JPS63116888A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high-quality transfer image, by a method wherein the forming of an image on a transfer recording medium and the transfer of this image to a medium to be recorded are successively carried out and the surface of a transfer recording layer is removed thin prior to the image transfer to the medium to be recorded. CONSTITUTION:In a transfer recording medium 1, a transfer recording layer 1b forming an image with the application of both thermal and optical energies is bonded to a substrate 1a, and core materials 1c, 1d form microcapsule-type image forming elements coated with a wall material 1e. The transfer recording medium 1 passing through a recording portion 3 is carried to a transfer portion 4 in the condition that the surface layer thereof is cut by a steel roller 14a of sandblasted surface and thereby the core materials 1c, 1d are exposed. If the transfer recording medium 1 is carried to the transfer portion 4 together with a white recording paper 8, the transfer recording layer 1b and the recording paper 8 are heated in pressure contact with each other and, thereby, an image of two colors of blue and magenta is transferred. In this manner, more remarkable difference between the core materials 1c, 1d which were formed in the recording portion 3 with transfer characteristics changed is obtained, thus resulting in a stable quality of the transfer image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Field of Industrial Application> The present invention relates to a recording device that can be used in printers, copying machines, facsimile machines, and the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording devices suitable for each information processing system have also been developed.

One of the above-mentioned recording devices is a thermal transfer recording device. In this method, recording is performed on a recording paper using an ink ribbon made by coating a ribbon-shaped support with a heat-melt ink made by dispersing a colorant in a heat-melt binder.

That is, the ink ribbons are stacked so that their heat-melting ink layers are in contact with the recording paper, and the ink ribbon and the recording paper are conveyed between the thermal head and the platen, and the ink ribbon is transferred from the support side of the ink ribbon to the thermal head. By applying pulse-shaped heat according to the image signal and pressing the two together and transferring the molten ink to the recording paper, an ink image corresponding to the heat application is recorded on the recording paper. .

The above-mentioned recording apparatus has been used in recent years because it is small and lightweight, makes no noise, and can record on plain paper.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, conventional thermal transfer recording devices are not without problems.

The reason is that in conventional thermal transfer recording devices, the transfer recording performance, that is, the image quality, is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the recording paper.
Although good image recording can be performed on recording paper with high smoothness, there is a risk that the quality of image recording will deteriorate when recording paper with low smoothness is used.

Furthermore, when attempting to obtain a multicolor image with a conventional thermal transfer recording device, it is necessary to repeat transfer to overlap the colors. For this purpose, it is necessary to provide multiple thermal heads or to make complicated movements such as stopping and reversing the recording paper, which not only makes color misalignment unavoidable, but also makes the entire device large and complicated. There is a problem with this.

Measures to Solve the Problems> Therefore, the present applicant uses a photothermal sensitive material, and when thermal energy and light energy are applied, the reaction of the material proceeds rapidly and the transfer characteristics change irreversibly. Then, he proposed a recording device that forms an image based on the difference in characteristics according to the image signal and transfers it to a recording medium (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-15).
No. 0597).

According to this recording device, it is possible to record high-quality images even on recording media with low surface smoothness, and when applied to multicolor recording, it is possible to make complex movements on the recording medium.・Multicolor images can be obtained without color.

The present invention further develops the recording device, and includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device that can further stabilize transfer recording onto a recording medium.

The means for this purpose is to transfer a core material whose transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied to a recording medium using a transfer recording medium having a distributed layer of image forming elements, which is made by wrapping a core material with a wall material. An apparatus for recording an image, the recording unit having a conveyance means for conveying the transfer recording medium, an energy applying means for applying a plurality of types of energy to the transfer recording medium, in a conveyance path of the transfer recording medium, and A transfer section for transferring an image formed on a transfer recording medium in a recording section to a recording medium, and a transfer section disposed between the recording section and the transfer section, and cutting an image forming element of the transfer recording medium into a thin layer. to expose the core material,
The present invention is characterized by having means for removing the core material or wall material of the image forming element remaining on the transfer recording medium by the cutting.

Effect> According to the above means, when the transfer recording medium and the recording medium are set in the apparatus and recording is performed, multiple types of energy are applied to the transfer recording medium in the recording section to form an image, and the cough image is The image is transferred to the recording medium in the transfer section.

Further, since the surface layer of the image forming element is removed by the removing means between the recording section and the transfer section, the image is reliably transferred to the recording medium, and a stable transferred image can be obtained.

<Example> Next, an example of the present invention to which the above-mentioned means is applied will be described in a case where thermal energy and light energy are applied as a plurality of types of energy.

FIG. 1(A) is a cross-sectional schematic explanatory diagram of the recording device, and the first
Figure (B) is a perspective explanatory view.'' In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a long sheet-like transfer recording medium, which is wound into a roll and used as a supply roll 2 in the apparatus main body M.
It is removably incorporated into the.

That is, this supply roll 2 is removably loaded onto a rotatable shaft 2a provided in the main body M of the apparatus.

First, the leading end of the transfer recording medium 1 is connected to the supply port 2.
It passes through the guide roller 12a, the recording head 3a, and the guide roller 12b, and is changed direction from between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b by the peeling roller 5 and the guide roller 12c to reach the winding roll 6, and the tip thereof is wound. Take roll 6
It is locked by means such as a gripper (not shown). Thereafter, by driving and rotating the take-up roll 6 by a known driving means, the transfer recording medium 1 is fed out in the direction of arrow a and is sequentially wound around the circumferential surface of the take-up roll 6.

Note that during the winding, a constant back tension is applied to the supply roll 2 by, for example, a hysteresis brake (not shown), and this tension and the guide rollers 12a, 12b cause the transfer recording medium 1 to move toward the recording head 3a. It is configured to be conveyed while being pressed against the object at a certain pressure and at a certain angle.

Next, the configuration of each of the above-mentioned parts will be individually explained. First, the transfer recording medium 1 is formed by adhering a transfer record IJ1b having the property of forming an image when both thermal energy and light energy are applied to a sheet-like support ld, as shown in FIG. It is something.

To explain an example thereof, as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer recording layer 1b uses the components shown in Tables 1 and 2 as core materials 1c and ld, and microcapsule-shaped image forming elements are formed by the following method. It forms a body.

In other words, the ingredients Log shown in Tables 1 and 2 are first mixed with 20 parts by weight of methylene chloride, and then a surfactant such as a cationic or nonionic surfactant with an HLB value of at least 10 or more and 1 g of gelatin are mixed. Mix with 200° of dissolved water and mix with a homomixer under heating at 60°C to 8,000 to 10,000 Or
Emulsify by stirring at p- to obtain oil droplets with an average particle size of 26-.

Stirring was continued at 60° C. for 30 minutes, and methylene chloride was distilled off to give an average particle size of 10 pm. Add 2f)d of water in which 1g of gum arabic was dissolved, cool slowly, and then add NH, OH (ammonia) water to adjust the pH.
11 or more to obtain a microcapsule slurry, and slowly add 1.0-20% glutaraldehyde aqueous solution to harden the capsule walls.

After that, solid-liquid separation was carried out using a Nutsche filter, and 35
It is dried at 110°C for 110 hours to obtain a microcapsule-shaped image forming element.

This image forming element has core materials lc and l shown in Tables 1 and 2.
d is a microcapsule covered with wall material 1e, particle size 7
~15 μs, with an average particle size of 10−1.

The image forming element formed as described above is adhered onto a support ld using an adhesive 1r to constitute a transfer recording medium 1.

To explain this in more detail, adhesive 1r made by dissolving polyester adhesive Polyester LP-022 (solid content 50%) iced at a rate of 3 cc of toluene manufactured by Nippon Gosei Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. in a thickness of 6 nm. It is coated onto a support ld made of polyethylene terephthalate film. after that,
When the solvent was removed by drying and the thickness was measured, it was approximately 1 μm. Since the adhesive 1r has a glass transition point of 115°C, a slight tack remains even at room temperature, making it possible to easily adhere the image forming element formed as described above to the support 1a. .

Thereafter, a pressure of about 1 kgf/aJ and thermal energy of about 80° C. are applied to firmly fix the image forming element onto the support la, thereby forming the transfer recording medium 1.

The photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 1 absorbs light in the band of graph A in the light absorption characteristics shown in FIG. The photoinitiator in the image-forming element shown in Table 2 absorbs light in the band shown in graph B in FIG. 3 to start a reaction, and the color becomes blue during image formation.

Next, the recording section 3 will be explained. The recording section 3 is composed of heating means and light irradiation means.

The heating means consists of an A-4 size, line-type heating element row 3b arranged on the surface of the recording head 3a, which generates heat in accordance with both signals and has a width of 0.2 mm and 8 dots. The supporting body 1a side of the recording medium 1 is configured to come into pressure contact with the heating element array 3b with a predetermined pressure due to back tension during conveyance. The image signal is generated from a control unit (not shown) of, for example, a facsimile, an image scanner, or an electronic whiteboard, depending on the purpose.

On the other hand, on the transfer recording layer 1b side facing the recording head 3a, two fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d serving as light irradiation means having spectral characteristics as shown in FIG.
It has a slit with an opening width of 0.5 mm and is kept at a distance of o, sm from the transfer recording medium 1 so that the area directly above the heating element row of the transfer recording medium 1 that is in pressure contact with a is irradiated. It is housed in a housing 3e provided therein.

In this embodiment, one fluorescent lamp 3c having the spectral characteristics shown in graph A of FIG.
Using fluorescent lamp PL20SE for W health line, graph B
As the other fluorescent lamp 3d having the spectral characteristics shown in FIG. 1, a 20W fluorescent lamp FL10A70E39 manufactured by Toshiba is used.

A removing means 14 for cutting and removing the surface layer of the image forming element of the transfer recording medium 1 is provided between the recording section 3 and the transfer section 4, which will be described later. The removing means 14 includes a cutting means 14a for cutting the surface of the image forming element, and a removing means 14b for removing the core material or wall material of the image forming element cut by the means 14a from the transfer recording layer lb. In this embodiment, a steel roller whose surface is sandblasted is rotatably brought into contact with the transfer recording layer 1b as the cutting means 14a, and a removing means 14b is constructed.
The transfer recording layer 1b is constructed by lightly pressing a soft brush, for example, a static elimination brush, against the transfer recording layer 1b. In addition, the brush 1
A receiving tray 14c for collecting the removed material is provided below 4b.

Next, the transfer section 4 will be explained. The transfer section 4 is disposed on the downstream side of the removing means 14 in the conveying direction of the transfer recording medium 1, and includes a transfer roller 4a that is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. Pressure roller 4
It is composed of b. The transfer roller 4a is
It consists of an aluminum roller whose surface is coated with silicone rubber with a thickness of 11 degrees and a hardness of 70 degrees, and a built-in 800 roller.
The surface is heated to 90 to 100 degrees by the W halogen heater 4c.
It is configured to be held in C.

The pressure roller 4b is an aluminum roller coated with silicone rubber having a hardness of 70 degrees to a thickness of 1 fl, and the pressing force with the transfer roller 4a is 6 to 1 kgf/cIm by a pressure means (not shown) such as a spring. It is set.

Furthermore, recording paper 8 as a recording medium loaded in the cassette 7
is the feed roller 9. The register roller pair 10a, 10b is configured to feed the recording medium 1 to the transfer section 4 in synchronization so as to overlap the image area of the recording medium 1. A one-way clutch is provided on the shaft of the registration roller pair 1o so that the roller can freely rotate in the direction of the transfer section 4.

Next, the operation when recording is performed by the recording apparatus configured as described above will be explained.

In the embodiment described below, an example will be shown in which heat is applied in accordance with an image signal and light is applied uniformly.

An image is formed by driving a motor (not shown) to sequentially feed out the transfer recording medium 1 from the supply roll 2, and applying light and heat to the transfer recording FJ1b of the transfer recording medium 1 in the recording section 3 according to the image signal. Ru.

That is, when the transfer recording layer 1b is exposed to light and heat of a predetermined wavelength, its softening point temperature increases and it is no longer transferred to the recording paper 8. Therefore, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. In addition, when recording magenta color, the heating element corresponding to magenta of the image signal in the heating element row 3b is not energized.
25! in the part corresponding to the white of the image signal (recording paper 8 is white). Fluorescent lamp 3 is turned on with a delay of 5ms.
uniformly irradiate c. The irradiation time at this time is set to 45.

Next, when recording blue color, after 50 Ia3 has passed after the end of the irradiation, that is, 100 m after the energization time, the heating elements corresponding to the blue color of the image signal in the heating element row 3b are not energized, and the image signal is not energized. 25 sheets of electricity are applied to the portion corresponding to white, and after 511 seconds, the fluorescent lamp 3d is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time at this time was also 45 ta as described above.

In the manner described above, the recording head 3a is controlled according to the blue, magenta, and white image signals to form a negative image on the transfer recording layer 1b, and the transfer recording medium 1 is synchronously transferred at a repetition period of 200m5/1ine. transport.

After passing through the recording section 3, the transfer recording medium 1 is removed by a deletion means 14.
As shown in FIG. 6, the image forming element is rubbed by a steel roller 14a whose surface has been sandblasted.
The surface layer (approximately 2 to 3n) is cut to expose the core materials 1c and ld. and the core material 1 of the cut image forming element.
Even if the core material 1c, ld, or wall material 1e remains on the transfer recording medium 1, it is completely removed by the removal brush 14b, so that the transfer recording material 1c, ld, or wall material 1e remains on the transfer recording medium 1.
It is transported to the transfer section 4 with the ld completely exposed.

When the transfer recording medium 1 is conveyed to the transfer section 4 together with the recording paper 8, the transfer record 111b and the recording paper 8 are heated while being in pressure contact, and the two-color images of blue and magenta are transferred to the recording paper 8. . At this time, since the core materials 1c and ld of the image forming element are exposed as described above, the difference between the core materials 1c and 1d in which the transfer characteristics formed in the recording section 3 have changed becomes more noticeable, and as a result, The quality of the image transferred to the recording paper 8 is stabilized.

The transfer recording medium 1 and recording paper 8 that have passed through the transfer section 4 are peeled off by a peeling roller 5, and the recording paper 8 on which an image of a desired color has been recorded is discharged onto a discharge tray 11 by a pair of discharge rollers 13a and 13b. , the transfer recording medium 1 is wound onto a take-up roll 6.

As described above, two-color recording is completed in one shot.

Other Embodiments In the above-mentioned embodiments, the brush 14b was used as the removing means, but as shown in FIG. 8, the transfer recording medium 1 may be deflected downward by a deflection bar 14d instead of the brush 14b. In this case, the remaining material cut by the steel roller 14a falls onto the tray 14c due to gravity.

Further, the removing means may be constructed by bringing the vibrating member 14e into contact with the transfer recording medium 1 as shown in FIG.

Alternatively, the vibrating member 14e may be vibrated in the direction of the arrow or in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the transfer recording medium 1 by a drive means (for example, a piezoelectric element) not shown to cause the remaining material to fall.

Further, as the means 14b for removing the residue, a configuration using a gas flow (for example, a configuration in which air is blown or sucked onto the transfer recording layer 1b) or a member having an electrostatic force is arranged near the transfer recording layer 1b. Alternatively, the transfer recording layer 1b may have a structure in which a member with adhesive force is brought into light contact with the transfer recording layer 1b.

Next, another embodiment of the recording section 3 will be described. In the above embodiment, light of a predetermined wavelength corresponding to a desired color is uniformly irradiated from the transfer recording layer 1b side of the transfer recording medium 1, and the support is Although the configuration is such that heat is applied from the 1a side in accordance with the image signal, another embodiment may be configured in which heat is applied uniformly and a predetermined light is irradiated in accordance with the image signal.

Furthermore, if the support 1a is made of a translucent material, the support 1a can be made of a transparent material.
A configuration may be adopted in which light is irradiated from the a side and heat is applied from the transfer recording Jilb side.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, light irradiation and heat application were performed with the support 1a in between, but image formation is also possible by performing both light irradiation and heat application from one side of the support 1a. .

Further, as the heating means, in addition to the method using the recording head 3a described above, a method of selectively heating using a YAG laser and a polygon mirror, etc. may be used.

Further, as the light irradiation means, the above-mentioned fluorescent lamp 3c is used.

In addition to the method using 3D, for example, a method using an LED array, a method using a xenon lamp and a filter matching the light absorption characteristics of the material, etc. can be used.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, light energy and thermal energy were applied to the transfer recording layer 1b at the same time. However, even if the optical energy and thermal energy are applied separately, the result is that both energies are applied separately. Any configuration that is given is acceptable.

Furthermore, although the above-mentioned embodiment has been explained using the example of two-color recording, the types of colorant and photoinitiator constituting the image forming element are appropriately selected, and a light source with a wavelength that causes the photoinitiator to react is selected. By using the process disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-128814 by the present applicant, it is also possible to obtain monochromatic, multicolor (three or more) or full color recorded images.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the transfer recording layer 1 of a polymeric material containing a colorant is transferred by light energy and thermal energy.
Although an example has been shown in which the image is transferred and recorded onto the recording paper by changing the softening point temperature of b, the image may be transferred and recorded depending on the difference in adhesive properties or sublimation properties to the recording paper.

Alternatively, by providing a transfer recording medium with a layer that imparts color development to the recording paper and changing the color development characteristics of the recording paper, and transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium to the recording paper,
It may be arranged to obtain an image record.

Furthermore, the plurality of types of energy applied to the transfer recording layer 1b are not limited to the above-mentioned heat and light energy, and images may be formed using, for example, pressure energy or other types of energy.

In addition to the above-mentioned polyethylene terephthalate, for example, polyamide, polyimide, capacitor paper, cellophane paper, etc. can also be used as the material for the support 1a.

Further, as the transfer recording layer 1b, it is possible to appropriately select and use a material having properties such as heat melting property, heat softening property, or heat sublimation property.

Furthermore, the recording medium is not limited to the above-mentioned recording paper (for example, an overhead projector (OH
Of course, plastic sheets for P) can also be used.

Next, the transfer section 4 is not limited to roller-shaped rollers like the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b, but may be of any configuration that can provide a desired pressure, such as a rotating belt.

Furthermore, if necessary, a fixing means for fixing the image on the recording medium onto which the image has been transferred by the transfer section 4 may be provided downstream of the peeling roller 5 in the conveyance direction of the recording medium.

<Effects of the Invention> Since the present invention sequentially performs the formation of an image on a transfer recording medium and the transfer of this image to a recording medium as described above, it can be applied to recording media with relatively low surface smoothness. Images can be recorded satisfactorily.Furthermore, when the present invention is applied to multicolor recording, multicolor images can be obtained without making complicated movements on the recording medium.

In addition, before transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium in the recording section to the recording medium, a thin layer is removed from the surface of the transfer recording layer, so the transferred image can be reliably transferred to the recording medium. It has characteristics such as being able to obtain high-quality images without image noise.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 (A) and (B) are overall schematic explanatory diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of a transfer recording medium, and Figure 3 is an optical absorption characteristic of a photoinitiator in the transfer recording medium. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the light irradiation means, FIG. 5 is a timing chart for applying heat and light, and FIG. 6 is a configuration for cutting and removing the surface layer of the image forming element. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer recording layer from which a thin layer has been removed from the surface, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams of other embodiments of the removal means. 1 is a transfer recording medium, 1a is a support, 1b is a transfer recording layer,
lc and ld are core materials, 1e is wall material, 1f is adhesive, 2 is a supply roll, 2a is a supply roll axis, 3 is a recording section, 3a is a recording head, 3b is a heating element array, 3c and 3d are fluorescent lamps ,3
e is a housing, 4 is a transfer section, 4a is a transfer roller, 4b
is a pressure roller, 4C is a heater, 5 is a peeling roller, 6 is a take-up roll, 7 is a cassette, 8 is a recording paper, 9 is a feeding roller, 10a, 10b are register rollers, 11 is an output tray, 12a, 12b ,! 2c is a guide roller, 13a,
13b is a discharge roller, 14 is a cutting means, 14a is a steel roller, 14b is a brush, 14c is a saucer, 14d is a deflection bar, and 14e is a vibration member.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Recording an image on a recording medium using a transfer recording medium that has a distributed layer of image-forming elements made by wrapping a core material whose transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied to it with a wall material. A recording unit having a conveying means for conveying the transfer recording medium, an energy applying means for applying a plurality of types of energy to the transfer recording medium in a conveyance path of the transfer recording medium, and a recording unit in the recording unit. A transfer section for transferring an image formed on a transfer recording medium to a recording medium, and a core formed by cutting an image forming element of the transfer recording medium into a thin layer and disposed between the recording section and the transfer section. 1. A recording apparatus comprising means for exposing a material and removing core material or wall material of an image forming element remaining on a transfer recording medium by the cutting. (2) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of types of energy are composed of thermal energy and optical energy. (3) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for exposing the core material is constituted by a member that rotatably contacts the transfer recording medium. (4) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for removing the core material or wall material of the image forming element is constituted by a member that vibrates in contact with the transfer recording medium.