JPH04173393A - Thermal transfer recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance image or printing quality by preventing the damage due to friction and the contamination of a head by providing a thin metal plate having dimples provided to one surface thereof and having a heat-resistant org. membrane formed to the other surface thereof, an ink tank part supplying ink to the dimples and a heating means melting the ink. CONSTITUTION:In a thermal transfer recording medium, dimples 2 are formed to a thin stainless steel plate 1 and a polyimide film 9 is formed to the opposite surface of said plate 1. Ink 3 is supplied to the dimples 2 in an ink supply part 5 and the thin stainless steel plate 1 is fed by a roller 6 to be pressed to the recording paper set on a platen 4 by a thermal printing head 8 and the ink 3 in the dimples 2 is transferred to the recording paper by a heating element 7 heated according to image and printing data. The thin stainless steel plate 1 is again fed to an ink tank 5 by the roller 6 and the ink 3 is supplied to the dimples 2 to repeatedly use said thin plate 1. Since polyimide low in the coefficient of friction is used as the org. membrane 9, the damage of the thermal printing head 8 due to friction is eliminated and the contamination of the head part due to the ink is prevented and high image quality and high- grade printing is carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device, and in particular to improvements in the structure of a thermal transfer recording medium.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a thermal transfer recording medium for a thermal transfer recording apparatus, a thermal transfer recording medium in which a solid ink exhibiting thermoplasticity is filled inside a carrier having through holes is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 36879/1987.

Further, a thermal transfer medium in which a heat-resistant organic film is coated on one side of a thin plate provided with a large number of through holes is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-48594.

Further, a so-called ink ribbon, which is a thermal transfer recording medium in which a heat-melting ink layer is formed on a heat-resistant resin, has been used.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional thermal transfer recording device described above, when the thermal transfer recording medium is formed of a thin metal plate having through holes, there is a drawback that the head is damaged by friction with the thermal print head that presses the thin metal plate.

Further, the head is stained by the ink that has seeped out around the through hole, causing a problem in that the thermal efficiency of the head is reduced, resulting in poor print quality.

On the other hand, when a heat-resistant organic film is applied to one side of a metal foil plate having through-holes, there is a drawback that the organic film peels off due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the metal thin film and the organic film. In addition, the problem of molten ink penetrating through the interface between the metal thin film and the organic film or the gap caused by the above, resulting in the ink staining the head, reducing the thermal efficiency of the head, and resulting in poor print quality. arise.

Furthermore, in the case of thermal transfer recording media, so-called ink ribbons, in which a heat-melting ink layer is formed on a support such as a heat-resistant resin, it is difficult to repeat transfer many times (10 or more times), so running Cost is a major issue.

[Means to solve the problem]

The thermal transfer recording device of the present invention includes a thin metal plate having a large number of dimples on one surface and a heat-resistant organic thin film coated on the other surface, an ink tank portion that supplies thermoplastic ink to the dimples, and a thin metal plate that supplies thermoplastic ink to the dimples. heating means for contacting the heat-resistant organic thin film and melting the ink supplied into the discial.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of part B in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a thermal transfer recording medium made of the thin stainless steel plate 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 3.

This embodiment includes a platen 4, an ink tank 5 filled with thermoplastic ink 3 made of dye and hot-melt wax, and a thin stainless steel plate 1 that is dimpled and coated with an organic film WA9 made of polyimide resin. It consists of a thermal print head 8.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the thermal transfer recording medium used in this example is a thin stainless steel plate 1 (10---100
The surface opposite to the dimples 2 is first coated with a silane coupling agent, and then a polyimide solution is applied to form a polyimide film 9 with a pore size of 50 to 100 μm.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The thin stainless steel plate 1 having dimples 2 processed thereon is supplied with ink 3 which is heated and melted by a heater (not shown in this figure) in an ink supply section 5. The thin stainless steel plate 1 to which the ink 3 was supplied was conveyed by a roller 6.
A recording paper set on a platen 4 (as shown) is pressed by a thermal print head 8 shown in FIG. During this pressing, the ink 3 in the dimples 2 melted by the heating element 7 selectively heated by the image and printed information is transferred onto the recording paper.

The thin stainless steel plate 1 onto which the ink 3 has been transferred in this manner is conveyed again to the ink tank 5 by the roller 6, and the ink 3 is supplied to the dimples 2. Therefore, the thin stainless steel plate 1 can be used repeatedly, reducing the running cost of the device.

In addition, since polyimide with a small coefficient of friction is used for the organic thin film 9 of this embodiment 6j, there is no damage to the thermal print head 8 due to friction, and furthermore, there is no staining of the head part with ink, and high image quality and high quality printing can be obtained. I can do it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a thermal transfer recording device that includes a thin metal plate provided with a large number of dimples on one surface and coated with a heat-resistant organic thin film on the other surface, and an ink tank portion that supplies thermoplastic ink to the dimples. and a heating means that contacts the heat-resistant organic coating of the thin metal plate and melts the ink supplied into the dimples, and the heat-resistant organic coating is formed from a resin with a small coefficient of friction. Because of this, there is almost no damage to the thermal print head due to friction, and since the thin metal plate has a dimple structure rather than a through hole, molten ink will penetrate into the thermal print head side and stain the head, reducing the thermal efficiency of the head. There is no possibility that the image or print quality will deteriorate due to the decrease. In addition, ink can be resupplied from the ink tank section to the thin metal plate provided with dimples after transfer, and transfer recording can be performed repeatedly, which has the effect of reducing running costs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of part B in FIG. 16, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a thermal transfer recording medium made of the thin stainless steel plate 1 of FIG. The figure is A- in Figure 1.
It is an A sectional view. 1... Thin stainless steel plate, 2... Dimple, 3... Ink, 4...
...Platen, 5...Ink tank, 6.
...Roller, 7...Heating element, 8...
...Thermal print head, 9...Organic Fi film.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A thin metal plate with a large number of dimples on one surface and a heat-resistant organic thin film coated on the other surface, an ink tank section that supplies thermoplastic ink to the dimples, and the thin metal plate. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising: heating means that contacts the heat-resistant organic thin film and melts the ink supplied into the dimples. 2. The thermal transfer recording device according to claim 1, wherein the heat-resistant organic thin film is made of polyimide.