JPH07117743B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using a roll sheet-shaped photosensitive material, and more particularly to a photosensitive material using a buffer roller between an exposure position and a developing position. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus configured to store an image.

(B) Prior Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739 discloses a media sheet coated with microcapsules containing a colorless dye and a photocurable substance, and an image-receiving sheet coated with a developing material that causes a color reaction with the colorless dye. An image forming method using, is disclosed. In this image forming method, a media sheet is exposed to light to form a selectively cured image of microcapsules on the media sheet. When the media sheet on which the selectively cured image is formed is overlapped with the image receiving sheet and pressed, the uncured microcapsules in the media sheet are destroyed and the colorless dye contained therein leaks. A color reaction occurs between the leaked colorless dye and the developing material on the image receiving sheet, and an image can be obtained on the image receiving sheet.

In the image forming apparatus using the image forming method as described above, the media sheet is routed through the exposure position for receiving the exposure from the supply unit and the developing position for receiving the pressure in order to facilitate the replenishment work and the collecting work after the use. Therefore, it should be continuously transported to the collection section. Therefore, the media sheet is in the form of a roll sheet wound around the supply shaft, and is wound around the winding shaft via the exposure position and the developing position. On the other hand, since a desired image is formed on the image receiving sheet, the image receiving sheet discharged from the apparatus must be easily used, and a cut sheet-shaped image receiving sheet is formed in order to omit subsequent cutting work. The sheet is conveyed from the paper feeding unit to the developing position.

Further, the time required for the microcapsules to be cured by receiving light (optimum exposure time) does not match the time required for the color development reaction between the colorless dye and the developing material (optimum reaction time) at the developing position. However, if the media sheet is continuously conveyed from the supply shaft through the exposure position and the development position, only one of the optimum exposure time and the optimum reaction time can be satisfied, and the image quality should be kept good. I can't. Therefore, the applicant temporarily stores the media sheet that has passed through the exposure position between the exposure position and the developing position, and thereafter forms a transport path for the media sheet so as to guide it to the developing position, and passes through the exposure position. We proposed that the media sheet is passed through the developing position at a transport speed different from the transport speed of the media sheet. Specifically, a buffer roller is movably provided between the exposure position and the development position, and the media sheet is pulled out from the supply shaft by moving the buffer roller forward during the exposure process, and constitutes the development position during the development process. The rotation of the pressure roller causes the buffer roller to return to its original position. By doing so, the media sheet can be passed to the exposure position at the optimum exposure speed, and can be passed to the development position at the optimum reaction speed.

(C) Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, there is a gap between the exposure position and the developing position, and in order to pass all the exposed portion of the media sheet at the exposing position to the developing position, the exposure step Often, more media sheets must be withdrawn during the development process by an amount corresponding to the distance between the exposure and development positions than the amount withdrawn from the supply shaft. Therefore, if the media sheet is conveyed only in one direction, the take-up shaft is formed without forming an image at a portion (inter-image portion) corresponding to the distance between the exposure position and the developing position between the images. Therefore, there is a problem that the media sheet cannot be economically used. In addition, this inter-image portion is not exposed at the normal exposure position, and the microcapsules in that portion are all uncured. Moreover, the image receiving sheet has not yet reached the developing position when this portion passes the developing position,
There is a problem in that the media sheet is subjected to pressure by itself, the colorless dye contained in the uncured microcapsules leaks, and the rollers and the device are contaminated. In order to solve this, an exposing means for exposing the inter-image portion is additionally required, which causes a problem of cost increase.

An object of the present invention is to rewind the photosensitive material in an amount comparable to the distance between the exposure position and the developing position pulled out from the supply shaft during the developing process to the supply shaft after the developing process,
The photosensitive material can be used economically, and only the unused photosensitive material is prevented from passing through the developing position to prevent the contamination of the device due to the leakage of the image forming material,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can realize cost reduction without the need for another device for preventing this.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a roll sheet-shaped photosensitive material is passed through an exposure position where image light is exposed from a supply shaft and a developing position where a pressure roller applies pressure. A buffer roller that moves from the home position and stores the photosensitive material during the exposure process is provided between the exposure position and the developing position, and the photosensitive material moves together with the image receiving sheet at a speed different from the speed at which the photosensitive material passes through the exposure position. In an image forming apparatus that passes the developing position, a rotation detecting unit that detects the rotation of the supply shaft after the buffer roller returns to the home position during the developing process, and after detecting that the trailing edge of the image receiving sheet has passed the developing position. When the edge detecting means and the trailing edge detecting means detect the passage of the trailing edge of the image receiving sheet, the rotation detecting means detects the pressure roller with the pressure released. And inverting means for inverting the supply shaft only rotation number, further comprising a characterized.

(E) Operation The operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. During the exposure process, the buffer roller moves in the direction of arrow A, the supply shaft rotates in the direction of arrow C, and the photosensitive material is pulled out. At the end of the exposure process, the end of the image is located at point a of the exposure position. During the developing process, the rotation of the supply shaft is restricted, and the pressure roller rotates in the arrow E direction. As a result, the buffer roller moves in the direction of arrow B from the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line in the figure. When the buffer roller returns to the home position shown by the solid line in the figure, the home position detection switch detects this. At this time, the end of the image on the photosensitive material is still located at point a. From this state, the pressure roller further rotates in the direction of arrow E, and the developing process is executed until the photosensitive material located at the point a reaches the developing position. After the buffer roller returns to the home position, the amount of the photosensitive material pulled out from the supply shaft until the image end of the photosensitive material reaches the developing position is detected by the rotation detecting means as the rotation amount of the supply shaft. When the trailing edge detecting means detects the trailing edge of the image receiving sheet and it is judged that the developing process is completed, the reversing means is enabled and the supply shaft is reversed in the direction of arrow D. The reversal of the supply shaft is performed by the amount of rotation detected by the rotation detecting means during the developing process. Therefore, the end of the photosensitive material returns to point a.

(F) Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic front sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A document table 29 made of transparent hard glass is provided on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus main body 21. An optical system device 22 including a light source 23, mirrors 24 to 27, and a lens 28 is provided on the lower surface of the document table 29. In the optical system device 22, the light source 23 and the mirrors 24 to 26 reciprocally move on the lower surface of the document table 29 in the directions of arrows G and H to scan the image of the document placed on the document table 29. A cartridge 33 is attached to the center of the inside of the image forming apparatus main body 21. This cartridge 33
Supports a supply shaft 35 having a media sheet 34 wound therein. The media sheet 34 is guided from the supply shaft 35 to the developing position 6 by the roller 38 and the buffer roller 1 via the exposure position 30. The developing position 6 is composed of pressure rollers 2 and 3. The pressure rollers 2 and 3 are in contact with each other with a linear pressure sufficient to break the uncured microcapsules on the media sheet.

Between the exposure position 30 and the development position 6, the buffer roller 1 is reciprocally movable in the directions of arrows A and B.
Further, when the buffer roller 1 is positioned at the home position shown by the solid line in the figure, the home position detection switch SW1 is turned on. A take-up shaft 36 is pivotally supported by the cartridge 33, and the media sheet 34 that has passed the developing position 6 is taken up by the take-up shaft 36. Paper cassettes 42 and 43 accommodating image receiving sheets 46a and 46b are mounted on one side surface of the image forming apparatus main body 21, and form a paper feeding unit 41 together with paper feeding rollers 44 and 45. The image receiving sheet 46a (46b) is fed to the timing roller 5 one by one by the rotation of the feeding roller 44 or 45. The timing roller 5 guides the image receiving sheet 46a (46b) to the developing position 6 at a predetermined timing. The image receiving sheet 46a (46b) that has passed the developing position 6 is guided to the glossing device 31 by the conveying roller 53 and is heated. Image receiving sheet
A thermoplastic resin is coated on the developing material 46a (46b) together with the developing material, and the thermoplastic resin is heated and melted by the glossing device 31 to give gloss to the image. The image receiving sheet 46a (46b) that has passed through the glossing device 31 is discharged to the discharge tray 57 by the discharge roller 56. The image receiving sheet 46a
The image receiving sheet detection switch S is passed through the developing position 6 in (46b).
Detected by W2. When the rear end of the image receiving sheet 46a (46b) passes the developing position 6, the switch SW2 is turned off. The image receiving sheet detection switch SW2 corresponds to the trailing edge detecting means of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control unit of the image forming apparatus.

A clutch driver 65, a motor driver 66, and a solenoid driver 67 are connected to the CPU 61 via an I / O interface 64. To the clutch driver 65, a mirror feed clutch CLT1, a mirror return clutch CLT2, a buffer roller clutch CLT3, a pressure roller clutch CLT4 and a reversing clutch CLT5 are connected. When the mirror feed clutch CLT1 is turned on, the main motor is
The driving force is transmitted from M1, and the light source 23 and the mirrors 24 to 26 move forward in the arrow G direction. Also, mirror return clutch
When CLT2 is turned on, the light source 23 and the mirrors 24 to 26 move back in the arrow H direction. When the buffer roller clutch CLT3 is turned on, the buffer roller 1 moves in the direction of arrow A. When the pressure roller clutch CLT4 is turned on, the pressure roller 2 rotates. When the reversing clutch CLT5 rotates, the supply shaft 35 reverses in the direction of arrow D.

A main motor M1 and a pressure release motor M2 are connected to the motor driver 66. The main motor M1 supplies the driving force to the optical system device 22 as described above. Besides the optical system device 22, the main motor M1 supplies rotation to the pressure roller 2 and the supply shaft 35 via the pressure roller clutch CLT4 and the reversing clutch CLT5. The rotation is also supplied to the paper feed rollers 44 and 45 via a paper feed clutch (not shown). Further, the rotation is also supplied to the conveyor belt 53, the glossing device 31, and the paper discharge roller 56. The pressure release motor M2 is provided in a pressure release mechanism (not shown), and when the pressure release motor M2 is turned on, the contact pressure of the pressure rollers 2 and 3 is released. A supply stop solenoid SOL1 is connected to the solenoid driver 67. When the supply stop solenoid SOL1 is turned on, the rotation of the supply shaft 35 is restricted.

ON data of the home position detection switch SW1 and the image receiving sheet detection switch SW2 is input to the CPU 61 via the I / O interface 64. Further, the output pulse of the rotation sensor S1 that detects the rotation of the supply shaft 35 is input. The rotation sensor S1 can be configured by, for example, a slit disk that is coaxially fixed to the supply shaft 35 and has a plurality of slits formed at equal intervals on the outer peripheral portion, and a photosensor that detects the slits of the slit disk. The CPU 61 is a clutch driver according to a program previously written in the ROM 62 according to the data input from the home position detection switch SW1, the image receiving sheet detection switch SW2 and the rotation sensor S1.
Control data is output to the 65, the motor driver 66, and the solenoid driver 67. The clutch driver 65 drives the clutches CLT1 to CLT5 according to the control data, the motor driver 66 similarly drives the motors M1 and M2, and the solenoid driver 67 similarly drives the solenoid SOL1. CPU6
The memory areas MA1 and MA2 of the RAM 63 connected to 1 are assigned to counters C1 and C2 described later, respectively.
In both the counters C1 and C2, the rotation sensor S1 counts detection pulses.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the control unit of the image forming apparatus.

The CPU 61 waits for the operation of a print switch provided on an operation panel (not shown) (n1), and when the print switch is operated, it drives the mirror feed clutch CLT1 and the buffer roller clutch CLT3 (n2). As a result, the media sheet 34 is pulled out from the supply shaft 35, and the exposure position
It is stored in the storage portion 10 between the developing position 30 and the developing position 6. When the optical system device 22 reaches the end of the document, the driving of the mirror feed clutch CLT1 and the buffer roller clutch CLT3 is stopped (n3, n4). At the same time, the mirror return clutch CLT2, the supply stop solenoid SOL1 and the pressure roller clutch CLT5 are driven (n5 to n7). By driving these clutches and solenoids, the optical system device 22 moves back in the direction of the arrow H, the rotation of the supply shaft 35 is restricted, and the media sheet 34 located in the storage section 10 is guided to the developing position 6. At this time, the buffer roller 1 is pulled back in the direction of arrow B by the rotation of the pressure roller 2.

Buffalo roller 1 is pulled back to the home position,
When the home position detection switch SW1 turns on, the supply stop solenoid SOL1 turns off (n8, n9). By turning off the supply stop solenoid SOL1, the supply shaft 35 becomes rotatable, and by the rotation of the pressure roller 2, the supply shaft 35 rotates in the direction of arrow C and the media sheet 34 is pulled out. When the supply stop solenoid SOL1 is stopped, the counter C1 assigned to the memory area MA1 starts counting the output pulses of the rotation sensor S1 (n10).

When the rear end of the image receiving sheet 46a (46b) passes the developing position 6 and the image receiving sheet detection switch SW2 is turned off, the pressure roller clutch CLT4 is turned off, the pressure release motor M2 is turned on, and the counting by the counter C1 is stopped. (N11 → n12 to n1
Four). In this way, the counter C1 has the media sheet 34
The number of detection pulses of the rotation sensor S1 when the sensor is pulled out by an amount corresponding to the distance between the exposure position 30 and the developing position 6 is counted. Therefore, counter C1 is the media sheet
The rotation amount of the supply shaft 35 is measured while 34 is pulled out from the exposure position 30 to the developing position 6.

After this, the reverse clutch CLT5 is turned on (n15), and the supply shaft 3
5 starts rotating in the direction of arrow D. At the same time, the counter C2 assigned to the memory area MA2 starts counting the detection pulses (n16). This reversing clutch C
The LT5 is continuously driven until the content of the counter C2 matches the content of the counter C1 (n17, n18). In this way, after the buffer roller 1 returns to the home position in the developing process, the excessively pulled out amount of the media sheet 34 is rewound by reversing the supply shaft 35. That is, after the development process, the amount of the media sheet 34 that is comparable to the distance between the exposure position 30 and the development position 6 is rewound, and the trailing edge of the image on the media sheet 34 is positioned at the exposure position 30. . Therefore, when the next image is formed, the image can be formed following the end of the image related to the previous image forming work, and the media sheet 34 can be used economically.

(G) Effect of the Invention According to the present invention, since the photosensitive material that has been excessively conveyed in the developing step can be rewound onto the supply shaft after the developing step, images can be continuously formed on the photosensitive material. You can
The light-sensitive material can be used economically. Further, only the unused photosensitive material does not pass through the developing position, so that the device can be prevented from being damaged due to leakage of the image forming material, and other devices for preventing this can be eliminated. There is an advantage that the cost of the device can be reduced. Furthermore, it is not necessary to know the size of the image receiving sheet,
Further, since the timer is not necessary, the rewinding work can be performed accurately and extremely easily by a single processing procedure regardless of the size of the image receiving sheet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the operation of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic front sectional view showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a main part of a control section of the image forming apparatus. The block diagram shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the control unit of the image forming apparatus. 1 ... Buffer roller, 6 ... Development position, 30 ... Exposure position, 34 ... Media sheet (photosensitive material), 35 ... Supply shaft, S1 ... Rotation sensor (rotation detection means), CLT5 ... Reverse clutch (Inversion means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A roll sheet-shaped photosensitive material is conveyed via an exposure position where image light is exposed from a supply shaft and a developing position where a pressure roller applies pressure, and moves from a home position during an exposure process. In the image forming apparatus, a buffer roller for storing the photosensitive material is provided between the exposure position and the developing position, and the photosensitive material passes through the developing position together with the image receiving sheet at a speed different from the speed at which the exposing position passes. The rotation detecting means for detecting the rotation of the supply shaft after the buffer roller returns to the home position, the trailing edge detecting means for detecting that the trailing edge of the image receiving sheet has passed the developing position, and the trailing edge detecting means are for the image receiving sheet. And a reversing means for reversing the supply shaft by the number of revolutions detected by the rotation detecting means in a state where the pressure of the pressure roller is released when the passage of the rear end is detected. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above.