JP-7857321-B2 - Thermal heads and thermal printers

Inventors

• 松久保 直人
• 園畠 秀隆
• 浅山 大樹
• 河村 匡泰
• 中井 健治

Assignees

• 京セラ株式会社

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20221201

Priority Date

20211224

Claims (11)

1. circuit board and A heat storage layer located on the substrate, A heat-generating element located on the heat storage layer, Equipped with, If we define the transport direction of the recording medium as the first direction, and the direction opposite to the first direction as the second direction, Of the surfaces of the substrate, the surface in contact with the heat storage layer is a single plane from the portion located below the end on the first direction side of the heat generating portion to the portion located below the end on the second direction side. In the heat storage layer, the first thickness of the first portion located below the end of the heating element on the second direction side is greater than the second thickness of the second portion located below the end of the heating element on the first direction side. The heat storage layer is a thermal head having a portion between the first portion and the second portion that is thicker than the first thickness.
2. A substrate having multiple surfaces, A heat storage layer located on the substrate having the aforementioned multiple surfaces, A heat-generating element located on the heat storage layer, Equipped with, The heat storage layer and the heat generating section are located across the multiple surfaces, If we define the transport direction of the recording medium as the first direction, and the direction opposite to the first direction as the second direction, In the heat storage layer, the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating element in the second direction is greater than the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating element in the first direction. The angle between the surface of the substrate facing the end of the heating element in the second direction and the printed surface of the recording medium is smaller than the angle between the surface of the substrate facing the end of the heating element in the first direction and the printed surface of the recording medium. Thermal head.
3. The thermal head according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the substrate has single-crystal silicon.
4. The aforementioned heat storage layer is A first heat storage layer is located between the end of the heating element on the second direction side and the substrate, and between the end of the heating element on the first direction side and the substrate. The thermal head according to claim 1, further comprising a second heat storage layer having a lower thermal conductivity than the first heat storage layer and located between the end of the heating portion on the second direction side and the substrate.
5. The thermal head according to claim 4 , wherein the second heat storage layer is located between the substrate and the first heat storage layer.
6. The thermal head according to claim 4 , wherein the second heat storage layer is located between the first heat storage layer and the heat generating section.
7. The thermal head according to claim 2, wherein the thickness of the portion of the heat storage layer located on the edge between the multiple surfaces of the substrate is greater than the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating portion in the second direction and the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating portion in the first direction .
8. The heat storage layer has a stepped portion between the portion located below the end of the heating element on the second direction side and the portion located below the end of the heating element on the first direction side. The thermal head according to any one of claims 1 , 2 , 4 to 7 , wherein the thickness of the heat storage layer changes along the curved surface in the stepped portion.
9. A thermal head according to any one of claims 1 , 2 , 4 to 7 , A transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium onto the heat-generating section, A platen roller presses the recording medium onto the heating element, A thermal printer equipped with [a specific feature/feature].
10. The thermal head described in claim 3 , A transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium onto the heat-generating section, A platen roller presses the recording medium onto the heating element, A thermal printer equipped with [a specific feature/feature].
11. The thermal head according to claim 8 , A transport mechanism for transporting the recording medium onto the heat-generating section, A platen roller presses the recording medium onto the heating element, A thermal printer equipped with [a specific feature/feature].

Description

The embodiments of the disclosure relate to a thermal head and a thermal printer. Conventionally, various thermal heads have been proposed for use as printing devices such as facsimile machines and video printers (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-234895 The thermal head of this disclosure comprises a substrate, a heat storage layer located on the substrate, and a heating element located on the heat storage layer. Furthermore, if the transport direction of the recording medium is defined as the first direction, and the direction opposite to the first direction is defined as the second direction, then in the heat storage layer, the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating element on the second direction side is greater than the thickness of the portion located below the end of the heating element on the first direction side. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a thermal head according to an embodiment.Figure 2 is a plan view showing the schematic configuration of the thermal head shown in Figure 1.Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A shown in Figure 2.Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the main part of a thermal head according to an embodiment.Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the main part of the thermal head according to this embodiment.Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 1.Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 2.Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 2.Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 3.Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 3.Figure 11 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the main part of a thermal head according to another embodiment 4.Figure 12 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a thermal printer according to an embodiment. Conventionally, various thermal heads have been proposed for printing devices such as facsimile machines and video printers. However, conventional technology still had room for improvement in achieving both high-speed thermal head operation and good print quality. Therefore, there is a great need for a technology that can solve the above problems and achieve both high speed and good print quality in thermal heads. The embodiments of the thermal head and thermal printer disclosed herein will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. However, this disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below. Furthermore, each embodiment can be combined as appropriate, provided that the processing content is not inconsistent. Also, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals in the following embodiments, and redundant explanations are omitted. Furthermore, in the embodiments described below, expressions such as "constant," "orthogonal," "perpendicular," or "parallel" may be used, but these expressions do not require strict adherence to "constant," "orthogonal," "perpendicular," or "parallel" conditions. In other words, each of the above expressions allows for deviations, such as in manufacturing accuracy or installation accuracy. <Thermal Head Configuration Overview> First, the schematic configuration of the thermal head 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the thermal head 1 according to the embodiment. In the following explanation, an XYZ Cartesian coordinate system will be established, and the positional relationships of each part will be described while referring to this XYZ Cartesian coordinate system. A predetermined direction in the horizontal plane is defined as the X-axis direction, a direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction in the horizontal plane is defined as the Y-axis direction, and a direction perpendicular to both the X-axis and Y-axis directions is defined as the Z-axis direction. The XY plane, which includes the X and Y axes, is parallel to the horizontal plane. Furthermore, in the following description, the surface of the substrate 7 of the thermal head 1 that mates with the connector 5 may be parallel to the horizontal plane. The Z-axis direction, which is perpendicular to the XY plane, is the vertical direction. In the following description, the direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 7 of the thermal head 1 that mates with the connector 5 may be parallel to the Z-axis. As shown in Figure 1, the thermal head 1 according to this embodiment comprises a head base 2, a heat sink 3, an adhesive m