JPS62148294A - Thermal sublimation transfer image-recording method and image-recording ink sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ink sheet to be applied to a thermal sublimation transfer image-recording method which ensures excellent image stability, by laying a sheet coated with a heat-fusible substance on the image side of a recording paper having been provided with images, and heating the two members to coat the image side of the recording paper with the heat-fusible substance. CONSTITUTION:An ink sheet 24 for thermal sublimation transfer recording and a recording paper 26 are pressed by a pressing roller 25 against a thermal recording head 21 in which heat generating resistors are arranged on a ceramic or glass substrate in the state of being divided to the sizes of picture elements. The recording paper 26 thus recorded is passed through a nipping part of a pressing roller 33 and a thermal coating head 29. Coating is performed by supplying a heat-fusible substance from a sheet 32 coated with the substance. Accordingly, a dye in a transferred image is prevented from being resublimed, and a dye having a low subliming temperature can be used for producing the ink sheet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal sublimation transfer image recording method and an ink sheet used in the image recording method.

[Conventional technology]

An ink sheet coated with a heat sublimable dye and a recording paper made of a plastic sheet such as polyester synthetic paper are overlapped, and a recording image signal is applied to the thermal head while pressing the thermal head against the ink sheet side. A recording method in which a thermal sublimation dye of an ink sheet is sublimated and dyed onto a recording paper by selective heat generation of a thermal head is conventionally known as a thermal sublimation transfer image recording method.

The sixth diagram is an explanatory section showing such a thermal sublimation transfer image recording method. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a heating element recording head, in which a current-carrying heating resistance element 3 is provided on a heat-resistant insulating substrate 2 such as ceramic, and a recording current is selectively passed through the resistance element 3 by a drive circuit (not shown) to heat the resistance element 3. I try to do that. An ink sheet 4 is composed of a hair paper 5 and a heat sublimation dye layer 6 formed on the surface thereof. 7 is a recording paper, usually synthetic paper is used, and 8 is an elastic pressure roller.

During the recording operation, the pressure roller 8 and the recording head 1
A recording signal is applied to the recording head 1 while pressing the ink sheet 4 and recording paper 7 between them. The heating resistor element 3 generates heat upon application of a recording signal, and the generated heat is transmitted through the hair paper 5 of the ink sheet 4 to raise the temperature of the thermal sublimation dye layer 6. An amount of dye corresponding to the heating temperature and time is sublimated from the thermal sublimation dye layer 6 and dyed onto the surface of the recording paper 7 to form an image 9.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Thermal sublimation of the dye used in the ink sheet in this recording method shows different behavior depending on the type of ink sheet, but in a printer that is used for recording with short heating, a large amount of sublimation occurs at a temperature of about 150°C. is used.

However, heat sublimation dyes used in ink sheets for printers can be used even at room temperature, which is lower than the above temperature.
Sublimation gradually progresses over a long period of time, causing the image formed on the recording paper to deteriorate in 4 degrees, or when stored in piles, the image may be re-sublimated and transferred to the back side of the recording paper. This will cause inconvenience.

In order to prevent these disadvantages, it is sufficient to use a dye with a high sublimation temperature, but when recording with such a dye with a high sublimation temperature, it is necessary to raise the heating element of the recording head to a high temperature. Therefore, the life of the recording head will be significantly shortened, and the electrical capacity of the recording signal source that drives the recording head must be increased, which is not a wood-based solution. .

As another measure to prevent the above-mentioned problems, a method has been used in which a transparent plastic sheet is laminated on the surface of the recorded image formed on the recording paper to prevent the dye from re-sublimating. Figure 6) is a diagram showing this mode, and the image 9 of the recording paper 7
Cover the surface of the side where is formed with transparent plastic sheet 1
Laminated with 0. This method is extremely advantageous in that dyes with low sublimation temperatures can be applied, reducing the load on the recording head and power supply, but it is not easy to incorporate the laminator inside the printer, and Providing a laminate film in addition to ink sheets and recording paper as consumables has the problem that handling thereof becomes complicated, which is undesirable.

The present invention provides a thermal sublimation transfer image recording method that allows the application of a dye with a low sublimation temperature, provides excellent stability of the formed image, and is easy to implement, as well as a novel configuration applied to the recording method. The purpose is to provide an ink sheet.

[Means and operations for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides thermal sublimation transfer image recording in which a thermal sublimation dye is selectively heated by a thermal recording means to form an image on a recording paper. In this method, an ink sheet coated with a heat sublimation dye and a recording paper are overlapped, and heat is applied selectively from the ink sheet side using a heating means that is activated in response to a recording signal to transfer the heat sublimation dye to the surface of the recording paper. An image forming step of sublimation transfer to the image surface, and a sheet coated with a heat-melting substance on the image surface of the recording paper after the image-forming step is overlaid, and the sheet is heated to coat the image surface of the recording paper with the heat-melting substance. The process involves thermal sublimation transfer image recording,
Furthermore, the ink sheet applied to the above recording method is constructed by providing an area coated with a heat sublimation dye and an area coated with a heat melting substance that is substantially transparent to visible light on a single continuous sheet. It is something to do.

By applying the heat sublimation transfer image recording method consisting of the above steps, the image surface formed on the recording paper is coated with a heat-melting substance, so it is extremely stable and prevents the dye from re-sublimating. Since it becomes possible to use a dye with a lower sublimation temperature, the durability of heating means such as a thermal recording head is improved, and the power source and drive circuit for recording can be simplified.

Further, by forming the ink sheet in which heat sublimation dye and heat melting substance are applied separately on one continuous sheet, it is possible to handle consumables and simplify the recording apparatus.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below. Figures 1 to C+ are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the image recording method according to the present invention.
The first view is a diagram showing an aspect of the thermal sublimation transfer image forming process.

This image forming process is basically the same as the conventional method shown in the 6th review, and regarding the members applied to this example, the members with the same reference numerals as in the 6th review are the same constituent members. It shows. However, as for the material of the dye constituting the heat sublimation dye layer, in the present invention, a dye that sublimes at a relatively low temperature can be applied, so the dye layer of the ink sheet 4 and the image formed on the recording paper surface are , each code 5a
.

9a to distinguish it from the conventional recording method shown in No. 6.

In the case of a monochrome image, the image formation on the recording paper is completed in one transfer image forming process, but in the case of a color image, it is completed in three transfer image forming processes corresponding to each color of cyan, magenta, and yellow, or The image forming process is completed by four transfer image forming processes in which black is added.

FIG. 1 (Bl is performed following the above image forming step,
3 shows an embodiment of a hot melt material transfer coating process. In the figure, 11 is a support sheet, and 12 is a layer of a heat-melting coating agent such as wax provided on the seam 1 of the support. Recorded recording paper 7
moves from the left hand direction to the right hand direction in the drawing. Then, in the heat-generating recording head 1 portion, the recorded recording paper 7 is superimposed on the hot melt coating agent layer 12 on the support sheet 11, and the coating agent is recorded on the heat-melting recording head 1 to which a signal is uniformly applied. It is applied uniformly onto the image surface of the recording paper 7 to obtain a coating layer 12a.

FIG. 1C1 shows the recording paper 7 on which a recorded image obtained through the above-mentioned coating process has been formed, 9a indicates a heat sublimation dye image, and 12a indicates a coating layer of a heat-melting substance.

As described above, the surface of the image-recorded recording paper obtained in this way is covered with a heat-melting coating substance such as wax, so heat sublimation occurs during storage. This prevents problems such as re-sublimation of the dye, resulting in a decrease in image density, or staining and contamination of the surface of other image recording papers when stored in piles.

Moreover, by proactively guaranteeing storage performance in this way, it becomes possible to form images using dyes with lower sublimation temperatures, thereby eliminating the recording energy applied to the heat-generating recording head. Extends the life of the head and the recording signal circuit.

The circuit can be simplified by reducing the electrical capacity.

The heat-melting coating material applied to the present invention must be substantially colorless and transparent, at least in the thickness at the time of coating, but the thickness of the coating is approximately several microns, and the preservation of heat-sublimation transfer images is required. Therefore, materials made of ink materials from which only the coloring components have been removed from the ink materials normally applied to ink sheets used for heat-melt transfer recording can be extremely well applied as the heat-melt coating agent of the present invention. be.

Next, an example of an experiment conducted to confirm the effects of the present invention will be described.

3 for color image formation: nan, magenta, and yellow
Using a color heat sublimation ink sheet and applying a thermal head with an element density of 12 dots/dragon, a sublimation transfer image is formed in a square shape for each color on a recording paper made of synthetic paper to create a sample ■. did.

Next, an ink sheet was prepared by coating a support sheet with a transparent ink obtained by removing coloring components from a heat-melt transfer recording ink for color image formation, and the 12 dots were printed on the image surface of the sample (2). Sample (2) was prepared by melting and transferring the transparent ink from the above ink sheet using the thermal head (2).

Next, recording paper made of another synthetic paper was superimposed on the image forming side of sample (2) and sample (2), and after being left in an electric furnace at 50°C for 15 hours, it was taken out and observed.
The following results were obtained.

That is, in sample (2), the dye was retransferred onto the other recording paper overlaid with the image, although the density was quite low, but the outline of the image shape was clear.

In sample (3), there was no appreciable retransfer of the dye onto the other recording paper overlaid with the image.

Considering these experimental results, the thermal sublimation ink sheet used in the above experiment was created with the aim of being able to be stored stably without providing an adhesion layer on the surface after image formation. In addition, there was little retransfer of dye from the image transferred to the recording paper to other recording papers. However, in order to obtain the above-mentioned stability, the sublimation temperature of the dye is high, and the amount of energy required to obtain a transferred image of normal density is approximately three times the amount of energy required for normal thermal melt transfer. It is not easy to realize a thermal recording head that can withstand the application of such high engineering effort and has a long lifespan, and the power supply and drive circuit for applying high energy are large and costly. be. In addition to these drawbacks, even if dyes with relatively high sublimation temperatures are used,
It was confirmed through the above experiment that retransfer of the dye could not be completely prevented.

On the other hand, it has been confirmed that the recording method of the present invention, in which a heat-melting substance is heat-melted and coated on the surface of a heat-sublimation transfer image, can completely prevent the dye from re-sublimating from the heat-sublimation dye transfer image. Therefore, it is possible to completely prevent a durable decrease in image density and contamination of recorded images with dyes on other recording papers, and at the same time, it is possible to apply dyes that sublimate at lower temperatures, so it is possible to It has been found that the manufacturing process and the manufacturing of the power supply and drive circuits are also facilitated.

Note that the recording head for image recording may have any configuration as long as it is a heating means operated by a recording signal, and only a recording head configured of segmented elements of the above-mentioned current-carrying heating resistor is applicable. Alternatively, a laser beam scanner or the like that emits light energy that is modulated by a recording signal and scans in the form of a flying spot can also be used. In addition, non-contact means such as infrared rays are used to heat the sheet coated with the heat-melting coating material, and the image surface of the recorded recording paper is pressed against the sheet provided with the coating layer using a transparent plate. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a coating layer is formed by heating with the non-contact heating means.

By the way, when implementing the recording method according to the present invention, various forms can be taken. One typical configuration is a configuration in which a coating section of a heat-melting substance is provided downstream of a heat-sublimation recording section. Another typical form is that the recording head for thermal sublimation transfer recording and the heating means for thermal melt coating are shared, and the ink sheet also has a thermal sublimation dye application area and a thermal melt coating agent application area. This is a form in which a structure is used in which these are provided on one continuous sheet.

Furthermore, a configuration in which both of the above forms are mixed is also possible. In other words, a recording head that performs thermal sublimation transfer recording and a heating means that performs coating are respectively It can also be configured to use separate ones.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the image recording method according to the present invention is applied, in which the thermal sublimation transfer recording section and the coating section are completely independent. In the same figure, 2
Reference numeral 1 denotes a thermal recording head, which has a structure in which a current-carrying heating resistor is arranged on a ceramic or glass substrate, divided into pixel-sized units, and a recording signal is applied to each segment of the heating resistor. 24 is an ink sheet for thermal sublimation transfer recording, 22 is its supply roll, and 23 is its winding roll. 26 is recording paper, 27a, 27b, 28
a and 28b are recording paper guides. A pressure roller 25 is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the thermal recording head 21.

The above-mentioned members constitute a thermal sublimation transfer recording section, and in the case of monochrome recording, the recording paper 26 and the ink sheet 24
The recording process is completed by moving once in the directions of arrows a and b, respectively. Further, in the case of multicolor recording, the recording paper 26 moves back and forth, while the ink sheet 24 moves in one direction, so that the sheet portion painted in each color sequentially faces the same recording paper. It looks like this.

Another example of a multi-color recording structure is to arrange the single-color transfer recording sections in series in multiple stages and apply an ink sheet of each color to each recording section, so that the recording paper passes through the recording sections of each color sequentially. You can also configure it.

As shown in FIG. 2, the coating part of the hot melt substance is
It is arranged downstream of the thermal sublimation transfer recording section. Reference numeral 29 denotes a thermal coating head. This head 29 is configured to uniformly apply a heating effect to the entire width of the recording paper 26. Therefore, the heat generating section does not need to be divided, and continuously maintains a predetermined temperature. It is only necessary to maintain the temperature, so there is no need to consider thermal responsiveness or the like. 32 is a sheet coated with a hot-melt coating material, 30 is a supply roll thereof, and 31 is a take-up roll thereof. Reference numeral 33 denotes a pressure roller arranged so as to come into pressure contact with the thermal coating head 29, and 34a and 34b indicate recording paper guide plates. Arrow C indicates the moving direction of the sheet 32, and the recording paper that has completed the image forming process in the thermal sublimation transfer recording section is sent from the left hand direction via the guides 28a and 28b, and is transferred to the pressure roller 33 and the thermal coating head. When passing through the nip section 29, a hot melting material is supplied from a hot melting coating material application sheet 32 to perform coating.

Note that the moving speed of the sheet 32 does not necessarily have to be the same as the moving speed of the recording paper 26, and the sheet 32 may be coated with a thick layer of heat-melting coating material to reduce the amount of winding of the sheet around the screen grooves. It is also possible. Thus, after the image forming process is completed, the coating process with a hot melt substance is performed, and the entire process of thermal sublimation transfer image recording of the present invention is completed.

A heat sublimation dye application area for image recording and a heat melt substance application area for coating are separately painted on a series of sheets, and a heat recording layer for image recording and a heat melt substance coating area are applied. By sharing the same thermal coating head, the handling of consumables and the construction of the apparatus are greatly simplified. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the present invention based on the above idea is applied. In the figure, 35 is an energized heat-generating recording head that serves both the purpose of image recording and coating with a heat-melting substance, but if a head with specifications that sufficiently satisfy the purpose of recording is used, the purpose of coating can be easily achieved with its calorific value. can be fulfilled. 36 is an ink sheet which is a consumable material, and one sheet has a heat sublimation dye coating part and a heat melting substance coating part.
The rolls are arranged so as to be repeated in a predetermined combination, and 37 is a supply roll thereof, and 38 is a take-up roll. Reference numeral 39 denotes a pressurized elastic roller 40a arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the energized heat generating recording head 35.

40b, 42a, 42b are recording paper guide plates; 41
a.

41b, 43a, and 43b are recording paper feed rollers, and 44 is a recording paper.

The ink sheet 36 is continuously fed in the direction of the arrow, and the thermal sublimation dye coating section and the hot melt substance coating section periodically pass through the nip between the pressure roller 39 and the thermal recording head 35 in a predetermined order. The recording sheet 44 moves toward the right hand,
At the nip portion, the sheet 36 is first overlapped with the heat sublimation dye coated portion of the sheet 36, and subjected to selective heat action by the thermal recording head 35 to perform an image forming process. When the image forming process for one screen is completed, the nip between the pressure roller 39 and the thermal recording head 35 is released, the recording paper 44 is sent back to the supply side, and then the nip is formed again, and the recording paper 44 is also removed. The recording paper 4 is conveyed again toward the nip section.
4 is then superimposed on the heat-melting material coated portion of the sheet 36, and a signal is applied to the thermal recording head 35 to simultaneously generate heat across the entire recording width, so that the heat-melting material is not selected on the recording paper on which the image has been formed. The image recording process is completed by applying a specific coating.

When recording a multicolor image, the recording paper is moved back and forth during the image recording process, while the ink sheet is coated with each color dye for each screen, and is moved in one direction to print the same image. A mechanism for sequentially recording each color image on the recording paper is provided, and multicolor image recording can be easily performed by using the cough mechanism.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing examples of image recording ink sheets suitable for carrying out the thermal sublimation transfer image recording method according to the present invention. These embodiments have a configuration that is suitable for a line printer type recording apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a monochrome image recording sheet, in which a monochromatic thermal sublimation dye coating area B and a thermal melting material G2 fabric area T are provided in one sheet to form a unit sheet X. A long image recording ink sheet is constructed by repeating the unit sheet X.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a sheet for recording multicolor images. On the sheet, a heat-melting substance is successively applied to the areas where heat-sublimated dyes of cyan C, macenda M, and yellow Y have been sequentially applied. A unit sheet Z is formed by providing the partial molecules, and a roll-shaped elongated sheet is constructed by repeating the unit sheet Z a plurality of times.

In this way, the ink sheet for image recording is constructed by integrating the heat sublimation dye coated sheet for image formation and the coating agent coated sheet for hot melt substance coating, which simplifies the handling of the two types of sheets. In addition to this effect, if an image recording ink sheet with such a configuration is used, a thermal recording head for image formation and a thermal coating head for coating can be used in common, and the image recording method according to the present invention can be carried out. This is extremely convenient for doing so.

Although each of the above embodiments has been applied to a line printer type recording device, the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to a serial printer type recording device. The configuration of the ink sheet can take various forms, and the shape of the ink sheet is appropriately selected accordingly. For example, Figures 4 and 5
The figure shows an image recording ink sheet suitable for a line printer type that records in a width equal to the screen width, but when applied to a serial printer, it is recommended to use a narrow tape-like sheet with a width equal to the width of the recording head. An ink sheet for image recording is applied.

Regarding each thermal head used for image formation and coating, in the above embodiment, a contact type resistance heating type is shown. Contactless energy sources can also be applied.

In addition, in the embodiments shown in Figure 2 and Part 3, the image forming section and the hot-melt material coating section were integrated into the device, but they were constructed as separate devices. It is also possible to implement the invention.

The heat-melting coating material that coats the recording screen may be substantially transparent in the coated state at least in the visible light region, and there is no problem even if it absorbs in the non-visible light region.

In addition, although the coating with the heat-melting substance is applied over the entire surface of the recorded image, coating is applied only to the image forming area, and to areas where no image is to be formed, such as the margins and background of the recording paper. Even if no coating is applied, the effects of the present invention will not be reduced.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above in detail based on the Examples and Experimental Examples, according to the present invention, re-sublimation of the dye from the transferred image formed on the recording paper by the heat sublimation dye can be prevented by simple means. Accordingly, it is possible to use a dye having a low sublimation temperature, and various effects such as being able to lower the energy applied to a heating means such as a thermal recording head for image recording can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the ink sheet for image recording is formed by separately applying heat sublimation dye and heat melting substance on a single sheet, handling of consumables and recording apparatus are simplified. Simplification can be measured.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an aspect of the image forming process in the thermal sublimation transfer image recording method according to the present invention, FIG.
0) is a cross-sectional view showing recording paper that has undergone a coating process;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an implementation stage 11 of a recording apparatus used to carry out the image recording method according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the recording apparatus. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an ink sheet for recording monochrome images according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an ink sheet for recording multicolor images, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a transfer image recording method (Bl is a cross-sectional view showing a recording paper provided with a conventional re-sublimation prevention means by lamination. In the figure, 1 is a heating element recording head, and 3 is a heating resistor. Element, 4 is an ink sheet, 6a is a thermal sublimation dye layer, 7 is a recording paper, 8 is an elastic pressure roller, 9a is a transferred image, 11 is a support note, 12 is a hot melt coating agent layer, 12a is a coating layer Patent applicant: Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. fB) (C) 9a 7 ・9ノ' Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 -X--X- Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a thermal sublimation transfer image recording method in which an image is formed on a recording paper by selectively heating a thermal sublimation dye using a thermal recording means, an ink sheet coated with a thermal sublimation dye and a recording paper are overlapped, and the ink is An image forming step in which heat is selectively applied by a heating means activated in response to a recording signal from the sheet side to sublimate and transfer heat sublimation dye to the surface of the recording paper, and the image surface of the recording paper after the image forming step is completed. A thermal sublimation transfer image recording method comprising the steps of overlapping sheets coated with a heat-melting substance, and heating the sheets to coat the image surface of a recording paper with the heat-melting substance. (2) Thermal sublimation characterized by having a continuous sheet with an area coated with a heat sublimation dye and an area coated with a heat melting substance that is substantially transparent to visible light. Ink sheet for recording transfer images.