JPS588673A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high quality of printing with dots continuing from one to another by arranging trains of heat generating resistors to form such double layers through an insulator layer that the first and second trains of the resistors come alternately while adjacent ones partially overlap each other. CONSTITUTION:First heat generating resistor trains 3 each comprising four resistors 3a-3d, individual electrodes 4a-4d therefore and a common electrode 4f are formed on a glazed layer 2 laminated on an insulation substrate 1, and an insulation layer 9 is formed on the top thereof. Second heat generating resistor trains 6, a conductor layer 7, an oxidation preventive layer 10 and a wear resisting layer 11 are formed on the insulation layer 9 in that order. The first and second resistor trains 3 and 6 are arranged alternately while partially overlap each other. Thus, for example, when power is supplied to the individual electrodes 4c and 7b according to a dot timing signal, the resistors 3c and 6b generate heat to effect a printing with dots joining to each other in the row direction.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Technical field The present invention relates to a thermal head.

The thermal head for printing using conventional technology is based on multiple signals! After printing a dot by generating heat from the heating element in the first column, the thermal head is moved along the printing line of the printing paper by the width of the gap between the heating elements in the first and second columns, and the second printing is performed. The second dot that is output when the heating element in the row is positioned between the dots printed by the heating element in the first row,
The configuration prints dots by causing the heating elements in the second row to generate heat based on the dot timing signal, and requires two dot timing signals for one row of dots.
As the dot timing signal control circuit becomes more complex,
Even with a complicated control circuit, deviations in dot timing are likely to occur, and there is a risk that printing quality will be significantly degraded due to such deviations.

Furthermore, when printing characters via a thermal transfer ribbon, there is a risk that the thermal transfer ribbon portion will be used by the heating elements in the first row and be positioned in front of the heating elements in the second row. However, when printing dots using the second heat generating element, missing dots occur and the printing quality deteriorates.

Purpose The purpose of the present invention is to print characters so that the dots are continuous with each other using a simple circuit configuration in view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks.
An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal head capable of obtaining high printing quality.

Example Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained according to examples.

Fig. 1 is a front view of the thermal head according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 @ is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1. −■ line cross-sectional view.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line v-v in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the stacked state of the thermal head.

In the figure, on an insulating substrate 1 having high insulation and heat dissipation properties, such as ceramic material, a glaze layer 2 having high heat storage and dissipation properties, such as glass material, is laminated by thick film technology.

On the glaze layer 2 is a first heating resistor row 3 having four resistors 3a to 3d, such as tantalum nitride, and four individual electrodes 4a to 4 corresponding to the resistors 3a to 3d.
d, and a conductor layer 4 made of, for example, aluminum, having a common electrode 4f formed on the resistors 38 to 3d via a gap 4e having a predetermined width, and laminated by thin film technology and photoetching technology. It is formed.

An insulating layer 9 made of silicon dioxide is formed on the first layer 5. Further above it, a second heating resistor row 6 having four resistors 6a to 6d as described above,
Four individual electrodes 7a to 7d and the resistors 6a to 6
A second layer 8 consisting of a conductor layer 7 having a common electrode 7f formed on the top d with a gap 7 having a predetermined width interposed therebetween,
Resistors 3a to 3d, 6a to each of the heating resistor rows 3 and 6
The layers 6d are laminated using a thin film technique or a photoetching technique so that the layers 6d are alternately arranged on the same line and partially overlap.

On the second layer 8 is an anti-oxidation layer 10, such as silicon dioxide. and a wear-resistant layer 11 of, for example, tantalum pentoxide.
are sequentially layered using thin film technology and photoetching technology.

Note that 12a-12h in Figure 1 are individual electrodes 4a-4d%7a-
7d, and the connector parts 12a to 12h are laminated so that their thicknesses and widths are the same due to spacers 4g and 7g formed at the same time as the conductor layer 4.7. .

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained according to Figure @8.

When heat generating power is supplied to all the individual electrodes 48-4d, 7a-7d based on one dot timing signal, all the resistors 3a-3d, 6a-6 provided on the same line
d is generated, and adjacent dots in the first row on the printing paper are printed in a state where they partially overlap in the row direction. Next, when the heating power is supplied to the individual electrodes 4c, 7b based on the dot timing signal output when the thermal head is moved one dot width in the row direction, the resistor corresponding to the individual electrodes 4c, 7b 3c and 6b are respectively heated, and the dots in the second row of the printing paper are printed in a state where they overlap each other in the column direction and are connected to the dots in the first row, and then the above operation is repeated. resistor 3b
*6c, 3d, 6a.

3a and 6d are sequentially heated to print the dots in the third to fifth columns, respectively, and the letter "K" is printed with the dots continuing in the column and row directions.

Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to print characters based on a single dot timing signal in a T-shaped state in which dots that are adjacent to each other in the column direction partially overlap with each other, thereby making it possible to obtain high-quality printed characters.

First, although the connector parts 12a to 12h have a two-way structure of the first layer 5 and the second layer 8, the connector parts 12a to 12h are laminated with the same thickness and width by the spacer 4g@7g, so the thermal head connector Portions 12a to 12h should be securely connected to the connectors.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 9, the present invention is capable of controlling the resistors 3a to 3d based on a dot timing signal shorter than the width of one dot in the row direction.
, 6a to 6d, it is also possible to print characters in a state where the dots partially overlap each other in the column direction and the row direction.

In addition, this embodiment has a two-layer structure and 1.1:, but the present invention has a three-layer structure.
[It is also possible to implement it by configuring a thermal head using i.

Effects As explained above, the thermal head according to the present invention includes a first layer consisting of a first heating resistor array and a conductor layer, and a second heating resistor arranged on the first layer with an insulating layer interposed therebetween. A second layer consisting of a body array and a conductor layer is provided.

By forming the first and second heating resistor rows on the same line so that the resistors of the respective heating resistor rows alternate, and by having a simple configuration in which adjacent resistors partially overlap,
Based on one dot timing signal, characters can be printed so that adjacent dots in the column direction are continuous, and high printing quality can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a thermal head according to the present invention. Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ of the 11th figure. ! ``JK4 figure is the cross section 1 Nu I on the line IV-IV in Figure 1. Figure 5 is the cross section N on the line V-V in Figure 1. @ Figure 6 is the cross-sectional view on the line ■-■ in Figure 1, and Figure 7 is the laminated state. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing example. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing another printing example. In the figure, 1 is an insulating substrate, 3 is a first heating resistor row , 38 to 3d are resistors, 4 is a conductor layer, 5 is a first layer. 6 is a second heating resistor row, 6a to 6d are low antibodies, 7 is a conductor layer, 8 is a second layer, 9 is an insulation゛ Patent Applicant Brother Industries, Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Ken Ito - 415- Figure 2 Figure 1 (J Figure 8 Figure θ

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal head in which a large number of heat generating resistors are provided on an insulating substrate, a first layer consisting of a first heat generating resistor row and a conductor layer, and an insulator on the first layer. A second heating resistor array and a second layer consisting of a conductor layer are provided with the layer interposed therebetween. The first and second heating resistor rows are formed on the same line so that the resistors of the respective heating resistor rows alternate, and the adjacent resistors partially overlap. thermal head.