KR100468772B1 - Tray guide structure for optical disc drive - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a tray guide structure of an optical disc drive. The disclosed tray guide structure includes a rail coupling portion formed at both sides of the tray, a sliding rail coupled to both rail coupling portions of the tray to support the tray slidably, and fixedly installed at both corners of the lower case, respectively. A rail guide for guiding is provided. Further, the tray detachment prevention means further includes a stopper protruding upward from a predetermined portion of the one rail guide, and a protrusion protruding downward from the side of the rear end of one sliding rail. The protrusion may be bent upward from the lower end thereof, or a reinforcing member having a predetermined thickness may be attached to the side of the protrusion. According to such a configuration, the contact area between the protrusion and the stopper is widened so that the tray is not detached from the housing even when a significant impact and force act on the tray.

Description

Tray guide structure for optical disc drive

The present invention relates to an optical disk drive, and more particularly, to a tray guide structure that stably guides the reciprocating movement of a tray on which a disk is seated and prevents the tray from being separated.

In general, an optical disc drive is a device for recording information or reproducing recorded information by irradiating light onto a recording medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a digital video disc (DVD). Such an optical disk drive is mainly employed in a computer, and especially a notebook computer employs a slim optical disk drive having a very thin thickness.

1 is an exploded perspective view schematically illustrating a structure of a conventional slim optical disk drive, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion A shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are views illustrating a problem of a conventional tray guide structure. It is an enlarged perspective view of the A site | part shown in FIG.

First, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a conventional slim optical disc drive includes a housing 10 including a lower case 11 and an upper case 12, and a tray 20 installed in and out of the housing 10. Equipped with. The main base 30 is coupled to the tray 20, and the main base 30 has a spindle motor 40 for rotating the disk D, and records / reproduces data on the rotating disk D. An optical pickup unit 50 and a transfer device (not shown) for reciprocating the optical pickup unit 50 in the radial direction of the disc are provided. At the top of the spindle motor 40, a turntable 42 on which the disk D is mounted is provided. As such, the spindle 20 is provided with the spindle motor 40 and the optical pickup unit 50, and they are brought into and out of the housing 10 together.

On the other hand, an eject button 62 for operating a tray takeout device (not shown) is provided in the front bezel 60 of the tray 20. The lower case 11 includes a main board printed circuit board 70 for interfacing the optical disk drive and an external device, and a spindle moving together with the fixed main board printed circuit board 70 and the tray 20. The motor 40 and the optical pickup unit 50 are electrically connected by a flexible printed circuit 72.

The optical disc drive is provided with a tray guide structure for guiding the reciprocating movement of the tray 20 as described above. The tray guide structure includes a rail coupling portion 22 formed at both sides of the tray 20, a sliding rail 24 slidably coupled to the rail coupling portion 22, and both sides of the lower case 11. The rail guide 26 is fixedly installed in the corner and guides the reciprocating movement of the sliding rail 24.

In a slim optical disc drive having such a configuration, when loading or unloading the disc D, the tray 20 is pushed out of the housing 10 by pressing the eject button 62. At this time, a means for preventing the tray 20 from being separated from the housing 10 is required. Conventionally, as a tray separation preventing means, a stopper 28 is formed to protrude a predetermined height vertically in a longitudinal middle portion of the rail guide 26, and a protrusion protruding a predetermined length horizontally at the rear end of the sliding rail 26. (29) is provided.

The operation of the tray departure preventing means will be described. As the tray 20 is taken out, the sliding rail 24 also moves forward along the rail guide 26, that is, in the dispensing direction. When the tray 20 reaches the position where the disc D can be replaced, the protrusion 29 of the sliding rail 24 is caught by the stopper 28 of the rail guide 26 so that the sliding rail 24 is no longer forward. You will not be able to move to.

By the way, in the conventional tray guide structure, the sliding rail 24, the rail guide 26 and the rail coupling portion 22 are sliding to each other, so that there is a little gap required for the sliding movement between each of them. do. In addition, the stopper 28 provided on the rail guide 26 may interfere with other components, such as interference with the bottom surface of the tray 20 during movement of the tray 20 and assembly of the sliding rail 24 to the rail guide 26. In order to avoid interference with the sliding rail 24, its height and width are limited.

Therefore, in the related art, when a certain amount of external impact or force is applied to the tray 20 in the ejecting direction, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, the sliding rail 24 is shaken or bent, and the protrusion 29 is a rail guide ( The stopper 28 of 26 is easily released. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3B, the stopper 28 projects vertically from the rail guide 26 and is generally made of plastic, whereas the protrusion 29 projects horizontally from the sliding rail 24 and is generally Since the upper portion of the stopper 28 is damaged by the protrusion 29, the protrusion 29 may be out of the stopper 28. As such, when the protrusion 29 of the sliding rail 24 is out of the stopper 28 of the rail guide 26, the tray 20 may be separated from the housing 10.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was created to solve the above problems of the prior art, and in particular, a tray guide structure of an optical disc drive having a tray departure preventing means capable of preventing the tray from being separated even when a significant impact or force is applied to the tray. The purpose is to provide.

1 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing the structure of a conventional slim optical disk drive.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion A shown in FIG. 1.

3A and 3B are enlarged perspective views of a portion A shown in FIG. 1 for explaining a problem of a conventional tray guide structure.

4 is an exploded perspective view showing an optical disk drive employing a tray guide structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the stopper and the protrusion part shown in FIG. 4.

6 and 7 are perspective views illustrating modified examples of the protrusion illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a rear perspective view of the tray when the tray and the sliding rail shown in FIG. 4 are turned upside down.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110 ... housing 111 ... lower case

112 ... top case 120 ... tray

122 ... Rail coupling part 124 ... Sliding rail

126 ... rail guide 130 ... main base

140 ... spindle motor 142 ... turntable

150 ... optical pickup unit 160 ... front bezel

162 ... Eject Button 170 ... Main Board Printed Circuit Board

172 ... flexible printed circuit 180 ... tray exit prevention

182 ... stopper 184,284 ... projection

186 reinforcement member 192 locking jaw

194 Bends

The present invention to achieve the above object,

The rail coupling portion is formed in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the tray on which the disk is seated, the sliding rails are coupled to both rail coupling portions of the tray to support the tray so as to slidably, and fixedly installed at both corners of the lower case. In the tray guide structure of the optical disk drive having a rail guide for guiding the sliding rail,

A stopper protruding upward from a predetermined portion of one rail guide of the two rail guides; And

Protruding portion which protrudes from the rear end side of one sliding rail of the two sliding rails and bent downward;

The tray guide structure of the optical disc drive, characterized in that when the tray is moved a predetermined distance forward, the projection is caught by the stopper so that the tray is not separated from the housing.

Here, the protrusion may be bent upward again at its lower end.

Meanwhile, a reinforcing member having a predetermined thickness may be attached to the side surface of the protrusion.

According to such a configuration, the contact area between the protrusion and the stopper is widened in the vertical and horizontal directions so that the tray does not detach from the housing even when a significant impact and force act on the tray.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail preferred embodiments of the tray guide structure of the optical disk drive according to the present invention.

4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a slim optical disk drive employing a tray guide structure according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the stopper and the protrusion part shown in FIG. 4.

4 and 5 together, the optical disk drive includes a housing 110 including a lower case 111 and an upper case 112, and a tray 120 installed in and out of the housing 110. The housing 110 is fixedly installed in the body of an electronic device employing a slim optical disk drive, such as a computer, in particular a notebook computer. The main base 130 is coupled to the tray 120. The main base 130 reciprocates the spindle motor 140 for rotating the disk, the optical pickup unit 150 for reproducing the data recorded on the rotating disk, and the optical pickup unit 150 in the radial direction of the disk. A conveying device (not shown) is provided. In addition, a turntable 142 on which the disk is mounted is provided at the upper portion of the spindle motor 140. As such, the spindle motor 140 and the optical pickup unit 150 are installed in the tray 120, and they enter and exit the housing 110 together.

On the other hand, the front bezel (160) of the tray 120 is provided with an eject button 162 for operating the tray takeout device (not shown). In addition, the lower case 111 is provided with a main board printed circuit board 170, the main board printed circuit board 170 is a spindle motor 140 and the optical pickup unit 150 through a flexible printed circuit 172. Is connected to.

In addition, the optical disc drive is provided with a tray guide structure for reciprocating movement of the tray 120 installed in the housing 110 to be accessible. The tray guide structure according to the present invention is a sliding rail which is slidably coupled to each of the rail coupling portion 122 formed on both sides of the tray 120 on which the disk is seated, and the rail coupling portion 122 of both sides of the tray 120. 124 and rail guides 126 fixed to both corners of the lower case 111 are provided.

The rail coupling portion 122 is formed long on both sides of the tray 120 in the longitudinal direction, that is, the reciprocating movement direction. The sliding rail 124 has a cross-section of approximately "C" shape to accommodate the rail coupling portion 122 of the tray 120, the thickness is about 0.5mm. In addition, the sliding rail 124 is made of a high-strength metal press to support the tray 120. The rail guide 126 serves to guide the reciprocating movement of the sliding rail 124 coupled to the inner side, and is made of a plastic injection molding having a thickness of about 1 mm to reduce friction noise with the sliding rail 124. Is done. In addition, the rail guide 126 also has a cross-section of a substantially "C" shape to accommodate the sliding rail 124.

And, the tray guide structure is provided with a tray departure preventing means 180 which is a feature of the present invention. The tray departure preventing means 180 includes a stopper 182 provided in one of the rail guides 126 of two rail guides 126 installed at both corners of the lower case 111, and two rail guides ( The protrusion 184 is provided on any one of the sliding rails 124 of the two sliding rails 124 coupled to the 126.

The stopper 182 is formed to protrude a predetermined height upward from a side of a predetermined portion of the rail guide 126, for example, an approximately middle portion in the longitudinal direction. The height of the stopper 182 can avoid the interference with the bottom of the tray 120, and also when assembling the rail coupling portion 122 of the tray 120 to the inside of the sliding rail 124, do not interfere with the assembly It is desirable to be set as high as possible within the limit. In addition, the width of the stopper 182 is set to about 1 mm or more, preferably 2 mm or more, to the extent that interference with other components can be avoided. The stopper 182 may be integrally formed with the rail guide 126 during injection molding of the rail guide 126.

The protrusion 184 protrudes from the rear end side of the sliding rail 124 and is bent downward. The height of the protrusion 184 is preferably as high as possible so long as the lower end thereof does not contact the upper surface of the lower case 111. According to the protrusion 184 having such a structure, the contact area with the stopper 182 has an advantage of being wider in the vertical direction than in the prior art.

According to the tray departure preventing means 180 having the configuration as described above, while the tray 120 is taken out, the sliding rail 124 is also guided by the rail guide 126 and moves forward (arrow F direction), When the tray 120 reaches a position where the disc D can be replaced by moving a predetermined distance, the protrusion 184 of the sliding rail 124 is caught by the stopper 182 of the rail guide 126. Accordingly, since the sliding rail 124 and the tray 120 can no longer move forward, the tray 120 is prevented from being separated from the housing 110.

At this time, since the protrusion 184 has a structure bent downward, as described above, the contact area with the stopper 182 is widened in the vertical direction. Therefore, even when the sliding rail 124 is shaken or bent slightly due to an external impact or a force of a considerable magnitude in the ejection direction of the tray 120, the protrusion 184 does not escape the stopper 182, and also the protrusion 184 ) Does not cause a problem that the upper end of the stopper 182 is broken.

As described above, the tray guide structure provided with the tray detachment prevention means according to the present invention has durability that can withstand a considerable external impact or force as compared with the prior art.

6 and 7 are perspective views illustrating modified examples of the protrusion illustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 6, a reinforcing member 186 having a predetermined thickness is attached to a side surface of the protrusion 184 of the sliding rail 124. Since the sliding rail 124 is made of a thin metal plate having a thickness of about 0.5 mm as described above, the thickness of the protrusion 184 is also thinner than the thickness of the stopper 182. Therefore, the thickness of the protrusion 184 may be reinforced by the thickness of the stopper 182 using the reinforcing member 186. The reinforcing member 186 may be formed of a plastic injection molding having a thickness of about 0.5 mm to 2 mm, and may be firmly attached to the side surface of the protrusion 184 by a strong adhesive or a screw. Since the structure of the protrusion 184 is reinforced by the reinforcing member 186, the contact area with the stopper 182 is widened not only in the vertical direction but also in the horizontal direction.

Referring to FIG. 7, the protrusion 284 of the sliding rail 124 is bent downward and then bent upward again at its lower end. Therefore, the overall thickness of the protrusion 284 is about 1 mm. The structure of the protrusion 284 has an advantage that can be reinforced without using a separate component. Similarly to the protrusion shown in FIG. 6, the protrusion 284 shown in FIG. 7 makes the contact area with the stopper 182 widen not only in the vertical direction but also in the horizontal direction.

As described above, when the contact area between the protrusion and the stopper is widened in the vertical and horizontal directions, the protrusion and the stopper have durability to withstand greater impact and force, thereby enabling a more reliable tray departure prevention function. do.

8 is a perspective view of the rear end of the tray when the tray and the sliding rail shown in FIG. 4 are turned upside down.

Referring to FIG. 8, a locking jaw 192 is formed inside the rear end of the rail coupling portion 122 of the tray 120, and a bent portion 194 is formed at the front end of the sliding rail 124. . When the tray 120 is moved forward (arrow F direction) to reach the disc detachment position, the protrusion is caught by the stopper as described above, so that the sliding rail 124 can no longer move forward, and also in FIG. 8. The latching jaw 192 of the illustrated tray 120 is caught by the bent portion 194 of the sliding rail 124 so that the tray 120 can no longer be moved forward.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the disclosed embodiments, these are merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the appended claims.

As described above, according to the tray guide structure according to the present invention, since the contact area between the protrusion and the stopper is widened in the vertical and horizontal directions, even if the sliding rail is bent, the protrusion hardly escapes the stopper and the stopper is not easily broken. . Accordingly, the tray does not move away from the housing even if a significantly larger impact and force act in the ejecting direction of the tray than in the prior art.

Claims (4)

The rail coupling portion is formed in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the tray on which the disk is seated, the sliding rails are coupled to both rail coupling portions of the tray to support the tray so as to slidably, and fixedly installed at both corners of the lower case. In the tray guide structure of the optical disk drive having a rail guide for guiding the sliding rail, A stopper protruding upward from a predetermined portion of one rail guide of the two rail guides; And It is formed on the rear end of one of the sliding rails of the two sliding rails, when the tray is moved a predetermined distance forward, the projection to prevent the tray is separated from the housing by being caught by the stopper; And the protrusion protrudes from the rear end side of the one side sliding rail and bends downward to widen the contact area with the stopper. The method of claim 1, And the protrusion is bent upward again at its lower end. The method of claim 1, Tray guide structure of the optical disk drive, characterized in that the reinforcing member of a predetermined thickness is attached to the side of the protrusion. The method of claim 3, wherein The reinforcing member is a tray guide structure of an optical disc drive, characterized in that made of a plastic injection molding.