Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Noboru Kusunose

Yoshinobu Sakaue

Kazunori Bannai

Tomoya Fujii

Shigeru Yoshiki

Iwao Matsumae

Nobuyuki Arai

Daisuke Imaki

Hideto Higaki

Tadashi Nakamura

Kenzo Tatsumi

Takeshi Saito

Hideo Yoshizawa

Kozo Yamazaki

Makoto Hirakawa

Kenichi Yoshimura

Kohta Takenaka

Shunji Kato

Akio Kutsuwada

Masasumi Yahata

Kenzou Tatsumi

Tokiko Gotoh

Yuji Kitajima

An optical device includes a rectangular parallelepiped prism including a reflection-transmission surface for reflecting and transmitting light fluxes, a seating surface provided so that a bottom surface of the prism is fixed by an adhesive, and a groove portion provided in a part of the periphery of the seating surface. When the prism is fixed to the seating surface by the adhesive, the groove portion is configured to be capable of receiving the adhesive protruded from between the bottom surface of the prism and the seating surface when the prism is pressed against a first positioning member for determining a position of the prism so that a first side face of the prism is along a predetermined straight line and against a second positioning member for restricting a second side face orthogonal to the first side face of the prism from moving in the direction of the straight line.

Optical device, optical unit, display device, and prism fixing method

An optical scanner includes a light source including a plurality of light emitting elements, a polygon mirror which deflects light from the light source for scanning a surface of a subject, an optical element arranged between the light source and the polygon mirror, having optical power in a sub scanning direction, a synchronous detector which detects the light deflected by the polygon mirror for synchronous detection and generates a signal for controlling a timing at which the scanning of the surface is started, and a fixing element which secures one end of the optical element. The light emitting elements of the light source are aligned with a certain tilt angle relative to the sub scanning direction. Light from one of the light emitting elements disposed closest to the fixing element in a main scanning direction is used for synchronous detection.

Optical scanner and image forming device incorporating same

In a light beam scanning device, a plurality of light sources, which irradiates a plurality of light beams in a first direction and is retained by a holder, are disposed at distance from one another in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The plurality of light beams are incident, via a coupling optical system, to deflecting and reflecting surfaces of a deflector from a direction that is tilted with respect to a plane orthogonal to the rotational shaft of the deflector. The holder is supported by a housing of the light beam scanning device at a plurality of different positions in a third direction extending from the light source to the coupling optical system.

Light beam scanning device and image forming apparatus

A straight tube LED lamp includes a substrate on which semiconductor light-emitting elements are mounted in longitudinal direction, a long metal chassis with a semi-circular cross section, to mount the substrate in a chord portion of the semi-circle, a resin sheet interposed between the chassis and the substrate, a translucent element contacting the chassis to form a circle, made from a resin or glass through which light beams from semiconductor light-emitting elements are transmitted, cap elements to cover both ends of the chassis and the translucent element and connectable to a lamp fitting, and a power supply board on which an electronic component for AC-DC conversion to supply current to the semiconductor light-emitting elements is mounted, contained in the chassis. The resin sheet is made from different materials at least at an overlapping portion and a non-overlapping portion of the power supply board and the substrate in longitudinal direction.

Straight tube LED lamp using semiconductor light-emitting element and lighting device incorporating the same

An optical writer includes a housing, a light source, a deflector, and a plurality of optical elements. The housing includes a plurality of surfaces, one of which includes a substantially flat portion having an opening formed therein and a curved portion curved in the shape of an arc of a circle in cross-section. The light source is enclosed within the housing and projects light through the opening and onto a target. The deflector is enclosed within the housing and deflects the light projected from the light source in a main scanning direction. The plurality of optical elements is enclosed within the housing and directs the light deflected by the deflector onto the target.

Optical writer and image forming apparatus including same

An optical writing unit includes in a housing a light source projecting a light beam, a deflector to deflect the light beam projected from the light source, a focusing lens, and a lens adjusting device. The focusing lens is long in a main scanning direction and focuses the light beam onto a scan target. The lens adjusting device rotates the focusing lens about a substantially center portion thereof as a rotation fulcrum on a plane perpendicular to an optical path of the light beam so as to adjust the position of the light beam illuminating the scan target. The focusing lens has an asymmetric cross-section relative to a center line of the focusing lens in a direction of the optical path in a sub-scanning plane perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and the center of gravity of the focusing lens is offset from the center line toward the rotation fulcrum.

Optical writing unit and image forming apparatus including same

The image forming apparatus includes a chassis; plural image bearing members; plural optical scanning devices having the same configuration and located on respective installation positions of the chassis after installed thereon to scan the image bearing members with light beams; and plural incompatibility imparting mechanisms. The incompatibility imparting mechanisms are located on the corresponding optical scanning devices, and have the same configuration and the same initial state before the plural optical scanning devices are installed on the chassis, but achieve incompatible states after the optical scanning devices are installed. When the optical scanning devices in the incompatible states are detached from the chassis and then attached again thereto, the incompatibility imparting mechanisms prevent the corresponding optical scanning devices from being set to positions other than the respective installation positions.

Image forming apparatus having plural optical scanning devices

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers and an optical writing device including light sources that emit light beams of different wavelengths, a deflector that deflects the light beams emitted from the light sources and synthesized on an identical axis in a sub-scanning direction, a first beam separator, a second beam separator, a first imaging device, and a second imaging device. The first beam separator and the second beam separator are located between the first imaging device and the second imaging device and transmit or reflect the light beams according to travel directions or wavelengths thereof. One of the targets is scanned with the light beam transmitted through the second beam separator. Another target is scanned with the light beam reflected by the second and first beam separators. The first and second imaging devices narrow the beams in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, respectively.

Image forming apparatus, optical writing device, and optical writing method

An image forming apparatus is provided with a light scanning device that directs laser beams emitted from a plurality of laser light sources on to a plurality of photoconductive members via focusing device which includes optical elements and a deflecting device that deflects the beams in a main scanning direction; an image forming device which forms visible images of different colors from images written onto the photoconductive members by the light scanning device; and an intermediate transfer member or a recording sheet transport member capable of carrying the visible images formed on the photoconductive members. When in detection mode, a control device controls the correction of color registration errors between each color forms patterns on an intermediate belt by an image forming device, detects the patterns by a color registration error detection sensor, and stores the color registration error correction values obtained from the detection output of the sensor in a memory device. When forming images, the control device reads the color registration error correction values stored in the memory device, and carries out correction in accordance with the correction values via a writing start position correction device which deflects the laser position in the sub scanning direction.

Image forming apparatus

An optical writing device that writes electrostatic latent images on an image carrier by irradiating and scanning the image carrier with an optical beam includes an optical element, a support housing configured to support members constituting the optical writing device, a pair of optical-element holding members opposing each other in a principal scanning direction and arranged in the support housing, and a displacing member configured to displace at least one of the pair of optical-element holding members relatively to the support housing on a plane perpendicular to the principal scanning direction. The optical-element holding member is made of a material having a coefficient of linear expansion smaller than that of the support housing.

Optical writing device and image forming apparatus

An optical writing device includes a dichroic mirror and a deflection beam splitter. The dichroic mirror causes a light beam to pass therethrough or reflect depending on the wavelengths of the light beam. The deflection beam splitter causes a light beam to pass therethrough or reflect depending on a direction from which the light beam is received.

An optical scanning device includes a polygon mirror, a beam detector, a correcting unit, and a controller. The polygon mirror deflects and scans a light beam in a main scanning direction on a surface of an image carrier. The beam detector detects a beam position of the deflected light beam in a sub-scanning direction. The correcting unit calculates a correction amount of out-of-color registration based on the beam position, and corrects out-of-color registration in the sub-scanning direction based on the correction amount. The controller controls, during correction of out-of-color registration, a deflection speed of the deflector to be less than a deflection speed for writing a latent image on the surface of the image carrier.

Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus

An optical writing apparatus includes a deflecting part having a deflection plane for deflecting a plurality of light beams, a synchronization detection mirror for reflecting the plurality of light beams from the deflecting part, a synchronization detection part for detecting the timing for deflecting the plural light beams reflected from the synchronization detection mirror, and a housing for housing the deflecting part and the synchronization detection part. The synchronization detection part includes a lens for converging the plural light beams reflected from the synchronization detection mirrors, a light detection plate for detecting the plural light beams converged by the lens, and a holding member for holding the lens and the light detection plate.

Optical writing apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image reading device for reading a document while conveying it of the present invention includes a reading member for reading the document, a path positioned downstream of the reading member in a direction of document conveyance such that the document moving away from the reading member is conveyed along the path, and a pair of rollers positioned on the path for conveying the document and having a nip positioned above the top of the reading member. An auxiliary sheet member is positioned on the path between the reading member and the pair of rollers for helping the document be conveyed. One end of the auxiliary sheet member is affixed to the path adjacent to the reading member at a position lower than the top of the reading member while the other end is held in contact with part of the pair of rollers around the nip.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Noboru Kusunose