JPH0460981A - Cooling mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a device form turning to unusability by lacking the quantity of cooling air by always monitoring the clogging state of a filter for cleaning the cooling air, which is fitted to an optical disk sub-system device or the like, according to the pressure of air to be led into the device. CONSTITUTION:When a filter 7 is set in a normal state during working, a fin 8 is turned by the pressure of air to be blown by a fan motor 5, and a light shielding board 8a is moved to a certain position where the light flux of an photointerrupter 11 is shielded. When air pressure is decreased since the filter 7 is clogged by the dust of air, the fin 8 is not moved to the position, where the light shielding board 8a shields the light flux of the photointerrupter 11, by the force of a spring 10. By the operation of this fin 8, the photointerrupter 11 generates an electric signal and under the control of an electric circuit, a display 12 displays a state showing the quantity of cooling air through a controller 3. Thus, the device is prevented from being unoperatable while working.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cooling mechanism, and more particularly to a cooling mechanism for an optical disk subsystem device.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the cooling mechanism for this type of optical disk subsystem device uses a fan motor to introduce outside air into the device to prevent the device from rising in temperature. In order to prevent contamination inside an optical disk device, especially to prevent contamination of the optical head, the air filter is introduced into the device after passing through a filter installed at the inlet to remove dust in the air. In particular, there was no means for detecting the condition of the introduced air.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

When the cooling mechanism of the conventional optical disk subsystem device described above is used in a natural environment, the filter for purifying the introduced air gets clogged due to dust in the air, reducing the flow rate of the introduced air, resulting in a long-term problem. If the device is used for a long time, the air flow rate will eventually decrease to a point where it is not possible to cool the inside of the device sufficiently, and the device will become inoperable.The filter needs to be replaced, but the condition of the air introduction for cooling the device will decrease. Since there is no built-in monitoring mechanism, the clogged state of the filter cannot be detected and must be replaced early, resulting in economic loss.
Especially in the early days of optical disk devices, when used in environments with a lot of dust in the air, the filters could become clogged early and data could be destroyed if the device became inoperable during operation. The drawback is that performance and reliability cannot be maintained.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a housing with an air inlet for introducing cooling air and an air outlet for discharging cooling air, a fan for introducing air from the air inlet, and a filter for purifying the air introduced from the air inlet. The cooling mechanism includes: a fin provided in a flow path of the air introduced from the air introduction port and operated by the introduced air pressure; a detector that detects the operation of the fin; and a detector that detects the operation of the fin, and a It has a display device that displays whether or not air is being introduced normally from the inlet.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial sectional views of the fin 8 and its surroundings shown in FIG. 1 in a normal state and an abnormal state, respectively.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the electrical circuit of the embodiment shown in FIG.

First, the configuration of the optical disk subsystem device of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

An optical disk device 2 that uses an optical disk medium 1 to read and write information, and a control device 3 that controls the optical disk device 2.
A power supply device 4 for driving the system, and a fan motor 5 for feeding external air to prevent the temperature of the entire subsystem from rising are housed in the subsystem housing 6. The air inlet 6a provided at the rear of the subsystem housing 6 is connected to the air inlet 6a, and the filter 7 for purifying the external air is connected to the air inlet 6a.
It is attached to the outside of a.

The fin 8 is attached to the vicinity of the fan motor 5 in a rotatable state using a support pin 9 at a position where it receives the pressure of the air blown by the fan motor 5, and when it does not receive air pressure, it returns to the normal position. A spring 10 is attached for this purpose. The fin 8 is provided with a light shielding plate 8a, and the photointerrupter 11 is attached so that the light shielding plate 8a blocks the light flux of the photointerrupter 11 when the fin 8 rotates. A container 12 is attached, and the structure is such that air introduced through the air inlet 6a is discharged to the outside through an insertion opening 6b for the optical disk medium 1 provided on the entire surface of the subsystem housing 6.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

When the filter 7 is in a normal state when this device is in operation, the fins 8 are rotated by the pressure of the air blown by the fan motor 5, as shown in FIG.
a moves to a position where the light beam from the photo ink printer 11 is blocked. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, when the filter 7 becomes clogged with air dust and the amount of air blown by the fan motor 5 decreases, reducing the wind pressure, the fins 8 are moved back to their normal state by the force of the spring 10. However, the light shielding plate 8a does not move to the position where it blocks the light beam from the photointerrupter 11. This fin 8
As a result of the operation, the photointerrupter 1] generates an electric signal, and the display 12 displays the state of the amount of cooling air blown by the fan motor 5 via the control device 3 according to the electric circuit shown in FIG.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention constantly monitors the clogging state of the cooling air purifying filter attached to the optical disk subsystem device etc. using the air pressure introduced into the device. It is possible to prevent the optical disk subsystem device from becoming unusable due to shortage, and it is not only a measure to increase the reliability of the optical disk subsystem device, etc., but also allows you to know the appropriate time to replace the cooling air purification filter. This eliminates unnecessary replacement of filters, which is effective in eliminating economic and time losses.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial sectional views of the fin 8 and its surroundings shown in FIG. 1 in a normal state and an abnormal state, respectively. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the electrical circuit of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1... Optical disk medium, 2... Optical disk device, 3
・Control device, 4... Power supply device, 5... Fan motor, 6... Subsystem housing, 6a... Air inlet,
6b...Insertion port, 7...Filter, 8...Fin,
8a... Light shielding plate, 9... Support pin, 10... Spring, 11... Photo interrupter, 12... Display device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An air inlet for introducing cooling air and an air outlet for discharging cooling air are provided in the housing, and a fan for introducing air from the air inlet and a filter for purifying the air introduced from the air inlet are provided. The cooling mechanism includes: a fin provided in the flow path of the air introduced from the air inlet and operated by the introduced air pressure; a detector that detects the operation of the fin; and a detector that receives a signal from the detector. A cooling mechanism comprising: a display device that displays whether air is being normally introduced from the air introduction port.