HK1029432B - Supporting structure of floating chassis of disc apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Supporting structure of optical disk device floating chassis

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an optical disc device such as a CD player, and more particularly, to a floating chassis support mechanism suitable for use in a vehicle-mounted optical disc device.

The present invention also relates to a vehicle-mounted optical disc reproducing apparatus in which a reproducing unit chassis is supported in a floating state by a main chassis having springs and dampers, and more particularly, to a locking position of the reproducing unit chassis at the time of taking out and putting in an optical disc.

Background

An example of the structure of a conventional floating chassis support mechanism of a vehicle-mounted CD player is described with reference to fig. 11 to 13. A disc motor 7, an optical pickup 9, and a pickup transport mechanism are supported on the floating chassis 11 shown in fig. 11 and 12. During playback of the optical disc, the main chassis (not shown) supports the floating chassis in a floating state by means of the shock absorbers 4, 4, 4 and coil springs, not shown. During playback of the disc, at least one of the shock absorbers 4, 4, 4 is in the projection area of the disc.

When loading or unloading the optical disk 15, a lock mechanism not shown in the figure locks the floating chassis 11 to the main chassis, the optical disk 15 is pressed between the disk guide 1 and the disk feed roller 2, and the optical disk is fed between the playback position and the disk insertion port while the disk feed roller 2 is rotated.

When the optical disk 15 is conveyed to the playback position, the conveying roller 2 is lowered and out of contact with the optical disk 15, and the lock mechanism releases the lock of the floating chassis 11. Thereafter, the optical disk 15 is held and rotated between a turntable 8 fixedly attached to the rotation shaft of the disk motor 7 and a not-shown clamper. The optical pickup 9 is fed in the radial direction of the optical disc to reproduce information from the optical disc.

In the above-described conventional floating chassis support mechanism, since the damper 4 is provided in the projection area of the optical disk 15, as shown in fig. 13, the depth from the upper surface of the optical disk 15 to the lower surface of the damper 4 is T ═ H1+ H2+ H3 in total, where H1 is the distance from the upper surface of the optical disk 15 to the upper surface of the floating chassis 11, H2 is the thickness of the floating chassis 11, and H3 is the thickness from the lower surface of the floating chassis 11 to the lower surface of the damper 4. Since the depth from the upper surface of the optical disk 15 to the lower surface of the damper 4 is large, the total height of the apparatus is also large.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a floating chassis support mechanism of an optical disc device capable of reducing the thickness of the device by reducing the required size from the upper surface of a loaded optical disc to the lower surface of a damper.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle-mounted optical disk reproducing apparatus having the above floating chassis support mechanism, which is capable of loading and unloading an optical disk with a short transport distance.

In the floating chassis support mechanism of the optical disc device of the present invention for supporting the floating chassis with the springs and dampers perpendicular to the rear surface of the loaded optical disc, the dampers are installed outside the projection area of the optical disc, and the area of the floating chassis supported by the dampers is retracted toward the optical disc to a position higher than the lower surface of the optical disc.

In the floating chassis support mechanism, a damper is installed in a tubular portion of a main chassis, and a damper urging member is installed in the main chassis, urging a bottom surface of the damper to install the damper on the main chassis.

In the floating chassis support mechanism, a spring supporting the floating chassis is fitted around an outer wall of a tubular portion of the main chassis and engaged with a first boss formed on the tubular portion.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a floating chassis support mechanism of a vehicle mounted CD player according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a schematic structure of a CD player for vehicles;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a shock absorber mount of the main chassis of the vehicle-mounted CD player;

FIG. 5A is a plan view showing a damper mount of a main chassis of a vehicle-mounted CD player, and FIG. 5B is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 5B-5B in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5A;

fig. 7 is an exploded view showing the main components of the in-vehicle CD player;

fig. 8 is a plan view illustrating a reproduction state of the in-vehicle optical disc reproducing apparatus;

fig. 9 is a plan view of a conventional in-vehicle optical disc reproducing apparatus when an optical disc is loaded or unloaded;

fig. 10A is a plan view showing a schematic structure of a vehicle-mounted optical disc reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10B to 10D are views showing an overview of the locking operation of the in-vehicle optical disc playback apparatus of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a plan view showing an example of a floating chassis support mechanism of a conventional in-vehicle CD player;

fig. 12 is a side view of the schematic structure of the in-vehicle CD player;

fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 13-13 of fig. 11.

Detailed Description

A floating chassis support mechanism of a vehicle-mounted CD player according to an embodiment of the present invention is explained below with reference to fig. 1 to 7. The floating chassis 3 shown in fig. 1 and 2 supports a disc motor 7, an optical pickup 9, and a pickup transport mechanism. During playback of the optical disc, the main chassis 10 shown in fig. 10B to 10D supports the floating chassis in a floating state by the shock absorbers 4, 4, 4 and the coil springs 5 shown in fig. 5 to 7. During playback of the disc, all the shock absorbers 4, 4, 4 are outside the projection area of the disc.

At the time of loading/unloading the optical disk 15, the floating chassis 3 is locked on the main chassis by a locking mechanism (25, 21a shown in fig. 10B to 10D), the optical disk 15 is pressed between the disk guide 1 and the disk feed roller 2, and the optical disk 15 is fed between the playback position and the disk insertion port when the disk feed roller 2 rotates.

When the optical disk 15 is conveyed to the playback position, the conveying roller 2 is lowered and out of contact with the optical disk 15, and the lock mechanism (25, 21a) releases the lock of the floating chassis 3. Thereafter, the optical disk 15 is held and rotated between the turntable 8 fixedly connected to the rotation shaft of the disk motor 7 and a not-shown clamper. The optical pickup 9 is transported in the radial direction of the optical disc to reproduce information from the optical disc.

Fig. 4 shows a seat for the shock absorber 4, which is formed on the main chassis 10. As shown, the main chassis 10 is formed with a tubular portion 10a and a flange 10b integral with the tubular portion 10 a. The tubular portion 10a is formed with first projecting portions 10d, 10d projecting outward. The flange 10b is formed with three second projecting portions 10c, 10c, 10 c. In fig. 4 two second projecting portions 10c, 10c are shown.

Fig. 7 shows the shock absorber 4 and the coil spring 5 in an exploded state. The damper 4 shown in fig. 7 is a bladder made of an elastic material such as rubber in which a viscous fluid is sealed, and is formed with a groove 4a at the top thereof. A shaft 3a vertically mounted on the floating chassis 3 is inserted in the recess 4 a. The damper 4 is embedded in the main chassis 10 and fixed thereto with a damper presser 6 embedded in the main chassis 10.

The damper pusher 6 is made of a leaf spring and has three tongues bent upwards from the bottom thereof, the tongues being formed with holes 6a, 6a, 6 a. As shown in fig. 5A, these holes 6a, 6a, 6a are engaged with second projections 10c, 10c, 10c on the main chassis 10. The shock absorber 4 can be easily mounted on the main chassis 10 by inserting the shock absorber 4 into the main chassis 10 and fitting the shock absorber presser 6 into the main chassis 10. Since the damper pusher 6 is made of a leaf spring, the seat area of the damper 4 can be made thin. The damper pusher 6 may be made by resin molding.

A coil spring 5 extends between the main chassis 10 and the floating chassis 3. As shown in fig. 5B, the lower end of the coil spring 5 is engaged with the first convex portion 10d of the main chassis 10. Since the coil spring 5 can be elastically engaged with the first projecting portion 10d, the assembling work is simple. Fig. 6 shows the mounted state of the damper 4 and the coil spring 5.

Fig. 3 shows the positional relationship between the loaded optical disk 15 and the damper 4. Since the damper 4 is installed outside the projection area of the optical disk 15, the area of the floating chassis 3 supported by the damper 4 can be set higher than the other areas. That is, the area of the floating chassis 3 in the projection area of the optical disk 15 is set lower than the seating position of the damper 4. As shown in fig. 3, the depth from the upper surface of the optical disk 15 to the lower surface of the damper 4 is t ═ h2+ h3 in total, where h2 is the thickness of the floating chassis 3 and h3 is the distance from the floating chassis 3 to the lower surface of the damper 4.

The distance H1 from the upper surface of the optical disk 15 to the upper surface of the floating chassis 3 corresponds to H1 of the conventional example shown in fig. 13. The distance from the upper surface of the optical disc 15 to the lower surface of the damper 4 can be shortened by this distance h 1. Thus, as shown in fig. 3, the device thickness may be reduced by a distance h1 over prior devices.

According to the German industry standard 1DIN, the car audio unit is accommodated in a space 180mm wide and 50mm high. The height of the in-vehicle CD player embodying the present invention can be set at 25mm in spite of the use of a large damper of the in-vehicle device.

According to the floating chassis support mechanism of the optical disc device of the present invention, the thickness of the in-vehicle device using the large damper can be reduced. The assembling work of the damper mechanism such as the damper and the coil spring becomes easy.

An example of a vehicle-mounted optical disc reproducing apparatus of an optical disc reproducing apparatus having a floating chassis support mechanism of the present invention, in which a reproducing unit chassis is supported in a floating state by a main chassis with coil springs and dampers, is described below with reference to fig. 8 and 9. Fig. 8 shows a playback state of the optical disc 29, and fig. 9 shows a state in which the optical disc 29 is loaded or unloaded.

The playback unit chassis 22 shown in fig. 8 and 9 serves to support the optical head and the disc drive unit, and has the mechanisms necessary for playing back the optical disc 29. The main chassis 21 having a plurality of shock-damping mechanisms 28 composed of shock absorbers 24 and tension coil springs 23 supports this playback unit chassis 22 so as not to transmit external shock to the playback unit chassis 22.

Since the playback unit chassis 22 is supported in a floating state by the vibration damping mechanism 28, it moves in four directions indicated by arrows in fig. 8 with respect to the main chassis 21. To maintain sufficient space for such relative movement, the playback unit chassis 22 is typically mounted in a natural state in the center of the space of the main chassis 21.

As shown in fig. 9, when loading or unloading the optical disk 29, the playback unit chassis 22 is locked to the main chassis 21 by rotating the lock levers 25, 25,. and engaging them with the shafts 21a, 21a,. mounted vertically on the main chassis 21 so that the optical disk 29 is correctly aligned with the disk insertion port 26.

The lock lever 25, 25 is rotatably supported by the playback unit chassis 22 and is turned by the lock mechanism shown in fig. 10B to 10D. As shown in fig. 8, in the playback state, the lock levers 25, 25 are located at positions spaced from the shafts 21a, 21 a. In a conventional in-vehicle optical disc reproducing apparatus, during reproduction, the reproducing unit chassis 22 is locked at the same position as the natural state position.

In the above-described in-vehicle optical disc reproducing apparatus, when the optical disc 29 is loaded or unloaded, the reproducing unit chassis 22 is locked at a position away from the disc insertion port 26. Therefore, the distance over which the optical disk 29 is moved to the playback position is relatively long, and it is also necessary to transport the optical disk 29 to a position deeper in the apparatus. Therefore, it is difficult to load the optical disk 29 by holding only the peripheral area thereof without contacting the recording surface thereof. This may cause the optical disk 29 to fall and be damaged, or may touch and stain the recording surface.

Further, since the amount of projection of the optical disk 29 from the apparatus is small, it is difficult to take out the optical disk 29 without contacting the recording surface of the optical disk. This may cause the optical disk 29 to fall and be damaged, or to touch and stain the recording surface. Therefore, a data read error may be generated during the next optical disc playback.

A vehicle-mounted optical disc reproducing apparatus that ameliorates the above problem is described below with reference to fig. 10A. Fig. 10A shows a schematic configuration of a vehicle-mounted optical disc reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 10A, the playback unit chassis 22 indicated by solid lines shows the loading state or the unloading state, and the playback unit chassis 22 indicated by two-dot chain lines shows the playback state. The playback unit chassis 22 serves to support the optical head and the disc drive unit, as in the previous example, and has a mechanism required for playing back the optical disc 29. The main chassis 21 having a plurality of shock damping mechanisms 28 each composed of a shock absorber 24 and a tension coil spring 23 supports the playback unit chassis 22 so as not to transmit external shock to the playback unit chassis 22.

The playback unit chassis 22 is generally mounted in the center of the space of the main chassis 21 as indicated by the two-dot chain line. At the time of loading or unloading the optical disk 29, the lock mechanism shown in fig. 10B to 10D moves the playback unit chassis 22 to the disk insertion port and locks in a position near the disk insertion port, as shown by the solid line. For locking, two lock levers 25 and two shafts 21a identical to the example shown in fig. 8 and 9 are used.

The following describes a brief structure of the lock mechanism of the in-vehicle optical disc reproducing apparatus with reference to fig. 10B to 10D. The playback unit chassis 101 is mounted with a first slide member 103, an actuator 104, pinions 105 and 117, a shaft 116, first to fifth gears 106 to 110, a rack 111, a second slide member 112, and a lever 113. Pinions 105 and 117 are fixed to opposite ends of the shaft 116 and rotate in synchronization. Power from the actuator 104 is transmitted to the rack 111 through the first to fifth gears 106 to 110 to move the second slider 112 in the direction a. When the second slider 112 moves, the pinion 105 rotates and transmits this rotational force to the first slider 103 via the shaft 116, moving the first slider 103 in the direction a synchronously with the second slider 112. When the first and second sliders 103 and 112 move in the direction a and enter the slots of the first and second supports 114 and 115 mounted on the main chassis 102, the playback unit chassis 101 is pushed to move in the direction B and is locked to the main chassis.

According to the in-vehicle disc reproduction apparatus of the present invention, since the distance from the reproduction unit chassis to the disc insertion port is short when the disc is loaded, the disc can be easily loaded without contacting the disc recording surface. Therefore, the optical disc is prevented from being contaminated, and data reading errors are also prevented.

Further, since the distance from the playback unit chassis to the disc insertion opening is short when the disc is taken out, the disc can be easily taken out without contacting the disc recording surface.

The optical disc reproducing apparatus for vehicles shown in fig. 8 to 10D may use different floating chassis support mechanisms without being limited to the floating chassis support mechanisms shown in fig. 1 to 7.

Claims (12)

1. A floating chassis support mechanism of a disc reproducing apparatus for vertically supporting a floating chassis (3) with springs (5) and dampers (4) from a lower surface of a loaded disc (15), the dampers (4) being disposed outside a projection area of the disc (15), and an area of the floating chassis (3) supported by the dampers (4) being disposed higher than other areas of the floating chassis (3), characterized in that:

the upper surface of the region of the floating chassis (3) supported by the shock absorber is set higher than the lower surface of the optical disk (15).

2. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the mechanism equivalent to the depth from the upper surface of the optical disk (15) to the lower surface of the damper (4) is the sum of the thickness (h2) of the floating chassis (3) and the distance (h3) from the lower surface of the floating chassis (3) to the lower surface of the damper (4).

3. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the damper (4) is fitted in a tubular portion (10a) of the main chassis (10), the damper pusher (6) is fitted in the main chassis (10), and pushes a bottom surface of the damper (4) and causes the damper (4) to be mounted on the main chassis.

4. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the spring (5) supporting the floating chassis (3) is fitted around an outer wall of the tubular portion (10a) of the main chassis (10) and engages with a first projection portion (10d) formed on the tubular portion.

5. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the damper pusher (6) is a leaf spring.

6. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the damper pusher (6) is a molded product made of a resin material.

7. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the damper pusher (6) has a tongue (6a) with a hole into which a second projecting portion (10c) mounted on the main chassis (10) is inserted to fix the damper pusher (6) to the main chassis (10).

8. A floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the tubular portion (10a) has a height which is generally half the height of the shock absorber (4) from the base, the remaining height of the shock absorber (4) projecting beyond the tubular portion (10 a).

9. The floating chassis support mechanism of claim 8, wherein the spring surrounds a remaining height of the shock absorber.

10. The floating chassis support mechanism of claim 3, wherein the shock absorber is comprised of an elastomeric bladder sealingly filled with a viscous fluid therein.

11. The floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the damper (4) is formed with a groove (4a) in an upper region thereof, and a shaft (3a) mounted on the floating chassis (3) is inserted into the groove to mount the damper (4) on the floating chassis (3).

12. A floating chassis support mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the spring (5) is a coil spring fitted around the shock absorber (4).