JPS59104958A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recording apparatus having a recording head easy to highly densify a recording electrode, low in cost and having high quality and high reliability, constituted by connecting the recording electrode patterns constituted on a rigid substrate to a voltage pulse applying circuit through a flexible circuit board. CONSTITUTION:A recording electrode is constituted of recording patterns 20 formed on the non-magnetic insulating rigid substrate 19 mounted to the outer peripheral surface of a hollow body 11. The recording electrode patterns 20 are connected to a voltage pulse applying circuit 28 through a flexible circuit board 22 and the rigid substrate 19 is received in the magnetic field due to a magnet roll 12 along with the hollow body 11. The arrangement of the voltage pulse applying circuit 28 relative to a recording head 18 can be freely selected without generating problems in the arrangement linearity of the electrode patterns 20 or the preciseness of arrangement pitches.

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 this magnetic field holds the toner particles on the recording electrode. In this state, a voltage pulse is applied between the two electrodes to reduce 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).
4 is a hopper, 4 is a toner, 5 is a recording electrode, 6 is a back electrode, 7 is a recording medium, and 8 is a voltage pulse application circuit. Although only one recording electrode 6 appears in the drawing,
Actually, a large number of recording electrodes 5 are provided in one row along a direction parallel to the axis of the hollow body 1.

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 peripheral surface of the hollow body 1, is conveyed along the outer peripheral surface in the direction of arrow C, and is transferred to the recording electrode 6. 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 voltage pulse application circuit 8, the toner particles on the recording electrode 5 to which the voltage pulse has been applied are , due to Coulomb force, magnet roll 2
It moves to the recording medium 7 against the magnetic force of the recording medium 7, 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 a recording electrode 6 is configured by the tip of a conductor pattern (lead) formed on a flexible printed circuit board, and the flexible printed circuit board is used to transport toner. A structure in which the circuit board is adhered along the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body 1 so as not to interfere, and the ends of the circuit board opposite to the recording electrodes 6 are taken out to both sides of the hollow body 10 and connected to the voltage pulse application circuit 8 with connectors. is proposed.

However, such a structure has the following drawbacks.

(b) In recording devices such as facsimile machines, the density of the recording electrodes 5 (pixel density) is generally 8 lines per pixel, although more is still required, but the density of the conductor pattern that can be formed on a flexible printed circuit board is The density is usually about 3 to 6 pieces per person, and it is difficult to obtain a higher density due to yield considerations.

(b) It is not possible to obtain the required number of recording electrodes with only one flexible printed circuit board, and it is necessary to join together many flexible printed circuit boards. To join the circuit boards so that the ends of the conductor patterns are aligned and to avoid uneven pitch between the conductor patterns at the seams between each flexible printed circuit board. , which is extremely difficult and leads to high costs.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and it is possible to easily increase the density of recording electrodes, achieve low cost, high quality,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus in which a highly reliable recording head can be easily obtained and the arrangement of a voltage pulse applying circuit to the recording head can be freely selected.

Composition of the Invention In the recording device according to the present invention, the recording electrode is constituted by a recording electrode pattern formed on a non-magnetic and insulating rigid substrate attached to the outer peripheral surface of a hollow body, and the recording electrode pattern is The above object is achieved by connecting the substrate to a voltage pulse application circuit through a flexible circuit board, and by accommodating the rigid substrate together with the hollow body in a magnetic field generated by a magnet.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described 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 with the hollow body 11 and rotatably. and N poles are formed alternately.

Further, the magnet roll 12 is rotated in the direction indicated by 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 15 is formed at the bottom opening of the hopper 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.
A recording head 18 is attached via 7. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, this recording head 18 consists of a rigid substrate 19 made of a non-magnetic rigid material such as ceramic, and a conductive foil formed on the rigid substrate 19 by microfabrication such as photoetching. The recording electrode pattern 20 is made up of a plurality of flexible circuit boards 22 that connect these recording electrode patterns 20 to a voltage pulse application circuit 28, which will be described later. Note that the recording electrode pattern 20 may be made of a magnetic material or a nonmagnetic material.

The rigid substrate 19 is provided in a tangential direction to the hollow body 11 and is housed together with the hollow body 11 in the magnetic field generated by the magnet row 212 . Further, 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.

One end portion 20a of each of the recording electrode patterns 20 extends to the lower end of the rigid substrate 19, and is lined up at the same pitch at the lower end. In addition, the recording electrode pattern 20
The other end portion 20b is bent in a direction parallel to the axial direction of the hollow body 11 for each predetermined number of recording electrode patterns 20, and the pitch between these end portions 20b is equal to the pitch between the end portions 20b.
a (for example, end 2 O
The pitch between a is 8 lines/old, and the pitch between 2 ob ends is 3~
5 pieces/throat).

Each of the flexible circuit boards 22 is a flexible printed circuit board, and includes an insulating flexible substrate 23 and a conductor pattern 24 formed on the flexible substrate 23. One end 2
The pitch between the conductive wire patterns 24 at 2a is the same as the pinch between the lower ends 2Oa of the recording electrode pattern 20, while the pitch between the conductive wire patterns 24 at the other end 22b is wider.

The end portion 22a of each flexible printed circuit board 22 is
End portion 20b of recording electrode pattern 20 and conductor pattern 24
are thermocompression bonded to the rigid substrate 19 so that they are connected to each other. Incidentally, each flexible printed circuit board 22 is
It is made to stand up from the rigid substrate 19 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the magnet roll 12 .

The lower end portion 20a of the recording electrode pattern 20 faces the back electrode 25 with a gap therebetween. 27 is a recording medium such as electrostatic recording paper or plain paper, and the recording electrode pattern 2o is
It is conveyed in the direction of arrow B between the lower end portion 20b of and the back electrode 26. Reference numeral 28 denotes a voltage pulse application circuit, which is connected to the electrode pattern 2° via the conductor pattern 24 of the flexible printed circuit board 22.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

When the magnet roll 12 is rotated by the magnet drive device, the magnetic field also rotates, so that the toner 14 in the popper 13 passes through the doctor gap 16 to the hollow body 11.
After being pulled out onto the outer circumferential surface of the toner, the toner is conveyed on the same outer circumferential surface in the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the magnet roll 12 (in the direction of arrow C), and then passes through the lower surface of the toner guide 1 to form the recording electrode pattern 20. It reaches the lower end portion 20a.

In this way, the lower end 20a of the recording electrode pattern 2o
The toner 14 that has reached the toner 14 forms a toner chain (toner particles are connected in a chain along the lines of magnetic force emanating from the magnet hole 12) 29 on the lower end 2 Oa.

In a state where such a toner chain 29 is formed, a voltage pulse is selectively applied between the recording electrode pattern 2° and the back electrode 25 via the conductor pattern 24 by the voltage pulse application circuit 28. Then, in the same manner as in the conventional apparatus, the particles at the tip of the toner chain 29 on the selected recording electrode pattern 2o are transferred to the recording medium 2T against the magnetic force of the magnet roll 12 due to the Coulomb force. As a result, dots corresponding to the selected recording electrode pattern 2° are applied to the recording medium 27.

Therefore, when the voltage and pulse are applied in accordance with the image signal, and the recording medium 27 is conveyed by the recording medium supply means in parallel with the application of the voltage pulse, the image signal An image corresponding to this will be recorded on the recording medium 27.

On the other hand, toner particles that have reached the lower end 20& of the recording electrode pattern 20 but have not migrated to the recording medium 27 are removed when the rigid substrate 19 is moved along with the hollow body 11 to the magnetic row 2 as described above.
Since the toner is housed in the magnetic field generated by the toner guide 12, the toner (-)
13 (that is, the transport of the toner 14 is not obstructed by climbing onto the rigid substrate 19).

Generally, rigid substrates have better mechanical strength than flexible substrates, have less absorbency, and are easier to process into fine turns. Therefore, if the recording electrode pattern 20 is formed on the rigid substrate 19 as in the present device, the recording electrode pattern 20 is more effective than in the case where the recording electrode pattern is formed on the flexible substrate as in the conventional device. It is possible to significantly increase the density of the fibers, and for example, a density of 8 fibers/throat or higher can be easily obtained. Furthermore, since the required number of recording electrode patterns 20 (for example, 2048 or more) can be formed on one rigid substrate 19, the electrode patterns 20
A high-quality, highly reliable recording head can be obtained at low cost without causing problems in the linearity of the zero array or the accuracy of the array pinch.

Furthermore, in this apparatus, as described above, the recording electrode pattern 20 formed on the rigid substrate 19 is connected to the voltage pulse applying circuit 28 via the flexible circuit board 22. The flexibility also provides the advantage that the arrangement of the voltage pulse application circuit 28 with respect to the rigid substrate 19 can be freely selected.

The rigid substrate 19 has no problem in its longitudinal dimensions, but the width (W in FIG. 3) is about 20 to 40 mm, and the thickness is about 1.6 to 2 mm. Therefore, if the rigid substrate 19 is arranged in the radial direction of the hollow body 11, unless the amount of magnetization of the magnet roll 12 is increased, the magnetic field by the magnet roller 12 will not reach the tip of the rigid substrate 19, and the rigid substrate 19 will not reach the tip of the rigid substrate 19. This impedes the conveyance of the toner 14, and even if the amount of magnetization is increased to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages, there is a disadvantage that the apparatus becomes larger.

However, in the above embodiment, the rigid substrate 19 is connected to the hollow body 11.
(that is, the tangential direction of a cylinder of a certain diameter centered on the rotation axis of the magnet roller 12), it is possible to do this without increasing the amount of magnetization of the magnet roller 12 or increasing the size of the device. , the rigid substrate 19 can be housed within the magnetic field of the magnet roll 12, so that the transportation of the toner 14 can be prevented from being hindered by the rigid substrate 19.

In the above embodiment, the flexible circuit board 22 is connected to the rigid substrate 1.
9 in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the magnet roll 12, the flow direction of the toner 14 conveyed on the rigid substrate 19 is parallel to the flexible circuit board 22, so that the flexible The transport of the toner 14 on the rigid substrate 19 is not hindered by the flexible circuit board 22.

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view according to another embodiment of the present invention (in the following embodiments, parts that are the same as or correspond to those in the previous embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals). The hollow body 11 in this embodiment is formed by integrally molding the hollow body 11 and the toner guide 17 in the previous embodiment, so that the structure can be further simplified.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the flexible circuit board 22 has only the rising portion from the rigid substrate 19 perpendicular to the axis of the magnet roll 12 (not shown). The other portions are bent parallel to the rigid substrate 19. In this way, the flexible circuit board 2
2 is a portion rising from the rigid substrate 19, and only needs to be perpendicular to the axis of the magnet roll 12; other portions may be oriented in any direction as they do not affect the conveyance of the toner. Further, in each of the above embodiments, the flexible circuit boards 22 are all bent at right angles, but they may be bent into a curved shape.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which a portion of the recording electrode pattern 20 that is not necessary for the recording operation is covered with a border 30 or is molded. By doing so, the insulation of the recording head can be improved.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the recording device according to the present invention has recording electrode patterns formed on a rigid substrate, and these electrode patterns are connected to a voltage pulse application circuit via a flexible circuit board, thereby enabling recording. It is easy to increase the density of electrodes, and it is easy to obtain a low-cost, high-quality, and highly reliable recording head.
Furthermore, an excellent effect can be obtained in that the arrangement of the voltage pulse applying circuit to the recording head can be freely selected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

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. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a recording head according to still another embodiment of the present invention. . 11...Hollow body, 12...Magnet roll, 13...Hopper, 14...Toner, 18...Recording head, 19... ...Rigid substrate, 2o...Recording electrode pattern, 22...
... Flexible circuit board, 23 ... Flexible board, 2
4... Conductor pattern, 26... Back electrode, 27... Recording medium, 28... Voltage pulse application circuit. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person
1 Figure 2i14 Figure 3

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) 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 supplying magnetic toner onto the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body. 0, a large number of recording electrodes arranged near the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body, a back electrode facing these recording electrodes, and supplying a recording medium between the recording electrode and the back electrode; and a voltage pulse application circuit for selectively applying voltage pulses between each of the recording electrodes and the back electrode, the recording electrodes being attached to the outer peripheral surface of the hollow body. Consisting of recording electrode patterns formed on a non-magnetic and insulating rigid substrate, these recording electrode patterns consist of an insulating flexible substrate and conductive wire turns formed on the same substrate. The rigid substrate is connected to the voltage pulse applying circuit via a flexible circuit board, and the recording device and the hollow body are housed in a magnetic field generated by the magnet. (2) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the flexible circuit board stands up from the rigid substrate in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the magnet. (3) The recording device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rigid substrate is arranged in a tangential direction of a cylinder having a certain diameter centered on the rotation axis of the magnet.