JPS61135773A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a feed amount arbitrarily adjustable while performing thermal transfer plural times by one feed of an ink sheet, by providing a control means for independently performing the feed of the ink sheet to recording paper and changing a feed speed stepwise. CONSTITUTION:The feed system of an ink sheet 1 consists of a feed roller pair 6 employing a motor 5 for feeding out an ink sheet 1 as a drive source and a wind-up reel 8 employing a motor 7 for passing the ink sheet 1 between a recording head 3 and a platen roller 4 to wind up the same as a drive source while the feed system of recording paper 2 consists of the platen roller 4 employing a motor 9 for feeding recording paper 2 to a recording part as a drive source and a paper discharge roller pair 11 employing a motor 7 for discharging the recording paper 2 to a tray 10 as a drive source. As the ink sheet 1, one capable of receiving thermal transfer four times at the same place is used and, when the speed setting order of a speed change-over switch 20 for changing over the feed speed of the ink sheet 1 stepwise is applied to a controller 19, a drive signal for rotating the stepping motor 5 at a predetermined speed is applied to a motor driver 14.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to thermal transfer printers, and more particularly to improved feed control systems for ribbon-like ink media.

PRIOR ART In general, as shown in FIG. 3, a thermal transfer printer has a
As a recording medium, an ink sheet IY in which a heat-melting or heat-sublimating dry ink layer is formed on a film base is used, and the ink sheet I and recording paper (plain paper) 2 are conveyed in the sub-travel direction. so that the plurality of recording elements are aligned one in the main scanning direction.
Line distributed NFC is arranged such that the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 are brought into pressure contact between the recording head 3 and the platen roller 4, and recording is sequentially performed by thermal transfer according to each line of data. The recording head 3 may be a direct heating type in which a heating element is used for the frame recording element, or a 17T electric heating type (the film base of the ink sheet is also electrically conductive and its joules are In the case of the type (which uses heat), it is equipped with a multi-needle electrode, a return electrode, and a ratio head. ! There is also a 7'2+ type in which a laser beam is irradiated and the ink is heated and melted by the thermal energy of the laser beam without using a recording element.

Conventionally, in this type of thermal transfer printer, recording is performed by feeding the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 at a constant speed. J:5, and therefore the amount of ink sheet 1 consumed becomes large.

Recently, an ink sheet has been developed that has a relatively thick ink layer formed on the film base and can be thermally transferred multiple times, but it cannot be rolled up on the winding side with a conventional thermal transfer printer. It is necessary to reuse the rL ink sheet by setting it on the feed side again, or rewinding the ink sheet that has been wound up on the feed side, which makes resetting a hassle. Moreover, it requires a more elaborate rewinding mechanism, which complicates the structure, and wrinkles tend to occur when winding up a thin ink sheet. There is a problem in doing so.

Purpose The present invention has been developed in consideration of the above points. ! − was made,
Is it possible to reset the ink sheet that has been taken up or to rewind it? It would be possible to obtain the same effect as performing multiple thermal transfers with one feeding of the ink sheet, without having to perform any thermal transfer, and in particular, it would be possible to adjust the movement of the ink sheet as desired. The present invention provides a thermal transfer printer.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the ink sheet is fed independently according to the recording paper number, and a control means is provided which can change the ink sheet feeding speed in stages. be.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached manuscript.

In the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. In a device that sequentially performs recording by thermal transfer according to one line of data, in particular, each conveyance of the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 is made to be carried out independently by 70 separate systems, Elaborate drive control is performed so that the amount of feed of the ink sheet 1 is smaller than that of the recording paper 2.

In other words, the conveyance system for the ink sheet 1 includes a step motor 5 that sends out the ink sheet 1 wound into a roll, a pair of feed rollers 6 as a driving source, and a recording head for the ink sheet 1'Y that sends out the ink sheet 1. 3 and a take-up rule 8 whose driving source is an AC motor 7 that winds the roll through the platen roller 4. In addition, as well as the conveyance system for the recording paper 2, the recording section 5 has a 2 ft recording paper which is wound in a roll.
The platen roller 4 is driven by the step motor 9 that conveys the platen roller 4, and the AC motor 7'4I is driven by the AC motor 7'4I, which discharges the conveyed ratio record #2 onto the tray 10. It has become. In the figure, 12 shows a coarse separation roller (non-driven) that records and separates the ink sheet l from a2 after printing, and a cutter t that cuts the two recording sheets to a predetermined size after printing is shown in the housing 7ij13. .

In addition, in the feeder 90-ra pair 6, the upper drive roller that comes into contact with the film base direction of the ink sheet (l) is made of a rubber roller η1, and the lower rolling crawler that comes into contact with the ink surface of the ink sheet (l) is made of a metal roller. This ensures that the ink sheet 1 is fed with sufficient conveying force to prevent the ink layer t from being disturbed as it is fed and output. In addition, the ink sheet is fed n1 steps by an AC motor 7I to the winding rule 8 of the ink sheet 1 through a well-known buffer mechanism (not shown) such as a friction transmission means between a felt and a resin plate. One roll is made so that one roll can be made. Sarakoko, sending 90-ra vs. 61Cj
? The pressure contact force of the ink sheet 1 and the pressure contact between the recording head 3 and the platen row 24 are also set to be strong, and the intersheet 1 and the recording M2 are in a sliding relationship at the recording position. That's what I do. In the paper discharge roller pair 11, the upper sliding roller that contacts the recording surface of the recording paper 2 is made of a rubber roller, and the lower driving roller that contacts the non-recording surface of the recording paper 2 can slip on the recording paper 2 surface. This machine consists of metal rollers. However,
The AC motor 7I rotates the lower metal roller of the pair 11 of paper ejection rollers 9 at a high speed in the feeding area of the recording paper 2, and its conveying force is also applied to the recording medium between the recording disk 3 and the platen roller 4. By creating an edge where the pressing force of the paper 2 is strong, the recording paper 2' is pulled with an appropriate tension to prevent it from becoming loose. In addition, the recording surface of the recording paper 2 is rubbed to prevent the recorded image from being misprinted.
Each motor 5゜7.9 in the drive system number t2 is connected via the respective motor drivers 14, 15, 16'&, the ia recording head 3 is connected via the head driver 17, and the cutter 13 is connected via the cutter driver 18. Therefore, the controller 194 performs central drive control.

At that time, in particular, a precise speed changeover switch is provided to change the feed speed χ of the ink sheet 1 into multiple stages, and a speed setting command is given to the controller 19 by the switch. Controller 19 motor driver 141 ζ step → motor 5 rotates at a predetermined speed
: The F flea that gives the driving signal to the ri is in progress.

The operation of the inventive thermal transfer printer constructed in this way will be explained below with reference to the time chart of the signals of each part shown in FIG.

For example, if the speed change switch is applied to set the feed speed of the ink sheet 1 to 1/4 of the feed speed of the recording paper 2, the motor driver will be activated by the state signal from the controller 19 in response to the speed setting command. 14t'
XMore pulse pivot signals D2F and D2R shown in Figure 2
The drive control of the step motor 5 is performed under the following conditions. At the same time, motor driver 16 and controller 192)
Pulse driven WIJ signal DIF by another drive signal of k et al.
, DLR to drive the step motor 9. Note that Fμ means a forward pulse drive signal, and R
The pulse driving signal in the opposite direction is required.

First, recording image information is intermittently (or continuously) sequentially applied to the recording head 3 line by line.
(The time required to print each 1 line is shown in period A during the print timing in the figure.) The ink sheet 1 and recording paper 2 are conveyed between the recording head 3 and the platen roller 4, and the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 are conveyed between the recording head 3 and the platen roller 4, Recording by thermal transfer must be performed sequentially.

In this case, in particular, in the present invention, during the period A, the recording paper 2 is fed by 1 line in the sub-scanning direction by the 4-step drive of the step motor 9, and also during the A period, the ink sheet 1 is fed by 1 step of the step motor 5. The feed roller pair 6 and the platen roller 4 are arranged so that the recording paper 2 and the ink sheet 1 are transported by the same amount by each step of each step motor 5.9. Each roller diameter and reduction ratio are set individually. That is, in this embodiment, 4 ink sheets are printed at the same location as ink sheet 1.
An ink sheet capable of thermally transferring 0 is used, and the ink sheet 1 is fed by 1/4th of the 1217 minute feed of the recording paper 2 in the sub-scanning direction. In Fig. 2, P indicates the start time of recording, R indicates the end of recording for Qrzl pages, and R indicates the recording paper 2 at the trailing edge of the page recorded.
S indicates the time when the cutter 13 is driven to cut the paper, S indicates the time when the paper is ejected, and T indicates the so-called leading edge margin where the leading edge of the recording paper 2 that has been cut by the cutter 13 and is used for the next recording process is pulled back to the position of the recording head 3. 70 indicates when the pullback is complete. In this embodiment, the step motors 5 and 9t are both pivoted at a constant speed during the QR period during which the recording paper 2 is fed to the position 13 after recording is completed, and the leading edge of the cut recording paper 2 is rotated at a constant speed. During the RT period in which the margin is pulled back, the step motors 5 and 9 are both driven to rotate at a constant speed in the opposite direction. ff12. During the period from P to S, the AC motor 7 is driven to perform n1 recording, discharge the companion recording paper 2 to the tray IO, and wind up the ink sheet 1.

Therefore, in the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention, since the drive control is performed by an error in which the ratio of the feeding speed of the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 is 1:4, the speed is Consumption of ink sheet l compared to the case of ratio l:1 -
t'Yl/4 and the conventional process 5
Do you need to reset the ink sheet that has been rolled up or rewind it? Don't let me do it, ink sheet 1
It becomes possible to obtain the same effect as when thermal transfer is performed multiple times with one feeding. Since pack tension acts on the ink sheet 1 during the recording period, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of wrinkles due to sagging.

Also, for example, if the feed speed of the ink sheet 1 is set to 1/2 of the feed speed of the recording paper 2 by applying a speed changeover switch, the motor driver 14η will change the step motor 5 to the step motor 5 according to the speed change. A pulse drive signal designated D2F' is issued. In addition, at that time, 02R, DIF, D
It is unnecessary for each pulse drive signal of IR. Therefore, in this case, the ink sheet 1 is fed by one step every time f&M2 is fed by two lines n during period A.

The amount of crinkling and ink sheet consumption is reduced to 1/2 compared to when the speed ratio is 1:1, and the printing quality is improved compared to the case when the speed ratio is 4:1. I can do G so that I can do it.

When the feed speed of the ink sheet 1 is set to be the same as the feed speed of the recording paper by applying the speed changeover switch, a drive stop signal is given to the controller 19H motor driver 14 accordingly, and the step motor c9 is 5, the speed ratio becomes 1=1, and the J:V printing quality can be further improved.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
For example, without providing a step motor 5 dedicated to feeding the ink sheet 1, the drive shaft of the platen roller 4 and the drive shaft of the feed roller pair 6 of the ink sheet 1 may be connected via a gear switching mechanism, and the platen roller 4 and the feed roller pair 6 may be connected via a gear switching mechanism. 90-La pair 6 and one step motor 9 to obtain a switching command from each of the step motors 9 and a speed switching switch.Accordingly, a gear switching drive signal is sent to the driver of the gear switching mechanism under the control of the controller 19. 7 to change the gear ratio by giving
Alternatively, the speed ratio between the ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 2 may be changed stepwise. Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to a line-type thermal transfer recording device using the above-mentioned ink sheet l, but also to a serial-type thermal transfer recording device using an ink ribbon (one in which a carriage on which a recording head is mounted is moved by a main running distance). It goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to thermal transfer recording devices.

In order to solve the above problems, the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention is equipped with a dedicated feeding means for sending ribbon-like ink media to the recording section. The feed roller means is driven while appropriately setting the relative ratio between the feed speed of the ink medium and the speed of the recording paper conveyed to the recording section by the platen roller, thereby reducing the consumption of ink sheets. It has an excellent advantage in that efficient thermal transfer recording can be easily performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a simplified configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a time chart showing the timing of each part of the printer, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the timing of ink sheets and recording paper in a conventional thermal transfer printer. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a transport system. l... Ink sheet 2... Recording paper 3... Recording head 4... Platen roller 5, 9, 20.
・・Step motor 6・Feed roller pair 7・・−
AC motor 8... Take-up reel U... Paper discharge roller counter... Separation roller 13... Cutter 14,
15, 16...Motor driver 17...Head driver 18...Cutter driver 19...Controller Acceleration selection switch

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer printer comprising means for conveying a recording paper and an ink medium to a recording section at different speeds, and means for varying the feeding speed of the ink medium relative to the recording paper.