JPH04161353A - Toner jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent aperture parts from being clogged up with toner by a method wherein an aperture electrode is excited by an exciting device in a vibration mode in which the maximum amplitude point exists near the aperture part. CONSTITUTION:When an electric signal of a predetermined frequency (f) [kHz] is applied from a driving circuit to the piezoelectric elements 2 attached to an aperture electrode 1, this aperture electrode 1 is excited by a zeroth bending vibration in the direction X and a third bending vibration in the direction Z. Of a series of apertures 12 in a row, the apertures 11 are provided near the loop of the vibration, i.e., the position in which the maximum vibratory acceleration is obtained. This method eliminates the possibility of toner adhering to near the apertures 11 of the aperture electrode 1, thereby preventing the clogging of the aperture with the toner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a toner jet recording apparatus that performs recording by directly controlling toner flow.

[Prior Art] As a toner jet recording device, for example, US Pat.
No. 8935. This device consists of a toner crowder, an aperture electrode, and a counter electrode. The toner clouder is a means for generating a charged toner cloud and supplying the toner cloud to the vicinity of the aperture electrode. The aperture electrode is a control means for modulating and controlling the flow of toner from the toner cloud, and includes an insulating layer having a large number of apertures or openings, and a first electrode layer provided on one side of the insulating layer. and provided on the other surface of the insulating layer,
and a plurality of second electrodes provided independently for each of the plurality of apertures. Furthermore, the counter electrode attracts and holds a recording medium such as paper, and is disposed opposite to the aperture electrode. In the toner jet recording apparatus configured as described above, the toner flow supplied by the toner crowder is controlled by electric signals applied to the aperture electrode and the counter electrode, and is recorded on a recording medium such as paper.

However, when recording with this toner jet recording device, there is a problem in that the hole in the aperture electrode is clogged by toner particles. That is, when trying to obtain a recording density of 240 DPI, for example, the size of the dot is at most 100 μm, so it is necessary to reduce the inner diameter of the aperture of the anno-chia electrode to a maximum of about 50 Atm. Therefore, the toner particles are deposited on the aperture electrode due to the image force, and as a result, the aperture electrode is clogged with the toner particles, making it difficult to always obtain stable image output.

Therefore, the present applicant filed a patent application for an apparatus configured to vibrate an aperture electrode to prevent the accumulation of toner particles.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, simply vibrating the aperture electrode is insufficiently effective in preventing adhesion of toner particles, and has not been put to practical use. Therefore, there is a need for a device that can more effectively prevent toner from adhering.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned needs, and an object of the present invention is to provide a toner jet recording device that can easily and effectively prevent clogging of the aperture section and always provide stable image output. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the toner jet recording device of the present invention includes an aperture electrode that modulates and controls charged toner, and an excitation device that excites vibrations in the aperture electrode. The vibration mode of the vibration excited in the aperture electrode by the excitation device is characterized in that the vibration mode has a maximum amplitude point near the aperture portion of the aperture electrode.

[Function] In the toner jet recording device of the present invention having the above configuration, toner is caused to reach the aperture portion by exciting the aperture electrode with a vibration mode having a maximum amplitude point near the aperture portion using an excitation device. Can prevent clogging.

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

In FIG. 3, the toner jet recording apparatus 100 includes a recording section 101 and a heat fixing section 102. An insertion opening 11 is provided on the side of the toner jet recording device 100.
7 and an outlet 118 are provided. In the recording unit 101, an image or the like is recorded on a medium P such as plain paper inserted through the insertion port 117. Then, in the heat fixing section 102, the image etc. on this medium is fixed.

Further, the medium P is sent to the ejection port 118 via the guide 115.

The recording unit 101 includes a rotatable brush roller 103, an aperture electrode 1, and a counter electrode 112.

Around the brush roller 103, there are brush rollers 10
3, the rotatable supply roller 104 and the scraping member 110 respectively move toward the brush roller 103.
is placed in contact with. Further, the supply roller 104
A supply blade 111 is provided in contact with the supply blade 111 . Toner T is stored on this supply blade 111. Then, by this supply blade 111, the toner T
is forcibly supplied to the supply roller 104. The supply roller 104 and the supply blade 111 are provided in case K.
covered by.

The aperture electrode 1 is provided above the brush roller 103.

In FIG. 1, the aperture electrode 1 includes a large number of apertures 11, an insulating layer 106, a reference electrode layer 107, a large number of control electrode layers 108, and a bending vibration shown in FIG. The aperture electrode 1 for excitation
and piezoelectric elements 2 attached to both ends in the X direction. The aperture electrode 1 has a predetermined frequency f [kHz
z], the shape and shape are changed so that the bending vibration shown in Fig. 2 occurs.
The dimensions and material are adjusted in advance. The aperture 11 has an insulating layer 106 near the center of the aperture electrode 1 in the Z direction.
The aperture row 1 is provided with openings in the
2 is formed. Further, the reference electrode layer 107 is provided on the book roller 103 side of the insulating layer 106. Furthermore, the control electrode layer 108 is
are independently provided around the aperture 11 on the upper surface of the aperture 11 .

The reference electrode layer 107 is connected to ground, and the plurality of control electrode layers 108 are respectively connected to a plurality of signal sources S. Furthermore, the piezoelectric element 2 is attached to the insulating layer 106 by adhesive or other means, and is electrically connected to a drive circuit (not shown). This piezoelectric element 2 vibrates by stretching and contracting in the Z direction in FIG.

With this aperture electrode 1 in between, the brush roller 10
The counter electrode 112 is provided on the opposite side of the aperture electrode 1 with a predetermined space therebetween. The medium P that enters through the insertion port 117 and is sent via the guide 115 and the pair of auxiliary rollers 116 passes through this space. This counter electrode 112 is connected to the power source E2 (minus (−)
)). By applying this voltage, the toner T that has passed through the aperture 11 of the aperture electrode 1 is moved and adsorbed onto the medium P.

The heat fixing unit 102 includes a heat roller 113 having a heat source and a press roller 114.

Then, this heat roller 113 and press roller 11
4 is arranged so that the medium P can pass between them.

Next, the operation of the toner jet recording apparatus will be explained based on FIG. The medium P inserted through the insertion port 117 is conveyed to the recording section 101. In the recording unit 101, the toner T is transferred to the supply roller 1 by the supply blade 111.
It is pressed against 04 and carried. This toner T is then supplied to the brush roller 103 by the supply roller 104 . At this time, toner T is
While in contact with the supply roller 104 and the brush roller 103, the roller rubs and is charged, for example, positively (+). The positively (+) charged toner T is carried by the brush roller 103 .

The brush roller 103 is scratched by the scratching member 110 near the aperture electrode 1 . When the brush returns to its original position due to its elasticity, an appropriate amount of toner T carried by the brush jumps up. As a result, Toner T,
It is supplied to the aperture electrode 1 in the form of a cloud.

Then, the flow of toner T is modulated by the voltage applied from the signal source S to the control electrode layer 108 of the aperture electrode 1.

At this time, when an electric signal of frequency f [kHz] is applied from a drive circuit (not shown) to the piezoelectric element 2 attached to the aperture electrode 1, the bending vibration shown in FIG. 2 is excited in the aperture electrode 1. This effect will be explained in detail later.

At this time, even if the charged toner particles try to adhere to the vicinity of the aperture row 12 due to image force, a large vibrational acceleration due to the vibration is generated at the position of the aperture row 12 near the abdomen of the vibration. , cannot adhere. As a result, the toner flow is always stably modulated by the signal source S and recorded on the medium P.

The positively (+) charged toner T modulated by the negative (-) power source E2 connected to the counter electrode flies toward the counter electrode. Then, this toner T is
15 and a pair of auxiliary rollers 116.

Thereafter, the medium P is conveyed to the heat fixing section 102. Then, at this location, the image on the medium P is fixed by being brought into pressure contact with the heat roller 113 and the press roller 114. Since this fixing method is a numerical method, detailed explanation will be omitted. Finally, the medium P on which the image has been formed is conveyed to the take-out port 118 via the guide 115, and then taken out.

Next, the action of vibration of the aperture electrode 1 configured as described above will be explained in more detail based on FIGS. 1 and 2. When an electric signal of a predetermined frequency f [kHz] is applied from a drive circuit (not shown) to the piezoelectric element 2 attached to the aperture electrode 1, the aperture electrode 1 receives 0th order bending vibration in the X direction and 3rd order bending vibration in the X direction. is excited. FIG. 2 shows the vibration mode profile of this bending vibration. This vibration is a bending vibration in which the positions indicated by A-A', B-B', and c-c' in FIG. 2 indicate the positions of the antinode of the bending vibration. It is provided near the line BB', which is the position. In the aperture electrode 1 configured in this manner, the aperture 11 is provided near the abdomen of vibration, that is, near the position where the maximum vibration acceleration is obtained, so that toner adheres to the vicinity of the aperture 11 of the aperture electrode 1. As a result, clogging of the aperture 11 can be prevented.

In this example, the vibration excited in the aperture electrode was explained using the bending vibration shown in FIG. 2 as an example.
The present invention is not limited to this type of vibration, and the same effect can be achieved as long as the vibration has a vibration mode in which the vibration mode is located near the aperture row.

Further, in this embodiment, a piezoelectric element was used as an excitation device for exciting vibrations in the aperture electrode, but the invention is not limited to this, and other elements capable of converting electrical energy into mechanical energy, such as an electrostrictive element, A magnetostrictive element or the like may also be used.

Various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and effectively prevent charged toner from being deposited on the aperture electrode due to image force. Become.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show embodiments embodying the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an aperture electrode, and FIG. 2 is a vibration mode of bending vibration excited in the aperture electrode. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a toner jet recording apparatus using the aperture electrode shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 1 is an aperture electrode, and 2 is a piezoelectric element that is an excitation device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a toner jet recording device comprising: an aperture electrode that modulates and controls charged toner; and an excitation device that excites vibrations to the aperture electrode, the excitation device excites the aperture electrode. A toner jet recording device characterized in that the vibration mode of the vibration is a vibration mode in which the maximum amplitude point is near the aperture portion of the aperture electrode.