JP2006155685A - Recording / reproducing apparatus and reel motor used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording / reproducing apparatus provided with a winding mechanism capable of stably winding a magnetic tape.
A winding mechanism for winding a magnetic tape stored in a cartridge includes a reel motor (40), a clutch (50), and a winding reel (30). The reel motor (40) includes a disk portion and a rotor portion that can operate independently of each other. The clutch (50) is attached to the rotor portion and winds up the leader tape. The take-up reel (30) is attached to the disk portion and takes up the magnetic tape.
[Selection] Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus represented by DLT (Digital Linear Tape) and LTO (Linear Tape Open), and more particularly to a winding mechanism for winding a magnetic tape.

  This type of recording / reproducing apparatus has been developed for backup of computer systems, and various devices have been proposed. For example, a recording / reproducing apparatus as an LTO is disclosed in Patent Document 1 and the like.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus is also called a tape drive and can be loaded with a cartridge having a single reel (supply reel). The cartridge is also called a cassette. The recording / reproducing apparatus incorporates a take-up reel. When the cartridge is loaded into the recording / reproducing apparatus, the magnetic tape is pulled out from the cartridge and taken up by the take-up reel through the tape transfer path. The tape transfer path is for guiding the magnetic tape drawn from the cartridge to the magnetic head. The magnetic head exchanges information with the magnetic tape. The take-up reel is rotated by a reel motor.

  As disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the cartridge includes a housing, a supply reel that can be rotated and housed in the housing, a magnetic tape wound around a reel hub of the supply reel, and a free play of the magnetic tape. And a coupling element connected to the magnetic tape in the end region and held at the coupling position. The coupling element is also called a leader pin.

  In order to be able to take up the magnetic tape stored in the cartridge onto the take-up reel, the magnetic tape is first sent to the take-up reel by the leader pin. For this purpose, the recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a drawer element. This extraction element can be coupled to a leader pin. The extraction element is also called a grabber.

  In order to allow the grabber to be coupled to the leader pin, the recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with holding means for detachably holding the grabber. This holding means is movable between a standby position and an operating position. Movement of the holding means to the operating position causes movement of the grabber in the coupling direction and coupling of the grabber and the leader pin. On the other hand, the retraction movement of the holding means from the operating position causes the grabber to move in the direction opposite to the coupling direction and the grabber and the leader pin to separate.

  In order to form a drawer assembly after the grabber and the leader pin are coupled and to move the drawer assembly from the holding means to the reel hub of the take-up reel, an operation means is provided in the recording / reproducing apparatus. . The operating means is simply formed by a drawer tape. The drawer tape is guided along the tape transfer path. The drawer tape is also called a leader tape.

  In the conventional magnetic recording apparatus, one end of the leader tape is connected to the grabber, and the other end is connected to the reel hub of the take-up reel. Therefore, by driving the take-up reel in the take-up direction by a reel motor, the drawer assembly can be moved from the holding means to the reel hub of the take-up reel by a simple leader tape. The drawer assembly is united with the reel hub. The combination of the take-up reel and the reel motor is called a take-up mechanism.

  In such a recording / reproducing apparatus using a leader tape, in order to stably read / write data from / to the magnetic tape, it is necessary to take up the magnetic tape on the take-up reel regardless of the leader tape. is there. In a conventional recording / reproducing apparatus, a leader tape is directly wound around a take-up reel.

JP-T-2002-530794

  As described above, in the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus, since the leader tape is directly wound around the take-up reel, there is the following problem.

  First, when the leader tape is thick and strong, or when the winding force is weak, the magnetic tape is not taken up along the cylinder (reel hub) of the take-up reel, resulting in uneven winding. is there. Further, when the leader tape is thin, there are problems that handling becomes difficult and durability. Therefore, the winding of the magnetic tape is greatly affected by the leader tape.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus including a winding mechanism capable of stably winding a magnetic tape.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording / reproducing apparatus (10) having a winding mechanism for winding a magnetic tape stored in a cartridge (20), wherein the cartridge is the magnetic tape. A leader pin (23) connected to one end of the recording / reproducing apparatus is accommodated, and the recording / reproducing apparatus is combined with the leader pin to form a drawer assembly (60) when the cartridge is loaded in the recording / reproducing apparatus. In the recording / reproducing apparatus, the grabber (14) has a grabber (14) and is coupled to the take-up mechanism via a leader tape. And a reel motor (40) including a rotor part (43), a clutch (50) attached to the rotor part and for winding the leader tape, and the disc Attached to a recording and reproducing apparatus is obtained and having a take-up reel for winding the magnetic tape (30).

  In the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the take-up reel (30) includes a cylindrical reel hub (31) having an outer peripheral surface used as a magnetic tape take-up surface, and the drawer assembly. It is preferable to include a storage portion (321, 331) for storing (60) inside the reel hub. The take-up reel (30) preferably further includes locking means (322) for preventing rotation of the take-up reel while the clutch is winding the leader tape. The take-up reel (30) may comprise an upper flange (32) attached to the upper end of the reel hub, and the locking means may be a recess (322) provided in the upper flange. The clutch (50) includes power transmission means (53, 54, 56, 57, 58) for transmitting the rotational force of the rotor portion to the take-up reel when the drawer assembly is stored in the storage portion. It is preferable to provide. The clutch (50) includes a cylindrical clutch base (51) fixed to the rotor portion and having an outer peripheral surface used as a leader tape winding surface, and the power transmission means includes the clutch base and the reel hub. It may be provided between.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the stator portion (41), the rotor portion (43) rotatably attached to the stator portion, the rotor portion (43) rotatable relative to the stator portion, and the A reel motor (40) having a disk part (42) operable independently of the rotor part is obtained.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the said parenthesis is attached | subjected in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, and it is only an example, and of course is not limited to these.

  In the present invention, the reel motor has a structure including a disk portion and a rotor portion that can operate independently from each other, a clutch for winding the leader tape is attached to the rotor portion, and winding for winding the magnetic tape on the disk portion is performed. Since the reel is attached, only the magnetic tape can be stably wound along the take-up reel.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, a tape drive which is a recording / reproducing apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the tape drive with the upper lid removed.

  The tape drive 10 is for receiving the cartridge 20 and has a take-up reel 30 incorporated therein. The take-up reel 30 is also called a spool. The tape drive 10 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing (chassis) 12 having a common base. The base has two spindle motors (reel motors) (not shown). The first spindle motor (reel motor) (to be described later) has a spool (winding reel) 30 permanently attached to the base of the housing 12, and the spool 30 is a magnetic tape (flowing at a relatively high speed). It is sized to receive (not shown). The second spindle motor (reel motor) is adapted to receive the removable cartridge 20. The removable cartridge 20 is inserted into the tape drive 10 through the lift 13 formed in the housing 12 of the tape drive 10 along the insertion direction indicated by the arrow A.

  When the cartridge 20 is inserted into the lift 13, the cartridge 20 is engaged with a second spindle motor (reel motor). Before rotating the first and second spindle motors (reel motors), a spool (take-up reel) in which the cartridge 20 is permanently attached by a combination of a grabber 14 and a leader pin (described later) as described later. 30. Many rollers (guide rollers) 15 positioned between the cartridge 20 and the permanent spool 30 are moved when the magnetic tape moves back and forth between the cartridge 20 and the permanently attached spool 30 at a relatively high speed. Guide it.

  The tape drive 10 further includes a head actuator 16, which is positioned between the take-up reel 30 and the cartridge 20 on a tape path (not shown) defined by the plurality of rollers 15. During operation, the magnetic tape flows back and forth between the take-up reel 30 and the cartridge 20 and is in close proximity to the head actuator 16 while flowing on the defined tape path.

  The tape drive 10 includes a rail 17 for guiding a drawer assembly in which a leader pin is coupled to the grabber 14 between the take-up reel 30 and the cartridge 20.

  With reference to FIG. 2 thru | or FIG. 4, the reel motor 40 which comprises the winding mechanism which concerns on one embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. 2 is a perspective view of the reel motor 40, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the reel motor 40, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the reel motor 40.

  The reel motor 40 includes a stator part 41, a disk part (driven part) 42, and a rotor part (drive part) 43.

  The stator portion 41 includes a mounting plate 411 mounted on the housing 12 (FIG. 1), a plurality of cores 412 extending radially on the mounting plate 411, and a coil 413 wound around each of the plurality of cores 412. And a center metal 414 for rotatably supporting a shaft to be described later.

  The disk portion 42 includes a shaft 421 that is rotatably attached to the center metal 414 via a driven machine bearing 44, and a disk (flange portion) 422 that is fixed to the upper end portion of the shaft 421.

  The rotor portion 43 includes a cylindrical body 431 rotatably attached to a central portion of the shaft 421 via a drive machine bearing 45, an annular casing 432 attached to the lower end portion of the cylindrical body 431, and the cabling 432. It has a cylindrical body 433 that extends downward at the periphery, and a ring-shaped permanent magnet 434 attached to the inside of the cylindrical body 433.

  Thus, the reel motor 40 has a structure in which the rotor portion 43 moves independently with respect to the disc portion 42. In other words, the rotor part 43 and the disk part 42 can rotate independently.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a clutch (driving machine) 50 for winding the leader tape is attached to the rotor portion 43 of the reel motor 40.

  As shown in FIG. 6, a take-up reel 30 for taking up the magnetic tape is attached to the disk portion 42 of the reel motor 40.

  7 and 8 are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing a winding mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. The take-up mechanism includes a take-up reel 30, a reel motor 40, and a clutch 50.

  9A and 9B are diagrams showing the positional relationship between the take-up reel 30 and the clutch 50 when the leader tape is wound around the clutch 50. FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view and FIG. 9B is a bottom view. 10A and 10B are views showing the positional relationship between the take-up reel 30 and the clutch 50 when the magnetic tape is taken up on the take-up reel 30, and FIG. 10A is a sectional view and FIG. 10B is a bottom view.

  The clutch 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 8 to 10. The clutch 50 has a cylindrical clutch base 51 that is fixedly attached to the cylindrical body 431 of the rotor portion 43. The outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51 is used as a leader tape winding surface. On the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51, a leader attachment portion 51a for attaching one end of the leader tape is provided.

  An arcuate first shoe 56 is attached to the outer surface of the clutch base 51 so as to be rotatable around the first rotation shaft 511 so as to be separated from the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51. One end 56 a of the first shoe 56 is a portion that engages with the drawer assembly 60, and this one end 56 a is engaged with a first protrusion 311 (described later) formed on the take-up reel 30. The protrusion 561 is provided.

  The drawer assembly 60 is obtained by connecting the leader pin 23 to the grabber 14. The leader pin 23 is connected to one end of the magnetic tape and is accommodated in the cartridge 20 (FIG. 1).

  In addition, an arcuate second shoe 57 is separated from the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51 on the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51 at a position that is rotationally symmetric with respect to the first shoe 56. It is attached so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis 512 of the lens.

  One end 58 a of a connecting rod 58 is fixed to the other end 56 b of the first shoe 56. The other end 58 b of the connecting rod 58 is placed in the vicinity of one end 57 a of the second shoe 57. One end 57a of the second shoe 57 is provided with a projection 571 for engaging with the second projection 312 of the take-up reel 30, as will be described later.

  A first spring 53 is attached between the first shoe 56 and the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51, and a second spring 57 is attached between the second shoe 57 and the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51. A spring 54 is attached. Since the springs 53 and 54 may be connected to the take-up reel 30 by vibration or the like when the shoes 56 and 57 freely move, the shoes 56 and 57 are usually pressed by being pressed by the springs 53 and 54. Is provided to prevent connection. In other words, the first spring 53 urges the first shoe 56 in a direction in which one end 56 a thereof approaches the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51. The second spring 54 urges the second shoe 57 in a direction in which one end 57 a thereof is close to the outer peripheral surface of the clutch base 51.

  In any case, the combination of the first shoe 56, the second shoe 57, the first spring 53, the second spring 54, and the connecting rod 58 is effective when the drawer assembly 60 is stored in the storage portion. It functions as power transmission means for transmitting the rotational force of the portion 43 to the take-up reel 30. This power transmission means is provided between the clutch base 51 and a reel hub 31 (described later) of the take-up reel 30.

  Next, the take-up reel 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. The take-up reel 30 is fixed to the disk 422 with screws. The take-up reel 30 has a cylindrical reel hub 31. The outer peripheral surface of the reel hub 31 is used as a magnetic tape winding surface. On the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub 31, there are provided first and second protrusions 311 and 312 that engage with the protrusion 561 of the first shoe 56 and the protrusion 571 of the second shoe 57, respectively.

  An upper flange 32 is attached to the upper end of the reel hub 31, and a lower flange 33 is attached to the lower end of the reel hub 31. In the upper flange 32 and the lower flange 33, guide grooves 321 and 331 for accommodating the drawer assembly 60 are formed obliquely, respectively. The reel hub 31 is also formed with a hole for accommodating the drawer assembly 60. These guide grooves 321, 331 and holes are provided to extend to positions close to the first protrusion 311 as shown in FIG. 9B. At any rate, the guide grooves 321 and 331 and the holes function as a storage portion for storing the drawer assembly 60 inside the reel hub 31.

  As is clear from FIG. 10B, the width of the guide grooves 321 and 331 is larger than the thickness of the drawer assembly 60. Therefore, the drawer assembly 60 is housed in a loose state in the housing part.

  As shown in FIG. 10B, in the state in which the drawer assembly 60 is housed in the housing portion of the take-up reel 30, the grabber 14 has a cylindrical surface as a whole. The outer shape is formed.

  A recess 322 is formed on the upper surface of the upper flange 32. The recess 322 is engaged with a rotation avoidance component (not shown) of the tape drive 10. That is, since the take-up reel 30 should not rotate when the leader tape is taken up, the take-up reel 30 is fixed by engaging the rotation avoiding component with the recess 322. In any case, the recess 322 serves as a locking means for preventing the take-up reel 30 from rotating while the clutch 50 is winding the leader tape.

  Next, the operation of the winding mechanism according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, the rotation avoidance component is engaged with the recess 322 of the upper flange 32 to fix the take-up reel 30. In this state, when the reel motor 40 is driven, only the rotor portion 43 rotates. Since the clutch 50 is attached to the rotor portion 43, the clutch 50 also rotates, whereby the leader tape is wound around the outer surface of the clutch base 51.

  At the time of winding the leader tape, as shown in FIG. 9B, the biasing force of the springs 53, 54 causes the first shoe 56 to protrude between the protrusion 561 of the first shoe 56 and the first protrusion 311 of the reel hub 31, and The projection 571 of the second shoe 57 and the second projection 312 of the reel hub 31 are in a separated state.

  When the reel motor 40 is driven and the rotor portion 43 and the clutch 50 continue to rotate, the drawer assembly 60 is stored in the storage portion of the take-up reel 30 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the projection 561 of the first shoe 56 and the projection 571 of the second shoe 57 are placed at positions close to the inner peripheral surface side of the reel hub 31 due to the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the rotor portion 43. As a result, the drawer assembly 60 contacts the one end 56 a of the first shoe 56, so that the first shoe 56 rotates about the first rotation shaft 511 and the projection 561 of the first shoe 56 moves. The reel hub 31 engages with the first protrusion 311. The rotation of the first shoe 56 is also transmitted to the connecting rod 58, and the other end 58 b of the connecting rod 58 contacts the one end 57 a of the second shoe 57. As a result, the second shoe 57 also rotates around the second rotation shaft 512, and the protrusion 571 of the second shoe 57 engages with the second protrusion 312 of the reel hub 31.

  As described above, the take-up reel 30 is connected to the rotor portion 43 of the first reel motor 40 via the clutch 50. At the same time, fixing of the take-up reel 30 by the rotation avoidance component is released. As a result, the take-up reel 30 also rotates, and the magnetic tape is taken up on the outer peripheral surface of the reel hub 31. Therefore, only the magnetic tape is stably wound along the take-up reel 30.

  With the winding mechanism described above, the leader tape is wound around the clutch 50 and the magnetic tape is wound around the take-up reel 30 separately, so that the magnetic tape can be stably wound in the circumferential direction of the tape.

  As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, in the embodiment described above, the clutch 50 includes the connecting rod 58, but the connecting rod 58 may not be provided. The reason is as follows. In a tape drive, it is only necessary to read / write magnetic tapes only at high speeds and to stably transmit clutches and take-up reels. Therefore, when the shoes 56 and 57 are made to have an eccentric center of gravity and the rotational speed of the clutch starts to increase, the shoe is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub of the take-up reel by centrifugal force, and slips with the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub. Transmits rotational force. When the rotational speed of the clutch exceeds the rated value, the shoes 46 and 57 are completely pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub 31, and the protrusions 561 and 571 of the shoes 56 and 57 are engaged with the protrusions 311 and 312 of the reel hub 31. Therefore, slip does not occur and power transmission can be performed stably.

  In the embodiment described above, the recess 322 provided in the upper flange 32 is used as the locking means for preventing the rotation of the take-up reel 30, but the locking means is not limited to this. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible.

1 is a perspective view showing a tape drive (recording / reproducing apparatus) to which the present invention is applied. It is a perspective view of the reel motor which comprises the winding mechanism which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the reel motor illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the reel motor illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where a clutch is attached to a rotor portion of the reel motor shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a take-up reel is attached to a disk portion of the reel motor shown in FIG. 2. It is a top view of the winding mechanism which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the winding mechanism illustrated in FIG. 7. It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between a take-up reel and a clutch when winding a leader tape around a clutch, (A) is sectional drawing, (B) is a bottom view. It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between a take-up reel and a clutch when winding a magnetic tape on a take-up reel, (A) is sectional drawing, (B) is a bottom view.

Explanation of symbols

10 Tape drive (recording and playback device)
14 Grabber 20 Cartridge 23 Leader pin 30 Take-up reel 31 Reel hub 32 Upper flange 321 Guide groove 322 Recess (Locking means)
33 Lower flange 331 Guide groove 40 Reel motor 41 Stator portion 42 Disc portion 43 Rotor portion 50 Clutch 51 Clutch base 53, 54 Spring 56, 57 Shoe 58 Connecting rod 60 Drawer assembly

Claims (7)

A recording / reproducing apparatus including a winding mechanism for winding a magnetic tape stored in a cartridge, wherein the cartridge stores a leader pin connected to one end of the magnetic tape, and the recording / reproducing apparatus includes: The grabber is coupled to the leader pin to form a drawer assembly when the cartridge is loaded in the recording / reproducing apparatus, and the grabber is coupled to the winding mechanism via a leader tape, In the recording / reproducing apparatus, the winding mechanism includes:
A reel motor including a disk portion and a rotor portion that can operate independently of each other;
A clutch attached to the rotor portion and winding the leader tape;
A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a take-up reel attached to the disk portion for taking up the magnetic tape.   The take-up reel includes a cylindrical reel hub having an outer peripheral surface used as a magnetic tape take-up surface, and a storage unit that stores the drawer assembly inside the reel hub. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1.   The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the take-up reel further includes a locking unit for preventing rotation of the take-up reel while the clutch is winding the leader tape.   The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the take-up reel includes an upper flange attached to an upper end of the reel hub, and the locking means is a recess provided in the upper flange. .   The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the clutch includes power transmission means for transmitting a rotational force of the rotor portion to the take-up reel when the drawer assembly is stored in the storage portion. .   The clutch includes a cylindrical clutch base that is fixed to the rotor portion and has an outer peripheral surface that is used as a leader tape winding surface, and the power transmission means is provided between the clutch base and the reel hub. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 5. Reel comprising a stator part, a rotor part rotatably attached to the stator part, and a disk part rotatable relative to the stator part and operable independently of the rotor part motor.

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