US-20260126737-A1 - OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE

US20260126737A1US 20260126737 A1US20260126737 A1US 20260126737A1US-20260126737-A1

Abstract

An optical scanning device comprises a component fixer including a one-end fixer that fixes one end of an optical component and an other-end fixer that fixes an other end of the optical component, wherein the one-end fixer includes a one-end positioner that positions an other surface of the one end and at least one one-end side protruding portion that supports the other surface in an inclined state with respect to a horizontal plane, the other-end fixer includes an other-end positioner that positions the other surface of the other end and at least two other-end side protruding portions that support the other surface in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane, and an other-end adhesive fixer fixes the other end to the other-end positioner and includes portions at which the other surface is fixed to the at least two other-end side protruding portions.

Inventors

Hidenori Sato
Akito TERAMOTO
Yusuke Taki
Hiroshi Yamamoto

Assignees

SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251028
Priority Date: 20241101

Claims (11)

1 . An optical scanning device comprising: a light source; an optical component irradiated with light from the light source; a housing that accommodates the optical component; and a component fixer that fixes the optical component in the housing, the optical component having a shape extending in a longitudinal direction intersecting an irradiation direction of the light, and having an outer peripheral surface facing a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, the outer peripheral surface of the optical component including one surface and another surface which is supported by the component fixer, the component fixer including a one-end fixer that fixes one end of the optical component in the longitudinal direction and an other-end fixer that fixes an other end of the optical component in the longitudinal direction, the one-end fixer including a one-end positioner that positions the other surface of the one end of the optical component and a biaser that biases the one surface to the one-end positioner side, the other-end fixer including an other-end positioner that positions the other surface of the other end of the optical component and an other-end adhesive fixer by which the other end is fixed to the other-end positioner, the one-end positioner including at least one one-end side protruding portion that supports the other surface in an inclined state with respect to a horizontal plane, the other-end positioner including at least two other-end side protruding portions that support the other surface in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane, and the other-end adhesive fixer including portions at which the other surface is fixed to the at least two other-end side protruding portions.
2 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the one surface is an incident surface on which the light is incident, and the biaser biases the incident surface to the one-end positioner side.
3 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the other surface is a flat surface, and an inclination angle of the other surface of the optical component fixed to the component fixer in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane is 45° or more and less than 90°.
4 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the one-end fixer further includes a one-end adhesive fixer by which the one end is fixed to the one-end positioner, and the one-end adhesive fixer includes a portion at which the other surface is fixed to the at least one one-end side protruding portion.
5 . The optical scanning device according to claim 4 , wherein the one-end adhesive fixer includes a portion at which the other surface is fixed to the biaser.
6 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the biaser includes a contact portion that is in contact with a part of the one surface, and the contact portion is formed in a hemispherical shape.
7 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the outer peripheral surface of the optical component includes a lower end surface between the one surface and the other surface, the one-end positioner further includes a one-end side protruding portion that is in contact with the lower end surface and supports the lower end surface, and the other-end positioner further includes an other-end side protruding portion that is in contact with the lower end surface and supports the lower end surface.
8 . The optical scanning device according to claim 7 , wherein the one-end side protruding portion and the other-end side protruding portion support the optical component such that an inclination angle of the other surface of the optical component fixed to the component fixer in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane is 45° or more and less than 90°.
9 . The optical scanning device according to claim 1 , wherein the optical component is a mirror.
10 . An image forming apparatus comprising: the optical scanning device according to claim 1 ; a photoreceptor on which a latent image is formed by being irradiated with the light from the optical scanning device; and a development device that develops the latent image formed on the photoreceptor.
11 . A method of manufacturing the optical scanning device according to claim 1 , the method comprising: a step of bringing the other surface of the other end of the optical component into contact with the at least two other-end side protruding portions of the other-end positioner, positioning the other end of the optical component to the other-end positioner in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane, bringing the other surface of the one end of the optical component into contact with the at least one one-end side protruding portion of the one-end positioner positioning the one end of the optical component to the one-end positioner in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane, and biasing the one surface toward the one-end positioner side by the biaser; and a step of applying an adhesive to contact portions between the at least two other-end side protruding portions and the other surface of the optical component and curing the adhesive to form the other-end adhesive fixer.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application claims priority from Japanese Application JP2024-192940, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application. BACKGROUND 1. Field The disclosure relates to an optical scanning device, an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device, and a method of manufacturing the optical scanning device. 2. Description of the Related Art In the related art, an optical scanning device provided at an image forming apparatus irradiates a photoreceptor, which is an irradiation target, with light from a light source (hereinafter, may be referred to as scanning light) to form a latent image on a surface of the photoreceptor. A multi-color image forming apparatus (hereinafter, may be referred to as a color image forming apparatus) includes a plurality of drum-shaped photoreceptors corresponding to a plurality of colors (for example, four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow), and an optical scanning device including a plurality of optical scanning systems individually corresponding to the plurality of photoreceptors. In such a color image forming apparatus, each optical scanning system is provided with a bar-shaped mirror having a rectangular cross section for reflecting the scanning light from the light source toward the photoreceptor. Both ends of a plurality of mirrors of the respective optical scanning systems in the longitudinal direction are fixed to a pair of gripping portions provided in a housing (optical box) of the optical scanning device. The gripping portions each include a mirror-supporting recessed portion provided at a bottom surface in the housing, and a thin plate spring attached to the housing. The mirror-supporting recessed portion positions the mirror so as to support the mirror at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to a horizontal plane. The thin plate spring is opposed to the mirror, and is in contact with the opposing surfaces of the mirror to bias the mirror toward the mirror-supporting recessed portion. SUMMARY In the case of the optical scanning device in the related art, when both ends of the mirror are fixed to the gripping portions, one end of the mirror is inserted and fixed between the mirror-supporting recessed portion and the thin plate spring in one gripping portion, and the other end of the mirror is similarly fixed to the other gripping portion. At this time, on both end sides of the mirror, a part of the mirror, a part of the thin plate, or a part of the mirror-supporting recessed portion may be scraped due to contact between the mirror and the thin plate spring and contact between the mirror and the mirror-supporting recessed portion, and a failure in the inclination angle of the mirror may occur. The failure in the inclination angle of the mirror may cause an optical axis failure, which leads to an optical axis arrival failure, and may cause a beam diameter failure, which leads to a performance failure. An object of the disclosure is to provide an optical scanning device and an image forming apparatus including the same, which are made in consideration of the above-described circumstances. The disclosure provides an optical scanning device including: a light source; an optical component irradiated with light from the light source; a housing that accommodates the optical component; and a component fixer that fixes the optical component in the housing. The optical component has a shape extending in a longitudinal direction intersecting an irradiation direction of the light, and an outer peripheral surface facing a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. The outer peripheral surface of the optical component includes one surface and another surface supported by the component fixer. The component fixer includes a one-end fixer that fixes one end of the optical component in the longitudinal direction, and an other-end fixer that fixes the other end of the optical component in the longitudinal direction. The one-end fixer includes a one-end positioner that positions the other surface of the one end of the optical component and a biaser that biases the one surface to the one-end positioner side. The other-end fixer includes an other-end positioner that positions the other surface of the other end of the optical component, and an other-end adhesive fixer by which the other end is fixed to the other-end positioner. The one-end positioner includes at least one one-end side protruding portion that supports the other surface in an inclined state with respect to a horizontal plane. The other-end positioner includes at least two other-end side protruding portions that support the other surface in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal plane. The other-end adhesive fixer includes portions at which the other surface is fixed to the at least two other-end side protruding portions. The disclosure provides an image forming apparatus including the optical scanning