JPH01274145A - Image forming method by heat development - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time of a sheet processing stage by executing the carriage of a photosensitive sheet and image receiving sheet before entering a heat developing section at the speed higher than the linear speed of a rotary drum. CONSTITUTION:This device has a heat development photosensitive material supply section A, an exposing section B, an image receiving material supply section C, a heat development transfer section D, a rotary drum device 400, an endless belt 401, a driving motor 404, a laminating roller 406, and a sheet stripping section E. The carriage of the photosensitive sheet N and the image receiving sheet P to the heat developing section D is executed at the speed higher than the carrying speed in the heat developing section D. The processing time per unit of the sheets is thereby shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal development image forming method that reduces processing time.

[Background of the invention]

A diffusion transfer type heat development method has already been proposed in which a diffusible dye is released by heat development and the dye is transferred to an image receiving element to separate the silver image and the dye to obtain a color image. Further, a large number of techniques have been disclosed regarding photosensitive elements, image receiving elements, thermal development methods, and apparatuses for thermal development.

As an apparatus using such a heat development method, for example, a dry color hard copy apparatus has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-201433. The outline of this device is to expose a photosensitive sheet to form a latent image thereon, superimpose this on an image-receiving sheet, and then sandwich it between a rotating drum and an endless belt that is pressed onto the rotating drum. Then heat and pressurize.
After the diffusive colored wood in the image area is released from the photosensitive sheet and transferred to the image-receiving sheet, both sheets are peeled off to obtain an image-receiving sheet on which a color image is formed.

In this case, if the conveyance speed of both sheets before entering the rotary drum, which is a thermal development section, is different from the conveyance speed of the rotary drum, the sheets will become loose or tense, and the development time will become unstable.

For this reason, in the past, the conveying speed in each part of the machine was made to match the rotational linear speed of the rotating drum.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the heat development section is compact and in order to achieve the necessary and sufficient heat development, the conveyance speed inside the heat development section is relatively slow, and the conveyance speed until both sheets are carried into the heat development section is also matched to this speed. There was a problem that the processing time per unit was long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal development image forming method in which the processing time per sheet unit is shortened.

[Means for Solving the Problems] For this purpose, the thermal development image forming apparatus of the present invention transports the photosensitive material and the image receiving material to the thermal development section at a higher speed than the transportation speed within the thermal development section. I did it like that.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a thermal development image forming method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the entire thermal development image forming apparatus for carrying out the thermal development image forming method. In the space between the cores, A is a heat-developable photosensitive material supply section which stores a plurality of photosensitive sheets N as heat-developable photosensitive materials and supplies them one by one from the supply port IO. Near the outside of the supply port 10, a pair of first conveyance rollers 11 and a conveyed photosensitive sheet N are placed.
A photosensor PS1 for sensing the photosensitive sheet N, a first guide 12 for guiding the photosensitive sheet N in a predetermined direction, and the like are provided.

Reference numeral B denotes an exposure section disposed above the heat-developable photosensitive material supply section A, which is used to imagewise expose the photosensitive sheet N passing through the first guide 12 to form a latent image.

20 is a second conveyance roller, and 2I is a second guide, which are devices for conveying the image-exposed photosensitive sheet 1-N to a predetermined position.

Reference numeral C denotes an image-receiving material supply section which stores a plurality of image-receiving materials +-p and automatically supplies each image-receiving material from the supply port 30 one by one. A pair of third conveyance rollers 31 are provided near the outside of the supply port 30.
, a third guide 32 that guides the image receiving sheet P in a predetermined direction.
, a photosensor P32 for sensing the image receiving sheet P on the guide 32, etc. are provided.

D is a thermal development transfer section that develops the latent image on the image-exposed photosensitive sheet N and transfers the image to the image-receiving sheet P; 400 is a rotary drum device rotatably disposed at the center thereof; 401; is an endless belt which is wrapped approximately half the circumference of the outer circumferential surface of the rotary drum device 400 and rotates at the same speed as the rotary drum device 400 rotates.

Rotating drum 400A that is the base of rotating drum device 400
are heat-resistant and have a smooth surface, and are made of cylindrical aluminum with a Teflon coating on the outside, other metals such as iron or stainless steel, or heat-resistant plastic. . In the case of aluminum, the wall thickness should be 5M or more in order to have heat capacity. Further, both sides of the rotating drum 400A are formed with silicone rubber to form a heat insulating structure. Asbestos, beta, or other materials with high heat capacity are also effective as insulation materials. A heater is installed inside to keep the room temperature up to 200.
It is configured to be able to heat up to around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and servo control of the internal temperature is possible.

The continuous portion on the rotation line of the belt 401 is connected to the belt 401.
A heating device 402 for heating 01 is provided.

Reference numeral 403 denotes a group of rollers that rotatably hold the endless belt 401, including an entrance roller 403A provided at a position of the lead-in portion 400a of the rotating drum 400A, and a rotating drum 400A.
An exit roller 403B provided at the position of the sending part 400b,
Holding roller 4 provided at a position away from the drum 400A
03C, a tension run adjustment roller 403D, etc.

A drive motor 404 is attached to the exit roller 403B, and the exit roller 403B serves as a driving source to drive the belt 40.
110-Ra group 403 and rotary drum 400A are rotated or rotated.

The exit roller 403B and the entire drive motor 404 are pressed toward the rotating drum 400A by a pressing mechanism 405, so that the exit roller 403B comes into pressure contact with the rotating drum 400A via the belt 401.

Note that in order to prevent the belt 401 from meandering due to thermal expansion or the like, a tension adjusting roller 403D and a holding roller 404 are used.
It is effective to set the format of C to a tie color roller.

A laminating roller 406 is attached to the outer periphery of the rotating drum 4QOA, and is used to press the image receiving sheet and the photosensitive sheet onto the rotating drum 400A. The laminating roller 406 is also made of silicone rubber, neoprene rubber, etc. in order to increase the coefficient of friction with the belt 401 and provide appropriate elasticity.

407 is a cleaning roller disposed above the entrance roller 403A, and 408 is a static eliminating brush disposed at a continuous portion on the rotation line of the belt 401 in order to prevent the belt 401 from being charged. This is for cleaning fine sheet pieces, dust, etc. remaining on the belt 401.

Reference numeral 409 denotes a fourth guide disposed between the third guide 32 and the entrance portion 400a of the rotating drum 400A.
It is for sending to.

A photosensor PS3 is arranged at a predetermined position of the fourth guide 409 to detect the image receiving sheet P being conveyed.

410 is a fifth conveyance roller disposed on the exit side of the second guide 21; 411 is a fifth guide disposed between the conveyance roller 410 and the artificial part 400a of the rotating drum 400A; The photosensitive sheet N is transferred to a rotating drum 400A.
This is a device for feeding the liquid into the inlet section 400a of. Therefore, the tips of the fourth guide 409 and the fifth guide 411 interlock with each other at a predetermined angle with respect to the artificial part 400a.

On the other hand, a scraper 412 is provided in the delivery section 400b of the rotating drum 400A. The scraper 412 has its sharp end oriented toward the delivery section 400b, and is attached to the rotating drum 40.
Sheet P that comes in contact with 0A and is conveyed in an overlapping manner
, N from the rotating drum 400A.

Reference numeral 413 denotes a curl correction guide disposed on the side of the delivery section 400b of the rotating drum 400A, and the end portion serving as the inlet section 413a is provided close to the delivery section 400b of the rotating drum 400A. In the middle of the curl correction guide 413, there is a sixth
A transport roller 414 is provided. This roller 41
4 is equipped with a one-way clutch, and the sheet P is
, N can follow it even if it is pulled at high speed.

Reference numeral 415 denotes a light-shielding roller unit disposed at the exit portion of the curl correction guide 413, which has slits on the left and right walls in the figure through which the overlapping sheets P and N pass, and a slit inside that partitions the interior into left and right sides. A plate 415a is attached. The slit plate 415a also has a slit formed in its center, through which the sheets P and N pass. In addition, a pair of sliding rollers 415b and 415C are provided in each chamber of the slit plate 415a in the light shielding roller unit 415.
etc. are in place.

Since the alignment directions a and b of each pair of sliding rollers 415b and 415c are not parallel to each other but are set at a certain angle, direct passage of light can be avoided. Further, a sixth guide 416 is provided on the exit side of the light shielding roller unit 415.

Reference numeral E designates a sheet peeling section disposed on the exit side of the sixth guide 416, 50 a pair of meandering correction rollers disposed at the exit section of the guide 416, and 51 a sheet peeling section disposed on the sheet discharge side of the correction roller 50. A pair of swinging rollers are provided.

The upper swinging roller 51a is configured to receive a predetermined signal so that the whole is tilted toward the feed side by an angle α about the rotation axis of the lower swinging roller 51b. This swinging drive is performed by a pulse motor.

Reference numeral 53 denotes a separator disposed on the sheet discharge side of the swinging roller 51, and is disposed such that its leading end faces the overlapping sheets P and N sent out from the swinging roller 51. 5
Reference numeral 4.55 denotes seventh and eighth conveyance rollers provided at diagonally upper and lower parts behind the separator 53, and these convey the image-receiving sheet P and photosensitive sheet N after separation to the outside of the sheet peeling section E, respectively. It is. 514.515 is separator 53
This is a guide plate for guiding the separated sheets to transport rollers 54 and 55, respectively. In the device of this example,
The structure is such that the separation angle between the two sheets can be adjusted by changing the mounting angle or shape of the guide plate.

The separator 53, conveyance rollers 54, 55, etc. are assembled into an integral frame 56, and the whole is configured to be movable within a predetermined range in the direction of arrow X. Therefore, the separator 53
If a sheet jam occurs on the side, the jammed sheet can be easily removed by moving the frame 56 in the direction of arrow X to open the space between the tip of the separator 53 and the swinging roller 51.

Now, the present invention has a rotary drum 400A with both sheets P and N.
As a first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the conveyance roller 31 and the conveyance roller 410 are driven to be capable of high-speed rotation and low-speed rotation. It is driven by a motor 417.

Further, the conveying roller 31 is provided with a clutch/brake 418, so that even when the drive motor 417 is continuously driven, the conveying roller 31 can be kept stopped or kept in a free state.

It is desirable to use the same type of AC servo motor (frequency control or PWM control) as the drive motor 417 and the drive motor 404 that drives the rotary drum A, etc., but the invention is not limited to this. Using similar products has the following advantages: That is, there are various types of sheets, and depending on the type, it is necessary to change the development time on the rotating drum A.

For this reason, when the rotational speed of the rotating drum 400A is changed, the rotational speed of the drive motor 417 is changed to that of the rotating drum 400A.
Control corresponding to the rotational speed of A becomes easy.

Now, when a start button (not shown) is pressed to start copying, the photosensitive sheet N is fed out from the supply port of the photothermographic supply device A and conveyed along the first guide 12.

At the same time, the clutch/brake 418 turns the clutch O
N. When the brake is turned off, the motor 417 rotates at high speed to drive the third conveying roller 31 and the image receiving sheet P is fed out from the supply port 30 of the image receiving material supplying device C. Feeding of the fed-out image receiving sheet P is confirmed by crossing the PS2, and it is conveyed at high speed along the fourth guide 409, and when it is detected by the PS3, the clutch/brake 4
18 turns the clutch OFF and the brake ON and stops there. At this time, the inertial movement of the image receiving sheet P is immediately and reliably suppressed, so that the image receiving sheet P stops at an accurate position.

During this time, the photosensitive sheet N passing through the first guide 12 is imagewise exposed by the FOT or the like of the exposure section B, and a latent image is formed. The latent image is a so-called mirror image, which is the opposite of the normal image. Thereafter, the image-exposed photosensitive sheet N is transferred to the second transport roller 2.
When the microswitch MSI detects this, the signal is transmitted to the control section, and the clutch/brake 418 is switched to the clutch O.
N. The brake is turned OFF, and the third roller 31, which is in the stopped state, is brought into the driving state, and the conveyance of the image-receiving sheet P is restarted.

After a certain period of time has elapsed from that point, the motor 417 rotates at a low speed. As a result, the conveyance speed of both sheets P and N is adjusted to the rotational linear speed of the rotary drum 400A, and the sheets P and N are transported to the drawing section 400.
They are superimposed at position a.

At the beginning of overlapping, the leading edge of the image-receiving sheet P is the photosensitive sheet N.
are overlapped with each other so that they protrude slightly (for example, 3 to 10+ m) from the tips of the two. In order to obtain such timing,
Microswitch MSI is set in position.

In this way, the sheets P and N that have advanced to the lead-in part 400a of the rotating drum 400A are overlapped, but near the lead-in part 400a, the two sheets N and P are not completely brought into close contact with each other, but are gradually brought into close contact with each other as they rotate. .

Here, since both sheets P and N are heated to about 150° C., the moisture contained in the emulsion and base is vaporized. This vaporized moisture is transferred to the laminating roller 406 as both sheets P and N advance.
When it reaches this point, it is extruded and eliminated.

Both sheets P and N that have passed through the laminating roller 406 are completely pressed together by the rotating drum 400A and the endless belt 401, the latent image on the photosensitive sheet N is developed there, and the image is transferred to the image receiving sheet P evenly and well. . Through this transfer, the image is inverted and becomes a normal image.

Note that when the end of the image-receiving sheet P passes the PS3 or the end of the photosensitive sheet N passes the MSI, and a certain period of time has elapsed thereafter, the motor 417 stops and the clutch/brake 418 turns off. (
(See Figure 2 above).

The above transfer is completed before both sheets 1-P and N reach the delivery section 400b of the rotating drum 400A.

Then, both sheets P and N are delivered to the delivery section 400b in a state where they are in close contact with each other and stuck to the rotating drum 400A side.
It is peeled off from 0A. After that, both sheets 1-P and N have their curls corrected while being conveyed to a curl correction guide 413, pass through a light-shielding roller unit 415, are sent out from a guide 416, and hit a correction roller 50, causing the direction to deviate. If so, the deviation will be corrected.

Then, both sheets P and N are conveyed to the swinging roller 51,
The tip is let out from the roller 51.

Since the upper image-receiving sheet P side of the leading ends of both sheets PSN that has been fed out protrudes, the leading ends of the image-receiving sheet P are placed on the upper side of the separator 53, and the swinging roller 51 is directed downward at the α angle shown in the figure. The photosensitive sheet N is peeled off from the image-receiving sheet P by tilting the image-receiving sheet P.

Thereafter, as both sheets PSN advance, the leading end of the separator 53 separates both sheets 1-P and 1-N.

The separated image-receiving sheet P is sent to the outside by the seventh transport roller 54, and the photosensitive sheet N is sent to the outside by the eighth transport roller 5.
5 and disposed of in the dust box.

In this embodiment, the conveyance roller 31 is provided with a clutch/brake 418, but a similar clutch/brake is provided on the motor 404 so that driving force for only low-speed rotation of the conveyance rollers 31 and 410 is obtained from the motor 404. It is also possible.

Next, as a second embodiment, there is provided one in which the surface of the conveyance rollers 30 and 410 is coated with a material having low frictional resistance, such as velvet. In this example, both sheets P,
N is transported at high speed until it enters the drum 400A, and after entering the drum 400A, each of the transport rollers 31 and 410 is in an idle sliding state with respect to both sheets PSN, so the drum 40
Forcible pushing to 0A is prevented, and conveyance is performed according to the low rotational linear speed of the rotating drum 400A. Therefore, the conveying rollers 31 and 410 only need to continuously rotate at high speed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a third embodiment. In this example, when both sheets P and N enter the drum 400A, the grip between the pair of transport rollers 31° is released by the operation of the solenoid 420, and thereafter both sheets P and N are handled in the same manner as in the second embodiment. is conveyed according to the rotation of the rotating drum 400A. Therefore, in this example as well, the conveyance roller 419 does not need to be rotated at a low speed, but only needs to be rotated at a high speed.

Further, as a fourth embodiment, there is the following method.

That is, the tips of both sheets P and N are connected to the rotating drum 400A.
When the transport roller 31.410
in a free state (no driving force, no braking force), and both seats P
, N drum 400A rotates the conveyance rollers 31, 410 at a low speed.

In the above embodiments, a so-called drum-belt type heat development section was used for explanation, but the heat development section is not limited to this example, but may also be used as described in JP-A-61-153651. Belt-belt type thing,
Of course, various types can also be used, such as a sheet-shaped heater press platen type as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-184544.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, both sheets are transported at a higher speed than the linear speed of the rotating drum until they enter the thermal development section, so it is possible to shorten the sheet processing time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of the thermal development image forming apparatus used in the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing its operation, and Fig. 3 is a diagram of the conveyance roller used in the third embodiment. The explanatory diagram, FIG. 4, is a mock diagram of the entire thermal development image forming apparatus. A: Heat-developable photosensitive element supply section, B: Exposure section, C:
...Image receiving element supply section, D...Thermal development transfer section, E...
Sheet peeling unit, 10... Supply port, 11... First conveyance roller, 12... First guide, 20... Second conveyance roller, 21... First guide, 30 . . . Supply port, 31 . . . Third conveyance roller, 31゛ . ... Sending part, 400A... Rotating drum, 401... Endless belt, 402... Heating device, 403... Roller group, 403A... Entrance roller, 403B... Exit roller, 403C...・Holding roller, 403D... Tension adjustment roller, 404... Drive motor, 407...
・Cleaning roller, 408... Static elimination brush, 40
9...Fourth guide, 410...Fifth conveyance roller, 411...Fifth guide, 412...Scraper, 413...Curl correction guide, 414...Sixth conveyance Roller, 415... Light shielding roller unit, 415
a... Slit plate, 415b, 415C... Sliding roller, 416... Sixth guide, 417... Drive motor, 418... Clutch/brake, 420...
... Solenoid, E... Sheet peeling section, 50... Correction roller, 51... Swinging roller, 53... Separator, 54... Seventh conveyance roller, 55... Eighth... Conveyance roller, 56... frame, PSI, PS2. PS3・
... Transmissive photosensor, MSl, MS2. MS3...
・Micro switch, N...Photosensitive sheet, P...Image receiving sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Heat development in which a photosensitive material on which a latent image has been formed by image exposure and an image receiving material are superimposed and bonded under heat and pressure in a heat development section to develop the latent image and transfer it to the image receiving material. A thermal development image forming method, characterized in that the photosensitive material and the image receiving material are transported to the thermal development section at a higher speed than the transportation speed at the thermal development section.