JP3483679B2 - Thermal image recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of image recording using a heat-sensitive recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image recording using a heat-sensitive recording material (hereinafter also referred to as heat-sensitive material) (hereinafter also referred to as heat-sensitive image recording) has been used for recording an ultrasonic diagnostic image. This thermal image recording does not require wet development processing, is easy to handle, and is advantageous in image processing. Therefore, in recent years, only small image recording such as ultrasonic diagnosis is possible. In addition, in applications such as MRI diagnosis and X-ray diagnosis that require large-sized and high-quality images, use for image recording for medical diagnosis is also being considered.

As is well known, the thermal image recording uses a thermal head having a glaze in which heating recording points (recording dots) for heating the thermal recording layer of the thermal film to record an image are arranged in one direction, By slightly pressing the glaze on the heat-sensitive film (heat-sensitive recording layer), while moving the both relatively in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the recording dots, by heating each recording dot of the glaze according to the recorded image. An image is recorded by heating the heat-sensitive recording layer of the heat-sensitive film.

On the other hand, the heat-sensitive film comprises a transparent film as a support and a heat-sensitive recording layer formed on one surface thereof. The transparent film as the support includes polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (glass transition temperature). Tg =
69 ° C.) and the like are used, and for the heat-sensitive recording layer, microcapsules containing at least a basic dye precursor and a color developer are dissolved in an organic solvent that is sparingly soluble or insoluble in water, and then emulsified and dispersed. A heat-sensitive layer or the like formed by applying a coating solution containing a substance is used.

[0005]

However, as described above, the heat-sensitive recording is performed on the surface of the heat-sensitive film having a transparent film made of an organic resin such as PET as a support, generally, the heat-sensitive recording layer by the glaze of the thermal head. It is pressurized and heated, and at the same time, its back surface is conveyed by a platen roller. Therefore, in the heat-sensitive film using the PET-based organic resin film as the support, the temperature becomes high, for example, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the PET film constituting the support.
On the surface side of the heat-sensitive film that exceeds the above, a force in the direction of being compressed by the glaze of the thermal head works, while on the back side of the film, a force in the direction of being stretched by the platen roller works. There is a problem that the support of the heat-sensitive film curls on the pressure and heating side, that is, the thermal head side.

Particularly in recent years, large-sized and high-quality images have been required for applications such as MRI diagnosis and X-ray diagnosis as described above. The uncurled curl appears as a large curl along with the increase in size of the heat-sensitive film, which causes inconvenience in handling the heat-sensitive film after heat-sensitive recording.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. A heat-sensitive material such as a heat-sensitive recording film,
In particular, in image recording using a medical thermosensitive film, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermosensitive image recording apparatus capable of obtaining a thermosensitive material such as a thermosensitive film after thermosensitive recording in a state close to a plane.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a thermal head having a glaze in which thermosensitive recording points are arranged in one direction, and a thermosensitive recording material sandwiched between the thermal head and the glaze. A platen roller that holds the heat-sensitive recording material in a predetermined position and conveys it in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heat-sensitive recording points, and a heat-sensitive recording that is arranged downstream of the platen roller in the conveyance direction and adjacent to a thermal head. Immediately after contact with the thermal recording material ,
Before the temperature of the thermal recording material falls below the glass transition temperature
Provided is a thermal image recording device, which comprises a curl straightening member having a contact length with a thermal recording material .

Here, the curl correcting member has a surface
Has a mirror finish or Teflon finish
preferable.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The thermal image recording apparatus of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an example of the thermal image recording apparatus of the present invention. The thermal image recording apparatus 10 (hereinafter referred to as the recording apparatus 10) shown in FIG. 1 records a thermal image on a thermal recording film (hereinafter referred to as a thermal film) A which is a cut sheet having a predetermined size such as B4 size. The heat-sensitive image recording is performed on the heat-sensitive film A by the thermal head 66, which is a characteristic part of the loading section 14, the feeding / conveying section 16, and the magazine 24 in which the heat-sensitive film A is stored. The recording unit 20 and the discharge unit 22 are provided.

The heat-sensitive film A comprises a transparent film such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a support, and a microcapsule containing at least a basic dye precursor and a color developer on one surface thereof. It has a thermosensitive recording layer formed by dissolving it in a solvent and then applying a coating solution containing an emulsion that has been emulsified and dispersed. Such a heat-sensitive film A is usually made into a bundle of 100 sheets or the like in a predetermined unit and packaged in a bag or a band. In the illustrated example, the heat-sensitive recording layer is recorded with the heat-sensitive recording layer as the lower surface in a bundle of the predetermined unit. The images are stored in the magazine 24 of the apparatus 10 and are taken out one by one from the magazine 24 for thermal image recording.

The magazine 24 is a casing having a lid 26 that can be opened and closed, and accommodates the thermosensitive film A to store the recording device 1 therein.
0 is loaded in the loading unit 14. The loading unit 14 has an insertion opening 30, a guide plate 32, guide rolls 34, 34, and a stop member 36 formed in a housing 28 of the recording apparatus 10, and the magazine 24 has the lid 26 side first. The recording medium 10 is inserted into the recording device 10 through the insertion port 30, is guided by the guide plate 32 and the guide roll 34, and is pushed to a position where it abuts the stop member 36, so that the recording device 10 is loaded at a predetermined position.

The feeding / conveying means 16 takes out the thermosensitive film A from the magazine 24 loaded in the loading section 14 and conveys it to the recording section 20, and uses a sucker 40 for adsorbing the thermosensitive film A by suction. It has a mechanism, a conveyance means 42, a conveyance guide 44, and a regulation roller pair 52 located at the exit of the conveyance guide 44. The transport means 42 is
The transport roller 46 and a pulley 47 coaxial with the transport roller 46
a, a pulley 47b and a tension pulley 47c which are connected to a rotary drive source, and these three pulleys 47a, 47
an endless belt 48 stretched around b and 47c,
The heat sensitive film A is configured to include a nip roller 50 that is pressed by the transport roller 46, and the front end of the heat sensitive film A that is separated by the suction cup 40 is sandwiched by the transport roller 46 and the nip roller 50 to transport the heat sensitive film A.

When a recording start instruction is issued in the recording apparatus 10, the lid 26 is opened by an opening / closing mechanism (not shown), and the sheet-fed mechanism using the suction cup 40 takes out one thermal film A from the magazine 24, and the thermal film The leading end of A is supplied to the conveying means 42 (roller 46 and nip roller 50). When the heat sensitive film A is nipped by the transport roller 46 and the nip roller 50, the suction by the suction cup 40 is released, and the heat sensitive film A supplied is guided by the transport guide 44 to the regulation roller pair 52 by the transport means 42. Be transported. When the thermal film A to be recorded is completely discharged from the magazine 24,
The lid 26 is closed by the opening / closing means.

The distance from the conveying means 42 defined by the conveying guide 44 to the regulating roller pair 52 is set to be slightly shorter than the length of the heat sensitive film A in the conveying direction, and the heat sensitive film A is conveyed by the conveying means 42. The leading end of the sheet reaches the regulating roller pair 52, but the regulating roller pair 52 is initially stopped, and the leading edge of the heat-sensitive film A is stopped here. When the tip of the heat sensitive film A reaches the regulation roller pair 52, the temperature of the thermal head 66 is confirmed. If the temperature of the thermal head 66 is a predetermined temperature, the conveyance of the heat sensitive film A by the regulation roller pair 52 is started. Then, the heat sensitive film A is conveyed to the recording unit 20.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the recording unit 20. The recording unit 20 includes a thermal head 66, a platen roller 60,
A cooling fan 65 (see FIG. 1, omitted in FIG. 2) for cooling the pair of transport rollers 56, the guide 58, and the thermal head 66,
And a curl straightening member 70 which is a characteristic member of the present invention.
Have. The thermal head 66 performs thermal image recording with a recording (pixel) density of about 300 dpi capable of recording an image of up to B4 size, for example. It has a thermal head main body 66b in which glazes 66a are arranged in the direction (perpendicular to the paper surface in the drawing), and a heat sink 66c fixed to the thermal head main body 66b.
The thermal head 66 is supported by a support member 68 that is rotatable around a fulcrum 68a in the arrow a direction and the opposite direction. The platen roller 60 rotates at a predetermined image recording speed while holding the heat-sensitive film A at a predetermined position, and the glaze 6
A direction orthogonal to the extending direction of 6a (arrow b direction in FIG. 2)
Then, the heat sensitive film A is conveyed.

Before the heat-sensitive film A is conveyed, the supporting member 68 is rotated upward (in the direction opposite to the arrow a), and the thermal head 66 (glaze 66a) and the platen roller 60 are in contact with each other. Absent. The above-mentioned regulation roller pair 5
When the conveyance by 2 is started, the heat-sensitive film A is then nipped by the pair of conveyance rollers 56 and further conveyed while being guided by the guide 58. When the leading edge of the thermosensitive film A is conveyed to the recording start position (the position corresponding to the glaze 66a), the support member 68 rotates in the direction of the arrow a, and the thermosensitive film A moves the glaze 66a of the thermal head 66 and the platen roller 60. The glaze 66c is pressed against the heat-sensitive recording layer by being sandwiched by, and the heat-sensitive film A is held at a predetermined position by the platen roller 60, while the platen roller 60 (and the regulation roller pair 52 and the conveyance roller pair 63) indicates the arrow. It is conveyed in the b direction. Along with this conveyance, each recording dot of the glaze 66a is heated according to the recording image, so that the thermal image recording is performed on the thermal film A.

Here, in the conventional (thermosensitive image) recording apparatus, there has been a problem that the thermal film A after thermal recording is curled toward the thermal head 66 as described above. On the other hand, in the recording apparatus 10 of the present invention,
As shown in FIG. 2, the curl straightening member 70 having a flat contact surface 70a is adjacent to the downstream side of the thermal head 66 in the transport direction, and the contact surface 70a is below the thermal film A (on the side opposite to the thermal head). ) Is arranged obliquely to the thermal head 66 side with respect to the conveyance direction of the platen roller 60 so that the platen roller 60 is bent gently. Also, the contact surface 70
length in the transport direction of a is defined as the conveyed glass transition temperature immediately after the heat-sensitive recording has (Tg) or more thermal film A becomes the glass transition temperature (Tg) while passing through the curl correction member To be As a result, when the heat sensitive film A in a high temperature state above the glass transition temperature (Tg) is conveyed, the thermal head 66 of the heat sensitive film A which is about to shrink.
The side is extended by the curl straightening member 70, and at the same time,
The platen roller 60 side of the heat-sensitive film A, which is about to be stretched, is flattened by being contracted, and is allowed to cool to the glass transition temperature (Tg) or lower, so that the shape can be stabilized to be flat. Therefore, the heat-sensitive film A after recording can be obtained in a substantially flat shape.

The material of the curl straightening member 70 is not particularly limited, but the heat sensitive film A is conveyed to the curl straightening member 70 at a high temperature above the glass transition temperature (Tg), and the heat sensitive film A is flat after the curl straightening. Since the glass transition temperature (Tg) is required to be stabilized in order to stabilize the shape, it is preferable to use a material having a high heat dissipation property such as metal, and various known materials can be used. For example,
Stainless steel or the like is suitable.

Further, as described above, since the heat-sensitive film A is conveyed in a state where the contact surface 70a and the surface of the heat-sensitive recording layer of the heat-sensitive film A are in contact with each other, the surface of the contact surface 70a is heat-sensitive to the heat-sensitive film A. It is preferable that a mirror finish is applied so as not to damage the recording layer, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other treatment such as Teflon processing may be applied.

The contact surface 70a of the curl straightening member 70
The shape of is not limited to a flat surface as shown in the drawing, but may be a curved surface. Further, the curl correcting member 70 is not limited to the one used as a guide by itself like the illustrated example,
It may be used in combination with an ordinary flat guide.

In this way, the heat-sensitive film A, which has been subjected to the heat-sensitive image recording and is corrected to have a flat surface, has the platen roller 60.
Then, the sheet is conveyed to the pair of conveying rollers 63 and discharged to the tray 72 of the discharging section 22. The tray 72 is projected to the outside of the recording apparatus 10 via a discharge port 74 formed in the housing 28, and the thermal film A on which an image is recorded is discharged to the outside via the discharge port 74 and taken out.

Although the thermal image recording apparatus of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above examples.
It goes without saying that various improvements and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the thermal image recording apparatus of the present invention, the curl of the thermal recording material after thermal image recording can be reduced and the thermal recording material can be obtained in a substantially flat state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an example of a thermal image recording apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a conceptual diagram of a recording unit of the thermal image recording apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 (Thermal image) recording device 14 Loading section 16 Supply / Transportation Means 20 recording section 22 Discharge part 24 magazines 26 Lid 28 housing 30 insertion slot 32 information board 34 Guide roll 36 Stop member 40 suckers 42 transportation means 44 Transport guide 46 Conveyor roller 47a, 47b, 47c pulleys 48 endless belt 50 nip rollers 52 Control roller pair 56 Conveyor roller pair 58 Guide 60 platen roller 63 Conveyor roller pair 65 cooling fan 66 thermal head 66a glaze 66b Thermal head body 66c heat sink 68 Support member 70 Curling member 70a contact surface 72 trays 74 outlet A Thermal (recording) film

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-5-24227 (JP, A) JP-A-6-263308 (JP, A) JP-A-7-76143 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 112840 (JP, A) JP-A-7-157171 (JP, A) JP-A-7-219362 (JP, A) JP-A-64-56578 (JP, A) Actual Kaihei 3-6942 (JP, U) Actual Development Sho 55-128751 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/325 B41J 13/10 B65H 29/70

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thermal head having a glaze in which thermal recording points are arranged in one direction, and a thermal recording material is sandwiched together with the glaze, and the thermal recording material is held at a predetermined position while the thermal recording point A platen roller which conveys in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction, and which is arranged adjacent to a thermal head on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the platen roller, is in contact with the thermal recording material immediately after thermal recording , and the thermal recording material. Temperature is glass
Contact length with the thermosensitive recording material until the temperature falls below the transfer temperature
And a curl straightening member having a heat-sensitive image recording device. 2. The heat-sensitive image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the surface of the curl correcting member is mirror-finished or Teflon processed.