JPH03130769A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the use quantity of a photosensitive member by structuring the device so that the same exposure surface of the photosensitive member can be used plural times in the case of forming plural pieces of same images. CONSTITUTION:While forming an exposure surface A1 on microcapsule paper 11 by executing an exposure from an exposure start point X, it is carried, and when its tip reaches a development start point Y, it is superposed on developing paper 14 and brought to pressure development, and the paper 11, 14 is separated by a separating roller M. In the case of forming continuously the same image as a developed image, the paper 11 carried to a position S in which the rear end of the surface A1 passes through a separating point M a little is rewound until the tip of the surface A1 is positioned in the point Y by bringing a feed-out roller 11 to reverse rotation, superposed with the paper 14 and developed. In a broken microcapsule of the paper 11, a dyestuff precursor remains behind, therefore, at the time of second time and thereafter, a transfer of the dyestuff precursor is quickened by raising the pressure force.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and particularly to an image forming apparatus that allows the same exposed surface of microcapsule paper as a photosensitive member to be used multiple times when forming multiple identical images. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses have been used that form an image on a transfer member by overlapping an exposed photosensitive member and a transfer member and applying pressure.

Such an image forming apparatus includes an exposure device that exposes a photosensitive member such as microcapsule paper based on an original, and a transfer member such as developer paper that overlaps the exposed surface of the photosensitive member exposed by the exposure device and performs processing. The image forming apparatus includes a pressure developing device that pressure-develops an image on a color developing paper by applying pressure, and a separating means that separates a photosensitive member and a transfer member that are overlapped after the pressure development.

In such an image forming apparatus, if the next image formation is performed immediately after the first image formation, the photosensitive member corresponding to the conveying distance of the photosensitive member between the exposure device and the separating means becomes an unused portion. . Therefore, particularly in color image forming apparatuses, there is a problem in that the usage rate of expensive photosensitive members decreases and the running cost of the color image forming apparatus increases. To solve this problem, in conventional image forming apparatuses, after the first image formation, the photosensitive member is rewound by a predetermined amount to reduce the unused portion of the photosensitive member, and then the next image formation is performed. I was going.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, even when forming multiple identical images, rewinding the photosensitive member only reduces the unused portion of the photosensitive member, and the amount corresponding to the required number of identical images is reduced. The photosensitive member was used. For this reason, photosensitive members are used for forming identical images in the same way as for forming non-identical images, and the amount of photosensitive members used has not been sufficiently reduced.

In particular, in color image forming apparatuses that have become popular in recent years, the cost of photosensitive members is several times higher than in monochrome image forming apparatuses, so there is a great need to reduce the amount of photosensitive members used.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that allows the same exposed surface of a photosensitive member to be used multiple times when forming multiple identical images. shall be.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a winding means for winding up a photosensitive member in order to convey the photosensitive member in a continuous band shape, an exposure device for exposing the photosensitive member based on an original, and a a pressure developing device that pressure-develops an image on the transfer member by overlapping an exposure surface and a transfer member and applying pressure; a separation means that separates the photosensitive member and the transfer member that are overlapped in the pressure developing device; In an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus includes rewinding means for rewinding the photosensitive member to convey the photosensitive member separated by the separating means in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the photosensitive member, wherein the photosensitive member is separated from the transfer member by the separating means. The winding means is controlled to rewind the exposed surface of the photosensitive member that has been rewound to the pressure developing device, and a new transfer member and the exposed surface of the rewound photosensitive member are superimposed and pressure developed. The present invention is configured to include a control means for controlling the pressure developing device.

[Effect]

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration, the photosensitive member conveyed by the winding means is exposed in the exposure device, and the exposed surface of the photosensitive member and the transfer member are overlapped in the pressure developing device and pressurized. As a result, an image is pressure-developed on the transfer member, and the photosensitive member and the transfer member are separated by the separating means. Then, in the next image formation, the control means rewinds the exposed surface of the photosensitive member separated by the separating means to the pressure developing device again using the unwinding device, and superimposes it on a new transfer member in the pressure developing device to perform pressure development. Do it like this. This allows the same exposed surface of the photosensitive member to be used multiple times when forming multiple identical images, thereby reducing the amount of photosensitive member used.

〔Example〕

An embodiment embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and this image forming apparatus 10 includes a microcapsule paper 1 as a photosensitive member.
1, a delivery roller 12 around which microcapsule paper 11 is wound, and a take-up roller 13 for winding up microcapsule paper 1 are provided. The take-up roller 13 is provided with a drive source (not shown) such as a motor for rotating the take-up roller 3 clockwise in the drawing (in the direction of the solid line arrow) when the microcapsule paper 11 is transported. The delivery roller 12 is provided with a drive source (not shown) such as a motor for rotating the delivery roller 12 in the direction of the half-hour hand (in the direction of the dashed arrow) when rewinding the microcapsule paper. The rotation direction and amount of rotation of the delivery roller 12 and the take-up roller 13 are configured to be controllable by a control means (not shown).

An exposure device 20 is provided near the delivery roller 12 to expose the microcapsule paper 11 to light based on a document.

This exposure device 20 includes an original platen 21 on which an original is placed and which can be moved left and right in the drawing, and a microcapsule paper 11 that is placed on the original.
and an optical device 22 for exposing. The optical device 22 includes a light source 23 such as a halogen lamp, a reflecting mirror 24 that reflects the light from the light source 23 onto the document table, a lens 25 and a reflecting mirror 26 for guiding the light from the reflecting mirror 24 to the microcapsule paper l↓. 26 are provided.

On the downstream side of the feeding side of the microcapsule paper 11 of the exposure device 20, the microcapsule paper 11 that has been exposed based on the original and the color developer paper 14 as a transfer member are overlapped and pressed to transfer an image onto the color developer paper 14. A pressure development device 30 for pressure development is provided. This pressure developing device 30 is provided with opposing pressure rollers 31, 31 for superimposing and pressing the color developing paper 14 and the exposed microcapsule paper ↓1. The pressing force is configured so that it can be adjusted according to the color developing paper 14.

A separation device 40 is provided downstream of the pressure development device 30 on the delivery side of the microcapsule paper 1↓, and separates the microcapsule paper 11 and the color developer paper 14 that have been overlapped and pressurized in the pressure development device 30. This separation device 4
The microcapsule paper 11 separated by
The separated color developer paper L4 is conveyed along a color developer paper conveyance path indicated by a broken line.

A thermal fixing device 50 for fixing the image developed on the developing paper 14 in the pressure developing device 40 is provided on the developing paper conveyance path. The heat fixing device 50 is provided with a heater 51 and a fan 52 for blowing heated air onto the image forming surface of the color developing paper 14.

The operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.

Microcapsule paper 11 wound around delivery roller 12
is conveyed in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined speed by drive rollers 15.15 and take-up roller 13. At the same time, the document table 21 on which the document is placed moves at the same speed as the transport speed of the microcapsule paper 11, and the optical device 22 exposes the microcapsule paper 11 with light reflected from the document.

On the other hand, the developer paper 14 is conveyed from the paper feed tray 6 by a developer paper delivery mechanism (not shown) so that the leading edge of the developer paper 14 is positioned at the pressure development start point Y of the pressure development device 30, and is stopped. The development start point Y is located on the transport path of the microcapsule paper 11 at a point that is a predetermined distance l (distance corresponding to the margin of the color developer paper) from the center of the pressure roller 31.31 of the pressure development device 30. There is.

Microcapsule paper 1 located at exposure start point X
When the tip of the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper 11 is conveyed to the pressure development start point Y and the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper 11 and the color developer IE 14 are overlapped, the pressure rollers 31 and 31 are nipped and the microcapsule paper 11 and the color developer paper are separated. By applying pressure to the color developing paper 14, an image is pressure developed on the color developing paper 14.

The pressure-developed color developer paper 14 is superimposed on the microcapsule paper 11 and is conveyed to a separation device 40. In this separation device 40, the microcapsule paper 11 and the color developer paper 1 are separated.
4 are separated, and the separated microcapsule paper 11 is wound up by a winding roller 13. At this time, the leading edge of the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper 11 located at the exposure start point X has reached the one-copy-one-operation end point Z, and the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper 1 Its rear end reaches a point S a little past the separation roller M. On the other hand, the separated developer paper 14 is conveyed to a heat fixing device 50, and the image developed on the developer paper 4 is thermally fixed in the heat fixing device 50 by blowing heated air. The developing paper 14 with the image fixed thereon is placed on the paper output tray 1.
7 will be loaded.

To explain this state with reference to FIGS. 2(a) to 2(c), the microcapsule paper 11 is exposed from the exposure starting point X to form the first exposure surface A1 (FIG. 2(a)). Then, the first exposure surface At of the microcapsule paper 11 is conveyed by a distance e until its leading edge reaches the one-copy-one-operation end point Z (FIG. 2(b)). When the next exposure is performed in this state to form the next exposure surface A2, the unused amount of the microcapsule paper 11 becomes the amount shown by f, and the amount of the microcapsule paper 11 used increases. In the conventional technology, as described above, in order to reduce the amount of microcapsule paper 11 used, the microcapsule paper 11 is unwound by an amount indicated by g (FIG. 2(C)), and the unused portion of the microcapsule paper 11 is The next exposure was started after reducing the usage amount to the amount indicated by h.

In contrast, in the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present invention, the microcapsule paper 11 is exposed from the exposure starting point X to form the exposed surface A↓ (FIG. 3(a)), and the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper material 1 The leading edge of A1 is conveyed to the copy end point Z (FIG. 3(b)), which is the same as in the conventional image forming apparatus.

However, when forming the same image as the first image, after the rear end of the exposed surface A1 of the microcapsule paper 11 is conveyed to a position S slightly beyond the separation point M, the above control means controls the delivery roller 12. By rotating the half-hour hand (in the direction of the dashed arrow), the exposed area A1 of the microcapsule paper 11 is
The microcapsule paper is rewound by an amount indicated by i so that the leading edge of the color developing paper 14 is located at the pressure development start point Y, and then a new color developing paper 14 is transferred by a developer paper feeding mechanism (not shown) so that the leading edge of the color developing paper 14 is pressure developed. After being transported to the starting point Y, pressure development is performed. In this case, the movement of the original platen 21, the exposure of the microcapsule paper 11, etc. described above are not performed. In other words, normally, in the first pressure development, only about 50% of the dye precursor in the microcapsules is transferred to the developing paper, and the rest remains in the destroyed microcapsules or remains in the microcapsules. The capsule itself remains intact.

In the second and subsequent pressure developments, by increasing the pressure higher than the first time, the transfer of the dye precursor to the developing paper is promoted and a clear image is formed. In this way, when multiple identical images are formed, the previously exposed portion of the microcapsule paper 11 is used multiple times, further reducing the amount of photosensitive member used compared to conventional pressure developing devices. becomes possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, the same exposed surface of the photosensitive member can be used multiple times when forming multiple identical images, thereby reducing the amount of photosensitive member used. The effect of being able to do this is produced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
Figures (a) to 2 (C) are diagrams showing the states of photosensitive members exposed to light in a conventional image forming apparatus, and Figures 3 (a) to 3 (CC') are image forming apparatuses according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the state of a photosensitive member exposed to light in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Image forming device, 11... Microcapsule paper, 12... Delivery roller, 13... Winding roller, 14... Transfer member, 15... Drive roller, 20
...Exposure device, 30...Pressure developing device, 4o...
Separation device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A winding means for winding up the photosensitive member in order to convey the continuous photosensitive member in a band shape, an exposure device for exposing the photosensitive member based on an original, and an exposure surface of the photosensitive member and a transfer member are overlapped and processed. a pressure developing device that pressure develops an image on the transfer member by applying pressure; a separating device that separates the photosensitive member and the transfer member superimposed in the pressure developing device; and a separating device that separates the photosensitive member separated by the separating device. In the image forming apparatus, the exposed surface of the photosensitive member separated from the transfer member by the separating means is subjected to the pressure development. control means for controlling the winding means to rewind the photosensitive member to the device, and controlling the pressure developing device to superimpose a new transfer member and the exposure surface of the rewound photosensitive member and perform pressure development; An image forming apparatus characterized by: