JPH01167179A - Separator for image receiving sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent degradation of image quality by providing a contacting means and a retracting means such that a separating member contacts with a photoreceptor sheet only when the photoreceptor sheet is separated from an image receiving sheet. CONSTITUTION:When a solenoid 84 is turned ON, an arm 83 and a supporting shaft 82 rotate counter clockwise on the drawing and the tip of a separating member 81 secured to the supporting shaft 82 contacts with the microcapsule face of a photoreceptor sheet A. When the solenoid 84 is turned OFF, the arm 83 and the supporting shaft 82 are rotated clockwise on the drawing through a tension spring 84 so as to separate the separating member 81 from the photoreceptor sheet A. Contact/rectract of the separating member 81 with/from the sheet A is controlled through a controller such that the separating member 81 arrives to the sheet A immediately before arrival of the image receiving sheet to the position of the separating member 81 while the separating member 81 is retracted from the sheet A when at least the rear end of the image receiving sheet passes through the position of the separating member 81. Since unnecessary contacting force is not applied onto the photoreceptor sheet A, creasing, snaking and the like can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (AL Industrial Field of Application) This invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image using a light-receiving sheet and a photosensitive pressure-sensitive recording material consisting of a light-receiving sheet. The present invention relates to an image-receiving sheet separating device that separates an image-receiving sheet from a light-receiving sheet after being pressed.

(b) Conventional technology Consisting of an image-receiving sheet coated with a developing material, a photo-curing material that hardens upon exposure to light, and a light-receiving sheet coated with microcapsules containing a colorless dye that develops color by reaction with the developing material. A photosensitive and pressure sensitive recording material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-88739.

To form an image using this recording material, the light-receiving sheet is first irradiated with image-forming exposure light such as reflected light from an original document. Then, the exposed microcapsules are cured to form a selectively cured image corresponding to the image-forming exposure light. When the developing material surface of the image receiving sheet is placed over the microcapsule surface of the photoreceptive sheet I and pressurized, the uncured microcapsules are cleaved and the colorless dye contained therein flows out, allowing the development material on the image receiving sheet to flow out. Color develops depending on the material. If the light-receiving sheet and the image-receiving sheet are separated after this, an image corresponding to the image-forming exposure light is formed on the image-receiving sheet.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the image forming method as described above, it takes 100 kg to cleave the microcapsules of the light-receiving sheet.
A high pressure of about /cm is required, and as a result, the light-receiving sheet and the image-receiving sheet come into close contact with each other after the pressure is applied, and some sort of separation member is required to separate the image-receiving sheet from the light-receiving sheet.

For example, in an image forming apparatus in which a light-receiving sheet is formed into a roll, a pull-out roller and nine take-up rollers are disposed with a pressure-applying section sandwiched therebetween, and an image-receiving sheet is overlapped and pressed on the light-receiving sheet by the pressure-applying section. It is conceivable that a separating member is brought into contact with the light-receiving sheet downstream of the image-receiving sheet so that the conveyed image-receiving sheet can be separated from the light-receiving sheet.

However, since the light-receiving sheet is thin and under high pressure, if the separating member remains in contact with the light-receiving sheet for a long time, the light-receiving sheet may wrinkle or meander. there were. If the light-receiving sheet becomes clogged, this wrinkling or meandering causes defocusing of the image-forming exposure light, misalignment of the imaging plane, etc., resulting in a reduction in image quality.

In view of these problems, the present invention improves the image quality by preventing wrinkles, meandering, etc. by bringing the separating member into contact with the light receiving sheet only when separating the light receiving sheet and the image receiving sheet. An object of the present invention is to provide an image-receiving sheet separating device that prevents a decrease in the image-receiving sheet.

Means for Solving the FD1 Problem The image-receiving sheet separating device of the present invention comprises a photo-curable material, a microcapsule surface of a light-receiving sheet coated with microcapsules containing a colorless dye in a resin shell, and a colorless dye that develops color. In an image forming apparatus that forms a colored image by overlapping the developing material surface of an image receiving sheet coated with a developing material in a pressure applying section and applying pressure,
A movable separating member for separating the image receiving sheet from the light receiving sheet is provided downstream of the pressure unit, and the separating member is moved to the light receiving sheet immediately before the image receiving sheet reaches the position of the movable separating member. and means for retracting the movable separation member from the microcapsule surface of the light-receiving sheet after at least the rear end of the image-receiving sheet has passed the movable separation member position. It is characterized by

(e) Effect In this invention, when the movable separating member should separate the image receiving sheet from the light receiving sheet (immediately before the image receiving sheet reaches the position of the movable separating member), the movable separating member moves to The image-receiving sheet is separated from the light-receiving sheet by a movable separating member that abuts the capsule surface. Further, at least after the image receiving sheet passes through the movable separating member position, the movable separating member is retracted from the light receiving sheet, and the movable separating member no longer comes into contact with the light receiving sheet I. In other words, the movable separating member is retracted from the light-receiving sheet except when separating the image-receiving sheet from the light-receiving sheet, and unnecessary contact force is not applied to the light-receiving sheet, thereby preventing wrinkles, meandering, etc. It can be prevented.

Embodiment FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a copying machine to which an image-receiving sheet separating device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

A main tram 1 is disposed approximately in the center of the main body of the copying machine so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow in the figure. A light-receiving sheet roller 2a1 and a take-up roller 2b are provided on the left side of the main tram 1, and the light-receiving sheet of the light-receiving sheet roller 2a is wound onto the take-up roller 2b via the main drum l. . The light-receiving sheet is hung on the main drum 1 with the microcapsule surface facing outward.

A document table 3 is provided on the top surface of the main body. An optical system including light sources 31 and 32, mirrors 33 to 36, and a lens 37 is provided below the original stacking table 3. An original placed on the original platen 3 is scanned by the optical system, and the reflected light (imaging exposure light) exposes the light-receiving sheet at an exposure point P1 of the main drum 1. As a result, the microcapsules of the light-receiving sheet are partially cured, and a selectively cured image is formed.

Paper feed cassettes) to 4 are attached to the right side of the main body.

The paper feed cassette 4 stores image receiving sheets, and is fed by a paper feed roller 4a. The image-receiving sheet fed by the paper feed roller 4a is temporarily stopped by the PS roller 4b, and is fed at the timing when the leading edge of the image-receiving sheet coincides with the leading edge of the selectively cured image on the light-receiving sheet. At this time, the developing material surface of the image receiving sheet is on the upper side, and this developing material surface is overlapped with the microcapsule surface of the light receiving sheet.

A microswitch 5 is provided on the paper guide between the PS roller 4b and the main drum 1. The microswitch 5 detects the image receiving sheet fed to the main drum 1 and turns on.

A pressure roller 6 is in pressure contact with the lower part of the main tram 1 by a pressure contact mechanism (not shown). This contact point is the pressure point P
Set it to 2. At the pressurizing point P2, a pressure of about 100 kg and 7 cm is applied. A peeling claw 7 and a separating member 81 are arranged downstream of this pressurizing point P2. The peeling claw 7 is a member for smoothly peeling the light-receiving sheet from the main drum 1, and the separating member 81 is a movable separating member for separating the image-receiving sheet in the image-receiving sheet separating apparatus of the present invention.

Furthermore, a suction belt 9, a heat roller 10, and a paper ejection roller 11 are arranged downstream of the pressure point P2.
The image-receiving sheet peeled off from the light-receiving sheet is conveyed to a heat roller 10 via a suction belt 9, is pressurized by the heat roller 10, and then is ejected to a paper ejection tray 12 by a paper ejection roller 11. Note that heating the image-receiving sheet accelerates the coloring reaction of the colorless dye on the image-receiving sheet (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-24495). Furthermore, if the image-receiving sheet is coated with a thermoplastic pigment, it softens or melts and covers the surface of the colored image, giving it gloss (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-259490).
Publication No.).

FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) are diagrams showing the side structure of the vicinity of the pressure point P2, and FIG. 19 (B) is a diagram showing a state in which the separation member is separated from the light-receiving sheet.

Further, FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the separation member section.

The separation members 81 are members having a substantially triangular cross section, and a plurality of separation members 81 are fixed to a support shaft 82 . It is arranged on the support shaft 82 parallel to the pressurizing point 2, and is rotatably provided on the main body by a support mechanism not shown. An arm 83 is fitted near the side end of the support shaft 82 .

A solenoid 84 and a tension spring 84 are provided at both ends of the arm 83, respectively. Solenoid 84
When turned on, the arm 83 and the support shaft 82 rotate counterclockwise in the figure and are fixed to the support shaft 82. When the solenoid is turned off, the arm 83 and the support shaft 82 rotate clockwise in the figure due to the force of the tension spring 85.
Separation member 81 separates from light-receiving sheet A. An arm sensor 86 made of, for example, a microsinch is provided at the lower part of the arm 83 on the tension spring 86 side, and detects rotation of the arm to prevent errors from occurring.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the copying machine.

The entire control is performed by the CPU 13, and the control program is stored in the ROM 15 in advance. When executing a program, the RAM 14 is used as a warging area. Various input data from the operation panel and detection states of sensors including the microswitch 5 are input to the CPU 13 via 11016. Also, CPU1
3 to each process section 5 such as the optical system via l1017.
Control data is output to the solenoid 84 and the like of the image receiving sheet separating device.

Figure 6 shows the operation process of the image receiving sheet separating device (solenoid 8
4) is a flowchart representing the control processing of step 4).

Normally, the separating member 81 of the image receiving sheet separating device is shown in FIG.
As shown in B), it is separated from the image receiving sheet.

If it is detected that the microswitch 5 is turned on at nl, the timer TI is reset and started to measure time T1 (n2→n3→n4). The timer T1 measures the time from when the leading edge of the image-receiving sheet passes through the microswitch 5 position until just before it reaches the image-receiving sheet separating device position. When the timer T1 performs time amplification at 04, the solenoid 84 is turned on at n5.

By turning on the solenoid 84, the arm 83 is turned on as described above.
rotates counterclockwise, and the tip of the separation member 81 comes into contact with the light-receiving sheet A as shown in FIG. 1(A). Then, the image receiving sheet stacked on the light receiving sheet 1-A is separated along the separating member 81 in the direction of arrow F in the figure.

When the solenoid 84 is turned on at n5, the timer T2 is reset and started, and the T2 time is counted (n6→n7).
→n8). Timer T2 is a timer that measures the time required to separate the leading edge of the image receiving sheet from image receiving sheet A, and during this time the leading edge of the image receiving sheet is separated in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 1(A). . For example, the time TI is only 0
．． It takes about 5 to 2 seconds. If timer T2 is up, n
At step 9, the solenoid 84 is turned off. As a result, the arm 83 is pulled by the tension spring 85 and rotates clockwise, and as shown in FIG. 1(B), the separation member 81
The leading edge of the light-receiving sheet A is separated from the light-receiving sheet A.

In addition, FIG. 3 shows the micro switch 5. 5 is a time chart showing the on and off states of the solenoid 84. The solenoid 84 is turned on for T2 time after T1 time has passed after the microswitch 5 is turned on, and the separation member 8 is turned on only during that time.
1 comes into contact with the photoreceptor sheet 1-A.

In this way, the separating member 81 that separates the image receiving sheet from the light receiving sheet comes into contact with the light receiving sheet only for a short time while separating the leading edge of the image receiving sheet, so that unnecessary force is not applied to the light receiving sheet 1-. This can prevent the light-receiving sheet from meandering or wrinkling.

In this embodiment, the leading edge of the image receiving sheet is located at the light receiving sheet 1.
- Separating member 84 from the light receiving sheet after being separated from A.
After that, I try to separate them naturally, but
If the light-receiving sheet and image-receiving sheet are difficult to separate, after the image-receiving sheet is completely separated from the light-receiving sheet,
That is, the separation member 84 may be separated from the light-receiving sheet after the rear end of the image-receiving sheet passes the separation member 84 position.

+g+ Effects of the Invention According to this invention, the separation member contacts the light-receiving sheet only for a short period of time necessary for separating the image-receiving sheet from the light-receiving sheet, and is separated from the light-receiving sheet when unnecessary, so that the light-receiving sheet is not It is possible to prevent the sheet from meandering or wrinkling due to unnecessary force being applied to the sheet. Therefore, it is possible to prevent defocusing, blurring, etc. due to meandering and wrinkles, thereby preventing deterioration in image quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) are views showing the side configuration of the image-receiving sheet separating device of the present invention, and FIG. 1(A) shows a state where the separating member is in contact with the light-receiving sheet, B) represents a state in which the separation member is separated from the light-receiving sheet. FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the vicinity of the separating member of the same device, and FIG. 3 is a time chart of the microsinch and solenoid related to the same device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a copying machine to which the same apparatus is applied, FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of the copying machine, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation processing of the image-receiving sheet separating apparatus. 81-separation member, 83-ar11. 84-Solenoid, 85-Tension spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) The microcapsule surface of a light-receiving sheet coated with microcapsules containing a photocurable material and a colorless dye in a resin shell, and the developing material surface of an image-receiving sheet coated with a developing material that develops color from the colorless dye are processed. In an image forming apparatus that forms a colored image by overlapping and applying pressure in a pressure section, a movable separating member for separating the image receiving sheet from the light receiving sheet is provided downstream of the pressure section, and the image receiving sheet is means for bringing the separating member into contact with the microcapsule surface of the light-receiving sheet immediately before reaching the movable separating member position; and at least after the rear end of the image-receiving sheet passes the movable separating member position, the movable separating member An image-receiving sheet separating device comprising: means for retracting the member from the microcapsule surface of the light-receiving sheet.