JPH03130747A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily separate an image recording sheet from a mask original plate and to reduce the cost of a recorder by providing an suction means for sucking a photosensitive recording medium to an exposure table which is in contact with the photosensitive recording medium at the time of exposure. CONSTITUTION:Until the exposure is finished, the exposure table 52 actuates an exhaust pump 59 to exhaust air between the exposure table 52 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 from a suction port 52a to make the medium 50 sucked to the exposure table 52. While an exposing device moves back, the exposure table 52 descends and the medium 50 is separated from a positioning device and the mask original plate 15R. The exposure table 52 moves back and forth until the three mask original plates 15R, 15G and 15B are positioned and exposure is finished, and the medium 50 is not separated from the exposure table 52. When a latent image is recorded on the medium 50, the exposure table 52 descends and a pump 59 is stopped, then the medium 50 is separated from the exposure table 52. Thus, the medium 50 is easily and surely separated from the mask original plate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus using a mask original.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of image recording device has been disclosed in the specifications and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 62-301104 filed earlier by the present applicant. It consists of a fixing means, a movable exposure table, and a stretching means for the photosensitive recording medium, and when the exposure table is in close contact with the photosensitive recording medium, the photosensitive recording medium is held between the fixing means and tension is applied by the stretching means. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, if the mask original plate etc. is even slightly charged when the exposure table is separated after contact exposure, photosensitive recording will not be possible unless a considerably strong tension is applied to the photosensitive recording medium. Since the medium sticks to the exposure table side, the photosensitive recording medium may be scratched during transportation of the mask original, or the mask original itself may cause paper jams.

On the other hand, when applying strong tension to a photosensitive recording medium, there is a possibility that color shift may occur during exposure, so the fixing means and tensioning means must be highly accurate, and these are quite expensive.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to reliably separate the photosensitive recording medium from the exposure table when the exposure table is separated, even if the mask original plate etc. is slightly charged. do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the image recording apparatus of the present invention includes a suction means for suctioning the photosensitive recording medium to the exposure table.

[Function] The exposure table of the present invention having the above configuration attracts the photosensitive recording medium by the suction means after the close contact and at least until the end of the exposure,
When separating after exposure, the photosensitive recording medium is separated from the mask original while being adsorbed to the exposure table.

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

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a monochrome laser printer 1 and a color image recording device 20 in a combined arrangement.

First, a monochrome laser printer 1 is mounted on top of a color image recording device. A polygon scanner 2 in a laser printer 1 draws an electrostatic latent image by irradiating a charged photoreceptor 3 with laser light. The photoreceptor 3 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is developed by a developing device 4, and the toner image is transferred onto plain paper or an OHP sheet fed from a paper feed cassette 5, and fixed by a fixing device 6. Typically, the monochrome laser printer 1 records data transmitted from a host computer.

The output from the laser printer 1 is output from the paper path switching unit 10 to the monochrome output tray 1 if a black and white image is required.
If a color image is required, the paper is sent to the paper discharge tray 12 and then taken into the color image recording device 20.

The distal end side of the paper output tray 12 is rotatable between the position shown by the solid line and the position shown by the chain line in FIG. The paper is taken into the color image recording device 20, and a set of three monochrome printed papers output from the laser printer 1 is used as a mask original 15 (15R, 15G, 15B) of the color image recording device 20. be done.

Next, the configuration of the color image recording device 20 will be explained.

That is, at the top of the main body of the color image recording device 20, a mask original conveying device 21 is located, in which an alignment device 31, a circulation guide 25, and two storage sections 26 and 27 located in parallel are connected in an annular manner. . The positioning device 31 of the mask original transport device 21 and the storage sections 26 and 27 are connected to the discharge tray 12 of the monochrome laser printer 1 via the guide member 22, so that the output tray 12 of the monochrome laser printer 1 A sheet of paper (mask original) is introduced into the mask original transport device 21 . Further, a gate 23 is arranged in the mask original conveying device 21 below the guide member 22, and the mask original 15 that has been guided and conveyed by the guide member 22 is moved to the alignment device 31 side by the gate 23. Alternatively, the paper can be distributed to the paper discharge tray 30 side. In addition, a circulation guide 25 and two storage sections 26 and 27 are provided.
A gate 28 is arranged between the gate 2 and the
The mask originals 15 that have been guided and conveyed by the circulation guide 25 by 8 are sorted into either the upper storage section 26 side or the lower storage section 27 side. - direction, manual feed tray 2
The mask original 15 inserted from 9 is guided into the mask original transport device 21 via the gate 28.

The alignment device 31 is constructed by processing a belt 32 made of a transparent dielectric material (for example, polyethylene terephthalate: PET) into an endless shape and stretching it between two rotating shafts. There is.

At least one of the two shafts is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and as the shaft rotates, the belt 32 is driven to circulate in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. The surface of the belt 32 is charged by a charging device (for example, a corotron), not shown, so that it attracts the mask original 15 by electrostatic attraction. Further, a sensor 33 for alignment is provided near the belt 32, and reads alignment marks printed at predetermined positions on the mask original 15 to set the mask original 15 at a predetermined position. It is configured as follows.

An exposure device 41 is arranged above the alignment device 31, and the exposure device 41 is movable in the left-right direction along the alignment device 31.

The exposure device 41 includes a linear white light source (hereinafter simply referred to as a lamp) 42 and a reflection plate 43 that reflects light from the lamp 42.
and arranged to surround the lamp 42 and the reflector 43,
The color separation filter 44 includes a red filter 44R, a green filter 44G, and a blue filter 44B.

The photosensitive recording medium 50 is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-14304.
The main material is a photocurable resin using a photopolymerization initiator known in Publication No. 4, and includes a photocurable resin that cures with light of each wavelength of red, green, and blue, and cyan, magenta, Microcapsules containing yellow dye precursors are coated on a base sheet. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is housed in a cartridge 51 so as not to be exposed to light. The photosensitive recording medium 50 pulled out from the cartridge 51 passes between the belt 32 and the exposure table 52, and then passes through the slack remover 55 and the movable guide 64.
, the pressure developing device 70 and the drive roller 57, and then the image is taken up by the take-up roller 54.

The exposure table 52 has a suction hole 52a outside its image area;
The exposure device 4 further includes a gasket 58 surrounding the outside thereof and an exhaust pump 59 guided to the suction hole.
When exposed by 1, it is raised by cam 53,
Thereby, the mask original 15 conveyed by the belt 32 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 are brought into close contact with each other. Furthermore, the slack removing device 55 prevents the photosensitive recording medium 50 from sagging while the pressure developing device 70 performs the development process, and the driving roller 57 prevents the photosensitive recording medium 50 from being sagged at a constant speed. can.

The developer sheet 60 is constructed by coating a base paper with a developer described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739, and is placed in the cassette 61 so that the developer-coated surface faces downward. It is set.

The developer sheet 60 is fed to the cassette 6 by a paper feed roller 62 that is intermittently driven by a drive source (not shown).
The sheets are taken out one by one from No. 1 and supplied to the pressure developing device 70. Then, the color developer sheet 60 is pressed by a pair of pressure rollers 71 of the pressure developing device 70 while superimposed on the exposed photosensitive recording medium 50, and is thereby formed on the photosensitive recording medium 50 by exposure. The resulting latent image is visualized on the developer sheet 60.

The heat fixing device 80 includes a heat roller 82 having a built-in heater 81.
, auxiliary roller 85, its heat roller 82 and auxiliary roller 85
The developer sheet is composed of an endless belt 84 installed between them and a presser roller 83 pressed against a heat roller 82 via the endless belt 84, and is guided and conveyed by a movable guide 64 from the pressure developing device 70. 6
0 is polished by the heat fixing device 80 and then discharged onto the paper discharge tray 63.

The operation of the device configured as described above will be explained next.

First, a mask original plate 15R for red color is created by the monochrome laser printer 1. This mask original version 15R is
This is a mask original plate with toner as a light-shielding image placed on other parts of the microcapsules coated on the photosensitive recording medium 50 in order to harden the microfubcells having a cyan dye precursor.

At this time, the monochrome laser printer 1
is in the position shown by the solid line, and the mask original 15R is guided by the guide member 22 to the color image recording device 20.
The original mask is guided into the mask original conveying device 21 .

At this time, if the sensor of the alignment device 31 confirms that there is no other mask original 15 in the alignment device 31, the mask original 15R is conveyed to the alignment device 31 by the gate 23.

Next, the alignment device 31 adsorbs the mask original 15R to the belt 32 using electrostatic adsorption force and conveys it to the appropriate exposure position, and then, while the sensor 33 reads the alignment mark printed on the mask original 15R, Align the position to an accurate position using a non-operating drive source.

A drive source (not shown) rotates the cam 53 by a predetermined angle and pushes the exposure table 52 upward, so that the photosensitive recording medium 50 comes into close contact with the belt 32 of the alignment device 31 while sandwiching the mask original 15R.

When the exposure table 52 comes into close contact with the alignment device 31, the lamp 4
2 lights up, and the exposure device 41 performs scanning exposure in the direction of arrow A in order to expose the photosensitive recording medium 50 with red light through the mask original 15R through the red filter 44R. When the exposure is completed, the lamp 42 is turned off and the exposure device 4 is turned off.
1 moves back in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the filter cylinder 44 of the exposure device 41 is rotated by a drive source (not shown), and the green filter 44G is positioned directly below the lamp 42.

Here, in addition to the alignment mark, the mask original plate 15 is printed with a color-specific mark indicating which color the mask original plate is a color separation mask original plate, and is read by a sensor at the same time as the alignment operation. In addition, the filter cylinder 44
is equipped with a sensor that detects the origin of each of the three types of filters 44R, 44G, and 44B, and detects the read color marks and each filter 44R, 4 of the exposure device 41.
4G.

44B do not correspond, the filter cylinder 44 rotates to select each predetermined filter 44R, 44G, 44B.
It is designed to correspond to

Until the exposure is completed, the exposure table 52 is operated by the exhaust pump 5.
9 and exhausts the air between the exposure table 52 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 from the suction hole 52a.
2 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 are attracted to each other. While the exposure device 41 moves backward, the exposure table 52 is lowered by the rotation of the cam 53, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is separated from the alignment device 31 and the mask original 15R. However, until the exposure stage 52 completes the alignment and exposure of the three original mask plates 15R, 15G, and 15B, The photosensitive recording medium 50 and the exposure table 52 are not separated from each other by reciprocating between the positions shown in FIG. 2(c).

At this time, a pack tension is applied to the photosensitive recording medium 50 at the center of rotation of the roll of the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the cartridge 51, and when the exposure table 52 rises, the length corresponds to the amount of rise of the exposure table 52. is the storage cartridge 51
drawn out from within. Also, when the exposure is finished, the exposure table 52
When the photosensitive recording medium 50 is lowered, it is rewound in a direction to take up the slack of the photosensitive recording medium 50.

When the exposure by the red mask original 15R is completed and the lowering of the exposure table 52 is confirmed, the belt 32 of the alignment device 31 rotates, and the mask original 15R is moved to the circulation guide section 25.
After passing through, the user is guided to the storage section 26 by a gate 28.

Next, after the green mask original 15G created by the monochrome laser printer 1 passes through the guide member 22,
The gate 23 guides the alignment device 31 .

Then, as in the case of the mask original 15R, after alignment is performed with respect to the photosensitive recording medium 50, the exposure table 52 is raised, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 and the mask original 15G are aligned with the belt 3 of the alignment device 31. and then the lamp 42
lights up, and exposure to green light is performed via the green filter 44G. After exposure, the exposure table 52 is lowered, the mask original 15G is guided upward through the circulation guide section 25, the gate 28 is rotated, and the mask original 15G is guided to the storage section 27. As the exposure device 41 moves back to its original position, the filter cylinder 44 rotates, and the blue filter 44B is positioned directly below the lamp.

Similarly, the blue mask original plate 15B created by the monochrome laser printer is transferred to the mask original conveying device 2.
1 and aligned to a predetermined position by an alignment device 31. Thereafter, the exposure device 41 exposes the photosensitive recording medium 50 to blue light.

Through the above operations, a latent image of a desired color image is recorded on the photosensitive recording medium 50.

Next, the exposure table 52 is lowered to the position shown in FIG. Wind it up in the direction of arrow C. At this time, the buffer 55 and the movable guide member 64 for taking up the slack of the photosensitive recording medium 50 are at the positions indicated by solid lines. Further, the pressure rollers 71 of the pressure developing device 70 are spaced apart from each other.

Therefore, during the winding operation, the microcapsules of the photosensitive recording medium 50 are not damaged or destroyed. The driving roller 57 has a rear end portion of the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50 that is connected to the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70.
Stop when you get to the part.

In synchronization with the movement of the photosensitive recording medium 50, a developer sheet 60 is sent out from the cassette 61 by a paper feed roller 62, and is stopped at a position where the front end of the developer sheet corresponds to the rear end of the photosensitive recording medium 50. do.

Next, a driving device (not shown) presses the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 while rotating in the direction of the arrow. As a result, the photosensitive recording medium 50 is transferred to the developer sheet 60.
The uncured microcapsules on the photosensitive recording medium 50 are destroyed by the pressure, and a color image corresponding to the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50 is formed. is developed on the developer sheet 50.

As the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the slack removing device 55 moves in the direction of the arrow E and absorbs the slack of the photosensitive recording medium 50. When the slack removing device 55 moves in the direction of arrow E, the movable guide 64 moves to the position indicated by the chain line by a mechanism not shown, and peels off the leading edge of the color developer sheet 60 from the photosensitive recording medium 50, and also removes the leading edge of the color developer sheet 60 from the photosensitive recording medium 50. Guide in the direction of device 80.

In the heat fixing device 80, the color developer sheet 60 receives thermal energy from the heater 81 via the rotating heat roller 82 and the endless belt 84, thereby promoting color development of the color image. At the same time, the color developer sheet 60
The binder polymer (binder resin) for fixing to the base paper of the color developer sheet 60 is thermally melted and has a smoothness corresponding to the surface smoothness of the endless belt, so that the surface of the color developer sheet 60 has an appropriate gloss. obtain.

The color developer sheet 60 that has been subjected to the coloring and gloss treatment is separated by the curvature from the endless belt 84 and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 63.

In addition, when it is desired to obtain a plurality of color images from the same mask original 15, the mask original 15R that has been waiting in the storage section 26 is guided to the alignment device 31 again through the gate 23 in the mask original conveying device 21, The same process as the exposure process for the first sheet is performed. The mask originals 15G and 15B are also guided one after another to the alignment device 31 using the storage sections 26 and 27 as soon as the exposure of the previous mask original 15 is completed. The mask original transport device 21 can thus repeatedly circulate the mask original 15 as many times as necessary.

After obtaining the required number of color images from the same mask original 15, the gate 23 rotates and guides each mask original 15 in the mask original transport device 21 to the paper discharge tray 30.

Furthermore, in the event that the next combination of mask originals 15 enters from the monochrome laser printer 1 while a series of color images is exposed, the gate 23 transfers these mask originals to the paper output tray 30. I will guide you to.

Further, the mask original conveying device 21 is equipped with a manual feed tray 29 for manually taking in the mask original 15 created by other means as described above. However, if there is already another mask original transport device in the mask original transport device 21, a manual feed gate 24 is provided to prevent manual feeding.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments detailed above, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

For example, as a means for attracting the photosensitive recording medium 50 and the exposure table 52, a suction hole 52a on the exposure table 52 and a gasket 5 may be used.
8 and an exhaust pump 59 is shown, but this may be one that utilizes electrostatic force.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, by adsorbing the photosensitive recording medium and the exposure table using a suction means, the image recording sheet and the mask original after contact exposure are separated. Peeling can be performed easily and reliably. Furthermore, this also has the effect of reducing the cost of expensive tensioning means and the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 2 show an embodiment embodying the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a main sectional view of an image recording apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view around an exposure table. In the figure, 15 is a mask original, 50 is a photosensitive recording medium, 52 is an exposure table, 52a is a suction port, 58 is a gasket, 59 is an exhaust pump, and 60 is a color developer sheet.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an image recording apparatus that exposes a photosensitive recording medium to obtain an image using a mask original created based on image information, an exposure table that comes into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium during exposure, An image recording apparatus characterized by comprising a suction means for suctioning a photosensitive recording medium. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction means comprises a vacuum suction device that exhausts air between the exposure table and the photosensitive recording medium.