JP3681495B2 - Color thermal printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a color thermal printer, and more particularly, to a color thermal printer that can reduce the size and cost of the apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A color thermal printer uses a color thermal recording material and records a full-color image in three-color plane order. In this color thermosensitive recording material, a cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer, and a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer are sequentially formed on a base. The thermal sensitivity of the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer is the lowest. Each thermosensitive coloring layer is recorded in order from the top layer. Fix by irradiation with 420 nm purple visible rays. Similarly, after the recording of the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer, the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer is fixed by irradiating ultraviolet rays of 365 nm with a magenta fixing lamp.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Thus, since a color thermal recording material uses a color thermal recording material, it is not necessary to use an ink ribbon unlike a conventional sublimation thermal transfer printer. Therefore, a ribbon feeding mechanism or the like is not necessary, and the configuration is simplified correspondingly, but the yellow and magenta fixing lamps are required as described above. As these fixing lamps, ultraviolet lamps having the predetermined wavelength range are used. Therefore, many parts are required for mounting and wiring of these lamps, and the number of mounting steps is increased, which increases the cost of the apparatus.
[0004]
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a color thermal printer in which a fixing lamp can be easily attached.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the color thermal printer of the present invention performs thermal recording on a color thermal recording material with a thermal head, and then irradiates light of a wavelength region peculiar to the thermal recording color developing layer with a fixing lamp. In a color thermal printer that performs light fixing and records a full-color image, the fixing lamp is attached to a printed circuit board having at least a driver circuit of the fixing lamp via an attachment member, and the fixing lamp has two types having different wavelength ranges. These are straight tube type lamps, these two kinds of lamps are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the color thermosensitive recording material, side plates arranged at both ends of a fixed amount of fixed light quantity of each fixing lamp, and these 1 A print unit is composed of the thermal head, the platen roller, and the recording material feeding mechanism provided between the pair of side plates, The print unit, characterized in that fixed to the printed circuit board.
[0006]
The attachment member is an attachment substrate, and the fixing lamp is preferably directly attached via the attachment substrate. The length of the printed board in the direction orthogonal to the color thermal recording material feeding direction is preferably substantially the same as the length of each fixing lamp. The fixing lamp is composed of a yellow fixing lamp and a magenta fixing lamp, and these two types of lamps are preferably arranged close to each other.
[0007]
It is preferable that one end of each fixing lamp is bent at 90 degrees. Further, it is preferable that both ends of each fixing lamp be bent at 90 degrees. Further, it is preferable that each fixing lamp is bent at a central portion by 180 degrees to be U-shaped.
[0008]
[Action]
Since the fixing lamp is attached to the printed circuit board, the number of parts for attaching the fixing lamp is reduced. Further, since the fixing lamp is directly attached to the printed circuit board via the mounting board, wiring is completed simply by attaching the fixing lamp to the printed circuit board, and troublesome wiring by codes or the like becomes unnecessary. The printed circuit board is provided with a driver circuit for a power supply unit, a control unit, and a fixing lamp, so that the electrical relationship can be achieved with a single printed circuit board, and subsequent assembly is simplified.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the color thermal printer in which the present invention is implemented includes a printed circuit board 10, a print unit 11, and a cabinet 12. The print unit 11 is fixed to the printed circuit board 10 with a mounting screw 16 via a mounting bracket 13 and a collar 14. Since the print unit 11 is fixed in this way, the printed circuit board 10 is formed thicker than a normal one so as not to bend.
[0010]
As is well known, a color thermosensitive recording material (hereinafter referred to as recording paper) 18 has a cyan thermosensitive color developing layer, a magenta thermosensitive color developing layer, and a yellow thermosensitive color developing layer sequentially provided on a support. The color layer has the highest thermal sensitivity. The yellow thermosensitive coloring layer loses its coloring ability by violet visible light of 420 nm, and the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer loses its coloring ability by 365 nm ultraviolet light.
[0011]
The printed circuit board 10 includes a yellow fixing lamp 20, a magenta fixing lamp 21, a power transformer 22, a power connector 23, connection connectors 24 and 25, an inverter circuit unit 26 for each fixing lamp 20 and 21, an IC 27, a resistor, Transistors and other electrical components are arranged. These electrical components constitute a power supply unit and a control unit of the color thermal printer. The yellow fixing lamp 20 fixes a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer by emitting violet visible light in a wavelength range of 420 nm so that the yellow component does not develop color at the next magenta recording. The magenta fixing lamp 21 emits ultraviolet rays having a wavelength range of 365 nm to fix the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer so that the magenta component does not develop color during the next cyan recording. These fixing lamps are of a rod-like straight tube type.
[0012]
The fixing lamps 20 and 21 are directly attached to the printed circuit board 10 via the mounting board 30. A pattern 30 a for connecting the pins of the fixing lamps 20 and 21 to the printed board 10 side is formed on the mounting board 30. The fixing lamps 20 and 21 are arranged close to each other to achieve compactness. As shown in FIG. 4, an illuminance sensor 31 is arranged on the printed circuit board 10 between the fixing lamps 20 and 21. As shown in FIG. 5, the signal of the illuminance sensor 31 is sent to the lamp inverter circuit 66, and the voltages of the fixing lamps 20 and 21 are adjusted so that the illuminance becomes constant.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 3, the width W of the printed circuit board 10 is determined in accordance with the length L1 of the fixing lamps 20 and 21, and the length L1 of the fixing lamps 20 and 21 and the width W of the printed circuit board 10 are almost the same. The same (L1 = W). Further, the length L2 of the printed circuit board 10 is determined in consideration of the arrangement of the electrical components. In the present embodiment, the length L2 and the width W are squares that are substantially the same. The fixing lamps 20 and 21 are disposed at a substantially central portion in the length direction of the printed circuit board 10.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 1, the print unit 11 is configured by arranging a paper feed roller pair 36, a feed roller pair 37, a platen roller 38, a thermal head 39, and a drive unit 40 in a machine frame 35, and integrated. Yes. The machine frame 35 is configured by connecting a pair of side plates 35a and 35b with stays 35c, and rollers 36 to 38 and a thermal head 39 are disposed between the side plates 35a and 35b. A drive unit 40 is disposed outside the one side plate 35b. The fixing lamps 20 and 21 have a fixed amount of light at the center portion excluding the end portions 20a and 21a. For this reason, the print unit 11 is arranged in the fixed fixing light quantity constant region in the central portion, and the side plates 35a and 35b are arranged at the boundaries with the end portions 20a and 21a where the fixing light quantity decreases.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 4, the paper feed roller pair 36 includes a drive roller 36a and a pressing roller 36b. The feed roller pair 37 includes a capstan roller 37a and a pressing roller 37b, and the pressing roller 37b is attached to the side plates 35a and 35b via an attachment bracket 37c. Further, paper guides 44 a, 44 b, 44 c, 44 d, 44 e are provided in the machine frame 35, and these guide the recording paper 18 to the rollers 36 to 38.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 3, the drive unit 40 includes a pulse motor 41 and a gai train 42. The gatrain 42 transmits the drive of the pulse motor 40 to each of the rollers 36 to 38, and the rollers 36 to 38 are kept at a constant peripheral speed in the paper feeding direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. Rotate. The thermal head 39 is fixed to the side plates 35 a and 35 b via the mounting bracket 43. The platen roller 38 is displaced between a crimping position and a retracted position by an up / down mechanism 64 (see FIG. 5). At the crimping position, the recording paper 18 is crimped to the heating element array 39a of the thermal head 39. In the heating element array 39a, a large number of heating elements are formed in a line in the axial direction of the platen roller 38, and each heating element is driven according to image data during thermal recording, so that the full color is obtained in three color planes sequentially. Record an image.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 1, notches 45 are formed in the side plates 35 a and 35 b, and when the machine frame 35 is attached to the printed circuit board 10, the fixing lamps 20 and 21 enter the notches 45, The recording paper 18 is irradiated efficiently.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 4, the cabinet 12 includes a lower cabinet 50 and an upper cabinet 51 that are divided into upper and lower parts. An attachment boss 52 is provided in the lower cabinet 50, and the printed board 10 is attached to the attachment boss 52 via an attachment screw 53. The cabinet 12 is formed with a paper insertion port 54 and an entrance / exit 55, and paper guides 56, 57, 58, 59 are attached between the insertion port 54 and the entrance / exit 55 and the print unit 11.
[0019]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the color thermal printer, which is connected to the personal computer 61 via the I / O interface unit 60. The controller 62 includes a known microcomputer, and controls the driver 63, the up / down mechanism 64, the print control unit 65, the lamp inverter circuit 66, and the counter 67 based on the print control data and image data transferred from the personal computer 61. To do.
[0020]
The controller 62 sends a rotation direction signal and a drive pulse to the driver 63. The driver 63 rotates the pulse motor 40 forward or backward to rotate the drive roller 36a of the paper feed roller pair 36 and the capstan roller 37a of the feed roller pair 37 in the paper feed direction or the print direction. The counter 67 starts counting when the trailing edge detection signal of the trailing edge sensor 68 is input, and counts up when the pulse motor 40 rotates forward and feeds the recording paper 18 in the printing direction indicated by the arrow B. When the recording paper 18 is reversed and returned in the paper feeding direction indicated by the arrow A, the countdown is performed. As shown in FIG. 4, the rear end sensor 68 is disposed near the feed roller pair 37 between the paper feed roller pair 36 and the feed roller pair 37.
[0021]
The up / down mechanism 64 includes a solenoid or the like, and moves the platen roller 38 up and down to displace it between the crimping position and the retracted position. The print control unit 65 includes a memory that stores three-color image data for one frame and a head driver, and drives each heating element of the heating element array 39a according to the image data of each color. These heating elements generate heat according to the image data and the color to be recorded, and develop the recording paper 18 to a desired density. The lamp inverter circuit 66 controls the yellow fixing lamp 20 and the magenta fixing lamp 21 to a constant light emission amount based on the detection signal from the illuminance sensor 31.
[0022]
Next, based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, the effect | action of the said embodiment is demonstrated easily. When printing is instructed by operating the personal computer 61, first, paper feed is instructed, and the color thermal printer enters a paper feed standby state. In this paper feed standby state, the pulse motor 40 rotates the paper feed roller pair 36, the feed roller pair 37, and the platen roller 38 in the paper feed direction indicated by the arrow A. In this state, the recording paper 18 is inserted so that the leading edge of the recording paper 18 is held by the pair of paper feed rollers 36. As a result, the recording paper 18 is drawn into the print unit 11 and stopped after the trailing edge is conveyed until the trailing edge is detected by the trailing edge sensor 68.
[0023]
Next, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 40 is reversed, and the paper feed roller pair 36, the feed roller pair 37, and the platen roller 38 are rotated in the print direction indicated by the arrow B. The controller 62 up-counts or down-counts the number of driving pulses of the pulse motor 40 with the counter 67, thereby allowing the thermal head 39 to start pressing, thermal recording start position, thermal recording stop position, thermal head 39 retract start position, A feed stop position of the recording paper 18 is specified, and a full color image is recorded by three-color surface sequential recording in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan as is well known.
[0024]
During yellow thermal recording, the yellow fixing lamp 20 is turned on, and the yellow thermal recording layer is light-fixed so that the thermal recording layer does not develop color during the next magenta or cyan recording. . Similarly, during magenta thermal recording, the magenta fixing lamp 21 is turned on, and the magenta thermosensitive recording layer is photofixed. Also, during cyan thermal recording, the magenta fixing lamp 21 is turned on, and unrecorded white portions are bleached so as not to yellow. When the cyan thermal recording is completed, the color thermal recording material is sent out to the insertion port 54 as it is, and the full color printing is completed.
[0025]
Although the manual feed type is used in the above embodiment, an automatic paper feed type may be provided by providing a paper feed cassette or a paper feed roll. In the above embodiment, the recording paper 18 is reciprocated and recording is performed in three color planes sequentially. In addition to this, a print unit is provided for each color, and thermal recording of each color is performed at each print stage. You may implement this invention in the type. Furthermore, the present invention may be implemented for a printer that performs recording on three-color planes by winding a recording sheet around a platen drum.
[0026]
Although the above embodiment reduces the manufacturing cost by using a personal computer printer without an operation panel, an operation panel is provided to display images from a video tape recorder, a television, a digital still camera, etc. You may make it print by operation.
[0027]
In the above embodiment, the fixing lamps 20 and 21 are directly attached via the mounting board 30. Alternatively, a socket may be attached to the printed board, and the fixing lamp may be detachably attached to the socket. In addition, a reflector may be attached to the printed circuit board, and in this case, more efficient irradiation can be performed.
[0028]
In the above embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the print unit 11 is attached to the printed circuit board 10 via the attachment bracket 13. Alternatively, the print unit 11 may be directly attached to the printed circuit board 10. Good.
[0029]
In the above embodiment, the straight type straight tube type fixing lamps 20 and 21 are used. However, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, lamp end portions 70a, 71a, 72a, and L-shaped fixing lamps 70 and 71 and U-shaped fixing lamps 72 and 73 obtained by bending 73a by 90 degrees may be used. In this case, the width of the printed circuit boards 75 and 76 can be shortened by the length L3 corresponding to the bent portion, and the apparatus configuration can be further reduced. Further, when there is a distance between the printed circuit board and the recording paper, a vertical vertical in-plane mounting arrangement may be used instead of the U-shaped fixing lamps 72 and 73 in the horizontal plane as shown in FIG. . In this case, a U-shaped fixing lamp may be directly attached to the printed board.
[0030]
Further, as shown in FIG. 9, by using U-shaped fixing lamps 75 and 76 bent at 180 degrees at the center, the ends 75a and 76a, which are portions where the amount of fixing light is reduced, can be brought to one side. The printed circuit board 77 can be made smaller by that amount.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, since the fixing lamp is attached to the printed circuit board, it is not necessary to attach the fixing lamp to the machine frame individually as in the prior art. This eliminates the need for mounting parts and wiring cords. Moreover, by directly attaching the fixing lamp to the printed circuit board, wiring is completed simply by attaching the fixing lamp to the printed circuit board, and troublesome assembly work such as soldering of the wiring cord is not required. A power supply unit, a control unit, a driver circuit for a fixing lamp, and the like can be integrated with the printed circuit board, and electrical connection can be achieved with a single printed circuit board, which makes it easy to incorporate into a cabinet or the like.
[0032]
The fixing lamp is composed of a straight tube type yellow fixing lamp and a magenta fixing lamp, and these two kinds of lamps are arranged close to each other and arranged in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the color thermal recording material, thereby to obtain a printed circuit board. Can be made smaller. Furthermore, by making the length of the printed circuit board in the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the color thermal recording material substantially the same as the length of each fixing lamp, the printed circuit board can be further reduced in size.
[0033]
Side plates are arranged at both ends of the fixed light amount area of each fixing lamp, and a thermal head, a platen roller, and a recording material feed mechanism are provided between the pair of side plates to constitute a print unit, and this print unit is fixed to the printed circuit board. By doing so, the color thermal printer can be easily assembled. That is, the main part of the color thermal printer is configured simply by attaching the print unit to the printed circuit board, so that assembly is simplified. In addition, by forming notches into which the fixing lamps are formed on the side plates, the color thermal printer can be further compacted.
[0034]
By bending one end of each of the fixing lamps at 90 degrees, an increase in the apparatus width due to a portion where the amount of fixing light at the end of the lamp is reduced is suppressed, and the apparatus configuration can be reduced. Similarly, by using a fixing lamp which is bent at 180 degrees at the center and formed into a U-shape, the apparatus configuration can be made smaller. Furthermore, by further bending both ends of each fixing lamp to 90 degrees, further compactness can be achieved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of a color thermal printer of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a print unit is attached to a printed board.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which a print unit is attached to a printed board.
4 is a cross-sectional view of the color thermal printer taken along line IV-IV in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a color thermal printer.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in a color thermal printer.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a fixing lamp and a printed circuit board in another embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a fixing lamp and a printed circuit board according to another embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a fixing lamp and a printed circuit board according to another embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Print board 11 Print unit 13 Mounting bracket 14 Collar 16 Mounting screw 18 Recording paper 20, 21, 70-75 Fixing lamp 30 Mounting board 45 Notch 35 Machine frame 36 Paper feed roller pair 37 Feed roller pair 38 Platen roller 39 Thermal head 54 Insertion port 55 Entrance / exit

Claims (8)

In a color thermal printer that records a full-color image by thermally recording a color thermosensitive recording material with a thermal head and then irradiating with a fixing lamp a light beam in a wavelength region specific to the thermal recording color-developing layer.
At least the fixing lamp is attached to a printed circuit board having a driver circuit for the fixing lamp via an attachment member,
The fixing lamps are two types of straight tube type lamps having different wavelength ranges, and these two types of lamps are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the color thermal recording material,
A print unit is constituted by side plates disposed at both ends of a fixed light amount fixed region of each fixing lamp, and the thermal head, a platen roller, and a recording material feeding mechanism provided between the pair of side plates,
A color thermal printer , wherein the print unit is fixed to the printed circuit board . Wherein the side plate, a color thermal printer according to claim 1, characterized by forming a notch in which each fixing lamp enters. 3. A color thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein one end of each fixing lamp is bent at 90 degrees. 3. A color thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein both ends of each fixing lamp are bent at 90 degrees. 3. The color thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein each of the fixing lamps is bent at a central portion of 180 degrees into a U shape. 6. The color thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the attachment member is an attachment substrate, and the fixing lamp is directly attached via the attachment substrate. 7. The color thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein a length of the printed board in a direction orthogonal to a color thermal recording material feeding direction is substantially the same as a length of each fixing lamp. 8. The color according to claim 1, wherein the fixing lamp includes a yellow fixing lamp and a magenta fixing lamp, and the two kinds of lamps are arranged close to each other. Thermal printer.

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