JP6696302B2 - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

  Conventionally, so-called electrophotographic image forming apparatuses have been widely used. Such an image forming apparatus is used not only in a general office printing apparatus but also in a commercial printing apparatus.

  In commercial printing, printed matter having high smoothness and glossiness may be required mainly for packaging material applications, decoration applications, and the like. Therefore, a recording medium has been proposed in which a layered structure for obtaining such a printed matter is provided on a base material (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). Here, a plastic medium using a plastic material is known as a recording medium used for packaging or decoration in commercial printing. According to the plastic medium, a printed matter having high smoothness and glossiness can be obtained at a lower cost than the recording medium having the above-mentioned special layer structure.

  Here, in the electrophotographic system, the transfer image transferred to the recording medium is fixed. However, although the plastic medium is inexpensive as described above, it has low fixability, and peeling may occur in a fixed image. For this reason, there is a demand for an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of forming an image while suppressing peeling of a recording medium such as a plastic medium which is inexpensive but has low fixing property.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of performing image formation while suppressing peeling of a recording medium such as a plastic medium which is inexpensive but has low fixing property.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention according to claim 1 forms an image of a powder image by visualizing an electrostatic latent image with a powder, and the image forming unit forms the image. Transfer means for transferring the powder image onto the surface of the recording medium, fixing means for fixing the powder image on the surface of the recording medium transferred by the transfer means, and the recording medium before transfer by the transfer means of the surface, a coating unit for applying adhesive, wherein the imaging means, the adhesive applied by said application means is of the adhesive by the powder image after transfer by the transfer unit The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the powder image is formed so that the entire coating area is covered.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, the powder image after transfer is fixed by the adhesive applied to the surface of the recording medium before transfer while the powder image after transfer is adhered to the recording medium. As a result, it is possible to perform image formation while suppressing peeling of a recording medium such as a plastic medium, which is inexpensive but has low fixability. Further, the image forming means forms the powder image so that the applied adhesive is covered with the powder image by transfer. As a result, the situation in which the powder image serves as a coating film for the adhesive and the adhesive adheres to parts and the like in the image forming apparatus can be avoided.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the application part shown by FIG. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the control unit shown in FIG. 1 while paying attention to the control function for the coating unit shown in FIG. 2.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus used for a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, a plotter, a multifunction machine of these, etc., which uses an electrophotographic method. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an apparatus main body 100 that forms an image by an electrophotographic method, and a preprocessing device 200 that performs a predetermined preprocessing on a recording medium P before image formation.

  First, the apparatus main body 100 will be described. The apparatus body 100 forms an image by visualizing an electrostatic latent image with powder to form a powder image and fixing the powder image on the recording medium P. The powder mentioned here includes a single resin powder, a composite powder, a single or a plurality of coloring materials, a composite of a resin and a coloring material, and a powder obtained by adding a wax component or an inorganic material to the composite. In addition, these are collectively referred to as all powders capable of forming an image, such as toners including functional powders whose morphology is controlled to a higher order. For example, gloss-suppressing powder, gloss-imparting powder, baking powder, and expandable powder are also included. Hereinafter, a toner will be described as an example of these powders.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus main body 100 includes a control unit 10, an image reading unit 11, an image forming unit 12, a paper feeding unit 13, a transfer unit 14, a fixing unit 15, a paper ejection unit 16, and a display / operation unit 17. And so on.

  The control unit 10 controls the operation of each unit. The control unit 10 has a central processing unit (CPU), storage devices such as ROM (ROM) and RAM (RAM), and the like. The central processing unit processes / calculates data and controls the operation of each unit according to the program in the storage device.

  The image reading unit 11 optically reads an image written on a document to generate image information.

  The image forming unit 12 forms an electrostatic latent image based on image information obtained by reading by the image reading unit 11 or input from outside, and visualizes it with toner to form a toner image. In the present embodiment, the image forming unit 12 uses cyan (C) color, magenta (M) color, yellow (Y) color, black (K) color, and clear (T) toner, which is a special color toner. The image forming unit 120C, M, Y, K, T for forming an image is provided.

  The cyan (C) color, magenta (M) color, yellow (Y) color, and black (K) color toners are resin particles having a charging property and containing a coloring material such as a pigment or a dye.

  On the other hand, the clear (T) toner, that is, the transparent toner, is a colorless and transparent toner, and is a resin configured such that the recording medium P and the colored toner can be visually recognized when they are attached to the recording medium P and the colored toner in an overlapping manner. It is a particle. The transparent toner is produced, for example, by externally adding silicon dioxide (SiO 2) or titanium dioxide (TiO 2) to a low molecular weight polyester resin. The transparent toner may contain a coloring material as long as the recording medium P and the colored toner can be visually recognized.

  Next, the basic configuration of each image forming unit 120C, M, Y, K, T will be described. Here, since the basic configuration of each image forming unit 120C, M, Y, K, T is substantially the same except that the toner used is different, the following image forming units 120C, M, Y, and In the basic description of K and T, the symbols C, M, Y, K, and T are omitted. The image forming unit 120 includes a developer container 121, a photoconductor drum 122, a charging device 123, an exposure device 124, a developing device 125, a charge eliminating device 126, and a photoconductor cleaning device 127.

  The developer storage portion 121 stores the corresponding toner. The surface of the photoconductor drum 122 that rotates counterclockwise in the figure is charged by the charging device 123, and then the exposure device 124 forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface based on the image information received from the control unit 10. The developing device 125 supplied with the toner from the developer accommodating portion 121 develops the electrostatic latent image with the toner and visualizes it to form a toner image. The formed toner image is primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 143 as described later. The surface of the photoconductor drum 122 after the primary transfer is destaticized by the destaticizing device 126, and then the photoconductor cleaning device 127 removes the residue such as residual toner.

  The paper feeding unit 13 includes a paper feeding cassette 131, a paper feeding roller 132, a paper feeding belt 133, and a registration roller 134. The paper feed cassette 131 accommodates the recording medium P. The paper feed roller 132 takes out the recording media P contained in the paper feed cassette 131 one by one and sends them to the paper feed belt 133. The paper feed belt 133 conveys the recording medium P to the transfer unit 14 in the subsequent stage. The registration roller 134 sends out the recording medium P from the paper feed belt 133 at the timing when the portion of the intermediate transfer belt 143, which will be described later, on which the toner image is formed reaches the secondary transfer position.

  The transfer unit 14 transfers the image formed on each photoconductor drum 122 by the image forming unit 12 to the intermediate transfer belt 143 (primary transfer), and the toner images transferred so as to be superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 143 are transferred. , Are collectively transferred onto the recording medium P (secondary transfer). In the transfer unit 14, an endless intermediate transfer belt 143 is stretched between a driving roller 141 and a driven roller 142, and the intermediate transfer belt 143 circulates clockwise in the drawing. Inside the intermediate transfer belt 143, primary transfer rollers 144C, M, Y, K, T are arranged corresponding to the respective photoconductor drums 122. The secondary transfer roller 145 rotates by sandwiching the intermediate transfer belt 143 and the recording medium P between the secondary transfer roller 146 and the secondary opposed roller 146. The secondary counter roller 146 rotates by sandwiching the intermediate transfer belt 143 and the recording medium P between the secondary transfer roller 145 and the secondary transfer roller 145.

  In the transfer unit 14, the intermediate transfer belt 143 moves while being in contact with the photosensitive drums 122, so that the toner images of the respective colors formed on the photosensitive drums 122 are intermediately transferred by the primary transfer rollers 144C, M, Y, K, and T. It is transferred by being superposed on the surface of the belt 143. The toner image is secondarily transferred by the secondary transfer roller 145 onto the recording medium P fed from the registration roller 134 at the timing when the transferred image reaches the nip portion between the secondary transfer roller 145 and the secondary counter roller 146. ..

  The fixing unit 15 fixes the toner image transferred onto the recording medium P by the transfer unit 14. Fixing is to fuse the resin component of the toner to the recording medium P by applying heat and pressure to the toner at the same time. By performing such fixing processing on the toner transferred onto the sheet by the transfer unit 14, the state of the toner on the recording medium P becomes stable. The fixing unit 15 includes a conveying belt 151, a fixing belt 152, a fixing roller 153, a fixing belt conveying roller 154, a fixing facing roller 155, and a heat generating unit 156.

  The conveying belt 151 is stretched around the fixing roller 153 and the fixing belt conveying roller 154, and circulates clockwise in the drawing. As a result, the recording medium P after the secondary transfer of the toner image is conveyed to the nip portion between the fixing roller 153 and the fixing counter roller 155. The toner image is fixed on the recording medium P by being heated and pressed by the heat from the heat generating portion 156 and the pressure generated by the nip portion formation.

  The paper discharge unit 16 discharges the recording medium P on which the toner image is fixed by the fixing unit 15, and includes a paper discharge belt 161, a paper discharge roller 162, a paper discharge port 163, and a paper storage unit 164. There is. The recording medium P, which has been conveyed to the paper ejection port 163 by the paper ejection belt 161, is ejected from the paper ejection port 163 by the paper ejection roller 162 and is accommodated in the paper accommodation unit 164.

  The display / operation unit 17 has a panel display unit 171 and an operation unit 172. The panel display unit 171 displays set values, a selection screen, and the like. The panel display unit 171 is a touch panel or the like that receives an input from the user. The operation unit 172 is operated by the user, such as a ten-key pad that receives various conditions for image formation and a start key that receives a copy start instruction and the like.

  Next, the pretreatment device 200 will be described. The pre-processing apparatus 200 receives the recording medium P on which an image has not been formed from the paper feeding unit 13 and performs pre-processing. In the present embodiment, the adhesive is applied as the pre-processing. The pre-processing apparatus 200 includes an adhesive application section 210 and a processing transfer section 220 that transfers the recording medium P from the paper feed section 13 to the application section 210. Further, a manual feed tray 230 is provided on the side surface of the pretreatment device 200, and the processing transporting section 220 also transports the recording medium P on the manual feed tray 230 to the coating section 210.

  Here, in the present embodiment, as the recording medium P, a plastic medium having a lower fixing property than general paper may be supplied from the paper feeding unit 13 or the manual feed tray 230. The application of the adhesive in the pretreatment device 200 is intended to enhance the fixability of the recording medium P by the adhesive effect of the toner image by the adhesive and suppress the peeling of the fixed image.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the coating unit shown in FIG.

  The coating section 210 has a transporting device 211 for transporting the recording medium P, and a coating device 212 for depositing an adhesive component on the surface of the recording medium P. The transport device 211 includes an endless transport belt 211b which is stretched around a pair of transport rollers 211a and circulates counterclockwise in the drawing.

  The coating device 212 stably coats a fixed amount of the adhesive on the surface of the recording medium P. In this embodiment, an in-line type inkjet head is adopted as the coating device 212. As a result, the application range and application amount of the adhesive are precisely controlled. The coating device is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a two-fluid spray, a forward rotation roll coater, a reverse rotation roll coater, a wire bar coater, or the like. Alternatively, a blade coater, a squeeze coater, a sponge roller, a brush roller, a non-woven fabric, etc. may be mentioned as an example of the coating device.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the support member 213 for suppressing the variation in the distance between the coating device 212 and the recording medium P is arranged inside the transport belt 211b at a position corresponding to the coating device 212.

  The adhesive is discharged as a solution and / or a dispersion from the application device 212 and applied to the surface of the recording medium P. This ensures the stability and uniformity of the coating amount.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a drying device 214 for removing the solvent and the dispersion medium from the adhesive as the solution and / or the dispersion liquid is provided on the downstream side of the coating device 212 in the transport direction of the recording medium P. .. Although not specified here, examples of the drying device 214 include a heating device, a blowing device, and a depressurizing device, and the drying device 214 is selected at the time of designing according to the conditions such as the required processing speed.

  Further, as the adhesive, one having adhesiveness to polypropylene resin or the like which is often used as a plastic medium is adopted. Specific examples include commercially available adhesives such as quick-drying aqueous adhesives for 3M polyolefins PP1000 (manufactured by 3M Japan), SX-PPK1000 (manufactured by Cemedine), and the like. It is not limited.

  The operation of the coating unit 210 is controlled by the control unit 10 of the apparatus main body 100.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the control unit shown in FIG. 1 focusing on the control function for the coating unit shown in FIG.

  The control unit 10 includes a storage unit 111, which is an electrical unit represented by a non-volatile memory, a selection unit 112, and an adhesive application condition setting unit 113. The storage means 111 is not limited to electrical means as in the present embodiment, but may be magnetic means typified by a magnetic disk drive, optical means typified by an optical disk drive, or the like. Good.

  In the storage unit 111, identification codes of a plurality of types of recording media having different surface characteristics are stored in association with the adhesive application conditions suitable for the surface characteristics of each type of recording medium. The surface characteristics of the recording medium mentioned here include surface wetting characteristics represented by a contact angle and surface tension on the surface of the recording medium. The adhesive application conditions include the adhesive application amount (the ejection amount of the application device 212), the dry air amount of the drying device 214, and the like, which are set and stored according to the above surface characteristics.

  Here, the above-mentioned application conditions also include whether or not the application of the adhesive is necessary in the first place. In this embodiment, the adhesive is applied when the storage medium P on which the image is formed is a medium having a low fixing property such as a plastic medium.

  The selection unit 112 selects the identification code (type) of the recording medium on which the image is formed. This selection is performed in response to a user's operation via the display / operation unit 17 also shown in FIG. 1, and is described in the header information of the image information Id input from outside the image forming apparatus 1, for example. It is done according to the contents.

  The setting unit 113 sets whether or not the application of the adhesive by the application unit 210 is necessary, and the application condition of the adhesive when necessary, according to the identification code (type) selected by the selection unit 112. The setting means 113 makes these settings by searching the storage means 111 with the selected identification code (type). The setting of the coating conditions is not limited to this, and the following may be set, for example. That is, the storage unit 111 may store the surface characteristics including the surface wetting characteristics in association with the identification code (type). Then, the setting means 113 may determine whether or not the application of the adhesive is necessary according to the surface characteristics, and calculate the application amount, the drying condition and the like when the application is necessary. Further, the application of the adhesive may be necessarily performed without determining whether or not the application of the adhesive is necessary.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the image information Id that is externally input or obtained by reading an image is input to the setting unit 113. The setting unit 113 also sets the application range of the adhesive according to the image information Id. In the present embodiment, the application range is set based on the information used in the image forming units 120C, M, Y, and K of the colored toner in the image information Id. This application range is set to be slightly wider than the range in which the image of the colored toner is transferred. Note that the application range is not limited to this, and may be, for example, the application over substantially the entire surface of the recording medium, regardless of the image information Id.

  The adhesive application conditions and application range of the setting unit 113 are sent to the application unit 210. Then, in the application unit 210, the adhesive is applied to the recording medium according to the applied application conditions and application range (application process).

  When the recording medium P sent from the paper feed unit 13 or the manual feed tray 230 of the apparatus main body 100 shown in FIG. 1 has a low fixing property such as a plastic medium, the adhesive is applied as described above, It is sent to the apparatus main body 100. On the other hand, when the recording medium P is a general paper medium and a certain fixing property can be obtained, the setting unit 113 determines that the application of the adhesive is unnecessary, and the recording medium P is directly sent to the apparatus main body 100.

  Then, in the apparatus body 100, under the control of the control unit 10, a toner image is formed (image forming step), the toner image is transferred onto the surface of the recording medium (transfer step), and the transferred toner image is formed. Is fixed on the surface of the recording medium (fixing step). At this time, in the transparent toner image forming unit 120T, the transparent toner image is formed so as to occupy the area other than the colored toner image on the surface of the recording medium P. That is, the electrostatic latent image representing the image to be formed is visualized by the color toner image forming units 120C, M, Y, and K to form the color toner image. Then, a transparent toner image is formed by the transparent toner image forming unit 120T so that the transparent toner covers a portion of the adhesive that is not covered with the colored toner after the transfer. A toner image obtained by superimposing such a transparent toner image and a colored toner image is transferred to the recording medium P. As a result, the adhesive applied by the applying unit 210 is completely covered with the toner image by the transfer.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment described above, the toner image after transfer is fixed by the adhesive applied to the surface of the recording medium P before transfer while being adhered to the recording medium P. As a result, it is possible to perform image formation while suppressing peeling of a recording medium P that is inexpensive but has a low fixing property, such as a plastic medium. Further, in the transparent toner image forming unit 120T, the transparent toner image is formed such that the applied adhesive is covered with the transparent toner image after the transfer. As a result, each color toner image including the transparent toner image serves as a film for the adhesive, and the situation in which the adhesive adheres to parts or the like in the image forming apparatus 1 is avoided. ..

  Here, in this embodiment, the mass average particle diameter (D4) of the toner used is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected depending on the intended purpose, but is preferably 3 μm to 10 μm, and preferably 4 μm to 8 μm. More preferable. Within this range, since the toner particles having a sufficiently small particle size are included in the minute latent image dots, the dot reproducibility is excellent. When the mass average particle diameter (D4) is 3 μm or more, the function as a spacer is ensured, and when the mass average particle diameter (D4) is less than 10 μm, the toner layer is filled, and in any case, the surface of the recording medium is not directly contacted with the device member. It is preferable from the viewpoint of forming a coating film.

  Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, an adhesive application section 210 in the pretreatment device 200 and a nip section between the secondary transfer roller 145 and the secondary counter roller 146 in the transfer section 14 are provided. The transport unit 18 that connects between the above-mentioned units is a transport unit as described below. That is, the transport unit 18, including the registration roller 134, supports the recording medium P to which the adhesive has been applied only from below, and transfers the recording medium P to the transfer unit 14 in a non-contact manner with respect to the surface coated with the adhesive. It is a transporting means for transporting. As a result, the adhesion of the adhesive to the components and the like in the image forming apparatus 1 can be avoided even better.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the transparent toner and the colored toner are used, and the toner image is formed so that the transparent toner occupies the area other than the colored toner. This makes it possible to form a toner image covering the adhesive after transfer with a high degree of freedom.

  Then, in the present embodiment, the electrostatic latent image representing the image to be formed is visualized with the colored toner, and the toner image is formed such that the portion of the adhesive that is not covered with the colored toner after the transfer is covered with the transparent toner. To be done. This makes it possible to supplement the coating with the transparent toner without applying the adhesive so as to exactly overlap the area where the visible image is transferred by the colored toner, and to simplify the adhesive application process. can do.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the adhesive application area is determined based on the image information Id representing the electrostatic latent image, for example, the adhesive is applied in comparison with the case where the adhesive is applied to the entire surface of the recording medium P without fail. It is possible to reduce the cost by suppressing the coating amount of the agent.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, a selection unit 112 that selects the type of the recording medium P that is an image forming target, and a setting unit 113 that sets the adhesive application conditions according to the selected type are provided. .. As a result, for example, with respect to application conditions such as the amount of adhesive applied and the amount of dry air, the application can be performed under conditions suitable for the type of the recording medium P targeted for image formation, so that peeling is further suppressed and image formation is performed. It can be carried out.

  It should be noted that the above-described embodiment merely shows a typical form of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Such modifications are, of course, included in the scope of the present invention as long as they have the configurations of the image forming apparatus and the image forming method of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, a color toner using cyan (C) color, magenta (M) color, yellow (Y) color, and black (K) color toner is used. The image forming apparatus 1 is illustrated. However, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a monochrome apparatus that uses only black (K) toner.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the image forming unit according to the present invention, the image forming unit 12 that forms the toner image so that the transparent toner occupies the area other than the colored toner is illustrated. However, the image forming unit according to the present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a unit that forms a toner image in which the transparent toner overlaps the colored toner to cover substantially the entire surface of the recording medium.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the application unit according to the present invention, the application unit 210 that applies the adhesive to the application area slightly wider than the color toner image is illustrated. However, the application means referred to in the present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, one that applies an adhesive to a precise application area that matches the color toner image. In this case, the formation of the transparent toner image may be unnecessary.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the image forming apparatus stores the identification code of the recording medium and the application condition of the adhesive in the storage unit 111 in association with each other. The device 1 is illustrated. However, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the storage unit 111 stores the surface characteristics including the surface wetting characteristics of the recording medium in association with the identification code. Good. In this case, the setting unit 113 may determine whether or not the application of the adhesive is necessary according to the surface characteristics, and calculate the application amount, the drying condition, and the like when the application is necessary. The surface characteristics may include the surface electric resistance of the recording medium.

  Further, although not mentioned in the above-described embodiment, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, when the user selects the type of the recording medium to be image-formed, is displayed on the panel display unit 171 of the display / operation unit 17, for example. For example, the option may be displayed.

  Although not mentioned in the above-described embodiment, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a coating device having a drying prevention mechanism such as a shutter in order to prevent excessive drying of the adhesive. Good.

  Although not mentioned in the above-described embodiment, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention may be, for example, one provided with a cleaning unit for cleaning the adhesive applicator 212.

  Although not mentioned in the above-described embodiment, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the adhesive applying section includes a liquid spraying unit or a liquid applying unit that discharges the adhesive, and further, on the recording medium. It may be one provided with a leveling means for leveling the adhesive.

  Next, examples of the image forming apparatus and the image forming method corresponding to the above-described embodiment will be described. The image forming apparatus and the like will be specifically described in the following embodiments, but these are merely examples and the present invention is not limited to these.

<First embodiment>
A coating device 212 including an in-line type inkjet head and a liquid supply device, a drying device 214 including a blower with temperature control, and a conveying device 211 that uses a endless belt and incorporates a drive system and a control system. Part 210 was created. Then, the recording medium P supplied from the paper supply unit 13 of the on-demand printing device (trade name: RICOH Pro C901) manufactured by Ricoh Co., Ltd. passed through the application unit 210 and was connected to the transfer unit 14.

As the adhesive, a quick-drying water-based adhesive for polypropylene was used. The adhesion amount of the adhesive was adjusted so that the solid content was about 1.0 g / m ² with respect to the imageable area on the recording medium P. As the recording medium P, a transparent polypropylene sheet (thickness 0.3 mm, A3 novisize) was used. In this embodiment, the application range of the adhesive is almost the entire surface of the recording medium P.

  As an image forming system, a toner image was formed on the intermediate transfer belt 143 so that the transparent toner occupies an area other than the colored toner. The colored toner image at this time is a 2-by-2 tone image of each color of cyan (C) color, magenta (M) color, yellow (Y) color, and black (K) color, and the transparent toner is formed in the area where the colored toner image is not formed. Formed an image. Then, transfer and fixing to the recording medium P are performed under this condition, and it is determined whether or not the recording medium P is passed without any trouble such as the recording medium P sticking to any of the constituent members due to the adhesive. confirmed. The result of this confirmation was taken as the evaluation result of the contamination by the adhesive and the paper-passing property.

  Next, a solid blue image was formed on the entire surface as a fixing property evaluation image. Using the obtained image, the fixability was evaluated using a drawing tester (AD-2110, manufactured by Ueshima Seisakusho). The load of the drawing tester was set to 100 g, the moving stage was fixed, and the toner peeling state after rubbing the same portion for 100 laps was visually inspected.

<Second embodiment>
The same device as in the first embodiment was used. Then, when the adhesive is applied by the application unit 210, instead of applying the entire surface, the characters "opened" are dispersedly formed in the entire image forming area in 36-point bold Gothic type as a character pattern. The adhesive was applied.

  Next, a solid blue image was formed on the entire surface. With respect to this formation as well, the same contamination and paper-passing properties as in the first embodiment were evaluated. On the other hand, the fixing property evaluation was not evaluated because the application of the adhesive was partial. Instead, in this example, the decorating property due to the formation of the image of the above character with the adhesive was evaluated as follows. That is, a mending tape was attached and peeled off from the toner image forming surface of the image obtained as described above. Further, another fixed region (about 5 cm square) of the same image was rubbed with a metal spatula. The state after peeling and rubbing with a spatula was visually observed, and the visual result was used as the evaluation result of the decorative property.

<Reference example>
Image formation and evaluation were performed in the same manner as in Example 2 except that electrophotographic compatible surface coated paper was used as the recording medium P instead of the polypropylene sheet. In the reference example, since the recording medium whose fixing property was originally guaranteed was used, the fixing property was not evaluated.

<First Comparative Example>
Image formation and evaluation were performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the adhesive was not applied.

<Second Comparative Example>
After the implementation of the above two examples, the reference example, and the first comparative example, in order to confirm the influence of the adhesive on the image forming apparatus 1, the same adhesive application as in the first example was applied. An attempt was made to form a 2by2 image on the recording medium P with the black toner alone.

<Evaluation>
Table 1 summarizes the evaluation results based on the following evaluation criteria for the two examples, reference examples, and two comparative examples described above.

(Contamination and paper passing)
◯: Excellent (level that allows recording media to pass without contamination of members)
×: Unusable (level at which contamination of parts is recognized and paper passing is hindered)
(Fixability)
◯: Excellent (at a level where there is no toner peeling in the test image by the drawing tester)
×: Unusable (clearly peeling of toner can be detected)
-: Not subject to evaluation (decorativeness)
○: Yes (things that can be decorated)
×: None (cannot be decorated)
-: Not subject to evaluation

  Regarding the first example, it was confirmed that the paper passing was completed successfully, that there was no contamination by the adhesive and that the paper passing property was excellent. It was also confirmed that the fixability was also excellent. In the first example, since the adhesive application area was the entire surface of the recording medium P, the decorating property was not evaluated.

  Also in the second example, it was confirmed that the paper passing was completed successfully, there was no contamination by the adhesive, and the paper passing property was excellent. Further, in the second example, the decorating property was confirmed by applying the adhesive in a letter shape. In addition, in the second embodiment, as described above, the adhesive application area is in a character shape and is narrower than the colored toner image (blue solid image), so the fixability was not evaluated.

  In the reference example as well, it was confirmed that the paper passing was completed successfully and that there was no contamination by the adhesive and the paper passing property was excellent. On the other hand, in the reference example, since the fixing property was obtained regardless of the presence or absence of the adhesive, it was not possible to confirm the imparting of the decorating property by the application of the adhesive. As described above, the fixability was not evaluated in the reference examples.

  Regarding the first comparative example, it was confirmed that the paper passing was completed successfully, there was no contamination by the adhesive, and the paper passing property was excellent. On the other hand, it was confirmed that the fixability was poor and not practical. For the first comparative example, the decorativeness was not evaluated as in the first example.

  In the second comparative example, the recording medium P was stuck to the intermediate transfer belt 143, and it was not possible to pass the sheet. Further, even after the recording medium P attached is removed, even if an image is formed using a normal paper, the recording medium P is attached again at a position corresponding to the position where the recording medium P is attached, and the remaining adhesive It was confirmed that the effect of In the second comparative example, the fixing property and the decorating property were excluded from the evaluation because there was a hindrance to the passage of paper in the first place.

  From such evaluation results for the two examples, the reference example, and the two comparative examples, it can be confirmed that the image formation can be performed by suppressing the peeling of the recording medium having a low fixing property by applying the adhesive. It can also be confirmed that by forming the image of the adhesive so that it is covered with the toner image after the transfer, it is possible to avoid the situation where the adhesive adheres to parts and the like in the image forming apparatus 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 10 Control part 12 Image forming part 14 Transfer part 15 Fixing part 18 Conveying part 100 Device body 111 Storage means 112 Selection means 113 Setting means 200 Pre-processing device 210 Coating part 211 Conveying device 212 Coating device 213 Supporting member

JP, 2005-181882, A JP, 2009-244698, A

Claims (7)

An image forming means for visualizing an electrostatic latent image with powder to form a powder image,
Transfer means for transferring the powder image formed by the image forming means onto the surface of a recording medium,
Fixing means for fixing the powder image on the surface of the recording medium transferred by the transfer means;
A coating means for coating an adhesive on the surface of the recording medium before the transfer by the transfer means;
Equipped with
The image forming means forms the powder image so that the adhesive applied by the applying means covers the entire area of application of the adhesive with the powder image after being transferred by the transferring means. An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming means uses transparent powder and colored powder as the powder, and forms the powder image so that the transparent powder occupies at least an area other than the colored powder. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming means visualizes the electrostatic latent image with the colored powder, and forms the powder image so that the transparent powder covers a portion of the adhesive which is not covered with the colored powder. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an image is formed.   The transport means for transporting the recording medium having the adhesive applied thereto to the transfer means in a non-contact manner with respect to the surface coated with the adhesive. The image forming apparatus according to any one of the above.   The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the applying unit applies the adhesive based on image information representing the electrostatic latent image. Selecting means for selecting the type of the recording medium to be image-formed from a plurality of types of recording media having different surface characteristics;
Setting means for setting the application condition of the adhesive by the applying means according to the type selected by the selecting means,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: An image forming step of visualizing an electrostatic latent image with powder to form a powder image,
A transfer step of transferring the powder image formed in the image forming step onto the surface of a recording medium,
A fixing step of fixing to the surface of the recording medium transferred in the transfer step;
An applying step of applying an adhesive to the surface of the recording medium before the transfer by the transferring step;
Equipped with
In the image forming step, the powder image is formed so that the adhesive applied in the applying step covers the entire application area of the adhesive with the powder image after the transfer in the transferring step. An image forming method, which comprises the step of:

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