JPH01188368A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high-quality stable image by arranging a transfer medium in an opposite position to an ink transport means, pressing an elastic member to come into contact with a liquid ink layer transported by the ink transport means, and adjusting variably an energization force applied to the elastic member through a drive means. CONSTITUTION:If the rotation of a coating roller 15 and an ink transport roller 1 is started, ink 2 is transported to the surface of the roller 1 in a constant thickness. As a patterned voltage which conforms with an image signal is applied to a recording head 7, a cross-linking structure in the ink changes and the structure becomes viscous selectively. An ink image with this viscosity comes into contact with an intermediate transfer roller 4 to be transferred to a recording medium 5. The pressure contact force of the intermediate transfer roller 4 to an ink layer varies in accordance with a change in the length of a tension spring from l1 to l2, by the shift of a spring fulcrum 51 to a position 51' following the rotation of a rotating disc 50. The pressure contact force can be set to an optimum level to a change in recording conditions and a high- quality stable image obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms images on recording paper or display members at low cost using fluid ink.

[Prior Art] Today, among the recording methods for information processing, various formats have been developed that can record on plain paper, such as impact printers, electrophotography, laser beam printers, and thermal transfer printers. ing.

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 hot-melt ink on a base sheet, heats this ink ribbon in an image pattern with a recording head, and transfers the molten ink to recording paper. Therefore, there are advantages such as low noise, relatively small size of the device, and low device cost.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional thermal transfer method,
When manufacturing ink ribbons, hot-melt ink must be applied on a heat-resistant base sheet in a complicated process, and the ink ribbons are used only once for recording and must be thrown away. However, there were problems such as high running costs.

Therefore, as a means to solve the above-mentioned problems, the applicant of the present invention has developed a method of forming a film by using an ink transfer roller 1 to form a fluid ink 2 contained in an ink container 3, as shown in FIG. 5, for example. A predetermined energy is selectively applied to this ink 2 by an energized recording head 7 to form an ink image 21 imparted with tackiness in an image pattern, and this ink image 21 is transferred to a surface via an intermediate transfer roller 4. proposed a recording device that transfers data onto a recording medium (recording paper) 5 (Patent Application 1986-1)
No. 7519 and Japanese Patent Application No. 125973/1982). Note that 6 is a pressure roller for transferring an ink image, 8 is a cleaner for removing residual ink on the intermediate transfer roller 4, and 11 is an apparatus frame which is an exterior case.

According to this recording device, there is no need to use an ink ribbon as in conventional thermal transfer methods, and only ink that has formed an ink image is transferred to the recording medium, and ink that does not form an ink image can be repeatedly used. be able to.

In addition, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the intermediate transfer roller 4, which is an intermediate transfer medium, is arranged so that it can contact the ink layer carried on the ink transport roller 1, and the intermediate transfer roller 4, which is an intermediate transfer medium, is arranged so that it can contact the ink layer carried on the ink transport roller 1, and The roller 4 and the ink roller 1 are positioned so that the transfer gap d between them is slightly smaller.

However, at this time, the value of t-d (transfer medium penetration amount) is a minute value of about 0.1+nm for the ink layer 1flII11, so it is difficult to accurately adjust the gap d in the device configuration. In addition, ■ the thickness of the ink layer coated on the ink transfer roller 1 changes depending on changes in ink properties due to ink composition and environment, and ■ local changes in the ink layer thickness occur due to other causes. If the amount of penetration of the intermediate transfer roller 4 into the ink layer changes due to factors ■ to ■, the pressing force of the intermediate transfer roller 4 against the ink layer changes, the transfer density changes, and the image becomes distorted. , and if the pressing force becomes too large, there is a risk that an ink pool will occur upstream of the transfer section, distorting the image or making transfer impossible, which should be improved further.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, makes it unnecessary to adjust the transfer gap, and minimizes fluctuations in the amount of penetration of the transfer medium into the ink layer and the pressure contact force, so that a good transferred image can always be obtained. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that has the following features.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the present invention is to use a fluid ink that has fluid film-forming properties and can be made sticky by applying energy. An image forming apparatus that forms an image includes: an ink transporting means for supporting and transporting fluid ink; an energy applying means for selectively applying energy to a layer of fluid ink transported by an ink phase means; a transfer medium for transferring fluid ink whose transfer characteristics have been changed by selective application of energy by means, the transfer medium is disposed opposite to the ink transport means, and the fluid ink transferred by the ink transport means is The present invention is characterized in that the transfer medium is pressed against the layer using an elastic member.

In order to achieve the above object, a second aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus according to claim 1, in which an adjusting means is provided to the elastic member to variably adjust the pressure contact force of the transfer medium in accordance with fluctuations in image forming conditions. It is characterized by having been provided with

[Function] According to the present invention, the transfer medium is disposed facing the ink transport means and is brought into pressure contact with the fluid ink layer transported by the ink transport means by the elastic member. There is no need to adjust the transfer gap, image quality deterioration due to fluctuations in the amount of penetration of the transfer medium into the ink layer and the pressure force can be prevented, and good transferred images can always be obtained.

Furthermore, the present invention is configured to variably adjust the biasing force applied to the elastic member via a drive means or the like according to recording conditions, thereby making it possible to optimally set the pressure contact force in response to fluctuations in recording conditions. Furthermore, stable images of high quality can always be obtained.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

A. Pressure mechanism FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. Although the following embodiments will be described as an image recording device, the present invention can also be applied as an image display device by replacing the recording paper with a display sheet. In this figure, 30 is a rocking plate that supports the intermediate transfer roller 4 so as to be rockable in the direction of the ink transport roller 1, and 40 is a rocking plate that urges the intermediate transfer roller 4 toward the ink transport roller through the rocking plate 30. Tension spring (oscillating spring)
One end of the tension spring 40 is fixed to the device frame 11. A coating roller 15 serves as an ink layer thickness regulating means for regulating the ink layer (ink film) of the fluid ink 2 carried and transferred by the ink transfer roller 1 to a predetermined thickness by changing the rotational speed.

Both ends of the shaft of the above-mentioned intermediate transfer roller 4 are fixed to a swing plate 30 . The opposite side of the shaft end of the intermediate transfer roller 4 is not shown, but has the same configuration. Since the fulcrum 31 of the rocking plate 30 is rotatably fixed to the device frame 11,
The intermediate transfer roller 4 is configured to be rotatable and swingable around a fulcrum 31. Furthermore, a tension spring 40 is hung on the lower end of the swing plate 30 in a direction in which the intermediate transfer roller 4 comes into pressure contact with the ink transfer roller 1, and one end of the spring 40 is hung on the apparatus frame 11 side. Further, the intermediate transfer roller 4 is configured to rotate at approximately zero relative speed in synchronization with the moving speed of the ink layer on the ink transport roller 1 by a drive system (not shown).

B. Intermediate Transfer Roller To further explain each of the above-mentioned components, the surface of the intermediate transfer roller 4 is coated with chrome plating or the like, or coated with silicone resin, fluororesin, polyethylene resin, etc. to improve smoothness and smoothness. It is preferable to improve stain resistance or ease of cleaning. In particular, it is preferable that the surface of the intermediate transfer roller 4 be made smoother than the surface of the ink transfer roller 1 in order to improve the ink transfer performance at the ink transfer position.

C0 Fluid Ink Fluid ink 2 flows under the application of a certain external force,
It has a fluid film-forming property that forms an ink film, and specifically has a property that as the ink transfer roller 1 rotates, an ink layer is formed on the surface of the roller 1 and is transferred.

Further, it is preferable that the ink 2 has a property of being able to restore its adhesiveness over time after being cut by an external force.

That is, it is preferable that the ink lumps have a property such that when they come into contact with each other, the interface disappears and they become one piece.

As the ink 2 having such properties, an ink having a broadly defined gel state in which the solvent is retained by a crosslinked structure substance is preferably used. Specific examples of this ink include:
For example, patent application No. 175 filed earlier by the applicant
The inks described in No. 191 or Japanese Patent Application No. 131586/1986 are preferred.

Such ink 2 has fluid film-forming properties, but when a predetermined amount of energy (for example, electrical energy or thermal energy) is applied, the ink 2 has a fluid film-forming property, but is substantially sticky as it is. It has the property of imparting tackiness. Note that the adhesion J mentioned here refers to selective adhesion, and when the ink 2 is brought into contact with an object such as the intermediate transfer roller 4, a part of the ink 2 separates from the entire ink and adheres to the object. It doesn't matter whether the ink is sticky or not.

Therefore, when the ink layer formed on the surface of the ink transfer roller 1 is in a state where no energy is applied, even if the ink 2 comes into contact with another medium, for example, the intermediate transfer roller 4, the ink layer is not applied to the intermediate transfer roller 4. is not substantially transferred. The reason for this is that in gel ink, the solvent is held in a crosslinked structure (except for a small amount of solvent), so the ink is not transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 4. It is thought that when energy such as electricity is applied to gel-like inks, the crosslinked structure changes, thereby imparting tackiness to these fluid inks in accordance with the energy application.

Furthermore, when the ink 2 is coated on the ink transfer roller 1, it has properties as a plastic body, and conversely, the ink 2 has properties as a plastic body when it is coated on the ink transfer roller 1, and conversely, after being applied with energy by the recording head 7 for applying energy, it is transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 4. It is preferable that the material has properties as an elastic body.

For this reason, the ink 2 of this embodiment preferably has a certain degree of viscoelasticity (complex elasticity having an elastic term and a viscous term).

The range of the viscoelasticity is, for example, as shown in Fig. 7 (A),
As shown in (B), a sample of ink 2 with a diameter of 25 mm and a thickness of 2fflI11 is given a sinusoidal strain γ with an angular velocity of 1 rad/sec in the direction of the arrow shown (shear direction), and the stress is 0 and the phase is When the complex modulus G" is obtained by detecting the deviation δ, G" = σ/γ = σ/γ G'+iG storage modulus G": Loss modulus storage modulus G'
The value of the ratio G''/G' between the loss elasticity G'' and the loss elasticity G'' is approximately 0.1 to l.
O is preferably used.

In this complex modulus of elasticity, if G''/G' is less than 0.1, the behavior as a plastic body will be insufficient, and the ink coating on the ink transport roller 1 will be insufficient, and the G''/G' If it exceeds 10, the behavior as an elastic body will be insufficient, and elastic recovery from the recording head 7 to the intermediate transfer roller 4 will be insufficient.

The sample size and distortion described above are as follows:
This value is considered appropriate for the recording device.

D. Ink transfer roller The ink transfer roller 1 is made of a material that can transfer the fluid ink 2 by forming a film on its surface. It is configured such that it can be driven and rotated in a constant direction at a constant speed by a driving means.

The surface of the ink transfer roller 1 made of the above material may be a smooth surface, but in order to further improve the transferability of the fluid ink 2, it is preferably appropriately roughened.

E. Coating Roller The coating roller 15 is arranged upstream of the recording head 7 with respect to the rotational direction of the ink transport roller 1, and is used to coat the surface of the ink transport roller 1 with the ink 2 at a constant thickness. It is. In this embodiment, the surface of the coating roller 15 is separated from the surface of the ink transport roller 1 by about 0.3 to 3 mm.

The layer thickness is regulated by the coating roller 15, and the thickness of the ink layer formed on the surface of the ink transfer roller 1 is as follows.
Due to the balancing effect peculiar to the viscoelastic material, the distance becomes slightly larger than the distance between the coating roller 15 and the ink transport roller 1. Therefore, it is desirable to set the distance between the coating roller 15 and the ink transport roller 1 to be slightly smaller than the thickness of the ink layer to be set. However, when the ink transfer roller 1 is at a high speed (for example, a circumferential speed of 50 mm/s or more), the thickness of the coated ink layer is
5 and the ink transport roller 1. In this case, it is desirable to set the interval to be slightly larger than the thickness of the coating ink layer.

Further, the layer thickness of the fluid ink 2 formed on the surface of the ink transfer roller 1 depends on the fluidity or viscosity of the ink 2, the material or roughness of the surface of the ink transfer roller 1, or the rotation speed of the roller 1. At the ink transfer position where the ink transport roller 1 faces the intermediate transfer roller 4, the distance is approximately 0.1 to 5 mm, more preferably 0.1 to 5 mm.
It is preferably about 5 to 3 mm.

If the layer thickness of this ink is less than 0.1 mm, it will be difficult to form a uniform ink layer on the ink transfer roller 1, and if the layer thickness exceeds 5 mm, it will be difficult to form a uniform ink layer on the ink transfer roller 1, while maintaining the surface layer of the ink layer at a uniform circumferential speed. , it becomes difficult to convey the ink 2, and it becomes difficult to supply electricity from the recording head 7 to the ink roller 1 via the ink 2.

F. Recording Head Next, the recording head 7 will be explained. It may be a conventional thermal head that applies thermal energy, but from the point of view of energy efficiency, recording electrodes are used in this embodiment. Electrical energy is applied.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the recording head 7 of FIG. 1.

In this figure, in a conductive pattern made of metal such as copper formed on a substrate 71 made of glass epoxy, alumina, glass, etc., only the surface of the electrode part of an electrode element 72 is plated with gold, platinum, rhodium, etc. This prevents the metal from melting which occurs when electricity is applied to the ink layer, and an insulating film made of polyimide or the like is provided on parts 73 other than the electrode parts.

Further, when the recording head 7 is arranged, it is preferable to arrange it so that its electrode elements slightly penetrate into the ink layer formed on the ink transport roller 1, as shown in FIG. The amount of penetration is set to about 0 to 1 mm, more preferably about 0.1 to 0.5 mm. By slightly penetrating the ink layer in this manner, the energizing effect can be further enhanced.

Furthermore, the amount of current applied to the recording electrodes of the recording head 7 is determined to be sufficient to cause an electrochemical change in the ink 2 when, for example, polyvinyl alcohol is cross-linked with borate ions as the cross-linked structure material of the ink 2. The amount of current required is sufficient. Therefore, the amount of current required to transfer electrons to and from the crosslinking agent, which is added in a small amount of several hundred ppm to the ink 2, is sufficient, and compared to the amount of current required when applying thermal energy with a thermal head in thermal transfer, etc. , approximately 1/
It is sufficient to apply energy as low as 10 0, and this electrical energy application makes the ink sticky.

Further, as in the above embodiment, when electricity is applied between the recording electrode of the recording pad 7 and the ink transfer roller 1, the ink 2
In the chemical change, a region with a particularly high pH and a region with a particularly low pH are formed relatively apart. In this case, when applying current to the recording electrode according to the image signal, immediately after applying a current from one direction, applying a voltage in the opposite direction to cause the current to flow,
Immediately after the portion of the image area where p)I has changed significantly and the crosslinked structure has changed, a non-image area where the pH has changed sharply in the opposite direction is formed. Therefore, when stirring is performed by a stirring means (not shown), relaxation due to ion diffusion of pl (pl) is performed more quickly, which is effective.Furthermore, such an energization method is effective in moving the image area whose viscosity has decreased to the recording head 7. This also prevents the image trailing phenomenon caused by the rubbing of the recording electrode 72 (see FIG. 6).

In addition, when electricity is applied to ink to generate heat, conventionally the ink contains a conductive phase (mostly black) to give it conductivity.
No. 7), whereas the color of ink is limited to black in most cases, ink 2 according to this example Gt has a predetermined coloring agent mixed therein in order to impart conductivity through ionic conduction as described above. This allows you to freely obtain ink of any color.

G. Pressure Roller The pressure roller 6 constitutes a transfer means for transferring the ink image transferred and formed on the intermediate transfer roller 4 to the recording paper 5, and is made of nitrile rubber or silicone on a metal shaft. It is made of rubber or the like into a cylindrical shape.

As mentioned above, the electrochemical action of energization imparts adhesiveness to the fluid ink and performs the desired recording, making it possible to record on plain paper, etc. with small electrical energy and without wasting ink. It becomes possible. Furthermore, since the ink using the crosslinked structure has elasticity, it can greatly reduce the distortion of the recorded image at the area where energy is applied, and it does not require chemical coloring, so it cannot be used for the commonly known electrochemical recording method. image stability compared to the electrolytic recording method, which uses color development based on an oxidation-reduction reaction caused by the application of electricity.

It also has excellent durability and allows for excellent recording.

Furthermore, the conductivity of the ink is imparted through ionic conduction, and a wide range of ionic substances (
Many solutions can be used (clear). Therefore, as in this embodiment, it is possible to easily obtain ink of any desired tone using the dyes and pigments described above.

In the above configuration, when the coating roller 15 and the ink transport roller 1 start rotating, the ink 2 is sent to the surface of the ink B transport roller 1 in a constant layer thickness by the clockwise rotation of the coating roller 15. Ru.

The ink 2 formed in a constant layer on the surface of the ink transfer roller 1 is applied to energy application recording controlled by a control means (not shown).Electrical energy is applied in an image pattern by an energy applying unit 7. A tacky ink image is formed. In other words, as a patterned voltage force is applied to the recording head according to the image signal, current flows from the electrode element to the ink 2.
For example, the ink 2 flows to the ink transport roller 1 via the
The crosslinked structure changes due to the electrochemical reaction therein, and selective tackiness is imparted to the ink 2. 20 The ink image having viscosity comes into contact with the intermediate transfer roller 4 rotating clockwise and is transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer roller 4. On the other hand, ink that has not been transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 4 is stored again as the ink transfer roller 1 rotates and is used again.

The ink image transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 4 is transferred to a recording medium (for example, , plain paper, plastic sheet, etc. (hereinafter referred to as r recording paper 1) 5.

H1 Pressure Adjustment Mechanism FIGS. 2 and 3 show an example of the configuration of a pressure adjustment mechanism that allows adjustment of the pressing force by the tension spring 40 of FIG. 1 described above. In FIGS. 2 and 3, 50 is a rotating plate attached to the rotating shaft of a motor 60, and is rotated by the motor 60 at an arbitrary angle. As the motor 60, for example, a step motor (pulse motor) is used, which can rotate by an angle according to a rotation instruction signal sent from a control section, a manual volume switch, etc. (not shown).

One end (lower end) of the tension spring 40 is hung on a rotating plate 50, and the rotation of this rotating plate 50 can be controlled by a motor 60 or a rotary solenoid as described above. As shown in the figure, when rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the spring fulcrum 51 moves to the position 51', and the spring length of the tension spring 40 becomes 1. to a2. The pressure force of the tension spring 40 changes in accordance with this change in spring length.

(2) In this example, the pressure contact force of the intermediate transfer roller 4 against the ink layer is determined by the type of ink, the thickness of the ink layer, the recording speed (
It is determined by the ink layer transport speed), the adhesion of the ink during transfer, the material of the transfer roller, the surface properties, etc., and a specific example is shown below.

(2) Fluid ink: First, fluid ink 2 was composed of the following components.

Ethylene glycol 8 parts Water 20 parts pv
^ (GL-03) Nippon Gosei Kagaku 11 parts Average degree of polymerization 300 Saponification degree 8896 Carbon black 11 parts Silica (Aerosil 2oO) Nippon Aerosil 11 parts NaCIL 6.6 parts The above components were mixed uniformly at high temperature, After thoroughly dissolving and cooling, 1.5 parts of sodium borate (Na2B4(Jr.5H20)) and an appropriate amount of IN NaOH were added to prepare a fluid ink with high water retention.

■Thickness of ink layer: 1mm.

■Intermediate transfer roller: Approximately 1 inch of silicone rubber is applied to the hollow iron roller.
mm, the roller surface hardness was set to 80 to 90 degrees in JIS rubber hardness, and the surface roughness was finished to about R2 = 3 parts (diameter 34 mm).

■ Transfer speed of ink layer: 20 mm/sec at the outer peripheral speed of an ink transfer roller with a diameter of 4 Qtnm.

■Energy application conditions: 20V by energized recording head
Apply.

A transfer recording experiment was conducted under the above conditions (■ to ■), and it was found that in the intermediate transfer roller fixing method of the prior application as shown in FIG. Since it is not possible to control ΔS) to an appropriate amount, unnecessary ink pools occur in front of (upstream side) the transfer position of the intermediate transfer roller 4 and uneven transfer density occurs. Even if the penetration amount ΔS was controlled to 0.1 to 0.3 mm, poor image quality occurred.

Therefore, in the pressure configuration shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, which are embodiments of the present invention, the pressure applied to the ink layer on the ink transport roller 1 is set to about tooog/image width (21 parts mm) using a tension spring. When a similar transfer recording experiment was conducted under the above-mentioned conditions (1) to (2) by adjusting the spring force of 40, no ink pooling or uneven transfer density occurred, and a good transferred image was obtained.

In addition, in this example, the above pressing force of 1000g was changed from 900g to 1
Even when the weight was changed to 100 g, a good transferred image was obtained. Particularly, in this embodiment, since there is a certain tolerance in the pressing force, it is easy to manufacture and is advantageous in terms of cost.

Further, when the ink layer transport speed was changed from 20 mm/s6c to 40 mm/sec under the above recording conditions (1) to (2), a phenomenon occurred in which the density transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 4 was slightly lowered. At this time, the pressing force of the intermediate transfer roller 4 is increased from 1000 g to 1500 g by the rotation of the motor 60.
By changing to g, it became possible to restore and maintain the same transfer density as the previous time.

In this way, by variably controlling the pressure applied by the spring 40 according to the recording conditions, it is possible to change the transfer characteristics, and it is possible to obtain a very good transferred image.

J. Modified Example The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 uses an intermediate transfer roller 4 to transfer the ink image transferred from the ink transport roller 1 to the intermediate transfer roller 4.
An image is obtained by further transferring the ink to a recording paper 5. Another example is to pass the recording paper 5 between the ink layer on the intermediate transfer roller 4 and the ink transport roller 1 in FIG. This makes it possible to directly transfer the image onto the recording paper 5. At this time, since the intermediate transfer roller 4 acts only as a pressure roller, rotational driving is not required.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention of a transfer roller pressing method including intermediate transfer. In this figure, 33 is a transfer frame fixed to the device, 34 is a U-shaped groove opened at the upper end of the transfer frame 34, and 35 is a bearing slidably inserted in this groove 34. supports the shaft of the intermediate transfer roller 4. Reference numeral 41 denotes a helical spring whose both ends are fixed to the transfer frame 33, which is wound around the upper circumferential surface of the bearing 35 and applies a predetermined pressing force to the ink layer on the ink transfer roller 1 via the intermediate transfer roller 4. is giving.

In this way, the U-shaped groove 34km' bearing 35 provided in the transfer frame 33 fixed to the device frame 11 is fitted, and the bearing 35 slides in the direction of the arrow in this figure (the direction of pressurizing the ink). This is possible, and the bearing 35 is biased in the direction of the arrow B in the figure by having the spring 22 wound around it as shown. Further, the bearing 35 is provided with an intermediate transfer roller 4.
is rotatably fixed, and the intermediate transfer roller 4 is in pressure contact with the ink layer, so that the same effects as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

Furthermore, if the transfer frame 33 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction by a motor drive source in accordance with changes in recording conditions, the bias applied by the spring 41 will change. The same effects as those of the structure shown in the figure can be obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the transfer medium is disposed facing the ink transfer means, and is pressed against the fluid ink layer transferred by the ink transfer means by an elastic member. With this configuration, there is no need to adjust the transfer gap,
Image quality deterioration due to fluctuations in the amount of penetration of the transfer medium into the ink layer and the pressure contact force can be prevented, and a good transferred image can always be obtained.

Further, in the present invention, by configuring the biasing force on the elastic member to be variably adjusted according to the recording conditions via the driving means etc., it becomes possible to set the pressure contact force optimally in response to fluctuations in the recording conditions. Furthermore, there is the effect that stable images of high quality can always be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a portion of the pressure adjustment mechanism of the embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 is the pressure adjustment mechanism of Fig. 2. 4 is a front view showing the schematic configuration of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the configuration of the image recording device of the prior application. A perspective view showing the structure of an example recording head, and FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) are explanatory diagrams showing a method for measuring the viscoelasticity of fluid ink applicable to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Ink transport roller, 2... Fluid ink, 4... Intermediate transfer roller, 5... Recording medium (recording paper), 6... Processing roller, 7... Current recording head , 11... Apparatus frame, 15... Coating roller, 30... Rocking plate, 33... Transfer frame, 34... U-shaped groove, 35... Bearing, 40... Tension Spring, 41... Compression spring, 50... Rotating plate, 60 River motor. 1A Shiku Transfer 1-Ra 3oiQ Kansai Board Actual Sales I Row Maki Hirotei A Figure 3 4 Chushu + Yunsha 0-Ra Figure 4 73, System Iroki, You Wholesale Town Dairyoku Hiwari 4 Go to Table 4 1 ．． , 6th figure

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An image forming apparatus that forms an image using a) a fluid ink that has fluid film forming properties and can be imparted with tackiness by applying energy, b) c) an energy application means for selectively applying energy to the layer of fluid ink transferred by the ink phasing means; d) energy by the energy application means. a transfer medium that transfers fluid ink whose transfer characteristics have been changed by selective application of the fluid; An image forming apparatus characterized in that the transfer medium is pressed against the ink layer using an elastic member.