JPH04355149A - Thermal ink jet recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recover the ink bonded to and remaining on a perforated film after printing to reuse the same. CONSTITUTION:By blowing air to a perforated film 2 from an air pump 6 through a nozzle 6, the ink remaining on the perforated film 2 is removed from said film 2 and recovered in a gutter 12 to be reused.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal inkjet image forming apparatus, and in particular, a thermal head is disposed opposite to the back side of a perforated film having a large number of through holes, and a recording paper is attached to the surface of the perforated film. The present invention relates to a thermal inkjet recording apparatus in which the through holes hold ink that can be jetted onto the recording paper.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of thermal ink jet recording, as shown in FIG.
is run while in contact with the thermal head 1, and the thermal head 1 is energized and generated according to the recording pattern, whereby the low boiling point components of the ink are vaporized and vapor bubbles are generated, and the pressure of the vapor bubbles causes the ink to fill the through hole. The ink is ejected from the ink, and the ejected ink reaches and adheres to the recording spot 15 facing oppositely across a small gap, forming a recording spot.
A method for recording images has been proposed. In FIG. 3, 3 is a drive roller, 4 is an inking roller, 5 is a doctor blade, 14 is a control device, 16 is a waste tank collection container, 17
18 is waste ink, and 18 is a cleaning roller.

In this recording method, the through hole through which ink is ejected to form a recording spot corresponding to one heating element on the thermal head is not fixedly determined.
Moreover, if the density of the through holes is small compared to the recording density, one recording spot is composed of ink droplets ejected from multiple through holes. Even if a blockage occurs and ink cannot be ejected, it will not cause any major damage to the printing results and will be able to perform highly reliable printing without missing dots.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the thermal inkjet method described above, the ink that remains inside the through-holes of the perforated film after printing and is not used for printing causes uneven supply of ink, resulting in ink dripping. sometimes caused. In addition, the aforementioned ink evaporates and dries when not in use, which may cause clogging of the through-holes. A cleaning mechanism (cleaning roller 18) was needed to remove the dust. However, collecting the above-mentioned ink as waste ink causes an increase in the amount of ink used, leading to an increase in running costs.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal ink-jet recording apparatus that can collect and reuse waste ink.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the thermal inkjet recording device according to the present invention includes an air pump and a gutter, and has a thermal inkjet recording device on the back side of a perforated film having a large number of through holes. A thermal inkjet recording device in which heads are arranged opposite to each other, a recording paper is opposed to the surface of the perforated film, and ink that can be jetted onto the recording paper is held in the through hole, the air The pump sprays gas onto the perforated film to remove ink that has adhered to the perforated film and is no longer needed after printing, and the gutter collects the ink removed from the perforated film. It is.

[0007] Furthermore, the gas outlet ejected from the air pump is composed of a large number of nozzles having minute diameters.

[0008]

[Operation] In the present invention, gas pressure is applied to the perforated film after printing, and the gas is used to remove and collect ink adhering to the perforated film, and this ink is reused. .

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a thermal ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of a perforated film cleaning section in the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

In the figure, 1 is a thermal head, 2 is a perforated film having a large number of through holes, 3 is a driving roller, and 4 is a perforated film having a large number of through holes.
1 is an inking roller, 5 is a doctor blade, 11 is ink, 14 is a control device, and 15 is a recording paper.

In this embodiment, an air pump 6 and a gutter 12 are disposed on both sides of the perforated film 2 in the travel path of the perforated film 2 behind the thermal head 1.

The air pump 6 is composed of a large number of nozzles 10, 10, . Further, an air filter is provided on the air intake port 8 side of the air pump 6. In addition, the temperature of the gas blown from the nozzle 9 toward the perforated film 2 is
The temperature is set to be lower than the boiling point of the low boiling point component in the solvent of the ink attached to the perforated film 2.

On the other hand, the gutter 12 is for collecting ink removed from the perforated film 2, and is provided with an ink filter 13 on the collection port side. In the cleaning method of the perforated film in this embodiment, after passing over the thermal head 1 and printing, unnecessary ink adhering to the surface of the perforated film 2 is removed from the nozzle 1 by an air pump 6.
This is done by using air that is blown out through the air. Furthermore, an air filter 7 provided on the path from the air intake port 8 to the air pump 6 prevents dirt and dust from entering the head. Further, the air ejected to the perforated film 2 is added at a temperature lower than the boiling point of the low boiling point component in the ink solvent, and the removed ink is collected in the gutter 12 and purified by the ink filter 13. and reused.

[0015]

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, the perforated film cleaning method for removing unnecessary ink after printing is performed using a large number of nozzles with small diameter tips pressurized by an air pump. Because this method uses airflow ejected from the jet nozzle, the cleaning member directly contacts the perforated film and cleans inside the through-holes of the perforated film without causing mechanical deterioration of the perforated film. The remaining ink is completely removed, and dust and dust are prevented from adhering to the perforated film and thermal head, allowing for highly reliable and high quality printing. In addition, by setting the temperature of the air jetted from the air pump through the nozzle to the perforated film at a temperature lower than the boiling point of the low-boiling point components in the ink solvent, the temperature of the air can be set to a temperature lower than the boiling point of the low-boiling point components in the ink solvent, without causing changes in the ink components. This has the effect that running costs can be reduced because ink that has been used once can be reused.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a thermal inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of an embodiment of the perforated film cleaning method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional thermal inkjet recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Thermal head 2 Perforated film 3 Drive roller 4 Inking roller 5 Doctor Blade 6 Air pump 7 Air filter 8 Air intake 9 Tube 10 Nozzle 11 Ink 12 Gutter 13 Ink filter 14 Control device 15 Recording paper 16 Waste ink collection container 17 Waste ink 18 Cleaning roller

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: A thermal head is disposed opposite to the back side of a perforated film including an air pump and a gutter and has a large number of through holes, a recording paper is opposed to the surface of the perforated film, and further A thermal inkjet recording device in which ink that can be jetted onto the recording paper is held in the through hole, and the air pump blows gas onto the perforated film so that the ink adheres to the perforated film and is removed after printing. 1. A thermal ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the gutter is for removing unnecessary ink, and the gutter is for recovering the ink removed from the perforated film. 2. A thermal ink jet recording apparatus, wherein a gas ejection port ejected from the air pump is composed of a large number of nozzles having minute diameters.