JPH02166663A - Optical card reader/writer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the wow and flatter of a shuttle from occurring by forming a bending part between a driving gear and a rotor on another end side, and making an elastic pulley abut on the gear plane side and the back plane side of a timing belt. CONSTITUTION:The timing belt 23 is driven by rotating the driving gear 11, and the shuttle 31 fixed on the timing belt directly or indirectly is moved in a linear direction. At this time, oscillation generated by the engagement of the driving gear 11 with the gear of the timing belt 23 is absorbed by two pulleys 13 and 15 whose abutting planes are formed with an elastic body being positioned at the bending part 27 of the timing belt 23. In such a manner, it is possible to prevent the wow and flutter of the shuttle 31 due to driving from occurring.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical card reader/writer for writing to and/or reading from an optical card.

Follow me! 14 Optical cards have a rectangular card shape similar to credit cards and cash cards, and have a larger storage capacity than conventional magnetic cards, so they are expected to have a wide range of uses.

Currently, there are two types of optical cards: a playback-only type, in which the user plays back pre-recorded information, and an additional recording type, in which the user can add and record new information. A type that can record is also under development.

Furthermore, the principle of reproduction and additional recording is also the same as that of conventional optical discs.

However, while optical cards have an advantage over optical disks in terms of portability, there are many problems that need to be solved regarding driving the optical cards during recording and playback.

As shown in FIG. 5, the optical card 81 has a memory section 85 formed on a rectangular sheet 83 made of plastic.

In the conventional optical card reader/writer, as shown in FIG.
While driving the optical card 81 to reciprocate in the X direction in the figure, the objective lens (not shown) of the recording/reproducing optical system was moved in the Y direction in the figure. 25 is a motor, 35 is a sliding ring, 41 is a guide shaft, 87 is a leaf spring, and 89 is a gear on the other end.

FIG. 7 shows the drive system for the timing belt 23 in detail. A toothed timing belt 23 connected to the shuttle 31 is stretched between the toothed drive gear 11 and the other toothed end gear 91 on the toothed side 23a. However, in such a drive system, vibration occurs at the location where the timing belt 23 and the gears 11, 91 mesh, making it impossible to achieve uniform reciprocating movement, causing wow and flutter, and worsening running stability. That is, due to vibration,
The moving speed of the shuttle changes in small increments, making it difficult to read and write information, and in particular, it becomes difficult to use a high-density signal modulation method that requires high detection accuracy.

Further, as another drive system using gears and a timing belt, a system using two belts and a gear ratio of 1:2 is known in order to reduce the number of revolutions and increase torque. As shown in Fig. 8, a toothed belt 93 is stretched between the toothed drive gear 11 and the reduction gear (not visible in the figure), and a belt 93 is fixed coaxially with the reduction gear. A toothed timing belt 23 is stretched between a toothed transmission gear 95 and the other end gear 91, and if you look at the whole relationship between the drive gear 11 and the other end gear 91, the belt is It has a bent part and is stretched in an abbreviated shape.

However, in this drive mechanism, the number of locations where the belt and gear teeth mesh is further increased, which further increases the occurrence of wow and flutter, resulting in poor running stability.

Furthermore, since two belts are used, there are many adjustment points, making maintenance difficult and causing torque loss in the reduction section.

The present invention provides a shuttle drive mechanism with improved wow and flutter in an optical card reader/writer.

The optical card reader/writer of the present invention reads and/or writes information by reciprocating a shuttle carrying an optical card in a linear direction using a stretched timing belt. , a timing belt is stretched between the drive gear and the rotor at the other end, and a bent part of the timing belt is provided near the drive gear,
The timing belt is characterized in that first and second pulleys, the contact surfaces of which are made of an elastic material, are brought into contact with the tooth side and the back side of the timing belt at the bent portion, respectively.

By rotating the North-Eleven drive gear, the timing belt is driven, and a shuttle fixed directly or indirectly to the timing belt moves in a linear direction. At this time, the vibrations caused by the meshing of the teeth between the drive gear and the timing belt are absorbed by the two pulleys whose contact surfaces are made of an elastic material, located at the bends of the timing belt, and the shuttle wow and flutter caused by the vibrations. is prevented.

Figure 1 is a perspective explanatory view showing an example of the configuration of the drive mechanism of the optical card reader/writer of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the timing belt 23.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the optical card reader/writer, the drive gear, and the pulley.

As shown in FIG. 1, a shuttle 31 carrying an optical card
The guide shaft 41.4 is connected by sliding rings 35.35 on both sides.
1 is slidably supported. The shuttle 31 is fixed to the timing belt 23 at its lower surface, and moves by sliding on guide shafts 41, 41 as the timing belt 23 moves. The timing belt 23 is stretched between the drive gear 11 connected to the motor 25 and the other end pulley 19 (other end rotor), and forms a bent portion 27 near the drive gear 11. It has an abbreviated shape as a whole.

The bent portion 27 has a tooth surface side 23a of the timing belt 23.
A first elastic pulley 13 is placed on the back side 23b, and a second elastic pulley 13 is placed on the back side 23b.
An elastic pulley 15 is in contact with the elastic pulley 15.

Further, in the vicinity of the first elastic pulley 13 and on the opposite side from the drive gear 11, a third pulley 17 is brought into contact with the back side 23b of the timing belt 23. In the present invention, the surface of the timing belt 23 that meshes with or contacts the gear or pulley is called the tooth surface side, regardless of whether teeth are formed thereon, and the opposite surface is called the back surface side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive gear 11 on which teeth are formed is
It meshes with the teeth of the timing belt 23.

The first elastic pulley 13 has a surface made of an elastic body 21 and has no teeth. Therefore, although it is in contact with the teeth of the timing belt 23, the teeth do not mesh with each other.

One surface of the second elastic pulley 15 is made of an elastic body 21 and has no teeth. The second elastic pulley 15 is brought into contact with the back side 23b of the timing belt 23, and is so-called back hooked, so there is no possibility of tooth meshing problems.

The third pulley 17 may have an elastic surface or a rigid body such as metal or engineering plastic, and is hooked to the timing belt 23 on the back side.

The other end pulley 19 has no teeth and may be an elastic body or a rigid body.

When the drive gear 11 is rotated to drive the timing belt 23, vibrations are generated due to the meshing of the teeth of the drive gear 11 and the timing belt 23. This vibration causes the wow and flutter as described above, but in the present invention, the high frequency vibration component is absorbed by the first elastic pulley 13 and the second elastic pulley 15 attached to the back, and the wow and flutter can be reduced. Elastic pulley13. IS has an elastic surface and can absorb high vibration components, such as metal.

It can be obtained by lining engineering plastic with rubber or coating it with low hardness resin.

The third pulley 17 is provided to absorb low vibration components since the first pulley 13 absorbs high frequency components, but not completely. Since the third boolean 1717 is mounted on the back, it does not need to be an elastic pulley, and costs can be reduced.

The other end side pulley 19 is the first. Second elastic pulley 13,1
5 are abutted to form the bent portion 27, there is no need for a gear with teeth as in the conventional single belt type (see Fig. 7), and there is no need for an elastic boot. do not have.

Teeth may be formed on the entire tooth side 23a of the timing belt 23, but only in the lengthwise range of 23c to 23d to 23e that mesh with the drive gear 11, as shown in FIG. It is enough to form teeth. The tooth side 23 of the timing belt 23 that comes into contact with the other end pulley 19 when driven
Preferably, no teeth are formed in a.

The present invention is characterized by the method of driving the timing belt 23 which is fixed to the shuttle 31 and moves the shuttle 31 as described above, and other configurations such as the structure of the shuttle and the mechanism for chucking the optical card to the shuttle are particularly important. Although not limited, the overall operation of the optical card reader/writer will be described for reference.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the main parts of the optical card reader/writer (the guide shaft 41 is not shown in this figure). When the optical card 8 is inserted, the sensor 67 detects it. Upon detection, the shutter 65 is lowered, the entrance is opened, and the loader 63.63 starts rotating. When the optical card 81 is inserted further into the guide plate 61, it is rolled up by the loaders 63 and 63 and inserted into the shuttle 31.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 4A and 4B, the shuttle 31 includes a shuttle body 33 having a sliding ring 35, a back plate 37, a reference plate 39. In the state shown in FIG. 4A, the arm 53 is pushed down against the spring 57 by the engagement between the engagement piece 59 and the engagement shaft 54 of the chucking member 51. The back plate 37 falls downward under its own weight, and a sufficient gap is formed between the back plate 37 and the reference plate 39 to allow the optical card 81 to be inserted.

When the sensor 69.71 detects that the optical card 81 is completely inserted into the shuttle 31, the drive gear 11
rotates (normally rotates) in the direction of arrow A in the figure, and the shuttle 31 moves to the left. Note that photocouplers facing the sensors 69 and 71 are not shown. When the shuttle 31 moves to the left, the engagement piece 59 disengages from the engagement shaft 54, and as shown in FIG. is pushed upward, and the optical card 81 is firmly fixed between the back plate 37 and the reference plate 39. Note that FIG. 4B only shows the movement of the back plate 37 without an optical card inserted.

In this chucking state, the shuttle 31 further moves to the left and reciprocates in the X direction in FIG. The objective lens 75 irradiates light to sequentially record information or reproduce recorded information.

When the recording or reproduction of information is completed, the shuttle 31 moves rightward until it comes into contact with the guide plate 61 (see FIG. 3), and the optical card 81 is taken out in the reverse order.

According to the present invention, a bent portion is formed between the drive gear and the rotor on the other end side, and elastic pulleys are brought into contact with the tooth surface side and the back side of the timing belt at this bent portion, respectively. By absorbing the vibration caused by the meshing of the teeth of the drive gear and the timing belt, the wow and flutter of the shuttle is improved, and the running stability of the optical card can be realized. When actually tested using wow and flutter, the speed deviation of the conventional single belt drive mechanism (Figure 7) was 10
%, whereas in the present invention it was reduced to 3%.

Furthermore, the motor torque is reduced and the motor can be made smaller.

Furthermore, since the drive gear has a bent part in the middle, the diameter of the drive gear can be made smaller than that of the conventional single belt type, so torque loss is reduced and high speeds are possible.

Furthermore, since the device can be configured with one belt, it is sufficient to adjust only the tension of the belt, making maintenance easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the drive mechanism of the optical card reader/writer of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the timing belt, gears,
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between pulleys. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the main parts of the optical card reader/writer. FIGS. 4A and 4B are cross-sectional views showing chucking of an optical card by the shuttle. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the optical card. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a drive mechanism of a conventional optical card reader/writer. FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams showing the relationship between a conventional timing belt and gears. 13... First elastic pulley 17... Third pulley 21... Elastic body 25... Motor 31... Shuttle 35... Sliding ring 39... Reference plate 51... Chucking member 54... Engagement shaft 57... Spring 61... Guide plate 65... Shutter 73... Optical head 81... Optical card 85... Memory unit 11... Drive gear 15...Second elastic pulley 19...Other end pulley 23...Timing belt 27...Bending portion 33...Shuttle body 37...Back plate 41...Guide shaft 53...・Arm 55... Suppression roller 59... Engagement piece 63... Loader 67, 69, 71... Sensor 75... Objective lens 83... Rectangular sheet Figure 4A Figure 4B Figure Figure Figure 7 Figure ε Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an optical card reader/writer that reads and/or writes information by reciprocating a shuttle carrying an optical card in a linear direction using a stretched timing belt, the timing belt is connected to the drive gear and the rotor at the other end. At the same time, a bent portion of the timing belt is provided in the vicinity of the drive gear, and at the bent portion, first and second contact surfaces are formed of an elastic material on the tooth surface side and the back side of the timing belt, respectively. An optical card reader/writer characterized by having a pulley in contact with the pulley.