JP2931479B2 - Load / unload mechanism for rotating disk recording / reproducing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load / unload mechanism for a head slider in an information recording / reproducing apparatus having an information recording disk which is driven to rotate, such as a hard disk drive and a magneto-optical disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art According to a conventional load / unload mechanism,
When the information recording disk is stopped, the suspension arm supporting the head slider is moved to the outermost periphery of the disk, and the suspension arm is slid up along the inclined surface of the lift mechanism provided near the outer periphery to move the head slider to the information recording disk surface. It is designed to be pulled away from.
At the start of rotation of the information recording disk, the head slider is loaded on the information recording disk surface by sliding the suspension arm down the inclined surface of the lift mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a rotary disk recording / reproducing apparatus using a conventional load / unload mechanism. FIG.
Numeral 1 is a head slider for reading and writing data, 3 is a suspension arm for supporting the head slider 1, 8 is an information recording disk which records information and has a disk shape, and 16 is a tilt in the direction of the information recording disk 8. The arrow indicated by the lift mechanism 17 having a surface indicates the moving direction of the suspension arm 3. Then, the information recording disk 8
The head slider 1 can be moved up and down by sliding a part of the suspension arm 3 at an inclined portion of the lift mechanism 16 installed near the outermost periphery of the head slider 1. In addition,
USPatent
No. 4,933,785.

However, in such a method, the head slider 1 cannot be moved due to the dimensional accuracy of the lift mechanism 16 and assembly errors.
May shift to the data area of the information recording disk 8. Therefore, the load / unload area is stored in the information recording disk 8 with a certain tolerance.
It has to be provided above, and as a result, there is a problem that a part of the data area is largely killed.

In order to load and unload the head slider 1 onto and from the information recording disk 8 while sliding the inclined surface of the lift mechanism 16, the head slider 1 is affected by frictional resistance between the lift mechanism 16 and the suspension arm 3.
The head slider 1 cannot perform a good load / unload operation because the head arm 1 vibrates or the suspension arm 3 is obliquely bent on such an inclined surface and is loaded / unloaded onto the information recording disk 8. There was a problem.

Therefore, in order to overcome such a problem,
Various methods of loading and unloading mechanisms have been devised. For example, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a load / unload mechanism using a shape memory alloy. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 51 denotes a head slider for reading and writing data, and 52, a U-shaped wire-shaped shape memory alloy made of a shape memory alloy material and stored in a direction of lifting a suspension arm 53 described later upward. Actuator, 5
Reference numeral 3 denotes a suspension arm which supports the head slider 51 via a spring-like member 51a having a degree of freedom in three directions at a tip end. Reference numeral 55 denotes a shape which supports the open end of the shape memory alloy actuator 52 and is fixed to the suspension arm 53. The memory alloy supporting and fixing portion 56 supports the U-shaped bent portion of the shape memory alloy actuator 52 and is also fixed to the suspension arm 53, and the suspension arm 5
Reference numeral 57 denotes a power supply line for applying a current to the shape memory alloy actuator 52.

The suspension arm 53 is bent downward in the vicinity of its center (indicated by the broken line 51b in the figure) in order to apply a load load to the head slider 51. In a conventional load / unload mechanism using a shape memory alloy material, operation and non-operation are generally performed using a heating effect by current and a self-radiation effect after cutting off the current.

In FIG. 5, the bending force of the suspension arm 53 normally acts to apply a downward force. However, when the shape memory alloy actuator 52 is heated to a temperature range in which the shape memory characteristic is exhibited, the Due to the shape change, a force for lifting the suspension arm 53 is generated, and the head slider 51 can be lifted. Utilizing these characteristics, current is first supplied to the power supply line 57 during loading.
From the power, draw out the shape memory characteristics by the heat generation effect,
The head slider 51 in a predetermined retreat area is lifted. Then, when the head slider 51 is driven to the load area of the information recording disk, the current is cut off, and the head slider 51 is loaded onto the information recording disk by self-radiation. Next, at the time of unloading, similarly, first, a current is supplied from the power supply line 57, the head slider 51 is separated from the information recording disk, the current is cut off at a predetermined save area, and the head slider 51 is loaded and fixed to the save area. .

The suspension arm includes a load beam for applying a pressing force to the head slider,
An arm that consists of two members, an arm that drives and supports the load beam, and one that satisfies these two functions used for the explanation here, and that is an integrated arm made of the same member. 03-186
117 has been conventionally proposed.

[0010]

However, according to the load / unload mechanism using the shape memory alloy material as described above, the air flow generated by the rotation drive of the information recording disk (hereinafter, referred to as the rotation drive flow). Due to the influence, when loading and unloading the head slider 51, the shape memory alloy actuator 52 made of the shape memory alloy material is cooled, and there is a possibility that an accurate operation may not be performed. Therefore, in order to prevent the information recording disk from being affected by the cooling action due to the rotational drive flow, it is important to determine the wire diameter of the shape memory alloy actuator 52.
That is, the smaller the wire diameter is, the more easily it is affected by changes in the external environment. Conversely, if the wire diameter is large, the heat generation and the cooling rate become slow, and the responsiveness deteriorates.

However, even if the optimum wire diameter can be used, it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate the influence of the rotational driving flow. When the linear velocity of the information recording disk is low, that is, when the rotation of the head slider 51 is stopped, it is more effective to load and unload the head slider 51 because the disk is less likely to be damaged. It must be said that such an operation is extremely difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a load / unload mechanism capable of favorably loading / unloading a head slider in a rotating disk recording / reproducing apparatus. And

[0013]

According to the present invention, a load / unload mechanism in a rotary disk recording / reproducing apparatus flexibly moves a head slider for recording / reproducing information on a rotationally driven disk. A head support mechanism for supporting the head support mechanism, elevating means for raising and lowering the head support mechanism by changing the shape in a predetermined temperature range, and also attached to the head support mechanism and being driven to rotate. And an air inlet for guiding an air flow generated by the disk to the lifting / lowering means to promote a cooling action.

[0014]

According to the above arrangement, the head support mechanism in the rotary disk recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with the air inlet serving as the elevating means and the cooling means. The elevating means changes its shape in a predetermined temperature range, and changes its shape when the temperature changes. Also, as the elevating means changes shape,
The head support mechanism is raised or lowered, and accordingly, the head slider is loaded or unloaded with respect to the disk.

That is, when the disk starts to rotate, an air flow is generated near the surface thereof. The air flow inlet actively guides the generated air flow to the elevating means to cool it. In the case of the present invention, the elevating means is cooled by this air flow, changes its shape, and operates to lower the head support mechanism. As a result, the head slider is loaded on the disk surface. Conversely, when the rotation is stopped, the influence of the air flow is eliminated, and at the same time, when a current is applied to the lifting / lowering means, the lifting / lowering means generates heat, changes its shape in the upward direction, and operates to raise the head support mechanism. As a result, the head slider is unloaded out of the disk surface.

[0016]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a load / unload mechanism according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a load / unload mechanism according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a head slider for reading and writing data, and 2 denotes a U-shaped wire-shaped shape memory alloy made of a shape memory alloy material, the shape of which is stored in a direction of lifting a suspension arm 3 described later upward. The actuator 3 is a suspension arm that supports the head slider 1 via a spring-like member 1a having a degree of freedom in three directions at the distal end, and the suspension arm 4 is opened in the vicinity of a setting position of the shape memory alloy actuator 2 in the suspension arm 3. An air inlet 5 supports an open end of the shape memory alloy actuator 2 and a shape memory alloy support fixing portion fixed to the suspension arm 3, and 6 supports a U-shaped bent portion of the shape memory alloy actuator 2. An arm that is fixed to the suspension arm 3 and applies a lifting force to the suspension arm 3 Lifting part, 7 denotes a power supply line for supplying a current to the shape memory alloy actuator 2, respectively. Further, in this embodiment, the shape memory alloy actuator 2 and the suspension arm 3 shown in the figure are configured to exert a force in the same direction as that shown in the conventional example.

Next, the operation of the load / unload mechanism according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state at the time of unloading of the load / unload mechanism according to the present invention. FIG.
In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes an information recording disk which records information and has a disk shape. Other symbols are the same as in FIG. Also,
FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state when the load / unload mechanism is loaded. In FIG. 3, the arrow 9 indicates the rotation direction of the information recording disk 8, the arrow 10 indicates the direction in which the rotational driving flow flows when the information recording disk 8 is rotationally driven, and the arrow 11 indicates the operation direction of the head slider 1. Shown respectively. Other symbols are the same as in FIG.

When the rotation of the information recording disk 8 is stopped, the influence of the rotation driving flow 10 of the information recording disk 8 gradually disappears. At this time, when a current is applied to the shape memory alloy actuator 2, the actuator is warmed and the shape memory state is maintained. The suspension arm 3 is pulled up as shown in FIG. As a result, the head slider 1 is separated from the information recording disk 8 and unloaded.

Next, when the rotation of the information recording disk 8 is started, a current is first applied to the shape memory alloy actuator 2 to
The head slider 1 is supported on an information recording disk 8.
Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the rotational drive flow 10 of the information recording disk 8 gradually flows from the air inlet 4 of the suspension arm 3 as the rotational speed increases, and the shape memory alloy actuator 2 is rapidly cooled. Therefore, the lifting force due to the shape memory effect is gradually lost, and the head slider 1 is loaded on the information recording disk 8.

As described above, since the cooling action of the rotary drive flow 10 of the information storage disk 8 is utilized, even if the wire diameter of the shape memory alloy actuator 2 is somewhat increased, not only sufficient response can be obtained, but also Load unloading at the start and stop of the rotation can be performed without using the rotation speed detecting means. Therefore, load unloading can be performed while the rotation speed is low, so that more stable load unloading can be performed.

The air inlet of the load / unload mechanism used for the explanation in this embodiment is set at two places in the form of a square, but the shape is not limited. The same effect can be obtained with other shapes.
In addition, the number may be one or more. Further, although a suspension having an arm-integrated shape is used in the description, a similar effect can be obtained even if the conventional arm and suspension are formed as separate members.

Further, in this embodiment, an explanation has been given in which an electric current is applied to the shape memory alloy actuator 2 to lift the suspension arm 3. However, the shape memory function can be performed at room temperature, and furthermore, the cooling of the rotational drive flow is performed. If the function is to sufficiently lose the shape memory effect, it is not necessary to supply a current.
In this case, the power saving of the device and the switching operation of the current on and off can be omitted by not using the current, so that the device can be simplified.

Further, although the shape memory alloy actuator 2 of this embodiment uses a U-shaped wire, the same effect can be obtained as long as the suspension arm 3 can be lifted, such as an I-shaped or spring-shaped one. Is obtained.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the shape memory alloy actuator for elevating and lowering the head slider is operated and non-operated, an air inlet is provided in the suspension arm so that the rotation driving flow of the information recording disk can be improved. The cooling effect of the cooling device is used efficiently. Therefore, not only can the response of the shape memory alloy actuator be improved, but also the head slider can be loaded / unloaded while the number of rotations at the start and stop of rotation is low, and a more reliable load / unload mechanism can be provided. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a load / unload mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state at the time of unloading of the load / unload mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state when the load / unload mechanism is loaded.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a rotating disk recording / reproducing apparatus using a conventional load / unload mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a load / unload mechanism using a shape memory alloy.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Head slider 1a Spring-like member 1b Bending part of suspension arm 2 Shape memory alloy actuator 3 Suspension arm 4 Air inlet 5 Shape memory alloy support fixing part 6 Arm holding upper part 7 Feeding line

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Sogo 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-63-298878 (JP, A) JP-A-63-133370 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G11B 21/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A head support mechanism for flexibly supporting a head slider for recording and reproducing information on a rotatably driven disk; and a head support mechanism attached to the head support mechanism for changing its shape in a predetermined temperature range. Elevating means for elevating and lowering the head support mechanism, and an air flow generated by a disk which is also attached to the head support mechanism and driven to rotate, is guided to the elevating means,
A load / unload mechanism in a rotating disk recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: an air inlet for promoting a cooling action.