JPS62207681A - Electrothermal sublimation transfer recording method and inked paper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to express a continuous gradation and, particularly, to express gradations at a low density area minutely and stably, by bringing an image-receiving paper into close contact with the side of an electrothermally sublimable inked paper on which a thermal sublimation transferrable coloring material is disposed, applying a recording signal voltage between a stylus electrode and a collecting electrode, and effecting sublimational transfer according to Joule heat generated at an electric heat generating sheet part. CONSTITUTION:When a signal voltage from a recording signal source 36 is applied between a stylus electrode 34 and a collecting electrode 35 which are disposed in contact with an electric heat generating sheet 31, a concentrated current flows through the lower end of the stylus electrode 34, and Joule heat is generated at that part of the sheet 31. By the heat, coloring material is sublimed from a thermal sublimation transfer material layer 32, and is transferred to an image-receiving paper 33 disposed in contact with the layer 32. When the pulse width or voltage of a recording signal applied between the electrodes 34, 35 at the time of recording is varied, the electric heat generation output at the sheet part is varied, and the amount of the coloring material sublimed and transferred from the layer 32 to the paper 33 is varied. Accordingly, recorded density can be varied on an analog basis according to the variation in the recording signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electric thermal sublimation transfer recording method capable of continuous gradation recording and an ink paper used in the recording method.

[Conventional technology]

A heating resistor array divided into pixels, thermal transfer ink paper, and image receiving paper are stacked and pressed in this order,
Transfer recording methods and apparatuses for transferring ink from a thermal transfer ink paper onto an image receiving paper by passing a current in accordance with a recording signal through the heating resistor array to generate heat are well known and have been widely put into practical use.

There are two types of thermal transfer ink paper: one for thermal melt transfer, in which a coloring agent is dispersed in a heat-fusible substance such as wax, and the other for thermal sublimation transfer, in which a thermal y1' flower dye is coated.

As a recording head, an array of microscopic resistors on the pixel size level is generally used, but such a recording head has a complicated structure and is expensive, and the recording characteristics change due to heat accumulation during use. There are some undesirable problems such as storage.

On the other hand, an electric transfer recording method is known in which a heat generating element is incorporated into a thermal transfer ink paper, and the recording head is simply constituted by an electrode for injecting current. Figure 3 is
For example, it is an explanatory diagram showing an electric transfer recording method disclosed in the Proceedings of the 12th National Conference of the Society of Image Electronics Engineers, 1984 (17), etc. In the figure, ■ is an electrically conductive transfer ink paper, 2 is its base paper, and 3 is a heat-melting ink layer placed over the base paper 2. 4 is the ijl! 5.6 is a stylus electrode and a collection electrode arranged so as to be in contact with the ink paper 1, respectively. This is the source of the records connected between them.

When a signal is applied between the electrodes 5 and 6, a current flows as shown by the arrow, and the current density is high in the lower part of the stylus electrode 45, while the current density is low in the collection electrode 6 part. . Although the base paper 2 and the heat-melting ink layer 3 that make up the current transfer ink paper 1 are conductive, they have a resistance value, so the stylus electrode 5 where the current concentrates
Joule heat is generated under the ink layer 3, and the generated heat melts the ink layer 3 and transfers it onto the receiving image 4.

Figure 3 (Bl is an explanatory diagram showing an electric transfer recording method using an electric transfer ink paper with a slightly different configuration from that shown in Figure 3 (c) above. This is published in the Journal of the Institute of Electronics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1982), pages 3 to 9. In Figure 3 tel,
10 is an electrically conductive transfer ink paper, 11 is its support electrically conductive layer, 12 is a half-double layer, and 13 is a m-electronic paper, and these layers 12
The transfer layer is made up of 13°C. Reference numeral 14 indicates an image receiving paper, 15 a stylus electrode, 16 a collection electrode, and 17 a recording signal source. Stylus 71 tri r s
The point that the current is concentrated at the lower part of the is the same as shown in Figure 3^, but when the current flows in a concentrated manner, dielectric breakdown occurs at the boundary between the semiconductive layer 12 and the conductive layer 13. occurs and develops a fever,
The conductive layer 13 is described as being transferred onto the receiver paper 14.

Furthermore, Fig. 3 (C1 is IBM J, RES, DEVL
OP, 11OL29 NO5 ('85) is an explanatory diagram of the electrically conductive transfer ink paper. In the figure, 20 is a conductive support sheet, 21 is an aluminum thin film layer, and 22 is a hot melt transfer ink layer, and these three layers 20.
21 and 22 form an electrically conductive transfer ink paper.

Reference numeral 23 indicates an image receiving paper, 24 a collection electrode, 25 a stylus electrode, 26 a signal application circuit, and 27 a portion printed on the image receiving paper 23, respectively.

The difference in this current transfer recording method from that shown in Fig. 3^, (B) is the structure of the ink paper, as shown in Fig. 3^, (B).
In the case shown in Figure 1), current flows directly through the ink layer, and the layer generates heat, whereas in this configuration example, the ink layer does not need to be electrically conductive. There is.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Each of the electrical transfer recording methods shown in Sections 3, 8 to 8 (C1) above includes providing a conductive heating layer and a heat-melting transfer layer on the surface of a conductive support sheet, or forming a conductive heat-melting transfer layer on the surface of a conductive support sheet. A stylus electrode and an M collector electrode are brought into contact with the electrically conductive support sheet side of the electrically conductive transfer ink paper prepared in this manner, and the image receiving paper is opposed to the heat-melting transfer layer side, and the ink paper is directly energized to generate heat to ink. The recording head is advantageous in that it has a simple structure consisting of a stylus electrode and a collection electrode, but since the transfer itself is a thermal melt transfer, it is possible to perform binary recording. It is suitable for gradation recording, and cannot be used for gradation recording.Although gradation recording may be possible by changing the amount of current, it is not possible to achieve gradation expression in low-density areas finely and stably. cannot be done.

Furthermore, depending on the composition of the ink paper, as shown in Figure 3, (B), the ink layer needs to have electrical conductivity, and if carbon is infused with In to impart electrical conductivity, strong coloring may occur. Therefore, there are restrictions such as the inability to form color ink paper.

The present invention was made to solve the problems in the conventional electrical thermal transfer recording method, and is a recording method that allows writing with a stylus head that is easy to make with a simple configuration, and that can express continuous gradations. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrically conductive thermal sublimation transfer recording method that is possible and provides fine and stable gradation expression particularly in low density areas, and an electrically conductive thermal sublimation transfer ink paper used in the recording method.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the electrical thermal sublimation transfer recording method according to the present invention has the following features:
It has an overelectric heating sheet including an RMI support sheet,
In contact with the conductive support sheet of the electrically conductive heat sublimation ink paper, which is constructed by disposing a heat sublimation transferable coloring material integrally with the electrically heated sheet in the area subjected to the heat action of the electrically heated sheet, A stylus electrode with dimensions of Then, a recording signal voltage is applied between the stylus electrode and the collection electrode, and the thermal sublimation transferable coloring material is sublimated and transferred onto the image receiving paper in response to the Joule heat generated in the energized heating sorting part facing the stylus electrode. fj4 is constructed so as to

Furthermore, the 1ffl electrothermal sublimation transfer/) ink paper according to the present invention includes a conductive support sheet, and a stylus electrode having a pixel-level dimension that is in contact with the support sheet, and an area sufficiently larger than the stylus electrode. an energized heat generating sheet configured to generate Joule heat in a region facing the stylus electrode by a recording signal current applied between the collecting electrodes of the illumination sheet, and a region of the illumination power generating sheet on which the heat generation acts; It is constructed by arranging a thermal sublimation transferable coloring material in a structure integrated with an energized heat generating sheet.

By configuring as above, the stylus electrode and b
By changing the recording signal voltage applied between the Li collector electrodes, the amount of sublimation transfer of the thermal sublimation transferable coloring material is controlled in an analog manner, allowing fine gradation including excellent gradation expression ability in low purulent areas. It is possible to provide an energized thermal sublimation transfer recording method that enables tonal expression and allows recording to be performed with a stylus-type recording head of a simple configuration, and an ink paper used therefor.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the electrical heat sublimation transfer ink paper according to the present invention and an embodiment of the recording method using the ink paper. The electrically conductive thermal sublimation transfer ink paper according to the present invention basically comprises an electrically conductive heat-generating sheet including an electrically conductive support sheet, and integrally with the sheet, thermal sublimation transfer is carried out in the area where the thermal effect of the heat generation of the sheet is applied. It is constructed by arranging coloring materials, and its form can take various forms.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the electrically conductive heat sublimation transfer ink paper 30 is composed of an electrically conductive heat generating sheet 31 which also serves as a support, and a heat sublimation transfer material layer 32, and the sheet 31 is electrically conductive. Therefore, a conductive sheet made of plastic is suitably used, but a highly conductive sheet such as a metal sheet is unsuitable. Hereinafter, in this specification, expressions such as metal sheet, high 4-conductivity layer, high conductivity sheet, etc., unless there is a special disclaimer, refer to expressions such as 4-conductivity or conductivity, which can conduct current, but with high current density. In this case, it refers to something that has a resistance at a level that generates Joule heat.

The thermal sublimation transfer material layer 32 is disposed adjacent to the energizing heat-generating sheet 31 so that the heat effect of the energizing heat-generating sheet 31 can be exerted thereon. It is made of a material in which heat-sublimable coloring material is dispersed in a meltable binder.

Recording using the energized sublimation transfer ink paper configured as described above is carried out using the inscription S:Tc between the stylus electrode 34 and the collection electrode 35 which are placed in contact with the energized heat generating sheet 31.
When the signal voltage from the signal [ 36 is applied, a concentrated current flows in the part of the energized heat generating sheet 31 facing the lower end of the stylus electrode 34, and the Joule heat generated in the energized heat generating sheet part causes heat to be transferred from the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 32. This is performed by sublimating the coloring material and transferring the coughing coloring material onto an image receiving paper 33 placed over a heat sublimation transfer material layer 32.

Since the current density flowing through the current heating sheet 31 facing each electrode 34 and 35 is proportional to the area of the electrode, the dimensions of the stylus electrode 34 are made approximately equal to the pixel dimensions, and the collection electrode 35 is The area of the stylus electrode 34
If the area is made sufficiently larger, for example, 10 times or more larger than the area of You can add 1m to the negligible level.

Since the coloring material of the energized thermal sublimation transfer ink paper according to the present invention is transferred by sublimation, the binder that disperses and holds the coloring material must not be transferred. exothermic temperature, i.e. 20
It is necessary that it does not melt at 0 to 250°C.

The most practical ii1 electric heating sheet 1-31, which also serves as a support, has a composition in which conductive carbon particles are dispersed in plastic and formed into a film. If polycarbonate is used as the plastic and the carbon material added to it is changed, the resistance characteristics of the sheet will change, but such resistance characteristics and film forming methods are described in the above-mentioned TBMJ, RES, DEVLOP, VOL29.
No. 5 ('85N::).

By changing the amount of carbon dispersed in the plastic as described above, the conductive electricity-generating sheet 3
Since the resistance value of 1 can be significantly changed, the current heating sheet 3 has preferable resistance characteristics that suit the specific sheet thickness, each electrode structure, and the material of the thermal sublimation transfer material layer.
1 can be realized.

As the heat sublimation transfer material WJ32, materials commonly used for ink sheets of heat sublimation transfer material printers using thermal heads are suitable, but detailed information on these materials can be found in the 1981 issue of the Electrophotographic Society. It is stated in the proceedings of the 2nd Technical Research Meeting.

In the present invention, when the pulse width and voltage value of the recording signal applied between the stylus electrode 34 and the collection electrode 35 during recording are changed, the amount of energized heat generated in the energized heat generating sheet portion facing the stylus electrode 34 changes, The amount of coloring material sublimated and transferred from the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 32 to the image receiving paper 33 changes. Therefore, it is possible to change the recording density in an analog manner in response to changes in the recording signal, which is extremely convenient for forming multi-tone images, and in particular, it is possible to stably express low-density images. On the other hand, even in the energized heat-melting transfer recording method shown in Figure 3~(0), it is possible to express relatively coarse gradations by changing the amount of energization, but in that case, it is possible to express a relatively coarse level of gradation. It is difficult to stably transfer a minute amount of ink for expression.

The configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is one of the most basic configurations, and various improvements can be made as necessary.For example, the stylus electrode and collection1! If the conductive sheet that contacts the pole and forms the current path is of a homogeneous single structure as shown in Figure 1 and constitutes the current-carrying heat generating sheet alone, the conductive sheet that forms the current path in contact with the stylus electrode. The current path formed in the sheet portion spreads radially around the end surface of the stylus electrode as shown in the figure. Therefore, the heat generating area of the sheet has a dimension larger than the cross-sectional area of the stylus electrode, and the heat generating area has a gentle slope toward the non-heat generating area.

As a result, the recording dot diameter also increases, reducing resolution.
Furthermore, the method includes unstable factors such as the recording dot size changing depending on conditions such as environmental temperature, and is therefore unsuitable especially when high-definition recording is required.

Another example of the electrical heat sublimation transfer ink paper according to the present invention that solves this problem is shown in Figure 1.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a thermal sublimation transfer ink paper, 41 a stylus electrode, 42 a collection electrode, and the image receiving paper and recording signal source are omitted from illustration. The ink paper 37 has first and second R electrical layers 38.3 forming an electrically heated sheet.
9 and a thermal sublimation transfer material layer 40 disposed in contact with this, and has a second conductivity [39
It has particularly high conductivity.

With this configuration, a current path from the stylus electrode 41 to the collection electrode 42 is formed so as to cross the first conductive layer 3B at right angles and flow into the second conductive Ti layer 39. In other words, the 24th conductive layer 39 has better conductivity than the first conductive layer 38, and has a larger area than the collection electrode 42.
Since it is electrically conductive through the conductive layer 38, its potential is extremely close to the potential of the collection electrode 42 (and the potential difference between each part is also small, so when viewed from the stylus electrode 41, it has a large flat plate-like expanse). The main current path from the stylus electrode 41 crosses the first conductive layer 38 at right angles.

Therefore, since the current path from the stylus electrode 41 does not spread radially, the size of the heat generating area of the first conductive layer 38 is close to the size of the stylus electrode 41, and the heat distribution becomes sharper. The current flowing into the 24th layer 39 is diffused, but since the conductive N39 has a small resistance value, it hardly contributes to heat generation and does not widen the heat generation distribution.

Since the first conductive layer 38 also serves as a support sheet, there is a concern that its physical properties will be weakened if a large amount of carbon is mixed in, and there is a restriction that the conductivity cannot be increased much.
Since the second conductive layer 39 is an intermediate layer and does not require the function of a support sheet, it has a large degree of freedom in material selection, and it is easy to increase the tetraconductivity. This is an extremely convenient configuration in practice.However, the second conductive layer 39
If the first conductor 1tN38 is thick, the heat generated in the first conductor 1tN38 will be diffused and weakened by the time it reaches the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 40, which conflicts with the purpose of improvement of this embodiment.
9 is preferably made of a highly conductive material as thin as possible as long as material processing technology allows.

In the configuration shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 (Sun), the second conductivity j! In order to further increase the conductivity of 139 and to make it thinner,
It is extremely effective to configure it using thin metal HM.

FIG. 1 (0 is a diagram showing an example in which such a configuration is adopted. In the figure, 43 is an electrically conductive heat sublimation transfer ink paper, and a conductive layer 44, a heat sublimation transfer material layer 46, and these conductive layers are shown). 44 and a metal thin film layer 45 disposed between the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 46.
5 forms an electrification heat generating sheet. 47 is a stylus electrode, and 48 is a collection electrode, each of which is in contact with the conductive layer 44.

The metal thin film layer 45 is preferably formed of an aluminum vapor deposited layer or the like, and in this case, the film thickness is approximately 0.05 to 1 micron. Since this gold IS film layer 45 has extremely good conductivity, the entire layer is at substantially the same potential, and the potential is very close to the potential of the collection electrode 48. The current path formed in the portion of the conductive layer 44 facing the stylus electrode 47 is perpendicular to the plane of the electrosensitive layer 44, and is formed so as not to spread too much, as shown in FIG. 1+B+. This is similar to the example.

Since the gold i thin film layer 45 is an extremely thin layer, the heat generated by the conductive JIJ44 is transmitted to the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 46 without being diffused or weakened by the metal i1 film M45.
Therefore, the spread of the recording dot diameter with respect to the diameter of the stylus electrode 47 is small and sharp, which is extremely convenient for performing high-definition recording.

In the above-mentioned 1st [2!
Each layer is formed by a separate layer.

Therefore, there is a problem that the layer structure of the entire ink paper becomes multilayered and complicated. Furthermore, since the energizing heat generating sheet and the thermal sublimation transfer material layer have separate layer configurations, there is a loss of heat conduction and thermal diffusion, and these effects cannot be ignored when high-definition recording is performed.

By adopting a configuration in which the layer configuration for energizing heat generation and the configuration of the thermal sublimation transfer material layer are shared, the above problems can be solved at the same time. Figure 2 is based on this consideration.
It is a figure showing an example. - In the figure, reference numeral 49 denotes an electrically conductive thermal sublimation transfer ink paper, which is composed of an R-electroconductive support sheet 50 and a conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51. 52 is a stylus electrode, 53 is a collection electrode, 54 is a recording signal source, 5
5 each indicates a receiving paper. The configuration of the ink box 49 is as follows:
! It has a structure in which f39 and thermal sublimation transfer material layer 40 are integrated. Conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51 in this example
has a structure in which a conductive material such as carbon and a coloring material such as a heat sublimation dye are simultaneously dispersed in a binder.

With such a configuration, the electrically conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 5I is different from the color of the thermal sublimation dye and is greatly influenced by the coloring of the conductive material such as carbon particles. At the time A, only the heat-sublimable coloring material component in the transfer material layer 51 is transferred onto the image receiving paper 55, so there is no problem. In addition, in order to transfer only the heat sublimable coloring material component,
It is necessary to prevent other components of the conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51 from being thermally melted and transferred, and in particular, the binder is a non-thermal melting material that does not melt at the ii1 electric generation spot temperature of the transfer material Ji151. It is necessary to use

If the conductivity of the conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51 is configured to be better than the conductivity of the conductive support sheet 50, the portion of the support sheet 5 facing the stylus electrode 52 will be
At 0, a flow path is formed in a direction perpendicular to the plane direction of the support sheet 50 without much diffusion. As a result, the heat generating area has a sharp dot shape close to the diameter of the stylus electrode 52. When the current passes through the transfer material layer 51, it is in a diffused state, but since the resistance value of the transfer material layer 51 is low, no heat is generated, and therefore there is no effect of enlarging the recording dot diameter. In this embodiment, the support sheet 50 and the conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51 are in direct contact with each other, so that the heat generated in the support sheet 50 is transmitted to the thermal sublimation transfer material layer 51 without being diffused. In addition, it has an extremely convenient configuration when recording high-definition images.

Note that the configuration of this example is such that an energizing heat generating sheet is composed of two conductive layers, and a thermal sublimation transferable coloring material is dispersed in one of the conductive layers constituting the energizing heat generating sheet. It can also be expressed.

Although the electrical heat sublimation transfer recording method according to the present invention and the structure of the ink used in the recording method have been explained above using each of the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be carried out in other embodiments. Of course it is possible. For example, electrode 34.
41, 47, and 52 were explained using the expression stylus electrode, but in addition to being composed of the stylus itself, this recording electrode is formed by etching a metal film disposed on a supporting substrate, and is formed by etching a metal film provided on a supporting substrate. It is also possible to use the etched electrode arranged at the end of the stylus electrode as a stylus electrode, or to form a raised part on a part of the etched electrode by plating or the like and use that raised part as a stylus electrode. In this specification, the term stylus electrode includes an electrode formed in the shape of a stylus on such a support substrate.

In addition, it is preferable to form the stylus electrode with multiple styluses for high-speed recording. In that case, the collection electrode is also divided into parts and a matrix is formed with the stylus electrode to simplify the drive circuit. It is also possible to do so. However, in this case, it is necessary to appropriately set the conductivity of each conductive layer of the current heating sheet so that the effect of voltage application is selectively applied depending on the distance between the collecting electrode and the stylus electrode.

In addition to the above-mentioned effects, the present invention has high heat utilization efficiency because heat is generated directly within the ink paper, and as a result, the capacity of the recording signal circuit and power supply can be reduced.
It also has the effect of preventing changes in recording characteristics due to heat accumulation in the head, as seen in conventional heat-generating recording heads.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above based on the embodiments, according to the present invention, it is possible to carry out current recording with a recording head having a simple configuration of a stylus electrode, and it is also possible to perform tone recording, especially tone expression in low density areas. This makes it possible to realize an electric thermal sublimation transfer recording method that enables analog gradation recording. Further, it is possible to provide an ink paper suitable for the above-mentioned electrical heat sublimation transfer recording method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

To FIG. 1, FB+, fc) are diagrams showing recording modes using different embodiments of the energized heat sublimation transfer ink paper according to the present invention, and FIG. Go to Figure 3, a diagram showing the recording mode using ink paper.
fcl is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional electrical thermal transfer recording method. In the figure, 30.37.43.49 is energized heat sublimation transfer ink paper, 31 is energized heat generating sheet, 32.40.46 is heat sublimation transfer material layer, 33.55 is image receiving paper, 34.41.4
7.52 is a stylus electrode, 35.42.48.53 is a collection electrode, 36 and 54 are recording signal sources, 38 is a first conductive layer, 39 is a second conductive layer, 44 is a conductive layer, and 45 is a metal thin film. 50 is a conductive support sheet, and 51 is a conductive thermal sublimation transfer material layer. Patent applicant: Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 1 + B) (C) Figure 2 Figure 3 (C) Figure 3 (B) (C)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An electric current generating sheet comprising an electrically conductive heat-generating sheet including a conductive support sheet, and a thermal sublimation transferable coloring material disposed integrally with the electrically conductive heat-generating sheet in a region subjected to the thermal action of the electrically conductive heat-generating sheet. In contact with the conductive support sheet of the electrothermal sublimation ink paper, a stylus electrode with a pixel-level dimension and a collection electrode with a sufficiently larger area than the stylus electrode are disposed, and the thermal sublimation transfer of the electrothermal sublimation ink paper is arranged. An image-receiving paper is brought into close contact with the side on which the coloring material is placed, and a recording signal voltage is applied between the stylus electrode and the collection electrode to perform thermal sublimation transfer according to the Joule heat generated in the energized heat-generating sheet portion facing the stylus electrode. An electric heat sublimation transfer recording method characterized by sublimation-transferring a coloring material onto image-receiving paper. (2) A recording signal current is applied between a stylus electrode that includes a conductive support sheet and has a pixel-level dimension that is in contact with the support sheet, and a collection electrode that has an area sufficiently larger than the stylus electrode. An energizing heat generating sheet configured to generate Joule heat is provided in a portion facing the stylus electrode, and a region of the energizing heat generating sheet on which the heat acts is integrated with the energizing heat generating sheet to provide thermal sublimation transferability. Electric heat sublimation transfer ink paper characterized by the arrangement of coloring materials.