JPS62160250A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a driver-mounted thermal head of low cost structure capable of protecting a driver by forming a high protrusion on a heat sink. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head 5 consists of a heat sink 7 as a main body, and an array of dot elements 8, the electricity/heat energy converters and a ceramic substrate 10 mounted with a driver 9 being bonded in front. Protrusions 16, 17 for driver 9 protection are integrally formed on the heat sink 7. The protrusions 16, 17 are formed at both ends of the ceramic substrate 10 and besides at positions corresponding to both ends of the driver 9. In addition, the protrusions 16, 17 are higher than the rise of the driver 9. Thus paper fed from the surface of a paper feed roller 1 to a recorder between a platen 2 and the thermal head 5 does not touch the driver 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a thermal head having a structure in which a substrate on which an electrothermal energy converter such as a heating resistor is mounted is bonded to a heat sink.

[Prior art]

A thermal recording device is used as a type of recording device such as a printer or a facsimile.

A thermal recording device drives an electrothermal energy converter (heating resistor) mounted on a recording head (thermal head) based on a print pattern signal, and uses heat to record on a recording medium such as paper. A distinction can be made between a thermal transfer method in which ribbon ink is melted and transferred, and a thermal paper method in which thermal paper is used.

Some of these thermal recording devices are of the line print type, but in general, a recording head is attached to a carriage that moves along the paper, and the recording is performed by carriage scanning (serial print types are widely used). ing.

The recording head of a thermal recording device, that is, the thermal head, generally has a dot element array consisting of a plurality of (for example, 24) electrothermal energy converters arranged in a vertical line mounted on a substrate (usually a ceramic substrate). These electrothermal energy converters are driven by a driver consisting of an IC circuit that analyzes print pattern signals.

By the way, in order to obtain clear records, it is necessary to increase the number of dots for one character, and recently, for example, 24x24
There is a tendency to increase from dots to 32x32 dots.

In addition, as a method to reduce thermal load and improve printing speed, it has been proposed to use a dual head, that is, a thermal head in which two or three or more rows of dot elements are mounted at predetermined intervals in the printing direction. There is.

However, for these reasons, as the number of electrothermal energy converters on the thermal head increases, the number of wires connecting the driver and each electrothermal energy converter increases accordingly, making it difficult to use conventional If the driver was mounted on the carriage side, the width of the wiring (flexible cable, etc.) would be large (which would cause space problems), and if the wiring was limited in width, the circuit pattern would be thin and the solder between the terminals would be reduced. Problems arise such as making it difficult to attach and reducing durability.

Therefore, recently, a type of driver is mounted on a thermal head, in other words, a driver (IC
) has been proposed.

However, with conventional driver-equipped thermal heads, the driver can be damaged due to paper being fed coming into contact with the driver, or other parts coming into contact with the driver during assembly or transportation. There was sex.

As a way to solve this problem, methods have been proposed such as fixing a metal cover covering the driver with screws, etc., or coating the driver with hard resin, but these conventional methods require a lot of effort. There were problems in that the cost increased and the driver part became thicker, reducing space efficiency.

〔the purpose〕

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a driver-mounted thermal head that can solve the problems of the prior art and can effectively protect the driver with a simple and inexpensive structure.

〔overview〕

The present invention achieves the above object by mounting a driver on a substrate to be bonded to a heat sink, and integrally forming protrusions higher than the raised height of the driver at positions corresponding to both sides of the driver on the heat sink. It is something to do.

〔Example〕

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a main part of a recording apparatus equipped with a thermal head according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a front view of the thermal head shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a guide shaft 3 is installed parallel to the paper feed roller 1 and platen 2 in front of them (on the left side in FIG. 1), and a carriage 4 that moves along the paper is guided and supported on this guide shaft. has been done.

The carriage 4 has a thermal head 5 facing the platen 2.
is moved up and down by the axis 6 (separated from and pressed against the paper)
possible to be pivoted.

The thermal head 5 has a main body formed of a heat sink 7 made of a good thermal conductor such as aluminum, and has a dot element array 8 of an electrothermal energy converter and a driver on the front side (the surface facing the paper) as shown in FIG. It has a structure in which a ceramic substrate 10 on which an (IC) 9 is mounted is bonded.

A plurality of circuit patterns 11 are formed on the surface of the ceramic substrate 10 to connect the electrothermal energy converter 8 and the driver 9, and the driver 9 is connected to a control circuit (not shown). A flexible cable 12 is connected.

In FIG. 1, a paper guide 13 and pinch rollers 14 and 15, which can be moved toward and away from each other, are arranged around the paper feed roller 1, and the paper fed from arrow A moves the paper feed roller 1 in the direction of arrow B. The paper is fed through between the platen 2 and the thermal head 5, and is ejected in the direction of arrow C.

However, in the thermal head 5 according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, projections 16 and 17 for protecting the driver 9 are integrally formed on the heat sink 7.

These protrusions 16 , 17 are formed on both sides of the ceramic substrate 10 and at positions corresponding to both sides of the driver 9 , and the height of each protrusion 16 , 17 is set to be higher than the raised height of the driver 9 .

According to the configuration described above, since the protrusions 16 and 17 integrated with the heat sink 7 are provided at positions corresponding to both sides of the driver 9, the recording section between the surface of the paper feed roller 1 and the platen 2 and the thermal head 5 is provided. Even if the sheet being sent to the driver 9 attempts to take a path that would cause it to come into contact with or collide with the driver 9, it will only contact the protrusions 16, 17 and will not come into contact with the driver 9. Therefore, the driver 9 can be protected from contact (sliding contact or collision) with the paper.

Also, it is possible to transport the thermal head 5 separately or use the carriage 4.
During handling operations such as assembly into the
7 can prevent other parts etc. from coming into contact with the driver 9, and can exert a driver protection function.

Furthermore, since the surface area of the heat sink 7 is increased by forming the protrusions 16, 17, there is also an advantage that the heat dissipation effect of the heat sink can be improved.

Since the protrusions 16 and 17 can be formed at the same time as the heat sink 7 is manufactured (aluminum die-casting, etc.), the above-mentioned effects can be achieved very simply and at low cost.

Although the illustrated embodiment is equipped with a single row of electrothermal energy converters 8, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where multiple rows of electrothermal energy converters are provided at a predetermined interval on the left and right sides (such as a dual head). It can be passed.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a thermal head that can protect the driver with a simple and low-cost structure when the driver is mounted on the thermal head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a recording device equipped with a thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a line - - in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a front view of the thermal head seen from (3). 5...--Thermal head, 7...--Heat sink, 8...--Electrothermal energy converter, 9-
・--1--Driver, 10... Board, 1
6.17...--Protrusion. Agent Patent Attorney Yasushi Oto Grain Cylinder 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a thermal head configured by bonding a substrate equipped with an electrothermal energy converter to a heat sink,
A thermal head comprising: a driver for driving the electrothermal energy converter mounted on the substrate; and protrusions higher than the raised height of the driver are integrally formed at positions corresponding to both sides of the driver on the heat sink.