JPH05270117A - Regenerating device for thermal transfer recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a regeneration device capable of making a repetitive use of a thermal transfer recording medium possible to ensure data transfer and recording with stable print quality under a thermal fusion transfer/recording system as well as a thermal transfer recording device equipped with such a regeneration means. CONSTITUTION:The subject thermal transfer recording medium regeneration device is composed of an insulative material sticking means which sticks an insulative material 3a such as endless film to a thermal transfer recording medium 1 used for transfer from a base film side 1a, an electrically charging means 5 which applies an electrical charging treatment to the thermal transfer recording medium to which the insulative material 3a sticks and electrically charges the residual part of the medium after the transfer of a fusible ink layer to a transfer medium, a toner supply means 7 which allows a toner to stick to the electrically charged part of the thermal transfer recording medium, and a toner fixing means 8 which thermally fixes the stuck toner.

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 medium reproducing apparatus which makes it possible to reuse a thermal transfer recording medium used for thermal transfer and a thermal transfer recording apparatus having means for such reuse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, in a recording device such as a word processor, a computer terminal printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, etc., a thermal transfer recording system using a heating element such as a thermal head has a small sound and the device is relatively inexpensive. It is widely used because of its compactness, easy operation, high reliability, etc. Among them, a recording method called a thermal fusion transfer recording method is widely used.

In this heat-melt transfer recording system, a heat-transfer recording medium having a heat-meltable ink layer composed of a heat-meltable substance and a coloring material such as a pigment provided on a substrate such as a plastic film is used as a heat transfer recording medium. The heat-meltable ink layer is heated and melted by using a heat-generating element such as a thermal head and transferred onto recording paper to form a transferred image. However,
The thermal transfer recording medium used in this case cannot be repeatedly used for transfer recording, because once the transfer recording is performed, the heat-meltable ink layer in the recorded image portion comes off therefrom.
Therefore, there is a problem that the recording cost cannot be reduced.

Therefore, various structures have been proposed for the thermal transfer recording medium so that the thermal transfer recording medium can be repeatedly used many times for transfer recording, and the heat-meltable ink layer is composed of a plurality of ink layers. The one that is configured so that the ink layer is gradually peeled off during transfer recording is put into practical use.

[0005]

However, in the case where the heat-meltable ink layer of the thermal transfer recording medium is composed of a plurality of ink layers, the print quality deteriorates as the ink layer peels off, and the number of printings also increases. There is a problem that the number of ink layer layers is limited.

The present invention is intended to solve such problems of the prior art, and in the thermal melting transfer recording system, the thermal transfer recording medium is repeatedly used to enable transfer recording with stable printing quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reproducing device and a thermal transfer recording device having such reproducing means.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a heat-meltable ink layer of a thermal transfer recording medium comprising a substrate film and a heat-meltable ink layer laminated thereon. Insulating material adhering means for adhering an insulating material from the base material film side to the thermal transfer recording medium after being transferred to a transfer body, and the thermal transfer recording medium with the insulating material adhering is subjected to a charging treatment to form a fusible ink layer A charging means for charging the remaining portion of the thermal transfer recording medium after being transferred to the transfer target, a toner supplying means for attaching toner to the charged portion of the thermal transfer recording medium, and a toner fixing means for thermally fixing the attached toner. There is provided a thermal transfer recording medium reproducing apparatus characterized by having.

Further, a thermal transfer recording medium comprising a base film and a heat-meltable ink layer laminated on the base film is heated,
In a thermal transfer recording device that transfers a heat-meltable ink layer to a transfer target to perform recording, an insulating material is applied to the thermal transfer recording medium after the heat-meltable ink layer is transferred to the transfer target from the base film side. Insulating material contacting means for closely contacting the thermal transfer recording medium to which the insulating material is adhered is subjected to a charging treatment, and the remaining portion of the thermal transfer recording medium after the fusible ink layer is transferred to the transfer target is charged, thermal transfer There is provided a thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized by comprising a toner supply unit for attaching toner to a charged portion of a recording medium, and a toner fixing unit for thermally fixing the attached toner.

A reproducing apparatus and a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or equivalent constituent elements.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention. The reproducing apparatus shown in the figure includes a used thermal transfer recording medium accommodating means 2 for accommodating a used thermal transfer recording medium 1 after being transferred with a heat-meltable ink layer on a transfer target in a wound state, and a belt-shaped endless member. Insulating material 3a that is a film
And the insulating material 3a is held in contact with the roller 4 from the base material film side of the thermal transfer recording medium 1, and the thermal transfer recording medium 1 to which the insulating material 3a is adhered is charged from both sides. A charging unit 5, a toner supply unit 7 for attaching the toner 6 to the charged thermal transfer recording medium by a roller, a toner fixing unit 8 for thermally fixing the attached toner by a thermal roller, and a winding for winding the regenerated thermal transfer recording device. It consists of a take-up roller 9.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, which incorporates the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. That is, the thermal transfer recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 selectively heats and melts the heat-meltable ink layer of the thermal transfer recording medium 1 according to image information, and transfers it to the transfer medium 10 such as recording paper as in the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus. An insulating material adhering means for adhering the insulating material 3a, which is a belt-shaped endless film, from the base material film side of the thermal transfer recording medium 1 as in FIG. A charging means 5 for charging both sides of the thermal transfer recording medium 1 to which the insulating material 3a is closely attached, a toner supplying means 7 for attaching the toner 6 to the thermal transfer recording medium subjected to the charging treatment, and a thermal fixing of the attached toner. Toner fixing means 8
have.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the thermal transfer recording apparatus shown in FIG. 2, it has a heating means 11 such as a thermal head for transferring onto a transfer body 10, an insulator adhering means, a charging means 5, a toner supplying means 7, and a toner fixing means 8. However, this insulator contact means does not allow the endless film-shaped insulator to adhere to the thermal transfer recording medium 1, but the roller-shaped insulator 3b to adhere to the thermal transfer recording medium 1. The means 5 is also designed to be charged from the side of the heat-fusible ink layer.

In the apparatus of the present invention as described above, insulating paper or plastic can be used as the insulating material to be adhered to the thermal transfer recording medium 1 by the insulating material adhering means, and more specifically, it can be used. , For example, condenser paper, high-quality paper, polycarbonate, polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl chloride, epoxy, polystyrene, silicone, Teflon, polyester, polyamide, polyimide, aramid, cellophane, etc. can be used. .

As the charging means 5, a non-contact type corotron, a scorotron, a solid discharge element, a needle electrode, a contact type roller charging, a conductive brush, or the like can be used.

A general electrophotographic developing device can be used as the toner supplying means 7, and a dry developing system such as an impression system or a projection system utilizing electrostatic force, magnetic force, gravity, etc., electrophoresis, liquid Wet development with flow can be used. Further, as the toner used in this case, various heat-melting toners can be used, and the form thereof may be either powder or liquid, but it is necessary to stabilize the printing performance when repeating transfer after reproduction. Therefore, it is preferable to use the same quality as the heat-meltable ink layer used in the thermal transfer recording medium to be reproduced.

As the toner fixing means 8, it is preferable to use a heat roller to heat and pressurize to fix the toner. However, a heating device such as an infrared lamp, a xenon flash, or a sheet heater can be used, and further, a doctor blade and smoothing can be used. A smoothing device such as a bar can also be used together.

As the thermal transfer recording medium applicable to the reproducing apparatus or the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, the thermal transfer recording medium conventionally used in the thermal melting transfer recording system can be widely used. That is, a base film and a heat-meltable ink layer laminated thereon can be applied. In this case, it is preferable that the insulating property of the base film is larger than the insulating property of the hot-melt ink layer. For example, as the base film, thin paper such as insulating condenser paper, polyester film, polyamide film, polyimide film, Plastic films such as aramid film and cellophane can be used. Further, as the coloring material of the heat-meltable ink layer, known pigments and dyes, for example, diazo yellow pigments, monoazo red pigments, phthalocyanine pigments, pigments such as carbon black and azo dyes, anthraquinone dyes, styryl pigments Dyes such as dyes can be used, and as the heat-meltable substance of the heat-meltable ink layer, polyethylene resin, polystyrene resin, urethane resin, polyester resin, butyral resin, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer resin, etc. Waxes such as thermoplastic resins, polyethylene wax, petroleum resin wax, paraffin wax, rice wax, ester wax, oxidation wax, carnauba wax, and candelilla wax can be used.

As the thermal transfer recording medium applied to the apparatus of the present invention, various media can be used as long as the above-mentioned substrate has a heat-fusible ink layer formed thereon. A so-called one-time ribbon having a single layer of the reactive ink layer can be preferably used. In addition, a heat resistant slipping layer for preventing the base film from being heat-sealed to a heating means such as a thermal head is provided on the surface of the base film opposite to the surface on which the hot melt ink layer is laminated. The provided one can also be used.

[0019]

When transfer recording is performed by using the thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention or a known thermal transfer recording device, the transfer recording is continuously performed on the substrate film 1a as shown in FIG. 4 (A) before the transfer recording. The thermal transfer recording medium 1 on which the heat-fusible ink layer 1b has been laminated is partially removed after transfer recording according to the image information as shown in FIG. 4 (B). The base film 1a in that portion is exposed.

Therefore, in the reproducing apparatus or the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4C, the thermal transfer recording medium 1 in which the heat-meltable ink layer 1b is partially removed.
On the other hand, first, the insulating material 3 is adhered from the side of the base film 1a, and the charging means 5 such as a charger is attached from both sides of the base film 1a and the hot melt ink layer 1b (or the side of the hot melt ink layer 1b). In general, the heat-meltable ink layer 1b is discharged so that it has a negative charge according to a conventional method. Then,
The base film 1a has a higher electric resistance than the heat-meltable ink layer 1b and thus is easily charged, and since the insulating material 3 is adhered from the base film 1a side, the heat-meltable ink layer 1b is removed. The electric charge is retained in the exposed portion of the material film 1a, and the residual heat-meltable ink layer 1b hardly retains the electric charge. In this case, when the base film 1a is made to have a higher insulating property than the heat-meltable ink layer 1b, the heat-meltable ink layer 1b is removed from the portion where the heat-meltable ink layer 1b remains. This is preferable because the surface of the base film 1a is more selectively charged.
The thickness of the base film 1a of the thermal transfer recording medium 1 is generally 10 μm or less from the viewpoint of thermal sensitivity at the time of transfer recording. Even if the object 3 is not brought into close contact with the surface and charged, it is not possible to maintain a sufficient amount of charge on the surface of the base film 1a, which makes it difficult to adhere a sufficient amount of toner in the subsequent steps.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4D, the toner supply means 7 applies the base film 1 to the thermal transfer recording medium in which the exposed portion of the base film 1a is highly charged.
The toner 6 having a polarity opposite to the charging polarity of a is brought close to or sprinkled. Then, a large amount of toner 6 is attached and held on the exposed portion of the base film 1a.

After that, the toner 6 attached to a portion other than the exposed portion of the base film 1a is removed by an ordinary method,
As shown in (E), the toner 6 adhered by the toner fixing means 8 such as a heat roller is heated and melted, and the base film 1
The thermal transfer recording medium 1 is reproduced by fixing it to a. Then, the insulating material 3 and the thermal transfer recording medium 1 are separated from each other. When a belt-shaped endless film is used as the thermal transfer recording medium 1, the thermal transfer recording medium 1 thus regenerated is conveyed to a heating means such as a thermal head and repeatedly used for transfer.

[0023]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below in greater detail by giving Examples.

Example 1 A heat transfer recording film was prepared by forming a heat-fusible ink layer having a thickness of about 2 μm on a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 6 μm as a base film, and was made endless as shown in FIG. Such a thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention was loaded. Then, a commercially available copy paper is printed, a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of about 100 μm is brought into close contact with the thermal transfer recording film after printing, and the surface of the thermal transfer recording film is about 10 mm above and below the surface of the heat-meltable ink layer by a charging device. While applying a voltage of about -5 kV, move the thermal transfer recording film at a speed of 35 mm / sec,
It was negatively charged. On the surface of the charged thermal transfer recording film on the side of the heat-meltable ink layer, slightly positively charged toner was sprinkled by a toner supply device to remove unnecessary toner. Toner was retained as it was. This was heat-pressed with a heating roller heated to 100 ° C. to reproduce the thermal transfer recording medium.

When printing was carried out again using the regenerated thermal transfer recording medium, the same printing quality as that before the reproduction was obtained.

[0026]

According to the reproducing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reproduce a used thermal transfer recording medium so that repeated transfer recording can be performed with stable print quality. Further, according to the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to perform the transfer recording and the reproduction of the thermal transfer recording medium used for the transfer recording with one apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an embodiment of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operation of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Transfer Recording Medium 1a Base Film 1b Thermal Melting Ink Layer 3, 3a, 3b Insulating Material 5 Charging Means 6 Toner 7 Toner Supplying Means 8 Toner Fixing Means 10 Transferred Body 11 Heating Means

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 31/00 F 9012-2C

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate film for a thermal transfer recording medium comprising a substrate film and a heat-meltable ink layer laminated on the substrate, after transferring the heat-meltable ink layer to an object to be transferred. Insulating material contacting means for adhering the insulating material from the side, the thermal transfer recording medium to which the insulating material is adhered is subjected to a charging treatment, and the remaining portion of the thermal transfer recording medium after the fusible ink layer is transferred to the transfer target is charged. A thermal transfer recording medium reproducing apparatus comprising: a charging unit for charging, a toner supply unit for attaching toner to a charged portion of the thermal transfer recording medium, and a toner fixing unit for thermally fixing the attached toner. 2. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the insulating material is a belt-shaped endless film. 3. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the insulating material is roller-shaped. 4. A thermal transfer recording apparatus for heating a thermal transfer recording medium comprising a base film and a heat-meltable ink layer laminated on the base film to transfer the heat-meltable ink layer to a transfer target for recording. Insulating material adhering means for adhering the insulating material from the base film side to the thermal transfer recording medium after transferring the heat-meltable ink layer to the transfer material, and charging treatment for the thermal transfer recording medium in which the insulating material is adhered The charging means for charging the remaining portion of the thermal transfer recording medium after the meltable ink layer has been transferred to the transfer target, the toner supplying means for attaching the toner to the charged portion of the thermal transfer recording medium, and the attached toner A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising a toner fixing unit for thermally fixing. 5. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the thermal transfer recording medium is a belt-shaped endless film.