JP2757807B2 - Magnetic recording / reproducing device and magnetic head support mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus and a magnetic head support mechanism, and more particularly to a magnetic head support mechanism for contact recording mounted on a magnetic disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, the mainstream of a magnetic head supporting mechanism used in a magnetic disk drive is composed of a floating head slider which completely floats from a magnetic recording medium and a suspension which supports the slider. On the other hand, with the improvement in areal recording density in recent years, the distance (flying height) between the magnetic head and the surface of the magnetic recording medium has been steadily decreasing, and even in MR (Magneto-Resistive) heads having high reproduction sensitivity at present. ,
Some have a flying height of 0.1 μm or less. Also,
In a normal thin-film ID (Inductive) head, a magnetic head having a flying height of 0.05 μm or less has already been developed.

In order to reduce the flying height of the magnetic head, it is necessary to reduce the size of the irregularities and minute projections on the surface of the magnetic recording medium to a value equal to or less than the flying height. In order to obtain a highly reliable flying system, the surface roughness of the magnetic recording medium must be at least 1% of the flying height.
/ 2 or less, and the flying height is 0.05
When using a magnetic head of μm or less, it is necessary to use a magnetic recording medium having a surface roughness of 0.025 μm or less.

In the magnetic disk drive of the CSS (Contact-Start-stop) system, the floating head slider is pressed against the surface of the magnetic recording medium by the suspension during non-operation. The current floating head slider having the air bearing surface and the surface of the magnetic recording medium are apt to be attracted to each other, and there is a danger that the magnetic head support mechanism is destroyed when the apparatus starts operation.

[0005] For this reason, developments are being made to minimize the pressing load of the suspension and the shape of the floating head slider as much as possible, but the most promising is a magnetic head support mechanism for contact recording. In this method, a magnetic head is formed on a contact pad of several tens of μm square, and recording and reproduction are performed by pressing the head against the surface of a magnetic recording medium with a pressing load of several tens to several hundreds mg.

[0006]

The magnetic head supporting mechanism for contact recording can be brought closer to the surface of the magnetic recording medium with respect to the floating magnetic head supporting mechanism. This is advantageous for perpendicular recording (magnetized perpendicular to the medium surface) where higher density can be expected rather than inwardly magnetized), but the contact pad supporting the magnetic head is , The protective film of the magnetic head and the magnetic recording medium is likely to be damaged, and there is a problem in maintaining long-term reliability.

At present, a magnetic head supporting mechanism for contact recording which is put into practical use employs a very low load as compared with the conventional one in order to avoid this difficulty. The suspension is huge and has low rigidity.It can follow low-frequency undulations such as runouts on magnetic recording media, but does not sufficiently follow high-frequency undulations. On the other hand, it is easy to excite relatively low frequency vibration, so-called "flutter", which is disadvantageous for shortening the seek time and wear of the sliding part of the magnetic head due to high-speed sliding with the magnetic recording medium. There is a disadvantage that it becomes intense.

[0008] The object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages,
An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus and a magnetic head supporting apparatus which are excellent in medium followability and can easily improve recording density.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises an electromagnetic transducer for recording / reproducing a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus for supporting the electromagnetic transducer. a head supporting mechanism, the slider supporting adding a floating head slider, a predetermined load supporting the flying head slider flying at a predetermined distance from the magnetic recording medium by supporting and air bearing effect the magnetic head supporting mechanism
In a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus including a suspension mechanism and an access mechanism for positioning the electromagnetic transducer by moving the slider support suspension, the magnetic head support mechanism may be intermittent or non-intermittent with respect to the magnetic recording medium. A sliding member that makes complete contact, the electromagnetic transducer mounted on the sliding member, a suspension mechanism that supports the sliding member, and a suspension mechanism that supports the suspension mechanism and moves at least back and forth, up and down with respect to the magnetic recording medium. , Either left or right 1
An actuator movable on a shaft and connected to the inside of the floating head slider.

Further, in the magnetic head supporting mechanism,
The actuator may be formed by laminating a plurality of piezoelectric elements having different polarization directions, and may have a shape that generates a negative pressure on the surface of the sliding member facing the magnetic recording medium.

Further, the magnetic head supporting mechanism of the present invention comprises:
A sliding member mounted with an electromagnetic transducer and sliding against the magnetic recording medium; a first suspension supporting the sliding member; and a buffer directly or on the sliding member supporting side of the first suspension. A second suspension joined via a member and the other end of the first or second suspension or both suspensions, and the second suspension is connected to the first suspension with respect to the first suspension. And an actuator capable of being displaced in the longitudinal direction of the suspension, in the direction in which the suspension is separated, or in the two directions. Further, the surface of the sliding member may have a shape for generating a negative pressure, and the magnetic head supporting mechanism may be mounted on the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus instead of the magnetic head supporting mechanism.

[0012]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the main components of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention include a magnetic recording medium 1 attached to a spindle 8, a floating head slider 3 that flies at a fixed distance from the magnetic recording medium 1, and a floating head slider 3. A suspension 2 supporting the head slider 3 and further applying a load; an arm 4 supporting the suspension 2; and a bearing 5 for causing the arm 4 to swing.
And an access mechanism 9 having a coil 6 and a permanent magnet 7
And

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.

In this embodiment, when the magnetic recording medium 1 is rotated by the spindle 8, the floating head slider 3 facing the magnetic recording medium 1 compresses the air flow generated on the surface of the magnetic recording medium 1 to reduce the pressure. The electromagnetic transducer 10 mounted on the floating head slider 3 is levitated in a gap that is generated and balanced by the pressure and the load applied by the suspension 2.

On the other hand, the access mechanism 9 generates a driving force from the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnet 7, the magnetic flux, and the current flowing through the coil 6. Then, the arm 4 is rotated about the bearing 5, the electromagnetic transducer 10 is positioned on an arbitrary track of the magnetic recording medium 1, and information is recorded and reproduced.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of the floating head slider 3 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 (a) is a view showing the external appearance, and FIG. 2 (b) is a view showing the magnetic structure shown in FIG. Head support mechanism 1
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of the first embodiment.

The floating head slider 3 is the most general tapered flat type slider having two chamfers 14 and 15 and air bearing surfaces 16 and 17 as shown in FIG. The floating head slider 3 follows a swell of a wavelength several times as long as the length thereof, but becomes insensitive to a minute swell of the wavelength or less, and appears as output fluctuation of a reproduced signal by the electromagnetic transducer. This hinders the improvement of the recording density.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the electromagnetic head is provided on the air outflow end side at the center of the floating head slider 3 by adopting the magnetic head support mechanism 11 capable of following a finer undulation. A low-output signal can be stably extracted from the conversion element, and the recording density is improved.

This magnetic head support mechanism 11 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), a micro-actuator 13 which holds a sliding member 12 on which an electromagnetic transducer 10 is mounted at one end and is movable in the x, y, and z-axis directions (indicated by arrows in the drawing)
And is supported in the floating head slider 3 via the.

Thus, the thermal off-track correction and the azimuth angle of the electromagnetic transducer with respect to the recording track can be corrected by the displacement in the x and y directions parallel to the surface of the magnetic recording medium (not shown). The displacement in the z-direction makes it possible to reduce the abrasion resistance of the sliding member at the time of access, so that the reliability of the magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus can be remarkably improved. Further, the sliding surface 21 provided on the sliding member 12 continuously slides on the surface of the magnetic recording medium at the time of recording / reproducing, and keeps the distance between the electromagnetic transducer 10 and the magnetic recording layer at a minimum.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the detailed structure of the actuator of the magnetic head support mechanism according to the second aspect of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the actuator of this embodiment has three piezoelectric elements 13a and 13 having different polarization directions.
b and 13c, the piezoelectric elements 13a and 13b are provided with electrodes 19a and 19c, respectively.
b are provided, and the piezoelectric elements 13a, 13b
And 13c, insulating layers 20a and 20b are provided so that displacements in the thickness sliding direction are orthogonal to each other. One end of a suspension 18 is attached to the piezoelectric element 13c. In the figure, arrows x, parallel to the edges of the piezoelectric elements 13a, 13b and 13c.
y and z indicate displacement directions due to thickness slip of the piezoelectric element,
A plurality of arrows drawn on the side surfaces of the piezoelectric elements 13a and 13b indicate polarization directions.

Next, the operation of the actuator will be described. First, the electrodes 19 of the piezoelectric elements 13a and 13b
When a voltage is applied to each of a and 19b, a two-axis actuator parallel to the surface of a magnetic recording medium (not shown) is formed. The piezoelectric element 13c is a piezo bimorph, and the bending displacement is enlarged by applying a voltage, so that the piezoelectric element 13c can be displaced perpendicularly to the surface of the magnetic recording medium. Note that the combination of the piezoelectric elements shown here is an example, and the stacking order of the piezoelectric elements, the combination with the piezoelectric elements having other polarization directions, and the like can be arbitrarily changed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a sliding member of the magnetic head supporting mechanism according to claim 3 of the present invention.

Since the surface of the magnetic recording medium is an extremely smooth flat surface, uneven wear may occur in the sliding member of the magnetic head support mechanism if the sliding surface is flat. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, in particular, in order to make the contact state of the portion where the electromagnetic transducer 10 contacts the magnetic recording medium uniform,
On the sliding surface 21 of the sliding member 12, a contact pad 30 provided adjacent to the electromagnetic transducer 10 and a substantially horseshoe-shaped air bearing surface 31 are provided to generate a positive pressure and a negative pressure. The generated negative pressure pocket 32 is formed.

As a result, the fluctuation of the contact state of the electromagnetic transducer 10 due to the "flapping" of the sliding surface 21 can be suppressed, and the damping effect of the air film can enhance the damping of the vibration. Conversion element 10
Can follow the magnetic recording medium.

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the operation of the magnetic head support mechanism and the actuator according to claim 4 of the present invention. FIG. 5 (a) is a perspective view, and FIG.
(B) is a side view.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the suspension A41 has a sliding surface 21 The suspension B43 is joined via a buffer member 42 to the opposite surface of the suspension A41 to which the sliding member 12 is joined. An actuator 44 that can be displaced in the x and z directions is joined to the arm side (the side to which the actuator 44 is joined) of the suspension B43. Here, it is possible to effectively deform one of the suspensions by giving strength to the bending rigidity and the elongation direction of the suspension A41 and the suspension B43 depending on the shape or material characteristics.

In this embodiment, the rigidity of the suspension B43 is set to be higher than that of the suspension A41. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the actuator 44 is displaced in the directions indicated by the two arrows, and both ends of the suspension A41 and the suspension B43 are displaced in the direction of separating from the magnetic recording medium. On the other hand, the suspension B43 is displaced toward the arm.

Thus, the sliding member 12 is separated from the surface of the magnetic recording medium 1, and the suspension A4
1, B43, the load applied to the sliding member 12 can be reduced, and the wear of the sliding member 12 during high-speed seek can be reduced.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, the materials used and the like may be changed without departing from the gist of the present invention, and the above description limits the scope of the present invention. Not something.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the fluctuation of the contact state between the electromagnetic transducer for performing contact recording and reproduction and the magnetic recording medium is suppressed, and the wear of the electromagnetic transducer during high-speed seek is reduced. As a result, the recording density can be improved and a long-term highly reliable magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a configuration of a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a floating head slider 3 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a detailed configuration of an actuator in the magnetic head support mechanism according to claim 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a sliding member in a magnetic head support mechanism according to a third aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of a magnetic head support mechanism and an actuator according to claim 4 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 magnetic recording medium 2 slider support suspension 3 floating head slider 4 arm 5 bearing 6 coil 7 permanent magnet 8 spindle 9 access mechanism 10 electromagnetic conversion element 11 magnetic head support mechanism 12 sliding member 13, 44 actuator 13a, 13b piezoelectric element 13c piezo Bimorph 14,15 Chamfer 16,17 Air bearing surface 18 Suspension 19a, 19b Electrode 20a, 20b Insulating film 21 Sliding surface 30 Contact pad 31 Air bearing surface 32 Negative pressure pocket 41 Suspension A 42 Buffer member 43 Suspension B

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] An electromagnetic transducer for recording and reproducing the magnetic recording medium facing the magnetic recording medium; a magnetic head supporting mechanism for supporting the electromagnetic transducer; and a magnetic recording medium supporting the magnetic head supporting mechanism and acting as an air bearing. A magnetic head comprising: a floating head slider that flies at a predetermined interval from a medium; a slider supporting suspension mechanism that supports the floating head slider and applies a predetermined load; and an access mechanism that moves the slider supporting suspension mechanism and positions the electromagnetic transducer. In the recording / reproducing apparatus, the magnetic head supporting mechanism is a sliding member intermittently or completely in contact with the magnetic recording medium, the electromagnetic transducer mounted on the sliding member, and a suspension supporting the sliding member. And a mechanism for supporting the suspension mechanism and at least front and rear, up and down with respect to the magnetic recording medium. Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, characterized in that it comprises an actuator connected possible inside said floating head slider moving in one axial either left with. 2. The magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the actuator has a structure in which a plurality of piezoelectric elements having different polarization directions are stacked. 3. The magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic head supporting mechanism has a shape for generating a negative pressure on the surface of the sliding member facing the magnetic recording medium. 4. A sliding member mounted with an electromagnetic transducer and sliding against a magnetic recording medium, a first suspension supporting the sliding member, and supporting the sliding member of the first suspension. A second suspension connected directly to the other side or via a buffer member; and a second suspension connected to the other end of the first or second suspension or both suspensions, and the second suspension with respect to the first suspension.
And an actuator capable of displacing the suspension in the longitudinal direction of the first suspension, in the direction in which the first suspension is separated from the first suspension, or in the two directions. 5. The first suspension and the second suspension.
Spence consists of different stiffness shapes or materials
5. The magnetic head support mechanism according to claim 4, wherein: 6. A magnetic head supporting mechanism according to claim 4 or 5, wherein it has a shape that generates a negative pressure on the surface of the sliding member. In the magnetic recording reproducing apparatus according to claim 7 according to claim 1, the magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, characterized in that said magnetic head support mechanism, and instead of the magnetic head supporting mechanism according to claim 4, wherein. 8. The magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
6. The magnetic head supporting mechanism according to claim 5, wherein
Magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by replacing the head support mechanism.
Place. 9. A magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said magnetic head supporting mechanism is replaced with said magnetic head supporting mechanism.