JP4692748B2 - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer that forms an image on a paper surface by heating an ink ribbon with, for example, a thermal head.

Conventionally, thermal transfer is performed to transfer the ink applied to the ink ribbon onto the printing surface of the printing paper by causing the heating element provided on the thermal head to heat the ink of the ink ribbon while conveying the printing paper along the conveyance path. A printer is provided.
In such a thermal transfer type printer, the printing paper and the ink ribbon are overlapped at the printing position by the thermal head, and after printing, the ink ribbon is peeled off from the printing paper using a peeling plate and conveyed by different feed rollers. Yes.
Here, a back coat agent is applied to the back surface (thermal head side) of the ink ribbon so that the friction coefficient is reduced by heating the ink ribbon. This back coating agent prevents the ink ribbon from being thermally fused to the thermal head during printing, so that the ink ribbon can run smoothly. Generally, the back coat agent is adjusted so as to soften at high temperature and reduce the friction between the thermal head and the ink ribbon, and improves the slidability between the thermal head and the ink ribbon (for example, Patent Document 1).
Moreover, the peeling plate mentioned above folds, for example, a stainless steel thin plate, and makes the curved surface formed when it folds contact the back surface of the ink ribbon. In addition, since the contact surface that contacts the ink ribbon is rough due to elongation due to folding, the contact surface is polished so as not to damage the ink ribbon.
Japanese Patent No. 3544277

However, the following problems remain in the conventional thermal transfer printer. That is, the above-described back coat agent becomes high temperature by heating with a thermal head at the printing position, but is cooled to near the glass transition temperature at the peeling position by the peeling plate. For this reason, there exists a problem that the viscosity of a backcoat material becomes high and friction with a peeling plate becomes large. Further, although the above-described release plate is polished, there is a problem that the ink ribbon having a high viscosity is easy to stick. Furthermore, due to these problems, the ink ribbon and the peeling plate cause sticking and slipping at the time of printing, which causes a problem that streaky shading occurs in the image printed on the printing paper.
On the other hand, a thermal transfer printer using a rotatable roller in place of the peeling plate is also provided, but there is a problem that the apparatus becomes large and expensive.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that can suppress the occurrence of sticks and slips between an ink ribbon and a peeling plate during printing.

  The present invention employs the following configuration in order to solve the above problems. That is, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention includes an ink ribbon having an ink film formed on the surface thereof, a thermal head that transfers ink to the printing paper in a state where the ink ribbon and the printing paper are in contact, and the ink ribbon. In a thermal transfer printer that includes a peeling member that contacts the back surface of the ink ribbon and peels the ink ribbon and the printing paper, and prints the printing paper while transporting the printing paper along a feeding path. An uneven portion is formed on the contact surface with the back surface of the ink ribbon, and the surface roughness (Ra) of the contact surface is 1 μm or more and 20 μm or less.

  In this invention, the contact area with the ink ribbon is reduced by forming the concavo-convex portion on the contact surface of the peeling member. Thereby, even if the viscosity of the backcoat material increases, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of sticks and slips between the peeling plate and the ink ribbon. Here, by setting the surface roughness (Ra: arithmetic average roughness) of the contact surface to 1 μm or more, it is possible to sufficiently suppress the occurrence of sticks and slips between the peeling plate and the ink ribbon. Further, by setting the surface roughness (Ra) to 20 μm or less, it is possible to sufficiently prevent the ink ribbon from being damaged by the uneven portions. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of streak in the image printed on the printing paper. The surface roughness (Ra) of the contact surface is desirably 1 μm or more and 5 μm or less. Thereby, it can prevent more reliably that an ink ribbon is damaged.

In the thermal transfer printer according to the aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the concave and convex portions are at least a pair of grooves from the center in the width direction of the ink ribbon toward both sides as the ink ribbon travels forward. .
In the present invention, when the ink ribbon is fed forward in the running direction, reaction forces are generated from the central portion in the width direction of the ink ribbon toward the both sides at the contact position with the contact surface. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of deformation | transformation of a wrinkle etc. can be suppressed to an ink ribbon.

In the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the uneven portion may be formed by performing dimple processing on the contact surface.
According to this invention, the dimple processing is performed on the contact surface to form the uneven portion. Even in this case, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of streak in the image printed on the printing paper, as described above.

  According to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, by forming an uneven portion having a surface roughness (Ra) of 1 μm or more and 20 μm or less on the contact surface, sticks or slips are generated between the peeling plate and the ink ribbon. The ink ribbon can be sufficiently prevented from being damaged. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of streak in the image after printing.

A thermal transfer printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal transfer printer 1 according to the present embodiment includes a delivery reel 3 on which a printing paper 2 is wound in a roll shape, a printer mechanism 4 arranged along a conveyance path of the printing paper 2, And a paper cutter 5 for cutting the printing paper 2 printed by the printer mechanism 4.

The printer mechanism 4 includes a thermal head 11, a platen roller 12 disposed opposite to the thermal head 11, an ink ribbon 13, and a peeling plate (peeling member) 14.
Between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12, the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 13 fed from the feed reel 3 are passed. Further, the thermal head 11 is provided with a matrix-like heating element (not shown), and an ink ribbon passed between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 by heating the heating element in a predetermined pattern. 13 is heated in the printing position.

As shown in FIG. 3, yellow ink Y, magenta ink M, cyan ink C, and laminate material L are sequentially and repeatedly applied along the running direction of the ink ribbon 13 on the surface that is one surface of the base film. ing. Here, reflective markings 13 a are provided between the regions on the base film, and the ink ribbon 13 is positioned by being detected by the sensor 16. When the sensor 16 is a color sensor, the ink ribbon 13 can be positioned based on the color of each ink region, and therefore the marking 13a need not be applied to the ink ribbon 13. The yellow ink Y, magenta ink M, and cyan ink C are formed by, for example, dye-based sublimation ink.
In addition, a back coat agent that reduces the friction coefficient when heated is applied to the back surface, which is the other surface of the base film of the ink ribbon 13.
The ink ribbon 13 is heated by the heating element of the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 together with the printing paper 2 so that the heating element of the thermal head 11 generates heat. It melts and adheres to the printing surface of printing paper 2.

The ink ribbon 13 is wound around a ribbon take-up roller 21 and a ribbon feed roller 22. The ink ribbon 13 is fed from the ribbon feed roller 22, then passes between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 via the ribbon transport rollers 23 and 24, and then wound on the ribbon via the ribbon transport roller 25. It is wound up by a roller 21.
An auxiliary roller (not shown) and a drive roller (not shown) are provided on the peripheral surface of the ribbon take-up roller 21. Then, as the drive roller rotates, the auxiliary roller in contact with the peripheral surface of the drive roller rotates, and as the auxiliary roller rotates, the ribbon take-up roller 21 in contact with the peripheral surface of the auxiliary roller rotates. As a result, the ink ribbon 13 fed from the ribbon feed roller 22 is taken up.
Further, a friction roller (not shown) is provided on the peripheral surface of the ribbon feed roller 22 so that the peripheral surface thereof is in contact with the peripheral surface of the ribbon feed roller 22. This friction roller adjusts the rotational speed of the ribbon delivery roller 22 by generating a frictional force between the circumferential surface of the friction roller and the circumferential surface of the ribbon delivery roller 22.

The peeling plate 14 is provided in front of the printing position of the thermal head 11 in the running direction of the ink ribbon 13 and between the printing position in the running path and the ribbon transport roller 25, and is a printing sheet that is overlapped at the printing position. 2 and the ink ribbon 13 are peeled off. Further, the peeling plate 14 is configured by folding, for example, a stainless steel thin plate or the like, and a curved surface formed at the time of folding serves as a contact surface 14 </ b> A that contacts the back surface of the ink ribbon 13.
As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of pairs of grooves (uneven portions) 15 are formed on the contact surface 14 </ b> A toward the both sides from the center in the width direction of the peeling plate 14 toward the front in the running direction of the ink ribbon 13. Yes.
The groove 15 is formed by, for example, forming the thin plate in advance by laser processing, etching, or pressing, and then folding the thin plate. The contact surface 14A is subjected to buffing or the like, and the edge of the groove 15 is removed. The groove 15 has a depth of 1 μm to 20 μm, and is formed so that the surface roughness (Ra: arithmetic average roughness) of the contact surface 14A is 1 μm or more and 5 μm or less. In addition, at least one pair of the groove parts 15 should just be formed in 14 A of contact surfaces.

  Further, conveyance rollers 31 and 32 are provided in order along the conveyance direction of the printing paper 2 between the delivery reel 3 and the printing position. Further, conveyance rollers 33 and 34 are provided in order along the conveyance direction of the printing paper 2 between the printing position and the paper cutter 5.

Next, a printing method using the thermal transfer printer 1 configured as described above will be described.
First, the printing paper 2 is sequentially sent out from the delivery reel 3 along the conveyance path by the conveyance rollers 31 and 32. Then, the leading end of the printing paper 2 in the transport direction is passed through the printing position between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12.
Thereafter, the ink ribbon 13 and the printing paper 2 are sent out while the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 13 are sandwiched between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 with a predetermined pressure. At this time, the heating element provided in the thermal head 11 is heated in a predetermined pattern, so that the yellow ink Y of the ink ribbon 13 is sublimated to adhere the yellow ink Y to the printing surface of the printing paper 2. In this way, a yellow image is printed on the printing paper 2. Here, the back coating agent applied to the back surface of the ink ribbon 13 prevents the ink ribbon 13 from being thermally fused to the heating element when heated by the thermal head 11.

  Along with the heating by the heating element, the ribbon take-up roller 21 is rotated by rotating the drive roller to take up the ink ribbon 13. Here, the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 13 overlapped at the printing position are peeled off by the peeling plate 14. Then, the ink ribbon 13 is taken up by the ribbon take-up roller 21.

At this time, at the position where the ink ribbon 13 is in contact with the contact surface 14A of the peeling plate 14, the backcoat agent is cooled to near the glass transition temperature, and the ink ribbon 13 is likely to stick to the contact surface 14A. Yes. However, since the groove 15 is formed in the contact surface 14A and the contact area between the ink ribbon 13 and the contact surface 14A is reduced, sticks and slips are generated between the ink ribbon 13 and the contact surface 14A. Is sufficiently suppressed.
Further, since the groove portion 15 is formed so as to go from the central portion in the width direction of the peeling plate 14 toward both sides as it goes forward in the running direction of the ink ribbon 13 (arrow A1 shown in FIG. 4), the ink ribbon 13 is When traveling forward in the traveling direction, reaction forces in the directions of arrows A2 and A3 shown in FIG. As a result, the occurrence of wrinkles or the like in the ink ribbon 13 during the travel of the ink ribbon 13 is suppressed.

  The winding speed of the ink ribbon 13 is adjusted by the frictional force between the ribbon feeding roller 22 and the friction roller in contact with the peripheral surface of the ribbon feeding roller 22. As a result, the ink ribbon 13 is stably wound up.

Then, the clamping state between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 is released, and the winding of the ink ribbon 13 by the ribbon winding roller 21 is stopped. In this state, the printing paper 2 is returned backward in the transport direction by the amount of printing of the ink ribbon 13 by the yellow ink Y, and the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 13 are held between the thermal head 11 and the platen roller 12 again with a predetermined pressure. Similarly to the yellow ink Y, the heating element provided on the thermal head 11 is heated in a predetermined pattern, so that the magenta ink M on the ink ribbon 13 is superimposed on the yellow image so that the magenta image is printed on the printing paper 2. Print on.
Further, cyan ink C and laminating agent L are printed in the same procedure as described above.
Thereafter, the printing paper 2 on which color printing and laminating printing by the printer mechanism 4 have been completed is transported along the transport path by the transport rollers 33 and 34, and the image portion printed by the paper cutter 5 is separated. Thereafter, the printer mechanism 4 newly prints on the printing paper 2 delivered from the delivery reel 3. The printing paper 2 is printed as described above.

According to the thermal transfer printer 1 configured as described above, since the contact area with the ink ribbon 13 is reduced by forming the groove 15 on the contact surface 14A of the peeling plate 14, the viscosity of the backcoat material is high. Even if it becomes, it can suppress that a stick and slip generate | occur | produce between the ink ribbons 13. And by making the surface roughness (Ra) of the contact surface 14A 1 μm or more and 5 μm or less, it is possible to sufficiently reduce the contact area with the ink ribbon 13 and to prevent the ink ribbon 13 from being damaged by the groove 15. . As a result, a streak-free image is formed on the printing paper 2.
Further, since the groove portion 15 is formed so as to go from the central portion in the width direction of the peeling plate 14 toward both sides as it goes forward in the running direction of the ink ribbon 13, the ink ribbon 13 is wrinkled when the ink ribbon 13 runs. Is suppressed from occurring.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described here has the same basic configuration as that of the first embodiment described above, and is obtained by adding another element to the first embodiment described above. Accordingly, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the groove 15 is formed on the contact surface 14A of the peeling plate 14 in the first embodiment, but the peeling plate 41 in the second embodiment is A dimple process is performed on the contact surface 41A, whereby a plurality of concave portions (uneven portions) 42 are regularly formed at appropriate intervals.

  That is, the concave portion 42 is formed by performing dimple processing on a stainless steel thin plate in advance by, for example, laser processing, etching processing, or press processing, and then folding the thin plate. Note that the edge of the recess 42 is removed from the peeling plate 41 by lapping.

  Also in the thermal transfer type printer including the peeling plate 41 configured as described above, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of streaks in the image printed on the printing paper as in the first embodiment described above.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the groove or recess is formed on the contact surface, but the surface roughness described above is formed by forming a projection by lapping the surface of ceramic such as alumina on a thin stainless steel plate. It may be a contact surface. By doing in this way, compared with stainless steel, the hardness of a contact surface can be made high and it becomes difficult to wear, Therefore It can apply to the ink sheet which contains many abrasive | polishing agents in a backcoat agent.

Moreover, although the surface roughness (Ra) of the contact surface is 1 μm or more and 5 μm or less, it may be 1 μm or more and 20 μm or less.
Further, although a sublimation type thermal transfer printer is used, the present invention may be applied to other thermal transfer type printers such as a fusion type.
In addition, the ink ribbon has a structure in which yellow, magenta, cyan, black ink and a laminate material are applied on the base film. However, other combinations of colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and a laminate material may be used. Alternatively, an ink ribbon of only one color may be used.
The yellow, magenta, and cyan inks of the ink ribbon are composed of sublimation inks, but other inks such as a melting type may be used.
Alternatively, a plurality of printer mechanisms may be arranged at appropriate intervals along the printing paper conveyance path. Here, a plurality of printer mechanisms may be configured to transfer different color inks to the printing paper.

  According to the present invention, regarding a thermal transfer printer, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of sticks and slips at the ink ribbon and the peeling plate during printing, and industrial applicability is recognized.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a thermal transfer printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the printer mechanism of FIG. 1. It is a top view which shows the ink ribbon of FIG. It is a top view which shows the peeling plate of FIG. It is a top view which shows the peeling plate with which the thermal transfer printer in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention is provided.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer type printer 2 Printing paper 11 Thermal head 13 Ink ribbon 14, 41 Peeling plate (peeling member)
14A, 41A Contact surface 15 Groove (uneven portion)
42 Concave part

Claims (2)

An ink ribbon having an ink film formed on a surface thereof, a thermal head for transferring ink to the printing paper in a state where the ink ribbon and the printing paper are in contact with each other; A peeling member that peels off the printing paper; and a ribbon take-up roller and a ribbon feed roller that convey the ink ribbon, and the thermal head and the ribbon take-up roller are disposed between the ribbon feed roller and the ribbon take-up roller. The peeling member is provided;
In a thermal transfer printer that prints on the printing paper while conveying the printing paper along a conveyance path,
The peeling member is provided downstream in the traveling direction of the ink ribbon from the printing position on the printing paper by the thermal head,
A concavo-convex portion is formed on the contact surface of the peeling member with the back surface of the ink ribbon,
Thermal transfer printers wherein the uneven portion is toward the running direction downstream of the ink ribbon, respectively, wherein at least a pair of grooves der Rukoto toward both sides from the central portion in the width direction of the ink ribbon. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein a surface roughness (Ra) of the contact surface is 1 μm or more and 20 μm or less .

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