JPS62176853A - Electrostatic recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to uniformize the dot diameter of a latent image based on an ionic current in an extremely simple manner by constituting the titled apparatus so that a recording signal having polarity inverse to that of a generated ion is appropriately applied to each recording electrode and the ion is adsorbed only by the surface of a recording body corresponding to the recording electrode to which the recording signal has been applied. CONSTITUTION:An appropriate recording signal is applied to each recording electrode B from each recording source 20. For example, when recording signal voltage 25 having polarity inverse to that of a generated ion 30 is applied to recording electrodes B2, B5 and the residual electrode B is held at earth potential, predetermined electric field is formed between the shield 2 of an ion generator A and the recording electrode B2 or B5 and the ion group 30 discharged from the ion generator A is adsorbed by the surfaces of a dielectric 10 corresponding to the aforementioned recording electrodes B2, B5 to form predetermined electrostatic latent image dots. At this time, if the substantial electrode surface of each recording electrode is preset to a definite one, the adsorbing area of the ion group is allowed to have a definite area and, by this method, an electrostatic latent image having a uniform latent image dot diameter is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device in which ions are appropriately adsorbed onto a recording medium to form a static M sink. This invention relates to a fundamentally improved electrostatic recording device.

[Prior art 1 As a conventional electrostatic recording device, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1986-
There is one published in Publication No. 19085413. This is the 6th
As shown in the figure, an ion generation 4A is composed of a discharge wire ψ1 and a shield 2 surrounding the discharge wire V1, and an ion discharge path 3 is opened in the shield 2, and an ion discharge path 3 is provided opposite to the ion discharge path 3. An air passageway 4 for introducing compressed air is provided in the lζ shield 2 portion, and an ion flow control passageway 5 is provided with an insulating member in a portion adjacent to the ion discharge passageway 3.
Control electrodes 6 are arranged at desired intervals on one side of this ion flow control passage 5, and an ion flow control passage 5 is defined.

The other side of path 5 is set as earth electrode 7 equal to ground potential
l! The control electrodes 6 are made to function properly, and appropriate recording signals are applied to each control electrode 6. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 8 is a DC power supply for applying a DC high voltage to the discharge wire X71, 9 is a control signal device for applying the recording signal, and the shield 2 is grounded.

If this type is used, when a high voltage is applied to the discharge wire 1, a discharge will occur between the discharge wire 71 and the shield 2, and ions generated near the discharge wire 1 will radiate toward the shield 2. Try to move. At this point, some of the generated ions are directed to the ion exhaust path 3 side together with the compressed air introduced into the shield 2, and then this ion flow is changed depending on the presence or absence of the electric field at the control OII electrode 6. The ion flow selectively passes through the ion flow control path 5 and reaches the dielectric material 10 as a recording medium. In this state, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the dielectric 10 based on the ion flow.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such conventional electrostatic recording devices, recording density required for practical use (for example, 12 dots l"
/ #) and the low gain m+ voltage (for example, 50 V or less) required to simplify the control system for the control electrode 6, the ion flow control passage 5's width is set to 200 μm.
Hereafter, the pressure of the air flow must be set to about 200 mmH2O. Under such conditions, the amount of ions that can be taken out to the dielectric 10 side of the total amount of ions generated from the discharge wire 1 is only about 1% at most, and the absolute amount of ions reaching the dielectric 10 is not enough. It is difficult to secure
A problem arises in that it is not suitable for high-speed recording.

In addition, in order to maintain good image quality, it is necessary to set the diameter of each latent image dot uniformly, but in the past, in order to keep the diameter of the latent image dots uniform, the ion flow control passage 5 was Various parameters such as the slit width usage, the recording signal voltage to the control I electrode 6, and the distance l1jli from the control electrode 6 to the dielectric 10 must be matched, making the adjustment extremely troublesome.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to easily secure sufficient ion capacity necessary for high-speed recording, and furthermore, An object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic recording device that can extremely easily uniformize the diameter of latent image dots based on ion flow.

That is, the present invention is based on an electrostatic recording device that forms an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium by means of an ion flow, and includes an ion generator that irradiates a certain amount of ions toward the recording medium, and an ion generator as described above. A plurality of recording electrodes are arranged in a row on the back side of the recording body, and a recording signal having a polarity opposite to that of generated ions is appropriately applied to each recording electrode, and recording corresponding to the recording electrode to which the recording signal is applied is performed. This allows the ions to be adsorbed only on the body surface.

In such technical means, the ion generator includes an ion generator that surrounds the discharge wire The design may be changed as appropriate as long as it generates an appropriate amount of ions, such as one that does not generate ions. In this case, in order to form a uniform latent image, it is sufficient to keep the supplied ions m constant;
For example, it is desirable to adopt a structure in which most of the discharge wire is covered with a shield so that the surface potential on the recording medium side does not directly affect the ion generation source, and to suppress changes in the generated ion source. Furthermore, in order to improve the ion transport efficiency, it is desirable to design the system so that the generated ions are transported together with the compressed air. In addition, the design of the recording electrode may be changed as appropriate as long as it has a substantial electrode area within a range corresponding to the required latent image dot diameter, and the number and arrangement of recording electrodes may also be changed as required. It can be selected as appropriate in consideration of the recording density.

[Effect 1] According to the technical means described above, there are no structural constraints associated with recording density or ion flow control on the ion generator side. It is possible to secure a sufficient amount of compressed air that is sent in during discharge, thereby improving the extraction efficiency of generated ions and ensuring a sufficient amount of ions that form an electrostatic latent image on the recording medium side.

Also, Shizuka? In forming the ff latent image, since a recording signal having a polarity opposite to that of the generated ions is applied to the recording electrode, a group of generated ions are generated on the surface of the recording medium corresponding to the recording electrode to which the recording signal is applied. is attracted, and an electrostatic latent image dot is formed by a group of ions in this area. In this case, if the actual electrode area of each of the recording electrodes is kept constant, the adsorption area of the ion group can be kept constant, so that the diameter of each latent image dot can be set to be uniform.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example not shown in the accompanying drawings.

◎Example 1 In FIGS. 1 and 2, an electrostatic recording device includes an ion generator A and a plurality of recording electrodes B arranged on the back side of a dielectric material 10 as a recording medium. .

A substantially cylindrical shield 2 surrounds the discharge wire V1, and a DC power source 8 is connected to the discharge wire to the ion generator.
A high voltage (for example, 2.8 to 3.3 KV) is applied thereto, and the shield 2 is grounded. An ion ejection path 3 is provided on the dielectric 10 side of the shield 2, and an air introduction path 4 for introducing compressed air is provided at a portion opposite to the ion ejection path 3.

: The recording electrodes B have a substantial electrode area corresponding to the latent image dot diameter, and are appropriately arranged in the width direction of the dielectric 10 in accordance with the recording density (in this embodiment, typically six electrodes are arranged). record 'iB pole B-86 is shown). A recording signal source 20 is connected to each recording electrode B, and each recording signal source 20Ii has a switch piece 21 that is switched and operated according to the state of the applied image signal, and when the image signal is in state 1. A first contact 22 is electrically connected to the switch piece 21 and applies a recording signal voltage 25 of opposite polarity to the generated ions to the recording electrode 8, and a first contact 22 is electrically connected to the switch piece 21 when the image signal is in state 0 and is a recording electrode B'. It is composed of a second contact 23 that holds the IR potential at ground potential, and outputs a binary recording signal.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the symbol @26 is a developer that develops the electrostatic latent image on the dielectric 10 with toner, and 21 is a developer that removes the residual charge after transferring the toner image on the dielectric 10. It is a static eliminator that

Therefore, according to the electrostatic recording device according to this embodiment, now
When 1X voltage is applied to the discharge wire 1 of the ion generating PJA, a discharge occurs between the discharge wire 1 and the shield 2, and ions generated from around the discharge wife 1 are almost uniformly distributed toward the entire inner wall surface of the shield 2. -, some of the generated ions are guided to the ion exhaust path 3 side together with the introduced compressed air, and are emitted to the dielectric 10 side.

At this point, there is no need to consider recording density or ion flow control in the ion generator A11Il, so the slit width of the ion ejection path 3 is ensured sufficiently large, and the compressed air n introduced is also ensured sufficiently. As a result, the ion group generated around the discharge wire 1 is not unnecessarily absorbed in the ion ejection path 3, and efficiently reaches the dielectric 10 side.

Therefore, it is possible to set the absolute ω of ions reaching the dielectric material 10 to be sufficiently large, thereby shortening the timing of forming an electrostatic latent image, and enabling high-speed recording.

Further, an appropriate recording signal is applied to each recording electrode B from the respective recording signal source 20, and as shown in FIG. 2, for example, as shown in FIG. Assuming 1 that a recording signal voltage 25 of opposite polarity is applied and that the remaining recording electrode B is held at ground potential, the shield 2 of the ion generator A and the recording electrode 82 or B5 A predetermined electric field is formed only between the ion group 3o emitted from the ion generating PJA.
is recorded along the electric field line direction of the above electric field 'FiI4i[
3. Move to the B5 side and record the above? if pole 13
．． It is attracted to the surface of the dielectric material 10 corresponding to B5 to form a predetermined electrostatic latent image dot. At this point, if the actual electrode area of each recording 14iB is set in advance to a constant value, the adsorption area of the ion group 30 will be a constant area, and as a result,
An electrostatic latent image with uniform latent image dot diameter is obtained.

◎Example 2 In FIGS. 3 and 4, unlike in Example 1, the recording electrode B is a single electrode 4f+41 having an electrode surface 41a corresponding to the latent image dot diameter, and is arranged around this main electrode 41. Guard electric! lA42, main electrode 41 and guard electrode gi4
and an insulating member 43 interposed between the two.

In this recording electrode B, the main electrode 41 and the guard electrode 42 are both provided on an insulating substrate 44.
1 is provided to protrude upward through the central hole 42a of the guard electrode 42, and has an electrode surface 41a at its protruding end. The main electrode 41 is connected to the recording signal source 20, and the guard electrode 42 is grounded. Further, in this embodiment, the insulating member 43 (specifically, 43a to 4
3C) has a 3 m 4'li construction, and the lower and middle layer insulating members 43a and 43b insulate between the main electrode 41 and the guard electrode 42, and the upper layer insulating member 43c insulates the main electrode 41. The surface 41a is coated.

Therefore, the electrostatic recording device according to this embodiment basically provides the same functions and effects as those of the first embodiment, but the electrostatic latent image dot diameter is reduced compared to the first embodiment. It becomes possible to make it more uniform. That is, since the guard electrode 42 is held at the ground potential, not only can the potential of the area corresponding to the guard electrode 42 be kept at the ground potential, but also
Even if the potential pattern of the main electrode 41 extends to a certain extent to areas other than the electrode surface 41a, the electrode surface 41
It becomes possible to relatively lower the potential in regions other than a, and to keep the potential pattern at the main electrode 41 within a range corresponding to the IrR plane a. Therefore, a predetermined electric field can be formed only in the range corresponding to the electrode surface 41a of the main electrode 41, and the dielectric 10 corresponding to the electrode surface 41a can be
The ion group 30 from the ion generator can be adsorbed onto the surface, and the region from which the ions are absorbed can be adjusted more precisely.

To give more specific numerical values, the width of the ion ejection path 3 is set to 0.5 sIC, and the main electrode 41 is set to 16
They are arranged at a density of dots/m, and the recording signal source 20 is operated by switching with recording signals of On and -200 (V).
Furthermore, a print test was conducted at a speed of 5 inches/second using a polyethylene terephthalate film with a thickness of 12.5M as the dielectric layer of the dielectric 10.
A latent image of +165 (V) is formed on the surface of the dielectric 10 corresponding to the main electrode 41 to which the recording signal voltage of -200 m is applied, and the potential of the other surfaces of the dielectric 10 is +14 (V).
It is confirmed that the ion concentration is suppressed to 1, and it is understood that the ion group reaches the main electrode 41 portion in a concentrated manner.

Also, according to this embodiment, the main character '? Since the electrode surface 41a of the Fi pole 41 is covered with the upper layer insulating member 43c, the dielectric 10 and the recording electrode B are connected to the relative fishing line IFIJ L.
,,Even if I trace it back, the main electrode 41 has a loss of 1m? There is no risk of damage, and the wear resistance of the electrode is improved.

Furthermore, when manufacturing the recording electrode B according to this embodiment, an electrode material such as aluminum or chrome cap and an insulating material such as resin or glass paste are suitably vapor-deposited, coated, or After printing or the like, it is sufficient to shift the pattern by photoetching or the like to form a desired fine pattern, and such a manufacturing process is relatively simple (see 9).

In this embodiment, one contact 23 of the recording signal source 20 is set to the ground potential, but this is not necessarily limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. A power supply voltage 28 having the same polarity as the generated ions may be connected to one contact 23. in this case,
When the contact 23 is closed, an electric field is formed between the recording electrode B and the shield 2, but since the direction of the electric field lines is opposite to the direction toward the recording medium, the generated ions are transferred to the recording electrode B. The situation in which the ions move toward the side is actively prevented, and the movement of the ion group accompanying the binary operation of the recording electrode B is more accurately regulated17. In addition, in the above modification, if the power supply voltage 28 is applied to the guard electrode 42, the potential difference between the main electrode 41 and the guard electrode 42 can be eliminated when no latent image dots are formed, and it corresponds to the recording electrode B. It is possible to reliably suppress the ion adsorption phenomenon in the area where the ion is absorbed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the electrostatic recording device according to the present invention, there are no structural limitations associated with recording density or ion flow control on the ion generator side, so the ion extraction efficiency can be improved. This will be a significant improvement compared to the past, and by that amount,
A sufficient number of absolute ions necessary for forming an electrostatic latent image can be secured, and high-speed recording can be easily realized.

Further, according to the present invention, an appropriate number of recording electrodes are arranged on the back side of the recording medium, and a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the generated ions is appropriately applied to each recording electrode as a recording signal. If the effective electrode area of the electrode is set constant, the ion adsorption area can be kept constant, and the dot diameter of the electrostatic latent image can be made uniform very easily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing Embodiment 1 of the electrostatic recording device according to the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a main part showing Example 2 of the electrostatic recording device according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line rv-rv in FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional electrostatic recording device. [Explanation of symbols] (A>...Ion generator (B)...Recording electrode (10)...Dielectric material (recording body) (41)...Main electrode (42)...Guard electrode (43)... Insulating member patent applicant Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Agent
Patent attorney Tomohiro Nakamura (2 others) 10: Dielectric figure 2 Δ 41; Soil pole figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) An electrostatic recording device that forms an electrostatic latent image on a recording medium by means of an ion flow, comprising: an ion generator that irradiates a certain amount of ions toward the recording medium; A recording body comprising a plurality of recording electrodes aligned on the back side of the body, appropriately applying a recording signal of opposite polarity to the generated ions to each recording electrode, and corresponding to the recording electrode to which the recording signal is applied. An electrostatic recording device characterized in that ions are adsorbed only on the surface. 2) Each recording electrode consists of a main electrode that partitions the ion adsorption area, a guard electrode that is placed around this main electrode and is held at ground potential, and an insulator that is interposed between the main electrode and the guard electrode. 2. The electrostatic recording device according to claim 1, further comprising a member.