JP2018086760A - Thermal transfer system, winding device, thermal transfer method and winding method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a winding failure of an ink ribbon.SOLUTION: A thermal transfer system 10 for transferring an ink to a transferred body using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer comprises: a delivery part 16 for delivering an ink ribbon; a first transfer device 17 having a first heating body and transferring an ink on an ink layer of the ink ribbon to the transferred body in a first pattern; a winding part 21 for winding up the ink ribbon completing ink transfer; a second transfer device 22 having a second heating body for heating the ink ribbon completing ink transfer from a support layer side, and transferring an ink on the ink layer of the ink ribbon heated by the second heating body to a support layer positioned on inside of the ink ribbon in a second pattern different from the first pattern; a first winding abnormality determination part 1a for determining whether or not winding abnormality occurs, in the winding abnormality, the winding part cannot wind up the ink ribbon normally when the delivery part delivers the ink ribbon; and a winding direction control part 2 for, when it is determined that the winding abnormality occurs by the first winding abnormality determination part, reversing the winding direction of the winding part, then restoring the winding direction to an original winding direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal transfer system or a thermal transfer method for transferring ink to a transfer target using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer. The present invention also relates to a winding device or a winding method for winding an ink ribbon that has been transferred with ink.

  2. Description of the Related Art A transfer system that uses an ink ribbon to print an image such as a character on a transfer object such as a card is widely used. The ink ribbon includes a ribbon (support layer) extending in a strip shape, and an ink layer formed on the ribbon and containing a dye or the like.

  While feeding out the ink ribbon, the support layer side of the ink ribbon is heated to transfer the ink in the ink layer to the transfer target, thereby performing printing. Patterns such as printed characters remain in the ink layer after ink is removed by transfer to the transfer target, and the printed information can be grasped. Therefore, when the ink ribbon having the ink transferred thereon is taken up by the winding device, the disturbance information is transferred to the support layer of the inner ink ribbon by the ink of the ink layer of the outer ink ribbon, and the ink transferred A technique has been proposed in which printed information cannot be grasped with an ink ribbon (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2011-255564 A

  When winding the ink ribbon after the ink transfer with the winding device, the head for transferring the disturbance information may stick to the support layer, which may cause a problem that the ink ribbon cannot be wound normally by the winding device. There is.

  A possible cause of the ink ribbon support layer sticking to the head is that the ink layer melts due to the remaining heat of the head while the winding device stops winding, and an ink pool is formed on the head traveling direction side. Thus, the ink reservoir forms a convex portion on the support layer, and the ink ribbon cannot get over the head. In particular, when a torque limiter is attached to a motor used for rotational driving of the winding device, the rotational torque of the winding device is limited. You may not be able to get over.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. The purpose of the present invention is to attach a support layer of an ink ribbon to a head for transferring disturbance information when winding the ink ribbon after ink transfer. The present invention provides a thermal transfer system, a winding device, a thermal transfer method, and a winding method that can prevent winding failure of an ink ribbon without sticking.

In order to solve the above problems, in one aspect of the present invention, in a thermal transfer system that transfers ink to a transfer target using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer,
A delivery section for delivering the ink ribbon;
A first heating element is provided on the downstream side of the delivery unit and provided on the support layer side of the ink ribbon, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is transferred to the transfer target in a first pattern. A first transfer device,
A winding unit that is disposed on the downstream side of the first transfer device and winds up the ink ribbon after ink transfer;
A second heating body that is provided in the vicinity of the winding unit and that heats the ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred from the support layer side; A second transfer device for transferring to the support layer located inside the ink ribbon in a second pattern different from the first pattern;
A first winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit cannot normally wind the ink ribbon when the sending unit sends out the ink ribbon;
When it is determined by the first winding abnormality determination unit that the winding abnormality has occurred, the winding direction in which the winding direction of the winding unit is once reversed and then forward rotated in the original winding direction A thermal transfer system comprising a controller.

The delivery unit intermittently performs an operation of continuously delivering the ink ribbon by a predetermined length,
When the winding direction control unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred by the first winding abnormality determining unit, the rotation required for the winding unit to wind up the ink ribbon of the predetermined length. The rotation may be reversed by a rotation amount or rotation time smaller than the amount or rotation time.

A second winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not the winding abnormality occurs again in a state where the winding direction of the winding unit is reversed and then rotated forward;
And a repetitive operation unit that repeats a forward rotation operation after reversing the winding direction of the winding unit when the second winding abnormality determination unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred again. May be.

  If the winding abnormality occurs even when the repetitive operation unit reverses the winding direction of the winding unit and then rotates forward a predetermined number of times, an error processing execution unit that performs predetermined error processing is provided. You may prepare.

A winding amount detection unit for detecting a winding amount of the ink ribbon wound by the winding unit;
The first winding abnormality determination unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred if the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit is less than a first threshold;
The second winding abnormality determination unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred if the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit is less than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value. Also good.

A motor,
A torque limiter for limiting the rotational torque of the motor,
The winding unit may wind up the ink ribbon with a rotational torque that is limited by the torque limiter.

A slack judging unit for judging whether slack has occurred in the ink ribbon before the winding unit winds up the ink ribbon;
The first winding abnormality determining unit may determine that the winding abnormality has occurred when the slack determining unit determines that slack has occurred.

In another aspect of the present invention, the winding for winding up the ink ribbon after the ink in the ink layer in the ink ribbon having the support layer and the ink layer is transferred to the transfer target in a first pattern. In the taking device,
A winding unit for winding up the ink ribbon that has been subjected to ink transfer;
An ink layer provided in the vicinity of the winding unit and configured to heat the ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon heated by the heating body; A transfer device for transferring to a support layer of an ink ribbon located inside the ink ribbon in a second pattern different from the pattern;
A first winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit cannot normally wind the ink ribbon;
When it is determined by the first winding abnormality determination unit that the winding abnormality has occurred, the winding direction in which the winding direction of the winding unit is once reversed and then forward rotated in the original winding direction And a control unit.

In another aspect of the present invention, in a thermal transfer method for transferring ink to a transfer target using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer,
Sending out the ink ribbon;
Heating from a support layer side of the ink ribbon with a first heating body, and transferring the ink of the ink layer of the ink ribbon to the transfer object in a first pattern;
Winding up the ink ribbon that has been ink-transferred in the first pattern;
The ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred in the first pattern is heated by a second heating body from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is changed to the ink in a second pattern different from the first pattern. Transferring to the support layer of the ink ribbon located inside the ribbon;
Determining whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit does not normally wind the ink ribbon when the ink ribbon is delivered; and
When it is determined that the winding abnormality has occurred, a step of temporarily reversing the winding direction of the ink ribbon that has been ink-transferred in the second pattern, and then rotating it forward in the original winding direction. A thermal transfer method is provided.

In another aspect of the present invention, the winding for winding up the ink ribbon after the ink in the ink layer in the ink ribbon having the support layer and the ink layer is transferred to the transfer target in a first pattern. In the taking method,
Winding up the ink ribbon with the ink transferred;
The ink ribbon on which the ink has been transferred is heated with a heating element from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is set in the second pattern different from the first pattern, and the ink is positioned inside the ink ribbon. Transferring to a ribbon support layer;
Determining whether a winding abnormality that does not normally wind the ink ribbon has occurred;
When it is determined that the winding abnormality has occurred, a winding method is provided, including a step of once reversing the winding direction of the ink ribbon and then rotating the ink ribbon in the normal winding direction. .

  According to the present invention, when the ink ribbon after the ink transfer is wound, the ink ribbon support layer is prevented from sticking to the head for transferring the disturbance information, so that the winding failure of the ink ribbon can be prevented. .

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a thermal transfer system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which printing is sequentially performed on a plurality of transfer objects. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a case where the ink ribbon after being transferred to the transfer object in the first pattern is viewed from the ink layer side, and FIG. 5B is a transfer object in which the ink of the ink ribbon is transferred in the first pattern. FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of the ink ribbon after ink transfer shown in FIG. The figure which shows the detail of a winding apparatus. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of an ink ribbon around a second heating body. (A) And (b) is sectional drawing which shows a mode that an outer side ink ribbon is heated by a 2nd pattern with a 2nd transfer apparatus. (A) is a figure which shows the ink layer of the outer side ink ribbon after transfer is implemented, (b) is a figure which shows the support layer of the inner side ink ribbon after transfer is implemented. The figure which shows typically the state which the 2nd heating body adhered to the ink ribbon wound by the winding-up part. The flowchart which shows the processing operation of the thermal transfer system of FIG. The graph which shows the correspondence of the pulse number of an encoder, and a 1st threshold value. The figure which shows schematic structure of the thermal transfer system by 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a thermal transfer system 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The thermal transfer system 10 in FIG. 1 transfers an ink 12a in a desired pattern to a transfer target 14 using an ink ribbon 13 having a support layer 11 and an ink layer 12.

  The thermal transfer system 10 of FIG. 1 includes a delivery unit 16, a first transfer device 17, a winding device 20, a winding abnormality detector 1, and a winding direction control unit 2.

Sending unit 16 sends out the ink ribbon 13 in the direction indicated by the arrow _{R 1.} More specifically, the sending unit 16 continuously sends out the ink ribbon 13 for printing one transferred material 14. FIG. 2 shows an example in which printing is sequentially performed on a plurality of transfer bodies 14. In the case of FIG. 2, the operation of printing on each transfer medium 14 is repeated while the ink ribbon 13 is sent out by the sending unit 16. Therefore, the sending unit 16 continuously feeds the ink ribbon by a length L1 corresponding to the length of one side of one transferred body 14 plus a margin, and when printing on one transferred body 14 is finished. Then, the ink ribbon 13 is continuously sent out in order to perform the next printing of the transfer medium 14. Thus, the sending unit 16 intermittently performs the operation of sending out the ink ribbon 13.

  The first transfer device 17 is arranged on the downstream side of the delivery unit 16 and has a first heating body provided on the support layer side of the ink ribbon 13. The first heating body transfers the ink of the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13 to the transfer body 14 in a first pattern.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the first transfer device 17 includes a platen roll 19 that supports the transfer target 14 and a first heating provided so as to face the platen roll 19 with the ink ribbon 13 and the transfer target 14 interposed therebetween. It has a body 18, for example a print head. As shown in FIG. 1, the first heating body 18 is provided on the support layer 11 side of the ink ribbon 13. The first heating body 18 heats the ink 12a of the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13 in a predetermined pattern (first pattern) corresponding to, for example, ID information, and thereby the ink 12a of the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13 is obtained. Is transferred to the transfer target 14 in the first pattern.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a case where the ink ribbon 13 after the ink 12a is transferred to the transfer target body 14 in the first pattern is viewed from the ink layer 12 side, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the to-be-transferred body 14 to which the ink 12a of the ribbon 13 was transcribe | transferred by the 1st pattern. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of the ink ribbon 13 to which ink has been transferred shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4, in the ink ribbon 13 to which the ink has been transferred, the ink layer 12 is printed on the transferred material 14 and the ink 12 a remaining without being transferred to the transferred material 14. And the ink missing portion 12b corresponding to the ID information. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3A, the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b in the ink ribbon 13 to which ink has been transferred corresponds to the first pattern in the first heating body 18 described above. For this reason, it is possible to specify the ID information printed on the transfer medium 14 based on the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the winding device 20 includes a winding unit 21 and a second transfer device 22. The winding unit 21 is a roll-shaped member that is disposed on the downstream side of the first transfer device 17 and winds up the ink ribbon 13 that has been ink-transferred. The second transfer device 22 is provided in the vicinity of the take-up unit 21 and heats the ink ribbon 13 to which ink has been transferred from the support layer 11 side. The second transfer device 22 includes a second heating body 23 made of a roll-shaped heating element and a support mechanism (not shown) that supports the second heating body 23.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the winding unit 21 winds the ink ribbon 13 so that the support layer 11 of the ink ribbon 13 is positioned outside the ink layer 12. In this specification, the ink ribbon 13 positioned on the outermost periphery among the ink ribbons 13 wound around the winding unit 21 is referred to as an outer ink ribbon 13A, and is wound around the winding unit 21 inside the outer ink ribbon 13A. The ink ribbon 13 taken and adjacent to the outer ink ribbon 13A is referred to as an inner ink ribbon 13B.

  The second transfer device 22 includes a second heating body 23 that is provided in the vicinity of the winding unit 21 and that heats the ink ribbon 13 to which ink has been transferred from the support layer 11 side. The second transfer device 22 transfers the ink of the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13 heated by the second heating body 23 to the support layer 11 positioned inside the ink ribbon 13 in a second pattern different from the first pattern. To do. The second pattern is a pattern that disturbs so that the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b cannot be identified.

  FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the ink ribbon 13 around the second heater 23. In addition, when the ink ribbon 13 is wound around the winding unit 21, the wound ink ribbon 13 is actually curved along the roll surface of the winding unit 21, but in FIG. The ink ribbon 13 is drawn ignoring the state. Further, FIG. 6 illustrates a state in which the outer ink ribbon 13A is pressed by the second heating body 23 and a part of the ink 12a of the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A is pressed against the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13B. Therefore, for convenience, a slight gap is drawn between the outer ink ribbon 13A and the inner ink ribbon 13B. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the outer ink ribbon 13A and the inner ink ribbon 13B may be in contact with each other without any gap.

  The second heating body 23 is fixed, and the ink ribbon 13 moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Therefore, the ink ribbon 13 moves while being in contact with the protruding print head 23 a of the second heating body 23. At this time, by pressing the second heating body 23 against the ink ribbon 13 and heating the second heating body 23, one of the ink 12a remaining in the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A in FIG. The portion is transferred in the second pattern onto the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13B. The temperature of the second heating body 23 is such that the phenomenon that the ink 12a of the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A is melted over the entire region and the outer ink ribbon 13A and the inner ink ribbon 13B are bonded to each other does not occur. Is set low.

  By controlling the heating timing and pressing timing of the second heater 23 during the movement of the ink ribbon 13, a part of the ink 12a remaining on the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A is transferred to the support layer of the inner ink ribbon 13B. 11 can be transferred. With the second pattern, which is the transfer pattern at this time, the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b formed of the first pattern corresponding to the ID information in the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A can be destroyed. As a result, as will be described in detail later, it is possible to prevent the ID information printed on the transfer medium 14 from being specified based on the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b.

In the winding unit 21, the outer diameter of the roll body constituted by the ink ribbon 13 wound by the winding unit 21 increases as the winding proceeds. In order to cope with such an increase in the outer diameter of the roll body, the second heating body 23 is supported by a support mechanism (not shown) so as to be movable in the radial direction of the roll body. Further, by supporting the second heating body 23 by such a support mechanism, the second heating body 23 is moved to the arrow when the winding drive is stopped or when the heating by the second heating body 23 is unnecessary. is moved in the D ₁ direction, it is possible to arbitrarily stop the contact with the ink ribbon 13 that is wound around the winding portion 21.

  The winding unit 21 is rotatable around the rotation axis. This rotating shaft is connected to the torque limiter 3 and the motor 4. When the rotational torque of the motor 4 is higher than necessary, a great tension is applied to the ink ribbon 13 when the winding unit 21 winds the ink ribbon 13. Due to this tension, the ink ribbon 13 may be wrinkled or broken. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the torque limiter 3 limits the rotational torque of the motor 4. If the rotational torque of the motor 4 is weak, the torque limiter 3 may be omitted.

  When the rotational torque of the motor 4 is limited by the torque limiter 3, the force that the winding unit 21 winds the ink ribbon 13 is also weakened. For this reason, as will be described later, a problem that the second heater 23 sticks to the ink ribbon 13 is likely to occur. Therefore, the thermal transfer system 10 according to the present embodiment includes the winding abnormality detector 1 and the winding direction control unit 2 shown in FIG.

  The winding abnormality detector 1 includes a first winding abnormality determining unit 1a and a second winding abnormality determining unit 1b. The first winding abnormality determination unit 1a determines whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit 21 cannot normally wind the ink ribbon 13 when the sending unit 16 sends out the ink ribbon 13. When it is determined by the first winding abnormality determining unit 1a that the winding abnormality has occurred, the winding direction control unit 2 reverses the winding direction of the winding unit 21 once, and then the original winding is performed. Rotate forward in the direction. The second winding abnormality determination unit 1b determines whether or not a winding abnormality occurs again in a state where the winding direction of the winding unit 21 is reversed and then rotated forward.

  The winding abnormality detector 1 may have a winding amount detection unit 5. The winding amount detection unit 5 detects the winding amount of the ink ribbon 13 that is wound by the winding unit 21. The winding amount detection unit 5 can be constituted by an encoder, for example. The encoder optically detects the winding amount of the ink ribbon 13 as will be described later. The encoder may be attached to the roller of the winding unit 21 or may be attached to the rotating shaft of the winding unit 21.

  If the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit 5 is less than the first threshold, the first winding abnormality determination unit 1a determines that a winding abnormality has occurred. The second winding abnormality determination unit 1b determines that a winding abnormality has occurred if the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit 5 is less than a second threshold value that is less than the first threshold value.

  Further, the thermal transfer system 10 according to the present embodiment may include a repetitive operation unit 6 and an error processing execution unit 7. When it is determined by the second winding abnormality determination unit 1b that the winding abnormality has occurred again, the repetitive operation unit 6 repeats a predetermined number of operations of rotating the winding unit 21 in the normal direction after reversing the winding direction. . The error processing execution unit 7 performs predetermined error processing when the number of repetitions by the repetitive operation unit 6 reaches a predetermined number.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. Here, ID information is printed on the transfer target 14 by the first transfer device 17 of the thermal transfer system 10, and then the ink 12 a of the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13 A to which ink has been transferred is transferred by the second transfer device 22. The action transferred onto the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13B in two patterns will be described.

  First, the transfer target 14 is prepared, and then the transfer target 14 is conveyed toward the first transfer device 17. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink ribbon 13 is sent out from the sending unit 16 toward the first transfer device 17.

  When the transfer body 14 reaches between the first heating body 18 and the platen roll 19 of the first transfer device 17, the first heating body 18 heats the ink ribbon 13 in the first pattern corresponding to the ID information. Press against the transfer body 14. As a result, the ink 12a of the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13 is transferred onto the transfer target 14 in a first pattern (first transfer step). As a result, ID information is printed on the transfer medium 14, and an ink missing portion 12 b corresponding to the ID information is formed in the ink layer 12 of the ink ribbon 13.

  The ink ribbon 13 to which ink has been transferred after passing through the first transfer device 17 is taken up by the take-up unit 21 of the take-up device 20. Then, in a state where the ink ribbon 13 that has been ink-transferred is wound up by the winding unit 21, the outer ink ribbon 13A is heated in the second pattern by the second transfer device 22 (second transfer step). Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B and FIGS. 8A and 8B, the operation of heating the outer ink ribbon 13A in the second pattern by the second transfer device 22 will be described in detail.

  First, as shown in FIG. 7A, the outer side of the ink ribbon 13 (on the support layer 11 side) while rotating the winding unit 21 with the second heating body 23 of the second transfer device 22 fixed. The outer ink ribbon 13 </ b> A is pressed against the second heating body 23. As a result, the outer ink ribbon 13 </ b> A is heated from the outside by the protrusion 23 a of the second heating body 23. The heating timing is adjusted as appropriate. For this reason, a portion of the ink 12a remaining on the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A is pressed against the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13B while being heated. As a result, as indicated by reference numeral 12c in FIG. 7B, a part of the ink 12a remaining in the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A is transferred onto the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13B.

  FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating a case where the outer ink ribbon 13A after being transferred by the second transfer device 22 is viewed from the ink layer 12 side, and FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating the second transfer device. 22 is a diagram illustrating a case where the inner ink ribbon 13B after the transfer by 22 is viewed from the support layer 11 side. As shown in FIG. 8A, the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A has an ink missing portion 12b (1) having a first pattern based on a print pattern of ID information in the first transfer device 17, and a second pattern. An ink removal portion 12b (2) having a second pattern 26 based on the arrangement pattern of the protrusions 23a of the second heating body 23 in the transfer device 22 is formed. As shown in FIG. 8A, the first layer and the second pattern 26 are mixed in the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A. Therefore, the ink composed of the first pattern corresponding to the ID information. The pattern of the missing portion 12b (1) is destroyed to the extent that it cannot be recognized. As a result, it is possible to prevent the identification information printed on the transfer medium 14 from being specified based on the pattern of the ink missing portion 12b.

  As shown in FIG. 8B, the ink 12 c is transferred from the outer ink ribbon 13 </ b> A by the second pattern 26 onto the support layer 11 of the inner ink ribbon 13 </ b> B by the second transfer device 22. Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, the ink 12c is partially formed with an ink missing portion 12d having a pattern based on the ink missing portion 12b formed of the first pattern of the ink layer 12 of the outer ink ribbon 13A. Has been. However, as shown in FIG. 8B, the ink missing portion 12d is only visually recognized in a region overlapping with the second pattern 26. Therefore, based on the pattern of the ink missing portion 12d, the transferred object is transferred. The ID information printed on 14 is not specified.

  As described above, the ink ribbon 13 having been transferred by the ink taken up by the take-up unit 21 of the take-up device 20 is heated by the second transfer device 22 from the outside in the second pattern. Then, a series of ink-transferred ink ribbons 13 are taken up by the take-up unit 21 and heated from the outside with the second pattern 26 by the second transfer device 22, and then the ink ribbon 13 is removed from the take-up unit 21. Discard. At this time, no adhesion treatment is performed between the ink ribbons 13 wound on the winding unit 21, for example, between the outer ink ribbon 13 </ b> A and the inner ink ribbon 13 </ b> B. It can be easily removed from the winding unit 21. Therefore, the winding unit 21 can be used repeatedly. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the cost for processing the ink ribbon 13 that has been ink-transferred, compared to the case where the winding unit 21 is discarded together with the ink ribbon 13 that has been ink-transferred.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the torque limiter 3 is provided to limit the rotational torque of the motor 4. For this reason, if the convex part 8 exists in the outer peripheral surface of the ink ribbon 13 wound around the winding part 21, the ink ribbon 13 cannot get over the second heating body 23, and as a result, the ink ribbon 13 is second heated. There is a risk of sticking to the body 23. FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state where the ink ribbon 13 wound around the winding unit 21 is attached to the second heating body 23 having the shape illustrated in FIG. 11.

  Such sticking occurs when the heating of the second heating body 23 is stopped simultaneously with the end of winding of the ink ribbon 13, or between the winding end time of the ink ribbon 13 and the heating stop time of the second heating body 23. When the time difference is short, the ink in the ink layer 12 is melted by the residual heat of the second heating body 23 and an ink pool is formed in front of the second heating body 23 in the traveling direction. It is considered that the convex portion 8 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the taken ink ribbon 13 on the support layer 11 side, and this convex portion 8 cannot get over the second heating body 23.

  If the rotational torque of the rotating shaft of the winding unit 21 is sufficiently large, even if there are some convex portions 8 on the outer peripheral surface of the ink ribbon 13, the second heating body 23 can be overcome, but in this embodiment, As shown in FIG. 1, since the torque limiter 3 limits the rotational torque of the rotation shaft, a problem that the ink ribbon 13 sticks to the second heater 23 is likely to occur.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not a winding abnormality that causes the ink ribbon 13 to adhere to the second heating body 23 has occurred. If it is determined that a winding abnormality has occurred, the winding unit 21 is reversed. After the ink ribbon 13 is once moved in the reverse direction, the winding unit 21 is rotated forward in the original rotation direction so as to eliminate the winding abnormality.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the thermal transfer system 10 of FIG. This flowchart shows an example in which an encoder is provided as a winding amount detection unit 5 inside the winding abnormality detector 1. The encoder has a light emitter and a light receiver (not shown). For example, the winding unit 21 has a slit (not shown) that rotates around its rotation axis, and a light emitter and a light receiver are disposed to face each other with the slit interposed therebetween. When the winding unit 21 winds up the ink ribbon 13, the number of slits passing between the light emitter and the light receiver changes according to the winding amount. The winding amount can be detected by measuring this number.

  First, the sending unit 16 starts feeding the ink ribbon 13 (step S1), and accordingly, the winding unit 21 starts winding the ink ribbon 13 (step S2). When the ink ribbon 13 is taken up by the take-up unit 21, the second heating body 23 transfers the ink of the outer ink layer 12 to the inner support layer 11 of the take-up unit 21 in a second pattern. The sending unit 16 stops when the ink ribbon 13 is continuously sent out by an amount necessary for printing on one transfer medium 14 (step S3), and the winding unit 21 takes the ink ribbon by the amount sent by the sending unit. When 13 is wound up, it stops (step S4). In this way, the sending unit 16 performs an intermittent operation of sending the ink ribbon 13 intermittently for the printing amount of one transferred body 14.

  The first winding abnormality determination unit 1a determines whether or not the number of pulses detected by the encoder during the feeding of the ink ribbon 13 has exceeded the first threshold (step S5). The first threshold value is a value corresponding to the ink ribbon length necessary for printing on one transfer target 14.

  If it is determined that the first threshold has not been exceeded, it is determined that no winding abnormality has occurred, and the process returns to step S1. The reason for returning to step S <b> 1 is to perform the processes of steps S <b> 1 to S <b> 5 also when the ink ribbon 13 is sent out for printing on the next transfer target 14. If the next transfer target 14 does not exist, the process in FIG. 10 ends.

  If it determines with having exceeded the 1st threshold value by step S5, the winding direction control part 2 will reverse the winding part 21 (step S6). More specifically, the take-up direction control unit 2 reverses the ink ribbon 13 by a distance of, for example, a fraction of 1 to several tenths of the length of the ink ribbon necessary for printing on one transfer target 14. Let Alternatively, the winding direction control unit 2 may reverse the winding unit 21 for about one-tenth to several tenths of the time required for printing one transferred material 14.

  FIG. 11 is a graph showing the correspondence between the number of pulses of the encoder and the first threshold value. As the winding diameter of the ink ribbon 13 wound around the winding section 21 increases, the number of pulses of the encoder decreases linearly. Therefore, it is desirable to change the first threshold value linearly in accordance with the winding diameter of the ink ribbon 13. In the example of FIG. 11, the first threshold is set to about 80% of the average number of pulses of the encoder when no winding abnormality has occurred. Note that the value of the first threshold is arbitrary.

  When the process of step S6 is completed, the winding direction control unit 2 subsequently rotates the winding unit 21 in the normal winding direction (step S7). Then, the second winding abnormality determination unit 1b determines whether or not the number of pulses detected by the encoder during the normal rotation of the winding unit 21 in step S6 exceeds the second threshold (step S8). ). The second threshold value is a value smaller than the first threshold value, and is a value at which it can be determined that sticking of the second heating body 23 to the ink ribbon 13 has been eliminated.

  If it is determined in step S8 that the second threshold has not been exceeded, it is determined that the winding abnormality has been resolved, and the process returns to step S1. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S8 that the second threshold value has been exceeded, it is determined that the winding abnormality has not been resolved, and the determination processing by the second winding abnormality determination unit 1b is performed n times (n is an arbitrary number of 1 or more). It is determined whether or not it has been repeated (step S9).

  If it has not reached n times, the repeat operation unit 6 repeats the processes of steps S6 to S9. If it is determined in step S9 that the number has reached n times, the error processing execution unit 7 performs predetermined error processing (step S10), and the processing of FIG.

  As described above, since the thermal transfer system 10 of FIG. 1 has the torque limiter 3 attached to the motor 4, the rotational torque of the winding unit 21 is not so large. This is the same even if the winding unit 21 is rotated in the reverse direction and then rotated forward. However, when the winding unit 21 is reversely rotated and then rotated forward, the distance between the second heating body 23 and the convex portion 8 becomes long, and even if the rotational torque is the same, the second heating body 23 Therefore, the convex portion 8 of the ink ribbon 13 can easily get over the second heating body 23. That is, by temporarily reversing the winding unit 21, the ink ribbon 13 can be run up until the convex portion 8 of the ink ribbon 13 reaches the second heating body 23. The convex portion 8 can get over the second heating body 23.

  According to the inventor's experiment, the probability that the convex portion 8 of the ink ribbon 13 gets over the second heating body 23 is not improved so much even if the time or distance for reversing the winding portion 21 is increased. Therefore, in the present embodiment, if the convex portion 8 of the ink ribbon 13 cannot get over even if the winding portion 21 is rotated in the reverse direction, the winding portion 21 is again moved by the same distance or time. The operation of reverse rotation and normal rotation is repeated. If the convex portion 8 of the ink ribbon 13 cannot get over the second heating body 23 even after being repeated a predetermined number of times, a predetermined error process is performed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the ink ribbon 13 is taken up by the take-up unit 21, the ink of the outer ink layer 12 is transferred to the inner support layer 11 in the second pattern, and the second pattern is transferred. The winding abnormality detector 1 detects whether or not a winding abnormality in which the ink ribbon 13 sticks to the heating element 23 has occurred. If a winding abnormality has occurred, the winding unit 21 is once reversed. Rotate forward to eliminate winding abnormality. Thereby, jamming of the ink ribbon 13 can be prevented. Further, since the period during which the winding unit 21 is reversed and the length of the ink ribbon may be short, the second heating body 23 can be attached to the ink ribbon 13 without significantly affecting the throughput of print output to the transfer target 14. Can prevent sticking.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, it is determined whether the ink ribbon 13 has adhered to the second heating body 23 based on the number of pulses of the encoder. However, the ink ribbon 13 is adhered to the second heating body 23 based on the slack amount of the ink ribbon 13. You may determine whether it attached.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a thermal transfer system 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 12, the same reference numerals are given to the components common to FIG. 1, and the differences will be mainly described below. The thermal transfer system 10 in FIG. 12 includes a plurality of guide rolls 15 and tension bars 9 in addition to the configuration in FIG.

  In a normal state where the ink ribbon 13 is not attached to the second heating body 23, the ink ribbon 13 sent out from the sending unit 16 passes through the back side of the first transfer device 17, and then is shown by a solid line in FIG. Then, it passes through several guide rolls 15 and is wound around the winding part 21. At this time, the tension bar 9 exists at the position p1 in FIG. On the other hand, if the ink ribbon 13 sticks to the second heating body 23, the winding unit 21 does not rotate, so that the ink ribbon 13 is slackened before the winding unit 21, as shown by the broken line in FIG. The tension bar 9 moves to the position p2 in FIG. The winding amount detection unit 5 detects the position of the tension bar 9, and determines that no winding abnormality has occurred if the tension bar 9 exists at the position p1, and if the tension bar 9 exists at the position p2, Judge that winding abnormality has occurred. In this case, the winding amount detection unit 5 functions as a slack determination unit that determines whether slack has occurred in the ink ribbon 13.

  Further, even when the winding unit 21 is reversely rotated once after the occurrence of the winding abnormality and then rotated forward, it may be determined whether or not the winding abnormality has been resolved depending on whether the tension bar 9 is at the position p1 or p2. .

  When the tension bar 9 is used, the tension applied to the ink ribbon 13 can be adjusted by the tension bar 9, so even if the torque motor 4 is omitted, the ink ribbon 13 is not excessively tensioned. Therefore, the configuration can be simplified as compared with the first embodiment, and the motor 4 having a smaller rotational torque and less expensive than the first embodiment can be used.

  Note that it may be determined whether a winding abnormality has occurred using both the tension bar 9 and the encoder described in the first embodiment. For example, the determination process in step S5 in FIG. 10 may be determined based on the position of the tension bar 9, and the determination process in step S8 may be determined based on the number of pulses of the encoder.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the slack of the ink ribbon 13 is detected by the tension bar 9, and it is determined whether or not a winding abnormality by the winding unit 21 has occurred due to the slackness of the ink ribbon 13. By providing the tension bar 9, the torque limiter 3 is not required, and it is possible to determine whether there is a winding abnormality with a simpler configuration than in the first embodiment.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Winding abnormality detector, 1a 1st winding abnormality determination part, 1b 2nd winding abnormality determination part, 2 winding direction control part, 3 torque limiter, 4 motor, 5 winding amount detection part, 6 repetitive operation part 7 Error processing execution part, 8 convex part, 9 tension bar, 10 thermal transfer system, 11 support layer, 12 ink layer, 12a ink, 12b ink missing part, 12c ink transferred onto the support layer by the second transfer device, 13 Ink Ribbon, 13A Outer Ink Ribbon, 13B Inner Ink Ribbon, 13C Outer Ink Ribbon, 13D Inner Ink Ribbon, 14 Transferred Body, 15 Guide Roll, 16 Sending Unit, 17 First Transfer Device, 18 First Heating Body, 19 Platen roll, 20 winding device, 21 winding unit, 22 second transfer device, 23 second heating element, 23a protrusion, 24 support Lumpur, 25 guide roll, 26 a second pattern

Claims (10)

In a thermal transfer system that transfers ink to a transfer object using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer,
A delivery section for delivering the ink ribbon;
A first heating element is provided on the downstream side of the delivery unit and provided on the support layer side of the ink ribbon, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is transferred to the transfer target in a first pattern. A first transfer device,
A winding unit that is disposed on the downstream side of the first transfer device and winds up the ink ribbon after ink transfer;
A second heating body that is provided in the vicinity of the winding unit and that heats the ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred from the support layer side; A second transfer device for transferring to the support layer located inside the ink ribbon in a second pattern different from the first pattern;
A first winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit cannot normally wind the ink ribbon when the sending unit sends out the ink ribbon;
When it is determined by the first winding abnormality determination unit that the winding abnormality has occurred, the winding direction in which the winding direction of the winding unit is once reversed and then forward rotated in the original winding direction And a thermal transfer system. The delivery unit intermittently performs an operation of continuously delivering the ink ribbon by a predetermined length,
When the winding direction control unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred by the first winding abnormality determining unit, the rotation required for the winding unit to wind up the ink ribbon of the predetermined length. The thermal transfer system of claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer system is reversed by a rotation amount or rotation time that is less than the amount or rotation time. A second winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not the winding abnormality occurs again in a state where the winding direction of the winding unit is reversed and then rotated forward;
When the second winding abnormality determining unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred again, a repetitive operation unit that repeats the forward rotation operation after reversing the winding direction of the winding unit is provided. The thermal transfer system according to claim 1 or 2.   If the winding abnormality occurs even when the repetitive operation unit reverses the winding direction of the winding unit and then rotates forward a predetermined number of times, an error processing execution unit that performs predetermined error processing is provided. The thermal transfer system according to claim 3, comprising: A winding amount detection unit for detecting a winding amount of the ink ribbon wound by the winding unit;
The first winding abnormality determination unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred if the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit is less than a first threshold;
The second winding abnormality determination unit determines that the winding abnormality has occurred if the winding amount detected by the winding amount detection unit is less than a second threshold value that is smaller than the first threshold value. The thermal transfer system according to claim 3 or 4. A motor,
A torque limiter for limiting the rotational torque of the motor,
The thermal transfer system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the winding unit winds the ink ribbon with a rotational torque that is limited by the torque limiter. A slack judging unit for judging whether slack has occurred in the ink ribbon before the winding unit winds up the ink ribbon;
The said 1st winding abnormality determination part determines with the said winding abnormality having generate | occur | produced, when it determines with the slack determination part having generate | occur | produced, The winding abnormality as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5. Thermal transfer system. In a winding device for winding up an ink ribbon after ink has been transferred after the ink of the ink layer in the ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer is transferred to the transfer target in a first pattern
A winding unit for winding up the ink ribbon that has been subjected to ink transfer;
An ink layer provided in the vicinity of the winding unit and configured to heat the ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon heated by the heating body; A transfer device for transferring to a support layer of an ink ribbon located inside the ink ribbon in a second pattern different from the pattern;
A first winding abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit cannot normally wind the ink ribbon;
When it is determined by the first winding abnormality determination unit that the winding abnormality has occurred, the winding direction in which the winding direction of the winding unit is once reversed and then forward rotated in the original winding direction And a control unit. In a thermal transfer method for transferring ink to a transfer medium using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer,
Sending out the ink ribbon;
Heating from a support layer side of the ink ribbon with a first heating body, and transferring the ink of the ink layer of the ink ribbon to the transfer object in a first pattern;
Winding up the ink ribbon that has been ink-transferred in the first pattern;
The ink ribbon to which the ink has been transferred in the first pattern is heated by a second heating body from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is changed to the ink in a second pattern different from the first pattern. Transferring to the support layer of the ink ribbon located inside the ribbon;
Determining whether or not a winding abnormality has occurred in which the winding unit does not normally wind the ink ribbon when the ink ribbon is delivered; and
When it is determined that the winding abnormality has occurred, a step of temporarily reversing the winding direction of the ink ribbon that has been ink-transferred in the second pattern, and then rotating it forward in the original winding direction. A thermal transfer method. In the winding method of winding up the ink ribbon after ink transfer after the ink of the ink layer in the ink ribbon having the support layer and the ink layer is transferred to the transfer target in the first pattern,
Winding up the ink ribbon with the ink transferred;
The ink ribbon on which the ink has been transferred is heated with a heating element from the support layer side, and the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon is set in the second pattern different from the first pattern, and the ink is positioned inside the ink ribbon. Transferring to a ribbon support layer;
Determining whether a winding abnormality that does not normally wind the ink ribbon has occurred;
And a step of reversing the winding direction of the ink ribbon once and then forwardly rotating in the original winding direction when it is determined that the winding abnormality has occurred.