JP2015048208A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To separate a print medium from a belt-like member with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: A protection belt 21 which contacts to an adhesive surface 2b of a print medium 2 is stretched for circulation between a transportation roller 22 and a slave roller 23. The print medium 2 is separated from the protection belt 21 after image is formed, and sent to a paper discharge part 104. The slave roller 23 which is a portion for the print medium 2 to be curvature-separated from the protection belt 21 has a polygonal shape in a cross section in the direction orthogonal to axial direction, being formed to have the number of sides being an even number.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  As an image forming apparatus, for example, an image is applied to a printing medium (hereinafter, also referred to as “linerless label paper”) having an adhesive surface and having no adhesive paper on the adhesive surface, such as a tape or a label paper without a mount. 2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a label printer that performs printing by a forming unit and cuts it to a required length after printing to form a print medium piece (hereinafter also referred to as “label piece”) is known.

  By the way, when using a belt-shaped member for conveyance of a printing medium, it is necessary to isolate | separate a printing medium from a belt-shaped member. In general, the printing medium is separated from the belt-like member by curvature separation based on the curvature of a driven roller that wraps around the belt-like member or by a separation claw.

  Conventionally, there is known a technique in which curvature separation is performed by winding a belt-shaped member on a paper discharge side around a guide shaft having a triangular cross section and bending the belt-shaped member at an acute angle (Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-255534 A

  The use of the separation claw to separate the print medium from the belt-shaped member means that the separation claw comes into contact with the adhesive surface, especially when the adhesive surface is transported with the belt-shaped member side, and the adhesive surface is damaged. There is a risk.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to enable separation of a print medium from a belt-like member in a non-contact manner with a simple configuration.

(Correction following claims)
In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention provides:
A roll-shaped print medium having an adhesive surface and no release paper pasted on the adhesive surface;
An image forming unit that forms an image on the print medium;
A belt-like member that is pressed against the adhesive surface of the print medium and conveyed integrally with the print medium;
A driving roller and a driven roller around which the belt-like member is wound,
The driven roller is disposed downstream of the image forming unit in the transport direction of the print medium and has a polygonal cross-sectional shape in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.
The print medium is separated from the belt-shaped member in a region facing the driven roller.

  According to the present invention, the print medium can be separated from the belt-like member in a non-contact manner with a simple configuration.

1 is a side explanatory view of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is principal part perspective explanatory drawing of the apparatus. It is explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of a printing medium. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a third embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective explanatory view and a side explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a 5th embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a sixth embodiment of the present invention. It is an isometric view explanatory drawing of the driven roller part with which it uses for description of the different example of 7th Embodiment of this invention. It is perspective explanatory drawing with which it uses for description of 8th Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller part for explanation of a ninth embodiment of the present invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is an explanatory perspective view of a main part of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for explaining a print medium.

  In the image forming apparatus, a sheet feeding unit 101, an image forming unit 102 as an image forming unit, a transport unit 103 as a transport unit, and a paper discharge unit 104 as a paper discharge unit are arranged in the apparatus main body 100. Has been.

  The paper supply unit 101 is loaded with a roll body 4 that is a roll of the printing medium 2 that is a linerless label paper.

  Here, as shown in detail in FIG. 3, the printing medium 2 has an adhesive layer (hereinafter referred to as “adhesive surface”) 2b on one surface of a medium (hereinafter referred to as “printing surface”) 2a capable of forming an image. Is a continuum formed. And the roll body 4 is made into a roll shape in the state which has not affixed mount (release paper, a separator) on the adhesion surface 2b of the printing medium 2. FIG.

  The image forming unit 102 includes a carriage 12 on which a recording head 11 including a liquid discharge head that discharges droplets onto the print medium 2 is mounted. The carriage 12 is movably held by a guide member (not shown), and is reciprocated in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the printing medium 2 (conveying direction in FIG. 2).

  The recording head 11 is a head having two nozzle rows. Two recording heads 11 are used to eject ink droplets of each color of black (K), cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) by four nozzle rows. . However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a line-type head can also be used.

  Further, the image forming unit 102 is not limited to the form of the liquid ejection head, and various image forming units that form an image in contact or non-contact can be used.

  In the transport unit 103, a protective belt 21 that is an endless belt-like member is disposed below the recording head 11. The protective belt 21 serves as an adhesive surface protection member when the adhesive surface 2b of the printing medium 2 is received and conveyed. The protective belt 21 is wound around a conveying roller (drive roller) 22 that is a rotating body and a driven roller 23 so as to be able to move around.

  A pressure roller 24 is disposed opposite the conveying roller 22. An image formed by the recording head 11 is sandwiched between the print medium 2 and the protective belt 21 which is an adhesive surface protecting member by a pair of rotating bodies (here, a roller pair) composed of the conveying roller 22 and the pressure roller 24. Conveying means for conveying to the forming area is configured. Here, the adhesive surface side of the print medium 2 is held by the protective belt 21 and conveyed.

  By using such a transport means, the adhesive surface 2b is not adhered to the transport path for transporting the print medium and cannot be transported, or transport resistance is increased and transport is not unstable.

  Further, the suction belt 21 a is formed in the protection belt 21. Inside the protective belt 21 is a suction unit that sucks the print medium 2 toward the surface (conveying surface) of the protective belt 21 through the suction hole 21 a so as to face the recording head 11 of the image forming unit 102. A certain suction fan 27 is arranged. Note that, here, the print medium 2 is sucked to the protective belt 21 by suction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the print medium 2 can be sucked by electrostatic force.

  Further, a spur roller 28 is disposed so as to face the driven roller 23.

  An encoder wheel 41 is attached to the shaft portion of the transport roller 22, and an encoder sensor 42 that reads the encoder wheel 41 constitutes a sub-scanning encoder.

  In the paper discharge unit 104, an intermediate roller 31 that conveys the printing medium 2 sent out from the protective belt 21 and a spur roller 32 that faces the intermediate roller 31 are disposed on the downstream side of the protective belt 21. On the downstream side of the intermediate roller 31 and the spur roller 32, a cutter unit 35, which is a cutting means including a cutter 33 and a receiving base 34, which cut the print medium 2 into a predetermined length by cutting the print medium 2 into a predetermined length. Is arranged. The cutter unit 35 cuts the print medium 2 as the cutter 33 moves in the main scanning direction.

  A paper discharge roller 36 is disposed on the downstream side of the cutter unit 35. A spur roller 37 is disposed facing the paper discharge roller 36. The label piece 200 cut by the cutter unit 35 is sent out to the discharge port 105 and held by the discharge roller 36 and the spur roller 38.

  Here, the surface holding the label piece 200 of the intermediate roller 31 and the paper discharge roller 36 is subjected to, for example, non-adhesive processing (processing in which the adhesive surface does not adhere) so that the adhesive surface 2b of the label piece 200 can be peeled off. . In this case, the intermediate roller 31 and the discharge roller 36 themselves can be formed of a peelable material.

  In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, when an image is formed on the printing medium 2, the roll body 4 is loaded into the paper feeding unit 101 and the printing medium 2 is pulled out, while the pressure roller 24 is separated from the conveying roller 22. Retract to the position where it was moved.

  Then, the printing medium 2 is passed between the conveyance roller 22 and the pressure roller 24, the pressure roller 24 is moved in a direction in which the printing medium 2 and the protection belt 21 are pressed, and the conveyance roller 22 and the pressure roller 24 are moved. The print medium 2 and the protective belt 21 are sandwiched together.

  Thereafter, the conveyance roller 22 is rotated to convey the adhesive surface 2b of the print medium 2 with the protection belt 21 protected, and a desired image is formed by the recording head 11 of the image forming unit 102.

  The protective belt 21 is peeled off from the print medium 2 on which the image is formed, and only the print medium 2 is sent to the paper discharge unit 104, and is cut at a required position by the cutter unit 35 to become a label piece 200. And the spur roller 38 are held in a state where they can be extracted from the discharge port 105 of the apparatus main body 100.

  Next, details of the driven roller 23 in the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory perspective view of the driven roller portion.

  The driven roller 23 is a roller having a polygonal cross-sectional shape in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction, and is a hexagonal shape here.

  With this configuration, the edge portion 124 has a plurality of portions where the radius of curvature is increased on the peripheral surface of the driven roller 23 followed by the protection belt 21. Thereby, the print medium 2 is reliably separated from the protective belt 21 by curvature separation.

  Accordingly, the print medium can be separated from the belt-like member in a non-contact manner with a simple configuration.

  Further, when the polygonal shape is a pentagonal shape or more, the acute angle portion is eliminated, and the protective belt 21 is not easily wrinkled.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of ribs 125 are formed on the peripheral surface of the driven roller 23 in the axial direction.

  Since it comprised in this way, the part where the curvature radius becomes large by the rib 125 is formed in the surrounding surface of the driven roller 23 which the protection belt 21 followed. Thereby, the print medium 2 is reliably separated from the protective belt 21 by curvature separation.

  Accordingly, the print medium can be separated from the belt-like member in a non-contact manner with a simple configuration.

  In this case, in the cross-sectional shape in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction, the five or more ribs 125 are arranged at an equal angular relationship, so that the acute angle portion is eliminated and the protective belt 21 is less likely to be wrinkled.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the driven roller 23 has a portion 21a where the protective belt 21 starts to contact the peripheral surface of the driven roller 23 and a portion 21b where the protective belt 21 starts to separate from the peripheral surface of the driven roller 23 at the same timing. The shape is located at the edge portion 124 of this. Specifically, the shape has an even number of sides.

  With this configuration, the moment the protective belt 21 starts to contact the edge portion 124 of the driven roller 23, the load on the protective belt 21 increases, but the moment the separation starts from the edge portion 124 of the driven roller 23, The load on the protection belt 21 is reduced.

  By making the timing at which the protective belt 21 starts to contact the edge portion 124 of the driven roller 23 and the timing at which the protective belt 21 starts to be separated at the same time, the load of the protective belt 21 can be made constant over time.

  As a result, the print medium can be separated without lowering the positioning accuracy of the protective belt (belt-shaped member).

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, in the printing medium 2A whose front end is located immediately before the edge portion 124 of the driven roller 23, the contact area with the protective belt 21 is largely separated as shown in FIG. 7B. It becomes difficult to do.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7A, in the printing medium 2B having the tip near the center between the adjacent edge portions 124, 124 of the driven roller 23 as shown in FIG. The contact area of the front end is relatively smaller than that of the print medium 2A, and is easily separated from the protective belt 21 due to the stiffness of the print medium 2.

  Therefore, the separation property can be improved by transporting the print medium 2 so that the front end position of the print medium 2 is positioned upstream from the vicinity of the center between the adjacent edge portions 124 and 124 of the driven roller 23.

  In order to carry the print medium 2 as described above, for example, the following is performed.

That is,
(1) The belt length of the protection belt 21 is an integral multiple of the side of the driven roller 23.
(2) A mark for setting the leading end position of the printing medium 2, for example, a mark ““ ”is provided on the upper end portion of the protective belt 21 for each pitch of the driven roller 23.
(3) The mark is provided so as to be in the middle of the side (the belt length is set to an integral multiple of the side so that the mark is not displaced).
(4) The front end of the print medium 2 is set at the middle of the side of the driven roller 23 by aligning the set position of the front end of the print medium 2 with the mark.
(5) When cutting the print medium 2, the mark is detected and cut at the position of the mark.

  Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective explanatory view and a side explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, in the driven roller 23, the position of the polygonal edge portion 124 in the axial direction (thrust direction) in the rotational direction changes in a spiral manner in the axial direction. That is, the edge portion 124 has a shape that is rotated by a predetermined angle on the downstream side in the rotation direction every predetermined width (thrust direction width).

  With this configuration, it is possible to disperse load fluctuations at the moment when the protective belt 21 and the driven roller 23 are in contact with each other at the edge portion 124 and when they are separated from each other. In addition, since the timing at which the print medium 2 is separated from the protective belt 21 can be changed in the thrust direction, it is easier to separate the whole area in the thrust direction than the simultaneous separation.

  Next, a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the position of the driven roller 23 in the rotational direction of the rib 125 changes in a spiral manner in the axial direction in the axial direction (thrust direction). That is, the rib 125 has a shape that is rotated by a predetermined angle on the downstream side in the rotation direction for each predetermined width (thrust direction width).

  With this configuration, it is possible to disperse load fluctuations at the moment when the protective belt 21 and the driven roller 23 are in contact with each other by the rib 125 and when the belt is separated. In addition, since the timing at which the print medium 2 is separated from the protective belt 21 can be changed in the thrust direction, it is easier to separate the whole area in the thrust direction than the simultaneous separation.

  Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining a different example of the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the rib 125 on the peripheral surface of the driven roller 23 is formed and arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the thrust direction, and is formed so that the inclination direction is the reverse direction at the central portion in the thrust direction. . Thereby, the plurality of ribs 125 are symmetrically arranged at the center in the thrust direction.

  FIG. 10A shows an arrangement in which the central portion in the thrust direction of the rib 125 is located downstream in the rotational direction from both ends in the thrust direction. FIG. 10B shows the central portion in the thrust direction of the rib 125 in both ends in the thrust direction. It is the arrangement that is upstream in the rotational direction from the part.

  In addition, here, the rib 125 of the driven roller 23 is provided to be inclined with respect to the axial direction, and the example in which the inclined direction changes in the reverse direction once in the middle of the axial direction has been described. It can also be set as the structure changed to a reverse direction 2 times or more.

  By comprising in this way, the shift | offset | difference of the thrust direction of the protection belt 21 can be suppressed.

  Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory perspective view for explaining the embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the portion of the protective belt 21 facing the recording head 11 is disposed so as to be positioned closer to the nozzle surface than the portion in contact with the driven roller 23 (A> 0). For example, the driven roller 23 side can be lowered by arranging a platen member on the back side of the protective belt 21 at a portion facing a nozzle surface (not shown).

  As a result, the vertical movement of the protective belt 21 due to the rotation of the polygonal driven roller 23 can be suppressed to ensure image quality.

  Next, a ninth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a perspective explanatory view of a driven roller portion for explaining the embodiment.

  A tension toward the downstream side in the conveying direction is applied to the driven roller 23 by a tension spring 130. As a result, even if the position of the longer diameter portion of the driven roller due to the rotation of the polygonal driven roller 23 changes, the distance between the transport roller 22 and the driven roller 23 changes, so that the protective belt 21 has a constant length. To be adjusted.

  In the above-described embodiment, the description has been given of the configuration of the conveying unit that conveys the adhesive surface while protecting the adhesive surface with the protective belt. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to the following configurations.

(1) An image is formed on the adhesive surface, and the medium surface is transported while being supported by a transport belt.
(2) A print medium having no adhesive surface is transported by a transport belt.

  In addition, “image formation” in the present application not only applies an image having a meaning such as a character or a figure to a medium, but also applies an image having no meaning such as a pattern to the medium (simply a liquid droplet). To land on the medium).

  Further, the image forming apparatus includes both a serial type image forming apparatus and a line type image forming apparatus, unless otherwise limited.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Print medium 4 Roll body 11 Recording head 21 Protection belt 22 Conveyance roller 23 Drive roller 24 Pressure roller 31 Intermediate roller 33 Cutter 36 Paper discharge roller 100 Main body 101 Paper feed part 102 Image formation part 103 Conveyance part 104 Paper discharge part 105 Vent

Claims (6)

A roll-shaped print medium having an adhesive surface and no release paper pasted on the adhesive surface;
An image forming unit that forms an image on the print medium;
A belt-like member that is pressed against the adhesive surface of the print medium and conveyed integrally with the print medium;
A driving roller and a driven roller around which the belt-like member is wound,
The driven roller is disposed downstream of the image forming unit in the transport direction of the print medium and has a polygonal cross-sectional shape in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction.
The image forming apparatus, wherein the print medium is separated from the belt-shaped member in a region facing the driven roller.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driven roller has an even number of sides. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driven roller has a shape in which the position of the polygonal edge in the axial direction changes stepwise or spirally in the axial direction. A roll-shaped print medium having an adhesive surface and no release paper pasted on the adhesive surface;
An image forming unit that forms an image on the print medium;
A belt-like member that is pressed against the adhesive surface of the print medium and conveyed integrally with the print medium;
A driving roller and a driven roller around which the belt-like member is wound,
The driven roller is arranged on the downstream side in the transport direction of the print medium from the image forming unit, and a plurality of ribs along the axial direction are formed on the circumferential surface.
The image forming apparatus, wherein the print medium is separated from the belt-shaped member in a region facing the driven roller. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the driven roller has a shape in which the position of the rib in the rotational direction changes stepwise or spirally in the axial direction in the axial direction.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the driven roller is provided with the rib inclined to the axial direction, and the inclined direction changes in the reverse direction in the middle of the axial direction.

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