JPH0691905A - Method and apparatus for recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To furnish an apparatus of a simple construction which makes it possible to obtain an image having few voids and being of high grade and excellent in a fixing property even for recording paper of low surface smoothness and which causes no back stain of the paper due to sticking of ink on a pressing roller even at the time of a trouble or the like. CONSTITUTION:An intermediate transfer medium 2 constructed of silicone rubber/is provided and an ink image is once formed on the intermediate transfer medium 2 and then transferred onto recording paper by pressure contact. Thereby an image having few voids and being of high grade and excellent in a fixing property is obtained even for the recording paper of low surface smoothness. In the case when ink 13 sticks on a pressing roller 9 at the time of a trouble or the like, the ink 13 sticking on the pressing roller 9 can be taken away onto a cleaning sheet 12 by passing the cleaning sheet 12 through a nip of the pressing roller 9 and the intermediate transfer medium 2.

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 method and recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the retransfer type recording method is as follows.
Various methods have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-6
The article shown in Japanese Patent No. 8788 had 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 the hot-melt ink 106 is formed on a base material such as polyethylene terephthalate. Reference numeral 107 is a thermal head, and a recording electrode 10 that generates heat when energized is applied to the tip of the thermal head.
8 are arranged in a row and selectively heat the hot-melt ink 106 of the ink sheet 105. An intermediate transfer drum 101 has an intermediate transfer medium 102 made of silicone rubber formed on its surface. A pressing roller 109 is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 102 via a recording paper 110 by a spring or the like. Also, 11
Reference numeral 1 is an ink image formed on the intermediate transfer medium 102.
Further, 121 is a cleaning blade. next,
The operation of this conventional device will be described. First, the hot-melt ink 106 on the ink sheet 105 is transferred to the thermal head 1.
07, the intermediate transfer medium 102 is selectively melted by heating.
Image is formed on the image forming surface of. Next, the recording paper 110 is conveyed by a conveying means (not shown) to a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium 102 and the pressing roller 109, and the ink image 111 is transferred onto the recording paper 110 while passing through the nip. To be done. Further, the ink 122 remaining on the intermediate transfer medium 102 without being transferred to the recording paper 110 is removed by the cleaning blade 121.

While the recording paper 110 is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 102 made of silicone rubber by the pressing roller 109, the ink image 11 is generated as the intermediate transfer drum 101 rotates.
1 is transferred, the ink image 111 formed on the intermediate transfer medium 102 can follow the unevenness of the surface of the recording paper 110 due to the flexibility of the silicone rubber. It exhibits a special surface affinity that cannot be seen, and has very good releasability from the hot-melt ink 106, so that the ink image 111 is transferred onto the recording paper 110 with high efficiency. Therefore, as compared with the case where the heat-melting ink 106 is directly pressed against the recording paper 110 for recording, a clear image having very few voids and a good fixing property can be obtained even on a recording paper having a low smoothness. It will be. Also,
If the heat-melting ink 106 and the silicone rubber material of the intermediate transfer medium 102 are sufficiently taken into consideration, the ink image 111 can be transferred onto the recording paper 110 with high efficiency, and the cleaning blade 121 for removing the transfer residue is not necessarily required.

[0004]

However, in the above structure, when troubles such as a paper jam occur, or when the leading edge and the trailing edge of the recording paper are broken, the recording paper with holes is used. In such a case, the pressure roller may come into direct contact with the ink image recorded on the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium without using the recording paper. At this time, since the intermediate transfer medium is made of silicone rubber having a good releasing property, when the pressure roller and the ink image come into contact with each other, the ink is transferred to the pressure roller in a considerable amount. In that case, when the next printing is performed, the ink adhering to the pressing roller is transferred to the surface of the recording paper opposite to the surface on which the ink image is transferred, which causes so-called backside stain of the recording paper. Here, it may be considered that the releasability of the intermediate transfer medium is slightly lowered to make it difficult for the ink to adhere to the pressing roller. In that case, however, the ability to transfer the ink image to the recording paper is also deteriorated. Absent.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has been proposed in the case of trouble such as paper jam, or when the front and rear edges of recording paper are broken.
Furthermore, even when recording paper with holes is used, stains do not occur on the back of the paper, and high-quality images with good voids and high fixability can be obtained even on recording paper with low surface smoothness. The present invention provides a recording device that can be used.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the recording method of the present invention has elasticity by selectively heating the heat-meltable or heat-sublimable ink by the recording means. After forming the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium,
By pressing the pressure roller against the intermediate transfer medium via the recording paper, the ink image is transferred to the recording paper, and when an adhering matter occurs on the pressure roller, the inside of the nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium and the pressure roller is cleaned. By passing the sheet, the adhering material on the pressing roller is removed by the cleaning sheet.

Further, during the operation of removing the adhering matter on the pressing roller by the cleaning sheet, a relative speed is set between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet.

Further, the recording apparatus of the present invention is provided with an adhesive applying means for holding the adhesive and applying the adhesive to the side of the recording paper before being pressed against the intermediate transfer medium, which is in contact with the pressing roller,
Only when the adhering matter on the pressing roller is removed, the adhesive is applied to the recording paper by the adhesive applying means, and the adhering matter on the pressing roller is removed by the adhesive.

[0009]

In the present invention, an intermediate transfer medium having elasticity is used, and an ink image is once formed on the intermediate transfer medium, and then transferred by pressure contact to the recording paper. Therefore, even for recording paper having a low surface smoothness. Since the ink can be brought into sufficient contact with the irregularities on the surface of the recording paper, it is possible to obtain a high-quality image with few voids. In addition, when an adhering substance is generated on the pressing roller, a cleaning sheet is passed through a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium and the pressing roller to remove the adhering substance on the pressing roller from the cleaning sheet. In the case of trouble, when the leading edge and the trailing edge of the recording paper are broken, and even when the recording paper with holes is used, it is possible to obtain an image without stain on the back of the recording paper.

When the cleaning sheet removes the adhering material from the pressing roller, a shearing force is applied to the adhering material to the pressing roller by providing a relative speed between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet. If the cleaning sheet is slower than the traveling speed of the pressing roller, it is possible to increase the chances of contact between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet, so that the adhesion to the pressing roller can be increased. It is possible to enhance the removal effect of.

Further, there is provided an adhesive applying means for holding the adhesive and applying the adhesive to the side of the recording paper which is not pressed against the intermediate transfer medium and is in contact with the pressing roller, and when the adhered matter on the pressing roller is removed. Only, by applying the adhesive to the recording paper by the adhesive applying means and removing the adhering matter to the pressing roller by the adhesive, no special cleaning sheet is required and the adhesive is applied to the recording paper. The adhesive can surely remove the deposit on the pressing roller.

[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 denotes an intermediate transfer drum, on the surface of which an intermediate transfer medium 2 made of silicone rubber is provided, and is rotated by a driving means (not shown). The rubber hardness of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is 10 to 60.
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. 3 is a halogen lamp, which is an intermediate transfer medium 2
Is a heating and heat retaining means for heating and retaining the image forming surface 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. Reference numeral 9 denotes a pressing roller having a surface formed of a fluororesin film, which is rotatably supported and 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. The appropriate heat retention temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 varies depending on the characteristics of the hot-melt ink used, the material of the intermediate transfer medium 2, and the like, but in this embodiment, it is kept at 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 in the figure, and the ink sheet 5
Is moved in the direction of arrow B in the figure so that the relative speed to the intermediate transfer medium 2 becomes zero. At this time, a drive signal is given to the thermal head 7 from a controller (not shown), and the heating element 8 at the tip of the thermal head 7 is caused to generate 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 ink sheet 5 is separated from the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the ink image 11 is formed on the intermediate transfer medium 2 while the heat-meltable ink 6 heated by the thermal head 7 remains 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 sent by the paper feeding means (not shown) is pressed against the intermediate transfer medium 2 by the pressing roller 9, and the intermediate transfer medium 2 is pressed.
The upper ink image 11 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 made of silicone rubber having excellent releasability and flexibility. When the recording paper 10 is pressed on the medium 2, the ink image 1 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is formed on the unevenness of the recording paper 10.
1 sufficiently follows, and almost the entire amount of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 can be transferred onto the recording paper 10. As described above, a clear image without voids can be obtained even on the recording paper 10 having a low surface smoothness. Further, since almost the entire amount of the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 can be transferred onto the recording paper 10, the cleaning means for the transfer residual on the intermediate transfer medium 2 is not necessary.

Next, in case of trouble such as paper jam of the recording apparatus of this embodiment, when the front and rear ends of the recording paper 10 are broken, and further, when the recording paper with holes is used Will be described with reference to FIG.

In the above case, the pressing roller 9 comes into direct contact with the ink image 11 formed on the intermediate transfer medium 2. In this case, the ink image 11 on the intermediate transfer medium 2 may be transferred to the pressing roller 9. In FIG. 2, 13 is the ink transferred to the pressing roller 9, and 12
Is a cleaning sheet for removing the ink 13. When the ink 13 adheres to the pressure roller 9, the ink adhered to the pressure roller 9 adheres to the recording paper to be used next, which causes so-called back stain on the paper.

To prevent the backside of the paper from being smeared, no ink 13 is attached to the pressure roller 9 even if the pressure roller 9 directly contacts the ink image 11 formed on the intermediate transfer medium 2. Or-Even if the ink 13 adheres to the pressing roller 9, it can be easily removed. Is required. To prevent the ink 13 from adhering to the former pressing roller 9,
In this case, the pressing roller 9 is the most preferable method.
The mold releasing property of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is better than that of the intermediate transfer medium 2. However, the mold releasing property of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is required to be excellent. It is difficult to request.

In this embodiment, when ink adheres to the pressing roller 9 due to a trouble or the like, the cleaning sheet 12 is conveyed in the same manner as in the normal printing operation, and a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the pressing roller 9 is formed. The ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller on the cleaning sheet 12 is removed by passing the ink. The cleaning sheet 12 is preferably sticky from the viewpoint of the adhesive force with the ink. If the cleaning sheet 12 is adhesive, the effect of removing the ink 13 is very high,
The ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9 can be removed even if the intermediate transfer medium 2 does not have a heat retaining means.

Therefore, when an adhering substance is generated on the pressing roller, the cleaning sheet is passed through a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium and the pressing roller to remove the adhering substance on the pressing roller to the cleaning sheet. It is possible to obtain an image without stains on the back side of the recording paper even when troubles such as jamming occur, the front and rear edges of the recording paper are broken, and even when the recording paper with holes is used. Becomes

In this embodiment, the halogen lamp 3 for heating and maintaining the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium 2 is provided, but this is for improving the transfer ability of the ink image 11 onto the recording paper 10.
The halogen lamp 3 is not always necessary if the material of the hot-melt ink 6 is selected.

Further, in the present embodiment, the cleaning sheet 12 is used to remove the ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9, but the recording sheet 10 used for normal printing may be used for the cleaning sheet 12. In this case, since no special cleaning sheet 12 is used,
The ink 13 can be easily removed.

Further, in this embodiment, a fluororesin film is formed on the pressing roller 9, but this is due to the adhered ink 13
This is for weakening the adhesive force to the ink 13 and to facilitate the removal of the ink 13, and is not necessarily a fluororesin, and if it is a material that has a good releasability from the ink 13, for example, a silicone-based polymer Materials (silicone resin, silicone rubber) may be used.

Further, in this embodiment, the ink sheet 5 coated with the heat-meltable ink 6 is used, but this may be a heat sublimable ink, and further, an ink film is not formed on the sheet. I don't mind.

Further, in this embodiment, the thermal head 7 is used as the recording means, but a method of irradiating the ink sheet with laser light or the like and utilizing the light energy to heat the heat-meltable ink is also possible. I do not care. Further, a method of directly adhering the ink to the intermediate transfer medium 2 by an inkjet method is also conceivable. Further, a method using powder ink or powder toner used in an electrophotographic system is also conceivable.

Further, not only the ink 13 but also paper dust and dust adhere to the pressing roller 9. Needless to say, these deposits can be removed by the cleaning sheet 12 as well as the ink 13.

A recording apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The configuration of the second recording device is almost the same as that of the recording device of the first embodiment.
The point different from the embodiment is that the relative speed is set between the pressing roller 9 and the cleaning sheet 12 during the operation of removing the ink adhering to the pressing roller 9 by the cleaning sheet 12. Specifically, when the ink 13 is removed from the pressing roller 9, the traveling speed of the pressing roller 9 is set to be higher than the traveling speed of the intermediate transfer medium 2 by means not shown.

Next, the operation of the recording apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The normal printing operation is exactly the same as that in the first embodiment, and the difference is the operation at the time of removing the ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9. In this embodiment, the intermediate transfer medium 2 is made of silicone rubber and the surface of the pressing roller 9 is made of silicone resin, and the coefficient of friction with the cleaning sheet 12 is higher in the intermediate transfer medium 2. Further, when the ink 13 is removed, the traveling speed of the pressing roller 9 is made higher than the traveling speed of the intermediate transfer medium 2, so that the cleaning sheet 12 travels at the same speed as the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the pressing roller 9 moves.
Means traveling at a relative speed. for that reason,
A shearing force is applied from the cleaning sheet 12 to the ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9. Also,
Since the traveling speed of the pressing roller 9 is increased, it is possible to increase the chances of the pressing roller 9 coming into contact with one cleaning sheet 12.

Therefore, during the operation of removing the adhering matter on the pressing roller by the cleaning sheet, the relative speed is provided between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet.
The effect of removing the ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9 can be enhanced.

A recording apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a recording apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the recording apparatus of the first embodiment is that the adhesive applying roller 14 holding the adhesive and the backup roller 1
It is equipped with 5.

Next, the operation of the recording apparatus of this embodiment will be described. The normal printing operation is exactly the same as that in the first embodiment, and the difference is the operation at the time of removing the ink 13 adhering to the pressing roller 9. During a normal printing operation, the pressure-sensitive adhesive application roller 14 is in the wavy line position by means not shown. When the ink 13 is removed, the pressure-sensitive adhesive applying roller 14 is moved to the position indicated by the solid line by means (not shown), and the recording paper 10 is transported in the same manner as in the normal printing operation. An adhesive is applied to the pressing roller 9 side of the recording paper 10 while passing through the forming nip. Then, the ink 1 adhered to the pressing roller 9 while passing through the nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium 2 and the pressing roller 9.
3 is removed by the adhesive force of the adhesive applied on the recording paper 10. When adhesive is applied to the recording paper 10, the recording paper 1
Pressing roller 9 with which the part coated with 0 adhesive agent contacts
Alternatively, an adhesive force may be exerted on the conveying means (not shown) of the recording paper 10, and if the leading end portion of the recording paper 10 is coated with an adhesive, it may be difficult to separate from the contacting member, and the conveyance may not be performed well. There is. Therefore, it is desirable not to apply an adhesive to the leading edge of the recording paper 10.

Therefore, the provision of the pressure-sensitive adhesive application roller 14 eliminates the need for a special cleaning sheet, and the pressure-sensitive adhesive applied to the recording paper 10 can reliably remove the ink 13 adhering to the pressure roller 9. I can.

[0033]

As described above, according to the recording method of the present invention, an intermediate transfer medium having elasticity is used, an ink image is once formed on this intermediate transfer medium, and then transferred by pressure contact to a recording paper, so that the surface smoothness is obtained. Since the ink can be sufficiently brought into contact with the irregularities on the surface of the recording paper even for the recording paper having a low degree of density, a high-quality image with few voids can be obtained. Further, when an adhering substance is generated on the pressing roller, a cleaning sheet is passed through a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium and the pressing roller to remove the adhering substance on the pressing roller from the cleaning sheet. In the case of a trouble, when the leading edge and the trailing edge of the recording paper are broken, and even when the recording paper with holes is used, it is possible to obtain an image without stain on the back of the recording paper.

When the cleaning sheet is used to remove the adhering matter from the pressing roller, a relative speed is provided between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet, so that a shearing force is applied to the adhering material to the pressing roller. If the cleaning sheet is slower than the traveling speed of the pressing roller, it is possible to increase the chances of contact between the pressing roller and the cleaning sheet, so that the adhesion to the pressing roller can be increased. It is possible to enhance the removal effect of.

Further, there is provided an adhesive applying means for holding the adhesive and applying the adhesive to the side of the recording paper which is not pressed against the intermediate transfer medium and is in contact with the pressing roller. Only, by applying the adhesive to the recording paper by the adhesive applying means and removing the adhering matter to the pressing roller by the adhesive, no special cleaning sheet is required and the adhesive is applied to the recording paper. The adhesive can surely remove the deposit on the pressing roller.

[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 at the time of an operation of removing adhered matter from a pressing roller according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus at the time of an operation of removing a substance adhering to a pressing roller according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a conventional recording device.

[Explanation of Codes] 2 Intermediate Transfer Medium 3 Halogen Lamp 4 Thermistor 5 Ink Sheet 6 Thermal Melting Ink 7 Thermal Head 9 Pressing Roller 10 Recording Paper 11 Ink Image 12 Cleaning Sheet 13 Ink 14 Adhesive Coating Roller 15 Backup Roller

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location H04N 1/23 102 Z 9186-5C 8305-2H B41M 5/26 P (72) Inventor Yoshihisa Fujimori Osaka Matsuda Electric Industry Co., Ltd. 1006, Kadoma, Fumonshin-shi (72) Inventor Nobuyoshi Taguchi Osaka 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A heat-meltable or heat-sublimable ink is selectively heated by a recording means to form an ink image on an elastic intermediate transfer medium, and then a pressure roller is passed through a recording paper. In the recording method of transferring the ink image to the recording paper by pressing the intermediate transfer medium with the intermediate transfer medium, when an adhered matter is generated on the pressing roller, a nip formed by the intermediate transfer medium and the pressing roller is formed. A recording method, wherein the cleaning sheet is used to remove the deposits on the pressing roller by passing the cleaning sheet through the cleaning sheet. 2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning sheet is run at a relative speed with respect to the pressing roller during the operation of removing the adhering material to the pressing roller with the cleaning sheet. . 3. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein recording paper is used as the cleaning sheet. 4. An intermediate transfer medium having elasticity, a heat-melting or heat-subliming ink, a recording means for selectively heating the ink to form an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, A pressure roller that press-transfers the ink image formed on the intermediate transfer medium to the recording paper, and an adhesive agent that holds the pressure-sensitive adhesive on the side of the recording sheet that is not pressed against the intermediate transfer medium and that contacts the pressure roller. An adhesive applying means for applying is provided,
A recording apparatus characterized in that the adhesive is applied to the recording paper by the adhesive applying means only when the adhering material on the pressing roller is removed, and the adhering material on the pressing roller is removed by the adhesive. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein no adhesive is applied to at least the front end of the recording paper. 6. A recording method and a recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the pressing roller which comes into contact with the recording paper is made of a fluororesin or a silicone polymer material. 7. The recording method and recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least the image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium is made of silicone rubber.