JPH04249171A - Thermal transfer recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a device compact in size, reduction ratio of a driving system small, to improve transfer precision, and to detect highly precise record timing by providing a driving motor of a platen roller and drums, a transfer mechanism thereof, and a rotation angle detector in a space inside of the drum. CONSTITUTION:A pulse motor 18 for driving a platen roller 1 and drums 10, a driving power transfer mechanism and a rotation angle detector are arranged in a space inside of a drum formed by the drums 10 at both sides and a recording paper 28 wound on the drum so as to make a block, so that the space in a boxed body can be economized. The platen roller 1 is driven by the pulse motor 18 through a timing belt 20A, so that transfer precision is improved in proportion to a low reduction ratio, high image quality in the thermal transfer recording can be obtained, and the rotation of the platen roller 1 is transferred through a timing belt 20B. Accordingly, resolution of the rotation angle detection can be small, highly precise recording is possible, and the rotation angle detector can be used at a low cost.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device, which includes a platen roller and drums provided on both sides of the platen roller.
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device suitable for blocking and compacting the platen roller and drum driving means and platen roller rotation angle detecting means in an apparatus that transports recording by wrapping a recording medium around the outer periphery of the drum and sandwiching the recording medium. .

0002

[Prior Art] A conventional device is, for example,
As described in Japanese Patent No. 1739, a drum is provided, a recording paper for a recording medium is wrapped around the drum and fixed, and the drum is rotated a predetermined number of times to record ink on an ink film using a thermal recording head. A thermal transfer recording device that transfers images onto paper is known. In the above device, the drum driving motor and the driving force transmission mechanism are arranged on the side of the housing, and the drum is driven from the outside via a gear provided on the support shaft of the drum.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned conventional technology, thermal transfer is performed by wrapping recording paper around a drum and fixing it, and rotating the drum a predetermined number of times. In order to obtain high resolution, the reduction ratio had to be high and the gears had to be configured in multiple stages. For this reason, no consideration is given to the fact that the accumulation of transmission errors in each gear has a large effect on feed errors, that is, fluctuations in recording pitch, and streaks (called jitter) that occur in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance, or , there was a problem of color unevenness when color recording was performed by overlapping recording of three colors. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the drum drive motor and the transmission system are disposed on the side of the housing adjacent to the drum, there is a problem that the space of the housing becomes large.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and the drive system for the platen roller and the drum is provided in the space inside the drum so that the platen roller is directly driven to reduce the reduction ratio. The first objective is to provide a thermal transfer recording device that can reduce the speed reduction ratio, improve transmission accuracy by the small reduction ratio, and achieve high image quality.
This is the purpose of A second object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer device that can detect the rotation of the platen roller shaft, for example, through one stage of the timing belt, by providing a rotation angle detector in the inner space of the drum, and can detect recording timing with high precision. The purpose is to provide a recording device. Furthermore, a third object of the present invention is to provide a drive motor for the platen roller and the drum, its transmission mechanism, and a rotation angle detector in the drum inner space, and detect the drum, the platen roller, its drive system, and the rotation angle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer recording device which can save space within a housing by combining systems into one block.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the first object, the structure of the first invention related to the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention provides at least a structure in which the thermal transfer recording device is supported on a fixed shaft via a support member. A platen roller, a drum that is rotatably supported on a fixed shaft on both sides of the platen roller in the axial direction and around which a recording medium is wound, a thermal recording head that faces the platen roller with an ink film interposed therebetween, and image information. In the thermal transfer recording apparatus, the platen roller and the drum are arranged in a space inside the drum formed by the drums on both sides and the recording medium wound around these drums. It is equipped with a driving motor and a driving force transmission mechanism.

[0006] Furthermore, in order to achieve the above second objective,
The configuration of the second invention related to the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention is based on the same prerequisites as the first invention, but also includes a drum inner space formed by the drums on both sides and the recording medium wound around these drums. A rotation angle detector for detecting the rotation angle of the platen roller is disposed inside the platen roller. Furthermore, in order to achieve the third object, the structure of the third invention related to the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention is as follows.
, in the same prerequisites as the prerequisites of the second invention, a motor for driving the platen roller and the drum is provided in the drum inner space formed by the drums on both sides and the recording medium wound around these drums; A driving force transmission mechanism and a rotation angle detector for detecting the rotation angle of the platen roller are provided.

[0007]

[Operation] By installing a drive motor inside the drum block, that is, in the cylindrical space inside the drum formed by the recording medium wound around the drum and the drum, it is possible to directly drive the platen roller, so the reduction ratio of the drive system can be made smaller. In other words, since the platen roller can be driven from the motor through one or two stages of transmission elements such as a timing belt, the transmission is much faster than in the past, when the drum was driven from the outside and then the platen roller was driven via transmission elements. It is possible to achieve high precision, and it is possible to achieve high image quality in thermal transfer recording.

[0008] Similarly, by providing a rotation angle detector inside the drum block, the rotation angle of the platen roller can be detected with one stage of transmission elements such as a timing belt, so recording timing can be detected with high precision. can do. At this time, it is possible to detect the necessary recording timing without making the resolution of the rotation angle detector very high.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of a thermal transfer color printer using a drum surface recording paper fixed conveyance system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the thermal transfer color printer of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a recording sequence. The configuration of a thermal transfer color printer will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, mainly FIG.

The platen roller 1 has its shaft portions on both sides supported by platen roller support members 5 (collectively referred to as 5A and 5B) via bearings, and the platen roller support member 5 is fitted and fixed to a fixed shaft 6. . Here, the fixed shaft 6 is supported by side frames 7 and 8 on both sides that constitute the housing of the device. On both sides of the platen roller 1 in the axial direction, a drum 10 for winding a recording paper 28 as a recording medium is rotatably supported by a cylindrical shaft 9 on the fixed shaft 6 via a bearing. This drum 10 is arranged so as to be on the same recording surface as the platen roller 1. Gears 11 fitted to the cylindrical shafts 9 on both sides of the drum 10 are engaged with gears 13 fitted to both ends of the shaft of the platen roller 1 via the idle gears 12. It is configured so that rotational force (driving force) can be transmitted to.

A pulley holder 15 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the pair of cylindrical shafts 6 via a one-way clutch 14, and this pulley holder 15 supports a shaft that rotatably supports a pulley 16 on which a rubber belt 17 is stretched. ing. The gol belt 17 has a loop shape and is wound around the outer periphery of the drum 10 by pulleys 16 each disposed on the outer periphery of the drum 10, as shown in FIG. The outer periphery of the pulley holder 15 is toothed, and a pair of opposing gears 2 on the shaft 27
6 and synchronizes the pair of left and right pulley holders 15. Note that the shaft 27 is supported by the side frames 7 and 8 via a one-way clutch (not shown). Reference numeral 2 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a thermal recording head that faces the platen roller 1 with an ink film 31 interposed therebetween, and 3 is a base plate to which the thermal recording head 2 is attached. The thermosensitive recording head 2 and base plate 3 are connected to a link mechanism (not shown) via a spring 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording paper 28 is separated from the paper feed cassette 34, conveyed along the paper feed guide 33, and is brought into contact with the recording surface side of the drum 10 and platen roller 1 on the outer periphery of the drum 10. It is configured to be fixed with a wound rubber belt 17. 32 indicates a paper ejection guide. Next, the configuration of the drive system for the platen roller and drum, and the rotation angle detector, which are the main parts of the present invention, will be explained.

A pulse motor 18 is fixed to a motor support member 30 on a fixed shaft 6 inside a roller support member 5A that supports the platen roller 1. Further, a pulley is provided inside the shaft support portion of the platen roller 1, a pulley is provided on the motor shaft of the pulse motor 18, and the timing belt 2 is provided with a pulley on the motor shaft of the pulse motor 18.
The platen roller 1 is connected to the pulse motor 18 by connecting it with 0A.
is driven by a one-stage transmission element. Pulse motor 1
The drive lead wire 23 of No. 8 is connected to a driver 24 which is an external controller through a drilled hole 21A which is a conduction hole provided in the axial center of the fixed shaft 6 in the axial direction. In this way, the pulse motor 18, timing belt 20A, gears 11, 1
The platen roller drums 2, 13, etc. and the drive system for the drums are arranged in a cylindrical space inside the drum formed by the left and right drums 10 and the recording paper 28 wound around the drums.

Similarly, a rotary encoder 19 relating to a rotation angle detector is fixed to a support member 29 on the fixed shaft 6 inside the roller support member 5B (on the side opposite to the above-mentioned pulse motor 18 installation part). Further, a pulley is provided inside the shaft support portion of the platen roller 1, a pulley is provided on the rotating shaft of the rotary encoder 19, and the timing belt 20B is provided with a pulley.
The rotation of the platen roller 1 is transmitted to the rotary encoder 19 by a one-stage transmission element. The signal line 22 of the rotary encoder 19 is connected to a counter 25, which is an external counter, through a drill hole 21B, which is a conduction hole provided in the axial center of the fixed shaft 6 in the axial direction. In this way, the rotation angle detection system such as the rotary encoder 19 and the timing belt 20B is arranged in a cylindrical space inside the drum formed by the left and right drums 10 and the recording paper 28 wound around the drums.

Next, the operation of such a thermal transfer color printer will be explained. First, with the pulley holder 15 fixed, the recording paper 28 is separated from the paper feed cassette, is conveyed along the paper feed guide 33, and is inserted into the drum 10 from the opening of the belt 17 by rotation of the drum 10 and platen roller 1. It is taken in between the rubber belt 17. drum 1
The recording paper 28 is wound around the outer periphery of the drum 10 in one rotation of 0, and is fixed by the rubber belt 17. In this state, the thermal recording head 2 is pressed with the ink film 31 interposed on the platen roller 1, the drum 10 and the platen roller 1 are rotated, and the thermal recording head 2 is caused to generate heat according to the image data at a timing corresponding to the recording pitch. As a result, the ink on the surface of the ink film 31 is transferred onto the surface of the recording paper 28. At this time, the pulley holder 15 is
By rotating in the same phase as the recording paper 28, the recording paper 28 is conveyed while being fixed to the drum surface 10 by the rubber belt 17. Further, the drum 10 and the platen roller 1 are driven in synchronization so as to rotate at a constant speed.

The drive circuit will now be explained with reference to FIG. The pulse motor 18 is driven by an oscillator 35 and a driver 24. By the rotation of the pulse motor 18,
The platen roller 1 rotates via the timing belt 20, and the drum 10 rotates via the gears 13, 12, and 11. The rotation speed is controlled by a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 39 of a microcomputer. Image information is stored in an image memory (line memory) 36, applied energy information is given from an image quality information ROM 37, and MP
One line of data is read into the line buffer of the thermal recording head 2 by U39.

Further, a signal from a rotary encoder 19 for detecting the rotation angle of the platen roller 1 is sent to a counter 25.
After counting the specified pulses, send a signal to M.
The driver 38 is driven from the PU 39 to drive the thermal recording head 2.
energize and record. The timing of recording is shown in Figure 3.
Regardless of the signal from the rotary encoder 19 as in the example,
It is also possible to record by counting the driving pulses of the pulse motor 18 by the counter 25, sending a printing signal to the MPU 39 at a prescribed pulse count, and energizing the thermal recording head 2.

According to this embodiment, the pulse motor 18 that drives the platen roller 1 and both drums 10 and the driving force are provided in the space inside the drum formed by the drums 10 on both sides and the recording paper 28 wound around these drums. Since the platen roller 1 is driven by the pulse motor 18 via the timing belt 20A, the transmission accuracy is improved by the small reduction ratio, thereby achieving high image quality of thermal transfer recording. Can be done. Further, since a rotary encoder (rotation angle detector) 19 for timing recording is arranged in the cylindrical space inside the drum, the rotation of the platen roller 1 is controlled by the timing belt 20.
By transmitting the information via B, the resolution of rotation angle detection can be reduced, high-precision recording is possible, and an inexpensive rotation angle detector can be used.

Furthermore, as described above, the platen roller and drum drive systems and rotation angle detectors are disposed within the constituent blocks of the drum 10 and platen roller 1 (inside the space inside the drum). Additionally, the drum, platen roller, rotation angle detector, and their transmission mechanism are integrated into one block, which saves space within the housing. In addition, in the above embodiment, an example of the third invention, which is the most desirable example in which the drum and platen roller drive system and rotation angle detection system are both provided in the drum inner space, has been described, but like the first invention, Even if only the drum and platen roller drive systems are provided in the inner space of the drum, the first objective of achieving high image quality can be achieved accordingly. Further, even if only the rotation angle detection system is provided in the inner space of the drum as in the second invention, the second object of highly accurate recording timing detection can be achieved accordingly. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the timing belt 20A is attached to the transmission mechanism between the pulse motor 18 and the platen roller 1.
An example has been described in which the tine mig belt 20B is used as the transmission mechanism between the platen roller 1 and the rotary encoder 19. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the invention is not limited to this. Needless to say, it's a good thing.

[0020]

[Advantages of the Invention] As explained in detail above, the present invention has the following effects. (1) The drive system for the platen roller and drum is provided inside the drum inner space, and the platen roller is directly driven to reduce the reduction ratio, and the transmission accuracy can be improved by the small reduction ratio. A thermal transfer recording device that can improve image quality can be provided. (2) A rotation angle detector is provided in the inner space of the drum, and the rotation of the platen roller shaft can be detected via, for example, one stage of the timing belt, thereby providing a thermal transfer recording device capable of highly accurate recording timing detection. . (3) The drive motor for the platen roller and drum, its transmission mechanism, and rotation angle detector are installed inside the drum, so the drum, platen roller, their drive system, and rotation angle detection system are integrated into one block. Thus, it is possible to provide a thermal transfer recording device that is compact and can save space within the housing.

[0021]

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of a thermal transfer color printer of a drum surface fixed conveyance type according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the internal configuration of the thermal transfer color printer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a recording sequence.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Platen roller 2 Thermal recording head 5 Platen roller support member 6 Fixed axis 10 Drum 18 Pulse motor 19 Rotary encoder 20A, 20B Timing belt 21A, 21B drill hole 22 Signal line 23 Driving lead wire 24 Driver 25 Counter 28 Recording paper 29 Support member 30 Motor support member 31 Ink film 39 MPU

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. At least a platen roller supported on a fixed shaft via a support member, and a drum rotatably supported on the fixed shaft on both sides of the platen roller in the axial direction, around which a recording medium is wound. , in a thermal transfer recording device comprising a thermal recording head facing the platen roller with an ink film interposed therebetween, and a thermal transfer control means for applying an electric power to the thermal recording head according to image information, the drums on both sides and A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a motor for driving the platen roller and the drum, and a driving force transmission mechanism thereof are disposed in a drum inner space formed by a recording medium. 2. At least a platen roller supported on a fixed shaft via a support member, and a drum rotatably supported on the fixed shaft on both sides of the platen roller in the axial direction, around which a recording medium is wound. , in a thermal transfer recording device comprising a thermal recording head facing the platen roller with an ink film interposed therebetween, and a thermal transfer control means for applying an electric power to the thermal recording head according to image information, the drums on both sides and A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a rotation angle detector for detecting the rotation angle of the platen roller is disposed within a drum inner space formed by the recording medium. 3. At least a platen roller supported on a fixed shaft via a support member, and a drum rotatably supported on the fixed shaft on both sides of the platen roller in the axial direction and around which a recording medium is wound. , in a thermal transfer recording device comprising a thermal recording head facing the platen roller with an ink film interposed therebetween, and a thermal transfer control means for applying an electric power to the thermal recording head according to image information, the drums on both sides and A motor for driving the platen roller and the drum, a driving force transmission mechanism thereof, and a rotation angle detector for detecting a rotation angle of the platen roller are disposed in a drum inner space formed by the recording medium. A thermal transfer recording device featuring: 4. A motor that drives the platen roller and the drum is fixed to a support member on a fixed shaft, and its driving lead wire is connected to an external controller through a conduction hole provided in the fixed shaft in the axial direction. 4. The thermal transfer recording device according to claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer recording device is connected to a thermal transfer recording device. 5. The rotation angle detector is fixed to a support member on a fixed shaft, and its signal line is connected to an external counter through a conduction hole provided in the fixed shaft in the axial direction. The thermal transfer recording device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: