JP2006243482A - Optical scanner in image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical scanner in an image forming apparatus which is so composed to scan a photoreceptor at a same speed via a scanning optical system of an fθ lens, a toroidal lens and others by reflecting and deflecting a plurality of light beams modulated by image data with a rotating polygon mirror, thereby a positional deviation of scanning, which is generated when a light beam guided to a sensor for detecting the begining position of scanning is not passed through all lenses of the scanning optical system for the purpose of saving space, is compensated by a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: In the non-image region side part of some of lenses composing the scanning optical system existing in the optical path of laser light made incident to the sensor, a face form is so formed that the respective light beams are focused on the positions on one and the same line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beams on the sensor when the incident angles of the respective light beams onto the scanning optical system on the downstream side of the rotating polygon mirror become the same, and beginning positions of scanning of the image region of the respective light beams are made exactly coincident in a main scanning direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical scanning device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a composite machine using an electrophotographic method, and more particularly, reflects and deflects a plurality of light beams with a rotating polyhedral mirror ( The deflection scanning direction is referred to as the main scanning direction), and the scanning position of each light beam on the photosensitive member is set to a different position in the sub-scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction). The present invention relates to an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus having a mechanism for precisely matching an image region scanning start position on a body in a main scanning direction.

  As an apparatus for exposing a photosensitive member in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or a composite machine using an electrophotographic method, a light beam modulated by image data from a light source using a rotating polyhedral mirror is used. An optical scanning device that reflects and deflects and scans the photosensitive member, and an exposure device that uses a self-lens or the like in which laser diodes are arranged in an array are used.

  Among these, the optical scanning device using the rotating polyhedral mirror is capable of scanning the photosensitive member at high speed. Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 and shown in FIG. The two light beams 55a and 55b in the example shown in FIG. 7 are reflected and deflected by the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 rotating around the rotation axis 58, and the scanning positions of the respective light beams 55a and 55b on the photosensitive member 60 are determined. An optical scanning device has also been proposed in which the photosensitive member 60 is simultaneously scanned at different positions in the sub-scanning direction 62 to increase the speed.

  That is, in FIG. 7, 51a and 51b are laser diodes (hereinafter abbreviated as LDs), and light beams 55a and 55b emitted from the LDs 51a and 51b are 1 as optical rotation means from the coupling lenses 52a and 52b. / 2 Wave plates 53a and 53b enter polarized light, and are imaged on a rotary reflecting mirror 57 via liquid crystal elements 54a and 54b and a cylindrical lens 56. Then, after passing through a scanning optical system (scanning lens such as an fθ lens and a toroidal lens) 59, the half-wave plates 53 a and 53 b and the liquid crystal element 54 a are formed on the peripheral surface of a drum-shaped photosensitive member 60 as an image carrier. 54b is formed as a beam spot at a different position in the sub-scanning direction 62 (for example, an interval of one dot) by the action of 54b, and the light beams 55a and 55b are modulated with image data and scanned in the main scanning direction 61 direction. A latent image is formed on the photoconductor 60.

  In this optical scanning device, the light beams 55 a and 55 b that have passed through the scanning optical system 59 are reflected by the reflecting mirror 63 in order to accurately match the image region scanning start position of the light beams 55 a and 55 b on the photosensitive member with the main scanning direction. Then, it is guided to a sensor 64 provided at a position that is the same distance as the optical path length from the rotary reflecting mirror 57 to the photosensitive member 60, and the image data is transmitted after a predetermined time with reference to the time when the light beams 55a and 55b pass through the sensor 64. The photosensitive member 60 is scanned by the above.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 10A, the light beam 55a incident on the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 is reflected at an angle θ, and the circumferential surface of the photoconductor 60 via the scanning optical systems 59 ₁ and 59 _2. As shown in FIG. 10B, the distance h1 from the optical axis of the optical system that forms an image is reflected by the light beam 55b incident on the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 at an angle θ, and the scanning optical systems 59 ₁ and 59 ₂ are reflected. The distance h2 from the optical axis of the optical system that forms an image on the peripheral surface of the photoconductor 60 via the gap is the same, and no difference occurs.

That is, as shown in FIG. 11A, the reflection point is moved by the rotation of the rotating polyhedral mirror 57. Even if the incident angles of the light beams 55a and 55b to the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 are different, Depending on the rotation angle, the reflection angles of the light beams 55a and 55b may be the same as indicated by θ, and at this time, the distance T1 (distance of the light beam 55a) from the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 to the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 60. If because T2 (distance of the light beam 55b) is becomes different, as shown in FIG. 11 (B), each of the light beams 55a, 55b is incident parallel to the scanning optical system 59 _1, the scanning optical If the aberrations of the systems 59 ₁ and 59 ₂ are appropriately corrected, the imaging points on the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 60 have the same distance from the optical axis of the optical system (that is, h1 and h2).

  However, the image forming apparatus is also required to be miniaturized for speeding up and space saving, and in order to achieve this, the light beam 65 from the LD is converted into a rotating polyhedral mirror 67 by a cylindrical lens 66 as shown in FIG. After image formation and passing through scanning optical systems (scanning lenses such as fθ lenses and toroidal lenses) 68 and 69, the optical path is bent at a right angle or in a predetermined direction by a reflection mirror 70 to form an image on the photosensitive member 71, and optical scanning is performed. An image forming apparatus in which the entire length of the apparatus is shortened has also been proposed. In the optical scanning device shown in FIG. 8, each of the plurality of light beams 65 has a different position (for example, one dot) in the sub-scanning direction on the photosensitive member 71, as in the optical scanning device shown in FIG. The optical system is configured to form an image at an interval.

  When the optical scanning device is configured in this manner, the installation position of the sensor 64 provided to align the image region scanning start position on the photosensitive member in FIG. 7 is limited, and passes through, for example, the fθ lens 68 in the scanning optical system. Then, the light beam before being incident on the fθ lens 69 is reflected by the reflection mirror 72 and guided to the sensor 73 provided at the same distance as the optical path length from the rotary reflection mirror 67 to the photoconductor 71 so as to be detected. An optical system has been proposed.

  However, when the light beam is guided to the sensor 73 by an optical system that does not allow one of the scanning optical systems 68 and 69 configured by a plurality of lenses to pass through (that is, does not allow 69 to pass), FIG. The principle that the light beams 55a and 55b incident on the rotating polyhedral mirror 57 at different incident angles as described with reference to FIG. 11 form an image at the same distance from the optical axis on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 60 does not hold. As shown in FIG. 12, the imaging position is shifted by Δh.

That is, in the schematic diagram of the optical system shown in FIG. 12, the reflection mirror 72 in FIG. 8 is omitted for easy explanation, and the optical path directly reaches the direction of the photoconductor 71, but it passes through the lens 68. since the light beam is adapted to form an image as it is photosensitive member 71 without passing through the lens 69, similarly to the case shown in FIG. 11 (B) lens 68 (corresponding to 59 ₁ of FIG. 11 (B)) While the incident angle to the same theta, does not match both the beam convergence position on the photosensitive member 71 to the lens 69 does not pass through (FIG. 11 (B) corresponds to 59 _second), the imaging position Is shifted by Δh.

However, as shown in FIG. 11B, the light beam 65 which is modulated by the image data and passes through both the scanning lenses 68 and 69 and forms an image on the photosensitive member 71, as described with reference to FIG. Are imaged at the same distance from the optical axis of the optical system. Therefore, when scanning by image data is started after the same time after the sensor 73 detects each light beam, the scanning start position is as shown in FIG. The time difference ΔT corresponding to the image formation position deviation Δh of the light beam to the sensor 73 is shifted. That represents LD1, LD2 is the light beam in Fig. 9, for example LD1 as a light beam as a reference, the light beam LD1 time sensor 73 detects a 0, the time to start scanning by the image data and T ₂ Then, when the imaging positions of the LD1 and LD2 on the sensor 73 are shifted by Δh as shown in FIG. 12, the time for detecting the LD2 by the sensor 73 is shifted by ΔT, and the time for starting scanning with image data is started. become a T ₁ is not shifted by the detection time difference ΔT.

  For this reason, the dot formation position by the light beam is shifted despite the attempt to increase the speed by using a plurality of light beams, and the dots are displaced in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG. An image will be formed. The resolution in the current image forming apparatus is approximately 600 to 1200 dpi. For example, in the case of 600 dpi, one dot is 42 μm, and the allowable range of displacement is 1/8 dot, that is, approximately 5.25 μm. This is because the focal length of the scanning lenses 68 and 69 using the fθ lens in the optical scanning apparatus configured as shown in FIG. 8 is 200 mm, the rotational speed of the rotating polyhedral mirror is 35000 rpm, and the number of surfaces of the rotating polyhedral mirror is 6 surfaces. Then, since the lighting time of one dot at 600 dpi is about 30 ns, the allowable range of ΔT in FIG. 9 is between 0 ns and about 3.75 ns.

JP 2004-184527 A

  For this reason, in the present invention, a plurality of light beams modulated by image data are reflected and deflected by a rotating polyhedral mirror and scanned on the photosensitive member at a constant speed via a scanning optical system such as an fθ lens and a toroidal lens. In the scanning device, in order to save the space of the light beam guided to the scanning start position detection sensor, the scanning position deviation that occurs when all the lenses of the scanning optical system are not passed is compensated with a simple configuration. It is an object to provide an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes:
A plurality of light beams emitted from a plurality of light sources that are modulated by image data and incident on a rotating polyhedral mirror at different angles and reflected and deflected;
Consists of a plurality of lenses and images the light beams at different positions in the sub-scanning direction, which is perpendicular to the direction of deflection by the rotating polyhedral mirror, on a photoconductor that forms an image by electrophotography. Scanning optical system configured to scan at a constant speed, and
At least a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system exists on the upstream side in the scanning direction and is arranged at a position different from the image plane of the scanning optical system, and detects the light beams to detect the light beams. In the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus having the sensor for aligning the image region scanning start position on the photosensitive member by the main scanning direction by
A part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system existing in the optical path of the laser light incident on the sensor are arranged on the side of the non-image area, and the light beams to the scanning optical system downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror A surface shape is formed so that each light beam forms an image at a position on the same straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor when the incident angles are the same. .

  As described above, when the incident angles of the respective light beams to the scanning optical system provided downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror are the same, they are positioned on the same straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor. For example, by forming a side surface shape of a non-image area in a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system existing in the optical path of laser light incident on the sensor so that the respective light beams are imaged, Even if the sensor is disposed at a position different from the image plane of the scanning optical system, as described with reference to FIG. 11, the incident angles of the respective light beams to the scanning optical system downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror are the same. Since each light beam has the same effect as being formed at the same distance from the optical axis of the optical system, the image area scanning start position of each light beam can be accurately matched with the main scanning direction, and simple Image of each light beam with configuration It is possible to provide an optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus to match the frequency scanning start position.

  According to the present invention, even if the scanning optical system is provided with a sensor for detecting each light beam at a position different from the image plane of the scanning optical system, scanning of the image area of each light beam can be started with a simple configuration. The position can be made to exactly match the main scanning direction, and the image forming apparatus can be made small and accurate.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention unless otherwise specified, but are merely illustrative examples. Not too much.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a configuration of an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a design example of a scanning optical system of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. An example of the design parameters, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the image surface speed (A) and the main scanning direction field curvature (B) of the focal position among the fθ characteristics and the main scanning direction field curvature, and FIG. 5 shows the present invention. Each light beam provided on the side of the non-image area of a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus is perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the shape of a surface that forms an image at a position on the line, and FIG. 6 shows an example of the design parameters.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 11 and 12 denote laser diodes (LDs) that emit light beams modulated by image data. Although not shown, the light beam is incident on the reflection surface 13 of the rotating polyhedral mirror 10 at different angles while being converged by a cylindrical lens or the like, is reflected and deflected, and is a scanning lens such as an fθ lens or a toroidal lens. Through the scanning optical systems 14 and 15 configured as described above, different positions (for example, one dot interval) in the sub-scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the deflection direction by the rotating polyhedral mirror) on the peripheral surface 18 of the photosensitive member or the like are provided. Position) at a constant speed. Note that the optical system shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and it is obvious that the number of scanning lenses 14 and 15 is not limited to two.

  As described with reference to FIG. 8, since the image forming apparatus is also required to be downsized for speeding up and space saving, the image area scanning range indicated by 21 and 22 on the peripheral surface 18 of the photosensitive member or the like is set. The scanning light beam is bent in a predetermined direction by a reflecting mirror (not shown) to shorten the entire length of the optical scanning device, and an image region scanning start position (for example, 21) on the peripheral surface 18 such as a photoconductor. The sensor 17 for detecting the light beam 20 emitted from the LDs 11 and 12 provided for aligning the light beams is not the peripheral surface 18 such as a photosensitive member, but the light path is bent by the reflecting mirror 16 before entering the fθ lens 15, for example. It is installed at a position that does not obstruct the area scanning range.

  In the present invention, as described with reference to FIG. 11, the light beams emitted from the LDs 11 and 12 are incident on, for example, the fθ lens 14 constituting the scanning optical system downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror 10 in the optical axis direction. The scanning optical system existing on the upstream side of the sensor 17 is configured so that each light beam is positioned on the same straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor 17 when the angles are the same. A surface shape as indicated by 19 is formed on the side of the non-image area of some of the lenses 14, and scanning with image data is performed after the same time after the sensor 17 detects the respective light beams 20 from the LDs 11 and 12. Even if the operation is started (for example, 21 image region scanning start position), the scanning start position is not shifted.

The basic optical system of the optical scanning apparatus according to the present invention has a design wavelength using, for example, PMMA as a material for the fθ lenses 14 and 15 constituting the basic optical system, as shown in FIG. 780 nm, the refractive index is n = 1.486169, and the design is only within the scanning plane in consideration of the essence of this patent, and on the optical axis from the reflecting surface 13 to the S1 surface of the rotating polyhedral mirror 10 in FIG. The distance is d0, the thickness is d1, the distance on the optical axis from the S2 surface to the S3 surface of the lens 15 is d2, the thickness is d3, and the distance on the optical axis from the S4 surface to the peripheral surface 18 of the photoreceptor is d4. Then, the following equation (1) was used to design using the design parameters shown in the table of FIG.

  Of the fθ characteristic indicating the constant velocity of the light beam by the scanning optical system and the main scanning direction field curvature, the image surface speed (A) and the main scanning direction field curvature (B) at the focal point are respectively The graph is as shown in FIG.

  In the basic optical system of the optical scanning device thus configured, as described above in the present invention, for example, when the incident angles of the light beams emitted from the LDs 11 and 12 to the fθ lens 14 are the same, A non-image of a part of the lenses 14 constituting the scanning optical system existing on the upstream side of the sensor 17 so that the light beam is positioned on the same straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor 17. A surface shape as indicated by 19 is formed on the side of the region. The surface shape 19 is as shown in FIG. 5, and an example of the design parameters is as shown in the table shown in FIG. Become.

An example of specifications of the surface shape 19 is as shown in the table of FIG. 6, and the design was performed using the following equation (2). In the drawing shown in FIG. 5, there are three light beams incident on the surface shape 19 portion, and the light beams emitted from the surface shape 19 portion are in the moving direction of the light beam. It is shown that the image is formed at a position on the same vertical straight line 19 '.

  In this way, when the incident angles of the light beams from the LDs 11 and 12 to the scanning optical system 14 provided downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror 10 are the same, the movement direction of the light beam on the sensor is as follows. Forming a side surface shape 19 of a non-image region in a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system existing on the upstream side of the sensor 17 so that each of the light beams forms an image at a vertical position on the same straight line. Thus, even if the sensor 17 is arranged at a position different from the image plane of the scanning optical system, as described in FIG. 11, each light beam is incident on the scanning optical system downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror. If the angles are the same, each light beam has the same effect as being imaged at the same distance from the optical axis of the optical system. Therefore, the image area scanning start position of each light beam must be exactly aligned with the main scanning direction. Can be simple It is possible to provide an optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus to match the image area scanning start position of each light beam formed.

  According to the present invention, in an optical scanning device configured to reflect and deflect a plurality of light beams modulated by image data by a rotating polyhedral mirror and scan the photosensitive member via a scanning optical system such as an fθ lens and a toroidal lens. In order to save space, the light beam guided to the scanning start position detection sensor can compensate for the scanning position deviation that occurs when all the lenses of the scanning optical system are not allowed to pass through with a simple configuration. Small and can be manufactured with high accuracy.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of a design of the scanning optical system of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus which becomes this invention. It is an example of the scanning optical system design parameter of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The fθ characteristic of the scanning optical system of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention and the image surface speed (A) and the main scanning direction field curvature (B) of the focal position in the main scanning direction field curvature are shown respectively. It is a graph. In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, each light beam provided on the side of the non-image area of a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system of the optical scanning device is perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor. It is the figure which showed the surface shape made to image in the position on the same straight line. It is an example of the design parameter of the surface shape provided in the non-image area side part of the one part lens which comprises the scanning optical system of the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus which becomes this invention. It is the structure schematic of the conventional optical scanning device using a several light beam. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional optical scanning device using a plurality of light beams and bending a light path leading to a photosensitive member by a reflecting mirror in order to make the optical scanning device compact. In an optical scanning apparatus using a scanning lens composed of a plurality of light beams and a plurality of fθ lenses, etc., an actual scanning position generated when the passage of each light beam is detected by a sensor without passing through all the scanning lenses It is a figure for demonstrating deviation | shift. In a conventional optical scanning device using a plurality of light beams, the distance from the optical system optical axis on the photosensitive member is the same even if the incident angles of the light beams to the rotating polyhedral mirror are different. FIG. In the conventional optical scanning device using a plurality of light beams, (A) shows that even if the incident angles of the respective light beams to the rotating polyhedral mirror are different, the reflection angle becomes the same by the rotation of the rotating polyhedral mirror. It is a figure for demonstrating, (B) is for demonstrating that the parallel light with the same incident angle to a scanning lens forms an image in the position where the distance from the optical system optical axis on a photoreceptor is the same. FIG. In an optical scanning device using a scanning lens composed of a plurality of light beams and a plurality of fθ lenses, scanning is performed at the same angle when each light beam is imaged on the photosensitive member without passing through all the scanning lenses. It is a figure for demonstrating that the light beam made to enter into a lens image-forms to the position from which the distance from the optical system optical axis to a photosensitive body changes with incident positions. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining dot position misalignment in the main scanning direction that occurs when an image is formed at a position where the distance from the optical axis of the optical system to the photosensitive member is different due to the light beam in the optical scanning device using a plurality of light beams. It is.

Explanation of symbols

10 Rotating polyhedral mirrors 11, 12 Laser diode (LD)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 Reflecting surface 14, 15 Scanning optical system 16 Reflecting mirror 17 Sensor 18 Peripheral surface 19 such as a photoconductor A portion 20 having different surface shapes of lenses constituting the scanning optical system 20 Light beams 21 and 22 from the LD Image region scanning range Scanning light beam

Claims (1)

A plurality of light beams emitted from a plurality of light sources that are modulated by image data and incident on a rotating polyhedral mirror at different angles and reflected and deflected;
Consists of a plurality of lenses and images the light beams at different positions in the sub-scanning direction, which is perpendicular to the direction of deflection by the rotating polyhedral mirror, on a photoconductor that forms an image by electrophotography. Scanning optical system configured to scan at a constant speed, and
At least a part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system exists on the upstream side in the scanning direction and is arranged at a position different from the image plane of the scanning optical system, and detects the light beams to detect the light beams. In the optical scanning device in the image forming apparatus having the sensor for aligning the image region scanning start position on the photosensitive member by the main scanning direction by
A part of the lenses constituting the scanning optical system existing in the optical path of the laser light incident on the sensor are arranged on the side of the non-image area, and the light beams to the scanning optical system downstream of the rotating polyhedral mirror A surface shape is formed so that each light beam forms an image at a position on the same straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the light beam on the sensor when the incident angles are the same. An optical scanning device in an image forming apparatus.

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