JP2005158202A - Head actuator and tape drive mounting it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head actuator which is provided with a fine adjustment means by VCM for performing position adjustment of two stages and nonetheless employs no excess parts, consequently can be assembled through the reduced number of steps. <P>SOLUTION: A head assembly in which a magnetic head 81 and its carriage 82 are integrated is formed, a permanent magnet 83 of VCM and a coil 84 are mounted at an end part of the head assembly 80 opposite from the magnetic head 81, while position displacement of the magnetic head 81 by drive of VCM is made in the form of rotational motion by the rotation axis of a rotation shaft 75, to enlarge distance from the magnetic head 81 to a supporting point of a rotation axis, thereby the displacement of the magnetic head 81 being the tilt of the head in the vertical direction to a tape recording surface, that is, position change by an angle is made small. The magnetic head 81 therefore can be displaced linearly in a fine range. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a head actuator that is used in a high-capacity tape drive and in which the position of a magnetic head is finely adjusted by a voice coil motor, and which can easily reduce the number of parts and the number of assembling steps, and a tape drive equipped with the head actuator. .

  A conventional head actuator is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1 below.

  First, a tape drive 10 including an associated magnetic tape head actuator assembly 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the tape drive with the top cover removed.

  The tape drive 10 is for receiving a tape cartridge (not shown), and incorporates a take-up reel 11 therein. The take-up reel 11 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) 13 and 14. The first spindle motor 13 has a take-up reel 11 permanently attached to the base of the housing 12, and the take-up reel 11 receives a magnetic tape (not shown) that flows at a relatively high speed. The size is fixed. The second spindle motor 14 is adapted to receive a removable tape cartridge. The removable tape cartridge is inserted into the drive 10 manually or automatically along a predetermined insertion direction through a slot 16 formed in the housing 12 of the drive 10.

  When the tape cartridge is inserted along the slot 16, the cartridge is engaged with the second spindle motor 14. Before rotating the first and second spindle motors 13 and 14, the tape cartridge is connected to a permanently mounted take-up reel 11 by a mechanical buckling mechanism (not shown). Many rollers (guide rollers) 15 positioned between the tape cartridge and the take-up reel 11 of the permanent spool allow the magnetic tape to move between the tape cartridge and the take-up reel 11 permanently attached at a relatively high speed. Guide it when moving back and forth.

  In addition, the housing 12 shall be comprised with the sheet-metal press chassis which consists of an iron-type magnetic body.

  The tape drive 10 further includes a magnetic tape head actuator assembly 20 which is disposed on a magnetic tape path (not shown) defined by the plurality of rollers 15 and a take-up spool 11 and a tape cartridge. Is positioned between. In operation, the magnetic tape flows back and forth between the take-up spool 11 and the tape cartridge and is in close proximity to the head actuator assembly 20 while flowing over a defined magnetic tape path.

  Next, an outline of the head actuator assembly 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the overall components by disassembling the head actuator assembly 20 into a tape head assembly 30 and a head feed mechanism 40.

  The head actuator assembly 20 is disposed on the base of the housing 12 with a tape head assembly 30 that moves on the magnetic tape surface in close proximity to the magnetic tape. On the base of the housing 12, a guide bar 17 for moving the magnetic tape head assembly 30 up and down in the vertical direction with respect to the base of the housing 12 is further provided.

  As illustrated, the head actuator assembly 20 includes a tape head assembly 30 and a head feed mechanism 40. Here, the vertical direction to the base plane of the housing 12 in FIG. 1, that is, the extending direction of the guide bar 17 is the vertical direction.

  The tape head assembly 30 includes a magnetic head 31 that extends in the vertical direction, a head holder 32 that holds the magnetic head 31 on one surface (hereinafter, front surface), and a magnetic head 31 and an external circuit (not shown). And a pair of flexible printed circuits (hereinafter abbreviated as FPCs) 33 extending to the other surface (hereinafter referred to as the back surface) side. The tape head assembly 30 is assembled and fixed to the head lift body 42 by screwing screws 34 into the head lift body 42 of the head feed mechanism 40.

  As a result, the lead screw 41 of the head feed mechanism 40 having the rotation center axis in the vertical direction is disposed on the back side of the head holder 32, and the head lift body 42 that penetrates the lead screw 41 is rotated by the lead screw 41 to cause the tape head assembly. 30 will be moved up and down.

  Here, an outline of the structure of the head feed mechanism 40 will be described.

  The main part of the head feed mechanism 40 includes a threaded lead screw 41 having a rotation center axis extending in the vertical direction, a head lift body 42 that moves up and down along the rotation center axis according to the rotation of the lead screw 41, and a head The backlash preventing mechanism 43 that prevents backlash of the actuator assembly 20 is configured.

  A lead screw gear 44 that rotates the lead screw 41 around the rotation center axis by other driving means is attached to the lower end side of the lead screw 41.

  The head lift body 42 moves the tape head assembly 30 up and down while holding the tape head assembly 30. The head lift body 42 has a backlash prevention mechanism 43 disposed inside the hollow opening of the semi-cylindrical portion 423.

  The lead screw gear 44 rotates the lead screw 41 that is directly connected with a coaxial rotation center axis, for example, by driving a step motor. The rotation of the lead screw 41 around the rotation center axis moves the head lift body 42 in a linear direction in the direction in which the rotation center axis extends in cooperation with the backlash prevention mechanism 43.

  As described above, the head lift body 42 is integrally formed by a resin mold. That is, the head lift body 42 is obtained by integrally forming a bottom surface portion 421, a ceiling portion 422, a semi-cylindrical portion 423, and a bearing portion 45 with a resin mold.

  The head actuator having such a structure is practically sufficient for a tape having a conventional capacity.

  However, in a high capacity tape, the track density increases and the distance between tracks running in the length direction of the tape is becoming extremely narrow. Therefore, the magnetic head cannot be positioned sufficiently if the head lift body described above is linearly moved in the direction perpendicular to the track direction of the magnetic tape by the rotation of the lead screw directly connected to the lead screw gear driven by the step motor. It is necessary to ensure finer position adjustment.

  On the other hand, recently, for such fine adjustment, there is a voice coil motor (hereinafter abbreviated as VCM) widely used for an HDD (hard disk drive) or an actuator of a micromachining machine, and the head actuator has already been used. Applied. However, there is no patent document using VCM for the head actuator of the magnetic tape. The VCM is an electrodynamic type vibration device, which is a developmental application of the principle of a speaker that vibrates cone paper at a high frequency. That is, when a coil is placed in the permanent magnet's magnetic field using a permanent magnet and a coil, and a current is passed through the coil, the principle that a force is generated in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field and the current is applied by Fleming's left-hand rule. Therefore, a mechanism for linearly moving the magnetic tape in the direction perpendicular to the track direction is required.

  Such a structure requires a linear motion for fine adjustment by the VCM in the same direction as the head feed mechanism. Therefore, since the VCM uses its own driving force, it is necessary to mount the VCM on a head assembly on which the magnetic head to be moved is mounted. This means that the VCM requires a driving force that loads the weight of the head assembly in a direction that coincides with the direction of movement of the head feed mechanism. In other words, further strengthening of the VCM due to an increase in the complexity of the structure and driving force is inevitable.

As a solution to this problem, there is a structure in which the head feed mechanism and the head assembly are coupled by a rotating shaft having a track direction of the magnetic tape, and the magnetic head at the tip of the head assembly is rotated by the driving force of the VCM. However, this rotational movement causes the tip of the magnetic head to tilt in the direction perpendicular to the tape recording surface, that is, in the direction of the arrow shown in parallel with the AA line in FIG. Therefore, a mechanism for making the rotational motion linear is necessary, and the complexity of the structure and the increase in the number of parts are inevitable.
JP2003-203318A (FIGS. 1, 2, and 6)

  The problem to be solved is that a high-capacity tape drive or a head actuator used therefor is connected with a head feed mechanism and a head assembly constituting the head actuator as a two-stage position adjustment by means of fine adjustment means by a VCM. When considering the structure and the driving force of the VCM, the number of parts increases and the assembly man-hours cannot be reduced due to the complicated structure.

  The present invention is a high-capacity tape drive or a head actuator used therefor, and is equipped with fine adjustment means by VCM, so that two-stage position adjustment can be performed without using extra parts and reducing assembly man-hours. Therefore, by increasing the distance from the magnetic head (81) to the fulcrum of the rotary shaft (75), the movement of the magnetic head by driving the VCM, that is, the change in the tilt of the head in the direction perpendicular to the tape recording surface is achieved. The main feature is to make it smaller.

  Therefore, a head assembly (80) in which the magnetic head (81) and its carriage (82) are integrated is formed, and the magnetic head can be moved on a substantially straight line in a minute range by a rotating mechanism having a long stroke. With such a simplified structure, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced.

  That is, the present invention is used in a high-capacity tape drive and is applied to a head actuator including a head feed mechanism (70) and a head assembly (80). The head feed mechanism (70) positions the magnetic head (81) by roughly moving it in the direction perpendicular to the tape running direction. The head assembly (80) has the magnetic head at one end and a permanent magnet (83) and a coil (84) of a voice coil motor that are finely positioned at the other end in a direction perpendicular to the track of the tape. Normally, since the track runs in the length direction of the tape, the moving direction of the magnetic head (81) coincides with the head feed mechanism (70) and the drive of the VCM.

  Specifically, in the head actuator according to the present invention, the head feed mechanism (70) and the head assembly (80) are coupled by forming a fulcrum on a line perpendicular to the moving direction of the head feed mechanism (70). (80) has a fulcrum position and configuration in which the magnetic head (81) moves only within a limited range in which the magnetic head (81) moves substantially linearly when rotating with a straight line formed by a fulcrum by driving a VCM (voice coil motor) as a rotation axis. It is characterized by having.

  In such a head actuator, the rotation axis by the fulcrum can be positioned in the vicinity of the permanent magnet (83) and the coil (84) provided at the other end. In this case, in the integrated head assembly (80), it is desirable to balance the weights on both sides of the rotating shaft, that is, on the magnetic head side having a long distance from the fulcrum and the VCM driving side having a short distance, Further, the rotating shaft formed by the fulcrum may be one rotating shaft (75) having a bearing.

  Further, the head feed mechanism (70) for fixing the head assembly (80) has a lead screw (71) and a head lift body (72) penetrated by the lead screw (71), and is a rotating shaft formed by a fulcrum. Is a single rotating shaft (75) having a bearing and can be positioned on the opposite side of the magnetic head (81) with respect to the lead screw (71).

Also,
The reference numerals in the parentheses are given for easy understanding, are merely examples, and are not limited thereto.

  The head actuator of the present invention forms a head assembly in which a magnetic head and its carriage are integrated. A VCM permanent magnet and a coil are mounted on the head assembly, and the position of the magnetic head is rotated by driving the VCM. In order to increase the distance from the magnetic head to the fulcrum of the rotating shaft, and to increase the distance from the magnetic head to the fulcrum of the rotating shaft, the movement of the magnetic head that tilts the head in the direction perpendicular to the tape recording surface, that is, the position change due to the angle is reduced Therefore, there is an advantage that the magnetic head of the head assembly connected to the head feed mechanism at the fulcrum of the rotating shaft can move on a substantially straight line within a small range.

  Therefore, there is an effect that the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced.

  In order to reduce the number of parts and assembly man-hours, a head assembly in which a magnetic head and its carriage are integrated is formed, and a VCM permanent magnet and coil are mounted on the head assembly, and a magnetic head driven by the VCM is used. The movement of the magnetic head is a rotational movement by the rotating shaft, and the distance from the magnetic head to the fulcrum of the rotating shaft is increased, and the magnetic head moves in a direction perpendicular to the tape recording surface, that is, by the angle. This was realized by reducing the position change.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  3 is a front explanatory view showing an embodiment of the head actuator assembly according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is an AA cross-sectional explanatory view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a BB cross-sectional explanatory view of FIG. In the drawings, only the position adjusting portion of the magnetic head according to the present invention is described, and some of them are omitted from the drawing even if necessary for function. In addition, the drawings are schematically shown in an explanatory diagram, and the shape, relative dimensions, and the like are reference.

  The head feed mechanism 70 shown in the figure has a function similar to that of the prior art by a lead screw 71, a head lift body 72, a backlash prevention mechanism 73, and a lead screw gear 74, and a carriage 82 that holds a magnetic head 81 is provided with a bearing. The magnetic head 81 is roughly adjusted by the rotation of the lead screw gear 74 which is fixed by the rotating shaft 75 and driven by the step motor.

  As shown in the figure, the head assembly 80 is integrally composed of a magnetic head 81 and a carriage 82 that holds the magnetic head 81 at one end. A permanent magnet 83 and a coil 84 constituting a head feed fine adjustment VCM are provided at the other end of the carriage 82 on the opposite side of the magnetic head 81 via a carriage arm. The head assembly 80 finely moves the carriage 82 in the direction perpendicular to the track of the magnetic tape, that is, the axial direction of the lead screw 71 that is the width direction of the tape by the current flowing through the coil 84 constituting the VCM, and stops the magnetic head 81. Finely adjust the stop position.

  In this case, as shown in the side view of FIG. 5, when the carriage 82 holding the magnetic head 81 rotates with the rotation shaft 75 as a fulcrum, the tip portion in the rotation direction of the carriage 82 is perpendicular to the tape recording surface. Tilt in any direction.

  Therefore, in order to linearly move the magnetic head 81 in the tape width direction, the rotational motion of the tip portion of the carriage 82 that holds the magnetic head 81, that is, the portion that causes the head to tilt in the direction perpendicular to the tape recording surface. It may be a small range such that is a linear motion. For this reason, the distance between the magnetic head 81 and the rotation shaft 75, which is the rotation stroke, is as long as possible. Accordingly, the illustrated rotating shaft 75 is located close to the coil 84 constituting the VCM on the opposite end to the magnetic head 81. Further, since the moving range by driving the VCM is extremely narrow and the moving position is specified by the driving current, the moving range is limited. Fortunately, the fine adjustment range of the magnetic head 81 is an extremely narrow track interval, and therefore falls within the linear motion range.

  Also, with this structure, the rotating shaft 75 is positioned at the center of gravity of the head assembly 80 in order to reduce the driving force of the VCM. That is, the weights of the long distance side having the magnetic head 81 at the tip and the short distance side having the permanent magnet 83 and the coil 84 are balanced. Therefore, in the head assembly 80, the weight applied to the rotating shaft is increased, but the overall value of the weight can be reduced, so that the driving force of the VCM is not significantly increased.

  Due to such a configuration, the lead screw 71 of the head feed mechanism 70 is located at an intermediate portion between the magnetic head 81 and the rotary shaft 75 in FIG.

  Further, the connection between the head feed mechanism 70 and the head assembly 80 is illustrated in a penetrating state as the rotation shaft 75, but the head lift body 72 is connected to the rotation shaft 75 instead of the rotation shaft 75. An uneven portion with the surface as a fulcrum can also be formed. In other words, in the head actuator according to the present invention, the head feed mechanism and the head assembly are coupled by forming a fulcrum on a line perpendicular to the moving direction of the head feed mechanism, and the head assembly is formed by the fulcrum driven by the voice coil motor. When rotating with the straight line as the rotation axis, the magnetic head has a fulcrum position and configuration that moves only within a limited range in which the magnetic head moves substantially linearly.

  The fine movement of the magnetic head is desired to be on a straight line perpendicular to the track of the tape. However, since the track of the tape is usually formed in parallel with a high density in the length direction, the movement of the magnetic head is the width of the tape. It may be perpendicular to the direction.

  Since such a configuration is adopted, the magnetic head of the head assembly connected to the head feed mechanism at the fulcrum of the rotary shaft can move on a substantially straight line within a small range, and thus the number of parts and assembly man-hours can be reduced. is there.

  In the present invention, when performing fine position adjustment of the head by VCM driving, the head portion to be positioned at one end and the VCM coil at the other end are integrated and can be rotated around the coil at the other end. Has a fulcrum. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to the case where the positioning target needs to move linearly within a minute range.

It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the plane of the tape drive containing a magnetic tape head actuator assembly. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the overall components by disassembling a conventional head actuator assembly into a tape head assembly and a head feed mechanism. It is explanatory drawing which shows one Embodiment with respect to the assembly front at the time of using VCM for a head feed mechanism with the head actuator assembly of this invention. (Example 1) It is explanatory drawing which shows the AA cross section of FIG. (Example 1) It is explanatory drawing which shows the BB cross section of FIG. (Example 1)

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 70 Head feed mechanism 71 Lead screw 72 Head lift body 73 Backlash prevention mechanism 74 Lead screw gear 75 Turning shaft 80 Head assembly 81 Magnetic head 82 Carriage 83 Permanent magnet 84 Coil

Claims (5)

  A head feed mechanism (70) used for a high capacity tape drive and positioning the magnetic head (81) by roughly linearly moving in the tape width direction, and the magnetic head at one end and the direction across the tape track at the other end And a head assembly (80) each having a permanent magnet (83) and a coil (84) of a voice coil motor to be finely positioned, wherein the head assembly has an integrated structure, and the head The feed mechanism and the head assembly are connected by forming a fulcrum on a line orthogonal to the direction crossing the track of the tape, and the head assembly is driven by the voice coil motor and a straight line formed by the fulcrum is used as a rotation axis. The fulcrum moves so that the magnetic head moves only within a limited range that moves in a substantially linear manner when rotating. Ri rotation axis formed head actuator, characterized in that provided at a position at a predetermined distance from the magnetic head.   2. The head actuator according to claim 1, wherein a rotation shaft formed by the fulcrum is located in the vicinity of the permanent magnet and the coil provided at the other end.   2. The head actuator according to claim 1, wherein the rotation shaft formed by the fulcrum is positioned so as to balance the weights of both sides sandwiching the rotation shaft in the integrated head assembly. Actuator.   2. The head actuator according to claim 1, wherein the head feed mechanism for fixing the head assembly includes a lead screw (71) and a head lift body (72) penetrated by the lead screw, and is formed by the fulcrum. The rotary shaft is a single rotary shaft (75) having a bearing and is located on the opposite side of the magnetic head with respect to the lead screw. A tape drive on which the head actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is mounted.

Images