Image forming apparatus and adjusting method of image forming apparatus

• US 20070126852A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Oda, Ayumu, Fukutome, Shohichi, Okada, Tomohiko, Motoyama, Takaharu
• Granted Patent: US 7,589,751 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/262
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 25/304 Bodily-movable mechanisms for print heads or carriages movable towards or from paper surface
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/04054 by LED arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/1666 for the exposure unit
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/0409 Light-emitting diodes, i.e. LED-array

Abstract

An image forming apparatus comprises an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between an LED head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor and a photoreceptor drum to a reference interval (A), and the adjusting mechanism includes a regulating member attached to the LED head. In the adjustment of the interval between the LED head and the photoreceptor drum, the LED head and the regulating member are integrally moved until the regulating member comes into contact with the photoreceptor drum. The interval between the LED head and the photoreceptor drum is (A-B) at this point. The LED head and the regulating member are moved in the direction opposite to the photoreceptor drum by a distance (B). As a result, the interval between the LED head and the photoreceptor drum is set to the reference interval (A).

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor and the photoreceptor to a reference interval,

the adjusting mechanism including a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor;

a moving mechanism that integrally moves the regulating member along with the write head to bring the regulating member into contact with the photoreceptor; and

a reverse-moving mechanism that integrally moves the regulating member along with the write head in the direction opposite to the photoreceptor by a predetermined distance after the regulating member comes into contact with the photoreceptor to set the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor to the reference interval.

2. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

a contact detection mechanism that detects the contact between the regulating member and the photoreceptor from presence of electric conductivity; and

a mechanism that performs notification of the detection result of the contact detection mechanism.

3. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the regulating member contacts with a conductive non-image area disposed at both ends of the photoreceptor and the moving mechanism and the reverse-moving mechanism can independently move both ends of the write head.

4. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein

when adjusting the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, the regulating member is brought into contact with the photoreceptor while the photoreceptor is rotated.

14. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

an evacuation mechanism that evacuates the regulating member.

15. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 or 5, wherein

the photoreceptor is drum-shaped.

16. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the write head is an LED head.

17. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the photoreceptor is belt-shaped.

5. An image forming apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor and the photoreceptor to a reference interval,

the adjusting mechanism including a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor;

a mechanism that mounts a spacer with a predetermined thickness to the photoreceptor;

a moving mechanism that integrally moves the regulating member along with the write head to bring the regulating member into contact with the spacer; and

a mechanism that removes the spacer after the regulating member comes into contact with the spacer.

6. The image forming apparatus of claim 5, comprising:

a contact detection mechanism that detects the contact between the regulating member and the spacer from presence of electric conductivity; and

a mechanism that performs notification of the detection result of the contact detection mechanism.

7. The image forming apparatus of claim 5, wherein

the regulating member contacts with the spacer mounted to both ends of the photoreceptor and the moving mechanism can independently move both ends of the write head.

8. An image forming apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor on a drum and the photoreceptor to a reference interval,

the adjusting mechanism including an adjusting member that integrally moves along with the write head to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor and a detecting member that comes into contact with the photoreceptor drum to detect the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, the detecting member obtaining a place on the photoreceptor where the photoreceptor becomes closest to the write head and a place on the photoreceptor where the photoreceptor becomes farthest from the write head to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor to an intermediate position between the obtained places.

9. The image forming apparatus of claim 8, comprising:

a contact detection mechanism that detects the contact between the detecting member and the photoreceptor drum from presence of electric conductivity; and

a mechanism that performs notification of the detection result of the contact detection mechanism.

10. An image forming apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor on a drum and the photoreceptor to a reference interval,

the adjusting mechanism including a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor;

a sub-scanning direction position detecting member that detects a position of the regulating member in the sub-scanning direction relative to the photoreceptor drum; and

a sub-scanning direction moving mechanism that moves the write head in the sub-scanning direction, after the sub-scanning direction position detecting member and the sub-scanning direction moving mechanism adjust a sub-scanning direction position of the write head, the apparatus using the regulating member to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor.

11. The image forming apparatus of claim 10, wherein

the sub-scanning direction position detecting member comes into contact with a rotation shaft of the photoreceptor drum when the write head reaches right above the photoreceptor.

12. The image forming apparatus of claim 10, wherein

the regulating member and the sub-scanning direction position detecting member are integrally formed and move closer or away in the direction of the photoreceptor along with the write head.

13. The image forming apparatus of claim 10, wherein

a distance between the center axis of the regulating member and a contact position bringing the sub-scanning direction position detecting member into contact with the rotation shaft of the photoreceptor drum is set larger than a radius of the rotation shaft of the photoreceptor drum by a predetermined distance and when detecting contact with the rotation shaft, the sub-scanning direction position detecting member is moved away from the contact position by the predetermined distance.

18. An adjusting method of an image forming apparatus, the apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor and the photoreceptor to a reference interval, the adjusting mechanism including a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, wherein

after the regulating member is moved in the direction of the photoreceptor and brought into contact with the photoreceptor, the regulating member is integrally moved along with the write head in the direction opposite to the photoreceptor by a predetermined dimension to set the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor to the reference interval.

19. An adjusting method of an image forming apparatus, the apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor and the photoreceptor to a reference interval, the adjusting mechanism including a mechanism that mounts a spacer with a predetermined thickness to the photoreceptor and a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, wherein

after the spacer is mounted to the photoreceptor and the regulating member is moved along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor and brought into contact with the spacer, the spacer is removed.

20. An adjusting method of an image forming apparatus, the apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor on a drum and the photoreceptor to a reference interval, the adjusting mechanism including an adjusting member that integrally moves along with the write head to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor and a detecting member that comes into contact with the photoreceptor to detect the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, wherein

the detecting member obtains a place on the photoreceptor where the photoreceptor becomes closest to the write head and a place on the photoreceptor where the photoreceptor becomes farthest from the write head to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor to an intermediate position between the obtained places.

21. An adjusting method of an image forming apparatus, the apparatus comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts an interval between a write head writing an optical image on a photoreceptor on a drum and the photoreceptor to a reference interval, the adjusting mechanism including a regulating member that integrally moves along with the write head in the direction of the photoreceptor to regulate the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor, a sub-scanning direction position detecting member that detects a position of the regulating member in the sub-scanning direction relative to the photoreceptor drum, and a sub-scanning direction moving mechanism that moves the write head in the sub-scanning direction, wherein

after the sub-scanning direction position detecting member and the sub-scanning direction moving mechanism adjust a sub-scanning direction position of the write head, the regulating member is used to adjust the interval between the write head and the photoreceptor.