JPS62279966A - Thermal transfer recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-quality images to be printed by a thermal transfer recording method even on a rough surfaced paper, by composing a developing part of a thermal head and a powdery heat-fusible ink supplying part. CONSTITUTION:A powdery ink supplying part 18 comprises a stirrer 19 and a roller 20, and the ink 21 is circulated over the roller 20. On the upper side of the ink supplying part 18, a thermal head 20 is provided in contact with a base film 11 being fed. The ink 21 used is obtained by mixing constituents in proportions of 30 g of a fatty acid amide, 20 g of a paraffin wax, 18 g of an azo black color dye and 2 g of a polyamide resin, melting the mixture by heating, solidifying the molten mixture by cooling, and grinding the solidified mixture to a particle diameter of about 20 mum by a ball mill. The ink remaining on the base film is removed by a pawl 9 provided in contact with a roller 12.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] 3. Detailed Description of the Invention [Summary] As a method of printing on rough paper at low cost, a process of forming an ink image on a running base film using a thermal head and , a step of transferring the ink image to recording paper;
A thermal transfer recording method that includes a process to remove ink remaining on the base film.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method for recording information on rough paper at low cost.

Printers record input information or output information to information processing devices, and are essential for information processing.They are broadly classified into impact printers and non-impact printers, and various printing methods have been put into practical use. .

Here, a thermal printer (hereinafter referred to as a thermal printer) is a typical non-impact printer that uses a thermal recording head using a large number of thin film resistors made of tantalum nitride (TazN) l+-chromium (Ni-Cr), etc. A printing section (hereinafter referred to as a thermal head) is formed, which generates heat in an arbitrary resistor in response to a signal and transfers ink from an ink ribbon onto recording paper to perform printing.

Such thermal printers do not generate noise and are capable of developing,
Although it has the characteristic that it does not require extensive processing for fixing, there are certain limits to the power supplied to the thermal head and the pressure of the roller that presses the recording paper against the thermal head, so it is necessary to print thin and smooth prints to obtain high quality prints. There is a problem that you cannot use thermal transfer paper (abbreviated as TTP).

Therefore, there is a demand for the practical application of a thermal transfer method that can print with high quality even when using plain paper, particularly xerography paper, and thick rough paper (hereinafter commonly referred to as rough paper) such as bond paper.

[Conventional technology]

In order to print on rough paper using a thermal transfer method while maintaining the conventional printing speed, it is necessary to separate the development process and the fixing process.

That is, during printing, the temperature of the heating resistor that makes up the thermal head rises to about 400 degrees Celsius by energizing it for about l+nm seconds, but if the paper is thick (and porous), the pressure of the pressure roller is relaxed, and Due to lack of heat,
The amount of thermally transferred ink is not sufficient, and therefore high-quality printing cannot be performed.

To solve this problem and achieve good printing, an ink image is created using a thin and dense film such as polyester film as a base material, and then transferred to rough paper by applying high heat energy and pressure. Just do it like this.

The following applications have already been filed by other companies for systems similar to this.

JP-A No. 6 O-14589 Or Printing Method" Figure 3 is a sectional view illustrating this configuration, in which a thermal latent image carrier 1 such as a polyester film is moved between a heating roller 2 rotated by a motor and an ordinary roller 3. is rotating at a low speed, and a roll of solid ink 4 is being rolled along the thermal latent image carrier 1.
They are rotating.

Further, a roll-shaped solid body 1 is formed with the thermal latent image carrier 1 sandwiched therebetween.

Further, the recording paper 6 is being moved while being sandwiched between the heating roller 2 and a pressure roller provided opposite to the heating roller 2.

The printing method of a printer having such a configuration is to selectively heat the electrode needles 5 according to information, melt the solid ink 4 with this heat, and make the ink adhere to the surface of the thermal latent image carrier 1 to form an ink image. Make 8.

This is development processing.

Next, the ink image 8 attached to the thermal latent image carrier 1 is transferred to the heating roller 2.
The image is conveyed to the position (where it is heated and melted, and transferred to the recording paper 6 which is pressed from behind by the pressure roller 7).

This is the fixing process.

Note that the ink remaining without being transferred is removed by being cut by a claw 9 provided on the outside of the roller 3.

However, with this structure, as printing is repeated, the surface of the solid ink 4 becomes increasingly uneven, resulting in a decrease in printing quality, and heat accumulation occurs in the solid ink 4, resulting in afterimages.
There is also the problem of staining.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, in order to print high quality on rough paper while maintaining the conventional printing speed, it is recommended to separate the developing section and fixing section and apply sufficient thermal energy to transfer the ink image. However, the problem with conventional methods is that it is not possible to record with high print quality.

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem occurs in a recording method in which an ink image is formed by applying a thermal pattern to a running base film, and then the ink image is thermally transferred to recording paper. The method includes the steps of: attaching a synthetic ink to a base film to form an ink image; transferring the ink image onto recording paper using a heating roller; and removing ink remaining on the base film. This problem can be solved by using a thermal transfer recording method, which is characterized by the following:

[Effect]

The present invention solves the conventional problems by constructing the developing section with a thermal head and a powdery heat-melting ink supply section.

In other words, powdered hot-melt ink (hereinafter simply referred to as powder ink) is supplied to a roller using a stirrer and circulated, and a thermal head is used to send a signal to the base film being conveyed along the roller. The ink image is created by selectively heating the base film locally according to the temperature and depositing the powder ink on the back surface of the base film.

In this way, the drawbacks of the conventional method can be overcome and high quality printing can be obtained.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a modification of this method.

That is, in the case of FIG. 1, the base film 11 is constructed using a polyester film (trade name Mylar) with a thickness of 8 μm and a width of 10 mm, and four rollers 12 and 13 are used.
．． 14, 15 and a heating roller I6.

Further, the recording paper 6 is moved in the direction of the arrow by a heating roller 16 and a pressure roller 17.

Next, the powder ink supply section 18 includes an agitator 19 and a roller 20.
The powder ink 21 is circulated over the roller 20.

Further, above this, a thermal head 22 is provided in contact with the base film 11 that is running.

Here, as the powder ink 21, 30 g of fatty acid amide,
20g of paraffin wax, 18g of azo black dye,
The mixture was mixed at a ratio of 2 g of polyamide resin, heated and melted, cooled and solidified, and ground using a ball mill to give a particle size of about 20 pm.

The ink image is formed using the thermal head 22 at 40 mJ.
/mm2+ by applying a signal voltage under the conditions of an applied pulse of 1 ms, and transfer was performed by passing the base film 11 over a heating roller 16 heated to 90°C, using a rough vapor with a Bekk smoothness of 10 seconds. Clear printing was possible on the recording paper 6.

Note that the ink remaining on the base film was removed by a claw 9 provided in contact with the roller 12.

The structure shown in FIG. 2 is another embodiment in which a base film 24 of the same material and dimensions as described above is initially wound up on a feed reel 25, and as printing progresses, the base film 24 is wound on a take-up reel 25. The ink image forming process and the transfer process are the same as those shown in FIG. 1.

In the case of this structure, it is necessary to replace the feed reel 25 and the take-up reel 26 after winding is completed; however,
In this example, after repeating the process five times, a clear printed image could be obtained even though the recording paper 6 was rough with a Beck smoothness of 10 seconds.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, by carrying out the present invention, it is possible to obtain a high quality printed image even on rough paper by a simple thermal transfer recording method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view explaining the thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is another sectional view explaining the thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view explaining the conventional thermal transfer recording method. , is. In the figure, 2.16 is a heating roller, 6 is a recording paper, 3, 12, 1
3.14, 15.20 are rollers, 7.17 is a pressure roller, 9 is a claw, 11.24 is a base film, 18 is a powder ink supply section, 19 is a stirrer, 21 is a powder ink, 22 is a thermal 25 is a payout reel, and 26 is a take-up reel.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a recording method in which an ink image is formed by applying a thermal pattern to a running base film, and then the ink image is thermally transferred to recording paper, a powder-like A step of applying heat-melting ink to a base film to form an ink image, a step of transferring the ink image to recording paper using a heating roller, and a step of removing ink remaining on the base film. A thermal transfer recording method characterized by being formed by containing.