JPS61154264A - Optical deflector in optical scanning system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To supply power easily and surely to a light emitting element mounted on a rotating body by supplying the power produced in the secondary winding of a rotary transformer to a light source unit via a rectifier and a regulator. CONSTITUTION:A rotor 16 having the secondary winding 16A is fitted to a rotary shaft 22 and a stator 18 having a primary winding 18A is fixed to a stationary member. The rotor 16 and the stator 18 constitute the rotary transformer 20. In inputting an AC power between terminals of the primary winding 18A of the rotary transformer 20 while the motor 14 drives the rotating body 12, an AC electromotive force is induced to the secondary winding 16A of the rotor 16. The induced electromotive force is processed by a rectifier 32 and a regulator to obtain a stable DC power. The DC power is fed to light source units 261-264 and also fed to a photodetector 24 and a semiconductor laser modulator.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Technical field) The present invention relates to an optical deflection device using an optical scanning method.

(Prior Art) An optical scanning method in which an object to be scanned is scanned by periodically deflecting a light beam is known in connection with optical printers and the like. There are various ways to deflect the light beam in such an optical scanning method, including one that uses a rotating polygon mirror, but one deflection method is to use a light emitting element such as a semiconductor laser or light emitting diode on a rotating body. A method has been proposed in which a light-emitting element is mounted on a mirror and a rotating body is rotated to emit light to obtain a polarized light beam. However, with this deflection method, it is difficult to supply power to a light emitting element mounted on a rotating body, and therefore it has been difficult to put it into practical use.

(Purpose) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a novel method that can easily and reliably supply power to a light emitting element mounted on a rotating body. An object of the present invention is to provide a light deflection device.

(composition) The present invention will be explained below.

The optical deflection device of the present invention includes a rotating body, one or more light source units, a rectifier, a l/gicolator, a motor, and a rotation transformer.

One or more light source units, rectifiers, and regulators are:
It is mounted on a rotating body, and this rotating body is rotated by a motor. The light source unit uses a light emitting element such as a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode as a light source, and the light emitting element itself may constitute a light source, but it can be equipped with an optical system such as a collimator lens if necessary. .

A rotary transformer includes a stator having a primary winding and a rotor having a secondary winding. The stator is fixedly held by a stationary member, and the rotor is fixedly attached to a rotating shaft of a rotating body.

During operation of the optical deflection device, AC power is input to the primary winding of the stator while rotating the rotating body by the motor. As a result, power is developed in the rotor's secondary winding. This power is supplied to the light source unit via a rectifier and regulator.

Note that the AC power, that is, the input of AC power to the primary winding, is performed by selecting a frequency that has a good coupling ratio of the rotary transformer, that is, a high efficiency.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a light deflection device for an optical printer, which is an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 10 indicates a light deflection device. A rotating body designated by the reference numeral 12 has a disk shape, is fixed to the rotating shaft 22 of the motor 140, and is rotated by the motor 14. Therefore, the rotation axis 22 of the motor 14 is the rotation axis of the rotating body 22 in this embodiment.

The rotating body] 2 includes light source units 261, 262. 26
3.264, rectifier and regulator not shown,
Furthermore, a semiconductor laser modulator (not shown) is fixedly mounted thereon.

Light source unit 261. , 262.263.264
have the same configuration and include a semiconductor laser as a light emitting element serving as a light source, and a collimating lens that collimates the light from the semiconductor laser. These light source units are located at equal distances from the rotation axis of the rotating body 12.
They are placed at equal intervals from each other. Therefore, the angle at which any two of these light source units 261 and the like adjacent to each other are viewed from the rotation axis is 90 degrees. Number of light source units is 1
Generally speaking, if there are n pieces, the above-mentioned angle becomes 360.

A semiconductor laser modulator (not shown) is located inside the dashed circle 28 in FIG. 2, and a rectifier and regulator are located in the area between the dashed circles 28 and 30 in FIG.

Reference numeral 24 indicates a light receiving element, and this light receiving element 24 is fixed to the top of the rotating shaft 22.

The rotating shaft 22 includes a rotor 16 having a secondary winding 16A.
The stator 18, which has a primary winding], 8A, is fixedly held by a stationary member (not shown). The rotor 16 and the stator 18 constitute a rotary transformer 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the primary winding 18 of the rotary transformer 20
When AC power is input between the terminals of A, an AC electromotive force is induced in the secondary winding 16A of the rotor 16.

This induced electromotive force is processed by the rectifier 32 and regulator to obtain stable DC power. This DC power is supplied to the light source units 261, 262. 263 and 264, and is also supplied to the light receiving element 24 and the semiconductor laser modulator.

FIG. 4 schematically shows only the parts necessary for explanation of an example of an optical printer using the optical deflection device 10 shown in FIG. 1.

In the figure, numeral 36 represents a light emitting diode, numeral 38 represents an fθ lens, numeral 40 represents a plane mirror, and numeral 40 represents a photoconductive photoreceptor.

While rotating the rotating body 12 by the motor 14 (Fig. 1), AC power is input to the primary winding of the rotary transformer 200, and the power generated on the secondary side is transmitted to the light source unit 261, etc., the light receiving element 24, and the semiconductor laser. Supplies the modulator.

The image signal is applied to the light emitting diode 36 (disposed directly above the light receiving element 24), the light emitting diode 36 blinks in response to the image signal, and the light receiving element 24 receives this optical signal and performs photoelectric conversion. Note that, if necessary, a lens may be provided between the light emitting diode 36 and the light receiving element 24 to couple them together.

The output of the light-receiving element 24 is applied to a semiconductor laser modulator (not shown), and the semiconductor laser modulator controls the blinking of the light source unit 261 and the like by a distribution power, that is, an output according to the image signal.

In this way, a polarized laser beam is obtained according to the image signal, and this beam is 1. The light is guided onto the photoreceptor 42 via the fθ lens 38 and the plane mirror 40.1. The light is focused onto the photoreceptor 42 in the form of a spont by the action of the fθ lens 380, and scans the photoreceptor 42 in the direction of its rotation axis in accordance with the rotation of the rotor 12. At this time, by rotating the photoreceptor 42 (uniformly charged) in the direction of the arrow, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image signal can be formed on the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor 42.

The above embodiment shows a light deflection device for an optical printer. When the light from the light source unit is not blinked according to the image signal, for example, when performing optical scanning for information reading,
The light receiving element 22 and the semiconductor laser modulator are not required.

Note that the image signal may be switched to each light source unit in the following manner.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotating body 12 is provided with sensors A and B using photocouplers,
, B, and a light shielding plate 50 that engages with them as shown in FIG. 6 is arranged in the area indicated by the symbol β in FIG.

When the sensors A and B are turned on while sensing the light shielding plate 50, each time the rotating body 12 rotates by 90 degrees,
(A; Off, B; Off), (A; On, B; Off), (
The four states of A; on, B; on) and (A; off, B; on) are switched one after another, so depending on each of these states,
By sequentially switching the image signal to each light source unit,
The light source units passing through the area indicated by the symbol α in FIG. 5 sequentially emit light in accordance with the image signal. Figure 7 shows
A specific example of a circuit for performing this switching is shown.

(Effects) As described above, according to the present invention, a novel optical deflection device can be provided. In the optical deflection device of the present invention, since the power is supplied to the light emitting element in a non-contact manner, the power is easily and reliably supplied, there is no noise, and the life of the supply mechanism is long.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of the rotating body in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining power supply, and FIG. FIGS. 5 to 7 are side views explanatory diagrams illustrating the main parts of the optical printer. 12 - Rotating body, 22... Rotating shaft, 14... Motor, 20... Rotating transformer, 16... Rotor,
16A...2 Next volume #18...Stator, 1
8A...Primary winding, 261.262.263.
264...Light source unit. 1'F) 4 R- to Figure-9

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An optical scanning method in which a light emitting element is mounted on a rotating body and the light emitting element emits light while rotating the rotating body to obtain a polarized light beam, comprising one or more light source units using the light emitting element; , a rotating body on which a rectifier and a regulator are mounted, a motor for rotating this rotating body, and a rotating transformer, and a rotor having a secondary winding of the rotating transformer is attached to a rotating shaft of the rotating body. The stator is fixed to a fixed member and has a primary winding, and the power generated in the secondary winding of the rotary transformer is supplied to the light source unit via the rectifier and regulator. A light deflection device.