JPS6319274A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the volume of a feeding passage, facilitate prevention of skewing and enable color superimposition with high accuracy, by disposing an ink carrier roller in a recessed part between a driving force applying means and a turning-back part, and independently varying the curvature of a forward feeding passage or a backward feeding passage in the width direction of the feeding passage. CONSTITUTION:A recording medium 1 is passed through a passage indicated by a broken line A to a recording part 5 comprising a driving force applying roller 6 and a thermal head 7, and is recorded. The recording medium 1 thus recorded is passed through a forward passage 8, a turning-back part 10 and a backward passage 9 of the feeding passage A to the recording part 5, and is recorded at this time in other color than the color formerly used. An ink carrier 12 passed through the position of the thermal head 7 is separated from the recording medium 1, and is fed to a take-up reel 17 provided on the upper side of the forward passage 8. The reel 17 is contained in a space of a curved part provided in the feeding passage and having the center of curvature in the exterior of the feeding passage. The forward passage 8 provided in the feeding passage as a fixed member can be set with a curvature varied in the width direction of the feeding passage by changing the fitting position of an upper guide member through turning a curvature adjusting screw 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device, and in particular, to a thermal transfer recording device capable of performing multi-color alignment recording suitable for use as a video printer that prints image signals. This article relates to thermal transfer recording fc filtering.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the increasing use of image information, image information represented by electrical signals is not only displayed on tubes or liquid crystal display panels, but also recorded and stored on recording media such as paper. 4 I want to go! There is hope. In addition, there are various requirements for image information to be handled, such as p-color, gradation, high detail, and high density, and thermal transfer recording is one of the recording methods suitable for meeting these various requirements. is seen as promising.

In addition, it is expected that the recording device using the recording method of i will be used not only for home use but also for business purposes. Regarding the overall dimensions of the device, it is desired that the device be able to handle a device measuring 210 mm x 297 mm) and be thin.

In the past, various methods have been proposed for this recording method, but this method does not require guide holes in the recording medium.
For example, IKyisha Eee.

Transactions on Consumer Electronics) 0 Nix, Vuor, C.E. 28, (1982) Nest 226
Page to page 232 (I E E E Transti
on onConswmgr Electronic
s, Vol, CE-28, (1982) P
P226-252) MaswcLa
), etc., color die sheet model printer (C0LORVIDEOPICTURE PRIN)
As described in the document entitled TER), 16, there is a known device in which a recording medium is wound and held around a cylindrical holding member (platen) for recording. That is, in this recording apparatus, first, a recording medium (for example, a rectangular recording paper cut to a predetermined size) is wound around the outer periphery of a cylinder called a platen, with 1 it A fixed thereon. Next, the platen wrapped around the recording object is rotated, and during one rotation, a thermal head is pressed through it and heated.
Record image information. Then, when it rotates again, it is transferred to a color die sheet of a different color and recorded, thus overlapping recording of multiple colors is performed.

As mentioned above, in this recording device, since the recording medium is fixed to the cylindrical platen, there is an advantage that color shift does not occur when overlapping recording of several colors is performed in a row for 5 seconds, but the recording medium If the size fI (i.e., the size of the recording paper) is increased, the diameter of the platen must be inevitably increased in order to wrap the recording medium around the platen without any excess. Therefore, the diameter of the platen must be increased. The dimensions and overall dimensions of the device, especially the thickness of the device, increase, which also increases costs.

In addition, as other devices of this type, JP-A No. 58-140
A device as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 271 is known.

In this conventional example, rollers are arranged one by one on both sides of the platen so that the platen is sandwiched between them. , the recording medium is wrapped around the outer periphery of the platen about half a circumference (return u''I-), the recording medium is pressed around the outer periphery of the platen with two a-ra, and the recording medium is wrapped around the outer periphery of the platen about half a circumference. When the platen is rotated in a predetermined direction, the two rollers both perform 1Mk, and the recording medium wrapped around the platen is fed in one direction. A thermal head is pressed against a recording medium through an ink carrier called an ink film and heated, and image information is recorded sequentially from the recording start position on the recording medium.Then,
When the recording position of the thermal head reaches the recording end position of the recording medium, the platen is rotated in the opposite direction to the above-mentioned predetermined direction, the recording medium is sent in the opposite direction, and the recording medium is returned to the recording start position of the recording medium. Back to the page. In this case, the hue of the ink film is replaced with the hue of amber (this ink film is made up of multiple colors of ink in the longitudinal direction and is shaped like a band), and then again from the recording start position of the recording medium. Make a record. By repeating the above-described operations, dot-matching recording of a plurality of colors was performed in this recording length 1.

With this recording device, even large-sized recording media can be used, so a platen with a relatively small diameter is required, and the size of the compatible thermal head and the overall size of the device, especially the thickness, can be reduced. When trying to perform overlapping recording of multiple colors, when changing the coloring material to another hue, it is necessary to move the recording medium back and forth as described above, and the load differs depending on the driving direction, so it is necessary to move the recording medium back and forth. Each time the process is repeated, the position of the recording medium changes, resulting in color misregistration.

In addition, as another device with this virtue,
There is one described in Publication No. 2.

In this conventional example, the first and second a
- rollers are placed in parallel, and the two rollers are connected by a belt. First, a recording medium (recording paper, etc.) is wound around the surface of the belt with the -y angle fixed. Next, the belt with the recording medium wrapped around it is rotated between the two rollers by rotationally driving the rollers, and during one rotation of the belt, the ink donor sheet is placed on the wrapped recording medium. (This ink donor sheet is in the form of a belt, and monochromatic inks 1 of different tones are sequentially formed in units of length equal to the outer circumference of the belt in the longitudinal direction.) ), the thermal head is pressed and heated between the two, and image information is recorded. Then, the color of the ink donor sheet was changed to another color, and recording was performed again while the belt rotated once, thereby recording the false ridged colors.

However, in this recording device, the belt is an elastic body and therefore expands and contracts (for example, the state of expansion and contraction is different when it is in contact with the roller and when it is not), but the recording medium does not expand and contract. If one end of the recording medium is fixed to the belt surface, the recording medium may lift up from the belt surface while the belt is rotating, causing slack, and this slack may catch on other parts and cause the recording to be interrupted. There is a possibility that the media may wrinkle. Furthermore, if slippage occurs between the belt and the cola, the position of the recording medium wound around the belt may change, resulting in color misregistration, which has not been considered in the past.

Further, the conveyance path for circulating the recording medium has a loop shape that follows the shape of the belt. If the diameter of the a-ra is unnecessarily reduced, the degree of the recording medium will vary depending on the rigidity of the recording medium, but in general, when the recording medium is wound around the drum via the belt, the recording medium will float up from the belt, and the The paper may not be conveyed properly, resulting in color misalignment. Therefore, the drum diameter must be at least a certain level (for example, 4Qmmφ).
However, the problem of reducing the cross-sectional area and volume χ inside the conveyance path was not considered.

Furthermore, if the parallelism of the two a-ra is out of alignment, the belt and recording medium will run skewed (skinny), which can also cause color misregistration, and to correct it, it is necessary to change the position of the rollers. In the past, IL did not take into consideration the disadvantages such as the need for large-scale adjustments.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In the present invention, a thermal transfer recording device that brings a recording medium and an ink carrier into contact with each other and selectively applies heat to the ink carrier to transfer the ink to the recording medium is equipped with a cylindrical roller, and the rotation of the roller generates a driving force to the recording medium. a driving force applying means for conveying the recording medium by adding the driving force, a turning section for changing the conveying direction of the recording medium conveyed by the driving force applying means, and a transport path for an outgoing path and a return path connecting the driving force applying means and the turning section. At least one of the outgoing path and the incoming path of the circulating conveyance path consisting of
- A recess is formed between the driving force applying means and the folded portion by making the diameter shorter than the diameter of the roller, and an ink carrier roller for winding the ink carrier is disposed in the recess.

Furthermore, as an optimal aspect, the present invention is provided with a curvature adjustment means that independently changes the curvature of the transport path in the forward and return paths of M'lJ in the width direction.

[Effect]

Inks of a plurality of colors are transferred to the recording medium by passing it through the circulation path a predetermined number of times.

Since the ink carrier roller is disposed in the recess between the driving force applying means and the folded portion, the volume of the thermal transfer recording device can be reduced. In particular, the height can be reduced.

Further, the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention can prevent the recording medium from kneeling by independently changing the curvature of the forward and backward transport paths in the width direction using the curvature adjustment means, thereby producing prints with less color unevenness. [Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a thermal transfer recording device as an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, at 5, a recording medium 1 is inserted into a recording medium input port 3 provided in the apparatus 2, and recording is performed. Attire! 2
Internally, color materials of a plurality of hues or a single hue are transferred onto the recording medium 1 for recording. After recording is finished, tcr1i is released from the outlet 4.
The recording medium 1 is sent out to the outside of L2, and recording ends.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the internal structure of a thermal transfer recording apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates the aforementioned recording nude body, and 3 and 4vX also represent the aforementioned inlet and outlet. In addition, 5 is the recording department,
6 is a driving force applying roller, 7 is a thermal head, 8 is an outbound path of the conveyance path, 9 is a return path of the conveyance path, 10 is a return path of the machine conveyance path, 11 is an ejection sector, 12 is an ink carrier, and 15 is an ink layer , 14 is a folding roller, 15 is a recording medium pressing roller, 16 is a minute 40-roller, 17 is a take-up reel, 18 is a supply reel, and 19 is a recording medium detection sensor.

The ink carrier 12 has an ink layer 13 on the surface of the film-like material.
is formed and wound around the supply reel 18. One end of the ink carrier is attached to a take-up reel 17, and the used portion is taken up by the take-up reel.

First, the general operation will be explained.

As shown in FIG.
The recording medium 1 reaches the recording section 5 configured by the following, and there, the recording medium 1, which has been recorded with the following 5 degrees, reaches the recording 8s5 again through the forward path 8 of the conveyance path A, the return path 10, and the return path 9. This time, record 1 in another color. In this way, after recording the required number of times (that is, the number of colors that should be recorded), the recording wave and the discharge sector 11 provided in a part of the conveyance path A rotate in the arrow direction α direction to the position iL shown by the dashed line.
The recording medium 1 is moved in a housing and is ejected to the outside of the apparatus 2 from an ejection port 4 via its ejection sector 11.

Next, the structure of the mechanism will be explained. The above transport route A
is formed in a loop-shaped circulation path, and records 855,
Outward route 8, return section 10. and a return route 9. Here, the recording unit 5 is provided with a driving force adding unit a-
A roller 6 is provided, and the recording medium 1 is driven by the frictional force caused by the pressing force from the driving force applying roller 6 and the thermal 5 head 7 as the driving force applying roller 66 rotates. At this point, the circumferential length of the driving force applying roller 6 is set to be shorter than the length of the recording medium (for example, the length of the recording medium is 30 mm).
07n! rL1 sword mouth with driving force - driving force long sword 12Qmm
.

etc.), it is not possible to wrap the entire outer circumference of the driving force applying a-ra 6 for recording media. That is, only a portion of the recording medium is wrapped around the outer periphery of the driving force applying a-roller 6, and the remaining portion is within the conveyance path A.

Here, although there are differences in degree depending on the rigidity of the recording medium, the driving force applying a-ra 6 is generally required to have a curvature below a certain level ( For example, it is necessary to have an IthB curvature radius of 20 mm, and the curvature cannot be made unnecessarily large (the curvature radius is small).

Note that the same applies to the folded portion 10. In this embodiment, the folding roller 14 is reinstalled as a guide member.

The conveyance path has an outward path 8 and a return path 9, which are separate paths so as not to interfere with each other. and the diameters D1 and D2 of the folded portion 10.

Now, the operation of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be explained in detail, starting with the recording section 5.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the recording section 5 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the intermediate recording medium 12 is provided with an ink layer 13 (sublimation dye layer) on one surface thereof, and between the thermal head 7 and the driving force applying roller 6.
The ink carrier 12 and the recording medium 1 are pressed against each other in such a manner that the ink layer 13 comes into contact with the surface of the recording medium 10 pieces 1l11.

On the other hand, the thermal head 7 is operated in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the figure (
A required number of heating elements 13 (the number of recording dots) are attached along the main scanning direction.

Here, an appropriate current is applied to each heating element attached to the thermal head 7 according to artist information using means not shown, and the ink carrier 12 in contact with the heating element is caused to generate heat.
The part of the ink layer 13 of is sublimated, and )0"i!K 1 !
ffi&Cftft,,-cat:"6-8・1, after recording one line in the main scanning direction, 710 e with driving force
! - When the roller 6 is rotated in the sub-scanning direction (direction of arrow B),
The recording medium 1 and the ink carrier 12 (including the ink layer 13) move, and the next line can be recorded.

The color tone of the ink layer 130 provided on one surface of the ink carrier 12 can be easily varied depending on the type of coloring material (dye) used. Further, particularly when performing one-overlapping recording of a plurality of colors, the ink/1i13 of the ink carrier 12 is painted in a plurality of tones along its longitudinal direction (movement direction). Note that it is sufficient that each colored turtle in the longitudinal direction is longer than the length required for recording.

Therefore, after one screen has been recorded on the surface of one side of the recording medium 1, when the ink layer 13 of a different tone of the ink carrier 12 is used to record on the already recorded surface of the one side of the recording medium 1,
It is possible to express a mixed tone of two different colors. Of course, the same applies to three colors or four colors.

Next, the fixed portion of the recording medium conveyance path and the forward path will be explained.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the outward path 8 portion of the recording medium conveyance path in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the forward path 8 of the fixing member provided on the conveyance path consists of an upper guide member 25 and a lower guide member 26. The fixing 18822 is fixed to the device 2 by means not shown.

One of the movable reach portions 23 is fixed to one part of the length 12 by curvature adjustment screws 20 and 20' and adjustment springs 21 and 21' that push these. Further, the lower guide member i6 and the upper guide member 25 are connected to each other by a joining member 24, and are configured to maintain a uniform interval.

If the mounting position of the upper guide member is changed by turning the curvature adjustment screw 20 or 20', the curvature can be set differently in the layer direction of the conveyance path. That is,
By passing the recording medium through the transport path χ having different curvatures in the width direction, the direction in which the medium travels can be changed.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the curvature change shown in FIG. 4 above. Turn the curvature adjustment screw 20 on one side, and then turn the remaining curvature adjustment screw 20.
If the attachment by ' is different from the position, the curvature of each part can be different as shown in the path of points Hc and D. Here, since the driving force addition a-ra 6 and the turning a-ra part 140 position t (m-reverse part E and contact part F) do not change, the a-path shown in C and D is r,
From the relationship Cr and r4, <r4), there is a relationship of route D>route C.

In other words, the recording medium that has passed through this conveyance path advances in the portions that follow the path C, and lags behind the portions that follow the path alone, and when the medium reaches the turn-back roller 14,
The medium is rotated in the width direction at a constant angle with respect to the original conveyance direction, and can be intentionally skinned.

Here, 71Q c! with driving force. - When attaching the roller 6 and the turn-back roller 14, if the above-mentioned skinny head on the returning path is set to offset the skinny in the conveyance path of the ΔC recording medium due to errors, skinny head can be easily prevented. can.

Next, the overall zero operation of this embodiment will be explained in detail using FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording medium 1 is first loaded through the input port 5.
It is taken into the inside of the apparatus by the folding roller 14, and then sent to the return path 9 of the recording medium conveyance path, and reaches the recording m5. Incidentally, when the recording medium 1 is pushed by the folding Ω-terra 14 and the folding slo, the leading edge of the recording medium 1 moves straight in the return path 9 due to the rigidity of the medium itself.

The recording medium 1 that has reached the recording section 5 is pressed by the recording medium pressing roller 1
7101 with driving force by 5:"- is pressed down by 6,
Due to the frictional force at this time, the driving force addition a-ra 6 rotates (
(rotating in the direction of arrow B), the intermediate recording medium 12 is closely layered with the intermediate recording medium 12. Further, due to the rotation of the driving force adding roller 6, the driving force adding roller 6, the recording medium 1, and the ink carrier 12 move together to the contact area with the thermal head 7, and from there,
It is sent by the pressing force of the thermal head 7; 4 frictional forces. A separation roller 16 is provided next to the thermal head 70, and the ink carrier 12 is separated from the recording medium 1 and advances to a take-up reel 17 located above the outgoing path 8 of the conveyance path. This take-up sling 17 is housed in a space of a curvature part provided in the conveyance path and having a J in its curvature outside the conveyance path.

- 10,000, the new record carrier 12 is placed on a supply reel 18 which is pre-wound. The supply reel is braked by means not shown, and the ink carrier 1 is applied with a force VC* in the opposite direction to the rotation of the driving force applying roller 6.
2 is supplied to the j feed path.

A recording medium layer fls detection sensor 19 is provided next to the separation a-ra 16, and detects the tip of the recording medium 1 to detect that the recording medium 1 has reached the position where the recording medium 1 can be steered. The signal from the recording medium detection sensor 19 drives a drive circuit for a thermal head (not shown) and starts recording continuous images.

As continuous recording progresses, the recording medium 1 advances within the conveyance path and then turns back to slo. Here, the folding a-ra 14 is driven by a driving method 710 a- by means not shown.
It rotates with the same circumference as La6. The recording medium 1 advances along the feed path after passing through the turn s10, and when the recording for one color is completed, the beginning of the medium is in the return path 9, and the recording of the next color is continued. be able to. For recording the next color, similarly to the first color, the tip fa of the recording medium 1 is amortized by the recording medium 11 portion detection sensor 19, and 2f! is recorded at the same position as the first color. ! , be able to make an eye record. After completing the recording for the predetermined number of colors through the above operations,
The ejection sector 11 is moved to the position 1!11α indicated by the dashed line by means (not shown) (such as a plunger solenoid). Thereby, the recording medium 1 that has passed through the recording section 5 is discharged from the discharge port 4 to the outside of the apparatus via the forward path 8 of the conveyance path and the discharge sector 11.

In carrying out the present invention, in addition to the recording method using a sublimable dye, it is also possible to use a recording method using a hot bath meltable solid pigment.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of the internal mechanism of another embodiment according to the present invention.

In FIG. 6, members similar to those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers. In addition, 26 is a folded sliding plate, and 27 is a guide piece.

As shown in FIG. 6, the conveyance path for the recording medium is formed into a loop-shaped circulation path, and consists of a recording section 5, an outgoing path 8, a turning point 10, and a returning path 9vc. In this example, a sliding plate 26 with a curvature is provided as a guide member for the folded portion 100.

) Yu. f<Q[26cm11. . Yay! ? 27#, each guide piece is connected to a drive means (not shown) that rotates at the same speed as the circumferential speed of the driving force applying roller 6 during recording, and when the recording medium 1 is inserted. And at the time of ejection, the small power addition a-ra 6 rotates independently.

The conveyance path has an outgoing path 8 and a return path 9, which are separated from each other so as not to interfere with each other. 2 If (2rt
). The other operations are the same as those explained in the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, so the explanation thereof will be omitted. FIG. It shows a cross-sectional view of the internal mechanism. In FIG. 7, the same numbers 'C' are given to the same members as in the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 6. In addition, 28 is a driving force adding roller 6
is the rotation direction arrow.

In this embodiment, the outer periphery of the supply reel 18 of the ink carrier 12 forms part of the return path 9 of the recording medium transport path. The central axis of rotation of the reel is freely supported in the vertical direction in FIG. Return trip 9
is in contact with the fixed member. The diameter of the ink carrier 12 changes depending on the convenient type of the ink carrier 12, but - point A + W
As shown in C, it is always in contact with the fixed member of the return path 9. In addition, the rotational direction of the reel is cut by %11 by a handle (not shown), and the driving force applying roller 6
When the ink carrier 12 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow 28, the ink carrier 12
is derived from a certain root. In the Fushouho example as well, the operation of the recording section 5 is similar to that shown in FIG.
:I Therefore, the explanation of its operation will be omitted.

As shown in the fifth factor, the recording medium 1 is connected to the recording medium input port 3.
When the recording medium 1 is further introduced into the apparatus, it is pushed by the feed roller pair 14 and the folding section 10, and the leading edge of the recording medium 1 advances in the return path 9 of the conveyance path due to the y411 nature of the medium.

Then, the ink body 12 comes into contact with the outer periphery of the supply reel 18, and is further carried into the system by the tension of the ink carrier 12 and distributed to the recording section 5. At this time, since the ink carrier 12 and the recording medium advance at the same speed, each of them forms a dense layer for recording s5.
King.

After the desired number of colors have been recorded, the recording medium 1 is printed with tcTi!, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. be discharged to the outside.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) Because a part of the conveyance path where the recording medium circulates is provided with a part with a distance between the outgoing path and the return path, the volume of the conveyance path can be reduced, and as a result, the volume of the entire loading device can be reduced. I can also call it Ding.

(2) Easily move the left and right sides of the recording medium transport forward path in the width direction.
14 path lengths can be adjusted independently, making it easy to prevent skew and enable highly accurate color correction.
The mechanism becomes realizable.

(3) As mentioned above, since the conveyance path can be reduced to ``body'', one take-up reel for the intermediate recording medium can be stored in this reduced portion, resulting in i! It is possible to reduce the total overall thickness.

(4) 7JQ C: 1-L with driving force for the recording medium has been increased to more than 210 degrees, which increases the degree of freedom in power distribution in the return section of the recording medium transport path, allowing for freedom in the layout within the device. As the efficiency increases, it becomes possible to realize a device with the construction of a woodcutter.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an external view of the entire device according to the illustration shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. S is an illustration of the actual structure of Fig. FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the return path of the fixed guide part of the conveyance path in the embodiment of the first cause, and the fifth figure is a partial cross-sectional view of the recording part of the example image, and the fifth figure is the change in the conveyance path shown in No. 41A. An explanatory diagram of the situation, Figure '#J6 is a cross-sectional view 1 showing the internal configuration of another example of failure according to the present invention, and Figure 47 is the 'h configuration of still another embodiment due to the uninventiveness. A cross-sectional view of the cross section is shown. 1... Recording medium l... Recording device 5...
Note @ part 6... Driving force addition roller 7.
...Thermal head 8...Transportation deity's outward journey 9...
・Return route 1o...Turn around capital 11...
Ejection sector 12...Intermediate recording medium 14...
Folding roller 17... wide weir reel 18...
・Supply reel, Part 1' Agent Patent attorney Ogawa, Naoman J 2 times

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A thermal transfer recording device that brings a recording medium and an ink carrier into contact with each other, selectively applies heat to the ink carrier, and transfers the ink to the recording medium. a driving force applying means for conveying the recording medium by applying a driving force to the driving force; a folding section for changing the conveyance direction of the recording medium conveyed by the driving force applying means; and an outward path and a return path connecting the driving force applying means and the turning means. By giving a curvature to at least one of the circulation conveyance path consisting of a conveyance path and the outbound and inbound conveyance paths, and making the distance between the outbound and inbound conveyance paths shorter than the diameter of the roller, the driving force can be reduced. A thermal transfer recording device comprising: a recess formed between the adding means and the folding means; and an ink carrier roller disposed in the recess and winding the ink carrier. (2) The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising curvature adjusting means for independently changing the curvature of the forward and backward transport paths in the width direction of the transport path. (3) the ink carrier roller contacts the recording medium;
3. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a driving force is applied to the recording medium by the ink carrier roller.