JP2006267139A - Device for measuring adhesion amount of color toner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simply, inexpensively and compactly configured device for measuring the adhesion amount of color toner having a monitor function by simple configurations. <P>SOLUTION: This color toner adhesive amount measuring device 10 comprises a frame member 11 made of resin equipped with four recessed sections opened to an upper direction, a pair of conductor parts 13 and 14 exposed so as to be made adjacent to each other on the bottom face of each recessed section of the frame member, one chip-shaped light emitting element 15 and three chip-shaped light receiving elements 16, 17 and 18 mounted at the chip mounting part of one conductor part 13 in each recessed section, and electrically connected to the other conductor part and one cover 12 covering the frame member. The cover is provided with a window part having polarizing films 19a, 19b and 19c corresponding to the light emitting element and the first and second light receiving elements and a reflecting surface 12a' for reflecting the rays of light from the light emitting element to the third light receiving element. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a color toner adhesion amount measuring device for measuring the adhesion amount of color toner in a transfer type color printer, a color facsimile apparatus or the like.

Conventionally, such a color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus is configured, for example, as shown in FIG.
That is, in FIG. 4, the color toner adhesion amount measuring device 1 includes an LED 2 as a light emitting unit, a first beam splitter 3 disposed in the light emission optical path of the LED 2, a first photodiode 4 as a light receiving unit, and It comprises a second photodiode 5 and a second beam splitter 6 disposed in the light receiving optical path of these photodiodes 4 and 5.
The entire color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 1 is disposed in the lamp house 1a and mounted on the substrate 7 as shown in FIG.

The LED 2 irradiates light to the detection body 8 such as a photosensitive drum whose color toner adhesion amount is to be measured.
The first beam splitter 3 is a polarization beam splitter having a known configuration, and is arranged in the light emission optical path from the LED 2 so that only the first polarized light, for example, P-polarized light out of the light from the LED 2. Is designed to be transparent.

Both the first photodiode 4 and the second photodiode 5 are, for example, PIN photodiodes having a known configuration.
The second beam splitter 6 is a polarization beam splitter having a known configuration, and transmits the first polarized light, for example, P-polarized light, and reflects the second polarized light, for example, S-polarized light. .

Further, the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 1 includes a third photodiode 9 for monitoring.
As shown in FIG. 6, the third photodiode 9 is smaller than the two photodiodes 4 and 5 described above, and is mounted on the surface of the substrate 7 and sealed with a sealing resin 9a. While being stopped, the light emitted from the LED 2 to the side enters through the window 7 provided in the substrate 7 and the lamp house 1a.

According to the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 1 having such a configuration, by driving the LED 2, only the P-polarized light is irradiated to the detection body 8 by the first beam splitter 3 out of the light emitted from the LED 2.
When the reflected light from the detector 8 is incident on the second beam splitter 6, the P-polarized light is transmitted through the second beam splitter 6 and incident on the first photodiode 4, and the S-polarized light is incident on the second beam splitter 6. The light is reflected by the beam splitter 6 and enters the second photodiode 5.

Here, a part of the P-polarized light incident on the detection body 8 is reflected by the surface of the detection body 8, and directly passes through the second beam splitter 6 as the P-polarized light toward the second beam splitter 6. The light enters the first photodiode 4.
On the other hand, of the P-polarized light to be incident on the detection body 8, the light incident on the toner attached to the surface of the detection body 8 is the light reflected by the toner because the toner is a dielectric. Includes components other than P-polarized light, that is, S components.

Therefore, only this S-polarized light is reflected by the second beam splitter 6 and is incident on the second photodiode 5, and the P-polarized light is transmitted through the second beam splitter 6 and the first photodiode. 4 is incident.
Thus, by calculating the ratio between the amount of S-polarized light incident on the second photodiode 4 and the amount of P-polarized light incident on the first photodiode 4, the toner adhesion amount on the photosensitive drum surface of the detection body 8 is calculated. If the amount of toner is large, this ratio increases, so that the color toner adhesion amount can be measured.

  In general, the light emission efficiency of the LED 2 changes when the temperature changes with driving. However, a part of the light emitted from the LED 2 to the side is incident on the third photodiode 9 for monitoring. By doing so, the light quantity of LED2 is monitored. Thereby, the drive circuit (not shown) of LED2 performs drive control so that the light quantity of LED2 becomes constant. Thereby, the light quantity of LED2 can always be kept constant.

Patent Document 1 discloses a toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus in which reflected light from a detection body is received as S-polarized light and P-polarized light by a light receiving element via a polarizing filter, respectively.
Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses color toner adhesion in which a part of light from a light source is divided and the light amount is measured by a monitoring unit, thereby controlling the driving conditions of the light source so that the light amount of the light source becomes constant. A quantity measuring device is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-250480 JP 2000-029271

By the way, in the above-described color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 1, a large number of components including the third photodiode 9 for monitoring need to be mounted on the substrate 7.
At that time, the LED 2 and the photodiodes 4, 5, 9 are formed in the lamp house 1 a after the lead terminals are formed, and mounted on the substrate 7 by soldering.

For this reason, the number of parts increases, and the measurement accuracy of the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 1 varies due to the variation in the mounting accuracy on the substrate 7 in addition to the variation in the dimensions of each component. As the cost increases, the lamp house 1a becomes relatively large.
Further, the third photodiode 9 for monitoring needs to be sealed with a sealing resin 9a after being mounted on the substrate 7 in order to eliminate the influence of disturbance, which increases the number of processes and increases the manufacturing cost. turn into.

On the other hand, the toner adhesion amount measuring device according to Patent Document 1 is not particularly configured to monitor the light amount of the light source and control the light amount.
In addition, the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to Patent Document 2 is configured to monitor the light amount of the light source, but a part of the light from the light source is divided and monitored by the light dividing means. Therefore, a part of the light to be irradiated to the detection body (photosensitive body) is used for the monitor, and the amount of light irradiated to the detection body is reduced.

  In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus having a monitor function, which can be configured at a low cost and in a small size with a simple configuration.

  According to the present invention, the above object is achieved by the present invention in which a pair of resin-made frame members having four upwardly opened recesses and a pair of each exposed at the bottom surface of each recess of the frame member are adjacent to each other. One light emitting element and three light receiving elements that are mounted on the element mounting portion of one conductor portion and electrically connected to the other conductor portion in each of the recessed portions, and the frame An integral cover that covers the member, and the cover includes a window having a polarizing film corresponding to the light emitting element and the first and second light receiving elements, and the light emitting element. A reflection surface for reflecting the light from the element to the third light receiving element, and irradiating the light to be detected from the light emitting element through the polarizing film of the cover onto the detection target whose toner adhesion amount is to be measured. The surface to be detected or The reflected light from the toner adhering to the surface is received by the first and second light receiving elements through polarizing films that transmit different types of polarized light, and the amount of toner adhering to the surface of the detection target is determined based on the difference in the amount of light. This is achieved by a color toner adhesion amount measuring device characterized by measuring.

  In the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention, preferably, the third light receiving element is mounted in a recess adjacent to one side of the recess in which the light emitting element is mounted.

  In the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention, preferably, the first and second light receiving elements are each mounted in a recessed portion arranged adjacent to the other side of the recessed portion in which the light emitting element is mounted.

  In the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention, preferably, the cover includes a lens portion in each window portion.

  The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention preferably includes a recessed portion in which the frame members are arranged in a line, and each pair of conductor portions exposed in each recessed portion serves as a lead terminal of the frame member. Protrudes side by side from the side edge.

  The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention is preferably configured as a whole by integrating the cover with the frame member.

According to the above configuration, when the light emitted from the light emitting element passes through the polarizing film attached to the window portion of the cover to become the first type of polarized light and is irradiated onto the detection target, the reflected light from the detection target Respectively enter the first and second light receiving elements through the polarizing film.
Accordingly, the first and second light receiving elements receive different types of polarized light through the polarizing film from the reflected light from the detection target, and detect the amount of light.
At that time, the polarized light of a different type from the irradiation light to the detection target is generated by being reflected by the toner that is a dielectric attached to the surface of the detection target. The toner adhesion amount on the surface of the detection target can be measured.

  In addition, since the light from the light emitting element is reflected by the reflecting surface provided on the cover and guided to the third light receiving element, the amount of light emitted from the light emitting element can be detected by the third light receiving element. By controlling the driving of the light emitting element corresponding to the amount of emitted light, even if the temperature of the light emitting element rises and the light emission efficiency decreases, the amount of emitted light of the light emitting element can be kept constant.

  Furthermore, the light emitting element and each light receiving element are each configured as a chip component, and are mounted by die bonding and wire bonding on a conductive portion exposed in each recessed portion of a single frame member, and compared with the conventional one. Since a large-sized polarizing beam splitter is not used, the entire structure can be made small, and the number of steps can be increased to increase the mounting accuracy of each component to the frame member, and variation can be greatly reduced. .

  When the third light receiving element is mounted in a recessed portion adjacent to one side of the recessed portion on which the light emitting element is mounted, light from the light emitting element can be easily guided to the third light receiving element. It will be.

  In the case where the first and second light receiving elements are respectively mounted in the recessed portions arranged adjacent to the other side of the recessed portion where the light emitting element is mounted, the light from the light emitting element can be easily and similarly. It is reflected by the detection target and can be guided to the first and second light receiving elements.

  When the cover includes a lens portion in each window portion, the light emitted from the light emitting element to the inspection object and the light reflected from the inspection object and guided to the first and second light receiving elements, respectively. By focusing by the lens unit, these polarized lights can be detected more efficiently.

  In the case where the frame member includes concave portions arranged in a line, and each pair of conductor portions exposed in the concave portions protrudes side by side from the side edges of the frame member as lead terminals, respectively, Since the lead terminals are directly connected to the mounting substrate, the color toner adhesion amount measuring device can be easily mounted.

  When the cover is integrated with the frame member, when the whole is configured as a single package, the frame member can be further reduced in size and handled easily.

  In this way, according to the present invention, by using a single frame member and mounting each of the light emitting element as the chip component and the three light receiving elements in each recess provided in the frame member, Therefore, the overall configuration is small, low-cost, and small in size and with little variation.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention particularly limits the present invention in the following description. As long as there is no description of the effect, it is not restricted to these aspects.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an embodiment of a color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the color toner adhesion amount measuring device 10 includes a frame member 11 and a cover 12.

The frame member 11 is formed in a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape made of resin, and includes four recessed portions 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d arranged in a line.
In each of the recessed portions 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of conductive portions 13a, 14a; 13b, 14b; 13c, 14c; ing.
These conductive portions 13a, 14a; 13b, 14b; 13c, 14c; 13d, 14d are integrally formed with the frame member 11 by insert molding, for example, and the other end protrudes from one side surface of the frame member 11. Lead terminals are formed.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a chip-like LED 15 as a light emitting element is die-bonded to the chip mounting portion of the conductive portion 13b in the second recessed portion 11b, and the adjacent conductive portion The part 14b is wire-bonded with a gold wire or the like.
Further, in the third and fourth recessed portions 11c and 11d, chip-like photodiodes 16 and 17 as first and second light receiving elements are die-bonded to the chip mounting portions of the conductive portions 13c and 13d, respectively. At the same time, the adjacent conductive portions 14c and 14d are wire-bonded with a gold wire or the like.
On the other hand, in the first concave portion 11a, a chip-like photodiode 18 as a third light receiving element is die-bonded to the chip mounting portion of the conductive portion 13a and to the adjacent conductive portion 14a. On the other hand, wire bonding is performed using a gold wire or the like.

  Further, the cover 12 is made of resin like the frame member 11 and is formed so as to cover the entire upper surface of the frame member 11, and the LED 15 and the photodiode mounted on the frame member 11. 16 and 17 are provided with notches 12a, 12b, and 12c.

These notches 12a, 12b, and 12c are separated from each other by a partition wall so as to prevent light from leaking, and include a window portion having an open upper end.
And the polarizing film 19a, 19b, 19c is each provided in the window part of these notches 12a, 12b, 12c so that these window parts may be obstruct | occluded.
Here, the first polarizing film 19a and the third polarizing film 19c are P-polarizing films that transmit P-polarized light, and the second polarizing film 19b is an S-polarizing film that transmits S-polarized light. .

Further, the notch 12a is opposed to the LED 15 mounted in the recessed portion 11b of the frame member 11, and the lower region extends to the upper side of the adjacent third photodiode 18, and this extended portion Is formed as a reflecting surface 12a '.
As a result, the light L1 emitted from the LED 15 travels upward in the cutout portion 12a, passes through the polarizing film 19a in the window portion, and irradiates the detection body 20 whose color toner adhesion amount is to be measured. At the same time, the light L2 emitted obliquely to the side is reflected by the reflecting surface 12a ′ and guided to the third photodiode 18.

On the other hand, the notches 12b and 12c are opposed to the photodiodes 16 and 17 mounted in the recessed portions 11c and 11d of the frame member 11, respectively.
The notches 12b and 12c are inclined in the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 so that the light reflected by the detector 20 is guided to the photodiodes 16 and 17 through the polarizing films 19b and 19c of the windows, respectively. It is formed so as to be inclined.

  The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, and when used, as shown in FIG. 3, a detection body 20 for measuring the color toner adhesion amount is provided. It is mounted on a substrate 21 provided in various devices.

Here, by driving the LED 15, the LED 15 emits light. Thereby, the light L1 emitted upward from the LED 15 passes through the first polarizing film 19a, and only the P-polarized light is irradiated to the detection body 20.
And the reflected light from the detection body 20 injects into the 2nd and 3rd polarizing films 19b and 19c. As a result, S-polarized light transmitted through the second polarizing film 19 b enters the first photodiode 16, and P-polarized light transmitted through the third polarizing film 19 c enters the second photodiode 17.

Here, a part of the P-polarized light that has entered the detection body 20 is reflected by the surface of the photosensitive drum of the detection body 20, passes through the third polarizing filter 19 c as it is, and passes through the third polarization filter 19 c to the second photodiode 17. Incident.
On the other hand, of the P-polarized light to be incident on the detection body 20, light incident on the toner attached to the photosensitive drum surface of the detection body 20 is reflected by this toner because the toner is a dielectric. The light contains components other than P-polarized light, that is, S components.
Accordingly, only this S-polarized light is transmitted through the first polarizing film 19b and incident on the first photodiode 16, and the P-polarized light is transmitted through the third polarizing film 19c to be transmitted to the second photodiode. 17 is incident.
As a result, the ratio of the amount of S-polarized light incident on the first photodiode 16 and the amount of P-polarized light incident on the second photodiode 17 is calculated, whereby the color toner adheres to the photosensitive drum surface of the detection body 20. The amount can be measured.

Further, the light L2 emitted from the LED 15 to the side is reflected by the reflecting surface 12a ′ and enters the third photodiode 18 for monitoring, so that the amount of light of the LED 15 can be monitored. The LED 15 is driven and controlled by a drive circuit (not shown) so that the amount of emitted light is constant based on the amount of light monitored by the third photodiode 18.
Therefore, even if the light emission efficiency of the LED 15 changes due to a temperature change caused by driving, the light quantity of the LED 15 is monitored and the drive control is performed so that the light emission quantity becomes constant. Variations will be corrected. As a result, accurate measurement of the color toner adhesion amount can always be performed.

Since the LED 15 and the photodiodes 16, 17, and 18 are chip components and are mounted on the chip mounting portions of the conductor portions 13 a, 13 b, 13 c, and 13 d of the frame member 11, the individual components are mounted. The variation in time will be reduced, and the variation as a whole can be greatly reduced.
Furthermore, since the third photodiode 18 for monitoring is mounted in the frame member 11 in the same manner as the LED 15 and the other photodiodes 16 and 17, and can be configured as one package as a whole, assembly variation is reduced, and the process The number can be reduced, and the whole can be made compact.
In addition, in order to separate the reflected light from the detection body by polarization, a polarizing film is used instead of a conventional polarizing beam splitter, so that the entire structure can be made small and lightweight. .

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the detection body 20 is a photosensitive drum such as a color printer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and in various image forming apparatuses that perform image formation by attaching other color toners. However, it is obvious that the present invention can be applied.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus having a monitor function, which can be configured at low cost and in a small size with a simple configuration.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of a color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which a cover is removed from the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a mounting state of the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus of FIG. 1 on a mounting substrate. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the structure of an example of the conventional color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a mounting state of the color toner adhesion amount measuring device of FIG. 4 on a mounting substrate. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus of FIG. 4.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus 11 Frame member 12 Cover 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d Conductor part 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d Conductor part 15 LED (chip component)
16, 17, 18 Photodiode (chip parts)
19a, 19b, 19c Polarizing film 20 Detector 21 Substrate

Claims (6)

A resin-made frame member having four recessed portions opened upward,
A pair of conductor portions exposed adjacent to each other at the bottom surface of each recessed portion of the frame member;
In each of the recesses, one light emitting element and three light receiving elements that are mounted on the element mounting part of one conductor part and electrically connected to the other conductor part,
An integral cover over the frame member;
Contains
The cover has a window provided with a polarizing film corresponding to the light emitting element and the first and second light receiving elements, and a reflection for reflecting light from the light emitting element to the third light receiving element. Has a surface,
The light passing through the polarizing film of the cover from the light emitting element is irradiated to the detection target whose amount of toner adhesion is to be measured, and the reflected light from the toner attached to the surface of the detection target or the surface is subjected to different types of polarized light. A color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus, wherein the first and second light receiving elements receive light via a polarizing film to be transmitted, and a toner adhesion amount on the surface of the detection target is measured based on a difference between the light amounts.   The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the third light receiving element is mounted in a recessed portion adjacent to one side of the recessed portion in which the light emitting element is mounted.   3. The color toner adhesion according to claim 2, wherein the first and second light receiving elements are each mounted in a recessed portion arranged adjacent to the other side of the recessed portion in which the light emitting element is mounted. Quantity measuring device.   The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover includes a lens portion in each window portion.   The frame member is provided with a recessed portion arranged in a row, and each pair of conductor portions exposed in each recessed portion protrudes side by side from the side edge of the frame member as a lead terminal. The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to claim 1.   6. The color toner adhesion amount measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover is integrated with the frame member to constitute a whole as a single package.

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