JPS63122580A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply replace a transfer recording medium, by making the member constituting the feed route of the transfer recording medium divisible from an apparatus main body as a unit. CONSTITUTION:A long sheet like transfer recording medium 1 is wound in a roll form to be received in a receiving cassette 14 as a supply roll 2 and incorporated in an apparatus main body M in a detachable manner and a leader 15 is connected to the end part of the transfer recording medium 1. When the transfer recording medium 1 is mounted in the apparatus main body M, a unit 18 is revolved in the direction shown by an arrow (c) and opened to largely open not only a recording part 3 between the recording head 3a and housing 3e thereof but also a transfer part 4 between the transfer roller 4a and press roller 4b thereof. When the cassette 14 having the transfer recording medium 1 received therein is mounted to a cassette mount part 16 in this state and a take-up shaft 6a is removed from a boss part 14b and drawn out, the leader 15 and the medium 1 are drawn out. The leader 15 and the medium 1 are allowed to pass a guide roller 12a, the recording head 3a, a guide roller 12b, the transfer roller 4a and a release roller 5, and a take-up shaft 6a is mounted to a take-up joint 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Field of Industrial Application> The present invention relates to a recording device that can be used in printers, copying machines, facsimile machines, and the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording devices suitable for each information processing system have also been developed.

One of the above-mentioned recording devices is a thermal transfer recording device. In this method, recording is performed on a recording paper using an ink ribbon made by coating a ribbon-shaped support with a heat-melt ink made by dispersing a colorant in a heat-melt binder.

That is, the ink ribbons are stacked so that their heat-melting ink layers are in contact with the recording paper, and the ink ribbon and the recording paper are conveyed between the thermal head and the platen, and the ink ribbon is transferred from the support side of the ink ribbon to the thermal head. By applying pulse-shaped heat according to the image signal and pressing the two together and transferring the molten ink to the recording paper, an ink image corresponding to the heat application is recorded on the recording paper. .

The above recording apparatus has been widely used in recent years because it is small and lightweight, makes no noise, and can record on plain paper.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the conventional thermal transfer recording system is not without its problems.

The reason is that in conventional thermal transfer recording devices, the transfer recording performance, that is, the image quality, is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the recording paper.
Although good image recording can be performed on recording paper with high smoothness, there is a risk that the quality of image recording will deteriorate when recording paper with low smoothness is used.

Furthermore, when attempting to obtain a multicolor image with a conventional thermal transfer recording device, it is necessary to repeat transfer to overlap the colors. For this purpose, it is necessary to provide multiple thermal heads or to make complicated movements such as stopping and reversing the recording paper, which not only makes color misalignment unavoidable, but also makes the entire device large and complicated. There is a problem with this.

<Means for solving the problem> Therefore, the applicant used a photothermally sensitive polymer material, and when heat energy and light energy were applied, the reaction of the same molecules proceeded rapidly and the transfer characteristics were irreversible. proposed a recording apparatus that uses a transfer recording medium that changes in characteristics, forms an image based on the difference in characteristics according to an image signal, and transfers it to the recording medium (Japanese Patent Application No. 150597/1982).

According to this recording device, it is possible to record high-quality images even on recording media with low surface smoothness, and when applied to multicolor recording, it is possible to make complex movements on the recording medium. This allows you to obtain multicolor images without any problems.

The present invention further develops the recording device, and includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device in which a transfer recording medium can be easily replaced.

Means for this purpose is an apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose transfer characteristics change by applying a plurality of types of energy, the apparatus comprising: This apparatus is characterized in that the members constituting the conveyance path are constructed as a unit that can be separated from the main body of the apparatus.

Effect> According to the above means, when setting the transfer recording medium, when the unit is separated from the main body of the apparatus, the transfer path for the transfer recording medium is wide open, so that the setting can be easily performed.

Furthermore, an image is formed by applying a plurality of types of energy, such as light energy and thermal energy, to the transfer recording medium according to the image information, and a transferred image can be obtained by transferring the image to the recording medium.

<Example> Next, an example of the present invention to which the above-mentioned means is applied will be described in a case where thermal energy and light energy are applied as a plurality of types of energy.

FIG. 1(A) is a cross-sectional schematic explanatory diagram of the recording device, and the first
Figure (B) is a perspective explanatory view.

In the figure, ``■'' is a long sheet-like transfer recording medium, which is wound into a roll and stored as a supply roll 2 in a transfer recording medium storage cassette 14 as shown in FIG. It is detachably incorporated into the main body M.

A leader 15 is connected to the end of the transfer recording medium 1 pulled out from the outlet 14a of the cassette 14, and the end of the leader 15 is connected to the take-up shaft 6a. Furthermore, a boss 14b is provided in the vicinity of the outlet 14a of the cassette 14 to detachably hold the winding shaft 6a.

Therefore, when the sleeve 6a is removed from the boss 14b and pulled out, the leader 15 and the transfer recording medium 1 are pulled out. Then, the leader 15 and transfer recording medium 1 that have been pulled out are passed through a guide roller 12a, a recording head 3a, and a guide roller 12b, and the direction is changed by a peeling roller 5 and a guide roller 12c from between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b. The winding shaft 6a is assembled to the winding joint 17. Thereafter, the transfer recording medium l is fed out in the direction of the arrow a by driving and rotating the winding jigo point 17 using a known driving means, and the transfer recording medium l is fed out in the direction of the arrow a, so that the transfer recording medium l is rolled out onto the circumferential surface of the winding shaft 6a.
It is configured to be rolled up.

Incidentally, during the winding, a constant bank tension is applied to the supply roll 2 by, for example, a hysteresis brake (not shown), and this tension and the guide rollers 12a, 12b cause the transfer recording medium l to move toward the recording head 3a. It is configured to be conveyed while being pressed against the object at a certain pressure and at a certain angle.

Next, the configuration of each of the above-mentioned parts will be individually explained. First, the transfer recording medium 1 has a transfer recording layer 1b having a property of forming an image when both thermal energy and light energy are applied to a sheet-like support la as shown in FIG. It is what it is.

To explain an example thereof, as shown in FIG. 2, the transfer recording layer 1b uses the components shown in Tables 1 and 2 as cores lc and ld, and forms microcapsule-shaped image forming elements by the following method. It forms.

In other words, the log components shown in Tables 1 and 2 are first mixed with 20 parts by weight of methylene chloride, and then a surfactant such as a cationic or nonionic surfactant with an HLI value of at least 10 or more and 1 g of gelatin are added. Mixed with 200° of dissolved water and heated at 60°C with a homomixer at 8.000 to 10.00 Or
Stir at pm to emulsify and obtain oil droplets with an average particle size of 26n.

Stirring was continued for another 30 minutes at 60"C, and methylene chloride was distilled off to make the average particle size 10n. To this was added 20mm of water in which 1g of gum arabic was dissolved, and after cooling slowly, N11.OH was added. (ammonia) Add water and pHl
1 or more to obtain a microcapsule slurry, and slowly add 1.0-20% glutaraldehyde aqueous solution to harden the capsule walls.

After that, solid-liquid separation was carried out using a Nutsche filter, and 35
It is dried at 510° C. for 10 hours to obtain a microcapsule-shaped image forming element.

This image forming element has cores lc and l shown in Tables 1 and 2.
d is a microcapsule covered with a shell 1e, which is formed to have a particle size of 7 to 15n and an average particle size of 10μ.

The image forming element formed as described above is adhered onto a support la using an adhesive If to constitute a transfer recording medium 1.

To explain this in more detail, an adhesive made by dissolving 3 cc of toluene in the polyester adhesive Polyester LP-022 (solid content 50%) lee manufactured by Nippon Gosei Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. is applied to a thickness of 6 p. The mixture is coated onto a support 1a made of a polyethylene terephthalate film. After that, the solvent was removed by drying, and the thickness was measured, and it was about 1IIm.
Met. Since the adhesive If has a glass transition point of 115° C., a slight tack remains even at room temperature, and the image forming element formed as described above can be easily attached to the support 1a.

Thereafter, a pressure of about 1 kg/cd and thermal energy of about 80° C. are applied to firmly fix the image forming element onto the support la, thereby forming the transfer recording medium 1.

The photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 1 absorbs light in the band of graph A in the light absorption characteristics shown in FIG. Further, the photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 2 absorbs light in the band shown in graph B in FIG. 3 to start a reaction, and the color becomes blue during image formation.

Next, the recording section 3 will be explained. The recording section 3 is composed of heating means and light irradiation means.

The heating means consists of a row of line-type heating elements 3b arranged on the surface of the recording head 3a and having a width of 0.2 mm and 8 dots/dragon, A-4 size and line type, which generate heat according to the image signal. The support la side of the transfer recording medium 1 is configured to be pressed against the heating element array 3b with a predetermined pressure by a back tension run during conveyance. The image signal is generated from a control unit (not shown) of, for example, a facsimile, an image scanner, or an electronic whiteboard, depending on the purpose.

On the other hand, two fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d serving as light irradiation means having spectral characteristics as shown in FIG.
It has a slit with an opening width of 0.5 sm and is arranged at a distance of 0.5 sm from the transfer recording medium l so that the area directly above the heating element row of the transfer recording medium l that is in pressure contact with a is irradiated. It is housed in a housing 3e.

In this embodiment, one fluorescent lamp 3c having the spectral characteristics shown in graph A of FIG.
Using fluorescent lamp PL205E for W health line, graph B
As the other fluorescent lamp 3d having the spectral characteristics shown in , a 20W fluorescent lamp FLIO^70E39 manufactured by Toshiba is used.

Next, the transfer section 4 will be explained. The tX transfer section 4 is disposed downstream of the recording section 3 in the conveyance direction of the transfer recording medium 1, and includes a transfer roller 4a that rotates in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. Pressure roller 4
It is composed of b. The transfer roller 4a is
The surface is made up of an aluminum roller coated with silicone rubber with a thickness of 11 degrees and a hardness of 70 degrees, and a built-in 80 mm roller.
The surface is heated to 90 to 100 by the 0W halogen heater 4c.
"It is configured to be held in C.

The pressure roller 4b is an aluminum roller coated with 1 mm of silicone rubber having a hardness of 70 degrees, and the pressing force with the transfer roller 4a is 6 to 7 kirf/cm by a pressure means (not shown) such as a spring. It is set.

Furthermore, recording paper 8 as a recording medium loaded in the cassette 7
is the feed roller 9. The register roller pair 10a, 10b is configured to feed the recording medium 1 to the transfer section 4 in synchronization so as to overlap the image area of the recording medium 1. A one-way clutch is provided on the shaft of the registration roller 10a so that the roller can freely rotate in the direction of the transfer section 4.

Here, a unit for loading the transfer recording medium 1 will be explained.

The above-mentioned unit) 18 includes members constituting the conveyance path of the transfer recording medium l, that is, a cassette loading section 16 for loading the cassette 14, a recording head 3a, and a guide roller 12a.
, 12b, a transfer roller 4a, a peeling roller 5, and a winding winder 17 are provided. This unit 18 is connected to the main body M of the apparatus by a shaft 19, and rotates about 95 degrees in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG.
It is configured so that it can be opened and closed.

Next, a case will be described in which the recording apparatus configured as described above is used.

First, when loading the transfer recording medium 1 into the apparatus main body M,
As shown in FIG. 6, the unit 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow C to open it. In this way, the space between the recording head 3a and the housing 3e in the recording section 3 and the space between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b in the transfer section 4 are wide open. In this state, the cassette 14 containing the transfer recording medium 1 is loaded into the cassette loading section 16 from the front to the back in FIG. Then, the transfer recording medium 1 is pulled out. The leader 15 and the transfer recording medium 1 are connected to the guide roller 12a, the recording head 3a, and the guide roller 1.
2b, transfer roller 4a, and peeling roller 5, and the winding shaft 6a is assembled to the winding shaft 17. Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the unit 18 is rotated in the direction of arrow e to close it, and the unit 18 is closed by a latch mechanism (not shown).
8 and the apparatus main body M are latched, the transfer recording medium 1 is loaded into the apparatus as shown in FIG. 1(A).

When the unit) 18 is separated from the device main body M as described above,
Since the conveyance path of the transfer recording medium 1 is largely opened from the apparatus main body M and a sufficient working space is secured, loading of the transfer recording medium 1 becomes extremely easy.

Next, a case will be described in which the transfer recording medium 1 is conveyed and an image is recorded. In the embodiment described below, an example will be shown in which heat is applied in accordance with both signals, and light is applied uniformly.

A motor (not shown) is driven to sequentially feed out the transfer recording medium l from the supply roll 2, and an image is formed by applying light and heat to the transfer recording layer 1b of the transfer recording medium 1 in the recording section 3 according to both signals. be done.

That is, the transfer recording layer 1b has a property that when light and heat of a predetermined wavelength are applied, the softening point temperature increases and it is no longer transferred to the recording paper 8. In addition, when recording magenta color, the heating element corresponding to magenta of the image signal in the heating element row 3b is not energized.
The part corresponding to the white of both signals (recording paper 8 is white) is energized for 25 hours, and the fluorescent lamp 3 is turned on with a delay of 5 ms.
C is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time at this time is 45 m.

Next, when recording blue color, after 50+ms have elapsed after the end of the irradiation, that is, 100 ms after the energization time, the image signal is transmitted without energizing the heating element corresponding to the blue color of the image signal in the heating element array 3b. 25- is applied to the portion corresponding to white, and after 5-3, the fluorescent lamp 3d is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time at this time was also 45 hours as described above.

In the manner described above, the recording head 3a is controlled according to both the blue, magenta, and white signals to form a negative image on the transfer recording layer lb, and transfer recording is performed synchronously at a repeating cycle of 200-s/1ine. Transport the medium l.

When the transfer recording medium l is conveyed to the transfer section 4 together with the recording paper 8, the transfer recording layer 1b and the recording paper 8 are heated while being in pressure contact, and the two-color images of blue and magenta are transferred to the recording paper 8. Ru. Further, the transfer recording medium l and the recording paper 8 that have passed through the transfer section 4 are peeled off by a peeling roller 5, and the recording paper 8 on which the image of the desired color has been recorded is transferred to a pair of discharge rollers 13a, 13.
The transfer recording medium l is ejected to the ejection tray 11 by b.
is wound up on a winding roll 6.

Two-color recording is completed in one shot as described above.

Other Embodiments> In the above-mentioned embodiments, the transfer recording layer 1b of the transfer recording medium 1
The configuration was such that light of a predetermined wavelength corresponding to a desired color is uniformly irradiated from the side, and heat corresponding to the image signal is applied from the side of the support 1a, but in another embodiment, heat is uniformly applied. It is also possible to apply a predetermined light according to the image signal.

Furthermore, if the support 1a is made of a translucent material, the support 1a can be made of a transparent material.
A configuration may be adopted in which light is irradiated from the a side and heat is applied from the transfer recording [1b side].

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, light irradiation and heat application were performed with the support 1a in between, but image formation is also possible by performing both light irradiation and heat application from one side of the support 1a. .

Further, as the heating means, in addition to the method using the recording head 3a described above, a method of selectively heating using a YAG laser and a polygon mirror, etc. may be used.

Further, as the light irradiation means, the above-mentioned fluorescent lamp 3c is used.

In addition to the method using 3D, for example, a method using an LED array, a method using a xenon lamp and a filter matching the light absorption characteristics of the material, etc. can be used.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, light energy and thermal energy were applied to the transfer recording jlilb at the same time, but even if the configuration is such that the optical energy and thermal energy are applied separately, both energies are applied as a result. Any configuration that can be used is fine.

Furthermore, although the above-mentioned embodiment has been explained using an example of two-color recording, as disclosed by the applicant in Special No. 128814/1981, the types of colorants and photoinitiators constituting the image forming element can be appropriately selected. However, by selecting a light source with a wavelength that causes the photoinitiator to react and using the process disclosed in the above-mentioned application, it is also possible to obtain monochromatic, multicolor (three or more colors), or full-color recorded images.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an example was shown in which an image is transferred and recorded onto a recording paper by changing the softening point temperature of the transfer recording medium lb, which is made of a polymeric material containing a colorant, using light energy and thermal energy. , the image may be transferred and recorded based on the difference in adhesion properties or sublimation properties to the recording paper, or the recording paper may be provided with coloring properties to transfer and record a layer that changes the coloring properties of the recording paper. The image may be recorded by providing the recording medium on a medium and transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium to recording paper.

Furthermore, the plurality of types of energy applied to the transfer recording [1b] are not limited to the above-mentioned heat and light energy, and images may be formed using, for example, ground energy such as pressure energy.

In addition to the above-mentioned polyethylene terephthalate, for example, polyamide, polyimide, capacitor paper, cellophane paper, etc. can also be used as the material for the support 1a.

Further, as the transfer recording layer ib, it is possible to appropriately select and use a material having properties such as heat melting property, heat softening property, or heat sublimation property.

Furthermore, the recording medium is not limited to the above-mentioned recording paper, but can be used, for example, with an overhead projector (OH
Of course, plastic sheets for P) can also be used.

Next, the transfer section 4 is not limited to roller-shaped rollers like the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b, but may be of any configuration that can provide a desired pressure, such as a rotating belt.

Furthermore, if necessary, a fixing means for fixing the image on the recording medium onto which the image has been transferred by the transfer section 4 may be provided downstream of the peeling roller 5 in the conveyance direction of the recording medium.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention uses a transfer recording medium whose transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied, thereby making it possible to create multicolor images without making any complicated movements on the recording medium. You can get it.

Furthermore, since the members constituting the conveyance path of the transfer recording medium can be separated from the main body of the apparatus, the conveyance path is wide open when loading the transfer recording medium, making it possible to secure a sufficient working space. Therefore, loading and replacing the transfer recording medium can be made extremely easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 (A) and (B) are overall schematic explanatory diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of a transfer recording medium, and Figure 3 is an optical absorption characteristic of a photoinitiator in the transfer recording medium. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the light irradiation means, FIG. 5 is a perspective explanatory diagram of the cassette, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sectional explanatory diagrams with the unit opened from the main body of the device. , FIG. 8 is a timing chart for applying heat and light. l is a transfer recording medium, la is a support, 1b is a transfer recording layer,
lc and ld are cores, le is shells, If is adhesive, 2 is a supply roll, 3 is a recording section, 3a is a recording head, 3b is a heating element array, 3c and 3d are fluorescent lamps, 3e is a housing, 4
is a transfer unit, 4a is a transfer roller, 4b is a pressure roller, 4C
is a heater, 5 is an edge release roller, 6 is a winding roll, 6a
is a winding shaft, 7 is a cassette, 8 is a recording paper, 9 is a feeding roller, 10a, 10b are register rollers, 11 is an ejection tray, 12a, 12b, 12c are guide rollers, 13a
, 13b is a discharge roller, 14 is a cassette, 14a is a delivery port, 14b is a boss, 15 is a leader, 16 is a cassette loading section, 17 is a winding joint, 18 is a unit, 1
9 is the axis.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium using a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied, the conveyance path of the transfer recording medium being A recording device characterized in that its constituent members are constructed as a unit that can be separated from the device main body. (2) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the unit and the device main body are configured to be separable by rotating them about an axis. (3) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of types of energy are composed of thermal energy and optical energy.