METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING A POWDER IMAGE, CONSISTING OF ELECTROSTATICALLY CHARGED DEVELOPING POWDER, FROM AN IMAGE FORMING MEDIUM TO AN IMAGE RECEIVING MEDIUM

Abstract: A method of transferring a powder image, consisting of electrosta­ tically charged developing powder, from an image forming medium (1) to an image receiving medium (12) by bringing the image forming medium (1) with the powder image thereon into contact with the image receiving medium (12), which is provided with a resiliently deformable surface layer, and exerting a pressure, during contact, on the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium with the powder image therebetween, said pressure being sufficient to transfer the powder image to the image receiving medium (12), wherein during the contact an electric field is applied across the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium, the direction of said field being such that the electrostatically charged developing powder is subjected to a force directed towards the image forming medium (1). As a result, lack of uniformity which frequently occurs in the development of large solid image areas using electrostatically charged developing powder is eliminated in the transfer step, because only a uniform powder image layer is transferred to the image receiving medium (12). Consequently, a uniform optical density is obtained on the copy in such image areas. The invention also relates to an apparatus for the use of this method.

Description: The invention relates to a method of transferring a powder image, consisting of electrostatically charged developing powder, from an image forming medium to an image receiving medium by bringing the image forming medium with the powder image thereon into contact with the image receiving medium, which image receiving medium is provided with a resiliently deformable surface layer, and exerting a pressure, during contact, on the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium with the powder image therebetween, said pressure being sufficient to transfer the powder image to the image receiving medium. The invention also relates to an apparatus for transferring a powder image consisting of an electrostatically charged developing powder from an image forming medium to an image receiving medium, which image receiving medium is provided with a resiliently deformable surface layer, comprising means for bringing the image forming medium into contact with the image receiving medium and pressure means for exerting a pressure on the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium in the contact zone. Developing powder in which the particles have a charge opposite to that of the charge image to be developed is frequently used for developing electrostatic charge images formed on a suitable image forming medium in electrophotographic or electrostatic image forming processes. The charge on the powder particles is in such cases usually obtained by tribo-electric charging against a part of the developing device or against carrier particles mixed with the developing powder. Lack of uniformity frequently occurs in the development of large solid image areas with such developing powder, and this may be due to various reasons, such as vibration and impacts in the drive system for the image forming medium and/or the developing device, exhaustion of the stock of developing powder on the developing means, and divergence of the outgoing electric field in the case of large solid image areas (known as the edge field effect). When such a non-uniformly developed image is transferred, as is conventional, in an electric field, to a receiving material and then fixed thereon, the result is an image area with a non-uniform optical density, the edges usually having a greater optical density than the central part of the area. In the case of development with black developing powder this defect is not so markedly visible, but the defect is very disturbing when coloured developing powders are used. According to the invention it has surprisingly been found that the above disadvantage can be eliminated by using an image transfer step based on adhesion in the image transfer step, and at the same time applying, during the contact, an electric field across the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium, the field having a direction such that the electrostatically charged developing powder is subjected to a force directed towards the image forming medium. Although a pressure transfer step based on adhesion is already known from US patent 3 591 276, it has been found that the combination of adhesion transfer and a counter-acting electric field gives the surprising result that a uniform thickness of the developing powder layer is obtained on the image receiving medium. The layer of developing powder is not completely transferred at those parts (edges) of image areas which have been developed too intensively, while in the less developed parts (the central parts) of an image area the powder layer is transferred intact, so that a uniform area filling is obtained on the copy. For a better understanding of the foregoing an electrophotographic apparatus using the method according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing. The apparatus represented in the drawing comprises an endless photoconductive belt 1, which is driven at uniform speed by means of drive or guide rollers 2,3 and 4. The image of an original disposed on a platen 5 is projected by flashbulbs 6 and 7, a lens 8 and a mirror 9 on the belt 1 after it has been electrostatically charged by a corona device 10. The latent charge image formed on the belt 1 after the flash exposure is developed by a magnetic brush device 11 to give a powder image which is then brought into pressure contact with an endless intermediate belt 12 in a first transfer zone, belt 12 being made of or covered with soft resilient and heat-resistant material such as, for example, silicone rubber. In these conditions the powder image is transferred by adhesion forces from the belt 1 to the belt 12. After this image transfer, any remaining image residues are removed from belt 1 by means of a cleaning device 13, whereupon belt 1 is ready for fresh use. The belt 12 is trained about drive and guide rollers 14,15 disposed together with the belt 12 in a space enclosed as much as possible by heat-insulating material 16. The space and hence belt 12 are heated by one or more heating elements in combination with an infra-red radiator 17 disposed inside roller 15. While belt 12 is advanced together with the powder image thereon, the powder image becomes tacky as a result of heating. In a second transfer zone the tacky powder image is then transferred under pressure to and fixed on a sheet of receiving material, for example paper, fed from reservoir 18 via rollers 19,20. Finally, the resulting copy is deposited in tray 25 by belt 22 trained about rollers 23 and 24. According to the invention, in the first transfer zone an electric field is applied via connections 30,31 across the package comprising the photoconductive belt 1 and the intermediate belt 12, the direction of the field being such that the electrostatically charged toner powder is subjected to a force directed towards the photoconductive belt 1. A uniform layer thickness for the powder image to be formed on the belt 12 can be obtained by correct dimensioning of the electric field. Correct dimensioning of the electric field is determined, on the one hand, by the magnitude of the adhesion forces exerted by intermediate belt 12 on the powder particles and, on the other hand, by a number of material parameters, such as the thickness of the photoconductive layer on belt 1, the electrical resistance of the developing powder and the particle size of the developing powder. Using a silicone rubber intermediate belt, excellent results have been obtained with a photoconductor layer thickness of between 0 and 25 µm and a counter-voltage of about 100 V across the transfer zone, the developing powder used having a specific resistance greater than 10¹⁴ ohms.cm and a particle size of between 2 and 80 µm. It will be clear that the invention is not restricted to the above combination of material parameters to provide an optimum electric field according to the invention. A person skilled in the art will find it fairly simple to determine experimentally the optimum value for the counter-voltage to be applied for each combination of the relevant parameters. Thus the invention is not restricted to insulating developing powders, but it is also possible to use more conductive developing powders which have become charged by induction. The invention can also be used in image-forming processes in which a latent image is developed by means of non-charged developing powder, e.g. magnetographic processes. The powder particles in the powder image formed must then be electrostatically charged prior to the transfer step.

Claims: A method of transferring a powder image, consisting of electrostatically charged developing powder, from an image forming medium (1) to an image receiving medium (12) by bringing the image forming medium (1) with the powder image thereon into contact with the image receiving medium (12), which image receiving medium is provided with a resiliently deformable surface layer, and exerting a pressure, during contact, on the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium with the powder image therebetween, said pressure being sufficient to transfer the powder image to the image receiving medium (12), characterised in that during the contact an electric field is applied across the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium, the direction of said field being such that the electrostatically charged developing powder is subjected to a force directed towards the image forming medium (1). Apparatus for transferring a powder image consisting of an electrostatically charged developing powder from an image forming medium (1) to an image receiving medium (12), which image receiving medium is provided with a resiliently deformable surface layer, comprising means for bringing the image forming medium (1) into contact with the image receiving medium (12) and pressure means for exerting a pressure on the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium in the contact zone, characterised in that the apparatus is also provided with means (30,31) for applying an electric field in the contact zone across the package comprising the image forming medium and the image receiving medium, the direction of said field being such that the electrostatically charged developing powder is subjected to a force directed towards the image forming medium (1).

Inventors: VALK, JOHANNES
Applicants: OCE-NEDERLAND B.V.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G03G15
IPC codes: G03G15, G03G13