JPS63112170A - Thermal transfer recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress heat accumulation in a thermal recording head and enhance color forming efficiency while maintaining the quality of printed image, by bringing a printing paper into close contact with a sublimable dye ink layer on a transfer paper, bringing electrodes of the thermal recording head into close contact with a resistive conductor layer of the transfer paper, and energizing the layer to generate heat, thereby subliming the ink. CONSTITUTION:Concurrently with rotation of a platen 9, a transfer paper 11 is moved, is drawn out from a reel 22, and is taken up around a reel 23, while individual electrodes 18 of a thermal recording head 20 are sequentially selected for energization and the accompanying heat generation at the part of a resistive conductor layer 12 in close contact with projected insulating parts 17, whereby transfer from the transfer paper 11 onto a printing paper 10 is performed, and a desired image is recorded on the printing paper 10. Since the quantity of a sublimable dye ink sublimed depends on the temperature and time of the heat generation at the energized parts of the resistive conductor layer 12, variations in printed density can be generated by varying the energization time, whereby a gradational image can be obtained. In addition, since the resistive conductor layer 12 provided on the transfer paper 1 generates heat, the heat is efficiently transmitted to a sublimable dye ink layer 14, and color forming efficiency is markedly enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording method for a printer, and particularly to a thermal transfer recording method suitable for recording image information.

[Conventional technology]

A method for recording image information in full color on photographic paper.
Conventionally, a thermal transfer recording method has been known in which recording is performed by heating and sublimating a transfer paper coated with a sublimable dye using a thermal recording head.
IE E E Transac-tions On
Consumer Electronics, Vo
l, CE-31, No, 3 Aug, 198
56, p9. 431-437 rA C0LORV
IDEOPRINTERWITH SUBLIMATIO
It is introduced in a paper titled NDYE TRANSFERMETHODJ.

The thermal transfer recording method that uses sublimable dyes controls the recording density by changing the energy applied to the thermal recording head, and has the advantage of simultaneously achieving high resolution and high gradation, which are essential for video image printing.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a conventional thermal recording head used in a thermal transfer recording system, in which 1 is a head substrate;
2 is a heat storage glass layer, 3 is a heating resistor, 4 is an electrode, 5 is a protective layer, 6 is a transfer paper, 7 is a base layer, and 8 is a sublimable dye ink layer.

In the figure, the heat-sensitive recording head includes a heat storage glass layer 2 having a convex surface having an arcuate cross section on a head substrate 1 made of alumina ceramic, and a heating resistor 3 on top of the heat storage glass layer 2.
, an electrode 4, and a protective layer 5 are formed. Transfer paper 6
A sublimable dye ink layer 8 is provided on a base layer 7, and the base layer 7 is closely attached to the convex protective layer 5 of the thermal recording head.

Then, by passing a current through the heating resistor 3 through the electrode 4, the heating resistor 3 generates heat, and this heat sublimates the dye ink in the sublimable dye ink layer 8 to perform recording. The purpose of forming the heat storage glass layer 2 in a convex shape is to increase the contact pressure between the head heating element and the transfer paper 6. Increasing the contact pressure means obtaining high-quality image prints without roughness. is essential on.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in this recording method, as described above, the thermal recording head generates heat and the heat is transmitted to the transfer paper to sublimate the sublimable dye, so there are two major problems as follows. there were.

One is that thermal recording heads accumulate heat.

In order to effectively transfer the heat generated by the thermal recording head to the transfer paper side, a heating resistor 3 is installed as shown in FIG.
A heat storage glass layer 2 is provided below, and heat is accumulated in this heat storage glass layer 2 during continuous recording, and as a result, the temperature of the head substrate 1 rises. As a result of this, the temperature of the heating resistor 3 itself increases, and as a result, the color density inevitably increases with time.

To reduce this heat accumulation, wait until the head substrate 1 has cooled down sufficiently before applying the next recording signal.
If this is done, there is a problem that the recording speed decreases and the time required for printing increases. For this reason, in the past, a certain amount of heat storage had to be allowed.

Another problem is that the color development efficiency is low.

In FIG. 7, the heat generated by the heating resistor 3 is transferred to the protective layer 5.
from the base layer 7 of the transfer paper 6 to the sublimable dye ink layer 8.
transmitted to. The protective layer 5 and the base layer 7 of the transfer paper 6 are both insulators with low thermal conductivity, and the contact thermal resistance between the thermal recording head and the transfer paper 6 is also large, so even if the heat storage glass layer 2 is provided, Most of the heat generated by the heating resistor 3 escapes to the head substrate 1 side through the electrode 4, which is a good thermal conductor, and does not contribute to color development.

As described above, the conventional technology has the problems of large heat accumulation in the thermal recording head and low color development efficiency, and attempts to solve these problems will result in new problems such as longer printing time and increased power consumption. It turns out.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method that eliminates the problems of the prior art, reduces heat accumulation in a thermal recording head, and improves coloring efficiency without deteriorating printed image quality. It's about doing.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a resistive conductive layer on a transfer paper having a sublimable dye ink layer, brings a photographic paper into close contact with the sublimable dye ink layer of the transfer paper, and
An electrode provided on the convex insulating portion of the heat-sensitive recording head is closely attached to the resistive conductive layer of the transfer paper, and the resistive conductive layer is partially energized through the electrode to generate heat. The sublimable dye ink is sublimated in a portion of the sublimable dye ink layer corresponding to the heat generating portion and transferred onto photographic paper.

[Effect]

The transfer paper itself has a heating element that sublimates the sublimable dye ink on the transfer paper, and the part where this heating element generates heat is the part that is energized by the electrode of the thermal recording head. Since the transfer paper is moving with the photographic paper relative to the thermal recording head, the heat-generating portion moves as the transfer paper moves, and moreover, the heated portion moves away from the thermal recording head as the transfer paper moves. For this reason, almost no heat from the heat-generating portion of the transfer paper is transferred to the thermal recording head, significantly reducing heat accumulation in the thermal recording head, and heat is efficiently transferred to the sublimable dye ink layer. .

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, in which 9 is a platen, 10 is photographic paper, 11 is transfer paper, 12 is a resistive conductive layer, 13 is a base layer, and 14 is a sublimable dye ink layer, 15 is a head substrate, I6 is an insulator,
17 is a convex insulating portion, and 18 and 19 are electrodes.

In the figure, the heat-sensitive recording head is mounted on a head substrate 15 made of alumina ceramic or the like, and has a convex surface with an arcuate cross-section on its surface, and the top of the convex surface has a constant width W and a height h.
An insulator 16 made of glass or the like is provided with a convex insulating portion 17 formed thereon, and on one side of the convex insulating portion 17, the convex insulating portion is formed from the surface of the head substrate 15 through the convex surface of the insulator 16. An electrode 18 extending to one side surface of the convex insulating section 17 is provided, and an electrode 19 extending to the side surface of the convex insulating section 17 is also provided on the other side of the convex insulating section F. The cross-sectional shape of the tip surface of the convex insulating portion 17 is also an arcuate convex surface, and the tip surfaces of the electrodes 18 and 19 are continuous with the tip surface of the convex insulating portion 17 and are an extension of the arcuate convex surface. ing. Therefore, between the electrodes 18 and 19, the convex insulating portion 1
separated by 7.

Such an insulator 16 is produced by, for example, printing a glass paste on the head substrate 15 and baking it to form a brace layer with a cylindrical surface, and then photo-etching the width W.
, by forming a convex insulating portion 17 with a height h. Further, the electrodes 18 and 19 are formed to have an appropriate thickness by using a thin film, a thick film, plating, or the like.

The transfer paper 11 is provided with a sublimable dye ink 1J14 on one side of a base layer 13, and a resistive conductive layer 12 on the other side.
is provided. As the base layer 13, for example, a polyethylene terephthalate film having a thickness of several micrometers is used, and as the material for the resistive conductive layer 12, for example, carbon black can be used.

A photographic paper 10 is wound around the surface of a platen 9 made of an elastic material, and a transfer paper 11 is attached to the platen 9 so that a sublimable dye ink layer 14 is brought into close contact with the surface of the photographic paper 10.

During recording, the convex insulating portion 17 of the heat-sensitive recording head is brought into close contact with the transfer paper 11 under pressure. For this purpose, electrode 18.1
The tip end of 9 is in good contact with the resistive conductive layer 12 of the transfer paper 11, and these electrodes 18, 19 are connected via this resistive conductive layer 12. Therefore, when a voltage is applied between the electrodes 18 and 19, a current flows through the portion of the resistive conductive layer 12 that is in close contact with the convex insulating portion 17, generating heat, and the corresponding portion of the sublimable dye ink layer 14 is heated. The sublimable dye ink sublimates and is transferred to photographic paper 10. The amount of sublimable dye ink that sublimes depends on the heat generation temperature and heat generation time of the resistive conductive layer 12 (
Therefore, it differs depending on the energization time).

FIG. 2 shows the thermal recording head in FIG.
18a is a top view seen from the 7 side.

18b, iac are individual electrodes, 13a', 18b'.

180゛ are their tip surfaces, 19a, 19b.

19c is a common electrode, 19a", 19b", and 19c" are their tip surfaces, and the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1.

In the figure, individual electrodes 18a to 18c correspond to electrode 18 in FIG. 1, and common electrodes 192 to 19c correspond to electrode 19 in FIG. Each individual electrode 1
8a, 18b, 18c and common electrodes 19a, 19b, 19
c are opposed to each other with convex insulating portions L7 in between, and these tip surfaces 18a'' to 18c'' and 19a'' to 19c
" constitutes a convex cylindrical surface together with the tip surface of the convex insulating portion 17. These electrodes 18a to 18c, 19a to 19
The width d of c, together with the width W of the convex insulating portion 17, defines the size of one pixel of the image formed on the photographic paper 10 (FIG. 1).

Note that a large number of individual electrodes and common electrodes are arranged along the convex insulating portion 17 by the width of the transfer paper 11, and three of them are shown here.

The common electrodes 19a to 19c are connected to each other, but the individual electrodes 18a to 18c are separated from each other. During recording, these individual electrodes 18a to 18c are appropriately selected, and the selected individual electrodes and the common electrodes are connected to each other. Electricity is applied between the electrode and the electrode.

Therefore, if the thermal recording head is brought into close contact with the transfer paper 11 as shown in FIG. 1, and the individual electrode 18b is selected in FIG. 2, the resistance of the transfer paper 11 will be Individual electrode 18b via conductive layer 12
As a result, on the photographic paper 10 (FIG. 1), the portion facing the hatched portion of width W and length d between the individual electrode 18b and the common electrode 19b is recorded as the smallest pixel.

FIG. 3 shows the basic configuration of the recording section of a printer using the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, where 20 is the thermal recording head shown in FIG. The convex portion 22.23 is a reel, which is made up of an insulator 16 having a convex insulating portion 17 and electrodes 18, 19, and the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to those in FIG.

In FIG. 3, as explained earlier, photographic paper 10 is wound around platen 9, and transfer paper 11 is stretched between reels 22 and 23 so as to be in close contact with this photographic paper 10. There is. Then, the convex portion 2 of the thermal recording head 20
1 is adhered to the transfer paper 11 under pressure.

As the platen 9 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the transfer paper 11 moves in the direction of the arrow and is pulled out from the reel 22.
It is wound up in 3. During this time, the thermal recording head 20
The individual electrodes 18 are sequentially selected according to the recording signal, and the portions of the resistive conductive layer 12 that are in close contact with the convex insulating portions 17 (FIGS. 1 and 2) are energized and generate heat, causing the transfer paper 11 to be separated from the photographic paper. The desired image is recorded on the photographic paper 10 by sequentially transferring it to the photographic paper 10 pixel by pixel.

As explained above, the amount of sublimation of the sublimable dye ink in the sublimable dye ink layer 14 (FIG. 1) of the transfer paper 11 is as follows.
The heat generation temperature (
Since it depends on the magnitude of the current) and the heat generation time (current application time), by changing the current application time, the length of the pixel of the image recorded on the photographic paper 10 differs from W, and the area changes. , an image with gradation is obtained due to shading.

According to this embodiment, the heat-generating part is provided on the transfer paper and not on the thermal recording head, and as the transfer paper runs, the heat-generating part moves and the heat-generating part moves away from the heat-sensitive recording head. Because they are separated, the accumulation effect in the thermal recording head is greatly reduced. For this reason, even if continuous recording is performed, the density of the image recorded on the photographic paper 10 does not change due to continuous recording. Therefore, continuous recording is possible without requiring cooling time for the thermal recording head, and high-speed printing can be achieved.

Furthermore, since the resistive conductive layer 12 provided on the transfer paper 11 generates heat, the heat is efficiently transferred to the sublimable dye ink layer 14, which significantly improves coloring efficiency and reduces power consumption.

Further, the thermal recording head and the transfer paper 11 can be brought into close contact with each other by a high contact force, and a high-quality image print without roughness can be obtained as in the prior art.

Furthermore, since the convex insulating portion 17 has a constant width W over the height h, even if the convex insulating portion 17 is worn out due to sliding friction with the transfer paper 11, it is possible to maintain a constant pixel size. For long-term use of thermal recording heads,
The resolution of prints can be kept constant. However, the convex insulating part 17 and electrodes 18 and 19 made of glass etc.
Since the abrasion rate is different from that of the convex insulating part 17, a difference in the amount of wear will occur over time of use. Set the height h of 17.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG.
In the case of coating, even if one individual electrode is selected, crosstalk occurs from common electrodes other than the common electrode facing the individual electrode, resulting in deterioration of the quality of the recorded image. For example, in FIG. 2, if the individual type fi 18b is selected, current naturally flows from the common type 119b facing it to the individual electrode 18b via the resistive conductive layer 12. The common electrode 19b
Current also flows from the common electrodes 19a and 19c adjacent to the resistive conductive layer 12, and crosstalk occurs due to these currents.

FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the transfer paper 11 that can prevent such crosstalk, and FIG. 4(a) is a plan view, and FIG. 4(b) is a plan view of FIG. Parting line A-
It is a sectional view along A.

In the same figures (a) and (b), a sublimable dye ink layer 14 is uniformly provided on one surface of the base layer 13, and a resistive conductive layer 14 having the same width is provided on the other surface. A large number of layers 24 are separated from each other by insulating parts 25 to form the transfer paper 11.
It is formed parallel to the feeding direction (the direction of the arrow). The width of each resistive conductor N24 is smaller than the width d (Fig. 2) of the individual electrodes 18a to 18c and the common electrodes 19a to 19c (Fig. 2), and the width of the insulating part 25 is sufficiently smaller than this width d, several tens of microns.
m or less, and the pitch of the resistive conductive layer 24 is made as small as possible to form individual electrodes 18a to 18c and common electrodes 19a to 1.
Each of the resistive conductive layers 9c extends over several or more resistive conductive layers 24.

By configuring the transfer paper 11 in this way, a current flows only between the electrodes of the resistive conductive layer 24 that span a selected individual electrode and the common electrode facing it, and the insulating portion 25 allows the current to flow between the selected individual electrodes and the common electrode facing the adjacent common electrodes. Since the crosstalk of the current from the transfer paper 11 is eliminated, heat generation occurs independently in each region of the transfer paper 11 corresponding to the width d of the electrode×width W of the convex insulating portion 17.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another specific example of a thermal recording head in a thermal transfer recording system according to the present invention, and parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals.

In the figure, an insulator 16 made of glass or the like is provided on a head substrate 15, and the cross-sectional shape of the surface of this insulator 16 is arcuate with a convex insulating portion 17 at the top. The convex insulating portion 17 has a width W' and a height h', and its tip surface 17' has an arcuate cross-section concentric with the cross-sectional shape of the other portion of the insulator 16. On both sides of this convex insulating portion 17, an insulator 16 is provided from the head base Fi15.
Thickness h' extending from the 0 surface to the side surface of the convex insulating part 17
electrodes 18.19 are provided, therefore, the tip surface 17' of the convex insulating portion 17 and the electrodes 18.19 on both sides thereof are provided.
A surface whose cross-sectional shape is an arc concentric with the surface of the insulator 16 is formed by the surface of the insulator 16 .

Here, the electrodes 18 are individual electrodes, and the electrodes 19 are common electrodes, each of which is arranged with respect to the convex insulating portion 17 as shown in FIG.

Such a thermal recording head includes an insulator 16 having a convex insulating portion 17 formed on a head substrate 15 in the same manner as explained in FIG. After that, the convex insulating portion 17 is formed.
It can be manufactured by removing a portion of the electrode layer having a width W' corresponding to the tip surface 17'' of the electrode layer by etching or the like.

It goes without saying that even if this thermal recording head is used, the same effects as in the case of using the thermal recording head shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be obtained.

FIG. 6(a) is a perspective view of a main part showing still another specific example of a thermal recording head in a thermal transfer recording system according to the present invention;
The same figure (b) is a top view, and 16 is an insulator, 17
is a convex insulating part, 18 a = 18 c is an individual electrode, 1
93-19d are common electrodes.

3. In (a) and (b), a width W'' is provided at the top of an insulator 16 such as glass whose surface has an arcuate cross-sectional shape.
A convex insulating section 17 with a height h'' is provided, and the tip end surface 17' of this convex insulating section 17 also has an arcuate cross-section. The common electrodes 19a to 19d are provided extending from one side of the convex insulating portion 17 to the other side by straddling the side surface and the tip surface 17'. It extends from the side surface of the convex insulating portion 17 to the tip surface 17' to the other side surface.

These individual electrodes 18a-18c, common electrodes 19a-19
d are sufficiently narrow and parallel to each other, and individual electrodes and common electrodes are alternately arranged in the longitudinal direction of the tip surface 17' of the convex insulating portion 17.

For such a thermal recording head, a transfer paper coated with a resistive conductive layer is used. When this thermal recording head is brought into close contact with this transfer paper under pressure, the individual electrodes 18a to 18
c and the convex insulating parts 1 in the common electrodes 19a to 19d.
The portion on the leading end surface 17' of 7 is in close contact with the resistive conductive layer of the transfer paper.

Therefore, in FIG. 6(b), now the individual electrode 18b
When selected, current flows from the common electrodes 19b and 19C on both sides of the individual electrode 18b to the individual electrode 18b via the resistive conductive layer on the tip surface 17' of the convex insulating portion 17.

As a result, the area between the individual electrode 18b and the common electrode 19b shown as hatched on the tip surface 17' and the area between the individual electrode 18b
Transfer from the transfer paper to the photographic paper occurs at a portion corresponding to the common electrode 19c. That is, the area of the width W'' of the convex insulating portion 17×distance d' between the common electrodes defines a pixel.

In this specific example, current flows between the selected individual electrode and the common electrodes on both sides thereof, and no current flows from the other common electrodes to this individual electrode.

In FIG. 6(b), for example, if the individual electrode 18b is selected, the common electrodes 19a to 19d are all at the same potential, so the individual electrode 18b is
9b and 19c, and the individual electrodes 18 are shielded from the common electrodes other than the common electrodes 19b and 19C.
No current flows through b. Further, no current flows between the common electrodes. Therefore, even if the resistive conductive layer is uniformly applied to the entire surface of the transfer paper, no crosstalk occurs. Therefore, when this thermal recording head is used, the structure of the transfer paper becomes simple, and it is possible to obtain prints with good images without crosstalk using inexpensive transfer paper.

In this specific example, since the electrodes are directly pressured and adhered to the resistive conductive layer of the transfer paper, it is necessary to use a material with high wear resistance as the electrodes. Furthermore, since the size of a pixel on photographic paper is defined by the width of the tip surface 17' of the convex insulating part 17 and the interval between the common electrodes, the width W# of the convex insulating part 17 is equal to the height h''. It does not have to be constant throughout.

Although the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above example, the transfer paper has a three-layer structure of a base layer, a resistive conductive layer, and a sublimable dye ink layer, but it has a resistive tetraconductivity by mixing a resistive conductive material and a paste material. It may be a two-layer structure in which the film is made of heat and coated with a sublimable dye ink layer, or it may be multilayered with at least one of a base layer, a resistive conductive layer, and a sublimable dye ink layer.

Moreover, the materials, values, etc. shown in the description of the above embodiments are merely examples.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the transfer paper itself has a heat generating element, and the heat generating part moves away from the thermal recording head as the transfer paper moves, so that the heat generating part moves away from the heat sensitive recording head. There is little heat transfer to the
Heat accumulation in the thermal recording head is significantly reduced, and
Heat is efficiently transferred to the sublimable dye ink layer of the transfer paper, which significantly shortens printing time and greatly improves color development efficiency. Since the transfer is carried out in close contact with each other, high-quality prints can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the thermal transfer recording method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of the thermal recording head in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the recording section of the printer according to this embodiment. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of one specific example of the transfer paper in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 5 and 6 each show other specific examples of the thermal recording head in the thermal transfer recording system according to the present invention. 7 are diagrams showing an example of a conventional thermal transfer recording system. 9...Platen, 10...Photographic paper, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Transfer paper, 12...Resistive conductive layer, 13...Base layer, 14...Sublimable dye ink layer, 15...・Head board, 16...
... Insulator, 17 ... Convex insulating part, 17'
...... Tip surface of convex insulating portion 17, 18.18a ~
18c...Individual electrode, 19.19a to 19d.
... common electrode, 24 ... resistive conductive layer,
25... Insulation section. Figure 1] b Figure 2 (b) t Figure 5 1b Figure 6 (0) 8b Figure 6 (b) Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Using a film having a resistive conductive layer and a sublimable dye ink layer as a transfer paper, and using a thermal recording head having a convex insulating part provided with an electrode, the sublimation of the transfer paper is performed. A photographic paper is brought into close contact with the dye ink layer, and the convex insulating portion of the thermal recording head is brought into close contact with the resistive conductive layer of the transfer paper under pressure to bring the electrode into close contact with the resistive conductive layer. The part of the resistive conductive layer that is in close contact with the convex insulating part is energized to generate heat, and the sublimable dye ink is sublimated in the part of the sublimable dye ink layer corresponding to the heat generating part, and the sublimable dye ink is applied to the photographic paper. A thermal transfer recording method characterized by transferring. 2. In claim 1, the convex insulating part has a constant width over its entire height, and the electrodes are provided on both sides of the convex insulating part so as to face each other, A thermal transfer recording method characterized in that the tip end surface of the electrode forms a continuous surface with the tip end surface of the convex insulating section. 3. In claim 1, the convex insulating part has a constant width over its entire height, and a thickness equal to the height of the convex insulating part is provided on both sides of the convex insulating part. A thermal transfer recording system characterized in that the electrodes are provided facing each other. 4. Claim 2 or 3, wherein the resistive conductive layer has a width narrower than the width of the electrode, and a plurality of the resistive conductive layers are arranged at a pitch smaller than the width of the electrode. A thermal transfer recording method characterized in that transfer papers are provided parallel to each other in the transport direction. 5. In claim 1, a plurality of one electrodes are provided from one side of the convex insulating section across the tip surface of the convex insulating section, and from the other side of the convex insulating section. A thermal transfer recording system characterized in that a plurality of other electrodes are provided to cross the tip surface of the convex insulating portion and alternate with the one electrode. 6. The thermal transfer recording method according to claim 5, wherein the resistive conductive layer is uniformly provided on the transfer paper. 7. The thermal transfer recording method according to claim 6, wherein the resistive conductive layer is a mixture of a resistive conductive material and a base material, and is also a base layer of the transfer paper.