JPH03282533A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image having stable quality without receiving the effect of ambient humidity by controlling a filter in accordance with the ambient humidity of a photosensitive recording medium which is detected by a humidity detecting sensor so that the color of a color image may be adjusted and controlling a light quantity in accordance with the detected humidity further. CONSTITUTION:The humidity in the vicinity of an exposing table 11 is measured by the humidity sensor 11b to judge whether or not the measured humidity is <=75%. When it is <75%, the light quantity of the filter is ordinarily judged. Next, the lowering of sensitivity caused by the humidity is corrected by decreasing the insertion quantity of a magenta optical filter in a filter 6, increasing the insertion quantity of a yellow optical filter and increasing the exposure of a halogen lamp 5a. Furthermore, the increase of gradation caused by the humidity is corrected by increasing the insertion quantity of a yellow filter, decreasing the insertion quantity of a cyan filter in a sub exposing unit 80 and decreasing the exposure of a halogen lamp in the unit 80.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to exposure control of an image forming apparatus.

[Prior Art] A photosensitive and pressure sensitive recording medium having a surface coated with photocurable microcapsules containing a chromophoric dye is disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 439
This is already known from the specification of No. 9209. This type of photosensitive and pressure sensitive recording medium, which will not be described in detail, is one that is exposed to light from a light source based on manual image information, and then crushes the uncured microcapsules to realize an image. It has the characteristic of being able to obtain good images similar to photography.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the sensitivity and gradation of this type of photosensitive and pressure sensitive recording media differ depending on the surrounding humidity. Therefore, when used as a recording medium in a copying machine or the like, it is difficult to obtain the same image due to changes in humidity. In addition, even if the humidity is the same, the heat from the heat dissipating components changes the surrounding humidity and changes the sensitivity and gradation of the photosensitive and pressure sensitive recording medium. Even if the exposure amount is constant, the same image or stable image The problem was that it was not possible to obtain

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus that can obtain images of stable quality without being affected by ambient humidity.

Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the image forming apparatus of the present invention forms a latent image on a photosensitive recording medium, and then forms a color image on a recording sheet based on this latent image. In the image forming apparatus, an exposure unit that irradiates light onto the photosensitive recording medium through a plurality of filters having different hues, a humidity sensor that detects the environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium, and a humidity sensor that detects the humidity detected by the humidity sensor. and control means for controlling the filter according to humidity to adjust the color of the color image.

Further, it is desirable to control the amount of light according to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor.

Another image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that forms a latent image on a photosensitive recording medium and then forms a color image on a recording sheet based on the latent image. a sub-exposure unit that irradiates light through one or more filters selected from a plurality of different filters; a humidity sensor that detects the environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium; and a humidity sensor that detects the humidity detected by the humidity sensor. and control means for controlling the filter to adjust the colors of the color image.

Further, it is desirable to control the sub-exposure amount according to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor.

[Function] The image forming apparatus of the present invention controls the filter to adjust the color of the color image according to the environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium detected by the humidity detection sensor, and further adjusts the color of the color image according to the detected environmental humidity. Control the amount of light.

Another image forming apparatus of the present invention controls the filter of the sub-exposure section to adjust the color of the color image in accordance with the environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium detected by the humidity detection sensor, and further adjusts the color of the color image according to the detected environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium. The sub-exposure amount is controlled according to the environmental humidity.

[Example] DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments embodying the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a light- and pressure-sensitive copying machine to which the exposure control of the present invention is applied.

In the photosensitive and pressure sensitive copying machine 1 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
A photosensitive paper consisting of a color developer paper 28 and a color developer paper 28 is used.

Note that the microcapsule paper 12 used in this example
The surface of the support is coated with microcapsules, and the microcapsules contain dye precursors and the like that react with the color developer described below. A color developer is coated on the surface of the support of the color developer paper 28 and develops color by reacting with a dye precursor.
209, etc., and is omitted here.

At the top of the copying machine 1, there is a document table glass 2 and a document table cover 3.
A desired original 4 is placed on the original platen glass 2.
is placed face down and the document table cover 3 is closed.

A halogen lamp 5a and a reflector 5b are provided below the document table glass 2 in the upper part of the copying machine 1.

A light source unit 5 equipped with a reflecting mirror 8 and the like is disposed so as to be movable back and forth along a shaft 13 extending parallel to the document table glass 2. The light source unit 5 irradiates light on a line toward the document table glass 2 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the front plate 2 . The irradiated light passes through the transparent document platen glass 2 and is reflected downward by the document 4 placed thereon.

Below the document table glass 2, a mirror portion 9 is provided which is movable and includes reflective mirrors 9a and 9b separately from the light source section 5, and the light reflected from the document 4 is reflected by the reflective mirrors 8, 9b.
The light beams 9a and 9b are reflected in this order and guided in parallel to the moving direction of the light source section 5.

A projection lens 7, which is usually fixed, and a filter 6, which will be described later, are arranged below the document table glass 2 to adjust the color tone of the copied image, and the light reflected by the reflection mirror 9b passes through the projection lens. 7. The light projected by the lens 7 is reflected by reflection mirror groups 10a and 10b.

An exposure stage 11 for exposing the microcapsule paper 12 is disposed below the reflective mirror 10b, and a reflective mirror 10c for switching the optical path is disposed between the reflective mirror 10b and the exposure stage 11. There is. Image information on the document 4 is formed on the microcapsule paper arranged along the exposure table 11. Below the exposure table 11, a sub-exposure unit 80, which will be described later, is arranged to sub-expose the microcapsule paper 12 after main exposure. Furthermore, a humidity sensor Ilb is disposed above the sub-exposure unit 80.

Further, the reflecting mirrors 10a and 10b are normally fixed, but are set when enlarging or reducing the size of the latent image formed on the microcapsule paper 12, and change the optical path length according to a change in the projection magnification 13. Therefore, they are configured to be able to move together in the axial direction of the shaft 13.

On the other hand, a cartridge 15 is disposed in the center of the copying machine 1, and the elongated microcapsule paper 12 is housed in the cartridge 15, which is removable from the machine while being wound around a cartridge shaft 14. With the cartridge 15 set at a predetermined position within the machine, the leading end of the microcapsule paper 12 is pulled out toward the exposure table 11.

A feed roller 19 and a dancer roller 21 for tension adjustment are provided below the exposure table 11. On the right side of the tancer roller 21, a large diameter pressure roller 22a,
A pressure developing device 22 including a small-diameter pressure roller 22b and a backup roller 22c is disposed, and on the right side of the pressure developing device 22, a microcapsule paper 12 and a color developing paper 28 are placed in close contact with each other as will be described later. A separation roller 23 is provided to separate the microcapsule paper 12, and a take-up shaft 24 for inserting and holding the microcapsule paper 12 is provided between the separation roller 23 and the quadrilateral 15. The microcapsule paper 12 emerging from the upper part of the cartridge 15 is guided by a tension roller 19, passes above the exposure table 11, and then moves to a dancer roller 21. After passing through a pressure developing device 22 and further guided to a separation roller 23, it is wound up on a winding shaft 24. Note that the unexposed microcapsule paper 12 after leaving the cartridge 15 is maintained in an unexposed state by the light shielding cover. A paper feed cassette 29 containing developer paper 28 is installed below the pressure developing device 22 . Above the paper feed cassette 29, a suction cup-type paper feed mechanism 30 that uses negative pressure suction is disposed, and the developer paper 28 is
are taken out one by one by the paper feed mechanism 30. A feeding guide 31 is provided between the paper feeding mechanism 30 and the pressure developing device 22.
d, feed rollers 31a, 31b, 31c are provided, and the developer paper 28 is provided with feed rollers 31a, 31b, 31c,
It is conveyed by the feed guide 31d and carried into the pressure developing device 22.

A heat fixing device 32 is disposed on the right side of the pressure developing device 22, and the heat fixing device 32 includes a heat roller 32a,
A conveyor belt (32C) stretched between the paper ejection roller 32b, the heat roller 32a, and the paper ejection roller 32b is disposed, and to the right of the heat fixing device 32, a color developing paper 2 on which an image has been formed is disposed.
A paper discharge tray 33 for storing paper sheets 8 is provided. Above the heat fixing device 32, a deodorizing filter 37 for removing the odor of gas generated during heat fixing and a deodorizing fan 38 for guiding the gas to the deodorizing filter 37 are provided.

Further, this copying machine has an autoloading function for automatically setting the microcapsule paper 12 on a predetermined transport path within the apparatus. This is a function that automatically pulls out the leader film part attached to the tip of the microcapsule paper 12 into the apparatus, transports it inside the apparatus, and winds it around the winding shaft 24. Thereby, the microcapsule paper 12 encased in the leader film section is also wound up on the winding shaft 24, and the setting in the apparatus is completed.

For this automatic loading, a half-moon roller 17 is provided between the roller 19 and the cartridge 15 for pulling out the leader film section, and a separation chute 27 is rotatable for guiding it to the take-up shaft 24. installed. Around the winding shaft 24, a machining guide 25 and a machining guide 26 are arranged for winding the leader film.

Next, the operation of this copying machine will be explained.

When the cartridge 15 is set in the copying machine 1, autoloading is started.

The half-moon roller 17 rotates once to several times in the conveyance direction only when autoloading starts, and the leader film section 18
is sent out to roller 20. After that, it stops, and subsequent conveyance is performed by driving the rollers 20.

Makitori guide sea urchin 25. When the automatic loading is completed, the mantle guide shutter 26 and the separation chute 27 are rotated to the position shown by the - dotted chain line, and the leader film section 18 attached to the tip of the microcapsule paper 12 is wound around the winding shaft 24. Makitori guide sea urchin 25. The machining guide seat 262 returns to the separation chute 27 to the position shown by the solid line and can be copied.

When the copy start key is operated, the halogen lamp 5
The light amount of a, the filter 6, and the sub-exposure unit 80 are controlled as described below.

The above reflecting mirror 8. The light source section 5 is made of microcapsule paper 12
If the conveyance speed of is V and the projection magnification is m, then the moving speed (1
/m) V, reflecting mirror 9a.

9b moves at a moving speed (1/2 m)V.

The conveyance speed of the microcapsule paper 12 is determined by the mirror group 8.9a.
, 9b is synchronized as described above,
Latent images of predetermined lines of the document 4 are sequentially formed on the microcapsule paper 12 as it passes through the exposure stage 11 . Note that the predetermined speed ratio is predetermined based on the setting of the magnification.

The microcapsule paper 12 on which the latent image has been formed is transported,
The upper color developing paper 28 in the paper feed cassette 29 is fed to the paper feed mechanism 30.
, conveyed by feed rollers 31a, 31b, 31C, etc.

The pressure developing device 22 is supplied with the microcapsule paper 12 and the color developer paper 28 in close contact with each other and integrated, and the microcapsule surface on which the latent image of the microcapsule paper 12 is formed and the color developer of the color developer paper 28 are supplied. With the agent-applied surface in contact with the inside, the roller is sandwiched between the large-diameter pressure roller 22a and the small-diameter pressure roller 22b, and pressure is applied. This pressure destroys the unexposed microcapsule paper and forms an image on the developer paper 28.

The microcapsule paper 12 and the color developer paper 28 that have come out of the pressure developing device 22 are separated by a separation roller 23, and then the color developer paper 28 is accelerated in color development by a heat fixing device 32 to form an image. The paper ejection tray 33 is moved by the paper ejection roller 32b.
It will be transported to In addition, the separated microcapsule paper 12
is wound onto the winding shaft 24 via the separation roller 23e.

Next, the configuration of the filter 6 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. Inside the filter 6, there is an optical filter 6 that can reciprocate in the direction crossing the optical path, that is, in the left-right direction in FIG.
A total of three movable filter bodies 64°, 65, and 66, each having a diameter of 1, 62, and 63 on the distal end side, are arranged at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. In this example, the color of the upper optical filter 61 is yellow, the color of the middle optical filter 62 is magenta, and the color of the lower optical filter 63 is cyan. The color tone of the emitted light is changed by interposing each of the optical filters 61 to 63 singly or in combination in the optical path.

Each of the movable filters 64 to 66 is supported so as to be able to reciprocate by a guide frame (not shown). It is possible to move back and forth between the position where it completely shields the area. Moreover, each movable filter body 6
Racks extending in the reciprocating direction of the filters 61 to 63 are formed on the upper surfaces of the proximal ends of the filters 4 to 66, respectively. Further, in order to reciprocate each movable filter 61 to 63, step motors 71, 72, and 73 are respectively disposed near each movable filter body 64 to 66, and are attached to the output shaft of each step motor 71 to 73. A mounted pinion is drivingly connected to the rack of each movable filter body 64-66.

Each of the step motors 71 to 73 is electrically connected to a filter control circuit 106, which will be described later, and is configured to rotate a predetermined amount based on a signal from the filter control circuit 103.

Therefore, by driving each of the step motors 71 to 73, each movable filter body 64 to 66 is reciprocated, and the optical path is blocked by intervening optical filters 61 to 63. Further, by adjusting the drive amount of each step motor 71-73, the amount of movement of each movable filter body 64-66a is adjusted, and the shielding position by each optical filter 61-63 is adjusted.

Next, a configuration example and a control example of the sub-exposure unit 51 will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an example of its configuration. Main exposure unit 8
0 is composed of a light emitting section 81, a filter section 83, and a diffusion plate 85. The light emitting unit 81 includes a halogen lamp 87 for a light source with a reflector, and a lamp control circuit 89 that controls lighting of the halogen lamp 87 and the amount of light thereof.

The filter section 83 includes an actuator 93 that accommodates a plurality of filters 91 having different hues and can insert one or more arbitrary filters between the halogen lamp 87 and the diffusion plate 85, and an actuator drive circuit 95 therefor. has been done.

The filter 91 has the same configuration as the filter 6 described above,
The color of the filter 91a is yellow, the color of the filter 91b is magenta, and the color of the filter 91C is cyan.

The diffusion plate 85 diffuses the colored light so that the colored light transmitted through the filter 91 is evenly irradiated onto the microcapsule paper 12.

The lamp control circuit 89 and the actuator drive circuit 95 operate based on instructions from the sub-exposure light source control circuit 97.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of this embodiment.

The CPU 103 includes a humidity sensor l for detecting humidity.
lb, a key panel 109 equipped with a start key for instructing copy start, control keys for manually adjusting each filter and exposure amount, etc., and a key panel 109 that displays the insertion amount of each filter corresponding to the level of humidity and the adjustment of each light source. A memory 102 that stores exposure amounts in a tabular form, a halogen lamp control circuit 104, a sub-exposure light source control circuit 108, and a filter control circuit 106 are connected. Further, the halogen lamp control circuit 104 is connected to the /\halogen lamp 5a, and controls the exposure amount of the halogen lamp 5a. Further, the sub-exposure light source control circuit 108 is connected to the sub-exposure unit 8.
Connected to 0. A filter control circuit 106 is connected to the filters 6 and controls the amount of insertion of each filter.

The exposure control operation of this embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. First, to describe the relationship between relative sensitivity and humidity of microcapsule paper 12, microcapsule paper 1
In fact, as shown in FIG. 5, the sensitivity of No. 2 decreases as the humidity increases.

Furthermore, there are differences in the degree of decrease in sensitivity among the colors yellow, magenta, and cyan; as the humidity increases, the sensitivity of magenta decreases the most, followed by the sensitivity of cyan, and yellow has the least effect. Therefore, when the humidity is high, the amount of magenta optical filter 62 inserted in filter 6 is reduced and the amount of yellow optical filter 61 inserted is increased in order to maintain the color balance of each color.

In order to compensate for the decrease in overall sensitivity, the exposure amount of the Haloken lamp 5a may be increased.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the higher the sensitivity, the higher the gradation, and the degree to which the gradation increases varies depending on the colors yellow, magenta, and cyan. As the quality increases, the gradation of yellow is the lowest, followed by the gradation of magenta, and the gradation of cyan is the least affected. Therefore, when the humidity is high, the sub-exposure unit 80 is used to make the gradation of each color uniform.
The amount of insertion of the yellow filter 91a is increased and the amount of insertion of the cyan filter 91c is decreased to make the gradation of each color uniform. Furthermore, the amount of exposure from the halogen lamp 87 of the sub-exposure unit 80 may be reduced to reduce the amount of sub-exposure that is effective in producing gradation.

Next, the operation will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 7. In step 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as Sl. The same applies to other steps), it is determined whether or not the start key has been pressed, and the process moves to S2. do.

The humidity near the exposure table 11 is measured by the humidity sensor Ilb, and it is determined whether the measured humidity is 75% or less. If it is less than 75%, the process moves to S3 and normal filter light amount determination is performed. If the humidity measured in S2 is 75% or more, the process moves to S4.

Next, in step 84, as described above, the insertion amount of the magenta optical filter 62 in the filter 6 is reduced, the insertion amount of the yellow optical filter 61 is increased, and the exposure amount of the halogen lamp 5a is increased to reduce sensitivity due to humidity. Correct the drop.

Furthermore, the amount of insertion of the yellow filter 91a of the sub-exposure unit 80 is increased, the amount of insertion of the cyan filter 91C is decreased, and the amount of exposure of the halogen lamp 87 in the sub-exposure unit 80 is reduced to compensate for the increase in gradation due to humidity. Then S5
to move to.

A copy operation is performed in S5, and this flow ends.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments detailed above,
Various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, the key panel 109 can display the optimum filter insertion amount and light intensity according to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor llb.
You can also enter it manually using the control keys.

Furthermore, the key panel 109 is provided with a warning lamp and a humidity correction button that corrects the insertion amount of each filter and each exposure amount to appropriate values determined in advance. , a warning lamp on the key panel 109 is lit to notify the user.

The influence of humidity may be corrected by the user viewing the warning and pressing a humidity correction button.

In addition, the insertion amount of each filter 61 to 63 is such that the influence of humidity on the sensitivity 1 gradation can be corrected in advance by the halogen lamp 5.
The exposure amount of a, the amount of insertion of the filter 91 of the sub-exposure unit 80, and the sub-exposure amount of the halogen lamp 87 are measured for each 5% humidity, and the values are made to correspond to each 5% humidity. It is stored in the memory 102 in the form of a table. and,
The insertion amount of each filter and each exposure amount corresponding to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor 11b may be read from the memory 102, and each filter and each light source may be controlled to correct the influence of humidity.

Further, in this embodiment, the hue is controlled by controlling the amount of filter insertion, but a light source may be provided for each filter, and the hue may be controlled by controlling the amount of light from the light source.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can obtain images of stable quality without being affected by ambient humidity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 7 show an embodiment embodying the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the entire apparatus, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a filter, and FIG. 3 is a sub-exposure unit. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between humidity and relative sensitivity. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between humidity and gradation. The figure is a flowchart showing the operation of exposure control. In the figure, 6 is a filter, 5a is a halogen lamp, 80 is a sub-exposure unit, llb is a humidity sensor, 103 is a CPU,
12 is microcapsule paper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus that forms a latent image on a photosensitive recording medium and then forms a color image on a recording sheet based on the latent image, comprising: a humidity sensor that detects the environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium; , an exposure unit that irradiates light onto the photosensitive recording medium through a plurality of filters having different hues, and a control that controls the filter in accordance with the humidity detected by the humidity sensor to adjust the color of the color image. An image forming apparatus comprising: means. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of light is controlled according to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor. 3. In an image forming apparatus that forms a latent image on a photosensitive recording medium and then forms a color image on the recording medium based on this latent image, one or more filters selected from a plurality of filters having different hues are placed on the photosensitive recording medium. a sub-exposure unit that irradiates light through a plurality of filters; a humidity sensor that detects environmental humidity of the photosensitive recording medium; and controls the filter according to the humidity detected by the humidity sensor to adjust the color of the color image. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control means for adjusting. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the sub-exposure amount is controlled in accordance with the humidity detected by the humidity sensor.