JP2549577Y2 - Floating head support - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a floating head support used in a magnetic disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a magnetic disk drive, a floating head slider having a magnetic head mounted on one end surface thereof is used. The floating head slider flies above the disk due to the mechanical effect of the high-speed airflow generated by the high-speed rotation of the disk, and performs recording and reproduction while maintaining a slight gap between the magnetic head and the recording medium. The gimbal spring moves the disc in the pitch, roll, and perpendicular directions to the disc surface while keeping the spacing constant against the surface protrusions and undulations of the disc. A gimbal spring is added to the gimbal spring to control the flying height of the head slider and to support the head for moving the magnetic head over an arbitrary recording track.

On the other hand, in the current magnetic disk drive, as a start / stop method, a floating head slider and a disk are installed in contact with each other when the disk stops rotating.
A so-called contact start / stop operation that starts the rotation of the disk, levitates the floating head slider as the rotation speed increases, performs normal operation, and lowers the disk rotation speed when the disk stops, causing the floating head slider to land on the disk again. (CSS)
The method is the mainstream. In the CSS method, the floating head slider and the disk surface are driven through each stage of contact, low-speed sliding, separation, low-speed sliding, and contact, which may cause friction and wear problems. Wear can also cause head crashes.

[0004]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] The CSS system has a feature that the structure of the mechanism is simple, but has the following problems. That is, the first problem is the problem of contact sliding that inevitably occurs during CSS. When the rotation speed of the disk reaches a certain speed or more, the floating head slider generates a sufficient levitation force, so that the floating head slider and the disk surface are kept in non-contact. The levitation force acting on the head slider is small, so that the floating head slider and the disk slide while contacting each other. Such contact sliding also occurs when the disk stops, in which case the floating head slider transitions from a fluid lubricated state to a contact sliding state.

[0005] Usually, the floating head slider is made of a very hard material such as ceramic. On the other hand, the disk has a protective film made of carbon or the like to protect the magnetic recording layer, and a lubricant on the surface to reduce the frictional resistance during contact sliding with the floating head slider and to suppress wear. However, due to the characteristics of magnetic recording, since they are formed of a thin film, their hardness is smaller than that of a floating head slider. Therefore, there is a problem of friction and wear at the time of contact sliding, and fine friction and wear powder generated at this time may hinder stable movement of the floating head slider, possibly leading to head crash.

[0006] The second problem is that the finishing precision of the slider lubrication surface of the floating head slider, which is required to be further reduced, is required to be extremely smooth. The demand for high flatness that does not impede the amount may cause the floating head slider and the disk to stick when the disk is stopped. Once suction occurs, the frictional force increases sharply, making it difficult to start the disk.

[0007] Therefore, in order to avoid the above problems, a disk drive start / stop system, that is, a floating head load / unload system in which the floating head slider and the disk surface always operate in a non-contact manner is required. This involves loading the floating head slider, which is mounted on the floating head slider support, through the process of approaching the surface of the magnetic disk medium, and moving the floating head slider away from the surface of the magnetic disk medium by the force provided by some mechanism. Unloading is required.

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a floating head support suitable for a floating head load / unload system which has solved the above-mentioned problems.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a gimbal spring comprising a floating head slider, a tongue-shaped leaf spring supporting the floating head slider, and a gimbal spring joined to one end of the gimbal spring. A floating head support comprising a leaf spring-shaped load spring for applying an appropriate load, wherein the load spring substantially moves away from the surface of the magnetic recording medium when the floating head support is used. A flat tab that extends vertically and is substantially perpendicular to the flange and substantially parallel to the media surface at a tip portion of the flange formed at the end of the load spring near the head as viewed from the fixed portion of the floating head support. Is provided.

In another aspect of the present invention, the width of the flange of the load spring is tapered from the fixed portion of the floating head support.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a floating head support according to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a view showing a preferred embodiment of the floating head support according to claim 1 of the present invention. There are many possible configurations for the floating head support of the present invention, but the most general configuration will be described here.

The floating head support of this embodiment has a floating head slider 1, a gimbal spring 2 for supporting the floating head slider, and this gimbal spong joined to one end thereof. The basic part of the load spring 3 is a plate spring-shaped load spring 3 which adds a load spring, a flange 4 which constitutes a part of the load spring and imparts appropriate rigidity to the load spung, and a mount 7 which is joined to a positioner mechanism (not shown). Is configured.

At the tip 5 of the load spring 3,
The flange 4 formed substantially perpendicular to the load spring 3 is bent outward at about 90 degrees with a part thereof being further angled, and the bent portion of the tab 6 is substantially not shown in the drawing. It is set to be almost parallel to the disk plane. That is, FIG. 2 shows a side view thereof, and the tab 6 is bent at one end of the flange 4 opposite to the side extending from the load spring 3, and is substantially parallel to the load spring 3.

In order to explain the role of the tab 6, the operation of the preferred head load / unload mechanism to which the floating head support of the present invention is applied is described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the floating head slider 1 is loaded on the magnetic disk 101. As is well known, in this state, the floating head support of this embodiment is joined to the data arm 103 by the mount 7, and the floating head support is inserted between the magnetic disks 101 and used. Here, in order to avoid mechanical interference between the upper and lower floating head supports, a gap is provided at the tip of the load spring. Reference numeral 102 denotes a load / unload operation bar. During this operation, a gap is provided between the bar 102 and the load spring 3 of the floating head support to avoid this interference.
FIG. 4 shows a state in which the floating head slider 1 which is unloaded in the load / unload operation is retracted from the surface of the magnetic disk 101. In this state, in order to prevent destruction of recorded data due to unexpected contact between the floating head slider 1 and the surface of the magnetic disk 101,
A necessary and sufficient gap is secured between the floating head slider 1 and the magnetic disk 101. The absolute amount of the necessary and sufficient gap depends on the device, but the amount is often about the gap between the vertically floating head supports described above,
It needs to be larger. In such a case, in the floating head support of the present invention, the tabs 6 provided at the tips of the load springs 3 contact each other between the upper and lower floating head supports, and hold the forced displacement caused by the bar 102. Each other. Then, the collision between the upper and lower floating head supports caused by the load / unload operation conditions or the manufacturing tolerance of the bar 102 or the floating head support is detected. Even when the amount of displacement at the tip of the floating head support caused by the bar 102 exceeds a gap previously prepared between the upper and lower floating head supports, the contact between the upper and lower sides is received by the flat tab 6. By receiving the load due to the forced displacement by the tab 6, excessive displacement can be caused by the load spring 3 and the flange 4
Can be absorbed by the deflection.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing the configuration of the tab 6 of the present embodiment in detail. FIG. 6 shows a state of a tip of a conventional load spring for comparison. As will be understood from the above description, the conventional load spring is formed of a thin plate having a thickness of about 3 mm in a channel shape due to the structure of the flange. In this embodiment, the tab 4 is formed by bending the flange 4 at the front end 5 thereof. doing. Since the tab 6 is integral with the flange 4, it can be formed without using any special manufacturing means, and can be formed at the same time when the flange 4 of the load spring 3 is processed, which is advantageous in cost.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views illustrating the operation and effect of the tab 6. FIG. 7 shows the upper and lower floating head supports shown in FIG. It shows a contact situation in a situation where the heads are unloaded in contact with each other. On the other hand, FIG. 8 shows the contact relationship of the load spring in a similar situation when a conventional floating head support is used. As described with reference to FIG. 4, when the upper and lower floating head supports come into contact with each other, in the case of the present embodiment, even if there is an assembling error of the upper and lower floating head supports due to the presence of the tab 6, the tab 6 can be used. Since the surfaces bear the loads on each other, no excessive force is applied to the floating head support, and the generation of dust due to contact is minimized. FIG. 8 shows the contact between the load springs of the upper and lower floating head supports that are ideally assembled. In actuality, as described above, this plate thickness is as thin as about 3 mm. Due to the slight error, the contact between them becomes uneven, and when the plate edges come into contact with each other, deformation of the mechanism or generation of dust due to damage of the edge occurs, and as a result, a head crash is caused.
Since the load / unload operation is frequently performed particularly in a small disk device of 3.5 or 2.5 inch class, it is apparent that the difference between the present embodiment and the conventional contact state becomes more remarkable.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a preferred embodiment according to claim 2 of the present invention, which is characterized in that, in addition to the tab of claim 1, the flange 4 is formed into a tapered taper. This has the same operation and effect as the first embodiment, but in a device having a short distance between magnetic disks, the effective distance at the time of head unloading can be further increased.

By using the floating head support of the present invention, contact between the floating head supports in the magnetic disk drive employing the load / unload method is allowed, and there is a possibility that the floating head support may generate contact. Since dust can be minimized, head crash and head suction problems can be avoided, and a highly reliable magnetic disk drive can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a floating head support according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a load / unload operation of the magnetic disk device.

FIG. 4 is a side view for explaining an unload operation of the load / unload operation of the magnetic disk device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing in detail a load spring tip in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing in detail a tip of a load spring of a conventional floating head support.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the floating head support of the embodiment of FIG. 1 is unloaded.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where a conventional floating head support is unloaded.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing an embodiment of the floating head support according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Floating head slider 2 Gimbal spring 3 Load spring 4 Flange 5 Tip part 6 Tab 7 Mount 101 Magnetic disk 102 Bar 103 Data arm

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A gimbal spring comprising a floating head slider, a tongue-shaped leaf spring supporting the floating head slider, and the gimbal spring joined to one end thereof;
A floating head support comprising a leaf spring-shaped load spring for simultaneously applying an appropriate load to the floating head slider. In the load spring, the floating head support is used from the surface of the magnetic recording medium when the floating head support is used. Extending substantially perpendicularly in a direction away from the head, as viewed from the fixed portion of the floating head support of the flange formed at the end of the load spring, substantially perpendicular to the flange,
A floating head support having a planar tab substantially parallel to a media surface. 2. The floating head support according to claim 1, wherein the flange width of the load spring is machined into a tapered shape from a fixing portion of the floating head support.