JP4170856B2 - RECORDING MEDIUM CONVEYING DEVICE, RECORDING MEDIUM DRIVE DEVICE, AND RECORDING MEDIUM CONVEYING METHOD FOR RECORDING MEDIUM CONVEYING DEVICE - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a recording medium conveying apparatus that conveys a disk-shaped recording medium in the radial direction , a recording medium driving apparatus, and a recording medium conveying method of the recording medium conveying apparatus .

In recent years, information devices such as personal computers and home-use game machines store disc-shaped disks such as optical disks such as CD (Compact Disk) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and magneto-optical disks such as MO (Magneto Optical). Often used as a medium. For this reason, the information equipment performs disk loading to take the disk inserted into the disk insertion slot on the front of the equipment into the equipment, and to eject the disk in the equipment from the disk insertion slot. In order to do this, it generally has a function as a recording medium transport device for transporting a disc.

As a recording medium conveying device , in order to prevent foreign matter or the like from being pressed or dragged on the signal recording surface of the disc and causing scratches on the signal recording surface, only the outer peripheral edge of the disc is brought into contact with the disc. Have been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Specifically, for example, as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C, a pair of transfer rollers 21 capable of sandwiching a disk 20 as a transported object in the diameter direction, and the pair of transfer rollers 21. Drive means (not shown) for rotationally driving one of the rollers (hereinafter referred to as “drive roller”) 21a, and the other roller (hereinafter referred to as “fixed roller”) 21b of the pair of transfer rollers 21 is provided. While being fixed, the drive roller 21a is rotated by the driving means to apply a rotational force to the disk 20 to roll it, thereby transferring the disk 20. Then, such a pair of transfer rollers are arranged on the upstream side 21 and the downstream side 22 along the transfer direction of the disk 20, and the disk 20 is transferred between them. With such a series of operations, the disk transport device transports the disk 20 between the disk insertion slot and the chucking mechanism that chucks and rotates the disk 20.

JP 2002-304798 A

By the way, in the recording medium conveying apparatus described above, the disk 20 is transferred by rolling the disk 20 by applying a rotational force. That is, the disk 20 is transported in the radial direction while rotating. For this reason, the linear velocity at the outer peripheral edge of the disk 20 is not necessarily constant because a transfer component in the radial direction of the disk 20 is added.
On the other hand, the rotational speeds of the drive rollers 21a and 22a are such that the drive rollers 21a and 22a are rotationally driven by the drive means, so that the upstream transfer roller 21 and the downstream transfer roller 22 In any case, it is always constant.
Therefore, when the disk 20 is transferred between the upstream transfer roller 21 and the downstream transfer roller 22, the outer peripheral edge and the driving roller are caused by the change in the linear velocity at the outer peripheral edge of the disk 20. There is a possibility that slip occurs between 21a and 22a.

  This is because the driving rollers 21a and 22a and the fixed rollers 21b and 22b of the transfer rollers 21 and 22 are configured to support the outer peripheral edge of the disk 20 at two points, respectively. This is because sufficient frictional force cannot be obtained with the outer peripheral edge.

Therefore, the present invention obtains a sufficient frictional force between the drive roller and the outer periphery of the disk, so that the linear velocity at the outer periphery of the disk changes even if the linear velocity changes between the drive roller and the outer periphery of the disk. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium conveying apparatus, a recording medium driving apparatus, and a recording medium conveying method for the recording medium conveying apparatus that can suppress the slippage of the recording medium and thereby can convey the disk in the radial direction.

The present invention is a recording medium conveying apparatus devised to achieve the above object. That is, a drive unit to which a driving force is applied and a support unit that supports the recording medium are arranged at a position that supports the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium, and the support unit is located upstream in the conveyance direction of the recording medium. And a downstream side of the recording medium conveying device that conveys the recording medium into the apparatus by the driving force, and the driving unit disposed on the upstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium When the recording medium is transferred to the drive unit disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium, a holding unit configured by the upstream support unit and the downstream support unit is provided. By swinging about a fulcrum with respect to the recording medium , both the upstream support portion and the downstream support portion are arranged at a position in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium without rotating. Moved and said And it supports the recording medium.

According to the recording medium conveying apparatus having the above configuration, when the recording medium is delivered, both the upstream support portion and the downstream support portion are arranged at positions where they contact the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium . Both of these support portions are always in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium . That is, when the transfer of the recording medium, the recording medium, the drive unit of both the support and the upstream side or by the driving portions of both the support and the downstream side, and that its outer edge is supported a three-point Become. Therefore, even if there is a possibility that changes in the linear velocity of the recording medium periphery occurs, and sufficient frictional force between the recording medium outer periphery and a drive unit by a three-point support, a recording medium outside and a driving unit Occurrence of slipping between the peripheral edges can be suppressed.

Recording medium transporting method for a recording medium conveying device, the recording medium driving apparatus and a recording medium conveying apparatus of the present invention, since sufficient frictional force between the recording medium outer periphery and the drive unit is obtained, the line in the recording medium outer periphery Even when the speed changes, the sliding between the driving unit and the outer periphery of the recording medium can be suppressed, and the recording medium can be transported satisfactorily.

Hereinafter, a recording medium conveying apparatus, a recording medium driving apparatus, and a recording medium conveying method of the recording medium conveying apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Here, a description will be given by taking as an example a disk transport device and a disk drive device that are mounted on an information device such as a personal computer or a home game machine and transport a disk to perform disk loading or disk unloading.

  First, the disk conveyed by the disk conveying device will be briefly described. A disc is a read-only storage medium such as a CD or DVD, or a recording / reproducing storage medium such as a CD-R or DVD-R, and is formed in a disk shape and provided at a substantially central portion. It has a hole. For such a disc, for example, it is possible to deal with a plurality of sizes, such as a disc having a diameter of 12 cm (hereinafter referred to as “12 cm disc”) or a disc having a diameter of 8 cm (hereinafter referred to as “8 cm disc”). It is done.

  Next, a schematic configuration of a disk transport apparatus that transports such a disk will be described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a disk transport device according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the disk transport device described here includes at least a disk insertion / removal port 1 and a pair of roller assemblies 2 and 3.

  The disc insertion / removal port 1 is composed of a horizontally long opening formed for inserting / removing a disc into / from the disc transport device. In the figure, the direction of arrow X corresponds to the insertion / removal direction in which the disc is inserted and removed.

  FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a configuration example of the pair of roller assemblies 2 and 3. As shown in the figure, the pair of roller assemblies 2 and 3 includes a drive side roller assembly 2 and a fixed side roller assembly 3.

The drive side roller assembly 2 includes a drive side guide lever 11, a drive motor 12 mounted on the drive side guide lever 11, drive rollers 13a and 14a rotatably attached to the drive side guide lever 11, A gear mechanism 15 that transmits the power of the drive motor 12 to the pair of drive rollers 13a and 14a and rotates in the same direction is provided.
Among these, the drive-side guide lever 11 includes a roller support portion 11a extending along the disk insertion / removal direction (see arrow X in FIG. 1) and a direction orthogonal to the disk insertion / removal direction (arrow Y in FIG. 1). The arm portion 11b extends in the direction (see FIG. 4), and a rack portion 11c provided on the arm portion 11b. The arm portion 11b is movably disposed along the extending direction. That is, the drive side guide lever 11 can move in a direction orthogonal to the disk insertion / removal direction.
Further, the drive rollers 13 a and 14 a are arranged in parallel along the direction in which the roller support portion 11 a extends, that is, the disk insertion / removal direction, and each of them is forcibly rotated by the rotation of the drive motor 12. Each of these driving rollers 13a and 14a includes a driving body 16a, a rotating body 16b, and a buffer body 16c. The drive body 16a is formed of a ring-shaped member having an upper surface having a conical tapered surface, and a gear portion 16d that meshes with the gear mechanism 15 is integrally provided on the lower surface thereof. The rotating body 16b facing the driving body 16a is formed of a ring-shaped member having a lower surface with an inverted conical tapered surface. A gap slightly larger than the thickness of the disk is provided between the driving body 16a and the rotating body 16b, and a buffer body 16c formed in a ring shape is provided at the bottom of the groove. The buffer body 16c is a cylindrical member made of a rubber-like elastic body formed of rubber, soft plastic or the like, and is preferably made of a material that is softer than the optical disk and has a high frictional resistance. This is because a rotational force is applied to the disk by a frictional force generated between the buffer 16c.

The fixed side roller assembly 3 includes a fixed side guide lever 17 and fixed rollers 13 b and 14 b attached to the fixed side guide lever 17.
Among these, the fixed-side guide lever 17 includes a roller support portion 17a extending along the disk insertion / removal direction (see arrow X in FIG. 1), an arm portion 17b extending toward the drive-side roller assembly 2 side, A rack portion 17c provided on the arm portion 17b, and is arranged to be movable along the direction in which the arm portion 17b extends. That is, like the drive side guide lever 11, the fixed side guide lever 17 can also move in a direction orthogonal to the disk insertion / removal direction.
The fixed rollers 13b and 14b are arranged so as to be aligned along the direction in which the roller support portion 17a extends, that is, the disc insertion / removal direction. The fixed rollers 13b and 14b are the same as the drive rollers 13a and 14a except that they are fixed without being driven to rotate. That is, the fixed rollers 13b and 14b include a fixed body 18a, a rotating body 18b, and a buffer body (not shown). The fixed body 18a is made of a ring-shaped member whose upper surface is a conical tapered surface. The rotating body 18b facing the fixed body 18a is formed of a ring-shaped member whose lower surface has an inverted conical tapered surface. A gap slightly larger than the thickness of the disk is provided between the fixed body 18a and the rotating body 18b, and a buffer (not shown) (drive rollers 13a and 14a) formed in a ring shape at the bottom of the groove. The same structure as that of the buffer body 16c is provided.

  The drive side roller assembly 2 and the fixed side roller assembly 3 are arranged to face each other. Between the drive side roller assembly 2 and the fixed side roller assembly 3, a drive gear that is simultaneously meshed with the rack portion 11 c of the drive side guide lever 11 and the rack portion 17 c of the fixed side guide lever 17 (however, (Not shown) is arranged. That is, the rack portion 17c and the rack portion 11c are meshed together so that the drive gear is sandwiched from the front and rear. Therefore, for example, when the drive gear rotates counterclockwise, the drive side roller assembly 2 and the fixed side roller assembly 3 move away from each other. On the contrary, when the drive gear rotates in the clockwise direction, the drive side roller assembly 2 and the fixed side roller assembly 3 move in a direction approaching each other.

  By providing the drive side roller assembly 2 and the fixed side roller assembly 3 as described above, in the disc transport apparatus, the drive roller 13a to which a rotational driving force is applied and the fixed roller 13b fixed thereto are inserted into the disc. A pair of transfer rollers 13 are arranged side by side in a direction orthogonal to the removal direction, and a driving roller 14a to which a rotational driving force is applied and a fixed roller 14b fixed thereto are arranged in a disc insertion / removal direction. A pair of transfer rollers 14 are arranged side by side in the orthogonal direction. A pair of transfer rollers 13 and 14 composed of the drive rollers 13a and 14a and the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are arranged so as to sandwich the outer peripheral edge of the disk. Further, the pair of transfer rollers 13 and 14 are disposed on the upstream side and the downstream side along the disc transport direction.

  Therefore, in the disk transport device, if the drive motor 13 rotates the drive rollers 13a and 14a to apply a rotational force to the disk, the disk rolls around the support point by the fixed rollers 13b and 14b. This makes it possible to transport the disc along its insertion / removal direction. When the disc is transferred, the pair of transfer rollers 13 and 14 are arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side in the disc transport direction, so that the disc is transferred between the transfer rollers 13 and 14. become.

  By the way, the disk transport apparatus described here has a great feature in that the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are supported in a floating manner. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a characteristic configuration of the disk transport device according to the present invention, and is a view for explaining the floating support of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b.

Here, the floating support of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a schematic structure of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b. The fixed rollers 13b and 14b are operable within a range of a predetermined play angle around a support point fixed at a predetermined position on the fixed side roller assembly 3. When the disk is at the position A in the figure, the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are at the positions indicated by solid lines in FIG. On the other hand, when the disk is conveyed to the position B in the figure, the fixed rollers 13b and 14b move to the positions indicated by the dotted lines in FIG.
Here, “floating support” means that the fixed rollers 13 b and 14 b are supported so as to move within a range of a predetermined play angle. Here, in particular, when the disk is transferred between the transfer rollers 13 and 14, the upstream side Both the fixed roller 13b and the downstream fixed roller 14b move so as to be in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the disk (that is, in a so-called floating state).

In order to realize such floating support of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b, it is conceivable to configure the fixed roller assembly 3 as described below. For example, the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are fixed on a single support plate (not shown), and a support point is provided at a substantially middle point of each of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b in the support plate, and the support point is used as a fulcrum. The support plate is disposed on the roller support portion 17a of the stationary guide lever 17 so that the support plate can swing. As a result, the support plate swings so as to swing its neck with respect to the direction orthogonal to the disk insertion / removal direction, so that the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the disk when the disk is delivered. Will be supported loosely.
Note that the range of movement of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b, that is, the swingable angle of the support plate on which the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are fixed is the size of the disk to be transported (12 cm disk, 8 cm disk, or both, etc.) ) And the arrangement interval of the upstream and downstream transfer rollers 13 and 14 may be determined as appropriate, and it may be possible to provide a stopper or the like for restricting the swinging of the support plate as necessary.
In addition, here, the case where the floating support of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b is realized by using the swing of the support plate has been described as an example, but the floating support may be realized using another configuration (mechanism). Of course.

Next, an example of operation when a disk is transported in the disk transport apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
In the disk transport device, as shown in FIG. 3A, a line segment connecting the disk clamping position of the drive roller 13a of the upstream transfer roller 13 and the disk clamping position of the fixed roller 13b is centered on the disk. If it exceeds, the delivery of the disk from the upstream transfer roller 13 to the downstream transfer roller 14 is started.

  Here, since the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are loosely supported as described above, both the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are fixed between the upstream-side transfer roller 13 and the downstream-side transfer roller 14 as shown in FIG. Both the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the disk, following the disk on which the rollers 13b and 14b are conveyed. That is, the outer peripheral edge of the disk is supported at three points by both the fixed rollers 13b and 14b and the drive roller 13a in the upstream transfer roller 13.

In this state, when the driving roller 13a gives a rotational force to the disk, the disk rolls at a support point by the fixed rollers 13b and 14b, that is, a substantially intermediate point between them, so that the disk moves in the radial direction. It is transported along (disk insertion / removal direction) and delivered to the transport roller 14 on the downstream side. That is, the rotational force applied to the disk moves from the drive roller 13a in the upstream transfer roller 13 to the drive roller 14a in the downstream transfer roller 14.
At this time, the drive side guide lever 11 and the fixed side guide lever 17 open and close in a direction orthogonal to the disk insertion / removal direction so that the rollers 13a, 13b, 14a, 14b are in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the disk (for example, FIG. (See black arrow in 3).

  Also at this time, since the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are supported in a floating manner, as shown in FIG. 3C, each of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b comes into contact with the outer peripheral edge of the disk. That is, the outer peripheral edge of the disk is supported at three points by both the fixed rollers 13b and 14b and the driving roller 14a in the downstream transfer roller 14.

  Therefore, when the disc is transferred from the upstream side to the downstream side between the upstream side transfer roller 13 and the downstream side transfer roller 14, a change occurs in the linear velocity on the outer periphery of the disc. Even if there is a possibility that the rotational speed of the driving roller 14a in the downstream transfer roller 14 does not match, the driving roller 14a and the fixed rollers 13b and 14b are supported by the three points on the outer periphery of the disk. Since a sufficient frictional force with the outer peripheral edge of the disk can be secured, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of slipping between the drive roller 14a and the outer peripheral edge of the disk.

  As described above, the disc (recording medium) transported to a predetermined position is rotationally driven at a predetermined speed by a disc driving device provided in the disc drive device, and recorded on the disc signal recording surface by a data reproducing device. Will be played back. In other words, the disk drive device according to the present invention is configured by including the disk drive device and the data reproducing device in addition to the disk transport device having the above-described configuration. Since the disk drive device and the data reproducing device may be realized by using a known technique, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  As described above, in the disk transport device and the disk drive device described in the present embodiment, a sufficient frictional force is obtained between the drive roller 14a and the outer peripheral edge of the disk by the idle support of the fixed rollers 13b and 14b. Slip between the drive roller 14a and the outer peripheral edge of the disk is suppressed even when a change in linear velocity at the outer peripheral edge of the disk occurs during delivery of the disk from the transfer roller 13 on the side to the transfer roller 14 on the downstream side. Thus, the disk can be favorably transported in the radial direction. In other words, the disc can be transported while avoiding the occurrence of scratches on the signal recording surface of the disc, and even in that case, the disc cannot be transported.

  In the present embodiment, the description has been given by taking as an example a disk transport device that is mounted on an information device such as a personal computer or a home game machine and transports a disk to perform disk loading or disk unloading. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, as long as the disk is transported by applying a rotational force to the disk and rolling it, another disk transport apparatus (for example, a disk transport apparatus incorporated in a manufacturing apparatus used in a disk manufacturing process). Even so, the present invention can be applied in exactly the same manner.

It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure in the disc conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a configuration example of a pair of roller assemblies in the disk transport device of FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the characteristic structure in the disc conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention, and is a figure for demonstrating the floating support of a fixed roller. It is explanatory drawing which shows a specific example of the general | schematic structure of the fixed roller in the disc conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of the disc delivery in the conventional disc conveying apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Drive motor, 13, 14 ... Transfer roller, 13a, 14a ... Drive roller, 13b, 14b ... Fixed roller, 15 ... Drive gear

Claims (3)

A drive unit to which a driving force is applied and a support unit that supports the recording medium are arranged at positions that support the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium, and the support unit is located upstream and downstream along the conveyance direction of the recording medium. A recording medium transporting device disposed at a predetermined interval on the side and transporting the recording medium into the device by the driving force;
When the recording medium is transferred from the driving unit arranged on the upstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium to the driving unit arranged on the downstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium, the support unit on the upstream side And the downstream support portion swing around a fulcrum for the recording medium, so that both the upstream support portion and the downstream support portion do not rotate. A recording medium conveying apparatus that is moved so as to be disposed at a position in contact with the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium and supports the recording medium. The recording medium transport device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is transported.
A recording medium driving device for driving the recording medium at a predetermined speed;
Data recording and / or reproducing apparatus and Bei obtain a recording medium driving apparatus for recording and / or reproducing the signal recorded on the recording medium. A drive unit to which a driving force is applied and a support unit that supports the recording medium are arranged at positions that support the outer peripheral edge of the recording medium, and the support unit is located upstream and downstream along the conveyance direction of the recording medium. A recording medium conveying method of a recording medium conveying apparatus that is arranged at a predetermined interval on the side and conveys the recording medium into the apparatus by the driving force;
When the recording medium is transferred from the driving unit arranged on the upstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium to the driving unit arranged on the downstream side of the conveyance of the recording medium, the support unit on the upstream side And the downstream support portion swing around a fulcrum for the recording medium, so that both the upstream support portion and the downstream support portion do not rotate. A recording medium conveying method of a recording medium conveying apparatus, wherein the recording medium is moved so as to be in contact with an outer periphery of the recording medium, supports the recording medium, and conveys the recording medium into the apparatus.

Images