JPH01307985A - Optical recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the generation of a data error and a servo-error caused by adhering dust by providing a dust collecting mechanism which contains an electrode which is provided in the vicinity of the surface of a recording medium and to which a voltage is applied. CONSTITUTION:In case when a recording medium 1 has been installed in the device, dust contained in a cooling air flow which has been taken in from the outside for cooling the inside of the device floats in the vicinity of the surface of the recording medium 1 through an opening 6, etc. In this case, a voltage is applied in advance to electrodes 7, 8 provided in the vicinity of the surface of the recording medium 1, these electrodes 7, 8 are in a state that dust can be drawn near and collected easily and electrostatically, comparing with the surface, etc. of the recording medium 1, and dust floating in the vicinity of the surface of the recording medium 1 is collected to the surface of these electrodes 7, 8, and does not adhere to the surface of the recording medium 1. In such a way, the surface of the recording medium 1 comes to be scarcely contaminated, and at the time of recording/reproduction, the generation of a data error and a servo-error caused by adhering dust is suppressed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical recording/reproducing apparatus using an optical recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk.

Conventional Technology Generally speaking, this type of optical recording medium is said to be less susceptible to the effects of dust and the like than conventional magnetic recording media, but even so, if dust or the like adheres to the surface of the medium, data may be lost during recording/reproduction. This is undesirable because it causes errors, servo errors, etc.

In order to prevent such problems caused by dust adhesion, it has conventionally been common to use the recording medium while it is housed in the cartridge.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Although such a cartridge method makes it difficult for dust to adhere, it is impossible to completely seal the recording medium during use. There is plenty of room for dust to enter through openings, etc. In particular, in this type of device, since cooling air flows to cool the inside of the device, there is a high possibility that dust will be carried to the surface of the recording medium through these gaps and adhere to the surface of the recording medium. In other words, the cartridge method alone is insufficient to prevent dust from adhering to the surface of the medium.

Means for Solving the Interference Problem A dust collecting mechanism including an electrode disposed near the surface of the recording medium and to which a voltage is applied is provided.

When a working recording medium is loaded into an optical recording/reproducing apparatus, dust may float near the surface thereof. However, since a voltage is applied to the electrodes located on the surface of the recording medium, the attraction of dust to the electrodes is stronger than that of the surface of the recording medium due to electrostatic action.

Therefore, dust floating near the surface of the recording medium is attracted to the electrode side and collected, and does not adhere to the surface side of the recording medium.

Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be explained based on FIG. First, basically, a disc-shaped recording medium 1 such as an optical disc is housed in a rectangular box-shaped cartridge 2, and when loaded together with the cartridge 2 into an optical recording/reproducing apparatus,
While the recording medium 1 is chucked onto a turntable 3 connected to a drive motor (not shown), a shutter (not shown) of a portion corresponding to the optical pickup 5 including an objective lens 4 etc.
is opened and the optical pickup 5 moves in the radial direction.
A slit-shaped opening 6 extending at least in the radial direction is ensured correspondingly. In this condition, the optical pickup 5
Recording or reproduction is performed by irradiating the recording medium 1 with a high-energy light beam such as a laser beam.

In this embodiment, a pair of electrodes 7 and 8 are disposed opposite to each other in the main body of the optical recording/reproducing apparatus so as to sandwich the recording medium 1 on the outside of the cartridge 2. A voltage is applied between these electrodes 7 and 8 by being connected to a DC power source 9. A dust collecting mechanism 10 is constituted by these electrodes 7 and 8 and the DC type rX9. Here, the electrode 7,
8 has a width in the circumferential direction of the plane parallel to the recording medium 1 of 1 to 30 m.
m, preferably 3 to 20 mm, and the length in the radial direction is preferably a length that can at least cover the entire recording area of the recording medium 1. Further, the distance from the surface of the recording medium 1 to the electrodes 7 and 8 is 0.5 to 30 mm.
It is desirable that it be close to the same level. Furthermore, there are no particular restrictions on the positions for mounting these electrodes 7 and 8 within the device body, but it is effective at least near the optical axis of the optical pickup 5 and near the aperture 6. However, electrodes 7 and 8
are arranged at least at a position where loading of the cartridge 2 is not hindered. Further, the electrode 8 side is arranged so as not to interfere with the operation of the optical pickup 5 (including not only recording/reproducing operations but also seek operations). Further, the voltage applied by the DC power source 9 is 20 to 50,000 square meters, preferably 100 to 1,000 square meters, and the polarity of the electrodes 7 and 8 may be positive.

In such a configuration, when the recording medium 1 (cartridge 2) is installed in the apparatus, dust contained in the cooling air flow taken in from the outside for cooling the apparatus is transferred to the recording medium 1 through the opening 6 etc. can float near the surface. At this time, in this embodiment, a voltage is applied to the electrodes 7 and 8 disposed near the surface of the recording medium 1, and these electrodes 7 and 8 electrostatically attract dust compared to the surface of the recording medium 1, etc. I am in a comfortable situation. Therefore, dust floating near the surface of the recording medium 1 is collected on the surfaces of these electrodes 7 and 8, and does not adhere to the surface of the recording medium 1, and even if it does, it will be very small. As a result, according to this embodiment, the recording medium 1
The surface is not easily soiled, and data errors and servo errors due to attached dust can be suppressed during recording/reproducing, and good recording/reproducing operations can be performed.

By the way, when the electrodes 7 and 8, each having a width of 5 and a length of 60 mm, are arranged at positions 10 mm apart from the surface of the recording medium 1, and a voltage of 300 V is applied from the DC power supply 9, 20 recording media can be generated. 1 (cartridge 2), no data errors or servo errors occurred when recording/reproducing operations were performed continuously. On the other hand, continuous recording/reproduction was performed on 20 recording media 1 with the same configuration without applying a voltage to the electrode 7.8 (that is, in a state where no electrostatic force was applied to the electrode 7.8). However,
A servo error occurred when processing the 20th sheet. When we observed the surface of recording medium 1 at that point, we found that there was dust attached to the area where the error occurred, and after removing the dust and running the operation again, normal recording/playback was possible. be.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the embodiment described above, the electrodes 7 and 8 were incorporated into the main body of the optical recording/reproducing apparatus, but in this embodiment, these electrodes 7 and 8 were incorporated into the cartridge 2. According to this, the electrode 7.8 can be arranged closer to the surface of the recording medium 1. The DC power supply 9 itself is disposed outside the cartridge 2, that is, inside the main body of the apparatus, and is configured such that a voltage is appropriately applied to these electrodes 7 and 8 by means of a contact mechanism 11 etc. when the cartridge 2 is set to be loaded. be done.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention is provided with a dust collecting mechanism including an electrode disposed near the surface of a recording medium and to which a voltage is applied. Even if dust is floating on the surface of the recording medium, due to the electrostatic effect of the electrodes that are located near the surface of the recording medium and to which a voltage is applied, the attraction of the dust to the electrodes is stronger than that on the surface of the recording medium. Dust floating in the vicinity can be attracted to the electrode side and collected, preventing it from adhering to the surface of the recording medium, thereby reducing the occurrence of data errors, servo errors, etc. caused by attached dust. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the invention. 1...Recording medium, 7, 8...Electrode, 1o...Dust collection mechanism 23" Figure, J) 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an optical recording and reproducing device that performs recording or reproducing by condensing and irradiating a light beam such as a laser beam onto a recording medium, a dust collection mechanism including an electrode disposed near the surface of the recording medium and to which a voltage is applied is provided. An optical recording/reproducing device characterized by: