JPS61174560A - Formation of image and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a constitution and to perform recording on normal paper at low cost with the small-sized constitution by carrying toner particles on a recording electrode uniformly by utilizing mechanical oscillation and electrostatic force and sticking the toner on the recording paper corresponding to a signal voltage. CONSTITUTION:Many recording electrodes 101 which are insulated mutually are arranged on an electrode substrate 10 and a voltage V from an electric power source 106 is applied between the recording electrodes 101 and a counter electrode 105. Further, a voltage 2V is applied between the recording electrodes 101 and an electrode roller 114 by power sources 106 and 115. In such a constitution, the toner 103 falls on the recording electrodes 101 and is vibrated mechanically through a piezoelectric element 109 and a transmitter 110 to move forth and stop with the electrostatic force of the recording electrodes 101. Then, the voltage to an electrode 114 is controlled corresponding to the signal voltage and the toner sticks on a recording medium 113. Consequently, the structure of the device is simplified and normal paper is usable by the small-sized, inexpensive device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming an image by electronic plane scanning, and more particularly to an image forming method and apparatus capable of forming an image on plain paper using toner.

(Prior art and its problems) Electrophotographic technology, which is widely used in office copying machines and the like, is applied to printing devices such as laser printers to achieve high-speed, high-quality recording at low noise levels. However, the image forming process using electrophotographic technology is complicated, consisting of electrostatic latent image formation, toner development, toner image transfer, fixation, and cleaning of the photosensitive drum surface, which further increases the complexity of the device mechanism. This has been a major factor in reducing maintainability and reliability or increasing device manufacturing costs.

In addition to electrophotographic techniques, various high-speed electronic recording techniques are known. Electrostatic recording technology, in which a needle electrode is brought into contact with the surface of a dielectric recording medium and a signal 'wtEE is applied to form an electrostatic charge pattern on the surface of the recording medium, which is further visualized by toner development, can achieve high-speed, high-quality recording. It is one of the leading technologies. This electrostatic recording technology has the feature that the image forming process is simpler than that of electrophotographic technology, so it is easy to miniaturize the device. The necessity of high voltage is considered to be a factor that significantly impairs the versatility and practicality of the device.

As an example of another conventional recording technology in which the image forming process is simplified, there is known a recording device disclosed in JSF-3816840. , a conductive hollow cylindrical toner conveying member 1, and magnetic recording electrodes provided on the surface of the toner conveying member 1 with an insulator 2 interposed therebetween along the axial direction of the toner conveying member. 3, a character generator 4 connected to the recording electrode 3, a rotating magnet 5 provided inside the toner transporting member 1, and a magnet 5 containing conductive magnetic toner 6 and having the toner transporting member 1 provided therein. a toner container 7,
An insulating recording medium 9 is disposed in close contact with the back electrode 8 and close to the recording electrode 3.

When the rotating magnet 5 rotates in the direction of the arrow A, the conductive magnetic toner 6 moves along the surface of the toner conveying member 1 in the direction of the arrow B, forming ears of toner 6 at the tip of the recording electrode 3. When a signal voltage is applied to the recording electrode 3, the surface of the recording medium 9 is charged through the ears of conductive toner 6, and at the same time, the toner at the tips of the ears adheres to the surface of the recording medium 9. In this way, a toner image is formed on the surface of the recording medium 9.

However, the conventional recording apparatus shown in FIG. 4 has a problem in that the resolution of the formed toner image is significantly lower than the arrangement density of the recording electrodes 3. The reason for this is that the spikes of toner 6 formed at the tips of the recording electrodes 3 are not separated corresponding to each recording electrode, and the contact area between the spikes of toner 6 and the recording medium 9 is small per electrode. One example is that it is extremely large compared to the area of the dots recorded. Therefore, when a signal voltage is applied to the recording electrode 3, the charged area on the surface of the recording medium 9 formed through the ears of the conductive toner 6 expands widely centering on the portion facing the recording electrode, resulting in deterioration of resolution. It happens.

Furthermore, the conventional apparatus described above requires an insulating recording medium known as electrostatic recording paper, for example. The need for such so-called special paper increases running costs, which is a major drawback from a practical standpoint.

As mentioned above, although conventional electrophotographic technology and electronic recording technology enable high-speed, high-quality recording, it is also possible to create equipment that is smaller, lower cost, and has excellent maintenance reliability. A new recording technology that could use paper was required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and to provide an image forming method that can form a high-resolution image on plain paper, and an image forming method that can form a high-resolution image on plain paper and that provides maintainability and reliability. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that has excellent properties and can be easily reduced in price and size.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image forming method provided by the first invention of the present application is to apply toner to a large number of recording electrodes arranged on a plane so as to be insulated from each other. tJIE is superimposed on each of the recording electrodes to control the electrostatic force that causes toner to adhere to each of the recording electrodes. The toner is moved toward the recording medium to the end of the recording electrode according to the electric power, and the toner is applied with an electrostatic force in a direction that causes the toner to adhere to the surface of the recording medium disposed close to the end of each of the recording electrodes. The toner attached to the end of each recording electrode is selectively attached to the surface of the recording medium according to the signal voltage, thereby forming a toner image on the recording medium.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image forming apparatus provided by the second invention of the present application includes an electrode substrate having a large number of recording electrodes arranged insulated from each other, and a surface of the recording electrodes that is supplied with toner. a toner replenishing means, a counter electrode disposed opposite to each of the recording electrodes, and voltage application for electrostatically adhering the toner to the recording electrodes by applying a voltage between each of the recording electrodes and the counter electrode; No. 2 voltage applying means for applying a voltage to each of the recording electrodes to control the electrostatic force that causes the toner to adhere; vibrating means for moving along the electrode to the tip of the electrode substrate;
An electrostatic force is applied to the toner that has moved along each of the recording electrodes to the tip of the electrode substrate, and the toner is selectively attached to the recording medium disposed close to the tip of the 'wt electrode substrate, so that the toner is attached to the back surface of the recording medium. and an electrostatic accelerating means arranged at.

(Function) In the conventional technology, in order to reduce the occurrence of density unevenness, a much larger amount of toner is supplied than the actual amount consumed, and by supplying this large amount of toner, the characters recorded on the recording medium are The resolution of images such as images and figures has decreased significantly. In contrast, in the present invention, toner transport is precisely controlled using electrostatic force and unbalanced vibration, and the toner is replenished according to the consumed amount, and the toner to be replenished is distributed in advance in the vicinity of the recording medium in a thin and uniform layer. Arrange it to.

By replenishing toner in this manner, the present invention enables high-quality recording with little resolution deterioration. Further, the present invention makes it possible to use plain paper by using electrostatic force to selectively extract toner from the uniform toner layer and adhere it to the surface of the recording medium.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be given below, and the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings of the examples.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the second invention of the present application. This embodiment is also an example of an apparatus implementing the first invention of the present application. This embodiment includes an electrode substrate 102 having a large number of recording electrodes 101 arranged in isolation from each other, a toner supply tank 104 that replenishes the surface of the recording electrodes 101 with stored toner 103 at any time;
A counter electrode 10 placed oppositely above the recording electrode 101
5 and the selected recording electrode 1 by applying a voltage between the selected recording electrode 101 and the counter electrode 105.
A voltage source 106 applies an electrostatic force to the toner on the pole 101, and the recording electrode 101 is selectively connected to the voltage source 106 or grounded according to the image signal, so that each recording is performed on the toner at the pole 101. A piezoelectric element 109 that vibrates with an excitation voltage from a power source 108 and a transmitter 110 that amplifies the vibration of the piezoelectric element. is applied to move the toner on the electrode substrate 102 along the recording electrode 101 to the electrode substrate 102.
vibrating means 112 for moving the toner to the tip 111 of the electrode substrate 102, and disposed on the back side of the recording medium 113 for applying electrostatic force to the toner that has moved to the tip 111 of the electrode substrate 102 to selectively adhere the toner to the recording medium 113. It is composed of a roller electrode 114 and a power source 115 that applies an accelerating voltage to the electrode 114.

For the electrode substrate 102, an insulating material such as glass, ceramic, or organic resin can be used. A printed circuit board made of a composite material of glass fiber and epoxy resin is also very suitable as an electrode substrate in the present invention. Although a conductive magnetic toner may be used as the toner, a positively or negatively charged insulating toner is more preferable. By using a charged toner, the toner is transferred to the recording electrode 10.
It becomes possible to electrostatically control the adhesion to 1 more reliably.

The toner is transferred from the toner supply tank 104 to the recording electrode 101.
After spilling onto the substrate, it is transported along each recording electrode 101 toward the tip 111 of the substrate. The toner is conveyed by applying unbalanced vibration to the substrate 102. That is, the substrate 102 is the recording electrode 101
As an example, as shown in FIG. 2, the displacement with respect to time is performed slowly when approaching the recording medium 113, and rapidly when moving away from the recording medium 113. Such unbalanced vibration is
This can be realized by making the excitation voltage waveform from the power supply 108 which excites the element 109 into a sawtooth waveform. Although the piezoelectric element 109 is not shown, since it is fixed to a strong support, the generated vibrations are mainly transmitted in the direction of the transmitter 110. The transmitter 110 and the substrate 102 are fixed to each other, and the substrate 102 also vibrates in a sawtooth manner due to the sawtooth vibrations amplified by the transmitter 110. In FIG. 2, the substrate 102 approaches the recording medium 113. In other words, when the displacement is performed slowly, the toner particles on the recording electrode 101 on the surface of the substrate 102 move together with the substrate 102, but when the substrate 102 rapidly changes in the direction away from the recording medium 113, the toner particles move Unable to follow the displacement of the substrate 102, the substrate 102 moves in the opposite direction to the displacement of the substrate 102, that is, toward the tip 111 of the substrate 102.
move by sliding on the surface. In this way, tank 10
The toner supplied onto the substrate 102 from the toner 4 is always subjected to a force such that it is sent to its tip 111, and moves on the substrate 102 in the form of a layer of uniform thickness. In order to selectively extract toner from the substrate tip 111 and form a toner pattern on the surface of the recording medium 113, the application of voltage to the recording electrode 101 is selectively controlled according to the image signal.

The method of toner selection will be explained in detail with reference to the sectional views of the electrode substrate shown in the third VIA (a) and (b). Although this figure shows an example in which positively charged toner 120 is used, exactly the same effect can be obtained when negatively charged toner is used by reversing all the polarities. As shown in these figures, the charged toner is transferred to the recording electrode 1 on the surface of the substrate 102.
It forms a thin and uniform layer on 01. In the figure, toner 1
20 shows a state in which only one layer is deposited, but the same consideration may be applied to a case where many layers are deposited.

First, as shown in FIG. 3(a), when the recording electrode 101 is grounded by the switch means 107, the voltage V from the voltage source 106 is fully applied between the counter electrode 105 and the recording electrode 101. The charged toner 120 on the recording electrode 101 is strongly attracted to the recording electrode 101 electrostatically. Therefore, the frictional force between the recording electrode 101 and the toner particles that were slidingly moving toward the tip 111 due to the unbalanced vibration of the substrate 102 increases, and the sliding movement of the toner 120 is stopped.

In order to make the toner 120 adhere to the surface of the recording medium 113 from the substrate tip 111, as shown in FIG. 3(b),
The recording electrode 101 is connected to the voltage source 1 using the switch means 107.
06, the recording electrode 101 and the counter electrode 10
5 to the same potential, or reduce the potential difference.

As a result, the electrostatic force that attracts the toner particles to the recording electrode 101 becomes smaller, the frictional force between the toner particles and the recording electrode 101 becomes smaller, and the toner 120 is transferred to the substrate 101 again.
2. Becomes able to slide on top. The toner 120 in the vicinity of the substrate tip 111 will slip off from the tip due to slipping or movement, but a voltage of 2.5 cm is applied between the recording electrode 101 and the roller electrode 114 by the voltage sources 106 and 115, and this Due to the large potential difference, the tip 111
The toner that has protruded from the recording medium 113 is attracted to the surface of the recording medium 113 by a strong electrostatic force and adheres to the surface.

The toner 120 near the tip 111 is transferred to the recording medium 113.
Letting Vth be the minimum voltage necessary for adhering to , that is, the threshold voltage, in order to perform the above-mentioned recording operation, it is necessary to set the voltage V so that zv>vth>v.

As described above, in this embodiment, by controlling the voltage applied to the recording electrode 101, only the toner on the selected recording electrode 101 can be attached to the surface of the recording medium 113. , it is possible to obtain records of images such as figures. The toner 120 adhering to the surface of the recording medium 113 is preliminarily applied to the fine recording electrode 101.
Since the images are collected at the top, it is possible to obtain high-resolution recording in this embodiment. Further, since this embodiment has a simple configuration, it is excellent in maintainability and reliability, and it is easy to reduce the cost and size.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention realizes uniform and precise conveyance control of toner particles by using mechanical vibration and electrostatic force, and as a result provides a new recording method and device with a simple principle and configuration. . According to the present invention, as described above, there is an image forming method that can form high resolution images on plain paper, and is compact, inexpensive, and has excellent maintenance reliability, which is difficult to achieve with conventional electrophotographic technology or electronic recording technology. A high-resolution image forming apparatus that can use plain paper can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus which is an embodiment of the second invention of the present application, and 2150 is a diagram for explaining temporal displacement of the toner transport substrate in the image forming method and apparatus according to the present invention. Figure 3(a). (b) is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining toner control in the image forming method and apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a conventional image forming apparatus. 101... Recording electrode, 1-02... Electrode substrate, 10
3... Toner, 104... Toner supply tank, 10
5... Counter electrode, 106... Voltage source, 107...
Switch means, 108... Power source, 109... Piezoelectric element, 110... Transmitter, 111... Board tip, 11
2... Vibration means, 113... Recording medium, 114...
- Roller electrode, 115... Power supply, 120... Positively charged toner, 1... Toner transport member, 2... Insulator,
3... Recording electrode, 4... Character generator, 5... Rotating magnet, 6... Conductive magnetic toner, 7... Toner container, 8... Back electrode, 9... recoding media. Representative Patent Attorney Shinsuke Honjo Figure 2 Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Toner is electrostatically attached to a large number of recording electrodes arranged insulated from each other on a plane, and a signal voltage is superimposed on each of the recording electrodes to cause the toner to adhere to each of the recording electrodes. controlling electric power to apply unbalanced vibrations to the recording electrodes and moving the toner toward the recording medium to the ends of the recording electrodes according to the electrostatic force, and disposing the toner close to the ends of each of the recording electrodes; An electrostatic force is applied to the toner in a direction in which the toner is attached to the surface of the recording medium, and the toner attached to the end of each recording electrode is selectively attached to the surface of the recording medium according to the signal voltage. An image forming method comprising forming an image on the recording medium. (2) an electrode substrate having a large number of recording electrodes arranged insulated from each other, a toner replenishing means for replenishing toner on the surface of the recording electrodes, and a counter electrode arranged opposite to each of the recording electrodes; Voltage applying means for applying a voltage between each of the recording electrodes and the opposing electrode to electrostatically adhere the toner to the recording electrode; and electrostatic force for applying a signal voltage to each of the recording electrodes to cause the toner to adhere to the recording electrode. a signal voltage applying means for controlling the electrode substrate; a vibrating means for applying unbalanced vibration to the electrode substrate and moving the toner along the recording electrode to the tip of the electrode substrate according to the electrostatic force; and each recording electrode An electrostatic force is applied to the toner that has moved along to the tip of the electrode substrate, and the toner is selectively attached to a recording medium placed close to the tip of the electrode substrate. An image forming apparatus comprising: an accelerating means.