TWI255236B - Thermal printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A thermal printing apparatus includes a heating roller (3) and a thermal head (1). The roller (3) is pressed against a recording surface of thermal recording paper being transported along a paper transport path in order to erase an image on the paper. The thermal head (1) is pressed against the recording surface in order to record an image thereon by heating. Disposed upstream of the thermal head (1) is a cleaning section provided with a cleaning roller (4) which has an adhesive surface. The paper is transported between the cleaning roller (4) and a platen roller (12) which is arranged to face the roller (4), so that foreign objects, such as dust, on the recording surface are removed by the roller (4).

Description

1255236 IX. Description of the Invention: [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a thermal printing apparatus which can perform image recording control on paper using a thermal recording material. [Prior Art] There have been many proposals for a thermal printer having a thermal head (or a thermal head (t h e r m a 1 h e a d )) that is in contact with a thermosensitive recording material to perform image recording. In addition, a certain type of thermal type 歹1J printer, for example, a color-developing reversible thermal recording material using a colorless (1 euc〇) dye and a reversible color developing agent (for example, refer to Patent Document 1) A rewritable printing device that performs image recording by means of a thermal head and uses a heating roller to erase an image (for example, refer to Patent Document 2). Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-100

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, such a thermal printing device that performs image recording by using a thermal recording paper by using a thermal recording paper, and directly heats the heat of the thermal head to the paper because the thermal head contacts the paper. The thermal recording surface, when a foreign matter such as dust adheres to the recording surface of the paper, the portion of the recording surface of the paper cannot be normally conveyed, and the image cannot be normally recorded (ie, printing) Bad problem. In particular, the aforementioned rewritable printing device is capable of repeating approximately 312XP/invention specification (supplement)/94-08/94112215

1255236 Reversible thermal recording paper is used hundreds of times, so the recording surface will be contaminated with dust or oil as it is used, and the above problem becomes remarkable. This type of rewritable printing device must have reversible sexy The hot paper is heated and then slowly cooled to remove the image on the paper. In this image erasing step, the heating roller which presses the recording surface of the paper to a certain temperature is used, and although the heat can be directly conveyed to the recording surface, at this time, the dust is attached to the recording surface of the paper. When the foreign object is not in use, the part will not be properly heat-transmitted and the Φ image will be erased badly (that is, the image is not completely eliminated). As a result, there is a problem that images are not formed at a high quality. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recorded image of a South quality which can solve the above problems and which can be obtained. (Means for Solving the Problem) The present invention provides a paper transport path having a recording paper capable of transporting a heat-recording image, and a recording surface of the thermal recording paper transported on the paper transport path. The image recording unit that heats the image of the thermal recording head while being heated by the thermal head; The cleaning roller having adhesiveness on the surface is disposed on the upper side of the image recording unit. Further, according to the present invention, the thermal recording paper is a thermal recording paper which can reproduce the reversibility of the image by the action of heat, and the thermal recording 312XP/invention specification (supplement)/94 which is transported to the paper transport path. -08/94112215 Due to ash. When the recording image is erased until the paper is grayed out, the recording surface of the paper and the paper 1255236 is pressed and heated to the heating roller, and the heating is slowly cooled after heating. The image erasing unit that erases the image on the paper is disposed on the upstream side of the image recording unit, and the cleaning unit is disposed on the upstream side of the image erasing unit on the paper transport path. (effect of the invention)

According to the present invention, in the paper conveyance path of the paper conveyance path, by touching the cleaning roller while rotating on the recording surface thereof, the dust or the oil adhering to the recording surface of the thermal recording paper is sucked and removed by removing the adhesive effect of the surface of the roller. Wait for foreign objects. Therefore, the recording surface can be transported to the image recording unit in a clean state, and a high-quality image can be formed. Further, according to the present invention, the erasing portion is provided on the upstream side of the image erasing portion, and the foreign matter such as dust or oil adhering to the recording surface of the reversible thermosensitive recording paper can be removed. The heat of the heating roller can be appropriately transferred to the recording surface of the paper to perform image erasing. Thereby, it is possible to prevent image erasure failure and form a south quality image in the image recording unit. [Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a top view showing the internal configuration of a printing apparatus 100 of an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the A-A portion of Figure 2. On the right side of Figs. 1 and 2 of the printing apparatus 100, a lifting table 14 for holding a large amount of paper and an additional paper feeding tray 16 are provided. The sheet placed on the elevating table 14 is raised by the elevating table 14 and the left end portion of the uppermost sheet is abutted to the pick-up roller 9. Here, the drive shaft of the pick-up roller 9 is provided with a clutch 1 9, 7 312XP / invention manual (supplement) / 9 ^ 08 / 94112215 1255236 in the state of the clutch 1 9 Ο N, the pick-up roller 9 will be in the figure 1 turns in the right direction. Thereby, the paper is conveyed to the left direction in the drawing. Since the paper feed roller 6 is rotated in the right direction in the drawing, the supplied paper is conveyed to the left direction in this state. A clutch is provided on the drive shaft of the resistive roller (r e s i s t r ο 1 1 e r ) 2 1 , and in the clutch 0 F F state, the leading end of the supplied paper (the left end of Fig. 1) abuts the resistive roller 2 1 . Next, by the above-mentioned clutch Ο N, the resistive roller 21 is rotated in the left direction to convey the sheet to the left direction in the drawing.

Similarly, the leading end (the left end in the drawing) of the uppermost sheet of paper placed on the paper feed tray 16 abuts the pickup roller 8. The drive shaft of the pick-up roller 8 is provided with a clutch 18, and after the clutch 18 is in the N state, the pick-up roller 8 is rotated to the right in Fig. 1 to convey the sheet to the left. Since the paper feed roller 7 is rotated to the right of the figure, the supplied paper can be conveyed to the left. A clutch is provided on the drive shaft of the resistive roller 20, and in the 〇F F state of the clutch, the leading end of the supplied paper abuts the resistive roller 20. Next, by the ΟN state of the clutch, the resistive roller 20 is rotated in the left direction to transport the paper to the left of the figure. In the paper transport path, an R/W unit 5 such as a read/write of a non-contact type I C tag is disposed between the transport roller 13 and the transport roller 2 2 . The drive shaft of the transport roller 13 is provided with a clutch 15 for transporting the roller when the non-contact IC tag R / W portion 5 of the paper loaded in the middle of the transfer reaches the readable and writable position. The clutch 1 1 0 0 FF of 1 3 stops the paper in this state. In this state where the sheet is stopped, the R / W portion 5 reads and writes the data to the non-contact type I C label. Thereafter, the clutch 15 5 Ο N of the roller 13 is transported, and the paper 8 312XP/invention manual (supplement)/94-08/94112215 1255236 sheets are conveyed. The transport roller 2 2 is a person who transports the paper to the front (the left direction of the figure). Before the conveyance roller 2 2 is disposed, the cleaning roller 4 and the flat roller 12 that faces the driving roller are disposed to constitute a cleaning portion. When the paper passes between the roller 4 and the flat roller 12, the cleaning roller 4 removes dust adhering to the upper surface (recording surface) of the paper. Further, the heating roller 3 and the flat roller 1 for driving the roller are disposed in front of the cleaning roller 4 to constitute an image erasing portion. When the paper passes between the heating roller 3 and the flat roller 11, the Φ can raise the paper to a certain temperature. The cooling fan 2, 2 which can spray air to the front and back sides of the paper is disposed above the paper conveying path in front of the heating roller 3 to constitute a cooling portion. By the cooling fans 2 and 2 above and below, the temperature of the paper conveyed therebetween can be gradually lowered. This erases the image recorded on the paper.

The cooling fans 2 and 2 are further flown downward than the cooling unit, and the thermal head 1 and the flat roller 10 that can hold the paper between the thermal heads 1 are disposed to constitute an image recording unit. When the leading end of the paper reaches the lower portion of the thermal head 1, the thermal head 1 is lowered to abut against the recording surface of the paper, and the image is recorded by the driving of the thermal head together with the conveyance of the paper. The conveyance rollers 24 and 25 and the normal paper discharge unit 40 are disposed downstream of the position of the thermal head 1, and the paper after the image recording is carried out can be conveyed/discharged to the normal paper discharge unit 40. Further, between the transport roller 2 2 and the flat roller 12, there is provided an abnormal paper discharge portion 50 which can be discharged to the lower side by the baffle (ί 1 a p p e r ). 9 312XP/Invention Manual (Supplement)/94-08/941122] 5 1255236 FIG. 3 is a view showing the configuration of the vicinity of the cleaning portion having the above-described cleaning roller 4. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a portion thereof. The cleaning roller 4 is a synthetic rubber-based roller such as a nitrile rubber (N B R ) series or a roller of a silicone rubber series, which can improve the adhesion of the surface. For example, the above-mentioned synthetic rubber series of rollers can be used with a hardness of 15 ° to 30 ° (J I S - K - 6 2 5 3 rubber hardness test), and an adhesive force of 30 to 180 h a. Further, the roller of the silicone rubber series can be used at a hardness of 3 ° to 7 °, and the adhesive force is smaller than that of the above synthetic rubber series.

This clearing roller 4 is as shown in Fig. 4, and the shaft is supported on the clearing roller unit 29. The pressing unit 36 has a compression coil 2 which can press the cleaning roller unit 29 downward, and the pressing member 36 is fixed by attaching the coupling member 35 to the printing apparatus body. Thereby, the pressing unit 36 can press the cleaning roller unit 29 to the lower flat roller 1 2 at a constant pressure. The cleaning roller 4 has a reduced adhesion due to adhesion of dust or oil to the surface as it is used. When the adhesive force is lower than a predetermined value or a certain period of time is used, the above-mentioned cleaning roller unit 29 can be detached from the printing device body and washed with water or alcohol. Since the synthetic resin of the nitrile rubber (N B R ) series or the cleaning roller of the silicone rubber series can recover the adhesive force by the cleaning, it can be used repeatedly. The heating roller 3 and the pressure roller 11 are disposed on the downstream side (the left side of FIG. 3) on the conveying path of the above-described cleaning roller 4. A cleaning felt mounting member 30 is detachably disposed beside the mounting position of the heating roller 3. A cleaning felt 27 is adhered to the cleaning felt mounting member 30. In the state in which the cleaning felt mounting member 30 is mounted, the cleaning felt 27 is heated to a predetermined pressure in the full width direction of the heating roller 3 at 10 312 XP / invention manual (supplement) / 94-08/941 ] 2215 1255236 Pick up. Thereby, when the heating roller 3 is rotated together with the flat roller 1 1 as the driving roller, the surface of the heating roller 3 can be cleaned by the cleaning felt 27. Therefore, when the paper which removes the dust or oil on the recording surface between the roller 4 and the flat roller 12 is passed between the heating roller 3 and the flat roller 11, the recording surface of the paper is uniformly conveyed. The heat of the heating roller 3, the recording surface of the paper is equally raised to a certain temperature. Further, since the surface of the heating roller 3 is also kept clean by the action of the cleaning felt 27, the paper φ sheets pass through the heating roller 3, and the recording surface of the paper is also kept in a clean state. The paper used in the present embodiment is composed of a color-developable reversible thermal recording material. The recording material may be, for example, a substrate; a colorless (1 e u 〇 ) dye and a reversible color developing agent; and a protective layer; Here, the reversible heat sensitive layer may be, for example, those described in the above Patent Document 1. The properties of the reversible thermosensitive layer are as follows. That is, as shown in Fig. 7, after the heat sensitive layer is heated to a molten state (heated to exceed the melting point of 1 0 1 ),

When the air is cooled, it goes to the path 1 0 3 and becomes the coloring state 1 0 2 . On the one hand, when the heating is in a molten state, when it is slowly cooled, it goes to the path 1 0 4 and becomes a decolorized state 1 0 5 . In the chromonic state 1 0 2, even if it is kept at a temperature slightly lower than the melting point 1 0 1 , it will go to the path 1 0 6 and become a decolorized state. Figure 5 is a block diagram of the control portion of the printing device 100 for this purpose. The control circuit 70 implements the respective controls as follows. • A drive signal is output to the motor 17 of the lift table 14 by the drive unit 75. • The drive signals are output by the drive units 7 7 and 7 8 of the clutches 1 8 and 1 9 of the pick-up rollers, 11 312 XP / invention manual (supplement) / 94-08/941 ] 22 ] 5 1255236. The shutter unit 5 2 that discharges the abnormal paper toward the abnormal paper discharge unit 50 by the drive unit 76 outputs a signal. The drive unit 74 outputs a signal to the clutch 15 of the R / W section. • Use the R/W section 5 to read and write the non-contact I C tag implementation data for the built-in paper. • Heating control of the heating roller 3 is performed by the driving unit 73.

• A drive signal is output to the thermal head lift motor 26 by the drive unit 72. • A drive signal is output to the thermal head 1 by the drive unit 71. • Read the operation contents of the operation unit 79 such as a key switch. • A detection signal of various sensors 80 such as a sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper on a plurality of positions on the paper conveyance path or a sensor that detects the temperature of the heating roller 3 is read. • Input and output of data between interface 90 and host computer 1 10 0. Next, the processing sequence of the control circuit 70 shown in Fig. 5 will be described with reference to Fig. 6 . Fig. 6 is a flow chart showing a series of flows controlled by the control circuit 70 from the paper feed to the discharge. First, the paper is fed by picking up the clutch of the roller 8 or 9 or the side Ο N of 18 or 19, and at the same time, the conveyance is started (step S1). As a result of reading by the sensor that detects the position of the paper on the paper transport path, if it is detected that the paper reaches the R/W portion 5, the clutch 1 1 of the transport roller 1 of the R/W portion 5 is turned on. FF (step S 2 - step S 3 ). In this state, the non-contact type I C tag in the sheet approaches the R / W portion 5, and the R / W portion 5 reads the material from the non-contact type I C tag (step S4). 12 312XP/Invention Manual (Supplement)/94-08/941122] 5 1255236 Checking whether the data from the non-contact IC tag is correctly read (readout status) (step S 5 ), if it is normal, respond The bitmap data to be image-recorded is generated on the paper in response to the data written on the non-contact IC tag or in response to the instruction of the host computer 110 (step S6). Next, the paper is conveyed again by the clutch 1 50 N (step S7). Thereby, the paper is removed from between the roller 4 and the flat roller 12, and the recording surface of the paper is removed (step S8).

Thereafter, if the paper passes through the heating roller 3, the recording surface of the paper is heated to a certain temperature (a predetermined temperature of about 150 ° C to 200 ° C), and then after cooling, the erased surface can be eliminated. The recorded image (step S9). Further, by driving the cooling fan 2, the heat accumulated in the paper conveying path and the paper can be suppressed, and the recording surface of the paper can be kept at a predetermined temperature range when the image is recorded by the thermal head. Then, when the leading end of the paper reaches the head position of the thermal head 1, the thermal head lifting motor 26 is driven to abut the head of the thermal head 1 to drive the thermal head 1 to record a new image (step S10) ). Further, the paper is conveyed as it is and discharged to the normal paper discharge unit 40 (step S 1 1 ). If the data cannot be read from the non-contact IC tag, or if the data read is abnormal, the baffle 52 is raised, and the clutch of the R/W is 15 Ο N, and the paper is oriented abnormally. The paper discharge unit 50 discharges (step S5 - step S 1 2 - step S 1 3 - step S 1 4 ). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the inside of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is 13 312XP/invention specification (supplement)/94-08/94] 122] 1 1255236 A-A of FIG. Part of the section view. 2 is a view showing the inside of the printing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a partially removed perspective view of the printing apparatus. FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of the cleaning unit. FIG. A flowchart 7 showing the processing procedure of the above-described control unit is a graph showing the relationship between the sensible color density and temperature which can be used in the above printing apparatus.

Surface map. The composition chart is near.方块 The block diagram. Figure. Reversible thermal layer of paper [Main component symbol description] 1 Thermal head 2, 2 Cooling fan 3 Heating roller 4 Clearing roller 5 R / W Part 6, 7 Supply roller 8, 9 Pick roller 1 0, 1 1 1 2 flat roller 13, 22, 24, 25 transport roller 14 lift table 15, 18, 19 clutch 16 paper feed tray 17 lift motor 20, 21 impedance roller 26 sensation lift motor 312XP / invention manual ( Supplement) /94-08/94112215 14 1255236

2 7 Clear % 28 Compression coil spring 2 9 Clear roller unit 3 0 Clear felt mount 3 5 Attachment member 3 6 Push unit 40 Normal paper discharge unit 50 Abnormal paper discharge unit 52 Baffle 70 Control circuit 7 1 , 72 > 7 3 Λ 74 Drive unit 75 76 ^ 77 , 78 Drive unit 79 Operation unit 80 Sensor 9 0 Interface 10 0 Print unit 10 1 Melting point 10 2 Color status 10 3 ^ 1 04, 1 C )6 Path 10 5 Achromatic state 11 0 Main computer 312XP / invention manual (supplement) /94-08/94112215

Claims (1)

1255236 X. Patent application scope: 1. A thermal printing device having: a paper conveying path capable of transporting heat-sensitive recording paper for recording images by heat transfer; and the aforementioned conveyance on the paper conveying path The recording surface of the thermal recording paper is pressed against the thermocouple head (therma 1 head), and the image recording portion of the image is recorded by heating of the thermal head; the thermal printing device thus formed is characterized in that In the conveyance of the paper sheet, the recording surface of the thermal recording paper is brought into contact with the recording surface of the heat-sensitive recording paper, and the cleaning portion of the cleaning roller having the adhesive surface is disposed on the upper side of the image recording unit. 2. The thermal printing device according to the first aspect of the invention, wherein the thermal recording paper is transported by the thermal recording paper 5 capable of recording and erasing the reversibility of the image by heat, and is transported on the paper transport path. The recording surface of the heat-sensitive recording paper is heated by pressure-contacting the hot roller, and after cooling, the image erasing portion that is image-erased by the paper is cooled, and is disposed above the image recording portion. On the side, the cleaning unit is disposed on the upstream side of the image erasing unit on the paper transport path. 16 312XP/Invention Manual (supplement)/94-08/941 ] 22 ] 5