JPH0410430B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electrostatic latent image writing device for electrostatic recording that uses a low recording control voltage, is capable of halftone recording, and has a high recording speed.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional electrostatic latent image writing device for electrostatic recording of this type, in which 1 is a wire for generating corona ions, 2 is an aperture electrode for controlling the ion flow, and 3 is an aperture electrode for controlling the ion flow. A voltage generating circuit for controlling the ion flow, 4 is an ion flow, and 5 is a corona charger. The structure of the aperture electrode 2 is as follows:
A hole 22 is made in 1, an electrode 23 is provided on one surface, and an electrode 24 is provided on the other surface, and both electrodes 23 and 24 have holes that correspond to the holes 22. Then, the voltage of the voltage generating circuit 3 is applied between the electrodes 23 and 24. Note that a large number of holes 22 are formed along the length direction of the wire 1, and the electrode 23 is formed by forming holes in a single conductive plate to match the holes 22, and the electrode 24 is formed in each hole 22. so as to surround it,
Each electrode 23, 2 is provided independently from the other.
The voltage of the voltage generating circuit 3 is applied to the voltage generating circuit 4.

In the conventional device described above, the ion flow 4 is controlled by the aperture electrode 2, and an electrostatic latent image is formed and recorded by the ion flow 4, so the ion flow 4 generated by the corona has a low density. Because there are few
The drawback was that the recording speed was slow.

In order to solve these drawbacks, this invention arranges an electrode with a hole corresponding to the aperture electrode between the aperture electrode and the corona ion generation source,
A potential is applied that causes the ion flow to converge on the aperture electrode. The invention will now be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which reference numeral 6 denotes a power source for converging the ion flow, 7 an electrode for converging the ion flow, and a hole 71 formed in the center. The number of holes 71 is the same as the number of holes 22, and their centers are aligned, and the diameter φ _b of the holes 71 is approximately twice as large as the diameter φ _a of the holes 22. Other details are the same as in Figure 1.

To operate it, a high voltage on the wire 1 is applied, causing an ion flow 4. The flowing ion stream 4 is focused by a focusing electrode 7 to increase ion density, and is guided to an aperture electrode 2 for ion control.

In the aperture electrode 2, if a forward electric field for passing ions is formed in the hole 22 by the electrodes 23 and 24, the ion stream 4 can pass, and conversely, a reverse electric field for passing ions is established by the control signal. If so, the ion flow 4 is blocked.

As explained above, since the ion flow 4 is focused by the focusing electrode 7 and guided to the aperture electrode 2, and the passage of the ion flow 4 is controlled by the aperture electrode 2, the ion density in the ion flow 4 is This increases the recording speed. Also,
The advantages of the ion flow control method, such as the fact that the control voltage can be low and the accuracy of the distance between the electrode and the part to be written is not strict, are maintained.

Further, the converging electrode 7 can be easily made by etching a hole in a thin plate made of stainless steel or the like, and has the advantage of having a simple structure.

Since the diameter φ _b of the hole 71 of the converging electrode 7 is larger than the diameter φ _a of the hole 22 of the aperture electrode 2, the holes 71 cannot be formed correspondingly unless the holes 22 are spaced apart as much as possible. It becomes necessary to devise the arrangement of the Here, an example is shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b. As shown in FIG. 3a, holes 22 are arranged diagonally in the electrode 23. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, electrodes 24 are provided independently surrounding each hole 22, and lead wires 25 are attached to each electrode. Corresponding to the arrangement of the holes 22 of the aperture electrode 2, the arrangement of the holes 71 of the converging electrode 7 is also oblique as shown in FIG.
Therefore, adjacent electrodes can be formed without contacting each other, and a focusing electrode 7 with a focusing effect can be obtained. An experimental example of the focusing effect of the focusing electrode 7 is as follows.

The diameter φ _a of the hole 22 of the aperture electrode 2 is 100~
400 μm, and a focusing electrode 7 having a hole 71 with twice the diameter φ _b is placed equidistant from this diameter φ _a ,
5× between convergence electrode 7 and aperture electrode 2
When an electric field of 10 ⁵ V/m was applied, the focusing electrode 7
The convergence effect was about 9 times greater than when it was not used.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the aperture electrode 2, and corresponds to FIG. 3b. In this embodiment, the holes 22 are arranged on two diagonal straight lines. That is, in FIG. 3b, hole 22
is on one diagonal straight line, but every other one is lowered and placed on the other diagonal straight line. According to this embodiment, the distance between the holes 22 can be further increased, so that there is no problem even if the diameter of the hole 71 of the focusing electrode 7 is increased.

The above experiment was conducted by applying a voltage of +6 KV to the wire 1 and measuring the current passing through the aperture electrode 2 with an electrometer. Further, by increasing the hole diameter of the focusing electrode 7 and the voltage applied thereto, further focusing is possible.

As explained above, in this invention, the focusing electrode is arranged between the aperture electrode for controlling the ion flow and the corona wire to focus the ion flow, so the control voltage for recording can be kept low. , an electrostatic latent image writing device for electrostatic recording that is capable of halftone recording and has a high recording speed can be realized with a simple mechanism. Since the focusing electrode is independent from the aperture electrode, there is an advantage that not only the focusing effect does not change due to fluctuations in the potential of the aperture electrode, but also high ion focusing efficiency can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of a conventional electrostatic latent image writing device for electrostatic recording, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 a and b are examples of the aperture electrode of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the focusing electrode, and FIG. 5 is a back view of another example of the aperture electrode. In the figure, 1 is a wire, 2 is an aperture electrode, 3 is a voltage generation circuit, 4 is an ion flow, 5 is a corona charger, 6 is a power source for converging the ion flow, 7 is a convergence electrode,
21 is an insulating plate, 22 is a hole, 23 and 24 are electrodes, 2
5 is a lead wire, and 71 is a hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Between the corona ion generation source and the aperture electrode that electrically controls the corona ion flow, each hole has a diameter larger than the hole diameter corresponding to the position of each hole of the aperture electrode. A focusing electrode is provided, and a constant voltage source is arranged to apply a constant voltage between the aperture electrode on the focusing electrode side and the focusing electrode, and the corona ion flow is focused into the hole of the aperture electrode. An electrostatic latent image writing device for electrostatic recording, characterized by: