JPH03182760A - Image recorder, image recording medium and display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stably obtain bright images even when humidity changes drastically by forming a porous dielectric layer on the surface of the conductive member on the dielectric surface layer of a recording medium and packing hydrophobic dielectric materials into the holes of the dielectric layer. CONSTITUTION:A conductor 11 which can be anodized is used as the recording medium 1 and the surface of this conductor 11 is anodized. Further, the hydrophobic dielectric materials 12a, 12b having the softening point hither than the glass transition point of a toner are packed into the many holes formed within the anodized layer to form the dielectric layer 12. The surface of the conductor 11 as the recording medium 1 is otherwise subjected to thermal spraying and is thereby formed with the dielectric layer 12 of an oxide, carbide, nitride, etc., having wear resistance and thereafter, the hydrophobic dielectric materials 12a, 12b having the softening point higher than the glass transition point of the toner are packed into the holes in the dielectric layer 12. The fluctuation in the surface resistance of the recording medium is lessened in this way and the bright images are formed even when the recording medium is used in the environment from a high humidity to low humidity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording device for recording an image using toner (toner image), an image recording medium used for recording the toner image, and an image recording medium recorded on the image recording medium. The present invention relates to a display device that displays a toner image.

[Conventional technology]

It is well known that an electrostatic latent image is formed on a dielectric layer on the surface of an image recording medium by optical or electrical means, and then an insulating toner is adhered thereto to obtain a toner image. Further, a recording electrode is placed close to the image recording medium, and the recording electrode and the recording medium 1? are connected to each other by magnetic means. A 1-ner chain is formed in jJ, and a recording voltage is applied between the recording electrode and the image recording medium to inject charge into the dielectric layer of the image recording medium, thereby making contact with the dielectric layer of the toner chain. It is also known to obtain a toner image by depositing toner on an image recording medium. Such an image recording device is disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 4,763,143.

Image recording media used in the above-mentioned image recording devices include (1) those in which a dielectric layer is formed by anodizing the surface of a cylindrical conductive substrate such as aluminum or aluminum alloy; (2) Similar to (1), it is known that a dielectric layer is formed by impregnating tetrafluoroethylene after anodizing treatment.

The image recording medium shown in (1) has many cracks and holes in the anodic oxide layer, and the problem remains that clear image recording is insufficient due to toner penetrating into the cracks, etc. There is. On the other hand, the image recording medium shown in (2) solves this problem by impregnating the anodized layer with tetrafluoroethylene. Japanese Patent Publication No. 1983-193
Publication No. 157 discloses the image recording medium shown in (2).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the recording medium shown in (2) above still has many pores on its surface, and even after sealing with hot water or high-pressure steam, hydrated aluminum oxide remains on the surface. formed and becomes hydrophilic. Therefore, when an image is recorded in a humid environment, moisture in the air adheres to and adsorbs on the surface of the image recording medium, reducing the electrical resistance value of the surface of the dielectric layer. Therefore, the electrostatic force acting on the toner on the surface of the dielectric layer of the recording medium is reduced, and the density of the image is reduced to 74.
There is a tendency to become

An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording medium that can stably obtain clear images even when humidity changes significantly;
An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device and a display device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide stable and clear images for a long period of time!
) An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording medium, an image recording device, and a display device that can perform the following operations.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a conductor that can be anodized as a recording medium of an image recording device, improves hardness by anodizing the surface of this conductor, and further adds A recording medium is used in which a dielectric layer is formed by filling a large number of pores with a hydrophobic dielectric material having a softening point higher than the glass transition point of the toner.

In addition, a dielectric layer is formed on the surface of the conductor as a recording medium using a wear-resistant oxide, carbide, nitride, etc. by thermal spraying.
Next, a recording medium is used in which the pores in the dielectric layer are filled with a hydrophobic dielectric material having a softening point higher than the glass transition point of the toner.

Further, in the display device of the present invention, the recording medium is made flexible, and the recorded image formed on the flexible recording medium by the image recording device is displayed on the display section.

[Effect]

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention, the surface of the conductor substrate is anodized or A (120sr TiN+T
By forming a dielectric material with pores using iC or the like by thermal spraying, and then filling the pores with a hydrophobic dielectric material to form a dielectric layer of a sealed structure, the environment in which the image recording device is used can be improved. Even if the humidity fluctuates, the change in surface resistance of the recording medium is within the range of about 109 to 1012Ω, which prevents leakage of toner charge or the occurrence of charging phenomena on the recording medium, and increases the degree of one image family. Capable of recording high-quality, clear images.

In addition, the dielectric layer is mainly formed from anodized layers, oxides, carbides, nitrides, etc., so it has high hardness, and there is almost no wear phenomenon of the dielectric layer even during long-term image recording, making it stable. Images can be recorded. The reason why the softening point of the hydrophobic dielectric material is set to be higher than the glass transition point of the toner is because the temperature inside the image recording apparatus is set to lower than the glass transition point of the toner.

When the softening point of the hydrophobic dielectric material is lower than that.

This is because the hydrophobic dielectric material softens and flows from the pores, changing the properties of the recording medium and adversely affecting the image.

Further, according to the display device of the present invention, since the recording medium is flexible and has the same structure as the recording medium described above, it has environmental resistance and abrasion resistance, and the image formed on the recording medium is can be clearly displayed on the screen as it is.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, one image recording device includes a recording medium 1, an electrostatic recording head 2, a toner supply device 3, a first toner collection device 4, a transfer roller 5, a fixing roller 6, and a second toner supply device. It is configured to include a recovery device 7 and a pulse drive circuit 8.

The recording medium 1 has a cylindrical shape extending in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and its length in the ring direction is such that recording can be performed on a transfer material 35 of, for example, A4 size or B4 size.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged cross section of the recording medium 1. As shown in FIG. The recording medium 1 includes a cylindrical conductive layer 11 made of a conductive material such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the outer circumferential surface of the layer 11 is mirror-finished and treated with sulfuric acid.

Anodizing is performed in an acidic bath of oxalic acid, chromic acid, etc. to form a dielectric 12a of an anodized layer having many pores, and then a hydrophobic dielectric material is electrodeposited into the pores. Alternatively, it is composed of a dielectric layer ↓2 consisting of a dielectric material 12b filled and formed by an impregnation method.

Here, the electrodeposition method is a method in which an anodized product is immersed in an aqueous suspension of fine particles of synthetic resin, and an electric current is applied to electrophoretically fill the pores in the anodized layer with the resin. As the synthetic resin, acrylic resin, phenol resin, epoxy resin, polyethylene resin, melamine resin, fluorine resin, etc. can be used. Further, in the impregnation method, synthetic resins such as silicone resin, polycarbonate resin, polyester resin, polyamide resin, and polyimide resin, and paraffin having a softening point higher than the glass transition point of the toner can be used.

Further, as a recording medium, a dielectric material 12a such as aluminum oxide, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, etc. is formed on the surface of a cylindrical conductive material such as aluminum or its alloy, stainless steel, etc. by thermal spraying, and then the surface of the dielectric material is roughened. A dielectric layer 12 consisting of a dielectric material 12b formed by polishing the dielectric material to a diameter of 1 μm or less, and then filling a hydrophobic dielectric material into a large number of pores in the dielectric material by an electrodeposition method or an impregnation method. It may be configured. Further, as the hydrophobic dielectric material, those mentioned above can be used.

Note that the dielectric 12b is a hydrocarbon-based material and has no abrasion resistance, and generates abrasion powder due to abrasion, which is mixed into the toner and has an adverse effect on image recording. If it is formed, it should be removed chemically or mechanically. Since the dielectric 12a is composed of an anodized layer, an oxide, a carbide, etc., it has a hardness of Hv400 or more and has sufficient wear resistance. Therefore, the wear resistance of the dielectric layer 12 is
a, clear images were stably obtained for a long time with almost no abrasion powder generated.

On the other hand, regarding the thickness of the dielectric layer 12, as shown in FIG. 3, the image density tends to decrease as the dielectric layer becomes thicker. This is because when voltage B is applied between the recording electrode and the recording medium, the electric force acting on the toner is inversely proportional to the square of the thickness of the dielectric layer of the recording medium, so image recording is performed under the same recording voltage. For example, as the N content of the dielectric layer increases, the frame-like force decreases and the image density decreases. Roughly forming a thick dielectric layer requires time and is economically undesirable. Therefore, as a result of intensive studies regarding the thickness of the dielectric layer of the present invention, taking wear resistance into consideration, it was found that a thickness of 20 μI+1 or less is preferable.

A negative bias voltage of about several volts is applied to the conductive layer 11 of the recording medium 1 by a DC power source (not shown).

The electrostatic recording head 2 includes a recording electrode 15 formed of a plurality of linear electrodes arranged in rows on the surface of an insulating substrate made of ceramic, epoxy resin, etc., and a recording electrode 15 attached to the insulating substrate side of the recording electrode 15. With permanent magnet 16.

It is formed to include a magnetic body 18 attached to the opposite electrode surface via an insulating layer. Each linear electrode is formed with a size corresponding to a pixel, and has a predetermined recording width (for example, A4
paper width such as B4 size), and are arranged in rows at intervals.

High-quality images can be obtained by forming the linear electrodes from a ferromagnetic material such as permalloy or nickel. Further, a permanent magnet 16 and a magnetic body 18 having ferromagnetism are extended to match or exceed the width of the recording electrode 15. It should be noted that one end of the permanent magnet 16 and the magnetic body 18 on the recording electrode tip side is mounted so as to be set back a certain distance from the electrode tip. The permanent magnet 16 is covered with a magnet cover 19 extending to the tip of the electrode. Similarly, the magnetic material 18 is also covered with the electrode cover 20, but the tip of the recording electrode 15 is exposed by several meters. Electrode 15
Align the tip of the recording medium 1 along the generatrix of the cylindrical surface of the recording medium 1 and
They are provided facing each other with an interval of 500 μm. Further, the electrostatic recording head 2 is arranged to be inclined at a constant angle in the range of 10 to 60 degrees to the rear side in the moving direction of the recording medium l, with reference to the normal line of the cylindrical surface of the recording member 1. - A gnar reservoir 21 is defined. Note that the electrostatic recording head 2
is arranged with the surface on which the magnetic body 18 is attached facing the toner reservoir 21 side. A toner supply device 3 is arranged above this toner reservoir 21 .

The toner supply device 3 includes a hopper 24 for storing toner 22, and a supply m adjustment means provided at the bottom of the hopper 24 so as to close an opening 1 extending over the recording width. The supply amount adjusting means includes a cylindrical rotating body 26 provided along the opening, and a slit 27 is bored through the rotating body 26 in the axial direction over the entire axial length. And the rotating body 26
I+! By performing one rotation and aligning the rotation angle position of the slit 27 with the chute angle position of the hopper 24, the 1-ner 22 is discharged. Also, hopper 2
4 is supplied with toner 22 from the outside by a screw feeder 2B.

The toner recovery device 4 includes a cylindrical magnet roll 30 that is arranged to face the front side (downstream side) recording surface of the recording medium 1 when viewed from the electrostatic recording head 2 . The magnet roll 30 has a N pole and an S pole along the circumferential direction.
The poles are polarized and magnetized so that they are rotated in the direction of arrow B in the figure. This magnet roll 30 is entirely surrounded by a hopper 31, except for the part facing the recording media machine, and one of the opening edges of the hopper 31 is brought close to the recording surface of the recording medium 1, and the other is the magnet roll. It is provided in contact with the circumferential surface of 30. Also, hopper 3
1 is provided with a screw feeder 32. The screw feeder 32 is connected to the screw feeder 28 via a screw feeder (not shown), and returns the collected toner to the hopper 24.

A transfer roller 5 made of conductive rubber is placed on the front side in the direction of movement of the recording medium 1 when viewed from the toner collection device 4 and is pressed against the recording surface of the recording medium 1 . A transfer circuit 9 for transferring toner from the recording medium 1 to a transfer material 35 is connected to the transfer roll 5 . Then, the transfer material 35 is inserted between the recording medium 1 and the transfer roller 5 by a transfer material supply device (not shown), and the transfer material 35 is sent out by their rotation, and the recorded image on the recording medium 1 is transferred. It is now possible to do so.

Thereafter, the transfer material 35 is guided to the fixing roller 6 of the fixing device, and the toner of the recorded image is transferred to the transfer material 35 by heating or pressure.
It has come to be firmly established.

A cleaner blade 38 is provided in contact with the cylindrical surface of the recording medium 1 on the front side when viewed from the transfer roller 5, and removes toner that remains attached to the recording medium 1 without being transferred. The particles are collected by gravity into a hopper 39 provided below. Hopper 3
A screw feeder 40 is provided inside the screw feeder 9, and the collected toner is discharged into a waste toner storage box (not shown).

The pulse drive circuit 8 is configured to independently apply a recording voltage to each linear electrode 14 based on a recorded image.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

As the toner 22, one having conductivity and magnetism is used. The toner 22 stored in the hopper 24 moves downward due to gravity, is guided to the rotating body 25 through the chute portion, and is supplied to the toner reservoir 21 through the slit 27 . When the supplied amount is excessive, the rotating body 26 is rotated and the angle of the slit 27 is adjusted to block the toner outlet, thereby adjusting the amount of toner passing through.

The toner that has passed through the slit 27 in this way falls into the toner reservoir 21 and is affected by the force of gravity and the rotation of the recording medium 1 (
(rotation in the direction of arrow A in the figure) and is supplied to the electrode tip of the recording electrode 15.

The static magnetic field formed by the permanent magnet 16 acts on this electrode tip.

Since the developer 22 supplied to the tip of the electrode has magnetism, it forms a toner chain aligned along the lines of magnetic force. This toner chain forms a bundle-like aggregate whose density and size correspond to the density of magnetic lines of force (strength of magnetic field).

When the pulse drive circuit 8 applies a low constant recording voltage of, for example, a positive number +V to a plurality of linear electrodes according to the image signal, the linear electrodes 14 to which the recording voltage has been applied are contacted [-
A positive charge is injected into the bundle-like aggregate of particles. This positive charge is mainly distributed on the upper side of the recording medium. At the same time, negative charges are induced at the boundary between the conductive layer 11 and the dielectric layer 12 of the recording medium 1.

Therefore, the toner particle group of the toner aggregate into which charges have been injected is strongly attracted to the recording medium 1 by the electrostatic force.
Under the rotational action of the recording medium 1, it easily separates from the downstream end of the bundle-like aggregate and moves along with the recording medium 1.

At this time, toner particles supplied from the upstream side in the moving direction of the recording medium 1 are immediately added to the aggregate, and the shape of the aggregate is kept approximately constant, allowing high-resolution recording to be performed stably at high speed and at a low recording voltage. A recorded image can be formed.

The image formed on the recording medium 1 is transferred to the transfer material 3 pressed by the transfer roller 5 as the recording medium 1 rotates.
It is transferred to 5. This transfer is performed by applying a voltage of opposite polarity to the toner particle group 22b from the transfer circuit 9 to the transfer roller 5, and by electrostatic force generated thereby and mechanical contact. The developed image transferred to the transfer material 35 is transferred to the fixing roller 6
It will be fixed and become a permanently preserved image.

On the other hand, toner particles remaining on the recording medium 1 without being transferred to the transfer material 35 are swept away by the cleaner blade 38 and collected in the hopper 39.

Next, the temperature of the environment in which the image recording device is used is measured.

Printing experiments were conducted with various humidity changes. The environmental conditions for the experiment were: 5°C - 15% RH, 5°C 90% RH, 3
There were four points: 5°C-15%RH and 35°C-90%RH. The recording medium 1 has a cylindrical shape with a thickness of 8 as a conductive layer 11.
A 10 μm thick anodic oxide layer was formed on the surface of the AQ-Mg-Si alloy of na, and then an acrylic resin was electrodeposited as a hydrophobic dielectric material into the pores in the anodized layer. The dielectric layer 2 formed by filling and baking was used.

As the transfer material 35, PPC paper I)-A4 manufactured by Xerox Corporation was used. The transfer pressure of the transfer roller 5 was set to a linear pressure of 0.8 kg/an. A conductive magnetic toner for heat fixing was used as the toner 22, and the recorded image transferred onto the transfer material 35 was fixed by a heat fixing machine.

When the black density of the obtained image was measured using a Macbeth densitometer, black density D≧1.0 under any environment.
was obtained, and the recorded image was also extremely clear. In addition, under these environments, long-term printing (1 sheet of A4 recording paper)
50,000 sheets), almost no wear of the dielectric layer 12 was observed, and no change in density or resolution of recorded images was observed.

In today's embodiment, a cylindrical recording medium is used, but a flexible endless belt-shaped recording medium may also be used.

In addition, although the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 shows an image recording apparatus that transfers the image recorded on the recording medium 1 onto the transfer member 35 and further converts it into a permanent image using a fixing device, transfer-related devices such as the transfer roller 5 are used. After removal, the recording medium 1 is formed into an endless belt, that is, an aluminum conductor is laminated onto a transparent insulator such as polyester, and then the aluminum conductor is anodized.

By using a recording medium in which a dielectric layer is formed by filling the holes in the anodized layer with a hydrophobized dielectric material in the same manner as the recording medium described above, and by directly using a part of the surface of the recording medium as a display area, A display device can be configured.

Note that in the case of a single image recording device, the image recorded on the recording medium 1 is a mirror image, but in the case of a display, the image must be recorded in reverse. FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram of the main parts of the display device. In the figure, reference numerals 51 and 52 indicate a display window of the recording medium drive unit 53, which is made of a transparent plate.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the recording medium has a structure in which a dielectric material having many pores with high hardness is formed on a conductive layer and a dielectric layer in which the pores are filled with a hydrophobic dielectric material. Even when used in environments ranging from low humidity to low humidity, there is little variation in the surface resistance of the recording medium, and clear images can be formed.

In addition, the hydrophobic lff1 material has high adhesion because it is filled only into the pores, so no peeling phenomenon occurs even during long-term recording image formation, and the surrounding dielectric material has high hardness, so there is almost no wear. It never occurs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a recording medium of the image recording device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between dielectric layer thickness and image density. The illustrated figure, FIG. 4, is a configuration diagram of the main parts of the display device. 1... Recording medium, 2... Electrostatic recording head, 11...
・Conductivity diagram Kuzu 2 Diagram Tomi diagram Dielectric 44'! . corps

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An image recording apparatus comprising a recording medium having a dielectric surface layer formed on a conductive member and forming an image using toner on the dielectric surface layer of the recording medium, The dielectric surface layer of the recording medium is characterized in that a porous dielectric layer is formed on the surface of the conductive member, and the pores of the dielectric layer are filled with a hydrophobic dielectric substance. Image recording device. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic dielectric material is a hydrocarbon material having a softening point higher than the glass transition point of the toner. 3. In an image recording medium comprising a dielectric surface layer on the outer peripheral surface of a solid or hollow cylindrical conductive member, the dielectric surface layer is an anode obtained by anodizing the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical conductive member. 1. An image recording medium comprising an oxide layer, and pores formed in the anodic oxide layer filled with a hydrophobic dielectric material. 4. In an image recording medium comprising a dielectric surface layer on the circumferential surface of a solid or hollow cylindrical conductive member, the dielectric surface layer is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical conductive member by a thermal spraying method. An image recording medium comprising a dielectric layer and a hydrophobic dielectric material filled in pores formed inside the dielectric layer. 5. A flexible insulator formed in the shape of an endless belt, a conductor formed on the outer peripheral surface of the insulator, an anodized layer obtained by anodizing the surface of the conductor, and an anodized layer inside the anodized layer. An image recording medium for a display, comprising a recording surface obtained by filling formed pores with a hydrophobic dielectric material. 6. An image recording medium for a display according to claim 5, a driving means for rotationally driving the recording medium in at least one direction, and a driving means disposed close to the outer surface of the recording medium in the width direction, and an image recording medium for recording an image on the recording medium. A display device comprising: a recording electrode for recording; and a toner supply means for supplying toner to a recording area formed by the recording electrode and the recording medium.