JPS597926A - Liquid crystal shutter array device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the degree of integration and resolution by using a laminated cell which has electrodes arranged on both sides of a center glass substrate alternately as an optical writing printer head. CONSTITUTION:A center glass substrate 5, an upper glass substrate 6, and a lower glass substrate 7 are arranged in parallel at specific intervals. An adequate number of the 1st stripped or linear transparent signal electrodes 8a are formed on the front surface of the center glass substrate 5 and the 2nd signal electrodes 8b are also formed on the rear surface and they are of the same size and at the same pitch and overlap one another to prevent light leakage. The 1st scanning electrode 9a is stuck to the rear surface of the upper glass substrate 6 in a linear or stripped shape and the 2nd scanning electrode 9b is provided on the front surface of the lower glass substrate 7. When a two-dimensional array is employed, numbers of scanning electrodes are only provided in parallel to said scanning electrodes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a liquid crystal shutter array device that can be used in optical writing printer heads and the like.

Conventionally, displays using liquid crystals have a matrix configuration in which linear electrodes are arranged in the X and Y directions, and display is performed by selecting the intersection of the %Xty* poles. The formed electrodes are arranged at intervals to provide insulation between the electrodes. On the other hand, it is possible to construct a liquid crystal shutter array device that uses liquid crystal to form an array of minute pixels and controls the pixels to be turned on and off to control the transmission and blocking of light. An array device can be disposed between a light source and a photoreceptor to form an optical writing printer head for optically writing onto the photoreceptor.

However, in conventional liquid crystal devices, as mentioned above, the linear electrodes arranged on the glass substrate are arranged at intervals from each other, so for example, when it is desired to block all light, too.

It is possible to block light where there are liquid crystal pixels, but! The space between the poles cannot block light, and light leakage occurs. or.

In the opposite case, there will be a portion that does not allow light to pass through. Therefore, it is difficult to construct a liquid crystal shutter array device using conventional liquid crystal technology as is.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly accurate liquid crystal shutter array device. Another object of the present invention is to provide a single liquid crystal shutter array device in which there are no moving parts.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal shutter array device that prevents light leakage.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal shutter array device that can be used in an optical writing printer head.

In the liquid crystal shutter array device of the present invention, a first glass substrate, a second glass substrate, and a third glass substrate are arranged in parallel in this order with a predetermined distance from each other, and a liquid crystal is interposed in the space between each substrate. striped first electrodes are provided on one surface of the second glass substrate at a predetermined distance from each other, and striped second electrodes are provided on the opposite surface.
poles are provided at a predetermined distance from each other and correspond to the space between the first electrodes, and extend in a direction across the first electrodes on a surface of the first glass substrate facing the second glass substrate. and a counter electrode is provided on the surface of the third glass substrate opposite to the second glass substrate.
The device is characterized in that a counter electrode is provided extending in a direction across the electrodes. In particular, by configuring the first electrode and the second electrode to have mutually overlapping portions, it is possible to completely prevent light leakage.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an optical writing printer head constructed using a liquid crystal shutter array device of the present invention. As shown, the optical writing printer head includes a light source 1. It basically consists of a liquid crystal shutter array device 2° and a Selfox V lens array 3, and the light emitted from this printer head reaches the uniformly charged surface of the photoreceptor 4 and selectively removes the charge. Then, a latent image is formed. That is, the light from the light source 1 is first uniformly irradiated onto the liquid crystal shutter array 2, and on the other hand, a video signal is input to the liquid crystal shutter array 2, and each of the minute liquid crystal micro shutters corresponding to the image elements is inputted to the liquid crystal shutter array 2. Selective on/off operation. In this case 1, for example, create a light image pattern by creating a configuration that blocks light when it is off and transmits light when it is on (the reverse is also possible), and transfer this light image pattern to the Selfox V The lens array 3 focuses light onto the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor 4 to form a latent image. With such a configuration, it is possible to form a non-impact type printer. Further, in the case of the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal shutter array 2 is usually one-dimensional, that is, a one-column array.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of a one-dimensional liquid crystal shutter array device 2, which is an embodiment of the present invention. be.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the liquid crystal shutter array device 2 has a central glass substrate 5, an upper glass substrate 6, and a lower glass substrate 7, and these glass substrates are spaced apart at a predetermined interval. are arranged in parallel with each other.

It should be noted that FIGS. 2 and 3 only show the main parts of the liquid crystal shutter array device 2, and do not show the entirety.

Therefore, in reality, the ends of the three glass substrates 5, 6, and 7 are fixed to a spacer or a frame (not shown), etc., so that the space between each substrate is sealed.

An appropriate number of striped or linear transparent first signal electrodes 8a are formed on the upper surface of the central glass substrate 5. In a preferred embodiment.

The signal electrodes 8a all have the same dimensions and are spaced apart from each other at equal intervals. Similarly, an appropriate number of striped or linear transparent second signal electrodes 8b are formed on the lower surface of the central glass substrate 5. Preferably, the second signal electrodes 8b are also arranged with the same dimensions and pitch as the first signal broad electrodes 8a.

As is clear from FIG. 3, the features of the present invention are as follows.

The first signal electrodes 8a and the second signal electrodes 8b are arranged in a staggered manner, so that the first and second signal electrodes 8b are located in the space between the first signal electrodes 8a. In a further preferred embodiment p31, the spaced apart first
The signal electrode 8a and the second signal electrode 8b are configured to have mutually overlapping portions. That is, by providing such an overlapping portion, it is possible to completely prevent light leakage. Incidentally, the size of the overlapping portion can be appropriately determined depending on the distance between the substrates, the width of the signal electrode, etc.

On the lower surface of the upper glass substrate 6 facing the central glass substrate 5, a first scanning electrode 9a is formed in a stripe or linear form. Similarly, second scanning voltages WL9b are formed in stripes or lines on the upper surface. Since this embodiment is a one-dimensional array, one first scanning electrode 9a is provided perpendicularly to the first signal electrodes 8a arranged in a sleeper shape. However, in the case of a two-dimensional array, The first scanning stage may be advanced to 9a and a large number of scanning electrodes may be provided. This also applies to the second signal electrode 8b and the second scanning electrode 9b.

The first scanning electrode 9a extends in a direction transverse to the plurality of first signal electrodes 8a arranged in the shape of railroad ties, and the first scanning electrode 9a extends in a direction transverse to the plurality of first signal electrodes 8a arranged in the shape of railroad ties. The portions form pixels, or microshutters. Therefore, by applying a predetermined voltage between the first scanning electrode 9a and the selected first signal electrode 8a, an electric field is formed at the intersection, and the liquid crystal in that area is excited to transmit light. or block it. This also holds true between the second scanning electrode 9b and the second signal electrode 8b. still,
These electrodes can be easily formed using any transparent conductive material using film forming techniques such as vapor deposition.

A liquid crystal 10 is sealed in the space between each of the substrates 5, 6, and 7.
is included. Further, an upper polarizing plate 11a is provided on the upper surface of the upper glass substrate 6, and a lower polarizing plate 11b is provided on the lower surface of the lower glass substrate 7. These pair of polarizing plates 11a and 11b are arranged such that their polarization directions are shifted from each other by 90 degrees.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a drive circuit for the one-dimensional liquid crystal shutter array equipment 2 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
The figure is a timing chart diagram. That is, it is controlled by transfer lock signals φ2 and φ3 supplied from the timing control circuit 20, and even-numbered bits of the serially input image signal or video signal are shifted to the shift register 21a, and odd-numbered bits are shifted to the shift register 21a. register 21
are alternately transferred to b. At the same time as the input of one line of video signals to each shift V register is completed, the data write signal φ4 is sent from the timing control circuit 20 to the latch 2.
2a and 22b, respectively, and thus shift) L/registers 1a and 21b, the signals of the respective bits are sent in parallel to the driver circuit 2 via the respective latches 22a and 22b.
3a and 23b. These drivers 23a
, 23b are connected to the signal electrodes of the liquid crystal shutter array device 2 corresponding to each bit of the shift V') stars 21a, 21b, and therefore each pixel of the shutter array is turned on or off from the contents of each bit. Control.

As explained above in detail, the liquid crystal shutter array device of the present invention has a structure in which electrodes are arranged alternately on both sides of the central glass substrate, so that it is possible to improve the degree of integration and provide a shutter device with high resolution. It is. Also, since there are no moving parts that require a mechanical drive, it is possible to provide a highly reliable shutter device. Furthermore, it is easy to manufacture, easy to downsize, and advantageous in terms of cost, and extremely easy to incorporate into a printer or the like. still.

The present liquid crystal shutter array device can be driven not only by the above-mentioned static driving method but also by various known methods.For example, in a normal state, the liquid crystal shutter array is kept in a shielding state.

It is also possible to drive using a time-division driving method-voltage averaging method or a 1/3 bias method. If this driving method is changed, effects such as a reduction in the number of driving circuits, a reduction in the number of connection points between one circuit and a pixel, and a reduction in the number of pixel leader lines can be obtained.

Although specific configurations of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention should not be limited to these specific examples (1).
Of course, various modifications can be made to this without departing from the technical scope of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a non-impact type printer using the liquid crystal micro-shutter array device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a one-dimensional liquid crystal shutter array device which is an embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the drive circuit of this embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and FIG. 5 is a timing chart thereof. be. (Explanation of symbols) 5.6, 7: Glass substrates 8a, 8b: Signal electrodes 9a, 9b: Scanning electrodes 10: Liquid crystal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first glass substrate, a second glass substrate, and a third glass substrate are arranged in parallel in this order with a predetermined distance from each other, and a liquid crystal is interposed in the space between each substrate, Striped first electrodes are provided on one surface of the second glass substrate at a predetermined distance from each other, and striped second electrodes are provided on the opposite surface at a predetermined distance from each other, and the first
A counter electrode is provided corresponding to the space between the electrodes and extends in a direction transverse to the first electrode on the surface of the first glass substrate facing the second glass substrate; A liquid crystal shutter array device comprising: a counter electrode extending in a direction transverse to the second electrode on a surface of the substrate facing the second glass substrate. 2. In the above item 1, the 11th! A liquid crystal shutter array device characterized in that the pole and the second electrode have a mutually overlapping portion. 3. In the above item 1 or 2, the first electrode and the second electrode are parallel to each other, and each of the opposing electrodes is orthogonal to the first pole and the second electrode. LCD shutter array device.