JPS61120772A - Thermal recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable favorable images to be constantly obtained, by providing a thermal transfer recording temperature table and a thermal recording tempera ture table in a CPU and further providing an ink sheet sensor at a predeter mined position. CONSTITUTION:An ink sheet 2 wound in a payout roll 1 and a recording material 4 wound in a recording material roll 3 are passed between, and in contact with, a thermal head 6 comprising heating elements 5 operated nin accordance with recording image information and a platen roller 7. The payout roll 1 of the ink sheet 2 comprises spindles 11 press-fitted into a roll core, and is rotatably positioned and supported at support points 12. On the other hand, a recording material frame is fitted with a microswitch 13 at a position for contact with a spindle 11, and when the switch 13 is turned ON, the thermal transfer recording temperature table incorporated in the CPU is selected, whereas when the switch 13 is turned OFF, the thermal recording temperature table in the CPU is selected.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a thermal recording apparatus that can automatically select temperature tables suitable for both thermal transfer recording and thermal recording.

<Prior art> Recording methods conventionally used in facsimiles, printers, etc. include thermal transfer recording methods and thermal recording methods.The former transports a recording material and an ink sheet at the same time, and records the ink on the ink sheet using a thermal head. This is a method of thermally transferring images onto a material, and the latter is a method of conveying thermal paper that develops color with heat, and recording by heating the thermal paper with a thermal head. Then, the temperature of the heating element 5 in the thermal head 6 is adjusted to
The temperature information is detected by a thermistor 15 attached to the CPU 14, and the temperature information is transmitted to the CPU 14, and power is applied to the heating element 5 via the driver 16 according to the temperature to be applied to the heating element 5 based on a temperature table built into the CPU 14. It is something.

As mentioned above, the temperature of the heating element is changed at any time because if the temperature of the heating element becomes lower than the appropriate recording temperature, the ink on the ink sheet will not melt sufficiently in thermal transfer recording, and the ink on the ink sheet will not melt sufficiently in thermal recording. This is because sufficient color development may not occur, and a situation may occur where appropriate image density cannot be obtained.
Conversely, if the temperature of the heating element is higher than the appropriate temperature, thermal transfer recording may cause image collapse or trailing, sticking may occur during transportation, or even the ink sheet may stick to the heating element. However, in thermal recording, this is not only a waste of power but also undesirable from the standpoint of protecting the thermal head.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the thermal transfer recording and thermosensitive recording described above, as shown in FIG. 7(a), the applied power does not fail depending on the temperature of the heating element. Therefore, the temperature tables for both are different, and the temperature table suitable for thermal transfer recording and thermosensitive recording (for example, the temperature table shown in FIG. 7(b) is such that the temperature T'C of the heating element is 20 < T ( When it is 40, it is 0.9 in the applied pulse.
Since a good image cannot be obtained unless waec is at an appropriate value, a thermal transfer recording device or a thermal recording device must be prepared depending on the recording method.

The present invention was developed to improve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. It is something that

Means for Solving Problems> FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram when the apparatus according to the present invention is used as a thermal transfer recording apparatus, in which an ink sheet 2 wound around a supply roll l and a recording material roll 3 are shown. Recording material wound around (
(Plastic sheet, etc.) 4 is configured so that it can closely pass between a thermal head 6 having a heating element 5 capable of generating heat according to recorded image information and a platen roller rough, The ink of the ink sheet 2 is peeled off and welded to the recording material 4 by the heat generated by the heating element 5, and a predetermined recorded image is thermally transferred.

Furthermore, after thermal transfer, the ink sheet 2 and recording material 4 are separated,
One of the separated ink sheets 2 is taken up by a take-up roll 8, and the other recording material 4 is cut from the trailing edge of the recorded image by a cutter 9 and is ejected from a predetermined section, and the remaining recording material 4 is used for the next one. The sheet is rewound so that the cut end is near the heating element 5 so that no margin is left at the end during transfer.
It is configured to be in the next thermal transfer standby state.

Here, the recording material 4 and the recording material roll 3 are loaded into a recording material frame, the ink sheet 2, the supply roll 1 of the sheet 2, and the take-up roll 8 are loaded into an ink notebook frame, and the recording material frame and the ink sheet frame are loaded into an ink notebook frame. It is configured to be detachable.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram when the ink sheet frame is used as a thermal recording device, and thermal recording becomes possible by removing the ink sheet frame from the recording material frame and attaching thermal paper 10 to the recording material roll 3.

Furthermore, in the above apparatus, the supply roll l of the ink sheet 2 is
As shown in FIG. 3, a spindle 11 is press-fitted into the roll core and is rotatably positioned and supported by a fulcrum 12, while the spindle 11 is attached to the recording material frame.
A microswitch 13 is installed at a position where it makes contact with the microswitch 13, and when the switch 13 is in the ON state, it selects the temperature table for thermal transfer recording built in the CPU, and when it is in the OFF state, it selects the temperature table for thermal transfer recording built in the CPU. It is configured so that you can select.

Operation> Next, the operation of the above device will be explained with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 4 and the flowchart of FIG. 5. First, when performing thermal transfer recording, an ink sheet frame is loaded into a recording material frame. Spindle 11 of this supply roll l
presses the switch 13 on the recording material frame, so the switch is turned on, and the temperature table for thermal transfer recording in the CPU 14 is automatically selected. Next, the temperature of the heating element 5 is detected by the thermistor 15 of the thermal heater. At the same time, according to this temperature information, a pulse period of the electric power to be applied is selected and set in the thermal transfer recording temperature table in the CPU 14, and the electric power is transmitted to the heating element via the driver 16, and a predetermined recording is performed on the recording material 4. The image will be recorded.

Next, when thermal recording is to be performed, the ink sheet frame is removed from the recording material frame. This removes the supply roll l that was pressing the switch 13, and the CPU 14 is turned off to release the pressure on the switch 13. The temperature table for thermal recording is automatically selected. After that, in the same way as in the case of thermal transfer recording, the pulse of power to be applied in the recording temperature table is selected and set based on the detected temperature information in CP (J14). The predetermined recording side is recorded on the paper IO.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention provides a temperature table for transfer recording and a temperature table for thermal recording in the CPU, further provides an ink sheet detection sensor at a predetermined position, and
is detected by the sensor, and when an ink notebook is loaded, the temperature table for thermal transfer recording is selected, and when an ink sheet is not loaded, the temperature table for thermal recording is selected. A temperature table is automatically selected based on the temperature table, which requires no effort on the part of the user, and there is no risk of mistakes in temperature table selection, and good images can always be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams of the apparatus for thermal transfer recording and thermal recording, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the switch, FIGS. 4 and 5 are block diagrams and flowcharts of the apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the apparatus for thermal transfer recording and thermosensitive recording. and FIG. 7 are explanatory diagrams of the prior art. ■ is a supply roll, 2 is an ink notebook, 3 is a recording material roll, 4 is a recording material, 5 is a heating element, 6 is a thermal head, 7 is a platen roller, 8 is a take-up roll, 9 is a cutter,
10 is thermal paper, II is spindle, 12 is fulcrum, 1
3 is a switch, 14 is a CPU, 15 is a thermistor, 16
is the driver.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal recording device capable of both thermal transfer recording in which ink is transferred from an ink sheet and thermal recording in which recording is performed by heating a predetermined recording material, and which has separate temperature tables suitable for the thermal transfer recording and thermal recording. , a sensor is provided to detect whether or not the ink sheet is loaded, and when the ink sheet is loaded, the temperature table for thermal transfer recording is selected by the sensor, and when the ink sheet is not loaded, the temperature table for thermal transfer recording is selected. 1. A thermal recording device characterized by being configured such that a temperature table for use can be selected.