JPH11248550A - Temperature management member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily recognize that information by a temperature indication member is printed or coated even when the information by the temperature indication member for changing color development by a temperature becomes colorless. SOLUTION: The information is printed or coated on a base material 6 by the temperature indication member containing a color indication material for being colorless or inconspicuous at the time of starting temperature management and advancing the color development above a set temperature and a fluorescent material for being colorless or white under visible light and indicating the emission of the visible light by the light of a specified wavelength or the temperature indication member containing the temperature indication material for developing a color at the time of starting the temperature management and advancing in the direction of becoming colorless or inconspicuous above the set temperature and the fluorescent material for being colorless or white under the visible light and indicating the emission of the visible light by the light of the specified wavelength.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a temperature control member which can be obtained by printing a temperature control member used for controlling the temperature of fruits and vegetables, fresh foods and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a temperature indicating member whose color changes in response to temperature is applied to a label or the like in a required ink form (for example, dispersed with a resin or the like), or contained in a thermal transfer ink ribbon or the like. Although it is sometimes used as a label for temperature control by printing it on a label, etc., in general, a certain pattern is printed or applied in advance, and the user can know the information by visually checking the color change. is there.

Further, as the temperature indicating member which changes its color in response to temperature, the following materials are available, and a method of using one or more kinds of temperature indicating members in an ink is known.

[0004] Thermochromic organic dyes Spiropyrans, ethylene derivatives substituted with condensed aromatic rings such as Bianthrone and dixanthiylene. Metal complex salt crystals CoCl2.2 (CH2) 6N4 / 10H2O, PbCrO4, Cu2HgI4, Ag2HgI4, etc. Liquid crystal Cholesteric liquid crystal (encapsulated in microcapsules). Combination of electron-donating color-forming compound, electron-accepting compound and polar organic compound ・ Electron-donating color-forming compound Phenylmethane compounds (various fluorans, phenylphthalides, etc.), various indolylphthalides, spiropyrans, Leuco auramines, acyl or aryl auramines, etc.Electron-accepting compounds, compounds having phenolic hydroxyl groups, metal salts of compounds having phenolic hydroxyl groups, various triazoles, carboxylic acids, metal salts of carboxylic acids, etc. Organics Alcohols (eg, oleyl alcohol), Amides (eg, acetoacetylanilide), Esters (eg, diphenylphthalate), primary amine salts of poorly water soluble carboxylic acids, ketones or ethers, at least one fragrance Azomethines, etc., which use group residues as bonding groups, It is used by being microencapsulated by a medium suspension method, a spray granulation method, a pan coating method, an electrostatic coalescence method, a vacuum deposition method, or the like.

[0005] The temperature control labels and the like using these temperature indicating members visually judge how the color changes depending on the temperature.

[0006] The temperature indicating member is roughly classified into a reversible type and an irreversible type. The reversible type is a type in which the color changes as many times as the temperature rises and falls. The irreversible type changes the color at a certain temperature. It is a type that does not return to.

[0007] In the case of the reversible type, it is used as a sign or the like when drinking beer or the like, or when it is necessary to visually call attention. In addition, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-10709, etc., temperature management of fruits and vegetables, fresh foods, and the like has a temperature history. The melted ink is allowed to permeate, and the length of the permeation makes it possible to check how long it has been exposed to a temperature higher than the set temperature.

[0008]

The conventional temperature control label is used to visually judge how the color changes according to the temperature. However, the form in which the color changes is colorless or conspicuous at the start of the temperature control. There is a case where color development proceeds at or above the set temperature, and a case where color development occurs at the start of temperature management and colorless or inconspicuous at or above the set temperature. In any case, when the temperature indicating member is colorless or inconspicuous, to indicate whether information is printed or applied by the temperature indicating member, display that the temperature indicating member is printed or applied. A mark must be provided. Therefore, there is a problem that a space for providing the mark is required, and that printing and coating for forming the mark must be performed by a separate operation.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
At the start of temperature control, information is displayed by a temperature indicating material that contains a colorless or inconspicuous temperature-indicating material that develops color at a set temperature or higher and a fluorescent material that emits visible light with light of a specific wavelength under colorless or white light under visible light. Is printed or coated on a substrate. Therefore, when placed in an environment at or above the set temperature, the information can be visually or mechanically read by the coloring of the temperature indicating member, but when the temperature is kept below the set temperature, the information by the temperature indicating member is Although it is colorless or inconspicuous and cannot be visually recognized, the fluorescent material emits visible light by irradiating light of a specific wavelength, so it is visually observed that the temperature indicating member is printed or applied. Can be recognized by
There is no need to provide a mark indicating that information is printed by the temperature indicating member.

For example, the temperature indicating member is colorless or white at a temperature lower than a certain set temperature (for example, 25 ° C.) and a color (blue or black, etc.) visible at a temperature higher than the set temperature (25 ° C.).
Or a colorless or white ink at or below the set temperature and at or above the set temperature. When a reversible ink is used as a temperature indicating material for realizing such a temperature indicating member, for example, a combination of an electron-donating color-forming compound, an electron-accepting compound, and a polar organic compound is used.

Electron-donating color-forming compounds Phenylmethane compounds (various fluorans, phenylphthalides, etc.), various indolyl phthalides, spiropyrans, leuco auramines, acyl or aryl auramines, etc. Compounds Compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, metal salts of compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, various triazoles, carboxylic acids, metal salts of carboxylic acids, etc. ・ Polar organic organic alcohols (eg, oleyl alcohol), amides (eg, acetoacetylanilide) ), Esters (such as diphenylphthalate), primary amine salts of poorly water-soluble carboxylic acids, ketones or ethers, and azomethines having at least one aromatic residue as a bonding group. , Microencapsulated and used, visible color when developing It made using the electron-donating color-developing compound. The set temperature will depend on the melting point of oleyl alcohol.

Next, a material that is colorless under visible light and emits visible light when irradiated with light of a specific wavelength is used as the fluorescent material. For example, a fluorescent whitening agent excited by ultraviolet rays or a complex system of Eu can be used. These materials are printed as thermal transfer ink ribbons. The thermal transfer ink ribbon contains a resin solid solution that is colored with a resin or a fluorescent dye that allows the fluorescent material to be well compatible with the microcapsules and the fluorescent material, if necessary, directly on the base film or on the release layer. The formed ink layer is formed.
Using the thermal transfer ink ribbon, printing is performed on a temperature control member by a thermal head.

When using an irreversible thermodynamic system, a rewritable system based on non-crystal-crystal is used.

Electron-donating color-forming compounds Phenylmethane compounds (various fluorans, phenylphthalides, etc.), various indolylphthalides, spiropyrans, leuco-oramines, acyl or aryl auramines, etc. Compounds Compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, metal salts of compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, various triazoles, carboxylic acids, metal salts of carboxylic acids, etc. Reversible materials Steroids and the like can be used.

This system is fixed to colorless when it is heated above its melting point by a thermal head and rapidly cooled, and gradually develops a color above the glass transition point of the ink system. An electron-donating color-forming compound whose color when developed becomes a color readable by a conventional black-and-white bar code, that is, blue or black is used.

When this system is used as a thermal transfer ink ribbon,
Directly on the base film or on the release layer contains at least the above-described electron-donating color-forming compound, an electron-accepting compound, a reversible material and the fluorescent dye or pigment, or a resin solid solution in which the fluorescent dye is colored. In addition, an ink layer made of paraffin wax, resin, or the like is formed.
Using the thermal transfer ink ribbon, printing is performed on a temperature control member by a thermal head.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a temperature indicating material which is colored at the start of temperature control and which is colorless or inconspicuous at a temperature equal to or higher than a set temperature, and which is colorless or white under visible light and has a specific wavelength. The information is printed or applied to the base material using a temperature indicating member containing a fluorescent material that emits light. Therefore, when the temperature is kept at or below the set temperature, the information can be visually or mechanically read because the temperature indicating member is colored. Although the information is colorless or inconspicuous and cannot be visually recognized, the temperature indicator is printed or coated because the fluorescent material emits visible light when irradiated with light of a specific wavelength. Can be visually recognized, and there is no need to provide a mark indicating that information is printed by the temperature indicating member.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, as shown in FIG. 1, a temperature management label 1 as a temperature management member has product information 2 such as a product name, a shipping date, a manufacturing date, a manufacturer, and a product management 2 in which the product information 2 is machine-readable. The bar code 3 is printed on the base material 6. The temperature management label 1 is provided with a temperature member printing area 4. This temperature indicator printing area 4
Is a temperature indicating member that changes color according to a set temperature as described below, and a temperature management code 5 is printed as shown in FIG.

That is, the temperature indicating member comprises an electron-donating color-forming compound, an electron-accepting compound and a reversible material, wherein the electron-donating color-forming compound determines the color and the electron-accepting compound determines the concentration. Then, it becomes colorless at the time of printing with the reversible material and starts temperature control. For such a system, a rewritable system based on non-crystal-crystal or phase separation-non-phase separation can be used.

Electron-donating color-forming compounds Phenylmethane compounds (various fluorans, phenylphthalides, etc.), various indolyl phthalides, spiropyrans, leuco auramines, acyl or aryl auramines, etc. Compounds Compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, metal salts of compounds having a phenolic hydroxyl group, various triazoles, carboxylic acids, metal salts of carboxylic acids, etc. Reversible materials Steroids and the like can be used.

A fluorescent material which is colorless under visible light and emits light when irradiated with a specific wavelength is added. For example, a fluorescent whitening agent, an inorganic fluorescent pigment, an Eu complex, a resin solid solution of an organic fluorescent material, or the like can be used.

Specific Examples * Electron-donating color-forming compound: 1 part by weight of 3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran (abbreviated as DAMAF) * Electron-accepting compound: 1 part by weight of propyl gallate Part * Reversible material: 5 parts by weight of cholesterol * Polystyrene / methacrylic acid copolymer (A-14P manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.): 10 parts by weight is completely dissolved in a 1: 1 solvent of toluene and cyclohexanone.

* Inorganic fluorescent pigment: SPD-374 (manufactured by Toshiba Corporation) 7 parts by weight (see FIG. 4) (Y2O2S: Eu) * A mixture obtained by dissolving a mixture of 10 parts by weight of paraffin wax while heating with a ball mill is added (solid). 20%), and the above-mentioned dissolved material is added, and dispersed while cooling naturally. 6μm PE with heat resistant layer on back
A T (polyethylene terephthalate) film coated with an ink coater to obtain a thermal transfer ink ribbon was used.

In the irreversible equation, as shown in FIG.
When the temperature becomes higher than the set temperature, the color gradually develops and finally reaches the saturation density. This set temperature corresponds to the glass transition point of the ink system, and the non-crystalline and colorless system gradually crystallizes and develops color above the Tg point. When heated and quenched with a thermal head or the like and the temperature management code 5 is printed, it is fixed in colorless. When the temperature management code 5 is heated above the glass transition point (Tg), the color gradually develops as shown in FIG. For example, when the temperature management code 5 is printed on the temperature management label 1 with the thermal head or the like and the machine reading is performed, if the reading is performed when the relative value reaches 0.5, it is exposed to a temperature of Tg or more for 38 hours or more. You can see that This temperature indicating member is fixed colorless at the time of issuance as shown in FIG. 2 and is inconspicuous because it has the same color as the temperature controlling member. , So that it can be easily confirmed that the temperature indicating member is printed on the temperature management label 1.

Since the ink has a Tg of 28 ° C. and the set temperature also depends on the Tg, the ink develops a color almost at this temperature. As shown in FIG. 4, the characteristics of this fluorescent material are colorless and inconspicuous because the absorption is 400 nm or less and there is no absorption under visible light. When the fluorescent material is irradiated with the black lamp as described above, red light emission of 626 nm can be confirmed as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, even if the temperature indicating member is not colored, the presence or absence of the temperature indicating member is checked by the black lamp. Is possible.

Here, the fluorescent material shown is not limited to this,
It is a colorless or inconspicuous color under visible light, and may be a fluorescent material (fluorescent dye or fluorescent pigment) that emits light when irradiated with a specific wavelength, regardless of whether it is inorganic or organic.

In the examples, DA was used as the color-forming compound.
Although MAF was used, crystal violet lactone (CVL) and other fluoran-based leuco dyes and the like can be used. In addition, propyl gallate was used as the electron donating compound, but is not limited thereto. For example, bisphenol A or the like can be used as a phenolic material. The reversible material is a steroid-based material with a melting point higher than the environmental temperature and a bulky OH group, which can be used as a material that has structural flexibility that can cause steric hindrance and can be thermally transformed and deformed. It is. For example, pregnenolone or the like can be used.

Here, the type in which the color is colorless at the start of the temperature control and the color develops when exposed to the high-temperature exposure has been described. The same applies to the case of using a type in which the change progresses to white or colorless.

Although the thermal transfer method using a thermal head is used here, the present invention is not limited to this, and the printing method is not limited to this, as long as the material can be heated to a melting point or higher and rapidly cooled. Although the temperature management member is configured as shown in FIG. 1, it is not limited to this. In this embodiment, the irreversible temperature control member using a rewritable material has been described, but the same effect can be obtained in reversibility.

[0030]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a temperature indicating material which is colorless or inconspicuous at the start of temperature control and which develops color at a temperature not lower than a set temperature, and which is colorless or white under visible light and emits visible light by light of a specific wavelength. Since the information is printed or applied to the base material by using a temperature indicating member containing a fluorescent material that emits light, when placed in an environment at or above a set temperature, the information is visually or mechanically read by the color of the temperature indicating member. Although it can be recognized, when the temperature is kept below the set temperature, the information from the temperature indicating member is colorless or inconspicuous, and cannot be visually recognized. Since it emits visible light, it can be visually recognized that the temperature indicating member is printed or applied, and it indicates that information is printed by the temperature indicating member. It has the effect of say there is no need to provide a mark that.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a temperature indicating material which is colored at the start of temperature control and which is colorless or inconspicuous at a temperature equal to or higher than a set temperature, and which is colorless or white under visible light and has a specific wavelength. Since the information was printed or applied to the base material using a temperature indicating member containing a fluorescent material that emits light,
When the temperature is kept below the set temperature, the information can be visually or mechanically read because the temperature indicating member is colored. Although it is colorless or inconspicuous and cannot be visually recognized, the fluorescent material emits visible light by irradiating light of a specific wavelength, so it is visually observed that the temperature indicating member is printed or applied. Thus, there is an effect that there is no need to provide a mark indicating that information is printed by the temperature indicating member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a plan view of a temperature management label.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a temperature management label in a state where the temperature is controlled below a set temperature.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a temperature management label managed at a temperature equal to or higher than a set temperature.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing characteristics of a fluorescent material.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a light emitting state of a fluorescent material when irradiated with a black lamp.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a color development state equal to or higher than a set temperature over time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 base material

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A temperature indicating material that is colorless or inconspicuous at the start of temperature control and develops color at a set temperature or higher, and a fluorescent material that is colorless or white under visible light and emits visible light with light of a specific wavelength. A temperature management member, wherein information is printed or applied to a base material by using the indicated temperature indicating member. 2. A temperature indicating material which is colored at the start of temperature control and is colorless or inconspicuous at a set temperature or higher and a fluorescent material which is colorless or white under visible light and emits visible light by light of a specific wavelength. A temperature control member characterized in that information is printed or applied to a base material by a temperature indicating member containing: