JPH0542712A - Electrostatic recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an electrostatic recording device having high reliability by carrying electrified toners by a carrier body to an adjacency of an aperture plate and applying voltage to a plurality of electrodes selectively. CONSTITUTION:In a recording unit 1, toners T being carried by a rotating supply roller 12 are supplied to a toner carrying roller 11, the toners T rub against the rollers 12 and 11 contacting with them, and for example, electrified positively so as to be supplied to a lower part of an aperture plate 20. On the other hand, a support body P inserted from an inserting inlet 3 is conveyed to a lower part of an opposed electrode 25 by a guide 33 and a guide roller 34. When a minus voltage is applied to an electrode 31 from a controller 41, an electric field proceeding to the opposed electrode 25 from the toner carrying roller 11 is generated, so that the toners T pass through an aperture 24. The aperture plate 20 is excited as a piezoelectric device 9 is vibrated by an oscillator 8, and most of the toners T fall due to this oscillation so as to coat, so that an image is formed on the support body P and fixed by heating, thereby obtaining an electrostatic recording device having high reliability.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device applied to a copying machine, a printer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of this type of electrostatic recording apparatus, there is one disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,689,935. In this electrostatic recording device, the insulating layer is sandwiched between two electrodes, and the charged toner on the toner carrier is modulated and controlled by an aperture electrode having a structure in which a large number of apertures are provided, and an image is made to be adsorbed on the support to form an image. To form.

[0003]

However, as a problem of this electrostatic recording apparatus, the toner supplied from the carrier is
It adheres to and deposits on the electrode layer surface of the aperture electrode with a high image force to hinder the supply of toner from the carrier. Further, due to this accumulation, the toner fills the opening holes of the aperture electrode, causing the opening holes to be clogged. As a result, there is a problem in that the electrostatic recording device is incapable of recording. In addition, the apparatus is expensive because a complicated process such as forming an electrode layer around the opening is required.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a highly reliable electrostatic recording apparatus which does not cause clogging of toner in an opening hole at a low cost. There is.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, an electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention includes a carrier for carrying toner, an aperture plate having a plurality of openings, and a support. A plurality of electrodes provided so as to face each of the aperture holes of the aperture plate, the charged toner is carried by a carrier up to the vicinity of the aperture plate, and a voltage is selectively applied to the plurality of electrodes. Thus, the image is recorded by passing through the opening and flying toward the electrode and adsorbing to the support.

[0006]

In the electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention having the above construction, since the aperture plate has no electrodes, the image force is small and the toner is not firmly attached to the aperture plate. Further, since a complicated process such as forming an electrode layer around the opening hole is eliminated, a very inexpensive recording device can be provided.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electrostatic recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

An insertion port 3 and an ejection port 4 are provided on the side of the exterior 5 of the apparatus, and a recording section 1 and a heat fixing section 2 adjacent to the recording section 1 are provided inside the apparatus. The image of the support P that has entered from the insertion opening 3 is recorded on the recording unit 1, and then the image on the support P is thermally fixed on the support P at the fixing unit 2. Then, the support P is taken out from the take-out port 4 via the guide 33.

A toner carrying roller 1 is provided inside the recording unit 1.
1, an aperture plate 20, and a counter electrode 25 are provided. A supply roller 12 is provided around the toner carrying roller 11 upstream of the toner carrying roller 11 in the rotation direction of the toner carrying roller 11. The supply roller 12 is in contact with the toner carrying roller 11. It is in the area surrounded by the case 14. Then, the toner T is stored inside the toner case 14. Furthermore,
A layer thickness regulating member 13 is provided which comes into contact with the supply roller 12 to make the toner T attached thereto a uniform layer of the toner T.

An aperture plate 20 is arranged above the toner carrying roller 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the aperture plate 20 has a large number of opening holes 24 arranged in rows. This is made of polymer resin or the like having a thickness of 25 μm. Opening 2
Reference numeral 4 is a through hole having a hole diameter of about 50 μm.

A pair of piezoelectric elements 9 are provided on both ends of the aperture plate 20. The piezoelectric element 9 has an oscillator 8
Are connected so that the aperture plate 20 can be excited.

A cylindrical counter electrode 25 having a thin surface made of an insulating material is arranged above the aperture plate 20, and is driven to rotate at the same peripheral speed as the conveying speed of the support P by a driving means such as a motor. To be done.

A plurality of electrodes 31 are arranged in parallel on the inner back surface of the counter electrode 25.

Aperture plate 20 as shown in detail in FIG.
N electrodes A1 at positions corresponding to the opening holes 24 of
An is installed in parallel. Also, each electrode A1, ... An
Is fixedly installed so that the counter electrode 25 retains its spatial position regardless of rotation.

Further, there is a sensor 40 for detecting the position of the support P, a transportation speed, etc., and a control section 41 as a control means for selectively applying a voltage to each of the plurality of electrodes 31 is provided. The voltage of the power supply 45 is applied here.

A space is provided between the counter electrode 25 and the aperture plate 20 so that the support P can pass therethrough.

The support P is conveyed by the guide 33 and the pair of guide rollers 34 from the insertion port 3 to the thermal fixing section 2 via the counter electrode 25.

Inside the heat fixing unit 2, a heat roller 31 having a heat source inside and a press roller 32 are provided in contact with each other, and a support P is provided between the heat roller 31 and the press roller 32. Is configured to pass through.

Next, the operation of the electrostatic recording device having the above structure will be described.

In the recording unit 1, the toner T carried on the supply roller 12 is supplied to the toner carrying roller 11 by forming a constant layer of toner T by the rotation of the supply roller 12. At this time, the toner T rubs while contacting the supply roller 12 and the toner carrying roller 11, and is charged positively (+), for example. The toner T, which is positively (+) charged, is carried by the toner carrying roller 11 and is supplied below the aperture plate 20.

On the other hand, the support P inserted into the apparatus through the insertion port 3 is conveyed to the lower part of the counter electrode 25 by the guide 33 and the guide roller 34.

At this place, the image signal voltage is applied from the control section 41 to the electrode 31 of the counter electrode 25. The toner T is modulation-controlled based on the image signal voltage. That is, when a negative (−) voltage is applied to the electrode 31 from the control unit 41, an electric field in which the positively (+) charged toner T is directed from the toner carrying roller 11 to the counter electrode 25 is generated inside the opening 24. , The toner T passes through the opening 24. When no voltage is applied from the control unit 41, the electric field is not generated inside the opening 24, so that the toner T does not pass through the opening 24. For example, A1
FIG. 2 shows the case where a negative voltage is applied only to A2 of the electrodes from A4 to A4. The toner T adheres only to the portion A2.

Now, the aperture plate 20 is excited by the oscillator 8 vibrating the piezoelectric element 9. Then, most of the toner T attached to or about to attach to the aperture plate 20 is given a vibration acceleration by this excitation and falls. Since the aperture plate 20 has no electrode portion, the toner T is hardly attached due to the image force.

In this way, the toner T is applied and an arbitrary image is formed on the support P.

After that, the support P is conveyed from the recording unit 1 to the heat fixing unit 2, and the image on the support P is heat fixed.

The support P having passed through the heat fixing section 2 is a guide 3
It is conveyed to the take-out port 4 via 3 and taken out.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to inexpensively provide a highly reliable electrostatic recording device in which the toner is not clogged in the opening.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described in detail above, and it is easy to make changes without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, the aperture plate 20 may be formed of a material having a good mold release property such as Teflon. If this is done, hole clogging can be easily prevented.

It is also possible, for example, to eliminate the insulating layer at the position facing the aperture plate 20 of the counter electrode 25 and bring the plurality of electrodes 31 directly to the back surface of the support P. In this case, the counter electrode 25 does not rotate, and the support P slides. By doing this, the aperture plate 2
The distance between 0 and the electrode 31 can be shortened and the printing resolution can be improved.

[0033]

As is clear from the above description, in the direct electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention, since the aperture plate has no electrodes, the image force is small and the toner adheres firmly to the aperture plate. There is no. Further, since a complicated process such as forming an electrode layer around the opening hole is eliminated, a direct electrostatic recording apparatus having high printing reliability can be provided at a very low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a direct electrostatic recording device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory sectional view for explaining the operation of the direct electrostatic recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an aperture electrode directly mounted on the electrostatic recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Toner Bearing Roller 20 Aperture Plate 24 Opening Hole 25 Counter Electrode 31 Electrode T Toner P Support

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carrier comprising a toner, an aperture plate having a plurality of apertures, and a plurality of electrodes disposed so as to face each aperture of the aperture plate with a support interposed therebetween. , The charged toner is carried by the carrier up to the vicinity of the aperture plate, and by selectively applying a voltage to the plurality of electrodes, the charged toner is made to fly through the opening holes and toward the electrodes to be attracted to the support. An electrostatic recording device characterized by being configured so as to record an image.