JPH06305191A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The substrate on which the image element array is mounted in the housing to which the lens array is attached, so that each light emitting diode of the light emitting diode array is positioned on the optical axis of each self-focusing lens of the lens array. Can be fixed easily and in a short time, an image with high image quality can be formed on the photoconductor, and an accurate electric signal corresponding to external image information can be generated in the solid-state image sensor array. An object is to provide an image device. [Structure] A housing 4 having a lens array 3 attached thereto and a substrate 1 on which an image element array 2 is mounted. The substrate 1 has a lens contacting surface 4a provided on the housing and a lens array 3 and an image element array. 2 are abutted so as to face each other with a constant gap therebetween, and the housing 4
It is fixed to the housing 4 by an elastic member 9 that is locked to.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head or an image reading apparatus such as an image sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image forming apparatus, for example, an image forming apparatus used in an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head, has a plurality of light emitting diode arrays formed of a plurality of light emitting diodes linearly arranged on an electrically insulating substrate. The housing includes a light-emitting element mounting substrate mounted in an array, a long lens array in which a large number of rod-shaped self-focusing lenses are linearly arranged in two rows in a frame-like casing, and a housing made of polycarbonate resin or the like. It is made of an epoxy resin or the like so that the light emitting element mounting substrate and the lens array are spaced from each other within a certain distance, and each light emitting diode of the light emitting diode array is positioned on the optical axis of each self-focusing lens of the lens array. It is manufactured by adhesion fixing with an adhesive material or by screwing.

In such an image device, each light emitting diode of the light emitting diode array is caused to selectively emit light in response to an external electric signal, and the light emitted by each light emitting diode is passed through the lens array to the external photoconductor surface. It functions as an image forming apparatus by forming a latent image on the photoconductor by forming an image on.

[0004]

However, in this conventional image device, when the light emitting element mounting substrate in which the light emitting diode array is mounted in the housing is adhered and fixed through the adhesive material such as epoxy resin, the adhesive material 15 for heat curing
Since heat of 0 ° C. has to be applied for about 1 hour, it takes a long time to bond and fix, and there is a drawback that mass productivity is lacking. At the same time, since it takes a long time to fix the light emitting element mounting substrate, the position of the light emitting element mounting substrate tends to be displaced during adhesive fixing, and if the fixing position of the light emitting element mounting substrate is displaced, each self-focusing of the lens array is performed. There is also a drawback that each light emitting diode of the light emitting diode array is not located on the optical axis of the lens and it becomes impossible to properly form the light emitted by each light emitting diode on the external photoconductor surface through the lens array. Was there. Furthermore, when the light emitting element mounting board is fixed to the housing by screwing,
Both the housing and the light-emitting element mounting board must be preliminarily provided with screw holes, and the screws must be screwed in after matching the screw holes of both, so the workability of fixing the light-emitting element mounting board is extremely poor, and as a product, It has the drawback of making the imaging device very expensive.

In the above-mentioned conventional example, an image device used in an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head has been described as an example, but a solid-state image sensor array (CCD element array) is used.
An image device used for an image reading device such as an image sensor using the same has the same drawback.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate, on which a picture element array is mounted in a housing to which a lens array is attached, with an optical axis of each self-focusing lens of the lens array. Each light-emitting diode of the light-emitting diode array can be easily fixed so that it is positioned on the top, and an image with high image quality can be formed on the photoconductor, or external image information can be formed on the solid-state image sensor array. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image device capable of generating an accurate electric signal corresponding to.

[0007]

The present invention comprises a housing to which a lens array is attached and a substrate on which an image element array is mounted. The substrate is provided with a lens array and an image on a substrate contact reference surface provided on the housing. The element array is in contact with the element array so as to face each other with a constant gap therebetween, and is fixed to the housing by an elastic member locked to the housing.

[0008]

According to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, the housing is provided with the substrate contact reference surface, and the substrate on which the image element array is mounted is contacted with the substrate contact reference surface. Therefore, each self-focusing lens of the lens array is contacted. It is possible to accurately position the image element array on the optical axis of, and when this image device is used in an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head, the light emitted from the light emitting diode is transmitted to the photoconductor through the lens array. It becomes possible to form a clear latent image on the photoconductor accurately by irradiating it well.

When this image device is used in an image reading device such as an image sensor, external image information can be accurately formed on the solid-state image sensor array through the lens array, and the solid-state image sensor array can be externally imaged. It is also possible to generate an accurate electric signal corresponding to image information.

Further, since the board on which the image element array is mounted is fixed to the housing by the elastic member that is locked to the housing, fixing the board on which the image element array is mounted to the housing is simple and short. It can be performed in a short time, the workability of manufacturing the image device is extremely excellent, and the image device as a product can be inexpensive.

[0011]

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the image device of the present invention is applied to an optical printer head as an image forming device. 1 is a substrate, 2 is a light emitting diode array, 3 is a lens array,
4 is a housing.

The substrate 1 is made of an electrically insulating material such as ceramic, glass or glass epoxy, and a plurality of light emitting diode arrays 2 are linearly arranged and mounted on the upper surface thereof.

The substrate 1 functions as a supporting member for supporting the light emitting diode array 2, and when it is made of, for example, a ceramic of an aluminum oxide sintered body, alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ) and silica (SiO ₂ ), Calcia (CaO), magnesia (MgO), etc., an appropriate organic solvent, a suitable solvent is added and mixed to form a slurry, and the ceramics are produced by employing the conventionally known doctor blade method or calendar roll method. A green sheet (ceramic green sheet) is obtained, and then the ceramic green sheet is punched into a specified shape and at a high temperature (about 1600 ° C).
It is manufactured by firing at.

Further, the light emitting diode array 2 mounted on the substrate 1 is composed of a plurality of light emitting diodes 2a, and the light emitting diodes 2a individually and selectively emit light in response to an external electric signal and emit light. A latent image for forming an image is formed on the photoconductor 5 by irradiating the surface of the photoconductor 5 with.

The light emitting diode 2a is a GaAsP type, Ga
P-based light-emitting diodes are used.For example, in the case of GaAsP-based light-emitting diodes, the GaAs substrate is first heated to a high temperature in a furnace and AsH ₃ (arsine), PH ₃ (phosphine), Ga (gallium ) Is contacted with a gas to grow a single crystal of n-type semiconductor GaAsP (gallium-arsenic-phosphorus) on the substrate surface, and then Si ₃ is grown on the GaAsP single crystal surface.
A windowed film of N ₄ (silicon nitride) is deposited, and Zn (zinc) gas is exposed to the window to form an n-type semiconductor GaAsP.
Zn is diffused into a part of the single crystal to form a p-type semiconductor, and pn
It is formed by providing a bond.

In the case of a B4 size optical printer head, 2048 light emitting diodes 2a (8 per 1 mm) are linearly arranged. Specifically, 64 light emitting diodes are used as one unit for light emission. By arranging 32 diode arrays 2 linearly, 2048 light emitting diodes 2a are arranged on the substrate 1.

Further, the light emitting diode 2a is provided with a lens array 3 on the upper part thereof with a certain distance therebetween, and the lens array 3 transmits the light emitted from each light emitting diode 2a to the photosensitive member 5.
It acts to irradiate the surface.

The lens array 3 has a structure in which a large number of rod-shaped self-focusing lenses 8 made of glass, synthetic resin or the like are linearly arranged in two rows in a frame-shaped casing 7. The rod-shaped self-focusing lens 8 is sandwiched between the ABS resin or FRP plate in two rows, and silicone resin is dropped between the ABS resin or FRP plate and each self-focusing lens 8 to cure the resin, It is manufactured by bonding the cylindrical casing 7 and the self-focusing lens 8 with a silicone resin.

The substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted and the lens array 3 also have a certain distance between them, and the optical axis of each self-focusing lens 8 of the lens array 3 is the same as that of the light emitting diode array 2. It is fixed to a housing 4 made of resin so as to be above each light emitting diode 2a.

The lens array 3 is fixed to the housing 4 by adhesively fixing the lens array 3 to the upper part of the housing 4 with an adhesive made of epoxy resin.

For fixing the substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted to the housing 4, a substrate contact reference surface 4a is provided below the housing 4, and the substrate contact reference surface 4a is provided.
The upper surface of the substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted is brought into contact with 4a, and the lower surface of the substrate 1 is pressed toward the housing 4 side by the elastic member 9 locked by the locking tool 4b provided on the outer peripheral portion of the housing 4. Is done by doing. In this case, the substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted is brought into contact with the substrate contact reference surface 4a provided on the housing 4 so that each light emitting diode of the light emitting diode array 2 is
2a to each self-focusing lens 8 of lens array 3
The light emitted from each light emitting diode 2a can be satisfactorily irradiated onto the photoconductor 5 through the lens array 3 and a clear and accurate latent image can be formed on the photoconductor 5. Can be formed. At the same time, the substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted is fixed to the housing 4 by being pressed by the elastic member 9 locked by the locking tool 4b of the housing 4, so that the substrate on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted. The fixing of 1 to the housing 4 can be performed easily and in a short time, the workability of manufacturing the image device is extremely excellent, and the image device as a product can be inexpensive.

The elastic member 9 is a rubber ring made of silicone rubber, nitrile rubber, etc., polyolefin, PV.
When a heat-shrinkable tube made of C, polyvinylidene fluoride or the like is preferably used, and a heat-shrinkable tube is used as the elastic member 9, first, the substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted is mounted on the substrate contact reference surface 4a of the housing 4. A heat shrink tube is arranged from the locking member 4b of the housing 4 to the lower surface of the substrate 1 while being brought into contact, and then hot air is blown into the heat shrink tube or a soldering iron is brought into contact to apply heat, Shrink the heat shrink tubing to move the board 1 to the housing 4
The substrate 1 on which the light emitting diode array 2 is mounted is fixed to the housing 4 by pressing it to the side.

Thus, according to the image device of the present invention, the substrate 1
An image is formed by causing the plurality of light emitting diodes 2a linearly arranged above to selectively emit light in response to an external electric signal and irradiating the emitted light to the photoconductor 5 via the lens array 3. Functions as a device.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the light emitting diode array 2 is used. Substrate 1 on which is mounted housing 4
Although the board 1 is fixed to the housing 4 by abutting against the board contact reference surface 4a of the board 1 and directly pressing the lower surface of the board 1 with the elastic member 9, there is another problem between the lower surface of the board 1 and the elastic member 9. The pressing member may be interposed.

In the above-described embodiment, the case of use in an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head has been described as an example. However, the light emitting diode array is replaced with a solid-state image sensor array, and the image reading apparatus such as an image sensor is also used. It can be used.

[0026]

According to the image apparatus of the present invention, the housing is provided with the substrate contact reference surface, and the substrate on which the image element array is mounted is brought into contact with the substrate contact reference surface. The image element array can be accurately positioned on the optical axis of the self-focusing lens, and when this image device is used in an image forming apparatus such as an optical printer head, the light emitted from the light emitting diode is transmitted through the lens array. It is possible to form a clear and accurate latent image on the photoconductor by irradiating the photoconductor well.

When this image device is used in an image reading device such as an image sensor, external image information can be accurately formed on the solid-state image pickup device array through the lens array, and the solid-state image pickup device array is externally connected. It is also possible to generate an accurate electric signal corresponding to image information.

Furthermore, since the board on which the image element array is mounted is fixed to the housing by the elastic member that is locked to the housing, fixing the board on which the image element array is mounted to the housing is simple and short. It can be performed in a short time, the workability of manufacturing the image device is extremely excellent, and the image device as a product can be inexpensive.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment in which an image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to an optical printer head as an image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Base member 2 ... Light emitting diode array 2a ... Light emitting diode 3 ... Lens array 4 ... Housing 4a ... Substrate contact reference surface 4b ... Locking tool 9 .... Elastic members

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location H04N 1/028 Z 8721-5C 1/036 A 8721-5C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A housing, to which a lens array is attached, and a substrate on which an image element array is mounted, wherein the substrate has a fixed surface between the lens array and the image element array on a substrate contact reference surface provided on the housing. An image device, which is abutted so as to face each other with a space of, and is fixed to the housing by an elastic member locked to the housing.