JPH01109348A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily change the gloss of an image receiving sheet by providing plural glossing members different in surface smoothness and switching them to bring them into contact with the image receiving sheet. CONSTITUTION:In a heating device which glosses an image receiving sheet 1, where a transfer image 11 is coated with a thermoplastic resin layer 12 by heating, a glossing sheet 5 having glossing sheets 5a and 5b different in surface smoothness is stretched between a heat roll 30 and a small-diameter roll 4. When the sheet 5a is used, for instance, the driving of the sheet 5 is temporarily stopped at the time of detecting a front end detecting mark 6a by a sensor 7 and is restarted at the time of detecting the front end of the sheet 1 by a sensor 20. Then, the sheet is heated by a roll 30 to melt a resin 20 and brought into contact with a sheet 5a to be carried. The resin 12 is cured according to the smoothness thereof. In case of using the sheet 5b, the mark 6b is detected by a sensor 7 to carry out it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Al Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that uses an image-receiving sheet on which a transferred image is coated with a thermoplastic resin layer and is equipped with a heating device for heating the image-receiving sheet.

(b) Conventional technology An image forming method for forming a transferred image on an image-receiving sheet uses, for example, a light-receiving sheet coated with microcapsules encapsulating a colorless dye and a photocuring agent as a photosensitive sheet. A selectively cured image is formed by exposing the image of the original to light, and an image receiving sheet coated with a developing material is placed on the photoreceptive sheet on which the selectively cured image is formed, and pressure is applied to form the image on the image receiving sheet. There is a method of forming a colored image (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-8873).
However, this method has a problem in that the transferred image lacks gloss and lacks texture and luxury. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-259490, the above-mentioned developing material is coated with a layer of thermoplastic resin, and the image-receiving sheet on which the transferred image is formed is passed through a heating device to melt the thermoplastic resin. proposed a technique for making a transferred image glossy.

(C) Problem that the invention aims to solve However, when copying photographs and illustrations, high gloss is required to give a sense of texture and luxury, but when copying text, business graphics, fabrics, etc., high gloss is required. For this reason, an image forming apparatus equipped with the above-mentioned heating device is inconvenient in that it cannot meet all of these demands. Furthermore, if the heating temperature in the heating section can be varied, it is possible to adjust the gloss level, but since it takes a certain amount of time to change the temperature, multiple copies with significantly different gloss levels are made in succession. There was a problem that sometimes required a long time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can easily control the glossiness of an image-receiving sheet without changing the heating temperature of a heating device.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems This invention provides an image forming apparatus equipped with a heating device that heats an image receiving sheet coated with a thermoplastic resin layer to form a glossy image. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a plurality of glossy members each having a different surface smoothness, and is provided with a switching means for switching each glossy member between a contact position and a non-contact position with respect to the image-receiving sheet.

+8) Effect In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, when the image receiving sheet on which the transferred image is formed passes through the heating section, the thermoplastic resin coating the transferred image melts. At this time, the image-receiving sheet comes into contact with the glossing member at the contact position to the image-receiving sheet, so
The molten thermoplastic resin hardens depending on the surface smoothness of the brightening member with which it is in contact. The plurality of glossy members each have a different surface smoothness. Therefore, when the image-receiving sheet is cured while contacting a glossy member with a high surface smoothness, the surface smoothness of the thermoplastic resin becomes high, and when the image-receiving sheet is cured while contacting a glossy member with a low surface smoothness, the above-mentioned The surface smoothness of the thermoplastic resin also decreases. Therefore, the surface smoothness of the thermoplastic resin can be easily changed without changing the temperature of the heating section by simply switching the glossing member in contact with the image receiving sheet using the switching means.

That is, the glossiness of the transferred image can be changed.

(f) Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram around the heating section of an image forming apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus of this embodiment executes an image forming process as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739.

That is, a selectively cured image is formed by image-forming exposure on a light-receiving sheet coated with microcapsules encapsulating a colorless dye and a photocuring agent, and a developing material is applied to the light-receiving sheet on which the selectively cured image is formed. A colored image is formed on the image-receiving sheet by stacking the image-receiving sheets coated with and applying pressure. Furthermore, JP-A-60-2
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 59490, an image-receiving sheet coated with a thermoplastic resin layer is used as a developing material.

In FIG. 1, an image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A in the figure. This image receiving sheet 1 is fed from a paper feeding cassette (not shown) and passes between a pair of pressure rollers. When passing through the pressure roller, it is pressed together with the light-receiving sheet on which the selectively cured image is formed, and the selectively cured image is transferred at that position (pressure point). When the image receiving sheet 1 is fed from the paper feed cassette, the entire developing material is coated with a thermoplastic resin layer, but when it passes through the pressure point, the developing material exhibits a coloring effect.
In Figure 0, which shows the transferred image coated with a thermoplastic resin layer, 10 indicates a support made of paper or the like; 1)
12 indicates a transferred image, and 12 indicates a thermoplastic resin. A sensor 20 located upstream of the heating section detects the leading edge of the image receiving sheet 1. As will be described later, when this sensor 20 detects the leading edge of the image receiving sheet 1, the heating section is driven. The heating section includes a heat roll 30 containing an infrared heater inside and this heat roll 3.
0 and a bank up roll 31 disposed opposite to the roll. The surface temperature of the heat roll 30 is controlled to a constant temperature, and a glossy sheet 5 made of a heat-resistant sheet is stretched between the heat roll 30 and a small diameter roll 4 provided downstream. This glossy sheet 5 is composed of two types of glossy sheets 5a and 5b. Each glossy sheet 1-53.5b has a different surface smoothness. A tip detection mark 5a, 5b is printed on the seam of each glossy sheet 5a, 5b.The first tip detection mark 6a is located at the tip of the first glossy sheet 5a, and the second tip detection mark 6a is The mark 6.b is located at the tip of the second glossy sheet 5b. A sensor 7 is provided on the left side of the heat roll 30 to detect the tip detection marks 5a and $b. At this sensor position, the length from the image-receiving sheet biting position of the heat roll 30 and the backup roll 31 to the sensor 7 is the same as that of the sensor 2 for detecting the leading edge of the image-receiving sheet.
and the length of the image-receiving sheet up to the biting position. As will be described later, the control section controls (
When bringing the image receiving sheet into contact with the glossy sheet 5a), the drive of the glossy sheet 5 is temporarily stopped when the sensor 7 detects the leading edge detection mark 6a, and then when the sensor 20 detects the leading edge of the image receiving sheet 1. Gloss sheet 5 again from
Start driving. Also, when transporting the image receiving sheet using the glossy sheet 5b (when bringing the image receiving sheet into contact with the glossy sheet 5b), the sensor 7 detects the leading edge detection mark 6b.
When detecting this, the drive of the glossy sheet 5 is temporarily stopped,
When the leading edge of the image receiving sheet 1 is detected by the sensor 20, the drive of the glossy sheet 5 is started again. In this embodiment, the smoothness of the glossy sheet 5b is set to a very high level.
The smoothness of a is set lower than that. When a low gloss level is selected by the operator, the sensor 7 detects the leading edge detection mark 6a so that the image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed by the gloss sheet 5a. Further, when a high degree of gloss is selected, the leading edge detection mark 6b is detected by the sensor 7 so that the image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed by the glossing sheet 5b.

The image receiving sheet 1 caught between the heat roll 30 and the bank up roll 31 is heated by the heat roll 30, and the thermoplastic resin 12 coated on the image receiving sheet is melted. Thereafter, the image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed while being in contact with the glossy sheet 5, and at this time, it is conveyed to the position of the small diameter roll 4 while being cooled. If the member that conveys the image-receiving sheet 1 is a highly smooth glossy sheet 5b, the molten thermoplastic resin hardens in a smooth state, but the image-receiver sheet 1 is conveyed by a glossy sheet 5a that has a lower smoothness. When the resin is heated, the molten thermoplastic resin hardens with an uneven surface. Therefore, in the former case, the image has high glossiness, and in the latter case, the image has low glossiness.

Note that the surface temperature of the heat roll 30 is detected by a temperature sensor 8, and the image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed to the heating section 3 through a timing roller 9. Further, a sensor 21 for detecting the rear end of the image receiving sheet 1 is arranged downstream of the small diameter roll 4. Further, as the glossy sheet 5, one having excellent flexibility, mold releasability, and durability is desirable. For example, polyester (PET), polyimide, polyethyl ether ketone (PEEK), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)
, fluororesin, silicone resin, etc. can be used. In addition, the thickness of the glossy sheet is 0.02 to 5 m.
The temperature distribution of the glossy sheet 5, which is preferably about m, is appropriately determined depending on the melting point of the thermoplastic resin coated on the image receiving sheet 1 and the feeding speed of the glossy sheet 5. At the position of the small diameter roll 4, the image receiving sheet 1 is coated with a glossing seed 5.
To prevent the offset phenomenon that makes it difficult to peel off,
It is desirable to design so that the surface temperature of the glossy sheet at the small diameter roll position is 80° C. or less, and the feeding speed of the glossy sheet 5 is preferably 50 mm/sec or less.

[Experiment example]

The image receiving sheet was made glossy using the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and under the conditions shown in Table 1.

[Table 1] The results of glossing are shown in Table 2.

[Table 2] Next, the control section will be explained. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the control section of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. CPU30
includes a ROM 31 for storing programs and a glossy sheet 5.
The RA stores the feeding speed of the heat roll 30, the control temperature of the heat roll 30, etc., and also has the assigned work area.
M32 and l1033 are connected, and the operation panel 34, the above-mentioned sensor 7, 20, and 21, and the drive motor 35 of the heat roll 30 are connected to l1033. In addition, various elements are connected to the CPU 30 in order to control the entire image forming apparatus, but they are not shown here. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of the heating section control operation of the CPU 30. .

First, in step n1, the operator controls the operation panel 3.
When the desired gloss level is input in step 4, the heat roll 30 is heated and rotated for a predetermined period of time. This also drives the gloss sheet 5, and the temperature is raised to a uniform temperature by the heat roll 30. It is determined whether the gloss level obtained is a or b. If the gloss level is a, proceed to n4, and if the gloss level is set to n5, proceed to n5. When the gloss level a is selected, and the sensor 7 detects the tip detection mark 6a, the gloss sheet 5 is driven. Stop (n6). Further, when the gloss level is selected, when the leading edge detection mark 6b is detected by the sensor 7 (n5), the driving of the glossy sheet 5 is stopped at that point (n6).

Next, when the sensor 20 detects the leading edge of the image receiving sheet 1, the heat roll 30 starts rotating and driving of the glossy sheet 5 is started (n8), and the image receiving sheet 1 then comes into contact with the desired glossy sheet. As described above, an image having the desired gloss can be obtained. When the rear end of the image receiving sheet 1 is detected by the sensor 21, the rotation of the heat roll 30 is stopped and the driving of the glossy sheet 5 is stopped (n10). In FIG. 3, n3 to n6 correspond to the "switching means j" of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, two independent heating sections are provided so that the surface smoothness of the glossy sheet at each heating section is different. A glossy sheet 5a with a low surface smoothness is used in the first heating section 3a, and a glossy sheet 5b with a high surface smoothness is used in the second heating section 3b. A switching claw 22 is provided on the upstream side of the heating section, and by switching the switching claw 22, the image receiving sheet 1 is conveyed to the first heating section 3a or the second heating section 3b. When the switching claw 22 is switched to the solid line position in the figure, the second heating section 3b is set at the conveying position of the image receiving sheet 1, and the first heating section 3a is set at the non-conveying position. Further, the first heating section 3a, where the switching claw 22 switches to the position shown by the chain line in the figure, becomes the image-receiving sheet conveying position, and the second heating section 3b becomes the non-conveying position.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the main parts of the control section of the above embodiment. In this embodiment, since the degree of gloss is changed by the switching pawl 22, the CPU 30 operates a solenoid 3 for driving the switching pawl 22 based on input from the operation panel 34.
Check 6.

In the above embodiments, a belt-like member was used as the glossy sheet, but it is of course possible to use rollers with different surface smoothness instead.

(g1 Effect of the invention As described above, according to the invention, the glossiness of the image obtained can be changed without controlling the heating temperature in the heating section. Also, there is no need to control the heating temperature. It does not require a long preparation time when changing the gloss level from 1 to 3. In other words, images with different gloss levels can be created at any time, and the surface smoothness of the glossing member can be increased. Since the process is simple, it has the advantage that the degree of surface smoothness of the obtained image can be varied easily.Also, since the surface smoothness does not change depending on the environment such as temperature, the obtained image Another advantage is that the gloss level is stable regardless of the environment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram around the heating section of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the main part of the control section of the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a part of the control section. Further, FIG. 4 shows the configuration around the heating section of another embodiment, and FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the main part of the control section. 1-image receiving sheet, 3-heating section, 5 (5a, 5b)-glossy sheet, 12-thermoplastic resin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus equipped with a heating device that heats an image-receiving sheet coated with a thermoplastic resin layer to form a glossy image, the heating device can generate a plurality of glossy images each having a different surface smoothness. What is claimed is: 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a switching means for switching each glossing member between a contact position and a non-contact position with respect to an image-receiving sheet;