JPS59104957A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To highly densify recording electrodes to miniaturize a recording apparatus while enhancing the reliability thereof, by receiving a recording head wherein a recording electrode pattern or a voltage pulse applying circuit are provided on a rigid substrate mounted to the outer peripheral side of a hollow body in the magnetic field generated by a magnet. CONSTITUTION:A magnet roll 12 is received in a hollow body 11 constituted of a conductive non-magnetic body comprising an aluminum alloy or an insulating non-magnetic body comprising synthetic resin in a freely rotatable manner. A recording head 18 is attached to the hollow body 11 through a toner guide 17 made of a non-magnetic body and received in the magnetic field generated by the magnet roller 12. A voltage pulse applying circuit is mounted on the insulating non-magnetic rigid substrate of a recording head 18 or mounted on the other substrate mounted to the outer peripheral side of the hollow body 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention provides a recording medium between a recording electrode and a back electrode that are opposed to each other, and a magnetic material between the recording medium and the recording electrode. While supplying toner, a magnetic field is formed around the recording electrode, and while the toner particles are held on the recording electrode by this magnetic field, a voltage pulse is applied between the two electrodes, thereby reducing the Coulomb force. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording by transferring the toner particles to the recording medium.

Structure of Prior Art and Its Problems FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional recording apparatus of this type. In this figure, 1 is a cylindrical hollow body (sleeve), 2 is a magnet roll made by assembling a plurality of magnets into a roll, and 3 is a cylindrical hollow body (sleeve).
is a hopper, and 4 is a toner. 5 is a recording electrode;
Although only one recording electrode 6 appears in the drawing, in reality, a large number of recording electrodes 6 are arranged along the direction parallel to the axis of the hollow body 1.
There are rows of rows. 6 is the back electrode, 7 is the recording medium, 8
is an electronic circuit that selectively applies voltage pulses between each recording electrode 5 and the back electrode 6.

In this device, as the magnet roll 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the toner 4 is pulled out from the hopper 3 onto the outer circumferential surface of the hollow body 1, is conveyed along the outer circumferential surface in the direction of the arrow C, and is transferred to the recording electrode 5. reach the top.

In this state, when a voltage pulse is selectively applied between each recording electrode 6 and the back electrode 6 by the electronic circuit 8, the toner particles on the recording electrode 5 to which the voltage pulse has been applied are Due to the force, it moves to the recording medium 7 against the magnetic force of the magnet roll 2, adheres to the recording medium 7 in the form of a dot, and recording is performed.

Here, Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-38899 discloses that the recording electrode 5 is constituted by the tip of a conductive wire buttern (lead) formed on a flexible printed circuit board, and that the flexible printed circuit board is It is glued along the outer circumferential surface of the hollow body 1 so as not to interfere with transportation, and the ends of the same circuit board opposite to the recording electrode 6 are taken out to both sides of the hollow body 1 and connected to the electronic circuit 8 with connectors. We are proposing a structure.

However, such a structure has the following drawbacks.

(b) In a recording device such as a facsimile machine, the density of recording electrodes 6 (pixel density) is generally required to be 8 lines/order or more, but the density of the conductor pattern that can be formed on a flexible printed circuit board is Usually, there are about 3 to 6 holes/depression due to the low mechanical strength of the substrate, the high moisture absorption of the substrate, and the poor adhesion between the substrate and the pattern.
Obtaining a higher density is difficult in terms of yield.

(b) Moreover, the larger the number of conductor patterns formed on one flexible printed circuit board, the worse the yield becomes. It is not possible to obtain recording electrodes in the number of recording electrodes, and it is necessary to stitch together a large number of flexible printed circuit boards.

However, it is difficult to join together a large number of flexible printed circuit boards so that the ends of their conductor patterns are aligned in a straight line.
Furthermore, it is very difficult to prevent the pitch between the conductor patterns from becoming uneven at the joints between the flexible printed circuits, leading to high costs.

(c) Since the entire electronic circuit 8 is provided apart from the hollow body 1, and the flexible printed circuit board is extended to the electronic circuit 8 to connect the two, the device becomes larger and
Handling of the extensions of the flexible printed circuit board becomes cumbersome.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, and has an object to easily increase the density of recording electrodes, reduce the size of the device, improve reliability, and reduce manufacturing costs. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device in which the number of input lines to the recording head is significantly reduced, and the handling of doujin force lines is facilitated.

Composition of the Invention A recording device according to the present invention includes a rigid substrate made of an insulating non-magnetic material attached to the outer peripheral side of a hollow body, a recording electrode pattern formed on the rigid substrate and facing a back electrode, and The rigid substrate is mounted on (and) another substrate attached to the outer circumferential side of the hollow body, and a recording head is configured by a voltage pulse application circuit, etc. that selectively applies voltage pulses to each of the recording electrode patterns. , and this object is achieved by accommodating this recording head within a magnetic field generated by a magnet.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be explained in more detail below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a recording head in the same apparatus.

In these figures, 11 is a cylindrical hollow body, and this hollow body 11 is made of a conductive non-magnetic material such as an aluminum alloy, or an insulating non-magnetic material such as a synthetic resin. Inside the hollow body 11, a magnet roll 12 formed by assembling a plurality of magnets in a roll shape is housed coaxially and rotatably with the hollow body 11, and the outer peripheral surface of the magnet roll 12 has an S pole. and N poles are formed alternately.

Further, the magnet roll 12 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a magnet drive device (not shown).

A hopper 13 is provided near the top of the hollow body 11, and a magnetic toner 14 is accommodated in the hopper 13. A doctor 16 is formed at the bottom opening of the ompper 13, and this doctor 16
The tip of the hollow body 11 is inserted through the doctor gap 16.
is opposed to the outer peripheral surface of.

The hollow body 11 includes a toner guide 1 made of a non-magnetic material.
The recording head 1B is attached via 7. The recording head 18, as shown in detail in FIG. 3, includes a rigid substrate 19, a recording electrode pattern 20, a driver chip 21, a protective cover 22, and the like. Next, the configuration of this recording head 8 will be explained in more detail.

The rigid substrate 19 is made of a rigid non-magnetic material such as ceramic, and is attached to the hollow body 11 via the toner guide 17. Note that the mounting direction of the rigid substrate 19 is tangential to the hollow body 11. The upper and lower surfaces of the toner guide 17 also extend in the tangential direction of the hollow body 11, and connect the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body 11 with the upper and lower ends of the rigid substrate 19.

The recording electrode patterns 20 are made of a conductive foil formed on a rigid substrate 19 by microfabrication such as photoetching, and in this embodiment, 8 recording electrode patterns 20 per recess, a total of 2048 recording electrode patterns 20 are lined up at the same pitch. I'm here. and,
The lower ends of these recording electrode patterns 20 are connected to the rigid substrate 1
It extends to the lower end of 9. Note that these recording electrode patterns 20 may be made of a magnetic material or a nonmagnetic material.

The driver chip 21 is made of an integrated circuit, and includes a shift register for inputting image signals, a latch 1, a driver for driving the recording electrode pattern 20, etc., and has a size of 4×4+mn in length and width, and a thickness of about 2 mm or less. This driver chip 2 can be made with the following size.
1 are mounted on the rigid substrate 19 in a number corresponding to the recording electrode patterns 20. That is, in this example, 1
Recording electrode patterns 20.
Since 32 drivers and the like are provided, a total of 64 driver chips 21 are mounted on the rigid substrate 19, and these driver chips 21 constitute the voltage pulse application circuit in this embodiment. ing.

The output terminal of each driver chip 21 is connected to the recording electrode pattern 2° by a film carrier 23. On the other hand, the input terminal of each driver chip 21 is connected to an external circuit 2 provided outside the recording head 18 via a film carrier 24, an input side connection pattern 26 formed on the rigid substrate 19, and an input line 26. The drive voltage for operating the chip 21, the recording voltage for operating the driver, a clock, an image signal, a launch signal, an enable signal, etc. are input from this external circuit 27. It has become.

Note that the connection between the driver chip 21, the recording electrode pattern 20, and the input side connection pattern 25 does not necessarily need to be made using a film carrier, and may be made by other methods such as bonding.

The protective cover 22 is attached to the rigid substrate 19, thereby covering the driver chip 21 and the film carrier 23,24. However, the lower end side of the recording electrode pattern 2o is exposed outside the protective cover 22.

The recording head 18 configured as described above includes the hollow body 11 and the toner guide 17 as well as the magnetic roller 1.
Furthermore, the lower end of the recording electrode pattern 20 of the recording head 18 is opposed to the back electrode 2 with a gap therebetween. 29
is a recording medium such as electrostatic recording paper or plain paper, and is conveyed in the direction of arrow B between the lower end of the recording electrode pattern 20 and the back electrode 28 by a recording medium supply means such as a paper feed roller (not shown). .

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

When the magnet roll 12 is rotated by the magnet drive device, the magnetic field by the magnet roll 12 also rotates, and this rotating magnetic field pulls the toner 14 in the flopper 13 onto the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body 11 through the doctor gap 16. The toner toner is then conveyed on the same outer peripheral surface in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the magnet roll 120 (in the direction of arrow C), passes through the lower surface of the toner guide 17, and reaches the lower end of the recording electrode pattern 20.

The toner 14 that has reached the lower end of the recording electrode pattern 20 in this manner forms a toner chain 30 (toner particles connected in a chain along the lines of magnetic force emitted from the magnet roll 12) above the lower end. In a state where such a toner chain 3o is formed, the driver chip 21 selectively applies a voltage pulse between the recording electrode pattern 2o and the back electrode 28 based on the image signal etc. input from the external circuit 27. Then,
As in the case of the conventional device, the particles at the tip of the toner chain 30 on the selected recording electrode pattern 2o are moved to the recording medium 29 by Coulomb force against the magnetic force of the magnet roll 12, and as a result, , dots corresponding to the selected recording electrode pattern 20 are printed on the recording medium 29.

Therefore, when the recording medium 29 is conveyed by the recording medium supply means in parallel with the application of the voltage pulse, an image corresponding to the image signal is recorded on the recording medium 29.

On the other hand, although it has reached the lower end of the recording electrode pattern 20,
Toner particles that have not migrated to the recording medium 29 are removed by the recording head 18 from the hollow body 11 and the toner guide 1 as described above.
Since it is housed in the magnetic field of the magnet roller 12 together with the toner 7, it returns to the flopper 13 via the protective cover 22 of the recording head 18 and the upper surface of the toner guide 17. That is, in this apparatus, since the recording head 18 is housed within the magnetic field, the recording head 18 absorbs the toner 14.
transport is not obstructed.

Now, in general, a rigid substrate has better mechanical strength than a flexible substrate, has less moisture absorption, and has good adhesion to a pattern, so it is easier to process a fine pattern. Therefore, if the recording electrode pattern 2o is formed on the rigid substrate 19 as in the present device, the density of the recording electrode pattern 20 will be higher than in the case of forming the recording electrode pattern on the flexible substrate as in the conventional device. can be significantly increased, and a density of 8 or more cells per pharynx can be easily obtained. Additionally, since the required number of recording electrode patterns 2o can be formed on one rigid substrate 19, there is no problem with the linearity of the arrangement of the electrode patterns 20 or the accuracy of the arrangement pitch. A high quality, highly reliable recording head can be obtained at low cost.

In this device, since the driver chip 21 is mounted on the recording head 18, the device can be made smaller, and the wiring between the driver chip 21 and the recording electrode pattern 2o can be connected to the recording head 18. There is no need to route it outside. The recording head 18 receives image signals and the like through the external circuit 27 and the input line 26 as described above, but the number of input lines 26 can be several to several tens, and the recording electrode Number of patterns 2o (2048
There are very few compared to books), and it is easy to get them.
Moreover, the conveyance of the toner 14 is not obstructed.

In the embodiment described above, since the driver chip 21 and the like are covered by the protective cover 22, the transport of the 1-S-14 is carried out smoothly, and the driver chip 21 is protected from coming into contact with the toner 14. The same effect can be obtained by molding the entire recording head 18 (excluding the necessary portions of the recording electrode pattern 20) with an insulating layer instead of providing the protective cover 22.

Further, in the embodiment, the hollow body 11 and the toner guide 17
Although these are separate bodies, they may be integrally molded.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, all the patterns, that is, both the recording electrode pattern 20 and the input side connection pattern 250, are formed on one rigid substrate 19ζF, but it is not necessary to do so. For example, FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention, and is an example using two substrates. That is, in this embodiment, a rigid substrate 19 made of ceramic on which the recording electrode turf 20 is formed and a rigid substrate 31 made of glass epoxy substrate on which the input side connection pattern 25 is formed are arranged adjacent to each other in a hollow space. The driver chip 21 is attached to the outer peripheral side of a body (not shown), and the driver chip 21 is attached to the two substrates 19 and 3.
It is installed according to 1.

Whether or not to separate the substrate on which the recording electrode pattern is formed from the substrate on which other patterns are formed can be freely selected from the viewpoint of cost and processing.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a recording device according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the rigid substrate 19 on which the recording electrode pattern 20 is formed, and the rigid substrate 32 on which the input side connection pattern 25 is formed,
It is cut into the hollow body 11 at an angle that forms a ``'' shape (in addition, 12 is a magnet roll, 21 is a driver chip, and 22 is a protective cover).

The recording head 18 may have the shape of this embodiment. In short, the recording head 18 can be accommodated within the magnetic field of the magnet roll 12 so that the toner 14 can be transported without any trouble. It doesn't matter what shape it has.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the recording device according to the present invention includes a rigid substrate, a recording electrode pattern formed on the rigid substrate, and a voltage mounted on the rigid substrate (and) on other substrates. By constructing a recording head using a pulse application circuit and the like and accommodating this recording head within a magnetic field generated by a magnet, it is easy to increase the density of recording electrodes, and at the same time, it is possible to miniaturize the device, improve reliability, and In addition, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the number of input lines to the recording head is also significantly reduced, making it easier to handle the line of force.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional recording device, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a recording head in the same device, and FIG. A sectional view of a recording throat according to another embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a recording apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention. 11...Hollow body, 12...Magnet roll, 13...Hopper, 14...Toner, 1B...Recording head, 19... ... Rigid substrate, 20 ... Recording electrode no. turn, 21 ...
... Driver chip, 28 ... Back electrode,
29...Recording medium. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A back electrode, a hollow body made of a non-magnetic material, a magnet rotatably housed in the hollow body, a drive device for driving and rotating the magnet, and magnetic toner on the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body. supplying means; and means for supplying a recording medium between the recording head and the back electrode, which are attached to the outer peripheral side of the hollow body and housed together with the hollow body in a magnetic field caused by the magnet. The recording head includes a rigid substrate made of an insulating non-magnetic material attached to the outer peripheral side of the hollow body, and a recording electrode pattern formed on the rigid substrate and facing the back electrode. and mounted on the rigid substrate, the holder (and) another substrate attached to the outer peripheral side of the hollow body together with the same substrate,
A recording apparatus comprising: a voltage pulse application circuit that selectively applies voltage pulses to each of the recording electrode patterns.