JPH09213038A - Flexible disk drive - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Problem] To automatically lock the carriage at the time of ejection. A lever unit has an eject lever and a lock lever. The eject lever 51 serves both as an element of a shutter drive mechanism for opening and closing the shutter 43 and an element of an ejector mechanism for ejecting the flexible disk 40 from the flexible disk drive. The lock lever 52 is arranged near the carriage assembly and locks the carriage assembly at the time of ejection. Before the flexible disk 40 is inserted, the lever unit 50 is at the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line, and the position is regulated by the disk holder unit. In this state, the lever unit 5
Zero is biased in the counterclockwise direction indicated by arrow D by the spring mechanism 57.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible disk driver, and more particularly to a carriage lock mechanism that locks a carriage during ejection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a flexible disk drive is a device for recording and reproducing a flexible disk. In recent years, the capacity of a flexible disk has been increased, and a storage capacity of 1 M to 2 M bytes (hereinafter,
One having a storage capacity of 120 Mbytes (hereinafter, referred to as a large capacity) has been developed in contrast to one having a normal capacity). Along with this, a flexible disk drive capable of recording and reproducing such a large-capacity flexible disk has been developed.

In the following, a flexible disk drive capable of recording and reproducing data only on a large capacity flexible disk is referred to as a high density dedicated flexible disk drive, and data can be recorded and reproduced only on a normal capacity flexible disk. We will call the standard density dedicated flexible disk drive. further,
A flexible disk drive capable of recording and reproducing data for both large capacity and normal capacity flexible disks will be referred to as a high density / normal density combined type flexible disk drive. When the high-density dedicated flexible disk drive and the high-density / normal density combined-type flexible disk drive are not distinguished, they are simply referred to as the high-density flexible disk drive.

Now, one of the mechanical differences between the normal-density dedicated type flexible disk drive and the high-density type flexible disk drive is that the carriage holding the magnetic head is attached to the flexible disk inserted in the drive. The driving means is configured to move along a predetermined radial direction. That is, while a stepping motor is used as a driving means in a normal-density type flexible disk drive, a linear motor such as a voice coil motor (VCM) is used as a driving means in a high-density type flexible disk drive. I have.

The voice coil motor used as the driving means for the high-density flexible disk drive will be described in detail below. The voice coil motors are arranged on both rear sides of the carriage and are wound around a drive shaft parallel to a predetermined radial direction, and a magnetic circuit for generating a magnetic field intersecting with a current flowing through the voice coil. Have and. With such a configuration, a current is passed through the voice coil in a direction intersecting with the magnetic field generated by the magnetic circuit, and a driving force is generated in the extending direction of the drive shaft based on the interaction between the current and the magnetic field. . With this driving force, the voice coil motor moves the carriage along a predetermined radial direction.

In some cases, it is desired to carry a flexible disk drive. In such a case, it is necessary to lock the carriage so that the carriage does not move even if an impact is applied to the flexible disk drive. Since a stepping motor is used as a driving means in a normal-density type flexible disk drive, a lead screw of the stepping motor works as a carriage lock mechanism. On the other hand, a high-density type flexible disk drive uses a linear motor such as a voice coil motor as a driving means.
The carriage is freely movable in a predetermined radial direction. For this reason, the high-density type flexible disk drive is vulnerable to shocks during transportation.

In order to prevent this, conventionally, when carrying a high-density flexible disk drive, a dummy diskette (flexible disk) is inserted into the drive, so that even if the high-density flexible disk drive is impacted, The carriage does not move.

[0008]

However, the conventional method has a drawback that a dummy diskette must be inserted every time it is carried, which is troublesome. further,
If you forget to insert a dummy diskette into the drive, the carriage will move freely in the radial direction when the high-density flexible disk drive is impacted.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible disk drive capable of automatically locking the carriage at the time of ejection without inserting a dummy diskette. .

[0010]

According to the present invention, a flexible disk drive having a linear motor for moving a carriage is provided with a carriage lock mechanism for locking the carriage in conjunction with an eject operation. can get.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flexible disk drive having a carriage lock mechanism according to the present invention will be described. The illustrated flexible disk drive (FDD) is a device for recording / reproducing data on / from a flexible disk (described later). The flexible disk is inserted into the flexible disk drive from the direction shown by arrow A in FIG. The inserted flexible disk is held on the disk table assembly 12 rotatably supported on the surface of the main frame 11 with their central axes aligned with each other. The disk table assembly 12 is rotationally driven by a drive motor (not shown) provided on the main frame 11, and the flexible disk is thereby rotated. A substrate (not shown) on which a number of electronic components are mounted is attached to the back surface of the main frame 11.

The flexible disk drive has a magnetic head (not shown) for reading / writing data from / to the flexible disk. The magnetic head is held by a carriage 15 via a gimbal 14. A combination of a magnetic head, a gimbal 14, a carriage 15, a voice coil 17, an FPC (flexible printed circuit), a scale, a spring holder and a spring is called a carriage assembly. The carriage 15 is arranged on the surface of the main frame 11 so as to be separated from the main frame 11, and the magnetic head is moved in a predetermined radial direction with respect to the flexible disk (arrow B in FIG. 2).
It is held so as to be movable along the direction indicated by.

The carriage 15 is supported and guided at its lower ends on both sides by a pair of guide bars 16 extending parallel to a predetermined radial direction B.

The carriage 15 is driven along a predetermined radial direction B by a voice coil motor as described below. More specifically, the voice coil motors are disposed on both rear sides of the carriage 15, and have a pair of voice coils 17 wound around a drive shaft parallel to a predetermined radial direction B, and a current flowing through the boil coil 17. And a magnetic circuit 20 for generating intersecting magnetic fields. In the voice coil motor having such a configuration, a current is caused to flow through the boil coil 17 in a direction crossing the magnetic field generated by the magnetic circuit 20, so that the direction of extension of the drive shaft is determined based on the interaction between the current and the magnetic field. A driving force is generated. With this driving force, the voice coil motor moves the carriage 15 in the predetermined radial direction B.

FIG. 1 shows a carriage lock mechanism according to the present invention together with a flexible disk 40. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the flexible disk 40 is inserted into the flexible disk drive shown in FIG.

The flexible disk 40 is a disk-shaped magnetic disk medium 41, a case 42 for covering the magnetic disk medium 41, and a shutter 43 slidable in the direction of arrow C.
The shutter 43 has a window 43a. The shutter 43 is urged by a spring (not shown) in a direction opposite to the arrow C direction. When the shutter 43 slides in the direction of arrow C, as shown in FIG. 1, the window 43a of the shutter 43 is located at the opening 42a provided in the case 42, and the magnetic disk medium 41 is opened through this opening 42a. Can be accessed by the magnetic head.

The flexible disk drive is a shutter drive mechanism for opening and closing the shutter 43 provided on the flexible disk 40, an ejector mechanism for ejecting the flexible disk 40, and a carriage 15 for locking the carriage 15 after ejection. And a carriage lock mechanism.

Referring also to FIG. 2, the lever unit 50 has an eject lever 51 and a lock lever 52.
The eject lever 51 serves both as an element of a shutter drive mechanism for opening and closing the shutter 43 and an element of an ejector mechanism for ejecting the flexible disk 40 from the flexible disk drive. The lock lever 52 is arranged in the vicinity of the carriage 15 and locks the carriage 15 at the time of ejecting.

The ejector mechanism includes an eject button 54 projecting from the outer surface of the front bezel (not shown) of the flexible disk drive and a flexible disk 40 inserted from a receiving port (not shown) of the front bezel on one side thereof. Eject plate 55 positioned so that they face each other, and one end of eject plate 55
And the other end is a disk holder unit (not shown)
And an eject spring 56 engaged with the eject spring 56. The eject plate 55 has a rack 55a at the front end in the depth direction.
The rack 55a engages with a pinion (not shown) rotatably supported on the surface of the main frame 11.

Before the flexible disk 40 is inserted, the lever unit 50 is at the position shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 1, and the position is regulated by the disk holder unit. In this state, the lever unit 50
Is urged in the counterclockwise direction indicated by the arrow D by the spring mechanism 57.

Now, assume that the flexible disk 40 is inserted into the flexible disk drive from this state. That is, when the flexible disk 40 is pushed in the direction shown by the arrow A in FIG. 3, the tip end 51 a of the eject lever 51 engages with the upper end of the right edge of the shutter 43, and the lever unit 5 moves as the flexible disk 40 moves.
0 rotates clockwise. Accordingly, the shutter 43
Slides in the direction of arrow C by the tip 51a of the eject lever 51.

When the flexible disk 40 is completely stored in the flexible disk drive, the flexible disk 40 is held by the disk holder unit in this state by the disk lock mechanism (not shown). In this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the window 43a provided in the shutter 43 (also provided at the facing position on the lower surface side).
Is located directly above the opening 42 a provided in the case 42. The shutter 43 is biased by a spring member (not shown) so as to be in the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.

Now, let us say that the eject button 54 is pressed in order to take out the flexible disk 40 from the flexible disk drive in this state. Then, the lock of the flexible disk 40 by the disk lock mechanism is released. That is, the engagement between the lever unit 50 and the eject plate 55 is released, the disc holder unit is lifted upward, and a part of the disc holder unit is projected from the disc holder unit by the eject lever 51 by the urging force of the spring mechanism 57. Then, the flexible disk 40 can be pulled out from the disk holder unit.

At this time, at the same time, the lock lever 52 is rotated counterclockwise as indicated by arrow D by the urging force of the spring mechanism 57 to lock the carriage assembly. That is,
The tip 52a of the lock lever 52 moves the carriage assembly to the inner peripheral side and engages with it. The movement of the carriage assembly in the inner peripheral direction is restricted at a predetermined position so that the carriage assembly cannot move inward from the predetermined position.

As described above, since the carriage assembly is locked in association with the eject operation, even if the flexible disk drive is impacted while being carried, the carriage assembly does not move significantly. As a result, the flexible disk drive equipped with this eject lock mechanism becomes strong against impact.

Further, in this embodiment, since the carriage assembly is always on the inner peripheral side when locked, there is an advantage that the drive torque of the drive motor can be reduced when the flexible disk 40 is inserted. In addition, the lock lever 52 and the eject lever 51 are used together with the lever unit 50.
Since it is integrally formed as, the cost is lower than that in which the lock lever is configured as a separate component.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the carriage assembly is locked on the inner peripheral side at the time of ejection, but it may be locked on the outer peripheral side.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the carriage lock mechanism for locking the carriage driven by the linear motor is provided in association with the eject operation, the flexible disk is carried while being carried. It is possible to prevent the carriage from moving when the drive is impacted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a carriage lock mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a flexible disk.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a lever unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a flexible disk drive provided with a carriage lock mechanism according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 50 Lever Unit 51 Eject Lever 52 Lock Lever 54 Eject Button 55 Eject Plate 56 Eject Spring

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yoshinori Tanki 1601 Sakai, Atsugi, Kanagawa Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. Atsugi Plant

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A flexible disk drive comprising a linear motor for moving a carriage, the flexible disk drive comprising a carriage lock mechanism for locking the carriage in conjunction with an eject operation. 2. The flexible disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the carriage lock mechanism locks the carriage on the inner peripheral side. 3. The carriage lock mechanism includes a lock lever arranged in the vicinity of the carriage and a spring mechanism for urging the lock lever in a direction to approach the carriage, and the lock lever is a flexible disk. 3. The carriage is in a position apart from the carriage when it is inserted in the flexible disk drive, but locks the carriage in a state where the lock lever moves the carriage to the inner peripheral side by the spring mechanism at the time of ejection. Flexible disk drive described in. 4. The flexible disk drive according to claim 3, wherein the linear motor has a coil attached to the carriage, and the lock lever has a tip end that engages with the carriage assembly during ejection. 5. The flexible disk drive according to claim 3, wherein the lock lever is integrally formed with an eject lever of an ejector mechanism for ejecting a flexible disk from the flexible disk drive.