JP2619711B2 - Printhead and optical information detection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a print head such as a thermal print head or an LED print head, and an optical information detection device used for a facsimile or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a print head used for a thermal printer for printing on thermal recording paper or an optical printer to which an electrophotographic process is applied is provided on a base substrate.
On one side, a head substrate having a large number of print media and its driving circuits arranged in a row on the surface is attached, and on the other side, a substrate for connection to an external circuit is attached. In addition, an optical information detection device used in a facsimile or the like mounts a sensor substrate having an image sensor with a built-in scanning circuit on the surface on a base substrate and transmits an image through a connection substrate arranged at a predetermined portion of the base substrate. It is configured by connecting a sensor and an external circuit such as an information transmission circuit, and its structure is relatively similar to a print head. Therefore, first, the configuration of the conventional thermal print head will be specifically described. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the thermal print head. A ceramic head substrate 2 is mounted on one side of an aluminum heat sink 1 and a connection substrate 3 for connecting the head substrate 2 to an external circuit is mounted on the other side. I have. On the head substrate 2, a large number of heating dots 4 arranged in a row in the longitudinal direction of the substrate and a fine wiring pattern (not shown) are integrally formed, and a fixed number of heating dots 4 are printed. Multiple drives driven according to information
IC5 is mounted. A comb-shaped input terminal portion 6 for connection to the connection substrate 3 is formed at one edge (right edge in the figure) on the upper surface of the head substrate 2. On the other hand, the connection board 3 is a flexible circuit board 7 formed by forming a circuit pattern on the front and back surfaces of a polyimide film and applying a protective coating thereon.
And a reinforcing plate 8 made of glass epoxy or the like for reinforcing the flexible circuit board 7. Also,
The leading edge of the flexible circuit board 7 is
And a comb-shaped connection terminal portion 9 formed on the back surface of the extension portion is superposed on the input terminal portion 6 of the head substrate 2. Thus, the flexible circuit board 7 and the head board 2 are electrically connected. Further, on the flexible circuit board 7, a holding cover 10 is stacked, and is fixed to the heat sink 1 by a plurality of screws 11. The holding cover 10 not only serves to protect the drive IC 5 but also serves as the head substrate 2.
The input terminals 5 on the side of the flexible circuit board 7 and the connection terminals 9 on the side of the flexible circuit board 7 are pressed into contact with each other to ensure the contact between the terminals 5, 9 and are overlapped with each other via a pressing rubber 12. Part is pressed. A male connector 13 is attached to the connection board 3 at a rear end protruding from the heat sink 1. A female connector 14 derived from a circuit of the printer device is connected to the male connector 13. The print head is operable.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the conventional thermal print head, as described above, in addition to the head substrate which is a central component of the device, a connection substrate including a flexible circuit board and a reinforcing plate,
It is composed of a number of mounting components such as a pressing plate and pressing rubber for pressing the overlapping portion of the terminal portions of the head substrate and the flexible circuit board, and a male connector attached to the connection substrate. This is because the connector cannot be fixed to the ceramic head substrate having poor workability while making electrical connection, and a connection substrate is absolutely necessary. However, the connection board or the like is merely an intermediate component for connecting the head board and the external circuit, and if the head board and the printer device-side circuit can be directly connected, the connection board is not used. The substrate, the pressing plate, and the like can be omitted. In this case, the number of components is significantly reduced, so that the print head can be made compact and the production cost can be significantly reduced. This is also true for LED print heads and optical information detection devices. Therefore, the present invention provides a print head capable of directly connecting a head substrate and a printing apparatus side circuit,
Also, by providing an optical information detecting device capable of directly connecting the center substrate and an external circuit, the print head and the optical information detecting device can be made compact and the production cost thereof can be reduced. Its purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following technical means. In other words, the print head according to claim 1 of the present application has a long rectangular head substrate, in which print media are arranged in rows along the longitudinal direction thereof, and a drive circuit for driving the print media is mounted. And a print head in which the head substrate is mounted on a support, and the head substrate has, at its longitudinal end,
A terminal portion having a conductor terminal on the front side and capable of being inserted and connected to the connector is provided so as to protrude from an end of the support, and a space between the drive circuit and the conductor terminal is provided on the head substrate. It is characterized in that it is connected via a routed circuit pattern. Further, the optical information detecting device described in claim 2 of the present application is:
Image sensors are arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction on the surface of a long rectangular sensor substrate, and an optical information detection device in which the sensor substrate is mounted on a support. In the longitudinal terminal portion, a terminal portion having a conductor terminal on the front surface side and capable of being inserted and connected to a connector is provided so as to protrude from an end of the support, and the image sensor and the conductor terminal are provided. It is characterized in that the spaces are connected via circuit patterns routed on the sensor substrate.

[Action and effect]

The print head of the present invention is provided with a terminal portion which is connected to a drive circuit of a print medium via a circuit pattern formed on the head substrate and which can be inserted and connected to a connector on the head substrate. This enables direct connection with the circuit of FIG. That is, the connector can electrically connect with the terminal portion while inserting and receiving the terminal portion itself as a male member, and connect the terminal portion of the head substrate to the connector derived from the printing apparatus main body. By doing so, the head substrate can be directly connected to the circuit on the printer device main body side. Therefore, unlike a conventional print head, there is no need to provide a connection substrate for connecting the head substrate to the apparatus-side circuit or a pressing plate for pressing the terminal overlap portion between the head substrate and the connection substrate. The number of parts of the head can be reduced, whereby the print head can be made compact and the cost can be reduced. Further, the downsizing of the print head contributes to downsizing of the printing apparatus. Further, in the present invention, the terminal portion capable of being inserted and connected to the connector as described above is provided at the longitudinal end of the long rectangular head substrate, so that the width of the head substrate or the width of the print head in the width direction is determined. Is significantly shortened as compared with the related art. This further promotes downsizing of the printer incorporating the print head of the present invention. In addition, in the printer incorporating the line type print head as in the present invention, the terminal portion and the connector to be inserted and connected to the terminal portion are arranged at a position where the essential platen does not affect the arrangement. Therefore, this also leads to the effective use of the internal space of the printer incorporating the print head of the present invention, which can further contribute to the miniaturization of the printer device. Further, the optical information detecting device of the present invention also connects the terminal portion provided on the sensor substrate to a connector derived from the external circuit, thereby directly connecting the sensor substrate and the external circuit. Can be connected to further,
Since the terminal portion is provided at the end in the longitudinal direction of the sensor substrate, the size of the optical information detecting device itself can be reduced, particularly by shortening the dimension in the width direction, and the size of an electronic device incorporating the optical information detecting device can be reduced. Can be promoted.
Therefore, the number of components can be reduced as compared with the conventional optical information detection device, and the configuration of the device can be simplified.

[Explanation of the embodiment]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show examples in which the present invention is applied to a thermal print head. In the drawings, the same members as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals. The thermal print head according to the present invention includes a head substrate 2
And a support 1 that supports it. The head substrate 2 made of ceramic has a rectangular shape in a plan view, and a large number of heating dots 4 provided as a print medium are printed on the surface of the head substrate 2 in the form of a thick film similarly to a conventional line type thermal print head. Are arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction by a method or the like, and a plurality of driving ICs 5 for driving a predetermined number of heating dots 4 are mounted. On the other hand, a plate-shaped member having a rectangular shape in a plan view is used for the support 1, and the head substrate 2 is provided on the upper surface of the support 1.
Are fixed by bonding or the like. The support 1 is formed of a material having good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, so that the support 1 also has a function as a heat radiating plate for effectively dissipating heat generated from the heating dots 4. In the case of this example, a protective cover 15 for covering and protecting the drive IC 5 is attached to the support 1 by screwing or the like. However, since this protective cover 15 is not for pressing the pressing rubber like the pressing cover in the conventional thermal print head, not much strength is required, and therefore, the protection cover 15 is not as large as the above-mentioned conventional pressing cover. Can be reduced in size and can be easily attached to the support 1. By the way, in the present invention, a terminal portion 16 having a conductor terminal 16a on the front side and capable of being inserted and connected to a connector 17 such as a card edge connector is provided at the longitudinal end portion of the head substrate 2. In this case, this is provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the head substrate 2. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, both ends of the head substrate 2 are projected from the ends of the support 2, and the comb-shaped conductor terminals 16a.
Are formed to form the terminal portions 16, 16.
Also, the thickness of the head substrate 2 is adjusted by the card edge connector 17.
The terminal section 16 can be inserted into the card edge connector 17 in accordance with the size of the insertion hole. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, on the head substrate 2,
A circuit pattern 18 for connecting between the conductor terminal 16a of the terminal portion 16 and the drive IC 5 is formed by a thick film printing method or an etching method. This circuit pattern 18 has one terminal
15 and the other terminal section 16 are routed so as to connect in series with each of the drive ICs 5 arranged therebetween, and control signals such as a clock signal, a latch signal and a strobe signal, It is composed of a plurality of wires for sending serial data (print information) and electric power to each of the drive ICs 5. Also, each wiring is routed under the back surface of the insulated drive IC 5, and each pad (not shown) of the drive IC 5 and the corresponding wiring are wire-bonded to connect the drive IC 5 to each wiring. Connected. In the thermal print head of the present example configured as described above, by directly connecting the card edge connector 17 derived via a cord from a circuit on the printer device main body to the terminal portions 16 and 16, The head substrate 2 and the circuit on the printer device side can be directly connected. Therefore, a connection board for connecting the head substrate 2 and the printer device side circuit is not required, so that the number of parts is greatly reduced, the print head can be made compact, and the assembly cost is also reduced. In particular, since the terminal portions 16 are formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the head substrate 2 having a long rectangular shape, the connectors 17 connected thereto are also arranged at both ends of the head substrate. Therefore, the width dimension of the head substrate 2 itself can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case. This greatly contributes to downsizing of the printer device incorporating the print head having the above configuration. More specifically, since the connector is arranged at a position convenient for arrangement with respect to a platen which is indispensable when a printer is constructed using this type of line type print head, the space within the printer device is reduced. Efficiency is increased, which can also contribute greatly to miniaturization of the printer. Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. This example shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an LED print head. The LED print head is a long rectangular head substrate 2
A plurality of LED chip arrays 19 arranged at regular intervals in a row along the longitudinal direction are provided as a printing medium, and a drive I for driving the LED chip arrays 19 is provided.
A plurality of C5s are mounted on the head substrate 2. On the other hand, the support 1 includes a substrate support 1a for supporting the head substrate 2 and a pair of supports 1b, 1b standing upright from both sides of the substrate support 1a.
b. Then, an LED is provided on the lens support portions 1b, 1b.
A plurality of lens elements 20 for focusing light from the chip array 18 on a photosensitive drum (not shown) are held. By the way, in the LED print head of the present invention, the head substrate 2 is provided with a terminal portion 16 having a conductor terminal 16a on the surface and capable of being inserted and connected to the card edge connector 17. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in this example,
As in the first embodiment, the terminal portions 16 are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the head substrate 2. Also, terminal 1
Each of the conductor terminals 16a ... and each drive IC5 ... of the head substrate 2
They are connected via the circuit pattern 18 routed upward. Therefore, even in the LED print head of this example,
Since the head substrate 2 and the circuit of the printer main body can be directly connected via the card edge connector 17, the connection substrate or the like provided in the conventional LED print head is not required. That is, since the number of components is smaller than that of the conventional LED print head, the print head can be made compact and the production cost can be reduced. In this example, since the support 1 also serves as a holder for the lens element 20, there is no particular need to separately provide a lens holder unlike a conventional LED print head. Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. This example shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an optical information detection device. The optical information detecting device is configured by mounting a plurality of image sensor chips 22 each having a built-in scanning circuit or the like on a sensor substrate 21, and arranging the image sensor chips 22 at regular intervals in a row in the longitudinal direction of the substrate. ing. In the case of this example,
Lens supports 1b, 1b are provided on support 1 supporting sensor substrate 21.
Are provided, and a plurality of lens elements 23 for converging the reflected light from the image onto the image sensor chips 22... Are held in the lens support portions 1b, 1b. Now, according to the present invention, the sensor board 21 is provided with a terminal portion 16 which can be inserted and connected to the card edge connector 17, and in the case of the present example, this is connected to the long side of the sensor board 21 as shown in FIG. It is provided at both ends in the direction. Although not shown, the conductor terminals formed on the surface of the terminal portion 16 and the respective image sensor chips 22 are connected via a circuit pattern routed on the sensor substrate 21. Therefore, also in the optical information detecting device of the present embodiment, the sensor substrate 21 can be directly connected to the external circuit via the card edge connector 17 as in the case of each of the print heads described above. By the way, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, in each of the above embodiments, the terminal portions were provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the substrate.
The terminal section may be provided only on one end side of the substrate. In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the present invention is applied to a print head of a type in which a plurality of drive ICs are mounted is shown. However, a matrix type print head in which one drive IC drives a print medium is used. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied without any problem.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a head substrate of the thermal print head according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side view of an end of the thermal print head according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a plan view of a head substrate of the LED print head according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a side view of an end of the LED print head according to the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a view of an end of the optical information detecting device according to the third embodiment, viewed from the side, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a conventional thermal print head. 1 ... support, 2 ... head substrate, 4,19 ... printing medium,
5 Drive circuit (drive IC), 16 Terminal part, 16a Conductor terminal, 18 Circuit pattern, 21 Sensor board, 22
... Image sensor.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A print medium is arranged in a row on a surface of a long rectangular head substrate along a longitudinal direction thereof, and a driving circuit for driving the print medium is mounted thereon. A print head mounted on the head substrate, wherein the head substrate has a conductor terminal on a front surface side at a longitudinal end portion thereof, and a terminal portion insertable and connectable to a connector is provided from an end portion of the support. A print head provided in a protruding manner, wherein the drive circuit and the conductor terminal are connected via a circuit pattern routed on a head substrate. 2. An optical information detecting apparatus comprising: a sensor substrate having a rectangular shape; image sensors arranged in a row along a longitudinal direction of the sensor substrate; and the sensor substrate mounted on a support. In the sensor substrate, a terminal portion which has conductor terminals on the front surface side and which can be inserted and connected to a connector is provided in the longitudinal direction terminal portion so as to protrude from an end of the support, and An optical information detection device, wherein a sensor and the conductor terminal are connected via a circuit pattern routed on a sensor substrate.