JPS62164550A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable an ion flow to be easily controlled, by disposing a control electrode having a slit for selectively passing the ion flow according to a recording signal, between a rotary corona electrode and a counter electrode. CONSTITUTION:An electrostatic recording paper 22 is supplied from a roll 21 to a recording part comprising a rotary corona electrode 24, a counter electrode 25 and a control electrode 26 provided therebetween, through paper- supplying rollers 23. A high voltage for corona discharge is impressed between the electrodes 24 and 25. By impressing a pulse of voltage according to an image recording signal on the control electrode 26, an ion flow emitted from the corona electrode 24 toward the counter electrode 25 through a slit in the control electrode 26 is controlled, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the paper 22. next, the paper 22 is fed by a feeding roller 27 to a developing device 28, where the latent image is developed, and the paper 22 is discharged onto a tray 32 by paper-discharging rollers 31. Accordingly, images can be easily recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an image recording device using an ion stream.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, various recording methods have been proposed in which recording is performed by controlling an ion flow to form an electrostatic layer image, or recording is performed by selectively charging toner using a controlled ion flow. Ion flow control devices used in such recording methods have been proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-20094, Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-29269, and the like.

In a conventional ion flow control device, a method for controlling the ion flow generated from a corona discharge electrode is as shown in the above-mentioned publication. The ion flow is controlled by providing control electrodes having the shape of a shape and modulating the voltage applied to each control electrode according to the recording signal.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, when controlling the ion flow using such an ion flow side '47E'A position, a large number of control electrodes are required corresponding to each pixel, and therefore, it is necessary to create fine circuit wiring. Moreover, a complicated electric circuit is required to switch the voltage pulse based on the recording signal applied to each control electrode in a minute time.

An ion flow control method that reduces these problems is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-38389. In other words, this method uses a thin cylindrical control electrode with many openings and performs scanning by rotating the control electrode, thereby simplifying the device components such as circuit wiring and electric circuits. be. When using this method, a cylindrical control electrode must be constructed by arranging an opening at a predetermined position in the cylindrical body. Therefore, it is difficult to manufacture the control electrode, and it is difficult to increase the recording speed. It is necessary to rotate the cylindrical control electrode at high speed, but the thin cylindrical control electrode with an opening has weak mechanical strength and may be deformed or destroyed by high-speed rotation, making it unsuitable for high-speed recording. There was a drawback.

The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional ion flow control device of an image recording device using an ion flow. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording device using an ion flow that is significantly simplified and suitable for high-speed recording.

[Means and operations for solving the problems] Next, the basic structure of the present invention for solving the above problems will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a roller-shaped rotating corona electrode 1 used in an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. A corona wire 4 is placed around the formed insulating roller 3.
It is constructed by winding it spirally.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the control electrode 5. FIG. Control electrode 5
The insulator 6 has plate-like electrodes 7.7' attached to both sides of the plate-like insulator 6, and an elongated slit 8 penetrating the insulator 6 and both electrodes 7.7' in the center thereof.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of the basic configuration of the image recording apparatus according to the present invention and its operating principle. A roller-shaped rotating corona electrode 1 and a control electrode 5 are arranged in parallel, and a counter electrode 9 is arranged on the opposite side of the rotating corona of the control electrode 5 from the pole 1. A high voltage power source 10 for corona discharge is connected between the corona electrode 1 and the counter electrode 9, and a recording signal for controlling the electric field in the slit 8 of the control electrode 5 is connected between the upper and lower electrodes 7 and 7' of the control electrode 5. Source 11
is connected to the corona electrode 1, and the corona electrode 1 is configured to rotate while being applied with a high voltage from a high voltage power source 10. Note that 12 is a power source for stabilizing the potential of the control electrode connected between the electrode 7' and the counter electrode 9.

In the image recording apparatus configured as described above, when an electric field is not formed by the recording signal source 11 in the slit 8 of the control electrode 5, the corona wire of the counter electrode 9 and the corona electrode l closest to the counter electrode 9 A dot-like electrostatic latent image is formed on the recording material 13 disposed on the counter electrode 9 by the ion flow caused by the corona discharge generated only between one part and the other. On the other hand, if an electric field is formed in the slit 8 of the control electrode 5 in the direction of blocking the ion flow due to the recording signal 'fA11, that is, in the upward direction in FIG. 8 is prevented from passing through, and no electrostatic latent image is formed on the recording material 13.

When the corona electrode 1 rotates, a portion of the corona wire adjacent to the counter electrode 9 moves along the slit 8. Therefore, when a pulse voltage from the recording signal source 11 is applied to the control electrode 5 in synchronization with each position of a predetermined proximate portion of the corona wire 4, one line of electrostatic latent image is recorded with one rotation of the corona electrode l. formed on the material 13, the corona electrode 1
By continuing to rotate, a latent image of a predetermined image is formed.

In the basic configuration example described above, the passage of the ion flow through the slit 8 of the control electrode 5 is controlled depending on the presence or absence of a pulse voltage from the recording signal source 11, but the recording signal [1
Of course, it is also possible to apply positive and negative pulse voltages from 1 to the control electrode 5 to control passage of the ion flow through the slit 8.

Further, in the above configuration example, a positive ion flow is used for recording, but a negative ion flow can also be used, and in that case, the polarities of all power supplies and signal sources may be reversed.

As described above, by combining a rotating corona electrode with a simple configuration, a control electrode with a slit, and a flat counter electrode, ion flow can be easily achieved with a simple control electrode and a simplified electric circuit. It becomes possible to control.

〔Example〕

Next, examples of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a specific embodiment of the image recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 23, it is supplied to the recording section. The recording section is a roller-shaped rotating corona electrode 24 as shown in FIG.
, a counter electrode 25, and a control electrode 26 disposed therebetween.
It is made up of.

A high voltage for corona discharge is applied between the rotating corona electrode 24 and the counter electrode 25, and a control electrode 2G is also applied.
A pulse voltage is applied according to the image recording signal, and by modulating the magnitude or direction of the pulse voltage according to the signal, the ion flow emitted from the corona 1i24 toward the counter electrode 25 is controlled. is now under control. The ion flow forms an electrostatic latent image on the electrostatic recording paper 22 supplied onto the counter electrode 25.

In the recording section, the electrostatic recording paper 22 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is conveyed by a feed roller 27 toward a developing device 28 . The developing device 28 is configured to be supplied with developer from a developer tank 29 by a pump 30.

The electrostatic recording paper 22 developed by the developing device 28 is discharged onto a tray 32 by a paper discharge roller 31.

In this example, an electrostatic latent image formed directly on electrostatic recording paper was developed to obtain the final image, but a recording intermediate such as a dielectric drum was used as the counter electrode, and the After forming an electrostatic latent image on the intermediate and developing it,
It is also possible to adopt a method in which the image is transferred onto plain paper to form the final image.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an ion flow controlled by a control electrode is applied to an ink mist flow to selectively charge the ink mist.
The ink mist is used to form an image on plain paper.

A roller-shaped rotating corona electrode 41, a counter electrode 43, and a control electrode 42 arranged between them constitute an ion flow control recording section, and similarly to the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the ion flow is controlled according to the image recording signal. is starting to form. Reference numeral 44 denotes an ink tank, and the ink 45 contained in the tank 44 is subjected to ultrasonic vibration by an ultrasonic vibrator 46 to generate a minute ink mist. The ink mist generated in the ink tank 44 is sucked by the fan 48 through the supply path 47, becomes a thin layer of ink mist flow at the interrupted portion 47' of the supply path 47, and is connected to the control electrode 42. It is configured to be supplied between the opposing electrodes 43. A thin layer of ink mist flow between the control electrode 42 and the counter electrode 43 receives irradiation with the controlled ion flow and becomes electrically charged. The charged ink mist stream is electrostatically attracted onto plain paper 49 that is supplied onto counter electrode 43 to form an image.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above based on the basic configuration examples and examples, according to the present invention, there is provided a rotating corona electrode formed by disposing linear electrodes in a spiral shape on the surface of an insulated roller, and a roller of the corona electrode. counter electrodes spaced apart parallel to the axis;
Since the ion flow control recording unit is constructed by the rotating corona 1 and the control electrode which is disposed between the rod and the counter electrode and has a slit through which the ion flow selectively passes according to the recording signal, the control electrode has a simple configuration. Moreover, the ion flow can be easily controlled with a simplified electric circuit, and images can be easily recorded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rotating corona electrode used in an image recording device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a control electrode.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the basic configuration of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a specific embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram showing an example. In the figure, 1 is a rotating corona snow scraper, 2 is a core bar, 3 is an insulating roller, 4 is a corona wire, 5 is a control bridge, 6 is an insulator, 7 and 7' are electrodes, 8 is a slit, and 9 is an opposing electrode,
10 is a high voltage power supply, 11 is a recording signal source, and 13 is a recording material. Patent Applicant: Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 1 ± 1 I-1i Rut Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] a rotating corona electrode formed by spirally disposing linear electrodes on the surface of an insulated roller; a counter electrode disposed parallel to the roller axis of the corona electrode and spaced apart from the corona electrode;
a high-voltage power source for generating an electric discharge only at the closest portion between the opposing electrode and the linear electrode of the rotating corona electrode, and emitting an ion flow from the rotating corona electrode toward the opposing electrode; and the rotating corona electrode. and a control electrode having a slit disposed between the opposing electrodes and allowing the ion flow to selectively pass therethrough in accordance with a recording signal.