JPS6092869A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent recorded images from being distorted or stained, by a method wherein a toner-recovering part for applying an electric field to a toner accumulated in the vicinity of a magnet to electrostatically attract the toner is provided between the magnet and a recording paper so that it can be moved along a recording electrode array. CONSTITUTION:In order to remove the toner T accumulated in the vicinity of the magnets 8 and a recording electrode 7, toner-recovering wires 12 coated with an insulator 12a and counter electrodes 14 fixed to an insulating member 11 along the wires 12 are provided in the width direction, and a DC voltage is impressed between the counter electrodes 14 and conductors 12b of the wires 12 from a DC power source 13. Then, the toner T and the conductors 12b with the insulator 12a therebetween are electrostatically charged with opposite polarities through the toner T, whereby the toner T is adhered to the wires 12. The wires 12 are then moved in parallel to the magnets 8, and the toner T is removed by scrapers or the like at positions spaced sideways from a recording position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A conventional image recording device of this type is US Pat. No. 3,816.
Some of these are detailed in the specification of No. 840 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 127578/1983. An outline of this conventional device will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a recording medium, which in this example has a structure in which an alumite-treated dielectric layer 1b is provided on an aluminum cylinder 1a. good. 2 is a roller/4'- containing conductive magnetic toner T, inside of which is a toner application roller 4 made of a hollow cylinder made of a non-magnetic conductive material, immersed in the toner T, inside of which is a magnet. 3 is in place. Reference numeral 6 denotes a power source that applies a constant DC voltage to the application roller 4. Magnetic recording electrodes 7 are arranged in the axial direction facing the recording medium 1, and are usually made by making a large number of thin wires made of magnetic material such as iron, permalloy, nickel, etc. in parallel, or by using magnetic recording electrodes. It is created from a sheet using techniques such as etching. This is electrically insulated and fixed to the body using an insulating adhesive (not shown), and is held between magnets 8. The recording electrodes 7 are each independently connected to the signal character generator 9.

The recording medium 1 rotates in the direction of arrow A. On the other hand, the toner T in the hopper 2 is transferred to the toner application roller 4 by the action of the magnet 3.
The toner T is transported by the rotation of the toner application roller 4 in the direction of arrow B, and a uniform layer of toner is formed by the doctor blade 5. When this toner T comes into contact with the recording medium 1, a DC voltage is applied from the bias power supply 6, so that the toner T acquires a stain and adheres to the recording medium 1.

When the recording medium 1 further rotates in the direction of arrow A and the toner T on it reaches the recording position 10, ears of toner T are formed between the recording medium 1 and the recording electrode 70 due to the influence of the magnetic field emitted from the magnet 8. . Furthermore, since the charge of the toner escapes through the dielectric layer 1b before reaching the recording section, the adhesion force of the toner to the recording medium 1 is mainly due to intermolecular force.
The magnetic binding force is weaker than the magnetic binding force caused by the ears of toner T formed at the tip of the recording electrode 7. However, at this time, when the character generator 9 applies a recording signal voltage selected according to the image pattern to the recording electrode 7, a charge having a polarity opposite to that signal voltage is induced in the conductive layer 1b, and this induced charge causes the toner to be Charge is injected into T from the recording electrode 7. The charge injected into the toner T overcomes the magnetic binding force by the ears of toner T formed at the tip of the recording electrode 7, and provides an electric force sufficient to cause the toner T to adhere to the recording medium l. On the other hand, since there is no charge injection as described above in the area to which the recording signal voltage is not applied (non-image area), the adhesion force between the recording medium 1 and the toner 1 is mainly intermolecular force, and the spikes of toner T The magnetic binding force is weakened and the particles are removed from the recording medium, and further attracted by the magnetic field emitted from the magnet 8, they adhere and accumulate near the magnet 8 along the recording electrode 7. Although the toner image visualized on the recording medium 1 according to the image pattern is not shown,
Usually, it is transferred to paper and fixed by corona discharge or pressure transfer, or if the recording medium 1 is electrostatic recording paper or the like, it may be fixed as is.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the recording position 10 in FIG. It is a figure which shows the case where there is no.

As shown by the broken line 10, the magnetic field generated by the magnet 8 passes near the recording electrode 7, thereby causing the conductive magnetic toner T.
creates a spike of toner that spans the recording electrode 7 and the recording medium 1, and as the electric charge escapes through this, the toner T loses its adhesion to the recording medium 1, but at this moment the recording begins as shown in Figure 2A. When a signal voltage from the character signal generator 9 is applied between the medium weight and the recording electrode 7, charges of opposite signs are generated between the dielectric layer 1b of the recording medium 1 and the conductive layer 1a and the toner T. Due to the electric force, the toner T adheres to the recording medium 1 against the magnetic attraction caused by the magnetic field 10. However, as shown in FIG. 2B,
When a signal voltage is applied from the character generator 9 between the recording electrode 7 and the recording medium 1, the above-mentioned electric charge is not generated, and since no adhesive force is exerted between the recording medium 1 and the toner 1, the magnet 8 The conductive magnetic toner T moves in the direction of arrow C due to the magnetic attraction generated by the generated magnetic field 10 and is deposited near the magnet 8 .

By the way, the toner that adheres and accumulates conventionally increases to the extent that it reaches the recording medium 1 during long-term use of the apparatus, which is undesirable because it stains the recording medium 1 and disturbs the recorded image.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks of the above-mentioned type of image recording device, and to make it possible to continuously collect the toner T accumulated in the vicinity of the magnet by a simple means. be.

A feature of the present invention is that, in the above-mentioned type of image recording apparatus, a toner collecting member is provided between the magnet and the recording medium, and applies an electric field to the toner accumulated in the vicinity of the magnet to electrostatically attract the toner. The reason is that it is movable in the arrangement direction of the array.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention, which basically has the same configuration as FIGS. show. As the recording medium 1, an aluminum cylinder with a diameter of 100 m is used as the conductive layer 1a, and the surface of this aluminum cylinder is further coated with 2
The dielectric layer 1b was formed by processing μ-thick alumite.

A conductive magnetic toner with a resistance of 10 Ω-m or less can be used as the toner T, but in this example, carden was externally added to Imaging Powder 355 toner sold by 3M Company so that the resistance became 105 Ω-crnK. It was adjusted.

For the recording electrodes 7, pure iron wires with a diameter of 20μ are used, and 3,360 wires are arranged in parallel over a width of 210+ m.These recording electrodes 7 are made using the adhesive Hi-Super (product) sold by Cemedine Co., Ltd. The recording medium 1 was fixed with a good insulating member 11 and faced almost perpendicularly to the recording medium 1, with a gap of 75±25 μm maintained therebetween. Then, two magnets 8 were fixed with an insulating member 11 so that the recording electrode group 7 was sandwiched between them and the same poles faced each other, and the magnetic flux density at the tip of the recording electrode 7 was adjusted to be about 1100 Gauss. .

The recording medium 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow A at a linear speed of 200 m and 7 seconds, and after the toner T is evenly deposited on the recording medium 1 by the toner application roller 4, when it reaches the recording position 10, the character generator starts. 9. By applying an image signal voltage of about 30 V to the recording electrode according to the image pattern, as shown in FIG.
Image recording is performed as explained in FIG.

Now, in order to remove the toner T that accumulates as described above near the magnet 8 and the recording electrode 7, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The toner collection wire 12 and a counter electrode 14 fixed to the insulating member 11 are arranged along the width direction, and a DC voltage is applied from a DC power supply 13 between the counter electrode 14 and the conductor 12b of the wire. Then, the aforementioned accumulated toner T (which accumulates on the electrode 14 in this embodiment) passes through the toner T and sandwiches the insulator 12a because a DC voltage is applied between the counter electrode 14 and the conductor 12b. Charges of opposite signs are generated on the toner T and the conductor 12b as shown in FIG. 4, and as a result, the toner T adheres to the toner collection wire 12. The toner collection wire 12 is moved parallel to the magnet 8, and at a position laterally away from the recording position, the toner T is removed from the toner collection wire 12 using means such as a scraper (not shown), and the toner T is removed from the toner storage hopper 2. and return it for reuse.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view illustrating the above operation in more detail, and shows that the toner T separated from the recording medium 1 by the magnetic force of the magnet 8 is accumulated between the toner collection wire 12 and the counter electrode 14. Ru. Toner collection wire 12 from DC power supply 13
Since a DC voltage is applied between the conductor 12b and the counter electrode 14, charge is injected from the counter electrode 14 into the accumulated toner T, and the insulator coating 12a of the toner collection wire 12
By sandwiching the toner T and the conductor 12b, charges of opposite polarity are generated so that they are attracted to each other, and the toner T adheres to the toner collection wire 12 against the magnetic force of the magnetic field 10 of the magnet 8.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the accumulated toner T is applied to the toner collection wire 12 by applying a DC voltage, but instead of the toner collection wire 12, a strip made of an insulator is used. A similar effect can be obtained by applying a charge in advance by means of frictional charging, corona discharge, etc., and then adsorbing the accumulated toner thereto.

As explained above, according to the present invention, toner accumulated near the recording electrode can be removed by extremely simple means, and this type of image recording apparatus can maintain good image recording performance even after long-term use. In addition to being preserved, it also has the effect of being convenient for collecting and reusing the removed toner.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional example of an image recording device to which the present invention relates, FIGS. 2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams of the behavior of toner near the recording electrode of the device, and FIG. 3 is an example of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view showing the operation of the embodiment. 1... Recording medium, 2... Toner accommodation hotsunoku, 3
... Magnet roll, 4... Toner application roller, 7.
...Recording electrode, 8...Magnet, 9...Image signal voltage generator, 11...Insulating member, 12...Toner collection wire, 13...DC voltage source, 14...Counter electrode ,T...
·toner. Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A recording medium comprising a recording electrode layer, a surface dielectric layer and a conductive layer that closely face and move relative to the recording electrode array, and a conductive layer on the surface of the recording medium. means for applying magnetic toner; means for applying a recording voltage according to an image pattern between a conductive layer of the recording medium and selected electrodes in the recording electrode array; and generating a magnetic field between the recording medium and the recording electrode plate. In an image recording apparatus, a toner collection member is provided which applies an electric field to the toner accumulated in the vicinity of the magnet and electrostatically attracts the toner. 1. An image recording device characterized in that a recording electrode array is movably arranged in the arrangement direction of the recording electrode array between the recording medium and the recording medium. 2. The toner collection member is a conductor having a surface dielectric layer, and an electrode for receiving accumulated toner is arranged near the magnet.
2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a DC voltage is applied between the electrode and the conductor of the toner collection member. 3. The toner collection member is a charged insulator, and therefore relates to an image recording apparatus that records an image by directly depositing a component-polar electromagnetic developer (hereinafter abbreviated as toner) onto a recording medium.