JPS613564A - Picture recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sharp picture with high resolution without fog by providing an air suction duct opened near the surface of a carrying member of a toner at a downstream side of a gate member. CONSTITUTION:When a recording medium 1 is moved in the direction of arrow, a toner 4 flowed out of the gate member 5 is sucked to the air duct 15 by a torque of a fan motor 14 and the toner 4 not contributed to the recording picture at the recording medium 1 and the toner 4 adhered to the surrounding of the picture recording section at the tip of an electrode 8 are sucked also. Since an electrostatic attracting force is exerted to the toner 4 at the position of the electrode 8 impressed with a signal voltage with the recording medium 1 based on a charge, an adhering force sufficiently stronger the suction force of the air duct 15 is given and the toner contricutes to the forming of a picture without being parted from the recording medium 1. The toner sucked in the duct 15 is carried and returned to a toner storage case 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention controls the adhesion of a powder developer to a recording member in response to an applied force to an image recording device, particularly an image-like electrical signal, and
The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming an image on this recording member.

[Background of the invention]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a method known as contrastography, which is an image forming method in which a developing agent is directly attached to a recording member using an electric signal. In this method, a liquid developer is placed on a recording member, and the liquid developer is applied to the recording member using a needle electrode. However, this method using a liquid developing agent was not practical because of the problem of the carrier liquid penetrating into the recording member. On the other hand, as a contrast technique using a dry developer, a method is known in which a needle electrode is brought into contact with one side of the recording member, and the developer is supplied from the opposite side of the recording member and is deposited on the opposite side. ing. However, in this case, there is a noticeable decrease in resolution due to the thickness and conductivity of the recording member, and a sufficiently satisfactory image quality cannot be obtained.

The present applicant has previously proposed an image recording device that attempts to solve the above problem. This proposal consists of a toner conveying member (hereinafter referred to as toner) deposited with a powder developing agent (hereinafter referred to as toner) and placed below it.
A dart member (which is also a recording member) is moved relative to the accumulated toner, and a dart member that allows the toner to pass in an image pattern is arranged downstream of the toner conveying member of the above-mentioned accumulation section, and toner constantly flows out to this gate member. A force is applied to prevent the toner from moving, and a region is partially formed in the gate member to weaken the blocking force in the direction of movement of the toner conveying member, and as a result,
The toner flows onto the toner conveying member and forms an image with a toner pattern.

The image recording device according to the above proposal of the present applicant will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical toner conveying member, which consists of a conductive non-magnetic cylindrical member 1b having an insulating thin layer of 11" ft on its surface, and rotates in the direction of the arrow. Inside this conveying member 1 is a stationary magnet 2. Conductive magnetic toner 4 is stored in a toner container 3 in which the toner is deposited.The toner conveying member 1 is in contact with the lower part of the deposited toner.A gate member controls the flow of toner from the toner container. 5 is
It consists of a large number of electrodes 8 which are independently arranged and adhered to a magnetic or non-magnetic support 6 via an insulating layer 7 over the entire width of the toner conveying member 1, and each of the electrodes 8 is made of a magnetic material. ) are connected to the signal generation source 9, respectively. On the other hand, the stationary magnet 2 inside the toner conveying member is provided with a magnetic pole facing the dart member 5, and a strong magnetic field is formed between it and the electrode 8, which is made of a particularly magnetic material. , even when the toner conveying member 1 rotates, the toner 4 is constrained by this magnetic field and has a balance of force that prevents it from flowing out through the gate member 5. In the above configuration, an electrical signal generation source is applied to the selected electrode 8. 9
When a more controlled voltage is applied, a current flows through the conductive magnetic toner from the electrode 8, and charges of opposite polarity are generated between the toner and the conductive cylinder 1b across the insulating layer 1ai of the toner transport member 1, and the toner is Electrostatic attraction is applied to the dart member, and the toner overcomes the toner binding force due to the magnetic field at the position of the dart member and selectively flows out and adheres to the surface of the toner transport member 10. A visible toner image is formed on the surface. This toner image is transferred to the transfer corona discharger 1
0 to a suitable paper 11 or the like, or if the toner conveying member 1 is a normal electrostatic recording paper, the toner may be fixed as is.

5 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the recording position in FIG. 4. The same numbers as in FIG. 4 indicate the same parts. In FIG. 5, when the toner conveying member 1 moves in the direction of the arrow, the toner container A force acts on the toner 4 in the gate member 5 to pass through the gate member 5.Therefore, there is a possibility that the toner flows out from the gate member 5 other than during image formation. This shows the state in which it has flowed out from the member 5 and has accumulated.If an image is recorded in such a situation, the image will be severely damaged.
This may cause fogging. In order to prevent this, the stationary magnet 12 is connected to the electrode 7 of the dart member 5.
There is a method of making the magnetic field oblique in one direction relative to the direction of movement of the toner 4, but in this case, the voltage applied to the electrode 8 must be increased to form an image, and the toner 4 becomes oblique. Therefore, the distance between the toner conveying member 1 and the electrode 8 is long, and the resolving power is reduced.] It is undeniable that the distance between the toner conveying member 1 and the electrode 8 is long, and the resolution is deteriorated.

As described above, in the applicant's previous proposal, toner flows to the downstream side of the dart member due to changes in the structure of the magnet, the structure of the recording electrode, the surface properties of the dielectric material of the toner transport member, the properties of the toner, etc. This could result in disturbances and fog on the recording surface, significantly damaging the recorded image and making it difficult to put it into practical use. In the image recording device proposed by Company A and the applicant, the purpose is to remove leaking toner, prevent the occurrence of fogging, and enable higher definition image formation.

A feature of the present invention is that, in the image recording apparatus of the type proposed by the applicant, an air suction duct is provided that opens close to the surface of the toner conveying member on the downstream side of the dart member.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the image recording apparatus of the present invention.

Portions designated by the same numbers as in FIGS. 4 and 5 have the same configuration and function, so the same explanations will not be repeated here. Reference numeral 14 denotes a fan motor, and a 15-piece air duct opens downstream near the tip of the electrode group 8. 16
17 is a collection magnet surrounded by a wall with a lower opening in the middle of the duct 15.

Now, as explained in FIG. 4 and WJ5, when the recording medium (toner conveying member) 1 moves in the direction of the arrow, the toner 4#i flowing out from the gate member 5 is sucked into the air duct 15 by the force of the fan motor 14. Toner 4 that does not contribute to the recorded image on the recording medium 1 and toner 4 that has adhered and accumulated around the image recording portion at the tip of the electrode 8 is also sucked in.

However, since the above-mentioned electrostatic attraction based on the charge acts between the toner at the part where the signal voltage is applied to the electrode 8 and the 4Fi recording medium 1, the suction force of the air duct 15 is also sufficiently strong. It has a high adhesive force and contributes to image formation without separating from the recording medium 1. The toner 4 sucked into the duct 15 is conveyed toward the fan motor 14. These transported toners 4' are attracted to a collection magnet 17 provided in the middle of the air duct 15. Since the collection magnet 17a is rotating in the direction of the arrow, the toner is moved along the wall surface of the air duct 15 in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the toner collection magnet 170, and is returned to the toner storage container 3 through the lower opening 15' midway. It will be done. At this time, since the toner 4 with low magnetism and the non-magnetic foreign matter travel straight without being bent by the magnet 17, toner 4 with good magnetism is always collected in the toner container 3. On the other hand, foreign matter in the toner 4 with less magnetism advances further and is collected by the filter 16, and clean air is sent out to the outside.

As explained above, since the toner 4 flowing out from the dart member 5 is removed, high definition and high definition can be achieved without being greatly influenced by the careful setting of the fixed magnet 120 angle, the surface properties of the recording medium 1, or the properties of the toner 4. Image formation without fog becomes possible.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1st
Unlike the figure, in this embodiment, an air duct 15 whose tip opens close to the surface of the recording medium 1 near the lower end of the dart member 5 is used.
has an opening 15' that contacts the upstream surface of the recording medium 1 in the middle. In this case, the magnetism 12 of the magnet 2 stationary within the recording medium 1 is similar to that of the toner collection magnet 1 described above.
Gives the same effect as 7. Corona discharger 1 for transcription shown in the figure
When transferring as shown in o and transfer paper 11, paper dust and foreign matter tend to adhere to the recording medium 1. Under such circumstances, in this embodiment, the fan 14 and the air duct 1
The wind passing through the recording medium 5 sucks foreign matter attached to the surface of the recording medium 1 through the opening 15N and carries it to the filter 16, while the collected toner returns to the toner container 3 along the recording medium. No paper dust or foreign matter is mixed in.

FIG. 3 is an embodiment modified from FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the toner conveying member (recording medium) is made of a single solid electric body, such as an aluminum cylinder e Wi K 7 treated with lumite, and then coated with resin, etc. The toner image is transferred and fused onto the transfer material 11 by sandwiching the transfer material (transfer paper) 11 with a transfer roller 18 and pressing it against the toner conveying member 1 with high pressure. In this case, the toner 4 remaining on the toner conveying member 1 is usually removed from the toner conveying member by a cleaning means 19, such as a pummel blade or a metal blade, into a receptacle 19'.
9) Returned to the container 3. In addition, the roller 1 mentioned above
8 is usually made of nylon or polyester. It goes without saying that a thermal transfer means such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5B-36341, for example, may be used for the transfer.

As another example, when the gap between the dart member 5 and the toner conveying member 1 is sufficiently narrow, for example, about 10 μm to 160 μm, air is blown directly between the toner conveying member 1 and the dart member 5, and A similar effect can be obtained by opening a duct near the duct to collect the blown wind.

As explained above, according to the present invention, with a simple configuration,
Clear images with high resolution and no fog can be obtained. There is also the advantage that spilled toner can be easily recovered for reuse.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 are sectional views showing different embodiments of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are overall sectional views and partial views of a prior example of an image recording apparatus to which the present invention relates. This is an enlarged view. 1... Toner conveying member 2... Stationary magnet 3...
Toner storage container 4...Toner 5...Dart member 6...Support 7...Insulator 8
...Electrode 9...Image signal source Jl...Transfer material 14...Fan 15...Air duct 16...Filter 17...Toner collection magnet Figure 1 hand↓ Figure 4 ↓

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A developer conveying member that comes into contact with a powder-like developer deposit and moves below it, and a developer conveyor member that moves at the lower part of the developer deposit, and A gate member including a recording electrode group which is arranged and closely faces the developer transporting member, and an image signal voltage is applied to the recording electrode group to electrostatically apply the developer to the surface of the developer transporting member according to the image. 1. An image recording apparatus comprising: an air suction duct that opens downstream of the gate member and close to the surface of the developer conveying member. (2) The image recording device according to claim 1, characterized in that a magnet is disposed in the air duct.