JPH06198686A - Device and method of removing optical disk substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time for removing and enlarge the force of adsorption during removing in a device and method of removing an optical disk substrate. CONSTITUTION:By shifting an adsorption unit 4 from the Y direction to the X direction in use of a robot, the adsorption unit 4 is permitted to be approached to an optical disk substrate P in opposition thereto. Thereafter, pressurized air is supplied between the movable mold 1 and the optical disk substrate P and a projecting pin 2 is made to project so as to press the optical disk substrate P against the absorption unit 4. After the press, air discharge is effected for allowing the optical disk substrate P to be adsorbed by an adsorption pad 3. In a state of the adsorption, the robot serves to shift e adsorption unit 4 to the right side, resulting in removing the optical disk substrate P from the movable mold 1. Herein, a notched part 9 is formed on the adsorption unit 4 for preventing interference between it and the sprue S. Further, for strengthening adsorption force, the adsorption pad 3 is made into a horseshoe shape.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk substrate take-out apparatus and method for taking out an optical disk substrate made of resin from a mold.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical disk substrate is injection-molded by supplying a molten resin to a cavity formed between a fixed mold and a movable mold, cooling and solidifying the resin, and then separating the movable mold from the fixed mold. Manufactured by. Conventionally, the optical disk substrate has been taken out from the movable mold as follows.

In FIG. 4A, an optical disk substrate P
Has a hole Pa in the center and has an outer peripheral portion Po and an inner peripheral portion Pi.
A signal recording area Pf is formed in a portion other than the above. The molded optical disk substrate P is pushed by the cylindrical protruding pin 2 provided on the movable mold 1 and abuts on the suction pad 3A,
Adsorbed by negative pressure. The suction pad 3A communicates with the exhaust hole 5 formed in the suction unit 4A. The suction unit 4A is a robot hand (moving device) not shown.
Mounted on the optical disk substrate P and the movable mold 1
Take out from.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 5, a reflective film C is deposited on the signal recording area Pf of the optical disk substrate P, and the laser beam B incident on the optical disk substrate P is reflected by the reflective film C. Therefore, the signal recording area Pf
And if a small foreign matter adheres to the back surface of the device, a read or write error may occur. Therefore, conventionally, the suction pad 3A is brought into contact with the inner peripheral portion Pi of FIG. 4A in which no pit or groove is formed.

[0005]

However, a sprue (gate) S remains integrally at the center of the optical disc substrate P, and the sprue S largely projects from the optical disc substrate P. This sprue S and the adsorption unit 4A
In order to avoid the interference with the above, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4B, the suction unit 4A is provided with a through hole 4a, and the suction unit 4A is moved as follows. First, FIG.
As indicated by the two-dot chain line in (a), the suction unit 4A is made to enter between the molds from the direction Y along the back surface Ps of the optical disc substrate P, and then detoured as indicated by the arrow XY to make the optical disc substrate P The suction unit 4A is moved to a position facing the center of the back surface Ps. After this, the adsorption unit 4
A is brought close to the optical disc substrate P as indicated by arrow X. As described above, conventionally, in order to avoid the interference between the sprue S and the suction unit 4A, the suction unit 4A is bypassed, so that the cycle time for taking out the optical disk substrate P becomes long.

Particularly, in recent years, in consideration of portability, optical discs tend to be miniaturized, and optical discs smaller than 3.5 inches, for example, 2.5 inches have been developed, and further development of optical discs of about 2 inches or 1.5 inches.・ It is expected to be commercialized. As described above, when the size of the optical disk is reduced, it is necessary to significantly reduce the cycle time in order to maintain the productivity at the same level as the conventional one.

Therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk substrate take-out apparatus and method which can shorten the cycle time by eliminating unnecessary operation of the suction unit.

Further, as described above, when the optical disc is made small, the area of the signal recording area Pf becomes small, and inevitably the storage capacity becomes small. Therefore, it is necessary to expand the signal recording area Pf toward the inner peripheral portion Pi and the outer peripheral portion Po of the optical disc substrate P to secure the storage capacity of the optical disc, which reduces the adsorption area of the adsorption pad 3A. As described above, when the suction area is small, the suction pad 3 is used for the purpose of obtaining a large suction force with a small suction area.
Since it is necessary to increase the negative pressure of A, the adsorption time until the negative pressure becomes high is long, and therefore the take-out time is long. Therefore, since the molding cycle time becomes long, the productivity also decreases.

Further, even if the negative pressure of about 0.3 atm is conventionally set to about 0.1 atm, the attraction force does not become so large even though it takes time, so that ,
The optical disk substrate P may be dropped.

Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for taking out an optical disk substrate which has a short suction time and can increase the suction force at the time of taking out.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the take-out device according to a first aspect of the present invention provides a suction unit when moving the suction unit from a direction along the surface of the optical disc substrate to a position facing the optical disc substrate. A notch for preventing interference between the suction unit and the sprue is formed in the suction unit. On the other hand, in the taking-out method of the second aspect, the suction unit is provided with a notch larger than the diameter of the sprue, and the suction unit is moved so that the notch crosses the sprue. In these inventions, the suction pad preferably has a substantially horseshoe-shaped suction portion along the central hole of the optical disk substrate.

[0012]

According to the invention of claim 1 or 2, since the notch is provided in the suction unit, when the suction unit is moved from the direction along the surface of the optical disc substrate to the position facing the optical disc substrate, the suction unit is moved. The unit can be moved in a straight line without detouring.

Further, if the suction pad is shaped like a horseshoe, the suction area on which negative pressure acts increases, so that the suction force can be increased with the same pressure as in the conventional case.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1A, a stamper 7 is fixed to the movable mold 1 by an outer peripheral holder 6. As shown in FIG. 2A, a cylindrical protruding pin 2 is slidably provided at the center of the movable mold 1.

The suction unit 4 is attached to a moving device 8 such as a robot hand. This moving device 8
Is the back surface Ps of the optical disk substrate P as shown in FIG.
2 is moved from the Y direction along the direction to the position facing the back surface Ps of the optical disk substrate P, and further, FIG.
As shown in (a), the suction unit 4 is moved toward the back surface Ps by X
It moves back and forth slightly in the direction.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the suction unit 4 is provided with a notch 9 for preventing interference with the sprue S during the movement. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The suction pad 3 sucks a portion of the back surface Ps of the optical disk substrate P near the hole Pa, that is, the back surface P.
The optical disk substrate P is adsorbed by abutting on a portion other than the signal recording area Pf in s. This suction pad 3
Has an arcuate suction portion 3a along the hole Pa at the center of the optical disc substrate P, and has, for example, a substantially horseshoe suction portion 3a. Other configurations are similar to those of the above-described conventional example, and the same portions or corresponding portions will be denoted by the same reference numerals or similar reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. After the optical disc substrate P is molded, the movable mold 1 is separated from a fixed mold (not shown). Then, the moving device 8 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the suction unit 4 is moved from the Y direction to a position facing the center of the back surface Ps of the optical disc substrate P, and then the suction unit 4 is moved in the X direction.
The suction unit 4 is brought close to the optical disk substrate P. After that, while supplying pressurized air between the stamper 7 and the optical disk substrate P from a not-shown pressurized air passage, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
Is pressed against the suction pad 3 and brought into contact therewith. After this pressing
By discharging the air in the suction pad 3 through the suction unit 4, the pressure is reduced to about 0.3 atm and the optical disk substrate P is sucked. In this suctioned state, the moving device 8 moves the suction unit 4 in the X direction and then in the Y direction to take out the optical disk substrate P from the mold. It should be noted that the sprue S is removed after being taken out, so that the hole Pa of FIG.
Is a through hole that is attached to the disk drive.

In the above structure, the notch 9 is formed in the suction unit 4 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1A, when the suction unit 4 is moved from the Y direction, unlike the conventional case, the suction unit 4 is linearly moved as it is without detouring, and the suction unit 4 is moved. Can be opposed to the center of. Therefore, the cycle time for taking out the optical disk substrate P is shortened and the productivity is improved.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, since the suction pad 3 has a substantially horseshoe shape, even if the area other than the signal recording area Pf (FIG. 2A) becomes small. The area where negative pressure acts becomes large. Therefore, a large adsorption force can be obtained at a low pressure. Therefore, since it is not necessary to make the suction pad 3 have a high negative pressure, the take-out time (cycle time) is shortened, and the suction force is increased, so that there is no possibility of dropping the optical disk substrate P.

In the above embodiment, the suction pad 3 has a horseshoe shape, but in the invention of claim 1 or 2,
The suction pad 3 does not necessarily have to be horseshoe-shaped, and may be set to a pair of C-shapes as shown in FIG. 3, for example.

[0021]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1 or 2, since the notch portion is provided in the suction unit, it is not necessary to detour the suction unit unlike the conventional case, so that the moving time is reduced. The cycle time for taking out becomes shorter.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the suction portion of the suction pad has a horseshoe shape, the suction area on which a negative pressure acts increases, so that a large suction force can be obtained at a low pressure as in the conventional case. . Therefore, since it is not necessary to make a high negative pressure, the take-out time is shortened and the optical disk substrate P is not likely to drop.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are respectively a cross-sectional view and a front view of a take-out device before adsorption, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are respectively a cross-sectional view and a front view of the take-out device after adsorption.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the shape of the suction pad.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view and a front view of a conventional take-out device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an optical disc.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... (movable) mold, 3 ... suction pad, 3a ... suction portion,
4 ... Adsorption unit, 5 ... Exhaust hole, 8 ... Moving device, 9 ... Notch, P ... Optical disk substrate, Ps ... (Back) surface, S ... Sprue, Y ...

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An adsorption unit having an adsorption pad for abutting the surface of the optical disc substrate and adsorbing the optical disc substrate, and an adsorption unit having an exhaust hole communicating with the adsorption pad, and the adsorption unit from the direction along the surface of the optical disc substrate. A device for moving the optical disc substrate to a position facing the surface of the optical disc substrate from the mold, wherein the adsorption unit prevents the adsorption unit from interfering with the sprue during the movement. A device for taking out an optical disk substrate, characterized in that a notch portion is formed. 2. An adsorption unit having an adsorption pad and an exhaust hole communicating with the adsorption pad is moved from a direction along the surface of the optical disc substrate to a position facing the surface of the optical disc substrate, and the optical disc substrate is moved by the adsorption pad. In the method of taking out the optical disk substrate from the mold by sucking, the notch larger than the diameter of the sprue is provided in the suction unit, and the suction unit is moved so that the notch crosses the sprue. And a method for taking out an optical disk substrate. 3. The optical disk substrate ejection device and method according to claim 1, wherein the suction pad has a substantially horseshoe-shaped suction portion along a central hole of the optical disc substrate.