JPH01186347A - Image recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To rapidly form a stable image even after non-use over a long period of time by providing a means for releasing the flowable ink layer, which is supported by an ink transfer means, from the ink transfer means. CONSTITUTION:A coating roll 4 used not only as a coating means for applying ink 2 to the surface of an ink transfer roll 1 in a constant layer but also as a release means for releasing the ink is arranged under an ink holding means 3. That is, when the ink is applied to the ink transfer roll 1, the coating roll 4 is rotated in the direction shown by an arrow E and, when said roll 4 is used as the ink release means at the time when the recording of an image is finished, the roll 4 is rotated in the direction shown by an arrow F.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus capable of recording on a recording medium at low cost using fluid ink.

BACKGROUND ART Today, various types of information processing recording methods have been developed that can record on plain paper, such as impact printers, electrophotography, laser beam printers, and thermal transfer printers. .

Among these, thermal transfer type recording devices are widely used because they have low noise and can be miniaturized. This recording method uses an ink ribbon made by coating a base sheet with heat-melting ink, heats the ink ribbon with a recording head in the form of an image pattern, and transfers the molten ink onto recording paper. , it has the advantage that it can be made into a relatively compact device with low noise, and the cost of the device can be reduced.・ However, in the conventional thermal transfer method described above, when manufacturing an ink ribbon, it is necessary to apply heat-melting ink on a heat-resistant base sheet in a complicated process, and this ink ribbon can be printed only once. There were problems such as high running costs, as they had to be used only once and then disposed of.

As a means to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present applicant has previously developed a method in which a fluid ink is transferred in the form of a film using an ink transfer means, and a predetermined energy is selectively applied to this ink to make it stick in an image pattern. proposed a recording apparatus that forms a colored ink image and transfers this ink image onto a recording medium (Japanese Patent Application No. 175191/1982).

This recording device does not require the use of an ink ribbon as in conventional thermal transfer methods, and by transferring only the ink that forms an ink image onto the recording medium and repeatedly using the ink that does not form an ink image, Although it enables low-cost recording, even in such a recording device,
It is desired to be able to handle use under more severe usage conditions.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device that supplies ink to the surface of the ink transporting means with a uniform thickness, prevents image deletion, etc., and provides high-quality images by improving the recording device. It's about doing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus that can quickly form stable images even after a long period of non-use.

Summary of the Invention As a result of intensive research, the present inventors have found that it is important to reliably remove fluid ink that has not been actually transferred by the ink transfer means from the ink transfer means after a long period of non-use. It has been found that the present invention makes it extremely easy to uniformly supply ink to the ink transfer means at the start of use of the apparatus, and is extremely effective in achieving the above object.

The image recording device of the present invention is based on the above knowledge,
More specifically, a recording device capable of transferring fluid ink to a recording medium in response to selective application of energy; comprising an ink transport means for transporting the fluid ink; energy applying means for selectively applying energy to the ink;
a transfer means for transferring the ink, the transfer characteristics of which have changed in response to the selective application of the energy, to a recording medium; and a transfer means for transferring the ink to an upstream side of the ink transfer direction by the ink transfer means than the energy application means. a coating means disposed opposite the ink transfer means for supplying ink to the ink transfer means at a predetermined thickness;
The present invention is characterized in that a means is provided for peeling off the fluid ink layer carried by the ink transport means from the upper part of the ink transporter.

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration i, when it is expected that the image recording apparatus will not be used for a long period of time after the image recording is completed, the layer of fluid ink formed on the ink transporting means is once peeled off from the ink transporting means. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the fluid ink from becoming non-uniform due to gravity or falling off from the ink transport means (ie, "dripping").

Furthermore, due to this ink peeling, the ink is usually relatively thin (
It is also possible to prevent deterioration due to drying of the fluid ink layer formed on the ink transport means (for example, with a thickness of 3 mm or less), and to improve the storage stability of the fluid ink.

Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to quickly form a uniform layer of fluid ink without being interfered with by ink remaining on the ink transport means even when the device is started to be used after a long period of non-use. becomes possible.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the drawings as necessary.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, which is a schematic side sectional view taken in the thickness direction of a recording medium, showing an embodiment of the image recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2, which is a partial schematic perspective view of the apparatus. At the same time, the basic configuration of the recording apparatus will be explained.

Referring to FIG. 1, an ink transport roll 1, which is an ink transport means whose surface is made of stainless steel or the like, is placed to the left of an ink holding means 3 holding fluid ink 2 (the ink holding means 3
(on the side of the ink reservoir 3a where the ink 2 is stored) is arranged so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow A while transferring the ink 2.

Below the ink retaining means 3 (on the upstream side in the direction of transport of the ink 2), a coating is provided which serves both as a coating means for coating the surface of the ink transport roll 10 with the ink 2 in a constant layer thickness and as a means for peeling off the ink 2. A roll 4 is arranged at a constant distance from the outer peripheral surface of the ink transport roll 1.

At the ink transfer position, a cylindrical shape whose surface is made of stainless steel or the like is placed above the ink transfer roll 1 in the drawing (the surface of the ink transfer roll 1 or the ink carrying surface side), facing the roll 1 with a certain gap. An intermediate transfer roll 5 that is rotatable in the direction of arrow B is disposed. This intermediate transfer roll 5 has a surface that is similar to that of the ink transport roll 1.
is arranged so as to be able to contact the layer 2a of the fluid ink 2 formed on the surface.

In the present invention, it is also possible to omit this intermediate transfer roll 5 and configure the ink layer 2a to directly contact the recording medium 6 made of coated paper or the like.

On the other hand, at the ink image transfer position, a recording medium 6 made of plain paper or the like and transported in the direction of arrow C is placed in contact with the surface (ink image forming surface) of the intermediate transfer roll 5. be done. Further, a platen roll 7, whose surface is made of silicone rubber or the like and is a transfer means that rotates in the direction of the arrow, is arranged so that the recording medium 6 can be inserted between the intermediate transfer roll 5 and the intermediate transfer roll 5.

On the surface side of the ink transfer roll 1 on the upstream side of the ink transfer position where the ink transfer roll 1 and the intermediate transfer roll 5 face each other, there is a recording device having a certain gap with this surface and serving as a means for applying energy according to an image signal. Electrodes 8 are arranged. The tip of this recording electrode 8 (one end where the electrode element is formed)
is arranged so as to be able to contact the ink layer 2a on the surface of the ink transport roll 1.

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention having the basic configuration as described above, an intermediate transfer roll is placed on the intermediate transfer roll 5 on the downstream side of the ink image transfer position where the intermediate transfer roll 5 and the platen roll 7 face each other. A cleaning means 9 having a blade 9a made of urethane rubber or the like is disposed as necessary so as to be able to come into contact with the surface of the cleaning means 5.

According to the image recording device of the present invention having the above-described configuration,
As will be described later, a layer 2a of fluid ink 2 with a uniform thickness is formed on the ink transporting means 1 by the coating means 4, and this is injected.

By applying energy to the ink 2 according to the image signal, an ink image with changed transfer characteristics is formed, and the ink image is transferred to the intermediate transfer medium 5 as necessary. , are transferred to the recording medium 6. Further, since the ink 2C that has not been transferred to the intermediate transfer roll is re-accommodated in the ink reservoir 3a as the ink transfer roll 1 rotates and is used again, high-quality image recording can be performed at low cost.

The configuration of the image recording device of the present invention is as described above,
The operation of such a device will now be described.

In the following, a preferred embodiment of the present invention, that is, a case where the portion 2b of the fluid ink 20 to which energy has been applied is selectively transferred to the intermediate transfer roll 5 will be described.

Referring to FIG. 1, the fluid ink 2 in the ink reservoir 3a is 1. A fluid ink is used that has fluidity but is tacky and can be made tacky by applying electrical energy. The tack here refers to selective tack, which means that when ink comes into contact with an object such as an intermediate transfer medium, a portion of the ink breaks off from the entire ink (
In other words, it refers to ``selectively separating and attaching to an object.''

In other words, it does not matter whether the entire ink is sticky or not. Such ink 2 is an ink having a gel state in a broad sense in which the solvent is retained by a cross-linked structure substance, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 175191/1986 or No. 131586/1982 previously filed by the present applicant. Preferably, the ink is

As the ink transport roll 1 rotates in the direction of arrow A, the fluid ink 2 is transported in the direction of arrow A while being supported on the surface of the roll 1.

The fluid ink 2 thus transferred is applied with a patterned voltage according to the image signal from the recording electrode 8 at an energy application position where the ink contacts the recording electrode 8 . A current based on the voltage flows from the recording electrode 8 to the ink transfer roll 1 via the fluid ink 2, thereby selectively imparting a selective effect to the fluid ink 2 based on a crosslinking structure change due to an electrochemical reaction in the ink 2, for example. Gives good adhesion.

The fluid ink 2 imparted with selective tackiness is further transported in the direction of arrow A and reaches an ink transfer position where the intermediate transfer roll 5 contacts the layer 2a consisting of the ink 2h),
Based on the selective tackiness described above, the ink carrying roll 1
At least a portion of the ink 2 constituting the ink layer 2a formed above is transferred onto the intermediate transfer roll 5 rotated in the direction of arrow B, thereby forming the ink pattern 21.

Ink pattern 2 formed on this intermediate transfer roll 5
1 is transferred as the roll rotates in the direction of arrow B, and is transferred to the recording medium 6 under pressure from the platen roll 7 at the ink image transfer position, forming a transferred recorded image 22. Recording medium 6 on which this transferred recorded image 22 is recorded
is moved in the direction of arrow C (first
(left side of the figure).

On the other hand, at the ink transfer position, the fluid ink 2c that has not been transferred to the intermediate transfer medium roll 5 is further
direction, returns to the ink reservoir 3a, and is made available for use again based on its fluidity.

The operation of the image recording device of the present invention is as described above.
In the present invention, an ink peeling means for peeling off the fluid ink layer 2a from the ink transport means 1 is provided. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 described above, the coating roll 4 is used both as a coating means and as an ink stripping means to simplify the structure. This first
In the illustrated embodiment, the coating 7 of the ink 2 can be peeled off by reversing the direction of rotation of the coating roll 4. More specifically, when performing ink coating on the ink transport roll 1, it is preferable to rotate the coating roll 4 in the direction of arrow E. On the other hand, at the end of image recording, the coating roll 4 is used as an ink peeling means. , preferably in the direction of arrow F.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Ink formulation> After cooling to 25°C by weight, boric acid (N a2 B407 ・10
H20) 14 parts by weight, and an appropriate amount (8
(approximately 0 parts by weight) to prepare a fluid gel ink.

This ink was applied to the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 to conduct an image formation test.

Referring to FIG. 1, the coating roll 4 is a 40 mm diameter cylindrical roll made of stainless steel 304 (surface polished with a grinder), and the surface is blasted (
Ink transfer rolls 1 and d2 are made of stainless steel 304 cylindrical rolls (40 mmφ) with Rz=100 μm).
The ink transfer roll 1 and the intermediate transfer roll 5, which is a stainless steel cylindrical roll with a diameter of 40 mm (surface polished with a grinder), face each other at an interval of 2 mm at an ink transfer position of d3=2. They face each other with an interval of mm.

Ink reservoir 3a of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 having the above-described configuration
Then, the gel ink 2 suitable for the present invention obtained as described above was added, and an image was printed.

The ink transfer roll 1 is in the A direction, and the coating roll 4 is
When both were rotated in the E direction at a circumferential speed of 20 mm/sec, a uniform ink layer 2a was formed on the surface of the ink transfer roll 1.

The intermediate transfer roll 5 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow B in contact with the layer 2a of ink 2 formed on the ink transport roll 1 as described above.
direction at a circumferential speed of about 20 mm/sec. At this time, if electrical energy is not supplied to the ink layer 2a from the recording electrode 8 which faces the surface of the ink transfer roll 1 with a gap of d1=1.7 mm at the energy application position, the ink 2 Substantially no transfer was made onto the intermediate transfer roll 5.

On the other hand, the recording electrode 8 having a plurality of electrode elements (the area of the rhodium-plated copper electrode element exposed from the insulating film is 100 μm x 100 μm) is used as an anode, and the ink transport roll 1 is used as a cathode, with the ink layer 2a being interposed. te1
When a pulse of 5V and 5m5eC was applied, ink 2
was selectively transferred onto the intermediate transfer roll 5 to form an ink pattern 21.

Further, at the ink image transfer position, a platen roll that rotates at the same speed as the intermediate transfer roll 5 in the direction of the arrow C is attached to the intermediate transfer roll 5 via a recording medium 6 made of plain paper that is transferred in the direction of the arrow C. 7 (a 16 mm diameter iron cylindrical roll provided with a 2 mm thick silicone rubber layer) were placed facing each other, and when a slight pressure was applied from this braten roll 7, a black dot image (printed) corresponding to the ink pattern 21 was formed. ) 22 was obtained on the recording medium 6.

Further, the ink remaining after transfer, which was not used for image formation on the recording medium 6 and remained on the intermediate transfer roll 5, was cleaned by the cleaning means 9.

After the above image recording is completed, the coating roll 4 is rotated at a peripheral speed of 20
mm/sec in the direction of arrow F (the ink transfer roll 1 is in the direction of arrow A, peripheral speed 20 mm/sec,
c', ), the ink layer 2a on the ink transfer roll 1 was peeled off cleanly and recovered into the ink reservoir 3a. Compared to the case where the ink layer 2a was peeled off and collected in this manner, the trouble described below did not occur.

On the other hand, when the ink layer 2a is left as it is for a long time (about 5 hours) after the recording is completed, the ink 2 sag in the direction of gravity and the thickness of the ink layer 2a becomes uneven or the ink 2
In some cases, the ink B may fall off from the ink B feeding means. In such a case, in order to obtain a uniform ink layer 2a again, it is necessary to continue recording for a long time (about 5 minutes) under the above-mentioned recording conditions.
It cost.

Furthermore, the ink layer 2a that remains on the ink 8 feed roll 1 without being peeled off as described above dries as it is because the coating layer is thinner than when it is used. There was a case. In this case, it was difficult to reuse the dried ink 2.

Furthermore, if the ink 2 is in contact with the intermediate transfer roll 5 for a long time without being peeled off as described above, the ink 2 tends to stick to the intermediate transfer roll 5, and when the recording apparatus starts moving, the intermediate A phenomenon was observed in which the entire ink layer 2a was transferred non-selectively to the transfer roll 5.

Example 2 After recording an image in the same manner as in Example 1 using ink 2 having the same formulation as in Example 1, the coating roll 4 was used as an anode and the ink transport roll 1 was used as an anode through the gel ink layer 2a. As a cathode, electricity was applied at 15 V for several seconds. As a result, the ink 2 becomes partially sticky on the anode side, that is, the coating roll 4 side, and is not hard on the cathode side, that is, the ink transfer roll 1 side. The ink layer 2a on the ink transport roll 1 was wound around the coating roll 4 rotating in the direction of arrow E, triggered by a portion of the sticky ink. As a result, the ink layer 2a on the ink transport roll 1 was peeled off more quickly.

After being left in this state, image recording was performed again, and a uniform coating layer 2a was once again formed on the ink transport roll 1, and an image 22 was obtained on the recording medium 6 in the same manner as described above. .

Example 3 After recording an image in the same manner as in Example 1 using ink 2 with the same formulation as in Example 1, the coating roll 4 was stopped (the ink transport roll 1 was moved at a circumferential speed of 20 mm/sec and moved in the direction of arrow A). As shown in FIG. 3, the blade member 10 made of tetrafluoroethylene resin is rotated downstream of the ink transfer position in the ink 2 transport direction and upstream of the ink reservoir 3a using a driving means (not shown). When inserted into the ink layer 2a so as to make contact with the surface of the ink transport roll 1 on the side, the ink layer 2a on the ink transport roll 1 was successfully peeled off.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 3 are respectively schematic cross-sectional views in the thickness direction of a recording medium of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial schematic perspective view of the apparatus of FIG. 1. 1... Ink transport roll 2... Emotional ink 3... Ink holding means 4... Coating roll 5... Intermediate transfer roll 6... Recording medium 7... Platen roll 8... ...Recording electrode 9...Cleaner 10...Representative diagram of peeling blade: Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A recording device capable of transferring fluid ink to a recording medium in response to selective application of energy, comprising: an ink transport means for transporting the fluid ink; and the ink transport means. an energy applying means for selectively applying energy to the ink transferred by the ink; a transfer means for transferring the ink, the transfer characteristics of which have changed in accordance with the selective application of the energy, to a recording medium; a coating means disposed facing the ink transfer means upstream of the energy application means in the direction in which ink is transferred by the ink transfer means, and for supplying ink to the ink transfer means at a constant thickness; An image recording apparatus further comprising: means for peeling off the fluid ink layer supported by the ink transporting means from above the ink transporting means.