JP3000631B2 - Electrostatic recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electrostatic recording device using a liquid toner,
In particular, the present invention relates to an electrostatic recording apparatus in which the concentration of liquid toner is always kept constant.

[Conventional technology]

In an electrostatic recording apparatus using a liquid toner, the toner density has a great influence on the quality of the image, so that it is necessary to keep the toner density constant. However, since a sensor for directly measuring the toner density is expensive, the density control is hardly performed in the conventional electrostatic recording apparatus.

Generally, when drawing is performed, toner particles in the liquid toner of the color are reduced and the density is reduced. In some cases, the dots of the drawing data were counted and the concentrated toner was automatically replenished.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, no matter how much the count value of the drawing dots is adjusted, there is a problem that it is impossible to appropriately adjust the density without considering the evaporation amount of the solvent of the toner.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic recording apparatus in which the toner density is kept constant with higher accuracy.

[Means for solving the problem]

The electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention includes a dot counting unit that counts the number of drawn dots, and the count value m of the dot counting unit is
Each time the number exceeds a predetermined set value L, the toner particles are supplied to the liquid toner, and a line number counting means for counting the number of drawing lines is provided, and the count value m is calculated according to the output of the line number coefficient means. The predetermined value was reduced.

[Action]

A volatile solvent is used as the solvent for dissolving the toner, but the amount of evaporation of the solvent is proportional to the number of drawing lines. That is, as the number of drawing lines increases, the solvent evaporates gradually, and the liquid toner gradually becomes thicker.

In the electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention, the number of drawing lines is counted by the line number counting means, and the count value m for controlling the toner supply timing is reduced according to the count value. Is delayed, and the density of the liquid toner is controlled to decrease, so that the toner density as a whole is kept constant.

〔Example〕

 FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an electrostatic recording paper, and the electrostatic recording paper 1 conveyed by a recording paper conveying means (not shown) in the direction of an arrow.
, An electrostatic latent image is formed by the electrostatic head 2 and transported to the developing unit 3. The formation of the electrostatic latent image by the electrostatic head is controlled by the drawing control device 4. The developing unit 3 includes a toner channel 5, a toner tank 6, a pump 9, a toner particle reinforcing device 7, and a vacuum unit 10.

In the developing unit 3, a liquid toner in which toner particles are dissolved in a solvent is supplied from a toner tank 6 to a toner channel 5 by a pump 9. In the toner channel 5, the liquid toner is applied to the electrostatic recording paper 1 by the rotation of a spirally grooved toner roll 5a, and the toner adheres to the electrostatic recording paper 1 according to the electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic recording paper 1 to which the toner adheres is a vacuum section provided at the rear end of the toner channel 5.
Unnecessary toner is removed by 10 and dried by a dryer (not shown) to complete drawing.

Here, the drawing control device 4 is connected to the dot counter 13, and the dot counter is a 6553 dot counter.
A pulse is sent to the addition terminal of the counter 15 once every 6 (= 2 ¹⁶ ), and the count value m is incremented by 1 with m = m + 1.

After the number of drawing lines is counted by the line counter 14 and counted A times, a pulse is sent to the subtraction terminal of the counter 15 and the count value m is decremented by 1 as m = m-1.

When the calculated value m becomes L, the electromagnetic valve 12 is opened for a predetermined time, and the toner concentrate is supplied from the toner replenisher 7 to the toner tank 6.
And the count value m is reset to m = 0, and the calculation is performed again from the beginning.

Here was using a hard counter 2 ¹⁶ to count the dot is in order to reduce the load on the microprocessor, it is counted directly, of course no problem.

As described above, the concentrated toner is injected from the relative relationship between the reduction of the toner particles and the evaporation of the toner solvent, and the toner concentration is always kept constant.

In general, a mechanism that only injects the concentrated toner is sufficient. However, depending on the apparatus, the amount of evaporation of the solvent may be large and the injection of the solvent may be necessary. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, a solvent tank 8 and a solenoid valve 11 are provided, and when the count value m of the counter 15 becomes m = -N '(N' is a positive number), the solenoid valve 11 is opened. It is also effective to inject a predetermined amount of the solvent into the toner tank 6.

In the above description, a single-color electrostatic recording apparatus has been described. However, in the case of a color electrostatic recording apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of developing units (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) are provided for each color. A counter 13, a developing unit 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d as shown in FIG.
By using the toner supply unit 14, 15, the toner replenishing device 7, and the like, a color electrostatic recording apparatus having no uneven toner density can be provided.

At this time, it may be necessary to adjust the set value L for each color.

Further, since the evaporation amount of the solvent does not differ for each color, the line counter 11 can be shared.

In this embodiment, since the toner roll 5a is used to supply the toner to the charged electrostatic recording paper 1, the evaporation amount of the toner liquid is larger than when the toner shoe is used. This is because the opening of the toner roll is larger than that of the toner shoe. Therefore, the present invention is particularly effective in an electrostatic recording apparatus using a toner roll.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the density of the liquid toner can always be kept constant, so that it is possible to provide an electrostatic recording apparatus without printing unevenness.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment of the electrostatic recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment in which the electrostatic recording device of the present invention is applied to a color electrostatic recording device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electrostatic recording paper, 2 ... Electrostatic head, 3 ... Development part, 4 ... Drawing control device, 5 ... Toner channel, 7 ... Toner replenisher, 8 ... Solvent replenisher, 13 ... ... dot counter, 14 ... line counter, 15 ... counter.

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electrostatic recording apparatus for developing an electrostatic latent image using a liquid toner in which toner particles are dissolved in a liquid solvent, a dot counting means for counting the number of drawing dots, and a line for counting the number of drawing lines. A number counting means for replenishing the liquid toner with toner particles every time the count value m of the dot counting means exceeds a predetermined set value L, and the counting is performed according to the output of the line number counting means. An electrostatic recording apparatus wherein the numerical value m is reduced by a predetermined value. 2. An electrostatic recording apparatus for developing an electrostatic latent image using a liquid toner in which toner particles are dissolved in a liquid solvent, a dot counting means for counting the number of drawn dots, and a line for counting the number of drawn lines. Number counting means is provided, and each time the count value of the dot counting means reaches a predetermined number, toner particles are supplied to the liquid toner,
An electrostatic recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a timing of supplying toner particles to said liquid toner is delayed according to an output of said line number counting means. 3. A one-line recording is repeated by using a liquid toner containing a toner and a solvent for dissolving the toner and contained in a container, based on image data having a large number of dot signals representing an image. Means for controlling the concentration of toner in the liquid toner, wherein a first value related to a number of dot signals included in the image data supplied to the recording apparatus is obtained. Means for obtaining a second value relating to the number of repetitions of the one-line recording, and supplying additional toner to the container based on the first value, wherein And a third unit having a unit that determines the timing of supplying toner to the container based on the value of 1 by delaying the timing by the value determined by the second value. Recording device.