JPS60131260A - Heat transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always obtain the good quality of printing without being influenced by the smoothness of the use recording paper, by suitably heating the recording paper after printing. CONSTITUTION:For the supplied recording paper 12, the smoothness of the printing surface 12a is measured by the sensor 17 of reflection type between the front rollers 18, 19 and the rear rollers 20, 21. Then, the recording paper 12 is sent between the platen 11 and the heat transfer ribbon 14 with the paper feed rollers 22, 23, the platen 11 and the first pinch roller 24 and the ink 14b of heat transfer ribbon 14 is adhered to the printing surface 12a of recording paper 12 by the heat generation of the heating element 15 of a thermal head 13. Thereafter, the heat transfer ribbon 14 is peeled off from the recording paper 12, and the ink 14b is transferred to the recording paper 12. The printed recording paper 12 is sent between heating rollers 26, 27. Herein, the heating elements 28, 29 of heating rollers 26, 27 are controlled by a sensor 17 and the quality of printing is improved by the temperature regulation and heating of bad printing quality (recording paper of bad smoothness).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer that improves printing quality.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, when printing on recording paper with uneven printing surface and low smoothness, this type of thermal transfer printer is placed at a planar angle >'11', ty-, as shown in Fig. 1. When the thermal transfer ribbon 14 is pressed by the normal head 13 onto the surface of the recording paper 120, which has unevenness, and the heating cord 15 at the tip of the thermal head 13 generates heat, the heat passes through the film 14a of the thermal transfer ribbon 14 and transfers the ink. 14I), thereby melting the ink 14b and depositing it on the recording paper 12, and then pulling the thermal transfer ribbon 14 through the peeler 16 and peeling it off from the recording paper 12. A, b, c, d, e are transferred. At this time; due to the unevenness of the surface of the recording paper 12, b
The thickness of the ink may be thin as shown in o', or the ink may be partially interrupted as shown in C.
Decrease in print quality, uneven printing, missing characters, etc. may occur.
Overall, there was a drawback that the print quality was significantly reduced.

[Purpose] This invention was made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art, and by appropriately heating the recording paper after printing, it is possible to heat the recording paper after printing without being affected at all by the smoothness of the recording paper used. 4) provides a thermal transfer printer that can always obtain good print quality.

[FIv determination means 1] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a detection device for detecting the smoothness of the recording paper supplied to the printing section, a means for heating the recording paper after printing, etc. It is equipped with a control device that controls the operation of the means based on the detection results of the device to improve printing quality.1! It was designed so that

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 shows a thermal transfer printer, and 17 is a reflective sensor that measures the smoothness of the printed portion 12a of the recording paper 12, and is located between a pair of front rollers 18, 19 and a pair of rear rollers 20, 21. It is set up in front 1 cola 1
8.19 has a function of applying pack tension to the recording paper 12, and has a front roller 18.19 and a rear roller 20.21.
Appropriate tension is applied to the recording paper 12 between the I and C to improve the accuracy of smoothness measurement.

22 and 23 are paper feed rollers that feed the recording paper 12 to the platen 11 side, and the platen 11 and 881 pinch roller 24
The recording paper 12 is held in cooperation with the recording paper 12, and the recording paper 12 is fed between the platen 11 and the thermal transfer ribbon 14. The thermal transfer ribbon 171 is arranged at positions J and C where the ink 14b is in contact with the recording paper 12.

The printed recording paper 12 is fed by the platen 11 and the second pinch roller 25 between a pair of heating rollers 2 (3° 27). Heating elements 28,29 are provided.

To explain the printing process of the thermal transfer printer configured in this way, first, the recording paper 12 fed from the paper inlet (not shown) is placed in the front [I-ra 18° 19] and the rear [J-ra 20. 21, the smoothness of the printed portion 12a is measured by a reflective sensor 17. Next, the recording paper 12 is fed between the platen 11 and the thermal transfer ribbon 14 by the paper feed [1-ra 22, 23, platen 11, and first pinch roller 24=3=]. Then, during printing, the thermal transfer ribbon 14 is pressed between the recording paper 12 and the heating element 15 provided at the tip of the thermal head 13, the heating element 15 generates heat, and the thermal transfer ribbon 14 The ink 141) of No. 14 is melted and fused to the printing surface 12a of the recording paper 12, and after a, the peeling roller 1
6, the thermal transfer ribbon 14 is pulled off from the recording paper 12, and the ink 14b is transferred to the recording paper 12.

The printed recording paper 12 is sent between heating rollers 26 and 27 by the platen 11 and the second pinch roller 25.

The smoothness of the printed portion 12a of the recording paper 12 is 9080.
0. In the following cases, as shown in Figures 3(a) and (b), ink 14b may be transferred, so the ink 14b is transferred to record #A12 by heating the heating element 2.8.29. The printing quality is improved by reheating the ink 1411 and averaging the ink 14b as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b). In addition, when the ink 14b of the thermal transfer ribbon 14 is reliably transferred with a desired width and a predetermined thickness, 1. The recording paper 12 is sent in the direction of the arrow Q by the heating roller 26° 27 without generating heat from the heat generating unit 4 28, 29. The reason why recording paper with high smoothness is not heated is because the heat may spread the ink that has been transferred neatly, causing capri or smearing of the characters.

, Therefore, the sensor 17 detects the heating roller 26°27
By controlling the heating elements 28 and 29, only those with poor print quality (smooth, low cost recording paper) are reheated. Also, depending on the level of smoothness of the recording paper, the heating element 28.
If the temperature of the heating element 28.29 is shifted by one stage, that is, if the smoothness is low, the temperature of the heating element 28.29 is increased, and if the smoothness is high, the temperature of the heating element 28.29 is lowered. Print quality improves.

Furthermore, as a means for heating the recording paper after printing, as shown in FIG.
．． 33, and a hot air blower 34 controlled by the sensor 17 may be provided at a position opposite to the printing surface 12a of the recording paper 12. In this case, the printing section 1 of the recording paper 12 may be
By sending hot air from the opposite side of 2a, the transferred ink will not melt and spread farther north than necessary, causing the letters to become blurred, and ■tsu8i! It penetrates into the inside of the recording paper, increasing the adhesive strength to the recording paper.

[Effects] As described in detail above, the present invention includes a detection device for detecting the smoothness of the recording paper supplied to the printing section, a means for heating the recording paper after printing, and a detection device for the detection device. Since it is equipped with a control device that controls the operation of the means according to the result, it is possible to automatically heat only the recording paper with poor printing quality to improve the printing quality, and also to improve the smoothness of the recording paper used. Its effects are extremely large, such as being able to always obtain good printing quality without being affected by the printing process.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the printing state, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the printing state, (a') is an enlarged front view of the main part, (1)) is that A-A
4 is a diagram showing the printing state after heating in FIG. 3, (a) is an enlarged front view of the main part, and (b) is a BB-B
A line sectional view, FIG. 5, is a diagram showing another embodiment. 11 is a platen, 12 is a recording paper, 12a is a printing surface, 13
14 is a thermal head, and 14 is a film 14a and an ink 14.
a thermal transfer ribbon consisting of b, 17 is a sensor, 26.2
7 is a heating roller, and 34 is a hot air blower. Patent Applicant Brother Industries, Ltd. Director Katsuji Kawashima's i <<] KuJ

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A detection device for detecting smoothness 1α of the recording paper supplied to the printing section, means for heating the recording paper after printing, and controlling the operation of the means based on the detection result of the detection device. □A thermal transfer printer characterized by being equipped with a control device that 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the means is a heating device having a built-in heating element.