JP2893956B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for directly controlling and recording powdery colored particles such as a toner stream.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, after uniformly charging powdery colored particles such as a toner stream, an electric field is controlled by a control electrode having an opening electrode and a back electrode provided behind a support to form an image. An image recording device for outputting has been proposed. An apparatus of this type is reported, for example, in US Pat. No. 3,689,935.

However, when recording is performed using the above-described image recording apparatus, there has been a problem that clogging of the opening electrode portion with toner occurs. For example, 240
In order to obtain a recording density of DPI, the size of the dot is 100 μm at the maximum, and therefore the inner diameter of the opening electrode in the control electrode needs to be as small as about 50 μm. In some cases, the opening electrode portion was clogged by environmental changes or dust.

As a countermeasure, a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner has been applied to the control electrode, and cleaning with a brush-like supporting roller has been attempted, but no sufficient effect was obtained. Therefore, the present inventor further studied and proposed to excite the control electrode, and could obtain good results.

[0005]

However, when a vibration mechanism is arranged on the control electrode and recording is performed while oscillating the electrode surface, a large trouble sometimes occurs. In other words, normally, the toner flow is sent normally without agglomeration.
Aggregated toner may be generated. In that case,
The shape covered the opening of the aperture electrode, and could not be removed in the normal vibration mode.

Further, even if the aggregated toner does not fly,
When the mechanical adhesion between the control electrode surface and the toner increased due to an increase in humidity or the like, the attached toner could not be removed only by vibration during recording.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of preventing a clogging of an opening electrode portion and always obtaining a stable image output.

[0008]

To achieve this object, a toner jet recording apparatus according to the present invention has the following features. That is, the toner jet recording device
It comprises a carrier, a control electrode, and a back electrode.
The carrier carries the charged powder. The control electrode is
An opening is provided below and close to the carrier. The back electrode faces the control electrode with a support serving as an image receiving member interposed therebetween.

And a vibrating mechanism for vibrating the control electrode, wherein the vibrating mechanism is configured to vibrate the control electrode more strongly when the opening of the control electrode is in an abnormal state. The method is characterized in that the energy to be applied is changed.

[0010]

According to the image recording apparatus of the present invention having the above-described structure,
Normally, the stored energy is applied to the aperture electrode by a vibrating mechanism to such an extent that it is difficult to adhere to the electrode. However, once a major trouble due to the toner occurs, the trouble is recovered by changing the energy applied to the vibrating mechanism so as to vibrate the control electrode more strongly. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image recording apparatus that can prevent clogging of the opening electrode and can always obtain a stable image output.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a toner jet recording device 19
Comprises a recording unit 1 and a heat fixing unit 2. At the side of the toner jet recording device 19, an insertion port 17 is provided.
An outlet 18 is provided. In the recording unit 1, a medium P such as plain paper entered through the insertion port 17 is
Images and the like are recorded. Then, in the heat fixing unit 2,
An image or the like on the medium is fixed. Further, the medium P is
It is sent to the outlet 18 via the guide 15.

The recording unit 1 includes a rotatable brush roller 3
, An aperture electrode 9 and a counter electrode 12. Around the brush roller 3, a supply roller 4 and a layer thickness regulating member 11 according to the rotation direction of the brush roller 3.
And the scraping member 10, respectively, on the brush roller 3,
Provided in contact. The brush roller 3 is connected to the ground. The supply roller 4 is covered by a toner case K. The toner T is stored inside the toner case K.

The aperture electrode 9 is provided above the brush roller 3. Here, a description will be given with reference to FIG. The aperture electrode 9 includes a large number of apertures 5, an insulating layer 6, a reference electrode layer 7, and a large number of control electrode layers 8. The apertures 5 are provided in the insulating layer 6 with openings, and are arranged in a line. Further, the reference electrode layer 7 is provided on the brush layer 3 side of the insulating layer 6. Further, the control electrode layer 8 is provided independently on the upper surface of the insulating layer 6 around the aperture 5. The reference electrode layer 7 has a negative (-) DC power supply E.
Second, the multiple control electrode layers 8 are connected to multiple signal sources S, respectively.

Further, a vibrating means 20 is arranged on the surface of the reference electrode layer 7. The vibrating means 20 includes a piezoelectric body 21 and a conductive wire 22 for supplying power to the piezoelectric body 21. The piezoelectric body 21 may be a piezoelectric ceramic material such as PZT or a polymer piezoelectric material such as polyvinylidene fluoride. Vibrating means 20
Are provided on the control electrode surface in order to apply an appropriate vibration to the aperture electrode 9. Further, the conductive wire 22 is connected to a power supply 112 that supplies electric power.

The opposite electrode 12 is provided on the opposite side of the brush roller 3 with the aperture electrode 9 interposed therebetween with a certain space between the aperture electrode 9 and the brush electrode 3.
The medium P that has entered this space through the insertion opening 17 and sent through the guide 15 and the pair of auxiliary rollers 16 is
pass. This counter electrode 12 is connected to a power supply E2 (minus (-)). By this voltage application, the toner T that has passed through the aperture 5 of the aperture electrode 9
Is moved and adsorbed on the medium P. Further, a sensor 30 is disposed in a space sandwiched between the aperture electrode 9 and the paper transport path. The sensor 30 may have a so-called reflection type optical reading function, and serves as a unit for detecting the toner T attached to the medium P.

The heat fixing section 2 comprises a heat roller 13 having a heat source and a press roller 14. And
The heat roller 13 and the press roller 14 are arranged so that the medium P can pass between them.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a piezoelectric vibration control including a power supply. The piezoelectric body vibration control unit includes a vibrating unit 110
, A detection unit 120, a recording control unit 130, a recording control circuit 140, and a signal processing unit 150. The vibration unit 110 includes a piezoelectric body 111 and a power supply 112. The detecting means 120 is a reflection type sensor 1
22 and a trouble detection circuit 121. Further, the recording control means 130 includes an electrode control circuit 131, a control electrode and a reference electrode 132.

Next, the operation of the toner jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The medium P inserted from the insertion port 17 is transported to the recording unit 1. In recording unit 1,
The toner T is supplied to the brush roller 3 by the supply roller 4. At this time, the toner T rubs while being in contact with the supply roller 4 and the brush roller 3, and
For example, it is charged to plus (+). The positively (+) charged toner T is carried by the brush roller 3. Then, the toner T excessively supplied to the brush roller 3 is scraped off by the layer thickness regulating member 11.
As a result, a uniform toner layer is formed on the brush roller 3.

The brush roller 3 is scraped by the scraping member 10 near the aperture electrode 9. When the brush returns to its original state due to elasticity, the toner T carried by the brush in an appropriate amount jumps up. As a result,
The toner T is supplied to the aperture electrode 9 in the form of a cloud.

The cloud of the toner T charged to plus (+) is drawn to the reference electrode layer 7 connected to the minus (-) power supply E1. Then, the flow of the toner T is modulated by the voltage applied from the signal source S to the control electrode layer 8 of the aperture electrode 9.

At this time, the piezoelectric body 2 disposed on the control electrode 8
1, a voltage is applied. The piezoelectric body 21 starts to vibrate. Then, the vibration propagates on the reference electrode 7, and a surface wave is generated on the reference electrode 7. Therefore, the toner T becomes
Even when approaching the reference electrode layer 7, it is unlikely to adhere. That is, the toner T is conventionally sucked and deposited on the reference electrode surface 7 due to the mirror image force on the reference electrode 7. However, by vibrating, even if the toner T is sucked by electrostatic induction, the toner T hardly adheres.

The toner T is normally stably supplied from the aperture electrode 9. The toner flow is modulated by the aperture electrode 9 by the signal source S and recorded on the medium P. That is, the plus (+) charged toner T modulated by the minus (−) power supply E2 connected to the counter electrode flies toward the counter electrode. And
The toner T includes a guide 15 and a pair of auxiliary rollers 16.
Is sucked into the medium P that has been guided.

However, sometimes, the toner T
However, a hole may be clogged while approaching the surface of the reference electrode 7. In this apparatus, the toner T placed on the medium P is detected by the sensor 30 installed on the paper transport path.
It is determined whether there is any abnormality. That is, the reflection type sensor 1
From the information of 22, the trouble detection circuit 121 confirms that there is no black background. In response to the signal, the recording control circuit 14
0 functions and controls the power supply 112. The power supply 112 raises the voltage sent to the piezoelectric body 111 serving as a vibration applying unit, so that the output of the piezoelectric body 111 increases, and stronger vibration is applied to the aperture electrode 9. This makes it possible to remove the toner T that has caused the clogging.

After that, the medium P is transported to the heat fixing unit 2. Then, at this place, the image on the medium P is fixed by being pressed against the heat roller 13 and the press roller 14. Since this fixing method is a general method, a detailed description is omitted. Then, finally, the medium P on which the image is formed passes through the guide 15,
It is conveyed to the take-out port 18 and taken out.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. That is, the gist of the present invention is to perform trouble recovery by changing the energy stored in the vibrating means that causes the aperture electrode to vibrate. In this embodiment, the stored energy is
The output voltage of the power supply was changed. For example, a plurality of vibration frequencies and modes may be provided and selected. Further, a plurality of stored energies may be achieved by changing the number of movable vibrators. Further, in the present embodiment, the stored energy is changed by the self-determination of the device, but the user may make the determination. In that case, the user
It is preferable to change the stored energy of the vibration by setting the rescue switch.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects. Normally, the stored energy is applied to the aperture electrode by a vibrating mechanism to such an extent that it is difficult to adhere to the electrode. However, once a large trouble due to toner occurs, the trouble is recovered by applying a larger amount of stored energy by the vibrating means. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image recording apparatus that can prevent clogging of the opening electrode and can always obtain a stable image output.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a toner jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an aperture electrode provided in the toner jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control circuit of a vibration unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording part, aperture 6 Insulating layer 7 Reference electrode layer 8 Control electrode layer 9 Aperture electrode 12 Counter electrode 20 Vibration means 21 Piezoelectric body 22 Conductive wire 30 Sensor T Toner P Medium K Toner case E1, E2 Power supply S Signal source

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A carrier for supporting a charged powder,
In an image recording apparatus comprising: a control electrode provided in proximity to and below the carrier and having an opening; and a back electrode opposed to the control electrode with a support serving as an image receiver interposed therebetween. A vibrating mechanism for vibrating the control electrode, and when the opening of the control electrode is in an abnormal state, so as to vibrate the control electrode more strongly. An image recording apparatus characterized by changing.