JP2501859Y2 - Electrostatic recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] This invention forms a thin layer of a charged developer on a developer carrier, and responds to an image signal by an ion on the developer thin layer. The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device that forms a latent image and records an image.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as an electrostatic recording apparatus of this type, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
There is one disclosed in 61-169853. As shown in FIG. 7, this forms a thin layer of the toner 102 on the toner carrier roll 100 by the layer forming member 101, and the toner 102 is frictionally charged. Then, the thin toner layer formed on the surface of the toner carrier roll 100 is irradiated with an ion current supplied from the ion supply source 103 and modulated by the ion current modulation means 104 according to an image signal. A latent image corresponding to an image signal is formed on the thin layer. The toner thin layer on which a latent image is formed according to the image signal is transferred onto the transfer paper 106 by the bias voltage applied to the back electrode 105 to record an image.

By the way, the ion supply source 103 is formed in the shape of a metal box by a corotron or the like, whereas the ion flow modulation means 104 is formed in a plate shape by providing electrodes or the like on the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the ion supply source 103 and the ion flow modulation means 104 cannot be integrally assembled with each other, and are arranged separately from each other.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional technique has the following problems. That is, in the case of the above apparatus, since the ion supply source 103 and the ion flow modulation means 104 are separated from each other, while the ion flow generated from the ion supply source 103 reaches the ion flow modulation means 104, both It leaks from the gap between them. Therefore, the amount of ions modulated by the ion flow modulator 104 and reaching the toner carrier roll 100 to contribute to the recording of an image is reduced. Therefore, there is a problem that a latent image due to high-density ions cannot be formed on the toner carrier roll 100, and high-density image recording cannot be performed. Further, since the density of the ion stream irradiated onto the toner carrier roll 100 is low, the toner carrier roll 100
There is a problem that it takes a certain amount of time to form a latent image of a predetermined potential on 100, and high-speed recording cannot be supported. In addition, the toner carrier roll 100
Since the density of the ion flow irradiated on the top is low, it is necessary to apply a high voltage to the ion supply source 103 in order to obtain a predetermined ion flow density, and there is a problem that the power consumption is large. Further, the ion source 103 and the ion flow modulation means 104
Since and are arranged separately from each other, there is a problem that the space occupied by these members is large and the device becomes large accordingly.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, the present invention was made in order to solve the problems of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, and the purpose thereof is to provide a high-density ion flow on the developer carrying member. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrostatic recording apparatus which can obtain high image density by irradiation, is small in size, consumes less power, and can perform high-speed recording.

That is, the present invention is directed to a developer carrier that carries a thin layer of a charged developer on its surface, and an ion current that is modulated according to an image signal toward the developer thin layer on the developer carrier. And a modulated ion supply means for supplying the modulated ion stream to the thin developer layer to form a latent image corresponding to an image signal on the thin developer layer to record an image. In the electrographic recording device, the modulated ion supply means is provided with a back electrode and a discharge electrode along a longitudinal direction of a developer carrier with a dielectric substrate sandwiched between the discharge electrode and the back electrode and the discharge electrode. A space area where creeping corona discharge is generated by applying a voltage to is formed in a slit shape along the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier, and is generated from the space area of the discharge electrode on the discharge electrode side of the dielectric substrate. To prevent leakage of the generated ion flow An ion current modulation element is formed by laminating an electric field that modulates an ion current according to an image signal through an insulating layer along a surface direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the insulating layer through a slit-shaped void. According to the recording density, the ion current modulation element is formed by a plurality of segment electrodes that are separated from each other by a gap and a common electrode that faces the segment electrode through a slit-like gap. It is configured.

[Operation] In this invention, a voltage is applied between the back electrode and the discharge electrode, which are provided with the dielectric substrate sandwiched between them, to generate an ion current by the creeping corona discharge in the space region of the discharge electrode. The current is guided to the ion current modulation element through the insulating layer provided on the discharge electrode side of the dielectric substrate to prevent leakage of the ion current, and is modulated by the ion current modulation element to obtain the modulated ion current. Supply.

[Embodiment] The present invention will be described below based on an illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the electrostatic recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an electrostatic recording device, and this electrostatic recording device 1 includes a toner 2 as a developer.
It is provided with a hopper 3 that accommodates. At the lower part of the hopper 3, an opening 4 is provided inclined to the side,
In this opening 4, a toner carrier roll 5 as a developer carrier and a toner transport roll 6 are arranged rotatably in pressure contact with each other. The toner carrier roll 5 is
The surface of a conductive roll 7 made of stainless steel or the like is coated with a dielectric layer 8 made of thermosetting phenol resin or the like. The toner carrying roll 6 is an EP obtained by adding a diene monomer to ethylene-propylene rubber.
The toner carrying roll 6 is made of DM or the like and is rotated by being driven by the toner carrier roll 5 to supply the toner 2 contained in the hopper 3 to the surface of the toner carrier roll 5.

A layer that contacts the toner 2 on the toner carrier roll 5 and frictionally charges the toner 2 on the upper end of the opening 4 of the hopper 3 and forms a thin layer of the toner 2 on the toner carrier roll 5. Forming member 9 is provided. As shown in FIG. 1, the layer forming member 9 is constituted by fixing a friction charging member 11 made of silicon rubber or the like to a support 10 made of SUS or the like. Then, the toner 2 held on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 is frictionally charged by the frictional charging member 11, and at the same time, the toner 2 is formed into a layer having a predetermined thickness. The charging polarity and the charging amount of the toner 2 are determined by the frictional charging series between the frictional charging member 11 of the layer forming member 9 and the toner 2. In this embodiment, the charge potential of the toner layer is -30 to -70V.

Further, on the side of the toner carrier roll 5, there is a modulated ion supply means 12 for supplying an ion current modulated according to an image signal toward a thin toner layer formed on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5. It is arranged.

By the way, in this embodiment, the modulated ion supply means provides the back electrode and the discharge electrode with the dielectric substrate interposed therebetween along the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier, and the discharge electrode includes the back electrode and the discharge electrode. A space region that causes a creeping corona discharge by applying a voltage between is formed along the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier, and on the discharge electrode side of the dielectric substrate,
An ion current modulator that modulates the ion current according to an image signal is laminated and arranged via an insulating layer that prevents leakage of the ion current generated from the space area of the discharge electrode.

That is, the modulated ion supply means 12 is formed in a plate shape as shown in FIG. 1, and is spaced apart from the toner carrier roll 5 by a predetermined distance.
Are arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the. The distance between the modulated ion supplying means 12 and the toner carrier roll 5 is set to, for example, about 1 to 2 mm. As shown in FIG. 2, the modulated ion supply means 12 includes a dielectric substrate 13, and a back electrode 14 having a width narrower than that of the dielectric substrate 13 is embedded in the dielectric substrate 13. The dielectric substrate 13 is formed of ceramics such as alumina or zirconia, and the back electrode 14 is formed of metal such as nickel or tungsten.

On the surface of the dielectric substrate 13, a discharge electrode 15 is provided at the center in the width direction, and the discharge electrode 15 is subjected to creeping by applying a voltage between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15. A space region 16 in which a corona discharge is generated is formed linearly along the longitudinal direction of the toner carrier roll 5. That is, the discharge electrode 15 is formed by arranging a pair of narrow strip electrodes 17, 18 on the dielectric substrate 13 in parallel at a constant interval, and the gap between the electrodes 17, 18 is a space. It is area 16. Further, the electrodes 17, 18 forming the discharge electrode 15
Are connected to each other at one end and both electrodes
The same voltage is applied to 17 and 18. Similar to the back electrode 14, the discharge electrode 15 is formed of a metal such as nickel or tungsten.

In addition, an insulating layer is provided on the discharge electrode 15 side of the dielectric substrate 13.
19 are laminated, and the insulating layer 19 is for guiding the ion current generated by the discharge of the discharge electrode 15 to the ion modulation element 21 described later while preventing the leakage thereof. In the insulating layer 19, a gap 20 is provided wider than the space region 16 at a position corresponding to the space region 16 of the discharge electrode 15. As a result, the discharge electrode 15 is partially exposed.

The insulating layer 19 is, for example, natural mica, laminated mica obtained by crushing and bonding natural mica once, ceramics such as alumina, glass, or polyethylene, methacryl,
It is formed of an insulating resin such as epoxy, polycarbonate, polyimide, or silicone.

Further, on the surface of the insulating layer 19, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, an ion current modulation element 21 is laminated.
This ion current modulation element 21 is configured such that a pair of electrodes 22 and 23 are arranged to face each other via a slit 24.
Is provided at a position corresponding to the space region 16 of the discharge electrode 15. The width of the slit 24 is set to be the same as or slightly narrower than the width of the space region 16. One electrode 22 is divided into a large number of minute segment electrodes 22a, 22b, 22c ... According to the recording density of the image (for example, 8 dots / mm),
Signal lines 25a, 25b, 25c ... For applying a voltage according to an image signal are connected to the segment electrodes 22a, 22b, 22c. These signal lines 25a, 25b, 25c ... Are made of the same material as the segment electrodes 22a, 22b, 22c.
It is formed at the same time when the segment electrodes are formed by etching or the like. The other electrode 23 is formed in a flat plate shape and is connected to the ground.

A high frequency voltage is applied between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15 by an AC power supply 26, as shown in FIG. In addition, the segment electrode of the ion current modulator 21
A pulse voltage according to an image signal is applied to the power sources 27a, 22b, 22c ...

In addition, the lower part of the toner carrier roll 5 has a sixth
As shown in the figure, a transfer electrode 28 is provided, and a predetermined voltage is applied to the transfer electrode 28 by a power supply 29. The distance between the toner carrier roll 5 and the transfer electrode 28 is set to, for example, 150 to 300 μm. The voltage of the power source 29 is set to about + 700V, for example. A bias voltage is applied to the conductive roll 7 of the toner carrier roll 5 by a bias power supply 30.

When a predetermined voltage is applied to the transfer electrode 28 by the power supply 29, the electric field between the toner carrier roll 5 and the transfer electrode 28 causes an electric field between the toner carrier roll 5 and the toner carrier roll 5 to be described later. The latent image of the toner 2 formed on the surface is transferred onto the transfer paper 31. The transfer sheet 31 is supplied by a transfer sheet supply unit (not shown). The transfer paper 31 on which the toner image is transferred is fixed by a fixing device (not shown), and the image recording process is completed.

By the way, the modulated ion supply means 12 is manufactured, for example, as follows. Dielectric substrate 13 and back electrode 14
Before firing the ceramic material such as alumina for forming the substrate 13, the back electrode 14 is formed on the surface of the ceramic material having a thickness half that of the dielectric substrate 13 by a paste-like ink made of nickel, tungsten or the like. Is formed by thick film printing or the like, and a ceramic material having a thickness half that of the dielectric substrate 13 is laminated thereon. Then, on the surface of the ceramic material for the dielectric substrate 13, the discharge electrode 15 is formed by thick film printing or the like with the ink on the paste made of nickel, tungsten or the like as in the above. Then, on the discharge electrode 15 side of the dielectric substrate 13, a ceramic material such as alumina for the insulating layer 19 is laminated in a predetermined shape. The material thus formed is fired at a high temperature to be metalized (integrated).

And finally, on the surface of the insulating layer 19, an ion current modulator
A thin metal plate for forming 21 is adhered, and the surface of the metal plate is masked according to the pattern of the segment electrodes 22a, 22b, 22c ... And the electrode 23 and etched,
The ion flow modulation element 21 is formed and the modulated ion supply means 12 is manufactured.

However, the method of manufacturing the modulated ion supply means 12 is not limited to the above, and the dielectric substrate 13, the electrode 14,
Of course, it is possible to manufacture it by appropriately combining means such as photoetching, vapor deposition, and adhesion according to the material forming the insulating layer 19 and the ion current modulation element 21.

With the above configuration, the electrostatic recording apparatus according to this embodiment records an image as follows. That is, in order to record an image, the toner carrier roll 5 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and a thin layer of the toner 2 negatively charged by the layer forming member 9 is formed on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5.

Then, between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15 of the modulated ion supply means 12, an AC power source 26, for example, a frequency of 500 Hz.
To 10kHz, peak-to-peak voltage V _PP is by applying a high frequency high voltage 3.5～8Kv, between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15, discharge electrodes
A creeping corona discharge is generated in the space region 16 of 15, and an ion current composed of positive and negative ions is generated by this creeping corona discharge. Since the insulating layer 19 is interposed between the dielectric substrate 13 and the ion flow modulation element 21, this ion flow reaches the ion flow modulation element 21 through the gap 20 of the insulating layer 19 without leaking outside. To do.

The segment electrodes 22a, 22b of the ion current modulation element 21,
22c ..., for example, 50 depending on the image signal from the power supply 27.
A pulse voltage of about 300 V is applied between the segment electrodes 22a, 22b, 22c ...
An electric field is formed from the segment electrode toward the electrode 23,
Block the passage of ion streams. Therefore, the ion current is modulated by the ion current modulator 21 according to the image signal,
The thin layer on the toner carrier roll 5 is irradiated. that time,
Since a bias voltage of about 700 V is applied between the ion flow modulator 21 and the conductive roll 7 of the toner carrier roll 5 by the bias power source 30 so that the conductive roll 7 side becomes negative, On the surface of the carrier roll 5,
Only positive ions are irradiated. Therefore, since the toner 2 carried in a thin layer on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 is negatively frictionally charged by the layer forming member 9, the thin layer of the toner 2 is exposed to the ion stream. A latent image in which only one is positively charged and the other part is negatively charged is formed according to the image signal.

The thin toner layer on which the latent image is formed moves as the toner carrier roll 5 rotates, and is transferred onto the transfer paper 31 by the electric field created by the transfer electrode 28. At that time, since a positive voltage of about +700 V is applied to the transfer electrode 28 by the power supply 29, among the toner thin layers on which the latent image is formed,
Only the toner negatively charged without being irradiated with the positive ion stream is transferred onto the transfer paper 31. The toner carrier roll 5 is irradiated with the ion stream modulated by the modulated ion supply means 12 according to the image signal, but the toner image transferred onto the transfer paper 31 is not irradiated with the ion stream. Since the image is formed by toner, reversal development is performed.

Thus, by applying a high frequency high voltage between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15 of the modulated ion modulation means 12, the ion current generated by the creeping corona discharge generated in the space region 16 of the discharge electrode 15 is Since the insulating layer 19 is provided on the discharge electrode 15 side of the dielectric substrate 13, it is supplied to the ion current modulation element 21 without leaking to the outside. Therefore, the ion current generated by the surface corona discharge can be entirely modulated by the ion current modulator 21 and applied to the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 to contribute to the formation of an image. Therefore, the density of the ion stream irradiated onto the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 is high, and a latent image can be formed by the high-density ion stream, so that the latent image of the toner formed on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 is formed. The image has a large potential difference, and by transferring this toner latent image onto the transfer paper 31, high-density image recording can be performed. Further, since the density of the ion stream applied to the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 is high, a latent image having a predetermined potential can be formed on the surface of the toner carrier roll 5 in a short time, and thus the toner carrier roll 5 can be formed. Can be rotated at high speed to support high-speed recording. Furthermore, since the ion flow generated by applying a voltage between the back electrode 14 and the discharge electrode 15 can be used for forming an image, the voltage applied between the two electrodes 14 and 15 is lower than that of the conventional one. Therefore, the applied voltage can be lowered, the AC power supply 26 can be downsized, and the power consumption can be reduced. Further, since the modulated ion supply means 12 is constituted by laminating thin members such as the dielectric substrate 13, the insulating layer 19, the ion current modulation element 21, it can be formed thin and compact, and the device can be miniaturized. Is possible.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the latent image is recorded by using the positive ion flow has been described, but it goes without saying that the latent image may be formed by using the negative ion flow. . In this case, it is also necessary to change the polarity of the voltage applied to the transfer electrode 28.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the latent image is written by using the positive ion current, the positive voltage is applied to the transfer electrode 28, and the reversal development is performed is explained, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, it is of course possible to apply a negative voltage to the transfer electrode 28 for normal development.

[Advantage of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the ion current generated by the creeping corona discharge is guided to the ion current modulating means without leaking to the outside through the insulating layer to form a latent image. Provided is an electrostatic recording device which can obtain a high image density by irradiating a high density ion stream on a developer carrier, is small in size, consumes less power, and is capable of high-speed recording. You can

Further, the present invention is configured such that an electric field that modulates an ion flow according to an image signal is formed through a slit-like void along a surface direction orthogonal to a thickness direction of an insulating layer by an ion current modulation element. Therefore, the electric field for ion current modulation can be directly formed only through the slit-shaped voids without using the insulating layer. Therefore, the electric field for ion current modulation is directly formed only through the slit-shaped void, so that the electric field for ion current modulation can be increased without increasing the voltage applied to the ion current transmission element. ,
It is possible to downsize the power supply circuit and extend the life of the ion current modulator.

Further, according to this invention, the ion current modulation element is formed by the segment electrodes divided into a plurality of gaps according to the recording density, and the common electrode facing the segment electrodes through the slit-shaped gaps. Since the segment electrodes are separated from each other through the air gap, the insulation between the segment electrodes can be maintained, and the crosstalk between the segment electrodes can be reliably ensured even when the density of the segment electrodes is increased. Can be prevented.

Still further, the present invention provides a modulated ion supply means, a discharge electrode having a space area for generating a creeping corona discharge formed in a slit shape along the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier,
The discharge electrode and the insulating layer are stacked and disposed, and an electric field that modulates an ion current according to an image signal is formed through a slit-like void along a surface direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the insulating layer. Since it is configured to be formed by an ion flow modulation element or the like, the modulation ion supply means can be formed in a small size, the developer carrier can be downsized, and the electrostatic recording device can be downsized in its entirety. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the electrostatic recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing modulated ion supplying means, FIG. 3 is the same perspective view, and FIG. 4 is FIG. IV-IV line sectional perspective view of FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the electrostatic recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the conventional apparatus. [Explanation of symbols] 12 …… Modulation ion supply means 13 …… Dielectric substrate 14 …… Back electrode 15 …… Discharge electrode 16 …… Spatial region 19 …… Insulating layer 21 …… Ion flow modulation means

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP 54-3533 (JP, A) JP 57-37365 (JP, A) JP 62-181161 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A developer carrying member carrying a thin layer of a charged developer on its surface, and an ion current modulated according to an image signal is supplied toward the thin developer layer on the developer carrying member. And a modulated ion supply means for irradiating the thin developer layer with a modulated ion stream, thereby forming a latent image corresponding to an image signal on the thin developer layer to record an image. In the recording apparatus, the modulated ion supply means is provided with a back electrode and a discharge electrode along a longitudinal direction of a developer carrier with a dielectric substrate sandwiched therebetween, and the discharge electrode is provided between the back electrode and the discharge electrode. A space area in which creeping corona discharge is generated by applying a voltage is formed in a slit shape along the longitudinal direction of the developer carrier, and is generated from the space area of the discharge electrode on the discharge electrode side of the dielectric substrate. Insulation layer to prevent leakage of ion flow Then, an electric field for modulating the ion flow according to the image signal is formed by stacking and disposing an ion flow modulation element that forms a slit-like void along a surface direction orthogonal to the thickness direction of the insulating layer. The above-mentioned ion current modulation element is characterized by being formed by segment electrodes divided into a plurality of gaps according to recording density and a common electrode facing the segment electrodes through a slit-like gap. Electrostatic recording device.