JPH0215230A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the entire device compact by providing plural image carriers made of optical fibers, which posses light receiving/emitting parts for picture signals for the deflected and scanned image carriers and the same number of picture signal transmitters.. CONSTITUTION:A single light source device 6 generates optical signals including the picture signals for the image carriers 1 and 2, out of signals of one scanning for picture information to be recorded. A deflecting and scanning device 5 being a polygon mirror deflects and scans the optical signals at a prescribed position for each of the image carriers 1 and 2. The light receiving parts 3a and 7a receive the picture signals for the image carriers 1 and 2 deflected and scanned by the deflecting and scanning device 5. And in response thereto, the light emitting parts 3b and 7b arranged opposite to the image carrier 1 and 2 are provided. The same number of picture signal transmitters 3 and 7 as that of the image carriers made of plural optical fibers A1, A2... An and B1, B2... Bn are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that uses an electrophotographic process and obtains a multicolor recorded image using a laser beam printer or the like. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus characterized by comprising: and a plurality of image carriers.

(Prior Art) Until now, printers using electrophotography have been widely used as output devices for computers, facsimiles, CAD, and the like.

These devices form image information as a latent image on an electrostatic latent image carrier using a laser, LED, LCD, etc., and then
Convert into a visible image using a developing device.

Thereafter, the visible image was transferred onto a recording material and a recorded image was obtained through a process of fixing it. In such conventional printers, the recorded image is of one color, for example, black. however,
Recently, for reasons such as making recorded images clearer and information easier to understand, for example, the color of the format and the color of the calculated value or data value are expressed in different colors.
It is desired to obtain a recorded image by distinguishing it by two or more colors, such as outputting a part of a drawing output by CAD in another color.

As an example of a cartridge type electrophotographic apparatus that enables such multicolor recording, an image forming process using an image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 12 is known.

The illustrated image forming apparatus is a two-color image forming apparatus, and thus includes two image forming units having exactly the same configuration. Therefore, only the first image forming unit will be described below.

In FIG. 12, the cartridge 13a includes an image carrier 14a which is a latent image carrier, a charger 15a, and a developer 16a.
, a cleaner 1 for scraping off residual toner on the image carrier 14a;
It consists of 7a.

The surface of the image carrier 14a rotating in the direction of the arrow is uniformly charged by a negative charger 15a, and is irradiated with a laser beam 19a that is deflected and modulated by an optical system unit 18a according to the color image information. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the first image carrier 14a.

Then, the electrostatic latent image is developed with the first color toner by the developing device 16a, and is visualized. The toner image formed on the image carrier 14a is transferred onto the transfer material 22 by corona discharge from the transfer charger 21a. The residual toner on the image carrier 14a is scraped off by the cleaner 17a, and the same image forming process is repeated again.

The second image forming unit has the same configuration as the first image forming unit, except that the color of the toner stored in the second cartridge 13b is different, as described above. Therefore, the same components are indicated by the same reference numbers as in the first image forming unit with rbJ added.

At this time, the second color image signal is transferred to the first color image signal. By delaying the time corresponding to the distance between the second image carriers, it is possible to prevent the images of the first color and the second color from being shifted.

As described above, the first cartridge 13a and the second cartridge 13b each have image carriers 14a and 14b.
The toner images formed thereon are transferred to transfer chargers 21a and 2, respectively.
The image is transferred onto the transfer material 22 at step 1b. The transfer material 22 is an image carrier 14a.

The image is transported from the position 14b to a fixing device (not shown),
The toner image is fixed.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the above conventional example, the optical system unit)
The laser beams emitted from 18a and 18b are applied to image carriers 14a and 1
In the optical path until reaching 4b, the image carrier 14a,
14b, that is, the width of the image to be recorded, a certain distance is required.

Therefore, in general, a desired optical path is obtained by using a number of reflecting mirrors in consideration of the internal configuration of the device, but such a method is not preferable for the following reasons. In other words, if the area near the optical path is a moving part or a part that is touched by the user, accidents such as misalignment due to incorrect positioning after cartridge insertion or dirt on the reflector may occur. Cheap.

Therefore, there is a high possibility that the accuracy in image formation will deteriorate. Furthermore, in the second conventional example, the optical system unit for image formation is the image carrier 14a.

14b, a plurality of optical system units were used. Therefore, there are disadvantages in that the cost is high and the installation space is large.

Therefore, the present invention solves the problems of the conventional example described above. The purpose was to form a multi-color image that could use a single light source and make the entire device more compact without causing disturbances in the optical signal. The goal is to provide equipment.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of cartridges 1. In an image forming apparatus having a removably mounted image forming apparatus, a single light source means for generating an optical signal including image signals for a plurality of image carriers in a signal for one scan of image information to be recorded; a deflection scanning device that deflects and scans the signal to a predetermined position according to the image signal for each image carrier; and a light receiving section arranged to receive the image signal for each image carrier that has been deflected and scanned by the deflection scanning device. It is characterized by comprising the same number of image signal transmitting means as the number of image carriers, each of which is made up of a plurality of optical fibers and has a light emitting section disposed opposite to the corresponding image carrier.

(Function) In the present invention, there is provided a deflection scanning means for deflecting and scanning an optical signal to a predetermined position for each image signal for each image carrier, and an image for each image carrier that is deflected and scanned by the deflection scanning means. A number of image signal transmitting means equal to the number of image carriers, each consisting of a plurality of optical fibers having a light receiving section arranged to receive a signal and a light emitting section arranged opposite to the corresponding image carrier, Because of this, the light source means can be made single, and the image signal transmission means can be placed along any path and in any arrangement, so it is not a cause of optical signal disturbance. The image carrier can be placed at any position without using a large number of reflecting mirrors.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

In the present invention, an embodiment of a two-color image forming apparatus will be described as an example. Figure 2 shows how optical fibers are bundled in a horizontal line. A+ in the figure, All
, A3...An are optical fibers dedicated to sending optical signals to one of two image carriers in an image forming apparatus using electrophotography;
3...Bn is an optical fiber dedicated to sending an optical signal to the other image carrier. As shown in FIG. 1, when the optical signal is scanned once from the left end of this optical fiber bundle, at the time when it is scanning from A1 to An,
An optical signal to be sent to the image carrier 2 is output from Bl to B. At the time when the image carrier 1 is being scanned, a signal to be sent to the image carrier 1 is being output. FIG. 1 is a diagram that best represents the first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 2 is a second image carrier, 1 is a first image carrier, 3 is a fiber bundle as an image signal transmission means from A] to An in FIG. 1, and 7 is a fiber bundle from B1 to An. Bn
It is a fiber bundle as an image signal transmission means up to 4
are cylindrical and fθ lenses, 5 is a six-sided polygon mirror as deflection scanning means, and 6 is a semiconductor laser unit as light source means. Although not shown, a cartridge similar to the conventional example is provided around each image carrier 1.2, and is equipped with a primary charger, a developer, a cleaner, etc. using a known electrophotographic method.

In the above configuration, the light emitted from the semiconductor laser unit 6 is reflected by the six-sided polygon mirror, passes through the cylindrical and fθ lenses 4, and then heads toward each of the light receiving sections 3a and 7a of the optical fiber bundle 3.7. Then, the light incident on the fiber 3 is transmitted to the light output section 3b or to the image carrier 2 through the fiber bundle 7.
The light incident on the image carrier 1 is emitted from the light emitting portion 7b to the image carrier 1. Here, the diameter of the optical fiber used in this example is:
It is approximately equal to the diameter of an image pixel in an electrophotographic device. For example, 300 [1pi(dat/1nc
h), the diameter of the optical fiber is 85gm, 400d
If it is pi, it will be 64Bm. Incidentally, if the arrangement interval of the optical fibers is made equal to the pixel pitch, it is also possible to use smaller optical fibers. The widths of the fiber bundles 3 and 7 are equal to the formation width of images to be recorded on the image carriers 1 and 2, respectively.

Another combination of optical fibers is illustrated in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, optical fibers AI, A2, . Therefore, the light receiving portion 3a of the fiber bundles 3, 7
, 7a are such that the optical signals for the image carrier 2 and those for the image carrier l are alternated. Here, in the light receiving sections 3a, 7a, the optical fibers A1...A n , B + ...Bn arranged alternately include those directed toward the image carrier 2 in the middle of their optical paths, and those directed toward the image carrier 1. Those facing the same image carrier are grouped together. Therefore, regarding the part that outputs the optical signal, the light output part 3b in the embodiment of FIG.
The situation is similar to 7b.

As described above, in the present invention, the optical fibers can be arranged in either the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 or the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 by changing the method of transmitting optical signals and the method of bundling the fibers.

According to this embodiment, even in an electrophotographic apparatus having two image carriers 1 and 2, only one laser light source may be used to expose each image carrier. Additionally, a feature of optical fibers is that the light that enters the light receiving section can be directly extracted from the light emitting section, and the optical path along the way can be easily installed in any complex path within an electrophotographic device. . Moreover, the effect is obtained that the light is not blocked for any reason during the process.

It goes without saying that the present invention is applicable not only to a two-color image forming apparatus using two image carriers, but also to a multicolor image forming apparatus using three or more image carriers.

(Other Embodiments) FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing another way of combining optical fibers. In this embodiment, each optical fiber F has a very small diameter, e.g.
It is a 10p, m optical fiber. The optical signal scans the upper east of the fiber F in the manner shown in FIG. A feature of this embodiment is that it can be handled even when the pixel size of an image in the image forming apparatus changes from, for example, 400 dpi to 300 dpi. As is clear from comparing FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, FIG. 5 shows the case of a small pixel Pe, and FIG. 6 shows the case of a large pixel PE. As can be understood from these figures, one pixel re,
The PE is divided and transmitted by several optical fibers F. Therefore, even if the size of the pixel changes as shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 6 or vice versa, it is possible to deal with it because there are no restrictions on what can be used like - pixel - fiber. ing. The manner in which the fiber bundle is used in this embodiment is substantially similar to that shown in FIG. That is, the fiber bundle is divided at the center into a fiber bundle directed to the image carrier 2 and a fiber bundle directed to the image carrier l.

FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing still another way of combining optical fibers. In this embodiment, dedicated optical fibers AI, A2...An and B l + are used to transmit optical signals to the image carriers 1 and 2, respectively.
B2...Bn are arranged vertically in two layers. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a six-sided polygon mirror used to distribute optical signals to upper and lower stages. In FIG. 8, each reflective surface of the six-sided polygon mirror 12 is represented by a, b,
c, d, e.

In the case of f, surface a2 surface C2 surface e faces 9 surface d2 surface f
It is tilted by a certain angle θ with respect to the Therefore,
When the laser beam from the light source is incident on the 9th surface d2 and the 2nd surface f, as shown in FIG. When incident, the fiber bundle B is tilted at an angle of 20 from the horizontal plane.
1 - Head to Bn. The amount of scanning by one surface of the entrance polygon mirror 12 at this time is equivalent to scanning one image carrier. FIG. 10 is a side view schematically showing this embodiment. In the drawings, 8 and 9 are image carriers, and 10 and 11 are fiber bundles B1 to Bn and fiber bundles A1 to An12 shown in FIG. 7 are entrance polygon mirrors. As illustrated in FIG.
0 transmits an optical signal toward the image carrier 8.

Note that the combination of optical fiber bundles shown in FIG. 4 can be similarly used.

In this embodiment, by stacking the optical fibers directed to the two image carriers 8 and 9'' in two stages, the occupied width is greater than when the optical fibers are arranged horizontally in a row as in the embodiment shown in FIG. can be halved, resulting in space savings.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 11, 23 is a cleaner;
4 is an image carrier, 25 is a developer carrier, 26 is a developing device, 2
Reference numeral 7 represents a primary charger, 28 represents an optical fiber light emitting unit jig, 29 represents an optical fiber bundle, and 30 represents the entire cartridge.

In the figure, the optical fiber light emitting part jig 28 is in the position shown by the broken line when the cartridge is not inserted, but when the car I ridge is inserted, it is accurately positioned in close contact with the cartridge exterior. According to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent image distortion due to inaccurate positioning when inserting the cartridge.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention has the configuration and operation described below, and includes a deflection scanning means and a deflection scanning means for deflecting and scanning optical signals to predetermined positions for each image signal for each image carrier. The image carrier is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a light receiving section arranged to receive an image signal for each image carrier deflected and scanned by the image carrier, and a light emitting section arranged opposite to the corresponding image carrier. Since it has the same number of image signal transmission means as the number of bodies, it is possible to use a single light source means, and the image signal transmission means can be placed along any route or in any arrangement. As a result, the entire device can be made more compact and cost-reduced without disturbing the optical signal.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing the configuration of image forming/loading according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing how to combine optical fibers of the apparatus shown in FIG. , Figure 3 shows the first
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing how to combine optical fibers in the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. An explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the optical fiber and the pixel size in an example,
7 is a perspective view showing how to combine optical fibers in the third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an entrance polygon mirror, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the entrance polygon mirror of FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how the laser beam is reflected. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus using the optical fiber bundle of FIG. 7. FIG. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of the embodiment, and FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional image forming apparatus. Explanation of symbols 1...First image carrier 2...Second image carrier 3.7...Fiber bundle (image signal transmission means) 3a, 7
a... Light receiving section 3b, 7b... Light emitting section

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of cartridges each having a latent image forming means, a developing means, and a cleaning means are removably attached around an image carrier, in a signal for one scan of image information to be recorded, a single light source means for generating an optical signal including image signals for the plurality of image carriers; a deflection scanning means for deflecting and scanning the optical signal to a predetermined position for each image signal for each of the image carriers; , a plurality of optical fibers each having a light receiving section arranged to receive an image signal for each image carrier deflected and scanned by the deflection scanning means, and a light emitting section arranged opposite to the corresponding image carrier. An image forming apparatus comprising: as many image signal transmitting means as the number of image carriers. (2) Claim 1, wherein the light receiving section of the image signal transmitting means constituted by the light receiving sections of the plurality of optical fibers has a width equal to one pixel of the image signal to be transmitted. The image forming apparatus described in . (3) A plurality of optical fibers each having a diameter of 10 μm or less are arranged closely in the scanning direction and in a direction perpendicular thereto, thereby making it possible to transmit one pixel worth of image signal to be transmitted. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. (4) The deflection scanning means distributes the optical signals so that they are arranged in parallel according to the image signals for each of the image carriers, and the light receiving sections of the image signal transmission means are also arranged in parallel correspondingly. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: