JPS61263768A - Ion flow controlling electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive reduction of crosstalk between adjacent controlling electrodes and restrain a latent image from being distorted, by providing ion flow controlling electrodes in the shape of a comb. CONSTITUTION:When a voltage is impressed on a controlling electrode 8 from a controlling power source, an electric field is generated in a slit 6 in a direction perpendicular to the ion flow, so that the ion flow is deflected to the other wall side, namely, the side of a part of a bottom part of a corotron chamber 1, where ions are electriclly neutralized by exchange of electric charges, and do not reach a recording material. Thus, the ion flow is controlled by generating an electric field in a direction perpendicular to the ion flow instead of in a direction parallel to the ion flow. Accordingly, there is no need for a high voltage, e.g., 500V, as a controlling voltage, and the ion flow can be controlled by a voltage of 30V, which is not higher than about 1/10 of the high voltage. The electric field for controlling the ion flow may be generated in a direction substantially perpendicular to the ion flow.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ion flow control method in a recording head that forms an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium by controlling the ion flow according to an image signal. Regarding electrodes.

[Background technology]

As a recording head for forming an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium by controlling ion flow, there is known a recording head as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 12765/1983. Figure 4 shows the outline of the system, showing the recording head, corotron chamber (
A corotron wire (2) is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in the corotron chamber 11, and a voltage of +5 to 6 kV is applied to this corotron wire (2) from a high voltage power source (3). 1) is grounded to generate ions. Corotron chamber (1
) has an insulator (
4) is provided with an electrode for recording via the ion flow control electrode (5), and the bottom, the insulator (4) and the control electrode (5) are all connected to a corotron wire ( An aperture (6) through which ions pass is formed along the direction 2), that is, the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. Furthermore, since it is difficult to fabricate apertures at high density, a method using slits instead of apertures has been proposed.

- The control electrodes (5) are arranged at predetermined intervals along the above-mentioned direction, and are connected to a power source (7) for controlling the ion flow by switching the positive and negative control voltages according to the image signal.
). The illustrated case shows the point in time when a positive control voltage is just being applied.

In the electrostatic latent image writing head having the above structure, the ion flow passing through the shear aperture or slit (6) is controlled by the voltage applied to the control electrode (5) in order to form an electrostatic latent image on the recording medium. In order to control this ion flow, as shown in FIG. 1, the ion flow is switched by creating an electric field parallel to the traveling direction of the ion flow. However, in this case, a high voltage is required as the control voltage. In the above-mentioned publication, a voltage of 500V is required to control the ion flow. When the control voltage is high, the load on the drive circuit increases, such as by making the drive circuit complicated.

Regarding this point, the present applicant previously discovered that the electric field for controlling the ion flow is not parallel to the direction of travel of the ion flow as shown in FIG. We have developed an ion flow control type recording head in which control electrodes are arranged so that they act at right angles to the ion current. According to this,
The control voltage can be reduced to about 140 or less compared to the above method. Therefore, although the load on the drive circuit does not increase, this method does not cause crosstalk between adjacent electrodes, which causes disturbances in the latent image. There is room for

[Problem of invention]

This invention relates to an ion flow control electrode capable of reducing crosstalk between adjacent electrodes in a recording head that controls ion flow to form an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium, and in particular to an ion flow control electrode that can reduce crosstalk between adjacent electrodes. The purpose of this invention is to provide a control electrode suitable for use in cases where the control electrode is provided so that the electric field for controlling the ion flow acts perpendicularly to the traveling direction of the ion flow.

[Means to accomplish the task]

Therefore, in the present invention, the electrodes for controlling the ion flow are configured in a comb-like shape to reduce crosstalk between adjacent electrodes.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an electrostatic latent image writing head previously developed by the applicant in which the electric field for controlling the ion flow acts perpendicularly to the traveling direction of the ion flow. Note that the same components as in FIG. 4 are given the same reference numerals.

This writing head has a slit (6) in the case shown.
A control electrode (8) is provided on one side of the corotron chamber (11), and a control voltage is applied between this control electrode (8) and a part of the bottom of the corotron chamber (11), a counter electrode facing it through the slit (6). is configured to generate an electric field within the slit (6) that acts in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the ion flow as shown by the arrow E when the ion flow is applied. The tip is comb-shaped as shown in Figure 2 (N).

That is, first of all, regarding the former point, in this example, since the control electrode (8) is provided on one side, the insulator (4) is first placed at the location where the slit (6) is formed at the bottom of the corotron chamber (11). ), a control electrode (8) is placed at the tip of this insulator (4), and a slit (6
) is now formed.

Since the control power source (9) for the control electrode (8) generates an electric field that acts in the perpendicular direction as described above, a low voltage of, for example, about 30 V is sufficient.

As mentioned above, when the control electrodes (8) are provided only on one side, a large number of control electrodes (8) are provided at predetermined intervals along the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, but on the other side, that is, on the corotron chamber (11 In the example shown in the figure, a part of the corotron chamber (11 is grounded,
In the above case, the single electrode does not necessarily need to be grounded; for example, a constant voltage may be applied to the control electrode (8) in order to lower the control voltage. For example, when using 30V as the control voltage and grounding a single electrode, apply a voltage of θ to 30V to the control electrode (8), while applying -15V to the single electrode. If it is always applied, a voltage of -15 to +15 V may be applied to the control electrode (8). Which of the above methods should be used depends on the circuit configuration.

When the control electrode (8) is also grounded, no electric field is generated within the slit (6), so the generated ions travel downward in the figure and pass through the slit (6) (not shown). Achieve on record.

On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 1, the control electrode (8) is connected to the control power source (9).
), an electric field is generated in the slit (6) at right angles to the ion flow, so the ions are directed to the other wall, that is, to a part of the bottom of the corotron chamber (1). It is bent, where an exchange of charges occurs and it becomes electrically neutral, so it does not reach the recording medium. In this way, the ion flow can be controlled by generating an electric field that acts at right angles to the ion flow rather than parallel to it. Therefore, the control voltage is 500 as shown in Figure 4.
A high voltage such as V is not required, and the ion flow can be controlled even at 30 V, which is below the voltage level of 30 V. Note that the electric field for controlling the ion flow may act at right angles to the traveling direction of the ion flow.

Next, the comb-shaped shape of the control electrode (8) will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

Incidentally, FIG. 3 shows the electrode shape in the case where the tip of each electrode is not comb-shaped as in this embodiment, and the density distribution of the ion flow in that case for comparison with that according to this embodiment. Further, d indicates a portion that contributes to control of ion flow.

The density distribution of the ion flow extracted when using a control electrode with a flat tip shown in Figure 3 (N) is as shown in Figure 3 (B) and (C1). Figure 3 ( B) is
When all the control electrodes provided at predetermined intervals are grounded, FIG. 2C shows a case where a voltage is applied to one control electrode to control the ion flow. According to this, the density of the ion flow at the electrode section to which voltage is applied decreases, but its distribution curve becomes a curve as shown by the solid line in Figure (C). The difference between the two (the shaded area) causes disturbances in the latent image as crosstalk.

On the other hand, in the case of the control electrode (8) according to this embodiment shown in FIG. 2(A), the density distribution of the ion flow taken when using this control electrode (8) is Figure 3C
Figure 2 (B) and (C) are shown in comparison with B+ and (C).
)become that way. That is, by making the tip of each control electrode (8) into a comb shape, as shown in FIG. (C), and the amount of crosstalk is significantly improved compared to that in Figure 3 (C1). In this way, the crosstalk between adjacent control electrodes (8) can be reduced. It is possible to reduce this and improve the disturbance of the latent image.

In addition, although some improvement can be seen by reducing the area (width) of the control electrode in the case of Fig. 3 (At),
On the other hand, as the control voltage increases and the unevenness of the ion flow distribution increases, as shown in Figure 3, the wave height at B1 becomes even more and the latent image potential becomes non-uniform. In the case of the comb-shaped control electrode (8) shown in Figure 2 (N), the increase in control voltage can be suppressed by configuring the entire electrode area ratio to be the same as that of Figure 3 (Al). You can prevent it.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the control electrode (8) has a comb-shaped shape with three teeth, but the present invention is not limited to this. It's okay. Further, the present invention is particularly suitable for application when a control electrode is provided so that the electric field for controlling the ion flow acts perpendicularly to the traveling direction of the ion flow. This does not preclude application of the configuration shown in the figure to a recording head.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the crosstalk between adjacent control electrodes, thereby suppressing the disturbance of the latent image.Moreover, it is possible to reduce the crosstalk between adjacent control electrodes, and it is also possible to suppress the disturbance of the latent image. It has the advantage of being able to do this with a unique configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a recording head using an ion flow control electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(A)
~fc) is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the comb-shaped shape of the ion flow control electrode and the density distribution of the ion flow when using the same, Figure 3) ~(C) is a similar explanatory diagram when it is not comb-shaped, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a recording head in which the electric field is parallel to the traveling direction of the ion flow. Symbol explanation (21... Corotron wire 151 (81... Control electrode + 71 (91... Electrode for controlling ion flow Patent applicant Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Donakamura) Tomohiro (2 others) 5: tvJA Figure 4 7 = Utsugomihagen Figure 1 = Figure 2 2: Kot-on-Y Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ion flow control electrode in a recording head that controls ion flow to form an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium, characterized in that the electrode for controlling ion flow has a comb-shaped shape.