JPH05523A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for special exclusive recording paper by a method wherein, by a means for supplying a sublimable and dyeable resin to recording paper to form an image-receiving layer made of the resin on the recording paper, a sublimable dye is diffusedly transferred to the image-receiving layer on the recording paper. CONSTITUTION:A powder-form sublimable and dyeable resin 1A which has transparency and insulating properties and is made of a polyester resin is supplied on plain paper 5. The paper is heated by a heating roller 13 while being fed by a platen drum 6 driven by a drive source, whereby a transparent image- receiving layer 1B is formed on the plain paper 5. After that, the formed image- receiving layer 1B is electrically discharged by an electric discharge roller 14 while being fed by the platen drum 6. Thereafter, the plain paper 5 is fed to a recording part. Heating resistors 4 of a thermal head 3 are selectively heated in accordance with image data by a thermal head drive circuit. In this manner, a sublimable dye in an ink sheet is diffusedly transferred to the image- receiving layer 1B.

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 using a sublimable dye, and more specifically, it can be used for recording paper such as plain paper on which the sublimable dyeable resin is not applied. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus using a sublimation dye has a structure as shown in FIG. In the figure, 101 is a recording sheet, 102 is an ink sheet, and 103.
Is a thermal head, 104 is a heating resistor, and 105 is a platen roller. Here, the ink sheet 102 generally has a structure in which a color material layer containing a sublimable dye is provided on a base film such as PET and a slip heat resistant layer is provided on the opposite side, and is supplied in a roll shape. It The recording paper 101 is
Generally, as shown in FIG. 4, it has a three-layer structure, an anti-slip layer 110 for keeping the recording paper in good condition, a synthetic paper (white hiding polypropylene) having a thickness of 100 to 200 micrometers, or PET. A substrate 111 in which a white hiding layer is provided on a film and an image receiving layer 112 made of polyester resin or the like are laminated in this order.

Therefore, at the time of image recording, the heating resistor 104 is energized in accordance with an image signal in a state where the ink sheet 102 and the recording paper 101 are overlapped with each other, and the thermal head 103 and the platen roller 105 are pressed against each other via them. By generating heat, the sublimable dye pigment on the ink sheet 102 is diffused and transferred to the recording paper 101, and a desired image is obtained.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the sublimation dye in the color material layer of the ink sheet 102 activated by heating is diffuse-transferred to the image receiving layer 112 by the recording principle. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an image receiving layer, which is a layer having a high affinity with the sublimable dye, on the recording paper, and it is very inconvenient because an image cannot be recorded on commercially available plain paper or the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to form an image receiving layer made of a sublimable dyeable resin on a recording paper and then sublimate the recording paper. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording apparatus that eliminates the need to use a special recording paper by recording an image using a functional dye.

[0006]

The present invention comprises a means for supplying a sublimable dye-dyeable resin to a recording paper to form an image receiving layer made of the resin on the recording paper, and an image receiving layer forming means. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising: a means for diffusively transferring a sublimable dye to an image receiving layer formed on a recording paper.

[0007]

In the present invention, an image receiving layer made of a sublimable dyeable resin is formed on a recording paper, and the sublimable dye is diffuse-transferred to the image receiving layer to perform image recording. Can be used.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing its embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a side view of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the image receiving layer forming portion of FIG.

In the figure, 1A is a transparent and insulating powdery sublimable dye-dyeable resin (hereinafter abbreviated as powder image receiving layer material) made of polyester resin or the like, and 1B is a powder image receiving material. It is a transparent image-receiving layer formed by heating and press-contacting the layer material 1A. 2 is an ink sheet on which ink layers containing sublimable dyes of yellow, magenta, and cyan are applied in sequence, 3 is a thermal head, 4 is a heating resistor, 5 is plain paper, 6 is a dielectric substance, A platen drum having a gripper mechanism (not shown) for holding the plain paper 5 on its peripheral surface, 7 is a carrier particle of a magnetic material, 8 is a screw roller for stirring and conveying the powder image receiving layer material 1A and the carrier particle 7. , 9 are fixed magnet rollers, 10
Is a non-magnetic sleeve provided on the outer circumference of the fixed magnet roller 9, 11 is a doctor blade for obtaining a uniform layer thickness of the powder image receiving layer material 1A and carrier particles 7, and 12 is a non-magnetic sleeve 10 and a counter electrode. Electrode plate, 13 heating roller, 14 static elimination roller, 15 thermal head 3
And a supporting roller which is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the platen drum 6 facing the heating roller 13, 16 is a sheet feeding cassette, 1
Reference numeral 7 denotes a sheet feeding roller, and 18 denotes a sheet discharging roller.

The recording operation will be described below.

The plain papers 5 stacked and stored in the paper feed cassette 16 are sequentially fed one by one from the paper feed cassette 16 to the platen drum 6 by the paper feed roller 17, and are held on the platen drum 6 by the gripper mechanism. ..

The powder image receiving layer material 1A and carrier particles 7 are agitated and conveyed by a screw roller 8 onto a non-magnetic sleeve 10 and rise along the magnetic lines of force produced by a fixed magnet roller 9 arranged in the non-magnetic sleeve 10. The spikes thus formed have a constant height by the doctor blade 11. At this time, the powder image receiving layer material 1A is negatively frictionally charged by stirring with the positively charged carrier particles 7. Then, the rotation of the sleeve roller 4 causes the powder image receiving layer material 1A and the carrier particles 7 to move to the platen drum 6
The powder image receiving layer material 1A that is negatively charged among the two particles that have been conveyed to the vicinity of the plain paper 5 held on the electrode plate in the electric field formed by the non-magnetic sleeve 10 and the electrode plate 12 is 1
The Coulomb force in the direction of 2 acts and the powder image receiving layer material 1A moves onto the plain paper 6. The powder image receiving layer material 1A moved onto the plain paper 5 is heated by the heating roller 13 while being conveyed by the platen drum 6 driven by a drive source (not shown), and the transparent image receiving layer 1B is formed on the plain paper 5. It is formed. The electrode plate 12 is connected to a voltage changing circuit (not shown), and the voltage changing circuit controls the potential difference between the electrode plate 12 and the non-magnetic sleeve 10 to form the image receiving layer 1B.
Determine the range of. After that, the formed image receiving layer 1B is
The platen drum 6 conveys the electricity to the recording section after the electricity is removed by the electricity eliminating roller 14. Therefore, first, the yellow portion of the ink sheet 2 and the image receiving layer 1B on the plain paper 5 are superposed, and in a state where they are pressed against each other by the platen drum 6 and the thermal head 3, a heating resistor of the thermal head is driven by a thermal head drive circuit (not shown). By selectively heating 4 in accordance with the image data, the sublimable dye pigment in the ink sheet is diffuse-transferred to the image receiving layer 1B. By recording while rotating the platen drum 6, an image for one screen in yellow color can be obtained. Similarly,
By performing the image data recording operation for magenta and cyan, a full-color inverted image can be obtained on the image receiving layer 1B.

In order not to disturb the three-color recording process,
The heating roller 13 and the thermal head 3 are the platen drum 6
On the other hand, it has a structure (not shown) that can be contacted and separated,
Support rollers 15 are provided at positions facing the heating roller 13 and the thermal head 3, respectively, so that the impact at the time of contact and separation does not affect the platen drum 6.

After a desired recorded image of three colors is formed, the plain paper 5 is released from the platen drum 6 and is discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body by a pair of paper discharge rollers 18 and 18.
All steps of image recording are completed.

In this embodiment, the powder image receiving layer material 1A is used.
Although the two-component magnetic brush developing method was used as a method for applying the above-mentioned to the plain paper 5, other methods such as one-component insulating toner developing method and one-component conductive toner developing method may be used. Also,
It can be realized by corona charging or contact charging the plain paper 6 instead of the counter electrode 12.

Also in the image recording section, the ink sheet of three-color frame sequential is used in this embodiment, but black may be added if necessary. Also, an ink sheet and a thermal head that are independent for each color may be used.

[0018]

According to the present invention, in heat transfer recording using a sublimable dye, it is not necessary to use a special recording paper, and plain paper or the like can be used, so that the usability for the operator is greatly improved. The running cost can be greatly reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an image receiving layer forming portion of FIG. 1 embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a conventional thermal transfer recording device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a recording paper used in a conventional thermal transfer recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A Powder image receiving layer material (sublimable dye dyeable resin) 1B Image receiving layer 2 Ink sheet 3 Thermal head 4 Heating resistor 5 Plain paper 6 Platen drum 7 Carrier particles 8 Screw roller 9 Fixed magnet roller 10 Non-magnetic sleeve 11 Doctor Blade 12 Electrode plate 13 Heating roller 14 Eliminating roller 15 Supporting roller 16 Paper feeding cassette 17 Paper feeding roller 18, 18 Paper discharging roller pair 101 Recording paper

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A sublimation dye dyeable resin is supplied to a recording paper, and a means for forming an image receiving layer made of the resin on the recording paper, and a means for forming the image receiving layer on the recording paper. And a means for diffusively transferring the sublimable dye onto the image receiving layer formed on the thermal transfer recording apparatus.