JPH10305602A - Image-forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce consumption of thermal energy and make an apparatus resistible to a repeated use of many times. SOLUTION: In an image-forming apparatus 1, a heater 20 heats and melts a solid thermal melt type ink 10, a sheet-like member 30 of a fibrous ceramic formed like a sheet of paper absorbs and holds the melted ink, a thermal head 50 selectively heats the sheet-like member 30 to melt the ink at the heated part and transfers and forms an ink image onto a recording paper 40. Thereafter, the thermally melted ink by the heater is supplemented to the sheet-like member 30 again, and the thermal head repeats the thermal transfer to the recording paper. Since the sheet-like member 30 is formed of the ceramic, the member is highly resistive to heat and hard to break even in a repeated use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a fusion type thermal transfer type image forming apparatus using a heat fusible ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, a thermal transfer type image forming apparatus 400 transfers a thermal head 410, an ink medium 420 and a recording medium (recording paper) to an ink medium 420 on the thermal head. The thermal head 410 includes a head 411 including an electric resistance heating element that generates heat when energized, and a head 41 according to an image signal supplied from a control circuit (not shown).
1 and a drive power supply 412 for controlling the heat generation. Further, the ink medium 420 is formed of the base film 42.
1 and a heat-meltable ink layer 422, and the transfer mechanism 430 had a platen roller 432 disposed on the opposite side of the head 411 with the recording paper 431 interposed therebetween. Then, the image forming apparatus 400 configured as described above
The electric resistance heating element of the head 411 selectively generates heat by applying a driving signal from the driving power supply 412 to the head 411 in accordance with an image signal sent from a control circuit (not shown). The ink melts from the ink layer 422 of 420 and is transferred to the recording paper 431, and an image corresponding to the image signal is formed on the recording paper 431.

In a conventional thermal transfer type image forming apparatus having the above-described structure, an image is formed by applying heat to an ink medium to melt-transfer only the ink in an ink layer from a base film onto a recording paper. As a result, the portion of the ink layer that does not contribute to image formation is held on the base film with the ink as it is,
Almost no ink remained in the ink layer portion that contributed to image formation.

[0004] Therefore, the ink medium cannot be used again for image formation in this state, and the ink medium has been discarded after one use. As a result, there is a problem that the waste of ink is very large and the running cost is very high.

In order to suppress the running cost, various methods have been proposed for regenerating the ink holding means and using the ink holding means capable of performing printing many times.

[0006] As a method of reproducing the ink holding means,
For example, a method disclosed in JP-A-5-238028 has been proposed. In the thermal transfer recording apparatus of this method, the ink melted by the heater is stored in an ink tank, the liquid ink is supplied to a cylindrical ink replenishing member, and the ink replenishing member replenishes the heat-meltable ink to the ink film. The configuration is adopted.

As a method using an ink holding means capable of printing many times, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-126283
A method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H11-26095 has been proposed. The thermal transfer recording apparatus of this method uses a thermal transfer sheet made of a foamable resin material as an ink retaining means, and extrudes a required amount of ink from the thermal transfer sheet by a recording head, thereby forming one ink retaining means (thermal transfer sheet). Sheet) enables printing many times.

[0008]

However, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-238028, it is necessary to heat and melt a heat-meltable ink and keep the ink in a liquid state in an ink tank. However, there is a problem that a huge amount of heat energy is required.

In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-126283, since a resin material is used, the ink holding means deteriorates due to heat at the time of recording.
There is a problem that it cannot withstand repeated use over a long period of time. Further, since the resin material generally has a low thermal conductivity, the reaction of the rise and fall of the temperature of the ink holding means to heat energy given from the heating and recording means becomes slow, and as a result, the recording speed cannot be increased. is there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an ink holding means which can use all of the ink without waste with little heat energy and has little deterioration even when used repeatedly. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink replenishment type image forming apparatus which can be used and can further improve the recording speed.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises a heating and melting means for heating and melting a solid heat-fusible ink; Ink holding means for absorbing and holding the heated ink, and heat recording means for selectively heating the ink holding means, melting the heated portion of the ink, and transferring and forming an ink image on a recording medium. Then, in the image forming apparatus in which the ink heated and melted by the heating and melting unit is transferred to the ink holding unit after transferring the ink image from the ink holding unit to the recording medium, the ink holding unit is formed in a fibrous shape. It is characterized in that it is a sheet-like member made of ceramics.

Since the sheet-like member which holds the ink and is heated by the heating recording means is made of ceramics, it has high heat resistance and can be used repeatedly for a long time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, the sheet-shaped member has a plurality of holes penetrating in a thickness direction. Therefore, the heating recording means can efficiently melt and transfer the ink held on the sheet member. Further, if the holes are uniformly distributed over the entire surface of the sheet-shaped member (the entire surface of the ink holding area), the amount of ink in the pixel unit of the transferred ink image becomes uniform, and the density of the ink image becomes uniform as a whole image. . That is, the amount of retained ink per unit area of the sheet member becomes uniform over the entire surface.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of solid-state heat-fusible inks; An ink holding unit configured to have an endless shape and independently absorbing and holding the plurality of types of heat-meltable inks heated and melted by the heating and melting unit for each type; Heating each time, melting the heated portion of the ink, successively superimposing and transferring the ink image onto the intermediate transfer member, and forming a desired ink image on the heating recording means; Heat transfer means for melt-transferring the desired ink image formed by superimposing a plurality of types of ink images onto a recording medium, and transferring the ink image from the ink holding means to an intermediate transfer member. Ink which is heated and melted is an image forming apparatus to be replenished to the ink holding means by said ink holding means is characterized in that a sheet-like member constituted by a ceramic which is formed into fibers.

The heat-meltable ink melted independently for each type by the heat-melting means is absorbed and held independently for each type by the ink holding means which is a sheet-like member made of fibrous ceramic. Is done. The heating recording unit heats the ink holding unit for each type of ink, melts the heated portion of the ink, and sequentially superimposes and transfers the ink images onto the intermediate transfer body to form a desired ink image. The thermal transfer unit melt-transfers the desired ink image formed by superposing a plurality of types of ink images formed on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording medium. After the ink image is heated and recorded on the intermediate transfer member from the ink holding unit, the ink heated and melted by the heating and melting unit is supplied to the ink holding unit. At this time, since the sheet-like member that holds the ink and is heated by the heating recording unit is made of ceramics, the heat resistance is increased, and the sheet-like member can be repeatedly used for a long time.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the third aspect, the sheet-shaped member has a plurality of holes penetrating in a thickness direction. Therefore, the heating recording means can efficiently melt and transfer the ink held on the sheet member. Further, if the holes are uniformly distributed over the entire surface of the sheet-shaped member (the entire surface of the ink holding area), the amount of ink in the pixel unit of the transferred ink image becomes uniform, and the density of the ink image becomes uniform as a whole image. . That is, the amount of retained ink per unit area of the sheet member becomes uniform over the entire surface.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 holds the hot-melt ink 10, a heater 20 as a heating / melting unit for preheating the hot-melt ink 10, and holds the hot-melt ink 10 preheated and melted by the heater 20. Ink holding means (sheet-like member) 30 and thermal ink for heating ink holding means 30 and heating the ink held in ink holding means 30 to melt the ink and transfer it to recording paper (recording medium) 40 Head 50
(Heating recording means) and a recording medium feed roller 41 for moving the recording medium 40 in accordance with the image forming operation.

The hot-melt ink 10 is formed into a cylindrical shape at room temperature, and is supported rotatably around a shaft 11. The hot-melt ink is rotated at a low speed by a motor (not shown).

On the other hand, a sheet-like member feed roller 31 is arranged so as to be rotatable around one fixed axis, facing the hot-melt ink 10, and this sheet-like member feed roller 31 is driven by a drive motor (not shown). 1 clockwise rotation. A curved surface guide 32 and a line thermal head 50 are provided at a position facing the sheet-shaped member feed roller 31. The outer peripheral surface of the curved guide 32 and the pressure line of the thermal head 50 are arranged on an arc. The sheet-like member 3 formed endlessly on the sheet-like member feed roller 31, the curved surface guide 32, and the thermal head 50.
0 is multiplied. This sheet-like member feed roller 3
1, a pressing roller 33 rotatable via the sheet-shaped member 30 is urged, and the sheet-shaped member 30 is sandwiched by both rollers 31, 33.
The sheet-like member 30 is rotated in the clockwise direction in the figure while being held over the curved surface guide 32.

On the other hand, the sheet-like member 30 on the sheet-like member feed roller 31 is supplied with the hot-melt ink 10 by a spring (biasing means) 60 to form a thin sheet heater 2 made of stainless steel.
Energized via 0. The heater 20 extends in the width direction of the sheet-like member 30 (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1), and also contacts the contact surface of the sheet-like portion 30 and the contact surface of the heat-fusible ink 10 (referred to as a preheating position). ) Are formed along the width direction of the sheet-like member. The width of the through hole 21 is set to be substantially equal to or slightly smaller than the width of the sheet-like member 30 and is set to be substantially the same as or slightly larger than the width of the hot-melt ink 10. Further, a heating resistor is provided on the entire surface or a part of the heater 20, and the heating resistor is connected to a power supply. The heater 20 thus configured is
The heat is generated according to the electric power supplied from the power supply, and the heat-meltable ink 10 pressed by the spring 60 is melted. The melted ink flows downward through the through hole 21 of the heater 20 and is supplied to the sheet-like member (ink holding means) 30.

Here, the sheet-like member 30 is composed of alumina and silica as main components, and is formed by adding a ceramic fiber melted and fibrillated at a high temperature and a binder such as a resin to form a paper-like ink holding member. It is a sheet. Ceramic fibers have a fiber diameter of about 2 μm and a melting temperature of 1700 ° C. Since this ceramic fiber is formed into a paper shape, it has very high electrical insulation and heat resistance, and also has high porosity. The ink melted by the heater 20 penetrates into this gap and solidifies.

If a large number of through holes extending in the thickness direction are formed in the sheet-like member 30, the melted ink permeates into the through holes and solidifies.

The thermal head 50 has a plurality of electric resistance heating elements which generate heat when an electric signal corresponding to an image signal output from a drive control circuit (not shown) is applied. The arrangement direction of the electric resistance heating elements is parallel to the rotation axis of the sheet-shaped member feed roller 31, and the arrangement dimension of the electric resistance heating elements is substantially the same as the width dimension of the sheet-shaped member.

On the other hand, a feed roller 41 is in contact with the sheet-like member 30 on the thermal head 50 via a recording paper 40, and the feed roller 41 has a peripheral speed of the sheet-like member feed roller 31. It is rotated by a drive motor (not shown) at a rotational speed that is the same as the peripheral speed. Further, the feed roller 41 is arbitrarily switched between a pressing position where the recording paper is pressed against the sheet member 30 and a separation position where the recording roller is separated from the sheet member 30 by the switching device. When the recording paper is loaded at the release position,
When the ink is arranged at the pressure contact position, the ink is retransferred to the recording paper. The feed roller 41 can be linked to a drive motor of the sheet-shaped member feed roller 31.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the hot-melt ink 10 is supplied to the heater 2.
By generating heat at 0, the pre-heating is performed at the pre-heating position, and the heated portion of the heat-fusible ink 10 is melted and permeates into the gap of the sheet member 30. At this time, the ink is thermally transferred to the sheet-like member 30 from the entire area of the through hole 21 in a line shape. Then, the sheet-like member 30 is rotated by the rotation of the sheet-like member feed roller 31, and the ink is thermally transferred to the entire surface of the sheet-like member. The thermally transferred ink is naturally cooled and solidified before reaching the thermal head 50, and reaches the thermal head in a solidified state.

Then, the feed roller 41 is switched to the pressure contact position, the recording paper is pressed against the sheet member 30 and rotated, and the heating elements of the thermal head 50 are energized to control the thermal transfer of one line. A dot pattern is formed on the recording paper 41. That is, by the heating of the thermal head, the ink transferred to the sheet member 30 and solidified is melted again and thermally transferred to the recording paper.
When the thermal transfer of one line is performed in this manner, the sheet member and the recording paper 40 are respectively conveyed, and the thermal transfer of the next one line is performed. Thus, a desired image is formed on the recording paper.

When this image formation is continued, the portion of the sheet-shaped member 30 to which the thermal transfer has been performed by the thermal head returns to the position of contact with the heater 20 again, so that the ink is transferred from the hot-melt ink 10 there again. Will be done. In other words, even if the ink is consumed by being transferred by the thermal head, the ink is replenished to the sheet-like member 30, so that the image can be continuously formed until the hot-melt ink is exhausted. Here, the sheet-like member 30 is
It is used by circulating between 0 and the thermal head,
Since the sheet-like member 30 is formed of ceramic, it has very high heat resistance and very high durability, and can be used for a long time.

Since the heat-meltable ink 10 is melted by the heater 20 while being rotated and is transferred to the sheet-like member, the ink is uniformly consumed and the radius gradually decreases. Therefore, the ink can be continuously and reliably transferred to the sheet member 30 by heat.

Here, as described above, the sheet-like member 30
When a large number of through-holes are formed in the thickness direction, the discharge direction of the molten ink by the thermal head 50 is regulated in the direction of the through-holes (the direction from the thermal head to the recording paper), and thus the transfer to the recording paper is performed. The bleeding of the ink is reduced, and the resolution can be increased.

When the hot-melt ink 10 runs out, the spring 60 may be removed and the hot-melt ink 10 may be replaced.

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration using the roll-shaped ink roll is exemplified as the configuration of the hot-melt ink 10. However, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. If a configuration using a columnar ink bar is adopted, the ink holding mechanism can be simplified.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, the structure having the through-hole 21 extending in the width direction of the sheet-like member is shown as the heater as the heating and melting means. However, the present invention is not limited to this structure. Instead, for example, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which dot-like through holes are arranged in the width direction of the sheet-like member. That is, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and any configuration may be adopted as long as the configuration is such that the hot-melt ink can be heated and melted and supplied to the sheet-shaped member (ink holding means).

Next, a third embodiment will be described.
In the first and second embodiments, thermal transfer is directly performed on recording paper as a recording medium. However, in the third embodiment, since a full-color ink image is formed, yellow, cyan,
In this type, a desired ink image is formed by sequentially performing thermal transfer to an intermediate transfer body for each magenta color, and the desired ink image is thermally transferred to a recording medium.

First, the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 transfers three different types of ink images (for example, yellow, magenta, and cyan) to the intermediate transfer member 100.
A yellow ink image forming unit 1Y, a magenta ink image forming unit 1M, and a cyan ink image forming unit 1C for transferring and recording thereon;
A transfer unit 110 serving as a thermal transfer unit for transferring the ink image formed on the intermediate transfer body 100 to the recording medium 40.

The intermediate transfer member 100 is formed in an endless belt shape, and is stretched over a pair of drive rollers 101 and 102 and a heat roller 111 described later. These drive rollers 101 and 102 and heat roller 111 are provided with a drive motor M
Of the intermediate transfer member 100 in the direction of the arrow in the figure in conjunction with the rotation of the drive motor M. Incidentally, the intermediate transfer member may be not only in a belt shape as in the embodiment but also in a drum shape. The belt is preferably made of a material having excellent heat resistance, such as polyimide.

The transfer unit 110 is rotated at a predetermined speed by the drive motor M and is heated to a predetermined temperature by a built-in heater or the like. The transfer unit 110 is rotatably supported by the shaft and is urged by the heat roller 111. Platen roller 112
It is composed of The leading end of the recording medium 40 fed along a linear paper guide G from outside the apparatus enters the nip between the heat roller 111 and the platen roller 112,
The recording medium 40 is conveyed leftward in FIG. 1 at the same speed as the peripheral speed of the intermediate transfer body 100. The full-color ink image formed on the intermediate transfer body 100 by heating from the heat roller 111 as described later is integrally melted again and transferred to the recording medium 40. Since the moving direction of the intermediate transfer member 100 from the heat roller 111 to the drive roller 101 is away from the recording medium moving direction by the paper guide G, the recording medium 40 is separated from the intermediate transfer member 100 and discharged out of the apparatus.

Next, a yellow ink image forming section 1Y for thermally transferring a yellow ink image to the intermediate transfer member 100, a magenta ink image forming section 1M for thermally transferring a magenta ink image, and cyan for thermally transferring a cyan ink image. The ink image forming unit 1C will be described.

The intermediate transfer member 10 stretched substantially horizontally.
0, the yellow ink image forming section 1Y and the magenta ink image forming section 1 from the upstream side in the moving direction of the intermediate transfer member.
M and a cyan ink image forming unit 1C are sequentially arranged.
Here, it is preferable that the distance between the image forming units is larger than the distance at which the ink image thermally transferred by each image forming unit can be substantially solidified on the intermediate transfer body 100.

Each of the image forming units has the same configuration except for the ink used. For this reason, the detailed description of each ink image forming unit describes only the configuration of one of them, the yellow ink image forming unit 1Y, and the other magenta ink image forming unit 1M and cyan ink image forming unit 1C. Detailed description of the configuration is omitted. In addition, for the corresponding members, the reference numerals are suffixed with Y for the yellow ink image forming section, M for the magenta ink image forming section, and C for the cyan ink image forming section.

The yellow ink image forming section 1Y includes a hot-melt ink 10Y, a heater (heating / melting means) 20Y for preheating the hot-melt ink 10Y, and a hot-melt ink 10Y preheated and melted by the heater 20Y. Ink holder 30Y as an ink holding means for holding the formed ink, and a thermal ink for heating the ink holder 30Y and heating the ink held in the ink holder 30Y to melt and transfer the ink to the intermediate transfer member 100. And a head (heating recording means) 50Y.

The hot-melt ink 10Y is formed into a cylindrical shape at room temperature, and is supported rotatably around the axis 11Y. The heat-meltable ink 10Y is rotated at a low speed in conjunction with the drive motor M.

On the other hand, an ink holder 30Y is disposed so as to be rotatable around one fixed axis, facing the heat-meltable ink 10Y, and the ink holder 30Y is rotatable about a fixed axis 301Y. A solid cylindrical holding roller 303Y made of resin supported, and an ink holding sheet (sheet-like member) 304Y adhered on the outer periphery of the holding roller 303Y.
On one side of the holding roller 303Y, the driven gear 302 is positioned concentrically with the fixed shaft 301Y.
Y is fixed. The driven gear 302Y is meshed with a drive gear 32Y that is rotated at a predetermined speed in conjunction with the drive motor M, and the rotation of the gear causes the holding roller 303Y and the ink holding sheet 304Y to be integrated with each other. It is rotated in the counter-clockwise direction. The peripheral speed of the ink holding sheet 304 is set to be the same as the rotation speed of the intermediate transfer body 100.

The heat-fusible ink 10Y is urged by a spring (urging means) 60Y through a thin stainless steel heater 20Y to the ink holding sheet 304Y on the holding roller 303Y. This heater 20Y is
The ink holding sheet 304Y extends in the width direction of the ink holding sheet 304Y (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1), and the ink holding sheet 30
A through-hole 21Y connecting the contact surface of 4Y and the contact surface of the hot-melt ink 10 (referred to as a preheating position) is formed along the width direction of the ink holding sheet 304Y. The width of the through hole 21Y is set to be substantially equal to or slightly smaller than the width of the ink holding sheet 304Y, and is set to be substantially the same as or slightly larger than the width of the hot-melt ink 10Y. A heating resistor is provided on the entire surface or a part of the heater 20Y, and the heating resistor is connected to a power supply. The heater 20Y thus configured
Generates heat in accordance with the power supplied from the power supply, and the spring 60
The hot-melt ink 10Y pressed by Y is melted.
The melted ink flows downward through the through hole 21Y of the heater 20Y and is supplied to the ink holding sheet 304Y.

Here, the ink holding sheet 304Y
Is made of alumina and silica as main components, and is formed by adding a ceramic fiber melted and fibrillated at a high temperature and a binder such as a resin to form a paper. Ceramic fibers have a fiber diameter of about 2 μm and a melting temperature of 1700 ° C. Since this ceramic fiber is formed into a paper shape, it has very high electrical insulation and heat resistance, and also has high porosity. The ink melted by the heater 20Y penetrates into this gap and solidifies.

If a large number of through holes extending in the thickness direction are formed in the ink holding sheet 304Y, the molten ink penetrates into the through holes and solidifies.

The ink holding member 30Y is arranged such that the ink holding sheet 304Y comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer member 100.
1Y is set so as to extend in parallel with the rotation axis of the driving rollers 101 and 102. On the other hand, the intermediate transfer member 10
0 and the ink holding sheet 304
On the opposite side of the contact position between Y and the intermediate transfer member 100, a thermal head 50Y in which a number of heating elements are arranged in a row is arranged so as to urge the heating element portion toward the intermediate transfer member 100, The direction in which the heating element extends is the fixed shaft 301Y.
Are set in parallel with each other, and the arrangement dimension of the heating elements is substantially the same as the width dimension of the ink holding sheet 304Y.

The heat generation of each heat generating element of the thermal head 50Y is controlled by the controller 200 to turn on and off the heat and the amount of heat generated. That is, the controller 200 includes the CPU, RO
A well-known logic operation circuit comprising M and RAM,
When color image data is received from the outside, the data is stored in a RAM, and from that data, yellow image data, magenta image data, and cyan image data (all of which are on / off information of each pixel in a bitmap format) are stored. Each thermal head 50 is separated and stored in a predetermined area of the RAM, and based on image data of each color.
It is configured to control the energization of the heating elements of Y, 50M, and 50C.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First, the yellow hot-melt ink 10Y
Is heated at the preheating position by the operation of the heater 20Y, the heated portion of the heat-fusible ink 10Y melts, and is once dispersed and held in the ink holding sheet 304Y of the ink holder 30Y. Thereafter, the ink holding body 30Y rotates, and the yellow heat-meltable ink held on the ink holding sheet 304Y moves to the image forming position (the position to be heated by the thermal head 50Y), and the thermal head disposed at this image forming position. The heating element of the head 50Y selectively generates heat by the controller 200 in accordance with the yellow image data, and the amount of heat causes the yellow ink dispersed and held on the ink holding sheet 304Y to be heated and melted, thereby forming an intermediate transfer member. 100 is melt-transferred in an image form. As the heating element is selectively controlled to generate heat and the intermediate transfer member 100 is moved to the left in FIG. 3, the yellow ink corresponding to the yellow image data is formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer member 100 as shown in FIG. Statue 200
Y is formed.

Next, the intermediate transfer member 100 on which the yellow ink image 200Y has been transferred is formed by driving rollers 101 and 102.
Is moved to the position of the magenta ink image forming section 1M for forming a magenta ink image with the image forming operation.

Then, the yellow ink image forming section 1Y
Similarly to the above, the magenta hot-melt ink 10M once dispersed and held in the ink holding sheet 304M moves to the image forming position while the ink holding sheet 304M rotates and is held by the ink holding sheet 304M. The thermal head 50M disposed at the image forming position generates heat in accordance with the magenta image data, and the amount of heat causes the magenta ink dispersed and held on the ink holding sheet 304M to be heated and melted, so that the intermediate transfer member 100 is heated. As shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate transfer member 100 has a magenta ink image 200M corresponding to the magenta image data.
Is formed so as to overlap the yellow ink image 200Y.

Further, the intermediate transfer member 10 on which the yellow ink image 200Y and the magenta ink image 200M are transferred and formed.
0 is moved to the position of the cyan ink image forming section 1C for forming a cyan ink image by the drive rollers 101 and 102 in accordance with the image forming operation.

Then, the yellow ink image forming section 1
Y, similarly to the magenta ink image forming unit 1M, the cyan hot-melt ink 10C once dispersed and held in the ink holding sheet 304C is in a state where the ink holding sheet 304C rotates and is held on the ink holding sheet 304C. Moves to the image forming position, and the thermal head 50C arranged at this image forming position generates heat according to the cyan image data,
The amount of heat causes the cyan ink dispersed and held on the ink holding sheet 304C to be heated and melted to be melt-transferred to the intermediate transfer member 100. As shown in FIG. Is formed so as to overlap the yellow ink image 200Y and the magenta ink image 200M.

As described in detail above, the yellow ink image 2
4, a color image corresponding to the image signal is formed on the intermediate transfer body 100 on which the magenta ink image 200M and the cyan ink image 200C are transferred and superimposed as shown in FIG. Rollers 101, 10
The transfer device 100 is moved to the position of the transfer device 110 with the rotation of 2, and is melt-transferred to the recording medium 40 such as paper by the transfer device 100, and a color image corresponding to the image data is formed on the recording medium 40.

In this embodiment, the intermediate transfer member 10
Although the order in which the ink images are formed on 0 has been described in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan, the present invention is not limited to this, and they may be formed on the intermediate medium in any order.

In this embodiment, the case where a color image is formed with three colors of yellow, magenta and cyan has been exemplified. For example, a color image may be formed by adding black to the color image. Good.

Further, even when a color image is formed in two colors, the same effect as that of the present embodiment is obtained.

Further, in the present embodiment, a plurality of color inks are exemplified as the plurality of heat-meltable inks. Produces an effect.

[0061]

As is apparent from the above description, the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect has a heating and melting means for heating and melting solid heat-fusible ink, and an ink for heating and melting the heat and melting means. Ink holding means for absorbing and holding
A heating recording unit for selectively heating the ink holding unit, melting the heated portion of the ink and transferring and forming an ink image on a recording medium, wherein the ink image is transferred from the ink holding unit to the recording medium. In the image forming apparatus in which the ink melted by the heating and melting unit is transferred to the ink holding unit after transferring the ink, the ink holding unit includes:
It is a sheet-like member made of fibrous ceramic.

Since the sheet-like member holding the ink and heated by the heating recording means is made of ceramics, it has high heat resistance and can be used repeatedly for a long time. Also, since the heat capacity per unit volume is small, the rise in temperature due to heating of the heating recording means,
The falling reaction due to the stop of the heating is fast, and as a result, the recording speed can be increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the sheet-shaped member has a plurality of holes penetrating in a thickness direction. Therefore, the heating recording means can efficiently melt and transfer the ink held on the sheet member. As a result, high-speed recording can be realized with less heat energy. In addition, the hole is formed on the entire surface of the sheet member (the entire surface of the ink holding area).
If the ink image is uniformly distributed over the entire area, the amount of ink in the pixel unit of the transferred ink image becomes uniform, and the density of the ink image becomes uniform as a whole image.

The image forming apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of solid-state heat-meltable inks, and a heat-melting unit that heat-melts the plurality of types of the heat-meltable inks independently for each type. An ink holding unit configured to have an endless shape and independently absorbing and holding the plurality of types of heat-meltable inks heated and melted by the heating and melting unit for each type; Heating each time, melting the heated portion of the ink, successively superimposing and transferring the ink image onto the intermediate transfer member, and forming a desired ink image on the heating recording means; Heat transfer means for melt-transferring the desired ink image formed by superimposing a plurality of types of ink images onto a recording medium, and transferring the ink image from the ink holding means to an intermediate transfer member. Ink which is heated and melted is an image forming apparatus to be replenished to the ink holding means by said ink holding means is characterized in that a sheet-like member constituted by a ceramic which is formed into fibers.

The heat-meltable ink melted independently for each type by the heat-melting means is absorbed and held independently for each type by the ink holding means which is a sheet-like member made of a fibrous ceramic. Is done. The heating recording unit heats the ink holding unit for each type of ink, melts the heated portion of the ink, and sequentially superimposes and transfers the ink images onto the intermediate transfer body to form a desired ink image. The thermal transfer unit melt-transfers the desired ink image formed by superposing a plurality of types of ink images formed on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording medium. After the ink image is heated and recorded on the intermediate transfer member from the ink holding unit, the ink heated and melted by the heating and melting unit is supplied to the ink holding unit. At this time, since the sheet-like member that holds the ink and is heated by the heating recording unit is made of ceramics, the heat resistance is increased, and the sheet-like member can be repeatedly used for a long time. Further, since the heat capacity per unit volume is small, a reaction between a rise in temperature due to heating of the heating recording unit and a fall due to stoppage of heating is quick, and as a result, the recording speed can be increased. Further, since the ink holding means is always replenished with ink, unlike the conventional thermal transfer method using an ink ribbon, the untransferred ink is not wasted, and an image can be formed at a low running cost. is there. Also, there is an effect that the time for thermal transfer of each ink image to the intermediate transfer member can be easily set to the same time.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the third aspect, the sheet-shaped member has a plurality of holes penetrating in a thickness direction. Therefore, the heating recording means can efficiently melt and transfer the ink held on the sheet member. As a result, high-speed recording can be realized with less heat energy. In addition, the hole is formed on the entire surface of the sheet member (the entire surface of the ink holding area).
If the ink image is uniformly distributed over the entire area, the amount of ink in the pixel unit of the transferred ink image becomes uniform, and the density of the ink image becomes uniform as a whole image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing transfer of an ink image to an intermediate transfer member according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a conventional fusion-type thermal transfer image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 10, 10Y, 10M, 10C Ink 20, 20Y, 20M, 20C Heater 21 Through hole 30, 304Y, 304M, 304C Ink holding sheet 50, 50Y, 50M, 50C Thermal head 100 Intermediate transfer body

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A heating and melting means for heating and melting a solid heat-fusible ink; an ink holding means for absorbing and holding the heated and melted ink by the heating and melting means; and selectively heating the ink holding means. And a heating recording unit for transferring and forming an ink image on a recording medium by melting the heated portion of the ink, and heating the ink image by transferring the ink image from the ink holding unit to the recording medium. An image forming apparatus in which molten ink is replenished to said ink holding means, wherein said ink holding means is a sheet-like member made of fibrous ceramic. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet-shaped member has a number of holes penetrating in a thickness direction. 3. A plurality of solid-state heat-fusible inks; a heat-fusion unit configured to independently heat-melt the plurality of types of heat-fusible inks for each type; An ink holding unit that independently absorbs and holds the plurality of types of heat-meltable inks heated and melted for each type, and heats the ink holding unit holding the ink for each type of ink, and the heated portion A plurality of ink images formed on the intermediate transfer member are superimposed by heating and recording means for melting the ink and sequentially transferring the ink images onto the intermediate transfer member so as to form a desired ink image; A thermal transfer unit that melt-transfers the formed desired ink image to a recording medium, and transfers the ink image from the ink holding unit to an intermediate transfer member, and then heats and melts the ink that has been heated and melted by the heat and melt unit. An image forming apparatus to be replenished to the ink holding means, said ink holding means, the image forming apparatus, characterized in that the sheet-like member constituted by a ceramic which is formed into fibers. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the sheet member has a number of holes penetrating in a thickness direction.