JPH0417794B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method and an apparatus thereof.

According to the conventionally known thermal transfer recording method, heat-melting ink (for example, low-melting wax containing carbon) is applied to a film-like substrate such as capacitor paper, and this ink film is opposed to the recording paper at the transfer position. A so-called thermal head for thermal transfer transfers ink onto the recording paper in a thermal dot pattern corresponding to a predetermined electrical signal, thereby forming a desired ink image. This system is schematically shown in Figure 1, where 1 is a film-like substrate, 2 is a thermal roller that holds the hot-melt ink 3 on the surface, 4 is a recording paper, and 5 is a transfer position. A thermal head is arranged, 6 is a platen roller that presses the recording paper 4 against the head, and 7 is a guide roller.

However, in the method shown in Fig. 1, the film 1
Since the film 1 is always kept in contact with the heated roller 2 by the roller 8 in order to apply the ink to Board 1
Ink 3 will be applied over the entire surface. Therefore, the amount of ink used increases and running costs become high. Moreover, the substrate 1 is always connected to the heat roller 2.
Since the substrate 1 is in contact with the substrate 1, the material itself of the substrate 1 is restricted. In other words, the substrate 1 has a size of several micrometers to several tens of micrometers that does not impair the size of the heat source during transfer.
It needs to be made of a thin heat-resistant material called m and must be able to withstand a considerable amount of heat cycles, but in the case of the structure shown in Figure 1, wrinkles are likely to occur due to the increased number of heat cycles. There is a risk of deteriorating transfer characteristics. Although there is no problem if the substrate 1 is made of a material that can withstand many thermal cycles, it is extremely difficult to select such a material, and for this reason, the above structure is unsuitable for practical use. Furthermore, in FIG. 1, only a single color of ink can be applied, making it unsuitable for multicolor printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method and an apparatus therefor which are capable of recording economically and practically and are suitable for multicolor printing.

In order to achieve this object, according to the method of the present invention, a substrate coated with hot-melt ink and a recording medium are moved to a transfer position, and while facing each other at this transfer position, a thermal head is moved. When transferring the heat-fusible ink on the substrate onto the recording medium in a heat dot pattern corresponding to a predetermined electric signal to form a desired recorded image, (a) the heat-fusible ink Each time before the start of the transfer, an ink supply means that holds the ink on the surface is pressed against the substrate to selectively and uniformly apply the heat-melting ink onto the substrate, and the thermal transfer ink is (b) Thereafter, the step of moving this substrate together with the recording medium to the transfer position and performing the transfer of the thermal dot pattern by the thermal head. It is characterized by

Further, the apparatus of the present invention suitable for carrying out the method of the present invention moves the substrate coated with the heat-melting ink and the recording medium to a transfer position, and brings them into contact with each other at the transfer position. The apparatus also includes a thermal head that transfers the heat-melting ink on the substrate onto the recording medium in a thermal dot pattern corresponding to a predetermined electric signal to form a desired recorded image, (a) an ink supply means for holding the thermofusible ink on the surface so that the thermofusible ink is not applied to the substrate during non-transfer, but is applied before the start of transfer during transfer; and a reciprocating pressing means that selectively presses the substrate against the ink supplying means to form a uniform layer of heat-fusible ink on the substrate; (b) moving means for moving the substrate coated with the heat-melting ink layer and the recording medium to the transfer position; (c) moving the substrate and the recording medium at the transfer position; (d) a thermal head for thermally transferring the heat-melting ink on the substrate in the thermal dot pattern onto the recording medium at the transfer position, The present invention is characterized in that the handle is disposed along the substrate moving path before the transfer position.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 9.

2 to 4 show the first embodiment.

To explain the structure of the thermal (transfer) recording apparatus 10 according to this embodiment, the substrate film 1 to which heat-melting ink is applied is distributed from a supply roll 11 to an ink application section 12, a guide roller 13, and a drive roller 14.
The image is then sent to the thermal transfer section 15 via a drive roller 16 and then wound onto a winding roller 17 . The recording paper 4 is stored in a folded state in a cassette 18, for example, and is sent to the thermal transfer section 15 via a roller 19, and after being transferred, is discharged from the apparatus. film 1
A photo sensor (for example, a reflective type infrared light sensor) 20 is disposed in front of the drive roller 14 on the moving path of the paper 4 to detect the film 1 coated with ink, and a pressure roller is disposed for detecting the paper 4. A photo sensor (for example, a reflective infrared light sensor) 22 is arranged in front of the photo sensor 21 . The thermal transfer unit 15 is provided with a set of a known thermal head 5 and a platen roller 6, and a pressure roller 21 for sandwiching the paper 4 and the film 1 between drive rollers 14 and 16 before and after the set. 23 are arranged. An arrow 40 in the figure indicates that a pressure contact drive mechanism is provided.

In the ink applying section 12 including the thermal roller 2, the roller 2 is partially immersed in a container 30 containing molten ink 3 at 60 to 150 DEG C., as shown in FIG. A predetermined amount of ink 3 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the roller 2 by a blade portion 31, and a buffer spring 32 is fixed to the bottom of the container 30. The roller 2 itself is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and a heater wire controlled by a heat controller (not shown) is disposed inside the roller 2 in the axial direction. Further, as clearly shown in FIG. 4, the above-mentioned thermal head 5 has a thermal insulating layer 34 on a ceramic substrate 33, on which a heating element layer 35 and a large number of counter electrodes 36 and 37 are laminated, and furthermore, It is covered with a surface protective layer (not shown). This head structure is conventionally known, and both electrodes 36-37 are
A predetermined pulse voltage is applied between the electrodes, and the heating element 35 selectively generates heat between the electrodes.

What should be noted here is that in the ink application section 12, the heat roller 2 holding the ink 3
A movable roller 24 is disposed above the roller 2, and the film 1 is selectively pressed against the roller 2. This roller 24 is attached to one end of an L-shaped rotating lever 26 having a rotating fulcrum 25 in the middle, and the other end of the lever 26 is supported by a spring 27 and connected to a plunger solenoid 28. has been done. The electric signal (voltage) selectively applied to the solenoid 28 causes the moving rod 29 of the solenoid 28 to move the lever 26 against the spring 27 from the state shown in FIG. The film 1 is rotated counterclockwise by a predetermined angle, and the roller 24 is accordingly rotated by the same angle to press the film 1 onto the heat roller 2. As a result, the ink on the roller 2 is continuously applied to the film 1. On the other hand, when ink is not to be applied, the plunger 28 is returned to its original state and the contact of the film 1 with the roller 2 is released.

Next, the operation of the thermal transfer recording apparatus according to this embodiment will be explained.

First, the film 1 to which no ink has been applied is guided from the supply roll 11 to the take-up roll 17, and the recording paper 4 is set. At this time, the platen roller 6 and the pressure roller 21,
22 is in a non-pressure contact state as shown by the broken line in FIG. Then, the take-up roll 17 and the heat roller 2 are driven to move (transport) only the film 1, and then the solenoid 28 is driven to move the film 1 to the roller 24.
The film is pressed onto the hot roller 2 by the following steps. As a result, the heat-fusible ink 3 is applied from the roller 2 onto the film 1 to create a thermal transfer ink film uniformly coated with the same ink, and at the same time, conveyance of the paper 4 is started. Here, when a certain period of time has elapsed since the ink application end of the ink film 1 was detected by the photo sensor 20, the platen roller 6 and the pressure rollers 21, 23 are lowered to be in pressure contact state, and the paper 4 is also attached to the film 1. Transport together.
This series of operations can be electrically controlled by adjusting or controlling the timing of the driving electric signals based on the outputs of the photo sensors 20 and 22. Then, when the ink applied end of the ink film 1 reaches the transfer position (place to be printed) of the head 5, printing (fusion of the molten ink onto the paper) is started by the selective heating operation of the head 5. . In this case, the ink applied part of film 1 is
Required print length of paper 4 set in advance (for example, B4,
A4, B5, A5, B6, A6, etc.)), at which point the solenoid 28 is stopped, the roller 24 is returned clockwise, and the heated roller 2 Release the contact with film 1 from . Therefore, the operation of the solenoid 28 is to form an ink-applied area larger than a predetermined print length (or area).
It will not work after that. As a result, ink-applied portions are selectively formed only during transfer, depending on the recording paper, and are not formed during non-transfer.

In this way, according to this embodiment, ink is applied each time immediately before the start of thermal transfer (printing), and is not applied during non-transfer periods, so unlike conventional application mechanisms, the amount of ink used can be reduced. Running costs can be significantly reduced, making it extremely economical. In addition, since the film 1 is selectively pressed against the heat roller 2, it is possible to use a thin heat-resistant film that can withstand use without forming the film 1 from a special material. Practical methods and apparatus are possible.

As described above, after the ink application section 12 uniformly applies ink to the film 1, the ink image is recorded by the thermal head 5 at the thermal transfer section 15, so that the ink application and subsequent transfer are not easy. Always able to perform well.

Furthermore, the above-described method and apparatus are illustrated in FIGS.
This is very effective for multicolor printing as shown in FIG. This will be explained in detail next.

This multicolor print uses the structure of FIG. 5, which is a further development of the structure of FIG. In FIG. 5, the ink application area is made up of three colors of ink, namely cyan ink 3a (C), magenta ink 3b (M),
Yellow ink 3c (Y) is divided into three parts, and rollers 24a, 24b, 24c driven by a plunger solenoid similar to the roller 24 in FIG. 2 are arranged on each heat roller 2a, 2b, 2c, respectively. (The solenoid is not shown). on the other hand,
The recording paper 4 is fed from a cassette 41 to a supply roller 42.
The sheets are fed one by one by each drive roller 43,
44 and is conveyed to the thermal transfer position. The paper 4 that has been printed for the first time in the thermal transfer section 15 is guided by a guide plate 45 and passes through each driving roller 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 5.
1, and is circulated again to the original thermal transfer position. Note that 52 in the figure is a third photo sensor.

The paper 4 that has been printed in multiple colors is discharged by a rotary guide plate 45a on drive rollers 46, 47, and this guide plate 45a has a comb shape as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Fixed guide plate 4 arranged
5a ₁ and 45a ₂ and rotating guide plates 45a ₃ and 45
It consists of a pair with ₄ . That is, while a paper circulation path 53 is formed by the pair of guide plates 45a ₁ and 45a ₃ and 45a ₂ and 45a ₄ during printing,
At the time of paper ejection, the guide plates 45a ₃ and 45a ₄ are rotated counterclockwise as shown by a dashed line to form a paper ejection path 54. In order to form this paper discharge path, one end of each shaft 55, 56 of the guide plates 45a ₃ , 45a ₄ is connected to each other by, for example, a pulley mechanism (not shown), and one shaft 55 is connected to a known rotary solenoid 57 or the like. By rotationally driving, the guide plate 45a ₃ is rotated counterclockwise, and at the same time, the guide plate 45a 4 is also rotated counterclockwise in conjunction with the guide plate 45a ₄ to reach the paper discharge state shown by the dashed line in FIG. can be set. FIG. 8 shows the above-described ink application section 12 in more detail (however, a fourth black ink application heat roller 2d and roller 24d are added).
In the figure, 58 is a drive motor, and 59 is a pulley for each heat roller driven by a belt by this motor. 60 is a heat sensor whose output is sent to each heater controller 61a, 61b, 61
c and 61d, and the voltages applied from these controllers to the heaters of each heat roller are controlled to predetermined values.

Next, to explain the operation during multicolor printing, first, the heater of each heat roller is controlled to a nearly constant temperature (above the melting temperature of the ink), and then the motor 5
8 to rotate each heat roller.
Then, according to the same operation as described above, the rollers 24a to 24d are brought into pressure contact immediately before thermal transfer for each print, and each ink is applied to the film 1 each time. After the printing of the first color is completed, the paper 4 is circulated and returned to the transfer position so that the next printing can be performed again, and the printing of the second color is performed in the same manner as above. This operation is repeated until all desired colors have been printed, and then the paper is ejected. FIG. 9 is a timing chart of pulse signal voltages applied to various parts for performing multicolor printing, and printing can be performed reliably by timing each pulse as shown.

In this way, it is possible to accurately print in multiple colors using multiple types of ink without waste. This can be accomplished by selectively applying each ink for each color print immediately before each transfer, as described above. On the other hand, in the case of the conventional apparatus, for example, when recording only two specific colors using a four-color ink film, the ink application area for the other two colors is wasted.

Although the present invention has been illustrated above, the embodiments described above can be further modified based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, selective coating means other than the plunger solenoid-driven roller described above may be used as the means for applying ink to the substrate film. In addition, each member used may be changed in various ways, for example, the thermal head described above (particularly a thin film type with electrodes formed by sputtering).
In addition, a thick film type (screen-printed electrodes) can also be used. In addition to the recording method in which ink is directly thermally transferred to a recording material as described above, the present invention also includes a method in which ink is first thermally transferred onto a support and a known electrostatic recording method is applied to this transferred ink pattern. It's okay. In this case, a transfer ink pattern on a drum support corresponding to the recording medium is uniformly charged to form an electrostatic latent image, toner is selectively attached to this, and then transferred onto plain paper. can be processed.

As described above, the present invention selectively applies hot-melt ink onto the substrate each time before the start of transfer, so running costs including the amount of ink used can be reduced, and the substrate can be Even if it is made of heat-resistant material, it can be used satisfactorily. According to this method, complex types of ink are used and each ink is selectively applied for each transfer, making it particularly suitable for multicolor printing.

In addition, since the selective ink application means is provided along the substrate movement path before the transfer position, ink application can be performed while timing the movement of the recording medium, ensuring reliable transfer and recording operations. It becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional thermosensitive recording method. 2 to 9 show embodiments of the present invention, in which FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a thermal recording device;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional front view of the ink applying section, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the thermal head, FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of main parts of a thermal recording device according to another example,
The figure is a perspective view of a guide plate for guiding and ejecting recording paper, Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line - - in Figure 6, Figure 8 is a perspective view of the ink application section, and Figure 9 is during transfer operation. This is a timing chart. In addition, in the symbols shown in the drawings, 1...Substrate or ink film, 2, 2a to 2d...Heat roller, 3, 3a, 3b...Hot melt ink, 4...Recording paper, 5...Thermal head, 6... Platen roller, 11...supply roll, 12...ink application section, 1
5... Transfer section, 17... Winding roll, 20, 22,
52... Photo sensor, 24, 24a-24d... Pressure roller, 26... Lever, 27... Spring,
28...Plunger solenoid, 35...Heating element, 3
6, 37... Counter electrode, 43, 44, 46-51...
Drive rollers, 45, 45a, 45a ₁ to 45a ₄ ...
Guide plate, 57... rotary solenoid, 60... temperature sensor, 61a to 61d... heater controller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A substrate coated with heat-melting ink and a recording medium are moved to a transfer position, and while facing each other at this transfer position, the heat on the substrate is transferred by a thermal head. When transferring the fusible ink onto the recording medium in a thermal dot pattern corresponding to a predetermined electric signal to form a desired recorded image, (a) an ink supply that holds the hot fusible ink on the surface; the step of pressuring the substrate each time before the start of the transfer to selectively and uniformly apply the heat-melting ink onto the substrate to create a substrate with a thermal transfer ink layer; (b) Thereafter, the substrate is moved to the transfer position together with the recording medium, and the thermal dot pattern is transferred by the thermal head. 2. Move the substrate coated with the heat-fusible ink and the recording medium to a transfer position, and while facing each other at this transfer position, apply the heat-fusible ink on the substrate to a predetermined amount using a thermal head. An apparatus for forming a desired recorded image by transferring a thermal dot pattern corresponding to an electric signal onto the recording medium, the apparatus comprising: (a) applying the thermally meltable ink to the substrate when not transferring; an ink supply means for holding the hot-melt ink on the surface; (b) an ink application means constituted by a reciprocating pressing means for forming a uniform heat-melt ink layer thereon; (b) the substrate coated with the heat-melt ink layer and the recording medium; (c) a contact means for bringing the substrate and the recording medium into contact with each other at the transfer position; (d) a means for moving the substrate onto the substrate at the transfer position; a thermal head for thermally transferring the hot-melt ink onto the recording medium in the heat dot pattern, and the ink applying means is disposed along the substrate movement path before the transfer position. A thermal transfer recording device characterized by: