JP3424595B2 - Disc loading device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention can ensure a reliable disc loading regardless of whether the disc is horizontally or vertically placed, and can secure a disc rotation space with a sufficient eccentricity margin. Disc loading device

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art CD-ROM, CD-R / RW, DVD
An optical disk device for reproducing or recording an optical disk such as a ROM or a DVD-RAM holds an optical disk mounted on a turntable directly connected to a motor shaft of a spindle motor between a chucking pulley and a turntable. Rotate the optical disc in the clamped state,
The signal recording surface of the rotating optical disc is scanned by an optical head to record or reproduce a signal. Such an optical disk device is distributed as a single item to be used by connecting it to a personal computer by a cable, and there is also a great demand for an embedded type that is used by incorporating it in a file bay of the personal computer. Therefore, in consideration of application to a personal computer that can be installed horizontally or vertically on a table, we have developed a disk loading device that enables stable disk loading and disk drive in any attitude. Is desired.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional disc loading device incorporated in an optical disc device. The disc loading device 1 shown in the figure has a disc tray 3 for transporting, that is, loading or unloading the optical disc 30 between a disc mounting position outside the device housing 2 and a disc driving position inside the device housing 2. The optical disk 30, which is a reproduction medium or a recording medium, is placed on the disk tray 3 and carried into the disk drive position in the device housing 2. At the disk drive position, a chucking pulley 4 (shown by a dotted line in FIG. 10) and a turntable 5 that constitute a disk chucking mechanism are on standby in a state of being spaced apart from each other in the up-down direction of the disk surface and waiting. The turntable 5 swinging from below is sandwiched between the optical disc 30 loaded with the disc tray 3 and the chucking pulley 4 arranged on the ceiling wall of the apparatus housing 2 to be in a clamped state. In the case of this example, the disc tray transport mechanism for transporting the disc tray 3 is the loading motor 6
Drive gear 8 for transmitting rotational power of the gears through the gear train 7.
And the drive gear 8 formed on the side edge of the disc tray 3.
A rack 9 (shown by a dotted line in FIG. 9) that meshes with the cam groove 10 formed on the side surface of the drive gear 8 and an engagement protrusion (not shown) guided by the cam groove 10. , A lift mechanism for swinging and guiding the turntable 5 together with the optical base 11 is configured.

The optical base 11 serves as a base for supporting the scanning mechanism for the optical head 12, the spindle motor 13 which is the rotational power source of the turntable 5, and the like.
The end portion thereof is pivotally supported at the back of the device housing 2. 14
Is a rubber insulator that is inserted into the insertion portions of the set screws 15 that fix the optical base 11 to the four corners of the bottom surface of the device housing 2, and the rotational vibration of the optical disc 30 transmitted to the optical base 11 via the turntable 5 is applied to the device. Attenuating or blocking so as not to propagate to the housing 2 side. The disc tray 3 has the optical base 11 at the disc drive position.
The U-shaped cutout 16 extends from the outer periphery to the center as a scanning space for the optical head 12.
The optical head 12 scans the disc signal recording surface while moving along the notch 16 of the disc tray 3 carried into the disc drive position. During this scanning process, the optical head 12 is subjected to seek control and tracking control by the servo mechanism. The seek power is transmitted to the carriage 18 that supports the optical head 12 by the rotary power of the seek motor 17 via the screw feeding mechanism. The carriage 18 is supported by a pair of left and right guide rails 19 and 20, and together with the optical head 12, the optical disk 30.
Seek to the target track of. The optical head 12 that has moved to the target track undergoes posture servo due to the magnetic forces generated in the built-in tracking coil and focusing coil.

The optical disk device provided with the above-mentioned disk loading device 1 can take either horizontal or vertical position depending on the installation position of the personal computer. Further, since the disc tray 3 itself has some play in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and the disc mounting posture with respect to the disc tray 3 varies depending on the mounter, the disc tray 3 moves to the disc drive position. The loading posture of the loaded optical disc 30 is
It is necessary to maintain a state in which the turntable 5 is not biased to the left and right in the transport direction, that is, in a centered posture. For this reason, in the conventional disc loading device 1, the left and right sides of the transport path of the disc tray 3 are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 0, a pair of centering members 22 and 23 facing each other with a dimension interval slightly larger than the outer diameter of the optical disc 30 are provided, and the optical disc is placed on the disc tray 3 and carried in. The optical disk 30 is arranged so as to face and be directly above the turntable 5 when the disk 30 is loaded into the disk drive position.
In the case of this example, the pair of centering members 22, 23
11 is integrally fixed to the inner side wall of the device housing 2 as shown in FIG. 11, and when the device housing 2 is horizontally placed and used, the lateral displacement of the optical disc 30 is restricted.
When the device housing 2 is used vertically, the optical disk 3
It worked to regulate the carry-in deviation of 0 in the vertical direction.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above-mentioned conventional disc loading apparatus 1 has an optical disc 30 for loading a disc.
In order to improve the centering accuracy with respect to the optical disc 3, the distance between the pair of centering members 22 and 23 is set as much as possible.
Although it is necessary to design the size close to the outer diameter of 0, when the pair of centering members 22 and 23 are arranged facing each other with a space close to the outer diameter of the optical disk 30, a disk showing a margin with respect to the space around the optical disk 30. The eccentricity margin is close to zero, and when the optical disc 30 that has been loaded into the disc drive position and clamped is actually rotationally driven, the outer peripheral edge portion of the optical disc 30 easily abuts the centering members 22 and 23, so that There were problems such as flaws and omission of data. Therefore, in order to avoid such a problem, conventionally, the interval between the pair of centering members 22 and 23 has been enlarged to accept the deterioration of the centering accuracy to some extent.

Further, the vibration generated due to the rotation of the optical disc 30 is easily transmitted from the inside of the optical disc device to the inside of the personal computer or its housing, and the eccentricity of the optical disc 30 including the deviation from the standard dimension generated at the manufacturing stage is included. There is a problem in that the size of the eccentricity margin indicating the allowable limit affects the design policy of the vibration isolation characteristic of the insulator 14 described above. Specifically, the insulator 14 that absorbs the vibration propagating from the turntable 5 to the device housing 2 side via the optical base 11 is made of a rubber material having high flexibility, and the vibration damping effect or the vibration isolation effect is enhanced. However, as the insulator 14 having low hardness and high flexibility is used, the amount of deformation of the insulator 14 per unit vibration increases,
It becomes necessary to secure a large eccentric allowance space around the rotating optical disk 30, and the pair of centering members 22 and 22, while being prepared to reduce the centering effect.
However, there is a problem that the space of 23 has to be further widened. On the other hand, if the distance between the pair of centering members 22 and 23 is narrowed in order to maintain the centering effect on the optical disk 30 and the deformation range of the insulator 14 is to be further limited, the hardness of the rubber material used for the insulator 14 must be increased. However, since the vibration damping effect of the insulator 14 becomes weaker as the hardness of the rubber material becomes higher, the vibration leaking to the outside of the device housing 2 becomes more intense, and the user may feel uncomfortable. It was

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides a disk rotation space which can guarantee reliable disk loading regardless of whether it is horizontally or vertically placed and has a sufficient eccentricity margin. The purpose is to be able to secure.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a device housing which can be arbitrarily placed horizontally or vertically, a disk mounting position outside the device housing, and a disk inside the device housing. A disc tray which is disposed so as to be conveyable between a disc drive position and a drive position, and which carries a disc mounted at the disc mounting position into the disc drive position; and a disc drive position which is disposed inside the apparatus housing, A pair of centering members which are arranged on both sides of the disc transport path so as to be opposed to each other with a space slightly exceeding the outer diameter of the disc, and which guides the disc loaded on the disc tray to the center and guides it to the disc drive position. A disk clamp that operates after the disk is loaded into the disk drive position and clamps the disk loaded into the disk drive position on a turntable. A pump mechanism and an actuator that operates in conjunction with the clamp operation of the disc clamp mechanism, expands the distance between the pair of centering members, and forms an eccentric margin space outside the disc in the clamped state. It is characterized by including.

Further, the centering member is composed of a V-shaped leaf spring formed by bending an elastic plate to form a pair of elastic pieces facing each other. The centering member is engaged with the inner side walls of the apparatus housing on both sides in the disk carrying direction. When the disc tray is loaded near the disc mounting position, the actuator presses and deforms the one elastic piece toward the other elastic piece side, and the distance between the elastic pieces facing each other across the disk transport path is increased. It is characterized in that it is enlarged to secure an eccentricity margin of the disc.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a disc loading device of the present invention in a disc mounting posture, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the disc loading device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. A sectional view taken along line A,
4 is an enlarged view of an essential part of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the disc loading device shown in FIG. 1 in a disc driving posture, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of the disc loading device shown in FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is
It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG.

The disk loading device 51 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 eliminates the conventional centering members 22 and 23, and a pair of deformable centering members 52 and 53 which perform centering or decentering depending on the loading position of the optical disk 30. And the pair of centering members 52 and 53 are attached to the chucking pulley 4
The centering is released in conjunction with the disc clamping operation of the disc clamping mechanism including the turntable 5 (shown by a dotted line in FIG. 3). The disc loading device 51 shown in the present embodiment transmits the rotational power of the loading motor 54 to the drive gear 57 via the belt 55 and the gear train 56 stretched between the pulleys, and the drive gear 57 drives the disc. The rack 58, which is formed on the inner wall of the tray 3 and is shown by a dotted line in FIG. 2, is transmitted to the rack 3, and belt transmission is used to convey the disc tray 3. Further, in order to distribute the rotational power of the loading motor 54 to the lifting power of the optical base 11, a cam groove (not shown) is formed in a slider 59 with a rack that meshes with an intermediate gear of the gear train 56. A structure in which an engaging projection 64a provided at a tip portion of a connecting bar 64, which will be described later, supported by the base 11 is engaged with the cam groove, and the optical base 11 is swung up and down by the engaging projection 64a guided by the cam groove. There is.

The centering members 52 and 53 are, as shown in FIG. 4, a V-shaped plate in which a pair of elastic pieces 521, 522 and 531, 532 are formed by bending an elastic metal plate into a V-shape and facing each other. It is composed of a spring, and is attached to the inner side walls of the device housing 2 on both sides in the disc transport direction by being locked.
One elastic piece 52 located on the side facing the disc transport path
The tip of 1,531 is bent in a lateral shape,
Guide portion 52 for centering the outer peripheral edge portion of the optical disc 30
a and 53a. These centering members 5
The reference numerals 2 and 53 are mounted by dropping the V-shaped bottom portion first into the engagement slots 60 formed on the inner left and right inner walls of the device housing 2. The centering members 52 and 53, which are slightly compressed from both sides and slightly elastically deformed by being dropped, are urged in a bidding direction by their own elastic force, but the tip ends of the other elastic pieces 522 and 532 are the inner walls of the apparatus housing 2. It is prevented from coming off by being locked to the locking projection 61. The other elastic pieces 522 and 532 are in close contact with the inner wall of the device housing 2,
One of the elastic pieces 521, 531 is partially abutted and locked on the tapered surface 601 of the inner wall of the engagement slot 60, and is pushed up from below to elastically deform and approach the other elastic piece 522, 532 side. Is in a state.

In this embodiment, the centering members 52,
As an actuator for expanding the interval between 53 and canceling the centering with respect to the optical disc 30, the protrusions shown in FIG. 621,
631 is formed. As shown in FIG. 2, the pair of arms 62 and 63 are connected to the inner wall of the device housing 2 near the left and right side edge portions of the optical base 11 at their distal ends by pivot pins 62a and 63a, respectively, and the distal ends thereof. They are composed of molded products integrally formed in a U-shape via the connecting bar 64. Further, the connecting portions of the connecting bar 64 and the arms 62 and 63 are screwed to the optical base 11 via the insulators by the set screws 62b and 63b. After the disc tray 3 is carried into the disc mounting position, the protrusions 621 and 631 projecting from the arms 62 and 63 enter the engaging slots 60 as the optical base 11 rises, and the centering members 52 and 53 move. One elastic piece 52
The protrusions 621 and 631 stand by below the engagement slot 60 so as to press and deform 1,531 toward the other elastic piece 522,532. The interval between the elastic pieces 521 and 531 facing each other across the disc transport path is determined by the engagement slot 60.
Since the projections 621 and 631 are enlarged in accordance with the amount of intrusion into the inside, it is possible to design the optical disk 30 in accordance with the eccentricity margin required outside.

Here, when the optical disk 30 is placed on the disk tray 3 pulled out of the apparatus and the eject button provided on the front surface of the apparatus housing 2 is pushed, the loading motor 54 is activated and the pulley is driven. The gear train 56 is rotationally driven by a belt-engaging transmission via a belt 55 stretched between the gear trains. The rotational power of the gear train 56 is transmitted to the rack 58 formed on the inner side wall of the disc tray 3 as the loading power of the disc tray 3, so that the disc tray 3 moves from the disc mounting position shown in FIGS. It is carried in toward the disk drive position shown in FIG. At the beginning of delivery,
Guide portions 52a, 5 of the pair of centering members 52, 53
Since the optical discs 3a face each other with a distance slightly larger than the outer diameter of the optical disc 30, the optical discs 30 randomly placed on the disc tray 3 are centered in accordance with the tray loading operation.

When the disc tray 3 reaches the disc drive position, the rotational power of the gear train 56 is not transmitted to the rack 58, and instead, the coupling bar is engaged via the engagement projection 64a that engages with the cam groove of the slider 59 with the rack. When transmitted to the armature 64, the arms 62 and 63 swing together with the connecting bar 64. The swing of the arms 62 and 63 is transmitted to the tip of the optical base 11 via the set screws 62b and 63b. Therefore, the optical base 11 swings around the distal end, and the turntable 5 moves upward in an arc. When the optical base 11 reaches the swing limit, the central protrusion of the turntable 5 is completely engaged with the center hole 30a of the optical disc 30.
Thus, the optical disk 30 placed on the disk mounting surface of the turntable 5 is sandwiched between the chucking pulley 4 and the turntable 5 and brought into the clamped state shown in FIG.

Immediately before the disc clamping by the disc clamping mechanism consisting of the chucking pulley 4 and the turntable 5, the arms 62 and 63 rotate in association with the rise of the optical base 11. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the protrusions 621 and 631 projecting in the middle of the arms 62 and 63 enter the engagement slot 60, and the elastic pieces 521 and 531 of one of the centering members 52 and 53. Is pressed toward the other elastic piece 522, 532 and elastically deforms. As a result, the facing distance between the guide portions 52a, 53a of the one elastic piece 521, 531 facing each other across the disc transport path is expanded as the protrusions 621, 631 enter the engagement slot 60, and as a result, the optical disc 30. A sufficient eccentric allowance space is formed outside of.

Thus, before the spindle motor 13 is started and the optical disc 30 is rotationally driven, the pair of left and right centering members 52, 53 are separated and opposed to each other with a distance greatly exceeding the outer diameter of the optical disc 30. A sufficient eccentricity margin is secured outside 30. Therefore, an insulator (not shown) inserted at a position where the optical base 11 is supported by the device housing 2 can be formed by using a rubber material that is highly flexible and can be largely deformed with respect to a unit vibration, and has a sufficient vibration damping effect. Alternatively, since a vibration isolation effect can be provided, noise leaking to the outside of the device housing 2 can be effectively suppressed. In addition, the centering member 5
Since Nos. 2 and 53 are deformed in the direction of widening the gap immediately before the optical disc 30 is clamped, the optical disc 30 can be centered with high accuracy until just before the disc clamp and reliable loading is possible. Therefore, according to the disk loading device 51, the optical base 11 which has been a problem when the optical disk 30 is rotationally driven at a speed ratio of several tens of times the standard speed or when the eccentric disk is rotated at a high speed. It is possible to effectively damp or block the vibration that has propagated to the device housing 2 via the device housing, and it is possible to achieve both reliable disk clamping and vibration reduction during disk rotation driving.

Further, the disc loading device 51 is
The centering members 52, 53 can be attached to the device housing 2 very easily by locking using the resilience of the V-shaped plate springs that form the centering members 52, 53. Since the eccentricity allowance space of the optical disk 30 can be secured within the compression deformation range of the spring, it is easy to select the size of the centering members 52, 53 corresponding to the required eccentricity allowance space, and at the same time, the protrusion 621 serving as an actuator. 631 centering members 52, 5
Even when the centering of 3 is released, the elastic pieces 521, 531
Since it is performed by pressing and deforming the other elastic piece 522, 532 side, it is possible to realize interlocking with the disc clamp mechanism very easily and flexibly meet various design requirements.

In the above embodiment, the object to be loaded by the disk loading device 51 is not limited to the optical disk 30 and may be another disk as long as it is a disk-shaped recording medium having a center hole in the center.

[0021]

As described above, according to the disc loading apparatus of the present invention, the pair of centering members disposed on both sides of the disc transport path so as to be spaced apart from each other and slightly opposed to the outer diameter of the disc are opposed to each other. A disc clamp mechanism that moves the disc loaded on the tray to the center and guides it to the disc drive position, and operates after the disc is loaded to the disc drive position, clamps the disc loaded at the disc drive position on the turntable. On the other hand, the actuator, which operates in association with the clamping operation of the disc clamping mechanism, expands the distance between the pair of centering members to form an eccentric allowance space outside the clamped disc. From the above, the pair of centering members keeps the disc horizontal when the device housing is placed horizontally. The position of the disc can be regulated in the vertical direction, and when the device housing is placed vertically, the disc can be regulated in the vertical direction, which allows the disc to be securely centered and clamped at the disc mounting position. Loading is possible, and since the actuator expands the distance between the pair of centering members before clamping of the disc is completed, it is possible to release the centering and secure an eccentricity margin of the disc outside the disc. A member that can secure a sufficient displacement allowance of the disk clamp mechanism or its optical base mounted in the housing of the device via a vibration damping means such as an insulator, and is a flexible member that is effective in absorbing vibration. By configuring the It is possible to effectively damp or block the vibration that has propagated to the device housing via the optical base, which has been a problem when rotationally driving the disk or rotating the eccentric disk at high speed. It has an excellent effect that it is possible to achieve both reliable disc clamping and vibration reduction at the time of disc rotation drive.

Further, the centering member is composed of a V-shaped leaf spring formed by bending an elastic plate to form a pair of elastic pieces opposed to each other, and the V-shaped leaf springs are engaged with the inner side walls on both sides of the apparatus housing in the disc transport direction. When mounted, and when the disc tray is carried in near the disc mounting position, the actuator presses and deforms the one elastic piece toward the other elastic piece side, increasing the distance between the elastic pieces that face each other across the disk transport path. However, since the disk eccentricity is ensured, the centering member can be attached to the housing of the apparatus very easily by locking using the elastic force of the V-shaped leaf spring itself. Since the disc eccentricity allowance space can be secured within the compression deformation range of the V-shaped leaf spring, it is easy to select the size of the centering member that matches the required eccentricity allowance space. In addition, since centering of the centering member by the actuator is also performed by pressing and deforming one elastic piece toward the other elastic piece side, interlocking with the disc clamp mechanism can be realized very easily and various design requirements can be flexibly met. There is an effect such as being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a disc loading device of the present invention in a disc mounting posture.

2 is a plan view of the disc loading device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

5 is a perspective view showing the disc loading device shown in FIG. 1 in a disc driving posture.

6 is a plan view of the disc loading device shown in FIG. 5. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional disc loading device.

10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG.

11 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 device housing 3 disc tray 4 chucking pulley 5 turntable 11 Optical base 12 Optical head 17 seek motor 30 optical disks 51 Disc loading device 52,53 Centering member 521,522,531,532 elastic pieces 52a, 53a guide section 54 Loading Motor 57 drive gear 58 racks 59 Slider with rack 60 engaging slots 62, 63 arms 621, 631 Protrusion (actuator)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device housing, which can be arbitrarily placed horizontally or vertically, and is disposed between the disk mounting position outside the device housing and the disk drive position inside the device housing so as to be transportable, and the disk mounting is possible. A disc tray for loading the disc placed at the placement position into the disc drive position, and a disc tray disposed at the disc drive position inside the device housing, and on both sides of the disc transport path with a space slightly exceeding the outer diameter of the disc. A pair of centering members which are arranged so as to be spaced apart and opposed to each other and which guides the disc loaded on the disc tray to the disc drive position by centering it, and which operates after the disc is loaded into the disc drive position. A disk clamp mechanism for clamping a disk loaded into a disk drive position on a turntable, and a clamping operation of the disk clamp mechanism A disk loading device comprising: an actuator that operates in tandem with the above, expands the distance between the pair of centering members, and forms an eccentric margin space outside the disk that has reached a clamped state. . 2. The centering member comprises a V-shaped leaf spring formed by bending an elastic plate to form a pair of elastic pieces facing each other, and is engaged with inner side walls on both sides of the apparatus housing in the disc transport direction. When the disc tray is loaded near the disc mounting position, the actuator presses and deforms the one elastic piece toward the other elastic piece side, and the distance between the elastic pieces facing each other across the disk transport path is increased. The disk loading device according to claim 1, wherein the disk loading apparatus is enlarged to secure an eccentricity margin of the disk.