JP5448025B2 - Stacked tray and tray unfolding mechanism - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus that records or reproduces information on a plurality of optical disks, and stacks a plurality of optical disks into a compact storage tray, and expands the optical disk from the stacked trays to a plurality of recording / reproducing apparatuses. The present invention relates to a mechanism for conveying and transporting, and a stacked tray developing system that combines these mechanisms.

  In recent years, as the amount of information handled by computers has increased, the capacity of storage devices that store information has increased significantly.

  The main storage devices include disk-shaped storage media such as hard disks and optical disks, and magnetic tapes.

  Hard disks are used as main storage devices because they have better recording / playback speed and random access than the other two, and are used for archiving and backup applications as disk-shaped storage media such as optical disks and magnetic tapes. It has been.

  Magnetic tapes are superior to disk-shaped storage media such as optical disks in terms of low cost and recording capacity per unit volume, but are inferior in terms of random accessibility and storability.

  Therefore, the advent of a storage device that combines the advantages of a disk-shaped storage medium such as an optical disk and a magnetic tape, has a low price, a large capacity, and is excellent in random accessibility and storability.

In relation to the above, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-64158) discloses an invention relating to a disk device.
The disk device according to the invention of Patent Document 1 is characterized in that a plurality of disk support bodies, an initial guide portion, and a rotation drive member are provided. Here, the plurality of disc supporters are provided with a disc and are arranged so as to overlap in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the disc. The support member supports the disk support so as to be movable in a direction crossing the disk surface. The initial guide portion is provided with a selection member that moves relative to the support member and sets the position of the disk support according to the movement position, and the selection member has a selection member at the initial position. Adjacent disk supports are supported at predetermined intervals. The rotary drive member is provided with an expanding guide portion that increases the interval between adjacent disk support bodies as the selected member moves from the initial position, and when the distance between the disk support bodies is increased, The disk on the disk support body is supported so as to be rotatable.

Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-145973) discloses an invention relating to a disk drive device.
The disk drive device of the invention of Patent Document 2 is configured to stack a plurality of sheet-like flexible optical disks and store them in a disk cartridge, and chuck and rotate the optical disk. This disk drive device is characterized in that it is provided with an interval extending means. This interval extending means extends the gap between the optical discs to at least the interval at which the optical pickup can be inserted in the chucked state of the optical disc.

Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-216156) discloses an invention relating to a tray.
The tray of the invention of Patent Document 3 includes a plurality of information recording disks and a tray body that stores the plurality of information recording disks. The tray is characterized in that a plurality of information recording disks are stacked in contact with each other and stored in the tray body. The plurality of information recording disks have central holes with different diameters. The plurality of information recording disks are stacked coaxially and in contact with each other so that the diameter of the central hole in the plurality of information recording disks is reduced in a predetermined direction, and are stored in the tray body.

Patent Document 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-141318) discloses an invention relating to a cartridge.
The cartridge of the invention of Patent Document 4 holds a plurality of trays containing one or more thin flexible disks in a multilayer shape. The tray is provided with a recess for accommodating the thin flexible disk. A cylindrical convex portion having a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the inner peripheral edge of the thin flexible disk is provided on the bottom surface of the concave portion. By engaging the convex portion with the inner peripheral edge of the thin flexible disk, the thin flexible disk is fixedly held in the tray.

JP-A-10-64158 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-145973 JP 2006-216156 A JP 2007-141318 A

  As a method for increasing the capacity of a storage medium such as an optical disk that is excellent in terms of random accessibility and storability, a plurality of stacked optical disks are used. When transporting the stacked optical disks to the recording / reproducing apparatus, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-216156, an example in which the optical disks stacked on the optical disk case are sequentially taken out and conveyed, or the inner diameters of the disks are sequentially reduced. An example using a stepped spindle is shown. However, in these cases, it takes time to transport the disk because it is sequentially removed from the top, and various types of inner diameter disks are required, which increases the cost of the apparatus due to the complexity of the disk and the spindle configuration. Was a problem.

  It is an object of the present invention to be able to store optical disc storage media in a compact stack without having a special structure, and to load optical disc storage media into a plurality of recording / reproducing devices simultaneously. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a stacked tray, a tray developing mechanism, and a stacked tray developing system capable of forming an appropriate gap between the storage media.

The stacked tray according to the present invention is a tray for mounting a predetermined disk-shaped storage medium. This stacked tray includes a recess for storing a disk-shaped storage medium, and a plurality of holes arranged around the recess and penetrating the tray in the thickness direction. The shape of the indentation has a diameter greater than or equal to the diameter of the disk-shaped storage medium and a thickness greater than or equal to the thickness of the disk-shaped storage medium. This stacked tray can be stacked in the thickness direction with the disk-shaped storage medium stored in the recess.

  With the stacked tray of the present invention, disk-shaped storage media can be stacked and stored compactly. Further, by using this stacked tray, it is possible to develop and transport from the stacked tray to the optical disk drive without having a special structure for each disk.

  With reference to the accompanying drawings, the best mode for carrying out the stacked tray and the tray unfolding mechanism according to the present invention will be described below.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the number of optical disk stacking trays to be developed is nine, but this numerical value is merely an example, and there is no problem even if it is a different value.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire stacked tray developing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a stocker for storing the optical disk cartridge 1, 7 is a developing mechanism for expanding the optical disk cartridge 1, 9 is an optical disk drive for recording and reproducing information from the optical disk 10, and 8 is a suction tweezers for performing suction operation by air pressure. The optical disk 10 is transported from the deployment mechanism 7 to the optical disk drive 9 by the suction tweezers 8.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the optical disc cartridge 1 containing the stacked tray. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a laminated optical disk cartridge. When the optical disk cartridge 1 is disassembled, the uppermost part is the cartridge cover 2 constituting the outside of the optical disk cartridge 1, and the lowermost part is the cartridge base 3 constituting the outside of the optical disk cartridge 1. Between the cartridge cover 2 and the cartridge base 3, there are nine sets of optical disks and stacked trays 11 to 19, in order from the top, a first tray 11 on which the optical disk 10 is placed, and a first tray 11 on which the optical disk 10 is placed below. The second tray 12, the third third tray 13 on which the optical disk 10 is placed, and the ninth tray in the lowermost order in turn form the ninth tray 19 on which the optical disk 10 is placed.

  The cartridge cover 2 and the cartridge base 3 are put together so as to contain the optical disk 10 and the stacked trays 11 to 19 to form a box-shaped optical disk cartridge 1 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the nth tray 22 (here, 1 ≦ n ≦ 9) among the trays. The n-th tray 20 has a rectangular outer shape, and a cylindrical recess 40 for storing the optical disc 10 is formed at the center. The inner diameter φd of the recess 40 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the optical disc 10, and the depth of the recess 40 is slightly deeper than the thickness of the optical disc 10.

  Four holes of circular holes 30a, 30b, 30c, and 30d with a diameter φDn are formed at L2 and L1 in the x direction and L3 and L4, respectively, in the x direction from the center of the cylindrical recess 40 of the nth tray 20. It has been.

  FIG. 5 is an exploded top view of the optical disk cartridge 1 from the cartridge cover 2, the cartridge base 3, and the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19.

  As in the description of the n-th tray 22 shown in FIG. 4, the first tray 11 from the top has a recess 40 having a diameter φd, which is separated from the center in the x direction L1, L2 and the y direction L3, L4, respectively. There are four circular holes 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d having a diameter φD1.

  Similarly, the second second tray 12 is also provided with four holes 32a, 32b, 32c, and 32d having a diameter φD2 at the same position as the similar recess 40. Similarly, the third third tray 13 is provided with four circular holes 33a, 33b, 33c, and 33d having a diameter φD3 at the same position as the similar recess 40. Thereafter, similarly, up to the ninth lower ninth tray, the same recess 40 and circular holes 39a, 39b, 39c, 39d having a diameter φD9 are formed at the same position as each tray.

  That is, each tray has a recess 40 for storing an optical disc at the same position and four circular holes at the same position. That is, the four holes are concentric with the holes of each tray.

  At this time, the diameters of the four holes in each tray increase in order from the upper first tray 11 to the lower ninth tray 19. That is, φD1 <φD2 <φD3 <... <ΦD9.

  Next, a description will be given of a deployment mechanism that unfolds the optical disc cartridge 1 and supports the optical disc 10 and the stacked trays 11 to 19 with a certain interval.

  6 to 9 are perspective views of main parts of the deployment mechanism 7 that deploys the optical disc cartridge 1, and FIG. 10 is a side view thereof.

  FIG. 6 shows a state before the optical disc cartridge 1 is deployed, and the optical disc cartridge 1 is supported above the deployment mechanism 7. However, the support mechanism is not shown here.

  In the unfolding mechanism 7, guide shafts 5 a, 5 b, 5 c having a conical curved surface upward in the vertical direction are fixed on the base 4. The guide shafts 5a, 5b and 5c have a large circular inner diameter in the lower section and a small inner diameter in the upper section in the lower section, and the upper tip does not have to be one point as shown in the figure. These guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c are fixed to the base 6 at the same positions as the same three holes 31a, 31b, and 31c in the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 in the optical disc cartridge 1. . In the stacked trays 11 to 19 of the present embodiment, four holes are provided in each tray, and three holes are used among them.

  That is, the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c are positioned at L1 and L2 in the x direction and L3 and L4 in the y direction, respectively, from the center of the recess 40 of each tray.

  FIG. 7 shows the deployment mechanism 7 in which the cartridge cover 2 is supported upward, and the cartridge base 3 on which the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 containing the optical disk 10 are mounted is provided with holes 30a and 30b formed in each tray. , 30c are moved downward along the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c, respectively, and the optical disk cartridge 1 is in a developing state.

  At that time, the first tray 11 is supported at a position where the inner diameter φD1 of the first tray 11 having the holes 31a to 31c having the smallest inner diameter matches the inner diameter of the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c in a circular cross section. Similarly, the second tray 12, the third tray,..., And the stacking tray are sequentially supported by the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c in this order.

  FIG. 8 shows the developing mechanism 7 in which the cartridge base 3 is lowered downward, the trays up to the ninth tray 19 are sequentially supported by the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c, and all the trays of the optical disc cartridge 1 are developed. And it is a perspective view after completion | finish of expansion | deployment.

  Regarding the development of the trays, the basic structure of the first tray to the ninth tray is the same, and therefore the nth nth tray 20 will be described as an example. 9 and 10 show a state in which the nth (1 ≦ n ≦ 9) th tray is supported and developed by the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c.

  The guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c having a conical curved surface are inserted into holes 31 to 39 provided in the respective trays 11 to 19 in the optical disc cartridge, and are sequentially moved below the respective trays. From above, the lowering of the tray stops and the tray is supported at the position where the diameter of the circular section of the first tray 11, the second tray 12, and the hole formed in the cartridge base 3 coincides with the diameter of the circular guide shaft. The

  FIG. 9 shows the (n−1) -th tray 21, the n-th tray 20, and the (n + 1) -th tray 23 that are n−1, n, and n + 1 from the top. In these trays, four holes are concentrically formed, and holes having respective inner diameters φDn−1, φDn, and φDn + 1 are formed. The diameter φDn of the four holes on the n-th tray 22 increases in order from the first tray 11 located at the top to the ninth tray located at the bottom.

  The guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 23 are passed through the guide shafts 5a, 5b, and 5c in order from the lower tray 23 to the guide holes 5 on the tray. Each tray is supported at a position where the diameter of 5c coincides with the diameter of the guide hole. The tray 21 has a height of Hn-1, the tray 22 has a height of Hn, and the tray 23 has a height of Hn + 1.

  As described above, each of the trays 21, 22, and 23 is formed with circular φDn−1, φDn, and φDn + 1 for the guide shaft, and among these four holes, the guide shafts 5a, 5b, Insert from the narrow side at the top of 5c.

  The guide shaft has the same shape. When the hole diameter of each tray and the diameter of the guide shaft are the same, the tray does not fall and the guide shaft is supported when the diameters of the cross-sectional circles coincide.

  FIG. 10 shows a side view of the vicinity of the tray 22 at that time. When φDn when the diameter of the hole of the tray n and the diameter of the circle in the cross section of the guide shaft coincide, similarly for φDn + 1, if the difference between φDn + 1 and φDn is the same for all n, the tray interval Wn (= Hn−Hn + 1) are equally spaced, and the tray can be unfolded at equal intervals.

  FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of the suction tweezers 8 when the optical disk 10 is sucked.

  Further, a set of three suction pads 52 a, 52 b, 52 c for sucking the upper surface side of the optical disk 10 while avoiding the central hole of the optical disk 10 is provided at the tip of each suction tweezer 8.

  Each suction pad 52a, 52b, 52c is a sucker-like member made of rubber or the like, and is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) via a pressure-resistant tube or the like, and is vacuumed by an on / off operation of the vacuum pump or an opening / closing valve operation. A suction operation or a release operation of the optical disk 10 by pulling is performed.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 12 to FIG. 16, an operation of unfolding the optical disc 10 from the optical disc cartridge 1 and transporting each optical disc 10 to a commercially available optical disc drive 9 will be described.

  A plurality of optical disc cartridges 1 are stored in the stocker 6. From the stocker 6, the selected optical disc cartridge 1 is pulled out to the upper part of the deployment mechanism 7 by an arm 42 which is a movable part on the actuator 41.

  FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the stacked tray developing system in a state where the optical disk cartridge 1 is pulled out onto the developing mechanism 7. FIG. 13 is an enlarged perspective view particularly in the tray developing mechanism.

  Next, as described above, in the unfolding mechanism 7, the optical disk 10 is loaded from the optical disk cartridge 1 by moving the table 44 vertically downward from the top of the unfolding mechanism 7 by the linear actuator 43 movable in the vertical direction. An unfolding operation is performed on each of the trays 11 to 19.

  FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the tray unfolding mechanism where the trays 11 to 19 loaded with the optical disk 10 are unfolded.

  FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the stacked tray developing system where the trays 11 to 19 on which the optical disk 10 is mounted are developed. With respect to each optical disk 10 on the trays 11 to 19, the operation moves to the operation of transporting each optical disk 10 to each optical disk drive 9 using nine suction tweezers 8.

  Each of the nine suction tweezers 8 is in a recess 40 on each tray from the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 by using an actuator 46 that moves in the horizontal direction and an actuator 47 that moves in the vertical direction. Move on each optical disk 10.

  The suction pads 52a, 52b, 52c of the suction tweezers 8 are in contact with the optical disk 10, generate suction force using a vacuum generator such as a vacuum pump (not shown), and suck the optical disk 10 by switching the electromagnetic valve or the like. Then, the optical disk 10 is sucked to each suction tweezer 8.

  FIG. 16 shows a state in which the suction tweezers 8 sucking the optical disk 10 is transported from the first tray 11 to the ninth tray to the drive tray 56 on each optical disk drive 9 using the actuator 46 and the actuator 47. FIG.

  Each suction tweezer 8 that sucks the optical disk 10 is moved onto the drive tray 56 of each optical disk drive 9 by using the actuator 46 and the actuator 47, and the suction tweezers are brought into a vacuum breakage state by using an electromagnetic valve (not shown). The optical disks 10 are mounted on the drive tray 56 by detaching the optical disks 10 from the suction tweezers 8. FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the state in which the optical disk 10 is conveyed to the drive tray 56.

  Information is recorded on and reproduced from the optical disk 10 on the drive tray 56 after the loading operation of the optical disk drive 9.

  With the above operation, the optical disk 10 is developed from the optical disk cartridge 1, and each optical disk 10 is efficiently conveyed to the optical disk drive 9, and information can be recorded on and reproduced from the optical disk 10.

(Second Embodiment)
In FIG. 18, the principal part of the expansion | deployment mechanism in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention is shown. Three guide shafts 55a, 55b, 55c of this configuration are erected vertically upward on the base 4 as in the previous embodiment. The guide shafts 55a, 55b, and 55c are stepped shapes of concentric cylinders having diameters of φD1, φD2, φD3,... In order from the top. By using these guide shafts 55a, 55b, and 55c, the guide shafts 5a, 5b As compared with 5c, each optical disk 10 can be developed with heights H1, H2, H3.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire stacked tray developing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stacked optical disk cartridge that includes a stacked tray. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the laminated optical disk cartridge. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the nth tray. FIG. 5 is a top view of each tray. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main part of the deployment mechanism in a state before the optical disk cartridge is deployed. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the main part of the developing mechanism in a state where the optical disk cartridge is being developed. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the main part of the development mechanism in a state after the completion of the development of the optical disk cartridge. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the main part of the development mechanism for explaining the optical disk cartridge after development. FIG. 10 is a side view of the main part of the unfolding mechanism for explaining the unfolded optical disc cartridge. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the suction tweezers. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus in a state where the optical disk cartridge is pulled out onto the deployment mechanism. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the deployment mechanism portion in a state where the optical disc cartridge is pulled out onto the deployment mechanism. FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the unfolding mechanism portion in a state after the unfolding of the optical disk cartridge. FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus in a state after the expansion of the optical disk cartridge. FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus in a state where the suction tweezers sucks the optical disk. FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the entire apparatus in a state where the optical disk is conveyed to the drive tray. FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a deployment mechanism section according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical disk cartridge 2 Cartridge cover 3 Cartridge base 4 Base 5a, 5b, 5c Guide shaft 6 Stocker 7 Unfolding mechanism 8 Suction tweezers 9 Optical disk drive 10 Optical disk 11 First tray 12 Second tray 13 Third tray 14 Fourth tray 15 5th Tray 16 6th tray 17 7th tray 18 8th tray 19 9th tray 20 nth tray 21 (n-1) tray 23 (n + 1) tray 30 depressions 31a to 40d hole 41 actuator 42 arm 43 actuator 44 table 46 Actuator 47 Actuator 51 Arms 53a to 53c Suction pad 56 Drive tray 65a, 65b, 65c Guide shaft

Claims (3)

Equipped with a disk-shaped storage medium,
A stacked tray configured by stacking a plurality of trays in which holes are formed in the thickness direction,
In a state where all the trays are stacked, the holes have a common central axis in the thickness direction in each tray, and follow the stacking order.
Ri is successively reduced size of the hole,
Each of the plurality of trays can be developed so as to be supported with a predetermined interval between each other .   The stacked tray according to claim 1, wherein three or more holes are provided in each tray. A deployment mechanism for extending and supporting the stacking direction intervals of the stacked trays according to claim 1 to predetermined intervals, respectively.
According to the stacking direction, which is the thickness direction of each tray, has a guide shaft having the same central axis as the central axis of the hole, the thickness of which decreases sequentially,
An unfolding mechanism that supports each tray at a place where each hole of each tray and the guide shaft fit together.

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