JPS61158490A - Thermal transfer recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an improvement of a thermal transfer recording device, and particularly to a thermal transfer recording device that can remove afterimages remaining on the surface of an ink ribbon after transfer and can perform high-quality printing. Regarding.

The thermal transfer recording method does not generate any noise when printing and recording, so it has recently been used in offices and other places that require a quiet environment.

[Conventional technology]

Such a conventional thermal transfer recording system will be explained with reference to a sectional view of a main part in FIG.

The ink ribbon 1 is a base material 2 such as a polyester film.
With an intermediate adhesive layer 3 such as polyester resin on top,
It consists of an ink layer 4 in which a stone wall-like void constructed by a filler such as carbon black is filled with a heat-melting ink made of a dye and a low-melting point material (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
7-160691).

A predetermined heating element presses a selectively heated thermal head 5 on the ink ribbon l according to the printed information, selectively heats the ink ribbon, and transfers and records the ink melted by heating onto the recording paper 6. do. Note that 7 indicates the transferred ink, and 8 indicates the platen.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, since the ink ribbon 1, which can be used repeatedly, uses a filler as an ink holding material, it can be used repeatedly about 10 times. However, as shown by reference numeral 9 in FIG. 6, holes are formed on the surface of the ink layer after the transfer due to ink drainage, resulting in an afterimage due to printing. This means that as the ink layer is repeatedly used, the surface of the ink layer becomes uneven, and when this white part is rubbed during transfer, it becomes easy to peel off. Therefore, solid ink adheres to the recording paper even in areas that are not printed during transfer, degrading print quality.

In addition, if the ink layer area that was once used for transfer is used again, the ink has not yet completely solidified, and the traces of the previously printed image are transferred again as an afterimage due to the pressure of the thermal head. .

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem is solved by adding a pressure means to press the ink ribbon in the thickness direction in the device configuration that melts, evaporates, and sublimates the ink by heating the reusable ink ribbon and transfers the ink onto the recording paper. This problem is solved by the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, in which the afterimage generated on the surface of the ink layer after transfer is removed by applying pressure.

[Effect]

The thermal transfer recording device of the present invention takes advantage of the fact that the afterimage is transferred only by pressure, and reduces the unevenness of the ink layer by applying pressure to the ink ribbon before or after recording on the recording paper. At the same time, the afterimage is transferred onto another transfer medium, thereby attempting to obtain high-quality printing without afterimages.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, particularly showing the vicinity of the printing section.

In the figure, an ink ribbon 11 that can be repeatedly used for transfer
is sent out from the feed roller 12 in the direction of the arrow, and is transferred and recorded onto the recording paper 15 by the thermal head 14 while being wound up by the take-up roller 13. 16 indicates a platen.

Pressure roller for removing afterimage 17.1? ' is installed in front of the thermal head 14 with respect to the traveling direction of the ink ribbon 11. These rollers 17 and 17' are rotating in the convex directions indicated by the arrows, respectively, while being in pressure contact with each other. Therefore, the ink ribbon 11 passes through while being pressurized.

In the present embodiment, as shown in the top view of FIG.
When the pressing force between the two is 300 g/c+m2, the afterimage printed last time is transferred to the surface of the paper 18 wound around the roller 17'', so no afterimage is transferred onto the recording paper 15.
Even when this ink ribbon 11 was used many times, high quality printing was obtained.

In this embodiment, the paper 18 is wrapped around the roller 17°, but the roller 17'' itself may be made of a transfer medium material, or a transfer medium other than paper, such as felt, may be wrapped around the roller 17''.

Further, the rollers 17, 17'' may be installed on the right side of the platen 16, that is, the ink ribbon 11 may be pressurized after printing.

By the way, this pressure roller 17.1? ' If you print without passing the image through, the afterimage from the previous transfer may overlap the recording, or
Solid powder adhered to the paper, and as it was printed repeatedly, it became difficult to read.

3, 4, and 5 are top views of main parts showing other embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, one pressure roller is placed on the ink layer 21 side of the ink ribbon 11. 17', as shown in FIG. 4, the roller 17 is pressed against the press plate 23 from the base material 22 side of the ink ribbon 11, and as shown in FIG. The same effect as described above was also obtained by applying pressure to the ribbon 11.

Note that, although it is effective for the pressure contact force to be 300 to 500 g/cm 2 , it is not limited to this range.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention includes a pressure means for pressurizing a reusable ink ribbon,
Since the afterimage on the surface of the ink layer after transfer is removed in advance by the pressure means, high quality printing can be obtained even if this ink ribbon is used many times.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of the main parts of the pressure roller portion, and FIGS. FIG. 6 is a top view showing an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part of a thermal transfer recording apparatus for explaining the conventional drawbacks. In the drawing, 11 is an ink ribbon, 17.17' is a pressure roller 14 is a thermal head, 18 is a transfer medium 15 is a recording paper, and 21 is an ink layer 16 is a platen.
22 each indicates a base material. Figure 1 77' Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an apparatus configuration in which an ink layer that is solid at room temperature is held on a substrate, and a reusable ink ribbon is heated by a thermal head to melt, evaporate, and sublimate the ink, and transfer the ink onto a recording paper. A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a pressure means is added to press the ribbon in the thickness direction, and the pressure means removes an afterimage generated on the surface of the ink layer after transfer.