JPS5850350Y2 - flash fixing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fixing device for electrophotographic recording or electrostatic recording devices, and more particularly to a flash fixing device improved to eliminate fixing unevenness during fixing.

Conventionally, flash fixing devices have been widely used as a fixing method in electrophotographic processes to develop a recorded electrostatic latent image with toner, transfer it to a medium, and thermally fuse the transferred image. It's been happening.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the flash fixing device.

In the figure, 1 is the main reflecting mirror, 2 is the protective glass, 3 is the flash lamp, 5 is the medium to which the toner image has been transferred, that is, the medium to be fixed, 4 and 6 are the structural parts, and 4 is the flash lamp 3.
The holder 6 is a structural member that holds a protective glass, a main reflecting mirror, etc., and 2a indicates a light transmitting area of the protective glass 2 forming an optical opening.

Further, X indicates the direction in which the medium to be fixed is transported, and Y indicates the width direction.

To explain the basic operation outline, when the medium 5 onto which the image developed in the basic process of electrophotography has been transferred is fed into the fixing device section and the flash lamp 5 is turned on, a light aperture is formed. A considerable portion of the medium 5 exposed to light inside 2a is thermally fixed.

Continuous fixing is possible by causing the flash lamp 3 to emit light while continuously feeding the medium 5 to apply light across the opening width of the opening 2a in the feeding direction.

In such a fixing device, when the energy received by the medium 5 when it passes through the opening 2a is partially different, that is, uneven, there is a problem in that the fixing result becomes uneven.

This tendency is caused by the uneven distribution of illuminance in the frontage area caused by the flash, but the unevenness in the aperture in the media feeding direction (hereinafter referred to as aperture length) can be caused by continuous flash emission or intermittent light emission. Although this problem can be solved by repeatedly exposing the medium to light several times during transport, the unevenness of illuminance in the width direction (Y direction) of the medium cannot be dealt with by the above-mentioned means.

The opening of the fixing device in the width direction of the medium (
Typical conventional measures that have been taken to eliminate uneven illuminance (hereinafter referred to as the Y-side aperture width) are: Make the width of the flash lamp's light emitting part sufficiently large.

(2) A reflector is provided not only in the feed direction but also in the width direction of the flash lamp light emitting section, so that the entire light emitting section is covered.

However, the former method had the disadvantage that the fixing device itself became larger, and the latter method had the disadvantage that it was difficult to ventilate and cool the flash lamp, which was a source of heat radiation.

The present invention was developed in consideration of the above background, and the purpose of the present invention is to improve the illuminance unevenness in the width direction (Y side), enable ventilation cooling, and have a small and simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide a flash fixing device.

A feature of the present invention is that in a flash fixing device including a flash lamp, a main reflecting mirror that reflects the light of the flash lamp, and an aperture window member for the light of the flash lamp, a part of the aperture window member is provided. By providing a reflecting mirror that is inclined with respect to the surface formed by the aperture member, the illuminance in the periphery of the aperture is corrected.

In order to specifically explain the present invention, examples will be described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a reflecting mirror which is a component of an embodiment of the present invention, and 7 is an inclined reflecting mirror.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of one embodiment, in which the reflecting mirror 7 is
Opening 2 by protective glass 2 on structural member 6 in the figure
It is arranged on the outside in the width direction of a.

Moreover, FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3.

Regarding the newly added code, θ1. θ2...
- θ4 is the inclination angle of the reflecting mirror 7, and θ without a suffix indicates these generic terms.

7a is the end of the reflecting mirror, 3a is the electrode part of the flash lamp 3, that is, the end of the light emitting part, 1a is the end of the main reflecting mirror, 5a is the permissible placement limit of the medium, and Z is the clearance to the medium. be.

As is clear from the figure, in order to make the illuminance distribution of the opening uniform across the width of the medium 5, the configuration of the embodiment includes an inclined reflecting mirror 7 provided on the outside in the width direction of the opening 2a, and the flash lamp 3 The illuminance distribution in the media width direction of the opening is corrected by tilting the light emitted from the end toward the opening and reflecting it toward the main reflecting mirror.

FIG. 4 explains the relationship among the main reflecting mirror 1, the end of the flash lamp light emitting section, the end of the opening, the end 7a of the inclined reflecting mirror 7, and the allowable use position of the medium 5.

That is, if we take the Y coordinate from left to right in the figure to represent the respective arrangement relationships in Figure 4, then Y7b<Yla<Y38
They are arranged like <Y68><Y7a, and the normal line of the inclined surface of the reflecting mirror 7 is configured to capture the right side (inside) of the main reflecting mirror Y18 also at 7b.

Note that the reflecting mirror 7 of the embodiment is formed of a mirror surface, and the main reflecting mirror 1 is formed of a diffuse reflection surface.

When the flash lamp 3 is made to emit light under such a configuration, the emitted light is directly reflected from the light emitting part 1 to the upper reflecting mirror 2, and is reflected from these two routes through the opening 2a into the medium 5 where it exists. Although the fixing surface is irradiated, the illuminance decreases in a portion near the widthwise end of the opening because the incident aperture angle is limited by the end.

In contrast, in the embodiment of the present invention, a reflecting mirror 7 is provided which is tilted inward to perform specular reflection on the outside of the opening when viewed from the width direction, and the light emitting part of the flash lamp 3 that has arrived at the reflecting mirror 7 is By reflecting the light from the main reflecting mirror 1 onto the main reflecting mirror 7 so as to collect it in the width direction, the illuminance of the scattered light source can be supplemented, so that the amount of light in the peripheral area can be increased.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the effects of the embodiment.

The vertical axis is the relative illuminance of the medium surface, and the horizontal axis is the position coordinate in the width direction.The broken line is an example where there is no reflecting mirror 7, and the solid line is an example where there is.

As for the shape of the reflector 7, the reason why it is a multi-stage Fresnel type reflector is that the overall thickness and height are restricted in order to ensure the ventilation openings mentioned earlier. .

In the embodiment, there are 2 to 4 stages, but the number of stages is not a constraint, and the inclination angle θ of each stage may be set independently depending on the purpose.

That is, for example, θ1≦θ2≦θ3...≦θ.

By adopting a configuration like
Concentrating on a predetermined location makes the above correction even easier to implement.

Note that when the main reflecting mirror 1 is a scattering surface, the shape of the reflecting mirror 7 does not need to be very accurate, so it can be manufactured at low cost by a simple means such as press-forming an aluminum plate.

Further, the above objective can be achieved practically if the range of θ is 5 to 45 degrees.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the illuminance distribution in the width direction can be improved by securing a cooling ventilation path, without increasing the size of the fixing device, and by adding relatively simple means. Since an improved fixing device can be realized, the effect of the present invention on improving device performance is extremely large.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional flash fixing device, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a reflecting mirror that is a component of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an embodiment of the present invention. Component countries, FIG. 4 is a partial detailed view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the effects of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is the main reflecting mirror, 2a is the opening, 2 is the protective glass,
3 is a flash lamp, 5 is a medium, and 7 is a reflecting mirror. Note that θ indicates the inclination angle, X indicates the feeding direction, and Y indicates the width direction.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a flash fixing device including a flash lamp, a main reflecting mirror that reflects the light of the flash lamp, and an aperture window member for the light of the flash lamp, a part of the aperture window member is provided with a surface formed by the aperture window member. 1. A flash fixing device comprising a reflecting mirror provided at an angle with respect to the mirror, the reflecting mirror being formed into a multi-stage Fresnel type to have a low height, and both ends of the opening window member being open.