JPH061563B2 - Disk handling device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a disk handling device for handling disk-shaped objects (generally referred to as disks in this specification) such as magnetic disks and optical disks, and more specifically, The present invention relates to a disc handling device in which discs are stored or taken out by a handling mechanism with respect to a cassette placed on a turntable.

[Prior Art] A magnetic disk inspection machine is known in which such a disk handling device is incorporated and which inspects the electromagnetic conversion characteristics of a magnetic disk and the surface irregularities.

In the conventional disk handling device used in this magnetic disk inspection machine, a plurality of containers (cassettes) for storing a large number of magnetic disks are arranged in a radial pattern on a rotary table and horizontally mounted. It is placed. This cassette has a large number of slots, and each slot holds a magnetic disk in a vertical posture.

The magnetic disk to be inspected is taken out from the cassette by the handling mechanism, carried to the inspection section, and set on its spindle. On the contrary, the magnetic disk that has been inspected is picked up from the spindle by the handling mechanism, carried to the rotary table, and stored in the slot of the cassette.

At the time of loading / unloading such a magnetic disk, the rotary table rotates so as to move a required cassette to the loading / unloading position.

[Problems to be Solved] In such a conventional disk handling device, the magnetic disk is held in a vertical position in the slot of the cassette, but there is a play gap between the slot and the magnetic disk. Therefore, the attitude of the magnetic disk is not constant. Therefore, there has been a problem that the magnetic disk take-out operation by the handling mechanism is likely to fail.

In addition, the magnetic disk stored in the cassette vibrates due to the centrifugal force generated when the turntable rotates, generating noise,
There is a problem that the contact portion with the slot of the magnetic disk is easily scratched.

[Object of the Invention] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a disk handling device which solves such a problem.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the structure of the disk handling device of the present invention for achieving such an object, the slot of the cassette is formed by the groove into which the outer portion of the disk is loosely fitted, The cassette rotates while the surface is stably engaged with one surface of the groove and the disk is held in the slot by inclining toward the outer circumference of the rotary table from the vertical posture by an angle that does not cause the disk to move upward from the slot during rotation. It is placed in.

[Operation] As described above, the tilt holding of the disc is realized by tilting the cassette in a specific direction or mounting the slot in a specific direction, as will be described later.

In this way, the disc is always held in the slot of the cassette by inclining it from the vertical position toward the outer circumference of the turntable by a predetermined angle, so there is a play gap between the disc and the slot, but the disc is always in one of the slots. The state becomes constant, and the posture is constant. Therefore, the failure of the disc ejecting operation by the handling mechanism is unlikely to occur.

Further, since the disc is held tilted to the side where the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the turntable acts, the disc does not vibrate due to the centrifugal force, and it is possible to prevent noise and damage to the disc.

Embodiment An embodiment of this occurrence will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a disk handling device of the present invention applied to a magnetic disk inspection machine. FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an enlarged part of the cassette and the turntable of the disc handling device. FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view for explaining the engagement state of the cassette, the slot and the magnetic disk.

Referring to FIG. 1, first, a disk handling device will be described. Reference numeral 10 is a turntable on which a plurality of magnetic disks 11 can be stored (up to 8 in this example).
The individual cassettes 12 are mounted radially.

As will be described later, the cassettes 12 are placed so as to be tilted so that the end portion on the center side of the rotary table 10 is lower than the other end portion.

Reference numeral 14 is a handling mechanism for handling the magnetic disk. This handling mechanism 14 is
XYZ moving unit 1 that moves in the Y, Y and Z directions
6. Rotating arm 1 attached to XYZ moving unit 16
8 and two chucks 20 provided at both ends of the rotary arm 18.

The inspection unit will be described. Reference numeral 22 is a spindle for rotating the magnetic disk to be inspected at high speed. Associated with this spindle 22 is a mechanism for clamping the magnetic disk to the spindle, but not shown.

Further, the inspection unit also includes a magnetic head for reading and writing information on a magnetic disk that is clamped by the spindle 22 and rotates at a high speed, but is omitted in the drawing.

Next, a magnetic disk handling operation in the disk handling device will be described.

When it becomes necessary to take out the magnetic disk from a certain cassette 12, one of the chucks 20 is positioned at the take-out position by the movement of the XYZ moving unit 16 and the rotation of the rotary arm 18. Prior to the positioning to the take-out position, the rotary table 10 is rotated so that one cassette 12 from which the magnetic disk should be taken out is at the take-out position.

Then, the chuck 20 operates to grip the magnetic disk housed in the cassette 12. This grip is
For example, the outer circumference of the magnetic disk is sandwiched by three roller members.

Next, the XYZ moving unit 16 and the rotating arm 18 are operated,
It stops in the state shown in FIG. In this way, the magnetic disk 11a to be inspected, which has been taken out from the cassette 12 and gripped by the one chuck 20, is in the position shown in the figure until the inspection of the magnetic disk set on the spindle 22 of the inspection section is accommodated. To wait.

When the inspection of the magnetic disk is completed in the inspection unit and the clamp of the magnetic disk is released, the XYZ moving unit 16 and the rotary arm 18 are operated to perform the inspection by the other chuck 20 (the lower chuck in the drawing). The completed magnetic disk is picked up from the spindle 22, and the magnetic disk 11a to be inspected next is set on the spindle 22.

After that, the XZ moving unit 16 and the rotating arm 18 are operated, and the inspected magnetic disk is carried to the storage position and stored in one cassette 12 which is moved to the storage position by the rotation of the rotary table 10 in advance. .

In this way, the two chucks 20 are alternately used to load / unload the magnetic disk into / from the cassette 12 and to load / unload the magnetic disk to / from the inspection unit.

Next, the cassette 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

A large number of grooves 24 are provided on the inner surface of the cassette 12 as slots for holding the magnetic disk 11 so that the magnetic disk 11 can be taken in and out (FIG. 3). The outer peripheral portion of the magnetic disk 22 is inserted into the groove 24 and held.

In this embodiment, the cassette 12 is formed so as to be perpendicular to the groove 11 when the cassette 12 is horizontal.

As shown in FIG. 2, such a cassette 12 is tilted by an appropriate angle so that one end on the center side of the turntable 10 is higher than the other end, and the mounting members 26 and 28 are attached.
It is mounted on the turntable 10 via. As a result, the groove 11 as a slot for storing the magnetic disk so that it can be taken in and out is tilted toward the outer peripheral side of the rotary table 10 from the vertical surface by the tilt angle of the cassette 12, and therefore the magnetic disk 11 held in the groove 11 is also. Inclining to the outer peripheral side of the turntable 10.

This inclination angle is such that at least the outer surface of the magnetic disk 24 is stably engaged with one surface of the groove 24 as shown in FIG. 3 while the rotary table 10 is stationary, and the magnetic disk 11 is rotated while the rotary table 10 is rotating. Is determined so as not to move upward along the groove 24. In consideration of such a condition and the relation between the handling mechanism 14 and the operation of taking in and out the magnetic disk 11, the tilt angle is determined in the range of 5 ° to 10 °, for example.

In this way, since the magnetic disk 11 is tilted outward and is housed and held in the cassette 12, even if there is a play gap between the groove 24 and the magnetic disk 11 (the play of the magnetic disk causes a certain amount of play). A gap is needed),
The attitude of the magnetic disk 11 is constant, and the handling mechanism 1
Putting in and out by 4 becomes reliable.

Further, even if a centrifugal force due to the rotation of the turntable 10 or an external impact is applied, the magnetic disk 11 is less likely to vibrate, noise is prevented, and damage to the magnetic disk 11 can be prevented.

Although the cassette 12 is tilted in the above embodiment, the cassette 12 is horizontally mounted on the turntable 10 in another embodiment of the present invention, though not shown. The slots of the cassette 12 are tilted in advance, and the magnetic disk is stored and held at a predetermined angle to the outer circumference of the rotary table 10 as in the above embodiment.

It is apparent that this embodiment also achieves stabilization of the attitude of the magnetic disk and prevention of vibration and noise and damage associated therewith, as in the above embodiments.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and modifications such as the structure of the handling mechanism, the structure of the cassette, and the arrangement of the cassette on the rotary table are allowed.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a handling device that handles disks other than magnetic disks.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the disc is always tilted from the vertical posture to the outer peripheral side of the rotary table by a predetermined angle and is held in the slot of the cassette. Since the disc is reliably removed by the handling mechanism, and the disc is held tilted to the side where centrifugal force is generated by the rotation of the rotary table, the disc does not vibrate due to the centrifugal force. It is possible to achieve effects such as noise generation and disk damage prevention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a disk handling apparatus according to the present invention, which is applied to a magnetic disk inspection machine, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of a cassette and a turntable of the disk handling apparatus. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the engagement state of the slot of the cassette and the magnetic disk. 10 ... Turntable, 11 ... Magnetic disk, 12 ... Cassette,
14 ... Handling mechanism, 16 ... XYZ moving part, 18 ...
Rotating arm, 20 ... Chuck, 24 ... Groove (slot).

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotary table having a rotary table mounted on the rotary table,
In a disc handling device for storing or taking out a disc by a handling mechanism with respect to a cassette having a plurality of slots for holding the disc in a removable manner, the slot is formed by a groove into which an outer portion of the disc is loosely fitted. The cassette has an outer peripheral surface of the rotary table which is held at an angle such that the outer surface of the disk is stably engaged with one surface of the groove and the disk does not move upward from the slot during rotation. A disk handling device, which is mounted on the rotary table in a state of being inclined to the side and being held in the slot. 2. The slot of the cassette holds the disk in a substantially vertical posture when the cassette is horizontal, and the cassette has one end on the center side of the turntable and the other end on the outer circumference side of the turntable. The disk handling device according to claim 1, wherein the disk handling device is mounted on the turntable so as to be higher than the end portion. 3. The cassette slot holds a disc in a posture inclined to the outer peripheral side of the rotary table when the cassette is horizontal, and the cassette is mounted horizontally on the rotary table. The disk handling device according to claim 1, which is characterized.