 (transfer process), and a cooling unit 19 (cooling process). The recording head 14 has a plurality of line-type ink jet heads corresponding to a plurality of colors. Ink is ejected from a number of nozzles of the inkjet head, and ink is applied onto the intermediate transfer member 1 (surface layer 11 of the transfer belt 10) to form an intermediate image (ink image). The heating unit 15 includes a heater that generates electromagnetic waves including heat rays such as infrared rays and far infrared rays, and heats the surface layer 11 by directly irradiating the surface layers 11 with heat rays or blowing them as warm air. The ink solvent of the intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer body 1 is evaporated by heating to increase the viscosity. The transfer roller 17 transfers the image to the recording medium 16 by pressing the ink having a high viscosity on the intermediate transfer body 1 against the recording medium 16 and applying pressure thereto. The cooling unit 19 is provided to cool the intermediate transfer member after the transfer process in a short time to return to the initial temperature in order to shorten the time of one recording cycle. As will be described later, the cooling unit 19 includes a plurality of cooling elements that can independently control the cooling capacity, and the cooling region can be divided into a plurality of parts and individually cooled.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control system of the recording apparatus of the present embodiment. The controller 100 that is a controller includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and a counter. The ROM stores a control program executed by the CPU. The RAM includes a working area for temporarily storing image data and the like, and a buffer area for storing various data input from the external device 120. The counter counts the number of drive pulses of the motor that moves the rotating body 12. A motor driver 102, a heating unit driver 104, a head driver 105, and a cooling unit driver 106 are connected to the control unit 100 via an interface 101. A motor 103 for rotating the rotating body 12 is driven by the motor driver 102. The heating state of the heating unit 15 is controlled via the heating unit driver 104. The ink ejection nozzles of the recording head 14 are driven by the head driver 105. The cooling units 18 and 19 are controlled by the cooling unit driver 106.

  The image transfer operation in the above apparatus configuration will be described in the order of processes.

  While rotating the intermediate transfer member 1 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, ink is ejected from the recording head 14 according to the image data to form an intermediate image on the surface layer 11 of the transfer belt 10 (intermediate image). Forming process). The image data is digital data supplied from the external device 120 and corresponding to the image to be recorded.

In FIG. 4A, a dot region 110a shows an example of an intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer body 1. The density of dots represents the magnitude of the image recording duty. Here, “printing duty” refers to the ratio of the actual number of ejections to the maximum number of ejections possible in one scan. For example, when one dot is formed by one ejection, the ratio of the number of dots actually formed to the number of pixels that can be recorded in one scanning area corresponds to the recording duty. The control unit 100 can acquire information on the recording duty corresponding to the area in the image by calculation from the image data. In this example, the dot area 110a includes three types of areas having different densities. There are three types: an image area (A) with a recording duty of 90%, an image area (B) with a recording duty of 70%, and an image area (C) with a recording duty of 20%. Here, three types are used for ease of understanding, but an actual image is often composed of a larger number of recording duties.
Before and after the first intermediate image forming process, the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member is approximately equal to the environmental temperature (initial temperature). FIG. 7 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member plotted for each recording duty immediately after each process. In this example, the temperatures before and after the intermediate image forming process are 25 ° C. for an image area where the recording duty is 90%, 25 ° C. for the image area where the recording duty is 70%, and 25 ° C. for the image area where the recording duty is 20%. It has become.

  The intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer member 1 by the intermediate image forming process is heated by the heating unit 15 to evaporate the ink solvent and increase the viscosity (heating process). For example, the heating unit 15 uniformly blows hot air having a temperature of 120 ° C. and a wind speed of 5 m / s on the surface layer 11.

  Next, in the transfer section, the transfer belt 10 and the recording medium 16 are sandwiched between the transfer roller 17 and the rotating body 12, and the transfer roller 17 rotates while applying an appropriate clamping pressure. As a result, the intermediate image moderately increased in viscosity by the heating process is transferred to the recording medium 16 (transfer process).

  In the present specification, an area on the intermediate transfer body on which the intermediate image has been formed before transfer is referred to as “area after intermediate image transfer”. Due to the mechanism described above, after heating, the region after the intermediate image transfer has a non-uniform temperature distribution in accordance with the image recording duty, and a temperature difference occurs depending on the location. In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, the temperature after the heating process is 47 ° C. in the divided area where the recording duty is 90%, 52 ° C. in the divided area where the recording duty is 70%, and the divided area where the recording duty is 20%. The region is 65 ° C. Under the control of the control unit 100, as shown in FIG. 4B, the area after the intermediate image transfer is divided into a plurality of locations with a predetermined size, and the average temperature of each divided area is acquired. For example, the area of one image is divided into n × m block units, and temperature information is acquired for each block unit. In order to acquire temperature information, a temperature sensor 21 is provided on the downstream side of the transfer roller 17, thereby directly acquiring the average temperature of each divided region. As the temperature sensor 21, a thermography that detects a two-dimensional temperature distribution, a plurality of temperature sensors that detect a spot temperature in a narrow range, and the like can be used. In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, the temperature after the transfer process is 42 ° C. for a divided area where the recording duty is 90%, 48 ° C. for the divided area where the recording duty is 70%, and 20% where the recording duty is 20%. The region is 60 ° C.

Next, the cooling unit 19 cools the area after the intermediate image transfer to a desired temperature (cooling process). Since this cooling process is one of the points in this embodiment, it will be described in detail below.
As shown in FIG. 5, the cooling unit 19 includes a plurality of cooling elements arranged in a line along a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction (Y direction), and each divided region of the region after the intermediate image transfer facing in the Y direction. Corresponds to one or more cooling elements. The arrangement of the cooling elements is not limited to one line, and may be a two-dimensional matrix arrangement. Each cooling element has a nozzle that ejects a cooling fluid (gas or liquid) and sprays it onto the surface of the intermediate transfer member, and variably controls the cooling capacity by changing the flow rate and / or fluid temperature of the fluid ejected from the nozzle. can do. Alternatively, the cooling unit 19 is a cooling block member having a large heat capacity as shown in FIG. 6 and physically bringing the cooling block member into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer member 1 as shown in FIG. There may be. On the lower surface of the cooling block member, as shown in FIG. 6B, cooling elements 20 as a plurality of contact bodies having contact surfaces are provided in a two-dimensional matrix arrangement. Corresponding to each cooling element 20, a cooling mechanism such as a Peltier element or a flow path through which a cooling medium flows is built in, and the cooling amount (surface temperature of the contact surface of the cooling element) can be individually controlled. .

  Based on the temperature information detected by the temperature sensor 21, the control unit 100 is appropriately synchronized with the timing when each of the regions after the intermediate image transfer divided in the Y direction passes directly under the cooling element of the cooling unit 19. The capacity of each cooling element is controlled so as to obtain a cooling amount. The control unit 100 controls the cooling amount (the amount of air blown from the nozzle and / or the temperature of the cooling gas) of each cooling element so that the cooling amount increases as the temperature of the intermediate transfer member surface increases. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, at the moment when the first row of X1 passes through the cooling unit 19, the temperature relationship of the three regions is as follows: region (C)> region (B)> region (A). Therefore, the magnitude relationship between the cooling amounts by the corresponding cooling elements is also (region (C)> region (B)> region (A). In the X direction, as the intermediate transfer member moves, the divided region facing the cooling element shifts from the row X1 to X2. The control unit 100 performs control to change the cooling amount of each cooling element in synchronization with the movement of the intermediate transfer member, whereby each divided region is individually cooled also in the X direction.

  Thus, based on the temperature of the intermediate transfer body after being heated by the heating unit, a plurality of locations in the area after the intermediate image transfer are individually cooled. As a result of the cooling process, the surface of the intermediate transfer member has a substantially uniform temperature distribution at least in the region after the intermediate image transfer. The average temperature at that time is cooled so that the temperature of the intermediate transfer member itself does not promote the evaporation of the ink solvent in the next recording cycle, for example, the environmental temperature (initial temperature). In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, the temperature after the cooling process is 25 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 90%, 25 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 70%, and 25 in the area where the recording duty is 20%. ° C.

  Instead of acquiring the temperature information by the temperature sensor 21, a plurality of locations in the region after the intermediate image transfer of the intermediate transfer member may be individually cooled based on the image data of the intermediate image. The control unit 100 can acquire information about the average recording duty for each divided area in the image by calculation from the image data. A data table in which the recorded duty is associated with the required cooling amount is obtained empirically in advance and stored in the memory of the control unit 100 in the form of a data table. The control unit 100 analyzes the image data and obtains information regarding the average recording duty for each divided area. Then, the cooling amount suitable for the obtained recording duty is acquired with reference to the data table. That is, information on the recording duty corresponding to each of the plurality of locations is acquired from the image data, and the cooling amount at the location where the recording duty is relatively low is larger than the cooling amount at the location where the recording duty is relatively high. Control the cooling element. Thereby, the surface of the intermediate transfer member has a substantially uniform temperature distribution in the region after the intermediate image transfer.

  According to the first embodiment described above, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a transfer defect in the subsequent recording cycle by reducing the temperature difference that differs depending on the location of the intermediate transfer member generated in the heating process by individual cooling.

<Embodiment 2>
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The difference from the first embodiment is a heating unit 15, and the other entire configuration of the recording apparatus is the same as that in FIG. 2. In the second embodiment, in the heating process, the intermediate image is not uniformly heated as in the first embodiment, but the heating amount is individually controlled for each of the divided areas by dividing the image into a plurality of areas. To do.

  Depending on the average recording duty of each area divided within the image, the amount of heating required to achieve “appropriate ink viscosity” after the heating process varies. “Moderate ink viscosity” refers to the ink viscosity before the transfer process in order to prevent “transfer defects” such as “image blurring” and “image blurring” from occurring in the image transferred to the recording medium, as described above. means.

The graph shown in FIG. 8 is a plot of the residual ratio (%) of the ink solvent with respect to the heating amount of the intermediate image, with the amount of solvent contained during ink adjustment as a reference (100%). The graph shows the 90% recording duty area (A) and the 20% recording duty area (C). The ink solvent gradually evaporates during the heating process. When the remaining ratio (%) finally falls within a predetermined range, “appropriate ink viscosity” is reached. In this example, “appropriate ink viscosity” is in the range of 16% to 8% of the remaining amount of ink solvent. As can be seen from the graph, the heating amount required to obtain “appropriate ink viscosity” differs between (A) and (C). In other words, when the intermediate image is heated uniformly, the “appropriate ink viscosity” is obtained in the range of the heating amounts E _{1 to} E ₂ in (C), whereas in the range of E _{3 to} E _{4 in} (A). It becomes “moderate ink viscosity”. As described above, the heating amount for achieving an “appropriate ink viscosity” varies depending on the recording duty.

As in the first embodiment, when the heating unit uniformly heats the inside of the image, a heating amount is set so that both the minimum recording duty area and the maximum recording duty area have “appropriate ink viscosity”. In the example of FIG. 8A, by giving a heating amount E between the heating amounts E _{3 to} E ₂ , the inside of the image becomes “appropriate ink viscosity”. However, although the maximum recording duty area and the minimum recording duty area are within the allowable range of “appropriate ink viscosity”, the ink viscosity is different. That is, the maximum recording duty area has an ink viscosity (point i) close to the upper transfer failure area (ink viscosity not having sufficient viscosity), and conversely the minimum recording duty area is the lower transfer failure area (excessive viscosity). Ink viscosity (point ii). Therefore, when recording an image having a high gradation such as a photographic image, there is a possibility that the improvement of the recording quality may be hindered.

On the other hand, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8B, the ink viscosity (the remaining ratio of the ink solvent after heating (%) that enables the transfer with the highest quality within the allowable range of “appropriate ink viscosity”. ) (Z%)). Then, the intermediate image is not heated uniformly, but the heating amount for each region is individually controlled so that the residual ink solvent after heating is in the vicinity of Z% in all the regions in the image. In the example of FIG. 8B, (A) and (C) where the remaining ratio of the ink solvent is Z% are the heating amounts E _i and E _ii , respectively.

  The heating unit 15 gives each heating element a different heating amount according to the recording duty obtained in this way. Specifically, a data table in which the recording duty is associated with the necessary heating amount is obtained empirically in advance and stored in the memory of the control unit 100 in the form of a data table. The control unit 100 analyzes the image data and obtains an average recording duty for each divided area. Then, the heating amount suitable for the obtained recording duty is acquired with reference to the data table. If each heating element is controlled to be driven so as to obtain the acquired heating amount, the intermediate image has a distribution that is almost uniform with the most preferable ink viscosity among the “appropriate ink viscosities”. Although the surface temperature distribution of the intermediate transfer member after heating is different from that of the first embodiment, it is a non-uniform distribution having different temperatures depending on the location.

  The heating unit 15 has the same arrangement as the cooling element rows in FIG. 5, and the heating elements are provided in one row or a two-dimensional matrix arrangement. Each heating element has a built-in heater and can individually control the amount of heat generated. When the intermediate image passes immediately below the heating unit 15, the control unit 100 changes the amount of heating by each heating element in synchronization with the movement of the intermediate transfer member in the X direction in the same manner as in FIG. 5 or FIG. Each heating element is driven so that an appropriate amount of heating is provided for each divided region.

  FIG. 9 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member plotted for each recording duty immediately after each process. The temperature before and after the intermediate image forming process is uniformly 25 ° C. regardless of the recording duty, as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, after the heating process, the image area with 90% recording duty is 69 ° C, the image area with 70% recording duty is 58 ° C, and the image area with 20% recording duty is 42 ° C. Yes. Thus, in this example, the magnitude relationship between the temperatures of the high duty region and the low duty region is reversed as compared with the case where the intermediate image is uniformly heated (the first embodiment), but a temperature difference is generated. There is no. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate this temperature difference in the cooling process.

  Thereafter, the transfer process and the cooling process are performed in this order. In the cooling process, an appropriate cooling amount is given to each divided area in the same manner as in the first embodiment, so that the surface of the intermediate transfer member has a substantially uniform temperature distribution in the area after the intermediate image transfer. The cooling unit 19 individually cools a plurality of locations in the region where the intermediate image of the intermediate transfer member is formed based on the temperature or image data of the intermediate transfer member after being heated by the heating unit 15. In this example, as shown in FIG. 7, the temperature after the cooling process is 25 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 90%, 25 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 70%, and 25 in the area where the recording duty is 20%. ° C.

  As described above, the second embodiment individually heats a plurality of locations in a region where an intermediate image is formed based on image data. In the subsequent cooling process, the cooling is individually performed so as to reduce the temperature difference that varies depending on the location of the intermediate transfer member generated in the heating process. Thereby, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, by individually heating a plurality of divided portions, as shown in FIG. 8B, the amount of ink solvent remaining after heating is made uniform in the vicinity of Z% regardless of the recording duty. That is, since it is uniformized with the most preferable ink viscosity among “appropriate ink viscosity”, the recording quality of an image having high gradation such as a photographic image is further improved as compared with the first embodiment. In addition, from the viewpoint of energy consumption, since the overall energy is reduced by the amount of heating for the low duty region, there is an advantage that the energy consumption is lower than that in the first embodiment.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 10 is an overall configuration diagram of a transfer type inkjet recording system recording apparatus according to the third embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is the cooling process after transfer, and the rest is the same. A preliminary cooling unit 18 is provided downstream of the transfer roller 17 and upstream of the cooling unit 19. The preliminary cooling unit 18 includes two rotating bodies 18a and a cooling belt 18b. The cooling belt 18 b comes into surface contact with the transfer belt 10, and the cooling belt 18 b also rotates in accordance with the rotation of the transfer belt 10 of the intermediate transfer body 1, thereby uniformly cooling the transfer belt 10. As described above, the cooling unit includes the cooling unit 18 that uniformly cools the intermediate transfer member and the cooling unit 19 that separately divides and cools the intermediate transfer member.
The intermediate image forming process, heating process, and transfer process are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  Thereafter, the surface of the intermediate transfer member is uniformly cooled by the preliminary cooling unit 18. The pre-cooling unit 18 has a cooling amount such that a portion where the temperature rise in the heating process is minimum (recording duty 90%) is reduced to the vicinity of the environmental temperature (initial temperature). The surface temperature of the cooling belt 18b is set in consideration of the thermal conductivity of the cooling belt 18b, the transfer belt 10 and the surface layer 11, the thermal resistance of the contact surface, and the like.

  FIG. 11 is a graph showing the transition of the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer member plotted for each recording duty immediately after each process. The temperatures before and after the intermediate image forming process, the temperature after the heating process, and the temperature after the transfer process are the same as those in the first embodiment. Thereafter, the temperature immediately after being uniformly cooled by the pre-cooling means 18 is 25 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 90%, 30 ° C. in the area where the recording duty is 70%, and 20% in the recording duty. The region is 42.5 ° C. At this stage, a temperature difference remains in the temperature of the intermediate transfer member according to the recording duty.

  In the subsequent cooling process in the cooling unit 19, the divided areas are individually cooled as in the first embodiment. As a result, the area after the intermediate image transfer returns to a substantially uniform temperature (25 ° C.).

  According to the third embodiment described above, the following functions and effects can be obtained in addition to the functions and effects of the first embodiment. In other words, by adding a process for uniformly cooling the intermediate transfer member by the preliminary cooling unit 18 (first cooling unit), the cooling unit 19 (second cooling unit) only needs to eliminate a slight temperature difference. The load of the individual cooling elements provided in the cooling unit 19 can be reduced.

  In addition, you may make it add the preliminary cooling part 18 like Embodiment 3 to the structure of previous Embodiment 2. FIG. In this case, division heating, transfer, preliminary cooling, and division cooling are performed in this order.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Intermediate transfer body 12 Rotating body 14 Recording head 15 Heating part (corresponding to heating means)
16 Recording medium 17 Transfer roller (corresponding to transfer means)
18 Preliminary cooling unit 19 Cooling unit (corresponding to cooling means)
100 Control unit

Claims (11)

An intermediate transfer member;
A recording head that forms an intermediate image by applying ink to the intermediate transfer body based on image data;
Heating means for heating the intermediate image formed on the intermediate transfer member;
Transfer means for transferring the intermediate image heated by the heating means to a recording medium;
A cooling means for cooling the intermediate transfer member heated by the heating means;
A recording device comprising:
The cooling unit individually cools a plurality of locations in the region where the intermediate image is formed on the intermediate transfer member based on the temperature of the intermediate transfer member after being heated by the heating unit or the image data. A recording apparatus.   The cooling unit is configured to determine the plurality of locations based on data corresponding to each of the plurality of locations in the image data so that a temperature difference between the plurality of locations after being heated by the heating unit is reduced. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is individually cooled.   The cooling means obtains information about the recording duty corresponding to each of the plurality of locations from the image data, and the amount of cooling at the location where the recording duty is relatively low is the amount of cooling at the location where the recording duty is relatively high. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording apparatus is cooled to be larger than that of the recording apparatus.   And obtaining means for obtaining information on the temperature of the intermediate transfer member after being heated by the heating means, wherein the cooling means has a small temperature difference between the plurality of locations after being heated by the heating means. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of locations are individually cooled based on information about the temperature acquired by the acquisition unit.   The cooling means cools based on information about the temperature corresponding to each of the plurality of locations such that a cooling amount at a location where the temperature is high is larger than a cooling amount at a location where the temperature is low. The recording apparatus according to claim 4.   The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the acquisition unit includes a temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the surface of the intermediate transfer member.   The cooling means has a plurality of cooling elements that can be individually controlled, and each cooling element sprays fluid from the nozzle onto the surface of the intermediate transfer member, or contacts the contact surface with the surface of the intermediate transfer member. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit individually heats a plurality of locations in a region where the intermediate image is formed based on the image data. .   The heating means acquires information on the recording duty corresponding to each of the plurality of locations from the image data, and the heating amount at a location where the recording duty is relatively high is a heating amount at a location where the recording duty is relatively low. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording apparatus is heated so as to be larger.   The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the heating unit includes a plurality of heating elements that can be individually controlled.   The cooling unit includes a first cooling unit that uniformly cools a region where the intermediate image is formed on the intermediate transfer body after the transfer by the transfer unit, and the temperature after the cooling by the first cooling unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second cooling unit that individually cools the plurality of locations based on the image data.

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