Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-30
2001-01-30
Korzuch, William R. (Department: 2754)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06181663
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a disk apparatus having a mechanism for ejecting a tray on which a disk is mounted from within the main body by an electric signal.
BACKGROUND ART
Recently, the disk apparatus is in a trend of small and thin design, and the mechanism for ejecting and accommodating a tray for mounting a disk thereon is limited in reduction of its thickness in the mechanism of rack and pinion using a motor.
In the eject mechanism for ejecting the tray, generally, the user pushes the button to eject. The eject operation is effected in two manners. In one operation, by the force of pushing the button by the user, the tray is directly unlocked, and the tray is ejected, which is a mechanical eject type, and in other operation, pushing of the button is electrically detected, and the tray is unlocked electrically by the command from the controller, which is a soft eject type. In the soft eject type, the tray can be ejected by a software command according to the guide displayed on a screen of a personal computer or the like.
A conventional disk apparatus is described below.
FIG. 9
is an internal structural diagram of a conventional disk apparatus. In FIG.
9
, reference numeral
1
is a main body chassis,
2
is an optical pickup,
3
is a tray,
4
is a rail,
7
is an eject button,
8
is a detection switch,
9
is a controller,
10
is a lock arm,
11
is a lock arm shaft, and
12
is a solenoid.
The lock arm
10
, lock arm shaft
11
and solenoid
12
compose a tray lock mechanism. The main body chassis
1
supports this entire disk apparatus.
The tray
3
is for mounting a disk (not shown) on, and also accommodates the optical pickup
2
, controller
9
, eject button
7
, detection switch
8
and others as described below. The tray
3
is also provided with a stopper pin
13
.
The rail
4
holds the tray
3
in the main body chassis
1
, and confines the tray
3
in its operating direction. The lock arm
10
has a pawl at its end, and locks the tray
3
at its stopper pin
13
. The eject button
7
transmits an eject command operation of the tray
3
to the detection switch
8
. The controller
9
receives the detection of eject operation from the detection switch
8
, and applies a voltage to the solenoid
12
. The solenoid
12
receives the voltage from the controller
9
, and unlocks the lock arm
10
.
The disk eject operation for loading or unloading a disk in thus constituted disk apparatus is described below. First, the tray
3
is in locked state. Herein, when the user pushes the eject button
7
provided in the tray
3
, this operation is detected by the detection switch
8
, and a command for starting tray eject operation is sent to the controller
9
. Receiving the command, the controller
9
immediately applies a voltage to the solenoid
12
. When the solenoid
12
is put in action, one end of the lock arm
10
is attracted, and the lock arm
10
is rotated, and the pawl at the other end of the lock arm
10
is dislocated from the stopper pin
13
, thereby unlocking the tray
13
.
At this time, when the user draws out the tray
3
, it is ready to load or unload the disk. When accommodating the disk, the user pushes in the tray
3
, then the pawl of the lock arm
10
is hooked on the stopper pin
13
of the tray so as to be in a state for accommodation.
However, in the soft eject mechanism using the solenoid as a in this disk apparatus, the greatest barrier for reducing the thickness was the thickness of the solenoid. The solenoid is formed by winding a coil around a moving iron core, and further surrounding the periphery with a metal plate, and basically the section is nearly a square structurally, and it is very hard to reduce the thickness. Moreover, as often seen in recent thin type disk apparatuses, the space for the solenoid must be provided by cutting off part of the main body chassis by saving the space of the printed circuit board for controlling the entire disk apparatus, which is contrary to the demand for small and thin design of disk apparatus.
At the time of locking, a static frictional force by the thrusting force when ejecting the tray is applied to the tray and the lock arm for locking the tray. Therefore, to unlock the tray, in order to overcome this static frictional force, it is preferred to use an actuator which is capable of obtaining a large force when starting to move the lock arm. However, since the conventional solenoid is designed to attract the iron core to the yoke plate by the magnetic force by magnetizing the yoke plate by the coil, the characteristic of the attracting force of the solenoid is not uniform in the moving stroke of the iron core, and force is not produced unless the iron core comes closer to the yoke plate. That is, in the initial state where the iron core is remote, the force is weak, and the force is gradually intensified as the iron core is attracted closer. Such starting characteristic of the solenoid is reverse to the required characteristic when unlocking, and hence the solenoid is not suited to the actuator used in unlocking. Moreover, if the iron core is too remote, the magnetic force of the yoke plate does not reach, and the stroke of the actuator was very short for use in unlocking.
It is hence an object of the invention to present a disk apparatus capable of reducing the thickness of the lock mechanism and electric unlocking mechanism of the tray and others for mounting a disk on, and also reducing the size of the entire apparatus.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A disk apparatus of the invention comprises a tray
102
for mounting a disk thereon, a lock arm
117
for locking the tray
102
to a main body chassis
100
and releasing this locking, a coil
111
for operating the lock arm
117
by an electromagnetic force, a coil holder
112
for holding the coil
111
and transmitting the electromagnetic force to the lock arm
117
, a magnet
116
for applying a magnetic flux necessary for the operation, a rail
103
for holding the tray
102
to the main body chassis
100
and guiding an accommodation/ejection operation, a push block
104
for pushing out the tray
102
, a push spring
105
for operating the push block
104
, an eject button
106
pushed down when the user wants to eject the tray
102
, a detection switch
107
for detecting the push-down of the eject button
106
, and a controller
108
for applying a voltage to the coil
111
upon receiving the detection information.
According to the invention, by the electromagnetic force of the coil
111
, the coil
111
is rotated together with the coil holder
112
, and the locking is released as the coil holder
112
pushes the lock arm
117
. Since the force generated by the coil
111
is constant with respect to the angle of rotation, by freely designing the cam shape of the cam for pushing the lock arm
117
, the force for pushing the lock arm
117
can be varied freely depending on the stroke, so that a large force may be generated when a load is needed for initially moving the lock arm
117
. In this constitution, moreover, by using the main body chassis
100
is a yoke of a magnetic element, the thickness as the actuator is only the sum of the magnet
116
and coil
111
, so that a very thin actuator can be composed.
Still more, by forming a recess
132
at one side of an outer case
130
, this recess
132
may be used as a mounting flange to the computer, and the entire thickness of the tray lock mechanism is defined 5 mm or less, and it may be accommodated in the rear internal space of the recess
132
, the entire push mechanism is put inside the rail
103
, and the forced eject mechanical parts are arranged in the internal space of the recess
132
, so that a disk apparatus reduced in the thickness in the height direction of the outer case can be presented.
As a result, the entire thickness of the disk apparatus can be defined at 12.7 mm (½ inch) or less.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3671893 (1972-06-01), Edgar et al.
patent: 5208713 (1993-05-01), Lindsay et al.
patent: 5877922 (1999-03-01), Boutaghou
patent: 5883870 (19
Goto Hideru
Kakuta Tsuyoshi
Shiwa Masayuki
Korzuch William R.
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ratner & Prestia
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