JPH01216855A - Electrothermorecording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an electrothermorecording head for preventing the deterioration of image quality due to heat accumulation action without decreasing a recording speed by providing a heat release means for a recording electrode. CONSTITUTION:A recording electrode 8 is of tungsten, one of high hardness, high melting-point and low resistance materials, formed on electroinsulative, high-heat- resistant film 10. A rubber-like elastic body 9 is given elasticity so as to allow the recording electrode 8 to follow the unevenness of recording paper. Thus, high-quality recording without any missing bits is assured even when recording paper with somewhat coarse surface is used. A heat release plate 7 is composed of a material with high thermal conductivity and embedded in the rubber-like elastic body 9 in parallel with and close to a train of recording electrodes, with its end bent up to the rear of a plastic heat-support 11. This permits the surface area of the heat release plate to be increased to improve the heat release effect. Further, an electroinsulative film is applied on the surface of the heat release plate 7 so that no shortcircuiting occurs, if the electroconductive layer of the ink ribbon comes into contact with the surface. If continuous recording is performed with this heat release plate 7 mounted, the temperature over 100 deg.C of the rubber-like elastic body part right below the recording electrode is reduced below 50 deg.C.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a current recording type recording head.

(Prior art) In the current recording method, electricity is applied to the recording medium from recording electrodes in response to a recording signal, and the inside of the recording medium is activated (1), for example, to generate heat to develop color or thermally soften the ink, which is said to enable recording with high thermal efficiency. It has characteristics. Recently, printers have been announced that use this type of electrical transfer recording method to record with high quality even on recording papers with rough surfaces such as PPC paper and bond paper.
It is attracting attention as a printer that can replace wire dot printers, which currently make up the majority of serial printers. (Ideal for offices where

The principle of the current transfer recording method is shown in FIG. 7. A resistive ink ribbon 4 is formed by sequentially laminating a conductive layer 2 and a thermoplastic ink layer 3 on a resistive base layer 1, and the ink layer 3 contacts the recording paper 5. The recording electrodes 6 that are in contact with the base layer 1 are overlaid in such a manner that electricity is applied according to the recording signal, and the ink is softened by Joule heat generated within the base [1] directly below the recording electrodes and transferred to the recording paper 5. do.

Due to heat generation due to contact resistance between the recording electrode and the resistive base layer and heat conducted from the heat generating part within the base layer,
The temperature around the recording electrode increases.

In particular, when the recording dot ratio is large, such as in the case of graphic recording, the temperature around the recording electrode reaches over 100°C (hereinafter, this phenomenon is referred to as heat accumulation). Then, the amount of heat that was escaping from the heat generating portion in the resistive base layer to the recording electrode by thermal conduction becomes smaller, and that amount of heat is consumed within the ink ribbon.

Therefore, in this case, the softened area of the ink layer expands, resulting in deterioration of printing quality such as blurring of recorded dots or collapse of white dots, and changes in recording density.Also, the thermal softening state of the base layer progresses, resulting in the final The problem often occurs that the ink ribbon is cut.

To solve this problem, conventionally, when the recording pixel ratio is large, one line is divided into a plurality of parts and recorded. That is, after recording for several minutes, recording is stopped once, the head is separated from the recording paper, the recording electrode is cooled, and then the same recording is performed again at the previously recorded position. However, such a recording method has drawbacks such as a significant decrease in recording speed or complicated recording operation control.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As explained above, in recording when the recording dot ratio is large, heat accumulation is prevented by the operation of recording-stopping (cooling)-recording. however.

Such a method causes a significant decrease in recording speed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording head for energized recording that can solve the problem of deterioration of image quality due to heat accumulation without reducing the recording speed.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above problems by providing heat dissipation means for the recording electrodes to prevent heat accumulation.

(Function) Since the recording head according to the present invention can quickly radiate heat from the recording electrode, the temperature of the recording electrode can be kept low.

(Example) Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The recording electrode 8 is made of tungsten, which is a material with high hardness, high melting point, and low resistance, formed on an electrically insulating, highly heat-resistant film 10 (polyimide in this example). Reference numeral 9 denotes a rubber-like elastic material (silicone rubber in this example), which gives the recording electrode 8 elasticity to follow the unevenness of the recording paper, allowing high-quality recording without missing bits even on recording paper with a somewhat rough surface. can. Reference numeral 7 denotes a heat sink made of a high thermal conductivity material (A2 in this example), which is embedded in a rubber-like elastic body 9 in parallel and close to the recording electrode array, and one end of which is connected to a plastic head. It has a shape in which the back side of the support body 11 is folded up. This is to increase the heat radiation effect by increasing the surface area of the heat sink as much as possible.

Also, on the surface of this heat sink 7, there is an ink ribbon guide! An electrically insulating thin film is coated to prevent the layers from coming into contact with each other.

As a result of installing such a heat dissipation plate 7, when recording continuously, the temperature that exceeds 100°C in the rubber-like elastic body directly below the recording electrode is reduced to 50°C or less, which eliminates the heat accumulation observed in the past. In addition to significantly reducing the amount of dot collapse caused by the impact, the biggest problem, the ink ribbon breaking, has also been eliminated.

In addition to Al1, the materials for the heat sink 7 include Ni, Cr,
M.

Metals with high thermal conductivity such as

Furthermore, in order to further improve the heat dissipation effect, fins 7' may be attached to the heat dissipation plate 7 as shown in FIG. 2(a).
The fins 7'' may be attached directly to the back surface of the head support 11 as shown in FIG. 2(b).

Of course, instead of the heat sink 7, the head support 11 itself may be made of a highly thermally conductive material such as AQ (not shown).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view thereof. The periphery of the recording electrode 8 is covered with an electrically insulating resin 12, and a thin IFJ made of All
13 is formed around the tip of the recording electrode 8 so as not to contact the recording electrode. Here, the AQ film was formed by vapor deposition. Figure 5 shows the recording head 17 in the head holder 1.
5, 16 is a flexible cable in which wiring is formed from the driver (not shown), and at the tip of the wiring there is a connection pad (not shown) on the recording electrode side of the head 17. ) and a pad (not shown) that is electrically connected by pressure bonding. The recording head 17 is set in the head holder 15 with the flexible member 16 in between. At this time, the AIt thin film 13 of the recording head 17 comes into contact with the shaded area 14 of the head holder 15,
A heat conduction path is formed and heat is radiated toward the head holder. In this example, an AQ plate is attached to the shaded area 14 to enhance the heat radiation effect. The head holder 15 is electrically insulated from the recording current path, and the entire head holder 15 is
It is desirable to construct it from a highly thermally conductive material such as, and it is more effective to attach a heat sink as shown in FIG.

Figure 6 shows an example of a configuration to further enhance the heat dissipation effect.

An air flow from a fan 19 hits the recording head 18 configured as described above. fan 19
M on carriage 20! 1m long, and its axis ″
A wire 21 is wound around. The wire 21 is fixed to the printer body (not shown). Therefore, when the carriage 20 moves, the fan 19 is rotated by the action of the wire 20 and blows air onto the head 18.

The present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

Further, the conventional recording head has the following problems.

FIG. 21 shows an overall schematic diagram of this recording head.

A polyimide film 108 formed with recording electrodes 6 (40 in total) and pads for connecting the recording electrodes and each electrode line of a flexible cable extending from the recording electrode drive circuit (not shown) to the head holder is covered with a plastic cover. It has a structure that is attached to 112. Electrode 1
Since the recording head 11 and the electrode on the flexible cable side are electrically connected by crimping, the recording head can be attached and detached with a single touch. A handle 113 is used for attaching and detaching the head, and a handle 114 is inserted into a hole on the head holder side to position and support the head so that it does not come off.

On the other hand, the electric transfer method is a method with excellent thermal efficiency, so high-speed recording is possible. As the printing speed increases, it is necessary to generate the thermal energy necessary to thermally soften the ink within a short period of time. Therefore, as the printing speed increases, the recording voltage of the recording electrode must be increased. Must be. For example, at a printing speed of 40 cps, the recording voltage is 20 V.
~30V, but at 80cpg it becomes 40V or more.

When the recording electrode slides on the ink ribbon at high speed with a high voltage applied to it, an air gap occurs between the recording electrode and the ink ribbon, causing an air discharge, which electrically wears out the recording electrode. Therefore, problems such as shortening the life of the recording electrode or deteriorating print quality often occur.

To solve this problem, conventional methods have been to polish the tip using a ribbon for recording electrode treatment, or to provide an abrasive sheet at the tip of the rolled recording paper (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-1111).
-43584) solution is presented. However, all of these methods require additional parts and, more importantly, grind the electrode to the point of greatest wear (generally, electrical erosion is deeper than mechanical wear). Although the print quality is restored, the life of the recording electrode is further shortened.

In response, the applicant has developed a material for recording electrodes that uses a combination of tungsten and molybdenum, which have high melting points and excellent mechanical abrasion resistance, and precious metals such as gold and platinum, which have excellent electrical corrosion resistance. A recording head for current-carrying recording with excellent arc resistance and high-speed sliding resistance has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 47846/1983).

However, when the recording speed becomes higher than 100 cps or when the recording dot density is large such as in graphic recording, even if the above measures are taken, the electrode life will be considerably shortened and the head will have to be replaced frequently. You won't get any more. Also, when converting, a spare head must be prepared.

This problem will be solved by configuring the recording head as follows. This example will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an example of a recording head for energized recording. In FIG. 8(a), 115 is a recording head, which includes two recording electrode arrays 116 and 116', an electrode array 118 (hereinafter referred to as a connection pad) for electrically connecting the recording electrodes and the recording electrode drive circuit; The head cover 121 has rotational symmetry (hereinafter referred to as point symmetry) of 180° with respect to the center point O (not shown) of the head.

In this example, the recording electrode arrays 116 and 116' both have a resolution of 2
At 40 dpi, the number of electrodes is 40, and the connection pad rows 18 are lined up at intervals of 400- and are connected to the recording electrode rows.

Of course, one set of connection pad rows may be provided independently for each recording electrode row, but if the space for forming the pads is narrow, it is better to connect them in common like this.

Next, the procedure for setting the recording head 115 is shown in FIG. 9. Reference numeral 128 denotes a head holder, which is brought into pressure contact with and released from the recording medium by the rotation of the shaft 132.

Reference numeral 129 denotes a protrusion formed at a position corresponding to the position of the connection pad when the recording head is set in the head holder 128.

The recording electrode drive circuit 12 is formed at the same position on the flexible film 123 and is connected to the recording electrode drive circuit 12 through the flexible cable 24.
The counter electrode 126 connected to the recording head 115
It is crimped onto the connection pad on the side and electrically connected. Reference numeral 127 is a thin, soft rubber sheet inserted between the flexible film 123 and the head holder 128 to maintain stable contact between the facing pad 26 and the connection pad. When the connection pad is crimped to the counter electrode 126, it is arranged as shown in FIG.
As shown in the enlarged view of the circle in (a) of (a), the electrodes are arranged diagonally so as to be spaced apart from the adjacent electrodes, and the wiring 17 of the adjacent pad is spaced only around the connection pad 119.
．． An electrically insulating film 120 (shaded area in the figure) covering 17' is thinly applied. Cover 1 of recording head 115
The two protrusions 122 at the bottom of the head holder 12
8 into the holes 131 (one not shown) and fix the lower side, then the legs 133 of the metal fitting 130 enter the holes 134 of the head holder 128 and are fixed, and the head 135 of the metal fitting 130 is fixed. , is fitted into a hole on the back side of the upper part of the head holder 128. In this way, the recording head 115 is fixed to the flexible plate 123 by pressure bonding, and the recording electrode array 116 and the recording electrode drive circuit 125 are electrically connected. The recording electrode array 116' which is not used at this time is the head holder 1.
28 and a rubber sheet 127 (which is shown partially cut out, but actually has almost the same shape as the head holder 128).

Next, a case where the recording electrode array 116' is replaced with the other recording electrode array 116' will be explained. The recording head is removed from the head holder by reversing the procedure described above, and the recording head 115 is rotated 180' so that the recording electrode array 116' is at the position 116. As described above, the connection pad row 118 and the head cover 121 are arranged point-symmetrically with respect to the center of the recording head, so even if the connection pad row 118 and the head cover 121 are rotated by 180', their arrangement does not change in appearance, and the procedure described above does not change. Can be reset. However, as shown in the enlarged view (b) of FIG. 8(a), when the recording electrode array 116 is used, the connection pad 119 is connected to electrode numbers 137, 138, 139, 140 (
When the wiring 17-137, 138° 139, 140) uses the recording electrode array 116', electrode numbers 4, 3, and
2.1 (wire 17'-4, 3, 2, 1
), the recording electrodes (that is, each recording electrode drive circuit) connected to each other are reversed. Further, the protrusion of the head cover that enters the hole 131 of the head holder 128 will be changed from 122 to 122'.

Next, FIG. 10 shows the structure of a recording electrode array, which is an example of the electrode structure proposed by the applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-47846).

Reference numeral 138 denotes a substrate, which is the part other than the shaded area in the overall view of FIG. 8(a), and is made of an alumina plate with a thickness of 2 cm. In addition, a metal plate such as iron, an epoxy plate, or the like can be used as the substrate. A substrate material with good thermal conductivity is preferable in order to efficiently dissipate heat generated by contact resistance between the recording electrode and the resistive ink ribbon.The substrate material does not need to be particularly electrically insulating.137 is electrically insulating. It is an elastic body made of polyimide with a thickness of 25IIIm.

Any material may be used as long as it is electrically insulating and has elasticity.

The thickness of the elastic body 137 may be any thickness as long as independent operation for each electrode is achieved, but it is desirable that the thickness be at least EIBae. 136 is a recording electrode, which is omitted in Figure 0, which is made of 2/Jl tungsten. However, 140 electrodes are formed at an electrode density of 240 electrodes/1 nch. The recording electrode material is preferably a material that is electrically conductive and has excellent wear resistance. The other ends of the electrodes 136 are connected to the recording electrode drive circuit via connection pads, as described above, and are further connected to another recording electrode.

Reference numeral 121 denotes a recording head cover, which has protrusions etc. molded thereon for setting it on the head holder as described above, and is attached to the substrate 1.
38 with adhesive.

Reference numeral 139 is an S retaining film made of an electrically insulating organic material.

The protective film 139 is provided so that the tip of the electrode 136 is exposed;

It must be provided so as not to fill the spaces between the electrodes 136.

Next, the manufacturing process of the recording head will be explained using FIG. 11. A 25 mm thick polyimide film 140 is bonded to a 2 mm thick alumina substrate 138 using a heat-resistant curing adhesive (FIG. 11(a)), and a 21 m thick tungsten layer 141 is provided thereon by sputtering (FIG. 11). (b))
, Next, a photoresist (
(not shown) is applied, exposed to the electrode pattern shape,
After rinsing, a photoresist electrode pattern is formed on the tungsten layer 141. The exposed portion of the tungsten layer 141 was etched using a tungsten etchant to form a tungsten electrode 136 (Fig. 11 (c)). Next, using the tungsten electrode 136 as a mask, the polyimide film 140 was etched using a hydrazine-based etchant. Using an etchant, the polyimide film 140 was etched until it reached the alumina substrate 138, forming electrically insulating elastic bodies 142 that were separated from each other in the same way as the tungsten electrodes 136 (Fig. 11(d)).
)), further excluding the tip of the electrode 136 by printing,
A protective film 139 was provided (FIG. 11(e)).

The above steps are carried out over the entire board according to the wiring pattern shown in FIG. 8. At this time, of course, the protective film 139 is provided so that the connection pad 119 is exposed without including the adjacent wiring part 17 (FIG. 12). In addition, it is preferable that the protective film 139 be as thin as possible in this area so that the connection pad 119 can be easily pressed against the opposing pad.Furthermore, in order to improve the pressure-bonding properties of the connection pad, the protective film 139 should be exposed from the protective film as shown in FIG. A metal larger than the connecting pad 119 may be formed to electrically connect with the connected connecting pad 119. In this example, after the above process is completed, an Affi vapor deposition film is formed only on the connecting pad portion. ing.

Here, since the pattern is point symmetrical, its accuracy seemed to be an issue, but in this example the diameter of the connection pad is 4.
Since the value was as large as 00-, there was no problem.

After completing all of the above steps, the substrate 38 and the head cover 121 were bonded together with an adhesive.

The technology and process for forming electrode patterns in this way are almost unchanged from the conventional ones, but whereas in the past only one recording electrode row was formed on one head through a series of steps, the present invention In this example, two recording electrode array patterns were formed point-symmetrically with respect to the center of the head using almost the same process, and the life of the head was approximately doubled. In addition, the cost per recording electrode array is approximately 1/1
2, and if one of the recording electrode rows wears out, the user can use a new recording electrode by simply rotating the head 180 degrees and setting it (reducing the hassle of finding and bringing a new head. This has the advantage that it can be omitted.

An electrical transfer type serial printer was constructed using the recording head shown in FIG. 8 (FIG. 14). Reference numeral 115 denotes a recording head, which is provided on a carriage 144.

The carriage 144 is driven by a carriage drive motor 45 via a timing belt 146 and moves along a platen roller 147 under the guidance of a guide roller 148 . The carriage 144 is also provided with an ink ribbon cassette 149. Ink bottle cassette 1
49 stores a resistive ink ribbon 4 that is the same as the ink ribbon shown in FIG. The ribbon passes through the recording head 115 and is wound onto a ribbon take-up reel (not shown) of an ink ribbon cassette 149.

Reference numeral 151 denotes recording paper, which is wound around the platen roller 147 and moves via a timing belt 152 in accordance with the movement of the platen roller 147, which is rotated by the drive of a platen roller drive motor 153. Record to Rad 1
15 is about 45 with respect to the axial surface of the platen roller 147.
It is set at an angle. By doing so, the electrode 136 of the recording head 115 can be brought into contact with the resistive substrate 1 of the ink ribbon 4 with a certain amount of contact area.

The recording operation of this printer will be explained using FIG. 15.

In accordance with the input recording signal, a recording current (indicated by an arrow) is injected from the electrode 136 into the resistive substrate 1 by zero current application from the recording electrode drive circuit 125 to the recording electrode 136 of the recording head 115 . The recording current is applied to the resistive substrate 1. It flows through the conductive layer 2, through the resistance base 1 under the return electrode 150, and to the return electrode 150.

Joule heat is generated in the resistive substrate under the electrode 136 by the energization, which is transmitted to the ink layer 3 and melts or softens the ink.The recording head 115 is moving in the direction of arrow A while the current is being energized. Since the heat generating portion of this recording head is located at the leading edge of the recording head, the ink is separated from the recording paper 5 in a melted or softened state. The solid area of the non-current-carrying part and the current-carrying part (
Since the melted or softened area of the transferred ink area is maintained during peeling, cutting of the ink easily occurs at the boundary of the surface area.
And by using ink with appropriately strong cohesive force,
Even if a suitable portion of the ink in the melted or softened region is attached to the recording paper, the ink in the melted or softened region is easily transferred to the recording paper even in a state of weak adhesion.

In the case of conditions where the ink re-assimilates and then peels off after energization, the difference between energized and non-energized areas is that only the areas that are attached to the recording paper and the areas that are not attached, and only the ink in the attached areas is transferred to the recording paper. Therefore, in transfer recording on paper with a rough surface, ink cannot adhere to the recording paper in all of the energized areas (areas to be recorded as pixel dots), so accurate ink transfer, that is, image formation cannot be performed.

FIG. 16 shows another example. In this example, the arrangement of the connection pad rows 118 is different from the example shown in FIG. 1m) and the adjacent wiring portion as described above, the protective film is not exposed only to the connection pad 119 portion, but to the area within the ellipse 154 in the figure. This simplifies the head manufacturing process.

Also, since the pad can be made larger, crimping can be made more securely.

FIG. 17 shows another embodiment of the invention in which two recording electrode arrays 116 and 116' have different resolutions.

The recording electrode array 116 has a resolution of 240 lines/1 nch and has 40 recording electrodes, while the recording electrode array 116' has a resolution of 180 lines/1 nch and has 30 recording electrodes. At this time, each electrode of recording electrode arrays 116 and 1161 is not point symmetrical with respect to the center of the head, but is equidistant from the center of the head when viewed from the electrode array (when recording with both electrodes, (touch at the same angle).

In the case of the recording electrode row 116'', all of the connection pad rows on the lower side of the figure are connected to the recording electrodes, but on the upper connection pad row side, the top 10 are not connected to the recording electrodes. In this case, the print control (not shown) side needs to know which recording electrode array is being used. 6 In the figure, 155 is a judgment pad for this purpose, and the GND area left around the substrate (this is It is connected to the GND of the flexible film 123 by crimping as shown in FIG. 9.
As shown in the figure, the flexible film 123 (not shown) has a pad 156 at a position corresponding to the electrode determination pad 155. is connected to.

If the recording electrode 16 is set to be used now, the electrode determination pad 155 is the pad 156 on the flexible film side.
The input terminal of the print control circuit 157 connected to this also becomes L (GND). Conversely, when the head is rotated 180 degrees to use the recording electrode 16', there is no terminal at the position corresponding to the electrode determination pad 155, so the input terminal of the print control circuit remains open. It becomes H. The print control circuit detects these two conditions, determines which recording electrode is being used, and controls printing accordingly. Therefore, there is no need for the user to manually set which recording electrode is being used.

By using such heads with two different resolutions, the user can easily select the resolution according to his/her preference, and can perform a wide variety of printing.

Another example is shown in FIG. 19. In this example, four recording electrode rows 58, 58', 58', and 58'' are arranged rotationally symmetrically at 90 degrees with respect to the head center point O, and connection pad rows for each. 59.59', 59", 59
” 60 is the protrusion when setting it in the head holder. Using this head will quadruple the lifespan.

Of course, it is not necessary that all recording electrode arrays have the same resolution. However, in the case of having recording electrode arrays with different resolutions, it is preferable to use the electrode determination circuit as described above.

In the embodiments described above, the connection pad rows are arranged rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the head, but for some reason, for example, the space for providing the connection pad rows is narrow, it is difficult to arrange them rotationally symmetrically. There is. In such a case, even if the connection pad row on the head side is rotationally asymmetric with respect to the head center, the corresponding opposing pad row on the flexible film side should correspond to the position of the head center when the head is set. What is necessary is just to form it rotationally symmetrically with respect to one point on a flexible film. FIG. 20 shows an embodiment of such a head. (a) is the recording head, (b)
) is a flexible film that is crimped onto the head.

Recording electrode arrays 116 and 116' are formed in the recording head, but the connection pads 162 connected to these recording electrodes are not arranged rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the head. The flexible film 123 to be crimped includes an opposing pad 163 (marked with a blank in the figure) to which a connection pad 162 is crimped when the recording electrode array 116 is used, and an opposing pad 163 to which a connection pad is crimped when the recording electrode array 116' is used. ' (black null mark in the figure) is formed. Here, wiring from all pads of the opposing bands 163 and 163' is not connected to the recording electrode drive circuit 125, and naturally, wiring from a recording electrode drive circuit of a certain number is connected to one of the opposing pads 163 and 163'. Wiring is commonly connected to the pad. This wiring is formed on the back side of the figure (b). Although not shown here, the pad marked with a white blank and the pad marked with a black blank, which are located symmetrically with respect to the line segment pad),
Connected to a common recording electrode drive circuit.

In this way, even if the connection pads on the recording head side are not arranged rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the head, this problem can be solved by devising the arrangement on the opposing pad side. In this example, the connection pads are arranged so that the two opposing pad rows do not overlap, but if they must overlap and if left as is, they would be connected to electrodes that are not the original recording electrodes. for.

The configuration may be such that the recording electrode determination circuit as described above is used to detect the state, and the print control side performs processing such as changing the data order.

In the recording head for current-carrying recording according to this example, a plurality of recording electrode rows are formed in one head, and since it has an electrode row that connects the recording electrode of each electrode row with a recording electrode drive circuit, the user can Multiple recording electrodes can be used by simply rotating and setting. In other words, the life of the head is extended by the number of recording electrodes, and the user can replace the head at longer intervals, reducing complexity. Furthermore, since a plurality of electrode rows are formed at once in substantially the same process as the conventional method, the cost per electrode row is reduced to approximately 1/the number of electrode rows.

Furthermore, since it has a plurality of recording electrode arrays with different resolutions, a wide variety of recording can be easily realized.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the recording head according to the present invention can keep the temperature of the recording electrode low, it is possible to prevent deterioration of printing quality and breakage of the ink ribbon due to the influence of heat accumulation. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to perform divided printing as in the conventional method, and a printer capable of faster printing can be realized. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce adhesion of the recording medium to the tip of the recording electrode due to thermal melting and thermal deterioration of the elastic body of the recording electrode portion, so it is possible to provide a printer with a long-life and highly reliable recording head.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

4 is a cross-sectional view of the head, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram including the head holder, FIG. 6, and FIG. A schematic diagram showing an example of a recording head, FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory diagram when the recording head is set in a head holder, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the structure of a recording electrode array, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the manufacturing process of the recording head. Figure shown. 12 and 13 are diagrams showing the structure of an electrode array for connection to a recording electrode drive circuit, FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of an electrical transfer type serial printer using the recording head according to the present invention, and FIG. The figures are diagrams for explaining the recording operation of the printer shown in Figure 14, Figure 16 is a diagram showing another example of the recording head, and Figure 17 is a diagram showing an example of the recording head having recording electrode arrays of different resolutions. The diagram shown in FIG. 18 is a circuit array for determining which recording electrode array is selected in the recording head of FIG. 17. a) (b) Figure 2 Figure 3 f Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7! 22' Figure 8 Figure 9 Prisoner 10 (a) Figure 11 tq Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 20 Figure 21

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A recording head for current-carrying recording that presses a recording electrode and a return electrode against a recording medium and performs recording by flowing a recording current between the two electrodes via the recording medium in response to a recording signal, is made of a highly thermally conductive material. 1. A recording head for current-carrying recording, characterized in that said member is installed near a recording electrode via an electrically insulating member.