Optical disk drive

An optical disk drive, including a main frame, a tray to be loaded or unloaded to and from the main frame, a driving motor, and a sub frame to be moved upward or downward against the main frame when the tray is loaded or unloaded, comprising:

• a sliding portion that is slideably mounted in the main frame and driven by the driving motor so as to move the sub frame upward or downward, the sliding portion having first and second sides;
• a sensor, including tension members on both of the sides of the sliding portion so that the tension members are elastically deformed so as to apply an additional load to the sliding portion when the sliding portion slides, and stopper members which contact the tension members and elastically deform the tension members when the sliding portion slides;
• and
• a controller, which senses a current change of the driving motor when the additional load is applied to the sliding portion and which controls the driving motor based on the sensed current change of the driving motor.

An optical disk drive, including a main frame, a tray to be loaded or unloaded to and from the main frame, a driving motor, and a sub frame to be moved upward or downward against the main frame when the tray is loaded or unloaded, comprising:

• a sliding portion that is slideably mounted in the main frame and driven by the driving motor so as to move the sub frame upward or downward, the sliding portion having first and second sides;
• tension members to protrude from both of the sides of the sliding portion and to be elastically deformed when the sliding portion slides so as to apply an additional load to the sliding portion;
• and
• a controller, to sense a current change of the driving motor when the additional load is applied to the sliding portion, and which controls the driving motor based on the sensed current change of the driving motor.

A method of sensing whether a tray, having tension members, is loaded into a main frame of a disk drive, including a controller, by a driving force of a driving motor, comprising:

• rotating the driving motor forward so as to load the tray onto the main frame so as to supply a uniform current to the controller;
• causing a deformation of the tension members as the tray is loaded onto the main frame so as to increase the current supplied to the controller;
• and
• determining whether the tray is completely loaded onto the main frame based on the length of time the increased current value is supplied to the controller.