JPH05169649A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a fixing property in transferring to recording paper by enabling a dot diameter on a required intermediate transfer material to be enlarged by a method wherein temperature of a rolling heater and pressing of a rolling roller are controlled. CONSTITUTION:For an intermediate transfer material 7, porous materials which are excellent in heat resistance such as melamine resin, silicone, fluororubber, etc., are laminated on an elastic supporting material such as rubber and others. Since an ink drop when it has reached the intermediate transfer material 7 is cooled rapidly after jetting from a nozzle 3, it comes to be of a highly viscous state, and a state wherein an ink frop form is kept is obtained. That ink drop is heated and rolled with a rolling heater 8 and a rolling 16, and its viscosity is lowered. Therefore, the ink drop permeates in thickness and length directions of the porous materials.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus, and more specifically, an intermediate transfer member is disposed between a recording member and an ejection nozzle that ejects hot melt ink, and the intermediate transfer member is used to interpose the intermediate transfer member. The present invention relates to a hot melt type inkjet recording device for recording on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hot-melt ink jet recording apparatus is a recording apparatus that heats and presses hot-melt ink that is solid at room temperature and becomes liquid by heating at the time of printing, and records it as an ink droplet on a recording medium. As an inkjet recording device, there is a system in which an oil-based ink that is liquid at room temperature is used as a recording medium. However, the oil-based ink solidifies when stored in the recording head for a long period of time and causes clogging of an ejection nozzle, and a recording surface The hot melt ink does not have these problems, whereas the ink may have stains when touched before it dries. However, on the other hand, the melted and ejected ink is solidified before it penetrates into the recording medium, so that there is a problem that it is easily peeled off.

The following are known documents which describe the prior art relating to the present invention. For example, JP-A-63-20
The "Hot Melt Inkjet Recording Apparatus with Fixing Mechanism" of Japanese Patent No. 5241 is provided with a fixing mechanism for recording on recording paper and fixing the heat-melting ink adhered by heating or pressing again. That is, the ink printed on the recording paper is permeated into the recording paper by heating or a combination of heating and pressure to improve the fixability of the hot melt ink. However, in such a method, since the ink once cooled on the recording paper penetrates into the recording paper by heat or pressure, it is difficult to control the degree of penetration, that is, the fixing property (spreading of dots), Highly accurate temperature control is required.

The "hot melt ink jet printer" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-278361 forms a heat-meltable ink image on an intermediate transfer medium and transfers the image onto the image receiving paper by pressing the image receiving paper against the intermediate transfer medium. It is a thing. That is, an electrically conductive recording head forms an ink image from an electrically conductive recording sheet on an intermediate transfer member, and the ink image is transferred to an image receiving paper. However, no concept has been proposed in which the ink having a three-dimensional spread is enlarged to a dot diameter substantially the same as a desired dot diameter on the intermediate transfer body and in advance on the recording paper.

Further, the previously proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 3-2820.
The "ink jet recording apparatus" of No. 55 is one in which an intermediate transfer member is provided between an ejection head and a recording medium, and the ink ejected by the ejection head is transferred onto the recording medium. The heating means is provided on the upstream side of the transfer position. That is, the ink on the intermediate transfer member is flattened by heating and pressurizing and then transferred to a recording paper.

[0006]

[Purpose] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is an inkjet recording in which the fixing property during transfer of recording paper is remarkably improved and the transfer efficiency onto recording paper is significantly improved. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides (1)
A heating unit that heats and melts the hot-melt ink, an ejection head that ejects the ink that is heated and melted by the heating unit, an intermediate transfer body that receives the ejected ink from the ejection head, and the ink on the intermediate transfer body is recorded. In a hot melt type ink jet recording apparatus comprising a transfer means for transferring onto paper, at least the ink receiving side of the intermediate transfer body is made of a porous material, or (2) a heating means for heating and melting the hot melt ink. An ejecting head for ejecting the ink heated and melted by the heating means, an intermediate transfer body for receiving the ejected ink from the ejecting head, and a transfer means for transferring the ink on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording paper. In a hot-melt type ink jet recording apparatus, the intermediate transfer member is composed of a belt having a plurality of through holes. A. Hereinafter, description will be given based on examples of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, in which 1 is an ejection head, 2 is a main body, 3 is a nozzle, 4 is a liquid chamber (ink), 5 is a heating device, 6 is piezoelectric ceramics, 7 is an intermediate transfer member, 8 is a rolling heater, 9 is a cleaner heater, 1
Reference numeral 0 is a cleaner, 11 is a paper feed roller, 12 is a driven roller, 13 is a platen, 14 is recording paper (recording body), 15 is a transfer heater, and 16 is a rolling roller.

The ejection head 1 transfers the ink droplets to the intermediate transfer member 7.
It is for injecting into the main body 2, the heating device 5, and the piezoelectric ceramics 6. The main body 2 is a casing made of stainless steel or other metal having a liquid chamber 4 that contains ink and a nozzle 3 that communicates with the liquid chamber 4. The ink is a hot melt ink that mixes a dye with a fatty acid amide, paraffin or the like, is solid at room temperature, and is liquefied by heating. The heating device 5 is electrically insulated from and in contact with the main body 2, and heats the solid hot melt ink contained in the liquid chamber 4 at a constant temperature to form liquid melt ink.
Further, the piezoelectric ceramics 6 is fixed to the wall surface of the main body 2,
PZ is a driving means for ejecting ink droplets from the nozzle 3.
Piezoelectric strain such as T (lead zirconate titanate) is used as a driving source for piezoelectric strain due to voltage application.

The intermediate transfer member 7 is formed of an endless belt made of a heat-resistant resin such as polyimide, and is wound in a ring shape around the paper feed roller 11 and the driven roller 12 arranged in parallel. The driven roller 12 is disposed at a position facing the nozzle 3, and the paper feed roller 11 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow R by a drive motor (not shown), and moves the intermediate transfer body 7 in the direction of arrow P in accordance with the rotation. .. Further, the paper feed roller 11 is arranged so as to face the platen 13, and feeds the recording paper 14 in the arrow F direction while sandwiching the recording paper 14. A transfer heater 15 is provided on the platen 13. Inside the intermediate transfer member 7 of the endless belt,
A rolling heater 8 that rotates in contact with is provided. Further, a rolling roller 16 is provided on the outer side so as to face the rolling heater 8. The rolling heater 8 is composed of a cylindrical ceramic heater or the like, and is a heating means for heating the intermediate transfer body 7. The rolling heater 8 reaches the paper feed roller 11 while the heated portion of the intermediate transfer body 7 is not cooled. Feed roller 1
It is located on the upstream side of 1. If necessary, the intermediate transfer member 7 may be disposed upstream of the driven roller 12 of the intermediate transfer member 7.
A cylindrical heater 9 for cleaner and a cleaner 10 are rotatably disposed so as to sandwich the sheet from both sides. At this time, the cleaner heater 9 is attached to the inner surface of the intermediate transfer member 7 so that the cleaner 1
0 is located on the outer surface.

In the above structure, the ejection head 1
The hot melt ink in the liquid chamber 4 is heated and melted by the heating device 5. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric ceramics 6, piezoelectric strain is generated to pressurize the liquid chamber 4. As a result,
A pressure wave is generated in the liquid chamber 4, and the melted ink becomes droplets from the nozzle 3 and is ejected toward the intermediate transfer body.
The ejected ink adheres to the intermediate transfer body 7 at the position facing the nozzle 3 on the outer peripheral surface of the driven roller 12.

The attached ink on the intermediate transfer member 7 moves in the direction of arrow P toward the paper feed roller 11. During this time, the intermediate transfer body 7 and the ink are heated by the rolling heater 8, and the heated ink is melted again and transferred to the recording paper 14 in a liquid state. The heating temperature of the rolling heater 8 is determined in consideration of the moving speed of the intermediate transfer body 7 so that the ink temperature during transfer is constant. Since the ink may remain on the intermediate transfer body 7 after being transferred to the recording paper 14, the residual ink is heated by the cleaner heater 9 and removed by the cleaner 10. However, the cleaner heater 9
The cleaner 10 and the cleaner 10 are provided as needed.

2 (a) to 2 (c) are diagrams showing a state in which ink is adhered to the intermediate transfer member, in which 17 is a porous material and 1 is a porous material.
Reference numeral 8 is an elastic body support material. As shown in FIG. 2A, in the intermediate transfer member, a porous material having excellent heat resistance, such as melamine resin, silicon, and fluororubber, is laminated on an elastic body supporting member 18 such as rubber. As shown in FIG. 2B, when the ink droplet reaches the intermediate transfer body, the ink droplet is rapidly cooled after being ejected from the nozzle, so that the ink droplet has a high viscosity state and maintains the shape of the ink droplet. This ink droplet is heated and rolled by the rolling heater 8 and the rolling roller 16 and its viscosity is lowered, so that it penetrates in the thickness and length directions of the porous material as shown in FIG. 2C. At this time, by controlling the temperature of the rolling heater 8 or the pressing of the rolling roller 16, it is possible to enlarge the dot diameter on the desired intermediate transfer member. This ink is transferred onto the recording paper, for example, by heating the platen 13. However, since the dot diameter is enlarged in advance by the intermediate transfer body, the elastic body support material 18 is further brought into close contact with the paper. Good recording on paper is obtained. Cleaner heater 9
Are heated to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the remaining ink, and are absorbed and removed by a roller or belt cleaner made of a porous material.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which ink is attached on the intermediate transfer member. As shown in FIG. 4 (a), as the intermediate transfer member, a resin having good heat resistance such as a polyimide film, which is perforated by a laser, or a metal thin film such as stainless steel which is perforated by etching is used. Be done. The ink ejected from the nozzles maintains an ink droplet shape on the intermediate transfer member as shown in FIG. 4B. Since it is heated by the rolling heater 8 shown in FIG. 3 and the rolling roller 16 made of silicon rubber or the like, most of the ink droplets are in the holes as shown in FIG. Will be expanded to. In the transfer onto the recording paper, the transfer heater 15 rapidly expands the solid ink in the holes, so that good recording can be performed on the plain paper.

[0015]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects. (1) A porous material or a material having a through hole is used as an intermediate transfer member, and a capillary action of the porous material or a rolling action of a material having a through hole by a rolling roller and a capillary action of the through hole are applied to the intermediate transfer member in advance. Since the dot diameter is controlled to a desired size, the fixability at the time of transferring the recording paper is significantly improved. (2) Ink having three-dimensional spread on the intermediate transfer member,
It is possible to previously enlarge the dot diameter on the recording paper to be approximately the same as the desired dot diameter. (3) The transfer efficiency to the recording paper is greatly improved due to the elastic support plate and the porous material structure, and due to the volume change of the ink in the through hole due to the rapid temperature change.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining an embodiment of an inkjet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state where ink is attached on an intermediate transfer member.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which ink is attached on an intermediate transfer body.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Jet head, 2 ... Main body, 3 ... Nozzle, 4 ... Liquid chamber (ink), 5 ... Heating device, 6 ... Piezoelectric ceramics, 7 ... Intermediate transfer body, 8 ... Rolling heater, 9 ... Cleaner heater,
10 ... Cleaner, 11 ... Paper feed roller, 12 ... Followed roller, 13 ... Platen, 14 ... Recording paper (recording body), 15 ...
Transfer heater, 16 ... Rolling roller.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A heating unit that heats and melts hot melt ink, an ejection head that ejects the ink that is heated and melted by the heating unit, an intermediate transfer member that receives the ejection ink from the ejection head, and the intermediate transfer member. A hot-melt type ink jet recording apparatus comprising a transfer means for transferring the above ink onto a recording paper, wherein the ink receiving side of the intermediate transfer member is made of a porous material. 2. A heating means for heating and melting the hot melt ink, an ejection head for ejecting the ink heated and melted by the heating means, an intermediate transfer body for receiving the ejection ink from the ejection head, and the intermediate transfer body. A hot-melt type inkjet recording apparatus comprising a transfer means for transferring the above ink onto a recording paper, wherein the intermediate transfer member is composed of a belt having a plurality of through holes.