JPH06199021A - Ink ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve thermal efficiency while obtaining stabilized heating temperature in transferring in which specified dye is transferred onto paper by laser beam emitted from a laser printer by providing a light-absorbing layer and a dye layer on a ribbon base. CONSTITUTION:In a thermal sublimation type printer employing laser, an ink ribbon 32 and printing paper 33 are pressed against a platen with a rod-like line head 31 extending in the axial direction of the platen 38 and is made up by arranging a plurality of multibeam arrays 34 equipped with a laser array 37 in the breadthwise direction of the printing paper 33. Then, dye in the ink ribbon 32 is transferred to the printing paper 33 by heating the ink ribbon 32 by heat of the laser beam emitted from the line head 31. The ink ribbon 32 is formed of a ribbon base 41 in low heat conductivity through which the laser beam 35 permeates, a light-absorbing layer 42 that receives the laser beam 35 and convert it into heat and a dye layer 43 that transfers the dye onto the printing paper 33 by the heat generated in the light-absorbing layer 42.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Table of Contents] The present invention will be described in the following order. Industrial Application Conventional Technology (FIGS. 13 to 17) Problem to be Solved by the Invention (FIG. 16) Means for Solving the Problem (FIGS. 3 to 5) Action (FIGS. 3 to 5) Example (FIGS. 1 to 7) (1) Printer device (FIGS. 1 to 3) (2) First embodiment of ink ribbon (FIG. 4) (3) Second embodiment of ink ribbon (FIGS. 5 and 6) (4) Other Embodiments (FIGS. 7 to 12) Effects of the Invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon, and is particularly suitable for application to an ink ribbon used in a thermal sublimation type printer device.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a thermal sublimation type printer device,
For example, there is one using a thermal head. As shown in FIG. 13, this printer device 1 transfers the heat generated by the thermal head 2 to the ink ribbon 3 by pressing the ink ribbon 3 and the print paper 4 against the cylindrical platen 5 with the thermal head 2, and the ink ribbon 3 The dye is sublimated and transferred to the print paper 4. At this time, the printer device 1 prints the platen 5 every time one line is printed.
Is rotated to feed the ink ribbon 3 and the print paper 4.

In a printer capable of color printing, as shown in FIG. 14, Y (yellow), M
(Magenta), C (cyan) three primary colors (in some cases, BK is also added) are used in the ink ribbon 6 in which the dyes are separately applied in the order of face, and the respective colors of the ink ribbon 6 are successively superimposed on the print paper 4. It is designed to be printed. That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the ink ribbon 3 and the print paper 4 transport mechanism of the printer device 1 has the print paper 4 wound around the platen 5 and the ribbon roll 6 as shown in FIG.
The ink ribbon 3 wound around the ink ribbon 3 is wound on the take-up reel 7 and, as a result, the used ink ribbon 3 is wound on the take-up reel 7.
Is wound up.

The thermal head 2 presses the ink ribbon 3 and the printing paper 4 against the platen 5 during printing. The platen 5 rotates once when one color printing is completed,
The position of the ink ribbon 3 is changed to the next color, and the print paper 4 is superimposed on the previous color and printed. The rollers 8 and 9 press the print paper 4, the platen 5, and the ink ribbon 3 so that the print paper 4 and the platen 5, and the print paper 4 and the ink ribbon 3 are interlocked.
Here, in the printer device 1, when it is necessary to move only the ink ribbon 3 for color switching, the pressing of the thermal head 2 and the roller 9 toward the platen 5 is released.

As shown in FIG. 16, the heat generating portion of the thermal head 2 is provided with a protective film 11 such as an abrasion resistant layer on the front surface (print surface) of the heat generating element 10, and the glaze layer 12 on the back surface. And a ceramic substrate 13 are provided.
A common electrode 15 connected to the control circuit 14 is provided on the same surface as the heating element 10. As the glaze layer 12, glass or the like having poorer thermal conductivity than ceramic is used,
Thereby, the thermal efficiency of the thermal head 2 can be improved. Here, when a direct current is applied to the heating element 10, heat is generated from the heating element 10, and this heat is conducted as shown by the arrow in FIG.
Print energy through.

The drive control circuit 20 of the thermal head 2 is
As shown in FIG. 17, the image data S1 is transferred to the print control circuit 2
1, and the print control circuit 21 performs various corrections such as color correction and thermal history correction (correction of head temperature) and pulse control (PWM) on the basis of the image data S1 as needed, and then the thermal head 2 Input data signal S to the control circuit 14 of
2. The clock signal S3, the strobe signal S4, etc. are transmitted. The control circuit 14 is composed of a shift register, a latch, a driver, and the like, and each heating element (print dot) 1 based on the input data signal S2, the clock signal S3, the strobe signal S4, etc. sent from the print control circuit 21.
The current of 0A, 10B, 10C ... Is controlled to be turned on and off.

[0008]

By the way, in the printer 1 of this type, as shown in FIG. 16, the heat conducted from the heating element 10 toward the back surface and the side surface is not used as the printing energy, but the head 2 is used. The body is heated and released into the surrounding air. That is, only a part of the energy is used for printing, which causes a problem of poor thermal efficiency. Further, in the printer device 1, the head main body 2
When the temperature of the heating element becomes hot, the temperature of the heating element 10 is hard to drop even after the power source of the heating element 10 is turned off. Therefore, the printer device 1 needs to make the amount of heat generation sufficiently smaller than the amount of heat radiation in order to prevent these, and as a result, there is a problem that the printing speed is limited.

If the heat radiation is improved, the printing speed can be increased to some extent, but the heat generation efficiency is reduced accordingly, and it is necessary to increase the heat generation amount. However, even in this case, there is a problem in that there is still a limit to the high speed in consideration of the thermal conductivity from the heating element 10 to the heat dissipation portion. Thus, in the thermal sublimation type printer device using the thermal head, there is a problem that the thermal efficiency of the head is low and thus the power consumption is large, and the image quality of the print is deteriorated when the printing speed is increased due to the heat storage of the thermal head.

Conventionally, there is a thermal sublimation printer device using a laser. Some laser printers use a scanning optical system to scan the laser light to thermally transfer the dye of the ink ribbon onto the print paper. However, when the scanning optical system is used as described above, the optical system There is a problem that the loss of laser energy becomes large.

Therefore, in this type of printer device,
There is a type in which a laser is arranged in the vicinity of the ink ribbon and a drum rotation system in which the loss of the optical system is reduced is applied. However, in this drum rotation type printer device, since the print paper is wound around the drum, the drum is rotated at a high speed, and the laser is moved in the axial direction of the drum for printing.
In the printing method such as the thermal sublimation method, the structure and process of the ribbon switching mechanism and the like are complicated, and even if a high output laser (several W or more) is used, there is still a problem in terms of printing speed. Further, in this type of laser printer, there is a problem in that a high output laser is used, which is dangerous. Thus, in the thermal sublimation type printer device, effective use of thermal energy is a very important problem.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and an object thereof is to propose an ink ribbon having significantly improved thermal efficiency.

[0013]

In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, an ink that receives a laser beam 35 emitted from a laser printer 31 and transfers a predetermined dye to a print paper 33 based on the laser beam 35. Ribbons 32, 5
0 or 60, a ribbon base 41 which transmits the laser light 35 and has a low thermal conductivity, a light absorption layer 42 which receives the laser light 35 via the ribbon base 41 and converts the laser light 35 into heat, and a print paper. A dye layer 43 or 51, which is disposed on the surface facing 33, is coated with a predetermined dye, and transfers the dye to the print paper 33 based on the heat generated in the light absorption layer 42.

Further, in the present invention, the light absorption layer 42 is
It is formed between the ribbon base 41 and the dye layer 43 or 51 or in the dye layer 43 or 51. Further, in the present invention, the dye layer 51 is formed by mixing predetermined fine particles 52 having high thermal conductivity. Further, in the present invention, the light absorption layer 42 is formed to be thin.

[0015]

Operation: Laser light 3 emitted from the laser printer 31
5 is received by the light absorption layer 42 via the ribbon base 41 having a low thermal conductivity, the laser light 35 is converted into heat by the light absorption layer 42, and the dye applied to the dye layer 43 is converted by this heat. If the ink ribbon 32 is transferred onto the print paper 33, the diffusion of heat in the ink ribbon 32 can be reduced, and the ink ribbon 32 with high thermal efficiency can be realized. Dye layer 5
If fine particles 52 having a high thermal conductivity are mixed in 1, the dye layer 5
The thermal conductivity to 1 can be improved, the ink ribbon 50 with much higher thermal efficiency can be realized, and the heating temperature in the ink ribbon 50 can be stabilized by the increase in the heat capacity of the dye layer 51. Further, by forming the light absorbing layer 42 thin, it is possible to suppress the diffusion of heat in the light absorbing layer 42, and it is possible to realize the ink ribbon 32 with further improved thermal efficiency.

[0016]

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

(1) Printer Device In FIG. 1, 30 is a printer device as a whole,
The ink ribbon 32 and the print paper 33 are pressed against the platen 38 by the rod-shaped line head 31 extending in the axial direction of the platen 38, and the ink ribbon 32 is heated by the heat of the laser emitted from the line head 31. The dye is transferred onto the print paper 33. As shown in FIG. 2, the line head 31 is provided with a multi-beam array 34.
1 is arranged in the longitudinal direction.

Each of the multi-beam arrays 34 has a plurality of laser arrays 37 (FIG. 3). As a result, in the printer device 30, the laser beams 35 emitted from the plurality of laser arrays 37 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the line head 31 are formed. Therefore, the laser spot corresponding to the laser beam 35 is formed on the ink ribbon 32, and thus the printing speed can be increased. In the embodiment, 100 is provided in one multi-beam array 34.
100 laser arrays 37 are provided at intervals of [μm], and 10 multi-beam arrays 34 are provided in the line head 31. Therefore, the printer device 30 forms a beam spot of 1000 dots for each line on the ink ribbon 32.

Thus, in the printer device 30, the laser light 35 emitted from the laser array 37 is directly applied to the ink ribbon 32, whereby a complicated optical system can be omitted and the device itself can be downsized as a whole. In addition, the thermal efficiency can be significantly improved. The line head 31 is arranged in the vicinity of the ink ribbon 32, so that the laser beam 35 emitted from the laser array 37 of the line head 31 is emitted from the ink ribbon 32.
The spread of the laser beam 35 when the laser beam reaches the point can be suppressed within a practically permissible range.

As shown in FIG. 3, the line head 31 is provided with a glass material 36 having a predetermined refractive index at the tip position on the ink ribbon 32 side. As a result, the line head 31 has the ink ribbon 32 and the print paper 33.
Is pressed in the direction of the platen 38 (FIG. 1) with a predetermined force, and as a result, the ink ribbon 32 and the print paper 33 are brought into close contact with each other to keep the distance from the laser array 37 to the ink ribbon 32 and the print paper 33 constant at a minute distance. It is done like this. Further, the glass material 36 is attached to the tip of the line head 31.
The laser light 35 emitted from the laser array 37 is prevented from diffusing based on the refractive index of the glass material 36 and reaches the ink ribbon 32. Here, the distance between the laser array 37 and the ink ribbon 32 is selected to be several mm or less to several [μm] depending on the divergence angle of the laser light 35, the refractive index of the glass material 36, the dot size, and the structural restrictions.

(2) First Embodiment of Ink Ribbon In FIG. 4, reference numeral 32 denotes an ink ribbon of the first embodiment, which is a ribbon base 41, an infrared absorption layer 41 and a dye layer in order from the incident direction of the laser beam 35. 43 is formed. The ribbon base 41 is formed of a material having a small thermal conductivity of plastic film (for example, PET) and transmitting the laser light 35, and the dye layer 32 is formed by applying a predetermined dye. Infrared absorption layer 4
No. 2 is formed by kneading a binder and carbon and has a thin layer thickness. Incidentally, the thermal conductivity of the infrared absorption layer 42 is selected to be several times to several tens of times that of the ribbon base 41.

In the above structure, the ink ribbon 32 receives the laser light 35 emitted from the line head 31 on the infrared absorption layer 42 via the ribbon base 41. The infrared absorption layer 42 converts the light energy of the laser light 35 into heat energy. Since the thermal conductivity of the ribbon base 41 is much lower than that of the infrared absorption layer 42, diffusion of this heat energy into the ribbon base 41 is suppressed and the heat energy is conducted to the inside of the infrared absorption layer 42 and the dye layer 43. To do. Further, since the infrared absorption layer 42 is thin, the heat is suppressed from being diffused in the infrared absorption layer 42, and most of the heat is absorbed in the dye layer 4.
Conducted to 3. The dye layer 43 is heated by receiving this heat,
As a result, the dye in the portion adjacent to the heat generating portion 39 is thermally sublimated and the dye is transferred to the print paper 33.

According to the above construction, the thermal conductivity of the ribbon base 41 is lowered and the infrared absorption layer 42 is formed thin so that the thermal energy generated in the infrared absorption layer 42 is applied to the ribbon base 41 and the infrared absorption layer 42. Since most of the heat energy can be conducted to the dye layer 43 so that the heat loss in the ink ribbon 32 can be reduced, the ink ribbon 32 having high thermal efficiency can be realized. .

(3) Second Embodiment of Ink Ribbon In FIG. 5, the parts corresponding to those in FIG.
Reference numeral 0 indicates the ink ribbon of the second embodiment, and the ribbon base 4 having a small thermal conductivity and transmitting the laser beam 35 is sequentially arranged from the incident direction of the laser beam 35 as in the case of FIG.
1. A light absorption layer 42 that converts the light energy of the laser light 35 into heat energy and has a thin layer thickness, and a dye layer 51 to which a predetermined dye is applied are formed. In addition to such a constitution, the dye layer 51 is mixed with fine particles 52 made of, for example, metal powder, whereby the dye layer 51 has a high thermal conductivity and a high heat capacity.

In practice, the diameter of the fine particles 52 is selected to be a fraction of the thickness of the dye layer 51 or less, and the mixing amount of the fine particles 52 is selected to be several [%] to 30 [%]. As a result, in the ink ribbon 50, the thermal conductivity of the dye layer 51 is improved so that the dye layer 51 is sufficiently heated even when the output of the laser beam 35 is small. Further, in the ink ribbon 50, by improving the heat capacity of the dye layer 51, it is possible to prevent the ink ribbon 50 from reaching an abnormally high temperature even when the output of the laser beam 35 changes, and the dye It becomes difficult for the layer 51 to cool, and it is possible to secure a sufficient time for the dye to disperse, and thus stable heat generation can be performed.

In the above structure, the ink ribbon 50 receives the laser light 35 emitted from the line head 31 on the infrared absorption layer 42 via the ribbon base 41, and the light energy of the laser light 35 is converted into thermal energy in the infrared absorption layer 42. Convert to. Next, this heat energy is mostly transferred to the dye layer 51 due to the low thermal conductivity of the ribbon base 41 and the high thermal conductivity of the dye layer 51, so that the dye layer 51 is efficiently heated and the dye layer 51 is heated. Is thermally transferred to the print paper 33.

According to experiments, the horizontal axis represents the amount of energy applied by the laser beam 35 per unit area ([mW] × time / [m
m ² ]) and the vertical axis indicates the print paper 33 obtained at that time.
In FIG. 6 shown as the reflection density above, the infrared absorption layer 4
2 can be expressed as curves L1, L2, L3 and L4 when the output of the laser beam 35 is increased in order and the output of the laser beam 35 is increased successively. It can be seen that the energy consumption for obtaining a predetermined print density is large because the temperature is not good and the temperature is hard to rise.

On the other hand, the characteristic curves when the infrared absorption layer 42 is formed thin and the output of the laser beam 35 is sequentially increased like the ink ribbon 42 of the first embodiment described above, the characteristic curves are curves L5, L6, L7 and L8, which allows the infrared absorption layer 42 to have a small layer thickness.
In Fig. 2, it is understood that the thermal efficiency is improved, and the necessary and sufficient concentration of the dye can be transferred to the print paper 33 with a small amount of heat energy. Further, the characteristic curve of the ink ribbon 50 in this embodiment in which the infrared absorption layer 42 is formed thin and the fine particles 52 are mixed in the dye layer 51 can be represented by a curve L9, which further improves the thermal efficiency of the ink ribbon 50, It can be seen that the dye having a necessary and sufficient density can be transferred to the print paper 33 by using a much smaller amount of heat energy.

According to the above construction, the fine particles 52 are mixed in the dye layer 51 to improve the thermal efficiency and the heat capacity of the ink ribbon 50, so that a high quality printed image can be obtained even when the laser output of the laser printer 30 is reduced. In addition, it is possible to realize the ink ribbon 50 that can obtain a stable heating temperature and can prevent damage to the ink ribbon 50 due to an abnormally high temperature.

(4) Other Embodiments (4-1) In the above embodiment, the case where the infrared absorption layer 42 is formed thin has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. In addition, the invention can be applied to the case where the infrared absorption layer 42 is formed thick. In this case, since the heat capacity of the infrared absorption layer 42 of the ink ribbon 60 becomes large, the heat is dispersed in the infrared absorption layer 42 even if the intensity of the laser beam 35 changes to some extent, and as a result, the ink ribbon 60 is damaged by the abnormally high temperature. Can be avoided in advance, and the heating temperature can be stabilized.

(4-2) In the above embodiment,
The infrared absorption layer 4 is provided between the ribbon base 41 and the dye layer 43.
Although the case where 2 is formed has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 8, an infrared absorption layer (hatched portion in FIG. 8) may be provided in the same layer as the dye layer 43. . In this case, the binder of the dye layer 43 formed by the dye and the binder is mixed with an infrared absorbing material such as carbon or an infrared absorbing pigment, or a sublimable dye having an absorption characteristic in the infrared region is used. To With this configuration, the heat generating portion is located in the immediate vicinity of the dye (or the dye itself), so that the heat generation vs. sublimation efficiency can be maximized.

(4-3) Further, as shown in FIG. 9, an infrared absorption layer 42 may be formed on the surface of the dye layer 43. In this case, since the ordinary sublimable dye has very little absorption in the infrared region, the laser light reaches the infrared absorption layer provided on the surface and generates heat. As a result, since the heat generating portion is adjacent to the dye and the receiving layer 33A of the print paper 33, the dye can be efficiently transferred to the receiving layer 33A of the print paper 33.

(4-4) Further, as shown in FIG. 10, an infrared absorption layer (hatched portion in FIG. 10) may be provided in the same layer as the ribbon base 41. In this case, the ribbon base layer 41 is obtained by uniformly kneading a plastic (such as aramid) and an infrared absorbent to have a thickness of several [μm] to several tens of [μm].
m] to form a film. Here, as the infrared absorbing agent, for example, fine carbon powder or infrared absorbing dye is used. As a result, the laser light applied to the ink ribbon 90 is thermally conducted in the ink ribbon 90 and the heat is transmitted to the dye layer 43.

(4-5) Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the receiving layer 33A of the print paper 33 may be provided with an infrared absorbing layer (hatched portion in FIG. 10). in this case,
The dye layer 43 which is close to the receiving layer 33A due to heat generation and heat conduction
Since the heating is performed, the temperature of the receiving layer 33A becomes high and the dispersion of the dye is improved. Incidentally, in this case, the color of the infrared absorbent becomes a problem, so that it is preferable to use a color (white) that does not absorb infrared rays in the visible light region.

(4-6) Further, as shown in FIG. 12, an infrared absorbing layer (hatched portion in FIG. 12) is provided inside the ink ribbon 100 and the receiving layer 33 of the print paper 33 is provided.
An infrared absorption layer may be provided on A as well. In this case, the infrared ray absorbing layer in the ink ribbon 100 absorbs only a few [%] to a few tens [%] of the light, and heat is generated in the receiving layer 33A of the print paper 33, resulting in the ink ribbon 100 and the print paper. When both 33 generate heat, the dispersion of the dye in the print paper 33 can be further improved.

(4-7) In the above embodiment,
The ink ribbon according to the present invention has been described as applied to a printer device having a plurality of laser elements and irradiating the laser light emitted from the plurality of laser elements on the ink ribbon in a line shape. Not limited to this, the same effects as those described above can be obtained when applied to various other laser printers.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the laser light emitted from the laser printer is received by the light absorption layer via the ribbon base having a low thermal conductivity, and the laser light is absorbed by the light absorption layer. By converting it into heat and transferring the dye applied to the dye layer to the print paper based on this heat, it is possible to reduce the diffusion of heat in the ink ribbon and to realize an ink ribbon with high thermal efficiency. You can Further, according to the present invention, by mixing fine particles having high thermal conductivity into the dye layer, the thermal conductivity to the dye layer can be improved, and an ink ribbon with much higher thermal efficiency can be realized, and the thermal capacity of the dye layer can be increased. The higher temperature can stabilize the heating temperature in the ink ribbon.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a printer device of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a line head.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of a line head and the optical path of laser light.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic curve diagram showing the relationship between the energy supplied and the print density in each ink ribbon when the thickness of the light absorption layer is changed.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a schematic side view showing an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a printer device using a thermal head.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining a dye of an ink ribbon.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a transport mechanism for an ink ribbon and print paper.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram for explaining heat conduction of a thermal head.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a head drive control circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 30 ... Printer device, 31 ... Line head, 3
2, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 ... Ink ribbon, 33 ... Print paper, 33A ... Receiving layer, 35
...... Laser light, 39 ...... heat generating part, 41 ...... ribbon base, 42 ...... infrared absorbing layer, 43, 51 …… dye layer, 5
2 ... fine particles.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon which receives a laser beam emitted from a laser printer and transfers a predetermined dye to a printing paper based on the laser beam, and a ribbon base which transmits the laser beam and has a low thermal conductivity. Receiving the laser beam via the ribbon base, a light absorbing layer for converting the laser beam into heat, and a predetermined dye which is arranged on a surface facing the print paper and coated with a predetermined dye. An ink ribbon comprising: a dye layer that transfers the dye to the print paper based on heat generated. 2. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the light absorption layer is formed between the ribbon base and the dye layer or in the dye layer. 3. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the dye layer is formed by mixing predetermined fine particles having high thermal conductivity. 4. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the light absorption layer has a thin layer thickness.