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US 2004/0169716 A1Published application
Optical scanner and image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsKeiichi Serizawa, Yasumasa Tomita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An optical scanner for writing an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier includes a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path, a pair of optical detecting units arranged at two positions on the optical scanning path for detecting a write-start position and a write-end position to measure a time for scanning from the write-start position to the write-end position, and an optical housing that houses at least the scanning optical system and the optical detecting units. The optical detecting units are mounted on the optical housing via an intermediate member having a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the optical housing.
Claims22
An optical scanner in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path;
- a pair of optical detecting units arranged at two positions on the optical scanning path for detecting a write-start position and a write-end position to measure a time for scanning from the write-start position to the write-end position;
- and
- an optical housing that houses at least the scanning optical system and the optical detecting units, wherein
- the optical detecting units are mounted on the optical housing via an intermediate member having a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the optical housing.
2 more elements
An optical scanner in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a laser source that emits a laser beam;
- a rotating mirror deflector that deflects the laser beam;
- a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path for scanning a peripheral surface of an image carrier with the laser beam deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- an optical detecting unit that detects a synchronous detecting beam that is a part of the laser beam deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- and
- an optical housing that houses at least the laser source, the rotating mirror deflector, the scanning optical system, and the optical detecting unit, wherein
- the optical detecting unit is arranged at a position on an optical path of the synchronous detecting beam in such a way that a direction of a displacement of the optical detecting unit resulting from a deforming of the optical housing due to a thermal expansion is on the optical path of the synchronous detecting beam.
4 more elements
An optical scanner in a color image forming apparatus, comprising:.
- a plurality of laser sources that emits a plurality of laser beams;
- a rotating mirror deflector that deflects the laser beams;
- a plurality of scanning optical systems that forms a plurality of scanning paths for each of the laser beams deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- an optical housing that houses at least the laser sources, the rotating mirror deflector, and the scanning optical systems;
- and
- a plurality of optical detecting units that is mounted on the optical housing at positions where a part of each of the laser beams deflected by the rotating mirror deflector is irradiated, wherein
- a distance between each of the optical detecting units and a center of the rotating mirror deflector is set substantially same.
4 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an optical scanner that includes
- a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path;
- a pair of optical detecting units arranged at two positions on the optical scanning path for detecting a write-start position and a write-end position to measure a time for scanning from the write-start position to the write-end position;
- and
- an optical housing that houses at least the scanning optical system and the optical detecting units, wherein the optical detecting units are mounted on the optical housing via an intermediate member having a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the optical housing;
- an image forming unit that includes an image carrier, forms a toner image by developing an electrostatic latent image written on the image carrier with a toner, and transfers the toner image onto a recording medium;
- and
- a fixing unit that fixes the toner image transferred on the recording medium.
5 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an optical scanner that includes
- a laser source that emits a laser beam;
- a rotating mirror deflector that deflects the laser beam;
- a scanning optical system that forms an optical scanning path for scanning a peripheral surface of an image carrier with the laser beam deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- an optical detecting unit that detects a synchronous detecting beam that is a part of the laser beam deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- and
- an optical housing that houses at least the laser source, the rotating mirror deflector, the scanning optical system, and the optical detecting unit, wherein the optical detecting unit is arranged at a position on an optical path of the synchronous detecting beam in such a way that a direction of a displacement of the optical detecting unit resulting from a deforming of the optical housing due to a thermal expansion is on the optical path of the synchronous detecting beam;
- an image forming unit that includes an image carrier, forms a toner image by developing an electrostatic latent image written on the image carrier with a toner, and transfers the toner image onto a recording medium;
- and
- a fixing unit that fixes the toner image transferred on the recording medium.
7 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an optical scanner that includes
- a plurality of laser sources that emits a plurality of laser beams;
- a rotating mirror deflector that deflects the laser beams;
- a plurality of scanning optical systems that forms a plurality of scanning paths for each of the laser beams deflected by the rotating mirror deflector;
- an optical housing that houses at least the laser sources, the rotating mirror deflector, and the scanning optical systems;
- and
- a plurality of optical detecting units that is mounted on the optical housing at positions where a part of each of the laser beams deflected by the rotating mirror deflector is irradiated, wherein a distance between each of the optical detecting units and a center of the rotating mirror deflector is set substantially same;
- an image forming unit that includes an image carrier, forms a toner image by developing an electrostatic latent image written on the image carrier with a toner, and transfers the toner image onto a recording medium;
- and
- a fixing unit that fixes the toner image transferred on the recording medium.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.