JPH0918650A - Image scanner and printer with image scanner mounted thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a temperature rise due to the generated heat of an image scanner by adopting two-wall structure with an air layer in between for a part inside a case receiving a thermal effect of a light emitting element at least. CONSTITUTION: An incandescent lamp 12 being a light emitting element of an image scanner 11 is arranged to an upper left of the body case 13. A semicircular reflection plate 13 is provided behind the lamp 12 and a cylindrical lens 14 focusing light is arranged in front. A lens unit 15 focusing light reflected by a source document or the like receiving the emitted light and plural CCD elements 16 being light receiving elements detecting the reflected light are provided inside the body case 13. An opening 18 is made to an upper middle part of the body case 13 and the light emitted from the lamp 12 is emitted to the outside of the case 13 from the opening 18 and the light reflected by the source document is made incident again from the opening 18. The body case 13 is made of a heat resistant resin material and double structure is adopted for the left side walls 19, 20 in the vicinity of the lamp 12. Thus, since heat dissipated to an outer wall 19 via an air layer 21 is delivered, the temperature rise is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image scanner for reading an original screen and a printer equipped with the image scanner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an image scanner is mounted on a carriage, a document image is read by the image scanner while moving the carriage, the read image signal is converted into a recording signal, and the recording head is based on the recording signal. Printers that are driven to perform recording have become widely used.

A printer having an image scanner will be described below by taking a thermal transfer printer as an example. FIG.
Shows an example of such a thermal transfer printer, in which a thermal head 3 and an image scanner 4 are mounted on a carriage 2 which is reciprocally moved along a platen 1. The image scanner 4 is provided on the upstream side of the thermal head 3 in the printing direction of the carriage 2, and reads the document image by moving the carriage 2 in the right direction in the figure with the document set. . The original image read as an optical signal by the image scanner 4 is converted into a color signal by a CPU (not shown), and the thermal head 3 is driven based on the color signal to perform recording. In addition, 2 in FIG.
The carriage 2 shown by the dotted line shows the leftmost position in this thermal transfer printer, that is, the home position position.

The image scanner 4 used in this thermal transfer printer has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, an incandescent lamp, a light emitting element 6 such as a cathode tube, a lens 7 for narrowing the light emitted from the light emitting element, and a reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting element 6 are received inside a main body case 5 made of resin or the like. The light receiving element 8 and the like are included. The light emitted from the opening 9 formed on the front surface of the main body case 5 to the outside of the main body is reflected by the image portion of the document (paper), enters the inside of the case from the opening 9 and is received by the light receiving element 8. An electric signal is output to the outside of the image scanner 4 via the cable 10 depending on the intensity of the reflected light.

[0005]

In the image scanner 4 having the above-described structure, the body case 5 is locally heated in the vicinity of the light emitting element 110 to 110 to 120 by the heat of the light emitting element 6 when used for a long time. The temperature rises to ℃ and there is a risk of burns, etc., and there is a problem that the print quality deteriorates due to the temperature rise inside the main body of the thermal transfer printer. In particular, an image of using an incandescent lamp as a light-emitting element to respond to cost reduction In some scanners, the temperature rise was remarkable.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. In claim 1, a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting element are provided inside the case. And an image scanner having a double wall structure in which at least a portion of the case affected by heat of the light emitting element has an air layer therebetween.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image scanner having a light emitting element inside a case and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting element, wherein at least the light emitting element of the case is provided. It is characterized in that the portion affected by heat has a two-wall structure with a good heat conductive material interposed therebetween.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the image scanner described above is mounted on a carriage together with a recording head.

Further, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a printer in which an image scanner having a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element is mounted on the carriage, the carriage of the carriage is provided. An image scanner characterized in that a wall having a two-layer structure with an air layer interposed is formed at least in the vicinity of the light emitting element.

Further, in a printer in which an image scanner having a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving the reflected light of the light emitted from the light emitting element is mounted on the carriage, the carriage of the carriage is provided. An image scanner characterized in that a wall having a two-layer structure with a good thermal conductive member interposed is formed at least in the vicinity of the light emitting element.

[0011]

The above-mentioned means operates as follows.

In the image scanner according to the first aspect of the present invention, the portion affected by the light emitting element, which is the heating element, has two walls, and an air layer is interposed between them. Diffusion occurs and the heat is transmitted to the external case in a diffused state, so that the temperature rises as a whole, and as a result, the whole becomes hot, but the temperature rise is suppressed.

Further, in the image scanner according to the second aspect of the invention, since the material having good thermal conductivity is further interposed between the two walls, the heat of the inner wall is made of the material having good thermal conductivity. Is diffused as a whole, and when it is propagated to the outside wall, it is in a state of being thermally diffused.

In the printer of the third aspect, the heat of the case of the image scanner is suppressed, and as a result, the temperature rise of the carriage can be suppressed.

According to another aspect of the printer of the present invention, in the vicinity of the light emitting element which is a heating element, the carriage has two walls and an air layer is interposed between them, so that the air layer diffuses heat. Occurs, the heat is transmitted to the external case in a diffused state, so that the temperature rises as a whole, and as a result, the whole becomes hot, but the temperature rise is suppressed.

Furthermore, in the printer according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the wall having the two-layer structure is formed at least in the vicinity of the light emitting element of the carriage with the good thermal conductive member interposed therebetween, the inner wall Heat is totally diffused through the material having good thermal conductivity, and is in a heat diffused state when it is propagated to the outer wall.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an image scanner 1 according to the present invention.
1 shows the structure of 1. As shown in the figure, the incandescent lamp 12 which is a light emitting element is arranged in the upper left part (in the figure) of the main body case 13. A semi-circular reflecting plate 13 is provided behind the incandescent lamp 12, and a cylindrical lens 14 for narrowing the emitted light is provided in front of the incandescent lamp 12. Further, inside the main body case 13, a lens unit 15 for narrowing down the reflected light reflected by the original or the like, and a plurality of CCDs which are light receiving elements for detecting the reflected light narrowed down by the lens unit 15 are provided. Element 1
6 are provided. In addition, an opening 18 is formed in the center of the body case 13 in the upper part of the figure, and the incandescent lamp 1
The light emitted from the main body case 1 is emitted from this opening 18.
The light that has gone out of 3 and reflected by the original portion is again introduced into the main body case 12 through the opening 18. The main body case 13 is formed of a heat-resistant resin material, and the walls (side plates) 19 and 20 on the left side in the drawing near the incandescent lamp 12 have a double structure. With this configuration, the air layer 21 between the walls is used as a heat diffusion layer. As a result, since there is the air layer 21 even in the case of a resin material in which heat is hard to be transmitted, the diffused heat is transmitted to the outer wall 19 through the air layer 21,
The temperature rises not only locally but overall. For this reason, there is no place where the temperature rises extremely, and 70-80
The temperature increased by ℃.

Further, by interposing not only the air layer 21 but also a thin plate made of a member (not shown) having good thermal conductivity such as aluminum between the walls 19 and 20 of the image scanner 11 shown in FIG. The temperature rise can be suppressed. Since this has a member having better heat conductivity than air interposed, the generated heat is diffused over the entire surface of this member in a short time. Therefore, since the heat is diffused to the entire wall 19, the temperature does not rise locally, and the temperature of the outer wall 19 of the main body case 13 can be suppressed to about 60 to 70 ° C. Even when compared with the case of the air layer of Example 1, a larger effect was obtained.

Further, as a result of mounting the image scanner having the structure of the above-described two embodiments on the serial printer, the temperature inside the printer apparatus (in order to prevent the temperature rise of the image scanner) despite long-term use. The rise was also suppressed, and good printing results were obtained.

FIG. 2 shows an image scanner 4 according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a carriage 30 of a thermal printer in which the above-mentioned conventional image scanner 4 is mounted. What is different from the above-described printer in which the conventional image scanner 4 is mounted is a side wall 31 near the light emitting element 6 of the carriage 30 of the printer in which the image scanner 4 is mounted. Two-walled walls 31a, 31 with an air layer in between
It was formed as b.

As shown, the image scanner 4 is
It is mounted on the left side of the thermal head 3. Since the structure of the image scanner 4 itself is not different from the conventional one, its detailed description is omitted. The wall 31 on the left side of the carriage 30 in which the image scanner 4 is mounted in the drawing has two walls 31a and 31b with an air layer interposed therebetween.
It has a structure. As a result, it was possible to prevent a local temperature rise in this portion 31 near the incandescent lamp 6, and the temperature rise could be suppressed to 70 to 80 ° C.

It has been found that the temperature rise can be further prevented up to 60 to 70 ° C. by inserting the thin plate 32 made of a material having good heat conductivity such as aluminum between the walls 31a and 31b.

In the present embodiment, the thermal printer has been described as an example, but it is needless to say that the printer can be applied to an ink jet printer, a wire dot printer, etc. regardless of the method as long as the printer can be cut by mounting the image scanner. is there.

Further, even when an image scanner using a fluorescent lamp or a cathode ray tube as a light emitting element is used instead of the incandescent lamp as described above, the temperature rise can be suppressed and the printer can be controlled easily. It was confirmed.

[0026]

[Effect] As described above, since the temperature rise of the image scanner or the carriage can be suppressed,
The risk can be reduced, and the deterioration of print quality when used in a printer can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional structure diagram illustrating a structure of an image scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a carriage portion of the thermal transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional structure diagram illustrating a structure of a conventional image scanner.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a configuration of a conventional thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4, 11 Image scanner 6, 12 Light emitting element 13 Main body case 19, 20 Main body case wall 31 Wall formed on carriage

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image scanner having a light emitting element inside a case and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element, wherein at least a portion of the case affected by heat of the light emitting element is provided. 2 with an air layer in between
An image scanner with a single-wall structure. 2. An image scanner having a light emitting element inside a case and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element, wherein at least a portion of the case affected by heat of the light emitting element is provided. An image scanner having a two-wall structure with a good heat conductive material interposed therebetween. 3. A printer comprising the image scanner according to claim 1 or 2 mounted on a carriage together with a recording head. 4. A printer in which an image scanner having a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element is mounted on a carriage, and at least in the vicinity of the light emitting element of the carriage. A printer including an image scanner, which is characterized in that a wall having a two-layer structure is formed with an air layer interposed therebetween. 5. A printer having an image scanner having a light emitting element and a light receiving element for receiving reflected light of light emitted from the light emitting element mounted on a carriage, wherein at least the vicinity of the light emitting element of the carriage is provided. A printer including an image scanner, which is characterized in that a wall having a two-sheet structure is formed with a good heat conductive member interposed therebetween.