JP2008310905A - Disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disk cartridge having excellent assemblability in which a shelf plate does not fall off by impact of drop or the like, and a tray is exactly positioned with a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: The disk cartridge is provided with cartridge cases 1, 2 in which a plurality of disk type recording media are piled up and housed and which allow the disk type recording medium to be taken out selectively from a front face vertical to a piling up direction, inside of the cartridge case, a frame 6 opened to the front face is arranged at the inside of left and right side faces of the cartridge case, the side faces being vertical to the piling up direction and the front face, the shelf plates sectioning regions in which the disk type recording media are housed, in the piling up direction is attached to the frame. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a disk cartridge.

  In a library system or the like, a large amount of data can be read and written by storing a plurality of disc-shaped recording media.

  2. Description of the Related Art Changer-type playback apparatuses are known that selectively take out a disk from a disk storage unit that stores a plurality of disks, transport the disk to a disk playback unit, and then play it back. In such a reproducing apparatus, a disk having a thickness of, for example, 1.2 mm, such as a CD or a DVD, is pulled out from the disk storage unit together with the tray and transported. Therefore, in such a conventional reproducing apparatus, since the thickness and weight of the disc are determined, the number of discs that can be stored in a cartridge having a certain capacity cannot be increased dramatically.

Thus, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, a method has been studied in which a disk is thinned and more disks are accommodated in the same space, thereby dramatically increasing data capacity. Since thin discs are flexible, it is necessary to establish a method for accurately handling and positioning. A plurality of such thin disks are sandwiched between a tray made of a relatively rigid sheet and a cover sheet having a relatively low rigidity, and a plurality of such disks are stored in a cartridge case. A system has been devised that pulls out from the cartridge case while sandwiched between sheets.
JP 2006-164489 A

  Since the tray, disc, and cover sheet are all formed of sheets, the tray protrusion is inserted into the groove on the inner surface of the cartridge, for example, as used in a conventional changer type playback device. It has been difficult to use the tray or disk guide mechanism as it is. Therefore, it has been necessary to study a guide method for pulling out a sheet-like object straight from the cartridge case.

  In addition, when multiple discs are stacked, the friction force when pulling out due to the weight of the stacked discs and trays increases, so the cartridge case is partitioned in the disc thickness direction, and the weight applied to all discs is kept below a certain weight. There was a need to limit. In order to divide the cartridge case in the disk thickness direction, it was necessary to incorporate a relatively rigid shelf board into the cartridge case, and it was necessary to consider how to install the shelf board that can be easily assembled. .

  Furthermore, the attached shelf board must be held in the cartridge case so as not to be deformed or dropped even when subjected to external impact or vibration.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and is easy to assemble. The shelf board does not fall off due to an impact such as dropping, and the tray can be reliably positioned with a simple structure. Provide a disk cartridge.

  The disc cartridge of the present invention includes a cartridge case that can accommodate a plurality of disc-shaped recording media in a stacked manner, and can selectively take out the disc-shaped recording media from a front surface that is perpendicular to the overlapping direction. Inside the cartridge case, a frame is arranged inside the left and right side surfaces of the cartridge case that opens toward the front surface and is perpendicular to the overlap direction and the front surface. A shelf plate that divides an area for storing the recording medium in the overlapping direction is attached. By attaching the shelf plate to the frame separate from the cartridge case, it is possible to achieve a structure that is easy to assemble and is not subjected to thermal stress due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of different materials.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a disc cartridge that is easy to assemble and that can easily position the tray with a simple structure without the shelf board dropping off due to an impact such as dropping.

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

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an example of a disk cartridge of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view thereof. In these drawings, for the sake of convenience, the surface of the disk cartridge for inserting and removing the disk is the front surface, the surface opposite to the front surface is the back surface, the upper surface in the drawing is the upper surface, the lower surface in the drawing is the lower surface, and other surfaces Is the side.

  In FIG. 2, the disk cartridge has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape, the front and lower surfaces are opened, and the upper case 1 having a part of the front side of the upper surface opened, and the substantially rectangular parallelepiped box shape, the front and upper surfaces are opened. The lower case 2 is provided. The upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are combined to constitute a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped cartridge case in which a front surface and a part of the front surface side of the upper surface are opened. The space in the cartridge case is a disk storage area in which a disk-shaped recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a disk) sandwiched between a tray and a cover sheet is stacked and stored, as will be described later.

  The disc cartridge further includes a shutter 3. The shutter 3 can be fitted and slid into a groove 4 provided in the upper case 1 and the lower case 2, and in a state where the shutter 3 is slid to the lower end portion of the cartridge case, the opening ( That is, the front surface of the upper case 1, a part of the opening on the front surface side of the upper surface, and the opening on the front surface of the lower case 2 are closed.

  The upper case 1, the lower case 2, and the shutter 3 are made of a hard plastic injection molded product such as polycarbonate.

  The disc cartridge further includes a frame 6 disposed in the cartridge case.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing such a frame. FIG. 4 is a top view of the shelf board 5. The frame 6 is formed by bending a substantially rectangular flat plate into a U-shape. The frame 6 is provided with two through-angle holes 12 on the left and right side surfaces and two on the back side per one shelf plate, and the projections 13 of the shelf plate 5 are engaged with each other. When the shelf plate 5 is set while the frame 6 is spread outside the cartridge case and set in the cartridge case, the frame 6 cannot be deformed, so that the shelf plate 5 does not come off.

  The inner wall of the cartridge case allows the meat to escape so that the protrusion of the shelf plate 5 does not collide with the inner wall of the cartridge case. A shock-absorbing material can be inserted into the gap formed between the inner wall of the cartridge case and the frame 6 to ensure the drop impact strength. Similarly, a memory such as RFID (radio frequency identification) can be inserted into the gap to write or read information on the disk cartridge.

  The frame 6 and the shelf board 5 are preferably made of a press-formed product such as a non-ferrous light metal such as an aluminum alloy or an aluminum magnesium alloy. Stainless steel or the like can also be used. By forming the frame 6 and the shelf board 5 with a material having the same thermal expansion coefficient, it is possible to prevent the shelf board 5 from being deformed by contraction due to a temperature change.

  The frame 6 including the shelf plate 5 is disposed in a cartridge case including the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 so that the front surface of the frame 6 is aligned with the opening of the front surface of the cartridge case. The disk storage area in the cartridge case is partitioned by the shelf plate 5 provided in the frame 6 in the disk overlapping direction. In the illustrated example, the seven disk storage areas are divided into eight disk storage areas. By changing the height of the upper case 1, the shutter 3 and the frame 6, other parts can be shared, and cartridges with different numbers of stored sheets can be supplied at low cost.

  Friction applied when each disc sandwiched between the tray and the cover sheet is pulled out by storing a predetermined number of discs sandwiched between the tray and the cover sheet in each space of the disc storage area partitioned by the shelf plate 5 The force can be suppressed to a certain value or less, smooth insertion / extraction is possible, and the frictional force is reduced, thereby reducing problems of rubbing and wear.

  Further, the frame 6 to which the shelf plate 5 is attached is a separate member from the cartridge case, and since the frame 6 and the inner wall of the cartridge case are separated, the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 forming the cartridge case are injection molded products. However, there is no influence of the draft angle of these cases, and the guide surface in the width direction of the tray can be formed with substantially the same width from the upper section to the lower section.

  Further, since the frame 6 is separated from the inner wall of the cartridge case, a structure necessary for the disk cartridge, such as a structure for fastening the cartridge case, unevenness for loading to the changer device, and a positioning portion, is formed in the cartridge case. However, a flat guide surface can be maintained.

  When the dimension between the left and right inner walls of the frame 6 is A, the dimension of the tray 8 is B, and the diameter of the disk 7 is C, it is desirable that A> B> C. In this way, the thin tray 8 can be stably inserted into and removed from the frame 6 without applying stress to the disk 7.

  When the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are made of a hard plastic injection molded product, the upper surface of the upper case 1 and the lower surface of the lower case 2 may be warped inward due to molding distortion. For this reason, the space between the upper surface inner wall of the upper case 1 and the uppermost shelf and the space between the lower surface inner wall of the lower case 2 and the lowermost shelf are between the other adjacent shelf plates. The overlapping direction of the discs becomes narrower than the space, and the discs stored in these spaces may be compressed, which may hinder the withdrawal of the discs. In view of this warpage, the distance between the upper inner wall of the upper case 1 and the uppermost shelf and the distance between the lower inner wall of the lower case 2 and the lowermost shelf are determined. The distance between adjacent shelf boards may be larger. The interval between the upper inner wall of the upper case 1 and the uppermost shelf plate may be different from the interval between the lower inner wall of the lower case 2 and the lowermost shelf plate. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, an upside down prevention mechanism may be provided so that the frame 6 is not attached to the cartridge case upside down. This upside down prevention mechanism includes a protrusion 10 provided near the back surface of the lower inner wall of the lower case 2 and a notch 11 provided at the lower back surface of the frame 6. When the frame 6 is arranged on the lower case 2 in the correct orientation, the protrusion 10 of the lower case 2 fits into the notch 11 of the frame 6 and the frame 6 can be incorporated into the cartridge case, but the frame 6 is turned upside down. When arranged on the lower case 2, the protrusion 10 of the lower case 3 hits the lower end of the back surface of the frame 6, and the frame 6 cannot be incorporated into the cartridge case.

  FIG. 6 is a top view of the disk cartridge of the present invention (showing the top surface of the disk cartridge of FIG. 1). FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion C in FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a portion D in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, grooves 14 and 15 are formed from the left and right side surfaces of the upper inner wall of the upper case 1 and from the left and right side surfaces of the lower inner wall of the lower case 2, and the upper and lower ends of the side surfaces of the frame 6 are formed. Is held in place. By holding the upper and lower ends of the frame 6 in the grooves 14 and 15 in this way, the lowermost or uppermost disk, tray, or cover sheet is not caught in the gap between the cartridge case and the frame 6, and the disk The drawer operation can be performed smoothly.

  Further, the front end portions of the left and right side surfaces of the frame 6 are bent outward, and are formed in grooves 16 and 17 (FIG. 2) provided from the front surfaces of the left and right inner walls of the upper case 1 and the lower case 2. Engage. By engaging the front end of the frame 6 with the grooves 16 and 17, it is possible to prevent the frame 6 from jumping out toward the shutter 3 or applying stress to the shutter 3 even when an impact such as dropping is applied. Note that when the shelf plate 5 is directly attached to the cartridge case, thermal stress is generated due to the difference in temperature expansion coefficient between the shelf plate 5 and the upper and lower cases 1, 2. Not fixed.

  A predetermined number of disks, for example, 12 sheets are stacked and stored in each section of the disk storage area in the cartridge case partitioned by the shelf plate 5 with each tray being sandwiched between a tray and a cover sheet. . FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an example of a disk, a tray, and a cover sheet stored in the disk cartridge of the present invention. In a state where the disc sandwiched between the tray and the cover sheet is stored in the cartridge case, the right direction in FIG. 10 is directed toward the opening of the cartridge case.

  The sheet-like tray 8 is bonded to the sheet-like cover sheet 7 so that the sheet-like disk 7 does not move and does not rub against the disk 7 at the bonding portion 20. The tray 8 is provided with a through hole 22 concentric with the clamp hole 21 opened in the center of the disk 7. The tray 8 has a hook hole 23 for hooking a hook for pulling out the tray 8 from the cartridge case, a hook escape portion 24 that prevents the hook from coming into contact with an adjacent tray when the tray 8 is pulled out, and when the cover sheet 9 is peeled off. A cover sheet lifting hole 25 is also provided for passing a protrusion for lifting the cover. The width of the tray 8 and the cover sheet 9 is made slightly smaller than the inner dimension of the frame 6 and slightly larger than the diameter of the disk 7 so that it can be inserted into and removed from the space defined by the frame 6 and the shelf board 5. For the tray 8 and the cover sheet 9, for example, a sheet press product of polyethylene terephthalate is used. In order to prevent the cover sheet 9 and the disk 7 or the cover sheet 9 and the disk 7 from sticking to each other, the material of the cover sheet 9 and the tray 8 is preferably a material with less additive bleed-out. Further, a material having a slightly rough surface is preferable so as not to be physically vacuum-adsorbed. The cover sheet 9 and the tray 8 are made of the same material, and are preferably bonded together by ultrasonic welding at the bonding portion 4.

  The disc-shaped recording medium is pulled out together with the tray 8 for recording or reproduction. Recording and reproduction are performed optically, and recording materials used for various optical disks such as DVDs such as organic dyes and phase change films can be used. The disk 7 has a diameter of 120 mm, and is made by bonding two 92 μm-thick polycarbonate sheet disks having a recording layer and a reflective film formed by transferring a pattern onto the surface. The recording film is a material used for Blu-Ray (registered trademark), DVD, and the like, and can realize a recording density, a recording capacity, and a transfer rate equivalent to each standard.

  FIG. 11 is a front view of the disc cartridge of the present invention (showing the front side of the disc cartridge of FIG. 1). 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. The shelf plate 5, the tray 8, and the cover sheet 9 are each provided with a notch portion that opens to the rear side, and the columnar portion 26 that is provided from the upper inner wall of the upper case 1 to the lower inner wall of the lower case 2 The notch is skewered. The columnar portion 26 has a function of positioning the edge on the back side of the disk 7 so that the disk 7 does not shift in the back direction.

  In addition, if a sheet-like separator having a closed hole is disposed between the discs 7 sandwiched between the adjacent tray 8 and the cover sheet 9, the separator is fixed, so that the desired tray 8 and cover sheet 9 are fixed. When the disk 7 sandwiched between the two is taken out, the disk 7 sandwiched by the adjacent tray 8 and cover sheet 9 is not pulled out.

  By screwing the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 at the columnar portion 26, the strength for receiving the load of the disk or the like received by the columnar portion 26 when an impact such as dropping is applied is secured.

  As described above, the disk cartridge of the present invention can smoothly insert and remove the disk by providing the shelf plate that partitions the disk storage area in the overlapping direction of the disk inside the cartridge case.

  By attaching the shelf plate to the frame separate from the cartridge case, it is possible to achieve a structure that is easy to assemble and is not subjected to thermal stress due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of different materials.

  The shelf board is attached to the frame separated from the inner wall of the left and right sides of the cartridge case, the left and right inner surfaces of the frame are used as guide surfaces in the width direction, and the disc is inserted into and removed from the cartridge case together with the tray. A, B is the width of the tray, C is the outer diameter of the disc, and A> B> C, so that the entire inner wall of the left and right sides of the frame can be used as a guide to smoothly insert and remove the disc.

  The dimension between the uppermost shelf plate and the inner wall of the upper surface of the cartridge case and the dimension between the lowermost shelf plate and the inner wall of the lower surface of the cartridge case are defined as the distance between adjacent shelf plates. By making it larger, the disk can be smoothly inserted and removed without being affected by the warping of the upper and lower surfaces of the cartridge case, which is a molded product.

  The dimension between the uppermost shelf and the upper inner wall of the cartridge case and the dimension between the lowermost shelf and the lower inner wall of the cartridge case may be different. It is preferable to provide an upside down prevention mechanism that prevents the frame from being installed upside down in the cartridge case.

  The frame is preferably formed by bending a substantially rectangular plate-like member into a U-shape, and at least one of the upper and lower sides of the left and right side surfaces of the frame is connected to the upper inner wall and the lower surface of the cartridge case. By positioning it in the groove provided on at least one of the inner walls, it is possible to prevent the bottom or top disk from being caught in the gap between the cartridge case and the frame, and the disk can be pulled out smoothly. To be able to do that.

  Further, the left and right side end portions of the frame are bent outward and are positioned in the grooves provided in the left and right side inner walls of the cartridge case, so that the frame can be applied even when an impact such as dropping is applied. Jumping out to the opening side of the cartridge case can be prevented.

  A shelf plate 5 is provided inside the cartridge case to divide the disc storage area in the disc thickness direction, and the shelf plate is assembled in a cartridge by assembling the sub-assemblies previously attached to the frame. improves.

  Further, a cushioning material can be inserted between the inner wall of the left and right side surfaces of the cartridge case and the frame, so that an impact such as a drop is not directly applied to the shelf plate, tray, or disk.

  The material of the frame and the shelf board is preferably a metal such as an aluminum alloy.

  The present invention can be used for a disk cartridge.

1 is a perspective view of a disk cartridge of the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the disc cartridge of this invention. It is a perspective view of the flame | frame which attached the shelf board. It is a top view of a shelf board. It is the perspective view and enlarged view which show the up-down reverse assembly prevention part of a flame | frame. It is a top view of the disc cartridge of the present invention. It is sectional drawing along the AA line of FIG. It is an enlarged view of the part C of FIG. It is an enlarged view of the part D of FIG. It is a top view which shows an example of the disk accommodated in the disk cartridge of this invention, a tray, and a cover sheet. 1 is a front view of a disk cartridge of the present invention. It is sectional drawing along the BB line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper case 2 Lower case 3 Shutter 4 Groove 5 Shelf board 6 Frame 7 Disc 8 Tray 9 Cover sheet 10 Protrusion 11 Notch 12 Through angle hole 13 Protrusion 14 Groove 15 Groove 16 Groove 17 Groove 20 Adhesion part 21 Clamp hole 22 Through hole 23 Hook hole 24 Hook escape part 25 Cover sheet lifting hole 26 Columnar part

Claims (9)

A plurality of disc-shaped recording media are stacked and stored, and a cartridge case capable of selectively taking out the disc-shaped recording media from the front surface in a direction perpendicular to the overlapping direction,
Inside the cartridge case, a frame is disposed inside the left and right side surfaces of the cartridge case that opens toward the front surface and is perpendicular to the overlap direction and the front surface.
3. A disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a shelf plate for partitioning an area for storing the disk-shaped recording medium in the overlapping direction is attached to the frame. The left and right inner walls of the frame are guide surfaces in the width direction of the disc-shaped recording medium housed in the cartridge case,
The disc-shaped recording medium is inserted and removed together with a tray with respect to the cartridge case,
2. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein A>B> C, where A is the dimension between the inner walls of the left and right side surfaces of the frame, B is the width of the tray, and C is the outer diameter of the disk.   The dimension between the uppermost shelf and the upper inner wall in the overlapping direction of the cartridge case, and the dimension between the lowermost shelf and the lower inner wall in the overlapping direction of the cartridge case are: 3. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the disk cartridge is larger than a dimension between adjacent shelf boards. The dimension between the uppermost shelf and the upper inner wall of the cartridge case is different from the dimension between the lowermost shelf and the lower inner wall of the cartridge case,
4. The disc cartridge according to claim 3, further comprising an upside down prevention mechanism that prevents the frame from being installed upside down in the cartridge case. The frame is a substantially rectangular plate-like member bent into a U-shape,
5. The frame according to claim 1, wherein at least one of an upper end and a lower end of the left and right side surfaces of the frame is located in a groove provided on at least one of the upper surface inner wall and the lower surface inner wall of the cartridge case. The disc cartridge according to item 1. The frame is a substantially rectangular plate-like member bent into a U-shape,
The disk according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the left and right side end portions of the frame are bent outward and are positioned in grooves provided in the inner walls of the left and right side surfaces of the cartridge case. cartridge.   The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the frame is disposed in the cartridge case after the shelf board is attached.   8. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a cushioning material is disposed between the left and right inner walls of the cartridge case and the frame. 9.   9. The disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the frame and the shelf board is made of metal.

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