JPH08337005A - Manufacture method of electrode for recording, and electrode for recording being manufactured by said method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To uniformly manufacture an electrode for recording, by which a recording of high picture quality without an unevenness in the printing can be performed, with a favorable precision by a simple procedure. CONSTITUTION: An electrode 40 for recording has a sheet-formed insulating type base 41 on the surface of which a plurality of electrode films 42 are formed by being arranged in one line. Then, a recessed part 45 is formed by irradiating a rhombic laser beam 56 from the rear surface side of the insulating type base 41, and moving the laser beam 56 along the electrode films 42 while irradiating it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention forms a plurality of electrode films on a sheet-like insulating substrate for use in an electrostatic recording type image forming apparatus equipped in a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, a plotter and the like. And a recording electrode body manufactured by the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an aperture electrode body having a large number of minute apertures (apertures) and control electrodes attached to the outer periphery of each aperture, a toner transport roller and a back electrode located on both sides of the aperture electrode body are provided. , A toner supply mechanism for supplying the toner carrying roller with negatively charged toner, controlling the voltage applied to each control electrode, and controlling the voltage applied to each control electrode, through the electric field between the control electrode and the back electrode, An electrostatic recording type image forming apparatus configured to record toner on a recording medium (paper) by passing the toner through the opening,
Various proposals have been made (for example, JP-A-2-297570).
(See the official gazette).

As the aperture electrode body (recording electrode body), a large number of openings and control electrodes (electrode films) are formed on a thin insulating sheet made of synthetic resin, for example, with a thickness of 25 .mu.m for insulation. It is used with the plate positioned on the toner transport roller side and the control electrode positioned on the back electrode side.

By the way, in order to make pixels recorded with toner clear, it is desirable to strengthen the electric field from the control electrode to the toner transport roller. For that purpose, the drive voltage to the control electrode is increased or the control voltage is increased. It is necessary to minimize the distance between the electrode and the toner transport roller. But,
Due to the characteristics of the integrated circuit that drives the control electrodes, the drive voltage is about 4
It is desirable to keep the voltage below 0V,
It is desirable to make the thickness as thin as 5 μm.

[0005]

However, if the insulating plate is made as thin as possible, its strength decreases in proportion to the square. As a result, if an insulating plate with a thickness of 25 μm is used,
There is a drawback that wrinkles and scratches are formed at the time of manufacturing the recording electrode or when the recording electrode is mounted on the electrostatic recording device, and the wrinkles and scratches may be caused. When the electrostatic recording electrode sheet is wrinkled or scratched,
Disturbance occurs in the supply of toner to the openings, which leads to uneven printing. Further, if the sheet of the recording electrode body is torn, it goes without saying that recording becomes impossible.

An object of the present invention is to manufacture a durable recording electrode body capable of high quality recording without print unevenness by a simple process and a method for manufacturing the recording electrode body. Another object is to provide a recording electrode body.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a first aspect of the present invention is a sheet having a plurality of electrode films arranged on at least one row on the surface. In a method of manufacturing a recording electrode body having a striped insulating substrate, while moving relative to the insulating substrate along a plurality of electrode films, the central portion in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction is wider than other portions. Irradiating a wide-shaped laser beam from the back surface side of the insulating substrate to form recesses at positions corresponding to a plurality of electrode films that gradually become deeper from the end in the orthogonal direction toward the center. ing.

The method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a step of irradiating a rhombus-shaped laser beam.

The method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a step of irradiating a cat-eye-shaped laser beam.

Further, the method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes a step of irradiating an elongated elliptical laser beam.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a recording electrode body, wherein a position corresponding to the deepest position of the recess is irradiated with a laser beam from the surface side of the insulating substrate to form an opening penetrating the insulating substrate. And a step of forming a portion.

The recording electrode body according to claim 6 is
It is manufactured by the above manufacturing method.

[0013]

In the method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to the first aspect of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the laser beam and the insulating substrate are relatively moved along a plurality of electrode films, and the moving direction thereof. A plurality of recesses are formed such that a laser beam whose central part in the direction orthogonal to that is wider than other parts is irradiated from the back surface side of the insulating substrate and gradually becomes deeper from the end in the orthogonal direction toward the center. It is formed at a position corresponding to the electrode film of.

In the method of manufacturing the recording electrode body according to the second aspect, the diamond-shaped laser beam is irradiated.

Then, in the method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to the third aspect, the cat-eye-shaped laser light is irradiated.

Further, in the method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a fourth aspect, a slender elliptical laser beam is irradiated.

Further, in the method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to a fifth aspect, a laser beam is irradiated from a surface side of the insulating substrate to a position corresponding to the deepest position of the recess to penetrate the insulating substrate. Form an opening.

The recording electrode body according to claim 6 is
It is manufactured by any of the above manufacturing methods.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, an image forming apparatus equipped with a recording electrode body will be described, and then the recording electrode body will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image recording apparatus 1 has a main body frame 2 in which a paper conveying mechanism 10 for conveying a paper P (image recording medium), a fixing mechanism 20, and a predetermined amount of toner 3 are provided. The toner supply mechanism 30, the recording electrode body 40 attached to the upper end of the toner case 31 of the toner supply mechanism 30, and the back electrode roller 50 are provided.

The paper transport mechanism 10 includes a plurality of guide plates 12 to 14 for supporting the paper P to be transported, a plurality of transport rollers 15 to 18, a transport roller 15,
16 and the transport rollers 17 and 18, a transport roller (not shown) that supports and transports a portion of the paper P at both ends in the width direction of several mm, and the paper in the paper cassette 11
A sheet feeding roller (not shown) for feeding sheets one by one, an electric motor (not shown) for driving the sheet conveying mechanism 10, and the like,
On the front side of the main body frame 2, there is provided a paper feed cassette 11 that stores a large number of paper sheets P, and on the rear side of the main body frame 2, a paper ejection tray 1 for receiving the recorded and ejected paper sheets P.
9 are provided.

The fixing mechanism 20 comprises a fixing roller 17 having a halogen lamp built therein and a pressing roller 18,
The fixing roller 17 and the pressing roller 18 are also used for the paper transport mechanism 10.

Next, the toner supply mechanism 30 will be described. The toner case 3 having a width slightly wider than the maximum width of the paper P in the direction orthogonal to the paper conveying direction (from front to back).
A toner 3 having an electric insulation property, which will be described later, is accommodated in the inside 1. Inside the toner case 31, a toner supply roller 32 and a toner transport roller 33 are horizontally arranged in the left-right direction, and the rollers 32 and 33 are rotatably supported. Toner supply roller 32
Is made of a silicone foam, and the toner supply roller 32 transfers the toner 3 to the toner transport roller 33 and through frictional contact with the toner 3 the toner 3 is supplied.
To a negative polarity.

The toner carrying roller 33 is made of metal such as aluminum or rubber such as urethane and silicon.
The toner 3 attached to the surface of the sheet by electrostatic force is conveyed in the direction of arrow A. The toner supply roller 32 and the toner transport roller 33 are rotationally driven in the arrow B direction and the arrow A direction by a roller driving mechanism (not shown).

A toner regulating blade 34 made of an insulating material having a thin plate-like elasticity is attached to the toner case 31, and a curved portion of the toner regulating blade 34 is in pressing contact with the toner conveying roller 33. The layer thickness of the toner 3 layered on the surface of 33 is regulated to a predetermined thickness (about 20 to 50 μm) by the toner regulating blade 34.

The upper end portion of the toner case 31 is almost covered with the upper end portion of the toner case 31 so as to come into contact with the upper end portion of the toner transport roller 33 from above through the layered toner 3. A recording electrode body 40 inclined in a roof shape is attached.

Next, the recording electrode body 40 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the recording electrode body 40 is made of a synthetic resin (for example, polyimide) having a thickness of 50 μm and has a sheet-like insulating property. A substrate 41, a large number of U-shaped electrode films 42 made of a copper film formed on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 41 at predetermined intervals in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction, and conductive wires 43 extending from the electrode films 42. , A concave portion 45 provided on the back surface of the insulating substrate 41, and a semi-conductive thickness of about 5 μ in which carbon fine particles are mixed with a synthetic resin (for example, polyimide).
m antistatic layer 46. The recess 4
5 has a depth of most of the thickness of the insulating substrate 41.

A large number of electrode films 42 are formed in a row in the left-right direction at predetermined minute intervals at a position approximately in the center of the recording electrode body 40 in the front-rear direction. A 65 μm × 65 μm aperture 47 (opening) penetrating the insulating substrate 41 and the antistatic layer 46 is formed between the inside and the electrode films 42, and the pitch between the apertures 47 is about 127 μm. , A4 paper, the number of apertures 47 (that is, the electrode film 42
Is about 1700. And aperture 47
Is formed at the deepest position of the recess 45 provided on the back surface of the insulating substrate 41.

Thin conductive wires 43 extending from each electrode film 42 are respectively formed on the insulating substrate 41. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the multiple conductive wires 43 corresponds to an image signal of an image to be recorded. , +30 V or −30 V are individually supplied from the drive circuit 52 via the control line 54.

On the other hand, immediately above the electrode sheet 40, the rear electrode roller 50 is provided with a conveyance gap for conveying the sheet P separated.
The rear electrode roller 50 is provided with a support shaft 5
It is rotatably supported by the main body frame 2 via 0a. The paper P is transported in the transport direction while being in contact with the lower portion of the back electrode roller 50, and the lower surface of the paper P is transferred from the surface of the toner transport roller 33 according to the drive signal supplied to the electrode film 42 during the transport. The toner 3 flying and passing through the aperture 47 is attached. The back electrode roller 50 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow C in synchronization with the conveyance of the recording paper P by a roller driving mechanism (not shown).

Next, the control system of the image recording apparatus 1 will be briefly described. As shown in FIG. 2, a high voltage of about +1 KV is constantly applied to the back electrode roller 50 by the power supply circuit 55, and the back electrode roller 50 becomes negative. The charged toner 3 is attracted to the back electrode roller 50 by a large electrostatic force.

On the other hand, a large number of conducting wires 43 of the electrode sheet 40
Is connected to a drive circuit 52 via a control line 54 composed of a large number of signal lines, and to the drive circuit 52, a power supply circuit 53 that outputs two types of voltages of +30 V and −30 V, and an image signal from the outside. Is connected to the control unit 51, and the control unit 51 simultaneously outputs to the drive circuit 52 a control signal corresponding to the image signals for the multiple electrode films 42,
The drive circuit 52 has +3 on each electrode film 42 for recording pixels.
A drive voltage of 0 V is output via the control line 54, and a drive voltage of −30 V is output via the control line 54 to each electrode film 42 that does not record pixels. The toner transport roller 33 is grounded.

Therefore, when a voltage of +30 V is applied to the electrode film 42, an electric field is generated from the electrode film 42 toward the toner transport roller 33, and the toner 3 charged negatively is
The toner transport roller 33 receives electrostatic force from this electric field.
While passing through the aperture 47 and the electrode film 42 from the surface of the back surface,
In response to an electrostatic force generated by a strong electric field directed toward, the paper flies toward the back electrode roller 50 and collides with and adheres to the paper P.
However, when the voltage of −30 V is applied to the electrode film 42, the toner 3 does not fly from the toner transport roller 33.

In the recording electrode body 40 described above, the recess 4 is formed in the insulating substrate 41 on the lower surface side of the electrode film 42.
5 is provided, only the thin insulating substrate 41 and the thin antistatic layer 46 are formed on the lower surface of the electrode film 42. Therefore, from the electrode film 42 to the toner transport roller 33.
Can be made smaller and the electric field generated between the electrode film 42 and the toner transport roller 33 can be strengthened, and the concave portion 45 gradually becomes deeper as it approaches the aperture, so that the toner can smoothly flow into the aperture. Moreover, they are transported without delay.

Next, a method of manufacturing the recording electrode body 40 described above will be described.

In the pattern forming step, as shown in FIG. 3, a sheet-shaped insulating substrate 41 of a predetermined size is prepared, and the surface of the insulating substrate 41 (the upper surface in FIG. 3) is prepared.
A copper film having a thickness of about 8 μm is formed on the entire surface by sputtering and plating, and the surface of the copper film is masked to mask the patterns of a large number of electrode films 42 and conducting wires 43. Etching is performed to form a pattern of a large number of electrode films 42 and conducting wires 43.

Next, in the recess forming step, as shown in FIG. 4, the insulating substrate 41 is set on a uniaxial movable carrier that can be driven to move at a desired set speed, and the insulating substrate 41 is provided on the opposite side of the surface. A laser beam 56 of an excimer laser is set so that it can be irradiated from one end side to the other end side along a region wider than the region corresponding to the pattern of the plurality of electrode films 42 from the back surface.

Then, the laser light 56 is irradiated from the back surface of the insulating substrate 41 opposite to the surface, and the laser light 56 is irradiated along the area wider than the area corresponding to the pattern of the plurality of electrode films 42. By moving the insulating substrate 41 relative to the insulating substrate 41, the concave portion 4 having a depth corresponding to most of the thickness of the insulating substrate 41 is formed.
5 is formed.

Irradiation of the laser beam 56 is started from a portion where the insulating substrate on one end side is not set, and
Irradiation is terminated at the part of the other end where the insulating substrate is not set.

The width a of the incident cross section of the laser light 56 in the front-rear direction is widened from the sharp end portion toward the central portion. In this embodiment, the width of the central portion is 0.5 mm and the laser light 56 is The width d of the incident cross section in the left-right direction is, for example, a 3 mm rhombus shape. The energy density of the laser beam 56 is 0.5 joule / cm @ 2,
Frequency of 100Hz, insulating substrate 4 for laser light 56
The relative movement speed with respect to 1 is, for example, 14 mm / min.

Then, the laser light 56 is irradiated so that the central portion thereof corresponds to the aperture 47 of the insulating substrate 41.

At the irradiation start end and the irradiation end end of the laser light 56, the incident energy does not become constant because the relative movement speed does not become constant, but the irradiation is started at the part where the insulating substrate 41 is not set on one end side. Moreover, since the irradiation is finished at the other end side where the insulating substrate 41 is not set, the cross-sectional shape of the recess 45 becomes constant in the laser movement direction.

In this way, since the concave portion 45 can be formed in a constant shape without variation, it is possible to manufacture an electrically high-performance recording electrode body 40.

Next, in the coating step, as shown in FIG. 5, a polyimide resin containing carbon fine powder is coated to form an antistatic layer 46 having a thickness of about 5 μm, which is dried and cured.

Further, in the step of forming the opening, as shown in FIG. 5, laser light 57 is irradiated from the surface of the insulating substrate 41 to form the pattern of the plurality of electrode films 42 and the recesses 4.
In the region corresponding to the deepest position of 5, the large number of apertures 47 through which the laser light 57 penetrates the insulating substrate 41 and the antistatic layer 46 are formed (see FIG. 6).

The laser light 57 collectively irradiates the rows of the apertures 47 with a width of 100 μm in the vertical direction d and a length of 200 mm in the parallel direction c. The energy density of the laser light 57 is 0.5 joule / cm @ 2, the frequency of the laser light 57 is 200 Hz, and the irradiation time of the laser light 57 is 1 second.

When the aperture 47 penetrating the insulating substrate 41 and the antistatic layer 45 is formed, the laser beam 57 is reflected at the portion of the electrode film 42, so that it does not penetrate the electrode film 42 and is shown in FIG. As described above, the insulating substrate 41 and the antistatic layer 46 are provided on the side opposite to the laser light incident side of each electrode film 42.
And are left in a bridge shape, and a large number of apertures 47 corresponding to the respective electrode films 42 are formed.

As described above, according to the recording electrode body of the present embodiment, the recording electrode body has a thick insulating substrate and has a high strength, and the concave portion 45 makes the insulating substrate thin only around the aperture. Since a strong electric field is formed at least inside the aperture, the controllability of the toner becomes very good.

Further, since the concave portion 45 is gradually deepened from its short portion, the toner is smoothly and smoothly supplied to the aperture. Therefore, it is possible to form an image without print unevenness.

Since the concave portion 45 of the recording electrode is simply and accurately formed by laser processing without variation, the performance of the recording electrode is improved and the cost is reduced.

The recording electrode body and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present invention can be modified within the scope of the invention.

In the present embodiment, the electrode film has a U shape, but it may have a round shape, a square shape, or the like.

Further, for example, by using a laser mask as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to change the depth of the recess in the print width direction. It can be used when uneven printing is likely to occur in the width direction. That is, by making the depth of the recessed portion where the print becomes lighter deep and making the electric field applied to the toner stronger, a large amount of toner is ejected, and conversely, the depth of the recessed portion where the print becomes darker is made shallower. By weakening the electric field applied to the toner,
It is also possible to keep the amount of toner flying low.

Further, in this embodiment, the incident cross-sectional shape of the laser light is a rhombus shape, but as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the cat-eye laser light 60 or the slender elliptical laser light 62. But it's okay.

[0056]

As described above, according to the method for producing a recording electrode body of the present invention, a durable recording electrode body capable of high-quality recording without print unevenness can be obtained by a simple process. In addition, it can be manufactured with high accuracy.

The recording western electrode manufactured by this manufacturing method has a thick insulating substrate and is high in strength. Since the insulating substrate is thin only around the aperture due to the recess, it is strong at least inside the aperture. Since the electric field is formed, the controllability of the toner is greatly improved.

Further, since the concave portion is gradually deepened from the short portion thereof, the toner is smoothly and smoothly supplied to the aperture. Therefore, it is possible to form an image without print unevenness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical cross-sectional side view of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the image forming apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to the present invention, and is a perspective view of relevant parts showing a step of forming a pattern such as an electrode film on an insulating substrate of the recording electrode body.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to the present invention, and is a perspective view of essential parts showing a step of forming a recess on the back surface of the insulating substrate of the recording electrode body.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to the present invention, in which after forming an antistatic layer on the recording electrode body,
It is a principal part perspective view which shows the process of forming an opening part.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of a recording electrode body manufactured by the method for manufacturing a recording electrode body of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a top view showing a modified example of the mask member for laser light used for manufacturing the recording electrode body of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a shape of a laser light incident cross section of a modified example used for manufacturing the recording electrode body of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a shape of an incident cross section of laser light of another modification used for manufacturing the recording electrode body of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 40 Recording Electrode Body 41 Insulating Substrate 42 Electrode Film 45 Recess 47 Aperture 56 Laser Light 57 Laser Light 60 Laser Light 62 Laser Light

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a recording electrode body having a sheet-like insulating substrate on which a plurality of electrode films are formed on at least one row side by side, the insulating substrate being provided along the plurality of electrode films. While moving relatively, the central part in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction is irradiated with laser light whose width is wider than other parts from the back surface side of the insulating substrate, and is directed from the end part in the orthogonal direction to the center. And a step of forming recesses that gradually become deeper at positions corresponding to a plurality of electrode films. 2. The method for manufacturing a recording electrode body according to claim 1, wherein the laser light has a rhombus shape. 3. The method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to claim 1, wherein the laser light has a cat's eye shape. 4. The method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam has an elongated elliptical shape. 5. A laser beam is irradiated from a surface side of the insulating substrate to a position corresponding to the deepest position of the recess,
5. The method of manufacturing a recording electrode body according to claim 1, further comprising a step of forming an opening penetrating the insulating substrate. 6. A recording electrode body manufactured by the manufacturing method according to claim 1.