JPS6145830B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device of this type, which is particularly suitable for automatic drafting machines, in which a latent image formed by electric charges is developed using toner, and then fixed by heating. It is.

In recent years, various automatic drafting machines have been developed with the aim of saving labor in design work, and are being put into practical use in various fields. Conventionally, these automatic drawing machines use a pencil, a pen, or the like as a recording device, and draw the drawings by bringing these into contact with a recording medium such as paper. However, with such recording devices, when drawings are made with a pencil, corrections are easy, but when the drawings are rubbed, the lines become unclear or disappear. .
Also, if the drawing is done with a pen, the lines will not become blurred or disappear;
The drawback was that it was difficult to correct.

In contrast, recently, in order to speed up recording,
In place of recording devices using pencils, pens, etc., laser beam recording devices, electrostatic recording devices, and the like are being developed, and some of them have already been put into practical use. In this type of recording apparatus, a latent image formed by electric charges is developed using toner, and then fixed by heating.

Hereinafter, an example of a laser beam recording device that has already been put into practical use among this type of recording device will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 is an equipment configuration diagram showing an example of a laser beam recording device that has already been put into practical use.

In the figure, 1 is a rotating drum, 2 is a photoconductive sheet wound around the outer periphery of this rotating drum 1, 3 is a charging section disposed opposite to the surface of this photoconductive sheet 2, and 4 is a laser beam. an oscillator; 5 is a modulator for modulating the laser light from the laser oscillator 4;
Reference numeral 6 denotes a polygonal rotating mirror which is arranged so as to receive the laser beam modulated by the modulator 5 and direct its reflected light toward the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2, and is rotatably supported by a shaft 6a; a developing section disposed opposite to the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2; 8 a cleaner whose rotating brush (not shown) comes into contact with the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2; 9 a cleaner provided on the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2; A strip-shaped recording medium 10 such as paper, which is disposed facing each other and partially wound around the surface portion facing the photoconductive sheet 2 through appropriate guide means (not shown), is photoconductive. a transfer unit 11 equipped with means for pressurizing the surface of the sheet 2;
is a metal casing with a built-in heater, and as will be described later, the recording medium 1 sent from this transfer unit 9 is
0 is a preheating section disposed after the transfer section 9 so as to be in contact with the surface of the casing, and 12 is a preheating section 11.
A heat fusing roller 13 is disposed further downstream of the heat fusing roller 12 and is disposed facing the heat fusing roller 12.
This is a pressure roller that presses the recording medium 10 sent from 1 into contact with the surface of the heat fusing roller 12.

Laser beam recording devices that have already been put into practical use are configured as described above, and in order to record on a recording medium 10 such as paper, first, the rotary drum 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow. A charging section 3 generates an electric charge on the surface of a photoconductive sheet 2 wound around the outer periphery of the photoconductive sheet 2, and a modulator 5 modulates a laser beam continuously emitted from a laser oscillator 4. The laser beam is reflected by the rotating mirror 6, and the rotating drum 1
the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2, which is rotating with the photoconductive sheet 2. In this state, the photoconductive sheet 2
When the charged portion reaches the point where the reflected laser beam is directed by the rotating mirror 6, the rotating mirror 6 is rotated according to a predetermined program to direct the photoconductive sheet 2 by the reflected laser beam. By scanning the surface along the axial direction of the rotating drum 1 and controlling the rotation of the rotating drum 1,
A latent image having a desired pattern such as figures or characters is formed on the charged portions of the photoconductive sheet 2. Once a latent image has been formed on the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2, by rotating the rotating drum 1 in the direction of the arrow, this portion of the photoconductive sheet 2 passes through the developing section 7. The developing section 7 causes toner to adhere to the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2, and the latent image is clearly developed. At this point, a band-shaped recording medium 10 such as paper, which is partially wound around the surface of the transfer section 9 facing the photoconductive sheet 2, is placed on the surface of the transfer section 9 through an appropriate guide means.
When the recording medium 10 is brought into pressure contact with the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2 by the means provided in the transfer section 9, the recording medium 10 is sent in the direction of the arrow at a speed equal to the circumferential speed of the rotating drum 1. The developed patterns such as figures and characters are electrically transferred to the surface of the recording medium 10 via toner. The recording medium 10 onto which patterns such as figures and characters have been transferred is sent to the preheating section 11, and is preheated to a predetermined temperature by coming into contact with the surface of the metal casing in which the heater of the preheating section 11 is built. After that, it is sent between a heat fusing roller 12 and a pressure roller 13, and patterns such as figures and characters are fixed by this heat fusing roller 12. Recording medium 10 after fixing
is cut into a predetermined length and then discharged from an outlet (not shown). On the other hand, the surface of the photoconductive sheet 2 that has been transferred to the recording medium 10 in the transfer section 9 comes into contact with the rotating brush of the cleaner 8, so that the electric charge is removed, and a new electric charge is added to the photoconductive sheet 2 by the charging section 3. occurs and the following recordings are made.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing the structure of the heat fusing roller and pressure roller in FIG. 1. Among these, the heat fusing roller 12 has an outer circumference made of hard silicone rubber 12a.
It consists of a cylinder 12b made of aluminum coated with
Heat is transferred to the hard silicone rubber 12a via b, and its surface temperature rises. The surface temperature of this hard silicone rubber 12a is determined by the infrared lamp 12c.
It can be freely adjusted by controlling the number of lights on and the value of the current. The pressure roller 13 has a thick circumference 13a made of soft rubber and a cylindrical core 13b made of metal inserted into the inner circumference of the pressure roller 13, and the recording medium 10 sent from the preheating section 11 is This cylinder 13a allows the heat fusing roller 1 to
As shown in the figure, since the surface of the hard silicone rubber 12a of No. 2 is securely pressed and contacted, the toner adhering to the surface of the recording medium 10 is efficiently thermally fused, and the toner adheres to the structure of the recording medium 10. The patterns such as figures and characters transferred to the recording medium 10 are firmly fixed.

Furthermore, after the transfer is completed in the transfer unit 9, the heat fusing roller 1
The recording medium 10 that is fed between the pressure rollers 13 is preheated to a temperature sufficient to compensate for the lack of heat in the heat fusing roller 12 in a preheating section 11 that is not found in general electrophotographic recording devices. Therefore, the thermal fusing of the toner by the thermal fusing roller 12, that is, the fixing of patterns such as figures and characters, is completed within a short time due to the effect of the pressure roller 13. Incidentally, if the amount of heat of the heat fusing roller 12 is sufficient, the preheating by the preheating section 11 may be omitted.

Recording is performed in this way in laser beam recording devices that have already been put into practical use, but generally, the toner used in this type of recording device consists of three components: resin, carbon, and dye.
Among these resins, styrene-based or epoxy-based resins are often used, and their proportion in the entire toner is about 80 to 90% by weight. Therefore, the viscosity of the toner depends on the viscosity of this resin. This type of resin melts when heated above its melting temperature, becomes liquid, and penetrates between the fibers of the recording medium, such as paper, and when the temperature drops, it becomes solid again and is fixed. In addition, the higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity of this type of resin, and the more easily it permeates into the structure of recording media such as paper. However, if the temperature is raised too much, the viscosity of the resin will drop dramatically and it will diffuse within the structure of the recording medium, causing a so-called bleed phenomenon, which will make the patterns such as figures and characters fixed on the recording medium unclear. This will cause a problem. Furthermore, if the temperature is raised too high, and for some reason the speed of the recording medium passing through the fixing section is slowed down, the recording medium may become scorched or even burnt. This will also cause other problems. Therefore, in the laser beam recording apparatus as described above, so that patterns such as figures and characters transferred to the recording medium 10 are firmly fixed within a range where such defects do not occur.
The temperatures of the heat fusing roller 12 and the preheating section 11 are set in consideration of the service life of the fusing roller 12 and the like.

The viscosity of the toner used in this type of recording device is
As mentioned above, in its components, the weight ratio is 80~
The viscosity of this resin varies depending on the heating temperature, ranging from a high viscosity that does not permeate into the recording medium, to a high viscosity that sufficiently permeates the recording medium, and which is viscous within the recording medium. The viscosity fluctuates significantly, reaching low viscosity levels where the so-called smearing phenomenon occurs. And when the toner is heated,
The upper limit temperature is determined by the heating temperature and heating time. Therefore, for this type of toner, an optimum fixing condition curve as shown in FIG. 3 is generally determined experimentally. This optimal fixing condition curve is
Assuming that the heating time is set to t ₁ , this shows that the heating temperature for obtaining optimal fixing is C ₁ . In addition, this optimum fixing condition curve uses the surface temperature (room temperature) of the recording medium before heating as a parameter, but slight fluctuations in the surface temperature (room temperature) of the recording medium before heating are due to the properties of the toner. Therefore, even if ignored, toner fixability will not be impaired.

On the other hand, in the laser beam recording apparatus as described above, since high-speed recording is performed, a preheating section 11 is disposed upstream of the heat fusing roller 12 in order to compensate for the lack of heat in the heat fusing roller 12. The recording medium 10 sent from the transfer section 9 is transferred to this preheating section 11.
In this case, the optimum fixing condition curve for the heat fusing roller 12 is determined by the heating temperature and heating time (feeding of the recording medium 10). The preheating temperature T ₀ , T ₁ , T ₂ , T ₃ . . . of the recording medium 10 by the preheating section 11 determined by the speed) is used as a parameter. T ₀ in this figure represents the surface temperature (room temperature) of the recording medium 10 when the heater of the preheating section 11 is not energized, that is, when the preheating section 11 is not preheating.

As is clear from the above explanation, with laser beam recording devices that are already in practical use, patterns such as figures and characters are firmly fixed on the recording medium (full fixation) and clear recording is performed. However, such devices have the disadvantage that it is extremely difficult to correct patterns such as figures and characters once they have been recorded.

Although the case of a laser beam recording device has been described above, the same applies to an electrostatic recording device.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and is a method for fixing patterns such as figures and characters on a recording medium firmly to the fixing unit of a laser beam recording device, an electrostatic recording device, etc. to the extent that they cannot be easily erased. (Full cure fixing) and fixes patterns such as figures and characters to the extent that they can be easily erased (Semi cure fixing)
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel recording device of this kind that makes it possible to correct patterns such as figures and characters recorded on the medium as necessary.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on FIG.

The present invention provides a preheating means in addition to a heat fusing means in a portion where patterns such as figures and characters developed with toner are fixed by heating on the surface of a recording medium, and also includes a preheating means in accordance with the properties of the toner used. The optimal full-cure fixing condition curve (solid line) and the maximum semi-cure fixing condition curve (dotted line) for the heat fusion means as shown in FIG. 5 are experimentally determined. Both of these curves use the preheating temperature T ₀ , T _{1 .} . . of the recording medium by the preheating means as parameters based on the heating temperature and heating time (feeding speed of the recording medium). T ₀ in this figure represents the surface temperature (room temperature) of the recording medium when no preheating is performed by the preheating means. In something like this,
If the feeding speed of the recording medium is constant, the heating time will be constant, so the heating time in that case is t ₁
If so, the temperature control for the heat fusion means will be performed along the straight line _t1 in the horizontal axis direction. Currently, in order to fully fix patterns such as figures and characters developed with toner on the surface of a recording medium,
When the recording medium is preheated to temperature T ₁ by the preheating means, the heat fusing means is heated to a heating temperature C ₃ corresponding to the intersection point A of the curve T ₁ shown by the solid line and the straight line t ₁ in the horizontal axis direction. All you have to do is control the temperature. Also,
If preheating by the preheating means is not performed and the surface temperature of the recording medium is maintained at T ₀ , the heating temperature C ₄ corresponding to the intersection B of the curve T ₀ shown by the solid line and the straight line t ₁ in the horizontal axis direction is set. , the temperature of the heat fusion means may be controlled. Next, in order to semi-cure fix a pattern such as a figure or character developed with toner on the surface of a recording medium, if the recording medium is preheated to a temperature _T1 by a preheating medium, curve T shown by the dotted line should be applied. The temperature of the heat-sealing means may be controlled so that the heating temperature C ₁ corresponds to the intersection point D of ₁ and the horizontal line t ₁ . In addition, when preheating by the preheating means is not performed and the surface temperature of the recording medium is maintained at T ₀ , the curve T ₀ shown by the dotted line and the straight line t ₁ in the horizontal axis direction
The temperature of the heat fusion means may be controlled so that the heating temperature C ₂ corresponds to the intersection point E of .

In this way, the present invention provides a function for fully fixing patterns such as figures and characters on a recording medium to the extent that they cannot be easily erased, in a fixing section of a laser beam recording device or an electrostatic recording device, and a pattern of figures and characters. By adding a semi-cure fixing function to the extent that the image can be easily erased, switching between these two functions at the appropriate time, and controlling the temperature of each function according to a predetermined control pattern, when performing full cure fixing, the recording Patterns such as figures and characters are fixed firmly and clearly on the medium, and these patterns do not easily disappear, and when semi-cure fixing is performed,
It has the dual effects of being able to easily erase patterns, such as figures and characters, that have been fixed on a recording medium, and making it possible to correct these fixed patterns at any time, and its practical value is is extremely large and is particularly effective when applied to automatic drafting machines.

According to the present invention, after correcting the patterns of figures, characters, etc. that have been semi-cured onto the recording medium, the recording medium is sent to the fixing section again by appropriate means, and the corrected patterns of figures, characters, etc. are corrected. It can also be fully fixed.

Further, in the above embodiments of the present invention, semi-cure fixing is performed by preheating means and heat fusing means, but depending on the properties of the toner, xenon may be used without using preheating means or heat fusing means. The toner-attached surface of the recording medium may be irradiated with a strobe.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an equipment configuration diagram showing an example of a laser beam recording device that has already been put into practical use, Figure 2 is a front cross-sectional view showing the structure of the heat fusing roller and pressure roller in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a A general optimum fixing condition curve related to the heating time and heating temperature of toner used in laser beam recording devices, electrostatic recording devices, etc., and Figure 4 is the optimum fixing condition curve for the heat fusing roller part of Figure 1. , FIG. 5 shows an optimum full-cure fixing condition curve and an optimum semi-cure fixing condition curve in the heat fusion means of the present invention. 1... Rotating drum, 2... Photoconductive sheet, 3
...Charging section, 4...Laser oscillator, 5...Modulator, 6...Rotating mirror, 7...Developing section, 8...Cleaner, 9...Transfer section, 10...Recording medium, 11
... Preheating section, 12 ... Heat fusing roller, 13 ... Pressure roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a recording device that develops a latent image formed by an electric charge with toner and fixes it by heating, the fixing section thereof is provided with a heating means having a function of fully fixing the developed image with the toner and a function of semi-curing the developed image with the toner. A recording apparatus characterized in that the temperature of the heating means is controlled according to a predetermined control pattern for each function.