JPS62138255A - Ion flow printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high speed recording, by simple constitution such that bias voltage is applied between a corona ion source and an ion flow control electrode and only the ion having one polarity used in recording of corona ions is non-selectively guided to the ion flow control electrode. CONSTITUTION:A corona ion source 1 is constituted of a corona wire 4 formed by applying glass coating 3 to the surface of a metal wire 2, a corona insulating support stand 5 and a mesh electrode 6 arranged so as to be close to or contacted with the corona wire 4. Bias voltage is applied between the corona ion source 1 and the ion flow control electrode 8 and only the ion having one polarity used in recording of the corona ions generated from the corona ion source 1 is non-selectively guided to the ion flow control electrode 8. The corona ion source 1 can be held so as to be allowed to approach the ion flow control electrode 8 and the corona ions generated from the corona ion source 1 diffuse to reach the ion flow control electrode 8 before becomes dilute to obtain high ion flow density. By this mechanism, a high speed ion flow printer can be realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ion flow printer that forms and records electrostatic latent images using a corona ion flow.

[Prior art]

A corona ion flow generated by a corona ion generation source is guided to an ion flow control electrode having a plurality of apertures, and a recording control signal is applied to the ion flow control electrode corresponding to each aperture.
An ion flow printer that controls the passage of the ion flow through each opening and guides the ion flow that has passed through each opening of the control electrode onto the dielectric recording layer to form an electrostatic latent image.
Various configurations are known.

For example, Figure 5 shows the image electronics society national conference 14 (197
1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of an ion flow printer published in the Proceedings of the 1970s. In the figure, 101 is a corotron which is a source of corona ions, and corona wire 1
03 and a metal cylinder 102 to 114, and a high-voltage DC power supply 108 is connected between both members to generate corona ions from the corona wire 103. Reference numeral 104 denotes a 1FFll electrode on the ion flow side, which is composed of two electrodes 105 and 106 arranged apart from each other, and an opening 107 is provided through the electrodes 105 and 106 to allow the ion flow to pass through. There is. and both electrodes 1
Between 05.106 and 106, there is a recording signal source 10 that controls the ion flow.
9 is connected.

A back electrode 110 and electrostatic recording paper 111 are arranged on the opposite side of the ion flow control electrode 104 from the corotron 101.
A bias @8112 is connected to the back electrode 110. Note that this illustrated example shows an example in which negative corona ions are used for recording.

In the conventional ion flow printer configured in this way, negative polarity ions generated in the corotron 101 fly toward the ion flow control electrode 104, and their passage through the aperture 107 is prevented or promoted by the recording signal rA109. Controlled by recording signal.

That is, when the potential of the electrode 106 becomes positive with respect to the electrode 105, passage of the ion flow through the opening 107 is promoted, and when the potential of the electrode 106 becomes more negative, the passage of the ion flow is blocked. The ion flow that has passed iJ1 through the aperture 107 flies toward the back electrode 110 due to the electric field generated by the bias voltage #l12, and forms an electrostatic latent image or the like on the recording paper 111.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Ion flow printers with this type of configuration directly modulate the corona ion flow to form electrostatic latent images, so they have the advantage of a simple configuration and stable recording characteristics, but on the other hand, the corona ion flow Since the ion flow diffuses and reaches the ion flow 1tll+the aperture 107 of the control electrode 104, the flow rate of corona ions passing through the aperture 107 cannot be increased so much that the recording speed cannot be increased.

In order to improve this point, a high-speed ion flow printer in which a corona ion generation section and an ion flow control section are separated in units of elements is known, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,549. The structure of the printer is complicated, and it is difficult to realize a high-definition, large-sized printer. The object of the present invention is to provide an ion flow printer that enables high-detail and high-speed recording.

Means and operation for solving problem C] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention guides a corona ion flow generated by a corona ion generation source to an ion flow control electrode formed with a plurality of openings, Is the passage of the corona ion flow controlled based on the recording control No. 13 applied to the ion flow control electrode corresponding to each aperture? IHL, an ion flow printer that selectively directs a stream of corona ions onto a recording member,
A corona wire formed by coating a conductive wire with an insulating material, and a conductive member disposed close to the wire, and a corona ion produced by applying an AC high voltage between the conductive member and the conductive wire. placing a source in close proximity to the plurality of openings in the ion flow control electrode and applying a bias voltage between the corona ion source and the ion flow control electrode;
The ion flow control electrode is configured so that only one polarity of the corona ions generated by the corona ion source used for recording is non-selectively thickened to the ion flow control electrode.

With this configuration, it is possible to combine the ion flow control part and ion generation part of the ion flow printer, which are created separately, and the parts that require high precision processing are the ion flow control electrode. Since the corona ion source is limited to the aperture of the fII111It pole, manufacturing is easy, and the corona ion source can be brought very close to the aperture of the ion flow fII111It pole, a high-density ion flow before diffusion can be used. Along with this, it becomes possible to realize a high-speed ion flow printer.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the basic configuration of an ion flow printer according to the present invention. This embodiment is different from the conventional example in that, as a corona ion generation source, another conductive member is placed close to or in contact with the corona wire, which is a conductive wire coated with an insulating material. The method uses a method that generates an AC corona by applying an AC high voltage between mold members. The structure is such that only corona ions of a predetermined polarity are directed toward the opening of the control electrode by the action of the bias electric field.

The corona ion source with the above configuration is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 405772.
No. 3, No. 4068284, No. 4110614,
It is described in various specifications such as No. 4379969 and is publicly known, and a corona ion source with such a configuration can be extremely close to the member receiving corona irradiation, and therefore the corona ion flow is It can increase the density and exhibits unique effects as a corona ion source for ion flow printers.

Note that the corona ion #1 shown in FIG. 1 has a structure based on the structure disclosed in the above-mentioned US Pat. No. 4,379,969.

In FIG. 1, a corona ion source 1 includes a corona wire 4 formed by applying a glass coating 3 of several tens to a hundred microns on the surface of a metal wire 2 such as tungsten or stainless steel, and an insulator that supports the corona wire 4. It consists of a support base 5 and a mesh electrode 6 disposed close to or in contact with the corona wire 4. The mesh electrode 6 does not necessarily have to have a mesh shape, and may have a structure in which tungsten wires or the like are arranged at a predetermined narrow pitch. 7 is an AC high voltage power supply connected between the corona wire 4 and the mesh electrode 6, for example, 100 K fiz.

2K VF-P power supply is applied.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an ion flow control electrode, in which a first electrode 10 and a 21i-th electrode 11 are arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer 9, respectively, and an opening 12 passing through the insulation N9 and each electrode to, 11.
It is configured with the following. A large number of apertures 12 are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and either one or both of the electrodes 10 and 11 is divided, and each aperture 12 independently receives the signal from the recording signal 71JX13. Voltage can be applied.

A bias power supply 14 is applied between the mesh electrode 6 of the corona ion source 1 and the first electrode 10 of the ion flow control electrode 8. A dielectric recording medium 15 is composed of a dielectric layer 16 and a conductive support 17 that supports the dielectric layer 16. The recording medium 15 can be of a type such as electrostatic recording paper, which is consumed only once, or of a type, such as a dielectric drum, which is reused by transferring a toner image after toner development. 18 is a bias power supply connected between the second electrode 11 of the ion flow control electrode 8 and the recording medium 15, and is configured to maintain the recording medium 15 side at a positive potential and attract the corona ion flow that has passed through the opening 12. ing.

The portion where corona ions are generated in the corona ion source 1 is an extremely narrow region where the insulating coating 3 of the corona wire 4 and the mesh electrode 6 are close to each other or in contact with each other. In addition, since the corona ion source 1 is configured to support the corona wire 4 and the mesoche electrode 6 by the insulating support 5, it is possible to obtain good processing accuracy overall and maintain that accuracy. Therefore, it can be held extremely close to the ion flow control electrode 8.

As a result, the corona ions generated in the corona ion source 1 reach the ion flow control electrode 8 before being diffused and diluted, making it possible to obtain a high ion flow density.

According to the specification of US Pat. No. 4,379,969, the upper limit of the corona current density by a corotron is about 10 microamperes per 1, whereas in the corona ion generating source as shown in FIG.
It is said that it is possible to obtain a unit length ion flow density of about 0 microampere.

Therefore, if the distance between the irradiated surface and the corona ion source 1, that is, the distance between the ion flow control electrode 8 and the corona ion source 1, is set so that the corona ion irradiation width is, for example, 0.51, the corona ion source It is possible to obtain 20 times the amount of corona current per unit area as when using a corotron, which is useful for speeding up recording.

As the irradiation width of the corona ion stream increases, the density of the corona ion stream decreases, and the effect of using the corona ion source 1 tends to disappear; however, when the ion irradiation width is smaller than about 511, The superiority of the type of corona ion tA1 shown in the figure over the corotron is clear.

Note that it is advantageous to apply a high frequency to the power supply applied to the corona wire 4 in order to obtain a high corona ion flow density, but it is preferable to apply a high frequency that is at least several times the repetition frequency of recording dot formation. Drive,
At the same time, it is necessary to equalize the corona ion meteors for each recording dot formation period, and a frequency of lOKIIz-IMIIZ is a desirable value.

The aperture 12 through which the corona ion flow passes is usually formed into a circular shape with a diameter of several hundred microns, and if electrodes are provided separately to surround the aperture I2, the arrangement pitch of the apertures 12 can be adjusted. It becomes impossible to enlarge the structure and perform a high-density element arrangement.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an ion flow control electrode that improves this point and has high-density element arrangement without reducing the aperture diameter. FIG. 2 is a top view of the ion flow control electrodes, that is, a view seen from the first electrode side, 21a, 21b, . . .
. indicates the first electrodes on the corona ion source side, which are arranged at a predetermined pitch and are alternately led out to the opposite side by lead wires and connected to the recording signal circuit. 22a.

22 b, 22 c', and 22 d indicate second electrodes on the recording medium side, and each electrode divided into four is the first electrode 2.
+a, 21b.

, . . . are arranged so as to cross each other, and signal voltages are applied independently to each of them. Then, openings 23, , 2 are placed at the intersection of the first electrode and the second electrode.
3. b, 23. ,,23. ,,23. ,,23bb,
23. c, 23bd+... are provided. Each opening row 23. ．． ．．・・・・・・・・・23. , ;
230.・・・・・・・・・23bd；・・・・・・・・・(
The second electrodes 22a, 2 are arranged in a diagonal line shape.
2b.

If the recording timing is shifted for each aperture commonly connected by 22c and 22d so that each recording dot is overlapped, it is convenient to be able to record a high pixel density array on a straight line. .

Such an element arrangement is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,549, but when a corona ion source is disposed opposite to an ion flow control electrode having such a configuration, the opening It is necessary to increase the distance of the corona ion source from the ion flow control electrode by the width of the arrangement expanded, but in this case, if this distance is increased by one inch,
This is undesirable because the density of the corona ion flow decreases.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention using an ion flow control electrode having a configuration in which a plurality of openings are two-dimensionally arranged as shown in FIG. In the figure, 25 is a corona ion source, 31 is an ion flow control electrode, and 35 is a recording medium. The corona ion source 25 is provided with spacers 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, 38a, .
38b, and the surface of the corona ion tA25 facing the spacers 33a, 38b is a flat surface. 28 is an insulating material, and a groove 29 is provided on the lower surface of the insulating material 28, into which a corona wire formed by applying a glass coating 27 to the conductive wire 26 is fitted.

As a result, the mesh electrode 30 is arranged in a flat shape.

The ion flow control electrode 31 has a plurality of ion flow apertures 34a1...34 in the moving direction of the recording medium 35.
d is provided over the width W. And the above opening 3
In order to uniformly send the corona ions to 4a, . Reference numerals 32 and 33 denote first and second electrodes constituting the ion flow control electrode 31, which are the first electrodes 21a, 21b, . . . and the second electrodes 22a, 22b in FIG.

22C and 22d, respectively.

A recording medium 35 is arranged at a position facing the second electrode 33, and the recording medium 35 includes a dielectric recording layer 37 and a conductive support layer 3.
It is composed of 6. and corona ion [25
An AC high voltage power supply 39 is connected between the conductive wire 26 and the mesh electrode 30, and corona ions of one polarity (Fig. In the illustrated example, a bias voltage #40 is connected to cause a negative current to flow toward the ion flow control electrode 31. Although this bias power source 40 is not directly related to the potential of the latent image formed on the recording medium 35, a high-density ion flow can be obtained by increasing it as much as possible within the range allowed by the electrical withstand voltage conditions.

Ion flow control n electric rod 31 second? A bias voltage i42 is also connected between the ji pole 33 and the recording medium 35,
Since this voltage value affects the extent of the spread of the formed latent image dots, a high voltage is applied within the range allowed by the withstand voltage conditions to prevent the latent image dots from becoming deformed. Note that 41 is a recording signal source connected between the first and second electrodes 32 and 33 of the ion flow control electrode 31.

Further, the irradiation width of corona ions is the openings 34a and 34b.

. . . 34d is set to sufficiently cover the array width W, but it is necessary to set the distance l so that the ion flow density does not decrease due to excessive spread.

FIG. 4 shows the corona ion source 25 and the ion flow control electrode 3.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the ion flow when there is no effect that disturbs the ion flow during the first period. Solid lines indicate equipotential surfaces, and dotted lines indicate lines of electric force, ie, the direction of ion flow. As shown in this FIG.
is a range from a value approximately equal to the array width W of the apertures to approximately twice that, that is, a range represented by 2W>ρ>W. Even when the gear and p are set in this way, there is a tendency for a difference in ion flow density to occur between the openings arranged near the center and the openings arranged near the ends.

If it is necessary to correct the density difference in the ion flow, finely adjust the voltage value and pulse width of the recording signal, or the size of the aperture diameter of each aperture, depending on the arrangement position of each aperture. Modification is possible.

Corona ion source and ion flow side JIIl? By arranging electric field adjusting means on both sides of the ion flow path between the ii electrodes, it is possible to control the amount of spread of the ion flow and flatten the distribution of ion/lL density on the ion flow control electrode surface. FIG. 4 FB+ is a diagram showing an example thereof, and 45
a and 45b are electric field adjusting members. This electric field adjustment member 4
5a and 45b are made of an insulating material and are arranged slightly outside the opening 31a of the ion flow control electrode 31.

By irradiating the ion flow, the electric field adjusting members 45a, 4
As a result of the wall surface of 5b being electrically charged, the equipotential surface is distorted as shown by the solid line, and accordingly, the lines of electric force, that is, the direction of the ion flow are deformed so as to be compressed from both sides. As a result, even if the gap p between the corona ion source 25 and the ion flow control electrode 31 is increased, the ion flow is prevented from expanding. The increased tolerance and ease of fabrication, as well as the effect of improved ion stream density distribution and uniformity because the ion stream compression effect is significant at both ends of the ion stream, are extremely advantageous. be.

In the embodiment described above, the electric field adjustment member made of an insulating material is charged by the corona ion flow, and this charged charge acts to distort the direction of the ion flow.

Therefore, the width of the corona ion flow, the uniformity of the distribution, etc. are automatically determined once the structure of the printer head consisting of the corona ion source and the ion lxC control electrode is determined, and there is no room for adjustment.

In contrast, by providing an electric field control electrode at the intermediate portion between the corona ion source and the ion flow control electrode, an effect equivalent to that of the embodiment shown in FIG. An example in which effects etc. can be arbitrarily controlled is shown in FIG. 4 (C1. In FIG. 4 FC+, 46
a and 46b are electric field control electrodes, and corona ions 7ffI2
5 and the insulating member 45a disposed between the ion flow control electrode 31
, 45b.

47 is a bias power supply applied to the electric field control electrodes 46a and 46b. Since the illustrated example shows the case of recording with negative corona ions, the control is performed so that the potential is more negative than the potential naturally formed in the space where the control electrodes 46a and 46b are when no bias voltage is applied. Electrode 45a
, 46b are applied with a negative bias voltage. As a result, although not shown, convex lens-shaped equipotential surfaces are formed near the electric field control electrodes 46a and 46b, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and narrow the ion flow irradiation width. Moreover, the effect of making the ion flow density distribution uniform within the ion flow irradiation area can be obtained. Moreover, this effect can be arbitrarily controlled by adjusting the bias voltage value.

As a higher negative voltage is applied, the ion irradiation width becomes narrower, but the effect of the electric field that draws in the ion flow also weakens, so that [t of the ion flow decreases. To prevent this, it is sufficient to increase the voltage value of the bias power supply 4°.

In the example shown in Figure 4 (old), the corona ion tA
The polarity of the corona ion flow is selected by the polarity of the bias power supply connected between the electrode 25 and the ion flow control 71 pole 31, and the polarity of the electric field adjustment members 45a and 45b made of an insulating material is controlled by the polarity of the corona ion flow. This automatically acts to narrow the corona ion irradiation width. On the other hand, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 (C1), the desired effect cannot be obtained unless the bias power supply 47 is selected to have the same polarity as the bias voltage rA40 that determines the polarity of the corona ions. .

Figures 3 and 4 481. In the example shown in C+, the space between the corona ion source and the ion flow control electrode is sealed with an insulating material, but this structure prevents dust from adhering to the opening of the ion flow control electrode. It is also advantageous in that it prevents the characteristics from deteriorating. In addition, when aiming at the effect as a sealing member alone, the sealing member may be arranged at a part further away from the ion flow path, and in that case, it may be an electrically conductive member.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained in detail in C) in the embodiments above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a high-performance ion flow printer that has a simple configuration, is easy to manufacture, and is capable of high-speed recording. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the basic configuration of an ion flow printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view showing an example of the configuration of an improved ion flow control electrode, and FIG. 2
Figure 4 shows an example of the present invention using the ion flow control electrode shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 schematically shows the ion flow from the corona ion source. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example in which the ion flow density distribution is flattened, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional ion flow printer. In the figure, l is a corona ion source, 4 is a corona wire,
5 is an insulating support base, 6 is a mesh electrode, 7 is an AC high voltage power supply, 8 is an ion flow control electrode, 10 is a first electrode, 11 is a second electrode
12 is an aperture, 13 is a recording signal source, 14 is a bias power source, 15 is a dielectric recording medium, and 18 is a bias power source. Patent Applicant: Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 1 3: Tsu-bink 6 13: Winter Maiden 61 sq.
Labor, 4: Kozuguwa 'I': 14: Ba 4 Zujin tJ, 6: l -/=/2-1 Rainbow m
15: *! 11*L+, +7:
18: Bias power supply, Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 FA+ 9--W - (B) (C)

Claims (1)

[Claims] The corona ion flow generated by the corona ion generation source is guided to an ion flow control electrode formed with a plurality of apertures, and the passage of the corona ion flow is determined based on the recording signal applied to the ion flow control electrode corresponding to each of the apertures. An ion flow printer that selectively guides a corona ion flow onto a recording member includes a corona wire made of a conductive wire coated with an insulating material and a conductive member disposed close to the wire. and a corona ion generation source formed by applying an AC high voltage between the conductive member and the conductive wire,
The corona ion source is arranged close to the plurality of openings of the ion flow control electrode, and a bias voltage is applied between the corona ion source and the ion flow control electrode to record corona ions generated by the corona ion source. An ion flow printer characterized in that the ion flow printer is configured to non-selectively guide only ions of one polarity to the ion flow control electrode.