JPH05278266A - Led printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable stable and easy exchange or foundation of an LED head to be carried out by a method wherein the LED head is united with an LED frame including a light quantity-correction substrate and a gap-adjustment means, whereby the light quantity-correction is executed by a manufacturer and the gap-adjustment by a user. CONSTITUTION:An LED head 3 is united with an LED frame 30 equipped with a light quantity-correction substrate 40 so that an LED unit A, of which quantity of light is adjusted to a reference light quantity level by rotating a knob by a manufacturer side, is provided. When the head 3 of a user side apparatus deteriorates and the requirement of exchange thereof is taken place, the unit can be exchanged only by taking off an axle 301 of a frame 30 from a housing frame 16 of the side of a body frame 10. Only the center part of the fixing screw can be screwed into a screw fixing hole 35a, then after the exchange, when a head fixing screw is rotated from the side of upper face of the frame 30, only the head 3 can move up and down with the condition wherein the gap between receiving faces of the frame 30 side and frame 10 is fixed, so that the adjustment of the gap between photosensitive drum and toner can be easily and accurately executed by the user side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an LED printer using an LED head as an exposure head, and in particular, an LED which enables easy adjustment of the light quantity of the LED head for each device.
Regarding the printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an exposure image corresponding to image information is formed on a photosensitive drum that has been uniformly charged by using an LED head or other linear exposure head, and then toner is applied to the exposure image from the developing sleeve side. Printers and facsimiles are known in which the toner image is adhered, and then the toner image can be transferred to plain paper or other recording material guided to a transfer position via a resist roller. In the LED head constituting the exposure head, a selfoc lens array made of glass or resin is arranged on the front surface of a head array in which LED chips are arranged in a row, and these are integrally formed by a resin or metal support. It has a structure to hold, but L
Since the ED chips have variations in light amount and wavelength between individual chips at the manufacturing stage, chips having the same level of light amount and wavelength are grouped to form a chip array.

Therefore, in the above apparatus, since the reference light amount level of the LED chip array incorporated in each device is different, a light amount correction substrate is incorporated for each device and the light amount correction knob provided on the substrate is used. The light intensity is being adjusted. Since a special light quantity measuring device is required to perform the light quantity correction, conventionally, the light quantity correction is performed at a stage in which a controller incorporating the LED head and the light quantity correction substrate is provided in the device at the manufacturing stage. Further, after the image is output at the shipping stage, the product is shipped.

[0004]

However, the LED chip array is prone to heat generation deterioration due to long-term use,
In addition, a part of the array-shaped chip group may be damaged. In such a case, it is necessary to replace the LED heads on a head-by-head basis. However, as described above, each LED head has a different reference light amount level. In addition, the light intensity must be corrected each time the replacement is performed. Further, the above-mentioned light quantity correction uses a special light quantity measuring device, and the fact that the service person performs this at the user's installation place not only makes maintenance and replacement work extremely complicated, but also makes accurate light quantity correction difficult. Become.

For this reason, in the above-mentioned device, it is usual to send the printer back to the manufacturer for each printer device to replace the head. During that time, the user is forced to use a substitute, and the dealer must always have a substitute. This is not desirable for inventory management.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention does not need to perform the light amount correction for each device described above and does not need to perform the light amount correction at the user's installation site, and the LED head replacement and the LED head installation can be performed stably. L that can be done easily
The purpose is to provide an ED printer.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an LED head in which an LED chip array and an imaging lens array are integrally incorporated and a correction substrate for correcting the light quantity of the chip array are provided in one frame (hereinafter referred to as LED). The first feature is that it is integrally attached to a frame. A second feature is that the LED frame is detachably mountable to a main body side frame that pivotally supports the photoconductor drum, and the space between the LED head and the photoconductor drum is adjusted during the mounting. The interval adjusting means is arranged on the LED frame side.

[0008]

According to such a technical means, the light quantity of the LED chip array can be corrected before the LED head is mounted on the device. In other words, the light quantity of the LED frame is not corrected for each device. Since it is possible to adjust the level, prepare a large number of LED frames whose levels have been adjusted in advance at the manufacturer stage, and if deterioration or chip damage occurs, replace it not by the head alone but by the frame unit. There is no need for the service person to correct the light amount at the user's installation site, and the maintenance and replacement work can be greatly simplified and can be performed in a short time as compared with the conventional method, which reduces the burden on the dealer and the user.

Now, when the frame-by-frame replacement is performed as described above, the problem is the regulation of the distance between the LED head and the photosensitive drum. That is, it is necessary to accurately control the interval in order to form a clear image, but if the replacement is performed in frame units as described above, assembly / processing errors and variations of the frame and the head will occur. In other words, the regulation interval is different for each LED frame unit, and accurate focal length accuracy cannot be obtained. Therefore, in the present invention, the LED frame is provided with a space adjusting means for adjusting a space between the LED head and the photosensitive drum,
When the frame is attached to the main body frame side, in other words, it can be easily adjusted on the user installation side according to each device.

That is, according to the present invention, the LED head is integrally incorporated in the LED frame incorporating the light quantity correction substrate and the space adjusting means, and the light quantity correction is performed on the maker side and the space adjustment is performed on the site side. It is intended to solve the various problems mentioned above all at once.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below as an example with reference to the drawings. However, unless otherwise specified, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions, etc. of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention thereto, but are merely illustrative examples. Not too much.

3A and 3B show a photosensitive drum unit in which the LED unit is incorporated, FIG. 3A is a central sectional view, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view showing a regulation state of the space adjusting means. First, the photosensitive drum 1 including the heater 2 is configured to be rotatable in the arrow direction, and is transferred along the rotation direction via a developing unit C having a developing sleeve on the right side in the drawing and a recording sheet conveying path on the lower side. In addition to disposing the unit D, a cleaning mechanism 5, an eraser 6 made of an optical fiber, and a charger 4 are disposed in the drum unit along the rotation direction, and an LED that can be opened and closed centering on a spindle on the upper surface side thereof is provided. Unit A is provided.

FIG. 1 shows an L installed in the drum unit.
ED unit A, LED head 3 LED frame 3
0 is integrally supported. The upper surface of the LED frame 30 has a flat plate shape, and a support shaft 301 and an opening angle regulation shaft 302 are provided on both side walls of the frame 30 in the longitudinal direction so as to project when the frame 30 is mounted on the main body frame 10. Axis 3
The LED frame 30 can be opened through a predetermined angle 01. Further, a light amount adjusting board 40 is attached to the back surface side of the LED frame 30, and an adjusting knob 41 provided on the board 40 is provided on the upper surface side of the frame 30 through a guide hole 303. Then, the input side harness 42 of the board 40 is pulled out from the side wall and connected to the connector 43, and the output side harness 44 is connected to the connector part 45 of the LED head 3.

On the other hand, the LED head 3 is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
As shown in FIG. 1, the SELFOC lens array 31 is provided on the side facing the photosensitive drum 1, and the LED chip is provided on the incident surface side.
LED chip array 32 arranged in rows, support 33 made of insulating resin that integrally supports these, support 3
The lens support frame 34 is made of metal and holds the lens array 31 in cooperation with the lens support frame 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the support member 33 extends on both longitudinal ends, and the screw mounting hole 3 is formed in the extending portion 35.
5a is threaded, and the LED mounting frame 37 is fixed between the LED frame 30 and the LED head 3 located on the upper surface side by utilizing the screw mounting hole 35a. The head mounting screw 37 is formed with a barrel portion on the base side, a screw portion on the center, and a needle portion with a spherical tip on the tip side.
After being inserted from the rectangular recess 304 of 0, the coil spring 37a is screwed between the head / frame 36 of the base side body and the central screw portion thereof is screwed into the screw mounting hole 35a, and the tip thereof is further axially directed to the body frame 10. A flat V-shaped receiving surface 17 extending inward from the housing frames 16 on both sides can be contacted.

As a result, the photosensitive drum 1 and the LED head 3 axially supported by the main body frame 10 by adjusting the screw 37.
It is possible to adjust the interval between them. Then, the support shaft 301 of the LED frame 30 is fitted into the shaft grooves 16a provided in the honing frame 16 which is erected on both sides in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 1, and the restricting shaft 302 arranged behind the shaft shaft 16a is the housing frame 16. It is configured such that it can be opened by a predetermined angle up to the position where it is engaged with the engaging groove 16b.

The cleaning mechanism 5 is arranged so that the cleaning roller 50 and the cleaning blade 51 are arranged on the side facing the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 1 along the rotation direction thereof, and the peripheral surface and the tip of the blade 51 can be pressed against the drum 1. A frame body 52 for supporting or supporting them is formed in a substantially “U” shape, and a screw 53 extending in parallel with the drum shaft together with the cleaning roller 50 is arranged on the inner side of the frame body 52. The residual toner scraped off by the cleaning roller 50 and the cleaning blade 51 is conveyed by a screw 53 to a collecting container (not shown). To do.

The charging unit 4 has a corotron wire 41 stretched between main body frames (more properly, drum unit frames) 10 on the drum shaft end side, and a side surrounding the corotron wire 41 and facing the photosensitive drum 1. It comprises a metal shield case 43 having a U-shaped cross section in which the charging grid 42 is formed.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the LED head 3 has an L
Since it is integrated with the ED frame 30, an LED unit A whose level is adjusted to the reference light amount level is prepared by rotating the knob on the manufacturer side. When the LED head 3 mounted on the user's device is deteriorated and a request for replacement is received, the LED head 3 is replaced in units of the unit.
At this time, the unit is the support shaft 301 of the LED frame 30.
Can be easily replaced by simply removing from the housing frame 16 on the body frame 10 side.

After the replacement, the head mounting screw 3
LED by rotating 7 from the top side of frame 30
Since only the central screw portion of the mounting screw is screwed into the screw mounting hole 35a of the LED head 3 in a state where the position between the frame 30 and the receiving surface 17 on the main body frame 10 side is held, only the head 3 is mounted. Can be moved up and down to easily and accurately adjust the distance between the photosensitive drum toners on the site side.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the present invention integrates the LED head into the LED frame incorporating the light amount correction substrate and the space adjusting means, and the light amount correction is performed by the manufacturer.
By configuring the interval adjustment on the site side, it is not necessary to correct the light intensity for each device, and it is not necessary to correct the light intensity at the user's installation site. Only by preparing the LED head, it is possible to stably and easily replace the LED head and install the LED head. And so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an LED unit incorporated in the photosensitive drum unit shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part showing a space adjusting means of the LED unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3A is a central sectional view of a photosensitive drum according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a sectional view showing a regulated state of the space adjusting means according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Photosensitive drum 3 LED head 30 LED frame 40 Light intensity adjustment substrate 10 Main body frame

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 15/04 116 9122-2H

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An LED head in which an LED chip array and an imaging lens array are integrally incorporated, and a correction substrate for correcting the light amount of the chip array are integrally assembled in one frame, and the one frame is also assembled. Further, the photoconductor drum is configured to be detachably mountable to a main body side frame that pivotally supports, and the space adjusting means for adjusting the space between the LED head and the photoconductor drum at the time of mounting is arranged on the one frame side. LED printer that is characterized.