JP4401141B2 - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing apparatus that uses a thermal transfer ribbon, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printing apparatus that prevents leakage of information by the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer.

In a printing apparatus including a thermal head, a direct thermal printing method and a thermal transfer printing method are mainly known. In the direct thermal printing method, heat is applied from a thermal head to a paper on which a heat-sensitive color former is formed to cause the heat-sensitive color former to develop color, and predetermined information such as a barcode is printed on the paper. In the thermal transfer printing method, heat is applied to a thermal transfer ribbon having ink to dissolve the ink, and the ink is transferred onto the paper to print predetermined information on the paper.
By the way, when printing is performed by the thermal transfer printing method, a reverse image of information such as characters, images, and barcodes printed on paper remains on the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer. It was.
Therefore, there is known a thermal transfer printer that includes a heat roll that heats and melts the ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer to make the ink application uniform, and makes the reverse image of the thermal transfer ribbon unreadable ( For example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-50618

However, in Patent Document 1, wasteful power is consumed because the entire width direction of the heat roll is always heated even when thermal transfer ribbons having different widths are loaded. Further, since the ambient temperature affects the strength of heat of the heat roll transmitted to the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer, there is a problem that it is difficult to adjust the heating temperature of the heat roll. For example, when the ambient temperature is low, the amount of heat transferred to the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer is reduced, and there is a possibility that the remaining ink cannot be melted.
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and provides a thermal transfer printing apparatus that can appropriately cope with thermal transfer ribbons having different widths and can erase ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer. The purpose is that.

In the thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the thermal transfer ribbon is supplied to a printing unit in which the thermal head and the platen roller are arranged, and the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon is transferred onto the sheet by the heat generating action of the heating element of the thermal head. a thermal transfer printing apparatus, a spray and a lid portion having a container and a nozzle deinking agent is enclosed, and a pressing mechanism for pressing the lid, one end is engaged to the nozzle, the inside of the nozzle The ink removing agent is ejected toward the cylindrical guide pipe provided with a notch groove in the longitudinal direction, and the ink removal formed on the outer periphery of the guide pipe and ejected from the spray through the notch groove a roller infiltrating agent, it to is injected into the ribbon guide portion and <br/> the guide pipe in contact with the widthwise end portions of the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer Comprising a removing agent guide portion for restricting the injection range of click removal agent to be equal to the width the width of the thermal transfer ribbon after the ink transfer, having a guide and moveable relative to the guide pipe, the pressing The lid is pressed by a mechanism to eject an ink remover from the nozzle toward the remover guide portion of the guide pipe, and the roller into which the ink remover has permeated through the notch groove is transferred to the roller after ink transfer. The ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer is removed by contacting with the thermal transfer ribbon.
In addition, an ejection control circuit that controls the pressing mechanism can be provided, and the ejection amount of the ink removing agent ejected from the spray can be controlled based on the width size of the thermal transfer ribbon used by the ejection control circuit.

Since the guide for restricting the ejection range of the ink removing agent in the width direction end of the thermal transfer ribbon after the ink transfer and the guide pipe is provided, the ejection range of the ink removing agent is regulated to be the same width as the width of the thermal transfer ribbon. Therefore, an optimum ejection range is set for each of the thermal transfer ribbons having different widths, and the waste of the ink remover ejected in the width direction of the thermal transfer ribbon is eliminated and the ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon after the ink transfer is removed. It can be removed reliably.
Also, the spray control circuit that controls the pressing mechanism continues the pressing operation of the lid by the pressing mechanism when using a wide thermal transfer ribbon, while the lid by the pressing mechanism when using a narrow thermal transfer ribbon. Since the pressing operation of the part is controlled to be performed intermittently, an optimal amount of ink remover is sprayed on each thermal transfer ribbon having different widths, and unnecessary ink remover jetting is omitted. Ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon can be reliably removed.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a thermal transfer printer according to the best mode for carrying out the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal transfer printer 1 mainly includes a paper holding unit 2, a paper position detection sensor 3, a thermal transfer unit 4, a printing unit 5, and an ink removal unit 6.

  The sheet holding unit 2 rotatably holds the continuous sheet 13 wound in a roll shape. The continuous paper 13 includes a long mount 14 and a plurality of labels 15 temporarily attached to the mount 14.

  The paper position detection sensor 3 has a light emitting part and a light receiving part, irradiates light from the light emitting part to the light receiving part toward the continuous paper 13 drawn out from the paper holding part 2, and depends on the intensity of light received by the light receiving part. The position of the label 15 on the mount 14 is detected.

  The thermal transfer unit 4 includes a ribbon supply unit 7 and a ribbon winding unit 8, and holds the thermal transfer ribbon 16 wound in a roll shape from the ribbon supply unit 7 to the ribbon winding unit 8 via the printing unit 5, The ribbon take-up unit 8 connected to a motor (not shown) is rotated to take up the thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer.

  The printing unit 5 includes a platen roller 9 and a thermal head 10, and rotates the platen roller 9 connected to a motor (not shown) to rotate the continuous paper 13 from the upstream side in the transport direction on the paper holding unit 2 side. The ink on the thermal transfer ribbon 16 is transferred to the surface of the label 15 by the heat generating action of the heat generating element of the thermal head 10 to perform printing.

  FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the ink removing unit 6. In the drawing, the ink removing unit 6 includes a spray 20, an ink removing roller 21, a guide 22, and a solenoid 23 as a pressing mechanism.

  The spray 20 includes a container 24 and a lid portion 25 provided with a long cylindrical nozzle 26, and is provided inside the casing 11 of the thermal transfer printer 1. An ink removing agent is sealed inside the container 24, and the ink removing agent is ejected from the nozzle 26 by pressing the lid 25 toward the container 24 by the solenoid 23.

  The ink removing roller 21 includes a guide pipe 28 and a sponge roller 29. One end of the guide pipe 28 is inserted into the hole 12 provided in the housing 11, and the tip of the nozzle 26 of the spray 20 is inserted into the guide pipe 28. Engage.

  The guide pipe 28 has a cylindrical shape having an inner circumference larger than the outer circumference of the nozzle 26, the nozzle 26 of the spray 20 is engaged with the inner circumference side, and the ink removing agent ejected from the nozzle 26 is directed downward. A notch groove 30 is provided in the longitudinal direction for guiding to the center.

  The sponge roller 29 is formed so as to wrap around the outer periphery of the guide pipe 28, and a guide groove 31 having the same width as the notch groove 30 provided in the guide pipe 28 is provided in the longitudinal direction. The sponge roller 29 is formed of a sponge that easily penetrates the ink remover sprayed from the spray 20.

  The guide 22 includes a removing agent guide portion 32, a ribbon guide portion 33, and a connecting portion 34 that connects the removing agent guide portion 32 and the ribbon guide portion 33.

  The remover guide portion 32 is formed in a columnar shape, is inserted into the guide pipe 28, and is provided so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the guide pipe 28.

  The ribbon guide portion 33 is formed in a plate shape and guides the end portion in the width direction of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer.

  The connecting portion 34 connects the removing agent guide portion 32 and the ribbon guide portion 33 and is positioned in the guide groove 31 of the sponge roller 29 so that the guide 22 can be moved.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control unit 40 of the thermal transfer printer 1. As shown in the figure, the control unit 40 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 41 that stores a predetermined control program, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that operates according to the control program stored in the ROM 41 and controls each unit. 42, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 43 for storing various data necessary for the operation of the CPU 42, a platen roller 9 including a motor (not shown) and the ribbon take-up unit 8 are supplied with pulse signals, and the continuous paper 13 And a paper transport control circuit 44 for controlling the transport of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 and a control signal corresponding to print data such as characters and figures to be printed supplied from the CPU 42 are generated and supplied to the thermal head 10 for printing operation. Thermal head control circuit 45 to be performed Under the control of the CPU 42, the light emission part of the paper position detection sensor 3 is controlled to emit light, and the electric signal output from the light receiving part is received, converted into digital data, and supplied to the CPU 42. A circuit 46 and an ejection control circuit 47 that controls the ejection amount of the ink removing agent by controlling the pressing operation of the solenoid 23 that presses the lid portion 25 of the spray 20. These units are connected to the CPU 42 via the data bus 48, receive print data and commands from the host computer 50 connected via the external interface 49 under the control of the CPU 42, and the surface of the label 15 according to the received print data and commands. To print.

  The operation of the thermal transfer printer 1 configured as described above will be described. First, the thermal transfer printer 1 is loaded with the continuous paper 13 and the thermal transfer ribbon 16 as print media. The continuous paper 13 having an arbitrary width size is loaded into the paper holding unit 2, and the width size information of the continuous paper 13 is set in the thermal transfer printer 1. Further, the thermal transfer ribbon 16 having a width size suitable for the width size of the continuous paper 13 is passed from the ribbon supply unit 7 to the ribbon winding unit 8 via the printing unit 5.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the vicinity of the ink removing unit 6. As shown in FIG. 4, the ribbon guide portion 33 of the guide 22 is moved to contact the end portion in the width direction of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 loaded in the thermal transfer unit 4. Make contact. At this time, the removal agent guide portion 32 connected to the ribbon guide portion 33 also moves in the guide pipe 28, and the ejection range of the ink removal agent ejected to the guide pipe 28 is set to be the same width as the width of the thermal transfer ribbon. .

Print data and commands are received from the host computer 50 via the interface 49, the print data are developed in the RAM 43, and a print operation is started.
The continuous paper 13 held rotatably on the paper holding unit 2 is conveyed toward the printing unit 5 by driving a motor (not shown) of the platen roller 9, and the label 15 temporarily attached to the mount 14 by the paper position detection sensor 3. The position is detected, and the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 is transferred to the label 15 by the heating action of the heating element of the thermal head 10 to print the print data.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ink removing unit 6 in FIG. 4, and the removal operation of the inverted characters 53 remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer will be described based on FIGS.
A reverse character 53 obtained by inverting the ink character transferred to the label 15 remains on the thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer. The thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer is given a constant tension by driving a motor (not shown) of the ribbon winding unit 8, and a sponge roller provided in front of the ribbon winding unit 8 on the ink side where the reverse character 53 remains. 29 abuts.

When the printing operation starts, that is, when the ribbon winding unit 8 starts to be driven, the solenoid 23 operates in the direction of arrow F, and presses the lid 25 of the spray 20 in the direction of arrow F.
When the lid portion 25 is pressed, the ink removing agent in the container 24 is ejected from the nozzle 26 and is ejected toward the guide pipe 28 engaged with the nozzle 26. At this time, one end of the guide pipe 28 is regulated by the remover guide portion 32 of the guide 22 to eject the ink remover in the width direction, and the ink remover is ejected in the range of the same width as the width of the thermal transfer ribbon 16. . The ejected ink removing agent penetrates into the sponge roller 29 through the notch groove 30 of the guide pipe 28.

  Further, the ejection amount of the ink removing agent ejected from the spray 20 is controlled based on the width size information of the continuous paper 13 set in the thermal transfer printer 1. That is, when the width of the continuous paper 13 set in the thermal transfer printer 1 is long, similarly, the width of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 is long, and the area of the ink to be removed from the thermal transfer ribbon is increased, so that a large amount of ink removing agent is required. It becomes. On the other hand, when the width size of the continuous paper 13 set in the thermal transfer printer 1 is short, the width size L of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 is short, and the area of ink to be removed from the thermal transfer ribbon 16 becomes narrow. . Therefore, when the width of the continuous paper 13 set in the thermal transfer printer 1 is long, the ejection control circuit 47 controls the solenoid 23 so as to continuously press the lid 25 and ejects a large amount of ink removing agent. When the width size of the continuous paper 13 set in the thermal transfer printer 1 is short, a small amount of ink removing agent is ejected by controlling the solenoid 23 so as to press the lid portion 25 intermittently by the ejection control circuit 47.

  The thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer abuts on the sponge roller 29 in which the ink removing agent has permeated, removes the reverse characters 53 remaining on the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon 16 after ink transfer, and is wound around the ribbon winding unit 8 in a roll shape. Is done.

  When the printing operation is completed, the ejection control circuit 47 returns the solenoid 23 to the initial position in the direction away from the lid 25 and stops the ejection of the ink removing agent from the spray 20.

  In addition, the spray which used up the ink removal agent in the container 24, and a new spray can be replaced | exchanged.

1 is a schematic side view of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention. The exploded perspective view of an ink removal unit. The block diagram of the control part of a thermal transfer printer. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view in the vicinity of an ink removal unit. Sectional drawing of the ink removal unit in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer printer 2 Paper holding part 3 Paper position detection sensor 4 Thermal transfer unit 5 Printing part 6 Ink removal unit 7 Ribbon supply part 8 Ribbon take-up part 9 Platen roller 10 Thermal head 11 Housing | casing 12 Hole 13 Continuous paper 14 Mount 15 Label 16 Thermal transfer ribbon 20 spray
21 Ink removal roller 22 Guide 23 Solenoid 24 Container 25 Cover part 26 Nozzle 28 Guide pipe 29 Sponge roller 30 Notch groove 31 Guide groove 32 Remover guide part 33 Ribbon guide part 34 Connecting part 40 Control part 41 ROM
42 CPU
43 RAM
44 Paper transport control circuit 45 Thermal head control circuit 46 Paper position detection circuit 47 Injection control circuit 48 Data bus 49 Interface 50 Host computer 53 Reverse character

Claims (2)

A thermal transfer printing apparatus that supplies a thermal transfer ribbon to a printing unit in which a thermal head and a platen roller are arranged, and transfers the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon to a sheet by a heating action of a heating element of the thermal head,
A spray comprising a container enclosing an ink remover and a lid having a nozzle;
A pressing mechanism for pressing the lid,
One end engaged with the nozzle, the deinking agent toward the interior is sprayed from the nozzle, a cylindrical guide pipe provided with a notched groove in a longitudinal direction,
A roller formed on the outer periphery of the guide pipe and penetrating an ink remover ejected from the spray through the notch groove;
The ribbon guide portion that contacts the widthwise end of the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer and the ejection range of the ink removing agent sprayed into the guide pipe are regulated to be the same width as the thermal transfer ribbon after the ink transfer. And a guide that is movable with respect to the guide pipe .
The lid is pressed by the pressing mechanism, the ink removing agent is ejected from the nozzle toward the removing agent guide portion of the guide pipe, and the ink that has penetrated the ink removing agent through the notch groove is transferred to the roller. A thermal transfer printing apparatus, wherein the ink remaining on the thermal transfer ribbon after ink transfer is removed by contacting with a subsequent thermal transfer ribbon. An ejection control circuit for controlling the pressing mechanism is provided, and an ejection amount of the ink removing agent ejected from the spray is controlled based on a width size of a thermal transfer ribbon used by the ejection control circuit. The thermal transfer printing apparatus according to 1.

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