JPS62178366A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable recording to be performed in varying color tone by providing first and second heating elements at a prearranged interval on a thermal head in the running direction of thermal transfer material. CONSTITUTION:First and second heaters 26a, 26b are provided on a thermal head 26 at a prearranged pitch in the travelling direction of thermal transfer material 19. When only a second ink layer 23 is transferred to recording paper 2, the first heater 26a alone has to be heated. Immediately after the application of thermal energy, the thermal transfer material 19 is caused to strip from the recording paper 2, thus transferring only the melting part 23a of the second ink layer 23 on the recording paper 2. Consequently recording can be performed in accordance with the color tone of the second ink layer 23. In the meantime, when recording based on the color tone of the first ink layer 22 is selected, only the second heater 26b has to be heated. After the elapse of a certain time following the application of thermal energy, a support 21 is separated from the recording paper 2, and the first and second ink layers 22, 23 are transferred onto the recording paper 2, forming the color tone alone of the ink layer 22.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [! Field of Use by Business Owner] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device, and more particularly to a thermal transfer recording device that transfers a multicolor recorded image onto a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a recording medium).

[Prior Art] In addition to the general features of thermal recording methods, such as being lightweight, compact, noiseless, and excellent in operability and maintainability, thermal transfer recording devices do not require thermochromic processed paper as a recording medium. It can be recorded on plain paper and the recorded image has excellent durability, so it has recently begun to be used in many devices such as electronic typewriters and Japanese word processors.

This thermal transfer recording method generally uses a thermal transfer material made by coating a sheet-like support with a thermal transfer agent (thermal transfer ink) in which a colorant is dispersed in a heat-melting binder. The ink layer is superimposed on the recording medium so as to be in contact with the recording medium, and the heating means C is applied from the support side of the thermal transfer material.
By transferring the melted ink layer to the recording medium by supplying heat with a thermal head, a transferred ink image corresponding to the shape of the heat supply is formed on the recording medium.

An example of a conventional thermal transfer recording device of this type is shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 11 shows the external appearance of a thermal transfer recording device (hereinafter referred to as a thermal transfer printer), and this thermal transfer printer 1 is constructed as described below. ing.

That is, a recording paper 2 as a recording medium is wound around a platen 4 made of an elastic cylindrical member such as neoprene rubber that is integrally formed with a shaft 3, and is fed by rotation of the platen 4.

A paper feed gear 5 is provided at one end of the old man 113, and meshes with the drive gear 6a of the paper feed pulse motor 6 11i. The drive gear 6 of the paper feed pulse motor 6 is rotated when an arbitrary pulse is input, causing the platen 4 to rotate in both forward and reverse directions, thereby making it possible to feed the recording paper 2 back and forth by a predetermined amount. The changeover operation is also performed by driving the paper feed pulse motor 6.

The symbol 7 is a carriage, and the carriage 7 is connected to an axis 8.
It is fitted in and can be slid in the left and right directions in the figure. Further, the carriage 7 is connected to a timing belt 9, and the timing belt 9 is connected to a pulley 10. Paper feed gear 1 is stretched between lOa and 10b and is integrated with pulley tob.
1, it is possible to run.

Further, the shift gear 11 meshes with the drive gear 14 of the shift pulse motor 13, and the rotation of the shift pulse motor 13 allows the carriage 7 to move in the left and right directions in the figure via the timing belt 9. .

On the other hand, on the carriage 7, an ink ribbon 15 coated with a thermal transfer ink, which is a transfer agent made of a heat-melting binder and a coloring agent dispersed, is supplied to the carriage 7 like an audio cassette, and a take-up reel 15a, A ribbon force set 16 is detachably provided between the ribbons 15b and 15b.

Further, the carriage 7 is provided with a thermal head 17 that applies thermal energy to the ink ribbon 15 from the back side. The reference numeral 18 indicates a flexible printed circuit board that transmits applied signals to the thermal head 17.

Next, an outline of the printing operation will be explained.

When a predetermined print command occurs, the digit feed pulse motor 13
is excited and begins to rotate, and the carriage 17, which was at the home position at the left end in the figure, begins to move to the right in the figure. Then, when a print signal is input to the thermal head 17 via the flexible printed circuit board 18, the thermal head 1
A heating element (not shown) on the surface of the ink ribbon 15 generates heat to melt the thermally transferable ink on the ink ribbon 15 and transfer it to the recording paper 2 to form a recorded image.

After repeating this operation and recording one line, the single-digit feed pulse motor 13 is reversed, moving the carriage 7 to the left in the figure, and energizing the paper feed pulse motor 6.
The platen 4 is rotated to feed the recording paper 2 upward in the figure by a predetermined amount.

Note that when the carriage 7 moves to the right in the figure, the ink ribbon 15 in the ribbon cassette 16 is fed in the direction of arrow A, and the thermal head 17 always faces a new ink ribbon 15. The used ink ribbon is wound into a ribbon cassette 16.

The thermal transfer printer configured as described above enables printing on plain paper. However, conventional ink ribbons print in only one color, but there is a strong market demand to maintain multicolor recording while taking advantage of the advantages of the above recording method.
Various techniques have been proposed for obtaining multicolor records.

Such a transfer recording M device forms two layers of transfer agents with different tones, changes the amount of heat generated by one heat generating means, and melts only one layer of the transfer agent on the surface layer or co-melts two layers to record two colors. A structure that selectively performs this has been proposed.

For example, in JP-A No. 5 El-148591, two heat-melting high melting point ink layers A and a low melting point ink fiB containing different amounts of coloring are sequentially layered on a support from the substrate side. Then, in the case of low heat printing energy, only the low melting point ink layer B is transferred onto the plain paper, and in the case of high heat application energy, both the heat melting ink layers A and B are transferred, resulting in a two-color recording. A type thermal recording element is disclosed.

However, in this method, if the difference in melting point between layers A and B is small, it may be difficult to separate the two layers because the same material is used for layers A and B. If the melting point difference is increased in order to improve the transferability of the ink layer as a whole, the melting point of the B layer must be lowered considerably in order to improve the transferability of the entire ink layer, which may cause a decrease in storage stability and the occurrence of scumming. , has the disadvantage that two-color recording with good print quality cannot be expected.

Furthermore, JP-A No. 59-84389 discloses a two-color thermal transfer ink sheet in which an ink layer is provided on a support, the ink layer consisting of an ink that melts and leaches out when heated, and an ink that melts and peels off at a temperature higher than the melting and leaching temperature. has been done.

However, in this method, each ink layer is composed of a different type of material, and although it is thought that color separation is better than the former method, in principle it is necessary to use a low melting point material, which causes background smudges and storage problems. It is difficult to avoid a decrease in In addition, a common problem with both is that two-color recording cannot be performed unless the applied energy is changed, and controlling the applied energy of the print head requires not only electrical circuit hardware but also software processing, making control difficult. The disadvantage is that it is complicated.

Of course, if there are more than two colors, control becomes even more difficult.

Therefore, the following structure was proposed.

That is, in order to provide clear two-color recording on recording paper, a first heat-melting ink layer and a second heat-melting ink layer having mutually different tones are provided on a support in order from the support side,
After the heat-melting second ink layer is brought into contact with a recording medium and thermal energy is applied from the support side, when the support is peeled from the recording medium, the thermal energy is applied and then the support is removed. This is a technique for selectively forming two-color recorded images on a recording medium by changing the time until peeling.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the above-described structure, the recording apparatus is provided with means for changing the time taken to peel the support from the recording medium, which inevitably complicates the apparatus and increases costs. There was a problem with it.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a structure in which a thermal head is provided with first and second heating elements separated by a predetermined distance in the running direction of the thermal transfer material. Adopted.

[Function] If the above structure is adopted, thermal energy is applied to the thermal transfer material by selectively generating heat in the first and second heating elements, and then recording is performed on the support of the thermal transfer material. By changing the time it takes to separate from the medium, it is possible to record with different tones.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

In the following embodiments, a case of two-color recording will be described to simplify the explanation.

First, the thermal transfer material used in the present invention will be explained.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the thermal transfer material 19 is formed by forming a thermal transferable ink layer 20 on a sheet-like support 21. As shown in FIG.

Further, the thermal transferable ink layer 20 itself has a multilayer structure, and the first ink layer 22 is provided in order from the support l side.
and a second ink layer 23.

As the support 21, conventionally known films and papers can be used as they are, such as polyester, polycarbonate, triacetyl, cellulose, nylon,
Films made of relatively heat-resistant plastics such as polyimide, silica paper, parchment paper, condenser paper, etc. can be suitably used. The thickness of the support is preferably about 1 to 15 ILm when considering a thermal head as a heat source during thermal transfer, but when using a heat source such as a laser beam that can selectively heat the thermal transferable ink layer, for example. There are no particular restrictions.

In addition, when using a thermal head, the heat resistance of the support can be improved by providing a heat-resistant protective layer made of silicone resin, fluororesin, polyimide resin, melamine resin, nitrocellose, etc. on the surface of the support that comes into contact with the thermal head. It is also possible to use support materials that were not previously available.

When thermal energy is applied to the first ink layer 22,
It is necessary that the first ink layer 22 and the second ink layer 23 be well separated. In addition, the first ink layer 22 is formed when the time from the application of thermal energy to the transfer of the support 21 from the recording medium is long, that is, when the thermal transfer material 19 and the recording medium are electrodeposited facing each other and heat is applied. When the thermal head remains in close contact with the thermal head and the thermal transfer material is cooled considerably, the first ink Ff! It is necessary that 122 is easy to 'Agi'.

Therefore, heat-melting binders include natural waxes such as spermaceti wax, beeswax, lanolin, carnauba wax, candelilla wax, montan wax, and ceresin wax, petroleum waxes such as paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax, oxidized waxes, and ester waxes. , low molecular weight polyethylene, synthetic waxes such as Fischer-Tropsch wax, higher fatty acids such as lauric acid, myristic acid, valmitic acid, stearic acid, behenin alcohol, higher alcohols such as stearyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol, fatty acid esters of sucrose, and fatty acids of sorbitan. Contains at least 50% of esters such as esters, amides such as oleylamide, and other polyolefin resins, polyamide resins, polyester resins, epoxy resins, polyurethane resins, polyacrylic resins, and polyvinyl chloride. resins, cellulose resins, polyvinyl alcohol resins, petroleum resins, phenolic resins, polystyrene resins, vinyl acetate resins, natural rubber, elastomers such as styrene-butadiene rubber, isoprene rubber, chloroprene rubber, polyisobutylene , by appropriately mixing bolybdenum or a plasticizer, mineral oil, vegetable oil, or other oil, and the melting temperature of the ink layer including colorants and other additives is 50°C to 150°C, and the melt viscosity (rotational viscometer) at 150°C is Desirably, it is 500 CPS.

In addition, the melting temperature referred to in this example is the Shimadzu Flow Tester CF.
The apparent appearance of the sample ink is determined as the outflow start temperature when the viscosity-temperature curve is determined using the T500 type under the conditions of a load of 10 kg and a temperature increase rate of 2° C./min.

The second ink layer 23 is to melt and soften when heat is applied from the thermal head and firmly adhere to the recording medium.
It is necessary that the ink layer 23 is difficult to mix with the first ink layer 22 when it is in a molten state, and for this purpose, the heat-melting binder contains at least 50% of the above-mentioned resin, and the above-mentioned waxes and plasticizers. , mineral oil, vegetable oil, etc., and the melting temperature of the ink layer is 60°C.
~150℃ melt viscosity (rotational viscometer) is 200CPS-
It is best to choose one that will give you 1,000,000CPS.
Furthermore, in order to improve the sharpness of the printing by the second ink layer 23, the second ink layer 23 may be formed into a dot shape, or the surface of the second ink layer 23 may be formed into an uneven shape.

The thickness of the first ink layer 22 is preferably in the range of 0.5 to 10 g, and the thickness of the entire thermal transferable ink layer is preferably in the range of 2 to 20 h.

In addition, if you want to obtain a different color tone between the first ink layer 22 and the 882 ink layer 23, use a dark color such as black for the first ink layer 22 and a bright color such as yellow for the second ink layer 23. If you want to obtain a color mixture with the color tone of the first ink layer 22 and the color tone of the second ink layer, for example, the first ink layer 22 is colored yellow and the second ink layer 23 is colored magenta. If you leave it there, you will get magenta and red colors. In addition, by changing the pigment concentration or layer thickness ratio of each layer, various recordings of two different colors can be obtained.

As the colorant, various dyes and pigments widely used in the field of printing and recording are used.The content of the colorant in each of the ink layers 22 and 23 is suitably in the range of 1 to 80%. or. If necessary, additives such as a dispersant, a filler made of a completely fine powder, an inorganic fine powder, a metal oxide, or the like may be added to the ink layers 22 and 23, respectively.

Regarding the relationship between the first ink layer 22 and the second ink layer 23, it is desirable to select materials that are incompatible with each other.
Even if the materials are compatible, they can be separated from each other due to the difference in their melt viscosities.

To obtain the thermal transfer material used in this example, the ink layer 22
．． For each of No. 23, the heat-melting binder, coloring agent, and additives described above are melt-kneaded using a dispersion device such as an attritor, or kneaded with an appropriate solvent to form a heat-melting ink, or a solution or dispersion ink. The first ink layer and the second ink layer may be formed in this order by applying these inks sequentially on a support and drying as necessary.

The planar shape of the thermal transfer material used in the examples is not particularly limited, but it is generally used in the form of a typewriter ribbon or a wide tape used in line printers.

Next, a specific recording method will be described using the most typical thermal head as the heat generating means.

5 and 6 are schematic cross-sectional views in the thickness direction of the thermal transfer material showing an outline of the case where the second ink layer 23 is transferred, and FIG. 5 shows the state before recording.

In FIG. 5, 19 is a thermal transfer material, 17 is a thermal head, 17a is a part of the heater (heating element) of the thermal head,
Reference numeral 2 indicates a recording paper as a recording medium, and 4 indicates a platen.

Now, a case where the first ink layer 22 is black and the second ink layer 23 is red will be described. FIG. 7 shows the state after recording, with the thermal head 17 moving rightward and the thermal transfer material 19 being reeled (
(not shown), and immediately after the thermal transfer material 19 passes through the heater part 17a of the thermal head 17 from the recording paper 2, it is peeled off.

A state in which a red mark ta 23 a is obtained on the recording paper 2 is shown.

On the other hand, FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic drawings in the thickness direction of the thermal transfer material showing the outline of the case where both the first ink layer 22 and the second ink layer 23 are transferred, and FIG. 7 shows the state before recording. The difference from the case shown in FIG. 5 is that after the thermal transfer material 19 is heated, the recording paper 2 and the thermal transfer material 19 remain in close contact for a certain distance J.
The point is that a guide member 24 is provided for peeling off the thermal head after the thermal head moves in that state.

The time from when thermal energy is applied to the thermal transfer material 19 by the suppressing member 24 until the thermal transfer material 19 is peeled off becomes longer.

FIG. 8 shows the state after recording, in which the thermal transfer material 19 is wound up on a reel (not shown) while traveling in the right direction after the heater part 17a of the thermal radar 17 applies heat, and then the guide member 24 is moved. Immediately after, the thermal transfer material 19 is peeled off from the recording paper 2, and both the first ink layer 22 and the second ink layer 23 are transferred,
A state in which a black recording 22a is obtained on the recording paper 2 is shown.

Based on the above principle, a thermal transfer material with overlapping ink layers that are difficult to mix with each other (easily separated) when heat is applied is used, and the thermal transfer material and the recording medium are separated! ! By changing the release timing, clear two-color printing can be obtained.

Next, specific examples will be described.

1 to 3 explain a specific embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, first and second heaters are connected to a thermal head 26 that applies thermal energy of a thermal transfer material 19. Part (heating element) 26a.

26b was provided.

The first and second heater parts 26a and 26b are connected to the thermal transfer material 1.
9 are provided at a predetermined distance apart in the running direction.

By employing the above-described structure, the following recording can be performed.

That is, when only the second ink layer 23 is to be transferred onto the recording paper 2, only the first heater part 26a is caused to generate heat.

Then, since the first heater portion 26a is provided in the thermal head 26 on the front side in the running direction of the thermal transfer material 19, the thermal transfer material 19 is peeled off from the recording paper 2 immediately after applying thermal energy, and the recording paper 2 Second ink layer 23 on top
Only the melted portion 23a is transferred.

Therefore, recording can be performed using the color tone of the second ink layer 23.

On the other hand, when it is desired to perform recording with the color tone of the first ink dot 22, only the second heater part 26b is made to generate heat.

Since the second heater portion 26b is provided in the thermal head 26 at the rear in the running direction of the thermal transfer material 19, the second heater portion 26b is heated after the thermal energy is applied.

The thermal head 26 travels the distance and then leaves the thermal head 26.

That is, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the thermal energy was applied, the support 21 is separated from the recording paper 2, and the first and second ink layers 22 and 23 are transferred onto the recording paper 2.

In this case, since there is a melted part 22a of the first ink layer 22 indicated by reference numeral 22a on the surface side, the first ink layer 2
Only two tones will appear.

As described above, a structure is adopted in which two heaters are separated by a predetermined distance, and the first and second heaters are selectively heated in accordance with the color tone to be recorded, so that the thermal transfer material is separated from the recording paper. By changing the timing of separation, it is possible to record in different tones.

By the way, in this embodiment, the first and second heating elements are provided separated by a predetermined distance in the running direction of the thermal transfer material, and two-color recording is performed by selectively generating heat from the two heating elements. The position where the thermal transfer material leaves the recording paper is the same.

Therefore, a difference occurs in the recording pitch between the first heating element and the second heating element.

Therefore, in reality, the first heating element 26a is used as a reference, and the second
When recording using the heating element 26b, the recording pitch deviation must be corrected.

This recording pitch deviation can be corrected by returning the carriage.

A control circuit as shown in FIG. 9 is used to perform such correction.

In FIG. 9, the reference numeral 30 is a CPU (central processing unit), which controls the entire apparatus.

An operation button 31 is connected to this CPU 30.

The operation button 31 is for switching between two-color recording.
If this is not pressed, recording will be performed in the most frequently used color tone, for example, black tone. When the operation button 31 is pressed, recording is performed in another color tone, for example, red color tone.

Further, the CPU 30 is connected via a driver 32 to a heater part 26a which is a first and second heating element.

26b is connected.

Furthermore, a carriage drive motor 13 is connected by the CPU 30 via a driver 33 .

Control as shown in FIG. 10 is performed based on the circuit configuration described above.

That is, when the control starts, it is determined in step Sl whether or not the operation button 31 has been pressed, and if it has not been pressed, normal recording using the most used color tone is performed in step S2. In this case, for example, the first heating element 26a is used.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the operation button 31 has been pressed, the motor 13 is driven via the driver 33 (step S3), and the carriage is returned to perform recording in a different tone in step S4.

Thereafter, two-color recording is performed by repeating the above-described steps in the same manner.

By the way, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an example was shown in which two heating elements were provided, but two or more heating elements may be provided.

Accordingly, two or more transfer agent layers may be provided to perform multicolor recording.

Further, the transfer agent layer may be formed into a plurality of layers and the applied energy of the two heating elements may be changed to perform multicolor recording of two or more colors.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the thermal transfer material was described as being in the form of a ribbon, but it can also be applied to a case where a thermal transfer material in the form of a wide sheet is wound into a roll. In such cases, a case body may be used instead of the ribbon cassette. Furthermore, the transfer agent is not limited to ink, but may also be a thermally sublimable chemical substance.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to a carriage moving type, and may be a platen moving type.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a structure is adopted in which a thermal transfer material in which a plurality of transfer agents having different tones are laminated is used, and at least two heating elements are provided separated by a predetermined distance. Therefore, by selectively heating the heating element, the timing at which the thermal transfer material is peeled off from the recording paper is changed.
It is possible to perform recording in different tones.

Furthermore, multicolor recording can be performed by changing the amount of heat energy applied by the heating element of the thermal head.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 10 illustrate an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the main part, FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan views of the main part showing the recording method, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main part. The figure is a cross-sectional view of the thermal transfer material.
Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the thermal transfer method, Fig. 9 is a block diagram of the control circuit, Fig. 1O is a flowchart of the control operation,
FIG. 11 is an external perspective view of the thermal recording device. 2...Recording paper 19...Thermal transfer material 21...
-Support 22...First ink layer 23...Second ink layer 26...Thermal head 26a...First heater part 26b...Second heater part Φ -111 1) -〇C beak - ~ - U-sho for hand thread sales (own ship March 10, 1986)

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a thermal transfer material in which a plurality of heat-melting transfer agent layers of different tones are sequentially formed on a sheet-like support, and a thermal head that applies thermal energy from the back side of the support of this thermal transfer material, and A thermal transfer recording device characterized in that the head is provided with first and second heating elements separated by a predetermined distance in the running direction of the thermal transfer material.