JPS641314B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a non-impact recording device that selectively transfers opaque particles fixed to one medium to another medium using laser light.

Conventionally, MTR (Material Transfer) is a process in which the dye in the irradiated area is evaporated from the substrate using the temperature increase effect caused by absorption of laser light, and the dye is deposited on paper or film placed nearby.
In order to increase the amount of dye deposited to increase the recording density, it was necessary to blow away the thick layer of dye, which required a high-power laser. In other words, the recording sensitivity was low. In order to improve this problem, by mixing dyes with substances that have self-oxidizing properties such as nitrocellulose, it is possible to use the laser light as a trigger to evaporate a large amount of the dyes with the help of the heat generation phenomenon of the self-oxidizing substances. is being attempted. However, even with this kind of sensitization, the recording sensitivity is not high.

As an example, the sensitivity of a system applied to COM is 0.6J/ ^cm2 , and to achieve a recording speed of 100K dots/sec, a 60mW laser beam is
This number can only be achieved if it converges on the following.

Considering the optical loss in the optical system that modulates and deflects the laser beam, the laser light sources that can be used are limited to large gas lasers (Ar ⁺ lasers, etc.) and solid-state lasers, making the equipment not only large but also expensive. Ta.

The object of the present invention is to use a printing ribbon in which a continuous thin film is attached with a particulate opaque substance, to evaporate the thin film by heating with a laser beam and remove the opaque substance from the substrate, and to remove the opaque substance from the substrate using a Coulomba.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device that can perform high-speed recording even with a low-output laser by transferring data to a nearby medium.

In the non-impact recording device of the present invention, a thin film on which opaque particles are attached is provided on a substrate with a transparent conductive film, and a means for applying electric charge to the opaque particles and an electrode plate are placed close to the substrate. A charge applying means and an electrode plate are provided in this order in the direction of movement, and a medium for transferring the opaque particles is arranged between the substrate and the electrode plate, and the temperature of the medium is raised behind the electrode plate in the direction of movement of the medium. A heating means is provided, and a light source is provided so as to irradiate the substrate facing the electrode plate through a modulation means and a scanning means. First, an electric charge is applied to the opaque particles, and then the thin film is irradiated with a laser beam. The process of fixing the opaque particles by evaporating and adhering them to the medium by means of an electric field applied to the electrode plate and finally heating the medium is continuous with the movement of the substrate and the medium. This is done in a specific manner.

Conventionally, research and development of methods for recording information by thin film evaporation have been carried out for the purpose of memory, and MnBi,
The recording sensitivity has been measured for metal thin films such as Bi and Te, and for triphenyl and anthracene dyes. According to this, a sensitivity of 10 ^-2 J/cm ² can be obtained for materials with low thermal conductivity, regardless of whether they are metals or dyes, which is 20 times more sensitive than conventional MTR.

In the present invention, since the laser beam only has the role of vaporizing the thin film, it is not only relatively easy to obtain the above-mentioned sensitivity, but it can also be expected to be facilitated by the cloner.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

The figure is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and only the parts necessary for explanation are shown. 1 is a substrate on which a transparent conductive film 2 made of indium oxide or the like is attached, and a flexible material such as Mylar is suitable. 3 is a thin film made of a thermoplastic resin mixed with a dye, which has a high light absorption rate, a low thermal conductivity, and a low melting point, such as rosin or acrylic resin. The thin film is one that is several thousand angstroms thick and is applied on the transparent conductive film 2 by coating or the like. Reference numeral 4 denotes opaque particles such as carbon toner, which have low conductivity, and are attached to the thin film 3.

The particles 4 can be attached to the thin film 3 by heating the thin film 3 above its melting point, sprinkling the particles 4 on it, and then cooling it. The ribbon consisting of 1, 2, 3, and 4 layers is called a printing ribbon because its role is similar to that of a typewriter or the like. Reference numeral 5 denotes a medium to which the particles 4 are to be transferred, such as plain paper, and is provided close to the printing ribbon, and in particular is placed in contact with the particles 4 at the position where the particles 4 are to be transferred. Reference numeral 6 denotes a charger for imparting an electric charge to the particles 4, and is arranged close to the printing ribbon. The figure shows a cross section of a cylindrical corotron. Reference numeral 7 denotes an electrode plate which is provided behind the charger 6 in the paper feeding direction to draw the charged particles 4 towards the medium 5.
Place it in close contact with the Reference numeral 8 denotes a rotary type heater having a built-in heater, which is provided behind the electrode plate 7 in the paper feeding direction to fix the particles 4 to the medium 5. In this example, 1, 2, 3, 5,
Numbers 6, 7, and 8 are long in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and are 200 to 300 mm in the case of a facsimile, and 400 mm in the case of a printer.

9 is a laser beam focused on the thin film 3 and irradiated from the substrate 1 side of the printing ribbon at a position facing the electrode plate 7. It is turned on and off according to recording information and scanned in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

Although not shown, the printing ribbon and the medium 5 are continuously moved by a winding mechanism similar to that of a normal printer.

A positive voltage source of several kilovolts is connected to a portion 6' of the charger 6, a negative voltage source is connected to the electrode plate 7, and a current source is connected to the heater 8. The laser beam 9 passes through an optical modulation means such as an ultrasonic modulator for turning on and off the laser beam emitted from a laser source such as a semiconductor laser, and a scanning means such as a rotating polygon mirror or a galvano mirror for scanning. It is.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The printing ribbon and the medium 5 are continuously moved in the direction of the arrow.

The transparent conductive film 2 is grounded and a positive voltage is applied to the charger 6.

A negative voltage is applied to the electrode plate 7. A current is passed through the heater 8 to maintain it at a high temperature. First, all particles 4 of the printing ribbon that have passed through the charger 6 are charged and advance below the electrode plate 7. The particles 4 try to be transferred to the medium 5 due to the coulomb force between the charge of the particles 4 and the electrode plate 7, but since the particles 4 are attached to the thin film 3, they cannot jump out as shown in 4a. . However, when the laser beam 9 is irradiated to the thin film 3, the thin film 3 in the corresponding part
When the particles 4b are evaporated, the binding force on the particles 4 in that part disappears, and the particles 4b are transferred to the medium 5 by Coulomba and adhere thereto. The particles 4b are fixed to the medium 5 by so-called thermal fixation in the heater 8, and a fixed "point" can be recorded.

Since the laser beam 9 is turned on and off according to recording information and scanned in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, a series of dots can be recorded in one scan. By moving the print ribbon and the medium 5, point images are sequentially recorded. This can be considered similar to image display using horizontal scanning and vertical scanning on television.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the laser beam can transfer the recording particles by simply evaporating the thin film, making it possible to obtain a highly sensitive recording method, and even using a low-output laser. A speed non-impact recording device can be realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure shows one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a substrate, 2 is a transparent conductive film, 3 is a thin film, 4, 4a, 4b are particles, 5 is a medium, 6 is a charger, 7 is an electrode plate, 8 is a heater, and 9 is a laser beam. .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Opaque particles attached to a thin film provided on a substrate with a transparent conductive film, an electrode plate provided close to the opaque particle side of the substrate, and opaque particles placed between the substrate and the electrode plate. a moving mechanism that moves the substrate and a medium for transferring the opaque particles; and a moving mechanism disposed close to the opaque particle side of the substrate and forward of the electrode plate with respect to the moving direction of the substrate and the medium to apply an electric charge to the opaque particles. A charger, a heater disposed in close contact with the medium behind the electrode plate with respect to the moving direction of the substrate and the medium, and for fixing the opaque particles to the medium, a light modulating means, and a light scanning means. A non-impact recording device comprising: a light source arranged so that a laser beam that passes therethrough irradiates a substrate facing the electrode plate.