JPH0241698Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to a photosensor for reading barcodes.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional photosensor of this type has a spherical lens 2, light guides 3, 4, and 5, a light receiving element 6, and a light emitting element 7 in a cylindrical case 1 made of a translucent material. It had a structure that allowed it to be built in and maintained. This photosensor focuses the light from the light emitting element 7 on the barcode reading area through the light guides 5 and 3 and the lens 2, and directs the reflected light to the light receiving element 6 through the lens 2 and the light guides 3 and 4. guide and detect barcode information.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, according to the photo sensor with the above conventional structure,
It has a large number of parts, a complex structure, and takes time to assemble, resulting in high manufacturing costs.Also, since there are many assembly adjustments such as aligning the optical axis between each part, the quality is unstable. The drawback was that the product became larger.

This idea was made to improve these drawbacks of conventionally known photosensors, and by integrally molding the functional parts necessary for photosensors, the number of parts can be reduced and the assembly process can be simplified. The aim is to simplify the process, reduce manufacturing costs, stabilize quality, and downsize the product.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the photo sensor of this invention integrally forms a columnar light guide and a lens disposed at one end of the light guide by molding a translucent plastic material. A light-receiving element and a light-emitting element are placed side by side at the other end of the light guide with a light-shielding plate interposed therebetween, and are molded in during the above-mentioned mold forming process.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of this invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and FIGS. 1a, 1b, and 1c show a front view, a top view, and a side view, respectively, of the photosensor of this invention.

The photosensor has a cylindrical light guide 11, and one end of the light guide 11 has a pair of parallel connecting pieces 1.
A spherical lens 13 is integrally provided via 2 and 12. These light guide 11, connection pieces 12, 12
The spherical lens 13 and the spherical lens 13 are integrally formed by molding a translucent plastic material such as an acrylic resin material. Further, at the other end of the light guide 11, a light receiving element 14 and a light emitting element 15 are arranged side by side with a light shielding plate 16 sandwiched between them. , light guide 11, connecting pieces 12, 12, and spherical lens 13
By molding in during molding,
It is embedded integrally in the light guide 11. In addition, light shielding plate 1
6 is made to protrude inward (to the left in the figure) from the light receiving element 14 and the light emitting element 15. In addition, 17 and 18 in the figure are a light receiving element 14 and a light emitting element 15, respectively.
The lead wire is shown.

Next, the functions of the photosensor configured as described above will be explained. The light emitted from the light emitting element 15 passes through the light guide 11 and is emitted from one end face thereof, and this emitted light is condensed by the spherical lens 13 to intensively illuminate a barcode reading area (not shown). The light reflected by the barcode is collected by a spherical lens 13, enters one end surface of the light guide 11, passes through the light guide 11, reaches the light receiving element 14, and is converted into an electrical signal. Due to the presence of the light-shielding plate 16, the light-receiving element 14 does not directly receive the light from the light-emitting element 15, thereby preventing the light-receiving element 14 from malfunctioning.

Although the embodiments of this invention have been described above, this invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible. For example, a hemispherical lens portion may be directly attached to one end of the light guide 11. By forming it, a lens effect can be provided, and the spherical lens 13 can be omitted to achieve a simple structure.

[Effect of idea]

This invention is constructed as described above, but since the functional parts such as the light guide, spherical lens, light receiving element, and light emitting element necessary for a photo sensor are molded all at once using a translucent plastic material, it is different from the conventional method. Compared to conventional products, the number of parts is small, the structure is simple, the whole can be made smaller, and the assembly process is also greatly simplified, reducing manufacturing costs. , since the positioning of light emitting elements etc. can be done with high precision using a mold, the quality is extremely stable, etc.
This has an extremely large practical effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C are a front view, a top view and a side view of the photosensor of this invention, respectively, and FIG. 2 is a top view of a conventional photosensor. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Light guide, 12... Connecting piece, 13... Spherical lens, 14... Light receiving element.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A columnar light guide and a lens disposed at one end of the light guide are integrally formed by molding a translucent plastic material, and a light receiving element and a light emitting element are disposed at the other end of the light guide. A photosensor for reading barcodes, characterized in that elements are arranged side by side with a light-shielding plate in between and molded in during the molding process.