JPH06255205A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recording apparatus equipped with a means capable of obtaining good cleaning effect by simple constitution. CONSTITUTION:In a recording apparatus equipped with a recording element 2 having a surface lowered in its sweepback contact angle upon the contact with a liquid in a heated state and having a recording system selectively heating a contact material composed of a liquid, steam or a solid becoming a liquid by a heating means 1 in such a state that the contact material is in contact with the surface of the recording element to form the sweepback contact angle corresponding to heating temp. to form a latent image on the heated part and developing the latent image by the developer of a developing part 3 to form a visible image and transferring the visible image to recording paper 11 and subsequently cleaning the residual developer on the recording element in a cleaning part 20, the cleaning part 20 is integrally equipped with a porous member 22 impregnated with a cleaning soln. for cleaning the residual developer on the recording element and a porous member 23 for removing the cleaning soln. bonded to the recording element at a time of cleaning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer, a printing machine,
The present invention relates to a recording device applied to a display device and the like, and more particularly to a recording device using a recording body having a surface in which a receding contact angle is reduced when heated and brought into contact with a liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The present applicant has previously used a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid, and the surface of the recording body, liquid, vapor, and The recording material is heated at a temperature below the starting temperature of the receding contact angle, or is selectively heated in a state of contact with a contact material selected from solids that generate liquid or vapor, or the surface of the recording material is heated. A region (a desired pattern region, which is called a latent image or latent image region) having a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature is formed on the surface of the recording medium by bringing the material into contact with the contact material in a selectively heated state. A recording method characterized in that the surface of the recording material whose receding contact angle is reduced when heated and in contact with a liquid is in contact with a liquid recording material containing a developer. Selective heating or recording By contact with the recording material while selectively heating the surface, it was proposed a recording method for forming a visible image corresponding to the heating temperature on the recording surface (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-178478).

That is, the invention described in the above publication uses as a recording body a member having a surface which has a receding contact angle which becomes low (increases liquid adhesion) when heated and brought into contact with a liquid. The present invention provides a recording method capable of selectively or selectively and reversibly forming a desired pattern area (latent image area) on the surface of a recording medium, and further containing a developer in the pattern area. If a recording material (for example, liquid ink) is supplied, a good visible image can be obtained from the beginning, and this visible image can be fixed to the surface of the recording medium as it is, or the visible image can be transferred to recording paper without fixing. It is intended to provide a recording method which is fixed so that a clear image having gradation can be obtained. Further, according to the above invention, it is possible to reversibly print a plurality of reversible patterns by using a recording medium having excellent storage stability and stability in all steps such as formation / erasure of a desired pattern area (latent image), visualization, and transfer. A recording method is provided by which the above steps of times can be performed.

As described in detail in the above publication, the recording medium has a low receding contact angle when heated and brought into contact with a contact material such as liquid or vapor (liquid adhesion is high. However, when the recording material surface is heated in the absence of the contact material, it does not interact with the contact material and returns to the original receding contact angle to erase the latent image. (Image removal). Therefore, by providing a means for heating in the state of contact with the contact material and a means for heating in the absence of the contact material, it is possible to form a recording device that can easily perform recording and erasing.

Here, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a recording apparatus for recording by the above recording method. In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1 is a thermal heater as a selective heating means and a contact material holding means on the head portion. Is equipped with. Code 2
Is a belt-shaped recording medium, 3 is a developing unit containing a developer containing a color material (hereinafter referred to as ink), 4 is a developing roller, 5 and 6 are recording medium feeding rollers, 7 is a cleaner unit,
Reference numeral 7a is a cleaning roller, 8 is an image removing lamp, 9 is a cleaning liquid removing device, 10 is a transfer roller, and 11 is recording paper. In this recording apparatus, a latent image is formed by a method in which a contact material for latent image formation is in contact with the surface of a recording body 2 and selectively heated by a thermal heater 1 to form a receding contact angle in the heating portion. On the latent image, the developing roller 4 of the developing unit 3 adheres ink to the latent image for development to form a visible image on the recording medium 2, and the visible image is transferred to the transfer roller 10.
Then, an image is recorded on the recording paper 11 by using the cleaning roller 7a of the cleaner section 7 to remove the residual developer on the surface of the recording medium after the transfer, and then the surface of the recording medium is heated by the image removing lamp 8 to form a latent image. Erasing (image removal) is a series of processes.

[0006]

By the way, in the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 12, the cleaning roller 7 is used when the cleaning section 7 adopts a wet cleaning method.
Although a porous material such as a sponge is used for a and the residual developer is removed by contacting the surface of the recording material with the cleaning roller 7a impregnated with the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid adheres to the recording material 2 during cleaning. Therefore, in order to remove the attached cleaning liquid, a cleaning liquid removing device 9 (for example, a dry sponge roller and its driving system) is further required. As a result, the number of parts has increased, and the product has been complicated and has to be upsized. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is provided with means for reducing the above-mentioned problems by integrating the cleaning liquid removing section with the cleaner section and obtaining a good cleaning effect. The purpose is to provide a recording device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention comprises a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle is reduced when heated and brought into contact with a liquid. A latent image is formed on the heating part by a method of selectively heating a contact material consisting of a liquid or vapor or a solid that becomes a liquid by heating on the surface of the recording body to form a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature. Then, a latent image-containing developer (hereinafter referred to as ink) is brought into contact with the latent image to develop a visible image, and the visible image is transferred to a recording paper. In a recording apparatus of a recording system that cleans residual ink on a recording body, the cleaner section is a porous body (hereinafter referred to as a sponge) impregnated with a cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual ink on the recording body. When, characterized in that integrally includes a cloth for removing the cleaning liquid applied on the recording material during cleaning.

A recording apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein in the case of a continuously moving recording body, a cleaner unit integrally formed with sponges having different nip widths is used. . The recording device according to claim 3 is
The recording apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized in that the cleaner section is equipped with a device for adjusting the impregnation amount of the cleaning liquid in the sponge. A recording apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, characterized in that the cleaner section is provided with a device for removing the developer adhering to the sponge. A recording apparatus according to a fifth aspect is the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising means for supplying the cleaning liquid from the inside of the sponge.

[0009]

In the recording apparatus of the present invention, the cleaner portion removes the sponge impregnated with the cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual ink on the recording medium and the cleaning liquid adhering to the recording medium during cleaning. Since the sponge of 1 is integrally provided, the cleaning of the surface of the recording material and the subsequent removal of the cleaning liquid can be realized by one device.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. 1A and 1B are views showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus, and FIGS. 1B to 1D are explanatory diagrams of a cleaner section of the recording apparatus. In FIG. 1A, the same components as those in FIG. 12 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. The recording apparatus of this embodiment is characterized by the cleaner unit 20,
The cleaner unit 20 is a sponge impregnated with a cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual ink on the recording body 2.
(A) 22 and a sponge (B) 23 for removing the cleaning liquid adhering to the recording body 2 at the time of cleaning are integrally provided on the same roller 21. The drive system and control system of each roller are not shown.

Here, an example of a cleaner section 20 in which a cleaner and a cleaning liquid wiping function are integrated is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to (b) to (d). The structure of the cleaner unit 20 is such that the cleaner liquid (water, etc.)
Sponge (A) 22 with and without sponge (B) 23
Are attached, and the two sponges 22 and 23 are separated by a gap of angle θ as shown in FIG. 1 (b). Here, sponge (A) 22 and sponge (B)
No. 23 has a different diameter, and the nip width due to elastic deformation when pressed against the recording body 2 is different. Further, the hardness of the sponge (B) 23 on the larger diameter side (the larger nip width) needs to be sufficiently small. As a result, both the cleaning function and the cleaning liquid wiping can be stably performed even on the recording body 2 which is continuously moving. The conditions at this time are as follows. v · t <R · sin θ ₂ −r · sin θ ₁ where v: moving speed of the recording medium t: time required for the roller to rotate by (π + θ ₁ −θ ₂ ) The physical meaning of this formula is as shown in FIG. From the state shown in (c) to the state shown in FIG.
+ Θ ₁ −θ ₂ ) It rotates, but if the moving distance of the recording medium 2 is R · sin θ ₂ −r · sin θ ₁ or less, it indicates that both of the above functions can be performed stably. . That is, the cleaning of the same portion of the recording body 2 and the cleaning liquid wiping can be continuously performed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, another example of the structure of the cleaner portion can be considered. This is a sponge (A) 22 containing a cleaner liquid and a sponge (B) 23 not containing a cleaner liquid on a belt 72 rotated by two rollers 73.
The two sponges 22 and 2 are attached.
As shown in FIG. 6, 3 are separated by a blocking member 71. Even in this configuration, in the case of a recording medium that moves continuously, the sponge (A) 22 and the sponge (B) 2
3 must have different thicknesses (ie different nip widths). In addition, the condition that both the cleaning function and the cleaning liquid wiping function can be performed stably in this configuration is that the sponge (A) 22 is located on the recording medium due to rotation as in the configuration of FIG. After separating from 2, the recording body 2 and the belt 72 may be moved at such a speed that the sponge (B) 23 can clean this point.

When the recording medium 2 moves digitally for a fixed distance and stops only for a short time, the sponge (A) 22 and the sponge (B) shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 are used. A device in which the diameter and thickness of 23 are the same is also conceivable. In other words, the cleaning system may make one rotation to perform cleaning and cleaning liquid wiping while the recording body 2 is stopped for a short time. Furthermore, as shown in FIGS.
In each configuration of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, a plurality of sponges (A) 22 and sponges (B) 23 are alternately arranged (sponge (A)
-Sponge (B) -...- Sponge (A) -Sponge (B)
Therefore, a configuration in which the roller 21 or the belt 72 is installed is also conceivable.

By the way, if the cleaner portion has the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 (or FIGS. 10 and 11), the sponge is not removed.
The cleaning liquid sucked up by (B) 23 gradually increases, and eventually the cleaning liquid cannot be wiped off for its original purpose. Further, depending on the method of supplying the cleaning liquid, the amount of the cleaning liquid impregnated in the sponge (A) 22 may not be controlled and may be excessively supplied. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the squeezing roller 31 is attached to the sponge of the cleaner portion, and the receiving tray 32 for the squeezed cleaning liquid is arranged. By doing so, the amount of the cleaning liquid impregnated into the sponge (A) 22 can be controlled, and the absorbed cleaning liquid can be squeezed out from the sponge (B) 23, and the above-mentioned problem can be solved. The squeezing roller 31 may be movable in the direction of the arrow in the figure so that it can be brought into and out of contact with the sponge as needed.

Next, FIGS. 1 and 6 (or FIGS. 10 and 1)
In the cleaner section having the configuration shown in 1), the developer (ink) that has been wiped off is in a state of being attached or adsorbed on the sponge after cleaning. If left untreated in this state, the developer on the sponge will eventually be transferred onto the recording medium, which may cause scumming. Therefore, as a means for solving this, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
1 should be attached. Here, too, the blade 41 may be movable so that it can be brought into contact with or separated from the sponge as required.

Next, FIGS. 4 and 9 show an example of a method of supplying the cleaning liquid in the cleaner section. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 9, the cleaning liquid 51 is put in a container provided inside the roller 21 or the belt 72. Then, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a large number of small holes are formed in the outer wall of the roller or the belt on the side of the sponge (A) 22, and the sponge (B) 23
Leave the outer wall as it is without making holes.
By doing so, the cleaning liquid does not dry even when it is not used, and the liquid is continuously and stably supplied to the sponge (A) 22. At this time, in order to prevent excessive or insufficient supply of the cleaning liquid, it is necessary to select a sponge having an appropriate pore diameter and hardness. Incidentally, FIG.
In the case of the above configuration, the belt 72 may slip due to the rotation of the roller 73 depending on the type of cleaning liquid. At this time, an appropriate anti-slip mechanism (for example, a tractor feeder on the belt) may be provided.

Next, a more specific embodiment of the present invention will be shown. [Example 1] Device configuration: Fig. 1 Cleaner: sponge (A) has a hardness of 50 ° and a pore diameter of 40μ.
m Polyurethane porous material Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer). The sponge (B) is a polyurethane porous body Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer) having a hardness of 30 ° and a pore diameter of 80 μm. Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material TG-70 by volume ratio
2 (made by Daikin Industries) 30%, Freon 113 70
% Coated on a roughened polyimide film and dried. Result: Good cleaning was possible.

[Embodiment 2] Apparatus configuration: FIG. 6 Cleaner: sponge (A) has a hardness of 50 ° and a pore diameter of 40 μm.
m Polyurethane porous material Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer). The sponge (B) is a polyurethane porous body Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer) having a hardness of 30 ° and a pore diameter of 80 μm. Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material TG-70 by volume ratio
2 (made by Daikin Industries) 30%, Freon 113 70
% Coated on a roughened polyimide film and dried. Result: Good cleaning was possible.

[Embodiment 3] Apparatus configuration: FIG. 10 Cleaner: sponge (A) has a hardness of 50 ° and a pore diameter of 40 μm.
m Polyurethane porous material Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer). The sponge (B) is a polyurethane porous body Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer) having a hardness of 30 ° and a pore diameter of 80 μm. Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material TG-70 by volume ratio
2 (made by Daikin Industries) 30%, Freon 113 70
% Coated on a roughened polyimide film and dried. Result: Good cleaning was possible.

[Embodiment 4] Device configuration: FIG. 11 Cleaner: sponge (A) has a hardness of 50 ° and a pore diameter of 40 μm.
m Polyurethane porous material Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer). The sponge (B) is a polyurethane porous body Rubicell (made by Toyo Polymer) having a hardness of 30 ° and a pore diameter of 80 μm. Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material TG-70 by volume ratio
2 (made by Daikin Industries) 30%, Freon 113 70
% Coated on a roughened polyimide film and dried. Result: Good cleaning was possible.

[0021]

As described above, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the cleaner section has the sponge impregnated with the cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual ink on the recording medium, and the sponge on the recording medium at the time of cleaning. Since a sponge for removing the cleaning liquid adhered to is integrally provided, cleaning of the surface of the recording medium and subsequent removal of the cleaning liquid can be realized by one device,
The drive system of the device can be one. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the number of devices by one as compared with the conventional configuration in which cleaning and subsequent removal of the cleaning liquid are performed by different devices, and as a result, the device configuration can be simplified and the product can be downsized. Cost reduction can be expected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, since the cleaner unit is formed of sponges having different nip widths, the recording medium can be continuously moved. It is stable in terms of product performance.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, a device for adjusting the impregnated amount of the cleaning liquid in the sponge is provided. The problem of poor wiping is solved and a good cleaning effect can be expected.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the recording apparatus according to the first aspect is provided with a device for removing the developer adhering to the sponge, so that the problem of scumming of the recording medium due to poor cleaning is solved. Therefore, a good cleaning effect can be expected.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, since the cleaning liquid is provided from the inside of the sponge, it is possible to continuously and stably supply the cleaning liquid. A good cleaning effect can be expected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of claims 1 and 2, (a) is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus, and (b) to (d) are configuration explanatory diagrams of a cleaner unit.

FIG. 2 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing an embodiment of claim 3;

FIG. 3 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing an embodiment of claim 4;

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing an embodiment of claim 5;

5A and 5B are explanatory views of the embodiment of claim 5, wherein FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an outer wall structure on the sponge (A) side of the roller shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 5B is a sponge of the roller shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the outer wall structure of the (B) side.

FIG. 6 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing another embodiment of claims 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner portion showing another embodiment of claim 3;

FIG. 8 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing another embodiment of claim 4;

FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing another embodiment of claim 5;

FIG. 10 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing still another embodiment of claim 1;

FIG. 11 is a structural explanatory view of a cleaner section showing still another embodiment of claim 1;

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus showing an example of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Thermal heater (heating source for latent image formation) 2 ... Recording body 3 ... Development part 4 ... Development roller 5,6 ... Recording body sending roller 8 ... Image removal lamp 10 ... Transfer roller 11 ... Recording paper 20 ... Cleaner section 21 ... Roller (roller integrally provided with sponge (A) and (B)) 22 ... Sponge (A) (cleaning liquid 23 ... Sponge (B) (porous body for removing cleaning liquid) 31 ... Squeezing roller 32 ... Receiving tray 41 ... Blade 51 ... Cleaning liquid 71 ... Blocking material 72 ... Belt (belt integrally provided with sponges (A) and (B)) 73 ... Roller for belt rotation

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Morikawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Hiromichi Komai 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo・ Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A contact material comprising a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid, and the surface of the recording body is made of a liquid or vapor or a solid material which becomes a liquid by heating. To form a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature by selectively heating the latent image on the heating portion, and contact the latent image with a developer containing a coloring material to develop the latent image. In the recording apparatus of a recording system, a visible image is formed by transferring the visible image onto a recording paper, and then the residual developer on the recording medium is cleaned by the cleaner unit. In particular, the porous body impregnated with the cleaning liquid for cleaning the residual developer and the porous body for removing the cleaning liquid adhering to the recording medium at the time of cleaning are integrally provided. Recording device to collect. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the case of a recording body that moves continuously, a cleaning unit is formed by integrating porous bodies having different nip widths. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaner section is equipped with a device for adjusting the impregnation amount of the cleaning liquid in the porous body. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaner section is provided with a device for removing the developer adhering to the porous body. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for supplying the cleaning liquid from the inside of the porous body.