JPS6023033B2 - non-impact serial printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a non-impact serial printer using a fin photographic recording method using a light emitting diode as a light source.

Conventional non-impact serial printers include thermal type, inkjet type, and discharge breakdown type, but thermal and discharge breakdown type printers require expensive special paper such as V-thermal paper, which increases running costs. It is also known that it has the disadvantage that it is not suitable for long-term storage records due to changes due to temperature and aging.

On the other hand, inkjet printers have problems such as clogging of ink jet nozzles and missing dots due to air bubbles.
It is also known that complex configurations and controls are required to solve these problems. Therefore, attempts have been made to develop a serial printer that prints using an electrophotographic recording method, but the electrophotographic recording method requires a large light source and optical system, so it cannot be said to be practical. The present invention has been made in view of the actual situation of non-impact serial printers as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a practical non-impact serial printer using an electrophotographic recording method.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a side view showing the main part of the printing shown in FIG. 1. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates printing paper that is intermittently fed in the direction of the arrow by a feeding mechanism (not shown), 2 is a platen, and on the front side thereof is a magnet plate 3 having a vertical plane facing the printing section. is buried along the printing line.

4 is a carriage equipped with a printing mechanism to be described later; 5 is a screw shaft having a spiral thread on its surface; the screw shaft drives the carriage 4 horizontally by its rotation; and 6 drives the carriage 4 in the horizontal direction; guide you,
As shown in detail in FIGS. 3a and 3b, a guide shaft 7 supported by a side frame (not shown) is movable up and down, and a small hollow drum 7a having an electrophotographic photoreceptor layer on its surface is connected to a plurality of thin plates. A photosensitive drum is supported by movable spokes 7b, and the disc-shaped base of the spoke group is fixed to a rotating shaft 7c. It has a gear 8 that meshes with the screw shaft 5.

As shown in detail in FIG. 4, 9 is a semiconductor light emitting element array in which a plurality of point light sources 9a such as light emitting diodes are arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to the printing line;
It is a light transmission means for guiding the light and irradiating it onto the photosensitive drum 7, and is composed of a rod lens, a fiber lens, or the like.

11 is a permanent magnet ring 11a as shown in detail in FIG.
The toner 12 is attracted onto the outer periphery of the permanent magnet ring 11a using a developing device in which magnetic disks 11b and 11c are stacked on both the upper and lower sides of the permanent magnet ring 11a, and non-magnetic disks 11d and 11e are stacked on top of the magnetic disks 11b and 11c. The discs 11b and 11c limit the length of the spikes of the toner 12 to an appropriate length, and the discs 11d and 11e prevent the toner 12 from running around to the outside of the outer periphery of the magnet ring.

13 is a corona discharger that charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 uniformly, for example, positively; 14 is a heat fixing light source such as a halogen lamp; 15 is a cylindrical lens that focuses the light from the light source onto the printing line; 16 is a cleaner that removes residual toner on the photosensitive drum 7;
It is also mounted on Carriage 4.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned Subanari printer will be explained.

In the printing state, the photosensitive drum 7 on the carriage 4 is in contact with the printing paper 1 on the platen 2 as shown in the figure.

When the printing operation is started, the screw shaft 5 is driven to rotate, and the carriage 4 is sent rightward at a constant speed. At the same time, the rotation of the screw shaft 5 is transmitted to the photosensitive drum 7 via the gear 8, and the photosensitive drum 7 rotates in the direction of the arrow in synchronization with the movement of the carriage 4. First, the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is uniformly charged to, for example, a positive potential by the corona discharger 13.

A dot pattern signal for one vertical column is periodically supplied to the semiconductor light emitting element array 9 in synchronization with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 7, and each point light source 9a emits light in accordance with the dot pattern signal. This light is guided to the uniformly charged surface of the photosensitive drum through a light transmission means. On the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, the surface potential at the position irradiated with light decreases, and an electrostatic latent image of a dot pattern to be printed in one row in all axial directions is formed. This static latent image is made visible by the adhesion of, for example, positively charged toner 12 in the developing device 11. As the photosensitive drum 7 rotates, this visible image is brought to a contact position with the printing paper 1, and the magnetic force of the magnet plate 3 causes the toner 1 to be
2 is attracted and transferred onto the printing paper 1. The transferred visible image is irradiated with light from the heat fixing light source 14 through the cylindrical lens 15, and is fixed onto the printing paper 1 by the light heat.

After the transfer is completed, the photosensitive drum 7 is cleaned with a cleaner 16.
After the remaining toner is removed, the corona discharger 13 uniformly charges the toner again, and the above operation is repeated. The contact position of the printing paper 1 with respect to the photosensitive drum 7 is sequentially moved to the right by the sliding operation of the carriage 4, and at the same time, the contact position of the photosensitive drum 7 with respect to the printing paper 1 is also newly changed.

Each time the carriage 4 advances by the distance between one dot row, a new row of dot pattern visible images is successively transferred onto the printing paper 1. When the carriage 4 moves to the right control position, the printing paper 1 is fed in line to print on a new line.

Prior to this line feeding, the guide shaft 6 is moved downward by a drive means (not shown). As a result, the carriage 4 rotates by a predetermined amount around the screw shaft 5 as shown by the second broken line, and the photosensitive drum 4 is moved away from the printing paper 1. Thereafter, the printing paper is fed by one line, and at the same time, the screw shaft 5 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the carriage 4 is returned to the home position. Then the above operation is repeated again,
The dot pattern is printed sequentially on each new line. Note that even if the printing paper 1 is thick, the photosensitive drum 7 is hollow and supported by flexible spokes as described above, so it can expand according to the thickness of the paper, and there may be some Changes in paper thickness are not a problem.

Furthermore, since the semiconductor light emitting element array 9 can arrange point light sources with minute diameters at a high density, fine dot printing is possible, and graphic printing may also be performed. Furthermore, the semiconductor light emitting element array 9 and the photosensitive drum 7 may be replaced with different ones, so that the character size and dot size can be arbitrarily selected. As explained above, according to the present invention, the light source and optical system can be made smaller and smaller by using a semiconductor light emitting element array having point light sources arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to the printing line.
Because it is simplified, all the components used in the electrophotographic process can be mounted on the carriage, and because the transfer of toner to the printing paper is promoted by a magnetic plate instead of a corona discharger, the printing paper The safety of the platen side, which is easy to touch when setting the machine, is increased.
A serial printer using an electrophotographic process can be made extremely practical.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 3 to 5 are side views showing the main parts of printing, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are views showing details of some of the components in FIG. 1. 1... Print paper, 2... Platen, 3... Magnet board, 4... Carriage, 5... Screw shaft,
6... Guide shaft, 7... Photosensitive drum, 8...
- Gear, 9... Semiconductor light emitting element array, 10... Light transmission means, 11... Developer, 13... Corona discharger, 1
4... Light source for heat fixing, 15... Cylindrical lens. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A corona discharger, a semiconductor light emitting element array in which a plurality of point light sources are arranged in a row in a direction perpendicular to the printing line, and a hollow rotating element whose outer peripheral surface contacts the printing paper and faces the semiconductor light emitting element array. A carrier equipped with a photosensitive drum, a developing device that supplies magnetic toner to visualize the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum, and a thermal fixing optical means that heats and fixes the transferred image on the printing paper by applying light. a platen provided with a magnetic plate along the printing line; a means for transmitting the power of the drive source of the carrier to rotate the photosensitive drum in synchronization with the spacing of the carrier; forming an electrostatic latent image of a dot pattern on the photosensitive drum using the point light source of the semiconductor light emitting element, and sequentially transferring the developed dot pattern onto the printing paper by spacing of the carrier; , a non-impact serial printer characterized by fixation.