JPS61274950A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent clogging, by setting the moving speed of a recording medium at the time of recording so as to make the same slower than the recording speed to a member to be recorded. CONSTITUTION:In performing recording, prior to receiving the recording order from a processor for processing image/character data having an actual apparatus connected thereto and sending recording paper 8 to a recording part by driving a first feed roller 9, a film 2 is moved for a definite time to allow the advance direction ends of a large number of hole parts 92 to position at the part of a heating element 3 and moved in synchronous relation to the leading end of the recording paper 8 after the recording paper 8 arrived. At this time, the moving speed of the film 2 is set to 1/2 the recording speed to the recording paper 8. When the non-hole part 91 of the film 2 passes excessive ink scraping members 41, 42 toward to a lower part, a paper powder or dust is accumulated to the leading end of the excessive ink scraping member 42 and reaches the part of the heating element 3 at the top part of a thermal head 1 when the film 2 moves and the scraping members 41, 42 are moved several times so as to interpose the heating element 3 and, at the same time, an adsorbing fan 53 is started to suck the paper powder or dust in an air sucking guide 57.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a novel inkjet type recording device applicable to, for example, printers, facsimile machines, and the like.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventionally, various non-impact recording methods have been proposed, such as an electrostatic method, a thermal paper heating method, a thermal transfer method, an electrophotographic method, and an inkjet method.

Under these circumstances, the inkjet method is an extremely superior recording method that has various advantages such as low noise, low power, small size, easy multi-color printing, and inexpensive components. Various developments are underway from a certain point.

Examples of the inkjet method include a pressure element method, a static pressure acceleration method, and a bubble jet method. However, all conventional inkjet systems eject ink from the tip of a nozzle, and the problem of nozzle clogging has not been completely solved, so they have not been widely used. Furthermore, it has the disadvantage that the recording speed is slow because a large number of nozzles cannot be arranged closely together, making it difficult to record a large number of dots at the same time.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was developed based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a completely new inkjet method that does not use a fixed nozzle, which is free from clogging (and capable of high-speed recording), and which is easy to manufacture. The purpose is to provide an easy recording device.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention fills a recording medium with a large number of small holes or recesses with recording ink, and when the small holes or recesses filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element, the heating element is activated. By selectively heating, the ink in the small holes or recesses is ejected toward the recording member by the pressure of the generated bubbles, thereby recording on the recording member. By setting the moving speed of the recording medium slower than the recording speed on the recording member, the length in the moving direction of the multi-hole portion of the recording medium in which a large number of small holes or recesses are formed is determined in the recording direction of the recording member. The area of the multi-hole portion of the recording medium is reduced by making it shorter than the recording length of , thereby making it easier to manufacture.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to an illustrated embodiment.

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the recording principle. In the figure, 1 is a thermal head, and 2 is a small hole (orifice) with a diameter of 10 to 200 μm.
2a... A film as a recording medium made of metal, organic material, etc. formed in large numbers; 3 a heating element disposed in the head portion of the thermal head 1; 4 a recording ink (simply referred to as ink after JX); 5 is a small hole filled with ink;
Reference numeral 6 indicates an ejected ink droplet, and 7 indicates a small hole from which the ink droplet was ejected.

When the film 2 is transferred in the direction of the arrow, the ink 4 is filled into the small holes 2a of the film 2 that have passed through the ink reservoir section storing the ink 4. Then, when the small holes 5 filled with the ink 4 reach the thermal head 1 where the heating elements 3 are installed, a voltage is selectively applied to the heating elements 3 for rapid heating. let

Then, air bubbles (
Recording is performed by ejecting ink droplets 6 by the pressure of bubbles.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical side view showing the recording apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 8 is a recording paper as a recording member, and this recording paper 8 is attached to a paper feed cassette 49 attached to the main body housing 134 of the apparatus. A large number of recording sheets 8 are stored at once in the recording paper 1, and the lower surfaces of these paper sheets on the take-out side are pushed upward by push-up springs 33, so that the uppermost recording paper 8 can be in contact with the first feed roller 9 at all times. . The paper feed cassette 49 is
When attached to the device main body casing 134, the rubber magnet 47 attached to the tip thereof is magnetically attracted to the plate 48 provided on the device main body casing 134 side, and the device main body casing 13 is attached to the device main body casing 134.
It is fixed at 4.

The shaft 139 to which the first feed roller 9 is attached is
As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed solenoid 51
Paper feed spring clutch 63 and gear 5 turned OFF
6.55, it is configured to be interlocked with the paper conveyance motor 54. Then, the paper feed solenoid 51 is connected to the image/data processing device 133 (15th
The paper feed spring clutch 63 is turned on by being excited in response to a recording command (see figure), and the movement of the paper transport motor 54 is thereby transferred to the shaft 139 via the gears 55, 56 and the paper feed spring clutch 63. The uppermost recording paper 8 that is transmitted and comes into contact with the first feed roller 9 is fed.

Also, the paper feed cassette 49 is fed via the first feed roller 9.
The recording paper 8 taken out from the recording paper 8 rises along the first paper feed guide 44, and is further transferred to the first and second paper feeds via a pair of feed rollers 10.10 disposed in the transport direction and rolling into contact with each other. The sheet is fed into the guides 44 and 45 until its tip abuts the contact portion between the suction conveyance belt 15 of the recording member conveyance mechanism 43 and the stopped registration roller 11 that rolls into contact with the suction conveyance belt 15, and waits in this state.

Note that this device is capable of feeding paper from a manual paper feed tray 138 in addition to feeding paper from the paper feed cassette 49, and can feed recording paper such as thick paper that is set all at once on the manual paper feed tray 138. 8 is the second feed roller 19 and the separation roller 18
As in the case of feeding from the paper feed cassette 49, the sheets are taken out one by one starting from the bottommost one, and the sheets are taken out one by one at the contact point between the suction conveyance belt 15 and the stopped registration roller 11 that rolls into contact with the suction conveyance belt 15. It is fed until the tip hits it and waits in this state.

The registration roller 11 is designed to be interlocked with the paper conveyance motor 54 (see FIG. 3) via a clutch section (not shown), and rotated when the clutch section is turned on. The rotation start and stop timing of the registration roller 11 is such that the leading edge of the recording paper 8 is at the 11th ED.
21 is blocked and the first photosensor 22 is turned off, the leading edge of the recording paper 8 hits the front contact portion of the registration roller 11 and is set so as to cause an appropriate slack. It is being

By doing this, the leading edge inclination (skew) of the recording paper 8 is corrected, and the leading edge of the recording paper 8 is reliably pushed into the rolling contact portion of the registration rollers 11, and the recording paper 8 is It ensures a good bite.

Note that a paper waste removing brush 5o for removing paper waste adhering to the peripheral surface of the registration roller 11 is in sliding contact with the registration roller 11 to prevent the recording surface of the recording paper 8 from becoming dirty.

The recorded member conveyance mechanism 43 includes the first and second rollers 12, 14, these rows 512.
A suction conveyance mechanism part 43a as a first floating part is assembled into a unit by incorporating the suction conveyance belt 15 wrapped around the air suction duct 14, and the suction conveyance mechanism part 43a as a first floating part. By displacing this belt guide plate 27, the suction conveyance belt 15 is moved to the recording section guide 3'.
It is composed of a belt pressing/retracting means 43b that presses and retracts the liquid to 1 ml.

The belt pressing/retracting means 43b has the following configuration, namely, a belt guide plate 2 as a second floating part.
7 is rotatably supported at one end in the air suction duct 30 and housed in a state where the other end is constantly urged downward by the belt guide plate pressing spring 26, and the suction conveyor belt 15 is moved to the recording section. It is pressed against the guide 31.

Further, an adsorption member 141 is attached to the back surface of the pressing plate 27 in a state facing the electromagnetic coil 28, and when the electromagnetic coil 28 is excited, the pressing plate 2
7 is adapted to be displaced against the urging force of the pressing spring 26.

In addition, the suction conveyance mechanism section 43a as the first floating section is elastically supported by a rolling pressing spring 25 hung on the 10th roller 12, and the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating section is elastically operated by the pressing spring 26. thick recording paper 8
is supplied, it can be displaced by that amount.

In addition, the impact of the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating part is
It is designed to be damped by a high viscosity fluid damper 29.

As described above, the recording member transport mechanism 43, which is composed of the suction transport mechanism section 43a and the belt pressing/retracting means 43b, and is provided floatingly with respect to the heating element 3...
It is configured to be rotatable about the axis of the roller 12, and can be rotated in the six directions of arrows in FIG. 2 to open the recording paper conveyance path.

With the start of rotation of the registration roller 11, the tip of the recording device 18 touches the registration roller 511 and @conveyance mechanism section 43.
The recording paper 8 is caught between the suction conveyor belt 15 of
is clamped with appropriate pressure by the biasing force of the O-ra pressing spring 25. Then, the registration roller 11 and the tenth-
The paper is conveyed by the clamping conveyance force of the roller 12 and the suction conveyance force of the suction conveyance belt 15.

At this time, the recording paper 8 is pressed against the recording section guide 31 by the action of the belt pressing/retracting means 43b, and is conveyed while rubbing against the recording section guide 31.

The recording section guide 31 is fixed with respect to the thermal head 1, and the rubbing surface of the recording section guide 31 is maintained at a constant distance from the heating elements 3. Then, the recording surface (lower 111fi>) of the recording paper 8 is
A heating element 3 arranged in the head part of the thermal head 1.
It is configured so that it can move while always maintaining a minute gap, for example, 0.2 m, with the surface of the film 2, which moves while being in close contact with....

In fact, according to the performance test of the example, it was confirmed that the gap between the surface of the film 2 and the recording surface must be between 0.1 and 0.3 g in order to maintain a resolution of 8 lines/m. It was done.

However, if the gap is set to 0.1 m or less, the ink 4
It has also been confirmed that when the ink penetrates into the recording paper 8, this portion expands and the recording surface comes into contact with the surface of the film 2, creating a risk that the recording surface will be stained with the ink 4. Therefore, in this embodiment, the arm portion of the recording section guide 31 is pressed against the recording section guide fixing reference protrusion 135 (see FIG. 6) of the thermal head 1, and the gap is set to 0.2±0.05 mm. It is strictly controlled.

When the leading edge of the recording paper 8 moves further forward, it is nipped and transported between the 20th roller 14 of the suction transport mechanism section 43a and the paper discharge roller 13. At this time, the recording surface of the recording paper 8 is supported in a dotted manner by the needle roller section 104 of the paper ejection roller 13, and reference roller sections 105 and 106 are in rolling contact with the suction conveyance belt 15 on both sides. Since the paper is transported without being subjected to excessive pressure, the undried recorded image is not disturbed. (See FIG. 7) Furthermore, the recording paper 8 moves forward, and its rear end passes through the rolling contact portion of the registration roller 11 and the tenth roller 12. At this time, the rear end portion of the recording sheet 8 receives the full load of the recording member conveyance mechanism 43 and is conveyed while being rubbed against the recording section guide 31. In other words, the basic conveyance force of the recording paper 8 is only the suction conveyance force of the suction belt 15, and since the recording paper 8 is conveyed while being subjected to a large frictional force, the conveyance is accompanied by uncertainty.

However, in this embodiment, the force that presses the recording paper 8 against the recording unit guide 31 is transmitted through the belt pressing/3m avoidance means 43b, and the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating section Due to the reaction force from the section guide 31, the suction conveyance mechanism section 4 as the first floating section passes through the high viscosity buffer 29 while resisting the belt guide plate pressing spring 26.
It is pushed upwards relative to the housing portion of 3a.

In this way, after the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 has passed, the registration rollers 11 and the suction conveyance belt 15, which have been temporarily separated, come into rolling contact again, so that the pressure applied to the recording paper 8 is reduced and the belt guide plate 27 Smooth conveyance of the recording paper 8 is realized with only the total load and the urging force of the belt guide plate pressing spring 26.

Further, the recording paper 8 moves forward, and when the rear end of the recording paper 8 passes the edge portion of the recording unit guide 38 on the thermal head 1 side, the belt guide plate 27 receives no reaction force from anywhere.
Total load on belt guide plate 27 and belt guide plate pressing spring 26
It will be pushed down by the force of.

Therefore, as soon as the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 passes the edge portion of the recording section guide 31, the surface of the film 2 and the recording surface of the recording paper 8 come into contact, and the trailing edge of the recording paper is stained with the ink 4. It has the problem of being stored away.

However, in this embodiment, this problem is solved by the measures described below. First, since the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating part has already been pushed upward through the high viscosity fluid Wi impeller 29 as described above, the recording paper 8
Even if the rear end passes through the edge portion of the recording unit guide 31, the downward movement will slowly descend due to the buffering effect of the high viscosity fluid buffer 29. Therefore, while the recording surface of the recording paper 8 approaches the surface of the film 2, the recording paper 8
The rear end of can be made to pass through the heating element 3.

Further, in this embodiment, the leading edge or trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is folded or bent, and in order to prevent the recording paper 8 from coming into contact with the surface of the film 2, the leading edge or trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is heated. ±6II at both ends across element 3...
During I&, the electromagnetic coil 28 is energized so as to move away from the surface of the film 2, and the entire belt guide plate 27 serving as the second floating portion is attracted upward.

In this way, the recording paper 8 does not come into contact with the film 2 and get dirty, and it passes through the roller 13 placement part while maintaining an extremely small gap, and is delivered to the paper output tray with clean recordings. The paper will be ejected onto 16.

Also, when the paper is ejected, the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is at the 21st E.
The tip of D23 is blocked and the rising signal of the second photosensor 24 is detected to detect that the recording sheet 118 has been reliably ejected.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the ink container 64
The supply of ink to the film cartridge 40 as a recording medium cartridge and the supply of ink from the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40 to the film 2 will be described.

The film cartridge 40 and the ink container 64 are separable. The ink 4 is stored in an ink container 64, and this ink container 64 is attached to the film cartridge 40.
The ink container attachment is screwed into the part 65 and fixed. At this time, the transparent ink supply tube 71 of the ink container 64
is the cartridge, <2. Push up against the biasing force of the spring 69.

On the other hand, the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40 pushes up the ink container opening/closing rod 70, and therefore pushes up the valve 67 of the ink container 64 against the valve spring 66, causing the ink 4 in the ink container 64 to flow out. The ink 4 that has flowed out from the ink container 64 flows out until the diagonally cut tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71 is filled, and the ink 4 flows out until it fills the obliquely cut tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71, and then flows through the small hole and ink supply conduit formed around the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40. 94 into a fine ink supply channel 72.93 (see FIG. 6) formed at the bottom of the container portion 77 of the film cartridge 40.

The ink 4 soaks into an ink supply member 37, 39 made of rough felt, and is passed through the ink supply member 37, 39 to the film 2.
The ink 4 is applied to the film 2, thus filling the small holes 2 of the film 2.
The ink 4 is filled in the ink 4, and is used as a recording ink droplet 6 by the movement of the film 2 and the rapid heating of the heating elements 3.

In this way, when the ink 4 is consumed and the level of the ink 4 falls below the diagonally cut portion at the tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71, air is sucked in from the air suction passage 74 provided in the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40. ,
This air flows into the ink container 64 through the diagonally cut portion of the transparent ink supply tube 71, causing new ink 4 to flow out.

By the way, the air suction passage 74 is located at the upper part of the ink supply section, and the air volume within the ink supply section is made as small as possible as seen from FIGS. 2 and 3. A first surplus ink scraping member 41.90 made of rubber and a second surplus ink scraping member 4
According to 2.89, air can enter and exit the ink supply section only when the small holes 2a of the film 2 pass through the first and second surplus ink handling members 41.90 and 42.89. Therefore, replenishment of the ink 4 from the ink container 64 to the ink supply section is possible only when the film 2 is being moved, and is not performed during non-operation such as when the film cartridge 40 is replaced or when the film cartridge 40 is being moved. It looks like this.

Therefore, the problem of ink 4 being excessively supplied to the film cartridge 40 and leaking from the film cartridge 40 and scattering can be prevented.

Furthermore, since the ink 4 is supplied to the film 2 through the ink supply member 37, 79 made of felt as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, it is freely supplied as a liquid within the ink supply section. Since the ink 4 can be prevented from forming a surface and the ink 4 is captured between the fibers by the force of surface tension, it is easy to prevent the ink 4 from leaking out of the film cartridge 40.

Next, the operation for removing the ink container 64 from the ink container mounting section 65 of the film cartridge 40 will be described.

When the ink 4 in the ink container 64 is consumed by the above-described replenishment of the ink 4, the level of the ink 4 further decreases and reaches the transparent ink supply tube 71. At this time, light from the ink detection LDE 75 begins to pass through and the ink detection photosensor 76 begins to be turned on. The rise of this signal is detected to detect the absence of ink in the ink container 64.

The device also displays the ink-out detection signal on the display section of the device or on the display section of the image/data processing device 133 connected to the device, as described later. If there is ink 4, a message is displayed indicating that there is no ink in the ink container 64, that is, indicating that the ink container 64 should be replaced.

In this way, the ink container 64 is replaced, and in the case of this embodiment, the removal procedure and the pulp 6 of the ink container 64 are
7. The action of the pulp 68 of the film cartridge 40 is completely opposite to that during installation.

That is, the pulp 68 of the film cartridge 40 rises, and the ink container mounting portion comes into close contact with the lower surface of the seal 73 due to the force of the cartridge pulp spring 69, and the ink 4 in the film cartridge 40 is released from the ink container mounting portion 65 to the outside. It is designed to prevent leakage and scattering.

By the way, the ink container 64 has a capacity of 100c in this embodiment.
Ink 4 except for the ink supply tube 71 mentioned above in c.
The container is opaque in consideration of its weather resistance, and the normal recording density is 2000 to 50 on A4 sheet recording paper.
On the other hand, the film cartridge 40 records approximately 100,000 sheets/A4 due to problems such as clogging due to paper dust, mold, and dried ink in the small hole 2a of the film 2, and has to be replaced every 3 years. Is required. For this reason, the film cartridge 40 and the ink container 64 are separable, and the structure is such that leakage and evaporation of the ink 4 in each container can be easily prevented.

The attachment of the film cartridge 400 to the recording apparatus will now be described.

In this apparatus, the thermal head 1 is fixed to the main body casing 134, and the film cartridge 40 is shown in FIG.
) and a container located in the film exposed portion 86 of the cartridge 40 shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 3, when the film cartridge first support part 60 is inserted into the main body housing 134 and the film cartridge second support part 61 provided at the other end is pushed down, the cartridge fixing spring 62 is moved to the right. , the head of the fixing spring 62 falls into the recess of the second film cartridge support portion 61, and the film cartridge 40 is fixed.

As described above, since the container portion of the film cartridge 40 has a window shape, the film cartridge 4o has a structure that provides sufficient strength.

Furthermore, since the mounting is as described above, the film cartridge 40 can be easily attached and detached, and the ink container 64 can be easily attached and detached.
It can be easily attached and detached even if it is still attached. In other words, it is now possible to easily replace Ink 4. When the film cartridge 40 is attached or removed, the recording member 43 rotates as shown by arrow A in FIG. is wide open, making it easy to remove paper jams in the recording section, paper waste from the film 2, and replace the film cartridge 40. In order to prevent the remaining ink 4 from leaking or evaporating, the film cartridge 40 is provided with a cartridge lid 85 as shown in FIG.
The lid 85 rotates as shown by the arrow to cover the exposed film portion 86, and the protrusion of the lid 85 is attached to the first excess ink scraping member 41 of the film cartridge 40.
．． 90 and the second surplus ink scraping member 42, 89 to seal the film cartridge 40@.

In addition, the ink absorbing members 34 and 35 shown in FIG. 2 allow the excess ink 4 accumulated in the upper part of the thermal head 1 when the film cartridge 40 is attached and detached to flow down through the wall surface of the thermal head 1 and into the apparatus. Although there is a problem of scattering, in this embodiment, the thermal head 1
An ink absorbing member 34, 35 that is in contact with the thermal head 1 is attached to the lower part of the ink absorbing member 34, 35, which absorbs the ink 4 that is about to run down and scatter, thereby preventing the above-mentioned MH.

Next, the operation when driving the film 2 will be described.

FIG. 4(a) is a side view of the drive section of the film drive mechanism section 144 in the recording medium drive mechanism section, and FIG. 4(b) is a plan view of the same portion.

The film 2 rotates clockwise when viewed from the film drive motor gear 5811 as a recording medium drive motor gear of the film drive motor 52 as a recording medium drive motor;
In accordance with the counterclockwise rotation, it moves upward and downward, respectively, in FIG. 4(a). When the film drive motor gear 58 rotates clockwise, the film drive gear 78 rotates clockwise as viewed from the side of FIG. 4(a).

Drive shaft 8 for moving the film as a drive shaft for moving the recording medium
Since one end of the left-handed spring 84 fitted to the drive shaft 87 is engaged with the recess of the gear 78, clockwise rotation of the gear 78 is a direction in which the left-handed spring 84 is further wound around the film moving drive shaft 87. The power of the gear 78 is transmitted to the film moving drive shaft 87.

At this time, the film drive gear 59 as a recording medium drive gear also rotates clockwise, but the right-handed spring 83 fitted on the film movement drive shaft 88 as a recording medium movement drive shaft is rotated relative to the - It acts in the direction of loosening from the moving shaft 88. However, in the case of the embodiment, the drive shaft 8
Since the right-handed spring 83 and the right-handed spring 83 are rotating in the same direction, the drive shaft 88 and the cloth-bound spring 8 are substantially the same.
A slip with 3 will occur.

By the way, when attaching and detaching the film cartridge 40, the film drive gear 59, 78 is connected to the motor gear 5.
8, there is a risk that the interlocking film 2 will remain loose or remain under too much tension. However, regarding the latter, in the configuration of this embodiment, the drive shaft 88 and the right-handed spring 83 slip, and such excessively strong tension can be alleviated.

Furthermore, as shown in the perspective view of the moving mechanism of the embodiment in FIG. 6, the film cartridge 4o is provided with a film tension mechanism 142 as a recording medium tension mechanism on the side opposite to the drive shafts 87 and 88 for film movement. Therefore, there is no loosening of the film 2, and the film 2 can be formed while rubbing against the tip heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 with appropriate pressure. A ladder wheel 100 is fixed to one end of the film moving drive shaft 87 by a bin 101, and a left-handed torsion spring 95 with one end engaged with a torsion spring fixing portion 96 is fitted to one end of the drive shaft 88. , the other end of the torsion spring 95 engages with the recess 98 of the rudder wheel 97, and the rudder wheel 97
is connected to the ladder wheel 10 via the ladder chain 99.
Connected to 0.

By the way, when the ladder chain 99 is hung on the ladder wheel 97, 100, the recording medium is wound around the shaft 36 via the torsion spring 95, and the film is wound around the shaft 36 in the counterclockwise direction. For winding, the shaft 38 is attached by suitably twisting the torsion spring 95 in advance so as to bias it clockwise. Therefore, an appropriate tensicon is applied to the film 2 according to the torsion force, that is, the torque, of the torsion spring 95.

In this way, when the film cartridge 4o is attached to the apparatus, the problem of the film 2 coming loose is eliminated, and the film 2 always slides in close contact with the tip of the thermal head 1 with appropriate pressure.

Next, referring to FIG. 4(a), the driving gear 58 is
The installation of item 8 will be explained assuming that it rotates counterclockwise when viewed from the side.

At this time, the drive gear 59 rotates counterclockwise, and the right-handed spring 83 acts to become entangled with the film drive shaft 88. Thus, in this case, the film 2 can be moved downwards, and thus the film 2 can be moved back and forth according to the clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of the film drive motor 5.2, and the right-handed spring 83 and the left-handed The action of the spring 84 and the film tension mechanism 142 prevents the film 2 from loosening when the film cartridge 40 is attached or removed, and also prevents damage to the film 2 or the thermal head 1 due to excessive tension. .

In any case, the film 2 is reciprocated by the operation of the film drive motor 52 described above, and the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 is filled with the ink 4 in the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 to perform recording. is now possible.

Furthermore, the film 2 is guided by guide means consisting of side guides for the film 2, indicated by 102 and 103 in FIGS. 6 and 7, located at both ends of the thermal head 1, so that the film 2 can be prevented from shifting laterally. It has become.

By the way, it is necessary to know where the beginning and end of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 are, and when starting recording, make sure that the starting position of the multi-hole portion 92 in the moving direction of the film 2 is at the location of the heating element 3. You need to be able to start recording when you arrive. In this example, Fig. 4(a)
, as shown in (b), a film position indexing board 80 as a recording medium position indexing board is attached to the drive shaft of the film drive motor 52, and this indexing board 80 is used to determine the start of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2. Film first position detection slit 81 as a recording medium first position detection slit indicating the position
A film second position detection slit 82 is provided as a recording medium second position detection slit, and a film position detector 79 detects the position of the film 2.

When the film drive motor 52 rotates, the film position detector 79 senses short optical pulses and long pulses from the short and long slits of the slit 81, and in response, a constant cycle signal built into the electric control circuit 32 is detected. In comparison with the clock pulse, it is determined at the clockwise rear end of the long slit 81 that the slit 81 is a slit for detecting the first film position, and the single optical pulse of the slit 82 is detected as a film position detector. 79, and it is determined that this is the slit for detecting the second film position. In this way, the film drive motor 52 detects the film first position detection slit 81 and stops.

At this time, the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 (see FIG. 12)
Covering the exposed film portion 86 of the film cartridge 40, the multi-hole portion 92 covers the first and second portions of the film cartridge 40.
The second surplus ink scraping member 89,90 is housed in the ink supply section below. For this reason, the film cartridge 40 is held by the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2, so that the film cartridge 40 is sealed from the outside air.

Therefore, the ink 4 in the film cartridge 40 evaporates, the viscosity of the ink 4 increases, and the speed at which the ink 4 flies out from the small holes 2a of the film 2 decreases, or the viscosity is too high to eject, which adversely affects recording. This problem can be prevented from occurring.

Now, when recording, images and
Upon receiving a recording command from the processing device 133 (see FIG. 15) for processing character data, etc., the film 2 is held for a certain period of time, that is, before driving the first feed roller 9 to feed the recording sheet 8 to the recording section. The film drive motor 52 is moved by rotating it counterclockwise as shown by the arrow in FIG. After waiting for the arrival of the paper 8, the film 2 is moved in synchronization with the leading edge of the recording paper 8. At this time, the moving speed of the film 2 is 20 JII/sec, which is 1/2 of the recording speed on the recording paper 8 (moving speed of the recording paper 8) of 40 JII/sec.

In fact, even when the speed of the recording J18 is varied between 10 and 100 m/s, the relative movement direction of the film 2 and the recording paper 8 is the same when the recording density of the recording paper 8 is 75%, that is, the coverage is 75%. It was found that regardless of the reverse direction, if the moving speed of the film 2 is V/4 or more, the film becomes more than Dl,O (black solid, coverage rate 75%).

The pattern of this experiment is shown in FIG. Therefore, the movement width of the film 2 can be made shorter than the recording length (recording direction) of the recording paper 8, and therefore the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2
The area of the film 2 could be reduced, and the production of the film 2 could be made easier. That is, if the area of the multi-hole portion 92 is large, it is difficult to make the diameters of the small holes 2a (25 to 30 μm) uniform over the entire area, and therefore, there is a problem that the diameter of the small holes 2a becomes smaller, for example, near the periphery. This causes uneven recording density. In this embodiment, since the area can be reduced, such a wR problem can be prevented.

Now, in this way, the film 2 moves and the first and second surplus ink scraping members 89 and 901 of the multi-hole portion 92 are removed.
1 reaches the part of the heating element 3. At this time, the film position detection 879 detects the second film position detection slit 82 . Of course, in order for the positions of each part of the film 2 and the relative positions of the first and second position detection slits 81 and 82 of the film position indexing board 80 to be in the above-mentioned relationship, it is necessary to During initial setting, the film 2 is used as the first and second surplus ink scraping members 8
9.9011, and the film drive motor 52 allows the film position detector 79 to detect the position of the similar slit among the long slit and short slit pair of the film first position detection slit 81. It is necessary to detect and stop it.

This embodiment is based on this assumption.

Now, when the recording sheets 8 are successively fed and even-numbered recording sheets 8 are recorded, the first one of the multi-hole portion 92,
After the film 2 is wound up until the end on the side of the second surplus ink scraping member 89 and 90 reaches the film winding shaft 38 and the ink 4 is supplied, the film 2 is moved in the opposite direction to the moving direction of the film 2 described above. After waiting for a certain period of time for the terminal end to reach the heating element 3 . . . , recording is performed in synchronization with the leading edge of the recording paper 8 .

In continuous recording: When recording on odd-numbered recording sheets 8, the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41
．． The end of the multi-hole portion 92 on the 42 side is the film winding shaft 36
After the ink 4 is supplied to the heating element 3.
... and film 2 in synchronization with the leading edge of recording paper 8.
It is supposed to move.

Since recording is continued by such reciprocating movement of the film 2, continuous recording is possible even if the film is not endless.

Now, next, the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41.
90 and 42.89 are arranged such that the contact positions with the film 2 are staggered as shown in FIG. It is located above 90. The necessity of this arrangement will be explained with reference to the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41 and 42.

First, the film 2 must be wound so that the axes 36 and 38 reach the apex of the thermal head 1 and are directed downwards, so that the recording area can be stored compactly and the recording paper 8 must be placed in a tight gap to the heating element 3. It is impossible to keep them close and transport them.

Therefore, if the first surplus ink scraping member 42.89 is positioned below the thermal head 1 side with respect to the film 2, the second surplus ink scraping member 82.89111 The distance can be made smaller and film 2
The area of the film exposed portion 86 of the film cartridge 40 can be reduced.

Therefore, the film cartridge 4o can be formed compactly. The effect of scraping off excess ink during movement of the film 2 is as follows.

First, the case where the film 2 moves in the direction of arrow G in FIG. 6 will be described. The film 2 supplied with ink 4 by the ink supply member 39 moves upward, and the first surplus ink scraping member 41 scrapes the surplus ink from the film 2. However, during recording, since the multi-hole portion 92 passes through the excess ink scraping member 41, the excess ink 4 moves by a certain amount to the side opposite to the thermal head 1 through the multi-hole portion 92.

Further, the ink 4 that has moved to the opposite side is scraped off by the second surplus ink scraping member 42 and moved to the thermal head 1111 again. In this way, when the film 2 moves in the G direction and the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 passes through the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41 and 42,
A sufficient amount of ink 4 is applied and replenished not only to the small holes 2a but also to the entire surface of the film 2.

Therefore, this makes it possible to reduce the film speed to 1/4 of the speed of the recording paper 8, as described above.

Now, let's consider a case in which the multi-hole portion 92 moves downward through the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41, 42.

In this case, the recording side surface of the film 2 is first scraped off by the second surplus ink scraping member 42.

Therefore, the excess ink 4 adhering to the surface of the film 2 is scraped off, and the dust and paper dust adhering to the film 2 are also scraped off. In this way, the ink 4 accumulated at the tip of the excess ink scraping member 42 moves to the thermal head 1 side through the small holes 2a of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2.
Next, it is scraped off again by the first surplus ink scraping member 41 and accumulates at the tip of the first surplus ink scraping member 41 .

This scraped and accumulated surplus ink 4 is returned to the small holes 2 of the multi-hole portion 92 on the opposite side of the thermal head 1.
Move through a... In this way, the surplus ink 4 during recording is removed from the ink 4 of the film cartridge 40.
is collected in the supply section.

On the other hand, the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 moves in the F direction, that is, downwardly toward the first and second surplus ink scraping members 4.
The state when passing 1.42 will be described. At this time, since the surface of the film 2 opposite to the thermal head 1 has already been scraped by the second surplus ink scraping member 89, it is necessary to scrape off the ink with the second surplus ink scraping member 42. There isn't.

However, paper dust and rubber accumulate at the tip of the second surplus ink scraping means 42.

On the other hand, since the film surface on the thermal head 1 side has also been cleaned in advance by the first surplus ink scraping member 90, there is almost no need for ink scraping by the first surplus ink scraping member 41.

In this way, the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 becomes the film exposed portion 8 as the recording medium exposed portion of the film cartridge 40.
By covering the film cartridge 6, the exposed portion of the film 2 is cleaned thoroughly, and there is no danger of getting one's hands dirty when installing or removing the film cartridge 40.

Further, since the length MSN (see FIG. 12) of the non-hole portion 91 in the moving direction is longer than the film exposure width E (see FIG. 6) of the film cartridge 40, etc., the first excess ink scraping member 41. 90, second surplus ink scraping member 4
It is possible to prevent air from entering and exiting through a gap of 2.89 mm.

Therefore, the evaporation of the ink 4 can be prevented, and the viscosity of the ink 4 can be prevented from changing, so that the quality of recording and printing can be maintained constant.

Next, the operation for removing paper waste adhering to the film 2 will be described.

As described above, when the film 2 is moved in the G direction, the paper scraps and dust accumulated on the tip of the second surplus ink scraping member 42 are moved together with the film 2 while remaining attached to the film 2, and the paper scraps and dust accumulated on the tip of the second surplus ink scraping member 42 move together with the film 2 while remaining attached to the film 2. It comes to the heating element 3 part at the top of . At this time, transfer film 2 to thermal head 1.
The suction belt 15 is moved back and forth several times with the heating element 3 in between, and at the same time the suction fan 53 shown in FIG.
Paper scraps and dust on the film 2 described above are sucked into the air suction guide 57 through the suction port 107 .

In this way, paper powder and dirt attached to the film 2 can be removed, so that the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 can be removed.
This prevents the small holes 2a from becoming clogged with paper powder and dirt.

In this embodiment, the paper waste removal process is carried out after a certain period of time after a series of continuous recording is completed, so that the problem of reducing the recording speed does not occur.

First, as mentioned above, since the paper waste removal process is carried out on the non-porous portion 91 of the film 2, the ink 4 on the film surface is cleaned, so that the ink 4, etc. enters the air suction guide 57. It is also possible to prevent problems such as the ink 4 being sucked in or adhering to the suction belt 15.

Here, the operation of the film 2 when the recording operation is completed will be described.

After a series of recording operations is completed, the film 2 is moved for a certain period of time at a speed slower than the moving speed during recording.

This is done in order to prevent the ink 4 from being depleted from the heating elements 3 of the thermal head 1 until the series of recording operations is completed. after that,
The paper waste removal step described above is continued for a certain period of time, and then the exposed film portion 86 of the film cartridge 4o is covered with the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2.

By the way, the first surplus ink scraping member 41.90 is made of an elastic member, and its edge toward the thermal head 1 is located on the lower surface of the film 2 and comes into close contact with the thermal head 1. The ink 4 flowing down through the wall surface is transferred to the small holes 2 in the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2.
a... so that it can be collected into the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40. Said first and second
The excess ink scraping members 41.90 and 42.89 are made of a non-breathable material that prevents air and ink 4 from entering and exiting the film cartridge 40.

First, the relationship between the diameter of the small holes 2a of the film 2 and the pitch between the small holes 28 will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the figure, the arrow ■ indicates the moving direction of the film 2, and the line connecting the centers of the small holes 2a is an equilateral triangle with one side perpendicular to the arrow I. In the figure, H and V are the dimensions of the heating element 3, which are 100 μm to 125 μm, respectively. The diameter of the small hole 2a in the figure is 25 μm in the example.
The center-to-center distance P is 45 μm, and the minimum distance between the small holes 2a is 20 μm. According to experiments, using the above symbols, the maximum distance between adjacent small holes 2alffi is P
If the relational expressions H≧2P and V≧2P+D are satisfied, and the resolution is 8 lines/ltm as in the example, the diameter of the small hole 2a is D-15 to 35 μm, and P is P- 40-5
In order to obtain good print quality, it was necessary to keep the thickness within the range of 0 μm.

Special considerations are required to achieve good print quality and improve thermal efficiency during recording, regardless of the shape of the heating element 3.

FIG. 14 shows the cross-sectional shape of the heating element.

Here, the heating element 3 and the electrical conductor 108.121 are A
It is covered with a thin wear-resistant insulating film 136 such as 205. Now, a voltage is applied to the heating element 3 and it is rapidly heated, bubbles are generated, and due to this pressure, the ink 4 in the small hole 2a filled with ink 4 is rapidly ejected and recorded. In the example, the resistance of the heating element 3 is selected to be 3000, and 24μ is applied with a pulse width of 10 μsec to record.
.

Ink is ejected to perform recording.

At this time, the energy consumed is approximately 2100erQ/element.

This energy is almost constant when the thickness T of the gap 124 between the heating element and the film 2 is 3 μm or more, but when ■ is 1
When the thickness exceeds 0 μm, the jetting force becomes poor and the printing quality deteriorates. Moreover, when ■ becomes 3 μm or less, the energy consumption of ink per 3 heating elements becomes 21001X or more, and T
It turns out that the smaller the value, the more energy is required. Therefore, in this example, the thickness was set to T-3 μm.

In the figure, 122 indicates a glass gelase layer.

Next, the following improvements have been made in terms of the durability of the heating element 3.

That is, as proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-11851, the heating element (heating resistor) is mainly composed of ruthenium oxide, M (M is Qa).

A metal oxide thin film containing an oxide of at least one selected from Sr, Ba, Pb, Bt, and Tp in an M/Ru (atomic ratio) of 0.6 to 2 is used.

By using a metal oxide thin film in this way, there is no need to consider changes in resistance due to oxidation, as in the past, and it becomes possible to apply large amounts of power and reach high temperatures.
It also increases stability during long-term use. Further, since this metal oxide film has a relatively high sheet resistance value, a relatively small current is required to obtain a high heat generation density. Therefore, less current flows through the conductive layer connected to the heat generating resistor as in the conventional case, and heat generation from this portion can be reduced.

Therefore, so-called print blurring that occurs during printing can be reduced. Also, it takes I! ! Since I has a positive resistance temperature coefficient, it can improve the drawbacks of 5n02-based materials, can apply a large amount of power from the initial stage, and is suitable for high speed.

Next, the structure of the thermal head will be described based on FIG. 11.

The structure of the heating element 3 was described in FIG. 14, but in this embodiment, the heating element 3 and the electrical conductor 108.12"l are formed on a polyimide film 123 of about 15 μm, which is made of aluminum. Metal support 13
It has a structure that is adhesively fixed to 7. It is estimated from the calculation of consumed energy distribution that most of the energy consumed by pulsed heating of the heating element 3 is 70% or more).
This means that the polyimide film 123, film, etc. are accumulated instead of being used for ejecting the ink 4. Note that the driver 120 of the thermal head 1 is a protective cover.

In this way, if the A4 vertical feed line printer has a resolution of 8 lines/m and a recording speed of 40 m/V as in the embodiment, the thermal head 1 The maximum value of the total energy consumption is about 120 W, of which about 107 W is accumulated in the polyimide film 123 and the film.

Such heat accumulation raises the temperature of the film 2 and the ink 4 to near the boiling point of the ink 4, and therefore, the situation in which the ink 4 is ejected changes depending on whether there is heat accumulation or not. In other words, the thermal history of recording causes a problem in that the density of the recorded image becomes uneven.

In this embodiment, the heating element 3 is placed on the polyimide film 123 having a thickness of approximately 15 μm, and the heating element 3 is placed on the electrical conductors 108, 12.
1 is bonded to a metal support 137 made of aluminum, so that the heat energy generated and accumulated in the heating element 3 is quickly transferred to the metal support 137.
Spread.

Since the support body is made of metal, the heat energy diffused into the metal support body 137 conducts heat very quickly and acts to cool the heating element 3 portion. thus,
The heating cycle of the heating element 3 can be shortened and the recording speed can be increased.

Next, the structure of the ink presence/absence detection elements 109 and 112 of the thermal head 1 will be described according to FIGS. 9 and 10(a) and (b). In this embodiment, there are exposed conductor parts 110 and 111 of the ink presence/absence detection element, which have electrical conductors abutted against each other at both ends of the thermal head 1.
0.111 is direct ink 4 without wear-resistant/insulating film 136
It is designed to come into contact with.

Incidentally, the conductivity of the ink is 10'3S/α, and a small amount of current can flow if a voltage is applied. This state is shown in FIG. 10(a). The exposed conductor portion 11'0.
When a voltage pulse of 0N-OFFL is sent to 111 by the switch SW, if the ink 4 is at the top of the thermal head 1 as shown in FIG. The voltage is applied to the exposed conductor portion 110.
Since the li current flows between 111 and 111, it temporarily decreases. This signal is amplified to detect the presence of ink. As shown in FIG. 10(b), when there is no ink 4, even if the same switch SW operation as described above is performed, I! Since no current flows, the voltage drop described above does not occur.

With this, it is possible to detect that there is no ink 4, and it is possible to prohibit the recording operation. As described above, in this embodiment, ink presence detection elements 109 and 112 are further attached to both ends of the row of heating elements 3 of the thermal head 1, so that when there is no ink 4, the heating elements 3...
This eliminates the problem of damaging the heating element 3 by heating and dry cooking.

In other words, even if there is ink 4 at one end of the heating element row 3 and no ink 4 at the other end, the presence or absence of ink can be detected by ANDing the signals of the ink presence detection elements 109 and 112. Therefore, it is possible to detect when there is no ink.

In this embodiment, as described above, the thermal head 1 is provided with the ink presence/absence detection elements 109 and 112, and the ink container 64 is also provided with replenishment ink presence/absence detection means consisting of an ink detection LED 75 and an ink detection photosensor 76. That's what happened.

As described above, these ink presence/absence detection means each have their own roles, and at the same time, as described below, they can cause the recording apparatus of this embodiment to perform various operations depending on the combination of their respective states. Ru.

First, in this embodiment, if a voltage is constantly applied to the ink presence/absence detection means 109 and 112 of the thermal head 1 described above,
There is a problem that the ink 4 is electrolyzed and gases such as hydrogen and oxygen are generated and the exposed conductor parts 110 and 111 are corroded. The presence or absence of ink is detected by applying a voltage.

Furthermore, by doing this, it is possible to stop the recording operation during recording after the start of the recording operation, for example, after feeding the recording paper 8, and after a while has passed, that is, after the ink 4 has reached the thermal head 1. When the recording operation is restarted, the problem that the exact position of the recording paper is shifted due to the inertia of the feed roller etc. can be prevented in advance.

Further, in this embodiment, when the absence of ink is detected by the ink presence detection operation of the thermal head 1, the film drive motor 52 is driven to move the film 2 for a certain period of time as shown by arrows G and F in FIG. After the reciprocating operation, the ink presence/absence detection operation of the thermal head 1 described above is performed again to detect the presence or absence of ink.

Therefore, even if the ink 4 evaporates from the heating element array 3 of the thermal head 1 due to a temporary stop, the ink reaches the inside of the film cartridge 40 by restarting the ink presence/absence detection operation. 4 is missing, it can also detect whether a new film cartridge 40 is missing or not.
It is also possible to check whether the ink 4 has reached the ink supply member 37, 39 inside the film cartridge 40 from the ink container 64 just after setting the film cartridge.

In this way, when it is detected that there is no ink in the thermal head 1, a status display regarding the lack of ink is displayed on the display section of the image, character, data, etc. processing device 133 to which the recording device is connected, and the operator is instructed to take appropriate action. It is meant to give instructions.

Incidentally, the ink presence/absence detection operation of the thermal head 1, the ink presence/absence detection signal, the replenishment ink presence/absence detection signal of the ink container 64, and the operation of the recording apparatus are closely related. In fact, in this embodiment, only when the detection signal indicating the presence of ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal indicating the presence of ink in the ink container 64 are generated simultaneously, the recording member, that is, the recording paper 8
is fed toward the heating element 3. This can prevent the risk of running out of ink 4 during recording and having to interrupt the recording operation.

Further, as described above, when the detection signal indicating that there is no ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal that there is replenishment ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time, the film drive motor 52, film movement drive shaft 87, 88, etc. By operating the film moving mechanism, it is possible to cut off the ink 4'' from reaching the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1. At this time, the film moving speed is 2 during normal recording.
Although it is moved at a speed of 0 m/■, it is operated at a slower speed, 5 m/V in the example.

As a result, when there is no ink 4, the electrical conductor 108.12 is caused by the friction between the thermal head 1 and the film 2.
This prevents the wear-resistant insulating film No. 1 from being damaged.

In this way, the film moving mechanism is operated to move the film 2 back and forth until the ink-absence detection signal of the thermal head 1 changes to an ink-present signal.

Then, the image or character or data processing device 13 described above
A "waiting" state is displayed in the display area 3 to inform that the ink 4 is being supplied to the thermal head 1.

By the way, when a detection signal indicating that there is ink in the thermal head 1 and a detection signal indicating that there is no refilling ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time, the display section of the portrait recording device or the processing device 133 for processing images, characters, data, etc. should be refilled with ink. A display instructing the operator to replace the ink container 64 and refill it with new ink 4 is displayed. In this way, a new ink container 64
is attached and the detection signal indicating that there is no refill ink in the ink container 64 changes to the detection signal indicating that there is ink, the recording operation is stopped for a certain period of time, that is, the recording paper 8 is transferred toward the heating element 3. It is also prohibited to do so. This is the ink supply member 37 in the film cartridge 40.
．． This ensures that a sufficient amount of ink 4 permeates the film 39 and that the ink 4 is always supplied to the film 2 in the same state.

In addition, in this embodiment, the film cartridge 40 is set in the recording apparatus by the means for detecting that the detection signal indicating that there is no ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal that there is no replenishing ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time. It is detected that it is not. This pattern is shown in FIG.

In fact, in the above-mentioned state, when the film cartridge 40 is not set, and even when the film cartridge 40 is set, neither the thermal head 1 nor the ink container 6
4 also shows that there is no ink 4, but,
In either case, the operator is instructed to replenish ink in a major sense.

As a result, even if there is no means for detecting whether or not the film cartridge 40 is set in the recording apparatus, it is possible to detect whether there is no ink in the thermal head 1 or not in the container 6.
No.4 refill ink occurs. In most cases, this means that the film cartridge 40 is not actually set. In this manner, in this embodiment, it is detected that the detection signals of no ink in the thermal head 1 and no replenishment ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time, and it is detected whether the film cartridge 40 is attached or detached.

Next, the overall structure of the thermal head 1 will be described according to FIG.

In the figure, 137 is a metal support made of aluminum, and the thermal head 1 has metal cooling members 114 and 115 on both sides of the metal support 137. It has sensing elements 117 and 118. In the figure, reference numerals 113 and 116 indicate heating elements of the thermal head 1, which are arranged in parallel with and near the heating element 3.

In this embodiment, the heating element 113, 116 of the thermal head 1 is turned ON or 0FFL by the output signal of the concentration detection element 117, 118 in response to changes in the environment or the thermal history of the heating element 3.
/The temperature of the top portion of the thermal head 1 is controlled to be constant.

First, the metal cooling members 114 and 115 are in direct contact with the film 2, and can effectively cool down the temperature rise of the thermal head 1 due to rise in outside temperature or thermal history, suppress evaporation of the ink 4, and The thermal history of the apex portion of the head 1 is quickly conducted to the temperature detection element, and the temperature in the vicinity of the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 can be controlled to be always constant.

Also, the metal cooling members 117 are provided on both sides of the heating element 3.
118 and heating elements 113 and 116 of the thermal head 1 are arranged, and the ink 4 and the ink-filled small holes 2a are conveyed to the surface of the heating element 3 even when the film 2 moves back and forth.
In this section, the energy supplied by the voltage pulse applied to the heating element 3 in advance is reduced.

In FIG. 15, 119 is a thermal head driver, and 126 to 132 are drive circuit sections.

As explained above, according to the above embodiment, since the film moving speed during recording can be set to 1/2 or less of the recording speed to the recording member, the multi-hole portion 9 of the film 2
The length of the recording paper 8 in the moving direction can be made equal to or less than 1/2 of the recording length of the recording paper 8 in the recording direction. This means that the area of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 can be reduced. In fact, the small hole 2a of the multi-hole portion 92
Assuming that the recording speed and film speed are almost the same and that line recording is performed on A4 paper, the pitch and number of dots are d-30μ reduction (diameter) and D-50μ, respectively, for a resolution of 8 dots/sheet.
24,948,000,111 mm are required, and the larger the area, the more difficult it becomes to manufacture the multi-hole film 2, and the yield decreases in proportion to the area. Therefore, the smaller the area, the easier it will be to manufacture.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment has been described in which small holes are formed in the film as a recording medium, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the same purpose can be achieved even with concave portions. be.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without changing the paper of the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, a recording medium having a large number of small holes or recesses is filled with recording ink, and when the small holes or recesses filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element, the heating element is activated. By selectively heating, the ink in the small holes or recesses is ejected toward the recording member by the pressure of the generated bubbles, thereby recording on the recording member, and the recording at the time of recording. By setting the moving speed of the medium slower than the recording speed on the recording member, the length of the portion of the film in which a large number of small holes or recesses are formed is made shorter than the recording length of the recording member in the recording direction. The area of the portion where the small holes or recesses are formed in the recording medium is reduced, and manufacturing is facilitated. Therefore, it is possible to provide a recording device that is free from clogging, capable of high-speed recording, and easy to manufacture.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the recording principle, FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional side view, FIG. 3 is a schematic longitudinal sectional front view from 1, and FIG. a) is a side view of the drive section of the film moving mechanism, FIG. 4(b) is a plan view of the drive section of the film moving mechanism, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the film cartridge, and FIG. 6 is a view of the film moving mechanism and ink supply section. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the paper ejection roller section, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between the diameter and pitch of small holes and the shape of the heating element, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the ink presence/absence detection means of the thermal head. , Figure 10 (
a) is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ink presence/absence detection means when ink is loaded;
FIG. 10(b) is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ink presence/absence detection means when there is no ink, FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the thermal head, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the shape of the multi-hole part and the non-hole part of the film, No. 13
The figure shows the relationship between film speed and recording density, FIG. 74 is a diagram showing the structure near the heating element, and FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of the electronic control circuit. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Thermal head, 2... Recording medium (film), 2a... Small hole, 3... Heating element, 4... Recording ink, 5... Small hole filled with ink. , 6...
Ejected ink droplet, 7... Small hole from which the ink droplet was ejected, 8... Recorded member (recording paper), 32... Electronic control circuit, 43... Recorded member transport mechanism, 91 . . . Non-hole portion of the film, 92 . . . Multi-hole portion of the film, 4144 . . . Recording medium drive mechanism section (film drive mechanism section). Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 9 Figure 11 Figure 12 Butter; tQ7s meeting Figure 13! 114 prisoners

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Filling a recording medium with a large number of small holes or recesses with recording ink, and selectively heating the heating element when the small holes or recesses filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element. Therefore, the present invention provides a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording member by ejecting ink in the small holes or recesses toward the recording member using the pressure of generated bubbles,
A recording apparatus characterized in that a moving speed of the recording medium during recording is set slower than a recording speed on the recording target member. (2) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving speed of the recording medium during recording is set to 1/2 or less of the recording speed to the recording target member.