JPH03237448A - Full color image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an arbitary tone in a formed image by setting a sheet temperature at the time of photosensitive sheet exposure according to an arbitrary image density. CONSTITUTION:An exposure platen 5 is provided in an exposure part P1, a panel heater 51 is provided in its under surface, and the photosensitive sheet 4 is exposed while being heated by the panel heater 51. With this exposure, one part of micro capsules applied on the photosensitive body sheet 4 is hardened. Furthermore, the not yet hardened micro capsules are broken by a pressure roll 6, and a dye which was sealed in flows out to reception sheet 71 and an image is formed. In this case, controlled temperature of the panel heater 51 is set according to the arbitrary tone inputted from an inputting part based on the relative information of temperature and the tone stored in a micro computer 21. Thus, the tone of the formed image can be adjusted arbitrarily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Al industrial field of application) This invention is a method for forming images using a photosensitive sheet in which multiple types of microcapsules, each sensitive to light of different wavelengths, are uniformly dispersed and coated on the same base sheet. This invention relates to improvements to image forming apparatuses.

(b) Prior Art There is a method of forming a full color image using a photosensitive sheet coated with several types, generally three types of microcapsules. The three types of microcapsules mentioned above are: (1) microcapsules (Y capsules) that enclose a photocurable material that hardens when exposed to blue wavelength light and a dye that develops a yellow color (Y capsules); (2) microcapsules that harden when exposed to green wavelength light. Microcapsules (M
(2) A microcapsule (C capsule) that encapsulates a photocurable material that cures when exposed to red wavelength light and a dye that develops a cyan color. When a photosensitive sheet coated with these three types of microcapsules uniformly dispersed is exposed to, for example, reflected light from a full-color photograph, each microcapsule is partially cured by light of a wavelength to which it is sensitive.

Thereafter, when this photosensitive sheet is pressed, only the uncured microcapsules are destroyed and an image is formed by the dye flowing out.

By the way, when forming a full-color image, the image may have a specific color tone depending on the user's preference or the like. Conventionally, an image forming apparatus using the above-mentioned photosensitive notebook has a filter placed in the optical path of the exposure light that exposes the photosensitive sheet to filter out part of the light of an arbitrary wavelength.This allows the image to have a specific color tone. I was doing it.

(C1 Invention or Solution 5) However, when a filter was inserted into the optical path of the exposure light as in the past, there was a problem that the overall light intensity was reduced instead of using a wavelength light scale that controlled the power. The overall sensitivity of photosensitive notebooks is relatively low, and a decrease in the amount of light is not desirable.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION: It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can give a formed image an arbitrary hue without using a filter.

(Means for Solving Problem d1) This invention makes the photosensitive sheet coated with a plurality of types of microcapsules, each sensitive to light of different wavelengths, by irradiating the photosensitive sheet with mixed light of each wavelength. The image forming apparatus is characterized by comprising: means for manually adjusting the color tone of an arbitrary image; and means for setting a sheet temperature during exposure of a photosensitive sheet in accordance with the arbitrary image density.

(81 Effect) The photosensitive material (photocurable material) for microcapsules generally uses a resin that polymerizes at a specific wavelength.The state of this polymerization reaction is the sensitivity of the microcapsule. also depends on the polymerization reaction state,
The influence of silence differs depending on its type. Therefore, even if a microcapsule with QJ has a sensitivity that increases with temperature increase, the sensitivity of other microcapsules may decrease with a similar temperature increase.

This invention makes use of such characteristics of the photosensitive sheet, and the formed image can be adjusted to any color tone. That is, the plurality of types of microcapsules coated on the photosensitive sheet each have different temperature characteristics, and by raising or lowering the temperature, they will be cured more or less. In this invention, the temperature of the photosensitive sheet during exposure is set according to an arbitrary color tone manually set, and
As a result, the hardening state of each microcapsule changes, and the amount of each dye and color (density of each color) that flows out is adjusted. It is a schematic diagram.

A document table 1 made of a transparent hard glass body is provided on the top surface of the copying machine body. An optical system 2 including a light source, a mirror, and a lens is provided below 52 of the document table 1, which scans the document 1a placed on the document table 1 and guides the reflected light to an exposure section to be described later. A media cartridge 3 is provided on the left side of the copying machine main body and is detachably attached to the copying machine main body. The media cartridge 3 includes a supply shaft 3a and a take-up shaft 3b, and the supply shaft 3a is equipped with an unused photosensitive sheet 4.
is wound. The supply shaft 3a and the wound photosensitive sheet 4 are stored in a storage chamber 31 so as to be shielded from external light and external pressure. One end of the photosensitive sheet 4 is in the storage chamber 3
1, and is wound onto a winding shaft 3b via an exposure section P1 and a pressure development section P2 in the main body of the copying machine.

A second exposure table 5 is provided in the exposure section Pi, and a panel heater 51 is arranged on the lower surface thereof. The photosensitive sheet 4 is fed over the exposure table 5 in the direction of arrow A. During this time, exposure table 5
It is heated by a panel heater 51 placed on the lower surface of the . Note that Sl is the panel heater 51 (photosensitive sheet 4
) is a sensor that detects the temperature of The light reflected from the original 1a is guided to the exposure portion P1 by the optical system 2 described above. Therefore, the photosensitive sheet 4 is exposed to light while being energized by the panel heater 51. By this exposure, a portion of the microcapsules coated on the photosensitive sheet 4 is cured.

The pressure developing section P2 is composed of a pair of pressure rollers 6. The pressure roller 6 can be pressurized/released by a pressure mechanism including a spring and an eccentric cam (not shown), and is pressurized only during pressure development processing. Note that 5a and 5b are puncture-up rollers that press the upper pressure roller in the radial direction so that the pressure roller 6 is uniformly pressurized.

On the other hand, a paper cassette 7 is provided on the right side of the main body of the copying machine, and an image receiver 171 is housed therein. During image formation, an image receiving sheet is fed from one of the paper cassettes, superimposed on the photosensitive sheet 4 at the pressure developing section P2, and pressed. As a result, the uncured microcapsules on the photosensitive notebook 4 are destroyed, and the encapsulated dye is released from the image receiving sheet 7.
1 and forms an image. The image-receiving sheet on which the image has been formed in this manner is subjected to a glossing process in an image glossing device 8, and then is discharged to a paper discharge tray 9 on the left side of the copying machine main body. Note that the photosensitive sheet in which the microcapsules have been destroyed is wound up on the winding shaft 3b.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control section of the copying machine. The copying process is controlled by a microcomputer 21. An operation section is provided on the top surface of the copying machine main body, and an input key 1 display panel is provided.

Any desired color, copy magnification, etc. are input from this operation section 22. The microcomputer 21 operates the optical system, photosensitive sheet feeding system, etc. in response to this input, and outputs the control temperature of the panel heater 51 to the heater drive system 23. The heater drive system 23 maintains the panel heater 51 at the control temperature based on the temperature control 4B while checking the detection state of the temperature sensor S1.

Next, the relationship between the temperature of the panel heater 51 and the tone of the formed image will be explained.

As described above, the photosensitive sheet 4 is coated with three types of microcapsules: Y-intercapsule capsules and C-capsules. These microcapsules each contain different types of photocurable materials, and depending on the type, some are easily affected by temperature while others are hardly affected by temperature. For example, as shown in Figure 2, C capsules that are sensitive to red light, which is close to infrared, become less sensitive when the temperature is lower than 35°C (about 30°C or above), making it difficult for the capsule to harden; When this happens, the sensitivity improves and the capsule hardens more easily. In contrast, Y capsule, ~1
The capsule exhibits nearly constant sensitivity regardless of temperature. That is, as shown in the figure, the sensitivity is almost the same as when the temperature is ≧35°C.

Using such a photosensitive sheet, for example, 1 = sheet temperature 3
When exposure processing is carried out at a setting of 5°C, the three types of microcapsules exhibit the same degree of hardness as shown in Figure 1 (A), and the images formed are of the original color: 1, 1-It will be faithfully reproduced. However, as shown in Figure (B), when the temperature of the photosensitive sort is set to 40°C, the sensitivity of the C capsule increases compared to other capsules, making it difficult to destroy the C capsule, resulting in an overall red color to the image. It becomes a bright color.

Same figure (C) again! As shown in this figure, the temperature of the photosensitive sheet was set to 3.
When set to 0°C, the sensitivity of the C capsule decreases, making it more likely to be destroyed, and the overall image becomes bluish.

The microcomputer 21 in the main body of the copying machine stores the relationship between the temperature of the photosensitive sheet and the state of change in color tone. Note that this information regarding temperature and color varies depending on the type of photosensitive sheet and manufacturing loft, so this information is manually retrieved each time a new photosensitive sheet is installed. As a method for inputting the information, there are methods such as marking the information on a photosensitive sheet in advance and reading it with an optical sensor in the main body of the copying machine, or inputting the information with a differential sensor or the like.

Based on the relationship information between temperature and color tone stored in the microcomputer 21, when an arbitrary color tone is input from the input section, the control temperature of the panel heater 51 is set accordingly. For example, in the case of a copying machine using the above-mentioned photosensitive sheet, when a request for a bluish image is input from the operation section on the copying machine main body, the microcomputer 21 controls the temperature of the panel heater 51 to approximately 30°C. Then, as mentioned above, the entire image becomes bluish, which meets the user's wishes.

The temperature control example of the panel heater in this embodiment is just an example, and the temperature of the panel heater may vary from room temperature to 100°C, preferably from 20 to 50°C, depending on the type of photosensitive sheet (coated microcapsules). controlled.

(g+ Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the temperature of the photosensitive sheet is controlled according to an input arbitrary color tone, and thereby the color tone of the image formed can be adjusted. As such, there is no need to insert a filter into the optical path of the exposure light, and the problem of light intensity reduction can be solved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 (A) to (C) and Figure 2 are diagrams showing the relationship between the sensitivity of photosensitizer and temperature; Figure 3 is a block diagram of the control section of a copying machine using the same photosensitive notebook; FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of the copying machine. 4-Photosensitive sheet, 5-8 light stand, 51-panel heater, S
l - Temperature sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus that sensitizes a photosensitive sheet coated with multiple types of microcapsules, each of which is sensitive to light of different wavelengths, by irradiating the photosensitive sheet with mixed light of each wavelength, A full-color image forming apparatus comprising: means for inputting a color tone; and means for setting a sheet temperature during exposure of a photosensitive sheet in accordance with the arbitrary image density.