JPS5848009A - optical writing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the opposing accuracy of optical fibers and light emitting diodes at a high level by segmenting the many light emitting diodes and optical fibers by blocks, and positioning and fixing both integrally on a substrate by means of positioning pins. CONSTITUTION:A fiber block 6 having a fiber array 7 disposed with optical fibers 7a at specified micropitches and a light emitting diode array mounting body 5 disposed with light emitting diode arrays at the same pitch are positioned by means of positioning screws 22 and are fixed as one body on a substrate 15. Such constituting bodies (5, 6) are disposed symmetrically above and below by each two rows. The optical fiber arrays extending from the blocks 6 are buried in a fiber block 8 consisting of an epoxy resin or the like on the exit side, thereby forming an imaging optical system. Thus the opposing accuracy of the optical fibers and the light emitting diodes is maintained at a high level.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical writing device using a light emitting diode array as a main component.

It has a light emitting diode array in which light emitting diodes are arranged in an array in one direction, and the light emitted from the light emitting diode array is transmitted through an optical fiber array whose light incident end face closely faces the light emitting diode array. An optical writing device has been proposed in which an information image is written by applying light emitted from a recording medium in the form of dots onto a recording medium as imaging light through a convergent light transmitting array.

In this type of writing device, conventionally, a technology has been developed in which a light emitting diode array and an optical fiber array are placed close to each other in order to perform optical coupling between the two with high efficiency. A functionally excellent coupling method has not yet been established, and for convenience, individual light emitting diodes and optical fibers have been coupled by compling, etc., but this method combines both light emitting diodes and optical fibers at one point. Not only is it extremely cumbersome to attach the silk each time, but it is also difficult to maintain a high level of facing precision between the two.

On the other hand, in order to reproduce a reproduced image with high resolution in such a recording device, it is necessary to make the dot density of the recorded image recorded on the recording medium as high as possible. This can be achieved by using a very large number of light emitting diodes and optical fibers optically coupled to the light emitting diodes and increasing the number of information lights incident on the convergent light transmitter array as much as possible.

The present invention was made in view of such technical problems, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical writing device in which a large number of light emitting diodes and optical fibers can be divided into blocks and made to face each other with high precision.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an optical writing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It mainly consists of a flat cable 4 for transmitting information signals to the light emitting diodes, a light emitting diode array mounting body 5, a fiber block 6, an output side fiber block 8, and a convergent light transmission body array block 1.0. There is. FIG. 2 is a view from the right side of FIG. 1 with the device section 12 comprising the output side fiber block 8, convergent light transmitting body array block 10, etc. removed.

Therefore, the configuration of such an optical writing device will be explained with reference to FIG.
A light emitting diode array 14 in which LEDs 3 are arranged in an array at a minute pitch is fixed to a light emitting diode array mounting body 5 that is elongated in the array direction. Note that this mounting body 5 corresponds to a so-called printed circuit board. The light emitting diode 13 includes a light emitting portion 13a and a bonding wire 13h, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, an optical fiber array 7 in which one optical fiber 7a is arranged in one direction with a slight pinch is inserted into a fiber block 6 made of elongated epoxy resin or the like in the arrangement direction for a predetermined length from this light incident end face. It is set up.

An optical fiber 7a is attached to the lower end surface of the fiber block 6.
The light incident end surface of is exposed, and this light incident end surface and the light emitting part】3α
(See Fig. 5) means that when the mounting body 5 and the block 6 are assembled together as described later, they face each other, and the lower end surface of the fiber block 6 and the optical fiber It is flush with the light incident end face, and has been polished to a highly precise and smooth finish. Note that the number of optical fibers and light emitting diodes is equal,
In addition, they are arranged with equal pinch, and for example, a total of 64 pieces are arranged in one block. In addition,
The above-mentioned pinch is, for example, an extremely small pinch of about 0.75 m/nL.

The light emitting diode array mounting body 5 and the fiber block 6 are integrally fixed onto the device substrate 15 by the method described below.

In FIG. 2, the light emitting diode array mounting body 5 is fixed on the device board 15 in advance, and the fiber block 6 is superimposed on the mounting body 5 as shown in the figure, and then the stepped screw 16 is inserted into the board. Cylindrical screw 17 fixed to 15
Insert the screw into the female thread and tighten with a certain amount of force. Similarly, tighten the stepped screw 21 on the right with a certain amount of force.

In this state, as shown in FIG.
The extending portion 6a includes both elastic rings 19.2 made of rubber or the like.
The bent portion 18a of the device frame plate 18, which covers the side of the optical writing device, is held by the elastic ring 20 and the upper end of the cylindrical screw 17.

Next, in FIG. 2, the positioning screw 22 is inserted from below, and the threaded part
(see FIG. 4) to fix the light emitting diode array mounting body 5 and the fiber block 6 to each other. The shaft portion 22α of the positioning screw 22 is finished with high precision, and when the fiber block 6 is installed with a shift in the horizontal direction with respect to the light emitting diode array support body 5, the shaft portion 22a of the positioning screw 22 is finished with high precision. By correcting the position in the lateral direction, the facing precision between the optical fiber array and the light emitting diode array is set with high precision.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 3, when the fiber block 6 is moved and corrected, the shaft portions 1.6. The punch hole 6 (Zl) is a relatively large hole with respect to Z, and the rings 19 and 20 are made of an elastic material such as rubber, so the bronco can move slightly in the lateral direction.

The positioning screw 22 has the function of a positioning pin for positioning the light emitting diode array mounting body 5 and the fiber block 6 with each other, and also has the function of fastening them together. In this way, the light emitting part of the light emitting diode array and the optical fiber are opposed to each other with high precision, and the light emitting part and the optical fiber are joined together by the two members 5 and 6 as shown in FIG. The light incident end faces of the two face each other at the correct proximity distance.

Note that the fact that the light emitting section and the optical fiber face each other with high accuracy specifically means that the center of the light emitting section and the optical axis of the optical fiber match.

Light emitting diode array mounting body 5 and fiber block 6
For example, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the extending optical fiber array 7 has a predetermined length σ portion including the extended end (light emitting end) embedded in a fiber block 8 made of epoxy resin or the like on the emitting side.

Internally transmitted light is emitted from the light emitting end of the optical fiber exposed on the end face of the fiber block 8, and this emitted light is positioned at an imaging position by a sealing cushion 9. The light enters Oa, and by this imaging function, it is applied as imaging light to a drum-shaped photoreceptor 2, which is an example of a recording medium, and an information image such as a so-called electrostatic latent image is formed. The rest is development and transfer of the electrostatic latent image as is well known.

As shown in Fig. 1, if 8 combinations (numbered 5 and 6) are arranged in each - column, if the number of columns is 4, the number of the above-mentioned pieces will be 32. , assuming that 64 optical fibers and light emitting diodes are arranged for one combination, there will be a total of 2048 optical fibers, and these will be connected to the end face of the output side fiber block 8 of the photoreceptor 2. They are arranged in a single row or in a staggered manner in the axial direction.

In this way, by dividing an extremely large number of light emitting diodes and optical fibers into blocks, and finally leading out a large number of optical fibers to the exit fiber block all at once, a recorded image with a high dot density can be created. You can get it.

On the other hand, no matter how small the pitch is, for example, 204
If eight light emitting diodes were arranged in one direction, the length of the board would be enormous. This can be solved by obtaining extremely dense light emitting diode arrays, but
At present, such high-density light emitting diode arrays have not been put into practical use due to the light intensity level, variations in the light intensity of individual light emitting diodes, and manufacturing yield. . In fact, in the present invention, the light-emitting diode and the optical fiber are optically coupled simultaneously in one block while maintaining the facing precision, which is a remarkable effect.

As described above, according to the present invention, a very large number of light emitting diodes and optical fibers can be divided into blocks and made to face each other with high precision, and a high-density recorded image can be obtained. equipment can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an optical writing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a right side view of the optical writing device with the periphery of the convergent light transmitting body array section removed, and FIG. The figure is a partially broken configuration diagram of the fastening part of the fiber block, 2... drum-shaped photoreceptor as a recording medium, 5... light emitting diode array mounting body, 6... fiber block, 7... optical fiber Array,] Oa... Focusing optical transmission body array, 13... Light emitting diode, 14... Light emitting diode array, 15... Device board, 22... Positioning screw as a positioning pin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a light emitting diode array in which light emitting diodes are arranged in an array in one direction, and the light emitted from the light emitting diode array is transmitted through an optical fiber play whose light incident end face closely faces the light emitting diode array. An optical writing device in which an information image is written on a recording medium by applying the light emitted from the array to the recording medium as imaging light via a convergent light transmitting body array, the above-mentioned light emitting diode array is used. , the optical fiber array is arranged and fixed on a light emitting diode array mounting body, and the optical fiber array is installed in a fiber block for a predetermined length from the light input end face, and the light input end face of the optical fiber array is made a smooth surface, and the light input end face is attached to the fiber block. On the other hand, on the device board, a plurality of light emitting diode array mounting bodies are arranged in at least one row, and each light emitting diode array mounting body and each fiber block tiger are inserted through both of the light emitting diode array mounting bodies, and the light emitting diode An optical mail sending device characterized in that the light emitting diode array mounting body and the fiber block are integrally fixed on the device substrate by positioning the array and the optical fiber array with respect to each other using positioning pins that determine the facing accuracy of the array and the optical fiber array. Device.