JPH046536A - image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a clear outputted image having no blurring without requiring severe dimentional accuracy of parts by providing a sucking means for sucking at least either a mask negative or a photosensitive recording medium at an exposing time so that it may be brought into tight contact with the other. CONSTITUTION:At least either the mask negative 15 which is formed based on image information or the photosensitive recording medium 50 on which the image is formed by performing the exposure by using the mask negative 15 is sucked and brought into tight contact with the other. Thus, it is made sure that the tight contact between the mask negative and the photosensitive recording medium is obtained, so that the clear outputted image without blurring can be obtained. And also, the need of very severe dimentional accuracy of respective parts can be eliminated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that uses a mask master created based on image information to expose a photosensitive recording medium to obtain an image output. .

[Prior Art] A conventional image forming apparatus of this type is one proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-321229, the outline of which is shown in FIG. In such a device, the photosensitive recording medium 50 is fixed with a fixed roller 56 at the left end,
Just by applying tension on the right side and lowering the exposure table 52, they were brought into close contact.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with this type of close contact method, air may not escape properly due to variations in the dimensional accuracy of the fixed roller 56 on the left end, uneven tension on the right side, etc., resulting in poor contact. There were cases where the output image was blurred. Also,
In order to maintain the dimensional accuracy of parts, there has been a problem that unless assembly accuracy and other aspects are strictly controlled, the defective rate will increase.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates poor adhesion in the contact portion of an image forming apparatus and reduces blur without making the dimensional accuracy of parts too strict. The purpose is to obtain a clear output image.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that uses a mask master created based on image information to expose a photosensitive recording medium to obtain an image output. In this step, a suction means is used to suck at least one of the mask original plate or the photosensitive recording medium.

[Operation] The suction means of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration suctions at least one of the mask original created based on image information or the photosensitive recording medium on which an image is formed by exposure using the mask original during exposure. Bring it into close contact. This ensures close contact between the mask master and the photosensitive recording medium, and eliminates blur in the output image.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the monochrome laser printer 1 and the color image recording device 20 in a combined arrangement.

First, the monochrome laser printer 1 is mounted on top of the color image recording device 20. In the laser printer 1, a polygon scanner 2 irradiates a charged photoreceptor 3 with laser light, thereby drawing an electrostatic latent image. The photoconductor 3 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is developed by a developing device 4, and the toner image is transferred onto plain paper or an OHP sheet fed from a paper feed cassette 5, and fixed by a fixing device 6. Typically, the monochrome laser printer 1 records data transmitted from a host computer.

The output from the laser printer 1 is sent to the paper path switching unit 10.
If a black and white image is required, it is fed to the monochrome output tray 11 or automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as ADF) tray 12; if a color image is required, it is fed to the ADF.
After being sent to the tray 12, the color image recording device 20
taken inside. The sheets sent to the ADF tray 12 are taken one by one into the color image recording device 20 by the ADF paper feed roller 13, and a set of three sheets of monochrome printed paper output from the laser printer 1 is formed. The mask original plate 15 of the color image recording device 20 is used as the mask original plate 15. There are three types of mask master plates 15: a mask master plate 15R for red exposure, a mask master plate 15G for green exposure, and a mask master plate 15B for blue exposure, which can be identified by marks on the edges.

Next, the configuration of the color image recording device 20 will be explained.

A positioning device 31 is located at the bottom of the main body of the color image recording device 20, and the ADF tray 12 and the positioning device 31 are connected by a mask original transport path 21.

On both left and right sides of the alignment device 31, roller pairs 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 whose rotational directions can be controlled, gates 28, 29, and a mask original storage section 102 are arranged.

A pair of glue curler rollers 101 is arranged in the middle of the mask original transport path 21 to remove curls from the mask original 15 discharged from the laser printer 1. roller vs 2
On the outside of 6.27, there is a mask original discharge tray 30 for discharging the used mask original 15. Positioning device 3
1 is composed of a sensor (not shown), a pair of rollers 32 and 33 placed near both left and right ends, a glass plate 34 placed between them, and the like.

An exposure device 41 is arranged below the alignment device 31, and this exposure device 41
It is movable in the left and right direction along 1. The exposure device 4
1 is composed of a linear white light source (hereinafter referred to as a lamp) 42, a reflecting plate 43 that reflects light from the lamp 42, and a filter unit 44 consisting of a red filter 44R, a green filter 44G, and a blue filter 44B. There is.

The photosensitive recording medium 50 is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-14304.
The main material is a photocurable resin using a photopolymerization initiator as shown in Publication No. 4, and includes a photocurable resin that cures with light of each wavelength of red, green, and blue, cyan,
Microcapsules containing magenta and yellow dye precursors are coated on a base sheet. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is housed in a cartridge 51 so as not to be exposed to light. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is
It passes from inside the cartridge 51 between the glass plate 34 and the exposure table 52, passes through a buffer 55, a separation port 64, a pressure developing device 70, and a drive roller 57, and is routed to the take-up roller 54. The exposure table 52 is lowered by a cam 53 and is configured to bring the mask original 15 conveyed onto the glass plate 34 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 into close contact. The fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52 when the exposure table 52 is lowered to a predetermined position, and is arranged so as to fix the photosensitive recording medium 50 to the exposure table 52 during exposure of the mask original 15. has been done.

The developer sheet 60 is constructed by coating a base paper with a developer described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739, and is placed in the cassette 61 so that the developer-coated surface faces downward. It is set.

At the top of the cassette 61, a suction cup 62 for feeding the developer sheets 60 one by one is arranged.

The pressure developing device 70 is composed of a photosensitive recording medium 50 on which a latent image has been formed by exposure, and a pair of pressure rollers 71 for overlapping a color developer sheet 60 and developing it under pressure.

The heat fixing device 80 is installed between a casing 83 containing a heater 81 and an impeller 82 in the upper part, rubber rollers 84, 85, 86 for conveying the color developer sheet 60 in the lower part, and rollers 87 and 88. A paper ejection tray 63 is attached to the outside of the heat fixing device 80.

FIG. 1 is a view of the exposure table 52 viewed from below.

As shown in the cross-sectional views of FIGS. 2 and 3, the exposure table 52 is provided with a rectangular exposure table base 520, the negative side of which is in contact with one surface of the exposure table base 520, and the peripheral part of the exposure table base 520 that is in contact with one surface of the exposure table base 520. A rubber body 522 having a tongue piece 521 bent in the opposite direction to the base 520 is disposed. In addition, the rubber body 5
An exposure table auxiliary plate 523 is attached to the center of the inside 22 .

There is no gap in the longitudinal direction (see FIG. 3) between the tongue piece 521 of the rubber body 522 and the exposure table auxiliary plate 523.
In addition, in the short direction (see Figure 2), the suction air path 526
A gap is provided as a.

In addition, air intake holes 524 are formed in the center of the rubber body 522 and the suction air passage 526, and a hose 525 is attached to each air intake hole 524, respectively. The two hoses 525 are combined into one and connected to the suction pump 103.

In the apparatus configured as described above, the operation when obtaining a plurality of color images from one set of mask originals will be described.

First, the monochrome laser printer 1 creates a red mask original 15R. This mask original version 15R is
In order to harden the microcapsules containing a cyan dye precursor among the microcapsules coated on the photosensitive recording medium 50, this mask original plate has toner as a light-shielding image placed on other parts.

At this time, the mask original 15R outputted from the monochrome laser printer 1 is sent to the ADF tray 12 and fed into the color image recording device 20 by the ADF paper feed roller 13. The mask original plate 15R fed into the color image recording device 20 passes through the mask original transport path 21 and passes through the roller pair 24.
．． 22 to the alignment device 31. On the way, the curl of the mask master plate 15R is corrected by the curler roller 101. At this time, the gate 28 is at the position indicated by the solid line.

Next, the alignment device 31 transports the mask original 15R to an appropriate exposure position by a pair of rollers 32, and then uses a drive source (not shown) to read the alignment mark printed on the mask original 15R with a sensor, and then moves the mask original to a drive source (not shown). Move 15R to the specified position.

Immediately before positioning, the exposure table 52 is lowered to a predetermined position by the cam 53, the fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is fixed to the exposure table 52 (fourth (see figure). After alignment is complete,
The exposure table 52 is further lowered by the cam 53 and comes into contact with the glass plate 34 of the alignment device 31 (see FIG. 5). At this time, the suction pump 103 starts suctioning. Then, the air in the space 527 surrounded by the rubber body 522 of the exposure table 52 and the glass plate 34 passes through the suction air path 526 as shown by the arrow in FIG. It is attracted to 103. As a result, the air pressure in the space 527 and the suction air path 526 decreases, and the space tends to contract, causing the tongue piece 521 of the rubber body 522 to deform, as shown in FIG. 523 is completely brought into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50 and mask original plate 15R in a state where they are sandwiched therebetween.

When the exposure table 52 comes into close contact with the glass plate 34, the lamp 42 is turned on, and the exposure device 41 moves in the direction of arrow A in order to expose the photosensitive recording medium 50 with red light via the red filter 44R and the mask original 15R. Perform scanning exposure. When the exposure is completed, the lamp 42 is turned off and the exposure device 41 moves back in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the filter unit 44 of the exposure device 41 is moved by a drive source (not shown),
A green filter 44G is located above the lamp 42.

While the exposure device 41 moves backward, the exposure table 52 is raised by the rotation of the cam 53, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is separated from the alignment device 31 and the mask original 15R. At this time, back tension is applied to the photosensitive recording medium 50 at the center of rotation of the roll of the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the cartridge 51, and when the exposure table 52 descends,
A length corresponding to the descending amount of the exposure table 52 is pulled out from the storage cartridge 51, and the exposure table 52 is pulled out after the exposure is completed.
2 rises, the photosensitive recording medium 50 is rewound in a direction to take up the slack.

Even after the exposure of the red mask master plate 15R is completed, the exposure table 52 only rises to a predetermined position, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is moved to the exposure table 52 by a fixed roller 56 pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52. remains fixed.

Next, the green mask original plate 15G created by the monochrome laser printer l is placed on the ADF tray 12, A
When it passes through the DF paper feed roller 13, recurler roller 101, and mask original transport path 21 and reaches just before the roller pair 24, the roller pairs 22, 24, 25, and 27, and the positioning device 3
The first pair of rollers 32 and 33 are rotated in the direction of conveying the mask original 15R to the right, and at the same time the mask original 15R is sent out from the alignment device 31, the mask original 15G is
is transported to the exposure position and stopped. At this time, gate 28
．． 29 is located at the position of the solid line and is the exposed mask original plate 1.
5R is held between the pair of rollers 27 and with its rear end passing through the gate 29, by stopping the rotation of the pair of rollers 27.

The mask original 15G guided by the alignment device 31 is aligned with the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the same manner as the mask original 15R, and then the exposure table 52 is lowered to align the mask original 15G with the photosensitive recording medium 50. Being brought into close contact. Thereafter, the lamp 42 is turned on and exposure to green light is performed via the green filter 44G. After exposure,
The exposure table 52 is raised to a predetermined position. Exposure device 4
1 is moved back to the original position and moves the filter unit 44 so that the blue filter 44B is located above the lamp 42.

Next, the blue mask original 15B created by the monochrome laser printer 1 is similarly fed to the color image recording device 20, and in a state where it is conveyed just in front of the roller pair 24, the roller pair 24.22.25. 26 and roller pairs 32 and 33 of the alignment device 31 are rotated in the direction of conveying the mask original 15G to the right, and the mask original 15G is sent out from the alignment device 31 and the mask original 1
5B is conveyed to the exposure position and stopped. At this time, the gate 28 is located at the solid line position, the gate 29 is located at the broken line position,
The exposed mask original 15G is sandwiched between a pair of rollers 26,
Further, the rotation of the pair of rollers 26 is stopped with the rear end passing through the gate 29 to be held.

The mask original 15B guided by the alignment device 31 is brought into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50 by a similar operation. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is exposed to blue light through the mask original 15B.

Through the above operations, a latent image of a desired color image is recorded on the photosensitive recording medium 50.

Next, the exposure table 52 is raised to the initial position, the fixed roller 56 and the left end of the exposure table 52 are separated from each other, and the buffer 55 is moved in the direction of the arrow E to remove the unexposed portions of the photosensitive recording medium 50. is pulled out from inside the cartridge 51 below the exposure table 52. Drive roller 57
The photosensitive recording medium 50 is conveyed and stopped when the leading edge of the latent image reaches the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70.

In synchronization with the movement of the photosensitive recording medium 50, the developer sheet 60 is fed out from the cassette 61 by a suction cup 62 until the tip of the developer sheet 60 corresponds to the tip of the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50. After being transported, it stops.

Next, the pressure developing device 70 is driven by a drive device (not shown).
The pressure roller 71 is pressed while being rotated in the direction of the arrow. At this time, by lowering the exposure table 52 to a predetermined position again, the fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 or the exposure table 52 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52.
Fixed.

The photosensitive recording medium 50 is overlapped with the color developer sheet 60 and fed under pressure, and the uncured microcapsules on the photosensitive recording medium 50 are destroyed by the pressure, and the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50 is The corresponding color image is on the developer sheet 60.
developed on top.

By rotating the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 in the direction of the arrow, the buffer 55 is moved in the direction of the arrow F. The color developer sheet 60 is peeled off from the photosensitive recording medium 50 by a separation roller 64 and guided toward a heat fixing device 80 .

In the heat fixing device 80, the color developer sheet 60 is heated by a heater 81 and heated by air circulating in a casing 83 by an impeller 82, thereby promoting color development of a color image. At the same time, the binder polymer (binder resin) for fixing the color developing medium to the base paper of the color developer sheet 60 is thermally melted, and the surface becomes smooth and the surface of the color developer sheet 60 has a moderate gloss. can get. The color developer sheet 60 that has been subjected to color development and gloss treatment is discharged to a paper discharge tray 63.

During the above-described series of development and coloring/glossy processing, the photosensitive recording medium 50 is held and fixed between the exposure table 52 and the fixed roller 56. Therefore, while the development processing for one screen is being performed, the next exposure point is It is possible to perform exposure processing on the latent image of a color image.

When exposing the second color image, first, the mask original 15B at the exposure position is sent to the left, and the mask original 15R held at the position of the roller pair 27 is sent to the alignment device 31 by the rollers. vs. 24.22.2
5.27 and the roller pair 32.33 of the alignment device 31 are rotated so as to convey the mask original 15R to the left. At this time, the gates 28 and 29 are located at the positions indicated by solid lines. The mask original 15B is held between the pair of rollers 24, and the rotation of the pair of rollers 24 is stopped at the position where the rear end passes through the gate 28. The mask original 15R sent to the alignment device 31 is aligned and brought into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is exposed to red light through the mask original 15R.

Next, the mask original 15R at the exposure position is sent to the left, and the mask original 15G held at the position of the roller pair 26 is aligned with the roller pairs 22, 23, 25, and 26 in order to be sent to the alignment device 31. The pair of rollers 32 and 33 of the device 31 are rotated so as to convey the mask original 15G to the left. At this time, the gates 28 and 29 are located at the positions indicated by broken lines. Mask original plate 15R has roller pair 23
It is held by stopping the rotation of the pair of rollers 23 at a position where the rear end passes through the gate 28.

The mask original 15G sent to the alignment device 31 is aligned and brought into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is exposed to green light through the mask original 15G.

Next, the mask original 15G at the exposure position is sent out to the right, and the same operation is performed to send the mask original 15B held at the position of the roller pair 24 to the alignment device 31, and the color is placed on the photosensitive recording medium 50. A latent image of the image is formed to form a color image on the developer sheet 60.

By repeating the same operation, one set of mask originals 1
5, a predetermined number of color images can be output.

After obtaining the required number of color images from the same mask original 15, each mask original 15 is discharged from the roller pair 27 or the roller pair 26 to the paper discharge tray 30.

In addition, if the next mask original 15 is output from the monochrome laser printer 1 while a series of color images are being exposed, it is temporarily stored in the ADF (ADF) ray 12 and the exposure of the previous set is completed. Then, the ADF paper feed roller 13 feeds the paper sheets one by one into the color image recording apparatus 20.

Further, when reusing a mask original output from another monochrome laser printer or a previously used mask original, the mask original 15 can be input by setting it on the ADF tray 12.

Note that the mask original plate 15 may not be monochrome but may be color. In the case of a color mask original, it is exposed to white light only once.

Further, the number of intake holes 524 does not need to be two, and may be one or more.

Furthermore, color conversion is also possible by independently controlling the exposure speed and exposure voltage for red, green, and blue.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, a clear output image without blur can be produced by suctioning and bringing the mask original or photosensitive recording medium into close contact using a suction means during exposure. can get. Further, the dimensional accuracy of each component does not need to be so strict.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a perspective view of an exposure table 52 of the present invention seen from below, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B--
The cross-sectional view of B, Figures 4, 5, and 6 are C-C in Figure 1.
are cross-sectional views showing the operation of the exposure table contact portion, respectively;
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus equipped with a suction means;
The figure is a sectional view of the prior art. In the figure, 15 is a mask original, 50 is a photosensitive recording medium, 20 is an image forming device, 52 is an exposure table, 520 is an exposure table base,
521 is a tongue piece, 522 is a rubber body, 523 is an exposure table auxiliary plate, 524 is an intake hole, 525 is a hose, 526 is a suction air path, 527 is a space, and 103 is a suction pump.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an image forming apparatus that exposes a photosensitive recording medium to an image output using a mask original created based on image information, at least one of the mask original or the photosensitive recording medium is provided. An image forming apparatus characterized by comprising a suction means for bringing the image into close contact with suction during the exposure.