JPH05318800A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a thermal head sliding without damaging heat-sensitive paper or a thermal transfer ribbon and applying printing of high quality to recording paper by positioning all of the connection terminals provided to one side of an insulating substrate on the front side of the arrangement position of heating resistors with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of heating resistors 3 are linearly arranged on a square insulating substrate 2 in the vicinity of one side among two sides meeting each other on the upper surface of the substrate at a right angle and a plurality of the connection terminals 6 for connecting the heating resistors 3 to an external electric circuit are provided to the other side of the substrate. The insulating substrate 2 is moved in a fixed direction with respect to heat sensitive paper or a thermal transfer ribbon so that the resistors 3 become the rear part of the substrate and the resistors 3 are slid with the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon to print recording paper. Further, all of the connection terminals 6 provided to one side of the insulating substrate 2 are positioned on the front side of the arrangement direction of the resistors 3 with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a thermal head incorporated in a printer mechanism such as a word processor, and more particularly, an improvement of a serial type thermal head for printing and printing while slidingly contacting a recording paper at a predetermined speed. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, a serial type thermal head incorporated in a printer mechanism such as a word processor is made of an electrically insulating material such as alumina ceramics. A plurality of heat generating resistors 12 and the like, and the heat generating resistors
The heating resistor 12 has a structure in which a plurality of conductive layers 13 for supplying electric power to cause Joule heat generation are attached to each heating resistor 12, and each heating resistor 12 has a conductive layer 13 Power is applied to the heating resistor 12 to generate Joule heat, and the heating resistor 12 is slidably contacted with the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon.
Predetermined printing and printing are performed on the recording paper by discoloring the thermal paper with the heat generated by 12 or transferring the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon to the recording paper.

In the thermal head, the heating resistors 12 are linearly arranged along one side of the insulating substrate 11 (the side on the rear side in the sliding contact direction with the thermal paper). The body 12 is slidably contacted with the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon to print on the recording paper. 444444 The thermal head slides smoothly on the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon, and the bleeding of the printing and printing is effectively prevented. There is.

A conductive layer connected to the heating resistor 12
The terminal 13 is distributed and led out over the entire length of one side in the direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the heating resistors 12 of the insulating substrate 11, and the terminal constitutes a connection terminal 14 connected to an external electric circuit, and the external electric circuit The wiring 16 of the substrate 15 is attached and connected via solder or the like.

Further, in the thermal head, during printing, the insulating substrate 11 is moved in a state of being slightly tilted with respect to the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon so that the heating resistor 12 is brought into close contact sliding property with respect to the thermal paper or the like and the heating resistor is moved. The heat generated by 12 is well transferred to thermal paper.

[0006]

However, in this conventional thermal head, the plurality of connection terminals 14 are dispersed and deposited over substantially the entire length of one side of the insulating substrate 11, the connection terminals 14 and the external electric circuit board. The connection of the wiring 15 to the wiring 16 is made through solder or the like, and the height of the connection portion is higher than the height of the heat-generating resistor 12, so that the insulating substrate 11 is attached to a thermal paper or a thermal transfer ribbon. When printing and printing on recording paper by sliding it in a certain direction in a certain direction and sliding the heating resistor 12 on the surface of the insulating substrate 11 selectively to Joule heat while making a contact with thermal paper or a thermal transfer ribbon, heat is generated. The connection part between the wiring 16 of the external electric circuit board 15 and the connection terminal 14 located on the extension line of the array of the resistor 12 comes into contact with the thermal paper or the like, and scratches the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon, or the thermal paper or the thermal transfer. Ribbon and fever Contact body is incomplete, high-quality printing on the recording paper, has a disadvantage in that printing can not be formed. Especially when the recording paper to which the ink of the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon is transferred is made of a hard paper such as a postcard or a thick paper, the thermal paper or the recording paper is hardly deformed at the time of printing or printing. The portions are strongly contacted with the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon, and the scratches on the thermal paper or the like, the printing, and the scraping of the print become remarkable.

[0007]

[Purpose] The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object thereof is to perform sliding and printing on a recording paper with high quality without damaging the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon. It is to provide a thermal head.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a plurality of heat generating resistors are linearly arranged and deposited in the vicinity of one of two sides orthogonal to each other on the surface of a rectangular insulating substrate, and the other side is attached. A heat-sensitive paper or a thermal transfer sheet is formed by attaching a plurality of connection terminals for connecting each of the heating resistors to an external electric circuit to the sides, with the heating resistor having the insulating substrate attached to the surface on the rear side. A thermal head that prints or prints on recording paper by moving the heating resistor on the surface of the insulating substrate in a fixed direction and slidingly contacting the heating resistor on the surface of the insulating substrate, or thermal transfer ribbon. All of the connection terminals thus made are characterized in that they are located on the front side of the arrangement position of the heating resistors with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate.

[0009]

According to the thermal head of the present invention, all of the connection terminals, which are attached to one side of the insulating substrate and to which the wiring of the external electric circuit board is connected, are located on the front side with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate. When the insulating substrate is moved with a slight inclination to the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon and printing or printing is performed on the recording paper, the connection between the wiring of the external electric circuit board and the connection terminal should be floating from the thermal paper. As a result, the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon can be effectively prevented from being scratched and the sliding between the heating resistor and the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon can be improved. It is possible to form high quality prints and prints on recording paper.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a plan view of the thermal head according to the present invention.
2 is a sectional view of the thermal head shown in FIG.
Is printed on thermal paper using the thermal head shown in Fig. 1,
The figure for explaining the printing state is shown. The thermal head 1 basically includes an insulating substrate 2, a heating resistor 3 and a conductive layer 4.
It is composed of

The insulating substrate 2 is made of an electrically insulating material such as alumina ceramics, and the heating resistor 3 and the conductive layer 4 are adhered on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 2. When the heating resistor 3 and the conductive layer 4 are supported, they serve as a supporting member. To do.

The insulating substrate 2 made of an electrically insulating material such as alumina ceramics is made of, for example, alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ )
, Silica (SiO ₂ ), magnesia (MgO), calcia (CaO)
Ceramic green sheet (ceramic green sheet) is formed by adding a suitable organic solvent and solvent to raw material powder such as to form a slurry and forming it into a sheet by using the well-known doctor blade method or calender roll method. Sheet), and then the ceramic green sheet is punched into a predetermined shape by a punching process,
It is made into a square shape by firing at (about 1600 ° C).

A strip-shaped heat storage layer 5 is formed on the upper surface of the quadrangular insulating substrate 2 along one side thereof (the side located on the rear side when moved in a certain direction with respect to the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon).
The heat storage layer 5 moderately accumulates the heat generated by the heat generating resistor 3 and acts so that the thermal head quickly reaches the high temperature required for printing.

The heat storage layer 5 is made of, for example, SiO ₂ --BaO--Ca.
O over Al ₂ O ₃ over B ₂ O ₃ type glass, SiO _2, over Al ₂ O ₃
-Made of glass such as BaO-based glass, a glass paste obtained by adding and mixing an appropriate organic solvent and solvent to glass powder of the specified components is applied by printing on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 2 in a strip shape by a conventionally known screen printing method. By baking this at a temperature of about 700 ° C., it is applied in a strip shape on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 2.

The band-shaped heat storage layer 5 adhered to the insulating substrate 2
A plurality of heating resistors 3 are linearly arranged and deposited on the upper side of the heating resistor 3. At both ends of the heating resistor 3, the individual conductive layers 4a individually connected to the heating resistors 3 and the heating resistors are attached. A conductive layer 4 consisting of a common conductive layer 4b commonly connected to the body 3 is applied.

The heating resistor 3 is made of tantalum nitride or the like. Since the heating resistor 3 itself has a predetermined electric resistivity, the heating resistor 3 is separately attached to both ends of the heating resistor 3. When electric power is supplied and applied through the conductive layer 4a and the common conductive layer 4b, Joule heat is generated, and heat is generated at a temperature required to form a printed image, for example, a temperature of 300 to 450 ° C.

The heat generating resistor 3 is formed in a fine pattern on the heat storage layer 5 formed on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 2 by adopting a thin film forming technique such as a well-known sputtering method and a photolithography technique. It is formed.

A conductive layer 4 consisting of an individual conductive layer 4a and a common conductive layer 4b is adhered and connected to both ends of the heating resistor 3, and the conductive layer 4 causes Joule heating to the heating resistor 3. It has a function of supplying a predetermined electric power for causing the operation.

The conductive layer 4 is made of aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu).
Made of a metal such as
(1 side in the direction orthogonal to the direction of arrangement of the heating resistors 3) and with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate 2 at the time of printing or printing, it should be about 4 to 6 mm in front of the arrangement of the heating resistors 3. And formed in a fine pattern.

Further, the conductive layer 4 is connected to a connecting terminal 6 provided on one side of the insulating base 2 at a portion led out to one side of the insulating base 2, and the connecting terminal 6 has an external electric circuit board 7 connected thereto.
The wiring 8 is attached and connected through a brazing material such as solder.

The connection terminal 6 has the function of electrically connecting the conductive layer 4 to the wiring 8 of the external electric circuit board 7, and thereby the heating resistor 3 from the wiring 8 of the external electric circuit board 7 to the conductive layer 4. The power required to heat the Joule is supplied.

Further, all of the connection terminals 6 attached to one side of the insulating base 2 are located in front of the arrangement of the heating resistors 3 with respect to the moving direction of the insulating base 2 at the time of printing. 2 When moving the insulating substrate with the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon slightly tilted to print or print on the recording paper, connect the wiring 8 of the external electric circuit board 7 and the connection terminal 6 from the thermal paper. It does not come into contact with the thermal paper or the like in a floating state, and as a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon from being scratched, and at the same time, to slide the heating resistor against the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon. It is possible to form high quality prints and prints on the recording paper with good motion. Further, even if the recording paper on which the ink of the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon is transferred is made of hard paper, the thermal paper does not come into strong contact with the connection part of the insulating substrate 2, and the thermal paper is not scratched. Or print on the recording paper,
There is no scraping of prints.

Thus, according to the thermal head of the present invention, electric power is applied to each heating resistor 3 through the wiring 8 of the external electric circuit board 7 and the conductive layer 4 to cause the heating resistor 3 to generate Joule heat and to generate the heat as shown in FIG. As shown in, the insulating substrate 2 is moved at a constant speed in the Z direction with the insulating substrate 2 and the thermal transfer ribbon 9 slightly tilted (inclined by 1 to 5 °), and the heat generated by each heating resistor 3 is transferred to the thermal paper or the thermal paper. Predetermined printing and printing are performed on the recording paper by sequentially transferring the thermal paper to the thermal transfer ribbon 9 to change the color of the thermal paper or transferring the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon to the recording paper.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the heating resistor 3 and the conductive layer.
If the surface of 4 is covered with a protective film 10 made of silicon nitride, sialon, etc., it is effective for the heating layer 3 and the conductive layer 4 to be worn by sliding contact with thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon by the coating layer 10. Can be prevented and heat generating resistor
It is possible to prevent the moisture contained in the atmosphere and the sodium ions contained in the thermal paper from coming into contact with 3 and the conductive layer 4 and effectively prevent the heating resistor 3 and the conductive layer 4 from being oxidized and corroded. ..

[0025]

According to the thermal head of the present invention, all the connection terminals, which are attached to one side of the insulating substrate and to which the wiring of the external electric circuit board is connected, are located on the front side with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate. Therefore, when the insulating substrate is moved slightly inclined to the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon to print or print on the recording paper, the connection between the wiring of the external electric circuit board and the connection terminal floats from the thermal paper. As a result, the thermal paper and the thermal transfer ribbon are not in contact with each other, and as a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the thermal paper and the thermal transfer ribbon from being scratched, and the sliding between the heating resistor and the thermal paper or the thermal transfer ribbon. It is possible to form high quality prints and prints on recording paper as good.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a thermal head of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of the thermal head shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining printing and printing on recording paper using the thermal head shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional thermal head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-Thermal head 2--Insulating substrate 3--Heating resistor 4--Conductive layer 5--Heat storage layer 6-Connecting terminal 7・ ・ ・ ・ ・ External electric circuit board 8 ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ Wiring

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of heat generating resistors are linearly arranged and deposited in the vicinity of one of two sides orthogonal to each other on the surface of a rectangular insulating substrate, and the respective heat generating resistors are attached to the other side. Is connected to an external electric circuit by attaching a plurality of connecting terminals, and the heating resistor with the insulating substrate on its surface is moved to the back side with the heating resistor moving in a certain direction. A thermal head for printing or printing on a recording paper by sliding a heating resistor on the surface of an insulating substrate to a thermal paper or a thermal transfer ribbon, and the connecting terminals attached to one side of the insulating substrate are all of them. Is located on the front side of the arrangement position of the heating resistors with respect to the moving direction of the insulating substrate.