JPH01275072A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive a high-speed high-quality thermal transfer recorder which can be used irrespective of the surface shape of an image receiving object, by providing an intermediate transfer medium, a mechanism capable of transferring an ink image to the intermediate transfer medium, and a mechanism for transferring the image from the intermediate medium onto an image-receiving medium under pressure. CONSTITUTION:An ink medium 6 and an intermediate transfer medium 4 are simultaneously supplied from a film pay-out roller 21. The intermediate medium 4 and the ink medium 6 are fed at the same velocity while being pressed and clamed on a rubber roller 40 by a recording head 10. The ink medium 6, after formation of a latent image, is released from the intermediate medium 4 by an edge of the head 10, is superposed on a transfer recording paper 19, and they are pressed between a transfer roller 43 and a platen 22. The transfer roller 43 is heated beforehand to a temperature not lower than the melting point of an ink used, so that the latent image on the ink medium is transferred onto the paper 19. Thus, an image corresponding to an input signal is recorded on the paper.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus using a thermal transfer recording method.

[Conventional technology]

As a printing device using the conventional thermal transfer method, there was a "printing device" (Japanese Patent Application No. 186496, 1982). This invention makes it possible to modulate the area of recorded dots with one recording element, and realizes a full-color gradation printing device that is high-speed, high-quality, and low-cost.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has a problem in that although it is possible to obtain good impressions on objects with smooth surfaces, it is not possible to obtain good impressions on objects with rough surfaces. Was.

The above problem is solved by heating and melting ink 9 as shown in Figure 6.
The main reason for this is that the dots do not come into contact with each other in the concave portions 91 of the transfer paper 19, resulting in missing dots.

To solve the above problem, there is an idea to make the recording head an elastic body and make it follow the rough surface of the transfer paper, but since the recording head needs heat resistance, this idea is suitable for low-speed printing equipment with less temperature load. can only be applied.

In particular, bond paper used for official documents in Europe and the United States, as well as official postcards in Japan, cannot be printed due to the above reasons, which is a factor preventing the spread of thermal transfer methods.

The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and its purpose is to provide a high-speed, high-quality thermal transfer recording device that can be used regardless of the surface shape of an object to be transferred.

[Means to solve the problem]

The printing device of the present invention is characterized by having a mechanism that can transfer an image formed by an intermediate transfer medium and ink to the intermediate transfer medium, and a mechanism that pressurize and transfer the image from the intermediate transfer medium to a printing medium. do.

〔Example〕

A full-color gradation printing device using an electric thermal transfer method using the present invention was manufactured. The input image signal is an NTSC video signal, a line head is used, and the recording density is 6dot/
The number of mms pixels is 6.10 in the main scanning direction and 480 in the sub-scanning direction. Recording screen size is approximately 107mm x 80
It is mm.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of an ink medium according to the present invention. FIG. 1(a) is an overall view of the ink medium 6. In this example,
Since the purpose is color recording, three primary color inks of magenta 1, cyan 2, and yellow 3, which are thin film solid inks, are applied sequentially over an area at least equal to or larger than the above-mentioned recording screen size. 11 is an intermediate transfer medium according to the present invention.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a marker installed for the printing device to detect the ink color position on the film medium, and is coated with white ink. During printing, this markani is optically detected by reflection, and the leading position of the magenta ink image 1, which is the first recorded color, is aligned with the leading position of the printing position on the recording medium.

Further, FIG. 1(b) shows a cross section of the ink medium 6 (1 indicates the structure. The ink medium 6 has a three-layer structure, which includes a resistive layer 7 and an ink layer 9, and a resistive layer 7 and an ink layer 9 that support the resistive layer 7 and the ink layer 9. The ink layer 9 is made by dispersing 3 to 10% pigment in wax and applying it by a hot melt method.The coating thickness is about 1.5 to 2.5 μm.

4 is an intermediate transfer medium, and polyethylene terephthalate with a film thickness of 3.5 μm was used.

The base material 8 used was polyethylene terephthalate with a thickness of about 3.5 μm.

The resistance layer 7 was prepared by mixing carbon y1 particles as a conductive material into a thermoplastic resin and applying the mixture by a solvent method.

The ink-applied score of the ink medium 6 and the intermediate transfer medium 11 are superposed, and the core 51 of the film supply roller 21 is
rolled together.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the RAD 10. Figure i2 is a side view seen from arrow A with respect to Figure 2a. Tilt recording department, 12 is Kakeru! The v7 IC mounting section 13 is a coupling section for electrically coupling the drive IC mounting section 12. Drive I
C14 is connected to Rt by an external signal to the Dffl pole 15.
'It is an integrated drive circuit for outputting voltage in two ways, and each circuit includes 60 drive elements. This drive MIC1
4 were mounted on the mounting section 12.

The recording electrode group 15 is arranged on the supporting substrate 16 at equal intervals and in parallel at a distance equal to the recording pixel pitch. In this example, the number of recording electrodes is 480, and the electrode pitch is 170μ.
It was set as m. Reference numeral 17 denotes a contact surface with the resistive layer (not shown). During recording, the recording head is held parallel to the resistive layer, and the tip of the recording head is pressed and slid against the resistor while being energized to print. Let's do it.

The above substrate group was fixed to the support plate 18 with VC adhesive.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of an electrically conductive thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present invention. The ink medium 6 and the intermediate transfer medium 4 are simultaneously supplied by the film supply roller 21. The intermediate transfer medium 4 and the ink medium 6 are transferred to the recording head 1 on a rubber roller 40.
They are conveyed at the same speed while being pressurized and clamped by 0.

Then, by an energization signal based on a predetermined input image signal,
A voltage is output to the recording ffl pole 15 of the recording throat 10. At this time, the energization signal is inverted with respect to the brightness of the human image signal, so the image on the intermediate transfer medium 4 transferred by energization heating of the resistance layer (not shown) is inverted with respect to the input image. image, and a latent image of the original image will be left on the ink medium.

FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of the energizing mechanism. 10 is a recording head, 6 is an ink medium, and 4 is an intermediate transfer medium. Also 4
1 indicates ink melted by heat generated by electricity. In the present invention, since the energization process is always performed on the intermediate transfer medium 4-,
The current state is stable and, of course, is not affected by the surface condition of the transfer paper 20. Furthermore, since the rubber roller 10 is an elastic body, it follows the recording without any errors even if the linearity of the tip of the gutter is somewhat poor.

Reference numeral 42 in FIG. 3 is a transfer mechanism section of the present printing apparatus. Transfer paper 19, which is a recording medium, is supplied from a transfer paper roll 20. Also, the ink medium 6 after forming the ikk image is transferred from the intermediate transfer medium 4 by the edge 23 of the recording head. After being separated, it is overlapped with the transfer paper 19 and transferred to the transfer roller 43.
and the platen 22. Since the transfer roller 43 is heated in advance to 'tFAe, which is higher than the melting point of the ink, the latent image on the ink medium is transferred to the transfer paper 19, and a recorded image corresponding to the input signal is formed on the transfer paper. Ru.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the transfer mechanism section. A heat generating film 44 is contained within the transfer roller 43, and the temperature of the ink is always maintained at a temperature suitable for transfer through the outer peripheral portion 45 of the transfer roller 43. In this example, room temperature fluctuation -5
~45'C, whereas the temperature of the ink during the transfer process is 6
The temperature was controlled to be 0 to 100°C. Further, the outer peripheral portion 45 of the transfer roller is wrapped with rubber having a hardness of about 5 to 60 degrees, and has a mechanism that can sufficiently follow the unevenness 46 on the surface of the transfer paper 19.

47 in FIG. 3 indicates that after image formation, the ink medium 6 and medium 111 transfer medium 4 pass through separate paths to the film winding roller 24.
This is a fulcrum for adjusting the path length of the intermediate transfer medium 4 to be polymerized again and wound up.

In order to perform color recording, this printing device prints magenta 1→
The upper aa row lx is repeated three times in the order of cyano 2→yellow 3 to form a color print image 26. That is, after the ink medium 6 finishes printing one color, it transports the first coating position S of the next color ink to the head energizing section (arrow B), and transfers the next color ink to the head energizing section (arrow B), and
9 is conveyed in the opposite direction to that during recording, returns to the printing start position, and printing of the next color is started. Further, the distance between the energizing section B and the transfer section C is equal to the φ cloth pitch of the Habo ink.

When we actually attempted printing using the configuration of the present invention described above, we found that while conventional printing was only possible on thermal transfer paper with a Beck smoothness of 200 seconds or more, it was also possible to print on bond paper with a Beck smoothness of 8 seconds. Good prints were possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the heated and melted ink makes good contact with the concave portions of the transfer paper having a rough surface, so that it can be applied to the rough surface of the transfer paper. Excellent printing is possible even for

Although the present embodiment has been described using an energized thermal transfer recording method as an example, the present invention has similar effects in a thermal transfer recording method as well.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are diagrams showing the structure of an ink medium of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are views showing the construction of a two-recording head 61 of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the energizing machine portion of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram that does not show the transfer n hi portion of the printing device according to the present invention. FIG. C is a diagram illustrating problems with a conventional thermal transfer type printing device. 1... Magenta ink 2... Cyan ink 3... Yellow ink 4... Intermediate transfer medium 6... Ink medium 7... Resistance layer 8... Base material 9... Ink layer 10... ...Recording head 11...Recording section 12...Drive IC mounting section 13...Coupling section 14...g1 dynamic IC l3...Writing electrode 16...Support substrate 17...Resistance layer Contact surface 18...Support plate 19...Transfer paper 20...Transfer paper roll 21...Film supply roller 22...Platen 23...Edge of S2 record 2tl...Film winding Take-off roller Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Each medium 6 Ink 7 pieces 45 External wholesale ('(

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An ink medium comprising a thin film solid ink coated on a thin film base material that can be activated by at least thermal stimulation and transferred under pressure to a printing medium, and an image to which the thin film solid ink is input. In a printing device consisting of a means for selectively heating in accordance with a signal, a means for conveying a printing medium and ink, a mechanism for transferring an inverse image of an input image to an intermediate transfer medium, and a mechanism for transferring an inverse image of an input image to an intermediate transfer medium, and a mechanism for transferring an inverse image of an input image to an intermediate transfer medium, and a means for conveying a printing medium and ink, and a mechanism for transferring an inverse image of an input image to an intermediate transfer medium; What is claimed is: 1. A printing device comprising: a mechanism for pressure-transferring a frontal image onto a printing medium. 2) The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate medium is a thin film, is in contact with the thin solid ink, and is wound around the same core.