JPH0374192B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention has a thermal recording head and a liquid solvent material, heat-melt transfer records the recording material on the sheet transfer sheet onto the surface of the sheet-like recording medium, and performs gradation adjustment. The present invention relates to a heat melt transfer recording method for transferring and recording images and the like.

Structure of conventional example and its problems A sheet-like transfer system having a sheet-like recording medium on the recording platen side and a recording material on the side in contact with the surface of the recording medium is disposed between a recording platen and a thermal recording head facing the recording platen. A thermal recording head is used to control the recording material by heating it up and writing on it, and also by moving and separating the recording medium from the transfer body.Prior to this temperature raising writing control, the recording medium surface and A liquid solvent material whose solubility for at least one component of the recording material increases as the temperature rises is applied to one or both of the surfaces of the recording material, and the above-mentioned temperature increase writing control is performed. A thermal melt transfer recording method performed in the presence of this solvent material has already been proposed.

This type of recording method has the advantage that the recording material is thermally melted and transferred onto the surface of the recording medium at a recording density corresponding to the elevated writing control temperature, and a gradation image can be transferred and recorded in analog gradation.

In addition, the surface of the sheet-like substrate can be coated with three or four primary colors, including cyan, magenta, yellow, and even black.
Using a transfer body in which recording materials of primary colors are regularly arranged in a dangling pattern in a field-sequential manner, the primary-color recording materials are overlaid on the surface of the recording medium in a field-sequential manner in accordance with the primary-color recording signal, and thermal melt transfer recording is performed to produce a full-color image. Transcription recording is possible.

However, in the conventional thermal melt transfer recording method, the solvent is applied to the coated surface by contacting it with a solvent coater such as a sponge, so the solvent coater may be contaminated with solvent recording material from the recording medium surface or transfer body. If the color purity of the recorded color image is reduced, or if a solvent material is applied to the surface of the recording medium,
Due to the slippage of the solvent coater upon contact, the recording material that has already been transferred and recorded causes dissolution trailing, resulting in problems such as making the recorded image unclear.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION With the above-mentioned difficulties as a background, the present invention aims to improve these problems and provide an improved heat melt transfer recording method for obtaining clear heat melt transfer recorded images.

Composition of the Invention The principle of the present invention is that in the above-mentioned thermal melt transfer recording method, the liquid solvent material is applied without contacting either the surface of the recording medium or the surface of the recording material, or both surfaces, and is applied by flying. This is a hot-melt transfer recording method.

Description of examples Examples of the present invention will be described below.

The figure is a cross-sectional structural diagram showing an embodiment of the thermal melt transfer recording method according to the present invention.

The sheet-like transfer body 100 and the recording paper 300 as a recording medium are equipped with a known linear thermal recording head 403 having a heat-generating recording section 410 in which a plurality of resistance heating elements are linearly arranged at equal intervals, and a rotary drive system 5.
00A, it is inserted and press-welded between a rubber or metal platen 500 that rotates intermittently.

421 is a drive control signal system, 521 is a transfer sheet roll, 541 is a transfer sheet winding roll, 56
1 is a recording paper roll, and 581 is a recording paper take-up roll. The transfer body 100 has a sheet-like base 11
For example, yellow recording material 12 is placed on the 0 surface sequentially.
Three primary color recording materials are coated: 0Y, magenta recording material 120M, and cyan recording material 120C. 610 is the above-mentioned recording material 120Y, 120M,
A liquid solvent material 200B that heat-dissolves at least one component of each component of 120C is applied to the recording paper surface 301 in a non-contact manner as shown by the arrow 200A in a width corresponding to the recording width of the linear thermal recording head 403. This is a solvent jet applicator that applies flying solvent. 701
is a solvent supply device that supplies liquid solvent material 200 to applicator 610 via supply pipe 702 as necessary.

The flying applicator 610 is, for example, a sprayer that uses compressed air to atomize a liquid material such as water, or
Spray guns that apply paint, etc., atomizers and humidifiers that use ultrasonic vibration to spray liquid materials such as water, heaters and sprayers that use rotational centrifugal force to spray liquid materials such as water, etc. Known spray application equipment can be used.

In this embodiment, the recording materials 120Y, 120M, and 120C are heated and recorded through the substrate 110 via the recording head 403 by a line-sequential recording signal of pulse width modulation from the drive control signal system 421, and the solvent is sprayed. From the container 610 in advance, record paper surface 3
The recording material 130 is thermally melted by the liquid solvent material 200B applied to the paper 01, and primary color transfer records 140Y, 14 are sequentially printed on the surface of the recording paper.
Perform 0M and 140C to record a full color image.

In such thermal melt transfer recording, for example, as shown below, three primary color transfer records 140Y, 140M, and 140C are overlaid in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan using pulse width modulated recording signals to perform analog gradation recording. .

First, with the leading end of the yellow recording material 120Y positioned in the recording section 410, the recording head 403 is moved as shown by the arrow 502A, and the transfer sheet 100 is
is separated from the recording paper surface 301.

The rotational drive system 500A is operated by the control signal A from the signal system 421, rotates the recording platen 500 as shown by the arrow 501, feeds the paper as shown by the arrow 501B, and moves the winding roller 581 as shown by the arrow 501.
At the same time, the solvent spray applicator 610 is rotated as indicated by B' to start winding.
is operated, and the solvent 200B is applied in a non-contact manner to the recording paper surface 301 in the form of a mist as indicated by an arrow 200A. When the coating solvent 200B has moved to the position corresponding to the recording section 410, the recording head 403 is moved as indicated by the arrow 501A to press the recording material 120Y side against the recording paper surface 301, and the pulse width modulated yellow is output from the signal system 421. The recording head 403 is activated by the recording signal.
Then, the recording material 120Y is passed through the substrate 110 and temperature-increased writing is controlled in a line-sequential manner. The recording material 120Y is melted by the coating solvent 200B in accordance with the temperature increase, thereby forming a heat-dissolved recording material 130.
Rotation drive system 5 synchronized with this line-sequential temperature increase writing
Due to the intermittent rotation 501 of the recording platen 500 by 00A, the recording paper 300 and the transfer sheet 100 are fed and peeled off as shown by arrows 501B and 501C, and are moved to rolls 581 and 541 by arrows 501B' and 501C, respectively.
It is wound up like 501C'. A yellow transfer record 140Y having an optical density corresponding to the pulse width of the yellow recording signal is obtained on the recording paper surface 301 from which the transfer sheet 100 has been peeled off in this manner.

When the transfer recording of the yellow surface image is completed, the solvent flying 200A is stopped by the control signal B. When the leading edge of the magenta recording material 120M, which is the next primary color recording material, is positioned in the recording section 410, the recording platen 5
The rotation 501 of 00 stops, the head 403 moves as indicated by the arrow 502A, the transfer sheet 100 is separated from the recording paper surface 301, and the paper feed 501C stops.

In this state, the rotation drive system 5 is controlled by the control signal A.
00A, therefore, the rotation of the recording platen 500 is reversed as shown by the arrow 502, and the recording paper 300 is rotated as shown by the arrow 502.
Reverse feed as shown in B, and mark the arrow 502 on the roll 561.
It is rewound as shown in B'. When the leading edge of the yellow surface image reaches the position of the solvent jet applicator 610, this reverse feed 502B is stopped. Again, control signal B
Flying solvent application 200A by, also control signal A
rotation 501, and recording paper winding 401B' begins.

When the leading edge of the yellow side image approaches the recording unit 410, the head 403 moves again as shown by the arrow 501A, and the magenta recording material 12 is deposited on the recording paper surface 301.
0M is pressed against the yellow transfer record 140Y.
When the magenta transfer record 140M and the cyan transfer record 140C are obtained line-sequentially by hot melt transfer in the same manner as described above, a full color image is heat melt transferred onto the recording paper surface 301. . In addition, transfer records 140Y, 140 of each primary color
For example, a blower dryer 750 is arranged to evaporate and dry unnecessary coating solvent 200B remaining on the recording surface of M, 140C and to cool the recording surface.
It is desirable to perform evaporative drying and cooling by blowing warm air or cold air 751 onto the recording surface.

The above is an example of full-color recording using the three primary color method, but it is also possible to adopt a four primary color method in which black is also added.

An experimental example is shown below. As the transfer body 100,
The base 110 is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film with a thickness of 9 μm, the recording material 120Y,
120M and 120C contain about 20% by weight each of yellow, magenta, and cyan organic pigments used in ordinary printing inks, and the main binder material is carnauba, in addition to melting point adjusting materials, soft materials, etc. A known transfer sheet for melt transfer recording having a coating weight of 4 g/m ² (thickness of about 4 μm) and a melting point of about 70° C. is used.

The recording medium 300 is matte coated paper with a thickness of 80 μm, the liquid solvent material 200 is trichlorethylene (boiling point 87°C, melting point -86°C), and a paint spray gun is used as the solvent spray applicator 610 to drip from the recording paper surface 301. Apply a non-contact amount just enough to avoid contact. The linear thermal recording head 403 has a resistance heating element arrangement density of 4 dots/mm.
The applied power per dot is
Pulse width modulation at 0.7W/dot, main scanning linear velocity
The temperature increase writing control is operated at 33.3ms/line and sub-scanning line density of 4 lines/mm. The operating atmosphere temperature is 27°C.

The distance of the recording paper 300 between the squeezing position of the recording unit 410 and the solvent flying position 200 is approximately 40 mm. In this example, by the liquid solvent materials 200 and 200B,
The binder materials of the recording materials 120Y, 120M, and 120C are thermally melted.

According to thermal melt transfer recording experiments, yellow, magenta, and cyan recording materials 120Y and 120
M and 120C each start from thermal melt transfer to the recording paper surface 301 with a pulse width of 0.2 milliseconds. Yellow, magenta, and cyan transfer recordings 140Y, 140M, and 140, respectively, correspond to the increase in the width of the pulses.
The optical density of C increased continuously while the transfer area was constant, and reached a saturation density at a pulse width of 1.3 milliseconds.

In addition, by performing overlapping transfer recording, it was possible to record a clear full-color image with good color purity and no trailing or bleeding using hot melt transfer with 6-bit (64 levels) pulse width modulation.

Although the embodiments have been described above with a focus on full-color image recording, thermal melt transfer recording of monochromatic gradation images can be performed using a monochromatic transfer body.

In this example, pigments were used as coloring materials, but dyes alone or a mixture of pigments and dyes may be used. When a dye is contained, the dye can be thermally melted and transferred using a liquid solvent material.

Moreover, even if the entire binder material is not heat-dissolved with a liquid solvent material, it is possible to carry out heat-dissolution transfer recording of a recording material even if one component thereof is configured to be heat-dissolved.

It is clear that the non-contact application of the liquid solvent material is not limited to the surface of the recording medium, and may be applied to the surface of the recording material or both of these surfaces.

Effects of the Invention As described above in detail, the present invention is a thermal melt transfer recording method in which a liquid solvent material is spray-coated onto a predetermined coating surface in a non-contact manner. Conventionally, when contact coating is applied to a predetermined coating surface using a solvent coater, there is a risk that the recording material may dissolve and transfer from the surface of the recording medium or recording material to the solvent coater, contaminating the solvent coater, or slipping on the surface of the recording medium. The resolution and color purity of the transferred recorded image are reduced due to smearing and rubbing, but the present invention overcomes these drawbacks of the conventional method and has great industrial effects. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a principle diagram of a hot melt transfer apparatus that implements the hot melt transfer recording method according to the present invention. 100... Transfer body, 110... Substrate, 120
Y, 120M, 120C...Recording material, 140
Y, 140M, 140C...transcription record, 200,
200B...Liquid solvent material, 300...Recording medium, 403...Thermal recording head, 421...
Drive control signal system, 500...recording platen, 52
1,541,561,581...Roll.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sheet-shaped recording medium on the recording platen side and a sheet-shaped transfer body having a recording material on the side in contact with the recording medium surface are inserted and pressed into contact between the recording platen and the thermal recording head, and the thermal recording head is At the same time, the recording material is subjected to temperature raising writing control, and the recording medium and the transfer body are moved and separated. A liquid solvent material whose solubility for at least one of the components of the recording material increases as the temperature rises is applied, and the temperature increase writing control is performed in the presence of this solvent material, and the liquid solvent material A thermal melt transfer recording method characterized in that the coating is carried out by flying without contacting the coating surface.