JPS60219071A - Ion flow controlled gradation recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to form an image with gradations, by a method wherein a voltage varied at the same period as a dot period for recording and having a pulse width varied in accordance with a recording signal is impressed on an aperture electrode for controlling an ion flow. CONSTITUTION:The aperture electrode 5 is provided on a path along which ions generated by an ion generator 1 and a corona wire 2 are passed toward a counter electrode 3, and the ion flow is controlled, thereby forming an electrostatic image. In this operation, a voltage varied at the same period as the recording dot period and turned ON and OFF with a pulse width according to the recording signal is impressed on the electrode 5. Accordingly, the ion beam diameter of the ion flow which is passed when the voltage is ON is modulated, and the density of the ion flow is varied at the same period as the recording dot period, thereby enabling to record with gradations.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a recording method that performs step-by-step recording by controlling the ion beam diameter and ion flow density in a recording method by controlling an ion flow. [Prior Art] First, the principle of electrostatic recording using ion flow will be explained with reference to FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), by applying a high voltage of several KV between the ion generator 1 and the corona wire 2, the ions generated by the corona wire 2 are Due to the electric field formed by the opposing vIi electrodes 3, the ions pass through the ion flow control hole 4 with a diameter of, for example, about 100 to 500 μm, but the amount of ion passing is determined by the upper control'@pole 6 forming the aperture electrode 5 and the lower control electrode 7. controlled by an electric field. That is, as shown in FIG. 1(a), if the electric field formed by the lower control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode 7 is set in the same direction as the electric field formed by the corona wire 2 and the counter electrode 3, ions will Ion flow control hole 4 is connected to ion flow 1
It passes as shown at ゜a, and forms a static '@ latent image 9 on a recording medium 8 consisting of a visiting body on a counter voltage 3. Also, Figure 1 (
If the electric fields formed by the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode T are reversed as in b), the ions are absorbed by the upper control electrode 6 like the ion flow 10b, and the electrostatic latent image 9 is not formed. In addition, FIG. 1(a). In (b), only one 7-percha 1ais is shown, but in reality, a large number of them are provided on the line. The above conventional method of controlling the ion flow to perform gradation recording includes a pulse width control method of applying a voltage with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal 1 between the upper control type a36 and the lower side alt [pole 7]. Similarly, there is a voltage control method in which a voltage of a magnitude corresponding to the recording number is applied. The former method has the advantage of being easy to implement with a digital circuit to control the pulse width, but has the disadvantage of poor gradation reproducibility when considering the point of developing the electrostatic latent image that is formed. . In addition, the latter method has the advantage of good gradation reproducibility because the ion beam diameter is controlled by voltage control, but the voltage control circuit for each aperture'@pole 5 is complicated and expensive. There is a drawback. [Summary of the Invention] In order to eliminate these drawbacks, the present invention turns on and off a voltage that changes at the same period as the recording dot period with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal. It is important to note that changing the density of the ion flow is important. The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. [Embodiment of the invention] Fig. 2 shows an embodiment of this invention, in which symbols 2°5 to 7
is the same as \ shown in Figure 1, and 11 is the 7 percha ton a! a voltage generation circuit that generates a voltage to be applied to 5;
12. ．． 122, 123.・-Mountain- is ON. OFF signal input section (hereinafter collectively referred to as simply 12
That's what it means. The same applies to other signs), 13, +
132+ 133+... is a control signal output section, 1
4. . 14,, 14. ,・mountain...is a transistor, 151,
1!12+158. . . . is a resistor 〇 Note that the control signal output section 13 is applied to each of the seven percha electrodes 5. FIG. 3(a) shows the waveform of the ion current generated from the corona wire 2, and FIG. 3(b) shows the voltage generation circuit, the recording interval from one line of dots to the next line's dots (1 The line dots are recorded one at a time). As shown in the figure, the output changes at the same period as the recording dot period T. To operate this, apply the ionic current and voltage having the waveforms shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) to each collector of the corona wire 2 and the transistor 14, and then input the 9N and OFF signal input section 12. The ON timing and the pulse width of the ON signal are controlled in accordance with the recording signal. Therefore, when recording a 1ilf1141 image, an electrostatic latent image can be formed in an area gradation manner, and the recording reproducibility 2 is excellent in expressive ability. The reason why it is possible to record in area gradation manner is as follows. In FIG. 2, when the voltage applied from the voltage generating circuit 11 is low and the ion beam diameter is small, as shown in FIG. 3(b), the ion current is large and the ion density is small, as shown in FIG. 3(a). It gets expensive. Conversely, as the ion beam diameter increases, the ion density decreases. By controlling the product of the ion beam diameter and ion density to be approximately constant in this manner, the static latent image charge density can be maintained approximately constant. Next, the reason for the excellent recording reproducibility and expressive ability is mainly due to development, as described below. FIG. 4 shows an electrostatic latent image according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 shows an electrostatic latent image when only the pulse width is controlled without modulating the ion beam diameter or ion current. Waveforms #1 to #40 in FIGS. 4 and 5 indicate waveforms in which the pulse width increases in the order of pulse width to #4, where L is the development slice level, the horizontal axis is the position (recording size), and the vertical axis is the position (recording size). The axis shows charge density. In the conventional example shown in Fig. 5, when cutting at the development slice level L, no recording is made at all when the charge density is low, such as the 1.20 waveform, resulting in waveforms #a and #4.

[Recording is performed for the first time. In contrast, in the present invention shown in FIG. 4, even when the waveform is . It can be seen that since the amount of chain acid to be developed increases almost proportionally to the pulse width, it is easy to control the area to be developed. Next, it is shown in FIGS. 6(a) to (C) that the ion beam diameter can be controlled by the magnitude K of the voltage applied to the seven-virtier electrode 5.
). This is the result of a computer simulation of the ion trajectory. Figures 6(a), (b), and (c) show changes in the ion beam diameter due to voltage changes applied to the aperture electrode 5, that is, the upper and lower control electrodes 6 and 7 shown in Figure 1. , only half of the ion flow control hole 4 from the center is shown. The ion beam diameter can be controlled by the voltage applied to the aperture electrode 5, as shown in FIGS. That is, in Fig. 6 (a) + (b), (c), E
1+B2+E3 are electric fields near the lower control heavy equipment 6, respectively. Electric field between the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode [extension y]. and shows the electric field near the lower control heavy equipment 7. FIG. 6(a) shows E! /El=-Q,5. Es/
In the case of El = 4, the ion flow 10A cannot pass through the ion flow control hole 4 and no recording is performed. The 61st fiJ is El / El = 0 + Es
/ J = 4, indicating that recording is performed using the narrow ion flow 10B. FIG. 6(C) shows E,/E,=2. This is the case where E3/E=4, indicating that recording is performed with a thick ion flow 10C. In the above embodiment, voltage is applied to the seven pertier electrodes 5 through the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control type a! Although this is done between the two electrodes, it is also possible to maintain only one electrode and the other electrode at a constant potential. Furthermore, the ion current waveform and the output voltage waveform of the voltage generation circuit 11 vary not only linearly as shown in FIGS. It is also possible to use a constant voltage waveform that changes as follows. [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention uses a heavy pressure that changes at the same period as the recording dot period so that the ion beam diameter is modulated, and this voltage is oscillated with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal.
N, turn it off. Furthermore, since the ion flow density is controlled by changing the density of the ion flow at the same period as the recording dot period, there is an advantage that recording with excellent gradation reproducibility can be performed using a circuit that can easily realize pressure.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 (a) and (b) are diagrams explaining the principle of electrostatic recording using ion flow, Figure 2 is a circuit diagram of the main part of an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 3 (a)' , (b) is a diagram showing an example of the output waveform of the ionic current and voltage generation circuit, and FIG. The diagram showing the latent image and the m5 diagram are the same.
(c) is a diagram showing an example of controlling the ion beam diameter. In the figure, 10 is an ion flow, 11 is a voltage generation circuit, and 12 is O
N is an OFF signal input section, 13 is a control signal output section, 14 is a transistor, and 15 is a resistor. Figure 1 (C]) (b) 8 Figure 2 2 Figure 3 (a) (b) Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 (a) (b) (c)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a recording method in which the ion flow is controlled by seven pertier electrodes, a voltage that changes at the same period as the recording dot period is applied to the seven pertier electrodes, and is turned on and off with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal. , an ion flow control gradation recording method characterized in that recording is performed by varying the ion beam diameter when the voltage of the ion flow is ON, and at the same time changing the density of the ion flow at the same period as the dot period of the recording. .