JPH10181056A - Method and device for thermal transfer printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a method for thermal transfer printing and a handy printer type thermal transfer printer capable of raising a responsiveness of a thermal roller or reducing a temperature raising time to execute the thermal transfer printing in a short time even on a material having a rough or curved surface on which the printing could not been performed and of obtaining a sufficiently good printed result by eliminating the danger of burn. SOLUTION: An ink on a thermal transfer ink ribbon is transferred by means of a thermal head to a base layer of an intermediate transfer material 2 on which a conductive layer is laminated. The intermediate transfer material 2 having the transferred ink is inserted between a heating roller 9 in which an electrode 11 in the central part thereof is covered with a conductive elastic material 12 and a recording medium 13 such that the conductive layer faces a side of the heating roller. While the heating roller 9 is pressed against the recording medium 13 with the intermediate transfer material 2 therebetween, a voltage is applied across the electrode 11 and conductive layer so that a part between a contact part with the conductive layer in the elastic material 12 and an opposing surface of the electrode is heated, then the ink on the intermediate transfer material 2 is retransferred to the recording medium 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of melting ink on an ink ribbon by heat generated by a thermal head and transferring the ink to a printing object such as paper, and a portable hand-held type. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing method and a thermal transfer printing apparatus that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, thermal transfer printing used in a general printer has often been a method in which the ink of a thermal transfer ink ribbon is melted by a thermal head and is directly thermally transferred to an object to be transferred. In addition, if the surface condition of the object to be printed is rough or curved and the contact condition with the thermal head is poor, the printing quality is degraded, and sometimes printing becomes impossible. A large-sized apparatus using a heat roller and an intermediate transfer material has also been proposed. However, since the heat roller is always heated as a whole, it has poor thermal responsiveness and requires a long time for temperature rise. The thermal efficiency was poor, and it could not be used as a handy printer. Furthermore, touching any part of the heat roller, which is always heated as a whole, may cause burns and pose a safety problem.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a heat-loading apparatus for printing a printed object having a rough or curved surface, or a printing object which is thick or plate-shaped and cannot be printed conventionally. The thermal transfer printing method and the thermal transfer printing apparatus of the handy-printer type which can perform thermal transfer in a short time by increasing the Aim.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, ink of a thermal transfer ink ribbon is thermally transferred by a thermal head to at least a base layer of an intermediate transfer material in which a base layer and a conductive layer are laminated. Inserting an intermediate transfer material onto which the ink has been transferred, with the conductive layer facing the heat-generating roller, between a heat-generating roller in which a central electrode is covered with a conductive elastic body and a printing object; An electric current is applied between the electrode and the conductive layer while pressing the heat-generating roller against the object to be printed via the intermediate transfer material, so that only the portion of the elastic body between the contact portion with the conductive layer and the electrode surface facing the electrode is heated. In this way, a thermal transfer printing method is provided in which the ink transferred to the intermediate transfer material is re-transferred onto the printing object.

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides:
A thermal transfer ink ribbon, an intermediate transfer material in which at least a base layer and a conductive layer are laminated, a heating roller in which a central electrode is covered with a conductive elastic body, and a thermal transfer ink ribbon on the base layer of the intermediate transfer material A thermal head for thermally transferring the ink, and inserting an intermediate transfer material, onto which the ink has been transferred, between the heat-generating roller and the printing object with the conductive layer facing the heat-generating roller;
Applying an electric current between the electrode and the conductive layer while pressing the heating roller against the printing object via the intermediate transfer material to generate heat only in the portion of the elastic body between the contact portion of the conductive layer and the electrode surface facing the electrode. Thus, a thermal transfer printing apparatus is provided in which the ink transferred to the intermediate transfer material is re-transferred onto the printing object.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, the intermediate transfer material is preferably a film-shaped ribbon, and its base layer is made of polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polypropylene, polyimide. , Polystyrene, tetroso, polyphenylene sulfide, etc., and the conductive layer may be a metal-deposited film such as aluminum, a metal foil, or a type coated with a conductive paint. Aluminum, copper, stainless steel, or the like is used as the electrode of the heat-generating roller, and a conductive elastic body obtained by dispersing carbon or metal powder in silicon rubber, fluorine rubber, or the like is used.

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink of the ink ribbon is melted or softened by a thermal head and transferred to the surface of a base material layer of an intermediate transfer material. When the heat transfer roller is inserted between the electrodes and the conductive layer while the conductive roller is pressed onto the print object via the intermediate transfer material, Electrode current flows to the conductive layer of the intermediate transfer material through the elastic body and the contact part between the elastic body and the conductive layer, so only the part of the elastic body between the contact part with the conductive layer and the electrode surface facing the heat is generated. Let it. As a result, the ink adhering to the base material layer on the back side of the contact portion of the intermediate transfer material is melted or softened in a short time and is re-transferred onto the printing target.

[0008] When the heating roller is rotated in this way and the ink on the intermediate transfer material is sequentially re-transferred onto the printing substrate, desired characters and pictures can be formed. Further, when the heating roller is separated from the printing object, the energized state is released, so that the heating state is also released in a short time, and the heating portion at the time of heating is limited to a small portion. Almost no burn was caused by touching the other parts of the heating roller with a finger or the like.

[0009]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1 is an ink ribbon, 2 is a film-like intermediate transfer material, 3 is a vertically long cylindrical platen, and 4 is a thermal head that can reciprocate in the axial direction of the platen 3. The intermediate transfer material 2 is superposed on the thermal head 4 and the platen 3 so that the ink ribbon 1 can be moved toward the thermal head 4 and can be inserted therethrough. As shown in FIG. 3, the ink ribbon 1 is formed by applying a hot-melt ink layer 6 to a film 5 made of polyethylene terephthalate and laminating the same, and the intermediate transfer material 2 is formed as shown in FIGS. A conductive layer 8 made of an aluminum foil layer is laminated on a base material layer 7 made of a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of 12 μm.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the heat generating roller 9 has a heat insulating material 10 made of a polyetherimide resin and a cylindrical electrode 11 made of aluminum having a thickness of 0.5 mm around the shaft. Cover, and further, carbon is dispersed in silicon rubber having conductivity around it, and the thickness is 1.0 m.
The elastic member 12 is formed so as to cover the elastic member 12 and a part of the elastic member 12 is exposed outside the housing (not shown). Elastic body 12
Was 50 Ω or less at a load of 1.01 kgf.

Next, a thermal transfer printing method in this embodiment will be described. First, by holding a housing (not shown) by hand, the heat-generating roller 9 is lowered as shown in FIG. 1 so that the heat-generating roller 9 abuts on the printing material 13 with the intermediate transfer material 2 interposed therebetween. (Right side), the ink ribbon 1 and the intermediate transfer material 2 are fed out from the respective supply reels (not shown) in the housing and overlapped, and the ink ribbon 1 is supplied to the ink ribbon 1.
The thermal head 4 is inserted between the thermal head 4 and the platen 3 on the side of the thermal head 4 to selectively generate heat of the heat generating element of the thermal head 4 and to deposit ink 14 such as a desired character or picture on the base material layer 7 of the intermediate transfer material 2. Transfer to the surface.

Thereafter, the transferred ink ribbon 1 is moved to a take-up reel (not shown) in the housing to be taken up, and the intermediate transfer material 2 to which the ink 14 is adhered as shown in FIG. It is moved and inserted between the heating roller 9 and the printing medium 13. In this state, as shown in FIG. 5, while the elastic body 12 of the heating roller 9 is pressed against the printing object 13 with a load of 0.5 kg weight, the electric conduction between the electrode 11 of the heating roller 9 and the intermediate transfer material 2 is performed. When the layer 8 is energized at 0.5 A and 15 V by the energizing means 15, the current of the electrode 11 is increased as shown in FIGS. Through the conductive layer 8 of the intermediate transfer material 2. As a result, only the portion A of the elastic body 12 located between the portion in contact with the conductive layer 8 and the electrode surface facing the portion generates heat, and approximately 2.5
It reached 140 ° C in seconds. Here, even when a finger touched another part of the elastic body 12, the state was close to room temperature.

As a result, the intermediate transfer material 2 contacting the portion A
The ink 14 adhering to the base layer 7 on the back side of the substrate is melted in a short time and re-transferred onto the printing object 13. In this way, the housing is rotated toward the front side (right side in the figure) while the heating roller 9 is rotated.
Then, the ink 14 on the intermediate transfer material 2 was sequentially transferred onto the print substrate 13, and a desired character or picture transfer image could be formed on the print substrate 13 with good printability. In this embodiment, since the ink ribbon mainly composed of resin was used, the optimal heating temperature was about 140 ° C. However, when the ink ribbon mainly composed of wax is used, the heating temperature is set to Can be printed even at a low temperature of about 100 ° C.

Here, even if the surface of the printing object 13 is rough as shown in FIG. 4, heat is generated only in the upper part A of the contact portion, so that the heat transfer can be performed in a short time and the melt transfer can be performed in a short time. The image can be retransferred onto the print substrate 13. In addition, the printing object 1
Even if the surface of 3 is thermally transferred to a curved surface, the contact direction of the heating roller 9 can be changed in a timely manner, so that the transfer can be performed with good printability. When the apparatus was raised with the power turned on and the heat generating roller 9 was separated from the surface of the printing material 13, the heating state of the portion A was released and returned to a state close to the normal temperature.

(Examples 2 to 9) Printing was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the load for pressing the heat-generating roller against the object to be printed and the applied voltage were changed as shown in Table 1. As a result, the average current and the time required for the heating portion on the outer periphery of the heat roller to reach the optimal temperature of 140 ° C. for thermal transfer printing are as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

(Comparative Example 1) A heat-generating roller was formed by winding a 0.4 mm-diameter nichrome wire around the shaft of a polyetherimide resin and covering it with 1 mm-thick silicon rubber. Printing was performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except for the above. as a result,
Table 1 shows the average current and the time required for the heating portion on the outer periphery of the heat roller to reach the optimum temperature of 140 ° C. for thermal transfer printing.
It took six seconds.

[0018]

According to the present invention, even when the surface of the printing object cannot be printed conventionally due to a rough surface or a curved surface, the heat generating roller can be used.
The thermal transfer can be performed in a short period of time by increasing the response time of the laser and the temperature rise time, and there is no fear of burns and the like, and a handy printer capable of obtaining sufficiently high quality printing can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing thermal transfer by the thermal head of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing thermal transfer by a heat roller of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the heat roller of the embodiment as viewed from above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink ribbon 2 Intermediate transfer material 3 Platen 4 Thermal head 7 Base material layer 8 Conductive layer 9 Heating roller 11 Electrode 12 Elastic body 13 Printed object 14 Ink 15 Electric conduction means

[Table 1]

Claims (6)

[Claims] An ink of a thermal transfer ink ribbon is provided on a base layer of an intermediate transfer material in which at least a base layer and a conductive layer are laminated.
The intermediate transfer material on which the ink has been transferred is placed on the heat-generating roller side between the heat-generating roller in which the center electrode is covered with a conductive elastic material and the print-receiving material. While the heating roller is pressed against the object to be printed via the intermediate transfer material, a current is applied between the electrode and the conductive layer, and the portion of the elastic body between the contact portion with the conductive layer and the electrode surface facing the conductive layer. A thermal transfer printing method, wherein only the ink is heated to retransfer the ink transferred to the intermediate transfer material onto a printing substrate. 2. A thermal transfer printing method according to claim 1, wherein said intermediate transfer material is a film ribbon. 3. The thermal transfer printing method according to claim 1, wherein said elastic body is obtained by dispersing carbon and / or metal powder in silicone rubber. 4. A thermal transfer ink ribbon, an intermediate transfer material having at least a base layer and a conductive layer laminated, a heat roller having a central electrode covered with a conductive elastic material, and a base material for the intermediate transfer material. A thermal head for thermally transferring the ink of the thermal transfer ink ribbon to the layer is provided, and an intermediate transfer material onto which the ink has been transferred is inserted between the heat-generating roller and the printing object with the conductive layer facing the heat-generating roller. An electric current is applied between the electrode and the conductive layer while the heating roller is pressed against the object to be printed via the intermediate transfer material, so that only the portion of the elastic body between the contact portion with the conductive layer and the electrode surface facing the conductive layer. A thermal transfer printing apparatus in which the ink that has been transferred to the intermediate transfer material is re-transferred onto a printing object by generating heat. 5. A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said intermediate transfer material is a film ribbon. 6. A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said elastic body is formed by dispersing carbon and / or metal powder in silicone rubber.