JPS63273226A - Cleaning member for optical element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a cleaning effect without scratching a plastic lens, etc., by eliminating dust, etc., attached on an optical element which focuses a light beam by splashing and removing by an air flow. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning member is formed in a disk 15 with the same shape as that of an optical disk, and elongated holes 16 are opened keeping equal intervals. The disk 15 is place on a turntable 12, and a spindle motor is driven, then, the turntable 12 is rotated. In such a way, the air flow is generated in the neighborhood of the upper and lower planes of the disk 15 by the holes 16. The objective lens 14 of an optical head 13 is positioned at a prescribed position on the lower plane of the disk 15, and the dust, etc., attached on the surface of the lens 14 is splashed and removed by the air flow. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the lens, even when it is the plastic lens whose both planes are non-spherical planes, from being scratched and to improve the cleaning effect.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to a cleaning member for an optical element that removes dust attached to an optical element that focuses a light beam emitted from a light source. .

(Prior Art) In recent years, optical disk devices have been developed that optically record large volumes of document data and image information onto information storage media (optical disks) and reproduce information recorded on the information storage media. This optical disk device records information by irradiating the information storage layer of the optical disk with a light beam from an optical head, and detects the reflected light to reproduce the information.

In other words, a light beam is irradiated from the light source of this optical head, and this light beam is focused by the objective lens of the optical element to focus on the information storage layer, and information is stored by forming small holes called bits. It is recorded. Further, information is reproduced by irradiating a light beam onto the bits formed in the information recording TA layer, converging it with an objective lens balance, and detecting the reflected light.

However, since the objective lens is attached to the tip of the optical head, dust that has entered the optical disk device adheres to the surface of the objective lens. If a large amount of dust adheres to the surface of the objective lens, the light beam focused by the objective lens will be affected, and there is a possibility that information will not be recorded or reproduced accurately.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to remove dust adhering to the objective lens. For this reason, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, first, a disk 3 having the same shape as the optical disk is placed on a turntable 2 rotated by a spindle motor 1 provided in the optical disk 5A, instead of the optical disk. Place it.

A brush 4 is provided on the inner circumferential side of the lower surface of the disk 3. Further, the optical head 5 is located at a predetermined position on the inner circumferential side of the circle W3. Therefore, when the disc 3 is rotated by driving the spindle motor 1, the brush 4 rotates, and the dust attached to the objective lens 6 attached to the tip of the optical head 5 is removed by the rotating brush 4.

Incidentally, until now, a glass spherical lens has been used for the objective lens 6, but recently, this glass spherical lens has been replaced with a double-sided aspherical plastic lens due to its lightness, low cost, and good basic performance. lenses are now being used. Therefore, if the dust adhering to the surface of the plastic lens 6 is removed with the brush 4, there is a risk that the plastic lens 6 will be scratched by the bristles of the brush 4.

Therefore, in an optical disk device using a plastic lens 6 with scratches, this affects the light beam focused by the plastic lens 6, making it difficult to record or reproduce information accurately. There is a risk that this may occur.

On the other hand, be careful not to scratch the plastic lens 6.
If the brush 4 is made of a soft material, the bristles will fall down immediately upon contact with the lens, as shown in FIG. Therefore, there is a problem that the bristles cannot reach the branch cleansing lens 6, and the cleaning effect is reduced.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional optical element cleaning member, there is a risk of scratching the optical element, which may prevent accurate recording or reproduction of information. In addition, there was a problem that the cleaning effect was reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning member for an optical element that does not cause scratches on the optical element and does not reduce the cleaning effect.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a structure that includes means for scattering dust attached to an optical element that focuses a light beam by an air flow. It is something.

(Function) Dust adhering to the optical element is scattered and removed by the airflow by the cleaning member. Therefore, there is no possibility that the optical element will be scratched or the cleaning effect will be reduced.

(Example) The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 are diagrams showing an embodiment of an optical element cleaning member according to the present invention.

1 and 2, a turntable 12 is attached to a spindle motor 11 built into an optical disk device, and this turntable 12 has an optical disk (
(not shown) is placed.

An optical head 13 is disposed on the inner peripheral side of the lower surface of the optical disc placed on the turntable 12 so as to face the optical disc. At the tip of the optical head 13, from a semiconductor laser built in the optical head 13,
An objective lens 14 (
(optical element) is not attached.

For the objective lens 14, a double-sided aspherical plastic lens is used instead of a glass spherical lens because of its light weight, low cost, and good basic performance. Since the objective lens 14 is attached to the tip of the optical head 13, dust that has entered the inside of this optical device adheres to the objective lens 14. If this amount of attached dust becomes large, the laser beam focused by the objective lens 14 will be affected, and there is a possibility that information will not be recorded or reproduced accurately.

Therefore, the dust attached to the objective lens 14 is removed by the cleaning member 15.
remove by. This cleaning member 15 is a disk 15 having the same shape as an optical disk, and a long hole 16 is bored in the disk 15 in the radial direction from the inner circumferential side to the outer circumferential side.
There are a total of four elongated holes 16, and they are provided at equal angles.

The disk 15 is placed on the turntable 12, and the spindle motor 11 is driven to rotate the disk 15. circle! 11
When the circle 51115 rotates, air currents are generated in the vicinity of both the upper and lower sides of the circle 51115 due to the elongated hole 16. The objective lens 14 of the optical head 13 is located at a predetermined position on the inner circumferential side of the lower surface of the disk 15, and the dust attached to the surface of the objective lens 14 is removed from the vicinity of the five surfaces of the disk 15. It is blown away and removed by the generated airflow. For this reason, when removing dust attached to the double-sided aspherical plastic lens used in the objective lens 14, it is not possible to remove it with a brush or the like. Since there are no scratches, there is no risk of scratching the plastic lens 14.

Therefore, in an optical device using this objective lens 14, the radar light focused by this objective lens 14 is not affected by dust, scratches, etc., and information can be recorded or reproduced accurately. It will be held in

In addition, to remove dust attached to the objective lens 14,
Since the conventional brush and the like are not used, the cleaning effect is not reduced.

In the above embodiment, the long hole 16 is formed in the circle 11A15, but not only the long hole 16 but also an uneven portion may be formed on the surface of the disk 15.

In addition, although the disk 15 is used as the cleaning site, the present invention is not limited to this disk 15. A nozzle is arranged near the objective lens 14, and an air flow is ejected from this nozzle to scatter and remove attached dust. Good too.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the dust adhering to the optical element is scattered and removed by the air flow of the cleaning member. It never causes any scratches. Therefore, in an optical device using an objective lens, the laser beam focused by the objective lens is not affected by dust, scratches, etc., and information can be recorded or reproduced accurately.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Figures 1 to 3 show the optical element according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of this cleaning member, FIG. 2 is a side view of this cleaning member, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the group in FIG. 2. . 4 to 6 are diagrams showing conventional cleaning members for optical elements. FIG. 4 is a plan view of this cleaning member, FIG. 5 is a side view of this cleaning member, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing other cleaning members. FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of the cleaning member after use. 14... Optical element 15... Cleaning member 16... Long hole

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A cleaning member for an optical element, comprising a means for scattering dust attached to an optical element that focuses a light beam using an air flow. (2) A patent claim characterized in that the cleaning member for the optical element is a disk facing the optical element and having a hole, and the disk is rotated to generate an air flow. A cleaning member for an optical element according to scope 1.