JPS59224384A - Ink recording method and ink recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent problems on maintenance such as clogging of a nozzle from being generated, by a method wherein a solvent is controlledly applied to a recording surface through a recording head, then at least one constituent of a coloring material provided in a transfer body is dissolved by the solvent thus applied, and is transferred onto a recording medium. CONSTITUTION:The recording head 200 is provided with resistance film elements 202 on the surface of a substrate 201 in a density of 4-8 pieces/mm., and an electrical driving signal 120 is impressed by power-supplying electrodes 203, 204. An insulating film 205 is provided on electrode leads and the elements 202, a glass plate 207 provided with parallel grooves 206 is adhered to the upper surface of the film 205, and a solvent 300 is poured in through a solvent pouring-in hole 208 by capillary action. When a voltage pulse VS is impressed on the element 202 to heat it to a temperature of not lower than the boiling point of the solvent, the solvent present on the front side of the element 202 is caused to fly by the pressure of a bubble, is applied to a coloring material 421 of a coloring material transfer body 400 while being controlled, the applied solvent 310 dissolves the coloring material to produce a dissolved coloring material 430 during rotation of the transfer body 400, and the dissolved coloring material 430 is transferred onto the recording paper 500 by a pressure roller 620, resulting in a record 440 of the coloring material. Accordingly, problems such as clogging of a nozzle are prevented from occurring, and maintainability is enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an ink recording method and ink recording method for recording characters, figures, images, etc. on a recording medium such as paper using a color material using a recording head controlled by an electric signal. It is related to the device.

Conventional Structures and Problems There are many so-called inkjet printers that control recording of colored ink in accordance with electrical signals.

That is, these inkjet printers can be classified into electrostatic acceleration method, pressurized vibration method, and other methods.

The electrostatic acceleration method supplies ink by applying static pressure to an ink nozzle with a diameter of about 100 μm, places an acceleration electrode in front of the nozzle, and applies a voltage between the nozzle and the acceleration electrode. This method draws out the ink particles one after another.

These include electric field control type and charged particle deflection control type.

The electric field control type has approximately soV between the ink nozzle and the platen.
A high voltage of ~2,500V is applied, and the static pressure applied to the ink maintains the balance in the state just before the ink flies, and a signal corresponding to the image signal is superimposed on this bias voltage to generate only the ink droplets required for recording. Let it fly and record it.

A variation of this type is to provide a second substrate on a substrate on which a plurality of recording electrodes are arranged, and form a thin slit between them.
There is also a type called a plane scanning slit jet type in which ink to which static pressure is applied is interposed between the two, and a signal voltage is applied to each recording electrode to selectively fly and record ink droplets corresponding to pixels and lines.

The charged particle deflection control type applies a high voltage between the ink nozzle and the platen to make charged ink droplets fly, and by the time the ink droplets reach the recording paper, any ink droplets unnecessary for recording are removed. By controlling the control voltage of the deflection electrode, only the droplets that are directed to the gutter and need to be recorded reach the recording paper. Ink that enters the gutter is collected, circulated by a pump, and reused.

In addition, in this type, multiple ink nozzles are lined up,
- A configuration that records characters in a row at the same time, or a configuration in which one nozzle is deflected vertically and moved horizontally to record image signals of multiple lines at once.

On the other hand, the pressurized vibration method generally uses a piezoelectric element to apply mechanical vibrations such as ultrasonic waves to the nozzle to control the ink droplets that are generated at regular intervals, so that only the droplets necessary for recording are produced. We control the frequency of ultrasonic vibrations and the scattering angle of generated droplets so that they reach the recording paper.
Unwanted droplets are removed by controlled deflection or controlled air pressure.

This method includes vibration frequency control type, spray angle control type,
There are charged particle deflection control type, pressure control type, etc.O Vibration frequency control type is an on-demand type inkjet that modulates the ultrasonic frequency of a piezoelectric element with an image signal to form only the ink droplets necessary for recording. It is a method. In areas where image signals do not need to be recorded, the vibration frequency is modulated so as to suppress the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrating element, and only recording droplets are selectively ejected and recorded. There are two types of this type: single cabinet type and double cabinet type.

Furthermore, a multi-nozzle type in which a plurality of ink nozzles are arranged for character recording can also be constructed. This model has two ink nozzles.
It is composed of two glass plates put together, one glass has an ink chamber, an ink circulation groove, and a nozzle, and the other glass has a piezoelectric element attached to it, which vibrates.
Spray ink.

In the spray angle control type, ink droplets are formed by the vibration of a piezoelectric element, and then when a voltage is applied between the ring-shaped electrodes provided at both ends of the nozzle and the nozzle, the ink droplets are charged and the amount of charge is changed. In response, the droplets fly while spreading out like a spray. This spread angle is controlled by the charge/g voltage, so when an aperture is passed after the ring electrode,
A portion of the center of the ink droplet sprayed between the charged ring electrode and the aperture reaches the recording paper, and recording is performed.

The charged particle deflection control type uses piezoelectric pressurized vibrations to sandwich the flying ink droplets and charge the ink droplets, and the ink droplets passing between the electrodes are charged. The flying direction of the ink droplets is controlled by the ink droplets, and ink droplets that do not need to be recorded are deflected and dropped onto the gutter and collected.

In this type, it is important to synchronize the timing of droplet formation and the timing of charging, and in order to prevent mutual interference between charged ink droplets due to electrostatic force,
Adopts a guard, drop method, etc. that charges every other piece alternately.

Furthermore, in this type, a so-called microdot or inkjet recording type is also known, in which satellite ink particles that are generated late with the flight of ink droplets are selectively charged and recorded.

The pressure control type pressurizes the ink by applying air pressure to perform recording.The air valve is mechanically controlled by the image signal, and only the small droplets of ink required for recording are released by opening the valve and flying out with the air to perform recording. .

Other known methods include bubble jet printers and electroosmotic printers. The bubble jet type supplies ink into a closed groove or closed tube, heats the ink with a resistive element using an electrical signal corresponding to an image signal, generates bubbles, and uses the resulting pressure to make the ink fly. A single element or a plurality of these elements are arranged to record an ink image in a dot-sequential or line-sequential manner.

On the other hand, in the electroosmotic type, multiple recording electrode grooves that allow ink to move are arranged on the surface of a dielectric substrate, and a porous membrane is inserted between this array surface and the mesoche electrode. A signal voltage corresponding to the image signal is selectively applied between the groove and the mesh electrode, and the ink image is created line-by-line by ion movement based on electroosmosis in the thickness direction of the porous membrane and the surface direction of the dielectric substrate surface. is recorded by contact with the recording paper.

However, these various conventional ink printers have unavoidable drawbacks that should be improved.

In other words, the ink used in this type of ink printer is not used as a coloring material due to maintenance problems such as nozzle clogging due to solvent evaporation, or to prevent operational deterioration and instability due to increased viscosity. A so-called dye that uses a dye and dissolves it directly in a solvent without using a binder.
It is known that solvent-based colored inks are used.

However, dyes are subject to material limitations due to the design of ink printers, and the amount of dyes mixed into the solvent is limited to a low concentration, making it difficult to achieve high recording densities, and great efforts have been made to improve these dyes. It is also well known that there are

In addition, even with ink printers that use dye-solvent colored inks, problems such as clogging of ink nozzles due to evaporation of the solvent, decreased light resistance of recorded images due to lack of binder, lack of gloss, etc. There are still some drawbacks that need further improvement in terms of maintenance, recorded image quality, etc.

Furthermore, printers based on liquid recording essentially have to sacrifice their original recording performance due to the mixing and dissolution of a single foreign substance called dye, and conventional colored ink recording methods have not been able to improve the performance of printers. also raises an issue.

In addition, in conventional recording methods and recording devices that record conventional colored inks, when changing the recording color, in multi-color or even full-color recording, a plurality of inks are used corresponding to the number of colors or the number of primary colors. To the record, it is necessary to prepare a de,
The apparatus becomes complicated and the above recording using a single recording head is not possible.

Against the background of the inherent difficulties of conventional colored ink recording systems and recording apparatuses that exceed the purpose of the invention, the present invention solves maintenance problems such as nozzle clogging due to solvent evaporation, instability of operation due to dye contamination, etc. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an ink recording method and a recording device that solve problems such as performance deterioration, ink design constraints, lack of light fastness and gloss of recorded images due to the absence of a binder, and complexity of recording devices due to multiple recording heads during color recording. shall be.

Composition of the Invention A recording method and a recording device thereof according to the present invention include a coloring material,
In an ink composition containing as a constituent material a solvent that dissolves at least one component of the coloring material, the coloring material is disposed on a transfer body, the solvent is disposed on an electrically controlled recording head, and the recording The recording of the solvent is electrically controlled on the recording surface through the head, and the recording solvent dissolves at least one component of the coloring material arranged on the transfer body, and the coloring material is transferred to the recording paper or the like. The principle is to transfer the image to a recording medium.

Description of examples Examples of the present invention will be described below.

In the above configuration, the present invention can be configured to use any of the dye alone type, dye-binder type, pigment-binder type, and dye/pigment mixed-binder type as the coloring material. Of course, the dyes and pigments as colorants and the binder may each contain multiple types of materials, and may also contain surfactants, plasticizers, and other auxiliary agents.

In these four ink types, it is desirable that both the dye and the binder are all soluble in the recording solvent, but this is not necessarily the case. It will be good if you do.

That is, in a dye-only type, part of the dye is part of the dye, in a dye-binder type, part of at least one of the dye or binder is part of the dye, in a pigment-binder type, part of the binder is part of the dye, and in a dye-pigment-binder type, part of the dye is part of the dye. Alternatively, at least one part of the burner may be configured to be soluble in the recording solvent. The reason for this is that by dissolving a portion of the coloring material, transferability to the recording medium can be imparted, and the coloring material can be transferred and attached to the recording medium.

When the recording solvent is aqueous, water-soluble dyes such as acidic, basic, and direct dyes are used as colorants, and when the recording solvent is oil-based, oil-soluble dyes (such as oil-soluble dyes) are used. ) is used. The dye may be in powder, paste or liquid form, but paste or liquid dyes are preferred in order to increase solubility in the recording solvent.

For example, the dye is in liquid form, so-called liquid dye.
For example, the recording solvent is alcohol.

If it contains glycol ether, ketone, ester, or aromatic hydrocarbon, it is called Mo under the trade name Morton Chemical.
refast Liquid dye, and the same company's Automate for recording solvents such as Ganlin, naphtha, kerosene, and water-insoluble aliphatic or aromatic solvents.
Liquid dye and the like are preferred materials.

Pigments as colorants can be used regardless of whether they are organic pigments or inorganic pigments.

As the binder material constituting the coloring material, most binder materials used in ordinary paints, offset inks, and gravure inks can be used. However, if color stains are coated on a sheet-like recording medium in advance and stored and used as needed, those that change or harden due to air, moisture, light, etc., or that harden naturally, cannot be dissolved by the recording medium. Therefore, it is necessary to select a so-called reversible dissolving material that does not change or harden naturally.

When the recording solvent is water-based, the binder is a water-based resin for paint, such as alkyd resin, OylF IJ-alkyd resin, epoxy ester, acrylic resin, melamine resin, etc., and the trade name is Watersol, etc. manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals. be.

When the recording solvent is non-aqueous, the reversibly dissolving binder is preferably a solid resin, such as a 100% carbonic acid resin, a natural resin-modified carbonic acid resin such as pine resin, a natural resin-modified maleic acid resin, or a natural resin-modified pentaerythritol resin. etc. (for example, Dainippon Ink & Chemicals Co., Ltd.'s trade name Benocasite), 2 petroleum resins (for example, Nippon Petrochemicals Co., Ltd.'s trade name Neopolymer), nitrocellulose r, vinegar m, c/l/
0-7;.

Polyamide, polystyrene resin, etc. can be used.

The transfer material to which the coloring material is applied is a plastic film with a thickness of about 12 to 50 μm, a sheet of cell-mouthed fiber paper, Fristic fiber paper, etc., taking into account the misalignment during transfer and mechanical strength. It is possible to form a sheet-like transfer body, a roll-like endless structure in which both ends of these sheet-like transfer bodies are connected, or a roller-like structure.

These transfer bodies are required to have low ink receptivity compared to the recording medium so that the colorant dissolved in the recording solvent can be easily transferred to the recording medium such as recording paper.

This condition is usually achieved by selecting the adhesive strength of the applied coloring material to be lower on the transfer body than on the recording medium.

From this point of view, the transfer body is formed to have a non-porous smooth surface, except in special cases. If the transfer body is porous, a material with weak adhesive strength is selected for the colorant or binder.

In addition, although the transfer material is not significantly dissolved in the recording solvent,
The material is chosen so that it does not dissolve at all.

This satisfies the condition that the ink receptivity for the dissolved colorant is chosen to be lower than that for the recording medium.

The coloring material is usually formed into a liquid ink using the same solvent as the recording solvent or a different solvent, and then applied to the transfer member and dried.

Biaxially stretched films and cellophane films of polypropylene, polyamide, polyester, polystyrene, polyvinyl alcohol, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, cellulose acetate, polyimide, etc. are used as the sheet-like transfer material, and these are necessary. Depending on the situation, the surface can be coated or laminated with other synthetic resins. In addition, in order to improve the adhesive strength of the coloring material and to increase the contact area of the coated coloring material with the recording solvent, corona treatment is applied to the film surface, or foamed film (for example, Toyobo Co., Ltd.'s product name, Toyopearl, biaxially oriented polypropylene foamed film) or the like can be used, and a so-called rough surface having minute irregularities formed on one surface of the film can be used. Further, by mixing a foaming agent or the like, the coating material can be foamed to expand the area of contact with the recording solvent, thereby improving the dissolution transfer sensitivity.

In addition, in order to prevent the coloring material from naturally peeling off from the film surface, other binders that do not dissolve in the recording solvent but have adhesive properties to the surface of the film transfer material may be mixed into the coloring material, or In order to impart fine irregularities to the recording medium, a binder that is not compatible with the recording solvent-soluble binder may be selected and mixed.

When forming the transfer body in the form of a roller, the colorant may be applied to the transfer body by heating and melting a heat-melting binder-type coloring material, or a quick-drying solvent may be added to the coloring material to form a quick-drying ink. Coat it on a roller-shaped transfer body, dry it, dissolve it in a recording solvent, and transfer it.
Thereafter, by repeating the application of quick-drying ink and drying, an inexpensive recording device can be formed, whereas the sheet-like transfer member described above is disposable.

The roller-shaped transfer body can be made of any insulating material such as plastic or rubber, or conductive material such as metal. However, when the roller forms a recording platen and the solvent is contacted with the recording head for recording, at least its surface is made of an insulating material.

In the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, in all the conventional ink printers described above, color material can be recorded on a recording medium by using a solvent instead of the colored ink and controlling recording on the recording surface.

In this case, in order to uniformly dissolve and transfer the colorant onto a recording medium such as recording paper, a fairly constant time constant must be maintained in order to bring the colorant into contact with a large amount of recording solvent and achieve saturated dissolution. There is a need. From this point of view, recording can be done by scanning the solvent in a direction almost perpendicular to the moving direction of the recording surface, or by arranging multiple recording head elements in a width corresponding to the recording surface, and moving the recording surface in the direction of movement. It is recommended to use the so-called slit jet, valve jet, or electro-osmotic type plane scanning recording head, which records the solvent line-sequentially in a time-division or parallel manner in a direction substantially perpendicular to the recording head.

In this case, in the above-mentioned slit-jet recording heads that record with a solvent using Coulomb force, etc., the opposing recording platen, transfer roller, etc. are made of a conductive material such as metal, and a voltage is applied between them and the recording head. It can also be used as a counter electrode.

The solvent recording surface may be moved intermittently relative to the recording head in synchronization with a signal voltage applied to the recording head, or may be moved continuously.

The amount of coloring material deposited on the transfer member is desirably selected to be about 1 to 15 μm in dry state in terms of thickness. If this thickness is too small, the recording density cannot be achieved due to insufficient amount of colorant being dissolved and transferred to the recording medium, and if it is too thick, the viscosity of the dissolved colorant becomes excessive, causing the recording medium to peel. , transcription recording may become difficult.

In multi-gradation recording, full color recording, etc., it is necessary to dissolve and transfer the coloring material faithfully according to the amount of recording solvent.For these applications, the coloring material must be a dye alone, or both the dye and binder must be in the recording solvent. It is recommended to use dye-binder type colorants that are dissolved in On the other hand, when weather resistance is required, a pigment-binder type or a dye/pigment mixture-binder type coloring material composition is recommended.

In the colorant-binder type colorant composition, the mixing weight ratio of the dye/pigment as the colorant and the binder is usually selected within the range of 1:26 to 1:1. Too little coloring material will lead to too little recording reflection density, and too much coloring material will result in a relative lack of binder, resulting in insufficient gloss of the recorded image and deterioration in weather resistance.

The recording medium is not necessarily made of any material; plastic film, ordinary recording paper, printing paper, etc. are used.

When the recording medium is made of paper, either plain paper or coated paper can be selected as appropriate, but from the viewpoint of recording resolution and high chromaticity due to overlapping recording such as full color, for example, one print on the surface!
Calcium carbonate, etc. is coated within 1120g to improve ink receptivity compared to plain paper, such as glossiness (
It is recommended to use so-called matte coated paper, dull coated paper, etc. having a Tappi value of about 0 to 35.

In the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, it is the solvent itself that is controlled to be recorded on the recording surface from the recording head.

Therefore, by changing the color of the coloring material on the transfer body, images of different colors can be recorded with a single recording head.

Furthermore, multicolor recording can be performed by sequentially overlapping recording of a plurality of color materials of different colors. In this case, full-color image recording can be performed using four primary colors including cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These different colors can be placed periodically on the same sheet-like transfer body, or they can be applied to separate roller-like transfer bodies corresponding to the colors and used by switching alternately. good.

In these cases, faithful color reproduction requires the coloring material to be accurately dissolved and transferred to a predetermined position.

This effective means is to melt-transfer or ink record a marker on the edge of the recording medium in response to a signal voltage in the process of dissolving and transferring the first coloring material to the recording medium, and to transfer the second and subsequent coloring materials. Dissolution transfer can be easily achieved by providing a means for photoelectrically detecting the marker and controlling the position correction of the dissolution transfer using the electric signal.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the above-mentioned configuration of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The dissolution transfer recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention can use all of the conventional recording heads described above.

Specifically, the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention are applicable to the selection of the recording surface of the solvent, that is, from the solvent recording method using the recording head, to the color material surface type, the color material back type, the recording medium surface type,
It can be roughly divided into four types: transfer recording type.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and this embodiment is an example of a coloring material surface type.

In the following examples, for convenience of explanation, the recording head is depicted as being separated from the solvent recording surface and performing flying recording. This term also refers to the case where a recording head is brought into contact with a recording surface and recording is performed by contacting a solvent.

In the figure, 100 is a drive power source that generates an electric signal 120 for driving the recording head 200 in response to an input electric signal 110. Reference numeral 400 denotes a color material transfer body, and dye alone type, dye-binder type, dye/pigment mixed-binder type,
It is constructed by coating a pigment-binder type coloring material 420 and is wound around a cylindrical platen 610 such as rubber or metal that rotates intermittently or continuously in synchronization with the drive electric signal 120.

A recording head 200 is installed facing the surface of the coloring material 420, and a solvent 300 that dissolves at least one component of the coloring material 420 is applied to the recording head 200 in response to the input electrical signal 110 and therefore the drive electrical signal 120. Color transfer material 40
Recording is controlled using the surface of the 0 coloring material 420 as the solvent recording surface.

The coloring material 41 that comes into contact with this recording solvent 310
0 is dissolved during the rotation of the cylindrical recording platen 610 as shown by an arrow 611, and this dissolved coloring material 430 is brought into contact between a pressure roller 620 such as rubber and the surface of the coloring material 420 to feed the paper. The color material is transferred onto the surface of recording paper 600, which is a medium, to produce a transferred recording color material 440. Recording platen 610
The color material transfer body 4 that has come out of the pressure gap between the pressure roller 620 and the pressure roller 620
06 and the recording medium 60g are immediately separated by a stripper 630.

If this separation is delayed too much, it becomes difficult to separate the color material transfer body 100 and the recording medium 500. If this is forcibly peeled off, the coloring material 420 adjacent to the dissolved coloring material 430 will become tangled and peeled off, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the recorded image. Therefore, installing a stripping means such as a stripper 630 is necessary to prevent the quality of the recorded image from deteriorating. It is an effective means from this point of view.

In such a coloring material surface type, the coloring material 4 is formed by the recording solvent 310.
The dissolution of the coloring material 20 is selected so as to be completed at least during the period from when the recording head 2o○ controls recording of the solvent 300 on the surface of the coloring material 420 to when the stripper 630 peels it off.

In the example of FIG. 1, after the coloring material 420 is dissolved by the recording solvent 310, it is transferred to the recording medium 500. The recording medium 500 is continuously pressed against the surface of the coloring material 420 between two rollers 620, and after the recording head 200 records the solvent 300 on the surface of the coloring material 420, the recording medium 500 is immediately pressed onto the surface of the coloring material 420.
It is also possible to melt the coloring material 420 and transfer it to the recording medium 600 at the same time during the transition period between the two pressure rollers while also contacting the zero surface.

This method is effective from the viewpoint of preventing deterioration of the recorded image due to excessive diffusion of the recording solvent 310 on the surface of the coloring material 420.

Thus, in the coloring material surface type shown in FIG. 1, the recording head 200
The solvent 300 is controlled to be recorded on the surface of the coloring material 420, the dissolved coloring material 430 is transferred to the recording medium 600, and coloring material recording 440 is performed in response to the input electrical signal 110.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and this embodiment is an example of the color material rear side type.

The color material transfer body 400 is a sheet-shaped porous transfer body 411, and the color material 4 is impregnated onto one surface of the sheet-like porous transfer body 411 or into the transfer body 411.
20 is applied.

A recording medium 600 such as a recording paper is inserted between the surface of the recording platen 610 rotating as indicated by an arrow 611 and the coloring material 420 surface of the coloring material transfer body 400, and is peeled off after leaving the pressure roller 620. Ru.

The solvent 300 is controlled to record on the back surface of the transfer body 411 opposite to the back surface where the coloring material 420 is coated, that is, the surface of the transfer body 411 that is opposite to the back surface where the coloring material is coated.

This recording solvent 310 permeates through the thickness direction of the transfer body 411 due to its porous nature, dissolves the coloring material, and dissolves the dissolved coloring material 43.
0 is formed and is also dissolved and transferred onto the surface of the recording medium 500 to form the recording color material 440.

The dissolution of the coloring material 420 by the recording solvent 310 ends during the period from the recording control of the solvent 300 by the recording head 200 until the solvent 300 leaves the pressure roller 620, and at the same time, they are contacted and transferred onto the surface of the recording medium 500.

The porous transfer body 411 has a thin thickness and a structure in which the recording solvent 310 quickly permeates in the thickness direction and does not significantly diffuse in the plane and reduce the resolution of the recorded image.
The material is selected so that it will not be dissolved in the liquid, but will penetrate effectively in the thickness direction.

For example, the porous transfer body 411 has a thickness of 20 mm.
With a thickness of about 30 μm, known electrolytic capacitor paper made of Manila hemp fibers is effective regardless of whether the solvent 300 is water-insoluble or water-soluble.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration showing still another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and this embodiment shows an example of the recording medium surface type.

In the recording medium surface type, the solvent is directly recorded on the surface of the recording medium as the solvent recording surface. The coloring material is transferred to this recording solvent, and the coloring material is dissolved and transferred onto the surface of the recording medium.

In the figure, a recording platen 6 rotates intermittently or continuously as indicated by an arrow 611 in synchronization with a drive electric signal 120.
A first pressure roller 621 and a second pressure roller 2622 made of rubber or the like are provided on the pressure roller 621 .
Between 622 and recording 1277610, there is a sheet-like recording medium 500 such as recording paper, and a coloring material 42 is placed on the surface of this medium 500.
The color material transfer body 400 is inserted and the paper is fed so that the color material transfer body 400 is in contact with the color material transfer body 400 .

Solvent 300 is applied from the recording head 200 to the surface of the recording medium 500.
When recording is controlled, the first pressure roller 6 is immediately moved before the recording solvent 310 is completely absorbed into the medium SOO.
21 and brought into contact with the coloring material 420.

The coloring material 420 is applied to the first and second rollers 621 and 622.
During the movement, it is dissolved in the recording solvent 310 and transferred onto the surface of the recording medium 500, producing a recorded color moon 440.

In this embodiment, the first and second rollers 621°622
The paper feeding movement period between the recording solvent 310 and the coloring material 42
The time constant is set to be greater than the time constant that saturates and dissolves 0.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and this embodiment is an example of a transfer recording type.

In this example, the surface on which the solvent is recorded is the surface of the transfer roller, the solvent is recorded on the transfer roller, and then this is transferred to the coloring material. After dissolving the coloring material, this dissolved coloring material is Transfer to a recording medium to obtain a recording color material.

In this embodiment, the color material transfer body 400 includes a roller-shaped transfer body 411 such as a rubber or metal cylinder, and a color material 421 applied to the surface thereof. The coloring material 421 is formed by being applied and dried by a sponge body 412 impregnated with quick-drying coloring material ink, which is provided in contact with the surface of the roller-shaped transfer body 411.

The quick-drying color material ink is based on whether the color material 421 is water-soluble or water-insoluble, and dissolves at least one component thereof. A coloring material 421 is suspended or dissolved in a solvent, and if necessary, after applying it with a sponge body 412, a means for blowing hot air or the like onto the applied surface to accelerate drying of the solvent may be installed as appropriate. can.

The recording platen on which recording of the solvent 300 is controlled from the recording head 200 also serves as a transfer roller 621, and receives the driving electric signal 1.
20, it rotates intermittently or continuously as shown by an arrow 611.

Recording solvent 31 controlled to be recorded on the surface of the transfer roller 612
0 is transferred to the surface of the coloring material 421 on the surface of the roller-shaped transfer body 411 to form a dissolved color moon 431. This dissolved coloring material 43
1 is transferred onto a recording paper 600, which is a recording medium, by a pressure roller 623 to produce a recording color material 440.

The rotation time of the transfer body 4110 from when the recording solvent 310 is transferred onto the coloring material 421 until it is transferred to the recording paper 500 by the pressure roller 623 is equal to or longer than the time constant until the recording solvent 310 saturatesly dissolves the coloring material 421. selected.

The surface of the roller-like transfer body 612 on which the recording solvent 310 has been transferred onto the coloring material 421 is covered with an eraser 613 made of a sponge body impregnated with alcohol toluene or the like.
10 and the coloring material 421 are wiped off to prepare for the next recording control of the recording solvent 310.

Note that when the recording head 200 performs flying recording of the solvent 300, the material of the transfer body 612 is a non-conductive material.

Regardless of the conductive material, when contact recording is performed using an electroosmotic recording head or the like, at least the surface of the recording electrode is made of a non-conductive material such as plastic or rubber in order to prevent electrical short circuits of the recording electrode.

Note that the diffusion of the recording solvent 310 reduces the resolution of the recorded image on the recording medium 500, that is, the recorded color 440.

For this improvement, the transfer body 61 is used to record the flight of the solvent 300.
It is effective to apply a low surface tension liquid repellent such as a fluororesin or a fluorinated surfactant to the 2 surface. In addition, contact recording with the solvent 300, including the above, is performed using an etching method similar to gravure plate making, with a density similar to or higher than the recording density of the recording solvent 310, for example, 200 mesh or more, the same diameter, and fine opening and closing. Etching the holes has the advantage that the recording solvent 310 is contained within the holes and its diffusion can be prevented.

In this case, applying a liquid repellent as described above to the surface of the transfer body 612 except for the etching holes has the advantage that the resolution of the recorded image can be further improved.

In order to make the cooling of the recording color material 440 more effective, another pressure roller is provided in addition to the roller 623, and immediately after the recording solvent 310 is transferred from the transfer body 612 to the surface of the color material 421, , the recording paper 500 can be brought into close contact with this coloring material surface.

In this embodiment, the color material transfer member 400 can be used semi-permanently by repeatedly applying quick-drying color material ink, as in the case of FIGS. 1 to 3.

Of course, even in this embodiment, the roller-shaped transfer body 411 may be used as a mere roller, and a sheet-shaped transfer body as shown in FIG. You can get the image.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the recording platen 610 is
The roller-shaped transfer body 400 shown in FIG.
It can also be used endlessly and semi-permanently by replacing a sheet-like transfer body by constructing a structure in which it can be applied repeatedly with a 12-coat film or the like.

Furthermore, in the configurations shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the color material transfer body 40
0 is made into a sheet and its both ends are connected to form a roll-like endless structure, and the transfer bodies 410, 411
Alternatively, the quick-drying color ink can be reapplied with a sponge or the like after the dissolution and transfer is completed, and the ink can be reused.

In this case, since the color transfer member 400 is not disposable, there is an advantage that the color material recording cost can be reduced.

In the recording method and recording apparatus of the present invention, the coloring material 440 (i7 recording is performed on the recording medium 500 faithfully in accordance with the input electric signal 110 and the drive electric signal 120, the recording solvent 310 is controlled to be recorded on the recording surface. Each of the recording solvents 310
It is necessary to ensure a nearly constant contact time constant to saturate and dissolve the colored moon 420.421 that is brought into close contact with the surface.

Particularly when the input electrical signal 110 is a two-dimensional image signal, if the contact time constant is insufficient, the recording color material 440
If the reflection density is insufficient or non-uniform, the quality of the recorded color material image will be significantly degraded. The problem with this problem is that when the number of nozzles in the recording head 200 is small, the solvent 300 can be scanned in a line-sequential manner by moving the recording head 200 in a reciprocating direction almost perpendicular to the direction of movement of the recording surface. good.

From this point of view, it is particularly effective to use an electronic plane scanning type recording head in which a plurality of recording nozzles are arranged in a width corresponding to the width of the recording surface and can perform line-sequential recording.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective partial structure and a recording state diagram of a recording head particularly useful for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

This embodiment shows another embodiment of a color-absorbing surface type recording method and recording apparatus using a known bubble jet printer capable of electronic planar recording scanning.

The recording head 200 includes a substrate 2 such as a glazed alumina plate.
A plurality of resistive film elements 202 made of tantalum nitride or the like are provided on the surface of 01 at a density of about 4 to 8 per breath, and each is connected to the drive power source 100 through the power supply electrode leads 203 and 204, and the drive electric signal 120 is applied. This element 202
A thin insulating film 205 made of silicon oxide or the like is deposited on the electrode leads 203 and 204, and a width and depth is formed on the deposited surface to accommodate the upper element 202 and the electrode leads 203 and 204, respectively. Parallel grooves 2 with both diameters of about 60 to 70 μm
A glass plate 207 processed with 06 is bonded.

The solvent 300 is injected into the groove 206 from the solvent injection hole 208 by capillary action.

Now, as shown in the figure, when the voltage pulse VS is applied as the drive electric signal 120 and the resistance element 202 is heated to a temperature higher than the boiling point of the solvent 300, the solvent 3o in the groove 206 located above the resistance element 202 is heated.
A part of the solvent 300 vaporizes and generates bubbles, and due to the pressure of the bubbles, the solvent 300 located in front of the resistance element 202 flies as shown by the dotted arrow in the figure and is recorded on the color material 421 of the color material transfer body 400. The recording solvent 310 is dissolved during the rotation of the color material transfer body 4000 to produce a dissolved color material 430,
The color material 440 is transferred onto the recording paper 500 by the pressure roller 620 to obtain the recording color material 440.

The color material transfer body 4o○ is roller-shaped and also serves as a recording platen.
The coloring material 421 is endlessly applied onto the surface of the roller-shaped transfer body 413 from a sponge body 412 impregnated with quick-drying coloring material ink.

In this type of recording head, a plurality of recording nozzles corresponding to the parallel grooves 206 are arranged in a plane. Since the recording of the solvent 300 can be controlled, a substantially constant time constant can be ensured for the dissolution of the coloring material 421 by the recording solvent 430, which has the advantage that a good coloring material image can be recorded.

In addition, since the recording head of this embodiment uses the ejection of the solvent by bubble pressure, if the temperature rise of the resistance element 202 is set to exceed the boiling point of the solvent used, the solvent 300 can be water, alcohol-based, etc. You can freely select not only water-soluble materials such as, but also non-water-soluble materials such as xylene and toluene. Therefore, there is a wide degree of freedom in selecting the material of the coloring material 421, and there is an advantage that an extremely useful recording device can be realized.

FIG. 6 shows a perspective partial structure and a recording state diagram of a recording head that is particularly useful for the recording apparatus of the present invention.

This embodiment is particularly useful for performing gradation recording on a recording medium surface type using an electroosmotic printer.

In the figure, the recording head 200 includes a recording electrode 209 (pitch P), an electrode groove 210 (width σp, depth d)'f: a dielectric substrate 211 made of glass or the like, a porous film 212 (thickness t), Using the mesh electrode 213 as a constituent material, a solvent modulating section 214 (length L) and a solvent focusing section 216 (length L') are formed. The solvent 300 supplied from the outside is selected so as to electropenetrate both the thickness direction of the porous membrane 212 and the surface of the dielectric substrate 211 in the negative potential direction.

In the recording electrode 209, the solvent 3o○ at the tip of the electrode groove 209 is transferred to the arrow 302 in the figure by electroosmosis in the thickness direction of the porous membrane 212.
A positive off-potential of constant amplitude that sucks up as V. (f) and a negative drive signal voltage Vs whose pulse width (Pw) is modulated by an input electrical signal with the vOfi potential as a reference are applied alternately.

Since the rear part of the solvent 300 is sealed with the sealing agent 216, the solvent 300 is pumped into the electrode groove 210 by electroosmosis in the thickness direction of the porous membrane 212 due to the vs, and its displacement causes the porous membrane 2
The solvent is accelerated by L/d times within 12 and is pushed out toward the solvent converging section 215 as indicated by an arrow 301.

In the solvent focusing section 215, this solvent 300 is transferred to the recording electrode 2.
Based on the electric field (VB-VO(1)/P(1-17)) between 09 and 09, it is focused by electroosmosis in the direction of the surface of the dielectric substrate 2110, and contacts the surface of the recording paper 500 on the recording platen 614 in a dotted manner for recording control. to produce a recording solvent 310.

Therefore, by alternately switching vs and vOff, it is possible to perform bisecting line sequential recording corresponding to the input electrical signal.

In this case, the paper feed motor 627 and the paper feed roller 6
When the recording paper 500 is continuously fed by 25, vs
A recording solvent 310 having a length corresponding to the pulse width (Pw) is formed on the surface of the recording paper 500 as illustrated in the figure. In this way, the recording solvent 310 is immediately moved to the first pressure roller 624 . When the coloring material 420 side of the coloring material transfer body 400 is pressed and brought into close contact with the recording paper 500 side by the second pressure roller 626, the coloring material 420 is dissolved by the recording solvent 310 during the period of movement between the rollers 624 and 626. Along with 600 pieces of recording paper
When the recording color material 440 is transferred to the surface and leaves the second roller 626, a recording color material 440 having a length corresponding to the pulse width of vs is obtained, and gradation recording is possible.

Therefore, a video image is used as an input electrical signal, A/D converted, and serial/parallel converted and stored in a line memory.
Using the drive electric signal vs subjected to pulse width modulation processing,
By performing bipartite line sequential recording, a multi-tone color material image can be recorded.

As the dielectric substrate 211, for example, Ndarite or borosilicate glass with a thickness of 1.5 to 3 mm is used, and its surface is etched with a pitch P of 126 μm (8 lines/mna) by photo-etching.
)Width ap is 60~70/J m, depth d is 16~
An electrode groove 210 of 30 μm is formed, and the recording electrode 209 is
Subsequently to r, Au is deposited to a thickness of approximately 0.2 μm and 1.6 μm, respectively. The thickness of the porous membrane 212 is 8
0~150μm, porosity 6o~80chi, average pore size 0
．． A microporous membrane filter of 1 to 10 μm is used.

The porous membrane 212 is usually made of a mixed ester of cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate or cellulose acetate. The mesh electrode 213 is constructed by photo-etching approximately 100 to 200 meshes of pores on a phosphor bronze plate having a thickness of 50 to 10.mu.m.

The solvent 300 is a halogenated paraffin, particularly a chlorinated paraffin such as n-octyl chloride, and a charge control agent such as an alkyl group,
12>n, ≧8゜Polyoxyethylene alkylphenol ether with HLB of about 5 to 18 from 0.1 to
Consists of 10% by weight.

This type of solvent 300 exhibits good electroosmosis in the thickness direction of the cellulose ester porous membrane 212 and the surface direction of the dielectric substrate 211 in the negative potential direction.

As the transfer body 410, high-density paper such as a plastic notebook, capacitor paper, glassine paper, etc., which is insoluble in the solvent 300 and has a thickness of about 12 to 60 μm, is usually used. For the above example of the solvent 300, a biaxially stretched film of polyvinyl alcohol, polypropylene, cellophane, polyethylene tennotalate, etc. is suitable, and if necessary, the surface thereof is treated with a thin coating of polyvinylidene chloride, etc. be able to. As the coloring agent forming the coloring material 420, an oil-soluble dye or an organic or inorganic pigment is used. The binder is preferably a 100% carbonic acid resin, a natural resin-modified carbonic acid resin, etc., which is reversibly dissolved in the solvent 300.
Natural resin-modified maleic acid resin, natural resin-modified pentaeryth'J)-ru resin, petroleum resin, polystyrene resin, etc. are used.

When recording a multi-color or full-color image by sequentially overlapping recording as described below by contact recording as in this embodiment, the dye or binder forming the coloring material 420 is transferred to the recording head 200 (!: by contact dissolution). It is desirable to select materials for the dye and binder so as not to significantly reduce the electroosmotic property of the solvent 300 in which the electroosmotic polarity is reversed.

For example, for the 3000 examples of chlorinated paraffin-based solvents mentioned above, for example, for black dyes, disazo-based C,1,5
olive Black 3 (C, 1, Con5t
itution2e125L yellow dye contains monoazo C,1,SolventYellow 16 (C,1
,Con5tition 12700).

Magenta dyes include xanthene C, I, 5olv
entRCd49 (C, 1, Con5titutio
n45170:1).

Cyan dyes include phthalocyanine C, I, 5olv
entBlue 25 (C,I, Con5ti
74350) is a suitable subtractive primary color dye that satisfies the above conditions.

On the other hand, as a binder, petroleum resin (for example, Nippon Petrochemical Co., Ltd.'s Nisseki Neopolymer 120), natural resin-modified maleic acid resin (for example, Dainippon Ink Chemical Co., Ltd.'s Pekkasai)
F-266) satisfies the above-mentioned conditions and has rapid solubility in the halogen η-hibarafine solvent 300.

The above-mentioned dye is dissolved in alcohol, toluene, etc. and applied, or the above-mentioned binder is mixed with 5 to 50% of the above-mentioned dye in a weight mixing section, and then a coloring material ink is dissolved in toluene, xylene, etc., to the above-mentioned sheet form. A color material 42 is applied thinly to a thickness of about 2 to 1 o 11 m in a dry state on the transfer body 410.
0 is dissolved in the aforementioned chlorinated paraffin recording solvent 310 and transferred to the recording medium 500 with an extremely short time constant of 1 second or less.

In addition, a pigment-binder type coloring material 420Ifi using the above-mentioned binder, a carbon black black pigment used for gravure ink etc., a soluble azo yellow pigment, a soluble or insoluble magenta pigment, and a phthalocyanine cyan pigment are used as pigments. Similarly, a rapidly soluble coloring material 420 can be formed by selecting the weight percentage of pigment mixed in the range of about 1 to 30%.

For overlapping recording such as full color recording, in order to achieve high resolution and good color mixing, a mud coated paper with a thickness of about 800 m coated with calcium carbonate powder etc. on the surface is used as the recording medium 500, and color The material 420 is the solvent 3
00 [A dye and binder type configuration is therefore particularly recommended.

FIG. 7 shows experimental results of the recording characteristics of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 6.

The porous membrane 212 is a mixed ester membrane filter of cellulose nitric acid and cellulose acetate with a thickness of 120 μm and an average pore diameter of 3 μm, and a mixed weight percentage of polyoxyethylene nonylphenol ether having an HLB of 14.1. The recording medium 500 is the above-mentioned mud coated paper, the transfer body 410 is a biaxially stretched polyvinyl alcohol transparent film with a thickness of 25 μm, the coloring material 420 is on the surface of this film, and the binder is a petroleum resin ( Nisseki Neopolymer 120) is used, and 25% by weight of a black dye consisting of C, 1,5olvent Black 3 is mixed and dissolved in this coloring material 4.
A color material transfer member 400 coated with No. 20 to a thickness of 7 μm was used.

4. The recording platen 6141 and the paper feed roller 626 both have a diameter of 3o, and the pressure rollers 624 and 626 both have a diameter of 15.
Side note, these are all made of rubber, and the rubber hardness is 60.
degree. Approximately 10 mm from the contact position of the recording head 200 to the recording paper 500, the recording solvent 310 is pressed and adhered to the surface of the hue 420 by the first pressure roller 624, and is dissolved and transferred within a distance of approximately 60 mm from the second roller 626. ,
Recording color material 440 was obtained on recording paper 6001.

The drive electrical signal 120 is volts. ff is +100 V, V
B is 1250V, vs is Pa/1. Space width (Pw) is 5m
The pulse width is modulated within s, and the vo(f and V8 are switched every 5mg) in a bisecting line sequential operation, the main scanning speed, therefore the linear recording speed is 10ma/1ine, and the sub-scanning speed is B.
1 ines/mm, recording density is 81 ines/+
The depth d of the electrode groove 210 was about 20 μm, the length L of the modulating section 214 was about 20 mm, and the length L' of the focusing section 215 was about 100 μm.

In Fig. 7, the horizontal axis is the pulse width modulation signal voltage ■S'
4 russ width PW (m5ec), vertical axis is chronological color - material 4
The color material recording reflection density is 40.

In addition, the figure shows C, I, 5olven in the above-mentioned solvent 300.
The characteristics of ink recording directly on recording paper under the same operating conditions using a colored ink containing 5 weights of tBlack 3 black dye and removing the insoluble condensation with a filter are also shown for comparison.

In the figure, characteristic A is an experimental characteristic by the dissolving transfer recording method according to the present invention, characteristic Bid, and an experimental characteristic by the conventional colored ink recording method.

Characteristic A indicates a recording characteristic similar to characteristic B.

Color material recording density is 5000 paper surface density. , which rises continuously as the pulse width Pw increases, indicating that multi-gradation recording is also possible in the dissolution transfer recording method according to the present invention.

In addition, in the dissolution transfer recording method according to the present invention, what is recorded is the electro-osmotic transparent solvent itself, and unlike the conventional colored ink recording method, recording is caused by a decrease in electro-osmosis due to the mixing of coloring materials. The amount of coloring material mixed is not limited due to a decrease in speed or the solubility of the dye in the solvent, and high reflection density recording is also possible.

As is clear from comparing characteristic A and characteristic B, characteristic A deviates to the narrower pulse width 2W region than characteristic B and operates with a narrow pulse width of about 1/3. Therefore, in the recording method according to the present invention, Compared to the colored ink recording method, high-sensitivity recording is possible, about three times as high.

Furthermore, according to the conventional recording method, since a binder is not mixed into the colored ink, the above-mentioned recording color material can only maintain a light resistance of about 1st grade on the blue scale, whereas the one according to this embodiment has a light resistance of about 4th grade on the blue scale. It has a high luminous intensity comparable to that of grade 1. The light fastness can be further improved by replacing the dye of this example with the pigment described above.

Further, in the conventional colored ink recording method, the ink color that can be recorded by a single recording head is limited to one color. However, in the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, since a transparent solvent is used for recording, there is an advantage that recording in any color can be obtained with a single recording head by simply changing the coloring material of the coloring material transfer body 400. be.

Therefore, the sheet-like transfer body 410 has 3 to 4 sheets as described above.
Multi-color recording can be achieved by coating various primary color colorants, recording binary values of solvent 300, and overlappingly transferring the dissolved colorants; Materials can be recorded.

Note that in the electroosmotic recording head of this example, the solvent 30
Although 0 is recorded in multiple gradations, the bubble jet type recording head described above can only perform binary recording.

In such a case, multi-tone recording is performed by changing the number density of the recording solvent 310 per unit area using a density conversion method such as a known dither method.

For the configuration of the color material transfer body 400, quick solubility in the solvent 300 is important for increasing the recording speed.

This quick dissolution property is influenced by the solubility of the coloring material 420 itself in the solvent 300 as well as the contact area with the recording solvent 310. In particular, the solubility of the color material transfer body 400 that has been stored for a long time may decrease.

For these improvements, it is effective to mix a foaming agent when applying the color material ink to the transfer body 410 and cause the application to foam.

Furthermore, the applied coloring material 420 may peel off naturally due to insufficient adhesion strength to the transfer member 410. In this case, the surface of the transfer body 410 is subjected to corona treatment, or the surface of the transfer body 41
As No. 0, a sheet with a finely uneven surface, such as a foamed polypropylene sheet, is used to improve the adhesive strength. Another effective method is to mix in a small amount of another binder that is compatible with this binder and has adhesive properties to the transfer body 410 in the colorant-binder type coloring material.

Furthermore, an effective method for creating fine irregularities on the surface of a coloring material is to mix and suspend a binder solution that is incompatible with the binder in a coloring material-binder type coloring material.

For example, polyamide resin is an effective incompatible binder for the aforementioned petroleum resin or resin-modified maleic acid resin binder, and by adding this solution at a weight ratio of 1 to 5, the adhesion of the coloring material 420 to the transfer body 410 is improved. In addition to improving strength, it is also effective in forming a rough surface. This is how the foam coloring material described above is created.

The formation of a rough surface coloring material not only improves the solubility in the solvent 300, but also prevents the recording solvent 310 from seeping out and spreading when in close contact with the recording medium 500, which is effective for high-resolution recording. This seepage diffusion has the advantage of being synergistically improved by using mud coated paper as the recording medium 500.

For multi-color or full-color recording, it is useful to use the above-mentioned non-contact or contact-recording type recording head that can perform line-sequential recording using electronic plane scanning.
Color material back type, recording medium surface type.

Any transfer roller type solvent recording method can be applied, but
Considering the recording deviation during overlapping recording of dissolved colorants, a recording medium surface type in which recording of a solvent is directly controlled on the recording medium surface is recommended.
This is a particularly preferred solvent recording method since it is the easiest to correct the recording deviation photoelectrically.

Examples of multi-color and full-color recording methods will be shown below, focusing on a solvent recording method on the surface of a recording medium. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention. Input electrical signal 120 is a color video signal.

The recording head 200 is, for example, the above-mentioned electroosmotic electronic plane scanning printer for contact recording, and the material transfer body 400 is in the form of a sheet, the surface of which is coated with cyan coloring material 420C, magenta coloring material 420M, and yellow coloring material 420Y. Coloring materials of primary colors are regularly applied in the order of C, M, and Y, each having a length and width corresponding to one screen of the coloring material recording video image 441, and are transferred from a spool 644 to a recording solvent via pressure rollers 624 and 626. After being brought into close contact with the recording paper 500 having a diameter of 310, the recording paper 500 is wound onto a spool 643. The recording paper 500, which is a recording medium, is transferred from a spool 641 to an auxiliary roller 661,
662. The recording platen 6152 is wound onto a spool 642 via a paper feed roller 625.

The drive power supply 100 has a signal processing section 101. control unit 102,
Color signal switching section 103. It consists of a recording signal driver part 104.

A synchronizing signal of the input color video signal 110 is detected by the control unit 102, and various control signals are generated using this as a reference. In relation to this control signal, the signal processing unit 101 uses an A/D converter.

The video signal 110 is converted from red (6), green (G), blue) signals to cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (A) primary color signals through frame memory, minicomputer system, etc. At the same time, gamma correction is added, and 4 to 5
A pulse width modulated signal quantized to bits is created.

These cyan, magenta, and yellow are sent as line sequential signals by the color signal switching unit 103 to the recording signal driver part 200 frame sequentially, and also to the recording head 200 as a pulse width modulated line sequential drive electric signal 120. The voltage is applied, and the recording solvent 310 is recorded line-sequentially on the recording paper 500.

In this example, the solvent record 310 includes cyan, magenta,
An example is a case where frames are recorded line-sequentially in the order of yellow. Reference numerals 710 and 720 are reflected light detectors incorporating light emitting diodes, and markers 450 and 451 are recorded in black ink, for example, insoluble in the solvent 300.Reflected light detector 71o.

720 is detected, the color signal switching section 103 supplies a cyan recording signal to the driver part 104 in accordance with the cue signals 711 and 721 and a signal command from the control section 102, and the recording field 200 moves as shown by an arrow 677. to contact the recording paper 600 on the recording platen 615, and the solvent 300
Start with line sequential recording. At the same time, the control unit 102 controls the solvent 3
Start line sequential recording of 00. At the same time, the pressure rollers 624 and 626 move as indicated by arrows 672 in response to the control signal A from the control unit 102 to transfer the color material transfer body 400 to the recording paper 5.
A paper feed motor 627 and a slip motor 652 that are in pressure contact with 00 and rotate in synchronization with the line sequential drive electric signal 12o.
．． 653 rotates as indicated by arrows 671, 673, and 676 in the figure, and the recording paper 600 and color material transfer body 400 move as indicated by the arrows in the figure. Thus, the recording solvent 3 corresponding to the cyan signal
10 is in close contact with the cyan coloring material 420C while the first and second pressure rollers 624 and 626 are running, and is melted and transferred to the second coloring material.
When it comes out of 0-ra 626, cyan recording color material 440C
is obtained on the recording paper 500.

The recording head 200 stops its operation when the solvent recording of the cyan image frame is completed, but the paper feeding 674 is performed so that the recording solvent 310 at the rearmost position satisfies the dissolution time constant of the coloring material 420C in the recording solvent 310. , continues until passing the 20th-Lar 6-6. In this state, the control signal A is no longer present, the paper feed roller 627, and the take-up roller 6
The rotation 671.673.676 of 42°643 is stopped.

In this state, the control signal B from the control unit 102 causes
The pressure rollers 624 and 626 move as shown by the arrow 681 to peel off the color material transfer body 400 from the recording paper 500, the recording head 200 also moves away from the surface of the recording paper 500 as shown by the arrow 682, and the motor 651 moves as shown by the arrow 683. rotates backwards,
The recording paper 500 is rewound as shown by the arrow 684, and the marker 4
50 is detected by the reflected light detector 710, the control signal B stops, and the rewinding of the recording paper 500 also stops.

In this state, the color signal is switched to the magenta signal M. Thereafter, in the same way as when recording the cyan color material 420C, the solvent 300 is applied to the cyan recording color material 440C corresponding to the magenta signal using the control signal A. are recorded in an overlapping manner, and the magenta coloring material 420M is melted and transferred.Furthermore, the yellow coloring material 420Y is similarly melted and transferred on top of that to form coloring material records 440C and 440C.
40M.

Pull color video color material image 4 with 440Y overlapping recording
41 is obtained.

In this embodiment, the coloring material 440C is formed by the recording solvent 310.

In order to satisfy the dissolution time constants of 440M and 440Y, even after the recording of the solvent 300 by the recording end 200 is completed, the final recording solvent 310 of each frame is
Until it passes the second pressure roller 626. It is necessary that the color material transfer member 400 and the recording paper 600 are in pressure contact and in close contact with each other. Therefore, over the part corresponding to this period,
When the transfer body 410 is coated with the colorants 420C, 420M, and 420Y, the recording paper 600 is coated with the colorants 420C, 420M, and 420Y.
.

In some cases, the paper contaminated with 420Y or the coloring material adheres to the recording paper, making it difficult to peel it off in the peeling process as shown by arrow 691.

Therefore, as shown in the plan view in FIG.
It is desirable to provide a non-applied portion 410a with a gap G corresponding to a length greater than or equal to 1.5 degrees.

Note that the marker 460 is attached to the transfer body 410 in the form of a thin strip in the figure.
Although it is provided across the transfer body 410, it may be provided only on the end side of the transfer body 410. In addition, in the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, in order to record a full color image or a multicolor image with color materials, it is necessary to correctly overlay and record each different primary color color material multiple times at a predetermined position. This positional shift significantly degrades the quality of the color material recorded image.

As shown in FIG. 10, this positioning corresponds to sequential recording at the end of the image frame when sequentially recording 3100 lines of recording solvent for the first primary color material, for example, cyan color material 420C in this embodiment. Then, a dot or linear marker solvent is recorded by a nozzle or a recording electrode at the end of the recording head 200 to record the recording color material 441C.

The following magenta and yellow color materials 420M.

For solvent recording for 420Y, use this marker recording color material 441.
C is photoelectrically detected by a reflected light detector 710, and based on this signal, the control unit 102 controls the line sequential timing of each drive electric signal 120 or the motor 627 to adjust the paper feed margin 74, thereby eliminating color shift. Perform color and interest overlapping recording without

This method has an excellent effect in that it can easily cope with expansion and contraction of the recording paper 500 during hue recording. Note that the markers 441C may be recorded in hue at intervals of a plurality of lines, even if the number is the same as in the line-sequential recording. Furthermore, if necessary, a colored ink recording type recording head can be provided separately from the recording head 200 to record markers.

In this embodiment, the color materials were recorded in the order of cyan, magenta, and yellow, but the order of yellow, magenta, cyan, etc. can be changed arbitrarily.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the recording method, recording apparatus, and apparatus according to the present invention. The second embodiment is a further improvement of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8.

The color material transfer body is composed of three primary color color materials 420C, 420M, and 420Y consisting of cyan, magenta, and yellow, each of which is a sponge body 412C.

A roller-shaped transfer body 410C is obtained by impregnating 412M and 412Y with quick-drying ink containing these coloring materials.

410M and 410M surfaces, respectively.

In this embodiment, the paper feed roller 625 shown in FIG. The image is dissolved and transferred using a recording solvent 310. The length of the circumference of the transfer rollers 420C, 420M, and 420Y is selected to be equal to or greater than the frame length of the color image 441.

The roller-like transfer bodies 41 QC, 41oM, and 410Y are connected to a rotating shaft 422 with an included angle of 120°. The figure exemplifies a case where the cyan coloring material 420C is dissolved and transferred onto the recording paper 500 by the recording solvent 310 by the paper feed 674 (arrow).

In this cyan coloring material 420C dissolving and transferring process, the already used yellow coloring material transfer body 400Y is transferred to the transfer body 41.
The sponge body 412Y moves into contact with the surface of 0Y as shown by an arrow 426A, and the coloring material 420Y is applied to the transfer body 410Y by rotation as shown by an arrow 425. When this coating is completed, the sponge body 412Y moves toward the transfer body 412 as shown by the arrow 426B.
separated from the Y surface.

When the cyan image frame is melt-transferred in this manner, the entire colorant transfer mechanism is lifted up as shown by arrow 423A in the figure and rotated by 120 degrees as shown by arrow 423B in the figure.

During this time, the paper is returned as indicated by arrow 684, the marker 460 is detected and controlled as described above, and the paper is fed again as indicated by arrow 674. At the same time, solvent recording by the recording head 200 is started by the drive voltage 120 corresponding to the magenta signal, and the magenta color material transfer member 400M is brought into pressure contact with the recording paper 600 by descending as indicated by an arrow 424, and melting transfer is started.

The sponge body 412C comes into contact with the used cyan color material transfer body 4ooc, and the cyan color material 420 is applied in the same manner as above.
Apply C. Hereafter, in the same way, magenta color material 420M
Dissolution transfer, transfer body 410M by sponge body 412M
Application to the surface is carried out.

In this way, a color color material recorded image 441 is obtained by superimposing the three primary colors and dissolving and transferring them.

In this example, unlike the case shown in FIG. 8, the color material transfer body is not in the form of a sheet but is reapplied in the form of a roller.
In addition to being able to record color images at low cost, the color material 4
Since 20C, 420M, and 420Y are used immediately after the solvent has evaporated, they have the advantage of being excellent in dissolving and transferring properties to the recording solvent 310 and being able to operate stably.

Note that the reapplication of the coloring materials 420C, 420M, and 420Y can be performed not only by quick-drying ink but also by thermally dissolving the binder forming the coloring materials.

For this purpose, the aforementioned Bekka Sai) F-266 and Megata Neopolymer 120, etc., have melting points of approximately 90"C and 120"C, respectively.
Because of the low melting point of C, the roller-shaped transfer body 410C, 4
10M, 410Y, etc. are made of metal, and a solid coloring material 420C is made by providing means for electrically heating them above the melting point.

420M and 420Y can be melted and reapplied to the surface, which has the advantage of dry operation.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the configuration of still another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and this embodiment is a further improvement of the embodiment shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, cut paper is used as the recording medium 500, and cyan coloring material 420C is used as the coloring material transfer body 400.

This is a case where a sheet-like color material transfer body coated with magenta color material 420M and yellow color material 420YQ is used.

The cut recording paper 500 is pressed by a pressure roller 624A.

624B is moved in the direction of arrow 679B, and is brought into contact with the surface of recording platen 616 having drive motor 617 using paper feed table 619A and paper feed roller 619B, and its leading end is fixed by paper lock mechanism 618A. The recording paper 500 is moved to the platen 616 by rotation 678.
and fix the rear end with the paper lock mechanism 618B. In this state, detect and control the marker 450 in the same manner as in FIG. Rollers 624A and 624B are indicated by arrow 6.
78A, presses the sheet-like color material transfer member 400 against the surface of the recording paper 500, and rotates as shown by the arrow 678 to transfer the first recording frame, for example, cyan color material recording 4 as shown in the figure.
Start recording 300 of the solvent in the 40C tank. This recording solvent 310 is dissolved and transferred onto the surface of the recording paper 500 between the first pressure roller 624A and the second pressure roller 624B to obtain a recording color material 440C.

By similar rotation 678 (arrow), the magenta recording color material 440M of the second recording frame and the recording color material 440Y of the third recording frame are sequentially overlaid and recorded, thereby completing the recording of the color image.

In this state, pressure welding rows 9-624A, 624B
When the recording platen 614 is released as shown by the arrow 679B, the locking mechanism 618B is released, and the recording platen 614 is rotated in the reverse direction as shown by the arrow 679, the recording paper 500 is moved from the rear end to the paper feed table 61.
Send it back onto 9A. When the reverse feeding is completed, the locking mechanism 61
When 8A is opened, the recording paper 500 on which a color hue image is recorded can be taken out.

In this embodiment, since the recording paper 500 is fixed to the recording platen 616J, there is an advantage that reliable color material overlapping recording can be performed. Furthermore, in the same way as explained in FIG. 8, when writing the first claim image, a marker for synchronization positioning such as 441C is recorded on the side edge of the recording paper 500, and this is photoelectrically detected when writing the following frame. By synchronously controlling the rotation of the motor 617 and the drive voltage 120, more accurate overlapping recording can be achieved.

The circumferential length of the recording platen 616 is selected to be equal to or greater than the recording image frame length. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 13, the coating length pitch P of color materials 420C, 420M, and 420Y is
0°at is also selected to be equal to or slightly longer than the circumferential length of the platen 616. Note that a narrow strip-shaped non-applied portion may be formed between each coloring material, if necessary.

In addition, the winding of the recording paper 500 prevents the recording paper 500 from coming into contact with the coloring material surface of the coloring material transfer body 400 in a state where there is no recording or coloring material recording has been completed, and after dissolving and transferring the final image frame. In order to
There is a length G equal to or greater than the circumference of the platen 616.
It is desirable to provide a coloring material non-applied portion 410.

In this embodiment, the case where the marker 450Hi for cueing is in the form of a thin strip is illustrated.

As is clear from a comparison with FIG. 9, the color material transfer member 40Q in this embodiment has one color material non-applied area 410b for each full-color image, whereas in FIG. The present invention is characterized in that it requires two colorant non-applied portions 41Qa, respectively, and that the utilization efficiency of the colorant transfer body 400 is high. In addition, in this example, color materials 420G, 420M, 4
20Y(7) The order of application can be arbitrarily selected, and black coloring material can also be introduced to make four primary colors.

According to the embodiments described above, if each recording head 200 performs binary recording, a multicolor image can be produced, and by introducing a dither method or the like, or by pulse width modulation as in an electroosmotic printer, multi-tone recording can be achieved. Then, a full color image can be recorded with color materials.

In addition, in FIGS. 8, 11, and 12, in the case of non-contact recording such as a bubble jet printer, the movement 677 and 682 of the recording head 200 is not necessarily necessary.
It can be fixed and installed appropriately. In the case of contact recording such as in an electroosmotic printer, movement 677 and 682 is necessary, but pulse width modulation has the advantage of being able to record the hue of a full color image with high image density.

In terms of image quality, the use of dye-binder type colorants allows for high resolution and clear mixed color numbers;
Binder-type hues have the advantage of being able to record color materials with excellent light resistance.

Above, examples have been described with a focus on color image recording.
It goes without saying that monochrome color material recording can be performed by using the single color material in the color material transfer body 400 in FIGS. 8 and 12, and by using the roller-like transfer body in FIG. 11 as the single color material.

In addition to the mud-coated paper mentioned above, the recording paper used as the recording medium 500 can also be coated paper such as art paper, uncoated paper such as gravure paper or high-quality paper, or even plastic synthetic paper. Films and the like can also be used.

In addition, as a modification of the present invention, in the coloring material surface type shown in FIG. When a liquid whose adhesion prevents hue transfer to the recording paper 500 is recorded on the color material 420 by the recording head, it is possible to record an image with the color material that is in a negative relationship with that described above.

- Also, in the recording medium surface type shown in FIGS. 3, 8, 11, and 12, and the transfer recording type shown in FIG. 4, the same liquid as above is applied to the medium 500. By recording on the roller-like transfer body 612, it is possible to record a color material image that is in a negative relationship with the case of the present invention.

In addition, in the above four types, the recording medium 600 is surface-coated on the undried coloring material 420, and this surface coating is dissolved, or it adheres to the coloring material 420, or the coloring material 420 is dissolved. Then, the liquid to which the coloring material 420 is imparted adhesive properties to the surface coating is added to the solvent 30 of the present invention.
Contrary to the above, when recording on the recording surface in place of 0, positive color material recording similar to the present invention can be achieved.

In the above embodiments, an electronic plane scanning type recording head in which recording nozzles are arranged in a width corresponding to the width of the recording medium 600 has been mainly described. A plurality of recording nozzles are arranged, the direction of the arrangement and the direction of movement of the recording medium are kept parallel to each other, and the reciprocating motion is repeated in a direction perpendicular to this, so that the direction of movement of the recording medium is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the recording medium. By controlling recording of the solvent on the recording medium, the hue surface, the back surface of the coloring material, and the surface of the roller transfer body, a simple recording method can be realized.

The above embodiments can be combined as appropriate.

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, the present invention resides in a color material recording method and a recording device using so-called melt transfer, and compared to the conventional colored ink recording method, there are problems in operation and maintenance such as clogging of recording nozzles. In addition to improving the instability described above, deterioration of operating sensitivity due to dye coloring agent contamination is prevented, and it is possible to record color images with a single head, and further improve the light resistance, gloss, etc. of recorded images.

The present invention can be implemented by appropriately combining the above embodiments, and the industrial effects thereof are extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram showing one embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram showing another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram showing still another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram showing another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a perspective partial structural diagram showing an embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a perspective partial structural diagram showing another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. An experimental characteristic diagram of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram showing an embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 10 is a partial plan view showing an example of a recording medium used in the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. Recording method and recording device according to the invention −
FIG. 12 is a partial structural diagram of another embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram showing one embodiment of the recording method and recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial plan view showing an embodiment of a material transfer body. 100... Drive power supply, 110... Input electrical signal, 120... Drive electrical signal, 200...
...Record, 300...Solvent, 31
0...Recording solvent, 400°°. ... Color material transfer body, 410, 411 ... Transfer body, 420° 420C, 420M, 420Y, 421-
---Coloring material, 430.431...Dissolved coloring material, 600...Recording medium, 610...Recording platen, 612...Roller shape Transcript, 6
20,621.622... Pressure roller, 63
0-- Stripper, vs, voff... Drive electrical signal. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 2 00 3 Figure 41 -449- Figure 13 Stand O

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A coloring material made of a recording material is placed on a transfer body, a solvent that dissolves at least one component of the coloring material is placed in an electrically controlled recording head, and the recording The recording method is characterized in that the recording of the solvent is electrically controlled via a head, the solvent dissolves at least one component of the coloring material arranged on the transfer body, and the coloring material is transferred to the recording medium. Ink recording method. (2) The ink recording method according to claim (1), wherein a coloring material is applied to the surface of the transfer member, and a solvent is controlled to be recorded on the surface of the coloring material. (3) The transfer body is made of a porous sheet, a coloring material is applied to one side of the porous sheet, a solvent is recorded on the other side of the porous sheet, and the recorded solvent is The ink recording method according to claim 1, wherein at least one component of the coloring material is dissolved by permeation through the porous sheet. (4) The solvent is controlled to be recorded on the recording medium, and a transfer body is brought into contact with the recorded solvent to dissolve at least a small amount of the coloring material, and the coloring material is transferred to the recording medium. The ink recording method according to claim (1). (5) The solvent is controlled to be recorded on the surface of the transfer roller, and the recorded solvent is transferred to a roller-shaped transfer member whose surface is coated with a coloring material. The ink recording method according to claim (1), characterized in that at least one component of the coloring material is dissolved in the recording medium, and the coloring material is transferred to the recording medium. (6) The coloring materials are different. Claims (1) to (5) characterized in that the color material has a color and changes the color of the color material transferred to the recording medium by a single recording head.
) The ink recording method described in any of the above. (7) The different colors of the coloring materials each have a color corresponding to the primary color, and the coloring materials, at least one component of which is dissolved by the recorded solvent, are arranged in a prescribed order and at a prescribed position on the recording medium. An ink recording method according to claim (6), characterized in that a color image is recorded by sequentially transferring the ink to a color image. (8) A coloring material, at least one component of which is dissolved by a solvent, a coloring material transfer body including a roller-shaped or sheet-like transfer body to which the coloring material is applied, and a coloring material transfer body that includes a coloring material having at least one component dissolved by a solvent, and a recording head for recording a solvent; a means for controlling recording of the solvent on a recording surface in response to the electric signal applied via the recording head; means for keeping the recorded solvent in contact with the coloring material for a period during which at least one component of the coloring material is dissolved by the recorded solvent; 1. An ink recording apparatus comprising: means for transferring color material onto a recording medium; and means for peeling the recording medium from the color material transfer body. (9) Claim No. (9) characterized in that the coloring material contains a dye that is dissolved by the recording solvent as the coloring material.
8) The ink recording device described in item 8). 01 Claim (8) or (8) characterized in that the coloring material contains at least one of a dye and a pigment as the coloring material and a binder that is dissolved by a solvent.
9) The ink recording device described in item 9). αυ A coloring material transfer body is constructed by applying a coloring material to the surface of the transfer body, and recording of a solvent is controlled using the surface of the coloring material as a recording surface. Ink recording device. (2) The transfer body is made of a porous sheet, a coloring material is coated on one side of the porous sheet to constitute the coloring material transfer body, and the other side of the porous sheet is used as a recording surface and a solvent is used. The ink according to claim (8), wherein at least one component of the coloring material is dissolved by permeation of the recorded solvent through the porous sheet. Recording device. 03 Recording is controlled using the solvent with the surface of the recording medium as the recording surface, and a coloring material is brought into contact with the recorded solvent to dissolve at least one component of the coloring material, and the coloring material is transferred to the recording medium. Claim No. (8) characterized by
The ink recording device described in Section 1. A means for controlling the recording of a solvent using the surface of a transfer roller as a recording surface, and transferring the recorded solvent to a roller-shaped transfer body whose surface is coated with a coloring material to dissolve at least one component of the coloring material. and means for transferring the coloring material onto the recording medium. Claims (8) and (9). Or the ink recording device according to item 01. 0υ Claim (8) characterized in that the colors of the coloring materials of the transfer body are different, and that the coloring material of the transfer body has a means for changing the color of the coloring material transferred to the recording medium by a single recording head.
The ink recording device according to any one of items 01) to 01). The coloring material is a primary coloring material whose color corresponds to each primary color, and each of the primary coloring materials, at least one component of which is dissolved in a recording solvent, is used in a prescribed order and according to the specifications of the recording medium. An ink recording apparatus according to claim 16, characterized in that the ink recording apparatus has means for sequentially overlapping and transferring a color image on the recording medium at the positions where the transfer body is , a plastic sheet insoluble in a recording solvent, or fiber paper. An ink recording device according to claim 9, characterized in that at least one surface is formed into a rough surface, and a coloring material is applied to the inside of the rough surface. The ink recording device according to claim Q''7), wherein the coloring material is porous.The coloring material is insoluble in a solvent and adhesive to the transfer body. The ink recording device according to claim <17), characterized in that a material is mixed in the ink recording device. The ink recording device according to claim A0 or Q, characterized in that the ink is coated with periodicity. means for sequentially applying quick-drying ink containing colorants of corresponding colors onto the rollers; and means for sequentially moving each of the applied rollers to record or apply the solvent in a predetermined order. Contacting a recording medium to transfer the coloring material to the recording medium,
The ink recording apparatus according to claim 0 or 0 to 1, further comprising means for repeating application of the ink again after that. (b) Record a solvent on the back side of the porous sheet with the color material transfer member and the recording medium in close contact so that the surface of the color material is in contact with the surface of the recording medium, and at least part of the color material is coated with the solvent. The ink recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for maintaining a state of close contact between the color material transfer member and the recording medium during a period of time during which the components are dissolved. (c) The recording medium is composed of recording paper, and after coming into contact with a cylindrical platen facing the recording head, it leaves the platen and is fed between a pair of paper feeding rollers, and the recording paper After the solvent is recorded on its surface with its back surface in contact with the cylindrical planar surface,
On the cylindrical platen surface, the sheet-shaped color material transfer member is inserted between the solvent recording surface and the pressure roller to bring the color material into close contact with the recording solvent, and while this state of contact is maintained, the It is characterized by comprising means for passing the coloring material transfer body together with the recording paper between the paper feeding rollers, and means for peeling the coloring material transfer body from the recording paper after passing between the paper feeding rollers. An ink recording apparatus according to claim α1. (c) The ink recording device 0 according to claim (8), wherein the recording medium is mud coated paper. (g) Recording in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the recording surface. The ink recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein recording of the solvent is controlled by the head. Claim (8) characterized in that the recording head is configured by arranging a plurality of recording head elements, and the recording width thereof is selected to be greater than the recording width of the solvent on the recording surface. The ink recording device described in Section 1.