JP2003151259A - Optical disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique capable of efficiently cooling an optical disk device without using a cooling fan and capable of suppressing the advance of dust. SOLUTION: The surface on the side facing a device panel of the surfaces of a cover member forming the outside surface of the device is internally provided with an aperture and the air in the device is discharged from this opening by rotation of a disk, by which the inside of the device is cooled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling technique for an optical disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an optical disk device has a relatively high airtight structure in order to prevent dust from adhering to optical system parts of an optical head. In addition, high recording density in recent years,
Depending on market demands such as addition of writing function, improvement of rotation speed and access speed, device driving LSI, disk rotation disk motor, optical head moving feed motor,
Since the amount of heat generated by the optical head and the like increases and the temperature inside the apparatus rises, each device and part may exceed the limit temperature, which is becoming a problem. As measures against this, conventionally, a cooling fan is used to force the outside air into the device through the intake holes of the device, and the air whose temperature has risen due to cooling inside the device is exhausted to the outside through an exhaust hole, or the device is downsized. From the viewpoints of low noise, low power consumption, high reliability, low price, etc., there is a method of cooling the device, for example, by using the rotation of the disk without providing a cooling fan. A technique for utilizing the disk rotation is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-155479.
There is one described in the publication. In this publication, openings are provided in device covers on both sides with respect to the disc transport direction, one of which is used as an intake opening and the other of which is used as an exhaust opening. Air is introduced into the device from the intake opening by a rotating disk. A structure is described in which after sucking it in, causing it to flow in the device to cool it, the gas is exhausted out of the device through the exhaust opening.

[0003]

In the technique described in the above publication, since the outside air is taken into the device from the intake opening, the flow velocity of the intake opening is increased, and the dust floating in the outside air becomes air. At the same time, it may flow into the apparatus and adhere to the objective lens of the optical head, the mirror of the optical system, or the like to cause a read error when reading data from the disk. Further, since the intake opening and the exhaust opening are formed on the device cover surfaces on both sides with respect to the disc transport direction, when the optical disc device is incorporated in a personal computer or the like, the device cover faces on both sides are formed. There is a high possibility that an assembling member is provided on the outside and the both opening portions are closed by the member, and intake and exhaust cannot be performed sufficiently. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to efficiently cool the inside of the optical disk device and prevent the optical disk device from being easily affected by dust in a structure without a cooling fan. An object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of solving such a problem.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, (1) an opening is provided in the surface of the cover member forming the outer surface of the device on the side facing the device panel. By rotating the disk, the air in the device is exhausted from the opening. (2) An opening is provided in the surface of the cover member forming the outer surface of the device, the surface facing the device panel.
By rotating the disk, the outside air is sucked into the apparatus through the mating surface gap of the exterior part including the cover member, and the air in the apparatus is exhausted from the opening. (3) An opening / closing member is provided which opens the opening when the disc rotates and closes the opening when the disc does not rotate.

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 are views for explaining the first embodiment of the optical disk device of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an external view of an optical disk device as a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of the side facing the device panel, FIG. 2 is a front perspective view seen from the device panel, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the optical disk device of FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the flow of air inside the device when the disc rotates, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the flow of air inside the device on a cross section parallel to the device panel surface. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the flow of the above, and is an explanatory diagram of the flow of air in the device in a cross section perpendicular to the device panel surface. 1 and 2, 1 is a top cover,
1a is a top cover exhaust hole as an exhaust opening, 1b
Is a side surface of the top cover, 2 is a mechanical block base, 8 is a bottom cover, 13 is a front panel as an apparatus panel, S1 is a mating surface gap between the top cover 1 and the bottom cover 8, and B1 is a mechanical block base 2 and a circuit board ( 3) and the mating surface gap between the bottom cover 8 and F1 is the mating gap between the front panel 13 and the top cover 1 and the bottom cover 8. On the above mechanical block base,
A disk transport mechanism such as a tray, a motor for driving the disk rotation, a disk rotation mechanism such as a turntable, and optical system parts such as an optical head are arranged. A circuit portion including a signal processing circuit and a drive circuit for the motor is formed on the circuit board. Top cover exhaust hole 1a
Is provided at a position on the upper right side of the top cover 1 at the rear side of the device, and the air inside the device is discharged to the outside of the device by rotating the disk.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the optical disk device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 3, 2a is a mechanical block base exhaust hole, 3 is a disk motor, 4 is an optical head,
Reference numeral 5 is an optical head feed motor, 6 is a chassis, 6a is a central opening of the chassis, 7 is a circuit board, 10 is a clamper, 11 is a rubber damper, 12 is a tray, and 12a is a central opening of the tray. The tray 12 carries a disc (not shown).
The mechanical block base exhaust hole 2a is provided in a notch shape at a position corresponding to the top cover exhaust hole 1a of the top cover 1 on the air flow path inside the mechanical block. The disc conveyed into the apparatus is placed on a turntable directly connected to the disc motor 3, and is closely fixed to the turntable by a clamper 10 and rotated by the disc motor 3. The optical head 4 irradiates the rotating disk with a laser beam, reads information (pit information) recorded on the disk surface from the reflected light, or raises the laser beam on the recording disk surface. Information (pit information) is written by irradiating with output. Further, the optical head 4 is conveyed in the radial direction of the disk from the inner circumference side to the outer circumference side of the disk or from the outer circumference side to the inner circumference side by the feed motor 5 for moving the optical head, and information written on the disk surface. Read or write information on the disc surface. Further, an opening portion (tray central opening portion) 12a for allowing the optical head 4 to move in the radial direction with respect to the disc is provided in the central portion of the tray 12. The disk motor 3, the optical head 4, and the feed motor 5 for moving the optical head include a chassis 6
Mounted on the chassis 6, the chassis 6 is attached to the mechanical block base 2 via a rubber damper 11 for absorbing vibration. Further, the chassis 6 has the tray central opening 12a.
Similarly to, the optical head 4 has an opening 6a for moving in the radial direction of the disk. Further, the mechanical block base 2 includes a tray 12 for disc transfer and a mechanism portion (not shown) for driving the tray, the top cover 1 is at the upper portion, the circuit board 7 and the bottom cover 8 are at the lower portion, and the front portion is at the front panel. The structure is surrounded by 13, and in order to prevent dust from entering from the outside, the mating surfaces of the exterior parts and the mechanical block base 2 and each of the parts mating surfaces are shaped so that no gap is created as much as possible from the viewpoint of airtightness. Has become.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the flow of air in the apparatus when the disk rotates, and is the upper surface side of the apparatus (disk upper surface).
It is the figure seen from. In FIG. 4, 9 is a disk.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the flow of air in the apparatus when the disc is rotating, and is a cross section parallel to the surface of the front panel 13 (tray insertion / ejection direction (disc transport direction)).
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a flow of air in the device in a cross section perpendicular to FIG. In FIG. 5, 7a is a device driving LSI as the above-mentioned circuit section.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the air flow in the device when the disc is rotated, showing the flow of the air in the device in a cross section (cross section in the tray insertion / ejection direction (disk transport direction)) perpendicular to the front panel surface. FIG.

Cooling in the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. When the disk 9 mounted by the disk motor 3 rotates, an air flow as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 is generated in the device. In FIG. 4, the rotation direction of the disk 9 is clockwise. Therefore, the air flow generated inside the mechanical block occurs in the space above the tray 12 in the clockwise direction along the rotation direction of the disk 9. The air inside the mechanical block is discharged to the outside of the apparatus through the mechanical block base exhaust hole 2a and the top cover exhaust hole 1a as shown by the arrow in FIG. As air is exhausted from inside the device,
Conversely, inflow of outside air into the device also occurs. The first embodiment has a structure in which no intake opening is provided for the purpose of taking in outside air into the device. Therefore, the outside air is
It flows in through the gap between the mating surfaces of the exterior parts. The gap exists over each part of the device, and as a whole, an air flow passage cross-sectional area of a size required for cooling is secured. The main gaps are the mating surface gap S1 between the top cover 1 and the bottom cover 8, the mating surface gap B1 between the mechanical block base 2, the circuit board 7 and the bottom cover 8, and the front panel 13 and the top cover 1. And bottom cover 8
There is a mating surface gap F1 between them. With these gaps,
The required amount of inflowing air for cooling is secured. The gap is mainly formed by warpage, distortion, etc. of parts, and the size of the gap is usually about 100 μm in many cases. Practically any size larger or smaller than this is acceptable. Further, the inflow amount and the flow velocity of outside air (external air) flowing from the minute gaps are several mm to several tens m.
It is extremely small as compared with the case of a structure having a gap or opening having a size of about m, and dust or the like contained in the inflowing air also forms the gap while the air passes through the minute gap. It is adsorbed on the walls of various structures such as existing covers, and the amount of entry into the mechanical block is extremely small, which is not a problem. Further, the top cover 1 is formed by bending a flat plate-shaped cover material, and has a U-shaped structure in which the bent portions are left and right side surfaces (side surfaces with respect to the disc transport direction). There is almost no ingress of air, and the ingress of outside air in the left and right side surfaces of the device is performed from the mating surface gap S1 with the bottom cover 8 at the lower part of the device. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6,
The outside air flowing in through the fitting gaps S1 and F1 at the bottom of the device is
It wraps around the gap at the outer peripheral edge of the circuit board 7, passes through the upper surface of the circuit board 7, and passes from the lower surface of the chassis 6 to the optical head movable portion opening 6a in the central portion of the chassis 6 and between the upper surface of the chassis 6 and the lower surface of the tray 12. Flow through the central opening 12a of the tray 12 and between the disc 9 and the tray 12 along the rotation direction of the disc 9 toward the disc outer peripheral side, and finally, the mechanical block base exhaust provided at the upper end of the device. It is discharged to the outside of the apparatus through the use hole 2a and the top cover exhaust hole 1a. As can be seen from the flow state of the air inside the device, part of the outside air that has flowed into the device is a drive LSI 7a mounted on the lower portion of the circuit board 7, an upper surface portion of the circuit board 7 heated by the drive LSI 7a, Flows around the heat source such as the disk motor 3, the optical head 4, the optical head moving feed motor 5 provided in the mechanical block, and passes through the mechanical block base exhaust hole 2a and the top cover exhaust hole 1a to the outside of the apparatus. Is discharged. A part of the air flow caused by the rotation of the disk 9 is partially discharged from the vicinity of the disk 9 in the central opening 12 of the tray.
A or a flow path toward the lower portion of the mechanical block is formed through the head movable portion opening 6a of the chassis 6. The air in the flow path flows along the upper surface of the circuit board 7. The temperature in the mechanical block is averaged by the air flow. The cooling effect of the air flow depends on the flow rate of the air passing through the device, which is the diameter of the rotating disk acting like a pump, the size of the opening and the structure of the walls in the flow path. Is affected by Regarding the air flow in the device, as a result of conducting an experiment in which air mixed with dust is caused to flow by disk rotation in the device using a sample device having neither an intake opening nor an exhaust opening, it is opposed to the front panel 13. A large amount of dust adhered to the corners of the cover in the rotating direction and the vicinity thereof in the rotation direction of the disc, particularly to the side of the top cover exhaust hole 1a in FIG. As a result, the validity of the present invention in which the exhaust opening is provided at least on the cover surface facing the front panel 13 was verified.

In the optical disk device, the heat generation is large in the case of high speed processing in which the disk rotates at high speed. In this embodiment, when the rotation speed of the disk is high, the air flow rate is large and the cooling effect is enhanced. On the other hand, when the disk rotates at a high speed, the flow velocity of air also increases, and the influence of dust becomes large, which may cause a problem. However, according to the experiment, it was confirmed that the influence of dust is at a level without a problem even at a rotation speed exceeding 100 rotations per second. Regarding the cooling effect, at the same rotation speed as in the above experiment, the result that the temperature was reduced by about 3 ° C inside the mechanical block by providing the exhaust hole was obtained.

According to the configuration of the above embodiment, although the flow velocity is gentle, the heat source in the optical disk device is directly cooled, so that the cooling effect is high. Further, in the configuration of the embodiment, since the exhaust hole for exhausting the air used for cooling is provided at the upper end of the device, it is heated by the heat source in the device, expands to reduce the density, and moves upward in the device. The rising air can be efficiently exhausted to the outside of the device. When the optical disk device of the present embodiment is built in a personal computer or the like, as a mounting portion, a panel for mounting on a personal computer is provided on the left and right side surfaces of the device (1b surface) or the bottom portion, and it is mounted at a predetermined mounting position. Although it will be fixed by screwing or the like, in the configuration of the embodiment, since the exhaust hole for the air used for cooling is provided on the rear side surface of the device, no inconvenience in exhaust occurs. The dimensions of the exhaust holes are, for example, height 2.5 mm and width 30 m.
It has been experimentally confirmed that by setting m, an appropriate air flow rate and flow velocity can be obtained in the device in terms of dust ingress and device cooling effect. In some cases, it may be larger or smaller than this. Further, when the disk rotates, the direction of the air flow in the device is constant and only the air flows out through the exhaust holes, so that dust hardly enters through the exhaust holes. When the disc is not rotating, air does not flow out from the exhaust hole, but since the exhaust hole is formed on the side surface of the device, dust from above the device passes through the exhaust hole and inside the device. The risk of entering is extremely low.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a second embodiment of the optical disk device of the present invention. The second embodiment is a configuration example in which an opening / closing member that is displaced by wind pressure is provided in the portion of the top cover exhaust hole 1a. In order to prevent air containing dust from entering the device through the top cover exhaust hole 1a from the outside of the device when the disk is not rotating and the device is not operating, the air is added to the top cover exhaust hole 1a. An opening / closing member for preventing inflow is provided. In this case, it is necessary that the opening / closing member is one that can close the exhaust hole even when the flow velocity is extremely low and the wind pressure is extremely low, and can reduce the resistance of the air flow at the time of exhaust during rotation of the disk. It In FIG. 7, 14 is a plastic sheet as an opening / closing member. The configuration of the other parts is the same as in the case of the first embodiment, and the same constituent elements are assigned the same reference numerals as in the case of the first embodiment. The plastic sheet 14 having a plane area larger than the dimension of the top cover exhaust hole 1a is fixed to the top cover 1 so that the top cover exhaust hole 1a can be opened and closed outside the top cover 1. When the disc is rotating, as shown in FIG. 7A, the sheet 14 is displaced so as to warp due to the pressure (wind pressure) of the airflow generated by the disc rotation and continues to the top cover exhaust hole 1a. An opening for exhaust is formed in. When the rotation of the disk stops, the internal pressure disappears, so that the plastic sheet 14 becomes flat without the above displacement as shown in FIG. 7B, and the top cover exhaust hole 1a is closed to prevent air from the outside. Prevent it from entering the device. According to the configuration of the second embodiment, with a simple configuration, it is possible to prevent dust and the like from entering the device even when the disk rotation is stopped.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a third embodiment of the optical disk device of the present invention. The third embodiment is a configuration example in which an opening / closing member that is displaced by a temperature difference is provided in the portion of the top cover exhaust hole 1a. It is considered that when the temperature rise is a problem, the temperature inside the device becomes higher than the temperature outside the device near the top cover exhaust hole 1a. Therefore, the top cover exhaust hole 1a is formed by bonding two sheets having different thermal expansion coefficients as an opening / closing member.
A sheet 15 having a plane area larger than the above dimension is fixed to the top cover 1 so that the top cover exhaust hole 1a can be opened and closed on the outside of the top cover 1 as in the case of the second embodiment. . When the internal temperature of the device is higher than the external temperature, as shown in FIG. 8 (a), the seat 15 is displaced so as to warp outward, and is exhausted to a portion following the top cover exhaust hole 1a. Is formed so that the air whose temperature has risen inside is discharged to the outside.
On the contrary, when the internal temperature of the device is lower than the external temperature, as shown in FIG. 8B, the seat 15 is displaced in the opposite direction to the above case to close the top cover exhaust hole 1a,
Make sure that temperature-raised air outside the equipment does not flow into the equipment. It is preferable that the seat 15 has appropriate rigidity so that the central portion thereof does not float in the displaced state. According to the configuration of the third embodiment, when the temperature outside the device is higher than the temperature inside the device, it is possible to prevent external air from flowing into the device with a simple structure, and the internal temperature rises. Can be prevented. It is possible to prevent the ingress of dust and the like as the air inflow is blocked.

In each of the above embodiments, the air is sucked into the apparatus through the gap between the mating surfaces of the exterior parts. However, in addition to this, a suction hole (intake opening) is provided. Also, for example, the intake hole is provided on the device panel side,
You may make it inhale into the apparatus from there. In each of the above embodiments, one exhaust hole (exhaust opening) is provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of exhaust holes may be provided.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the inside of the device can be cooled with a simple structure without using a cooling fan.
The inflow of dust into the device can also be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a side facing a device panel of an optical disk device as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a device panel side of the optical disk device as the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the optical disk device of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a flow of air in the device when the disc is rotated on a plane parallel to the disc plane.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the flow of air in the device when the disc is rotating in a cross section parallel to the device panel surface.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the flow of air in the device when the disc is rotating in a cross section perpendicular to the device panel surface.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a second embodiment of the optical disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a third embodiment of the optical disk device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Top cover, 1a ... Top cover exhaust hole, 1
b ... side of top cover, 2 ... mechanical block base,
2a ... Mechanical block base exhaust hole, 3 ... Disk motor, 4 ... Optical head, 5 ... Optical head feed motor, 6
... chassis, 6a ... chassis central opening, 7 ... circuit board, 7a ... device driving LSI, 8 ... bottom cover, 9 ... disk, 10 ... clamper, 12 ... tray, 12a ... tray central opening, 13 ... front panel , 14, 15 ... Sheet.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Seiji Hamaya             Stock Market, Toranomon 1-26-5, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi Hitachi LG Data Storage (72) Inventor Kohei Takita             Stock Market, Toranomon 1-26-5, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi Hitachi LG Data Storage (72) Inventor Ikuo Nishida             Stock Market, Toranomon 1-26-5, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi Hitachi LG Data Storage (72) Inventor Kenji Watanabe             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama             Standing image information system (72) Inventor Yoichi Narii             Stock Market, Toranomon 1-26-5, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Hitachi Hitachi LG Data Storage

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An optical disk device for recording or reproducing an optical signal to and from a disk, comprising a mechanism section for carrying the disk and rotating by a motor, an optical system for irradiating or receiving light on the disk surface, and a signal. A circuit part including a processing circuit and a drive circuit for the motor, an outer surface of the device is formed by covering the mechanical part, the optical system, and the circuit part, and an opening is provided in a cover surface facing a device panel. An optical disk device comprising: a cover member; and a structure for cooling the inside of the device by exhausting air inside the device from the opening by the rotation of the disk. 2. An optical disk device for recording or reproducing an optical signal on a disk, comprising a disk rotating mechanism for rotating the disk by a motor, an optical system for irradiating or receiving light on the disk surface, and signal processing. A circuit section including a circuit and a drive circuit of the motor, the disk rotation mechanism section, the optical system, and the circuit section to form an outer surface of the apparatus, and an opening is formed in a cover surface on a side facing the apparatus panel. A cover member having, and by rotating the disc, an air flow is generated in the device, and outside air is sucked into the device from a mating surface gap of an exterior part including the cover member and exhausted from the opening, An optical disk device characterized by cooling the inside of the device. 3. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein the opening of the cover member is provided on the upper end side in the cover surface facing the device panel. 4. The opening according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the opening of the cover member is provided close to a corner side on the rotation direction side of the disk in the cover surface facing the device panel. Optical disk device. 5. The optical disk device according to claim 1, wherein the opening of the cover member has a shape elongated in the rotation direction of the disk. 6. An optical disk device for recording or reproducing an optical signal on a disk, the disk rotating mechanism section for rotating the disk by a motor, an optical system for irradiating or receiving light on the disk surface, and signal processing. A cover having a circuit portion including a circuit and a motor drive circuit, the disc rotation mechanism portion, the optical system, and the circuit portion to form an outer surface of the device, and an opening in a cover surface on the side facing the device panel. A member, and an opening / closing member that opens the opening when the disc rotates, and closes the opening when the disc does not rotate.
Air is sucked into the apparatus through the mating surface gap of the exterior parts including the cover member and exhausted from the opening to cool the inside of the apparatus. When the disk is not rotating, the opening and closing member closes the opening. An optical disk device characterized by the above. 7. The disk device according to claim 6, wherein the opening / closing member is configured to be displaced by a wind pressure at the opening of an air flow generated by the rotation of the disk or a temperature difference between inside and outside the device.