JPH0222071A - Electrostatic control grid type printer mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure of a printing head part by excluding a movable part from said head part by arranging a toner sump and a transfer roll so as to hold an electrostatic control grid type head therebetween and applying definite electrostatic charge to the surface of the transfer roll and controlling the voltage applied to each electrode of the head in a time series manner. CONSTITUTION:Definite electrostatic charge is applied to the surface of a transfer roll 1 constituted by covering the surface of a metal roll with a thin insulating layer 2 while the voltage applied to each electrode 3 of an electrostatic control grid type head in a time series manner to selectively control that toner particles 4 pass by the electrode 3 of the head to be bonded to the transfer roll 1. As a result, a reversal image of a character or figure is formed on the surface of the transfer roll 1 by the presence of the adhesion of the toner particles. Next, the toner particles 4 are transferred to the paper moving at the same speed as the surface of the transfer roll 1 in the contact state with the surface of the transfer roll 1 to print a desired character or figure on the paper 10.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is for printing information such as characters and figures expressed by electrical signals, such as the output of an electronic computer, on paper in a visible state. Regarding the printer mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional technologies for the above include laser beam printers, LED printers, liquid crystal printers, electrostatic printers, pen plotter-3 thermal printers, thermal transfer printers,
Various methods such as inkjet printers are known.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Each of the above methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Pen plotters have a simple mechanism and are generally inexpensive because the output format of a computer can easily correspond to the movement of the pen, but they have the disadvantage of slow speed and cannot be filled in. Thermal printers and thermal transfer printers have no moving parts in their heads and can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, but have the drawbacks of requiring special thermal paper and transfer ribbons, high running costs, and difficulty in achieving high resolution. Furthermore, inkjet printers have high resolution and are suitable for color printing as they can be coated in multiple colors, but they have a complicated mechanism and have the disadvantages of maintenance problems such as ink clogging and slow speed.

Electrostatic plotters have no moving parts, can be manufactured at high speed, in large sizes, have fairly high resolution, and are capable of color printing, but have the drawbacks of requiring special paper and high running costs. Laser beam printers are an excellent printing method in that they can achieve high speed and high resolution and do not require special paper, but they have the drawback of requiring precise and complicated mechanical and optical mechanisms and being expensive.

The electrostatic control grid type printer mechanism according to the present invention eliminates the drawbacks of these various methods, has the high speed and high resolution of laser beam blinkers and electrostatic printers, and has no moving parts in the head like thermal printers and thermal transfer printers. The present invention aims to provide a printer mechanism that has a number of features such as a simple structure and the ability to print on plain paper, which does not require special paper.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention aims to realize a printer mechanism that eliminates the drawbacks of the various one-type printers described above and has the features of high resolution, high speed, non-moving parts, simple mechanism, and printing on plain paper. The electrostatic control grid type head is sandwiched between toner pools and a transfer roll is provided, and a constant electrostatic charge is applied to the rotating transfer roll, while the voltage applied to each electrode of the electrostatic control grid type head is changed over time. Through sequential control, it is possible to selectively control the toner particles to pass between the electrodes of the electrostatic control grid type navel 1' and to adhere to the transfer roll, thereby causing the toner particles to be deposited on the surface of the transfer roll. After obtaining an inverted image of characters and figures depending on whether or not they are attached, the toner particle image is transferred onto a sheet of paper that moves at the same speed as the surface of the transfer roll while contacting the surface of the transfer roll to form desired characters or figures on the paper. It is a printer mechanism that is characterized by obtaining figures, etc.

The basic principle of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

The flat plate electrode 1 charged to a high voltage in the first cross-sectional view
The surface of is covered with a thin insulating layer 2. The toner particles 4 are minute particles containing a pigment or dye and a thermoplastic resin, and are charged with a polarity opposite to that of the flat electrode 1. grid 3
is a thin electrical conductor wire extending perpendicularly to the screen, and is charged with a polarity opposite to that of the flat electrode l. In this state, Figure 1 (
As shown in a), there is a repulsive force between the toner particles and the grid electrode. By appropriately selecting the voltage applied to the grid electrode and the voltage applied to the grid electrode, toner particles are not attracted to the flat plate electrode through the gap between the grid electrodes.

However, when the voltage applied to one of the grid electrodes is gradually brought closer to zero, at a certain voltage, toner particles will be slightly attracted to the flat electrode through the gap between the grid electrode and the adjacent electrode. As this voltage is brought closer to zero, this tendency becomes stronger and a larger amount of toner particles are attracted to the flat plate electrode. This situation is shown in FIG. 1(b).

What should be noted here is the fact that the amount of toner attracted can be controlled depending on the voltage applied to the grid electrode.

By applying voltage only to the necessary grid electrodes in this way, the toner 4 can be selectively attached only to the necessary positions.

[Effect]

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the printing mechanism according to the present invention will be explained in more detail. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken in a direction perpendicular to the cross section of FIG.

In FIG. 2, the surface of the transfer drum 1 is covered with an insulating layer 2 and is rotating in the direction of the arrow.

When passing under the high-voltage corona discharge electrode 7, the surface of the insulating layer 2 is charged to a high voltage. The inside of the toner box 5 is filled with toner 4, which is appropriately stirred by a mechanism (not shown), and a large amount of toner particles are also present near the grid electrode 3.

The grid electrode 3 is composed of a row of thin metal wires that bridge a narrow gap extending in the tangential direction of the transfer drum 1, that is, in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Each of the grids is electrically insulated and each is independently connected to a high-voltage power supply circuit (not shown), and a desired voltage is applied to each grid by giving a control signal to the power supply circuit. can do.

Here, the gap between the grids is approximately 100 μm, and the spacing between the grid electrodes is such that a predetermined resolution can be achieved. That is, for example, 16 dots/m
In order to achieve a resolution of m, the electrode spacing is approximately 60 μm.

Normally, a potential opposite to the surface potential of the transfer roll is applied to the grid electrode 3. When a control signal is applied and the potential of the grid electrode approaches zero, the toner particles are attracted to the transfer roll by the electrostatic force caused by the charge on the surface of the transfer roll, and the toner particles are attracted to the grid adjacent to the grid electrode. - Passes between the throat electrodes and reaches the surface of the insulating layer 2 of the transfer roll. At this time, by appropriately controlling the timing of applying voltage to each grid electrode, an inverted image A of a desired character or figure can be obtained.

The inverted image on the surface moves as the transfer roll rotates and reaches the point of contact between the transfer roll and the paper 10.

The paper is moved in the direction T by a drive roll (not shown) and by the transfer roll 1 and pressure roll 11 in synchronization with the surface speed of the transfer roll. Here, at the same time an electric field for transfer is applied by the transfer electrode 8, the pressure roll 1
1, the inverted image A of the toner particles on the transfer roll is transferred onto the paper 10. When the image formed by the transferred toner particles is heated by the fixing heater 9, the thermoplastic resin, which is a component of the toner, is softened and the toner is fixed to the paper 10.

On the other hand, after the surface of the transfer roll is cleaned by removing untransferred toner remaining on the surface by the cleaning roll 6, the process returns to the beginning and repeats the same process. This process can therefore be carried out continuously.

Furthermore, the movement of the toner particles 4 is carried out in an extremely short time,
Since image formation is performed simultaneously in parallel over the entire width of the printer, extremely high-speed printing can be achieved.

Here, regarding the toner 4, this process can be realized whether it is a dry toner or a wet toner.

In the case of a liquid toner, the solvent, which is a component thereof, passes between the grid electrodes without being affected by the potential of the control grid, and constantly comes into contact with the surface of the transfer roll to wet the transfer roll.

The control grid with the structure and dimensions shown above is created by etching a thin metal film deposited on the entire surface of a substrate made of an appropriate insulating material using photolithography to form an electrode array, and then attaching the substrate side to a predetermined position. It can be manufactured extremely easily by etching the gap width in a direction perpendicular to the electrode array. This process is repeated in the third
As shown in the figure.

Further, the connection between this electrode and an external electric circuit can be realized by, for example, a point-by-point connection method such as wire bonding, TAB, or a combination of a flexible substrate and an anisotropic conductive seal.

FIG. 4 shows the cross-sectional structure of the control grid made in this way. The grid electrode 3 placed on a partially etched substrate is connected to an electrode 19 on a printed circuit board 18 on which a high-voltage power supply circuit for driving and the like is placed with a bonding wire. In this state, the entire structure is shaped and filled with an insulating material such as epoxy resin, and the control grid as shown in FIG. 4 is manufactured. If a high-voltage power supply circuit, a control circuit, and a selection circuit for selecting one of the many grid electrodes are mounted on the circuit board, communication with external circuits can be made using the power supply line, image signal line, and selection address signal line. This can be done with a very small number of conductors including.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has no moving parts in the print head section and can achieve high resolution with a head having an extremely simple structure. Furthermore, this head can be manufactured extremely easily and at low cost using photolithography, which is often used in semiconductor processes. Since the transfer roll is simply a metal roll whose surface is covered with a thin insulator, it can be manufactured at a much lower cost than the expensive photosensitive drums used in laser printers, which have a short lifespan. Additionally, since it does not use specially treated paper like electrostatic plotters and thermal printers, running costs are low (and paper is easy to procure).

As described above, the printer mechanism of the present invention realizes a printer mechanism with high resolution and high speed at an extremely low cost, and can be widely used in computer output devices, communication output devices, etc., and is suitable for industrial and consumer use. This is extremely meaningful.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the operating principle of this printer mechanism, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of this printer, Fig. 3 is a sectional view and sketch showing the process of manufacturing the control grid, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the operating principle of this printer mechanism. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a control grid. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Flat plate electrode, 2... Insulating layer, 3... Control grid electrode, 4... Toner 5...
Toner container, 6...Cleaning brush, 7
...Corona discharge electrode, 8...Transfer electric field application electrode,
9... Fixing heater, 10... Paper, 1
1...-pressure roller, 15... grid electrode manufacturing substrate, 16... grid electrode body, 17...
・Connection wire, 18...Printed circuit board,
19... Purine 1 ~ Electrode on the circuit board. Applicant Nippon Steel Corporation Patent Attorney Minoruichi Aoyagi No. 4 @ Procedural amendment (voluntary) ■, Indication of the case 1988 Patent Application No. 173181 2, Name of the invention Electrostatic control grid type printer Mechanism 3, Relationship with the person making the amendment Patent applicant address 2-6-3 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Name (6
65) Nippon Steel Corporation Representative Yutaka Saito 4, Agent 101 e 03 (
863) 0220 Address: 3-4-5, Iwamoto-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo - Higashi Bilua, Subject of amendment: Scope of claims in the specification, Detailed description of the invention, Brief description of drawings and Drawing 8, contents of the amendment As shown in the attached sheet, the scope of claims in the specification in Attachment (1) is amended as follows. [1. The electrostatic control grid type head is sandwiched between toner pools, a transfer roll is provided, a constant electrostatic charge is applied to the surface of the rotating transfer roll, and each electrode of the electrostatic control grid type head is charged with a certain amount of static electricity. By controlling the applied voltage in a time-series manner, it is possible to selectively control the toner particles to pass through the head of the electrode of the electrostatic control grid type head and adhere to the transfer roll, thereby causing the toner particles to adhere to the transfer roll on the surface of the transfer roll. After obtaining an inverted image of characters and figures based on the presence or absence of toner particles, the toner particles are transferred onto a sheet of paper that moves at the same speed as the surface of the transfer roll while contacting the surface of the transfer roll. A printer mechanism characterized by the ability to obtain desired characters, figures, etc. ” (2) “Feeling” on page 6, line 18 is corrected to “interval.” (3) Insert "The high-voltage power supply circuit generates high voltage" in place of "by" on the second line of page 7. (4) The statement on page 9, lines 10 to 18 is amended as follows. ``It can be manufactured extremely easily by etching the plate side by a predetermined gap width in a direction perpendicular to the electrode array or at an appropriate intersecting angle.
As shown in the figure. For convenience of explanation and understanding, the grid electrode 3 has been described as having a structure that bridges the gap, but it is not necessarily limited to this, and it is sufficient if the passage of the toner can be controlled by the applied voltage, and the grid electrode 3 can be connected from the wall surface on one side of the gap. It may be a slightly protruding structure or a buried structure. In addition, in order to connect this electrode to an external electric circuit, it can be realized by an individual connection method such as wire bonding, or a batch connection method such as TAB or a combination of a flexible substrate and an anisotropic conductive seal. can. J(5) "Fill in" on page 10, line 6 of the same page is corrected to "fill in." (6) Correct "body" in line 5 of page 12 to "body". (Correct the force drawing Figure 4 (a) as shown in the attached sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A toner reservoir is provided between the electrostatic control grid head, and a transfer roll is provided. A constant electrostatic charge is applied to the surface of the rotating transfer roll, while being applied to each electrode of the electrostatic control grid head. By controlling the voltage applied over time, the toner particles are selectively controlled to pass between the electrodes of the electrostatic control grid head and adhere to the transfer roll, thereby causing the toner particles to be deposited on the surface of the transfer roll. After obtaining an inverted image of characters and graphics depending on the presence or absence of toner particles, the toner particles are transferred onto a sheet of paper that moves at the same speed as the surface of the transfer roll while contacting the surface of the transfer roll to form the desired image on the paper. A printer mechanism characterized by obtaining characters, figures, etc.