JPH1164765A - Laser light source device and deflecting scanning device equipped with the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To adjust the space of laser spot light by a convenient rotational adjustment. SOLUTION: The stem 22 being the outer periphery of a semiconductor laser light source 21 is provided with a concave section 23 and the fitting hole 25 of a holder 24 which fits the laser light source 21 is provided with a convex section 26 corresponding to the concave section 23. When the laser light source 21 is force-fitted to the fitting hole 25 of the holder 24, its rotational direction is regulated by the concave section 23 and the convex section 26 of the holder 24 to be positioned. In this way, the semiconductor laser light source 21 is precisely fixed to the holder 24 and furthermore a mirror barrel 28 is bonded to a specified position after adjustment. When a laser unit 34 is fitted to an optical box 30, it is adjusted by being rotated in the A-A' direction and through a through hole 27, a screw 32 is screwed to a female screw hole 33 installed in the optical box 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-beam light source device used for optical writing in a laser printer, a digital copying machine, or the like, and a deflection scanning device provided with the device.

[0002]

FIG. 7 shows a conventional general multi-beam laser unit 1. A semiconductor laser light source 2 having a plurality of light-emitting points is fixed to a fitting hole 4 of a holder 3 by press-fitting or bonding at the time of assembly. Is done. After that, the lens barrel 5 containing a collimator lens (not shown) is adjusted in three directions of X, Y, and Z, and then bonded to the holder 3 by a known means.

[0003] Next, the laser unit 1 adjusted as described above is fixed by inserting the lens barrel 5 into a hole 7 of an optical box 6 in which optical components such as a rotating polygon mirror and an fθ lens (not shown) are mounted. At this time, in order to adjust the two spot light beams L1 and L2 in the sub-scanning direction on the medium to be scanned as shown in FIG.
It is necessary to perform rotation adjustment in the A 'direction. This pitch D
Is, for example, about 42 μm at a resolution of 600 DPI,
At 200 DPI, it is necessary to adjust at a very fine pitch of about 21 μm.

After such rotation adjustment in the AA ′ direction, the holder 3 is attached to the female screw 8 provided in the optical box 6.
The laser unit 1 is fixed to the optical box 6 by screws 10 through the long holes 9 provided in the optical box 6.

[0005]

However, when the conventional semiconductor laser light source 2 is fixed to the holder 3 without any mark and without rotational positioning, in some cases, a rotational position of about 10 degrees is required. A gap may occur.
Further, since there is no mark, this cannot be determined as a defect on the inspection line. In this case, the long hole 9 of the holder 3 should just be large, but if the long hole 9 is small, A-
After the rotation adjustment in the A 'direction, the holder 3 may not be fixed to the optical box 6 in some cases. For example, assuming that the pitch r between the center of the semiconductor laser light source 2 and the long hole 9 is 30 mm, in the case of 10 degrees, the long diameter of the long hole 9 needs to be about 5.3 mm.

As described above, when the angle error at the time of fixing the semiconductor laser light source 2 to the holder 3 is large, the elongated hole 9 of the holder 3 becomes large, and not only the rigidity of the holder 3 itself decreases but also the rigidity of the holder 3 itself decreases. When the adjustment is performed, since the sub-scanning pitch D starts from a position where the sub-scanning pitch D is largely deviated, the time and effort for the adjustment are greatly required.

The optical box 6 to which the laser unit 1 is attached has a cylinder lens 1 as shown in FIG.
1, deflector 12, imaging lens 13, BD mirror 14, B
A D sensor 15, a return mirror 16, and the like are attached. This is called a scanning optical device, and the optical box 6 is fixed to the main body stay with a screw through a hole provided in the mounting portion 17 of the optical box 6.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, if the corner of the holder 3 of the laser unit 1 protrudes below the mounting portion 17 of the optical box 6, when the laser unit 1 is mounted on the main body stay or transported during the assembly process. During this, the main body stay, various tools, and human hands may come into contact with the protruding portion 3a of the holder 3, and the rotation adjustment may be shifted.

As described above, the conventional example described above has the following problems. (1) If the rigidity of the holder 3 is insufficient, poor reproducibility of the laser unit 1 in the three directions of X, Y, and Z after adjustment in the three directions of X, Y, and Z, and fluctuations in mounting the optical box 6 occur. As a result, the spot diameter of the scanning optical device becomes defective, and a high-quality image cannot be obtained.

(2) If the initial shift amount is large at the time of sub-scanning pitch adjustment, a large amount of time is required for the adjustment, which increases the manufacturing cost.

(3) If the holder 3 is rotated more than the nominal position by the rotation adjustment, the peripheral parts must be moved away so as not to contact the holder 3, so that it is necessary to provide a large empty space, and the device becomes large. Become Also, holder 3
When a contact or impact is applied to the image, the pitch in the sub-scanning direction may be out of order.

An object of the present invention is to provide a laser light source device which solves the above-mentioned problems and realizes simple rotation adjustment and miniaturization of the device, and a deflection scanning device provided with the device.

[0013]

According to the present invention, there is provided a laser light source device having a plurality of light emitting points for emitting a laser beam, and a holder for holding the semiconductor laser light source. And a collimator lens that converts the emitted laser beam into substantially parallel light, wherein a first alignment means is provided on the outer periphery of the stem of the semiconductor laser light source, and the stem of the semiconductor laser light source is fitted. By providing a second alignment means on the outer periphery of the hole of the holder, the semiconductor laser light source is positioned with respect to the holder using the first and second alignment means. The rotation direction is adjusted and fixed with respect to the optical box in which is built.

A deflection scanning device provided with a laser light source device according to the present invention comprises: a semiconductor laser light source having a plurality of light emitting points for emitting a laser beam; a holder for holding the semiconductor laser light source; A laser scanning device having a laser light source device having a collimator lens for converting a beam into substantially parallel light and fixing the holder in a holder, adjusting the rotation direction of the holder with respect to an optical box containing a light deflection mechanism, and fixing the holder. A laser light source device is provided, which has a protrusion protruding below the holder at the bottom of the optical box regardless of the rotation amount of the holder.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment, in which a recess 23 is provided in a stem 22 which is an outer periphery of a semiconductor laser light source 21, and a fitting hole 25 of a holder 24 in which the semiconductor laser light source 21 is fitted. Recess 23
Are provided. When the semiconductor laser light source 21 is pressed into the fitting hole 25, the rotation direction is the concave portion 23 of the semiconductor laser light source 21 and the convex portion 2 of the holder 24.
The position is regulated by 6. The light emitting points 21a and 21b of the semiconductor laser light source 21 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are incorporated into the concave portion 23 provided on the outer diameter of the stem 22 with extremely high precision in angle, and are shorter than 30 minutes. Also,
The holder 24 has a large through hole 27 instead of the conventional long hole.
Is provided. The optical box 30 has a fitting hole 31 for fitting the lens barrel 28 and a female screw hole 33 for fixing the screw 32.
Is provided.

As described above, the laser unit 34 is assembled by fixing the semiconductor laser light source 21 to the holder 24 with high accuracy, and furthermore, after adjusting the lens barrel 28 at a predetermined position and bonding the same. The lens barrel 28 of the laser unit 34 is attached to the fitting hole 31 of the optical box 30, and the screw 32 is lightly screwed into the female screw hole 33 of the optical box 30 through the through hole 27. Within a margin of 27, it is finely rotated and adjusted in the AA 'direction, and the screw 32 is tightened and fixed.

With specific numerical values, the laser unit 3
Verification of the amount of the rotation adjustment in the AA ′ direction of No. 4 is as follows, for example.

(A) The angle error between the light emitting points 21a and 21b and the recess 23 in the semiconductor laser light source 21 alone is ± 30.
Minutes. (b) The angular error of the projection 26 in the holder 24 alone is ± 3
0 minutes. (c) The press-fit / assembly error between the semiconductor laser light source 21 and the holder 24 is ± 1 degree. These three errors add up to twice.

Here, the fitting hole 4 of the holder 24 is
7 is 30 mm, the through hole 27 is
What is necessary is just to make it about 1 mm larger than 2. For example, if the diameter of the screw 32 is 3 mm, the diameter of the through hole 27 is 5 mm.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment, in which a score line 30 is provided on the bottom surface of the stem 22 of the semiconductor laser light source 21, and a score line 37 is also provided near the fitting hole 25 of the holder 24.
Are formed. The alignment of these marking lines 30 and 37 serves as a guide when fixing the semiconductor laser light source 21 to the holder 24, and facilitates the positioning in the rotational direction as in the first embodiment.

In the first and second embodiments, the outer diameter of the semiconductor laser light source 21 and the fitting hole 25 of the holder 24 are set.
Of the concave portion 23, the convex portion 26 and the ruled line 3
6, 37, but the same effect can be obtained even if positioning is performed based on the relationship between the V groove or the like and the score line.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment, in which a projection 40 projects downward from the lower surface of the optical box 30. The height u of the projection 40 is, for example, 1 mm.

As shown in FIG. 6, the optical box 30 is provided with optical components such as a cylindrical lens 41, a deflector 42, and an imaging lens 43. The laser unit 34 moves the optical box 30 in the sub-scanning direction. Therefore, the holder 24 of the laser unit 34 may protrude below the mounting portion 44 of the optical box 30 to the stay. However, if the optical box 30 is provided with the protruding portion 40 that protrudes from the holder 24, the holder 24 does not come into contact with the optical box 30 first even when the optical box 30 is placed on a horizontal main body stay.

In the present embodiment, the projection 40 is provided on the optical box 30 so as not to contact the holder 24. However, the holder 24 is not necessarily the lowest, and the drive circuit board (not shown) of the semiconductor laser light source 21 is not shown. Since there is a possibility that the size is large and the lowest, there is an advantage that the optical box 30 is similarly provided with the protruding portion 40 so as not to come into contact with the optical box 30.

If the mounting portion 44 is provided at a lower position,
The protrusion 40 can be used instead.

[0026]

As described above, in the laser light source device according to the present invention, the adjustment time of the sub-scanning pitch can be shortened, and the escape of the rotation of the holder can be reduced, so that the size of the main body can be reduced.

Further, the deflection scanning device provided with the laser light source device has the advantage that the reliability is improved because it does not contact or give an impact to the holder.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a semiconductor laser light source.

FIG. 3 is a plan view.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a sub-scanning pitch.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a side view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 21 semiconductor laser light source 22 stem 23 concave portion 24 holder 25, 31 fitting hole 26 convex portion 27 through hole 28 lens barrel 30 optical box 32 screw 33 female screw hole 34 laser unit 36, 37 ruled line 40 projecting portion 42 deflector 44 mounting portion

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser light source device comprising: a semiconductor laser light source having a plurality of light emitting points for emitting a laser beam; a holder for holding the semiconductor laser light source; and a collimator lens for making the emitted laser beam substantially parallel light. In the above, the first positioning means is provided on the outer periphery of the stem of the semiconductor laser light source, and the second positioning means is provided on the outer circumference of the hole of the holder into which the stem of the semiconductor laser light source is fitted. 1. A laser characterized in that the semiconductor laser light source is positioned with respect to the holder using a second alignment means, and the holder is adjusted in a rotational direction with respect to an optical box containing a light deflecting mechanism and fixed. Light source device. 2. The laser light source according to claim 1, wherein said first positioning means is a concave or convex part, and said second positioning means is a convex or concave part fitted with said concave or convex part. apparatus. 3. The laser light source device according to claim 1, wherein said first and second alignment means are ruled lines. 4. A laser light source device comprising: a semiconductor laser light source having a plurality of light emitting points for emitting a laser beam; a holder for holding the semiconductor laser light source; and a collimator lens for making the emitted laser beam substantially parallel light. Is fixed to a holder, and the holder is adjusted in the direction of rotation with respect to an optical box having a built-in optical deflection mechanism, and is fixed to the optical box. The holder is provided at the bottom of the optical box regardless of the amount of rotation of the holder. A deflection scanning device comprising a laser light source device having a protruding portion protruding downward.