JPS60101570A - Method and device for recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for uniform electrostatic charging by exposing a photosensitive body, and performing development simultaneously with or right after the exposure. CONSTITUTION:The photosensitive body 20 is in a drum shape and incorporates a light emitting diode array 6 and as self-focusing lens 7. Charged toner 4' sticks on the surface of a sleeve 5 and is supplied to near the surface of the photosensitive body 20, but the charged toner layer 4 on the sleeve 5 does not contact the surface of the photosensitive body 20. An exposure system for photosensitive body exposure is arranged in the photosensitive body 20 and an image of the light emitting diode array 6 is formed on a photoconductor layer 1 through the self-focusing lens 7. While the drum-shaped photosensitive body 20 is rotated as shown by an arrow 15, a pulse voltage P1 having such a polarity that the charged toner 4' is attracted to the surface of the photosensitive body 20 is applied to the sleeve 5 which serves as a counter electrode synchronously with light image irradiation. Thus, the need for uniform charging is eliminated and a corona charger which requires a high voltage need not be used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a recording method for forming a toner image on plain paper using an optical image as a signal, and an apparatus used therefor.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, recording methods using toner include electrophotography, electrostatic recording, and the like. These are excellent recording methods and are used in copying machines, facsimile machines, and the like. However, each has the following drawbacks. For example, in electrophotography, zepgraphy, which transfers a toner image formed on a photoreceptor onto plain paper, requires several corner chargers and a cleaning device for the photoreceptor in order to use the photoreceptor repeatedly. The device is complicated and requires high voltage. Further, maintenance is required, such as removing unnecessary toner collected by the cleaning device, and cleaning and repairing the corona charger due to contamination or disconnection. For this reason, in addition to the price of toner and plain paper with a consumable quality of 1, almost the same type of maintenance of the device IT is required, and the total cost has reached about twice the price of toner and plain paper.

On the other hand, electrostatic recording methods that use dielectric recording paper with a dielectric layer and a low-resistance layer, and electrophotographic methods (electrophotography) that use photosensitive recording paper with a photosensitive layer and a low-resistance layer, etc. Since the photoconductor is not used repeatedly, there is no need for a cleaning device, but since the price of one sheet of A4 size recording paper is about 4 to 8 times that of plain paper, the overall cost will be higher than that and the cost will not be reduced. There are drawbacks.

[Obscenity of invention]

This invention was made to solve these drawbacks, and although it is an apparatus that forms toner images on plain paper, it does not necessarily require cleaning.
In addition, the present invention provides a recording method that does not necessarily require a uniform charging process using a corona charger, which is required in conventional electrophotography, and equipment used therefor. below,
The invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view for explaining an embodiment of the image recording method of the present invention, in which a photoreceptor 20. - A charged toner layer 4 made of electrically insulating and magnetic charged toner 4', a counter electrode 5, an exposure system 21, etc. are shown. The photoreceptor 20 includes a photoconductor layer 1. Transparent conductive layer 2. It consists of a transparent support 3. The exposure system 21 is composed of a light emitting diode array 6 and a self-focusing lens T sold under the trade name SELFOC. Light emitting diode 7 in 6
The images of the individual light-emitting diodes 10 above are focused onto the photoconductor layer 1 by self-focusing lenses T.

-M electric toner single layer 40 Individual toner particles are attracted toward the counter electrode 5 by magnetic force or the like, and the switch 8 is turned on to connect the power supply 9 between the counter electrode 5 and the transparent conductive layer 20. Apply voltage.

In a bright area where light is irradiated, the photoconductor layer 1 becomes a conductor, so an image charge 12 having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner 4' is generated on the surface close to the charged toner layer 4, which causes a difference between the toner and the toner. An attractive force acts between them. On the other hand, in a dark area where no light is irradiated, since the photoconductor layer 1 is an insulator, the image charge 13 generates a transparent layer 4 on the layer 2. In this case, since the distance between the charged toner 4' and the image charge 13 is long, the attraction force is generally very small.

Therefore, the attraction force between the charged toner 4' and the image charge 13 in the bright area remains greater than the magnetic attraction force toward the charged toner 4' in the direction of the counter electrode 5 described above.

As a result, the original irradiation part, that is, the light bulb C diode 100
Only the charged toner 4' corresponding to the emitted portion remains, and a toner image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 20. As a means for attracting the charged toner 4' to the counter electrode 58] II, '
@Electronic toner 4' can be made magnetic by mixing iron powder or the like, and magnetic force or the like can be used, but it is not necessarily necessary to have magnetism. In this case, the attraction force to the opposing ivy &5 will be provided by another force.

Although the case where the light emitting diode 7/16 is used for irradiation of the optical image is shown, it goes without saying that other light sources such as a laser light source may be used for exposure. Furthermore, as will be described later, the charged toner layer 4 does not necessarily need to be in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 20. As a means for charging the insulating toner, a means such as frictional charging or cross-charging may be used. I can do it.

Alternatively, as will be described later, charging may be performed using an electric field applied by the power source 9 without using a special charging means. Further, when the toner is pre-charged by means such as frictional charging or corona charging to form a charged toner 4', if the opposing electrode 5 is set to the same potential pressure as the transparent conductive layer 2, photoconductivity is generated by the charge ML of the charged toner 4' itself. An electric field is generated inside the body layer 1 .

Therefore, even if no external voltage is applied by the power source 9, the positions of the image charges 12 and 13 can be controlled by light irradiation as shown in FIG. No, but good contrast)Y
It is desirable to obtain K by applying an external electric field using a power source 9.

In addition, since this method uses an insulating charged toner 4', the image conductivity 12 in FIG. 1 is not neutralized with the charge %L of the toner 4'.

Figure 2 shows an image of the ia-feng device of this invention. ! This is an example, and in this figure, the photoreceptor 20 is configured in a drum shape,
Inside thereof, light emitting diodes 1 and 6 and self-focusing transistors T are arranged. 30 is a magnetic plan developing machine, and 31 is a toner container. The counter electrode 5 is made of non-magnetic metal, has a cylindrical shape around a magnet roller 32 fixed concentrically, and is a sleeve of the magnetic brush developing machine 30 (hereinafter referred to as a counter electrode or sleeve as necessary).
F + [achieved. The toner 7 is supplied to the surface of the photoreceptor 20 by rotating it in the direction of the arrow 14 around the magnetic roller 32.

At the outlet of the toner container 31, there is a magnetic plug 33 facing the magnetic pole (N pole in the figure) on the Macnet roller 32.
are placed. When the insulating toner passes through the minute gap 34 between the sleeve 5 and the magnetic grade piece 33, it is triboelectrically charged. In order to control the amount and polarity of this triboelectric charge,
The surface of the sleeve 5 may be coated with a resin or the like.

Regarding the toner charging means using frictional charging, for example, the academic journal rPhotographic 5science
and Engineering J, Volume 26, No. 5 (1
982), pages 254 to 261.

Charged toner 4' is stuck to the surface of the sleeve 5.
Although the charged toner layer 4 on the sleeve 5 is supplied near the surface of the photoreceptor 200, it is not in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 200.

An exposure system 21 for exposing the photoreceptor is disposed inside the photoreceptor 20, and a self-focusing lens T is used to expose the light emitting diode array 6.
is imaged onto the photoconductor layer 1.

While rotating the drum-shaped photoreceptor 20 in the direction of the arrow 15, charged toner 4 is applied to the sleeve 5, which serves as a counter electrode.
A pulse voltage P having a polarity in the direction of attracting ' to the surface of the photoreceptor 20
It rotates while being applied in synchronization with iY light image irradiation.

At this time, the charged toner 4' of the charged toner layer 4 receives the action of the applied electric charge (it is already attracted to the surface of the photoreceptor 200, and forms a toner layer 11Y on the surface of the photoreceptor 200 as shown in FIG. 3). .

Here, as explained with reference to FIG. 1, the attraction force between the toner layer 11 and the image charge 12 in FIG. 3 is large in bright areas but small in dark areas.

Therefore, when the applied field returns to zero after the application of the pulse voltage P ends, the charged toner 4' in the dark area
Since the attraction force to the surface is small, it is immediately returned to the surface of the sleeve 5 by the magnetic force of the magnet roller 32. On the other hand, in bright areas, the attraction force of the charged toner 4' to the surface of the photoreceptor 200 is large, so if this is made larger than the magnetic attraction force to the magnet roller 32, even after the application of the pulse pressure P1 is completed, The charged toner 4' remains on the surface of the photoreceptor 20, and a toner image 16 corresponding to the light image irradiation is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 20.

1T is a recording paper; 18 is a toner image 16 on the photoreceptor 20;
It is a conductive transfer roller for transferring the toner to the recording paper 17, and is a means for applying a voltage between it and the transparent conductive layer 2 by the iitw19 to attract and transfer the charged toner 4' to the recording paper 17. be.

Note that after the toner image 16 is transferred to the recording paper 1T, the charged toner 4' remaining on the photoreceptor 20 can of course be removed by a cleaner, but this is not always necessary. This is because if the image charge 12 that attracts the charged toner 4' to the surface of the photoreceptor 200 is erased, it will be removed by the magnetic attraction force of the magnet roller 32 the next time it approaches the magnetic brush developing device 3o. . Image charge 12
To remove this, a pulse voltage P is applied to the photoreceptor 20 by the electrode 41 while uniformly exposing the photoreceptor 20 from the back side to the light source 4o.

A possible method is to apply a voltage 'kft' source 42 with the opposite polarity.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the surface of a sleeve 510 of a magnetic brush developing device 300 is coated to be electrically insulating. For example, by rotating the magnet roller 32 arranged concentrically with the sleeve 51 in the direction of arrow 14, the sleeve 51
0 surface (fF '1B.

Toner 4' is transported in the direction of arrow 14'. In the recording area 22, a sleeve 51 facing the photoreceptor 20
A counter electrode 52 is arranged on the 0 surface, insulated from the sleeve 51 and parallel to the axis of the sleeve 51.

Since the voltage of the power supply 43 is applied to the Gund Denso 35, an electric field is generated between it and the surface of the sleeve 510, and when the insulating toner passes through the gap 34, an electric field is applied to the V-doped electrode 35. 1 charged with the same polarity as the voltage of the power source 43;
The charged toner 4' is produced in the recording area 22 by applying a voltage of the same polarity to the opposing electrode 52 from the electron source 43 for 1 hour from the electron eX 9 and at the same time exposing the surface of the photoreceptor 200 to a light image, according to the principle described above. This causes a difference in toner adhesion between bright and dark areas on the surface of the photoreceptor 200. Opposed [i] 52 has a width that is not very large compared to the scanning line width, so the applied voltage only affects the area in its immediate vicinity. do not. On the other hand, since the magnetic attraction force of the magnet roller 32 is relatively wide-ranging, when the surface of the photoconductor 20 leaves the recording area 22, the charged toner 4' in the placement section is attracted toward the sleeve 51, and the surface of the photoconductor 200 A toner image 16 will be formed on.

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the sleeve 51 is fixed and the toner supply is performed by rotating the magnetic ruler 32 as in FIG. 4. The counter electrode is constituted by a conductive three electrode 251. Pu V
The surface of the negative electrode 35 is coated with a dielectric material. When the insulating toner passes through the gap 34yIl, it is charged to the same polarity as the voltage of the power source 9 by the electric field generated by the power source 9. The charged toner 4' selectively adheres to the photoreceptor 20 in the recording area 22 according to the principle described above, forming a toner image 16.

In FIG. 5, the surface of the sleeve 510 in the recording area 22 is configured to have a convex shape in order to localize the action of the electric field in the recording area 22. Even in this case, the surface of the charged toner no. 4 may be in contact with the photoreceptor 20;
This is not necessarily necessary (So in FIG. 6, the function of the Gund electrode 350 in FIG. 5 is also used on the surface of the photoreceptor 20, and the insulating toner is , 5th
Same as in the figure.

In the above explanation, an example was explained in which six 7V light emitting diodes were used as the light source of the exposure system 21.
It goes without saying that the light image irradiation may be controlled by turning off the light source or by opening and closing a light shutter designed for each image of a uniform light source. Although the case of using fire has been described, this means that it is treated as having substantially no conductivity, and includes toner with particularly high resistance.Also, a two-component developer can be used.For example, The toner is insulated.

Assuming that the carrier has πL conductivity, the photoreceptor 20
It is also possible to change the potential of the carrier in contact with the toner between bright and dark areas, and toner adhesion can be changed accordingly.

Further, although it has been described that the application of an electric field between the transparent conductive layer 2 and the counter electrode 5 and the photoimage exposure are performed simultaneously, it is not necessarily necessary to perform the application at the same time. For example, if the photoconductor layer 1 of the photoreceptor 20 has a connection source conductivity that maintains the conductivity for a certain period of time during which photoimage exposure is ineffective, it is sufficient to apply the electric field within that period of time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, development is performed at the same time as or immediately after exposing the photoreceptor, so there is no need for uniform charging as in the Carlson method, which performs uniform charging, exposure, and development in one step. Therefore, there is no need for a single charger with high voltage.

In addition, since the magnetic brush developing device can also serve as a cleaning mechanism, there is no need for a special cleaning mechanism to remove residual toner on the photoreceptor after transfer. There is no need to dispose of collected toner, and maintenance work is simple.

Further, since it is possible to house a means for performing optical image exposure inside the photoreceptor, there is an advantage that the cleaning mechanism is not particularly required and the apparatus can be easily miniaturized.

Furthermore, since an insulating or high-resistance charged toner is used, it is also excellent in that good transfer characteristics can be obtained even when the resistance value of the recording paper is low, such as when the humidity is high.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 and 3 are diagrams explaining the principle of this invention, Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the invention, and Figures 4 and 5.
FIG. 6 and FIG. 6 are schematic cross-sectional views showing the configuration of other embodiments of the present invention, respectively. In the figure, 1 is a photoconductor layer, 2 is a 1M transparent conductor layer, 3 is a transparent support, 4 is a single layer of electric toner, 4' is a charged toner, 5 is an opposing ttta, 6 is a 3M original diode 7v, I is a self-focusing lens, 20 is a photosensitive body, 21 is an exposure system, and 30 is a magnetic brush film! It is a machine. Figure 1 10 10 Figure 2 Figure 3 Funeral Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (]) A photoconductor layer is subjected to optical image exposure, and at the same time or immediately after this, an electric field is applied while an insulating (t)electric toner is brought close to or in contact with the photoconductor layer. A recording method characterized in that the charged toner is selectively attached only to the light irradiated area. (4) A photoreceptor having a transparent groove layer and a photoconductor layer on a transparent support, a counter electrode disposed facing the photoconductor J#, and an electrically insulating toner that is depleted and charged. means for supplying the charged toner to a recording area between the photoconductor layer and the opposing electrode; means for exposing the transparent support to a photoimage from the side of the transparent support;゛It has means for applying an electric field between it and the electrode, and means for applying a force to attract the charged toner toward the counter electrode, and selectively applies the charged toner only to the portion irradiated with light. A recording device characterized in that a visible image is formed by applying any number of layers.(3) A patent claim characterized in that the range of the applied electric field is within the range of the force that attracts the opposing electrode. A recording device according to scope (2).