JPH07182679A - Apparatus for removing dust of separation-type optical pickup mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recover optical characteristics deteriorated by dusts adhering to the cover glass of a separation-type optical pickup mechanism and to maintain the reliability of data. CONSTITUTION:When a cleaning mode to clean a cover glass is carried out, an extension member (bellows) 9 having one fixed end and the other free end is compressed and shrunken by an optical pickup-moving part 5. A cleaning agent (air or the like) is gushed out from nozzles (A)12, (B)13 at end parts of the bellows by the compression and shrink, scattered and adhered to surfaces of cover glasses (A)3, (B)6. Accordingly, dusts adhering to the surfaces of the cover glasses are cleaned. A transmittance of the cover glass is prevented from lowering and the deterioration of optical characteristics of the optical pickup is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dust remover for a separate type optical pickup mechanism in an optical disc device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical information recording / reproducing apparatus represented by an optical disk apparatus is generally widely used in a field of application utilizing its large recording capacity. In an optical disk device, an example in which a separate type optical system in which the weight of a movable portion of an optical head is reduced is adopted in order to shorten the information access time has recently been increasing.

FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view of a general configuration example of a separation type optical system of an optical disk device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a fixed portion of the separation type optical pickup mechanism, which has a semiconductor laser (LD), a collimator lens, a photoelectric conversion element and the like (not shown) built therein and is fixed to the optical disk device main body 2.

Light emitted from the LD is a transparent cover glass for preventing dust from entering the inside of the fixed portion 1.
After passing through (A) 3, it becomes a light beam 4 and is guided to the moving portion 5 of the separation type optical pickup mechanism. The LD light which has passed through the transparent cover glass (B) 6 for preventing the invasion of dust into the moving part 5 is condensed on the information recording medium 8 by the objective lens 7 to form a minute spot, Information recording /
Play / delete etc.

The desired track on the information recording medium 8 is accessed by moving the moving unit 5 in the radial direction of the information recording medium 8 by a seek motor (not shown).

[0006]

In the separation type optical pickup mechanism described above, since the moving part 5 can be made lighter,
As described above, it is generally adopted in optical disk devices aiming at high-speed access time. By the way, the cover glass (A) 3 of the fixed part 1 and the cover glass (B) 6 of the moving part 5 are made of transparent members so that the light beam 4 can pass therethrough. Here, if dust adheres to the surface of these cover glasses, the transmittance of the cover glass decreases, and the optical characteristics of the optical pickup deteriorate. It has been conventionally pointed out that if information is recorded / reproduced / erased in such a state, the reliability of the information cannot be ensured.

An object of the present invention is to recover the optical characteristics deteriorated by dust adhering to the cover glass and maintain the reliability of information.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in a separation type optical pickup mechanism, one end is fixed to an optical pickup fixing portion, and the other end is an elastic member movable freely in a seek direction with respect to an information storage medium. At least one nozzle installed at the end of the elastic member so that the cleaning agent from inside the elastic member can be sprayed onto the surface of the cover glass of the optical pickup due to pressure contraction when the elastic member contracts due to movement of the pickup moving unit. And having.

[0009]

According to the present invention, when the cover glass cleaning mode is executed as required, an elastic member having one end fixed and the other end free, for example, a bellows is compressed and contracted by the moving part, and the compression and contraction causes the bellows to contract. Cleaning agent such as compressed air, cleaning liquid, etc. is ejected from the nozzle at the end of the cover to clean the dust adhering to and adhering to the surface of the cover glass, preventing the decrease in the transmittance of the cover glass, and preventing the optical characteristics of the optical pickup. Prevent deterioration of the.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as those of the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. Description of parts will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a bellows 9 is provided, one end of which is fixed to the fixed portion 1 of the separation type pickup mechanism and the other end of which is movable in the seek direction, and air in the bellows is provided at both ends of the bellows. It is characterized in that a nozzle for discharging is provided.

That is, one end of the bellows 9 is fixed by the bellows fixing end 10 of the fixing portion 1, and a nozzle (A) 12 is provided at the bellows fixing end 10 so that when the bellows contract, The air that was there was compressed, and the compressed air was the cover glass
(A) It is jetted toward the surface of 3.

On the other hand, the other end of the bellows 9 has a bellows free end 11 which is movable in the seek direction. When the moving part 5 of the separation type optical pickup mechanism presses the bellows free end, the bellows contracts. It has a simple structure. A nozzle (B) 13 is also provided at the bellows free end 11, and when the bellows contracts, compressed air is similarly ejected from the bellows toward the surface of the cover glass (B) 6.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 2 showing its operating state.

FIG. 1 shows a state during normal information recording / reproduction / erasing. During the normal recording / reproducing / erasing of information, the moving portion 5 does not contact the bellows free end 11, so that the bellows 10 keeps its natural length.

Here, when the optical disk device detects by a sensor or the like that dust or the like has adhered to the cover glass (A) 3 or (B) 6 to deteriorate the optical characteristics of the optical pickup, the cover glass cleaning mode shown in FIG. Thus, the dust adhered to the surface of the cover glass is removed by the operation described below.

That is, when the moving section 5 enters this mode, it stops recording / reproducing / erasing of information and approaches the bellows free end 11 beyond the outermost periphery of the information recording medium 8. And moving part 5
Contacts the bellows free end 11 and further presses the bellows 9. Then, the air inside the bellows becomes compressed air from the nozzles (A) 12 and (B) 13 due to the contraction of the bellows due to the pressure of the moving portion 5, and the compressed air is formed on the surfaces of the cover glasses (A) 3 and (B) 6. Erupted toward. This jet of compressed air is a cover glass
The dust adhering to the surfaces of (A) 3 and (B) 6 is blown away, and the surface of the cover glass is restored to a clean state, so that the deteriorated optical characteristics are restored.

By carrying out such a cover glass cleaning mode as needed, the reliability of the recording / reproducing information can be maintained.

3 and 4 are partial side sectional views showing the construction of another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, in order to further enhance the dustproof effect, for example, a volatile cleaning liquid (alcohol, acetone, etc.) is used instead of the compressed air in the embodiment of FIG. In FIG. 3, 14 is a cleaning liquid storage tank that supplies the cleaning liquid 16 into the bellows 9, and 15 is a backflow prevention valve that prevents the cleaning liquid 16 from flowing back into the storage tank 14 when the bellows contracts.

This is because the cleaning liquid is supplied from the cleaning liquid storage tank 14 into the bellows 9 through the check valve 15, the bellows 9 contracts in the cover glass cleaning mode, and the compression contraction causes the cleaning liquid 16 in the bellows to flow into the nozzle ( Since it is ejected from A) 12, (B) 13 toward cover glasses (A) 3, (B) 6 (not shown), more effective dust removal can be performed. In this case, since the scattered cleaning liquid is volatile, it spontaneously evaporates and does not affect the optical characteristics of the optical pickup.

Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the user can easily supply the cleaning liquid, which is a consumable item, from the outside of the apparatus. As shown in the figure, the cleaning liquid storage tank 14 has a supply port 14A for supplying the cleaning liquid 16 from above, and the cleaning liquid storage tank 14 is at a position where it does not interfere with the cartridge insertion / discharge port 17 (arrow C-C 'direction). It is installed in.

[0022]

As described above, in the dust removing device of the separation type optical pickup mechanism of the present invention, when the cover glass cleaning mode is required, the moving part moves to press the expandable member and contract due to the compression contraction. The cleaning agent inside the member is sprayed from the nozzle and sprayed on the cover glass surface, and the dust adhering to the cover glass surface is blown away, so the degraded optical characteristics of the optical pickup are restored and the reliability of the recording / playback information is maintained. be able to.

In addition to air, a volatile cleaning agent that can be supplied can be used as the cleaning agent to enhance the dust removal effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial side sectional view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation state in a cover glass cleaning mode in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial side sectional view showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial side sectional view showing the configuration of another embodiment obtained by improving the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a partial side sectional view of a general configuration example of a separation-type optical system in a conventional optical disc device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Fixed part of separation type optical pickup mechanism, 2 ... Optical disk device body, 3 ... Cover glass (A), 4 ... Luminous flux,
5 ... Moving part of separation type optical pickup mechanism, 6 ... Cover glass (B), 7 ... Objective lens, 8 ... Information storage medium, 9 ... Bellows, 10 ... Bellows fixed end, 11 ... Bellows free end,
12 ... Nozzle (A), 13 ... Nozzle (B), 14 ... Cleaning liquid storage tank, 14A ... Cleaning liquid supply port, 15 ... Backflow prevention valve,
16… Washing liquid, 17… Cartridge insertion / discharge port.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A separation type optical pickup mechanism, wherein one end is fixed to an optical pickup fixing part and the other end is movable in a seek direction with respect to an information storage medium, and an optical pickup moving part moves the expanding / contracting member. At least one nozzle installed at the end of the elastic member so that the cleaning agent from the inside of the elastic member can be sprayed onto the surface of the cover glass of the optical pickup due to pressure contraction when the elastic member contracts. Separation type optical pickup mechanism dust remover.