JPS62199468A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to enhance accuracy by a simple wiring structure, in the thermal head for a line printer, by arranging the driving elements of a driving element row on a current supply body group through an insulating film. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head 41 is constituted by arranging a plurality of driving element groups 43 at a predetermined angle to the heat generating body row 13 arranged on a substrate 31 and connecting the same by a plurality of current supply body groups 49. The driving elements of each related driving element row 43 are arranged on each current supply body group 49 through an insulating film 45 and the connection between the driving element row 43 is performed by the wiring part 59 between the element rows supported on the insulating film 45. By this method, high mounting densification accompanied by the enhancement of the accuracy of the thermal head can be achieved by a simple wiring structure without using a multilayer interconnection substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an ultra-high-definition thermal head equipped with a driving element, and particularly to a line printer type thermal head.

(Prior Art) - Various proposals have been made to improve the definition of thermal heads used for thermal recording; an example is the thermal head disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-73351. . This conventional thermal head will be explained below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the main parts of a line printer type thermal head mainly used as a thermal head for facsimile. In the same figure, reference numeral 11 indicates a heating element, and a large number of heating elements 11 are arranged in one row to form a heating element row 1.
form 3. Reference numeral 15 denotes a heating element block consisting of a specific number (for example, 32) of heating elements 11, and each heating element block 15 has a first wiring part 21, a driving element 17, and a second wiring on one side of the heating element row 13. The sections 23 are connected in sequence, and on the opposite side of one heating element row 13, a common power supply 19 is provided for each heating element block 15. The first and second wiring sections 21 and 23 each have a plurality of individual power feeders 2.
Consists of 5. The driving element 17 has its longitudinal direction aligned with the heating element row 1.
3 (heat generating elements 11) are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the heating elements 11 are arranged.

Reference numeral 27 indicates a third wiring section consisting of a plurality of jumper wires 28 supported by an insulating film 28. The third wiring section 27 forms a multilayer wiring structure that connects the second wiring sections 23 of each heating element block 15 across the active elements 17,
Terminals of the second wiring section 23 are taken out below the third wiring section 27.

In the conventional thermal head in which each component is provided on the substrate 31 in this way, the drive element 17 is arranged so that the direction in which its connection terminals are arranged is perpendicular to the heating element array 13. Extended below.

For example, consider a case where the connecting terminals of the driving elements 17 are arranged parallel to the heating element array 13 in the configuration shown in FIG. When the arrangement pitch of the heating elements 11 is made finer in order to achieve higher definition of the thermal head, the connection terminals of the drive element 17 and the individual power feeder 25 are
The arrangement pitch of each must also be made finer.
However, with the current miniaturization technology, the arrangement pitch of the connection terminals of the individual power feeder 25 and the drive element 17 is 11001L.
There is a limit to this, and if the pitch is finer than this, it will be difficult to connect.

For this reason, in a thermal head with a conventional configuration, the drive element 17 is arranged so that its longitudinal direction (the direction in which the connection terminals are arranged) is orthogonal to the heating element row 13, so that the first wiring section 2
The pitch of each portion of the individual power feeder 25 in the heating element row 13 in the direction orthogonal to the heating element row 13 and the direction parallel to the heating element row 13 can be set to different pitches. As a result, the pitch of the connection terminals of the drive element 17 and the heating element 11, which is becoming finer as the thermal head becomes more precise.
It was possible to set each pitch individually, regardless of the pitch.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, even the conventionally configured thermal head has limitations in achieving high definition. This point will be discussed below.

In the conventional configuration, among the plurality of drive elements 17 (the arrangement pitch of these drive elements 17 is defined as the pitch), adjacent drive elements 17 are sequentially provided on one side of the heating element row 13.
．． Two heating element blocks 15 are arranged at a distance between 17 and 17.

Here, if a diode array of 32 bits per block is used as the driving element 17, each heating element block 15 has 32 bits per block.
Therefore, two heating element blocks 15 are comprised of 64 heating elements 11. However, at present, the arrangement pitch of the diode array is limited to about 3 mm, and cannot be narrower than this. For this reason, the finer pitch of the heating element 11 is limited to approximately 48 pm, and therefore, in a thermal head with a conventional configuration, the pitch is 32 pm.
When using a 1-bit diode array,
22 dots) It is not possible to construct a thermal head with a higher resolution than 7mm.

In addition, in the above example, if the diode array is converted to a 32-block IC driving element that is commonly used in the past, the arrangement pitch of the IC driving element in the current technology is limited to about 5 mm, and it cannot be narrower than this. The limit of finer heating element pitch is approximately 78 pm. Therefore, 32 pits are required for the conventional thermal head)
(Resolution: 12 dots when using l-block IC drive element)
/ mm It is not possible to construct a thermal head with higher definition than m.

As described above, in the conventional thermal head, the arrangement pitch of the drive elements restricts the miniaturization of the arrangement pitch of the heating elements 11, which limits the ability to achieve higher definition of the thermal head.

The purpose of the present invention is to avoid the conventional limitations on the high definition of thermal heads, and to achieve high packaging density accompanying the high definition of thermal heads without using a multilayer wiring board. The objective is to provide a thermal head with a structure that is possible.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve this object, the thermal head of the present invention includes a heating element array and a plurality of driving elements arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the heating element array. In a thermal head comprising a plurality of power feeder groups connecting these heating element rows and drive element rows, the drive element rows associated with each power feeder group are placed on each power feeder group via an insulating film. Each drive element is arranged. Further, connections between each drive element array are formed using wiring portions supported on the insulating film.

(Function) According to such a configuration, a plurality of drive element rows are arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the heating element row, and each drive element row is arranged on each power supply group through an insulating film. Furthermore, since the connection between each row of drive elements is made by a wiring section supported on an insulating film, higher definition of the thermal head and associated higher packaging density can be achieved without using a multilayer wiring board. Ru.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the drawings are only schematic representations to the extent that the present invention can be understood, and therefore, the dimensions, shapes, and arrangement relationships of each component are not limited to the illustrated examples.
Components that are the same as those in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing the main parts of a thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the same figure, 41 indicates a thermal head formed by providing each component on the substrate 31, and 43 indicates a drive element array arranged at a predetermined angle, for example, in a direction perpendicular to the heating element array 13, and each drive element Column 43 has a plurality of (in the illustrated example, six) I
A C drive element (not shown, details will be described later) is mounted on an insulating film, such as a tape film 45. These driving element rows 41 are alternately distributed and arranged row by row on both sides of the heating element row 13. In the illustrated example, a tape film 45 is individually provided for each IC driving element, but a plurality of IC driving elements are mounted. It is also possible to configure the tape film 45 in such a manner.

47 indicates a heating element block group, each heating element block group 4
Reference numeral 7 designates heating element blocks 15 of the same number as the number of IC driving elements constituting one row of the driving element array 43 (six blocks in the illustrated example).
It consists of Reference numerals 49 and 51 indicate a power feeder group and a common power feeder, respectively, and one power feeder 49, one common power feeder 51, and one driving element row 43 are provided for each heating element block group 47.

Each power feeder group 48 consists of individual power feeders of the same number as the heat generating elements constituting one heat generating element block group 47, and one end of these individual power feeders is connected to one end side of the heat generating element. Further, the other ends of these individual power feeders are connected to the output side terminals of the IC driving elements in a first connection area 53 formed at one end of the tape film 45. As a result, one IC drive element drives the heat generating elements constituting the heat generating block 15 of l block, and one drive element row 43 drives the heat generating elements constituting one heat generating block group. to drive.

In this way, the drive element array 43 is provided in association with each power feeder group 49. Furthermore, by mounting each IC drive element of the drive element row 43 on the tape film 45, each of these IC9i
i (The dynamic element is disposed on the power supply group 4θ via the tape film 45.

Moreover, each common power supply body 51 has one power source on the other end side of the heating element.
The heating elements constituting the two heating element block groups 47 are commonly connected.

Reference numeral 55 indicates an inter-element wiring section consisting of a meandering wiring pattern formed on the substrate 31, for example, and the wiring between each ICNA driving element of the drive element array 43 is connected to the inter-element wiring section 55 and the ICNA driving element array 43.
This is done by connecting the input terminal of the driving element to the second connection area 57 formed on the other end side of the tape film 45.

Reference numeral 59 indicates an inter-element column wiring section, and this inter-element column wiring section 58
Connections between each drive element row 43 are formed using the following. The inter-element row wiring section 58 is composed of a plurality of jumper wires supported by an insulating film, for example, a jumper wire film 6G.

In the inter-element wiring section 55, the wiring connecting each IC driving element of the driving element row 43 is supplied to the inter-element row wiring section 59;
Wiring connections between each driving element column 43 are performed in the inter-element column wiring section 58 .

The arrangement of the inter-element-column wiring section 5B can be modified in various ways depending on the design. For example, the jumper wire film 80 may be provided so as to straddle each power supply group 48. (example shown), the jumper wire film 60 may be provided so as to straddle the plurality of power supply groups 49, and the jumper wire film 60 may be provided separately from the tape film 45 (
In addition, an inter-element row wiring section 58 may be provided between the drive element row 43 and the heating element row 13 (on one end side of the drive element row 43). You can also do that. In the inter-element-column wiring section 53 arranged in this way, wiring connections can be made between each drive element column 43, and in addition, a common connection of the common power supply body 51 can also be made (illustrated example). Inter-wiring section 59
may be provided on the other end side of the drive element array 43 for wiring.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, an example of the drive element mounted on the tape film 45 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing an example of the configuration of the drive element. In the figure, 81 indicates an IC driving element, and this I
The C drive element 81 consists of a serial register 83, a latch register 85, an AND gate 67, and a driver (NPN) transistor BS. Reference numeral 71 indicates output connection terminals of the IC drive element 61. Each output connection terminal 71 is connected to an individual power feeder in the first connection area 53, and the IC drive element 61 drives each heat generating element of the heat generating element block 15. .

Reference numerals 73 and 75 indicate connection terminals for data input lines and data output lines, respectively. Further, 75.77 and 79.83 indicate connection terminals for data control lines, and 85 indicates a common ground line connection terminal. Parts of these connection terminals 73 to 85 are supported by tape films 87, respectively. Also, a connection terminal? ? , 79 and 81 connect the same data control line connection terminals on the tape film 87, and also connect the common ground connection terminals 85 on the tape film 87, and are arranged symmetrically with the connection terminal 83 as the center. relationship.

These connection terminals 73 to 85 are connected to the bonding pads of the inter-element wiring section 55 in the second connection area 57. Each IC drive element 81 connects the data input line and data output line between each element B1, and also connects the same signal line of the data control line and the common ground line to connect the plurality of elements 61. I can do it. ``Furthermore, a detailed explanation will be given with reference to FIG. 1. In the figure, 88 is a data input line, 81 is a clock, load, strobe, and Vcc (+5 V) data control line,
Reference numeral 83 indicates a data output line, and reference numeral 95 indicates a common ground line.

All of these lines 89 to 95 are connected to each IC driving element 81 in the inter-element wiring section 55 and the inter-element column wiring section 59, thereby transferring data to each IC driving element 61. The signal supplied to the data input line 813 controls the IC drive element 61 via the data control line 91, and the successively transferred data is output from the data output line 83, thus making it possible to control the drive of the thermal radar. .

In the IC drive element B1, the input data input from the data input line is sent to the serial register 63 by the clock.
The input data is output in parallel and latched by the latch register 65 by loading, and is also output in serial and connected to the data output line. Furthermore, the output of the latch register 65 is output from the AND gate 87.
is connected to one input of the The other input of AND gate 67 becomes a common input and is connected to the strobe. As a result, input data passes through a serial register 63 and a latch register 65, and then is gated by a strobe signal to drive a driver 68. The output of the driver 68 is connected to each heating element through an output connection terminal 71.

In the embodiment described above, even if the arrangement pitch of the drive element array 43 is set to the technically finest arrangement pitch L, and the arrangement pitch cannot be narrowed any further,
By increasing the number of drive elements constituting the drive element row 43 per row and thereby increasing the number of heating elements disposed at the distance i1L, it is possible to avoid the conventional restrictions.
The heating element pitch can be made finer.

Further, each driving element row 43 is disposed on each power supply group 49 via a tape film 45 to perform wiring connection between each driving element 81 of the driving element row 43, and further, between each driving element row 43. Since the connection is made by the inter-element wiring section 58 supported on the jumper wire film 60, it is possible to achieve higher wiring mounting density as the thermal head becomes more precise without using a multilayer wiring board.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the thermal head of the present invention does not impose the conventional limitations on the high definition of the thermal head, and moreover, It is possible to provide a thermal head having a structure that can achieve high packaging density accompanying the trend of technology development without using a multilayer wiring board.

Further, since there is no need to use a multilayer wiring board, it is possible to keep costs low and achieve high definition of the thermal head without complicating the manufacturing process. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the driving elements are disposed on the power supply group through the insulating film to perform wiring connections between each driving element of the driving element array and wiring connections between the driving elements and the heating element. Since the connection between each row of drive elements is made using the wiring section supported on the insulating film, high definition of the thermal head can be achieved with a simple wiring structure.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the main parts of a thermal head showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of the drive element, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the main parts of a thermal head with a conventional configuration. be. 13... Heating element row, 15... Heating element block 43... Driving element array, 45, 80.87... Insulating film 47... Heating element block group 48... Power feeder group, 51 ...Common power supply body 53
. . . first connection area, 55 . . . inter-element wiring section 57.
...Second connection area, 58...Inter-element row wiring section 81.
・Drive element battle

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Comprising a heating element row, a plurality of driving element rows arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to the heating element row, and a plurality of power feeding body groups connecting the heating element row and the driving element row. In the thermal head, each drive element of the drive element row related to the power feeder group is arranged on each power feeder group via an insulating film, and the connection between each drive element row is made by using a wire supported on the insulating film. A thermal head characterized in that it is formed using a wiring part.