JPH01123234A - Post-heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent retransfer of an image by providing cleaners which wipe away the stains of rollers for heating and carrying a recording material on which the visualized image is deposited and sensors which detect the temps. of the rollers and stopping the revolution of the rollers when the rollers attain the prescribed temp. limit. CONSTITUTION:A photosensitive material as the recording material subjected to imagewise exposing is heat-developed by a heat-developing device 40 and is then superposed on image receiving paper C so that the image on the material S is transferred onto the paper C. The paper C is thereafter stripped from the material S. The stripped paper C passes between the rollers 142 and 144 of a post-heating device 1 and is thereby heated. The roller 142 is so constituted as to revolve when the temp. detected by the sensor 145 is >=40 deg.C. The stains sticking to the rollers 142, 144 are removed by the cleaners 146, 147 during the revolution of the rollers 142, 144.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a post-heating device in an image recording apparatus that visualizes an imagewise exposed image by pressure.

<Prior art and its problems> An image recording method uses a recording material (photosensitive material) whose support is coated with a substance on which an image formed by imagewise exposure is fixed by pressure, and obtains a visible image by applying pressure. Are known.

Examples of recording materials used in such image recording methods include photosensitive materials that utilize microcapsules containing a photosensitive composition, and specifically, a photosensitive material containing a vinyl compound and a photopolymerization initiator precursor. A photosensitive material using a synthetic polymer resin wall capsule has been disclosed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 179836/1983).

In this photosensitive material, microcapsules are imagewise cured by exposure to light, then pressure is applied to rupture the uncured microcapsules, and a color image is formed from the released colorant precursor. It has the characteristic of being able to obtain high quality images through extensive processing.

However, this photosensitive material has a drawback in that it has significantly lower photosensitivity than photosensitive materials using silver halide such as photographic emulsifiers.

Therefore, by improving these drawbacks and achieving high photosensitivity,
A new photosensitive material that makes it possible to obtain high-quality images through simple dry processing has been disclosed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-2
75742). In this light-sensitive material, at least a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color image-forming substance are coated on a support, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image-forming substance are coated on a support. It is enclosed in a capsule.

An image recording method for recording images using this photosensitive material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-278849. This image recording method first performs imagewise exposure to form a latent image, then develops it using a heating device, and polymerizes the polymerizable compound in the area where the latent image exists to form a high-molecular compound. Harden the capsule.゛Next, the material is stacked with an image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer to which the color image-forming substance can be transferred, and pressure is applied to rupture at least a portion of the microcapsules in areas where no latent image exists, thereby transferring the color image-forming substance to the image-receiving material. to obtain an image on an image-receiving material.

Then, using the above-mentioned photosensitive material, this photosensitive material is subjected to imagewise exposure, heat development is performed, and then the image recording material is overlaid with an image-receiving material and pressed, and an image is obtained on the image-receiving material by transfer, which is automatically performed. An example of the apparatus is shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 1983-51896 filed by the present applicant.

However, when an image is recorded using the above-mentioned photosensitive material, the image obtained on the image-receiving material is made up of unpolymerized particles.
Since the dye contains a large amount of dye, the image is not securely fixed to the image-receiving material, and the dye is likely to separate. Therefore, when the image-receiving material is laminated or touched after an image has been recorded, there is a problem that the dye is transferred and the image quality is impaired, and that the dye adheres to the contact material and stains it.

Furthermore, there is a problem in that the dye fades during image storage, resulting in deterioration of image quality.

In order to solve these problems, a proposal has been made to install a post-heating device in order to securely fix the image on the image-receiving material and further accelerate the coloring speed of the resulting image. 62-32493 etc.).

As such a post-heating device, there are various types of post-heating devices. For example, a post-heating device 2 as shown in FIG.
is a pair of rollers 1 that heat and convey the image receiving material (image receiving paper C).
It is mainly composed of 42.144. The negative roller, roller 142 in the illustrated example, includes a heating source, and such a roller (heating roller)
142 is usually made of metal such as An and coated with Teflon.

However, in such a post-heating device 2, when the image receiving paper C is heated and conveyed, the image on the image receiving paper C is gradually heated to the heating roller 1.
42, and then retransferred onto the image receiving paper C, contaminating the image.

In order to eliminate this kind of drawback, as shown in FIG. One possible method is to constantly clean the surface of the roller 142 with a cleaner 146.

However, even with such a device, after image recording, the rotation of the heating roller 142 is stopped while the heating roller 142 is hot (
If the heating roller is stopped at a temperature of 50° C. to 120° C. and allowed to cool naturally, the dirt on the cleaner 146 will be retransferred to the heating roller 142, and then transferred to the image receiving paper C when recording an image next time. There is a problem with being exposed.

<Object of the Invention> An object of the present invention is to provide a post-heating device that can prevent retransfer of an image and always provide clear images without stains.

<Brief explanation of the invention> Such objects are achieved by the invention described below.

That is, it is a post-heating device for an image recording device that visualizes an image that has been imagewise exposed by pressure, and includes a pair of rollers that heat and convey a recording material carrying the visualized image, and a A cleaner is provided on at least one of the rollers to wipe dirt off the roller, and a sensor detects the temperature of the roller, and when the temperature of the roller becomes lower than a predetermined temperature based on the temperature detected by the sensor. The post-heating device is characterized in that it is configured to stop the rotation of the roller.

<Specific structure of the invention> Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image recording apparatus equipped with a post-heating device 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image recording device includes a housing 11
The document support glass plate 5 on the upper surface of the document support plate 5 is attached so as to be able to slide back and forth in the direction of arrow A. That is, the glass plate 5 is moved back and forth in the direction of arrow A with the document placed face down.

In the illustrated example, as described above, the document table moving type is used, but the light source moving type may be used.

At the bottom of the glass plate 5, there is a reflecting mirror 6 for illuminating the original.
An additional illumination lamp 8 is provided, and a fiber lens array 10 is provided for forming an original image on a photosensitive material S serving as a recording material at a predetermined position.

A photosensitive material cartridge 14 containing a photosensitive material roll 12 wound with a photosensitive material S is removably attached to the side of the housing 11.

An outlet for the photosensitive material S of the photosensitive material cartridge 14.

A pair of photosensitive material feeding rollers 21 and 22 housed in the magazine connection dark box 20 are disposed at 16, whereby the photosensitive material S wound around the photosensitive material roll 12 is fed out by a certain length at a predetermined time, and is also fed out as desired. caused to retreat.

When the leading edge of the photosensitive material S advances, the photosensitive material feeding rollers 21 and 22 move away from each other as shown by imaginary lines to facilitate the advance of the photosensitive material S. A cutter unit 23 for cutting the photosensitive material S and a guide plate 24 are disposed in front of the magazine connection dark box 20 (hereinafter, the term "front" refers to the traveling direction of the photosensitive material, etc., and refers to downstream). There is.

In the illustrated example, the photosensitive material S is in the form of a roll, but it may also be in the form of a cut sheet, and the photosensitive material cartridge and the like may be selected as appropriate.

In front of the guide plate 24, there is an exposed photosensitive material support roller 26 and two photosensitive material nip rollers 28 and 30 pressed against the roller.
is located. The photosensitive material S guided by the guide plate 24 is brought into close contact with the exposed photosensitive material support roller 26 by the photosensitive material nip rollers 28.30, and the image of the original is captured by the fiber lens array 10 at a position 32 between the photosensitive material nip rollers 28.30. exposure is made.

In front of the exposed photosensitive material support roller 26, a heat developing device 40 that heats and develops the exposed photosensitive material S is arranged. The heat developing device 40 includes a developing housing 41 having a heat insulating effect, a conveying drum 42 disposed inside the developing housing 41 and carrying and conveying the photosensitive material S, and a conveying drum 4 .
The photosensitive material S is sandwiched and conveyed between the conveying drum 42 and the heating plate 43, and thermal development is carried out. . The heat developing device 40 further includes a photosensitive material S.
a pair of transport rollers 44 and a guide member 45 that guide the photosensitive material S to the transport drum 42; and a peeling claw 47 that peels the photosensitive material S from the transport drum 42 and guides it to the contact portion of the transport roller 46.
and has.

In the illustrated example, the heat developing device 40 has the above-mentioned configuration, but is not limited to this configuration, and may be of various types.

For example, as disclosed in JP-A-62-147461, a photosensitive material is placed between a heating roller and an endless belt wrapped around the outer periphery of an approximately 270° arc of the heating roller via a support roller. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which S is held and conveyed and heated.

In front of the conveyance roller 46, a pair of pressure rollers 60,
A guide member 61 guides the photosensitive material S transported by the transport roller 46 to the contact portion of the pressure roller 60 , and a guide member 61 guides the photosensitive material S transported by the transport roller 46 to the contact portion of the pressure roller 60 . A photosensitive image receiving paper stacking device 70 is disposed, which includes a guide member 63 that guides the paper to the contact portion.

The receiving paper supply device 72 includes a receiving paper cassette 73 that is attached to the side of the housing 11 and stores the receiving paper C, and a transport roller 62 for transporting the uppermost receiving paper C in the receiving paper cassette 73.
It is composed of a feeding roller 74 and a guide member 75.

In the illustrated example, the image-receiving paper C is in the form of a cut sheet, but it may also be in the form of a roll, in which case it may be configured to be cut as appropriate with a cutter or the like.

A pair of pressure nip rollers 80.82 and a pressure nip roller 80.8 are provided in front of the photosensitive image receiving paper stacking device 70.
A device consisting of back-up rollers 84 and 86 for making the pressure of the two parts uniform in the axial direction is provided. The pressure nip rollers 80 and 82 are approximately 50
They are pressed together by a pressure of 0 kg/Cln2.

In the illustrated example, the development and transfer steps are performed separately, but they may be performed simultaneously.

A photoreceptor paper peeling device 90 is provided in front of the transfer device 88 . The sensitive material receiving paper peeling device 90 includes a guide member 92
, a pair of conveyance rollers 93 and 94, and this conveyance roller 9
3, 94, and has a peeling claw 95 having a pointed end, and this peeling claw 95 has a supporting shaft 95! It is configured to be rotatably supported by a support plate (not shown) via the support plate (not shown).

The peeling device 90 is provided with a sensitive material disposal section 104 on one front side. The sensitive material disposal section 104 includes a guide member 108, a pair of feed rollers 110 and 112, and a disposal box 114.
The guide member 1 is sent from the peeling device 90.
The photosensitive material S guided by 08 is sent to the feed roller 110,
112 and put it into a waste box 114.

In front of the other side of the peeling device 90, there is provided a post-heating device 1 of the present invention that heats the image-receiving paper C onto which the image has been transferred to fix the image and improve the image density. The post-heating device 1 is
As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of rollers 142, 144, a cleaner 146 installed on each of the pair of rollers 142, 144, and cleaning dirt from each roller 142, 144;
147, and a sensor 145 that detects the temperature of the roller 142.
and has. The roller 142 is a heating roller containing a heating source such as a halogen lamp, and is usually made of metal such as A1 and the surface thereof is coated with a resin such as Teflon. The above-mentioned metal is not limited to other metals having good thermal conductivity, such as Cu and Fe, but An is generally used from the viewpoint of cost. In addition, the roller 14
4 functions as a backup roller and is usually made of silicone rubber.

The roller 142 is configured to rotate when the temperature detected by the sensor 145 is 40° C. or higher.
Rotation in this case is performed by installing a drive source (not shown) on either one of the rollers 142, 144.
Usually, the driving source is installed on the roller 144, and the driving source is installed on the roller 142.
are configured to rotate synchronously. The rotation speed is 7
~30 rpm.

The roller 142 rotates to clean the cleaner 146.
By contacting the paper 46, the image transferred from the image receiving paper C is free from dirt such as deposits. The same applies to the cleaner 147 installed on the roller 144.

The cleaners 146 and 147 are made of a material such as felt that easily absorbs dirt, and the width of each roller 142 and 144 is
That is, any material having the same width as the image receiving paper C may be used.

The temperature of the pair of rollers 142 and 144 during operation is approximately 60 to 120°C.

For this reason, in the present invention, a power source (not shown) for the post-heating device is provided in addition to the main power source (not shown) of the image recording device, so that even when the main power source is turned off, Make sure the power for the post-heating device is turned on.
The configuration may be such that the rollers 142 and 144 rotate when the roller temperature is 40°C or higher, and stop rotating when the roller temperature is lower than 40°C.

Note that the roller temperature 40'C can be changed and set in various ways depending on the recording material, roller, or cleaner used.

Although it is preferable to install the cleaner on each roller as in the illustrated example, the cleaner may be installed only on the heating roller (roller 142 in the illustrated example).

As a specific design example, roller 142 and roller 14
4 has a diameter of approximately 25 mm.

In front of the post-heating device 1, a take-out tray is attached to the housing 11 to receive the image-receiving paper C that is guided by the transport rollers 150 and the guide plate 148 and is discharged.

In the image recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a photographic material in which a photosensitive material S as a photosensitive element and an image receiving paper C as an image receiving element are provided on separate supports is used. The image receiving element and the image receiving element may be formed on the same support. Furthermore, although an example is taken in which both are peeled off after transfer, a type that does not require peeling may also be used.

In general, among the recording materials that can be used in an image recording apparatus equipped with the post-heating device of the present invention, the following are examples of photosensitive materials.

For example, there is a type of photosensitive material disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-179836 in which a polymerizable compound is imagewise cured by imagewise exposure and then pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. This photosensitive material has a synthetic polymer resin wall capsule containing a vinyl compound, a photopolymerization initiator, and a colored precursor supported on a support.

Another example is a type in which a visible image is obtained by applying pressure after preliminary thermal development or wet development of a latent image generated by imagewise exposure.

Examples of such materials include Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6, published by the present applicant.
Publication number 1-278849 or patent application No. 1988-5388
Examples include the material shown in No. 1. Said Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-
The material disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 278849 is a material that is thermally developed and then transferred to an image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer to obtain an image on the image-receiving material. Silver, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color image-forming substance are coated, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image-forming substance are encapsulated in the same microcapsule.

Furthermore, the material disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 61-53881 is for obtaining an image on a photosensitive material without using an image-receiving material. In other words, the image-receiving layer is provided on the photosensitive material itself, and contains silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and two types of substances that cause a color reaction when in contact with one of the substances that cause a color reaction. and the polymerizable compound is contained in microcapsules,
Among the substances that cause a color-forming reaction, other substances exist on a support with a photosensitive layer existing outside the microcapsules containing the polymerizable compound.

<Specific action of the invention> Hereinafter, specific effects of the present invention will be explained.

The imagewise exposed photosensitive material S as a recording material is thermally developed by a heating device 40, and then superimposed on an image receiving paper C, so that the image on the photosensitive material S is transferred to the image receiving paper C. Then, the image receiving paper C is separated from the photosensitive material S.

The peeled image-receiving paper C passes through rollers 142, 144 of the post-heating device 1 of the invention and is heated. The temperature at this time is about 80 to 120°C. Roller 142.14
Cleaners 146 and 147 are installed in each of the rollers 146 and 147 to wipe away dirt such as adhesion of the image transferred from the image-receiving paper C, and when the rollers 142 and 144 rotate again and come into contact with the image-receiving paper C, there is no dirt. It is in a state.

The image-receiving paper C on which the image has been recorded in this manner is then discharged to a take-out tray.

When these image recording operations are completed, the main power source (not shown) of the image recording apparatus is turned off.

In the present invention, a power source (not shown) for the post-heating device is provided separately from the main power source of the image recording device, so that even if the main power source is turned off, the power source (not shown) for the post-heating device is provided. is in the ON state, and when the roller temperature is 40° C. or higher, the rollers 142 and 144 are in the rotating state. When the rollers 142, 144 rotate, the cleaners 146, 147
As a result, dirt adhering to the rollers 142 and 144 is removed. If the roller temperature becomes less than 40℃, the roller 1
42.144 rotation stops. In this state, the dirt attached to the cleaners 146 and 147 is removed from the rollers 142 and 147.
Do not retransfer to 4.

- By heating with the heating device 1 after this, the coloring reaction is promoted and a high image temperature is obtained.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the present invention, stains such as deposits on images transferred from image-receiving paper C can be removed from the roller, and clear images without stains can always be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an image recording apparatus equipped with a post-heating device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the post-heating device of the present invention. 3 and 4 are front views of conventional post-heating devices, respectively. Explanation of symbols S...Photosensitive material, C...Receiver paper, 6...Reflector, 8...Illumination lamp 10...Fiber lens array, 12...Sensitive material roll, 14... Sensitive material cartridge, 16... Outlet, 20... Magazine connection dark box, 21. 22... Sensitive material feeding roller, 23... Cutter unit, 24... Guide plate, 26... Exposure sensitive material Support roller, 28.30...Sensitive material nip roller, 32...Exposure position, 40...Heat developing device, 41...Developing housing, 42...Conveyance drum, 43...Heating plate, 44 .46...Conveyance roller, 45...Guide member, 47...Peeling claw, 48...Spring, 60...Pressure roller, 61.63...Guide member, 62...Conveyance roller , 70... Sensitive material amount 6 image paper stacking device, 72... Image receiving paper supply device, 73... Image receiving paper cassette, 74... Feeding roller, 75... Guide member, 80.82. . . . Pressure nip roller, 84. 86 . . . Backup roller, 88 . . . Transfer device, 90 . ...Cleaner

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A post-heating device for an image recording device that visualizes an imagewise exposed image by pressure, comprising a pair of rollers that heat and convey a recording material carrying the visualized image;
A cleaner is provided on at least one of the pair of rollers to wipe dirt off the roller, and a sensor detects the temperature of the roller, and the roller is set to a predetermined temperature based on the temperature detected by the sensor. A post-heating device characterized in that the post-heating device is configured to stop rotation of the roller when the temperature becomes less than 100%.