JP2002133755A - Automatic disk changer provided with inversion mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To concurrently handle two disks by providing an inversion mechanism for using the surface and the back face of the disk which is a double-face storage medium. SOLUTION: Empty pallets 9a are stored to face downward in first guide grooves 25 and third guide grooves 27 of a rotary frame 22 respectively in advance, pallets 9b mounted with disks D are introduced below the empty pallets 9a respectively, and the disks D are pinched by two pallets 9a and 9b. The disks D are dropped and mounted on the empty pallets 9a stored in advance in an inverted state respectively by rotating the rotary frame 22 by 180 deg..

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic disk exchange apparatus provided with an inversion mechanism for inverting a disk such as a CD or DVD used for a storage device such as a computer or a recording / reproducing device such as an AV device. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, discs such as FDs and MOs are housed in a case and handled as cartridges. Therefore, an automatic disc exchanging apparatus can exchange discs by exchanging the case between a storage means and a recording / reproducing apparatus. It has become. Therefore, when it is necessary to turn over a disk that can use both storage surfaces on the front and back, that is, when it is necessary to turn over the disk, the automatic disk changing apparatus can turn over the disk by turning over the case.

[0003] In recent years, however, a case-free C
As discs such as D and DVD have been developed, automatic disc changers have mounted such discs on tray-shaped pallets and exchanged them between storage means and recording / reproducing means. For this reason, when using both storage surfaces on the front and back of the disk, the automatic disk exchange device needs to be inverted with the disk mounted on the pallet. Will be.

[0004] Therefore, by using two pallets and interposing a disc between these pallets and inverting them,
A device for inverting a disk is known.

[0005] However, in this publication, since only one set of pallets is used, it does not function at all at the time of failure, and the processing time is not always short.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to provide a reversing mechanism for using the front and back of a disk which is a double-sided recording medium, and to be able to handle two disks simultaneously. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic disk exchange apparatus having a reversing mechanism having a fail-safe function while shortening the processing time.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic disk exchange apparatus provided with a reversing mechanism according to the present invention, comprising: storage means for storing a disk; and recording means for recording and reproducing information on and from the disk. Reproducing means, and transport means for transporting the disk between the storage means and the recording / reproducing means, the transport means incorporating a reversing mechanism for reversing the front and back of the disc, and the reversing mechanism comprises: First and second pallets forming a pair in the guide groove and third and fourth pallets forming a pair
Has a pallet storage section that stores each pallet,
The first and third pallets on which the disk is mounted are superimposed on the second and fourth pallets on which the disk is not mounted, and the pallet storage section is inverted, whereby the first and third pallets are inverted. The disc, which is turned upside down from above, is dropped on the second and fourth pallets and moved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiment. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment in which a part of the box 1 is shown by imaginary lines, and a base 1a at the bottom of the box 1 is shown.
On the top are a storage 2 for mounting and storing a large number of disks as information recording media such as CDs and DVDs on a thin pallet, and a plurality of recording and reproducing drives 3 for recording and reproducing information on the disks. Are arranged on the same circumference. In a space surrounded by the storage 2 and the recording / reproducing drive 3, a transport mechanism 4 for transporting a pallet on which a disk is mounted between the storage 2 and the recording / reproducing drive 3 is arranged. In the embodiment, the storages 2 are arranged in tandem at, for example, three locations on the same circumference, and the recording / reproducing drives 3 are arranged in tandem at, for example, one location on the same circumference.

In the transport mechanism 4, the upper and lower disks 5, 6 are rotatably arranged on a center line A of the same circumference where the storage 2 and the recording / reproducing drive 3 are arranged. These disks 5, 6
A support 7 is eccentrically supported. The support 7 transfers a pallet on which a disk is mounted to the storage 2 or the recording / reproducing drive 3 and also reverses the received disk and the pallet. 8 are supported. The reversing delivery mechanism 8 is configured to be able to move up and down along the column 7 and to be rotatable integrally with the column 7 around the center line A. A drive mechanism (not shown) for driving the discs 5 and 6 in the rotating direction and driving the reversing and transferring mechanism 8 in the vertical direction is provided. The reversing and transferring mechanism 8 can face the desired storage 2 or the recording / reproducing drive 3. It has been.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the reverse transfer mechanism 8 shown together with one set of pallets 9, and the reverse transfer mechanism 8 accommodates two sets of pallets 9. That is, the disk D is not mounted on the reverse transfer mechanism 8.
The pallets 9 are accommodated with a space provided in advance, and the two pallets 9 on which the disks D are mounted are respectively drawn in adjacent to the lower side of the pallets 9 accommodated in advance. ing.

The four pallets 9 are accommodated in the reversing and receiving mechanism 8 by two pairs of claw members described later provided in the reversing and receiving mechanism 8, or are discharged from the reversing and receiving mechanism 8. I have. Then, the adjacent pallets 9 in the reversing delivery mechanism 8 are stacked so as to face each other,
When the stacked pallets 9 are inverted by 180 degrees, the front and back sides are inverted so that the disk D does not fall from between the pallets 9.

When the direction of entry into the reverse transfer mechanism 8 is set to the front of the pallet 9, the pallet 9 is symmetrical in the front-rear and left-right directions, and a front surface 11 on which the disk D is mounted and a back surface opposite to the front surface 11. 12, and two pairs of front and rear projecting pieces 13 that project from the center in the left-right direction and are gripped by the below-described claw members of the reversing delivery mechanism 8.

On the surface 11 of the pallet 9, a circular concave portion 14 for accommodating the disk D is formed.
A circular window 15 having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the disk D is formed concentrically. A step (not shown) is provided at a corner of the circular concave portion 14.
And the diameter of the step is such that the disk D does not come into contact with the recording surface of the disk D even if the disk D moves in the circular concave portion 14.

Therefore, the two pallets 9 previously stored in the reversing and transferring mechanism 8 face the surface 11 downward, and the pallet 9 with the disk D mounted on the surface 11 is the pallet 9 previously stored. Is accommodated under the surface 11 so that the surfaces 11 face each other.

The reversing delivery mechanism 8 has a fixed frame 21 attached to the column 7 so as to be vertically movable.
A rotating frame 22 is supported by the fixed frame 21 so as to be rotatable around the axis B on the inside. When the direction in which the reverse transfer mechanism 8 transfers the pallet 9 is set to the front, the shapes of the fixed frame 21 and the rotating frame 22 are symmetrical left and right and up and down except for a part described later. However, since the rotating frame 22 is provided with a vertically moving member, which will be described later, the same reference numerals are used for members and portions located at left and right symmetric positions in the drawing, and different members and portions are located at vertically symmetric positions. Signs are used.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged plan view of the reversing and transferring mechanism 8, and includes a front plate 21 a of the fixed frame 21 and a front plate 2 of the rotating frame 22.
The center of 2a is rotatably connected via a support shaft 23, and the center of the rear plate 21b of the fixed frame 21 and the rear plate 22b of the rotary frame 22 are also connected to the rear plate of the rotary frame 22 via a support shaft (not shown). 22b is rotatably connected to the rear plate 21b of the fixed frame 21. Side plate 21c of fixed frame 21 and side plate 22c of rotating frame 22
Distance between the side plates 21c and 22 even if the rotating frame 22 rotates.
c are so large that they do not contact each other. And FIG.
As shown in the figure, the central recess 21 of the rear plate 21b of the fixed frame 21
d is a drive motor 2 for driving the rotation frame 22 to rotate.
4 is provided, and the rotating frame 22 is
It is designed to be driven to rotate in the forward and reverse directions by 0 degrees.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the reverse transfer mechanism 8 in which the rotating frame 22 is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees from the front plate 22a side to the rear plate 22b side. Is drawn. As shown in FIG. 2, four pairs of first to fourth guide grooves 25 to 25 for guiding the pallet 9 are provided on the inner surface of the side plate 22 c of the rotating frame 22.
28 are provided. The interval between the first guide groove 25 and the second guide groove 26, and the interval between the third guide groove 27 and the fourth guide groove 28 are such that the opposing pallets 9 are overlapped with no gap, and It is provided so that the disk D mounted on the pallet 9 does not drop even if it rotates. The distance between the second guide groove 26 and the third guide groove 27 is determined by the front plate 21a of the fixed frame 21 and the front plate 22a of the rotating frame 22.
And the pallet 9 is easily guided in the second and third guide grooves 26 and 27 in a horizontal state.

The pallet 9 on which the disk D is not mounted
Are stored in the first guide groove 25 and the third guide groove 27 in advance. The width of the front plate 21a of the fixed frame 21 and the width of the front plate 22a of the rotating frame 22 are narrowed so that the pallet 9 can pass horizontally through the second and third guide grooves 26 and 27. Instead of reducing the width of the front plates 21a, 22a, a slot for inserting the pallet 9 into the front plates 21a, 22a may be provided.

A disk D is placed between two pallets 9.
It is also preferable to interpose an intermediate plate having a hole through which the gas passes. By providing this intermediate plate, there is no possibility that the disc D will fall during rotation even if the gap between the pallets 9 is not sufficiently accurate. In this case, the intermediate plate is connected to the rotating frame 2
2 in advance.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the rotating frame 22. A claw member 3 for gripping the pallet 9 is provided on a side plate 22c of the rotating frame 22.
First to fourth claw guide gaps 32a to 32d for guiding 0 and 31 in the front-rear direction are formed to communicate with the first to fourth guide grooves 25 to 28, respectively. The width of these claw guide gaps 32a to 32d is set to a size that does not allow the pallet 9 to jump out. At the rear of the side plate 22c,
Claw switching gaps 33a, 3 for moving the claw members 30, 31 so as to align them with appropriate claw guide gaps 32a to 32d.
3b, the claw guide gaps 32a, 32b and the claw guide gap 32
It is formed so that it may communicate with c and 32d, respectively.

The side plate 22c has a longitudinal moving member 34,
There are provided gaps 36a, 36b for moving the 35 in the front-rear direction, and rails 37a, 37b for supporting the front-rear moving members 34, 35. Further, at the front end of the outer surface of the side plate 22c, a pressing member 38 for pressing the claw members 30 and 31 to rotate inward is supported by a support shaft 38a fixed to the side plate 22c.
And are rotatably supported. A solenoid 39 having a rod 39a for driving the pressing member 38 is attached near the pressing member 38 on the outer surface of the side plate 22.

Accordingly, the first to fourth guide grooves 25 to 28, the claw members 30, 31, the first to fourth claw guide grooves 32a to 32d, the gaps 33a, 33b, the gap 36a
36b, rails 37a and 37b, a pressing member 38, and a solenoid 39 are provided in pairs on the left and right, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2 again, the back and forth moving member 34,
35 is screwed to the screw shafts 41a and 41b pivotally supported by the rotating frame 22 via connecting portions 34a and 35a, respectively, so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, and on the outer surface of the rear plate 22b of the rotating frame 22,
Drive motors 42a and 42b for driving the screw shafts 41a and 41b to rotate are attached, respectively.

FIG. 6 shows one claw member 31 and the front-rear moving member 35.
5 is a partially enlarged perspective view corresponding to FIG. 4 showing the connecting mechanism of FIG. 4, and the connecting mechanism of the other claw member 30 and the front-rear moving member 34 has the same configuration. The fore-and-aft movement members 34 and 35 are movable in the C direction with respect to the rotating frame 22, and the claw members 30 and 3
Numeral 1 is supported by front and rear moving members 34 and 35 via support shafts 43a and 43b, and is slidable in the D direction and rotatable in the E direction with respect to the front and rear moving members 34 and 35. Claw member 3
The coil springs 45a and 45b are provided on the outer peripheral surfaces of the bearing portions 44a and 44b integrated with the coil springs 0 and 31, respectively.
5a, 45b is locked in the locking holes 34b, 35b of the front and rear moving members 34, 35, so that the claw member 30,
31 is biased in the E direction. And the front and rear moving member 3
Rollers 46a and 46b that roll on rails 37a and 37b are provided on the inner surfaces of the rollers 4 and 35, respectively.

Accordingly, the rotating frames 22 are provided with the support shafts 43a, 43
b, bearings 44a, 44b, coil springs 45a, 45
b and rollers 46a and 46b are provided in pairs on the left and right, respectively. The front and rear moving members 34 and 35 are provided one by one at the top and bottom, and the screw shafts 41a and 41b are provided one by one at the left and right.

In front of the rear plate 22b inside the rotary frame 22, a U-shaped vertical moving member 47 is connected to the rear plate 22b via a guide portion 48, and the vertical moving member 47 is D-shaped. It is movable in the direction. As shown in FIG. 2, the vertical moving member 47 includes two pairs of gaps 47 a and 47 b through which the base portions 30 a and 31 a of the claw members 30 and 31 are inserted, and the front-rear moving member 3.
Wide gaps 47c and 47d through which the holes 4 and 35 are inserted are formed. When the claw members 30 and 31 are respectively inserted into the gaps 47a and 47b of the vertically moving member 47, the thick portions 30b and 31b (thick portions 30b are not shown) abut on the inner surface of the vertically moving member 47. , Rotation to the outside is regulated.

The vertically moving member 47 thus formed is
As shown in FIG. 5, when the rotating frame 22 rotates, the rotating frame 22 moves downward by gravity, and one gap 47a is moved to the second claw guide gap 3
2b, and the other gap 47b is the fourth claw guide gap 3
2d. The vertical moving member 4
7 also moves downward by gravity when the rotating frame 22 rotates in the reverse direction, and one of the gaps 47a is moved to the first claw guide groove 32a.
And the other gap 47b is aligned with the third claw guide groove 32c.

A pair of left and right stoppers 49a is provided on both sides of the rear portion of the both side plates 21c of the fixed frame 21, and
If a pair of upper and lower projecting pieces 49b that can be brought into contact with the stopper 49a from the turning direction is provided on the upper and lower sides on one side in the left and right direction of
When the rotating frame 22 rotates in the forward and reverse directions, the vertically moving member 47 can be forcibly moved downward.

As shown in the partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 7, the reverse delivery mechanism 8 having such a configuration firstly places the empty pallet 9a on the first guide groove 25 and the third guide groove 27 with the surface 11 on the second guide groove 27.
Are accommodated toward the guide groove 26 and the fourth guide groove 28, respectively. The vertically moving member 47 moves downward by the action of gravity or by the action of the stopper 49a and one of the projecting pieces 49b, and the claw members 30 and 31 move to the second guide groove 26 and the fourth
, Respectively.

Next, the control circuit of the transport mechanism 4 issues a command, and the transport mechanism 4 transports the reverse transfer mechanism 8 to the front of the desired storage 2 as shown in FIG. Then, one drive motor 42a of the reverse transfer mechanism 8 is connected to one screw shaft 41a.
To drive one of the front and rear moving members 34 forward. As a result, the sliding surface 30c of the claw member 30 is
And the bottom surface of the second guide groove 26, the rotation frame 22
From the front plate 22a.

At this time, the sliding surface 30c of the claw member 30 is disengaged from the second guide groove 26, and the claw member 30 is
It rotates outward by the urging force of a. And the claw member 30
When the engaging groove 30d of the pallet 9 advances to a position where the protrusion 13 of the pallet 9 can be engaged, the solenoid 39 is actuated, and the rod 39a moves through the pressing member 38 to the sliding surface 30 of the claw member 30.
Press c. Thereby, the engagement groove 30d of the claw member 30 is formed.
The projection 13 of the pallet 9 is engaged with the pallet 9, and the claw member 30 grips the pallet 9b.

Thereafter, the drive motor 42a is connected to the screw shaft 41.
a is rotated in the reverse direction to pull the claw member 30 into the second guide groove 26. When the sliding surface 30c of the claw member 30 slides on the bottom surface of the second guide groove 26, the operation of the solenoid 39 is stopped, and thereafter, the posture of the claw member 30 is changed to the second guide. The pallet 9b on which the desired disk D is mounted is pulled into the second guide groove 26 while being held at the bottom of the groove 26. Further, the transport mechanism 4 transports the reverse transfer mechanism 8 to another desired storage 2 as necessary, and the other claw member 3
1 hangs the pallet 9b on which the desired disk D is mounted similarly to the one claw member 30, and draws the pallet 9b into the fourth guide groove 28. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9, two pallets 9a and two pallets 9b on which the disk D is mounted are accommodated in the rotating frame 22.

When the reversing and transferring mechanism 8 accommodates the pallet 9b on which the desired disk D is mounted from the storage 2, the transport mechanism 4 starts to transport the reversing and transferring mechanism 8 to the front of the recording / reproducing drive 3. Here, when the reversal of the disk D is required, the drive motor 24 is operated to rotate the rotating frame 22 by 180 degrees. At this time, since the empty pallets 9b are previously stored in the first guide grooves 25 and the third guide grooves 27, when the rotating frame 22 is inverted as shown in FIG. It falls in a state of being inverted.

When the rotating frame 22 is rotated, the vertical moving member 47 is moved by its own weight, or the stopper 49a and the other projection 4
The claw members 30 and 31 move to the positions corresponding to the third guide groove 27 and the first guide groove 25 located below, respectively, by the action of 9b. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, after the transport mechanism 4 moves the reverse transfer mechanism 8 to the front of the recording / reproducing drive 3, the pawl members 30 and 31 are driven simultaneously or one by one to drive the pallet 9a on which the inverted disk D is mounted. Into the recording / reproduction drive 3.

In the meantime, when the solenoid 39 is operated and the engaging grooves 30d and 31d of the claw members 30 and 31 and the protruding piece 13 of the pallet 9 are engaged, the claw members 30 and 31 The pallet 9a is pushed into a predetermined position in the recording / reproduction drive 3. Thereafter, the operation of the solenoid 39 is stopped, and the claw members 30 and 31 rotate outward by the urging force of the coil springs 45a and 45b, and the claw members 3
0, 31 engagement grooves 30d, 31d and pallet 9 projection 1
3 is disengaged. Then, the pawl members 30 and 31 are pulled into the rotating frame 22 after opening the pallet 9a.

In this way, when transported to the recording / reproducing drive 3, the disc D that requires reversal is reversed in the reversal transfer mechanism 8, but the disc D that does not require reversal is not reversed but is reversed by the reversal transfer mechanism 8. Push it into the recording / reproduction drive 3.

The disc D after recording and reproduction in the recording / reproduction drive 3 is taken out by the reverse transfer mechanism 8 and returned to the storage 2 by reverse operation.
At this time, the disc D which has been reversed may be reversed by the reversing delivery mechanism 8 and returned, or may be returned as it is. When returning the data as it is, the memory of the control circuit needs to store the fact.

As described above, in this embodiment, the empty pallet 9a is stored in the first guide groove 25 and the third guide groove 27 of the rotating frame 22 in a downward direction in advance, and the pallet on which the disk D is mounted. 9b can be drawn into the second guide groove 26 and the fourth guide groove 28 on the lower side of the empty pallet 9a, respectively, and the disc D can be sandwiched between the respective pallets 9a and 9b. By rotating the rotating frame 22 by 180 degrees, the empty pallet 9 in which the disk D is stored in advance is set.
a can be mounted in an inverted state.

When handling the two pairs of pallets 9, the reverse transfer mechanism 8 operates both the claw member 30 and the other claw member 31 so that the recording / reproducing drive 3 is driven.
When exchanging the disk D, a new disk D is transported by one claw member 30, and the existing disk D can be pulled into the rotating frame 22 by the other claw member 31.

Therefore, there is no need to transport the disk D to the storage 2 before transporting and reversing the next disk D, and the processing time can be reduced. Further, even if one of the claw members 30, 31 fails, the other can continue to operate, so that it has a fail-safe function.

[0041]

As described above, in the automatic disk changing apparatus having the reversing mechanism according to the present invention, since the two pairs of pallets can be reversed, the processing time can be reduced and one of the pallets can be broken. The other has a fail-safe function that the operation can be continued.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a reverse transfer mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged plan view of a reversing delivery mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the reverse transfer mechanism in a state where the rotating frame is rotated by 90 degrees.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the rotating frame.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the rotating frame corresponding to FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Storage 3 Recording / reproducing drive 4 Conveying mechanism 7 Support 8 Reverse transfer mechanism 9 Pallet 17 Iron piece 21 Fixed frame 22 Rotating frame 24, 42a, 42b Drive motor 25-28 Guide groove 30, 31, Claw member 34, 35 Front / rear moving member 47 Vertical movement member 49a, 49b Stopper D disk

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Noritada Kuwayama 2-32-25 Takeoka, Kiyose-shi, Tokyo F-term (reference) 5D072 AB19 AB25 BA07 BB20 BB46 BB47 BE05 BH03

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a disk, a recording / reproducing means for recording / reproducing information on / from the disk, and a transport means for transporting the disk between the storage means and the recording / reproducing means. The transport means has a built-in reversing mechanism for reversing the front and back of the disk, and the reversing mechanism includes a pair of first and second pallets and a pair of third and fourth pallets in each guide groove. The first and third pallets each having a pallet storage portion for storing the disk, and the second and fourth pallets not mounting the disk.
The pallet is overlapped with the pallet, and the pallet storage section is inverted, so that the disc, which has been turned upside down from the first and third pallets, is dropped and moved to the second and fourth pallets. An automatic disk exchange device provided with a reversing mechanism. 2. The automatic disk exchange device provided with an inversion mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the pallet storage portion is inverted by 180 degrees from a substantially horizontal position to a substantially horizontal position.