JP2565843Y2 - Electric discharge type printer - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to print characters representing magnetic information on the surface of a recording medium, for example, a so-called prepaid card which records the date of use, amount of use, balance, etc. as magnetic information. The present invention relates to a discharge breakdown type printer used for the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, such a discharge breakdown type printer is configured as shown in FIG. 2, for example. That is, in FIG. 2, a discharge breakdown type printer 1 is applied to a surface of a card 2 such as a magnetic card formed by sequentially forming a colored layer and a conductive layer such as a metal deposition film on a surface of a substrate made of paper or the like. By pressing the ground roller 3 from above, the card 2 is conveyed while the conductive layer is maintained at the ground potential, and the print head 4 disposed so that the discharge pin 4a at the tip is opposed to the predetermined position from above is fixed. By performing drive control based on the following pattern, a discharge is generated between the conductive layer on the surface of the card 2 and the discharge pin 4a, and the conductive layer is discharged and destroyed.
The pattern below the colored layer is exposed to the outside so that the pattern is printed, that is, displayed on the surface of the card 2.

The discharge pins 4a of the print head 4 have, for example, a 16-pin or 24-pin configuration (only one of them is shown in FIG. 2).
It is connected to a negative electrode of a power supply 7 via a current limiting resistor 5 and a switch (or a switching circuit that is turned on / off by a drive control circuit) 6. The print head 4 side of the current limiting resistor 5 is grounded via a capacitor 8.

[0004]

However, according to the discharge breakdown type printer 1 constructed as described above, the conductive layer of the card 2 is usually formed in a relatively thick film in order to improve the storage stability of the card. In this case, at the time of discharge breakdown, aluminum melted and separated from the conductive layer of the card 2 is fused to the tip of the discharge pin 4a having a negative potential. As a result, a discharge cannot be reliably generated between the discharge pin 4a and the conductive layer of the card 2, and a discharge failure may occur. If aluminum adheres to a part of the tip of the discharge pin 4a, the print will be blurred, and if the height of each discharge pin 4a varies due to the adhesion of the aluminum, the printed dot will be missing. It will also happen. In addition, the aluminum adhered to the tip of the discharge pin 4a may scrape the surface of the card 2 when the print head 4 is moved, and as a result, the conductive layer and the colored layer of the card 2 are damaged and the coloring is performed. The layers are also exposed and the print quality is reduced.

In view of the above points, the present invention prevents aluminum from adhering to the tip of a discharge pin of a print head due to discharge breakdown, prevents print fading and missing dots, and improves print quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide a discharge breakdown type printer as described above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a discharge breakdown type printer in which a conductive layer is formed by being pressed against a surface of a recording medium having a colored layer and a conductive layer formed on the surface of a substrate. And a print head having a discharge pin opposed to the surface of the recording medium, and applying a predetermined voltage between the discharge pin and the ground roller to apply a predetermined voltage to the recording medium. A discharge pin provided in a print head, wherein the conductive layer is subjected to discharge breakdown in a predetermined pattern shape, thereby exposing the colored layer in a region where the discharge is destroyed to display the predetermined pattern. Is the above conductive layer
Backflow prevention to prevent current from flowing back
Is connected to the + electrode of the power source through the diode, the reverse flow preventive
One end of a capacitor between the shutdown diode and the power supply
And the other end is grounded .

[0007]

According to the above construction, at the time of discharge breakdown, the discharge pin of the print head is at a positive potential, so that the aluminum melted and separated by the discharge does not fuse to the tip of the discharge pin at the positive potential. As a result, aluminum does not adhere to the tip of the discharge pin, so that discharge between the discharge pin and the conductive layer of the recording medium can be reliably performed, and fading of printing and missing dots may occur. There is no.
In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent the surface of the recording medium from being damaged by the movement of the print head, thereby improving the print quality.

Further, the discharge pin of the print head is connected to the positive electrode of the power supply via a backflow preventing diode .
In, from the discharge pin discharge voltage is applied has been carried out from the power supply, via the conductive layer of the recording medium, without such current flows relative to the adjacent discharge is not performed discharge pin, As a result, a so-called ghost does not occur, and the printing quality is further improved.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a discharge breakdown type printer according to the present invention. The electric discharge type printer 10 is provided with a ground roller 1 from above with respect to the surface of a card 11 such as a magnetic card in which a colored layer and a conductive layer such as a metal deposition film are sequentially formed on the surface of a substrate made of paper or the like.
2, the card 11 is conveyed while keeping the conductive layer at the ground potential, and the print head 1 is disposed so that the discharge pin 13a at the tip thereof is opposed from above.
3 is driven and controlled based on a predetermined pattern, thereby generating a discharge between the conductive layer on the surface of the card 11 and the discharge pin 13a to break down the conductive layer. Is exposed to the outside so that the pattern is printed or displayed on the surface of the card 11.

The above configuration is the same as the configuration of the conventional discharge breakdown type printer 1 shown in FIG. 2, but in the case of the discharge breakdown type printer 10 according to the present invention, each discharge pin of the print head 13 described above is used. 13a is a backflow prevention diode 14
Through the current limiting resistor 15 and the switch 16
Is connected to the + electrode of the power supply 17. The power supply side of the backflow prevention diode 14 is grounded via a capacitor 18.

The electric discharge type printer 10 according to the present invention comprises:
With the configuration described above, when a positive drive voltage is applied from the power supply 17 by turning on the switch 16 with respect to a predetermined discharge pin 13 a among the discharge pins 13 a of the print head 13, the card 11 Since the surface of the conductive layer (not shown) in the printing area is at the ground potential due to the contact of the ground roller 12 on the surface, a high potential difference exists between the discharge pin 13a and the conductive layer in the printing area of the card 11. Is generated, and a discharge occurs between the discharge pin 13a and the region of the conductive layer of the card 11. This discharge destroys the area of the conductive layer of the card facing the discharge pin 13a, thereby opening a hole in the area due to the discharge breakdown. As a result, the underlying colored layer is exposed to the outside. The colored display of the shape of the hole is observed from above. Such a perforation due to discharge breakdown can be attained by, for example, intermittently transporting the card 11 at predetermined intervals by the ground roller 12 and scanning the print head 13 in a direction transverse to the transport direction of the card 11. , For example, the character pattern of the card 11, such as the date of use, the amount of money used, and the amount of money remaining, is displayed in a dot matrix form.

According to the above configuration, the print head 1
3 is connected to the + electrode of the power supply 17, the discharge pin 13a provided in the
Of the discharge pin 13a is at a positive potential. As a result, the aluminum melted and separated by the discharge has
Card 11 which is not fused to the tip of 3a and is at ground potential
No aluminum adheres to the tip of the discharge pin 13a. Therefore, discharge between each conductive pin and the conductive layer of the card 11 by each discharge pin can be reliably performed, so that print fading and missing dots do not occur. 11 can be reliably prevented from being damaged, and the printing quality can be improved.

Further, since each discharge pin 13a is connected to the power supply 17 via the backflow preventing diode 14,
The current flowing from one discharged discharge pin 13a to the conductive layer of the card 11 is reliably prevented from flowing into the capacitor through the other adjacent non-discharged discharge pin 13a. A so-called ghost, in which a portion adjacent to a dot forming a predetermined pattern to be printed is printed due to electric discharge breakdown, can be prevented.

[0014]

Thus, according to the present invention, aluminum is prevented from adhering to the tip of the discharge pin of the print head due to discharge breakdown, thereby preventing print fading and missing dots and improving printing quality. The obtained, very excellent discharge-discharge type printer can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing one embodiment of a discharge breakdown type printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of a conventional discharge breakdown type printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electric discharge destruction printer 11 Card 12 Ground roller 13 Print head 13a Discharge pin 14 Backflow prevention diode 15 Current limiting resistor 16 Switch 17 Power supply

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An earth roller for holding a conductive layer at an earth potential by being pressed against a surface of a recording medium having a colored layer and a conductive layer formed on the surface of a substrate, and a discharge made to face the surface of the recording medium. A print head provided with a pin, and applying a predetermined voltage between the discharge pin and the ground roller to discharge-discharge the conductive layer of the recording medium into a predetermined pattern shape, thereby causing the discharge breakdown. In a discharge breakdown type printer in which the colored pattern is exposed in a region to display the predetermined pattern, a discharge pin provided in a print head passes through the conductive layer.
Backflow prevention diode to prevent backflow of current
Via de connected to the + electrode of the power source, da for the backflow prevention
One end of a capacitor is connected between the
The other end of the printer is grounded .