Image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsMinoru Morikawa, Shinichi Suzuki, Kazumi Ishima
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Abstract
The present invention provides a light source apparatus in which wasteful cost increases can be suppressed during the manufacture of various types of light source apparatuses, and replacement of a broken light source can be performed at low cost, a recording apparatus using the light source apparatus, and an image forming apparatus comprising the recording apparatus. A plurality of optical units comprising optical members (a light source element and a lens) for outputting a single beam are combined separably in row form. A holder is used as means for holding the optical units in row form.
Claims9
An image forming apparatus which uses an optical unit array formed by arranging a plurality of optical units, each of which is formed by incorporating a light source element and a lens for condensing light from the light source element into a casing, and performs image formation in an image formation area using energy from the light source element by apportioning the image formation area among the optical units,
- wherein the optical unit array comprises gaps between the casings of adjacent optical units, and is installed in a holding member such that the optical units can be attached and detached.
An image forming apparatus which uses an optical unit array formed by arranging a plurality of optical units, each of which is formed by incorporating a light source element and a lens for condensing light from the light source element into a casing, and performs image formation in an image formation area using energy from the light source element by apportioning the image formation area among the optical units,
- wherein the optical unit array is an optical unit group formed by arranging n number of the optical units in a holder, N number of the optical unit groups are arranged in a holding member so as to cover a width of the image formation area, a gap is provided between the casings of adjacent optical units, and the optical units are installed in the holder detachably (here, n and N are natural numbers of two or more).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.