JPH05169693A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an ink ribbon from slacking and wrinkling without applying a tension to obtain a high-quality image by a method wherein a pay-out roll and a take-up roll are rotated in accordance with the rotation of a platen roller by the frictional force with the platen roller. CONSTITUTION:Recotding paper 1 clamped between a platen roller 3 and an ink film 2 is fed to a position under a recording head 6. At this time, the recording paper 1 moves by the frictional force with the roller 3, and a pay-out roll 4 is rotated by the frictional force with the recording paper 1 to pay out the film 2. With the movement of the recording paper 1, heating elements on the head 6 generate heat in accordance with image signals to transfer ink provided on a film 2 to the recording paper 1 to form an image thereon. After passing under the head 6, the recording paper 1 and the film 2 still in contact with each other move to a position where a take-up roll 5 and the roller abut on each other, thereafter being separated from each other. After that, the roll 5 is rotated by the frictional force with the roller 3 and further the frictional force with the recording paper 1 to take up the film 2 by the same length as that paid out of the roll 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus for transferring an ink contained in an ink film onto a recording medium to record an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal transfer recording system, an ink film is a very thin film base material having a thickness of 3 to 6 .mu.m coated with a heat melting ink (or a heat sublimation ink). Image recording on the recording medium by melting (sublimation) transfer of the ink on the recording medium by bringing a plurality of minute heating elements aligned on the recording head into contact with the substrate side and generating heat according to the image signal. I do. The ink film is wound up on a feed roll and fed out according to image recording, and the ink film after recording is wound up on a winding roll. Since the roll diameter changes and the take-up speed of the ink film changes as recording is continued, conventionally, as described in JP-A-61-120782, the take-up roll is rotated through a slip clutch to wind the ink film. There was a need. Further, since the ink film is thin and easily wrinkled, and wrinkles are the main cause of image deterioration, tension was applied to the ink film using a friction clutch to prevent wrinkles.

[0003]

In the above prior art, a slip clutch for absorbing a change in the number of revolutions of the winding roll and a friction clutch for constantly applying tension to the ink film to prevent wrinkles are used. The structure is complicated, and the torque of the motor needs to be increased to apply tension to the ink film, which causes an increase in the size of the motor and the power supply, hinders downsizing of the apparatus, and further increases the cost.

The object of the present invention is to have no slip clutch,
An object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized and low-cost thermal transfer recording apparatus that can stably convey an ink film without a friction clutch and always apply tension to the ink film, and can obtain a high-quality image without wrinkles.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink film composed of a film-shaped substrate and ink, a cylindrical delivery roll around which the ink film is wound, and a delivery roll delivered from the delivery roll are provided. A take-up roll that winds up the ink film, a recording head having a plurality of heating elements in contact with the base material of the ink film between the feed-out roll and the take-up roll, and facing the recording head across the ink film. In a heat-sensitive transfer recording apparatus comprising a cylindrical platen roller rotatably supported in contact with the ink film, the platen roller is located between the feed roll and the take-up roll, and the feed roll and the take-up roll are provided. The feed roll and take-up roll. By the frictional force between the Nrora, in which so as to rotate in response to rotation of the platen roller.

[0006]

The platen roller is located between the feed roll and the take-up roll, and the respective rotation axes are arranged in parallel with each other. The platen roller is in contact with the feed roll and the take-up roll, and the driving force is applied only to the platen roller during recording. The feed roll and the take-up roll are rotated at the same peripheral speed in accordance with the rotation of the platen roller due to the frictional force with the platen roller. Therefore, the slip clutch is unnecessary. Further, the ink film and the recording medium contact each other in a wide range between the feed roll and the take-up roll, the recording medium and the platen roller come into contact with each other, and the ink film and the recording medium move integrally so that the ink film does not warp and the ink film Wrinkles do not occur even if tension is not always applied to the friction clutch, and a friction clutch is unnecessary.

[0007]

1 is a perspective view showing the construction of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view.

The feed roll 4 and the take-up roll 5 are arranged parallel to the rotation axis of the platen roller 3 and are in contact with the platen roller 3. The feed roll shaft 13 and the take-up roll shaft 14 are movably supported in the direction toward the platen roller 3, respectively, and are supported by the roll pressing spring 11 so that the feed roll 4 and the take-up roll 5 are always in contact with the platen roller 3. Has been done. The ink film 2 is wound on the winding roll 5 while being in close contact with the platen roller 3 from the feeding roll 4. The ink film 2 has a substrate side in contact with the recording head 6 and an ink side in contact with the platen roller 3. Recording head 6
A large number of minute heating elements are arranged in the direction of the rotation axis of the platen roller 3, and the pressing spring 7 presses the heating elements against the base material side of the ink film 2. The motor 8 drives the platen roller 3 via platen roller drive gears 9 and 10.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the recording paper 1 is inserted between the feed roll 4 and the platen roller 3, the motor 8 operates to rotate the platen roller 3 in the direction of arrow a in the figure. The recording paper 1 is sandwiched between the platen roller 3 and the ink film 2 by the rotation of the platen roller 3, and advances under the recording head 6 together with the ink film 2. At this time, the recording paper 1 is placed on the platen roller 3
And the feed roll 4 is rotated by the frictional force with the recording paper 1 to feed out the ink film 2. The heating element of the recording head 6 generates heat according to the image signal in accordance with the movement of the recording paper 1, and the ink contained in the ink film 2 is transferred to the recording paper 1 to form an image. Even after passing under the recording head 6, the recording paper 1 and the ink film 2 move to the position where the winding roll 5 and the platen roller 3 are in contact with each other, and the recording paper 1 and the ink film 2 are separated therefrom. The take-up roll 5 is rotated by the frictional force with the platen roller 3 and the frictional force with the recording paper 1, and winds up the ink film 2 having the same length as the length fed from the feeding roll 4.

As described above, even without the slip clutch, the ink film is always conveyed in accordance with the rotation of the platen roller 3, and the ink film can be stably conveyed without applying tension to the ink film. Even if there is no wrinkle, a high quality image without wrinkles can be obtained.

FIG. 3 shows the film cassette of this embodiment.

The roll support 16 rotatably supports the feed roll 4 and the take-up roll 5. Roll support 1
6 is a cassette frame 15 so that the feed roll 4 and the take-up roll 5 can move in the direction toward the platen roller 3.
Supported by. The roll pressing spring 11 connects the feed roll 4 and the roll support 16 of the winding roll 5,
The feed roll 4 and the take-up roll 5 are pressed against the platen roller 3. Feeding roll 4 and winding roll 5
Since the pressing mechanism of is arranged on the film cassette, the film cassette can be easily replaced.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the operation thereof.

The difference from the first embodiment is that wheels 17 are arranged at both ends of the rotating shaft of the winding roll 5, and further cams 23 for moving and rotating the wheel 17 are arranged. The cam 23 is arranged coaxially with the rotary shaft of the platen roller 3, and the gear 21 is connected to the cam 23.
The cam 23 and the gear 21 are rotatable with respect to the rotation shaft of the platen roller 3, and are arranged so as to rotate in the same phase at both ends of the platen roller 3 by the transmission shaft 22 and the gear 20. The motor 8 rotates the transmission shaft 22 via the gears 18 and 19. The gear 9 for rotating the platen roller 3 and the gear 18 for rotating the transmission shaft 22 are
It is connected to the shaft of the motor 8 via a one-way clutch.

The recording motor 8 rotates in the direction of arrow b in FIG. 4 to rotate the platen roller 3. At this time, the one-way clutch keeps the gear 18 stopped and the cam 23 also stopped. When the motor 8 is rotated in the reverse direction at the end of recording in a certain range, the one-way clutch stops the gear 9 and the platen roller 3 stops. The gear 18 is connected to the rotating shaft of the motor 8 by a one-way clutch and rotates in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 4, and rotates the cam 23 in the direction of arrow a in FIG.

The cam 23 pushes the wheel 17 in the direction away from the platen roller 3, that is, the arrow e direction in FIG. 5 by the rotation in the direction of arrow a in FIG. Tension is applied to the ink film 2 by rotating it in the direction of arrow f,
The flexure of the ink film 2 is removed to prevent the generation of wrinkles.

The feature of the present embodiment is that since the cam 23 rotates to remove the bending of the ink film 2, wrinkles are generated even when the feeding roll 4 and the take-up roll 5 are attached with low accuracy and the ink film 2 is easily bent. Hard to do. Further, the motor for recording and the motor for operating the mechanism for removing the flexure of the ink film 2 are the same, and the device configuration is simplified. Further, since the recording operation and the flexure removing operation are alternately performed, a motor having a low driving force can be operated, and a cheaper and lighter motor can be used. The same applies to the case where the wheel 17 is attached to the feed roll 4 and tension is applied to the ink film 2 by the rotation of the cam 23.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the platen roller is arranged so as to be in contact with both the feed roll and the take-up roll, and the feed roll and the take-up roll are rotated by the frictional force of the platen roller. By rotating the ink film and the recording medium, the slip clutch is not necessary, and the ink film and the recording medium come into contact with each other and the recording medium and the platen roller contact each other in a wide range between the feed roll and the take-up roll. Since the medium moves as a unit, the ink film does not bend, wrinkles do not occur even if the ink film is not always tensioned, the friction clutch becomes unnecessary, and a simple mechanism does not cause wrinkles. Is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a film cassette of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the operation of the apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Recording paper, 2 ... Ink film, 3 ... Platen roller, 4 ... Delivery roll, 5 ... Winding roll, 6 ... Recording head, 8 ... Motor, 11 ... Roll pressing spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink film comprising a film-shaped substrate and ink, a cylindrical feed roll around which the ink film is wound, a take-up roll that winds up the ink film fed from the feed roll, and the feed roll. A recording head having a plurality of heating elements in contact with the base material of the ink film between the winding roll and the take-up roll; and a rotatably supported contact with the ink film facing the recording head while sandwiching the ink film. A platen roller having a cylindrical shape, the recording medium is moved between the platen roller and the ink film by the rotation of the platen roller, and the heating element of the recording head is heated according to an image signal, and the ink film has In a thermal transfer recording apparatus that transfers ink to the recording medium to record an image , The platen roller is between the feed roll and the take-up roll, in contact with the feed roll and the take-up roll, the feed roll and the take-up roll by the friction force of the platen roller and the recording medium, A thermal transfer recording apparatus, wherein the thermal transfer recording apparatus rotates according to the rotation of the platen roller.