JP3254250B2 - Image forming apparatus for reversible thermosensitive recording film - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image formation of a reversible thermosensitive recording film which can be used for image recording of a plain paper sheet and a reversible thermosensitive recording film by an electrophotographic process such as a copying machine, a facsimile or a printer. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, protection of the global environment including forest resources has become one of the major issues in various industrial fields. In the OA equipment industry, the reuse of recording sheets used in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines has been steadily executed as part of this environmental protection measure. Currently, a method of recycling recording sheets generally collects used recording sheets, collects them, and performs a chemical treatment in a reprocessing plant such as a paper mill to produce recycled paper.
However, in such a chemical treatment method, there is a physical limit (the progress of fiber decomposition) in the number of reprocessings, and a certain amount of new wood is required for the reprocessing.

[0003] On the other hand, as another method of reusing a recording sheet, a recording material which is rewritable and can be used repeatedly as many times as possible, specifically, a reusable recording material which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature. Various examination proposals have been made for a method using a simple recording material (hereinafter, referred to as a reversible thermosensitive recording film; TC film) because of its easy handling.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention examines a reusable TC film among the above-mentioned prior arts. By the way, all of the conventional methods for forming an image on a TC film are configured so that a heating means (thermal head) is brought into direct contact with the film surface to record image information. Although various uses of the TC film are considered, a copier, a laser facsimile machine, which is widely spread in general, uses a large amount of paper, and is expected to have a great effect of reusing the paper. Alternatively, in an image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer, an apparatus capable of applying the TC film has not been put to practical use yet. This is because, in a conventional image forming apparatus, an electrophotographic process is generally used as an image forming method. Therefore, in order to be able to apply a TC film to this type of image forming apparatus, a conventional electrophotographic process means is used. In addition to the above, an image forming unit (for example, a heating unit, a conveying unit, a control unit, etc.) dedicated to the TC film must be newly provided. That is, an image forming apparatus having such a configuration in which an image forming means dedicated to a TC film is added is, in other words, an apparatus in which an image forming apparatus for a TC film is simply combined with a conventional copying machine or the like. Although no technical difficulty is recognized, it is inevitable that the cost of the apparatus as a whole, the size of the apparatus, and the complexity of the image forming control system will inevitably increase. it is conceivable that.

In view of the above, the image forming means dedicated to the TC film (toner removing means, heat generating means, conveying means, etc.) and the image forming means dedicated to the plain paper sheet are commonly used. This makes it possible to form an image on a TC film using an existing electrophotographic process for forming an image on a plain paper sheet without adding a large-scale image forming means dedicated to the TC film. However, there is a possibility that the configuration of the image forming apparatus to which the TC film can be applied is complicated and the usability of the image forming apparatus is reduced as compared with an image forming apparatus using a conventional electrophotographic process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to control the state of a toner removing means dedicated to a reversible thermosensitive recording film provided in addition to a conventional electrophotographic process means. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film, which can prevent the configuration from being complicated and the usability from being reduced.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a latent image writing means for writing image information as an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor, and an electrostatic image formed on the photoreceptor. Developing means for visualizing the latent image with toner, sheet feeding means for feeding and feeding a plain paper sheet for image recording to the image forming section, and reusable which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature Feeding means for feeding and transporting the reversible thermosensitive recording film to the image forming section, erasing means for initializing the fed reversible thermosensitive recording film by the heating means, and feeding to the image forming section Transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the photoreceptor onto the conveyed plain paper sheet or the initialized reversible thermosensitive recording film, and plain paper carrying the toner by heating and pressing Toner image on a plain paper Fixing means for fixing the toner image onto the reversible thermosensitive recording film, and irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film with the transferred toner image to heat the transferred toner image to form an image on the reversible thermosensitive recording film; In the case of the PP mode in which the recording target is plain paper, the configuration includes a toner removing unit that removes the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film after the formation from the film surface.
The first in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released.
In the case of the TC mode in which the recording target is a TC film in the state of, the transport force on the downstream side of the toner removing unit is T.
In the second state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released until the toner removing function is applied to the leading end of the C film, and in the third state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means functions, The state of the toner removing unit is controlled accordingly.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the state of the toner removing means in the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration is determined in accordance with the image recording mode of the recording target, that is, the P is set for recording on plain paper.
In the case of the P mode, the toner removing function of the toner removing unit is released to the first state, and in the case of the TC mode in which the TC film is to be recorded, the conveying force on the downstream side of the toner removing unit is used. Release the toner removing function of the toner removing means until the toner is applied to the leading end of the TC film.
And a third state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing unit functions.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. However, illustration and disclosure of configurations and operations in a range that can be clearly recalled from the description of this specification are omitted or simplified in order to avoid complication of description.

An image forming apparatus in which the present invention is implemented includes a plain paper sheet (hereinafter, simply referred to as plain paper), a reversible thermosensitive recording film, and a thermochromic film (hereinafter, referred to as T).
(Hereinafter abbreviated as C film), an image can be recorded using a common image forming means. First, an example of an image forming apparatus provided with a TC cleaning unit as a toner removal unit for a TC film to be controlled in the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

This image forming apparatus is, as shown in FIG.
It has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B. These paper feed trays A and B are respectively arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, paper feed tray A
And a plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

In FIG. 1, a bundle of plain paper set in a paper feed tray B is pulled out of the paper feed tray B by a paper feed roller 1, and only the top sheet is separated by a separation pad 35. Is conveyed by the rotation of. Paper feed roller 1
Is transported by the transport rollers 37 to a pair of registration rollers including the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the leading edge of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing of writing an image on the plain paper is set.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is fed and conveyed as described above, an original image is written as a latent image on the photoreceptor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoreceptor 10 is The image is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the plain paper sent out toward the photoreceptor 10 by the registration roller rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred to the transfer separation unit 8.
As a result, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10. The plain paper to which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of a fan 36 provided on the back surface side of the conveyance guide plate 13. The plain paper conveyed to the fixing unit 34 is pressed and heated by the pair of pressure roller 19 and heating roller 20 to fix the transferred toner image.

Downstream of the fixing means 34, a TC cleaning means 24, which functions only when recording an image on a TC film, is provided.
This TC cleaning means 24 is indicated by an arrow a in FIG.
To the position displaced in the direction (the position indicated by the solid line). As a result, the plain paper discharged from the fixing unit 34 guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23 is left
The paper is further conveyed by the paper ejection tray 8 and is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 30 by paper discharge rollers 29 through a paper discharge guide plate 28.

Next, recording of an image on a TC film in the image forming apparatus will be described. In FIG. 1, the bundled TC film set on the paper feed tray A is pulled out of the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost sheet is rotated by the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35. Conveyed. Here, the TC film set on the paper feed tray A has been initialized (whitened) in advance. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by a transport roller 37 to a pair of resist rollers including a resist driving roller 9 and a resist driven roller 40, and is abutted on a nip portion of the resist roller.
At this time, the leading end of the TC film is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is determined.

On the other hand, while the TC film is fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 by the transfer separation unit 8 to the TC film sent out toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration roller that rotates at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31. The image forming process on the TC film so far is not different from the image forming process on the plain paper described above.

At the time of image recording on the TC film, the TC film to which the toner image has been transferred is attracted to the transport guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 disposed on the back side of the transport guide plate 13. When the sheet is conveyed while being conveyed, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 disposed opposite the conveyance guide plate 13 with the conveyance path interposed therebetween.
Lights up. The irradiation light of the irradiation lamp 16 is reflected by the reflection plate 1.
7 and the condenser lens 18, the T
Light is focused and irradiated on the film surface of the C film. At this time, the TC film itself is in a cloudy state, and an unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface of the TC film. Therefore, the irradiation light irradiated and condensed by the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condensing lens 18 is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion which is a black portion on the film surface of the TC film, and the black portion is Even if the temperature is increased, the other portion of the film surface which becomes cloudy (non-image portion) is reflected and has no effect. As a result, a temperature difference occurs between the toner image portion and the non-image portion on the film surface of the TC film, and only the toner image portion of the TC film changes color from a cloudy state to a transparent state due to the temperature difference. On the TC film surface, an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) is recorded.

The TC film on which an image has been recorded due to the heat discoloration of the opaque portion is conveyed toward the fixing means 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36. Here, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, the film surface of the TC film conveyed to the fixing means 34 comes into contact with the heating roller 20 and is reheated, so that the image recorded on the film surface is In order not to lose the heat, the heating roller 20 of the fixing unit 34 is displaced in advance in the direction of arrow b in FIG.
It is retracted to a position that does not contact the film surface of the TC film (chain line position), that is, a position where the heat of the heating roller 20 is not transmitted to the TC film.

At the time of recording an image on the TC film, the TC cleaning means 24 moves the arrow a in FIG.
To the position displaced in the opposite direction (the position indicated by the dashed line) at the timing described later, and to the position on the back surface of the TC film (the surface on which the toner image is not transferred) of the transport roller 38 composed of a pair of rollers On the peripheral surface of the roller 38a
The blade 25 of the cleaning means 24 is in contact. Here, the blade 25 with respect to the roller 38a
Is set such that the frictional force between the roller 38a and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the blade 25 and the TC film. Thus, the TC film that has passed through the fixing unit 34 without being reheated is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23, and is conveyed in accordance with the rotation of the roller 38a. When the TC film is transported by the roller 38a, the toner transferred onto the film surface is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped off from the surface of the TC film is collected into a collection bottle 27 by a collection roller 26 provided in the cleaning unit 24. The TC film on which the image composed of the cloudy part (non-image part) and the transparent part (image part) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is further transported by the transport roller 38 composed of a pair of rollers. Then, the sheet is guided by a sheet discharge guide plate 28 and is discharged onto a sheet discharge tray 30 by a sheet discharge roller 29.

In FIG. 1, the paper feed guide plate 2 is
It has a function of guiding the plain paper and the TC film fed by the feed roller 1 while being conveyed to the registration drive roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40. The pre-transfer guide plate 11 has a function of guiding the plain paper or the TC film conveyed by the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40 toward the photoconductor 10. Fixing entrance upper guide plate 14 and fixing entrance lower guide plate 3
Reference numeral 9 denotes plain paper separated from the photoreceptor 10 and T or
It has a function of guiding the C film to the nip between the pressure roller 19 and the heating roller 20 of the fixing unit 34. The thermistor T provided in the fixing unit 34 is
0 has a function of detecting the surface temperature of the heater 2, and the heater 2 disposed in the heating roller 20 based on the detection signal.
The heating temperature of the heating roller 20 is varied by controlling the amount of heat generated in the heating roller 20. The charging unit 6 provided around the photoconductor 10 has a function of initializing the surface potential of the photoconductor 10 by discharging. A paper discharge sensor 32 arranged on the conveyance path of the paper discharge guide plate 28 detects whether or not the plain paper or the TC film conveyed from the fixing unit 34 passes at a predetermined timing, and jams the plain paper or the TC film. And so on.

As described above, according to this image forming apparatus, an image can be formed on a TC film by using a conventional electrophotographic process for forming an image on plain paper. It is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and apparatus volume and a complicated image forming control system.

In order to initialize a used TC film in this image forming apparatus, an image is not written on the fed and conveyed TC film.
The same process as that for feeding plain paper may be performed. Specifically, first, a used TC film is set on the paper feed tray A or the paper feed tray B, and the topmost roller is fed by the paper feed roller 1, the transport roller 37, the registration drive roller 9, and the registration driven roller 40. Is fed and transported. At this time, no image signal is sent, the optical unit 5 does not write an image as a latent image on the photoconductor 10, and toner is not attached to the photoconductor 10 by the developing unit 4. As a result, the used TC film passes through the transfer / separation unit 8 without toner adhered to the film surface. When the used TC film conveyed without the toner adhered thereto passes through the fixing unit 34,
The heating roller 20 of No. 4 heats the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film turns opaque. Thereby, the entire surface of the TC film is initialized to be cloudy, and the used image recorded by the transparent portion and the cloudy portion is erased. In this erasing step, the toner is not attached on the film surface of the TC film.
The C cleaning unit 24 moves to the arrow a in FIG. 1 and faces the blade 25 away from the transport roller 38a. The TC film thus initialized is further transported by the transport rollers 38, guided by the discharge guide plate 28, and discharged onto the discharge tray 30 by the discharge rollers 29.

Next, a control operation of the above-described image forming apparatus will be described with reference to an overall control block diagram shown in FIG. Various inputs, outputs, and control signals of the image forming apparatus are collectively processed by a main control unit 901 shown in FIG. 2, an operation request input to the main control unit 109 includes a setting input by an operator pressing a key from an operation unit 903 and an image information input unit 90 typified by a facsimile receiving apparatus or a host computer.
4 includes image information and commands. Inputs for controlling the present apparatus include a pre-registration sensor 31,
A timing detection signal from the paper ejection sensor 32, a temperature detection signal from the thermistor T, and an in-machine temperature sensor 906.
Temperature detection signal. The output and control signal from the main control unit 901 are supplied from the paper feed roller 1, the resist drive roller 9, the optical unit 5, the developing unit 4, the charging unit 6, the transfer separating unit 8, the photoconductor 10, the transport switching unit 12, the irradiation unit. 15, the pressure roller 19, the heating roller 20, the heater 21, the TC cleaning means 24, the paper discharge roller 29, and the like. Here, a control program and various setting data necessary for executing the program are stored in a storage unit 902 such as a ROM, and an internal timer 905 is used to generate a timing at the time of operation. Is done.

Further, an ONE-type image forming apparatus such as this
As a control example of the PATH system, a timing chart of an image recording operation on a TC film is shown in FIG. 3, and a timing chart of an image recording operation on plain paper is shown in FIG.
That is, when recording an image on the TC film, as shown in FIG. 3, first, upon receiving a start signal, the paper feed roller 1 is started to start feeding the TC film. Charging means 6, paper discharge roller 29
Is started, and the position of the fixing unit 34 is shifted so that the TC film passes through the fixing unit. Next, reception of image information is started from the image information input unit 904, the paper feed roller 1 is stopped based on the detection signal of the leading end of the TC film of the pre-registration sensor 31, and the image to the photoreceptor 10 is At the same time as starting to write information, the registration drive roller 9 is started at an appropriate timing, and then the transfer separation unit 8, the irradiation unit 15, and the TC cleaning unit 24 are started. When the input of the image information is completed, the operations of the optical unit 5 and the charging unit 6 are stopped, and the registration driving roller 9 is stopped based on the detection signal of the TC film rear end of the pre-registration sensor 31. Further, when the completion of the discharge of the TC film is detected by the discharge sensor 32, the transfer separation unit 8 and the developing unit 4 are stopped, and the discharge roller 29, the irradiation unit 15, the fixing unit 34, the TC cleaning The operation of the means 24 is stopped.

When recording an image on plain paper, first, as shown in FIG.
The feed roller 1 is started to start feeding of the plain paper, and at the same time, the operations of the developing means 4, the charging means 6, and the discharge roller 29 are started, and the plain paper passes through the fixing unit. Then, the position of the fixing unit 34 is changed to a state, and the heater 21 is turned on to start the fixing unit 34. Next, the reception of image information from the image information input unit 904 is started, the paper feed roller 1 is stopped based on the detection signal of the leading edge of the plain paper of the pre-registration sensor 31, and the image to the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5 is transmitted. At the same time as writing of information is started, the registration drive roller 9 is started at a certain timing, and then the transfer separation unit 8 is started. When the input of the image information is completed, the operations of the optical unit 5 and the charging unit 6 are stopped, and the registration driving roller 9 is stopped based on the detection signal of the rear end of the plain paper of the pre-registration sensor 31. Further, when the paper discharge sensor 32 detects that the discharge of the plain paper is completed, the transfer separation unit 8 and the developing unit 4 are stopped, and the operations of the discharge roller 29 and the fixing unit 34 are stopped.

By the way, as described above, the image forming apparatus to which the TC film can be applied has a more complicated structure than the conventional image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic process, and the usability may be reduced. There is. Therefore,
In the present invention, when the image recording mode of the image forming apparatus is the PP mode for recording plain paper, the TC film is placed in the first state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing unit is released. In the case of the TC mode for recording, the conveying force on the downstream side of the toner removing unit is TC
A second state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released until the toner removing function is applied to the leading end of the film, and a third state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means functions.
The state of the toner removing unit is controlled in accordance with the image recording mode of the recording target.

A description will now be given of state control in a case where the TC cleaning means 24 shown in FIG. 5 is used as an example of the TC film toner removing means.
However, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the shutter 602 moves forward and backward to a position where the cleaning unit of the TC cleaning unit 24 is opened and closed in conjunction with the operation of contacting and separating the blade 25 of the TC cleaning unit 24 with respect to the transport roller 38a. Is configured. That is, in the TC cleaning means 24 of this embodiment, the blade support 603 of the blade 25 is rotatably attached to one end of the bell crank 604, and the shutter 602 is rotatably attached to the other end of the bell crank 604. And the bell crank 60
4 is configured to swing about a support shaft 605 by turning on / off a solenoid 606. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in FIG. 5, the solenoid 606 is turned on, and the bell crank 604 swings clockwise about the support shaft 605, so that the shutter 602 opens the cleaning section of the TC cleaning means 24. At the same time, the blade 25 is displaced to a position where it comes into contact with the transport roller 38a, the solenoid 606 is turned off, and the bell crank 604 is
By swinging counterclockwise around the center 5, the blade 25 is displaced to a position away from the transport roller 38a, and at the same time, the shutter 602 is advanced to a position to close the cleaning section of the TC cleaning means 24. .

First, in the first state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released, that is, in this embodiment,
In a state where the blade 25 of the TC cleaning unit 24 is separated from the peripheral surface of the transport roller 38a, the cleaning unit (extending portion of the blade 25) of the TC cleaning unit 24 is blocked by the shutter 602 as shown in FIG. State. The TC cleaning unit 24 is in the first state when an image is recorded on plain paper, whereby the cleaning unit of the TC cleaning unit 24 is retracted from the conveyance path of the plain paper and isolated, and the plain paper and the blade are separated. Contact with the plain paper 25 is prevented, and toner contamination of plain paper by the blade 25 is prevented.

On the other hand, in the second state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released until the conveying force on the downstream side of the toner removing means is applied to the leading end of the TC film, FIG.
As shown in (2), the shutter 602 retreats from the cleaning section of the TC cleaning means 24, and this cleaning section is opened, and the TC cleaning means 2
The fourth blade 25 is in a state of being close to the peripheral surface of the transport roller 38a. The TC cleaning means 24 operates until the leading end of the TC film is sandwiched between the nip portions of the pair of transport rollers 38a and 38b when recording the image on the TC film.
This is the second state, whereby the transport rollers 38a
A small gap is secured between the
When the film passes through the cleaning section of the TC cleaning means 24, the advance of the tip of the TC film is not hindered, and the transfer of the TC to the nip of the transport rollers 38a and 38b is prevented.
The C film enters smoothly.

Further, in the third state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means functions, as shown in FIG.
2 is retracted, and the blade 25 of the TC cleaning means 24 comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the transport roller 38a. The TC cleaning means 24 enters the third state after the leading end of the TC film is sandwiched between the nip portions of the pair of transport rollers 38a and 38b when an image is recorded on the TC film. The blade 25 abuts on the film surface (toner carrying surface) of the above, and the toner carried on the film surface of the TC film is scraped off from this film surface.

The state control of the toner removing means according to the image recording mode of the recording object of the image forming apparatus is executed according to a control program as shown in FIGS. When the cleaning / standby control of FIG. 9 is executed, first, the switched image recording mode of the recording target is detected by a setting input from the operation unit 903 of FIG. When the detected mode is the TC mode, the TC cleaning unit 24 enters the above-described second state, and when the detected mode is the PP mode, the TC cleaning unit 24 enters the above-described first state. Controlled,
The TC cleaning unit 24 is on standby so as to be in a state suitable for a predetermined recording target.

In the state control described above, the state of the TC cleaning means 24 is controlled to be changed within a predetermined time after the image recording mode is switched. May be started and the state transitioned after the mode of the actual operation is established. Here, by performing control such that the state of the toner removing unit is changed within a predetermined time when the recording target (mode) switching is set, the responsiveness at the start of the recording operation can be improved. In addition, by performing control to change the state of the toner removing unit after the recording operation is started and after the recording target (mode) is determined, useless operation is avoided, and the consumption of components and power consumption are avoided. Can be prevented.

On the other hand, after the standby, when the image recording mode is the TC mode, the recording operation is started, and the TC cleaning means 24 is controlled in accordance with the recording cleaning control program shown in FIG. That is, the image forming apparatus operates as described with reference to FIG.
After being conveyed to the C cleaning means 24, as shown in FIG. 5, the pre-cleaning sensor 6 disposed in the TC film conveyance path on the front side of the TC cleaning means 24.
With 01, the leading end of the TC film is detected. Accordingly, in this control program, the TC film detection timing based on the timing of detecting the leading edge of the TC film by the pre-cleaning sensor 601 and the information such as the appropriate timing for the TC film cleaning stored in the storage unit 902 in advance and the internal timer 905 are used. The main controller 901 calculates the timing at which the leading end of the pair passes through the nip between the pair of transport rollers 38a and 38b. And TC
The cleaning unit 24 is shifted to the above-described third state at the timing calculated by the main control unit 901, and performs cleaning of the toner carried on the TC film. Next, by the paper ejection sensor 32 (FIG. 1),
When it is detected that the TC film has passed through the TC cleaning unit 24, the TC cleaning unit 24 returns to the second state again at the timing calculated by the main control unit 901 in the same manner as described above. Then, it is prepared for the next recording operation. As described above, by controlling the state of the TC cleaning unit 24 (toner removing unit) according to the transport timing of the TC film, the operation for removing the toner carried on the TC film from the film surface can be performed smoothly and efficiently. Can be done

[0034]

According to the present invention, it is not necessary to add a transport path for each image recording mode by controlling the state of the TC film removing means according to the recording object (image recording mode). Complexity of the device and increase in cost can be suppressed, and usability of the device can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is an overall control block diagram of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an overall control timing chart when recording a TC film in the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an overall control timing chart during plain paper recording in the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a TC cleaning means in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing a first state of the TC cleaning means.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing a second state of the TC cleaning means.

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing a third state of the TC cleaning means.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a cleaning / standby control operation of the TC cleaning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a recording cleaning control operation of the TC cleaning unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feed roller 2 Paper feed guide plate 4 Developing means 5 Optical unit 6 Charging means 7 Photoreceptor cleaning means 8 Transfer separation means 9 Registration drive roller 10 Photoreceptor 11 Pre-transfer guide plate 12 Transport switching means 13 Transport guide plate 14 Fixing Inlet guide plate 15 Irradiation means 16 Irradiation lamp 17 Reflector plate 18 Condenser lens 19 Pressure roller 20 Heating roller 21 Heater 22 Fixing outlet upper guide plate 23 Fixing outlet lower guide plate 24 TC cleaning means 25 Blade 26 Collection roller 27 Collection bottle 28 Discharge guide plate 29 Discharge roller 30 Discharge tray 31 Pre-registration sensor 32 Discharge sensor 34 Fixing means 35 Separation pad 36 Fan 37, 38a, 38b Conveyance roller 39 Fixing entrance lower guide plate 40 Registration driven roller 601 Before cleaning Sir 602 shutter 603 blade support 604 bellcrank 605 support shaft 606 solenoid 901 main control unit 902 storage unit 903 operation unit 904 image information input unit 905 internal timer A, B tray T thermistor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Muramatsu 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hideki Tobinaga 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Masato Otani, Inventor 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Tokyo, Japan (72) Inventor Yasushi Suzuki 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo (56) References JP-A-2-14156 (JP, A) JP-A-3-146386 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67567 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67567 67568 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67569 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67570 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67571 (JP, A) JP-A-6-67574 (JP, A) Patent flat 6-67575 (JP, a) (58 ) investigated the field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/22 103 G03G 21/10

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A latent image writing means for writing image information as an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor; a developing means for visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor with toner; Feeding means for feeding and transporting a plain paper sheet to the image forming section; and feeding and feeding means for feeding a reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature to the image forming section. Paper transporting means, erasing means for initializing the reversible thermosensitive recording film fed and transported by the heating means, and on a plain paper sheet or initialized reversible thermosensitive recording film fed and transported to the image forming section. Transfer means for transferring a toner image formed on the photoreceptor, fixing means for fixing the transferred toner image on a plain paper sheet by heating and pressurizing plain paper carrying the toner, and toner Image transferred reversible Irradiation means for irradiating the thermosensitive recording film to heat the transferred toner image to form an image on the reversible thermosensitive recording film, and film-forming the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film after image formation In the PP mode in which the recording target is plain paper, the recording target is set to the first state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing unit is released. In the case of the TC mode in which a film is used, the conveying force on the downstream side of the toner removing unit is TC
A second state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means is released until the toner removing function is applied to the leading end of the film, and a third state in which the toner removing function of the toner removing means functions.
An image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film, wherein the state of the toner removing unit is controlled in accordance with an image recording mode of a recording target. 2. When removing the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film after the image formation from the film surface, the toner is transferred according to the transport timing of the reversible thermosensitive recording film after the image formation. 2. An image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film according to claim 1, wherein the state of said toner removing means is controlled. 3. The reversible reversing device according to claim 1, wherein the state control of the toner removing means according to the image recording mode of the recording target is performed within a predetermined time after the image recording mode of the recording target is changed. Image forming apparatus for thermosensitive recording film. 4. A reversible thermosensitive recording film according to claim 1, wherein the state control of said toner removing means in accordance with an image recording mode of a recording object is performed after an image recording operation is started. apparatus.