JP2879967B2 - Ink sheet used for thermal transfer recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ink sheet used in, for example, a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an improvement in an ink sheet in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a plane-sequential manner. .

(Prior Art) As is well known, a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus is configured such that an ink sheet supplied by an ink sheet supply roll in a predetermined direction at a predetermined speed and an ink sheet wound around a platen roller and conveyed in the same direction at a predetermined speed. The ink sheet and the image receiving sheet are sandwiched between a platen roller and a thermal head that generates a heat pattern according to image recording information, and the ink on the ink sheet is selectively transferred to the image receiving sheet. In this configuration, information is transferred to the image receiving paper. By setting the speed ratio of the ink sheet conveyance speed and the image receiving sheet conveyance speed to 1: n (n> 1), the ink sheet can be used at a high density. A thermal transfer recording apparatus has been developed which is designed to save its consumption, reduce the frequency of replacement, and reduce the running cost (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-1987).
No. 58917). FIG. 5 shows the image density characteristics of an ink sheet that can be printed with the transport speed ratio between the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet being 1: n (n ≧ 1). Receiving the difference between the conveying speed v _p conveying speed v _i velocity ratio v _p / v _i the image density is varied from 1 to n for the ink sheet of the sheet Δ is found to be very small.

By the way, since the transport speed of the ink sheet changes because the winding diameters of the ink sheet supply roll and the ink sheet take-up roll gradually change, each ink width of the ink sheet needs to be wide at a portion where the transport speed is high. On the other hand, in a portion where the transport speed is slow, a narrow one is sufficient.

However, in the ink sheet used in such a conventional thermal transfer type recording apparatus, in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a plane-sequential manner, since the respective color arrangement pitches are set to be equal, the speed is increased. However, there is a problem that waste occurs on the ink sheet at a slow portion.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is an ink sheet used in a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of removing waste of an ink sheet in which a plurality of colors are arranged in a plane-sequential manner. The purpose is to provide.

(Constitution of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink sheet carrying a thermal sublimation type or a heat melting type ink and a plurality of colors arranged in a plane-sequential manner, and winding the ink sheet. An ink sheet supply roll, an ink sheet take-up roll that takes up the ink sheet fed at a predetermined speed from the ink sheet supply roll, and an ink sheet supply roll disposed between the ink sheet supply roll and the ink sheet take-up roll. A platen roller for conveying the image receiving sheet in the opposite direction at a constant speed or at a different speed in a state of being superimposed on the ink sheet, and holding the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet between the platen rollers and according to image information; Transfer recording with a thermal head that generates a heat pattern and selectively transfers the ink of the ink sheet to an image receiving sheet A drive mechanism for an ink sheet supply roll and a drive mechanism for a platen roller, each of which separately transports the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet such that the transport speed ratio between the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet is 1: n (n ≧ 1); A tension applying mechanism provided on the ink sheet supply roll and applying a predetermined tension to the ink sheet by applying a braking force in a direction opposite to the rotation direction thereof; and an outer diameter and an inner diameter of the ink sheet winding roll. When the ratio is m: 1 (m> 1), the color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet gradually increases as the ink sheet is used, where m ≦ n.

Further, an ink sheet carrying a thermal sublimation type or a heat melting type ink and a plurality of colors arranged in a face-sequential manner, an ink sheet supply roll around which the ink sheet is wound, and a predetermined An ink sheet take-up roll that takes up the ink sheet fed at a predetermined speed while applying a predetermined tension; and an image receiving sheet disposed between the ink sheet supply roll and the ink sheet take-up roll. A platen roller for conveying at the same speed or at a different speed in the same direction in a superimposed state, and a heat pattern corresponding to image information while holding the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet between the platen roller and the platen roller. A thermal head for selectively transferring the ink of the ink sheet to the image receiving sheet. A drive mechanism for an ink sheet supply roll and a drive mechanism for a platen roller, each of which separately transports a print sheet and an image receiving sheet such that the transport speed ratio is 1: n (n ≧ 1); When the ratio of the outer diameter to the inner diameter of m is m: 1 (m> 1),
In the case where m ≦ n, the color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet is gradually reduced as the ink sheet is used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a thermal transfer type recording apparatus according to the present invention. The thermal transfer type recording apparatus is an ink sheet on which a thermal sublimation type or a heat melting type ink is carried and a plurality of colors are arranged in a plane-sequential manner. 1, an ink sheet supply roll 3 on which the ink sheet 1 is wound in a roll shape, an ink sheet take-up roll 5 for winding the ink sheet 1 fed from the ink sheet supply roll 3 at a predetermined speed, and A drum-shaped member disposed between the ink sheet supply roll 3 and the ink sheet take-up roll 5 and transporting the image receiving sheet 7 in the opposite direction at a constant speed or at a different speed in a state of being superimposed on the ink sheet 1. A platen roller 9 holds the ink sheet 1 and the image receiving sheet 7 between the platen roller 9 and generates a heat pattern according to image information to form an ink sheet. The image receiving sheet 7 of the ink selectively
A thermal head 11 that transfers dots to and moves up and down by a lifting mechanism (not shown), and a pressing mechanism such as a spring 13 that presses the thermal head 11 against the platen roller 9 via the ink sheet 1 and the image receiving sheet 7. Have. The image receiving sheet 7 has its leading end held by a clamper 15 provided on the platen roller 9 and wound around the outer periphery of the platen roller 9.

The ink sheet supply roll 3 has a torque limiter 17 including an electromagnetic powder clutch or a friction clutch.
(Tension applying mechanism). Tri-limiter 17
Constitutes a tension applying mechanism that applies a braking force in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the ink sheet supply roll 3 to apply a predetermined tension to the ink sheet 1.

A drive mechanism 19 composed of a stepping motor, a speed reducer, and the like is connected to the ink sheet take-up roll 5, and by driving the drive mechanism 19, the ink sheet take-up roll 5 is driven at a constant angular velocity ω. is rotated the ink sheet 1 is configured to be wound at a predetermined speed v _i.

Further, a driving mechanism 21 composed of a stepping motor, a speed reducer, and the like is connected to the platen roller 9.
There has been configured to transport in the reverse direction at a predetermined velocity v _p to the ink sheet 1 only image receiving sheet 7 is rotated at a constant speed.

This is because the ink sheet 1 and the image receiving sheet 7 are relatively slidable with their surface layers having lubricity and heat releasing property, and the maximum static friction coefficient is the same as that of the image receiving sheet 7 and the platen roller 9. This is because the coefficient is set to be smaller than the dynamic friction coefficient. Therefore, the image receiving sheet 7 is pressed against the platen roller 9 together with the ink sheet 1 by the pressing force of the spring 13 and the thermal head 11, and the platen roller 9 is pressed by the frictional force generated between the platen roller 9 and the image receiving sheet 7.
Rotates at a predetermined peripheral speed, only the image receiving sheet 7 is conveyed at that peripheral speed.

The color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet 1 is gradually increased as it is used, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. In other words, the ink sheet 1 has the shortest ink width in the transport direction of the first color (yellow (Y) in the present embodiment) at the start of use, gradually increases with use, and becomes the final color at the end of use ( In the present embodiment, the ink width of cyan (C) is configured to be the longest.

Here, assuming that the color arrangement pitch of the first color (Y) at the start of use of the ink sheet 1 is p ₀ and the color arrangement pitch of the final color (C) at the end of use is p ₁ , the color arrangement of the first color (Y) pitch P ₀ becomes _{p 0 = l / n 0 +} a and _{p 1 = l / n 1 +} a. Here, l is the length of one recording screen of the image receiving sheet 7,
a is an arbitrarily set margin.

Accordingly, p ₀ is the length of one screen when the ink sheet 1 is transported at the speed r _R0 ω, and p ₁ is the length of one screen when the ink sheet 1 is transported at the speed r _R1 ω. Is,
The color pitch of the ink sheet 1 is the conveying speed of the ink sheet.
As v _i becomes faster to r _R1 ω, it will increase from p ₀ to p ₁ .

The drive mechanism 19 of the ink sheet take-up roll 5 and the drive mechanism 21 of the platen roller 9 are arranged such that the ink sheet supply roll 3 rotates at a peripheral speed smaller than the peripheral speed of the platen roller 9 during image recording, that is, the ink sheet 1 and the Image receiving sheet 7
Is set in advance so as to be 1: n (n ≧ 1), the ink sheet 1 is used at a high density, the consumption thereof is reduced, the frequency of replacement is reduced, and the running cost is suppressed. When the ratio between the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the ink sheet take-up roll is m: 1 (m> 1), m ≦ n.

The ink sheet 1 fed from the ink sheet supply roll 3 has an inner diameter (radius at the start of use) of the ink sheet supply roll 3 as r _F0 , as shown in FIG. 3, for example.
Assuming that the outer diameter (radius at the end of use) is r _F1 and the angular velocity is ω, the transport speed at the start of use is r _F0 ω and the transport speed at the end of use is r _F1 ω.

At this time, the inner diameter r _F0 , outer diameter r _F1 and angular velocity ω of the ink sheet take-up roll 3 are r _F1 ω = v _p / n ₁ ≦ v _p and r _F0 ω = v _p / n ₀ ≧ v _p / n Therefore, it is set so that 1 ≦ n ₁ <n ₀ ≦ n and 1 <r _F1 / r _F1 = n ₀ / n ₁ ≦ n are satisfied.

 Next, the operation will be described.

In the above configuration, the image receiving sheet 7 is
After the image receiving sheet 7 is conveyed to a predetermined recording start position by rotating the platen roller 9, the thermal head 11 is pressed against the platen roller 9 to start recording.

Here, the transport speed of the ink sheet 1 changes because the winding diameters of the ink sheet supply roll 3 and the ink sheet take-up roll 5 gradually change, but the ink sheet 1 gradually increases as it is used. In addition, since the portion where the transport speed is high is wide and the portion where the transport speed is low is narrow, the portion where the transport speed is low is not wasted on the ink sheet 1.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the ink sheet 1 and the image receiving sheet 7 are conveyed in the same direction, and the torque limiter 17 provided on the ink sheet supply roll 3 is connected to the ink sheet take-up roll. 5, and may be configured so that the color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet 1 is gradually reduced as the color arrangement pitch is used (see FIG. 5).

In this case, the ink sheet 1 fed from the ink sheet supply roll 3 has an outer diameter (radius at the start of use) of the ink sheet supply roll 3 as shown in FIG. 3, for example.
_R0 , inner diameter (radius at the end of use) is _rR1, and angular velocity is ω
Then, the transport speed at the start of use is r _R0 ω, and the transport speed at the end of use is r _R1 ω.

At this time, the outer diameter r _R0 , the inner diameter r _R1 and the angular velocity ω _R of the ink sheet supply roll 5 are r _R0 ω = v _p / n ₀ ≦ v _p and r _R1 ω = v _p / n ₁ ≧ v _p / n Therefore, it is set so as to satisfy the following expressions: 1 ≦ n ₀ <n ₁ ≦ n and 1 <r _R0 / r _R1 = n ₁ / n ₀ ≦ n

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the ink sheet used in the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, when the ink sheet is conveyed in the opposite direction to the image receiving sheet, the color pitch of the ink sheet gradually increases. Since the length of the ink sheet is long and the length thereof is gradually shortened in the same direction, the waste of the ink sheet can be removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a thermal transfer recording apparatus using an ink sheet according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a recording screen of an ink sheet and an image receiving sheet according to one embodiment, 3 is a diagram showing the outer diameter and inner diameter of the ink sheet take-up roll, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an ink sheet and a recording screen of an image receiving sheet according to another embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a conveyance speed of the image receiving sheet. is a correlation diagram between the velocity ratio v _p / v _i and an image density with respect to the conveying speed v _i of the ink sheet V _p. 1... Ink sheet, 3... Ink sheet supply roll,
5 ... Ink sheet take-up roll, 7 ... Image receiving sheet, 9
…… Platen roller, 11… Thermal head, 19 …… Drive mechanism (drive mechanism for ink sheet supply roll), 21 ……
Drive mechanism (drive mechanism for platen roller)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink sheet carrying a thermal sublimation type or a heat melting type ink, and a plurality of colors arranged in a plane-sequential manner;
An ink sheet supply roll on which the ink sheet is wound, an ink sheet take-up roll for winding the ink sheet fed at a predetermined speed from the ink sheet supply roll, and an ink sheet supply roll and an ink sheet take-up roll. And a platen roller for conveying the image receiving sheet in the opposite direction at a constant speed or at a different speed in a state where the image receiving sheet is superimposed on the ink sheet, and the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet between the platen roller. A thermal transfer recording device comprising: a thermal head for nipping and generating a thermal pattern according to image information to selectively transfer ink on an ink sheet to an image receiving sheet, wherein the transport of the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet is performed. 1: n speed ratio
A drive mechanism for an ink sheet supply roll and a drive mechanism for a platen roller, each of which conveys separately so that (n ≧ 1), and a braking force provided on the ink sheet supply roll and applied in a direction opposite to the rotation direction thereof. A tension applying mechanism for applying a predetermined tension to the ink sheet, and the ratio of the outer diameter to the inner diameter of the ink sheet take-up roll is set to m: 1 (m>
The ink sheet for use in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, wherein when 1) and m ≦ n, the color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet gradually increases as the ink sheet is used. 2. An ink sheet on which a thermal sublimation type or a heat melting type ink is carried and a plurality of colors are arranged in a plane-sequential manner.
An ink sheet supply roll around which the ink sheet is wound, an ink sheet take-up roll for winding the ink sheet fed from the ink sheet supply roll at a predetermined speed while applying a predetermined tension, and an ink sheet supply roll. A platen roller disposed between the platen roller and the ink sheet take-up roll, and for transporting the image receiving sheet in the same direction at the same speed or at a different speed in a state of being superimposed on the ink sheet; A thermal head for sandwiching the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet and generating a thermal pattern according to image information to selectively transfer ink on the ink sheet to the image receiving sheet; 1: n transport speed ratio between sheet and image receiving sheet
A drive mechanism for an ink sheet supply roll and a drive mechanism for a platen roller for individually transporting the ink sheet so that (n ≧ 1), and the ratio between the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the ink sheet supply roll is m: 1 ( An ink sheet for use in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, wherein, when m> 1), m ≦ n, wherein the color arrangement pitch of the ink sheet gradually decreases as it is used.