JPS63116878A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the lowering in the density of a recording image by efficiently moving ink to the surface of a recording body even when the ink in the recording body, is reduced by providing a press cooling means to the surface of the recording body having ink infiltrated into the inner layer thereof. CONSTITUTION:The heat generators 5 arranged to a heat generating part 4 side by side are selectively operated to generate heat which is, in turn, conducted to the porous membrane layer 1a and sponge base 7 of a recording body 1 to lower the viscosity of the ink infiltrated into both parts. The ink lowered in its viscosity transmits through the porous membrane layer 1a to form the ink image corresponding to the heat generating part of the heat generating part 4 on said membrane layer 1a. The ink image is transferred to the recording medium 3 moving with the rotation of the recording body 1 to be pressed by a platen roller 6 to form an image. The surface of the recording body 1 is contacted with a press cooling roller 8 under pressure and the sponge base 7 is pressed and the heat of the surface of the recording body 1 is radiated to the side of the roller 8. At this time, the ink is increased in its viscosity by cooling to be stored and the ink in the sponge base 7 moves to the surface thereof. Therefore, even when the ink content in the sponge base 7 is reduced to some degree, the adverse effect on a recording property and the density of the recording image is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a recording device, and relates to a thermal recording device used, for example, in an image processor, an electronic typewriter 1, a facsimile machine, various bulletin boards, and the like.

<Prior Art> Today, the thermal transfer recording method is the most popular recording method for information processing.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> In this method, an ink film is heated in an image pattern by a recording head, and the molten ink is transferred to recording paper, but since the ink film is disposable, the running cost is high. There was a drawback.

Therefore, in order to improve the drawbacks of this conventional recording method, the present applicant has developed a first porous layer impregnated with hot-melt ink and a method for solving the above problems. We have developed a recording device comprising a recording body comprising a second perforated film layer and a means for applying heat in a pattern to the surface of the recording body, and have already filed a patent application for this recording device. He has filed a patent application for the invention under No. 141322/1981.

The present invention is a further development of the above-mentioned invention, and includes a first porous layer impregnated with a heat-melting ink and a second porous film provided on the first porous layer. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a recording body made up of layers, means for applying heat in a pattern to the surface of this recording body, and means for pressing and cooling the surface of this recording body.

Effect> According to the above means, since the pressure cooling means is provided on the surface of the recording body consisting of the first porous layer impregnated with ink and the second porous film layer provided on the layer, Even when the amount of ink impregnated in the first porous layer decreases, the ink in the first porous layer is pushed out to the surface side of the recording medium by the pressing cooling means.

The ink pushed out to the surface of the recording medium is immediately cooled to increase its viscosity to prevent the ink from returning inside the first porous layer, and the ink is transferred to the surface of the first porous layer. Sufficient storage is achieved, thereby preventing a decrease in the density of the recorded image.

<Example> FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a recording device according to this example.
The figure is an explanatory cross-sectional view of the recording device.

In the figure, the material is a recording medium formed in a cylindrical shape, and is constructed by providing a polyester sponge base 7 on a core bar 2, and further laminating a porous thin film layer 1a on the outer surface of the sponge base 7. There is. This porous i [membrane layer 1a is porous
Ethylene dihydride resin (for example, product name Fluorobor, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., or product name Gore-Tex, manufactured by Japan Gore-Tex Co., Ltd., etc.) with a thickness of 10Ox, an average pore diameter of 10L, or a thickness of 20Ox and an average pore diameter of 3L. It is made up of. Further, the heat-melting ink is the sponge base 7.
is impregnated on the entire surface. 3 is a recording medium such as paper;
It is in pressure contact with the recording medium 1.

Next, reference numeral 4 denotes a heat generating section provided on the upstream side of the recording medium 3, which is constructed by arranging a large number of heat generating elements 5 in parallel in an array, which can selectively generate heat based on external image information signals. has been done. This heating section 4 contacts the recording medium 1 and lowers the viscosity of the ink inside the recording medium 1 by the heat generated by the heating element 5, and transfers the low viscosity ink to the porous thin film layer.
It is constructed so that it can be transmitted through a. A platen roller 6 presses the recording medium 3 against the recording medium 1 at a position corresponding to the recording medium 1.

8 is a pressing cooling roller, which is provided in pressure contact with the recording medium 1 on the upstream side of the contact position of the heating element 5 and on the downstream side of the press contact position with the recording medium 3, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; As the recording body 1 rotates, it rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure.

The pressing cooling roller 8 is made of a good heat conductor such as a pipe-shaped metal. Its length in the longitudinal direction is the same as that of the recording body 1.

Next, the mechanism etc. when recording using the apparatus of the present invention will be explained.

First, an external signal is sent to the heat generating part 4, and this heat generating part 4 is
By selectively generating heat from the heating elements 5 arranged in a array, and transmitting the heat to the porous thin film layer 1a of the recording medium 1 and the sponge base 7, which are in contact with the heating elements 4, this portion is impregnated. Reduce the viscosity of the ink used. On the other hand, the low-viscosity ink passes through the porous thin film layer 1a and forms an ink image having a predetermined shape corresponding to the heat generating portion of the heat generating section 4 on the porous thin film layer la.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink image formed on the porous thin film layer la moves as the recording body 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow, contacts the recording body 1 in the downstream direction, and faces the recording body 1. The image is transferred onto the recording medium 3 being pressed by the platen roller 6 at the position where the image is formed, and an image is formed on the recording medium 3.

To explain the operation of the pressing cooling roller 8, the surface of the recording medium 1 is pressed by the roller 8, and at this time, the sponge base 7 impregnated with ink is pressed and the heat on the surface is radiated to the roller 8 side. Therefore, the following phenomenon occurs within the sponge base 7 at this pressed portion.

That is, the ink in the lower layer of the sponge base 7 is pushed out to the surface side, and is cooled and becomes highly viscous. When the sponge base 7 is restored from the pressed state to its original state after passing through the roller 8, the highly viscous ink near the surface is transferred to the lower layer of the sponge base 7 due to its high viscosity. It becomes difficult to return and most of it is stored there.

Therefore, by passing through this roller 8, the ink inside the sponge base 7 will eventually move to the surface side.

As described above, in this recording device, even if the ink content in the sponge base 7, which forces the ink inside the sponge base 7 to move toward the surface of the sponge base, decreases somewhat, the recording performance and recording performance are improved. The negative effect on image density is significantly reduced.

Further, the porous thin film layer 1a is constructed to have a property of allowing ink to pass therethrough only when the viscosity of the ink is reduced by heat.

Further, in the above embodiment, the porous thin film layer 1a was made of tetrafluoroethylene resin, but other porous resins such as fluorine-based resins and silicon-based resins may be used as long as they satisfy the above-mentioned conditions. Alternatively, a porous metal thin film or the like can also be used.

As mentioned above, when a material with low surface tension such as tetrafluoroethylene resin is used for the porous thin film layer 1a,
Since the ink has good releasability, the ink on the porous thin film layer la is smoothly transferred to the recording medium 3.

Furthermore, since the inside of the recording medium 1 is made of sponge, it itself has elasticity, and therefore, the adhesion to the recording medium 3 is improved, allowing for more efficient transfer of the ink image. I can do it.

Here, the ink stored in the recording medium 1 will be explained. Typically, heat-melting ink can be used. Further, the ink is preferably one that keeps the porous base filled with the ink at all times, such as a semi-solid ink or a high viscosity ink.

Heat-melt ink is made by dispersing or dissolving a colorant in a heat-melt binder. Organic solvents, various oils, elastomers, etc. are added to the heat-melt binder to adjust melt viscosity, adhesive strength, etc. do.

Heat-melting binders include various conventionally used natural or synthetic binders such as wax resins, etc.
Or a mixture of two or more types can be used.

For example, if a thermofusible binder with supercooling properties is adjusted and added to the thermofusible binder together with an oil agent, good recorded images can be obtained even if there is a distance between the heating position and the ink transfer position to the recording medium 3. can be obtained. Note that binders with supercooling characteristics are once melting point (softening point)
A substance that remains molten or softened for a certain period of time even at a temperature below its original melting point or softening point when it is cooled from a molten or softened state after being heated to a temperature above, and is known in itself. It is.

As the colorant that composes the heat-melt ink with the heat-melt binder, all dyes and pigments commonly used in printing or other recording methods, such as carbon black, are used, and these dyes and pigments may be used alone. The content of the coloring agent used in the above ink is 1 to 9, or a mixture of two or more.
40% by weight is preferred.

Further, regarding the pressing cooling roller 8 in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it may be configured so that a heat medium such as fluorocarbon gas circulates through its hollow space, that is, a so-called heat pipe. Furthermore, cooling performance is improved, and inhibition of the aforementioned mechanism due to heat accumulation is also prevented.

FIG. 3 shows a different embodiment from the above-mentioned embodiment, in which a finned heat dissipation plate 9 is fixed in a pressed state against the recording medium 1 instead of the roller 8 of the above-mentioned embodiment. This embodiment also has the effect of moving the ink inside the sponge base 7 toward the surface in order to create a mechanism similar to that of the previous embodiment. However, compared to the previous embodiment, this embodiment has the advantage that the structure of the holding member etc. of the heat sink 9 can be made simpler because it does not have a driving part.

Furthermore, as the recording medium 3, in addition to paper, it is also possible to use a material generally used as a blackboard sheet whose surface is coated or laminated with a polymer film such as Teflon, polypropylene, or silicone resin.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the present invention, the pressing cooling means is provided on the surface of the recording medium whose inner layer is impregnated with ink, so that even when the ink in the recording medium decreases, the ink can be removed by the pressing cooling means. It is characterized by being able to efficiently move to the surface of the recording medium, thereby preventing a decrease in the density of the recorded image, and making clear recording possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the apparatus, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the other side. 1 is a recording body, 1a is a porous thin film layer, 2 is a core bar, 3 is a recording medium, 4 is a heat generating part, 5 is a heat generating element, 6 is a platen roller,
7 is an ink-impregnated sponge base, 8 is a pressing cooling roller,
9 is a heat sink.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A recording body consisting of a first porous layer impregnated with heat-melting ink and a second porous film layer provided on the first porous layer, and a pattern formed on the surface of the recording body. 1. A recording device comprising means for applying heat and means for pressing and cooling the surface of the recording medium. (2) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing cooling means is provided upstream of the heat applying means.