JPH068487A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recording device which can form an image of high quality level and good fixing properties generating only a small number of voids to a recording paper of low surface smoothness even after not using the device for a long period of time. CONSTITUTION:An intermediate transfer medium 2 composed of silicone rubber is provided, and an ink image 11 is formed on the itermediate transfer medium 2, and then the ink image 11 is brought into contact with the recording paper 10 and transferred thereon to form an image of high quality level and fixing properties generating a small number of voids even to a recording paper of low surface smoothness. Also a system for the temperature of the intermediate medium 2 setting higher than the insulation temperature at the time of forming the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 after a power source for a device is on and returning to the temperature as low as the insulation temperature at the time of forming the ink image 11 is constituted to melt and permeate wax as one of ink components separated out on the intermediate transfer medium 2 again securely to the intermediate transfer medium 2, and the release properties of the intermediate transfer medium 2 can be retained in the good state at all times.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus used in a copying machine, a fax machine, a printer, etc., and more specifically, it forms an image on an intermediate transfer medium once and then press-transfers the image onto a recording sheet. The present invention relates to a retransfer type recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the retransfer type recording method is as follows.
Various methods have been proposed. For example, JP-A-59-1
The structure shown in Japanese Patent No. 6932 has a structure as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, this retransfer type recording apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 105 denotes an ink sheet, in which a heat-meltable ink 106 having a thickness of 0.1 μm or more and 10 μm or less is formed on a base material such as polyethylene terephthalate. A thermal head 107 has heating elements 108 arranged in a line at the tip thereof to generate heat when energized, and selectively heats the hot-melt ink 106 of the ink sheet 105. Reference numeral 101 denotes an intermediate transfer drum, on the surface of which an intermediate transfer medium 102 made of flexible fluororesin, polyimide, polyester, or the like is formed. A pressing roller 109 is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 102 via a recording paper 110 by a spring or the like. Reference numeral 111 is an ink image formed on the intermediate transfer medium 102. Further, 121 is a cleaning belt, and 122 is a cleaning belt 121.
Is a pressing roller for pressing the intermediate transfer medium 102 against the intermediate transfer medium 102. Next, the operation of this conventional device will be described.
First, the hot-melt ink 106 on the ink sheet 105 is selectively heated and melted by the thermal head 107, and an image is formed on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 102. Next, the recording paper 110 is conveyed into a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium 102 and the pressing roller 109 by a conveying unit (not shown), and the ink image 11 is conveyed while passing through the nip.
1 is transferred to the recording paper 110. In addition, the ink 12 that remains on the intermediate transfer medium 102 without being transferred to the recording paper 110.
3 is removed by the cleaning belt 121.

At this time, the recording paper 110 is pressed by the pressing roller 109.
Since the ink image 111 is transferred with the rotation of the intermediate transfer drum 101 while being pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 102 by the recording paper 110, the recording paper 110 has a rough surface as compared with the case where the recording paper 110 is directly pressed against the heat-melting ink 106 to perform thermal transfer. 1
It can be transferred to 10. Furthermore, the intermediate transfer medium 1
When silicone rubber is used for 02, when the recording paper 110 is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 102 due to the flexibility of the silicone rubber, the ink image 1 formed on the intermediate transfer medium 102 is
11 can follow the unevenness of the surface of the recording paper 110, and also exhibits a special surface compatibility not found in other materials in silicone rubber, and the releasability from the heat-meltable ink 106 is extremely high. Therefore, the ink image 111 is transferred onto the recording paper 110 with high efficiency. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a clear image with few voids and good fixability.
In this case, since the ink image 111 can be transferred onto the recording paper 110 with high efficiency, a cleaning unit for removing the transfer residue is not always necessary.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned structure, the cleaning means is always required when the intermediate transfer medium is not silicone rubber, and the cleaning means of the prior art has a very complicated structure. It became complicated and expensive. When the intermediate transfer medium is silicone rubber, wax and higher fatty acid (hereinafter, wax and higher fatty acid are collectively referred to as wax) among resins, wax, and higher fatty acid which are main components of the heat-meltable ink are melted. Since it has the property of penetrating into the silicone rubber in the state and precipitating on the silicone rubber surface in the solidified state, recording an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium,
After repeating the transfer of the ink image to the recording paper, the apparatus is turned off and the wax is deposited on the surface of the silicone rubber when the apparatus is not used for a long time. In this state, the recording characteristics of the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium and the transfer characteristics of the ink image on the recording paper are adversely affected. Therefore, the operation of removing the wax is required before recording the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, and the cleaning means is required even when the intermediate transfer medium is made of silicone rubber.

In view of the above problems, the present invention eliminates the need for a special cleaning means even when wax is deposited on the silicone rubber on the image forming surface without using the apparatus for a long time,
(EN) Provided is a recording apparatus which has a simple structure and is inexpensive, which is capable of constantly forming an ink image on a silicone rubber and re-transferring the ink image onto a recording paper.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with an intermediate transfer medium having at least an image forming surface made of silicone rubber, and a heat-melting or heat-softening ink layer. And a thermal head that forms an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium by selectively heating and melting or softening the ink layer of the ink sheet and the ink layer of the ink sheet, a heat retention unit that heats and heats the intermediate transfer medium, and an intermediate The intermediate transfer medium is provided with a transfer unit that press-transfers the ink image transferred onto the transfer medium onto the recording paper, and the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is diffused and penetrated into the silicone rubber of the intermediate transfer medium among the components of the ink layer of the ink sheet. Is higher than the melting point of the component.

Further, after the power is turned on and before the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, the temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium is set to the temperature during the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium. It is provided with a configuration in which the temperature is raised above the heat retention temperature for a certain period of time and then returned to the heat retention temperature during the recording operation.

Further, it is provided with a heating means for heating the intermediate transfer medium from the image forming surface side.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, the heat-retaining temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is set to be higher than the melting point of the component of the ink layer of the ink sheet that diffuses and permeates into the silicone rubber of the intermediate transfer medium. Even when wax is deposited on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium without using the device for a long time, the intermediate transfer medium is not used when the ink image is formed on the intermediate transfer medium after the power is turned on. Since the wax is kept at a temperature higher than the melting point of the deposited wax, the wax can be melted and permeated into the silicone rubber again, and the wax does not exist in a solidified state on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium. . Therefore, it is possible to always stably perform the stable formation of the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium and the retransfer operation of the ink image from the intermediate transfer medium to the recording paper without providing any special means. A device is provided.

Further, after the power is turned on and before the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is set to be higher than the heat retention temperature during the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium. With a configuration that raises the temperature for a certain period of time or more and then returns to the heat retention temperature during recording operation, after turning on the power to the device, it rises to the heat retention temperature during recording operation, and compared to the case where the temperature is kept at that temperature, The wax deposited on the intermediate transfer medium can be melted and permeated into the intermediate transfer medium in a short time. Here, if the temperature keeping temperature of the intermediate transfer medium during the recording operation is set higher than the melting point of the wax that permeates the silicone rubber by, for example, about 30 ° C., the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is not necessarily changed to an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium. It is not necessary to provide a configuration in which the temperature is kept higher than the heat retention temperature during the recording operation for a certain period of time and then returned to the heat retention temperature during the recording operation. However, if the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is increased, it becomes difficult to obtain the contrast of the image and fogging easily occurs, and when the ink image is transferred onto the recording paper, the ink penetrates too much into the recording paper, Exposure of paper fibers causes image density to drop. Therefore, there is an upper limit to the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium, and it is not preferable to set the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium higher by about 30 ° C. than the melting point of the wax that permeates the silicone rubber. Therefore, a special cleaning means is not required, and the structure that can stably form the ink image on the silicone rubber and the retransfer operation of the ink image on the recording paper in a short time after power-on is simple. And an inexpensive recording device is provided.

Further, since the heating means for heating the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium from the image forming surface side is provided, the intermediate transfer medium and the entire member for holding the intermediate transfer medium are in a recording operation after the apparatus is powered on. Without making it higher than the insulation temperature of
The image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium can be preferentially heated. When the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium and the entire member that holds the intermediate transfer medium is higher than the heat retention temperature during the recording operation, it is necessary to wait until the temperature that has been once raised to the heat retention temperature during the recording operation is lowered. It takes a long time to start the recording operation after the power is turned on. Therefore, by providing the means for heating from the image forming surface, the wax deposited on the intermediate transfer medium can be surely melted and permeated, and the time until the recording can be started after the power is turned on can be shortened. Is provided.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an intermediate transfer drum, on the surface of which an intermediate transfer medium 2 made of silicone rubber is provided. The rubber hardness of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is preferably 10 to 60 degrees and the rubber film thickness is preferably 0.1 to 3 mm, but in this embodiment, the rubber hardness is 30 degrees and the rubber film thickness is 0.5 mm. Reference numeral 3 is a halogen lamp, which is a heating / warming means for heating and keeping the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 at a desired temperature, and 4 is a thermistor for detecting the surface temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2. Reference numeral 5 is an ink sheet, and the surface of the ink sheet 5 is coated with a heat-meltable ink 6 that is melted or softened by heat.
A thermal head 7 has heating elements 8 arranged in a row at the tip thereof to generate heat when energized. A pressing roller 9 is configured to press the recording paper 10 against the intermediate transfer medium 2 with a desired pressure.

Next, the operation of the recording apparatus of this embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, the thermistor 4 is an intermediate transfer medium 2.
The temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is detected and the halogen lamp 3 is turned on / off by a temperature control means (not shown) according to the detected temperature to heat the intermediate transfer medium 2 to a desired temperature. After the halogen lamp 3 is turned on after the power of the apparatus is turned on, the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is first raised to T1, and the desired time T
The temperature is controlled to 1 and then to T2. T1 and T2 are characteristics of the heat-meltable ink 6 used,
Although the proper temperature differs depending on the material of the intermediate transfer medium 2,
T2 is preferably 1 to 20 ° C. higher than the melting point of the low-molecular wax contained in the heat-meltable ink 6 used, and
(T1-T2) is preferably 5 to 50 ° C. In this embodiment, T1 is set to 90 ° C and T2 is set to 70 ° C. The thermal head 7 is pressed against the intermediate transfer drum 1 via the ink sheet 5. In this state, the intermediate transfer drum 1
Is rotated in the direction of arrow A shown, and the ink sheet 5 is moved in the direction of arrow B shown so that the relative speed with the intermediate transfer medium 2 becomes zero. At this time, a drive signal is given to the thermal head 7 from a control device (not shown), and the heating element 8 at the tip of the thermal head 7 generates heat according to the image pattern. The ink sheet 5 is configured to be peeled off from the intermediate transfer medium 2 immediately after recording by the thermal head 7. As a result, the thermal head 7
The ink sheet 5 is peeled off from the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the ink image 11 is formed on the intermediate transfer medium 2 while the thermally fusible ink 6 heated by is kept in a low viscosity state.

Next, the ink image 1 formed as described above.
The transfer operation of No. 1 onto the recording paper 10 will be described. After recording, the ink image 11 recorded on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is moved to a position where the ink image 11 contacts the pressing roller 9. Here, the recording paper 10 fed by the paper feeding means (not shown) is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 2 by the pressing roller 9, and the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is transferred to the recording paper 10. At this time, the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated and kept at a temperature at which the ink image 11 produces adhesiveness, and the intermediate transfer medium 2 is formed of silicone rubber having excellent releasability and flexibility. When the recording paper 10 is pressed on the intermediate transfer medium 2, the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 sufficiently follows the unevenness of the recording paper 10, and the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is almost entirely on the recording paper 10. Can be transcribed. As described above, a clear image without voids can be obtained even on the recording paper 10 having a low surface smoothness.

As described above, almost all the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 can be transferred onto the recording paper 10, so that a cleaning means for the transfer residue on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is not necessary. However, the silicone rubber has a property that a substance easily enters therein, and the wax having a small molecular weight contained in the hot-melt ink 6 is very easily penetrated. This wax with a low molecular weight penetrates into the silicone rubber when it melts, and when the silicone rubber that has penetrated the wax is kept at a temperature lower than the melting temperature of the wax, the wax that has once penetrated is gradually solidified in the silicone rubber surface. Will be deposited on. At the time of recording operation, the heat melting ink 6 is 1
Since the temperature is raised to 00 to 200 ° C. for recording, the wax component of the hot-melt ink 6 permeates into the intermediate transfer medium 2. After the recording of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the transfer of the ink image 11 onto the recording paper 10 are repeated, the power of the apparatus is turned off, and when the intermediate transfer medium 2 is left at room temperature, the intermediate transfer is gradually performed. The wax is deposited in the solidified state on the image forming surface of the medium 2. Turn on the power of the device again in this state.
Then, when the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated and kept at a desired temperature and then the ink image 11 is recorded on the intermediate transfer medium 2, the keeping temperature of the wax that permeates the intermediate transfer medium 2 increases. If the melting point is lower than the melting point, the wax is still deposited on the intermediate transfer medium 2, and the ink image 11 cannot be formed well. In this embodiment, during the recording and transfer operations, the intermediate transfer medium 2 is kept at 70 ° C., which is 5 ° C. higher than the melting point of the low-molecular wax contained in the hot-melt ink 6, and in this case, the deposited wax is removed. Since it can be melted and permeated again into the silicone rubber of the intermediate transfer medium 2, the ink image 11 can be formed well. As described above, since the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is set to be higher than the melting point of the low molecular weight wax contained in the heat-meltable ink 6, the intermediate transfer is performed while the power of the apparatus is turned on. No wax is deposited on the medium 2. Even after the power is turned on, if the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated and kept warm for a certain period of time, the deposited wax can be melted and permeated into the intermediate transfer medium 2 again. It is possible to always perform stable formation and transfer of the ink image 11 onto the recording paper 10.

After the power of the apparatus is turned on, the intermediate transfer medium 2
When the recording operation is performed when the temperature of 70 ° C. reaches 70 ° C., a large amount of the deposited wax remains on the image forming surface, resulting in poor recording properties. Further, it takes time for the wax on the intermediate transfer medium 2 to be sufficiently permeated into the intermediate transfer medium at 70 ° C. Furthermore, the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is set to 70
If the temperature is higher than ℃, the deposited wax will easily penetrate into the intermediate transfer medium 2, but in this case, when recording an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium 2, insufficient contrast, fog, etc. occur. In addition, the ink image 11 on the recording paper becomes easier.
At the time of transfer, the ink excessively permeates the recording paper 10 to expose the paper fibers, resulting in a low image density. Therefore, when the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is once raised to T2 ° C. and then lowered to T1 ° C., the wax sufficiently permeates into the intermediate transfer medium 2 in a short time, and the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is increased. Can be stably formed.

Although it is conceivable to provide a cleaning means here, the conventional cleaning means has a very complicated structure.

As described above, after the power of the device is turned on,
Wax is deposited on the silicone rubber on the image forming surface without using the apparatus for a long time because the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated to a temperature higher than the heat retention temperature during the recording operation for a certain period of time and then returned to the heat retention temperature during the recording operation. Even when the recording operation is performed, the deposited wax is melted and re-penetrated into the silicone rubber before the recording operation, so that the wax is not deposited on the silicone rubber during the recording operation in a short time. I can. Therefore, a complicated and inexpensive recording apparatus that does not require complicated cleaning means and can perform stable formation of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and retransfer of the ink image 11 to the recording paper 0 is provided. Can be provided.

A recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the recording apparatus of the second embodiment is almost the same as the configuration of the recording apparatus of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, except that the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated and kept warm. This means that means for heating from the image forming surface side of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is provided as means. Specifically, the halogen lamp 12
And the light of the halogen lamp 12 efficiently.
This is a configuration including a reflecting mirror 13 for irradiating the image forming surface.

Next, the operation of the recording apparatus of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the operation of forming the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the recording paper 10 of the ink image 11 are performed.
The transfer operation to is similar to that of the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is the operation of heating and keeping the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2. In this embodiment, the halogen lamp 3 heats and heats the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 from the inside of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2, and the halogen lamp 3 heats and heats from the image forming surface side. 12 and.
The thermistor 4 detects the temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2, and according to the detected temperature, the halogen lamp 3 and the halogen lamp 12 are turned on by a temperature control means (not shown).
The intermediate transfer medium 2 is turned off to keep the intermediate transfer medium 2 at a desired temperature. It is desirable that the thermistor 4 is located on the front side in the rotation direction with respect to the light irradiation position of the halogen lamp 12, as shown in FIG. The heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium varies depending on the characteristics of the hot melt ink 6, the material of the intermediate transfer medium 2, etc., but is set to 70 ° C. in this embodiment. After turning on the power of the device, halogen lamp 3 and halogen lamp 12
Is turned on and 0FF to warm up the intermediate transfer medium 2. At this time, the intermediate transfer medium 2 is rotated in the direction of the arrow and the intermediate transfer medium 2 is heated to 70 ° C. at the temperature detected by the thermistor 4. The temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is adjusted to 70 °
Halogen lamp 3 and halogen lamp 1 so that the temperature exceeds ℃
Controls ON / OFF of 2. As described above, when the formation of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the transfer of the ink image 11 onto the recording paper 10 are repeated, the intermediate transfer medium 2
The wax component of the heat-meltable ink 6 penetrates into the silicone rubber. After that, when the apparatus power is turned off and the intermediate transfer medium 2 is left at room temperature, the wax gradually precipitates in a solidified state on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2. In this state, the power of the apparatus is turned on again, and when the recording operation is performed at the time when the temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 reaches 70 ° C. without exceeding 70 ° C., the wax that has precipitated is formed on the image forming surface. A large amount remains on the top, resulting in poor recordability. At this time, as in Example 1, the method of once raising the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 after the power is turned on to be higher than the heat retaining temperature at the time of forming the normal ink image 11 and then returning to the normal heat retaining temperature is very simple. Although it is preferably used in the method, it takes a little longer from the viewpoint of warm-up time. There is no problem depending on the device, but it is usually desirable that the warm-up time is short. Therefore, by providing the halogen lamp 12 that heats from the image forming surface side of the intermediate transfer medium as in this embodiment, the intermediate transfer medium 2 is warmed up before the intermediate transfer medium 2 reaches a desired temperature of 70 ° C. Medium 2
The temperature of the image forming surface of the
Since the temperature can be raised to 0 ° C. or higher, the wax deposited on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is melted and allowed to penetrate into the silicone rubber of the intermediate transfer medium 2 again while keeping the warm-up time as usual. Can be done.

Various combinations of the light amounts of the halogen lamp 3 and the halogen lamp 12 can be considered. For example, a combination in which only the halogen lamp 12 is used during warm-up and only the halogen lamp 3 is kept warm when heated to a desired temperature can be considered. In this case, the effect of allowing the wax on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 to penetrate into the silicone rubber is very large. In addition, a combination in which both the halogen lamp 3 and the halogen lamp 12 are used during warm-up and the temperature is kept only by the halogen lamp 3 when heated to a desired temperature may be considered. In this case, the warm-up time can be shortened. Further, in the present embodiment, the halogen lamps are provided on both the inner side and the outer side of the intermediate transfer medium 2 as heating and heat retaining means, but the halogen lamp 3 is not always necessary, and the halogen lamp 12 alone is used to heat and retain the intermediate transfer medium 2. You can also do In this case, as compared with the case where the halogen lamp 3 is provided, the thermal efficiency for heating and maintaining the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is lowered, but the configuration of the device is simple.

In this embodiment, the halogen lamp 12 and the reflecting mirror 13 heat the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2, but a heat roll is used as the heating means, and the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is exposed. A method of pressing the heat roll and melting the wax by contact heating may be considered. In this case, the portion of the heat roll that comes into contact with the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 needs to be formed of a silicone resin in order to prevent wax adhesion.

As described above, since the halogen lamp 12 and the reflecting mirror 13 for heating the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium 2 from the image forming surface side are provided, the wax deposited on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is surely melted. It is possible to shorten the time until the recording can be started after the ink is penetrated and the power is turned on, and the formation of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the retransfer of the ink image 11 to the recording paper 10 are stably performed. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus that can be performed and that has a simple structure and is inexpensive.

[0025]

As described above, the recording apparatus of the present invention includes an intermediate transfer medium having at least an image forming surface made of silicone rubber, an ink sheet provided with a heat-melting or heat-softening ink layer, and an ink sheet. The thermal head that forms an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium by selectively heating, melting, or softening the ink layer, the heat retaining unit that heats and heats the intermediate transfer medium, and the ink transferred onto the intermediate transfer medium. A transfer unit for transferring the image onto the recording paper by pressure contact,
By keeping the heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium higher than the melting point of the component of the ink layer of the ink sheet that diffuses and penetrates into the silicone rubber of the intermediate transfer medium, it is always stable without any special means. The formation of the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium and the retransfer operation of the ink image from the intermediate transfer medium to the recording paper can always be stably performed.

Further, after the power is turned on and before the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, the temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium is set to the temperature during the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium. The temperature was kept higher than the heat retention temperature for a certain period of time and then returned to the heat retention temperature during recording operation.
Since the heating means for heating the intermediate transfer medium from the image forming surface side is provided, no special cleaning means is required,
Further, after the power is turned on, the formation of the ink image on the silicone rubber and the retransfer operation of the ink image on the recording paper can be stably performed in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a conventional recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Intermediate Transfer Medium 3, 12 Halogen Lamp 4 Thermistor 5 Ink Sheet 6 Thermal Melting Ink 7 Thermal Head 9 Pressing Roller 11 Ink Image 13 Reflecting Mirror

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihisa Fujimori 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Nobuyoshi Taguchi, 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An intermediate transfer medium having at least an image forming surface made of silicone rubber, an ink sheet provided with a heat-melting or heat-softening ink layer, and an ink layer of the ink sheet is selectively heated and melted, Alternatively, a thermal head that forms an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium by softening it, a heat retaining unit that heats and heats the intermediate transfer medium, and an ink image transferred on the intermediate transfer medium are transferred to a recording paper by pressure transfer. The temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is higher than the melting point of the component of the ink layer of the ink sheet that diffuses and permeates into the silicone rubber on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium. A recording device characterized by being present. 2. The temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium is adjusted to the temperature of the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium after the power of the apparatus is turned on and before the recording operation for forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature is set higher than the heat retention temperature during the recording operation for a certain period of time and then returned to the heat retention temperature during the recording operation. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising heating means for heating the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium from the image forming surface side. 4. A roll-shaped member in which heating means for heating from the image forming surface side of the intermediate transfer medium is arranged so as to be in contact with the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium, and the intermediate transfer of the heating means. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the portion of the medium that is in contact with the image forming surface is made of a silicone-based polymer material.