JP2005276263A - Optical pickup - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical pickup which improves operability in assembling flexible printed boards, reduces the occurrence of defective conditions and consequently reduces a cost. <P>SOLUTION: The optical pickup is provided with a flexible printed board for electrically connecting an electronic/electric element to be mounted on an optical base to a main circuit board. In this case, the flexible printed board is divided into an optical base side part 21 and a leading out wire part 22. The flexible boards thus divided are connected to each other by soldering. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical pickup used in an optical disk drive, and more particularly to a flexible printed cable thereof.

  The optical disk drive can read and write information recorded on optical disks such as CD (audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM) and DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD ± RW). It is a device for writing information on a simple optical disc. Therefore, the optical disc drive includes an optical pickup for irradiating the optical disc with a laser beam and detecting the reflected light.

  The optical pickup includes an optical base provided so as to be movable in the radial direction of the optical disc, and a light emitting unit, a light receiving unit, and an optical system mounted on the optical base. The light emitting unit and the light receiving unit are electrically connected to the main circuit board of the optical disc drive using a flexible printed board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) which is a flexible wiring board.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the FPC used in the conventional optical pickup includes a light emitting part (not shown) mounted on the optical base 11 and an optical base side part 12 connected to a light receiving part (not shown), It has a lead wire portion 13 for connecting the optical base side portion 12 and a main circuit board (not shown) (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In FIG. 1, a portion of the optical base side portion 12 that is hidden by the upper cover 14 and cannot be seen and a portion that is bent toward the back side of the drawing are indicated by broken lines.

  As can be easily understood from FIG. 1, the lead wire portion 13 protrudes largely outward from the optical pickup body. This is because the left end portion of the lead wire portion 13 is bent so as to face the right direction, so that the optical base 11 moves smoothly in the direction along the arrow A, that is, smoothly moves in the radial direction of the optical disk. This is to make possible.

JP 2003-272208 A (particularly FIG. 2)

  An FPC used for a conventional optical pickup has a complicated shape in which a lead wire portion protrudes greatly from the side portion of the optical base. Therefore, when an FPC is assembled to a conventional optical pickup or when an optical pickup is assembled to an optical disc door live, it is difficult to handle the FPC, and some of the defects such as cracks, wrinkles, or dents occur. There is a problem that it is easy.

  In addition, the FPC has a problem that it is expensive because of its complicated shape.

  Furthermore, if a defect such as cracks, wrinkles, or dents occurs in a part of the FPC, the entire flexible substrate must be replaced, which is not only costly but also connected to the light emitting part and the light receiving part. There is also a problem that it takes time to cut the wire.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an optical pickup capable of improving the workability of assembling the FPC into the optical pickup body and assembling the optical pickup into the optical disk drive, reducing the frequency of occurrence of defects, and thereby realizing cost reduction. The purpose is to provide.

  According to the present invention, in an optical pickup including a flexible printed board for electrically connecting electronic / electrical elements mounted on the optical base to a main circuit board, the flexible printed board is connected to the optical base side portion (21, 21). 21a) and the lead wire portions (22, 22a) are obtained.

  The divided flexible boards are connected to each other using a connector (41), or are connected using solder or an anisotropic conductive film.

  The numbers in the parentheses are merely used to facilitate understanding of the present invention and do not limit the present invention.

  According to the present invention, the flexible printed circuit board that electrically connects the optical pickup and the main circuit board is divided into the optical base side part and the lead line part, thereby improving the assembly workability. As a result, the frequency of occurrence of defects can be reduced, thereby realizing cost reduction.

  In addition, when a defect occurs in the flexible printed circuit board, it can be easily replaced, and the amount of waste discarded when the defect occurs can be reduced.

  Furthermore, since the flexible printed circuit board is divided into two parts, the shape of each divided flexible printed circuit board is simplified compared to conventional flexible printed cables, improving yield and productivity, and reducing costs. it can.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2A shows a flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) used for the optical pickup according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The illustrated FPC is divided into an optical base side portion 21 and a lead wire portion 22.

  The optical base side portion 21 has a connection portion 23 connected to the lead wire portion 22. The optical base side portion 21 is connected to a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion mounted on the optical base by bending a part of the optical base side portion 21 and attached to the optical base so that the connection portion 23 is exposed to the outside.

  The lead wire part 22 has a connection part 24 connected to the connection part 23 of the optical base side part 21. The lead wire portion 22 has a connection portion 25 that fits with a connector (not shown) mounted on the main board of the optical disc drive. The lead wire portion 22 is assembled to the optical pickup by connecting the connecting portion 24 to the connecting portion 23 after the optical base side portion 21 is attached to the optical base. Thereafter, the connecting portion 25 of the lead wire portion 22 is fitted and connected to a connector on the main board (not shown).

  The connection between the connection portion 23 of the optical base side portion 21 and the connection portion 24 of the lead wire portion 22 is performed using, for example, solder. As shown in FIG. 2B, the connection using the solder is performed so as to connect the wirings (hatched portions) on the flexible printed cable.

  Further, the connection between the connection portions 23 and 24 is not limited to solder, and may be performed using other connection means such as an anisotropic conductive film (ACF). ACF is a material that exhibits electrical conductivity in the thickness direction and insulation in the surface direction by thermocompression processing (see, for example, Fujikura Technique No. 99 pp.32-38 October 2000). . By using such a material, the connection portions 23 and 24 can be connected more easily than when solder is used.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the connector 41 and the connecting portion 42 may be used to connect the connecting portions between the optical base side portion 21a and the lead wire portion 22a. That is, the connector 41 is connected to the connection portion of the optical base side portion 21a and fixed to the optical base 43, and the connection portion 42 of the lead wire portion 22a is connected.

  When the optical pickup of the present invention is used for a thin optical disk drive, the connector 41 preferably has a thickness of 2.5 mm or less. This is because if the thickness is 2.5 mm or less, it can be directly applied to an existing thin optical disk drive.

  FIG. 4 shows an example in which a connector 41a having a thickness of 1.1 mm is mounted on the optical base 43a. As shown in the drawing, if the connector has a thickness of 1.1 mm, the thickness of the optical pickup is not affected by the mounting of the optical base 43a.

  As described above, since the flexible printed board of the optical pickup according to the present embodiment is divided into two, the assembly work is easy, the frequency of occurrence of defects can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, even when a problem occurs in the flexible printed circuit board, it is not necessary to replace the whole, so that the replacement is easy. This is particularly effective because it is not necessary to disconnect the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit when a problem occurs in the lead line portion. In addition, the amount of waste discarded when a failure occurs can be reduced. Further, each of the optical base side portion 21 and the lead wire portion 22 is smaller than the conventional flexible printed circuit board and can be regarded as having a simplified shape. This makes it difficult for problems to occur. Moreover, since the shape is simplified at the time of manufacturing the flexible printed circuit board, the yield can be improved and the cost can be reduced.

  The optical pickup according to the present embodiment can be applied to an optical disk drive having a known configuration, and is particularly suitable for a thin optical disk drive used in a notebook personal computer or the like.

It is a top view for demonstrating the flexible printed circuit board used for the conventional optical pick-up. It is a top view of the flexible printed circuit board used for the optical pick-up of this invention. It is a top view which shows the example which connects the connection parts of the flexible printed circuit board used for the optical pick-up of this invention with a connector. It is a figure which shows the example of the connector attached to the optical base, (a) is a top view, (b) is a side view.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Optical base 12 Optical base side part 13 Lead line part 14 Upper cover 21, 21a Optical base side part 22, 22a Lead line part 23, 24 Connection part 25 Connector 41, 41a Connector 42 Connection part 43, 43a Optical base

Claims (5)

In an optical pickup equipped with a flexible printed circuit board for electrically connecting electronic / electrical elements mounted on an optical base to a main circuit board,
An optical pickup characterized in that the flexible printed board is divided into an optical base side part and a lead line part. The optical pickup according to claim 1,
An optical pickup characterized in that the optical base side portion and the lead wire portion are connected using a connector. The optical pickup according to claim 2,
An optical pickup having a thickness of 2.5 mm or less, wherein the connector is mounted on the optical base. The optical pickup according to claim 1,
An optical pickup characterized in that the optical base side portion and the lead wire portion are connected using solder or an anisotropic conductive film. An optical disc drive comprising the optical pickup according to claim 1.

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