JPS6277983A - Thermal recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance preheating efficiency and facilitate the control of a preheating temperature, by providing a preheating ray generator different from a recording heat beam generator, and preheating a particulate developer on a recording medium directly by preheating rays emitted by the preheating ray generator prior to the irradiation with recording heat beams. CONSTITUTION:When preheating rays 15 are emitted from a preheating ray generator 11, the rays 15 are reflected by a rotary polygon mirror 12, are then refracted by a focusing optical system 13, and the refracted rays are scanned on a recording medium 16 rectilinearly in a main scanning direction indicated by an arrow (b). A particulate developer 17 on the medium 16 is thus preheated by the preheating rays 15 to a preheating temperature. A recording heat beam 14 emitted from a recording heat beam generator 10 is similarly scanned along a scanning line on the recording medium 16 with some delay behind the preheating rays 15, whereby the developer 17 at the points heated by the recording heat beam 14 is melted, and is fixed onto the recording medium 16. Thus, the scanning line preheated by the preheating rays 15 is followingly scanned by the recording heat beam 14, whereby a one-scanning-line amount of informations is recorded on the recording medium 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal recording device, and particularly to a thermal recording device in which a heat-melting powder developer on a recording medium is melted and fixed by a heat beam to form a visible image. Regarding equipment.

(Prior art) A hot-melt powder developer is uniformly deposited on a recording medium,
In the thermal recording method, in which powder developer is melted and fixed by a recording heat beam emitted from a recording heat ray generator, a large amount of thermal energy is actually required to melt and fix the powder developer to the recording medium. .

For this reason, in conventional thermal recording devices, a recording medium having a heat-melting powder developer adhered to its surface is heated by a heating means such as a heater so that the back surface of the recording medium is exposed to heat, and the heat-melting powder developer is heated to a volume point of ↑5). A method of uniformly preheating to a predetermined temperature is adopted.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, conventional thermal recording devices uniformly preheat the powder developer through the recording medium, which requires a large amount of heat for preheating, resulting in poor thermal efficiency, and it is difficult to control the preheating temperature. There were problems such as.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal recording device in which a powder developer is directly preheated by irradiating a preheating wire ijQ onto the surface of a recording medium.

[Means for solving problems]

The thermal recording device according to the present invention is provided with a preheating ray generator different from the recording heat ray generator, and uses the preheating ray emitted from the preheating ray generator to generate powder on the recording medium prior to irradiation with the recording heat beam. This system directly preheats the developer.

[Effect]

In the thermal recording apparatus of the present invention, the powder developer on the recording medium is directly preheated by the preheating wire emitted from the preheating wire generator prior to irradiation with the recording heat beam.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of a thermal recording device showing an embodiment of the present invention. This thermal recording device is equipped with two heat ray generators: a recording heat ray generator 10 that emits a recording heat beam 14 for recording information, and a preheating ray generator 11 that emits a preheating beam 15 for preheating. The recording heat ray generator 10 and the preheating ray generator 11 have heat ray emission ends connected to a rotating polygon mirror 12.
They are placed above and below each other so that you can look up at the upper mirror surface at different angles. Recording heat ray generator 10
is designed to intermittently output a recording heat beam 14 according to recording information, and a preheating wire generator 11 outputs a recording heat beam 15 intermittently according to recording information.
It is designed to output continuously. Note that as the heat ray generators 10 and 11, for example, a laser generator, an infrared generator, or the like is used.

The rotating polygon mirror 12 is for reflecting the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating beam 15 emitted from the recording heat ray generator 10 and the preheating ray generator 11 upward to scan the recording medium 16. The rotating shaft 12a rotates at a constant speed in the direction indicated by the arrow a.

Diagonally above the rotating polygon mirror 12, a converging optical system 1 is provided for converging the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating beam 15 reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 12 into a spot on the recording medium 16.
3 is provided. This converging optical system 13 is configured to, for example, be a product of the focal length and the deflection angle of the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating wire 15 so that the scanning speed of the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating wire 15 on the recording medium 16 is constant. An fθ lens is used that is set so that the fθ is always constant.

A recording medium 16 is disposed above the converging optical system 13, and the recording medium 16 has a heat-melting powder developer 17 uniformly adhered to its lower surface by means such as electrostatic adsorption. As this recording medium 16, for example, plain paper that has not been particularly processed is used, and this recording medium 16 is connected to the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating wire 1.
5, it is scanned in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow, and is also moved intermittently at a constant speed or in constant steps at a constant cycle by a conveying means (not shown) in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. ing.

Next, the operation of the thermal recording apparatus of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

First, when the preheating wire 15 is emitted from the preheating wire generator 11, the preheating wire 15 is reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 12, refracted by the converging optical system 13, and moves on the recording medium 16 in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow. scan in a straight line. For this reason,
The powder developer 17 on the recording medium 16 is heated by the preheating wire 15, and is preheated to a predetermined pre-QA degree that does not melt the powder developer 17.

On the other hand, the recording heat beam 14 emitted from the recording heat ray generator IO is reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 12 and refracted by the convergence optical system 13 in the same way as the preheating wire 15.
The scanning line of the recording medium 16 that is the same as that linearly scanned by 5 is intermittently scanned with a slight delay from the preheating line 15 in accordance with recording information. As a result, the powder developer 17 that has already been preheated by the preheating wire 15 and heated by the recording heat beam 14 is melted and fixed onto the recording medium 16 .

In this way, the scanning line preheated by the preheating line 15 is scanned so as to be followed by the recording heat beam 14, and information corresponding to -scanning line is recorded on the recording medium 16. Then, by sequentially moving the recording medium 16 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1 in conjunction with the scanning of -scanning lines, the entire surface of the recording medium 16 is scanned, and an image corresponding to the recording information is recorded. The image is fixed on the medium 16. Therefore, after this, the powder developer 17 fixed on the recording medium 16 is electrostatically adsorbed, sucked, or blown away by air pressure.
A visible image is obtained.

Note that the scanning interval between the recording heat beam 14 and the preheating line 15 is as follows:
Note: A: It is determined depending on the arrangement of the hot ray generator 10 and the preheating ray generator 11, so it cannot be reduced to zero, but by making it smaller to some extent, the cooling time after preheating can be shortened and the preheating efficiency can be improved. can.

Furthermore, by connecting the preheating wire generator 11 to a power supply device with variable output, it is possible to adjust the preheating temperature so that a constant preheating temperature is always obtained even in response to changes in external temperature, and also to adjust the preheating temperature according to the density of recorded information. It is also possible to control the preheating temperature so that an appropriate melting temperature of the powder developer 17 is always obtained by changing the preheating temperature.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a thermal recording device showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the thermal recording device of this embodiment, the recording hot ray generator 20 and the preheating ray generator 21 are
The recording heat beam 24 and the preheating wire 25 emitted from the recording heat beams 21 and 21 are arranged above and below so that they are located in the same vertical plane. In the recording heat ray generator 20 installed at the upper level, the heat ray emission end surface is slightly tilted upward so that the recording heat beam 24 is incident on the mirror surface on the left side of the rotating polygon mirror 22 in the vertical direction with a very small incident elevation angle. placed,
The preheating wire generator 21 provided at the lower level is arranged so that its heat ray emission end surface is slightly tilted downward so that the preheating wire 25 is incident on the mirror surface with an extremely small angle of inclination in a direction perpendicular to the mirror surface.

In the thermal storage device of this embodiment, the rotation axis 22a of the rotating polygon mirror 22 is arranged in the vertical direction, and the converging optical system 23 and the heat-fusible powder developer 17 are attached to the left side of the rotating polygon mirror 22. The recording media 16 are sequentially provided.

In the thermal recording apparatus of this embodiment configured as described above, first, the surface of the recording medium 16 is aligned with a line in the main scanning direction indicated by the arrow (hereinafter referred to as , this line will be referred to as scan line n to mean the nth scan line). Then, the hot-melt powder developer 17 on this scanning line n is sequentially heated and preheated to a predetermined preheating temperature that does not reach the melting point.

Next, after the recording medium 16 has been advanced by one step in the sub-scanning direction indicated by arrow C, that is, by the scanning line interval, the preheating wire generator 21 starts scanning the next scanning line n+1. Meanwhile, the recording heat beam generator 20 starts scanning the scan line n with the recording heat beam 24. The recording heat beam generator 20 outputs a recording heat beam 24 having an intermittent sequence corresponding to the recording information to the scanning line n, and scans the scanning line n based on the recording information. Therefore, the already preheated heat-melting powder developer 17 in the recording spot irradiated with the recording heat beam 24 is heated, and the powder developer 17 reaches its melting point and is fused and fixed onto the recording medium I6. Ru.

In this way, the preheating wire 2 output from the preheating wire generator 21
By warming up and preheating the preceding scanning line by 5, it is possible to reliably record information even with the low energy density recording heat beam 24 output from the low output recording heat ray generator 20. In the thermal recording apparatus of this embodiment, a time interval equal to the sum of the main scanning time of one line and the sub-scanning time of one step occurs between the irradiation of the preheating beam 25 and the irradiation of the recording beam 24. Since a cooling time longer than a heating time is required for the temperature of the powder developer 17 to drop to the original temperature, the preheating efficiency does not substantially decrease.

FIG. 3 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, and in the i3 device of this embodiment, the recording heat ray generator is disposed behind the rotating polygon mirror 32 and is not shown. . The rotating polygon mirror 32 is provided horizontally so as to be freely rotatable about a rotation axis 32a, and a converging optical system 33 is arranged on the left side thereof. Further to the left of this converging optical system 33, a reflecting mirror 36 is arranged tilted at 45 degrees, and this reflecting mirror 36 is emitted from the recording heat ray generator and is connected to the rotating polygon mirror 32.
Recording heat beam 3 reflected by and converged by a converging optical system 33
4 is bent downward at a right angle so as to be incident on the recording medium 16. Therefore, the powder developer 17 on the recording medium 1G is scanned by the recording thermal beam 34 in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction C as the rotating polygon mirror 32 rotates.

On the other hand, the thermal recording station of this embodiment includes a columnar halogen tungsten lamp 37 serving as a preheating radiation source, and a semi-cylindrical inner surface surrounding the upper and left side parts of the halogen tungsten lamp 37. A preheating ray generator 31 is composed of a cylindrical reflecting mirror 38 having a mirror surface, and a cylindrical lens 39 disposed across the opening of the cylindrical reflecting mirror 38 so as to face the halogen tungsten lamp 37.
is provided. In addition, as a preheating radiation source, a xenon lamp, a laser generator, etc. can also be used instead of the halogen tungsten lamp 37. Further, the halogen tungsten lamp 37 is connected to a variable output power supply device (not shown), and the preheating wire 3
5 thermal energy density can be adjusted.

The cylindrical reflector 38 is a halogen tungsten lamp 3.
By forming the image of the filament No. 7 on the same filament, the preheating wire 35 emitted from the halogen tungsten lamp 37 is efficiently made to enter the cylindrical lens 39. The preheating line 35 emitted from the subscanning direction C is imaged onto the recording medium 16 so as to form a belt-shaped preheating zone in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the subscanning direction C. This preparatory zone is arranged to coincide with the main scanning line scanned by the recording heat beam 34.

In the thermal recording apparatus of this embodiment configured as described above, the recording heat beam 34 passes over the preheating zone preheated by the preheating wire 35 emitted from the halogen tungsten lamp 37.
Since the recording heat beam 34 scans, the powder developer 17 can be easily melted and fixed even by the recording heat beam 34 having a low thermal energy density. −
After the scanning for the scanning line is completed, the recording medium 16 is moved in the sub-scanning direction C by the steno knob to form a pre-heating zone on the next scanning line, and the recording heat beam 34 is again passed over the pre-scanning zone. Needless to say, scanning is required.

In each of the above embodiments, an example in which one preheating wire generator is provided is shown, but it goes without saying that a plurality of preheating wire generators may be provided as necessary.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a preheating ray generator different from the recording heat ray generator is provided, and the hot melt powder developer is directly preheated by the preheating wire prior to irradiation with the recording heat beam. As a result, the preheating efficiency can be significantly improved compared to the conventional case where the back side of the recording medium is known and the hot-melt powder developer is indirectly preheated, and the preheating temperature can be easily controlled. You will be able to do this.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the main part of a thermal recording device showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main part of a thermal recording device showing another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a side view of a main part of a thermal recording device showing still another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10.20...Recording heat ray generator, IL2L3
1... Preheating wire generator, 12.22.32... Rotating polygon mirror, 13, 23.3
3... Converging optical system, 14.24.34... Recording heat beam, 15, 25.35... Preheating wire, 16... Recording medium, 17... ...A hot-melt powder developer. Patent applicant: Copal Electronics Co., Ltd. Representative: Patent attorney Jun Kawahara - Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] The powder developer is selectively applied to the recording medium by scanning the recording medium to which the heat-melting powder developer is uniformly adhered with a recording heat beam emitted from a recording heat ray generator. In a thermal recording device that forms a visible image on the recording medium by melting and fixing and removing residual powder developer, a preheating ray generator different from the recording heat ray generator is provided, and this preheating ray generation A thermal recording device, characterized in that the powder developer on the recording medium is directly preheated by a preheating wire emitted from a container prior to irradiation with the recording heat beam.