JPH0322281A - Sealing mechanism for medium exchange type storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent external air from invading from an opening part, which is provided on a front panel, by providing a door part seal member and a cartridge part seal member. CONSTITUTION:A storing medium housed in a cartridge 2 is housed through a door member 12, which is supported in the inside of a front panel 3 and energized in a blocking direction so as to be freely turned, and in a state that the cartridge 2 is completely housed, the door member 12 is in contact with the upper end part of the cartridge 2. In a position close to the door member 12, a door seal member 14 is fitted in a condition that the door seal member rises up on the inside surface of the front panel 3. Then, a rising end is in contact with the outside surface of a turning part in a door. A cartridge seal member 9 is arranged on the inside surface of the front panel 3 and in contact with the outside surface of the cartridge 2 in a state the cartridge is housed. Then, in cooperation with the door, it is prevented by blocking that an opening part 4a for cartridge insertion formed in the front panel 3 is spacely connected with the internal part of a device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a sealing mechanism for a medium-exchangeable storage device in which a storage medium can be exchanged. [Conventional technology] For example, in a storage device where the storage medium is replaceable, such as a write-once optical disk device, the optical disk used as the storage medium is handled while being housed in a cartridge, and the front panel of the housing is has an opening for inserting/ejecting the cartridge. In addition, in storage devices with extremely high data storage density, such as write-once optical disk devices, even a small amount of dust adhering to the storage medium or the recording/playback head for recording/playing data causes data to be lost. There is a risk of an error occurring.

By the way, write-once optical disk devices have many heat sources inside the device, and therefore, in some cases, the temperature inside the device can rise by several tens of degrees. The optical disk used as the medium deteriorates, and the semiconductor laser element used as the light source in the recording/reproducing head deteriorates significantly, making it impossible to obtain a sufficient lifespan.Forced air cooling using a fan or other device to draw in outside air is recommended. is being carried out.

Normally, the air intake port is equipped with a filter to remove dust contained in the outside air, so the ingress of dust in this area is almost prevented. Outside air also entered through the openings provided in the panel, and the dust contained in this entering outside air could not be removed.

For this reason, conventional attempts have been made to prevent outside air from entering through the cartridge insertion opening by bringing the door of the cartridge insertion opening into contact with the top surface of the cartridge, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-8546. There was something I did.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional device, the outside air goes around the cartridge and invades the inside of the device, so that a sufficient dust removal effect cannot be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a sealing mechanism for a medium exchangeable storage device that can prevent outside air from entering through the opening formed in the front panel. The purpose is

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a door sealing member that is attached to a position close to the door in a manner that stands up on the inner surface of the front panel, and whose rising end contacts the outer surface of the rotating portion of the door; A space between the inside of the device and an opening for cartridge insertion, which is disposed on the inside surface of the panel, contacts the outside surface of the cartridge when the cartridge is housed, and is formed in the front panel in cooperation with the door. It is equipped with a cartridge part sealing member that blocks the connection.

[Function] Therefore, the door seal member can block outside air from entering through the gap between the front panel and the door, and the cartridge seal member can shut off outside air from entering through the gap around the cartridge, thereby preventing outside air from entering the inside of the device. It is possible to prevent dust from entering.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a write-once optical disc device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a cartridge containing an optical disc is attached to the device. In the following description, only the parts directly related to the gist of the present invention will be explained, and other explanations will be omitted.

In the figure, a front panel 3 equipped with a mechanism for inserting/ejecting cartridges 2 is attached to the device housing 1, and the upper half portion separated by the base member width is provided with cartridges 2 and 2. A loading mechanism is provided for attaching and detaching the optical disk, and an optical head, an access mechanism therefor, a rotation mechanism for rotating the optical disk housed in the cartridge 2, and the like are provided in the lower half.

A cartridge 2 is provided around the opening 4a of the base member 4.
A base seal member 5 is attached to tightly contact the bottom surface of the cartridge 2 to block the flow of air from the loading mechanism to the inside of the opening 4a when the cartridge 2 is attached. An air intake 6 that takes in air for cooling is formed on the lower side of the front panel 3, and inside the front panel 3, dust contained in the air that enters through the air intake 6 is removed. A filter member 7 is attached for removing.

I! which is marked on the front panel 3 for inserting/ejecting the cartridge 2! ．． A cartridge sealing member 9 is disposed inside the cartridge 8 and contacts the cartridge 2 when the cartridge 2 is installed to prevent air entering through the window 8 from entering the inside of the device housing 1. has been done.

As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), the base seal member 5 is divided into two parts, a seal member 5a and a seal member 5b, and the seal member 5a is attached to the base member 4. The member 5b is attached to a carrier 11, which is an element of the loading mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cartridge seal member 9 is arranged at a certain distance from the lower part 8a of the window 8, parallel to the lower part 8a, and connected to the side plates 3a and 3b of the front panel 3. A prismatic sealing member 9a is provided, and the sealing member 9a and one end surface thereof are connected, and the side plates 3a, 3
A plate-shaped sealing member 9b whose one end surface is attached to b
, 9c (Sealing member 9c is hidden) From plate-shaped sealing members 9d and 9e whose one end surface is partially connected to sealing members 9b and 9c, and whose wide surfaces are attached to side plates 3a and 3b. Become.

Further, the door member 12 is rotatably attached to the inside of the front panel 3 to open and close the window 8, and is normally urged by a spring 13 in a direction to close the window 8.

A stepped door seal member l4 that contacts the outer periphery of the shaft portion 12a of the door member 12 is provided inside the front panel 3. Further, both ends of the door seal member 14 abut against the side plates 3a and 3b of the front panel 3, respectively.

Further, the filter member 7 is attached to the inside of the front panel 3 by a fixing member 15.

With the above structure, when the cartridge 2 is not inserted, as shown in FIG. Since the window 8 is in contact with the shaft 12a of the window 8, outside air is prevented from entering through the window 8.

Then, the door member 12 resists the biasing force of the spring 13.
When the cartridge 2 is inserted through the window 8 while pressing , the cartridge 2 is moved to the mounting position and held by the action of the loading mechanism while being inserted into the tray l6 of the loading mechanism.

In this state, the lower end of the cartridge 2 is in contact with the seal member 9a, and the side surface of the cartridge 2 is in contact with the seal member 9d.
, 9e makes contact.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, notches 2a and 2b are formed at both ends of one end of the cartridge 2, and the notches 2a and 2b and the surrounding portions are covered with seal members 9c and 9d. come into contact with.

As a result, the upper surface of the cartridge 2 is cut off from the outside air at the contact portion with the door member l2, and the side end portion of the cartridge 2 is cut off from the outside air at the contact portion with the seal members 9d and 9e.
The lower end of the cartridge 2 is isolated from the outside air at the contact portion with the seal member 9a. Further, the notches 2a and 2b are closed by seal members 9c and 9d.

In this way, when the cartridge 2 is installed, outside air enters through the window 8 of the front panel 3 and the seal member 9
This prevents the device from entering the inside of the device housing 1.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the door seal member 14 contacts the axis 12a of the door member 12 at a tangent, the movement of the door member 12 during opening and closing is not hindered, and the sealed state does not change. , well retained.

Here, seal members 9a, 9b, 9c, 9
The materials of d, 9e and the door seal member 14 include, for example, open-cell polyether urethane foam, polyethylene urethane foam, sponge, or single-cell polyethylene foam, sponge, or rubber. You can use what you have. Alternatively, it is also possible to use an air filter member that has similar properties and has a dust-collecting effect.

Note that when an open-cell material or an air filter member is used, air flows through the seal members 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e and the toa seal member 14, but some dust is removed during the flow. Therefore, even in this case, the adverse effects of dust can be greatly reduced. especially,
When it is necessary to cool the inside of the device, using such an open-cell material is effective because it allows more cooling air to flow.

FIG. 6 shows the main part of another embodiment of the present invention. In addition, in this figure, the same parts as in FIG. 4(b) are given the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, a sealing member l8 made of the same material as the sealing member 9 is attached to the tip of the door member 12, thereby enhancing the sealing effect at the contact portion between the door member l2 and the cartridge 2.

FIG. 7 shows the main part of yet another embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the same parts and corresponding parts as in FIG. 4(b) are given the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the shapes of the window-side ends of the seal members 9d and 9e are made to match the movement locus of the door member 12, and since the seal members 9d and 9e are located closer to the window, assembly is easier. - Even if the loading position of the cartridge 2 deviates due to component precision, etc., the cartridge 2 will be reliably contacted and the sealing performance will be further improved.

In the above-described embodiments, the present invention is applied to a write-once optical disk device, but it can also be applied to other medium exchange type storage devices,
For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to magneto-optical disk devices and magnetic disk devices.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a door seal that is attached to a position close to the door so as to rise up from the inner surface of the front panel, and whose rising end contacts the outer surface of the rotating portion of the door. a cartridge insertion opening disposed on the inside surface of the front panel, in contact with the outside surface of the cartridge when the cartridge is housed, and formed in the front panel in cooperation with the door; and an inside of the device. Since the cartridge sealing member is provided to cut off the spatial connection with the cartridge, it is possible to prevent outside air from entering the inside of the device through the opening of the front panel, and it is possible to prevent dust from entering.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a write-once optical disc device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(a). (b) is a schematic assembly perspective view showing an example of attachment of the base seal member;
FIG. 3 is a schematic assembled perspective view showing an example of attachment of the seal member around the front panel, FIG. 4(a) is a schematic sectional view for explaining the sealed state with no cartridge inserted, and FIG. (b) is a schematic cross-sectional view to explain the sealed state with no cartridge inserted, and Figure 5 is a car!・A schematic plan view showing an example of the ridge; FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing the main parts of another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing the main parts of still another embodiment of the invention. It is. 9,98100... Seal member, 14... Door seal member. Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] The storage medium housed in the cartridge is housed through a door that is rotatably supported inside the front panel and biased in the closing direction. In the sealing mechanism of the medium exchange type storage device, which is in contact with the upper end, a door seal is installed in a position close to the door so as to rise up against the inner surface of the front panel, and the rising end thereof is in contact with the outer surface of the rotating part of the door. a cartridge insertion opening disposed on the inner surface of the front panel, in contact with the outer surface of the cartridge when the cartridge is housed, and formed in the front panel in cooperation with the door; 1. A sealing mechanism for a medium exchangeable storage device, comprising a cartridge sealing member that blocks spatial connection between the cartridge portion and the inside of the device.