JPH02266974A - Heat transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a heat transfer printer capable of using plural kinds of ink ribbons by equipping an apparatus with a detecting means for detecting the kind of a fitted ink film and with a tension changing means for changing to a preset tension. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head 10 is moved, an ink ribbon 9a and a recording paper 12 are contact-bonded to a platen 13, and the ON-OFF of switches 3, 4 of a detecting means 1 is checked. In this case, the part of a ribbon cassette corresponding to said switches 3, 4 is provided with hole parts 7, 8. When said switch 3 is OFF and the switch 4 is ON, a ribbon cassette put on an carriage 5 is the ribbon cassette 6c of multi-time ribbon 9c and when both switches 3, 4 are ON or the switch 3 is ON and the switch 4 is OFF, said ribbon cassettes put on a carriage 5 are the ribbon cassettes 6a, 6b of one-time ribbons 9a, 9b. Therefore, when the rotational speed of a take-up motor changes according to the use of one-time ribbon and multi-time ribbon, it is possible to vary the tension at the time of take-up and to take up respective ink ribbons by the optimum tension.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to thermal transfer printers, and particularly relates to thermal transfer printers, which are capable of printing multiple types of ink ribbons such as 1f51t, one-time ribbons that cannot be used, and multi-time ribbons that can be used multiple times. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer using an ink ribbon.

A thermal transfer printer is a film made of polyester, etc., coated with heat-melting ink, with the ink side facing the recording paper, and a thermal head presses the ink film onto the recording paper.The heat from the thermal head transfers the ink to the ink film. is melted and transferred onto recording paper.

Among such small-sized thermal transfer printers, there is one in which the ink film is formed into a ribbon and stored in cassettes 1 to 1, and the ink ribbon is replaced for each cassette. In recent years, there have been cases where a single printer wants to use various types of ink ribbons, such as monochrome ribbons, color ribbons, one-time ribbons that can be used only once in monochrome, and multi-time ribbons that can be used several times or more. be.

2. Description of the Related Art Thermal transfer printers used as printers for conventional word processors, personal computers, etc. sandwich an ink ribbon and recording paper stored in a ribbon cassette between a thermal head and a platen.
Printing was performed by moving 11 m+1 L in the - line printing direction.

The recording paper was moved in a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the thermal head for each printing line, and printing was performed one after another with the thermal head positioned at the position of the next line.

At this time, the ink ribbon is seen on the winding side of the ribbon cassette as the thermal head moves. Spring removal of the ink ribbon is performed by rotating a take-up core fitted to a take-up reel of a ribbon cassette.

The take-up core is coupled to the ribbon take-up motor via a slip mechanism, and the take-up force of the take-up core is proportional to the rotational speed of the ribbon take-up motor.

Therefore, the rotational speed of the ribbon winding motor is set at a value that allows the ink ribbon to be wound up at an optimal tensile strength that provides good quality printing in accordance with the force with which the ink ribbon is peeled off from the recording paper.

At this time, if the printer uses a one-time ribbon, the number of revolutions of the ribbon winding motor is set to a value that provides the optimum tension for the one-time ribbon.

However, when trying to use multiple types of ink ribbons, one-time ribbons and multi-time ribbons, in a conventional thermal transfer printer for one-time ribbons, only one one-time ribbon is used, so the ink film The ink layer is thin and the ink film has low rigidity, so it bends easily and even a small tensicon can peel off from the recording paper. On the other hand, since multi-time ribbons are used multiple times, the ink film is thicker and the ink film has greater rigidity, making it difficult to bend and pulling with a large tensicon.
Without IgA, it cannot pierce the recording paper, so in thermal transfer printers for one-time ribbons, one of the take-up motors is
The rolling speed is a constant value that is optimal for winding a one-time ribbon, so when using a multi-time ribbon that requires greater tension, the tension of the ink ribbon wound on the winding core side is insufficient, resulting in poor recording performance. It is difficult to peel off compared to paper, and there are problems such as poor printing and more stains on the recording paper. On the other hand, if the rotational speed of the take-up motor is set higher to a constant value that is the optimal tension for multi-time ribbons, the tension controller will be too large when using one-time ribbons, and the running performance of the ink ribbon will deteriorate. However, there have been problems such as the vertical movement of the printing position relative to the ribbon and the twisting and wrinkling of the ribbon, making it impossible to perform normal printing.Therefore, one printer cannot use different types of ink ribbons.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and includes a plurality of 1ml
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that can use ink ribbons.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is a thermal transfer printer that heats an ink film with a thermal head to melt the ink on the ink film and transfer the ink to a recording paper that is in close contact with the ink film. The apparatus includes a detection means for detecting the ink film, and a tension controller switching means for switching to a tension preset for the type of ink film detected in accordance with the detection result of the detection means.

The action detection means detects the ms of the ink film, and depending on the detection result, the ink film is pulled by the tensicon corresponding to each ink film by the tensicon switching means. An ink film that is more difficult to peel off than the recording paper is wound up with a larger tensioner, and an ink film that is more easily peeled off than the recording paper is pulled with a smaller tension.

Therefore, it is possible to pull the ink film using the tensicon that is most suitable for each film.

Example FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

In the figure, 1 is the detection means and 2 is the tensicon off! ! 1″ stage is shown.

The detection means 1 consists of two first and second switches 3 and 4, and is provided so as to protrude from a carriage 5 on which a ribbon cassette is placed, as shown in FIG. The first switch 3 and the second switch 4 are turned on when pressed downward from the surface of the carriage 5, and turned off when they protrude upward. The ribbon cassette is placed in the carriage 5 depending on the type of ink ribbon as shown in Figures 4 (8) to (C).
Hole 1 in the part corresponding to the first and second switches 3゜4 on the top! ! 117.8 is provided, and the type of ink ribbon is detected by turning on and off the first and second switches 3.4 by providing or not providing this hole 7.8. .

The ribbon cassette 6a shown in FIG. 4A is a ribbon cassette in which neither hole 7.8 is provided, and is a monochrome one-time ribbon 9a. The ribbon cassette 6b shown in FIG. 4(B) is provided with a hole 8 at a position corresponding to the second switch 4, and this shows the ribbon cassette of the colored one-time ribbon 9b. (
A ribbon cassette 6G shown in C) is provided with a hole 7 at a position corresponding to the first switch 3, and this is a ribbon cassette for a multi-time ribbon 9C.

As shown in 3I11, the carriage 5 is provided with a thermal head 10, and the ribbon cassette 6 shown in 4th figure is provided with a thermal head 10.
a. 6b, 6C in the carriage 5, the thermal head 10 is placed in the recess 1 of the ribbon cassette 6a, 6b, 6c.
! Located inside l1s11, during printing, it moves in the direction of the arrow, pulls out the ink ribbons 98-9C a little from the ribbon cassettes 68-6C, and sandwiches the ink ribbons 98-9C and the recording paper 12 together with the platen 13. It is the composition. The carriage motor 14 moves the carriage 5 along a shaft 17 in the direction of arrow B using a pulley 15 and a timing belt 16. Further, 4; the spear 5 is provided with a take-up core 19 and a supply core 18, and the take-up core 19 is coupled to a take-up motor (not shown) via a slip mechanism (not shown). .

The recording paper 12 is moved in the direction of arrow C by the paper feed motor every time one line of printing is completed.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
U (Central Office 3111 @ Office) 20. It consists of a memory 21° motor driver 22° ribbon winding motor 23, and the CP
External data is input to U20 via an interface 27, and the detection means 1 and ribbon end sensor 24 are also input to U20.
The detection results are input. The motor driver 22 is CPt
Ribbon winding motor 2 based on the pulse signal from J20
3, a carriage motor 142 and a paper feed motor 25 are also driven. Ribbon winding motor 23. The carriage motor 142 and the paper feed motor 25 are step motors, and the rotational speed of the motors is determined by the signal frequency from the motor driver 22.

Further, the CPU 20 controls the energization of the thermal head 10 via the driver 26 in accordance with external data.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to FIG. First, when a one-line printing operation command is input as external data to the CPU 20 via the interface 27, the CPU 20 moves the thermal head 10 shown in the third figure in the direction of arrow A, and moves the ink ribbon 9a and the recording paper 12 to the platen. Crimp to 13 (
Step 28゜29) Firstly, the first and second detection means 1
Check whether switch 3.4 is on or off. At this time, if the first switch 3 is off and the second switch 4 is on, the carriage 5kl and the mounted ribbon cassette are the ribbon cassettes 6 of the multi-time ribbon 9C.
C, and the first and second switches 3 and 4
When both are on, or when the first switch 3 is on and the second switch 4 is off, it can be seen that the ribbon cassettes 6a, 6b of the one-time ribbons 9a, 9b are present.

When the ribbon cassette 6C of the multi-time ribbon 9C is placed on the carriage 5, the frequency of the signal supplied to the take-up motor is set to fl, and the one-time ribbons 9a and 9b are
ribbon cassette 6a.

6b is placed on the carriage 5, the frequency of the signal supplied to the take-up motor 23 is fo, where f
, >fo, the take-up motor 23 is a step motor whose one rotation speed is determined by the frequency of the supplied pulse signal. Therefore, the rotational speed of the winding motor 23 is slower for the one-time ribbons 9a and 9b than for the multi-time ribbon 9C.

It is also known that the take-up motor 23 connects the ink ribbon to the take-up core 19 via a slip mechanism, and that the tensile strength of the ink ribbon is proportional to the number of rotations of the take-up motor 23. Therefore, the multi-time ribbon 9C is pulled more strongly by the winding core 19 than the one-time ribbons 9a and 9b (steps 30 to 33).

At the same time as the take-up motor 23 starts rotating, the carriage motor 14 is rotated to move the thermal head 10 to the printing start position (step 34). When the thermal head 10 is moved to the printing start position, the thermal head 10
Start energizing and print (steps 35 and 36)
. When printing is completed, the carriage motor 14 is stopped, and then the take-up motor 23 is stopped (steps 37 to 3).
39). After the take-up motor is stopped, the thermal head is moved to separate the ink ribbon from the recording paper, and - line printing is completed (steps 40 and 41).

In this embodiment, the tension at the time of winding the one-time ribbon and the multi-time ribbon can be changed by changing the rotation speed of the one-time ribbon and the multi-time ribbon. This allows each ink ribbon to be wound at the optimal tension. Therefore, printing defects due to stains or twisting of the recording paper do not occur, and ink ribbons with different characteristics, such as one-time ribbons and multi-time ribbons, can be used in as many printers as possible.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the type of ink film is detected by the detection means, and the tension of the ink film is adjusted to a tension preset according to the type of ink film according to the detection result by the tension switching means. By switching, each ink film can be pulled at the optimal tension depending on the ink film, making it possible to perform high-quality printing even when using different types of ink film. It has features such as being able to use different ribbons.

4. @l1ffi's flJ Simple explanation Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the main part of the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of another main part of the embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Detection means, 2... Winding means, 3... First switch, 4... Second switch, 6a, 6b, 6C
...Ribbon cassette-7, 8...hole, 9a, 9b
... One-time ribbon, 9C... Multi-time ribbon, 10... Thermal head.

Figure 1 δ Figure 2 Figure 13 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a thermal transfer printer that heats an ink film with a thermal head to melt the ink on the ink film and transfer the ink to a recording paper that is in close contact with the ink film, the type of the attached ink film is detected. A thermal transfer printer comprising: a detection means for detecting the ink film; and a tension switching means for switching to a tension preset for the type of ink film detected according to the detection result of the detection means.