JPH09314895A - Ion flow head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the rapid passage and obstruction of desired ions by eliminating the charge caused by the adhesion of ions to the surface of a slit by lowering the surface resistance value of the slit becoming the ion passage from an ion generating part generating ions by discharge. SOLUTION: The surface of an ion passage is coated with a resistance coating agent to form a charge preventing film 181 and the surface resistivity thereof is adjusted to '10<10> Ω or less' generating no charge. In this case, it is pref. to form the charge preventing film 181 so as to connect the same to either one of first and second control electrodes 171, 172. By this constitution, since ions are rapidly absorbed by either one of the electrodes 171, 172 even if bonded to the ion passage of a slit 18, charge is not accumulated. In this case, the charge preventing film 181 may be formed regardless of the electrodes 171, 172 to be grounded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ion flow head used in an ion flow recording device or the like, and an object thereof is to efficiently use ions generated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional ion flow head. In the figure, 11 is an upper insulating substrate, 1
2 is a discharge electrode, 13 is an upper dielectric, 141 and 142 are left and right insulating substrates, 15 is a lower insulating substrate, 16 is a lower dielectric, 171 is a first control (common) electrode, and 172 is a second control electrode. , 18 is a slit, and 20 is an AC power supply. This ion flow head has an internal space (ion chamber) surrounded by upper and lower and left and right insulating substrates as shown in FIG.
Having.

An AC power source 20 is provided on the lower surface of the upper insulating substrate 11.
A pair of discharge electrodes 12 connected to is formed by, for example, a pressure film printing method. An upper dielectric 13 is provided so as to cover the surface of the discharge electrode pair 12. The high voltage applied to the discharge electrode pair 12 causes a discharge phenomenon to ionize the air in the ion chamber to generate ions. Therefore, these form an ion generating part.

A slit 18 is formed in the central portion of the lower insulating substrate 15 and serves as a passage for the ions existing in the ion chamber to the outside.
Is provided. Then, on the upper surface of the lower insulating substrate 15 near the slit 18, the second control electrode 172, the lower dielectric 16 and the first control electrode 171 are formed in this order.

The first control electrode 171 is normally constructed as a series of solid electrodes, is maintained at a predetermined potential V1, and is constructed so as to operate as a common electrode. The second control electrodes 172 are arranged so as to face each other with the slit 18 in between when the ion flow head is used as a recording head. In this way, the second control electrode pair arranged so as to face each other defines a recording dot as a recording unit. Therefore, the recording head can be configured by arranging a plurality of these second control electrode pairs 172 in parallel in the recording width direction, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in the case of FIG.

The potential V2 (V2> V) is applied only to the second control electrode pair 172 corresponding to the recording dot to be operated.
1), the potential V1 is applied to the other second control electrode pair 172. As a result, an electric field from the lower side to the upper side is generated only in the ion passage of the slit 18 that defines the recording dot to be acted on (no electric field is generated in other ion passages). That is, an electric field for guiding more negative ions in the ion chamber to the outside (an electric field for confining positive ions) is generated, and an ion image of desired ions can be drawn on a charge receiving medium (not shown).

[0007]

As described above, the ion control section including the first and second control electrodes has a switching action for turning on / off the irradiation of ions. In order to draw a high-speed and clear image when it is used in a recording device, it is necessary to emphasize this switching action. That is, when desired ions are allowed to pass through the slit 18, more desired ions must be allowed to pass quickly, and in the opposite case, it is desirable that sufficient passage of desired ions can be blocked.

However, in the conventional ion flow head of this type, as shown in FIG.
In some cases, the ions adhered to the surface of the dielectric 16 (the first and second control electrode supports) forming the ion passage. There is a drawback that the electric field generated by the ions attached to the inner surface of the slit 18 between the first and second control electrodes 171 and 172 affects the electric field between these electrodes, and the clearness of the above-mentioned switching action is impaired. It was The present invention has been made to improve this point.

[0009]

For this reason, according to the present invention, an ion generating portion for generating ions by discharge, a slit serving as an ion passageway from the ion generating portion, and a pair of control elements close to the slit are provided. In an ion flow head having an ion control unit that is provided with electrodes and applies a predetermined potential difference to these electrodes to apply a predetermined electric field to the ions generated in the ion generation unit to selectively extract desired ions. The surface resistance value of the surface of the ion passage of the slit was lowered.

[0010]

Since the surface resistance of the surface of the ion passage is lowered, it is possible to prevent the ions from adhering to the surface of the passage and being charged, so that the desired on / off control of the passage of ions can be performed clearly.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the antistatic film 181 is provided on the surface of the ion passage. This antistatic film 181
Is formed by applying resistance paint in this embodiment. And the surface resistivity is such that charging does not occur "~
The value is adjusted to be 10 10 Ω or less ”.

In this case, the antistatic film 181
Is preferably formed so as to be connected to either one of the first and second control electrodes 171 and 172. With this configuration, even if the ions adhere to the ion passage of the slit 18, they are quickly absorbed by either of the electrodes 171 and 172, so that no charge is accumulated. In this case, the antistatic film 181 may be formed regardless of the electrodes 171 and 172, and the antistatic film 181 may be grounded.

As a method different from the method of forming the antistatic film on the surface of the ion passage as described above, the member itself in which the slit 18 is formed may be a low resistance member. As the low resistance member, a polymer material such as a hard vinyl chloride material and a static eliminator (carbon fine particles, etc.) are used.
It is possible to use a material formed by mixing the above. Even in this case, it is desirable that the surface resistivity of the surface of the slit 18 be "10 to the power of 10 or less" and be grounded.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the surface resistance of the slit 18 serving as an ion outlet is made low, ions are not attached to the surface of the slit to be charged.
It has an advantage that desired ions can be quickly passed and blocked, and a sharp image can be drawn by using it in a recording device or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration explanatory view showing a configuration of a slit portion of a conventional ion flow head.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a conventional ion flow head.

[Explanation of symbols]

171: First control electrode (common electrode) 171: Second
Control electrode 18: Slit 181: Low resistance surface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ion generating part for generating ions by discharge, a slit serving as an ion passageway from the ion generating part, and a pair of control electrodes provided in proximity to the slit, and a predetermined potential difference between these electrodes. In the ion flow head having an ion control unit that imparts a predetermined electric field to the ions generated in the ion generation unit to selectively extract desired ions, the surface resistance of the surface of the ion passage of the slit. Ion flow head characterized by a low value.