JPH11301005A - Sublimation type thermal transfer printer printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] In the printing method of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer, recently, demands for high density and high speed printing of the sublimation type thermal transfer printer are increasing. ,
It is based on the balance between the ink ribbon take-up force and the braking force, and solves the problems of difficulty in optimization, complicated structure and high cost. Solve the problem of slow speed. When printing is performed on a blank portion outside a print area of a print sheet, a current is applied to dots in a non-print portion of a head.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer, and more particularly to a printing method of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer in a case where a margin outside a print area of a print sheet is printed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a background of a printing system of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the structure of an ink ribbon for a sublimation type thermal transfer printer. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which a print area of a print sheet is fed along a print direction and the ink ribbon is folded under the head and passes therethrough. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state in which wrinkles are generated. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a pulse.
As shown in FIG. 5, the ink ribbon for the sublimation type thermal transfer printer has a three-layer structure of a base material (pet) 1, a back coat layer 2, and an ink layer 3. In the sublimation type thermal transfer printer, as shown in FIG. 7, one dot (dot) is used.
The gradation is controlled by the printing energy of the applied pulse for applying the density of the image. In the high density region, printing is performed by applying a large amount of printing energy to the ink ribbon. In this case, the printing energy applied to the ink ribbon causes the substrate 1 to undergo creep deformation (elongation deformation). When the high density area is continuously printed, the deformation of the substrate 1 is accumulated, and wrinkles are generated under the head. As a result, a non-printed fine line is formed on the printing surface. Next, a conventional technique will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, wrinkles occur when the ink ribbon has a length of creep deformation of the base material 1 and the ink ribbon folds under the head and passes thereunder. At that time, a brake is applied to the supply side of the ink ribbon to apply tension to the ink ribbon, and the density is increased by slowing down the printing speed and applying low energy for a long time.

[0003]

However, recently, there has been an increasing demand for high-density, high-speed printing of sublimation type thermal transfer printers.
It is based on the balance between the ink ribbon take-up force and the braking force, and is difficult to optimize.The structure is complicated and the cost is high. Was slow.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method for energizing dots in a non-printed portion of a head when printing a blank portion outside a print area of a print sheet. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing method of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a printing system of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which wrinkles occur from a boundary between a portion to be printed and a portion not to be printed,
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state where printing energy is applied to the ink ribbon, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where printing energy is applied to a portion other than a printing portion (print area), and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a non-printing portion other than a portion (printing area).

The printing method of the sublimation type thermal transfer printer according to the present invention is, as shown in FIGS. This is a printing method of a sublimation type thermal transfer printer that is energized.

As shown in FIG. 1, wrinkles are generated from a boundary between a portion to be printed (print area, printed portion) and a portion not to be printed (non-printed portion). In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, wrinkles occur because the amount of elongation of the base material is extremely different between a portion to be printed (print area, printed portion) and a portion not to be printed (non-printed portion). Therefore, printing energy (energy that does not produce color) is also applied to the non-printed portion to reduce the difference in the amount of elongation (stress) at the boundary to prevent wrinkles. When printing all areas, as shown in FIG. 3, printing energy is also applied to the margins at both ends. When printing is performed on a part of the print area, as shown in FIG. 4, the frictional force between the ink ribbon of the non-printed portion and the paper is dominant in the ink ribbon passing under the head. Therefore, the ink ribbon that has undergone creep deformation (elongation deformation) of the printing section easily passes under the head, and wrinkles are likely to occur. Therefore, energy that does not develop color is added to the non-printed part,
This is to equalize the elongation deformation (stress) of the ink ribbon.

[0008]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. Control by ink ribbon tension is head pressure,
This is achieved by the balance between the ink ribbon take-up force and the braking force, so that optimization is easy, the structure is simple and the cost is low, the density can be increased, and the printing speed is increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state in which wrinkles occur from a boundary between a portion to be printed and a portion not to be printed.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state where printing energy is applied to an ink ribbon.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where printing energy is applied to a portion other than a portion to be printed (print area).

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a non-printing portion other than a printing portion (print area).

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the structure of an ink ribbon for a sublimation type thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which a print area of a print sheet is fed along a print direction, and wrinkles occur when an ink ribbon folds under a head and passes therethrough.

FIG. 7 applies a brake to the ink ribbon supply side to apply tension to the ink ribbon and reduce the printing speed,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of an applied pulse that increases the density by applying low printing energy for a long time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: base material 2: back coat layer 3: ink layer 4: printing energy 11: printed portion (print area) 12: non-printed portion 13: applied pulse

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing method for a sublimation type thermal transfer printer, characterized in that when printing is performed on a blank portion outside a print area of a print sheet, a current is applied to dots in a non-printed portion of a head.