JP3280170B2 - Solvent coating equipment for image formation - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming solvent coating apparatus for uniformly depositing a plurality of liquid particles on an image recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an image recording apparatus which performs an image recording process using two types of image recording materials, for example, a photosensitive material and an image receiving material.

In this type of image recording apparatus, an image forming solvent application section for applying an image forming solvent to a photosensitive material is disposed. Further, a heating drum and an outer periphery of the heating drum are pressed against each other to heat the photosensitive material. A thermal development transfer section composed of an endless pressure contact belt rotating with the drum is arranged.

The photosensitive material, to which an image has been exposed while being nipped and conveyed in an image recording apparatus, is fed to a thermal development transfer section after water as an image forming solvent is applied in an image forming solvent application section. On the other hand, the image receiving material is sent to the thermal development transfer unit in the same manner as the photosensitive material.

In the thermal development transfer section, the photosensitive material after water application is superimposed on the image receiving material, and in this state, the photosensitive material is closely wound around the outer periphery of the heating drum. Further, the photosensitive material is thermally developed while the two materials are nipped and conveyed between the heating drum and the endless pressure contact belt, and the image is transferred to the image receiving material, whereby a predetermined image is formed (recorded) on the image receiving material.

[0006]

When a liquid such as water is applied to a photosensitive material, the swelling characteristics between the surface of the photosensitive material to be coated and the liquid are poor, and the swelling time may be long. In this case, after the droplet lands on the application surface, adjacent non-permeated droplets on the application surface may aggregate with each other, resulting in application unevenness.

For example, in the case of a device such as a line jet system in which liquid droplets are scattered and the liquid droplets are made to fly on a coating surface, as shown in FIG. When the droplet L that has landed on the surface K penetrates as shown in (B) and (C), the adjacent droplets L come into contact with each other in (D) and interfere with each other due to surface tension to aggregate. I do. And after this,
Depending on the manner of aggregation, as shown by (D) to (F), the swelling occurs between the solid line and the dotted line, resulting in uneven application on the application surface K.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to provide an image forming solvent coating apparatus which prevents aggregation of a liquid on a coating surface and reduces coating unevenness.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming solvent coating apparatus which is disposed opposite to a conveying path of an image-exposed image recording material and has a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting an image forming solvent. A first head unit linearly arranged along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the image recording material at a constant interval; and a downstream side of the transport path of the image recording material with respect to the first head unit. A plurality of nozzle holes, which are arranged and eject the image forming solvent between the droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of the first head unit, are arranged at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the image recording material. And a second head unit arranged in a straight line.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming solvent coating apparatus which is disposed opposite to a conveying path of an image-exposed image recording material, and in which a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting an image forming solvent are formed at regular intervals. A first head unit in which a plurality of nozzle rows formed in a straight line along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the recording material are arranged in a staggered manner, and a transport path of the image recording material with respect to the first head unit A plurality of nozzle holes that are arranged on the downstream side and that eject the solvent for image formation between the droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of the first head unit intersect the conveying direction of the image recording material at regular intervals. And a plurality of second head units arranged in a zigzag pattern.

[0011]

The operation of the image forming solvent coating apparatus according to the first aspect will be described below.

A plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting the solvent for image formation are arranged in the first head unit at a predetermined interval in a straight line along a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the image recording material. Further, a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting the image forming solvent between the droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of the first head unit are linearly formed at a certain interval in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the image recording material. They are arranged and arranged on the second head unit.

Therefore, between the droplets ejected from the nozzle holes of the first head unit and adhered on the image recording material,
After a certain period of time has elapsed, droplets ejected from the nozzle holes of the second head unit disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport path of the image recording material adhere.

For this reason, even if the swelling characteristics are poor,
Since the distance between the plurality of droplets ejected from the nozzle holes of the first head unit can be made large, the droplets from the nozzle holes of the adjacent first head units do not come into contact with each other and aggregate.

After the plurality of droplets ejected from the nozzle holes of the first head unit penetrate into the image recording material, the droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of the second head unit are interposed between the plurality of droplets. Is attached, so that the liquid droplets from the adjacent first head unit and the liquid droplets from the second head unit are not aggregated, and the application unevenness does not occur.

The operation of the image forming solvent coating apparatus according to claim 2 will be described below. The present invention also has the same effect as the first aspect, but a nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzle holes are linearly arranged at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the image recording material is provided in each head unit. Since a plurality of rows are arranged in a zigzag pattern, a large number of droplets can be attached onto the image recording material with a small number of ejections, and can be filled in the closest packing.
The coating amount can be increased and the uniformity can be improved.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2
FIG. 1 shows an external view of the image recording apparatus 10.

A photosensitive material magazine 14 is arranged in a frame 12 of the image recording apparatus 10 shown in these figures.
The width of the photosensitive material magazine 14 is, for example, 224 m.
The photosensitive material 16 is wound and stored in a roll shape. The photosensitive material 16 has a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-providing substance, and a reducing agent on a support, and the photosensitive (exposure) surface thereof is wound downward toward the apparatus. I have.

A nip roller 18 and a cutter 20 are disposed in the vicinity of the photosensitive material outlet of the photosensitive material magazine 14, so that the photosensitive material 16 can be cut out after the photosensitive material 16 is drawn out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 by a predetermined length. The cutter 20
For example, it is a rotary type cutter including a fixed blade and a movable blade. The movable blade can be moved up and down by a rotary cam or the like to cut the photosensitive material 16 by meshing with the fixed blade. After the operation of the cutter 20, the nip roller 18
Is reversed, and the photosensitive material 16 is rewound to the extent that the tip of the photosensitive material 16 is slightly nipped by the nip roller 18.

A plurality of transport rollers 19, 21, 23, 24, 26 and a guide plate 27 are arranged on the side of the cutter 20, and the photosensitive material 16 cut to a predetermined length is exposed to the exposure unit 22. Can be transported.

The exposure section 22 includes a pair of conveying rollers, an upstream conveying roller 23 and a downstream conveying roller 2.
4 and these transport rollers 23, 2
Exposure points are provided between the exposure rollers 4, and the photosensitive material 16 passes over the exposure points while being sandwiched by the transport rollers 23 and 24, respectively. The conveying speed of the photosensitive material 16 by the conveying rollers 23 and 24 (the passing speed of the exposure unit 22) is, for example, 1
It is 2 mm / sec.

An exposure device 38 is located immediately above the exposure unit 22.
Is provided. The exposure device 38 includes three types of LDs, a lens unit, a polygon mirror, and a mirror unit (all are not shown).

Further, a switchback unit 40 is provided on the side of the exposure unit 22, and a coating device 310 for an image forming solvent is provided below the exposure unit 22. still,
In this embodiment, water is used. Sensitive Material Magazine 14
Of the photosensitive material 16 that has been exposed at the exposure section 22
Is once sent to the switchback unit 40, and then, by the reverse rotation of the conveyance roller 26, the water application unit 62 of the application device 310 passes through a conveyance path provided below the exposure unit 22.
It is configured to be sent to

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a position of the water application section 62 facing the transport path A of the photosensitive material 16 is
An ejection tank 312 as a first head unit is arranged, and an ejection tank 313 as a second head unit is arranged on the downstream side of the transport path A of the photosensitive material 16 with respect to the ejection tank 312. A pair of transport rollers 66 are disposed on the upstream side in the transport direction of the photosensitive material 16 with respect to the ejection tank 312, and two pairs of transport rollers are located on the downstream side in the transport direction of the photosensitive material 16 with respect to the ejection tank 313. 68 and 69 are arranged.

Further, above the injection tank 312,
A pool tank 314 filled with water as an image forming solvent is arranged, and a pipe 316 in which the injection tank 312 is arranged on the way is connected in a loop below the pool tank 314. In addition, the pool tank 314 is similarly connected to the injection tank 313 side via a pipe, a valve, and the like, and has the same internal structure as the injection tank 312, and redundant description will be omitted.

An upper valve 318 and a lower valve 320 are arranged at positions of the upper and lower pipes 316 with respect to the injection tank 312, respectively. The pair of valves 318 and 320 open and close the flow path in the pipe 316. You will get. Then, water sent from the pool tank 314 by gravity is stored in the injection tank 312 via the pipe 316.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, which is an enlarged view of the injection tank 312, a portion of the wall surface of the injection tank 312 facing the transport path A of the photosensitive material 16 is elastically deformable. Plate 322 formed of a thin sheet
Is installed.

As shown in FIG. 5, the head plate 322 has a plurality of nozzle holes 324 (for example, several tens μm in diameter) for jetting water stored in the jet tank 312.
m) are arranged linearly at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the photosensitive material 16. Therefore, the water in the injection tank 312 can be released from the nozzle holes 324 toward the photosensitive material 16 respectively.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Similarly, a plurality of nozzle holes 325 are
(For example, a diameter of several tens of μm) at regular intervals.
Are arranged in a straight line along a direction intersecting with the transport direction of the nozzle, as shown in this figure, so that water can be injected complementarily between water droplets injected by the nozzle holes 324 of the injection tank 312. The nozzle holes 325 are arranged on the head plate 323 so as to be shifted from the nozzle holes 324 of the injection tank 312.

Further, on these head plates 322 and 323, a monomorph or bimorph piezoelectric element 326 serving as an actuator is bonded, and a power supply (not shown) is connected to the piezoelectric element 326.

Accordingly, when power is supplied to the piezoelectric element 326 from the power supply, the piezoelectric element 326 is
To be displaced, and the central portions of the head plates 322 and 323 are displaced toward the photosensitive material 16 on the transport path A (that is, displaced along the arrow B direction which is the normal direction of the head plates 322 and 323). Will be. And this head plate 32
With the displacement of the nozzles 2 and 323 toward the photosensitive material 16 side, as shown in FIG.
Will pop out.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, a tank valve 328 is provided at a position slightly lower than the nozzle hole 324 of each of the injection tanks 312 and 313. , 313 can be communicated with the outside air and closed. The upper valve 318, the lower valve 320, and the tank valve 328 are connected to a controller 332 as shown in FIG.
2, the opening / closing operation of each of the valves 318, 320, 328 is controlled.

An air reservoir 330 surrounded by a cylindrical rib 331 is formed on the inner wall surface on the upper side in the injection tank 312.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The machine magazine 12 on the side of No. 4 is provided with a receiving material magazine 106, and an image receiving material 108 is wound up in a roll and stored. A dye fixing material having a mordant is applied to the image forming surface of the image receiving material 108, and the image forming surface is wound up toward the upper side of the apparatus.

A nip roller 110 is disposed in the vicinity of the image receiving material outlet of the material receiving magazine 106 so that the image receiving material 108 can be pulled out from the material receiving magazine 106 and the nip can be released.

A cutter 11 is provided beside the nip roller 110.
2 are arranged. The cutter 112 is, for example, a rotary type cutter including a fixed blade and a movable blade, similar to the above-described photosensitive material cutter 20, and the movable blade is moved up and down by a rotating cam or the like to engage with the fixed blade. Thereby, the image receiving material 108 drawn out from the receiving material magazine 106 is cut into a shorter length than the photosensitive material 16.

At the side of the cutter 112, a photosensitive material magazine 1 is provided.
4 is provided with an introduction end of the image receiving material transport unit 180 located on the side. In the image receiving material conveying section 180, conveying rollers 186, 190, 114 and a guide plate 182 are arranged, and the image receiving material 108 cut to a predetermined length can be conveyed to the thermal development transfer section 104.

As shown in FIG. 7, the thermal development transfer section 104 is constituted by a heating drum 116 and an endless pressure contact belt 118, and further, the heating drum 11 on the water application section 62 side.
A bonding roller 120 is disposed on the outer periphery of the roller 6.

The bonding roller 120 and the water application section 6
A guide plate 122 is provided at a position on the conveyance path of the photosensitive material 16 between the second conveyance roller 69 and the rear surface (the side opposite to the image forming surface) of the photosensitive material 16 sent from the conveyance roller 69. The photosensitive material 16 is guided to a bonding roller 120.

The laminating roller 120 is connected to the drum motor 200 via a drive system (not shown), so that the driving force of the drum motor 200 is transmitted and rotated.

The photosensitive material 16 conveyed to the thermal development transfer section 104 is sent between a bonding roller 120 and a heating drum 116. Further, the image receiving material 108 is conveyed in synchronization with the conveyance of the photosensitive material 16, and is sent between the bonding roller 120 and the heating drum 116 in a state where the photosensitive material 16 is advanced by a predetermined length (20 mm in this embodiment). And superimposed. In this case, the image receiving material 108
Since both the width dimension and the longitudinal dimension are smaller than the photosensitive material 16, the periphery of the photosensitive material 16 is superimposed with all four sides projecting from the periphery of the image receiving material 108. .

Inside the heating drum 116, a pair of halogen lamps 132A and 132B are arranged. The halogen lamps 132A and 132B are, for example, 400
The output is W and 450 W, and the surface of the heating drum 116 can be heated to a predetermined temperature (for example, about 82 ° C.) by increasing the temperature. In this case, the two halogen lamps 132A and 132B are used together at the start of the temperature rise, and the other halogen lamps 132A and 132B are used during the normal operation thereafter.
Only 2A is used.

The endless pressure contact belt 118 has five winding rollers 134, 135, 136, 138, 140
The outer peripheral surface between the winding roller 134 and the winding roller 140 is pressed against the outer periphery of the heating drum 116.

On the other hand, the winding roller 140 is connected to the drum motor 200 via a drive system not shown, and the driving force of the drum motor 200 is transmitted so that the winding roller 140 is rotated. ing. When the wrapping roller 140 is rotated, the endless pressure contact belt 118 wrapped around the wrapping roller 140 is rotated, and accordingly, the rotational force of the endless pressure contact belt 118 is applied to the heating drum 116. The heat is transmitted to the heating drum 116 by the frictional force, and the heating drum 116 is driven to rotate.

The drum motor 200 includes a plurality of driving units, that is, a winding roller 140, a bonding roller 120, conveying rollers 68 and 69, and a bending guide roller 142 and a photosensitive material discharging roller 158 and 160, which will be described later. The receiving material discharge rollers 172, 173, and 175 are driven together.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 108 superimposed by the laminating roller 120 are placed on the heating drum 116 and the endless pressure contact belt 11 while being superposed.
The heating drum 116 is pinched and conveyed over approximately two-thirds of the circumference of the heating drum 116 (between the winding roller 134 and the winding roller 140). Further, the superposed photosensitive material 16 and image receiving material 108 are
When the heating drum 116 completely stops between the heating drum 116 and the endless pressure contact belt 118, the heating drum 116 temporarily stops rotating (for example, 5 mm).
~ 15 seconds), the sandwiched photosensitive material 16 and image receiving material 108
Heat. When the photosensitive material 16 is heated during the nipping conveyance and the stop, the movable dye is released, and at the same time, the dye is transferred to the dye fixing layer of the image receiving material 108 to obtain an image.

A bending guide roller 142 is disposed below the heating drum 116 on the downstream side of the endless pressure contact belt 118 in the material supply direction. The bending guide roller 142 is
It is a rubber roller made of silicon rubber, and rotates by transmitting the driving force of the drum motor 200. Further, the bending guide roller 142 is pressed against the outer periphery of the heating drum 116 at a predetermined pressure, and can further pinch and transport the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 108 transported by the heating drum 116 and the endless pressure belt 118.

A peeling claw (not shown) is disposed below the heating drum 116 on the downstream side of the bending guide roller 142 in the material supply direction, and the peeling claw is connected to the endless pressure contact belt 118, the heating drum 116, and the like. Of the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 108 that are pinched and conveyed between the photosensitive drum 16 and the photosensitive material 16, the leading end of the photosensitive material 16 can be separated from the outer periphery of the heating drum 116.

The photosensitive material discharge rollers 158 and 160 and a plurality of guide rollers 162 are arranged below the bending guide roller 142 and the peeling claw, and the photosensitive material 16 which is moved downward while being wound around the bending guide roller 142 is disposed. To
It can be further transported and accumulated in the waste photosensitive material storage box 178. The photosensitive material discharge rollers 158 and 160
As described above, the driving force of the drum motor 200 for driving the thermal development transfer unit 104 is transmitted as described above to rotate.

A drying fan 165 is arranged near the guide roller 162 to promote the drying of the photosensitive material 16.

In FIG. 1, a receiving material guide 170 is disposed below the heating drum 116 and to the right of the bending guide roller 142, and receiving material discharging rollers 172, 173, and 17 are provided.
5 are disposed, and a separate peeling claw (not shown) is provided.
Receiving material 10 separated from heating drum 116 by
8 can be guided and conveyed.

Below the heating drum 116, a drum fan 168 is arranged. For this reason, the heating drum 11
The image receiving material 108 moving along the heating drum 11
In addition to drying by the heat of No. 6, drying is promoted by the drum fan 168. Further, a ceramic heater 210 is arranged on the receiving material guide 170, and further promotes drying of the image receiving material 108 to be conveyed.

The image receiving material 108 peeled off from the outer periphery of the heating drum 116 by the peeling claw while the drying is promoted by the drum fan 168 is conveyed by the receiving material guide 170 and the receiving material discharging rollers 172, 173, and 175, and the tray It is discharged to 177.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In the image recording apparatus 10 having the above configuration, the nip roller 18 is operated after the photosensitive material magazine 14 is set, and the photosensitive material 1
6 is pulled out by the nip roller 18. When the photosensitive material 16 is pulled out by a predetermined length, the cutter 20 operates,
The photosensitive material 16 is cut to a predetermined length.

After the operation of the cutter 20, the cut photosensitive material 16 is conveyed by conveying rollers 19, 21, 23, 24, and 26, and is turned upside down so that its photosensitive (exposure) surface faces upward. Transported to When the photosensitive material 16 is nipped by the transport roller 23, the driving of the transport roller 23 is temporarily stopped, and the photosensitive material 16 enters a standby state immediately before the exposure unit 22.

Next, the driving of the transport rollers 23 and 24 is started, and the photosensitive material 16 passes through the exposure section 22 at a predetermined speed. The exposure device 38 is operated at the same time when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed (passes through the exposure unit 22), and an image is scanned and exposed on the photosensitive material 16 located at the exposure unit 22.

When the exposure is completed, the exposed photosensitive material 16 is exposed.
Is sent to the water application section 62. In the water application section 62, the conveyed photosensitive material 16 is sent to the ejection tank 312 side by the driving of the conveyance roller 66, and further nipped and conveyed by the conveyance rollers 68 and 69.

The photosensitive material 16 conveyed along the conveyance path A is supplied to the ejection tank 312 and the ejection tank 313.
The water is attached by the injection from the nozzle, and the operation and action at this time will be described below.

First, the controller 332 opens the upper valve 318 and the lower valve 320,
With the tank valve 328 closed, the pipe 316
To the injection tank 312 through the pool tank 314 by gravity
More water is supplied, and water is stored in the injection tank 312, and water is similarly stored in the injection tank 313.

Accordingly, in a state where water is stored in this manner, the piezoelectric element 326 is deformed by energization from the power supply, and the head plate 322 of the injection tank 312 is displaced. Water jumps out in the direction of arrow B and adheres to the photosensitive material 16 being conveyed.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of nozzle holes 324 for ejecting water are arranged in the ejection tank 312 in a straight line along a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the photosensitive material 16 at a constant interval. Therefore, water is applied over the entire surface of the photosensitive material 16 by continuously spraying water from the nozzle holes 324.

The nozzle hole 324 of the injection tank 312 is
A plurality of nozzle holes 325 for ejecting water between the ejected water droplets are arranged in the ejection tank 313 in a straight line along a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the photosensitive material 16 at regular intervals. That is, water is sprayed between water droplets sprayed from the nozzle holes 324 of the spray tank 312 from the plurality of nozzle holes 325 of the spray tank 313 whose spray timing is controlled by the controller 332 in synchronization with the transport speed of the photosensitive material 16. Will be done.

Therefore, the one-time displacement of the head plate 322 of the ejection tank 312 by the piezoelectric element 326 makes it possible to cause water to adhere to the photosensitive material 16 over a wide area, and at the same time, the displacement of the head plate 323 of the ejection tank 313. Makes it possible to cause water to adhere to portions of the photosensitive material 16 to which water has not yet adhered.

As described above, the nozzle hole 3 of the injection tank 312
After a predetermined time elapses between the water droplets ejected from the nozzle 24 and adhered onto the photosensitive material 16, the nozzle of the ejection tank 313 disposed downstream of the photosensitive material 16 in the conveyance path with respect to the ejection tank 312 Water droplets sprayed from the holes 325
Will adhere.

For this reason, even if the swelling characteristics are poor,
Since the interval between the plurality of water droplets ejected from the nozzle hole 324 of the ejection tank 312 can be made large, adjacent water droplets ejected from the nozzle hole 324 of the ejection tank 312 on the photosensitive material 16 do not come into contact with each other and aggregate.

Further, the nozzle hole 324 of the injection tank 312 is
After the plurality of sprayed water droplets penetrate into the photosensitive material 16, the water droplets sprayed from the nozzle holes 325 of the spray tank 313 adhere between the plurality of water droplets. Water droplets do not agglomerate between the water droplets and the water droplets from the jet tank 313, resulting in uneven coating.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of water droplets ejected from the nozzle holes 324 of the ejection tank 312 adhere to the photosensitive material 16 and are sequentially arranged in the order of (A), (B) and (C). After L has penetrated, the water droplets L ejected from the nozzle holes 325 of the ejection tank 313 adhere to the gaps of the photosensitive material 16 as shown in FIG.
The water droplets L permeate in the order of (E), (F), and (G). At this time, since the water droplets L on the photosensitive material 16 do not come into contact with other water droplets L, the water droplets aggregate. As a result, coating unevenness does not occur.

On the other hand, since the particle diameter is determined by the nozzle holes 324 and 325 and the gas does not mix with the liquid,
There is no variation in particle size, and the nozzle holes 324, 32
5 are arranged in a straight line at regular intervals,
This also eliminates variations in the landing position.

Further, each of the injection tanks 312, 31
3, a plurality of nozzle holes 324, 325 are linearly arranged at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the photosensitive material 16, so that the head plate 322 is scanned on a two-dimensional plane. This eliminates the necessity of coating, and enables a large area to be coated in a short time.

When water is sprayed from the nozzle hole 324, the controller 332 closes the upper valve 318 and the lower valve 320, and simultaneously closes the tank valve 32.
8 is left open so that the injection tank 312
The portion in the vicinity of the nozzle hole 324 has a negative pressure. Accordingly, liquid leakage from the nozzle hole 324 can be prevented.

Thereafter, the photosensitive material 16 to which the water as an image forming solvent has been applied in the water application section 62 is sent to the thermal development transfer section 104 by the transport rollers 68 and 69.

On the other hand, as the scanning exposure of the photosensitive material 16 is started, the image receiving material 108 is also pulled out from the material receiving magazine 106 by the nip roller 110 and transported. When the image receiving material 108 is pulled out by a predetermined length, the cutter 112 operates to cut the image receiving material 108 into a predetermined length.

After the operation of the cutter 112, the conveying rollers 190, 186, 114 are guided while the cut image receiving material 108 is guided by the guide plate 182 of the image receiving material conveying section 180.
Conveyed by When the leading end of the image receiving material 108 is nipped by the transport roller 114, the image receiving material 108 enters a standby state immediately before the thermal development transfer unit 104.

In the thermal development transfer section 104, when it is detected that the photosensitive material 16 has been fed between the outer periphery of the heating drum 116 and the bonding roller 120 by the transport rollers 68 and 69, the transport of the image receiving material 108 is performed. The heating is resumed and fed to the bonding roller 120, and the heating drum 116 is operated.

Thereafter, when the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 108 are nipped and conveyed and reach the lower portion of the heating drum 116, the peeling claw is operated, and the photosensitive material 16 conveyed ahead of the image receiving material 108 by a predetermined length. The peeling claw is engaged with the leading end of the photosensitive drum 16 to peel the leading end of the photosensitive material 16 from the outer periphery of the heating drum 116, and is wound around the bending guide roller 142.
The photosensitive material 16 wound around the bending guide roller 142 is
Further, the photosensitive material is transported by the photosensitive material discharge rollers 158 and 160 while being guided by the guide roller 162, and is dried by the drying fan 165 at this time.
8 are integrated.

On the other hand, the image receiving material 108 separated from the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed by receiving material discharge rollers 172, 173, and 175 while being guided by a receiving material guide 170, and is dried by a drum fan 168 and a ceramic heater 210 at this time. While being discharged to the tray 177.

When performing the image recording processing for a plurality of sheets, the above-described steps are sequentially and continuously performed.

In this manner, a predetermined image is formed (recorded) by being wound around the heating drum 116 and subjected to thermal development transfer processing.
After the separated image receiving material 108 is separated from the heating drum 116, the drum fan 168 and the ceramic heater 2
Drying is accelerated by a drying means such as 10, and further, the material is nipped and conveyed by a plurality of receiving material discharge rollers 172, 173, and 175 and taken out of the apparatus.

Next, a head plate of an image recording apparatus 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 9, and the second embodiment will be described below. The same members as those described in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of nozzle holes 324 for spraying water are provided at regular intervals in a head plate 372 of a spray tank 312 as a first head unit.
The nozzle rows 374 arranged in a straight line along the direction intersecting the direction of the transport path A are arranged in a staggered manner.

For the injection tank 312, photosensitive material 1
An injection tank 313, which is a second head unit, is disposed downstream of the transport path A of No. 6. This injection tank 31
Similarly, a nozzle row 375 in which a plurality of nozzle holes 325 are linearly arranged at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the photosensitive material 16 is also provided on the third head plate 373 in a staggered manner.
They are arranged in columns. However, the nozzle holes 325 of these nozzle rows 375 are provided so that water can be complementarily injected between water droplets jetted by the nozzle holes 324 of the jet tank 312.
It is displaced with respect to the nozzle hole 324.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. This embodiment also has the same operation as the first embodiment, except that a plurality of nozzle holes 324 are linearly arranged at regular intervals along a direction intersecting the direction in which the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed. Nozzle row 3 in which the nozzle holes 325 are similarly linearly arranged
Since a plurality of rows 75 are arranged in a zigzag pattern on the head plates 372 and 373, a large number of water droplets can adhere to the photosensitive material 16 with a small number of ejections, and can be filled in the closest packing, thereby increasing the coating amount. Thus, the uniformity can be improved.

In the above embodiment, two head units are arranged. However, three or more head units may be provided, and the number of nozzle rows may be three or more. Further, in the above embodiment, the photosensitive material is moved by transporting the photosensitive material. However, it is needless to say that the photosensitive material may be stopped and the head unit may be moved.

In this embodiment, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 108 are used as image recording materials, and after exposure, the photosensitive material 16 is transported so as to be located outside the image receiving material 108. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and is applicable even when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed while being positioned inside, and is not limited to these materials and may be other sheet-shaped or roll-shaped image recording materials. Is also applicable.

[0084]

As described above, the image forming solvent coating apparatus according to the present invention prevents the liquid from aggregating on the coating surface,
It has an excellent effect that coating unevenness can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a coating apparatus of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the injection tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an arrangement of nozzle holes of the injection tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a simplified injection tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a heating drum of the thermal development transfer unit.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining penetration of water droplets adhered to a photosensitive material in the case of the injection tank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view illustrating the arrangement of nozzle holes of an injection tank according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating penetration of water droplets attached to a photosensitive material according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 image recording device 16 photosensitive material (image recording material) 62 water application section 312 injection tank 313 injection tank 324 nozzle hole 325 nozzle hole 374 nozzle line 375 nozzle line

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of nozzle holes which are arranged opposite to a conveying path of the image-exposed image-exposed material and which eject a solvent for image formation intersect the conveying direction of the image-recording material at a predetermined interval. First linearly arranged along
A plurality of head units, which are arranged on the downstream side of the image recording material conveyance path with respect to the first head unit, and which eject the image forming solvent between the droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of the first head unit; A second head unit in which the nozzle holes are linearly arranged at a predetermined interval along a direction intersecting the transport direction of the image recording material; and apparatus. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of nozzle holes are provided so as to face the conveying path of the image-exposed image-exposed material and spray the solvent for image formation at predetermined intervals in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the image-recording material. A first head unit in which a plurality of nozzle rows arranged in a straight line are arranged in a zigzag pattern along the first head unit; A nozzle formed by arranging a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting an image forming solvent between droplets ejected by the nozzle holes of a head unit at a predetermined interval in a straight line along a direction intersecting a conveying direction of an image recording material. And a second head unit having a plurality of rows arranged in a zigzag pattern.