JPS6124463A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recorder having a recording needle which is placed in a position confronting to an ink layer formed on the surface of an inking roller and is driven by a piezoelectric element, thus making it possible to control voltage and waveform to be applied to the piezoelectric element and perform intermediate tone recording. CONSTITUTION:An ink layer 4 is formed on the surface of an inking roller 5 and a recording needle which is driven by a piezoelectric element 2 is placed between the ink roller 5 and a recording drum 1. Movement of the needle 7 into the ink layer 4 is changed by varying voltage applied to the piezoelectric element 2 and the residence time of the recording needle 7 on the inking roller 5 is changed by varying the waveform of a driving signal sent to the piezoelectric element 2 to change the amount of ink to be applied to the recording needle 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device using ink used in a graphic processing device or a terminal printer of a computer or the like.

Conventional Structures and Problems Various types of conventional recording apparatuses have been proposed. Specifically, there are two methods: one in which only fixed characters are recorded, and the other in which each required character is printed using dots. The former method is inappropriate for graphic figures, but in recent years the latter method has been increasingly used. A wire tod system is well known as an example of a dot recording system. This method mechanically fluctuates a thin wire to produce ON-OFF states of dots, but one of the drawbacks of this method is that it generates a lot of impact noise when recording dots. The reason for this is that the ink layer on the ribbon surface must be adhered to the recording paper by the pressure of the wire. On the other hand, the advantages are that it is highly reliable and easy to maintain.

On the other hand, in the thermal transfer method, dye-mixed wax or elimable dyes are fixed on a film or ribbon-like surface as a colored material, and this is transferred onto recording paper using a heating element.This method reduces noise. However, since a special material is used as the colored material, the recording cost is high.

On the other hand, an inkjet method in which liquid ink is applied to recording paper is also widely used. Although this method has very excellent recording characteristics such as gradation and recording density, since the ink is ejected from an ink nozzle with an ink ejection opening diameter of several tens of micrometers, clogging is likely to occur due to drying of the ink. In addition, air bubbles may get mixed into the ink, causing malfunctions, making maintenance difficult.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a new recording device that has excellent recording characteristics, is low in noise, is easy to maintain, and is capable of recording halftone density at low running costs. It is.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the present invention forms an ink layer on the surface of an ink roller, arranges a recording needle driven by a piezoelectric element at a position opposite to this, and determines the voltage value or waveform applied to the piezoelectric element. This is a recording device that controls and transfers images onto recording paper.

Description of examples The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a recording drum on which recording paper is wound.

General paper may be used as the recording paper. 2 is a piezoelectric element, and a recording needle 7 such as a tungsten wire is attached to the tip thereof.

In this case, the tip of the piezoelectric element 2 itself may be made thinner without using the recording needle 7. Reference numeral 5 denotes an ink roller, which rotates its periphery in contact with the ink in the ink reservoir θ to form an ink layer 4 on its surface. Reference numeral 3 denotes an ink thickness control plate for controlling the thickness of the ink layer 4. In addition to the ink used in normal inkjet printers, general printing ink can be used as the ink, and it is preferable that the ink has a particle size of 60 μm or less.

When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 2 and the recording needle 7 is displaced downward to bring the tip into contact with the ink layer 4 on the ink roller,
Ink adheres to the tip of the recording needle 7. Next, when a voltage of opposite polarity is applied to the piezoelectric element 2, the recording needle 7 is displaced upward and comes into contact with the recording paper on the recording drum 1, and the ink is transferred to the recording paper. Therefore, recording is performed by applying a recording signal to the piezoelectric element 2. Control of the timing of driving the recording needle 7 and the recording position on the recording paper is well known in the wire dot recording method and the like, so a description thereof will be omitted here.

In the present invention, in particular, in order to obtain changes in recording density, a bimorph type piezoelectric element is used, and by changing the voltage waveform of a drive signal applied to this element, recording density (gradation) is obtained. It is something.

The principle is that the amount of ink adhering to the recording needle 7 at the tip of the piezoelectric element 2 is changed. For this purpose, by changing the residence time of the recording needle 7 on the rotating ink roller 5, the amount of ink adhering to the recording needle 7 is changed. Alternatively, by changing the voltage of the drive signal applied to the piezoelectric element, the amount of ink adhering to the recording needle 7 can be changed depending on how the recording needle 7 enters in the depth direction of the ink layer 4 on the ink roller 5. let Control of the drive signal can be performed by modulating a pulse or a pulse wave with the recording signal.

Example 1 In this example, the recording needle 7 on the rotating ink roller 6 is
A method of changing the amount of ink adhering to the recording needle 7 by changing the residence time of the recording needle 7 will be described. A bimorph type piezoelectric element is used as the piezoelectric element 2, and is driven by an electric signal having a waveform shown in FIG. In this embodiment, −period, that is, t1 in the figure
is 0.1KIIz, and the residence time on the imperial ink roller 5 is t20.16~0.30.
KHz and transfer time t3 are 0.25 KHz, t
The results of optical density measurements of the densities recorded by varying 2 to 0.16, O121, and 0.3 otlz showed 1.2, 0.9, and 0.3, respectively, indicating that good density changes were obtained. became possible.

Example 2 In this example, the displacement voltage v2 on the ink roller 5 was changed to 70.90 and 120V as shown in FIG.

In the case of this example, the test was performed at t2-13 and o, 16KIIz. As a result, the optical density is o and 2°0, respectively.
．． 3, I was able to get 0.8.

In this way, in the present invention, it is possible to change the recording density by changing the drive waveform. Further, in the embodiment, an example of a rectangular wave is shown, but it goes without saying that it is also possible to use a sine waveform or the like.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention forms an ink layer on the surface of an ink roller, arranges a recording needle driven by a piezoelectric element at a position opposite to this, and controls the voltage value or waveform applied to the piezoelectric element. A recording device that enables halftone recording by
It is possible to obtain a halftone recording device that is noiseless and easy to maintain.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are voltage waveform diagrams applied to piezoelectric elements of the same apparatus, respectively. 1... Recording drum, 2... Piezoelectric element, 3
...Ink thickness control plate, 4 ... Ink layer, 6 ... Ink roller, 6 ... Ink reservoir. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 3
Diagram 0. ”

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ink roller having an ink layer formed on its surface, a recording drum disposed opposite to the ink roller, a recording needle disposed at an intermediate position between the ink roller and the recording drum, and a piezoelectric for driving the recording needle. A recording apparatus comprising: a piezoelectric element; and means for controlling the voltage value or waveform of a drive signal applied to the piezoelectric element.