JPH0721577A - Lens cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely clean an objective lens. CONSTITUTION:This device is composed of an optical head 6 for reading information from a disk 4, lens 1 provided at an optical head 6, brush 13 for cleaning the lens 1, traverse motor 8 for driving the optical head 6 in the track direction of the disk 4, spindle motor 2 to be rotated while mounting the disk 4, electronic circuit 20 for controlling a voltage to be applied to the traverse motor 8, and detection switch 14 for detecting the position of a cartridge 3. When the cartridge 3 is inserted or ejected, the lens 1 is moved to a certain specified position and further slightly vibrated. As a result, cleaning is made possible without any head lock mechanism, parts constituting a head hold mechanism can be omitted, and the lens can be efficiently cleaned by being slightly vibrated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lens cleaning device for cleaning the surface of an objective lens for focusing laser light on a disc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a lens cleaning device has been used for an optical disc drive for reading information from or writing information on an optical disc such as a video disc, a compact disc and a magneto-optical disc.

A conventional lens cleaning device will be described below. The optical disk drive with a high seek speed uses linear motor drive that provides highly accurate positioning and high-speed response in combination with electrical control.
Since the head is always free to move and is unstable and may be impacted during transportation, a head holding mechanism is necessary. Further, the lens cleaning is performed by using this mechanism to move the head to a specific position and hold it at a certain timing, along with the disk insertion / ejection operation.

An optical disk device equipped with a conventional lens cleaning device will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a lens for irradiating a laser beam on the disk 4 for writing, reproducing and erasing data. Reference numeral 2 denotes a spindle motor that rotates the turntable 5, and the disk 4 housed in the cartridge 3 is mounted on the turntable 5 and rotated. Reference numeral 6 denotes an optical head, which is guided by the guide shaft 7 and is mounted on the turntable 5 by the traverse motor 8
It moves by the control of the electronic circuit 9 in the radial direction of. A lock member 10 moves in the direction of arrow a when the cartridge 3 is inserted, and the optical head 6 can move in the radial direction of the disk 4. When the cartridge 3 is ejected, the lock member 10 moves in the direction of the arrow b, and the pin 11 provided on the optical head 6 is locked to lock the optical head 6.
The upper lens 1 can be held in a specific position.
Reference numeral 12 is a lever member for opening and closing the shutter of the cartridge 3, and a brush 13 for cleaning the lens 1 is attached to a specific position.

The lens cleaning operation of the lens cleaning device provided in the optical disk device configured as described above will be described below.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the cartridge 3 has been inserted into the main body of the optical disk device. When the disk 4 is mounted on the turntable 5, the lock member 10 is released and the optical head 6 is free to move in the radial direction of the disk 4. Then, writing, reproduction and erasing of data are performed. 6 and 7 are a plan view and a side view, respectively, when ejecting the cartridge 3 of the optical disc device having the conventional lens cleaning device. When the cartridge 3 is ejected, the optical circuit 6 is controlled by the electronic circuit 9 to a specific position. The optical head 6 is locked by the lock member 10 so as not to move due to vibration or the like,
The lever member 12 ejects the cartridge 3. At that time, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the brush 13 attached to the lever member 12 passes over the lens 1 for cleaning.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, the lock member 10 for locking the optical head 6 is necessary, and there are cases where the brush 13 cannot be cleaned simply by passing over the lens 1.

Further, in recent years, the weight of the optical head 6 can be reduced, and the impact of the optical head 6 during transportation has been reduced. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to lock the optical head 6.
However, there is a problem that the lens 1 cannot be reliably cleaned without knowing where the optical head 6 is when the cartridge 3 is inserted and ejected without the locking mechanism of the optical head 6.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a lens cleaning device which can clean the lens 1 without using a lock mechanism, and can perform effective cleaning.

[0011]

In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, when a disc is ejected or inserted, an electric motor for moving the irradiation unit for irradiating the disc with light is energized to set the irradiation unit at a predetermined position. And a control means for holding.

[0012]

With the above structure, the present invention can hold the irradiation means at a predetermined position without providing a fixing member for fixing the irradiation means.

[0013]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an optical disk device including a lens cleaning device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a lens, 2 is a spindle motor, 3 is a cartridge, 4 is a disk, 5 is a turntable, 6 is an optical head, 7 is a guide shaft, 8 is a traverse motor, 12 is a lever member, 13 Is a brush, and since these are similar to the conventional configuration, the description thereof will be omitted. Reference numeral 14 is a detection switch for detecting the insertion position of the cartridge 3, 21 is a detection switch for detecting the completion of the insertion of the cartridge 3, 15 is a first stopper, 16 is a second stopper, which is a light movable in the radial direction of the disk 4. The moving range of the head 6 is defined. An electronic circuit 20 controls the traverse motor 8.

The operation of the optical disk device having the lens cleaning device configured as described above will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, when the cartridge 3 is inserted (step a) and pushed in to a certain extent, the detection switch 14 is turned off.
The state becomes N (step b). In this state, the electronic circuit 20 sends a command to the traverse motor 8 to move the optical head 6 toward the first stopper 15, that is, toward the outermost periphery of the disk 4 (step c), and the optical head 6 is moved to the position shown in FIG. (Step d). After the movement, a command for slightly vibrating the optical head 6 is sent to the traverse motor 8 by the same path (step e), and the optical head 6 is slightly vibrated at that position (step f). Then, the lever member 12 is rotated by the insertion of the cartridge 3, and the brush 13 provided on the lever member 12 moves the optical head 6
Cleaning is performed by passing over the lens 1 (step g). Completion of insertion of the cartridge 3 is detected by the detection switch 21 (step h), the command from the electronic circuit 20 to the traverse motor 8 is terminated, and the slight vibration of the optical head 6 is terminated (step i). In the first embodiment of the present invention, since the lens 1 vibrates slightly when the brush 13 passes over the lens 1, efficient cleaning can be performed. In addition, in the first embodiment of the present invention, it is necessary to electrically hold the optical head 6 at a specific position from step d to step i. However, when the first stopper 15 is provided, it is electrically connected. Although the optical head 6 tries to move toward the first stopper 15 due to the movement of the brush 13 even if the brush 13 is not held, the optical head 6 stays in a fixed position by the first stopper 15 without escaping, and the brush 13 moves. Cleaning can be performed by passing over the lens 1.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of an optical disk device including a lens cleaning device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Since the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

The second embodiment is a method of cleaning the lens 1 when the cartridge 3 is ejected, and the flow of its operation is shown in FIG. First, when ejecting the cartridge 3, the eject button provided in the optical disk device is inserted (step j), and in this state, the optical circuit 6 is moved from the electronic circuit 20 to the traverse motor 8 in the direction of the second stopper 16, that is, the disk 4 A command for moving the optical head 6 in the innermost direction is sent (step k), and the optical head 6 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 3 (step l). After the movement, a command to slightly vibrate the optical head 6 is issued by the traverse motor 8 in the same path.
(Step m), and the optical head 6 is slightly vibrated at that position (step n). The lever member 12 rotates as the cartridge 3 is ejected, and the brush 13 attached to the lever member 12 passes over the lens 1 of the moved optical head 6 to perform cleaning (step o). Completion of ejection of the cartridge 3 is detected by the detection switch 14 (step p), the command from the electronic circuit 20 to the traverse motor 8 is terminated, and the micro-vibration of the optical head 6 is terminated (step q).
In the second embodiment of the present invention, since the lens 1 vibrates slightly when the brush 13 passes over the lens 1, cleaning can be performed efficiently. Further, in the second embodiment of the present invention, it is necessary to electrically hold the optical head 6 at a specific position between step l and step q, but if the second stopper 16 is provided, it is electrically held. Even if the cleaning is not performed, the optical head 6 tries to move toward the second stopper 16 due to the movement of the brush 13 during cleaning, but the second stopper 16 keeps the optical head 6 in a fixed position without escaping, and the brush 13 moves to the lens. Cleaning can be done by passing over 1.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the disc is ejected or inserted, the electric motor for moving the irradiation unit for irradiating the disc with electricity is energized and the control unit for holding the irradiation unit at a predetermined position is provided. With the provision, the irradiation means can be held at a predetermined position without providing a fixing member for fixing the irradiation means, the fixing member for the irradiation means can be omitted, and the apparatus can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an optical disc device including a lens cleaning device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart when a cartridge is inserted into an optical disk device equipped with a lens cleaning device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of an optical disk device including a lens cleaning device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for ejecting a cartridge of an optical disk device equipped with a lens cleaning device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram in which a cartridge of an optical disk device including a conventional lens cleaning device is inserted into an optical disk device main body.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional optical disc device including a lens cleaning device when a cartridge is ejected.

FIG. 7 is a side view of a conventional optical disc device including a lens cleaning device when a cartridge is ejected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 lens 2 spindle motor 4 disk 6 optical head 8 traverse motor 13 brush 14 detection switch 20 electronic circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An irradiation means for irradiating a disk with light, a contact member provided for contact with the irradiation means for moving and ejecting and inserting the disk, and the irradiation means for moving the disk in a radial direction. A lens cleaning device, comprising: an electric motor for driving the electric motor, the electric motor being energized when the disc is ejected or inserted, and the control unit holding the irradiation unit at a predetermined position. 2. The lens cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the irradiation means is slightly vibrated when the disc is ejected or inserted by the control means.