JP2000298906A - Disk drive device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] A disk drive device has a simple structure.
Moreover, it aims at maintaining the inside airtightness over a long period of time. There is provided a shutter (3) formed of a flexible material such as rubber for removably closing a medium insertion opening (2) opened in a front panel (1), and the shutter (3) is fixed to a back surface of the front panel (1). Frame portion 4 and a thin portion 5 corresponding to the medium insertion opening 2. In the thin portion 5, two movable flap pieces 8, 8 are formed by a vertical slit 6 and a horizontal slit 7 along a long side. The front panel 1 is formed so that the front end when the medium 9 is inserted is arranged at a position where the front end does not interfere with each movable flap piece 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows a known disk drive device using a flexible material such as rubber for a shutter. In this conventional example, a medium insertion opening 2 is formed in a front panel 1 of a disk drive device, and the medium insertion opening 2 is releasably closed by a shutter 3 fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1. The shutter 3 is formed of a flexible material such as rubber, and has a horizontal slit 7 and a vertical slit 6 at the center and both ends.

When a medium 9 such as a magneto-optical disk is inserted through the medium insertion opening 2, the movable flap pieces 8, 8 separated by the slits are bent rearward as shown in FIG. When the medium 9 is removed from the disk drive device, the movable flap piece 8 is moved to the state shown in FIG.
And closes the medium insertion opening 2 to prevent dust from entering the disk drive.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when the medium 9 is inserted into the disk drive, the movable flap piece 8 extends along the upper and lower surfaces of the medium 9 as shown in FIG. It is in a bent state,
Depending on the frequency of use of the disk drive, the movable flap piece 8 tends to be broken. As a result, there is a problem that even when the medium 9 is not inserted into the disk drive, a gap is formed at the boundary between the movable flap pieces 8 and the sealing performance is reduced.

Further, since the front panel 1 is provided with an eject button 14 for discharging the medium 9 or a light guide (not shown) indicating an access state, the structure of the front panel 1 becomes complicated. There is a problem that the number of assembly steps is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and has as its object to provide a disk drive device which has a simple structure and can maintain the internal hermeticity for a long period of time. I do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the above object has a shutter 3 made of a flexible material such as rubber for removably closing a medium insertion opening 2 formed in a front panel 1. The shutter 3 has a frame portion 4 fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1 and a thin portion 5 corresponding to the medium insertion opening 2. The thin portion 5 has a vertical slit 6 and a horizontal slit along a long side. The slit 7 forms two movable flap pieces 8, 8, and the front panel 1 provides a disk drive device in which the front end when the medium 9 is inserted does not interfere with each movable flap piece 8. This is achieved by:

The shutter 3 mounted on the medium insertion opening 2 has two movable flap pieces 8, and the medium insertion opening 2 is closed by bringing the end faces of the movable flap pieces 8 where the horizontal slits 7 are formed into contact. The medium 9 is inserted into the apparatus while rotating the movable flap pieces 8 so as to push them into the apparatus. The medium 9 is inserted to a position where the leading end surface does not interfere with the rotating area of the movable flap piece 8. In this state, the movable flap piece 8 returns to the original position by the elastic restoring force and closes the medium insertion opening 2.

When the medium 9 is inserted, the movable flap piece 8
In the present invention in which the movable flap piece 8 is held in the original posture, the movable flap piece 8 does not bend and the sealing performance is prevented from deteriorating due to long-term use.

In order to further improve the hermeticity of the apparatus, a plurality of the shutters 3 can be fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1. Increasing the thickness of the movable flap piece 8 of the shutter 3 is effective in improving the hermeticity in the apparatus because the path of dust entering the apparatus becomes longer, but when the thickness of the movable flap piece 8 is increased. In addition, the rigidity is increased and the flexibility is lost. On the other hand, by using the plurality of shutters 3 as described above, it is possible to increase the length of the dust entry path while preventing the occurrence of a bending habit.

In this case, if the boundary positions of the movable flap pieces of the shutter 3 are different on the front and back sides, the substantial path length can be further lengthened. Further, the disk drive device has a medium insertion opening 2 formed in the front panel 1.
The shutter 3 is made of a flexible material such as rubber, which can open and close the shutter. The shutter 3 has a frame portion 4 fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1 and two movable flap pieces 8 by slits. And an eject button section 11 attached to an eject button attaching section 10 provided on the front panel 1 is integrally formed on the frame section 4. it can.

In the present invention, an eject button 11 is formed integrally with the frame 4 of the shutter 3. Since the shutter 3 is formed of a flexible material, the shutter 3 has a predetermined elastic movable region, and presses an eject switch 16 disposed in the apparatus by using movement in the elastic movable region. When the eject button portion 11 to be operated is integrally formed, it is not necessary to separately mount the eject button 14, so that the number of parts is reduced and the assembling workability is improved.

Further, when a synthetic resin is used as the flexible material, it can be made transparent and translucent.
By doing so, it is possible to use the light guide 15 for guiding the lighting light of the LED or the like arranged in the device to the surface of the front panel 1. By forming the light guide 13 in the shutter 3, it is not necessary to prepare a separate light guide 15, so that the number of parts is reduced and the assembling workability is improved. Note that the light guide section 13 may be one in which only the light guide region such as an LED is formed of a transparent body, or that the entire shutter 3 is formed of a transparent material. Further, the entire shutter 3 may be formed of a transparent body, and an opaque coating film or the like may be formed in a region other than the light guide region.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a disk drive device has a front panel 1 arranged on a front surface of a housing 17, and a medium 9 such as a magneto-optical disk is inserted into the front panel 1. A medium insertion opening 2 for opening the medium is opened. An eject button 14 for taking out the medium 9 inserted into the disk drive and a light guide 15 for indicating an access state to the medium 9 or a power-on state are arranged near the medium insertion opening 2. Is done.

The medium insertion opening 2 is closed by a shutter 3 to prevent dust and the like from entering the inside of the disk drive device. The shutter 3 is formed of a synthetic resin material such as a synthetic rubber, and includes a frame portion 4 and a thin portion 5 as shown in FIG. The thin portion 5 is formed in substantially the same shape as the medium insertion opening 2, and the frame portion 4 is formed so as to surround the thin portion 5. The thin portion 5 is formed to be thin enough to allow the movable flap piece 8 to exhibit sufficient flexibility, as will be described later, whereas the frame portion 4 is formed to have a predetermined rigidity required for mounting. The shutter 3 is mounted with the frame portion 4 fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1. The above-mentioned eject button 14 and the notch 4a for fitting the material of the light guide portion 13 are formed in the frame portion 4.
Is provided.

The thin portion 5 of the shutter 3 has two vertical slits 6 along the vertical side of the medium insertion opening 2 and one horizontal slit 7 along the horizontal side from the center of the medium insertion opening 2. The two movable flap pieces 8 are separated. The vertical slit 6 and the horizontal slit 7 are in contact with each other in the initial state shown in FIG. 2 and prohibit intrusion of dust into the disk drive.

As shown in FIG. 3A, when the medium 9 is inserted through the medium insertion opening 2, the movable flap piece 8 bends backward to allow the medium 9 to pass. As shown in FIG. 3B, the accommodation depth of the medium 9 is such that the medium 9 does not interfere with the rotation region of the movable flap piece 8 (indicated by a chain line in FIG. 3B), and the movable flap piece 8 returns. Since the operation is set so as not to hinder the operation, when the medium 9 is set at the predetermined position, the movable flap piece 8 is restored to the initial position by the elastic restoring force and closes the medium insertion opening 2. When the eject button 14 is operated in this state, as shown in FIG. 3C, the movable flap piece 8 is pushed by the medium 9 and bent forward of the front panel 1 to allow the medium 9 to pass.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the movable flap piece 8 is at the initial position in a state where the medium 9 is accommodated, and the movable flap piece 8 is bent backward and forward once by inserting and removing the medium 9. There is no bending habit.

Although the case where one shutter 3 is fixed to the back surface of the front panel 1 has been described above, FIG.
As shown in (a), two or more shutters 3 can be fixed with the movable flap pieces 8 brought into close contact with each other. In this case, the length of the shutter 3 blocking dust is increased, so that the airtightness inside the disk drive device can be improved. In this case, FIG.
As shown in (b), if the boundaries of the movable flap pieces 8 are different between the front and the rear, the dust entry path becomes a zigzag path, so that the airtightness can be improved. In order to make the dust entry path a zigzag path, two types of shutters 3 having different positions of the horizontal slit 7 may be overlapped.
As shown in (b), the number of component types can be reduced by inverting and using the same type of shutter 3.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the following description of the embodiments, the same components as those in the above-described embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawings, and description thereof will be omitted. In this embodiment, an eject button 11 is integrally bulged on the frame 4 of the shutter 3. The eject button section 11 penetrates the eject button mounting section 10 opened on the front panel 1 and has a front end face exposed at the front surface of the front panel 1 and replaces the eject button 14 described above. The eject button portion 11 is formed in a cantilever shape by making cuts 11a in both side edges in order to reduce resistance when the pushing operation is performed.

When the eject button 14 is pressed with the shutter 3 fixed, the back wall of the eject button section 11 presses the eject switch 16 fixed in the disk drive to eject the medium 9 in the disk drive. it can.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the shutter 3 is made of a transparent synthetic resin material, and the light guide 13 is bulged integrally with the frame 4. The light guide section 13 penetrates the light guide mounting section 12 formed in the front panel 1 and has a front end face exposed at the front panel 1 front face, and replaces the light guide 15 described above. When the medium 9 is accessed in the disk drive device in which the shutter 3 is fixed, a display device 18 such as an LED in the disk drive device is turned on, and light emitted from the display device 18 is transmitted through the frame unit 4 to the light guide unit. 13
To allow the user to recognize the access state of the medium 9.

In the above description, the case where the entire shutter 3 is formed of a transparent material has been described, but the light guide portion 13 is formed by double-molding a transparent synthetic resin material from the front surface to the back surface. You can also. It is also possible to use a shutter 3 provided with both the light guide unit 13 in the present embodiment and the eject button unit 11 in the above-described second embodiment.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the structure can be simplified and the internal sealing can be maintained for a long period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing main parts of FIG. 1, wherein FIG.
(B) is a sectional view taken along line 2B-2B of (a), (c) is a front view of the shutter, and (d) is a sectional view taken along line 2D-2D of (c).

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing insertion and removal of a medium, wherein FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an insertion process, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an insertion completed state, and FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a modification of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention;
Is a front view, (b) is a sectional view taken along line 5B-5B of (a),
(C) is a front view of the shutter, and (d) is 5D-5 of (c).
It is D sectional drawing.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention, in which (a)
Is a front view, (b) is a sectional view taken along line 6B-6B of (a),
(C) is a front view of the shutter, and (d) is 6D-6 of (c).
It is D sectional drawing.

7A is a front view, FIG. 7B is a sectional view taken along line 7B-7B of FIG. 7A, FIG. 7C is a view showing an initial state, and FIG. FIG. 7E is a diagram showing an insertion completed state, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front panel 2 Medium insertion opening 3 Shutter 4 Frame part 5 Thin part 6 Vertical slit 7 Horizontal slit 8 Movable flap piece 9 Medium 10 Eject button mounting part 11 Eject button part 12 Light guide mounting part 13 Light guide part

Claims (5)

[Claims] A shutter formed of a flexible material such as rubber for removably closing a medium insertion opening formed in the front panel, wherein the shutter has a frame fixed to a back surface of the front panel; A thin portion corresponding to the medium insertion opening, and two movable flap pieces are formed in the thin portion by a vertical slit and a horizontal slit along a long side; A disk drive device whose front end is located at a position where it does not interfere with each movable flap piece. 2. The disk drive according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of said shutters are fixed to a back surface of a front panel. 3. The disk drive device according to claim 2, wherein said flap piece boundary positions of said shutters are different from each other. 4. A shutter formed of a flexible material such as rubber for removably closing a medium insertion opening 2 opened in a front panel, wherein the shutter is fixed to a back surface of the front panel. And a thin portion separated into two movable flap pieces by a slit, wherein the frame portion is integrally formed with an eject button portion mounted on an eject button mounting portion provided on a front panel. Drive device. 5. A shutter formed of an elastic material such as rubber for removably closing a medium insertion opening formed in a front panel, wherein the shutter has a frame fixed to the back surface of the front panel, and a slit. And a thin-walled portion separated into two movable flap pieces by a light-transmitting material. The frame portion has a light guide mounted on a light guide mounting portion provided on a front panel. A disk drive device in which a part is integrally formed.