JPH06130823A - Image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image output device capable of recovering organic solvent remaining on recording paper with high efficiency and improving work environment. CONSTITUTION:In the image output device using a liquid developing system, dry air W is allowed to blow and is sucked along the surface of an output medium 1 to which liquid developer is stuck. It is provided with a dry air sucking device for drying the output medium 1 to which the liquid developer is stuck by sucking the dry air W and a recovering device 5 recovering the organic solvent contained in liquid developer. The dry air W from the dry air sucking device blows off the liquid developer on the output medium 1 and the air containing the liquid developer is sucked by the device 5. Thus, the liquid developer is effectively recovered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image output device such as a plotter, and more particularly to an image output device using a liquid developing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional liquid development type image output device, toner particles of liquid toner are adsorbed on a charge latent image on the surface of a medium, that is, recording paper, because the toner particles are dispersed in a liquid organic solvent. , The recording paper gets wet with the solvent. Generally, the current liquid development type apparatus is provided with an apparatus for collecting excess solvent but then further feeding dry air to dry and fix. Therefore, the organic solvent is released into the air.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of such a conventional image output device. In the figure, 21 is a recording paper, 22 is a head, 23 is a toner supply device, 24 and 24 'are toner rollers, 25 is a vacuum channel, and 26 is a fan for feeding dry air. According to this image output device, the vacuum channel 25 collects the excess solvent from the recording paper 21, and then the recording paper 21 is further dried by the drying air sent from the fan 26. However, since it is environmentally unfavorable that the solvent is diffused into the atmosphere, a method of securing the airtightness of the device and limiting the outlet to the outside of the device to recover the solvent is being studied, and especially a small printer. This recovery method is mainly used.

[0004]

However, in the conventional dry air blowing type dry fixing mechanism, Isopar (the most suitable organic solvent for the liquid developer) is mainly used as the liquid toner and remains on the surface of the recording paper. It is equipped with a mechanism that blows the isoper around, and by installing another mechanism such as limiting the adhesion of the solvent to the surface of the recording paper, it is possible to suppress the evaporation of the solvent to some extent. There is a problem that it is difficult to collect effective isoper vapor.

In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image output device capable of recovering the organic solvent remaining on the recording paper with high efficiency and improving the working environment.

[0006]

In the image output device of the present invention, a dry air suction device for drying the output medium to which the liquid developer is attached by sucking dry air is included in the liquid developer. A recovery device for recovering the organic solvent is provided.

[0007]

[Function] In the conventional liquid developing method of dry air blowing method,
After the recording paper passed through the developing section, the blowing air of the blower was applied to the wet surface to dry the solvent, but in the present invention,
The drying air of the drying device blows off the liquid developer of the output medium, and the air containing the liquid developer is sucked by the suction device. As a result, the liquid developer can be effectively recovered.

Further, in the suction device according to the present invention, the gap between the guide and the recording paper is optimized, and the air flow on the surface of the recording paper is controlled so as to uniformly hit the surface of the recording paper. As in the case of blowing off, it can be in a sufficient state.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the image output device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG. 1 is a plan view of the image output apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, and illustrates a case where the recording paper is dried in the developing process.

The image output apparatus according to the present embodiment has a recording paper 1
An electrostatic recording head 2 that forms an electrostatic latent image on the recording sheet 1, a toner roller 3 that deposits liquid toner on the recording sheet 1, a liquid toner supply device 7 that supplies the liquid toner to the recording sheet 1, and a recording sheet 1. A vacuum channel 4 for removing unnecessary liquid toner, a dry air suction device for drying the liquid toner adhering to the recording paper 1 and sucking the dry air, and a collecting device 5 for collecting the dry air. ing.

The image output apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above. Next, the operation for forming a recorded image and collecting the dry air will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the electrostatic recording head 2 forms an electrostatic latent image on the transferred recording paper 1. The liquid toner is accumulated in the tank and is supplied to the liquid toner supply device 7 at any time. The liquid toner supply device 7 is supplied with a sufficient amount of liquid toner so that the liquid toner adheres to the surface of the toner roller 3. The liquid toner adheres to the surface of the toner roller 3 rotating counterclockwise, and is wound up by a spiral groove (see FIG. 1) formed on the surface of the toner roller 3. The recording paper 1 on which the electrostatic latent image is recorded is further transferred, and the liquid toner attached to the toner roller 3 is transferred to the recording paper 1.
The electrostatic latent image is developed by being attached to the lower surface of the.

After development, recording paper 1 is vacuum channel 4
Then, the vacuum channel 4 removes unnecessary toner adhering to the surface of the recording paper 1. The recording paper 1 from which unnecessary toner has been removed by the vacuum channel 4 is further transported, and the liquid toner adhering to the recording paper 1 is dried by the dry air W of the dry air suction device, whereby a recorded image is obtained. Is established.

In this case, the organic solvent remains in the dry air W. On the other hand, a guide 6 having a length of about 25 mm is attached to the tip of the suction port for the dry air W in the dry air suction device, and the dry air W is sucked into the recording paper 1 via this guide 6. It has become so. In addition,
By setting the distance between the recording paper 1 and the guide 6 to about 10 mm, the dry air W can be evenly distributed on the recording paper 1.

When the drying air W is evenly distributed over the recording paper 1, the vapor of the organic solvent contained in the liquid toner is blown to the periphery thereof. Further, the blown-off steam is recovered by the recovery device 5 sucking the dry air W '. Then, the recovered vapor is exhausted to the outside of the work environment of the worker, whereby the isoper concentration of the work environment can always be kept below a certain value.

Further, by carrying out the suction type drying as described above, the phenomenon that the recording paper 1 is not lifted up by the wind pressure of the drying air W does not occur, so that the conventional recording paper 1 is attached so as not to float up. The idler roller (FIG. 3, toner roll 24 ') can be dispensed with. Furthermore, in order to prioritize the drying property, it is possible to replace the negative pressure suction channel of the toner recovery mechanism provided at the outlet of the developing device with a butt type blade, which can simplify the path line. Can be realized.

Although the steam is exhausted by the central exhaust in the above-mentioned embodiment, a replaceable filter may be attached to the suction device and the filter to which the organic solvent is attached may be discarded. Further, such a filter can be electrolyzed to remove the solvent. In addition, the guide 6 attached to the suction port of the dry air suction device can freely control the flow of the dry air W by appropriately selecting the opening area and installing a wind direction plate or the like. Of course.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By providing the suction device, the organic solvent remaining on the recording paper can be collected very efficiently, and the image output device capable of improving the working environment can be realized. Furthermore, by providing a guide at the tip of the outlet for the dry air, the dry air can be evenly distributed over the recording paper. Then, in an output device using a liquid developer, conventionally, dry air was blown onto the coated surface after development, but in the present invention, by sucking the dry air, the structure of the paper path line is simplified, and liquid The solvent of the toner can be easily recovered, and it has an advantage that it exerts an excellent effect on both the cost reduction of the output device and the environmental regulation measures.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the image output apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional image output device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Paper 2 Electrostatic Recording Head 3 Toner Roller 4 Vacuum Channel 5 Collection Device 6 Guide 7 Liquid Toner Supply Device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image output device using a liquid developing method, wherein the liquid developer is attached along the surface of the output medium.
An image output device that blows and sucks dry air. 2. The image output device according to claim 1, wherein the drying air for drying the output medium is uniformly blown onto the surface of the output medium. 3. A replaceable filter for exhausting the air containing the vapor of the organic solvent of the liquid developer recovered by the dry air to the outside, or providing a recovering device with a replaceable filter for absorbing the solvent vapor. The image output device according to claim 1.