Printer head device, and printer and image processing system having the same

Abstract: A head device, a printer, and an image processing system with which light emitted from a plurality of light emitting elements formed on a substrate forming a head does not leak out from a pinhole of a non-corresponding position of an aperture and light emitted from the plurality of light emitting elements does not mutually interfere, and thus, satisfactory print can be carried out. An aperture (29) has on its both ends sandwiching portions (29a) and covers a substrate (12a) to sandwich a carriage (9). Recess portions (29b,29c and 29d) are formed correspondingly to light emitting elements (12b,12c and 12d). Pinholes (29e,29f and 29g) a reprovided in a front wall. Since an insulating black coat is formed on the surfaces of the recess portions (29b,29c), and (29d), electric short circuit can be prevented. Light from the light emitting elements (12b), (12c), and (12d) which does not pass through the pinholes (29e,29f), and (29g) is absorbed by the surfaces of the recess portions (29b,29c and 29d).

Description: The present invention relates to a printer for printing image information or the like, and more particularly, to a printer of an optical writing type which carries out printing operation by irradiating light corresponding to image information or the like from light emitting elements onto printing paper of a photosensitive microcapsule type. A conventional printer head, as shown, for example, in WO-A-98/01304, device is structured such that flashing light emitted according to image data by a plurality of light emitting diodes forming a head formed on a substrate provided on a carriage guided by a carriage guide and reciprocated by a motor is, after the light diameter is decreased by pinholes of an aperture, irradiated onto printing paper. The light emitting diodes are extremely small. A top portion that emits light and a connection portion formed on a substrate are connected by two bonding conductors. Since the distance from an aperture to the substrate is relatively large so as to prevent the aperture from contacting the light emitting diodes and the two bonding conductors to cause short circuit, the emitted light leaks out from a pinhole of a non-corresponding position of the aperture to affect the image. Further, at the same time, since the distance from the light emitting diodes to the printing paper is large, there is also a problem that the light energy received on the printing paper is small. Further, in the conventional printer head device, there is a fear that, due to heat accompanying the flashing light emitted by the light emitting diodes, the temperature of the substrate and the aperture may rise above the melting point of plastic forming the carriage (about 130°C, for example) to melt or change the shape of a substrate supporting portion of the carriage leading to change in the substrate supporting state, and, heat irradiation from the aperture may cause colour change or colour development of the printing paper. An object of the present invention is to provide a printer head device with which light emitted from a plurality of light emitting elements mounted on a substrate forming a head does not leak out from a pinhole of a non-corresponding position of an aperture and the light energy received on printing paper can be made larger, and which can be sufficiently attached to the aperture and can cool the substrate and the aperture, and to provide a printer having the head device and an image processing system having the printer. In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a printer head device having light emitting elements for irradiating light onto printing paper to carry out printing, comprising: an aperture member having: recess portions corresponding to the arrangement of said light emitting elements; and pinholes substantially at the centre of said respective recess portions for decreasing a diameter of the light emitted by said light emitting elements; wherein, an insulating black coat is formed at least on said recess portions; and said aperture member is arranged so that at least a part of said light emitting elements are housed therein without contacting said recess portions. Further, in the respective structures mentioned above, the printer head device may be structured by providing the light emitting elements on a substrate, forming the aperture member of metal having high heat conductivity, and arranging the aperture member so as to be in contact with the substrate. Further, in the respective structures mentioned above, the aperture member may have sandwichingly fixing portions for sandwichingly fixing a carriage. The metal having high heat conductivity is preferably copper or a copper alloy, and more preferably, phosphor bronze. Further, the printer head device may be structured such that the substrate is formed of metal having high heat conductivity, and a heat radiating means for radiating heat of the substrate is further provided. Further, according to the present invention, a printer having a head device based on the respective structures mentioned above is comprised of: emitting light by the light emitting elements; decreasing the diameter of light by the aperture; and irradiating the light onto printing paper to produce an image on the printing paper. Further, according to the present invention, an image processing system connecting the printer with an image processing apparatus is comprised of: transmitting/receiving image signals between the image processing apparatus and the printer to produce an image on the printing paper. Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of further example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating an image processing system having a printer and an image processing apparatus of substantially actual size according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the printer of Fig. 1 seen from the direction of a side; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the printer of Fig. 1 seen from the side where printing paper is discharged; Fig. 4 is a partial enlarged sectional view illustrating a carriage guided by a carriage guide and a head device supported by the carriage; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view illustrating another embodiment of an aperture forming a head device according to the present invention. First, an outline of the structure of an image processing system having a printer and an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings. As shown in Fig. 1 to Fig. 4, in the system, when a power switch (not shown) is turned on, image data stored in an image processing apparatus B is selected, and a print image output switch (not shown) is turned on, a printer A carries out printing. When the power switch is turned on, a motor 1 rotates by a predetermined number of rotations in a counterclockwise direction. The rotation of the motor 1 is transmitted through a train of gears on the side of the motor and a train 3 of gears on the side opposite to the motor to a pickup roll 4. This makes the pickup roll 4 rotate to feed printing paper P one by one from a cassette C. The fed printing paper P is sandwiched between a feed roll 5 on the upstream side and three pinch rolls 6 below the feed roll 5. At the same time, a mechanism 8 with a winding belt thereon provided on a carriage guide 7 makes a carriage 9 reciprocate substantially once which is engaged with and guided by the carriage guide 7, and the carriage 9 travels to a home position. When the carriage 9 returns to the home position, the motor 1 stops its rotation. Further, at this time, a bar code sensor 11 provided on a bracket 30 for attaching sensors reads a bar code C1 attached to a cassette C. According to the kind of the printing paper read here, the intensity or irradiation time of light by light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d forming a head provided on the carriage 9 is controlled. Next, when a print image output switch (not shown) is turned on, first, the motor 1 rotates in a clockwise direction to feed the printing paper P by rotating the pickup roll 4, the feed roll 5, and a feed roll 13 through the trains 2 and 3 of gears. A paper feed confirming sensor 14 provided on the carriage 9 and located on the downstream side of the feed roll 5 senses the front edge of the printing paper P. When the printing paper P is sensed, the motor 1 stops its rotation for a time, and immediately after that, rotates in the counterclockwise direction. This counterclockwise rotation makes the carriage 9 reciprocate through the mechanism 8 with a winding belt thereon. At the same time, a linear sensor 10 provided on the bracket 30 for attaching sensors attached to the carriage 9 reads the graduations of a linear scale 23 to detect the position of the travel. At the same time with the reciprocation of the carriage 9, the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d forming the head formed on a substrate 12a provided on the carriage 9 emit flashing light correspondingly to the image data inputted from the image processing apparatus B. The light is, after the light diameter is decreased by pinholes of an aperture 29, irradiated onto the printing paper P to make uncollapsible microcapsules that are lighted by light of predetermined wavelengths. While a circulating pin 15 makes a U-turn from a position "b" to a position "c", and while it makes a U-turn from a position "d" to the home position "a", a cam 16 presses down a cam follower 17 by a small amount, and the feed rolls 5 and 13 in conjunction with the pinch rolls 6 and 24 feed the printing paper P by about 0.2 mm. On the other hand, while the circulating pin 15 moves linearly from the home position "a" to the position "b", and while it moves linearly from the position "c" to the position "d", the cam 16 releases the cam follower 17 from being pressed down, and thus, a platen 19 is lifted up by a spring 18 and a rolling roller 20 effectively pressurises the printing paper P as if a straight line is drawn to selectively collapse only microcapsules that are not lighted with light of the predetermined wavelengths and does not harden. These are repeated to selectively collapse microcapsules over the whole surface of the printing paper P. The printing paper P passes between a heater 21 and a leaf spring 22. Here, colour development material that gets in contact with an image receiving layer by the collapse of the microcapsules is slidably contacted and is heated, and colour developing is facilitated instantaneously to produce an image. The carriage guide 7 has linearity of high accuracy and is formed to be channel-shaped. Its ribs on both sides are held by channel portions on both sides of the carriage 9. The substrate 12a is precisely positioned with respect to the carriage 9 by being sandwichingly fixed. The light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d are formed together with circuit wirings on an insulating layer 12e formed on the substrate 12a, and are connected with the circuit wirings by bonding. The circuit wirings are connected with flexible printed wirings. It is to be noted that reference numerals 25, 26, 27, and 28 denote a controller, a battery, a chassis, and a case, respectively. Fig. 4 is a partial enlarged sectional view illustrating the carriage 9 guided by the carriage guide 7 and a head device 12 supported by the carriage 9. First, the relationship of the arrangement of the plurality of light emitting elements 12b, 12c and 12d formed on the substrate 12a forming the head and of the recess portions and the pinholes of the aperture 29 is described. The aperture 29 has on its both ends sandwiching portions 29a and covers the substrate 12a with the sandwiching portions 29a sandwiching the carriage 9. Recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d are formed on a surface facing the substrate 12a (inner surface) correspondingly to the arrangement of the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d forming the head. Pinholes 29e, 29f, and 29g are provided in the bottom walls of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d. A part of the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d is housed in the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d without contacting them. It is preferable that the depth of the recess portions is defined such that the distance between the light emitting surfaces of the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d and the printing paper P located so as to face the aperture 29 is as small as possible. This is because, by making the distance smaller, the light energy received on the printing paper P can be made larger. Further, it is preferable that, with regard to the range of the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d housed in the recess portions, at least the light emitting portions of the light emitting diodes are covered with the recess portions. By covering the light emitting portions in this way, leakage of light to other pinholes can be prevented. Insulating black coat is formed on the surface of the aperture 29 facing the substrate 12a, particularly on the inner surfaces of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d. As a method of forming black coat, plating treatment with black chromium is known, by which a dull black coat with no conductivity can be formed. In order to form these recess portions and pinholes, after the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d are formed by etching, the pinholes 29e, 29f, and 29g are formed by etching from the opposite surface, and the black insulating coat is formed by chemical treatment. The aperture 29 may be formed by making two members and connecting them thereafter rather than being formed integrally as described above. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the aperture 29 structured with two members. In this case, one of the members 29k is a plate-like member as illustrated in Fig. 5A, which is provided with holes 29m, 29n, and 29p corresponding to the above recess portions for housing the above light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d therein. The other member 29q is shaped such that sandwiching portions 29r are provided on its both end portions as illustrated in Fig. 5B. Pinholes 29s, 29t, and 29u corresponding to the above pinholes are provided at positions of the above light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d. As illustrated in Fig. 5C, when these two members are on top of each other, the pinholes 29s, 29t, and 29u are adapted to be in the centre of the holes 29m, 29n, and 29p, respectively. After these two members are on top of each other in this way, they are combined with each other by welding. Insulating black coat is formed on the inner surfaces of the holes 29m, 29n, and 29p and on the surface of the second member 29q where the holes 29m, 29n, and 29p are positioned as in the integrally formed aperture 29. Since the aperture 29 is structured as described above, even if, due to improper assembling, the bonding conductors connecting the respective top portions of the light emitting elements 12b, 12c, and 12d with the substrate 12a comes into contact with the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d, since the insulating black coat is formed on the surfaces of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d, electric short circuit can be prevented, and, light emitted from the respective top portions of the light emitting elements 12b, 12c, and 12d can be irradiated through the pinholes 29e, 29f, and 29g in front of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d onto the printing paper which is several micrometers away from the aperture 29. On the other hand, with regard to light from the light emitting elements 12b, 12c, and 12d which does not pass through the pinholes 29e, 29f, and 29g, the absorbed quantity of light is large since the coating on the surfaces of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d is black. Before light leaked from any one of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d comes into any other one of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d to pass through the pinhole, the light is repeatedly reflected, and, in that process, is absorbed by the black coat. Accordingly, light leaked from any one of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d does not at all come into any other one of the recess portions 29b, 29c, and 29d to pass through the pinhole to affect the print. Next, a device is described for avoiding a situation where, due to heat accompanying the flashing light emitted by the light emitting diodes 12b, 12c, and 12d, the temperature of the substrate 12a rises to the melting point of the plastic forming the carriage 9 (about 130°C, for example) to, without cooling, melt and change the shape of the substrate 12a, a substrate supporting portion of the carriage 9, and the aperture. The substrate 12a is formed of a metal plate having high heat conductivity, and a heat radiating means for radiating heat of the substrate 12a is provided. The substrate 12a is formed of a metal plate having high heat conductivity such as an aluminium plate, a stainless steel plate, and a nickel plate. The heat radiating means for the heat of the substrate 12a is provided as a complex of two heat radiating means. A first heat radiating means is air holes 31 opened on both sides of a box-shaped substrate support portion 9a of the carriage 9 in the travelling direction of the carriage. A second heat radiating means is heat radiating fins 32 attached to the rear surface of the substrate and made of metal having high heat conductivity such as an aluminum plate, a stainless steel plate, and a nickel plate. It may be that only one of the heat radiating means may be provided. Accordingly, when the carriage 9 travels, air in the printer circulates via the air holes 31 through the inner space of the box-shaped substrate supporting portion 9a to cool the heat radiating fins 32, and thus, cooling by airflow can be conducted to the temperature at which the substrate supporting portion 9a and the aperture 29 do not melt or get soft. Next, a device is described for making it possible to assemble the aperture 29 to the box-shaped substrate supporting portion 9a of the carriage 9 with extreme precision while the aperture 29 is several micrometers away from the printing paper. While the aperture 29 is required to be of a material excellent in heat conductivity as described above, since it is attached to the substrate supporting portion 9a of the carriage 9 by widening the space between the sandwiching portions 29a on its both ends and sandwiching the substrate supporting portion 9a, it is required to be of a material that does not keep the deformation when the space between the sandwiching portions 29a on its both ends is widened and that can retain the sandwiching force. In view of this point, particularly, the aperture is preferably formed of copper or copper alloy having excellent heat conductivity and elasticity, and in particular, phosphor bronze. Further, it is structured such that, when the space between the sandwiching portions 29a, 29a is slightly widened and the aperture 29 is pressed toward the substrate 12a, the inner surfaces of the sandwiching portions 29a, 29a are pressed against wedge-shaped front surfaces of cylinder-like protrusions 9b provided on both ends of the substrate support portion 9a of the carriage 9 to widen the space between the sandwiching portions 29a, thereby sandwichingly fixing the aperture to the substrate support portion 9a at a position where round holes 29h provided on the sandwiching portions 29a face the cylinder-like protrusions 9b. In this way, it is made possible to assemble the aperture 29 to the substrate supporting portion 9a of the carriage 9 with extreme precision. As described above, according to a head device, a printer, and an image processing system of the present invention, (1) since light emitted from a plurality of light emitting elements formed on a substrate forming a head does not leak out from a pinhole of a non-corresponding position of an aperture and light emitted from the plurality of light emitting elements does not mutually interfere, satisfactory print can be carried out; (2) since the distance from the light emitting elements to the printing paper can be made smaller, the light energy received on printing paper can be made larger; (3) since the substrate and the aperture can be cooled, cooling to the temperature at which a substrate supporting portion of a carriage and the aperture do not melt or get soft can be conducted, and thus, abnormal heating of the head can be avoided, the fear of thermal metamorphosis is dissolved to assure the duration of life, and metamorphosis of printing paper due to heat radiation of the aperture can be avoided; and (4) since the aperture can be assembled with ease, the sandwichingly fixing state of the aperture can be maintained sufficiently even after a long time, and since the shift of position of the aperture does not occur, the aperture does not contact printing paper which is several micrometers way, so that the colour of the printing paper does not change due to heat of the aperture.

Claims: A printer head device having light emitting elements (12b, 12c, 12d) for irradiating light onto printing paper (p) to carry out printing, comprising: an aperture member (29) having: recess portions (29b, 29c, 29d) corresponding to the arrangement of said light emitting elements; and pinholes (29e, 29f, 29g) substantially at the centre of said respective recess portions for decreasing a diameter of the light emitted by said light emitting elements; wherein, an insulating black coat is formed at least on said recess portions; and said aperture member is arranged so that at least a part of said light emitting elements are housed therein without contacting said recess portions. A printer head device as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said light emitting elements are provided on a substrate; and said aperture member is formed of metal having high heat conductivity, and is arranged so as to be in contact with said substrate. A printer head device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said aperture member has sandwichingly fixing portions for sandwichingly fixing a carriage. A printer head device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said metal having high heat conductivity is copper or a copper alloy. A printer head device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said metal having high heat conductivity is phosphor bronze. A printer head device as claimed in claim 2, wherein: said substrate is formed of metal having high heat conductivity; and a heat radiating means for radiating heat of said substrate is further provided. A printer having a head device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, and which is designed such that it provides emitting light by said light emitting elements; decreasing the diameter of light by said aperture; and irradiating the light onto printing paper to produce an image on the printing paper. An image processing system, which comprises: the printer as claimed in claim 7 connected with an image processing apparatus, such that, image signals are transmitted/received between said image processing apparatus and said printer to produce an image on the printing paper.

Inventors: IMAI SABURO, WAKABAYASHI KAZUO, IMAI, SABURO, WAKABAYASHI, KAZUO
Applicants: SEIKO INSTR INC, SEIKO INSTRUMENTS INC.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B41J2
IPC codes: B41J2, H04N1