JPS60242073A - Vertical thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the titled head capable of recording even onto the recording material having no flexibility, by a method wherein a heating resistant element array is provided on the one end surface of an insulating substrate, a drive circuit being provided on the main surface thereof and a wiring pattern is arranged in a specific state. CONSTITUTION:A heating resistant element array 13 is formed, via a glazed layer 12, on the one end surface of an insulating substrate 11 and a part of the first wiring pattern 14 is formed on the substrate 11. A drive circuit 15 and the second wiring pattern 16 are, via the first wiring pattern 14, adhered onto the main surface of the substrate 11. The recorder can be miniaturized and the dead space of a recording material is lessened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a thermal head used in thermal recording or thermal transfer recording, and particularly to a vertically structured thermal head.

[Technical Background of the Invention and Problems Therewith] In image recording devices in facsimile machines and various printers, thermal recording type 6 type and thermal transfer recording type are increasingly used. In each of these recording methods, a thermal head constructed by disposing a heat generating resistor element array on a substrate is used as a recording element.

FIG. 1 shows a typical configuration of a conventional thermal head. In the figure, 1 is a substrate such as Aj2203, on which a glaze layer 2 as a heat storage layer is formed at the center or near the edges, and a resistor paste is screen printed on this glaze layer 2, or Alternatively, a heating resistor element array 3 formed by patterning a resistor film formed by a sputtering method, a vacuum evaporation method, etc. using a photoetching technique is disposed, and is further formed on the same surface by a thick film or thin film technique. Wiring pattern 4 and
A drive circuit 5 consisting of an IC for turning each of the heating resistor element arrays 3 on and off is provided. The drive circuit 5 is protected from the external environment by a protective case 6.

When actually printing and recording using such a thermal head, the relative positional relationship between the head and the device for feeding the recording medium (recording paper) onto the head (hereinafter referred to as the paper feeding system) is explained below. Shown in Figure 2.

That is, the recording medium 7 is sent out by a feed roller 8 and is pressed by a platen roller 9 to be brought into pressure contact with the heat generating resistor element array 3 of the thermal head 10, whereby printing is performed on the recording medium 7.

If the recording medium is heat-sensitive recording paper, recording is performed in the form of thermal recording, and an ink ribbon formed by applying an ink layer that separates when heated on a substrate is interposed between the recording medium 7 and the thermal head. If so, recording will be performed in the form of thermal transfer recording.

However, with the thermal head shown in Fig. 1, when recording on a recording medium that is difficult to bend, such as a thin card or thick hard paper using the superior thermal transfer recording method, the drive circuit section (case 6) is required. This poses a problem in that it obstructs the feeding operation of the recording medium, making it virtually impossible to record, and does not meet today's demands for versatility in usable recording media.

In addition, in both the thermal recording method and the thermal transfer recording method, paper feeding systems such as the feeding roller 8 and platen roller 9 must be placed close to each other in order to meet the demand for miniaturization.
In a thermal head having a structure in which the heating resistor array 3 and the drive circuit section are integrally arranged on the same plane of the substrate 1 as shown in FIG. 1, there is a limit to the reduction in the area occupied by the drive circuit section. , the distance between rollers 8 and 9 shown in FIG. There is also a limit to shortening the IL, and therefore it has been difficult to miniaturize the device.

Furthermore, when performing multicolor recording while changing the color of the ink ribbon by repeatedly feeding and pulling back a standard recording paper such as A4 size, in other words, when performing color recording using a thermal transfer recording method, it is necessary to pull back the recording medium. However, there is a problem in that an area corresponding to the distance between 0 and 8.9 on the recording paper becomes a dead space where printing is virtually impossible.

[Object of the Invention] The object of the invention is to enable recording on a non-flexible recording medium, to downsize the recording device, and to enable recording even when color recording is performed using a thermal transfer recording method. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal head that does not create dead space on a recording medium.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention provides a heat generating resistor array and a part of a first wiring pattern connected to the heat generating resistor array on one end surface of an insulating substrate. On the main surface, another part of the first wiring pattern, a drive circuit that is connected to the heat generating resistor array through the first wiring pattern and drives the heat generating resistor array, and this drive circuit and an external device are connected. The present invention provides a vertical thermal head characterized in that a second wiring pattern for connection is provided.

Here, as the insulating substrate, for example, Ag2O3°Bed
, S i C, AffiN, or glass are suitable, and these insulating materials may be processed into a flat plate as they are, or these insulating materials may be formed as a surface layer on a metal substrate. It may be formed. The heating resistor array and a part of the first wiring pattern are formed on the end surface of this substrate, that is, the surface with a smaller area, by thick film or thin film technology, and the drive circuit and the remaining part of the first wiring pattern are formed on the end surface of this substrate, that is, the surface with a smaller area. The first wiring pattern and the second wiring pattern are arranged on the main surface of this substrate, that is, the surface having a larger area.

[Effects of the Invention] In the vertical thermal head according to the present invention, since the heating resistor array and the driving circuit are provided separately on the end surface and the main surface of the substrate, The drive circuit no longer becomes a hindrance.

Therefore, the distance between the feed roller and the platen roller for feeding the recording medium onto the heat generating resistive element array can be shortened, so that the apparatus can be made more compact.

In addition, by shortening the distance between the feed roller and the platen roller, the dead space on the recording medium can be kept small when performing color recording using the thermal transfer recording method, and the surface of the recording medium can be used effectively. become.

Furthermore, since it is no longer necessary to curve the recording medium so as not to contact the drive circuit as in the past, it is possible to use not only flexible thin paper-like recording media, but also thick paper, card-like materials, etc. It is now possible to use even non-flexible materials,
It becomes possible to meet a wide range of needs.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of a vertical thermal head according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 4 is a side view.

In the figure, the insulating substrate 11 is, for example, a flat plate of Aff203 processed as shown in the figure, and a glaze layer 12 is formed as a heat storage layer on one end surface by screen printing and baking a glass paste. Glaze layer 1
A heat generating resistor element array 13 is formed on top of the heat generating resistor element array 13 . Further, on the same surface as the end surface on which the glaze layer 12 of the insulating substrate 11 is formed, a part of the first wiring pattern 14 is further formed, one end of which is connected to each of the heating resistor element arrays 13. . The heating resistive element array 13 and the first wiring pattern 14 are each made of, for example, a Ta-8i○2 film and T i /N i , /Au1l! It is created by forming I by sputtering and patterning them by phyto-etching. That is, the heating resistor element array 1
3 is formed so as to remain only on the glaze layer 12, and the first wiring pattern 14 is formed within the range A in FIG. It is formed in an area within the range where close contact exposure is possible.

On the other hand, an IC is connected to the heating resistor array 13 via the first wiring pattern 14 on one main surface of the insulating substrate 11.
a second wiring pattern 16 for connecting the drive circuit 15 to an external device (power supply circuit, control circuit, etc.), and another part of the first wiring pattern 14;
A flexible wiring board 17 having the following structure is bonded with, for example, polyimide resin. First wiring pattern 14
The connection between a part (the lead-out part from the heating resistor element array 13) and another part (the terminal array part on the flexible wiring board 17) is made by forming solder on the terminal array and then thermocompressing the two. It is carried out by The second wiring pattern 16 is a lead frame 1 for connection with an external device.
The second wiring patterns 16 and the lead frame 18 are connected in the same manner. The IC of the drive circuit 15 is annealed using AQ paste and bonded onto the flexible wiring board 11.

First and second wiring patterns 14, 16 and drive circuit 1
It is connected to IC 5 by wire bonding using Au wire.

Note that the drive circuit 15, wiring patterns 14, 16, etc. may be covered with a case as in FIG. Also,
Without using the flexible wiring board 17 as described above, the first and second wiring patterns 14 and 16 are placed on the main surface of the insulating substrate 11 in a flat area shown at 8 in FIG.
A flexible wiring board is formed on one or both main surfaces by thin film or thick film screen printing, and a flexible wiring board is connected only to the lead-out part of the heating resistor array 13 of the first wiring pattern 14 and the terminal array part. May be used.

The vertical thermal head shown in Fig. 3 is an example in which the array length of the heating resistor element array is relatively short, but with a similar structure, as shown in Fig. 5, a long array, for example, the width of an A4 size It is also possible to create a vertical thermal head with barbs. Incidentally, in FIG. 5, the second wiring pattern 16 is formed by a matrix wiring having a two-layer structure.

FIG. 6 shows how the vertical thermal head according to the invention described above is used. FIG. 6(a) shows the recording body 2.
This is an example in which a flexible paper-like material is used as the recording body 21, but as shown in the figure, the recording body 21 is connected to the thermal head 20.
It can be seen that only the distance between the feed roller 22 for sending the recording medium upward and the platen roller 23 for pressing the recording medium 21 against the thermal head 20 is significantly shortened compared to when a conventional thermal head is used. .

This is because the heating resistor element array is provided on the end surface of the substrate of the thermal head 20 and the drive circuit section is provided on the main surface, so that the drive circuit section does not interfere with the paper feeding system of the recording medium. In this case, there is an advantage that the recording apparatus can be made smaller, and at the same time, the dead space on the recording body 21, which depends on the distance, can be reduced, especially when color recording is performed using a thermal transfer recording method.

Furthermore, when using the vertical thermal head based on this invention,
As shown in FIG. 6(b), in the feeding direction of the recording medium 21',
Since there is no object other than the thermal head 20, such as a drive circuit section, that would obstruct the feeding operation of the recording medium 21',
The recording medium 21' can be fed without being curved.

Therefore, even a non-flexible material such as a card-like material can be used as the recording material 21' without any problem.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which the vertical thermal head of the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer recording device.

That is, the vertical thermal head 20 is covered with a protective case 31 and placed between the supply reel 332 and the take-up reel 34 of the ink ribbon cassette 32 for thermal transfer recording, and the recording material 37 sent out by the feed roller 35 is placed on top of it by the platen roller 36. In this embodiment, the ink ribbon 38 is pressed into contact with the ink ribbon 38.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which the vertical thermal head of the present invention is configured as a handwriting type head. Then, printing is performed on heat-sensitive recording paper 45 as a recording medium. Support 4
1 is provided with a recording start/stop button 43, and a roller 44 is installed at the leading end for synchronizing the time of print recording. If such a pen-shaped thermal l-bed is used, it is possible to print and record at any position on the recording paper 45 as if writing by hand with a pen.

FIG. 9 shows the present invention configured as a double-sided writing head, in which a pair of vertical thermal heads 20a and 20b based on the present invention are provided facing each other with a recording medium 51 in between. In this way, it is possible to continuously record on both sides of the recording medium without having to reverse the recording medium as in the conventional case. This configuration is only possible because the thermal head has a vertical configuration.

This invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional thermal head, FIG. 2 is a view showing its usage mode, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a vertical thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a side view thereof. 5 is a perspective view of a vertical thermal head according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are views showing how the vertical thermal head of the present invention is used, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a vertical thermal head according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment in which the vertical thermal head of the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer recording device. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which the vertical thermal head of the present invention is configured as a pen-shaped head. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the head is configured as a double-sided recording head. 11... Insulating substrate, 12... Glaze layer, 13...
... Heat generating resistor element array, 14... First wiring pattern, 15... Drive circuit (IC)..., 16... Second wiring pattern, 17... Flexible wiring board, 18...
...Lead frame, 2o...Vertical thermal head. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 b Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] A heat generating resistor element array and a part of a first wiring pattern connected to the heat generating resistor element array are disposed on one end surface of the insulating substrate, and the first wiring pattern is disposed on the main surface of the insulating substrate. a drive circuit that is connected to the heat-generating resistor array through the first wiring pattern and drives the heat-generating resistor array, and a second wiring pattern that connects the drive circuit and an external device. A vertical thermal head characterized by being equipped with.