JP2000148903A - Optical information reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce material costs and to make this reader light in weight by welding a reflector and a reflector supporting and fixing member together by exothermic fusion softening action and unifying them into one. SOLUTION: Both end parts in the longitudinal direction of a reflection mirror 5 are inserted into a pair of cross section U-shaped parts 16 of an optical case 14 to be a reflector supporting and fixing member perpendicularly to the cross section of the parts 16. Due to this mounting structure, the mirror 5 is supported and fixed in the directions other then the insertion direction. At least a pair of welded ribs 17 is provided on the inner surface of the pair of the parts 16 of the case 14 to make ultrasonic welding possible. The part coming into contact with the ribs 17 and the mirror 5 undergoes exothermic softening fusion to be welded together by such a manner that an ultrasonic irradiation device emits ultrasonic waves to the peripheral part of the ribs 17. The mirror 5 is supported and fixed in every direction, and the mirror 5 and the case 14 also can be easily unified together into one.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical information reading apparatus used in POS, physical distribution, production management and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an optical information reader is provided with an optical case and a mirror retainer as a reflector supporting and fixing member in order to secure drop resistance or impact resistance.
In many cases, a reflection mirror, which is a reflector, is held and fixed.

[0003]

However, in the conventional optical information reading apparatus, a reflecting mirror as a reflector is sandwiched and fixed by at least two parts such as an optical case and a mirror presser as a reflector supporting and fixing member. Therefore, there is a problem that the material cost increases or the weight increases.

Further, the conventional optical information reading apparatus uses a conductive mirror holding member as a reflector supporting member having excellent mechanical strength in order to ensure drop resistance or impact resistance. However, if the distance between the mirror holder and the components mounted on the main board is not sufficiently maintained, the mirror holder and the components mounted on the main board may come into contact with each other due to a drop or impact, causing the optical information reader to malfunction. Had a point. For this reason, it is necessary to keep a sufficient distance between the mirror holding member and the mounted components on the main board, and it has been difficult to reduce the size of the periphery of the reflection mirror.

An object of the present invention is to provide a small and lightweight optical information reading device which can solve the above problems.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an optical information reading apparatus according to the present invention can be achieved by welding and integrating a reflector and a reflector supporting and fixing member by heat melting and softening. .

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An optical information reading apparatus according to the present invention
A light irradiating unit that irradiates light to a sign having a portion with a different light reflectivity, a rectangular reflector that reflects light reflected from the sign, and condenses light reflected by the rectangular reflector A light collecting unit, an image sensor that receives light collected by the light collecting unit and converts the light into an electric signal, and a reflector support fixing member that supports and fixes the rectangular reflector, The reflector is fixed and supported at both ends in the longitudinal direction by the reflector supporting and fixing member, whereby the reflector and the reflector supporting and fixing member can be easily integrated.

At least one of the rectangular reflector and the reflector support / fixing member is formed of a resin, and the reflector support / fixer has a pair of reflector fixing portions having a U-shaped cross section. Insert the longitudinal end portions of the rectangular reflector into the reflector fixing portion having a U-shaped cross section and fix it by welding, or at least one of the rectangular reflector and the reflector support fixing member is formed of resin. In addition, the reflector supporting and fixing member has a pair of reflector fixing portions having a U-shaped cross section, and the pair of reflector fixing portions having a U-shaped cross section are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular reflector. Is inserted or applied to the inner surface thereof, or a heating softening material is used or applied, and the heat softening material is softened by heating by applying ultrasonic waves to the surfaces of the pair of U-shaped reflector fixing portions. Shaped reflector or reflector By lifting the fixing member is welded, it is possible to support the fixed reflector with one reflective body support fixed member.

Both the rectangular reflector and the reflector supporting and fixing member are formed of resin, and the reflecting support and fixing member has a pair of reflector fixing portions having a U-shaped cross section. By inserting the both ends in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular reflector into the reflector fixing portion having a U-shaped cross section and ultrasonic welding, the support fixing work of the rectangular reflector and the reflector support fixing member is easy. Becomes

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of a bar code reader according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the internal structure.

The LED 3 is mounted on the LED board 4 inside the main body cases 8 and 12. The light emitted by the LED 3 is diffused and condensed by the LED lens 2, and is illuminated with uniform illuminance on the bar code label 1 arranged near the bar code reading opening 20. Irradiation light irradiated with uniform illuminance is reflected on the surface of the barcode label 1, and a part of the reflected light enters the reflection mirror 5. The light incident on the reflection mirror 5 changes its traveling direction depending on the incident angle with respect to the reflection mirror 5 and is collected by the condenser lens 6. The condensed light forms an image of the bar code label 1 on the image sensor 7 and is converted into an electric signal by the image sensor 7. The converted electric signal is subjected to signal processing on a main board 15 on which the image sensor 7 is mounted, and transmitted to the host computer 10 via the cable 9.

Next, an integrated structure of the reflector supporting and fixing member and the reflector, which is a feature of this embodiment, will be described with reference to FIG.

Optical case 14 serving as a reflector supporting and fixing member
The two end portions in the longitudinal direction of the reflecting mirror 5 serving as a rectangular reflector are inserted into the pair of U-shaped cross sections 16 at right angles to the cross section of the U-shaped cross section 16. With this mounting structure, the reflection mirror 5 is supported and fixed in a direction other than the insertion direction. Further, at least a pair of welding ribs 17 are provided on the inner surfaces of the pair of U-shaped sections 16 of the optical case 14 to enable ultrasonic welding, and the peripheral portion of the welding rib 17 is not shown. When the ultrasonic wave is applied by the ultrasonic irradiation device, a portion where the welding rib 17 and the reflecting mirror 5 are in contact with each other is softened and melted by heating and welded. By this ultrasonic welding, the reflection mirror 5 is supported and fixed in all directions, and the reflection mirror 5 and the optical case 14 can be easily integrated.

Generally, in the ultrasonic melting phenomenon, frictional heat is generated by repeatedly causing collisions at a boundary surface by ultrasonic vibration, and the heat softens and melts the boundary surface to perform assimilation.

Therefore, in order for the material itself to be softened and melted by frictional heat, it is necessary to use a resin such as plastic, which has a low thermal conductivity and a low softening melting point.

Therefore, in order to integrate the reflection mirror 5 and the optical case 14 by ultrasonic welding, at least at the boundary where the reflection mirror 5 and the optical case 14 are in contact with each other, they must be made of resin.

The ultrasonic welding method will be described with reference to FIG. A horn 18 is attached to an ultrasonic generator 19 for generating ultrasonic waves, and the horn 18 is applied to contact the upper surfaces of the pair of U-shaped sections 16 of the optical case 14. Thereafter, the ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic generator 19 are transmitted through the horn 18 and further transmitted through the pair of U-shaped sections 16 of the optical case 14, so that the portion where the reflection mirror 5 and the optical case 14 are in contact is softened by heat. It will melt and weld.

[0018]

As described above, the present invention reduces the material cost by integrating the reflector and one reflector supporting and fixing member while securing the drop resistance and impact resistance.
In addition, the weight can be reduced.

Further, by reducing the distance between the reflector or the reflector supporting and fixing member and the component mounted on the main board, the periphery of the reflector can be reduced in size.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an internal configuration partially broken so that an internal configuration as a barcode reader in an embodiment of the present invention can be understood.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the internal configuration of the barcode reader.

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view showing an integrated structure of the reflector supporting and fixing member and the reflector of the bar code reader.

FIG. 4 is a top perspective view showing a reflector supporting and fixing member of the bar code reader and an ultrasonic welding method of the reflector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Reflection mirror 14 Optical case 16 U-shaped section 17 Welding rib

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Junki Nishida 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5B072 AA03 CC24 JJ10 JJ11 LL00

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A light irradiator for irradiating light having a portion with a different light reflectance to a sign, a rectangular reflector for reflecting light reflected from the sign, and reflection by the rectangular reflector A light-collecting unit that collects the collected light, an image sensor that receives the light collected by the light-collecting unit and converts the light into an electric signal, and a reflector support fixing member that supports and fixes the rectangular reflector. An optical information reading apparatus in which the rectangular reflector is supported and fixed only at both ends in the longitudinal direction by the reflector supporting and fixing member. At least one of the rectangular reflector and the reflector support fixing member is formed of resin, and the reflector support fixing member has a pair of U-shaped cross section reflector fixing portions, 2. The optical information reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both ends in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular reflector are inserted and welded and fixed to the pair of U-shaped reflector fixing portions. 3. At least one of the rectangular reflector and the reflector support fixing member is formed of resin, and the reflector support fixing member has a pair of U-shaped cross section reflector fixing portions, Both ends in the longitudinal direction of the rectangular reflector are inserted into the pair of reflector fixing portions having a U-shaped cross section, and a heat-softening material is used or applied to the inner surface thereof, and ultrasonic waves are applied to the pair of cross-sections. 2. The optical information reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat-softening material is heated and softened by being applied to the surface of the U-shaped reflector fixing portion, and the rectangular reflector or the reflector support fixing member is welded. 4. A rectangular reflector and a reflector supporting and fixing member are both formed of resin, and the reflecting supporting and fixing member has a pair of U-shaped cross section reflector fixing portions. 2. A rectangular reflector having both ends in the longitudinal direction inserted into a U-shaped reflector fixing portion and ultrasonically welded.
The optical information reader according to the above.