JP2525576B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Field of Industrial Application> The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that can be used in a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, various information processing systems have been developed along with the rapid development of the information industry, and a recording device suitable for each information processing system has been developed.

There is a thermal transfer recording device as one of the recording devices.
In this method, recording is performed on recording paper using an ink ribbon obtained by applying a hot-melt ink obtained by dispersing a coloring agent in a hot-melt binder to a ribbon-shaped support.

That is, the ink ribbon is superposed so that the thermal transferable ink layer contacts the recording paper, and the ink ribbon and the recording paper are conveyed between the thermal head and the platen, and the thermal head is applied from the support side of the ink ribbon. In addition to applying pulsed heat according to the image signal, the two are pressed into contact with each other to transfer the melted ink to the recording paper, thereby recording an ink image on the recording paper according to the application of heat.

The recording apparatus has been widely used in recent years because the apparatus to be used is small and light, has no noise, and can perform recording on plain paper.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus is not without its problems.

This is because in the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus, the transfer recording performance, that is, the image quality is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the recording paper, and good image recording is performed on the recording paper with high smoothness, but recording with low smoothness is performed. In the case of paper, the image recording quality may deteriorate.

Further, in the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus, when an attempt is made to obtain a multicolor image, it is necessary to repeat the transfer to superimpose the colors. For this purpose, it is necessary to provide a plurality of thermal heads or to perform complicated movements such as stopping and reversing the recording paper, which not only inevitably causes color misregistration but also complicates the entire apparatus. There is a problem.

<Means for Solving Problems> Therefore, the applicant of the present invention uses a photothermally sensitive polymer material,
When thermal energy and light energy are applied, a transfer recording medium is used in which the reaction of the polymer rapidly progresses to change the physical properties governing the transfer and form an image due to the difference in the physical properties according to the image signal. , And proposed a recording device for transferring the transfer recording medium onto a recording medium (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-150597).

According to this recording device, it is possible to record a high-quality image even on a recording medium having a low surface smoothness, and when applied to multicolor recording, the recording medium is caused to make a complicated movement. It is possible to obtain a multicolored image without any trouble.

The present invention is a further development of the recording apparatus, wherein when the transfer recording medium on which the transfer image is formed and the recording medium are superposed on each other at the transfer portion and the image is transferred to the recording medium, Even if a portion where the recording medium does not overlap, that is, a portion where the transfer recording layer of the transfer recording medium is exposed when the size of the recording medium is small comes into contact with a transfer member such as a pressure roller, the transfer recording is performed on the member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device in which layers are not attached.

A means therefor is an apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by using a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose physical properties governing transfer characteristics are changed by application of light energy and thermal energy. A recording having heating means for applying thermal energy to the transfer recording medium and a light irradiation means for applying light energy to the transfer recording medium, the recording means being provided along the transfer path of the transferred recording medium. Section, a transfer section for transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium in the recording section to a recording medium, and a transfer recording layer provided upstream of the transfer section in the transport direction of the transfer recording medium and outside the image forming range. In addition to being capable of applying heat energy and light energy, an offset prevention means capable of varying the width of the heat source according to the image formation size is provided.

<Operation> According to the above means, when the transfer recording medium and the recording medium are set in the apparatus and recording is performed, predetermined thermal energy and light energy are applied to the transfer recording medium in the recording section, and the thermal energy and the light energy are applied. A portion to which both energy is applied becomes non-transferable, and a portion which is not non-transferable is transferred to the recording medium.

Further, when the width size of the transfer recording medium is larger than the width size of the recording medium, the offset prevention means applies thermal energy and light energy to the portion outside the image forming range of the transfer recording medium according to the size. As a result, since the portion becomes non-transferable, even if the portion comes into contact with the member of the transfer portion, the transfer recording layer does not adhere to the member.

<Example> Next, an example of the present invention to which the above-described means is applied will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the recording apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a long sheet-shaped transfer recording medium, which is wound in a roll shape and is detachably incorporated in the apparatus main body M as a supply roll 2. That is, the supply roll 2 is detachably mounted on a rotatable shaft 2a provided in the apparatus main body M.

Therefore, first, the leading end of the transfer recording medium 1 is fed to the supply roll 2, the guide roller 12a, the recording head 3a, and the guide roller 1.
After passing through 2b, it is deflected from between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b by the peeling roller 5 and the guide roller 12c to reach the take-up roll 6, and the tip thereof is gripped by the take-up roll 6 (not shown). It is locked by means such as. After that, the transfer recording medium 1 is unwound in the direction of the arrow a by driving the winding roll 6 to rotate by a known driving means, and is sequentially wound around the peripheral surface of the winding roll 6.

During the winding, a constant back tension is applied to the supply roll 2 by, for example, a hysteresis brake (not shown), and this transfer force and the guide rollers 12a and 12b cause the transfer recording medium 1 to move to the recording head 3a.
And at a constant pressure and at a constant angle.

 Next, the configuration of each section will be described individually.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer recording medium 1 comprises a sheet-like support 1a on which a transfer recording layer 1b having a property of being non-transferable when both thermal energy and light energy are applied is attached. The transfer recording layer 1b includes cores 1c, 1
By using the components shown in Tables 1 and 2 as d, a microcapsule-like image forming element is formed by the following method.

That is, 10 g of the components shown in Tables 1 and 2 were first mixed with 20 parts by weight of methylene chloride, and a surfactant having a HLB value of at least 10 such as a cation or a nonion was mixed with gelatin 1
g was dissolved in 200 ml of water and emulsified by stirring at 8,000 to 10,000 rpm with a homomixer while heating at 60 ° C.
26 μm oil droplets are obtained.

Stirring is further continued at 60 ° C. for 30 minutes to distill off methylene chloride to make the average particle size 10 μm. To this, add 20 ml of water in which 1 g of gum arabic is dissolved, while cooling slowly.
A microcapsule slurry is obtained by adding NH ₄ OH (ammonia) water to adjust the pH to 11 or more, and 1.0 ml of a 20% aqueous solution of glutaraldehyde is slowly added to harden the capsule wall.

After that, solid-liquid separation is performed with a Nutze filter and 35
After drying at 10 ° C. for 10 hours, a microcapsule-shaped image forming body was obtained.

This image forming element has cores 1c and 1d shown in Tables 1 and 2.
Is a microcapsule coated with shell 1e and has a particle size of 7 ~
It is formed to have a size of 15 μm and an average particle size of 10 μm.

The image-forming element formed as described above is attached to a support 1a made of a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 6 μm using an adhesive 1f obtained by dropping a few drops of a surfactant per 100 cc of a 5% aqueous solution of PVA. Thus, the transfer recording layer 1b is formed, and the transfer medium 1 is constituted by this.

The photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 1 is
In the light absorption characteristics of the figure, the reaction starts by absorbing the light in the band of graph A, and becomes a magenta color at the time of image formation, and the photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 2 is The light in the band shown in the graph B is absorbed to start the reaction, and becomes blue at the time of image formation.

Next, the recording unit 3 will be described. The recording unit 3 includes a heating unit and a light irradiation unit.

The heating means is composed of a line-type heating element array 3b of A-4 size of 8 dots / mm having a width of 0.2 mm which generates heat according to an image signal on the surface of the recording head 3a, and the transfer recording is performed as described above. The support 1a side of the medium 1 is configured to come into pressure contact with the heating element array 3b with a predetermined pressure due to back tension during transportation. The image signal is emitted from a control unit (not shown) such as a facsimile, an image scanner, or an electronic blackboard, depending on the application.

On the other hand, on the side of the transfer recording layer 1b facing the recording head 3a,
The two fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d, which are 20W type light irradiating means having the spectral characteristics as shown in the figure, are about 25 m longer than the transfer recording medium 1.
It is located m away.

Further, the slit plate 3e is approximately 0.5 m from the transfer recording medium 1 so that the direct light of the fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d is irradiated only to the region directly above the heating element array of the transfer recording medium 1 which is pressed against the recording head 3a.
The opening width is 1.2 mm with a distance of m.

In the present embodiment, one fluorescent lamp 3c having the spectral characteristics shown in the graph A of FIG. 5 is manufactured by Toshiba Corporation.
The 20 W health line fluorescent lamp FL20SE is used, and as the other fluorescent lamp 3d having the spectral characteristics shown in Graph B, a 20 W copying fluorescent lamp FL20BA-37 manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is used.

Next, the offset prevention means 13 will be described. This is arranged between the recording section 3 and a transfer section 4 which will be described later, and a heating means 13a for contacting the support 1a side of the transfer recording medium 1 and heating the same in accordance with the size of the recording paper 8. , Ink layer 1b
A light source 13b, which is a light irradiating means for irradiating light to the side, is arranged so as to face it. Further, a slit plate is arranged between the light source 13b and the transfer recording medium 1 so that the light of the light source 13b is not applied to a portion other than the transfer recording layer 1b heated by the heating means 13a. .

Here, the heating means 13a is, as shown in FIG.
The difference between the width W ₁ of the transfer recording medium 1 when the stacked recording paper 8 to the transfer recording medium 1 and the width W ₂ of the recording sheet 8, i.e. transfer recording medium 1
Is constructed so that it can be heated by the excess length W ₁ −W ₂ = W ₃ . As an example, as shown in FIG. 6B, a power source 13a-2 is connected to one end of a resistance heating element 13a-1 having a predetermined length, and a terminal 13a is provided at a predetermined position of the harmful resistance heating element 13a-1. -3
Is connected to the power source 13a-2 and the switch 13a-4 connected to the power source 13a-2 is switched to the predetermined terminal 13a-3 so that the resistance heating element 13a-1 can generate heat for a predetermined length. For example, when the width W ₁ of the transfer recording medium 1 is configured to A3 size width, when superposed recording sheet 8 of B5, A4, B4 size the transfer recording medium 1,
By a position corresponding to a length surplus respectively provided terminals 13a-3, configured to heat the length W _3, i.e. the image forming range of the portion where the transfer recording medium 1 is left over.

If the change-over switch is composed of a transistor switching circuit as shown in FIG. 7A, the change-over operation can be automatically performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 7 (B), switching circuits 13a-7, 13a-8, 13a-9 composed of a power transistor 13a-5 and a switching transistor 13a-6 are connected to the terminal 13a-3, respectively, and respectively. By connecting the bases 13a-6a of the switching transistors 13a-6 of FIG. 6 to the CPU and controlling the ON / OFF of the switching transistors 13a-6, the respective power transistors 13a-6a are
By controlling ON / OFF of -5, the resistance heating element 13a-1 can generate heat according to a predetermined length. Incidentally, 13a-10 in FIG. 7 (A) is a constant current source.

The light from the light source 13b has a wavelength that causes the photoinitiators shown in Tables 1 and 2 to react with each other.

Next, the transfer unit 4 will be described. The transfer section 4 is disposed downstream of the recording section 3 in the conveying direction of the transfer recording medium 1, and is a transfer roller 4a which is driven and rotated in the direction of arrow b by a motor (not shown) and a pressure roller which is in pressure contact with the transfer roller 4a.
4b and. The transfer roller 4a is composed of an aluminum roller whose surface is 1 mm thick and is covered with silicon rubber having a hardness of 70 degrees, and the surface is held at 90 to 100 ° C. by a built-in 800 W halogen heater 4c. Has been done.

The pressure roller 4b is composed of an aluminum roller coated with silicon rubber having a hardness of 70 degrees to a thickness of 1 mm, and the pressing force against the transfer roller 4a is set to 6 to 7 kgf / cm by a pressing means (not shown) such as a spring. Has been done.

The winding roll 6 is configured to be driven and rotated by a motor (not shown).

Further, the recording paper 8 as a recording medium stacked in the cassette 7 is fed to the transfer unit 4 by a feeding roller 9 and a pair of register rollers 10a and 10b so as to be overlapped with the image area of the transfer recording medium 1. It is configured as described.

Next, the operation when recording is performed by the recording apparatus configured as described above will be described.

The transfer recording medium 1 is sequentially fed out from the supply roll 2 by driving the motor to rotate the winding roll 6. Supply roll 2
When light and heat are applied to the transfer recording layer 1b in the recording portion 3 of the transfer recording medium 1 fed from the above, the portion to which both light and heat are applied becomes non-transferable and does not become non-transferable. An image is formed at the exposed portion.

In the embodiment described below, heat is applied according to the signal of the non-image portion, and light is applied uniformly.

That is, since the transfer recording layer 1b has a property that the softening point temperature rises when light and heat of a predetermined wavelength are applied and the transfer recording layer 1b is not transferred to the recording paper 8, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. At the time of magenta color recording, the heating element corresponding to magenta of the image signal is not energized in the heating element array 3b, and 25 is applied to the portion corresponding to white of the image signal (the recording paper 8 is white).
The energization is performed for ms, and the fluorescent lamp 3c is uniformly irradiated with a delay of 5 ms. The irradiation time at this time is 45 ms.

Next, at the time of blue recording, 50 ms after the end of the irradiation, that is, 100 ms after the energization time, this time, the heating element corresponding to the blue of the image signal in the heating element row 3b is not energized and the image signal of Energize for 25ms to the part corresponding to white, 5m
After s, the fluorescent lamp 3d is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time at this time is also 45 ms as described above.

In accordance with the blue, magenta, and white image signals as described above, the recording head 3a is controlled to form a negative image on the transfer recording layer 1b, and transfer recording is performed synchronously at a repeating cycle of 200 ms / line. The medium 1 is conveyed.

The transfer recording medium 1 on which the image is formed as described above is irradiated with light from the light source 13b by the offset prevention means 13, and the transfer recording layer 1b outside the size of the recording paper 8 is heated by the heating means 13a. , The portion becomes non-transferable.

Further, in the transfer section 4, the transfer recording layer 1b on which the image has been formed is pressed against the recording paper 8 and heated to transfer the transferred images of two colors, blue and magenta, to the recording paper 8. After that, the transfer recording medium 1 is deflected by the peeling roller 5 and peeled from the recording paper 8, and the recording paper 8 on which an image of a desired color is recorded is discharged to the discharge tray 11 by the discharge roller pair 14a and 14b.

At the time of the above transfer, the transfer recording medium 1 overlapping the recording paper 8
Since the protruding portion is non-transferable, even if the transfer recording layer 1b of the portion comes into contact with the pressure roller 4b, two-color recording is performed in one shot without adhering to the pressure roller 4b. Is.

Although the light source 13b is provided in the offset prevention means 13 in the above-described embodiment, if the means 13 is provided in the vicinity of the recording section 3, the light source of the recording section 3 can be shared for offset prevention.

Further, although the offset prevention means 13 is arranged between the recording section 3 and the transfer section 4 in the above-mentioned embodiment, it may be arranged upstream of the recording section 3 in the conveyance direction of the transfer recording medium 1.

Further, in the recording unit 3, the transfer recording layer of the transfer recording medium 1
1b side is uniformly irradiated with light having a predetermined wavelength corresponding to a desired color, and heat is applied from the support 1a side according to an image signal, but as another embodiment, heat is uniformly applied. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a predetermined light is applied in accordance with an image signal while being applied to the.

If the support 1a is made of a translucent material, the support 1a
The structure may be such that light is applied from the side and heat is applied from the transfer recording layer 1b side.

Further, light irradiation and heat application were performed with the support 1a sandwiched,
In addition to this, image formation can be performed by performing both light irradiation and heat application from one side of the support 1a.

As a material of the support 1a, for example, polyamide or polyimide, condenser paper, cellophane paper, or the like can be used in addition to the above-described polyethylene terephthalate.

As the light irradiation means, in addition to the method using the fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d described above, for example, a method using an LED array or a method using a xenon lamp and a filter matching the light absorption characteristics of the material can be used.

As the heating means, in addition to the method of using the recording head 3a described above, a method of selectively heating using a YAG laser and a polygon mirror may be used.

Further, the recording medium is not limited to the recording paper described above, and may be, for example, an overhead projector (OH
Of course, plastic sheets for P) can also be used.

Further, although the light energy and the heat energy are applied to the transfer recording layer 1b at the same time, even if the light energy and the heat energy are applied separately, as long as both the energy is applied, the energy may be applied. Good.

Further, as described in the example of the two-color recording, a monochromatic color, or a monochromatic color can be obtained by appropriately selecting the types of the colorant and the photoinitiator constituting the image forming element, and by selecting the light source of the wavelength that reacts the photoinitiator. It is also possible to obtain a full-color recorded image.

Furthermore, an example of transferring and recording an image to a recording medium by changing the softening point temperature of the transfer recording layer 1b of a polymeric material containing a colorant by light energy and heat energy was shown. Alternatively, the image may be transferred and recorded depending on the difference in the sublimation characteristics. Alternatively, by providing a layer on the transfer recording medium that gives the recording medium a color developability and changes the color forming characteristics of the recording medium, and transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium to the recording medium, an image is formed. May be configured to obtain a record of.

In addition, the transfer unit 4 is not limited to the rollers such as the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b, and may be any structure such as a rotary belt that can obtain a desired pressure.

<Effects of the Invention> The present invention, as described above, forms an image on a transfer recording medium,
Since this image is sequentially transferred to the recording medium, the image can be satisfactorily recorded on the recording medium having a relatively low surface smoothness. When the present invention is applied to multicolor recording, a multicolor image can be obtained without causing a complicated movement on the recording medium.

Further, since the portion other than the image forming area of the transfer recording medium has a non-transfer property depending on the size of the recording medium, even if the transferred portion of the transfer recording medium comes into contact with the member of the transfer portion, It is possible to prevent the transfer recording layer from adhering to the member,
It has the effect of being able to record a clear image without stains on the recording medium.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view, FIG. 3 is a structural explanatory view of a transfer recording medium, and FIG. 4 is an absorption characteristic of a photoinitiator in the transfer recording medium. FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the spectral characteristics of the light irradiation means, FIGS. 6 and 7 are explanatory views of the structure of the offset prevention means, and FIG. 8 is a timing chart for applying heat and light. . 1 is a transfer recording medium, 1a is a support, 1b is a transfer recording layer, and 1c, 1
d is a core, 1e is a shell, 1f is an adhesive, 2 is a supply roll, 2
a is a supply roll shaft, 3 is a recording unit, 3a is a recording head, 3b is a heating element array, 3c and 3d are fluorescent lamps, 3e is a slit plate, 4 is a transfer unit, 4a is a transfer roller, 4b is a pressure roller, 4c is a heater,
5 is a peeling roller, 6 is a take-up roll, 7 is a cassette, 8
Is a recording paper, 9 is a feed roller, 10a and 10b are register rollers, 11 is a discharge tray, 12a, 12b and 12c are guide rollers, 13
Is an offset prevention means, 13a is a heating means, 13b is a light source, 14
Reference numerals a and 14b are discharge rollers.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer, the physical properties of which govern transfer characteristics when light energy and thermal energy are applied. Recording unit having heating means for applying thermal energy to the transfer recording medium and light irradiation means for applying optical energy to the transfer recording medium, the heating section being provided along the transfer path of the transfer recording medium to be transported. A transfer portion for transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium in the recording portion onto the recording medium; and a transfer recording layer provided upstream of the transfer portion in the transport direction of the transfer recording medium and outside the image forming range. A recording apparatus, which is capable of applying heat energy and light energy, and has an offset prevention means capable of varying the width of a heat source according to the image formation size.