JPH097270A - Damage preventing structure for loading mechanism for disk drive device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the damage of parts of the loading mechanism in simple constitution. CONSTITUTION: The loading mechanism having a rack 30 having a prescribed thickness in the tooth depth direction, a pinion 27 engaged with the rack 30, driving means for rotationally driving the pinion 27 and a movable member fitted with the rack 30 and movable in an engagement range between the rack 30 and the pinion 27; is provided with a supporting means for turnably supporting the rack 30 on the movable member in a plane orthogonal to the spindle direction of the pinion 27 and an abutting part for abutting against the opposite surface to the tooth surface of the rack 20 so as to regulate the rack 30 in its turning. On the other hand, the rack 30 is formed of a member having elasticity, and one pair of notches, each having a prescribed length are formed on the side opposite to the side formed with teeth of the rack 30 and in both end parts in the moving direction along the moving direction, so that the rack 30 has the prescribed thickness in the tooth depth direction on the opposite side to the teeth with a boundary of the one pair of notches, and is formed one pair of flexible parts 35 which are deformable to be bent in the direction of narrowing the tips of the one pair of notches.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc drive device for driving a disc cartridge containing a disc-shaped information recording medium. More specifically, the disc cartridge is loaded at a predetermined position inside the disc drive device. The present invention relates to a damage prevention structure for a loading mechanism.

Conventionally, an apparatus for recording / reproducing information using an optical disk, a magnetic disk or the like as a recording medium has been known. In such an information recording / reproducing apparatus, the disc-shaped recording medium as described above is usually housed in a disc cartridge in order to avoid dust and adhesion of dust.
The information recording / reproducing device has a disc drive device, and a disc cartridge is inserted into the disc drive device at the time of recording / reproducing information. The disk drive device rotates a disk housed in a disk cartridge and writes or reads information with an optical pickup, a magnetic head, or the like. The disk drive device loads the disk cartridge inserted in the device into the loading position where information is written / read inside the device, and ejects the disk cartridge in the loading position to the eject position where it can be pulled out by hand. It has a mechanism. A conventional loading mechanism includes a cartridge holder that holds a disk cartridge and has a cam follower, a movable member that has a cam groove, and a fixed member that has a guide groove.By moving the movable member, the loading mechanism is guided to the cam groove and the guide groove. The cam follower is moved to move the disk cartridge to move the disk cartridge to the loading position or the ejecting position. A rack is fixed to the movable member and driven by rotation of a pinion driven by a drive motor. It should be noted that the position of the movable member corresponding to the load position or the take-out position of the disc cartridge is detected by the position detection sensor.

[0003]

However, even if the movable member has reached the position at which it should be stopped, the drive motor may continue to rotate if there is some malfunction such as a malfunction of the position detection sensor. It is possible. In such a case, since the moving range of the movable member of the loading mechanism is regulated by the guide groove, the rack fixed to the movable member is stopped, whereas the pinion engaged with this is stopped. As it continued to rotate, there was a risk of damaging the rack and pinion.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a damage preventing structure for a loading mechanism of a disk drive device, which has a simple structure and can prevent damage to parts of the loading mechanism.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a damage preventing structure for a loading mechanism of a disk drive device according to the present invention is provided with a rack having a predetermined thickness in the toothbrush direction and the rack. In a mechanism having a pinion for rotating the pinion, a driving means for rotationally driving the pinion, and a movable member to which the rack is attached and is movable within the engagement range of the rack and the pinion, the rack is set in the main axis direction of the pinion with respect to the movable member. Supporting means for rotatably supporting in a plane orthogonal to each other and a contact portion for contacting a surface opposite to the tooth surface of the rack so as to restrict rotation of the rack are provided, and the rack is made of an elastic member. By forming a pair of notches having a predetermined length along the movement direction on both sides of the rack on the side opposite to the side where the teeth are formed and at both ends in the movement direction, the pair of notches is formed. On the border Te on the opposite side of the tooth surface of the rack, the tooth depth direction has a predetermined thickness, characterized in that the formation of the flexible portion of the notch tip deformable one-bending in a direction to narrow the of the pair. The support means has a rotation hole that penetrates the center of rotation of the rack with a predetermined inner diameter along the center,
It is also possible to use a rod member that is loosely inserted in the rotation hole, one end of which is fixed to the movable member, and the other end of which has a larger diameter than the rotation hole. Further, the support means has at least one long hole penetrating a predetermined position of the rack in an arc shape having a predetermined width and a predetermined length in parallel with the center of rotation of the rack, and the at least one long hole. It may be configured to further include at least one second rod member that is loosely inserted into the movable member, one end of which is fixed to the movable member, and the other end of which is formed with a diameter larger than the width of the long hole.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an outline of a loading mechanism of a disk drive device. As shown in FIG.
The loading mechanism includes a base unit 11, a fixed cam plate 12 fixed on the base unit 11, and an arrow A1.
Holding the slide cam plate 13 and the disc cartridge that can slide in the A2 direction, the arrow A1 and A2 directions and the arrow D1 and D
The cartridge holder 14 is movable in two directions. In order to drive the sliding cam plate 13, the rack 30 fixed to the bottom plate 131 of the sliding cam plate 13 by a mounting structure to be described later and the rack 30 are driven in a portion indicated by a dotted line in the base unit 11. A drive unit 20 including a drive motor 22 is arranged for

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the loading mechanism of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the side plate 132 of the sliding cam plate 13 is provided with a cam groove 133, and the cam follower 141 fixed to the outer surface of the cartridge holder 14 is inserted into the cam groove 133, and further fixed. It is slidably inserted in a guide groove 123 formed in the side plate 122 of the cam plate 12. The guide groove 123 is substantially L-shaped as shown in FIG. 1, and has a horizontal portion 123a extending a predetermined amount in the disc cartridge insertion direction and a horizontal portion 123a.
The vertical portion 123b extends by a predetermined amount in a direction orthogonal to.

Next, the movement of the sliding cam plate 13 and the cartridge holder 14 will be described. The sliding cam plate 13 slides on the fixed cam plate 12 such that the groove 138 of the sliding cam plate 13 moves along the guide protrusion 125 provided on the fixed cam plate 12. When the sliding cam plate 13 moves in the A1 direction, the cam follower 141 of the cartridge holder 14 becomes
It moves in the direction of arrow A1 along the horizontal portion 123a of the guide groove 123 while fitting into the vertical portion 133a of the cam groove 133. Then, the cam follower 141 is A of the horizontal portion 123a.
When reaching the end in one direction, the inclined portion 133b of the cam groove 133
While being fitted in, it moves in the direction of arrow D1 along the vertical portion 123b. Then, it reaches the lower end of the vertical portion 123b of the guide groove 123 while being fitted to the bottom portion 133c of the cam groove 133. At this time, the disc cartridge gripped by the cartridge holder 14 is in a load position where writing and reading are possible. The position of the cartridge holder 14 at this time is called a loading completion position.

Similarly, when the sliding cam plate 13 moves in the A2 direction, the cam follower 141 of the cartridge holder 14 is moved.
Moves in the direction of arrow D2 along the vertical portion 123b of the guide groove 123 while fitting into the inclined portion 133b of the cam groove 133. Then, the cam follower 141 has the vertical portion 123b.
When it reaches the upper end of the, it moves in the direction of the arrow A2 along the guide groove 123a while fitting in the vertical portion 133a of the cam groove 133. Then, the cam follower 141 is provided with the guide groove 123.
Reaches the end of the horizontal portion 123a in the A2 direction. At this time, the disk cartridge gripped by the cartridge holder 14 is at the removal position where the front end projects a predetermined amount from the insertion slot. The position of the cartridge holder 14 at this time is called a discharge position.

The bottom plate 131 of the sliding cam plate 13 includes
A shutter plate 135 is provided, and a detection sensor 3 is provided at a position indicated by a dashed line in the base unit 11.
4, 36 are provided. This detection sensor 34, 36
Is the shutter plate 135 when the cartridge holder 14 is at the ejection position and the loading completion position, respectively.
It corresponds to the position of.

Further, the cartridge holder 14 is provided with a swing arm 142 which swings around a support shaft provided at a corner of the cartridge holder 14. A contact roller 146 for contacting the disk cartridge is provided at the tip of the swing arm 142, and a shutter plate 144 is provided at the side end. In addition, the swing arm 142 of the cartridge holder 14 is
A photo interrupter 148 is provided at a position corresponding to the shutter plate 144 when the photo interrupter 148 is rotated to the back.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the drive unit 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the drive unit 20 includes
A drive motor 22, a worm gear 24 fixed to a drive shaft 23 of the drive motor 22, a worm wheel 25 engaged with the worm gear 24, and a pinion 27 always engaged with the rack 30 are provided. An intermediate gear train 26 composed of six intermediate gears is provided between the worm wheel 25 and the pinion 27. The rack 30 is made of plastic.

Next, the loading operation of the disc cartridge to the disc drive device will be described.
A disk cartridge manually inserted from an insertion opening (not shown) of the disk drive device is inserted into the cartridge holder 14 located behind the insertion opening. The swinging arm 1 is at the front end in the insertion direction of the disk cartridge to be inserted.
It contacts the contact roller 146 of 42 to rotate the swing arm 142. When the disc cartridge is inserted all the way into the cartridge holder 14, the swing arm 14
The shutter plate 144 provided on the second block the photo interrupter 148. This photo interrupter 14
From the signal from 8, it is detected that the disc cartridge has been inserted all the way into the cartridge holder 14, and the drive motor 22 is driven to start the loading operation.

When the loading operation is started, the drive shaft 23 of the drive motor 22 is rotated in the direction of arrow B1 in FIG. 1 so that the worm wheel 25, the intermediate gear train 26,
The rack 30 and the sliding cam plate 13 are moved in the arrow A1 direction via the pinion 27. Sliding cam plate 13 is A1
When moved in the direction, the cam follower 141 of the cartridge holder 14 moves in the direction of arrow A1 along the horizontal portion 123a of the guide groove 123, and then moves in the direction of arrow D1 along the vertical portion 123b of the guide groove 123. Therefore, the cartridge holder 14 first moves in the direction of arrow A1 and then in the direction of arrow D1. The shutter plate 135 of the sliding cam plate 13 is connected to the detection sensor 36.
Is interrupted, the drive motor 22 stops, and the loading operation ends. Thus, the cartridge holder 14 reaches the loading completion position, and the disc cartridge is mounted in the loading position described above.

When the disc cartridge is ejected, the drive shaft 23 of the drive motor 22 is rotated in the arrow B2 direction to move the rack 30 and the sliding cam plate 13 in the arrow A2 direction. When the sliding cam plate 13 moves in the direction of arrow A2, the cam follower 141 of the cartridge holder 14 moves in the direction of arrow D2 along the vertical portion 123b of the guide groove 123, and then in the direction of arrow A2 along the horizontal portion 123a. Moving. Therefore, the cartridge holder 14 first moves in the direction of arrow D2 and then in the direction of arrow A2. Shutter plate 1 of sliding cam plate 13
When 35 blocks the detection sensor 34, the drive motor 22 stops. In this way, the cartridge holder 14 reaches the ejection position.

Next, the damage prevention structure of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the rack 30 and the sliding cam plate 13. As shown in FIG. 4, a rotation hole 52 penetrating the rack 30 is formed at the center of the rack 30 in the longitudinal direction. Further, at both ends of the rack 30 in the longitudinal direction,
A pair of long holes 54 penetrating the rack 30 are formed while forming an arc having a predetermined width and length centered on the rotation hole 52. The support rod 50 inserted into the rotary hole 52 and the elongated holes 54, 54 has a screw portion 50a and a small diameter portion 50, respectively.
b and a large diameter portion 50c. Here, the outer diameter of the small diameter portion 50b is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the rotation hole 52 and the width of the long hole 54, and the outer diameter of the large diameter portion 50c is larger than the inner diameter of the rotation hole 52 and the width of the long hole 54. It is set. Further, a threaded portion (not shown) that engages with the threaded portion 50a is formed at a position of the sliding cam plate 13 corresponding to the support rod 50.

Therefore, the supporting rod 50 is inserted into the rotary hole 52 and the elongated hole 54 via the washer 51, respectively, and the screw portion 50a is screwed into the corresponding screw portion of the sliding cam plate 13, thereby supporting the rod 50. Is fixed to the sliding cam plate 13, and the rack 30 is supported on the upper surface of the large diameter portion 50c of the support rod 50. Further, since the elongated hole 54 forms an arc of a predetermined width centered on the rotation hole 52, when the rack 30 rotates about the rotation hole 52, the support hole inserted through the elongated hole 54 is supported by the rack 54. Move along the rod 50. Since the rack 30 is configured as described above, the sliding cam plate 13
On the other hand, it is rotatably supported within a predetermined range. The rotation range of the rack 30 is the support rod 50 and the long hole 54.
It is regulated by fitting.

A pair of notches 32 are formed in the longitudinal direction from both ends of the rack 30 in the longitudinal direction by a predetermined amount, and the notches 32 make a pair of thin-walled flexures 3.
5 are formed. Further, a pair of abutting portions 136 are formed on the sliding cam plate 14 at positions corresponding to the tips of the pair of bending portions 35 of the rack 30, respectively.
The tip end of each of No. 5 and the contact portion 136 are always in contact with each other. Because of this configuration, the rack 30 and the pinion 2
If 7 is normally meshed, the bending portion 35 and the contact portion 13
The rack 30 is parallel to the moving direction of the sliding cam plate 13 due to the contact of the sliding cam plate 13. On the other hand, when the rack 30 rotates around the rotation hole 52 for the reason described below, the bending portion 35 of the pair of bending portions 35, which is closer to the pinion 27, comes into contact with the contact portion 136, and the bending portion 52. Elastically deforms and urges the rack 52 in the direction opposite to the rotating direction.

Next, the operation of the damage prevention structure of this embodiment will be described. The moving range of the sliding cam plate 13, that is, the rack 30 is detected by the detection sensors 34 and 36 described above, while the cam follower 141, the cam groove 133, and the guide groove 12 are detected.
It is also mechanically regulated by the engagement of 3. Therefore, for some reason such as a defect in the detection sensors 34 and 36,
In some cases, the drive motor 22 continues to rotate even though the rack is stopped with the cartridge holder 14 at the loading completion position or the ejection position.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the engaging portion between the rack 30 and the pinion 27 when the drive motor 22 continues to rotate despite the cartridge holder 14 being at the loading completion position. As shown in FIG. 5, the rack 3
0 can rotate in a direction away from the pinion 27 about the rotation hole 52 while elastically deforming the bending portion 35. As a result, interference between the rotating pinion 27 and the teeth of the stopped rack 30 is avoided, and the pinion 2
Damage to the teeth of the rack 7 and the rack 30 is prevented. Similarly, even when the cartridge holder 14 is in the ejection position and the drive motor 22 continues to rotate, the rack 30 can rotate in the direction away from the pinion 27 while elastically deforming the bending portion 35. , Pinion 27 and rack 30
Damage to the teeth is prevented. Further, since the tip end of the flexible portion 35 and the contact portion 136 are always in contact with each other, the rack 30 moves in the moving direction of the sliding cam plate 13 when the rack 30 and the pinion 27 are normally meshed with each other, that is, during normal operation. Kept parallel to.

As described above, according to the damage preventing structure of the loading mechanism of the disk drive device of this embodiment, the cartridge holder 14 is driven even if the cartridge holder 14 reaches the loading completion position or the ejection position for some reason. Even when the motor 22 continues to be driven, the rack 30 rotates around the rotation hole 52 in the direction away from the pinion 27 while elastically deforming one of the pair of bending portions 35, It is possible to prevent damage to the pinion 27 and the rack 30, or damage to other parts of the drive unit 20.

[0023]

As described above, according to the damage prevention structure of the loading mechanism of the disk drive device of the present invention, the rack is rotatable with respect to the movable member, and
Due to the configuration in which the flexures are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction, even if the drive motor continues to be driven even when the movable member is at the stop position for some reason, the rack elastically deforms the flexures and the pinion is used. By rotating in a direction away from, it is possible to prevent damage to the pinion or rack, or damage to other parts of the gear unit. Furthermore, the rack is kept parallel to the moving direction of the movable member except when the above-mentioned abnormality occurs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a loading mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the loading mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a drive unit and a rack.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a rack and a sliding cam plate.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an engaging portion between a rack and a pinion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Base Unit 12 Fixed Cam Plate 122 Side Plate 123 Guide Groove 13 Sliding Cam Plate 131 Bottom Plate 132 Side Plate 133 Cam Groove 135 Shutter Plate 136 Abutting Part 14 Holder 141 Cam Follower 20 Drive Unit 22 Drive Motor 24 Worm Gear 25 Worm Wheel 26 Intermediate Gear Train 27 Pinion 30 Rack 32 Notch 34, 36 Detection sensor 35 Bending part 50 Support rod 52 Rotation hole 54 Long hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A loading mechanism, which is provided inside a disk drive device, for loading a disk cartridge at a predetermined position inside the disk drive device, the rack having a predetermined thickness in the toothbrush direction, and the rack. A mechanism having a pinion to be engaged, a drive means for rotationally driving the pinion, and a movable member to which the rack is attached and movable within an engagement range of the rack and the pinion, wherein the rack is provided with respect to the movable member. A support means for rotatably supporting the pinion in a plane orthogonal to the main axis direction of the pinion, and an abutting portion that abuts a surface opposite to the tooth surface of the rack so as to restrict the rotation of the rack. The rack is formed of an elastic member, and is provided on both sides of the rack on the side opposite to the side where the teeth are formed and at both ends in the moving direction along the moving direction. To form a pair of notches having a predetermined length, the notch having a predetermined thickness in the toothbrush direction on the side opposite to the tooth surface of the rack with the pair of notches as a boundary. A damage preventing structure for a loading mechanism of a disk drive device, characterized in that a pair of bending portions that can be bent and deformed in a direction of narrowing the tip of the disk are formed. 2. The support means is a rotation hole that penetrates the rotation center of the rack with a predetermined inner diameter along the center, and is loosely inserted into the rotation hole, and one end of the support means is the movable member. The damage preventing structure for a loading mechanism of a disk drive device according to claim 1, wherein the rod member is fixed and has the other end having a diameter larger than that of the rotation hole. 3. The support means includes at least one elongated hole penetrating a predetermined position of the rack in an arc shape having a predetermined width and a predetermined length in parallel with the center of the rotation. It further includes at least one rod member loosely inserted into at least one elongated hole, one end fixed to the movable member, and the other end formed with a diameter larger than the width of the elongated hole. The damage prevention structure for the loading mechanism of the disk drive device according to claim 2.