JPH0632051A - Image forming method and image forming apparatus for reversible thermosensitive recording film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a forming method and device of an image on a reversible heat-sensitive recording film which enables image making to the reversible heat-sensitive recording film by making use of a photoelectric process performing the image making to an existing ordinary paper sheet without adding an exclusive and large-scale image making device and is capable of controlling an increase of a cost or capacity of the device and complication of an image forming and controlling system. CONSTITUTION:A reusable reversible heat-sensitive recording film which is initiated by heating at a fixed temperature is fed and conveyed to a sensitive body 10 by a feed roller 1 and a toner image formed on the sensitive body 10 is transferred onto the reversible heat-sensitive recording film by a transfer separating device 8. Then after the image is formed onto the reversible heat- sensitive recording film by irradiating and heating the toner image by an irradiating device 15, a toner which is being carried by the reversible heat-sensitive recording film is removed from above a film surface by a TC cleaning device 24 and the image is formed onto the reversible heat-sensitive recording film by an existing photoelectric process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reversible thermosensitive recording film image forming method using an electrophotographic process such as a copying machine, a facsimile or a printer, and a plain paper sheet and a reversible thermosensitive recording film. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film using an electrophotographic process that can be used for image recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the protection of the global environment including forest resources has become one of the major problems in various industrial fields. In the OA equipment industry as well, the reuse of recording sheets used in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines is steadily being implemented as part of this environmental protection measure. In the currently practiced method for reusing recording sheets, it is general to collect used recording sheets collectively and to chemically process them in a reprocessing plant such as a paper manufacturing factory to produce recycled paper.
However, in such a chemical treatment method, there is a physical limit to the number of retreatments (progress of fiber decomposition), and a certain amount of new wood is required for the retreatment. On the other hand, as another method of reusing a recording sheet, a rewritable recording material that can be rewritten any number of times, more specifically, a reusable recording material that is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature A method using a reversible thermosensitive recording film (hereinafter referred to as TC film) has been variously proposed for its easy handling.

[0003]

The present invention is to study reusable reversible thermosensitive recording films (TC films) among the above-mentioned conventional techniques. By the way, all the conventional image forming methods for a reversible thermosensitive recording film are configured to record the image information by directly contacting a heating means (thermal head) with the film surface. Further, various uses of this reversible thermosensitive recording film are considered. However, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser facsimile, or a laser beam printer, which is widely used and whose amount of paper used is enormous and a large effect of reusing the paper is expected, An apparatus to which this reversible thermosensitive recording film can be applied has not yet been put to practical use. The reason is that the conventional image forming apparatus usually uses an electrophotographic process as the image forming method, so that the reversible thermosensitive recording film can be applied to this type of image forming apparatus. In addition to the electrophotographic process means, the image forming means (for example, heat generating means, conveying means, control means, etc.) dedicated to the reversible thermosensitive recording film must be newly provided. That is, an image forming apparatus having a configuration in which an image forming means dedicated to such a reversible thermosensitive recording film is added is, in other words, a device in which an image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film is simply combined with a conventional copying machine or the like. And, although no special technical difficulty is recognized, it is inevitable that a large increase in cost, an increase in size, and a complication of the image forming control system are seen from the viewpoint of the entire apparatus.
This point is considered to be the reason why it is not yet put to practical use.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to form an existing plain paper sheet without adding a large-scale image forming means exclusively for a reversible thermosensitive recording film. A reversible thermosensitive recording capable of forming an image on a reversible thermosensitive recording film by using an electrophotographic process for forming an image, capable of suppressing an increase in cost and apparatus volume and complicating an image forming control system. An object is to provide a film image forming method and an image forming apparatus.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for forming an image on a reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature. There is a latent image forming step of writing image information on the photoconductor as an electrostatic latent image, a developing step of visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor with toner, and the reversible thermosensitive recording film. And a transfer step of transferring the toner image onto the reversible thermosensitive recording film onto which the toner image has been transferred to heat the transferred toner image to form an image on the reversible thermosensitive recording film. And a toner removing step of removing the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film from the film surface.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention uses a latent image forming means for writing image information as an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor and a toner for the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor. Developing means for making the image visible by means, a paper feeding and conveying means for feeding and conveying a plain paper sheet for image recording to the image forming section, and a plain paper sheet fed and conveyed to the image forming section on the photoreceptor. A reusable reversible device having transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the sheet and fixing means for fixing the transferred toner image on a plain paper sheet, which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature. The thermosensitive recording film is fed and conveyed to the image forming section by the sheet feeding and conveying means, and is formed on the photoreceptor by the latent image forming means and the developing means on the fed and conveyed reversible thermosensitive recording film. The transferred toner image is transferred to the above Image is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by irradiation means for irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film on which the toner image is transferred and heating the transferred toner image, and after the image formation, The toner carried on the thermosensitive recording film is removed from the film surface by the toner removing means.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film, which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature, is fed and conveyed to the image forming section by the sheet feeding / conveying means. The toner image formed on the photoconductor by the latent image forming means and the developing means is transferred by the transfer means onto the reversible thermosensitive recording film conveyed to the paper, and the transferred reversible toner image is transferred. An image is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by an irradiation means for irradiating the toner image transferred by irradiating the thermosensitive recording film, and after the image formation, the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film is By being removed from the film surface by the toner removing means, an image is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by the existing electrophotographic process.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

However, with respect to the configuration and operation of the range that can be clearly recalled from the description of this specification, illustration and disclosure thereof will be omitted or simplified in order to avoid complication of description.

The image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is
An image can be recorded on a plain paper sheet (hereinafter simply referred to as plain paper) and a reversible thermosensitive recording film; a thermochromic film (hereinafter abbreviated as TC film) by using a common image forming means. I am trying. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B. These paper feed trays A and B are arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the TC film is set in the paper feed tray A and the plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

First, the image recording on the plain paper in the first embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, paper feed tray B
The plain paper in the bundle set in (1) is pulled out from the paper feed tray B by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35.
Plain paper conveyed by the paper feed roller 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 3
The sheet 7 is conveyed to a pair of registration rollers composed of the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the front end of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing for writing an image on the plain paper is set.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is being fed and conveyed as described above, the original image is written as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoconductor 10 is The toner supplied from the developing unit 4 visualizes the image. Then, the plain paper sent toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration roller rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred and separated by the transfer separation means 8.
Thus, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10. The plain paper on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 arranged on the back side of the conveyance guide plate 13. The plain paper conveyed to the fixing unit 34 is pressed and heated by a pair of pressure roller 19 and heating roller 20 to fix the transferred toner image.

Downstream of the fixing means 34, there is provided a TC cleaning means 24 which functions only when recording an image on a TC film, and when recording an image on plain paper,
This TC cleaning means 24 is indicated by an arrow a in FIG.
It is retracted to the position displaced in the direction (position shown by the solid line). As a result, the plain paper that is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23 and discharged from the fixing unit 34 is in the state as it is, and the transport roller 3 is used.
Further, the sheet is further conveyed by 8, and is ejected onto a sheet ejection tray 30 by a sheet ejection roller 29 through a sheet ejection guide plate 28.

Next, the image recording on the TC film in the first embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, the bundle of TC films set in the paper feed tray A is pulled out from the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1 and separated by the separation pad 3
According to 5, only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 1. Here, in the first embodiment, the TC film set in the paper feed tray A is initialized (whitened) in advance. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by the transport roller 37 to a pair of registration rollers including the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the front end of the TC film is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is set.

On the other hand, while the TC film is being fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5 is attached to the photosensitive member 10.
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 to the TC film sent by the pre-registration sensor 31 toward the photoconductor 10 by the rotating registration roller at a timing. The image forming process on the TC film thus far is no different from the image forming process on the plain paper described above.

At the time of recording an image on the TC film, the TC film on which the toner image is transferred is attracted to the transport guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 provided on the back side of the transport guide plate 13. When being conveyed while being conveyed, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 is arranged so as to face the conveyance guide plate 13 across the conveyance path.
Lights up. The light emitted from the irradiation lamp 16 is reflected by the reflection plate 1.
7 and the condensing lens 18 cause T on the transport guide plate 13
The film surface of C film is focused and irradiated. At this time, the TC film itself is in a cloudy state, and an unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface thereof. Therefore, the irradiation light that is irradiated and condensed by the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condenser lens 18 is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion that is the black portion of the film surface of the TC film, and the black portion of this black portion is absorbed. Even if the temperature is raised, it is reflected at the other part of the film surface that becomes cloudy (non-image part) and has no effect. This causes a temperature difference between the toner image portion and the non-image portion on the film surface of the TC film, and only the toner image portion of the TC film changes from the cloudy state to the transparent state due to this temperature difference, An image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) is recorded on the TC film surface.

The TC film on which an image is recorded due to the heat discoloration of the cloudy portion is conveyed toward the fixing means 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36. Here, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, the film surface of the TC film conveyed to the fixing unit 34 comes into contact with the heating roller 20 and is reheated, so that the image recorded on the film surface is imaged. In order to prevent the heat loss from being lost, the heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34 is displaced in advance in the direction of arrow b in FIG.
The TC film is retracted to a position where it does not come into contact with the film surface (chain line position), that is, to a position where the heat of the heating roller 20 is not transferred to the TC film.

Further, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, the TC cleaning means 24 is operated by an arrow a in FIG.
Of the transport roller 38, which is preliminarily raised to a position displaced in the opposite direction (position shown by a chain line), of the transport roller 38 including a pair of rollers (the surface on which the toner image is not transferred)
The blade 25 of the cleaning means 24 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the roller 38a located at. Here, the contact force of the blade 25 with respect to the roller 38a is the friction force between the roller 38a and the TC film.
It is set to be larger than the frictional force with the C film. As a result, the TC film that has passed through the fixing means 34 without being reheated is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23, and then the roller 38.
It is conveyed according to the rotation of a. When the TC film is conveyed by the roller 38a, the toner transferred onto the film surface is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped off from the film surface of the TC film is collected in the collection bottle 27 by the collection roller 26 provided in the cleaning unit 24.
The TC film on which an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (image portion) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 including a pair of rollers. Then, the paper is guided by the paper discharge guide plate 28, and is discharged by the paper discharge rollers 29.
Is discharged above zero.

Next, the erasing step for initializing the image recorded on the TC film in the first embodiment will be described. In order to reuse a used TC film on which an image has been recorded once, the entire surface of the TC film may be heated to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film is turned into a cloudy color. Therefore, in the first embodiment, the same process as that for feeding plain paper may be executed without writing an image.

That is, specifically, first, a used TC film is set in the paper feed tray A or the paper feed tray B, and the paper feed roller 1, the transport roller 37, the registration driving roller 9, and the registration driven roller 40 are set. Thus, the used top TC film is fed and conveyed. At this time, the image signal is not sent and the optical unit 5 does not write an image as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 so that the toner is not attached to the photoconductor 10 by the developing means 4. As a result, the used TC film is
The toner passes through the transfer separation means 8 without being attached to the film surface. The used TC film that has been conveyed without toner adheres to it when passing through the fixing means 34.
The heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34 heats the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film is turned into a cloudy color. As a result, the entire surface of the TC film is initialized to a cloudy color, and the used image recorded by the transparent part and the cloudy part is erased. In this erasing step, since the toner is not attached to the film surface of the TC film, the TC cleaning means 24 moves to the arrow a in FIG. 1 and the blade 25 faces the conveyance roller 38a. The TC film thus initialized is further transported by the transport rollers 38, guided by the paper discharge guide plate 28, and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 30 by the paper discharge rollers 29.

Next, other components of the first embodiment will be described. In FIG. 1, the paper feed guide plate 2 has a function of guiding the plain paper and the TC film fed by the paper feed roller 1 while being conveyed to the registration drive roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40.
The pre-transfer guide plate 11 is a plain paper or T transported by the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40.
It has a function of guiding the C film toward the photoconductor 10. The fixing entrance upper guide plate 14 and the fixing entrance lower guide plate 39 have a function of guiding the plain paper or the TC film separated and conveyed from the photoconductor 10 to the nip portion of the pressure roller 19 and the heating roller 20 of the fixing unit 34. is doing. The thermistor T provided in the fixing unit 34 has a function of detecting the surface temperature of the heating roller 20, and the heat generation amount of the heater 21 arranged in the heating roller 20 is controlled based on this detection signal. By doing so, the heating temperature of the heating roller 20 is changed. The charging unit 6 arranged around the photoconductor 10 has a function of initializing the surface potential of the photoconductor 10 by discharging. The paper discharge sensor 32 arranged on the conveyance path of the paper discharge guide plate 28 includes a fixing unit 34.
Detects whether the plain paper or TC film conveyed from the paper has passed at a predetermined timing, and
It is detecting film jams.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, since the image can be formed on the TC film by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming the image on the plain paper, the image recording of the TC film can be performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume and a complication of the image forming control system.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a plain paper sheet (hereinafter, simply referred to as plain paper) and a reversible thermosensitive recording film; For TC film), an image can be recorded using a common image forming means, and a dedicated heat source for erasing the recorded image on the TC film to initialize the film surface is provided. It is characterized by doing. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus of the second embodiment has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B, as in the first embodiment. . These paper feed trays A and B are arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the TC film is set in the paper feed tray A and the plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

First, the image recording on plain paper in the second embodiment will be described. In FIG. 2, paper feed tray B
The plain paper in the bundle set in (1) is pulled out from the paper feed tray B by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35.
Plain paper conveyed by the paper feed roller 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 3
The sheet 7 is conveyed until it abuts on the nip portion between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3. At this time, the front end of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31,
The timing of writing an image on the plain paper is set. Here, the contact force between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3 is set so that the frictional force between the registration driving roller 9 and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the heat generating head 3 and the TC film. . As a result, the plain paper is conveyed according to the rotation of the registration driving roller 9.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is being fed and conveyed as described above, the original image is written as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoconductor 10 is The toner supplied from the developing unit 4 visualizes the image. Then, the plain paper sent toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration driving roller 9 rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred with a toner image from the photoconductor 10 by the transfer separation unit 8. The plain paper on which the toner image is transferred is the conveyance guide plate 1
By the suction force of the fan 36 disposed on the back surface side of the sheet 3, the sheet is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13. The plain paper conveyed to the fixing unit 34 is conveyed by the pair of pressure roller 19 and heating roller 20.
The toner image transferred by being pressed and heated is fixed.

A TC cleaning means 24, which functions only when recording an image on a TC film, is disposed downstream of the fixing means 34, and when recording an image on plain paper, a TC cleaning means 24 is provided.
This TC cleaning means 24 is indicated by an arrow a in FIG.
It is retracted to the position displaced in the direction (position shown by the solid line). As a result, the plain paper that is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23 and discharged from the fixing unit 34 is in the state as it is, and the transport roller 3 is used.
Further, the sheet is further conveyed by 8, and is ejected onto a sheet ejection tray 30 by a sheet ejection roller 29 through a sheet ejection guide plate 28.

Next, the image recording on the TC film in the second embodiment will be described. In FIG. 2, the bundle of TC films set in the paper feed tray A is pulled out from the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1 and separated by the separation pad 3
According to 5, only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 1. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by the transport roller 37 until it abuts against the nip portion between the registration drive roller 9 and the heat generation head 3. At this time, the front end of the TC film is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is set. Here, the contact force between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3 is set so that the frictional force between the registration driving roller 9 and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the heat generating head 3 and the TC film. . As a result, the plain paper is transferred to the registration drive roller 9
It is transported according to the rotation of.

Further, the heating head 3 has a function of heating the TC film to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film is turned white turbid and is initialized. Therefore, in the second embodiment, when the TC film passes through the nip portion between the resist driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3, the heat generating head 3 heats the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which the TC film turns into a cloudy color. Even when the recorded TC film is conveyed, the recorded image is automatically erased.

On the other hand, while the TC film is being fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5 is attached to the photosensitive member 10.
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 to the TC film sent by the pre-registration sensor 31 toward the photoconductor 10 by the rotating registration roller at a timing. When recording an image on the TC film, the TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 arranged on the back side of the conveyance guide plate 13. At this time, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 arranged facing the conveyance guide plate 13 across the conveyance path is turned on. The irradiation light of the irradiation lamp 16 is reflected by the reflection plate 17
And the condenser lens 18 allows the TC on the transport guide plate 13
It is focused and irradiated on the film surface of the film. At this time,
The TC film itself is initialized to a cloudy state by the action of the heating head 3 in the erasing step, and the unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface thereof. Therefore, the irradiation light that is irradiated and condensed by the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condenser lens 18 is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion that is the black portion of the film surface of the TC film,
Even if the temperature of the black portion is raised, it is reflected at the other part of the film surface that is in a white turbid state (non-image part) and has no effect. This causes a temperature difference between the toner image area and the non-image area on the film surface of the TC film,
Only the toner image portion of this TC film changes from a cloudy state to a transparent state due to this temperature difference, and thus a white cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) are formed on the TC film surface. The image is recorded.

The TC film on which an image is recorded due to the heat discoloration of the cloudy portion is conveyed toward the fixing means 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36. Here, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, the film surface of the TC film conveyed to the fixing unit 34 comes into contact with the heating roller 20 and is reheated, so that the image recorded on the film surface is imaged. In order to prevent the heat loss from being lost, the heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34 is previously displaced in the direction of arrow b in FIG.
The TC film is retracted to a position where it does not come into contact with the film surface (chain line position), that is, to a position where the heat of the heating roller 20 is not transferred to the TC film.

Further, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, the TC cleaning means 24 is operated by an arrow a in FIG.
Of the transport roller 38, which is preliminarily raised to a position displaced in the opposite direction (position shown by a chain line), of the transport roller 38 including a pair of rollers (the surface on which the toner image is not transferred)
The blade 25 of the cleaning means 24 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the roller 38a located at. Here, the contact force of the blade 25 with respect to the roller 38a is the friction force between the roller 38a and the TC film.
It is set to be larger than the frictional force with the C film. As a result, the TC film that has passed through the fixing means 34 without being reheated is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23, and then the roller 38.
It is conveyed according to the rotation of a. When the TC film is conveyed by the roller 38a, the toner transferred onto the film surface is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped off from the film surface of the TC film is collected in the collection bottle 27 by the collection roller 26 provided in the cleaning unit 24.
The TC film on which an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (image portion) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 including a pair of rollers. Then, the paper is guided by the paper discharge guide plate 28, and is discharged by the paper discharge rollers 29.
Is discharged above zero.

The other components in the second embodiment are constructed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, since the image can be formed on the TC film by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming the image on the plain paper, the image recording of the TC film can be performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume, and to suppress complication of the image forming control system,
Since the erasing means for initializing the used TC film is provided in the image forming process, no matter what state the TC film is set in, the image formation on this TC film can be performed without any trouble. Image and the convenience of the device is improved.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes a plain paper sheet (hereinafter, simply referred to as plain paper) and a reversible thermosensitive recording film; a thermochromic film (hereinafter, An image can be recorded on a TC film (abbreviated as TC film) using a common image forming means, and the irradiation means 15 and T in the first embodiment can be used.
The TC cleaning means 24 as a toner removing means for removing the toner transferred onto the C film is attached to the fixing means 34.
It is characterized in that it is arranged on the downstream side in the film transport direction. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus of the third embodiment has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B, as in the first embodiment. . These paper feed trays A and B are arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the TC film is set in the paper feed tray A and the plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

First, the image recording on plain paper in the third embodiment will be described. In FIG. 3, paper feed tray B
The plain paper in the bundle set in (1) is pulled out from the paper feed tray B by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35.
Plain paper conveyed by the paper feed roller 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 3
The sheet 7 is conveyed to a pair of registration rollers composed of the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the front end of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing for writing an image on the plain paper is set.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is being fed and conveyed as described above, the original image is written as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoconductor 10 is The toner supplied from the developing unit 4 visualizes the image. Then, the plain paper sent toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration roller rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred and separated by the transfer separation means 8.
Thus, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10. The plain paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36A arranged on the back side of the conveyance guide plate 13. The plain paper conveyed to the fixing unit 34 is pressed and heated by a pair of pressure roller 19 and heating roller 20 to fix the transferred toner image. The plain paper on which the toner image is fixed is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 101 by the suction force of another fan 36B arranged on the back surface side of the guide plate 101 at the downstream portion of the fixing unit 34. A TC cleaning means 24 that functions only when recording an image on a TC film is disposed downstream of the guide plate 101, and when recording an image on plain paper,
This TC cleaning means 24 is indicated by an arrow a in FIG.
It is retracted to the position displaced in the direction (position shown by the solid line). As a result, the plain paper that is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23 and discharged from the fixing unit 34 is in the state as it is, and the transport roller 3 is used.
Further, the sheet is further conveyed by 8, and is ejected onto a sheet ejection tray 30 by a sheet ejection roller 29 through a sheet ejection guide plate 28.

Next, the image recording on the TC film in the third embodiment will be described. In FIG. 3, the bundle of TC films set in the paper feed tray A is pulled out from the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1 and separated into the separation pad 3
According to 5, only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 1. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by the transport roller 37 to a pair of registration rollers including the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the pre-registration sensor 31 causes T
The leading edge of the C film is detected, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is set.

On the other hand, while the TC film is being fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5 is attached to the photoconductor 10.
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 to the TC film sent by the pre-registration sensor 31 toward the photoconductor 10 by the rotating registration roller at a timing. The TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the fan 36A, and is pressed and heated by the pressure roller 19 and the heating roller 20 of the fixing unit 34. While being transported. At this time, the heating roller 20 is
The calorific value of the heater 21 is set so as to heat the TC film at a temperature at which the entire surface of the film is changed to a cloudy color. Therefore, in the third embodiment, when the TC film passes through the nip portion between the pressure roller 19 and the heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34, the heating roller 20 brings the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which it becomes discolored white. Since the film is heated, the recorded image is automatically erased even when the recorded TC film is conveyed, and the TC film is initialized. Here, since a film of silicon or the like having a good releasability is formed on the film surface of the TC film, even if the film is pressed and heated by the pressure roller 19 and the heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34, this film Transfer toner does not adhere to the surface.

At the time of recording an image on the TC film, the TC film on which the toner image has been transferred is attracted to the transport guide plate 101 by the suction force of the fan 36B disposed on the back side of the transport guide plate 101. When being conveyed while being conveyed, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 arranged so as to face the conveyance guide plate 101 across the conveyance path is turned on. The irradiation light of the irradiation lamp 16 is
By the reflection plate 17 and the condenser lens 18, the conveyance guide plate 1
The film surface of the TC film on 3 is focused and irradiated.
At this time, the TC film itself is in a cloudy state, and an unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface thereof. Therefore, the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condenser lens 1
The irradiation light emitted and condensed by 8 is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion which is the black portion of the film surface of the TC film, and raises the temperature of this black portion, but the other cloudy state of this film surface The reflected light is reflected at the area (non-image area) and has no effect. This causes a temperature difference between the toner image portion and the non-image portion on the film surface of the TC film, and only the toner image portion of the TC film changes from the cloudy state to the transparent state due to this temperature difference, An image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) is recorded on the TC film surface.

As described above, the TC film on which an image is recorded due to the heat discoloration of the white turbid portion has the TC cleaning means 24.
The TC cleaning means 24 at the time of recording an image on the TC film that is conveyed toward the upper side is preliminarily raised to a position displaced in the direction opposite to the arrow a in FIG. The blade 25 of the TC cleaning means 24 is in contact with the peripheral surface of the roller 38a of the transport roller 38, which is located on the back surface of the TC film (the surface on which the toner image is not transferred). Here, the contact force of the blade 25 with respect to the roller 38a is set so that the frictional force between the roller 38a and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the blade 25 and the TC film. As a result, the TC on which the image is recorded
The film is conveyed according to the rotation of the roller 38a.
When the TC film is conveyed by the roller 38a, the toner transferred onto the film surface is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped from the film surface of the TC film is collected in the collection bottle 27 by the collection roller 26 provided in the TC cleaning means 24. The TC film on which an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (image portion) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 including a pair of rollers. Then, the sheet is guided by the sheet discharge guide plate 28 and discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 30 by the sheet discharge rollers 29.

The other components in the third embodiment are constructed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, since the image can be formed on the TC film by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming the image on the plain paper, the image recording of the TC film can be performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume, and to suppress complication of the image forming control system,
Since the TC film can be initialized by the existing fixing means, even if the TC film in any state is set without providing a special erasing means, this TC film can be initialized.
Image formation on film can be performed without problems.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention includes a plain paper sheet (hereinafter, simply referred to as plain paper) and a reversible thermosensitive recording film; An image can be recorded on a TC film (abbreviated as TC film) using a common image forming means, and the irradiation means 15 and T in the first embodiment can be used.
The TC cleaning means 24 as a toner removing means for removing the toner transferred onto the C film is attached to the fixing means 34.
It is characterized in that it is arranged on the upstream side in the film transport direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus of the fourth embodiment has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B, as in the first embodiment. . These paper feed trays A and B are arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the TC film is set in the paper feed tray A and the plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

First, image recording on plain paper in the fourth embodiment will be described. In FIG. 4, paper feed tray B
The plain paper in the bundle set in (1) is pulled out from the paper feed tray B by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35.
Plain paper conveyed by the paper feed roller 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 3
The sheet 7 is conveyed to a pair of registration rollers composed of the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the front end of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing for writing an image on the plain paper is set.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is being fed and conveyed as described above, the original image is written as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoconductor 10 is The toner supplied from the developing unit 4 visualizes the image. Then, the plain paper sent toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration roller rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred and separated by the transfer separation means 8.
Thus, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10. The plain paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is attracted to the transport guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 disposed on the back surface side of the transport guide plate 13 while being absorbed by the TC cleaning means 24.
And is conveyed toward the fixing unit 34. That is, at the time of recording an image on the plain paper, the TC cleaning means 24 retracts to the position displaced in the direction of the arrow a in FIG.
1 is also retracted to the position displaced in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 4 (the position indicated by the broken line). As a result, the plain paper that has passed through the TC cleaning means 24 and has been conveyed to the fixing means 34 is moved by the pair of pressure rollers 19 and heating rollers 20.
The toner image transferred by being pressed and heated is fixed.
The plain paper on which the toner image is fixed is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23, and the plain paper discharged from the fixing unit 34 is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 as it is. , A discharge tray 30 through a discharge guide plate 28 and a discharge roller 29.
Discharged on top.

Next, the image recording on the TC film in the fourth embodiment will be described. In FIG. 4, the bundle of TC films set in the paper feed tray A is pulled out from the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1 and separated into the separation pad 3
According to 5, only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 1. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by the transport roller 37 to a pair of registration rollers including the registration driving roller 9 and the registration driven roller 40, and is abutted against the nip portion of the registration roller. At this time, the pre-registration sensor 31 causes T
The leading edge of the C film is detected, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is set.

On the other hand, while the TC film is being fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5 is attached to the photoconductor 10.
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 to the TC film sent by the pre-registration sensor 31 toward the photoconductor 10 by the rotating registration roller at a timing. The TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the fan 36. And when recording images on this TC film,
When the TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 arranged on the back side of the conveyance guide plate 13, the TC film is transferred to the conveyance guide plate 13. On the other hand, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 arranged facing each other across the transport path is turned on. The irradiation light of the irradiation lamp 16 is condensed and irradiated on the film surface of the TC film on the transport guide plate 13 by the reflection plate 17 and the condenser lens 18. At this time, T
The C film itself is in a cloudy state, and an unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface thereof. Therefore, irradiation by the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condenser lens 18
The condensed irradiation light is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion which is the black portion of the film surface of the TC film, and raises the temperature of this black portion, but it becomes a part of other white turbidity on this film surface. In the image part), it is reflected and has no effect. This causes a temperature difference between the toner image area and the non-image area on the film surface of the TC film.
Only the toner image portion of the film changes color from a cloudy state to a transparent state due to this temperature difference, so that an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) is formed on the TC film surface. Will be recorded.

As described above, the TC film on which an image is recorded by the heat discoloration of the cloudy portion is the TC cleaning means 24.
The TC cleaning means 24 at the time of recording an image on the TC film which is conveyed toward the upper side is preliminarily moved to a position displaced in the direction opposite to the arrow a in FIG. The blade 25 of the TC cleaning means 24 is in contact with the surface. Here, the contact force of the blade 25 with respect to the transport roller 111 is the frictional force between the transport roller 111 and the TC film.
It is set to be larger than the frictional force between the blade 25 and the TC film. As a result, the TC film on which the image is recorded is transported according to the rotation of the transport roller 111. Then, this TC film is used for the transport roller 1
The toner transferred onto the film surface when being conveyed by 11 is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped from the film surface of the TC film is collected in the collection bottle 27 by the collection roller 26 provided in the TC cleaning means 24. Then
The TC film on which the image composed of the cloudy portion (non-image portion) and the transparent portion (image portion) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is conveyed to the fixing unit 34. In the fourth example, in order to prevent the TC film from being heated by the heat of the heating roller 20 and the recorded image from being lost, the heating roller 20 is placed at the position shown by the chain line displaced in the direction of arrow b in FIG. It is configured so that the heat of the heating roller 20 is not transferred to the TC film on which the image is recorded, which is retracted in advance. As a result, the TC film on which the image is recorded is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 composed of a pair of rollers, guided by the paper ejection guide plate 28, and ejected onto the paper ejection tray 30 by the paper ejection roller 29.

Next, the erasing step for initializing the image recorded on the TC film in the fourth embodiment will be described. In the fourth embodiment, in order to reuse the used TC film on which an image is recorded once, in order to recycle the transparent part (image part) of the TC film to a temperature at which it becomes discolored into a cloudy color,
It suffices to heat the entire surface of the TC film. Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, without writing the image,
The same process as that for feeding plain paper may be executed.

That is, specifically, first, a used TC film is set in the paper feed tray A or the paper feed tray B, and the paper feed roller 1, the transport roller 37, the registration driving roller 9, and the registration driven roller 40 are set. Thus, the used top TC film is fed and conveyed. At this time, the image signal is not sent and the optical unit 5 does not write an image as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 so that the toner is not attached to the photoconductor 10 by the developing means 4. As a result, the used TC film is
The toner passes through the transfer separation means 8 without being attached to the film surface. The used TC film that has been conveyed without toner adheres to it when passing through the fixing means 34.
The heating roller 20 of the fixing means 34 heats the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film is turned into a cloudy color. As a result, the entire surface of the TC film is initialized to a cloudy color, and the used image recorded by the transparent part and the cloudy part is erased. In this erasing step, since the toner is not attached to the film surface of the TC film, the TC cleaning means 24 moves to the arrow a in FIG. 4, and the transport roller 111 is also displaced in the arrow c direction in FIG. The blade 25 retreats to the position (position indicated by the broken line) and faces the state where the blade 25 is separated from the transport roller 111. The TC film thus initialized is further transported by the transport rollers 38, guided by the paper discharge guide plate 28, and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 30 by the paper discharge rollers 29.

The other components in the fourth embodiment are constructed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, since the image can be formed on the TC film by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming the image on the plain paper, it is possible to record the image on the TC film. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume, and to suppress complication of the image forming control system,
Since the irradiation unit for forming an image on the TC film is disposed upstream of the fixing unit, which was an empty space in the conventional image forming apparatus using only plain paper, in the sheet conveying direction, the image forming dedicated to the conventional plain paper is performed. An image forming apparatus compatible with TC film can be realized with a volume substantially equal to that of the apparatus. Further, according to the fourth embodiment, since the toner carried on the TC film is removed on the upstream side of the fixing means in the sheet conveying direction, the toner is prevented from scattering outside the developing / transfer portion of the apparatus. At the same time, since the toner carried on the TC film does not adhere to the fixing means, the occurrence of abnormal images during fixing is prevented and the reliability of the apparatus is improved.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image forming apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention includes a plain paper sheet (hereinafter simply referred to as plain paper) and a reversible thermosensitive recording film; An image can be recorded on the TC film by using a common image forming means, and the irradiation means 15 in the first embodiment and the toner removing means for removing the toner transferred on the TC film. The TC cleaning means 24 is disposed upstream of the fixing means 34 in the film transport direction, and has a dedicated heat source for erasing the recorded image on the TC film to initialize the film surface. I am trying. The image forming apparatus of the fifth embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Like the fourth embodiment, it has two paper feed trays, a paper feed tray A and a paper feed tray B. These paper feed trays A and B are arranged in parallel, and both paper feed trays are configured without any difference. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the TC film is set in the paper feed tray A and the plain paper is set in the paper feed tray B.

First, image recording on plain paper in the fifth embodiment will be described. In FIG. 5, paper feed tray B
The plain paper in the bundle set in (1) is pulled out from the paper feed tray B by the paper feed roller 1, and only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 by the separation pad 35.
Plain paper conveyed by the paper feed roller 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 3
The sheet 7 is conveyed until it abuts on the nip portion between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3. At this time, the front end of the plain paper is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31,
The timing of writing an image on the plain paper is set. Here, the contact force between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3 is set so that the frictional force between the registration driving roller 9 and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the heat generating head 3 and the TC film. . As a result, the plain paper is conveyed according to the rotation of the registration driving roller 9.

On the other hand, while the plain paper is being fed and conveyed as described above, the original image is written as a latent image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5, and the latent image on the photoconductor 10 is The toner supplied from the developing unit 4 visualizes the image. Then, the plain paper sent toward the photoconductor 10 by the registration driving roller 9 rotating at a timing by the pre-registration sensor 31 is transferred with a toner image from the photoconductor 10 by the transfer separation unit 8. The plain paper on which the toner image is transferred is the conveyance guide plate 1
By a suction force of a fan 36 arranged on the back side of the sheet 3, the sheet is conveyed to the fixing section 34 while passing through the TC cleaning section 24 while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13. That is, when recording an image on this plain paper, this T
The C cleaning means 24 retracts to the position displaced in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 5 (the position indicated by the solid line), and the conveyance roller 111 retracts to the position displaced in the direction of arrow c in FIG. 5 (the position indicated by the broken line). is doing. As a result, TC
The plain paper that has passed through the cleaning unit 24 and is conveyed to the fixing unit 34 is a pair of pressure roller 19 and heating roller 2.
When 0, the toner image transferred by being pressed and heated is fixed. The plain paper on which the toner image is fixed is guided by the fixing outlet upper guide plate 22 and the fixing outlet lower guide plate 23, and the plain paper discharged from the fixing unit 34 is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 as it is. The paper is ejected onto the paper ejection tray 30 by the paper ejection roller 29 through the paper ejection guide plate 28.

Next, the image recording on the TC film in the fifth embodiment will be described. In FIG. 5, the bundle of TC films set in the paper feed tray A is pulled out from the paper feed tray A by the paper feed roller 1, and the separation pad 3
According to 5, only the uppermost one sheet is conveyed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 1. The TC film transported by the paper feed roller 1 is transported by the transport roller 37 until it abuts against the nip portion between the registration drive roller 9 and the heat generation head 3. At this time, the front end of the TC film is detected by the pre-registration sensor 31, and the timing of writing an image on the TC film is set. Here, the contact force between the registration driving roller 9 and the heat generating head 3 is set so that the frictional force between the registration driving roller 9 and the TC film is larger than the frictional force between the heat generating head 3 and the TC film. . As a result, the plain paper is transferred to the registration drive roller 9
It is transported according to the rotation of.

Further, the heating head 3 has a function of heating the TC film to a temperature at which the transparent portion (image portion) of the TC film is turned white turbid and is initialized. Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, when the TC film passes through the nip portion between the resist driving roller 9 and the heating head 3, the heating head 3 heats the entire surface of the TC film to a temperature at which the TC film turns into a cloudy color. Even when the recorded TC film is conveyed, the recorded image is automatically erased.

On the other hand, while the TC film is being fed and conveyed as described above, the optical unit 5 is attached to the photosensitive member 10.
The original image is written as a latent image by the
The latent image on 0 is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing unit 4. Next, the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor 10 to the TC film sent by the pre-registration sensor 31 toward the photoconductor 10 by the rotating registration roller at a timing. The TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the fan 36. And when recording images on this TC film,
When the TC film on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed while being attracted to the conveyance guide plate 13 by the suction force of the fan 36 arranged on the back side of the conveyance guide plate 13, the TC film is transferred to the conveyance guide plate 13. On the other hand, the irradiation lamp 16 of the irradiation means 15 arranged facing each other across the transport path is turned on. The irradiation light of the irradiation lamp 16 is condensed and irradiated on the film surface of the TC film on the transport guide plate 13 by the reflection plate 17 and the condenser lens 18. At this time, T
The C film itself is in a cloudy state, and an unfixed toner image is transferred to the surface thereof. Therefore, irradiation by the irradiation lamp 16, the reflection plate 17, and the condenser lens 18
The condensed irradiation light is absorbed by the unfixed toner image portion which is the black portion of the film surface of the TC film, and raises the temperature of this black portion, but it becomes a part of other white turbidity on this film surface. In the image part), it is reflected and has no effect. This causes a temperature difference between the toner image area and the non-image area on the film surface of the TC film.
Only the toner image portion of the film changes color from a cloudy state to a transparent state due to this temperature difference, so that an image composed of a cloudy portion (non-image portion) and a transparent portion (toner image portion) is formed on the TC film surface. Will be recorded.

As described above, the TC film on which an image is recorded due to the heat discoloration of the white turbid portion is the TC cleaning means 24.
The TC cleaning means 24 at the time of recording an image on the TC film which is conveyed toward the upper side is preliminarily moved to a position displaced in a direction opposite to the arrow a in FIG. The blade 25 of the TC cleaning means 24 is in contact with the surface. Here, the contact force of the blade 25 with respect to the transport roller 111 is the frictional force between the transport roller 111 and the TC film.
It is set to be larger than the frictional force between the blade 25 and the TC film. As a result, the TC film on which the image is recorded is transported according to the rotation of the transport roller 111. Then, this TC film is used for the transport roller 1
The toner transferred onto the film surface when being conveyed by 11 is scraped off by the blade 25. The toner scraped from the film surface of the TC film is collected in the collection bottle 27 by the collection roller 26 provided in the TC cleaning means 24. Then
The TC film on which the image composed of the cloudy portion (non-image portion) and the transparent portion (image portion) is recorded by scraping off the transfer toner in this manner is conveyed to the fixing unit 34. In the fifth embodiment, in order to prevent the TC film from being heated by the heat of the heating roller 20 and the recorded image from being lost, the heating roller 20 is placed at the position shown by the chain line displaced in the direction of arrow b in FIG. It is configured so that the heat of the heating roller 20 is not transferred to the TC film on which the image is recorded, which is retracted in advance. As a result, the TC film on which the image is recorded is further conveyed by the conveying roller 38 composed of a pair of rollers, guided by the paper ejection guide plate 28, and ejected onto the paper ejection tray 30 by the paper ejection roller 29.

The other components in the fifth embodiment are constructed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

As described above, according to the fifth embodiment, since the image can be formed on the TC film by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming the image on the plain paper, the image recording of the TC film can be performed. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume, and to suppress complication of the image forming control system,
Since the irradiation unit for forming an image on the TC film is disposed upstream of the fixing unit, which was an empty space in the conventional image forming apparatus using only plain paper, in the sheet conveying direction, the image forming dedicated to the conventional plain paper is performed. An image forming apparatus compatible with TC film can be realized with a volume substantially equal to that of the apparatus. Further, according to the fifth embodiment, the toner carried on the TC film is removed on the upstream side of the fixing means in the sheet conveying direction, so that toner scattering outside the developing / transfer portion of the apparatus is prevented. At the same time, since the toner carried on the TC film does not adhere to the fixing means, the occurrence of abnormal images during fixing is prevented and the reliability of the apparatus is improved. Further, according to the fifth embodiment, since the erasing means for initializing the used TC film is provided in the image forming process, it is possible to set the TC film in any state. The image formation on the TC film is performed without any problem, and the convenience of the apparatus is improved.

Next, FIG. 6 shows an overall control block diagram of the above-described embodiment. Various input, output, and control signals of the above embodiment are collectively processed by the main control unit 901 shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, an operation request input to the main control unit 109 includes an operation unit 90 as shown in FIG.
There are settings input by the operator's key press from 3 and image information and commands from the image information input unit 904 represented by a fax receiver or a host computer. The inputs for controlling the apparatus include a timing detection signal from the pre-registration sensor 31, the paper discharge sensor 32, and a temperature detection signal from the thermistor T. The output and control signals from the main controller 901 are
Paper feed roller 1, registration drive roller 9, heating head 3,
Optical unit 5, developing unit 4, charging unit 6, transfer separating unit 8, photoconductor 10, transport switching unit 12, irradiation unit 1.
5, pressure roller 19, heating roller 20, heater 21,
It is output to the controlled objects such as the TC cleaning unit 24 and the paper discharge roller 29. Here, a control program, various setting data necessary for program execution, and the like are stored in a storage unit 902 such as a ROM, and an internal timer 905 is used to generate timing during operation. To be done.

Also, the ONE-PAT as in the above embodiment.
As a control example of the H system, a timing chart of an image recording operation on TC film is shown in FIG. 8, and a timing chart of an image recording operation on plain paper is shown in FIG. That is, at the time of recording an image on the TC film, as shown in FIG. 8, first, by receiving a start signal, the paper feed roller 1 is activated to start the feeding of the TC film (for the apparatus having the heating head 3). In this case, the heat generating head 3 is turned on before this), and at the same time, the operations of the developing unit 4, the charging unit 6, and the discharge roller 29 are started, and the TC film passing through the fixing unit is set. The position of the fixing unit 34 is changed to. Next, reception of image information from the image information input unit 904 is started, the paper feed roller 1 is stopped based on the detection signal of the TC film front end of the pre-registration sensor 31, and the image on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5 is stopped. The writing of information is started, the registration driving roller 9 is activated at a timing, and then the transfer separation unit 8, the irradiation unit 15, and the TC cleaning unit 24 are activated. Then, when the input of the image information is completed, the operations of the optical unit 5 and the charging unit 6 are stopped, and based on the detection signal of the TC film rear end of the pre-registration sensor 31,
The registration driving roller 9 is stopped. Further, when the discharge completion of the TC film is detected by the discharge sensor 32, the transfer separation unit 8 and the developing unit 4 are stopped,
Subsequently, the paper discharge roller 29, the irradiation unit 15, the fixing unit 3
4. The operation of the TC cleaning means 24 is stopped.

When recording an image on plain paper, first, as shown in FIG. 9, by receiving a start signal,
The paper feed roller 1 is activated to start the feeding of plain paper (in the case of a device having the heat generating head 3, before the heat generating head 3
At the same time, at the same time, the operations of the developing unit 4, the charging unit 6, and the paper discharge roller 29 are started, and the position of the fixing unit 34 is changed so that the plain paper passes through the fixing unit. The heater 21 is turned on to activate the fixing means 34. Next, reception of image information from the image information input unit 904 is started, the paper feed roller 1 is stopped based on the detection signal of the front edge of the plain paper from the pre-registration sensor 31, and the image is formed on the photoconductor 10 by the optical unit 5. The writing of information is started, the registration driving roller 9 is activated at a timing, and then the transfer separation unit 8 is activated. And
When the input of the image information is completed, the operations of the optical unit 5 and the charging means 6 are stopped, and the registration driving roller 9 is stopped based on the detection signal of the rear end of the plain paper of the pre-registration sensor 31. Further, when the completion of the discharge of the plain paper is detected by the paper discharge sensor 32, the transfer separation unit 8,
And the developing means 4 are stopped, and the discharge rollers 29,
The operation of the fixing means 34 is stopped.

On the other hand, in FIG. 7, the timer key 701
Is pressed when setting the time of the timer, and the timer display 702 is turned on when the timer is set by the timer key 701 and when the timer is operating. Also, the program key 703
Is pressed when the program is stored and when the program is called, and the program display 704 is turned on when the program is being used. The enter key 705 is pressed when changing the dimensions, setting the editing function, and setting the program number. The ten-key pad 706 is pressed when setting the number of copies (image recording), changing the size, setting the binding margin width, setting the program, and setting the program number. The guidance key 707 is pressed when it is desired to display a copy operation method or an explanation of the operation of each key on the guidance display unit 708, and when the guidance key 707 is being used, the guidance key display 708 is turned on. Various information is displayed on the display panel 709. The size scaling key 710 is pressed when inputting the size of the document, and in the size scaling selection state, the size scaling display 711 is turned on. The centering key 712 is pressed to move the copy image to the center of the paper (plain paper or TC film), and the centering display 713 is lit in the centering selection state. Binding adjustment key 71
4 is pressed to make a binding margin (margin) on the left and right of the copy, and the binding margin display 715 displays the selected binding margin. The sorter key 719 is pressed when the sorter is used, and when the sorter is used and the sort state is set,
The sort display 717 is turned on (optional). The stack display 718 is turned on when the sorter is used and is in the stack state (optional). The double-sided key 720 is pressed to make a double-sided copy, and in the double-sided copy state, the double-sided display 716 is turned on. The page continuous copy key 722 is used to automatically copy a two-page spread original one by one, and to automatically copy a two-sided original (however, this optional two-sided original requires an automatic paper feeder; DF) one-sided. In the page continuous shooting state, the page continuous shooting display 721 is turned on. Erase key 72
4 is pressed when making an edit copy such as frame erase, outside erase, and inside erase, and in the state of this edit copy, the erase display 723 is turned on. The paper designation scaling key 726 is pressed to make a paper designation scaling copy, and in the state of the paper designation scaling copy, the paper designation scaling display 725 is turned on. The zoom scaling key 727 is pressed when freely selecting the copy magnification. The reduction key 728 is pressed when making a reduction copy. The enlargement key 729 is pressed when making an enlargement copy. The current key 730 is pressed when returning to the current copy. The paper selection key 731 is
Pressed when selecting the copy paper size. The automatic paper selection key 732 is pressed when the size of copy paper is automatically selected. The density adjustment key 733 is pressed when adjusting the shade of a copy image. Automatic concentration key 7
Reference numeral 34 is pressed when the density of the copy image is automatically adjusted. The clear / stop key 735 is pressed when it is desired to change the set number of sheets, when it is desired to stop continuous copying in the middle, and when the program number is set. The start key 736 is pressed when making a copy, that is, when forming an image on plain paper or TC film. The interrupt key 737 is pressed when it is desired to interrupt another document for copying during the continuous copying. The preheat display 738 is turned on when the heat generating portion of the device is in the preheat state. The mode clear / preheat key 739 is pressed when returning various modes to the standard mode, when switching between the preheat state and the normal state, and when setting the program number. The cover mode key 740 is pressed when attaching a cover and making a copy. TC mode key 741
Pressed when recording an image on TC film. The additional image formation mode key 742 is pressed when additional image formation is performed on the TC film. One-touch print key 743 is TC
Pressed when recording again on plain paper after trial recording on film.

[0066]

According to the present invention, an image can be formed on a reversible thermosensitive recording film (TC film) by using the conventional electrophotographic process for forming an image on plain paper.
It is not necessary to add a large-scale dedicated image forming means for recording an image on the film, and it is possible to suppress an increase in cost and device volume and a complication of the image forming control system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an overall control block diagram of an image forming apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of an operation unit of the image forming apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an overall control timing chart at the time of recording a TC film in the image forming apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a general control timing chart at the time of recording on plain paper in the image forming apparatus embodying the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper Feeding Roller 2 Paper Feeding Guide Plate 3 Heating Head 4 Developing Means 5 Optical Unit 6 Charging Means 7 Photosensitive Body Cleaning Means 8 Transfer Separation Means 9 Registration Driving Rollers 10 Photosensitive Body 11 Pre-Transfer Guide Plates 12 Conveyance Switching Means 13 Conveyance Guides Plate 14 Fixing entrance guide plate 15 Irradiating means 16 Irradiating lamp 17 Reflecting plate 18 Condensing lens 19 Pressure roller 20 Heating roller 21 Heater 22 Fixing outlet upper guide plate 23 Fixing outlet lower guide plate 24 TC cleaning means 25 Blade 26 Collecting roller 27 Collection bottle 28 Paper ejection guide plate 29 Paper ejection roller 30 Paper ejection tray 31 Pre-registration sensor 32 Paper ejection sensor 34 Fixing means 35 Separation pad 36, 36A, 36B Fan 37, 38, 111 Conveying roller 39 Fixing entrance lower guide plate 40 Registration Driven La 101 conveying guide plates A, B tray 901 main control unit 902 storage unit 903 operation unit 904 image information input unit 905 internal timer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 15/00 6830-2H (72) Inventor Satoshi Muramatsu 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. ・ Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Hideki Toinaga 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo ・ Inside Ricoh Company (72) In-house Masato Otani 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo ・In Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumio Kurizumi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo ・ In Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for forming an image on a reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature, the latent image in which image information is written on a photoreceptor as an electrostatic latent image. A forming step, a developing step of visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor with toner, a transfer step of transferring the toner image onto the reversible thermosensitive recording film, and a transfer of the toner image. An irradiation step of forming an image on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by heating the transferred toner image by irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film
An image forming method for a reversible thermosensitive recording film, which comprises a toner removing step of removing the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film from the film surface. 2. A method of forming an image on a reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature, the latent image in which image information is written on a photoconductor as an electrostatic latent image. A forming step, a developing step for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor with toner, a paper feeding and conveying step for feeding and conveying the reversible thermosensitive recording film to an image forming section, and the image An erasing step of initializing the reversible thermosensitive recording film fed and conveyed to the forming section by a heating means,
A transfer step of transferring the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto the initialized reversible thermosensitive recording film, and heating the transferred toner image by irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film on which the toner image is transferred. A reversible heat-sensitive recording film comprising an irradiation step of forming an image on the reversible heat-sensitive recording film and a toner removing step of removing the toner carried on the reversible heat-sensitive recording film from the film surface. Image forming method for thermal recording film. 3. A latent image forming means for writing image information as an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor, a developing means for visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor with toner, and an image recording means. Paper feeding and conveying means for feeding and conveying the plain paper sheet to the image forming section, and transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto the plain paper sheet fed and conveyed to the image forming section, A reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature and which has a fixing means for fixing the transferred toner image on a plain paper sheet; The toner image formed on the photoconductor by the latent image forming means and the developing means is transferred by the transfer means onto the reversible thermosensitive recording film fed and conveyed to the forming section, and
An image is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by an irradiation means that heats the transferred toner image by irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film on which the toner image is transferred. After the image is formed, the reversible thermosensitive recording film is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film. An image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film, wherein the carried toner is removed from the film surface by a toner removing means. 4. A latent image forming means for writing image information on a photoconductor as an electrostatic latent image, a developing means for visualizing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor with toner, and an image recording means. Paper feeding and conveying means for feeding and conveying the plain paper sheet to the image forming section, and transfer means for transferring the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto the plain paper sheet fed and conveyed to the image forming section, A reusable reversible thermosensitive recording film which is initialized by heating to a predetermined temperature and which has a fixing means for fixing the transferred toner image on a plain paper sheet; The reversible thermosensitive recording film fed and fed to the forming section is initialized by the heat generating means, and then the latent image forming means and the developing means are applied on the initialized reversible thermosensitive recording film. Formed on the photoreceptor The toner image is transferred by the transfer means, and an image is formed on the reversible thermosensitive recording film by an irradiation means that heats the transferred toner image by irradiating the reversible thermosensitive recording film on which the toner image is transferred, An image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film, characterized in that after the image formation, the toner carried on the reversible thermosensitive recording film is removed from the film surface by a toner removing means. 5. The irradiation means is arranged upstream of the fixing means in the film conveying direction, and the toner removing means is arranged downstream of the fixing means in the film conveying direction. An image forming apparatus for the reversible heat-sensitive recording film as described in 3 or 4. 6. The image of the reversible thermosensitive recording film according to claim 3, wherein the irradiation means and the toner removal means are arranged on the downstream side of the fixing means in the film transport direction. Forming equipment. 7. An image forming apparatus for a reversible thermosensitive recording film according to claim 3, wherein said irradiating means and said toner removing means are arranged on the upstream side of said fixing means in the film conveying direction.