JP2934288B2 - Head loading mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a head loading mechanism, and more particularly, to a magnetic disk loading mechanism for a magnetic disk in a magnetic disk or a magnetic head inspection apparatus.

[Prior Art] A magnetic disk frequently used as an information recording medium,
A magnetic head for reading and writing data from a disk is subjected to precise performance inspection by an inspection device at a manufacturing stage. Here, a carriage method of a magnetic head in a magnetic disk device of a practical machine will be described. There are two carriage methods: linear and in-line (or rotary).
A corresponding head assembly and carriage mechanism are used.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show two types of head assemblies and carriage mechanisms. FIG. 3A shows a linear system, in which the gimbal bar 22 is oriented in the radius R of the magnetic disk 1.
A magnetic head 21 is fixed to a tip of the head assembly 2 to form a head assembly 2. In this case, the direction of the magnetic head is such that the slider 211 coincides with the circumferential direction of the track 1a. The base of the gimbal bar is clamped by the clamp unit 3, and the linear moving mechanism 4 seeks the track that has linearly moved in the direction of the radius R. On the other hand, FIG. 7B shows an in-line system, in which the direction of the gimbal bar 22 is set to the circumferential direction of the magnetic disk perpendicular to the linear system, and the magnetic head at the tip thereof slides the slider 211 in the same manner as described above. The head assembly 2 'is fixed in the circumferential direction. The base of the gimbal bar is clamped by the clamp unit 3, and the magnetic head is moved by the rotation mechanism 5 in the direction of the radius R to seek the track.

The above is the case of the actual machine.In the inspection of the magnetic disk or the magnetic head, a driver with a linear moving mechanism or a rotating mechanism is provided in the inspection device according to the type of the head assembly, and the inspection is performed by mounting the magnetic disk on this. Is being done. A method of loading a magnetic head onto a magnetic disk in this case will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). FIG. 7A shows the case of the linear system, in which the clamp 3
The gimbal bar 22 clamped at the bottom is provided with a rotating part 42 having an elliptical cross section by using a support rod 41 below the gimbal bar 22. First, the gimbal bar is pressed upward as indicated by the solid line in the drawing, with the major axis of the ellipse of the rotating part being vertical, and when the magnetic head 21 seeks and stops a predetermined track by the movement of the linear moving mechanism 4, the rotating part To rotate the gimbal bar down to the dotted line, and the slider surface of the magnetic head comes into contact with the surface of the magnetic disk. The magnetic disk is rotated by a rotating mechanism (not shown), and the slider surface floats above the surface of the magnetic disk by a height ΔZ due to the viscosity of the air to access data. FIG. 9B shows the case of the in-line system, in which the gimbal bar 22 descends when the rotating unit 42 is rotated, and the operation of floating the slider surface by air is the same as that of the linear system.

[Problem to be Solved] In recent years, the miniaturization of magnetic disks has progressed, and a thin and thin magnetic head has been developed as a magnetic head, and a head assembly suitable for this has been manufactured. In such a head assembly, the height Zh of the base of the gimbal bar 22 with respect to the surface of the magnetic disk 1 shown in FIG. 4A is extremely small, for example, only 0.7 mm. For such a small Zh head assembly, there is no room to provide the rotating part 42 described above. Further, in the case of the in-line type shown in FIG. 2B, even if it can be provided on the rotating portion 42, it cannot be used because it is provided in contact with the magnetic disk and is shafted.

For the head assembly with a small Zh,
It is conceivable that a wire 43 is provided instead of the rotating part as shown in FIG. 3C and the gimbal bar 22 is moved down by an appropriate mechanism to lower the gimbal bar 22, but the wire 42 and the diameter for 0.7 mm Zh are at most possible. 0.4mmφ one cannot be used.
The strength is so low that it is not suitable for practical use.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a head loading mechanism which can be applied to a head assembly having a very small Zh and can be applied to both a linear system and an in-line system.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention relates to a head loading mechanism, which inspects a linear or in-line head assembly including an elastic gimbal bar and a magnetic head fixed to the tip of the gimbal bar by using an inspection apparatus. A vertical moving mechanism or a rotating mechanism for vertically moving the gimbal bar between the linear moving mechanism and a clamp portion for clamping the base of the gimbal bar. Are interposed.
The vertical movement mechanism or the rotation mechanism contacts the lower surface of the gimbal bar urged downward by elasticity when the head assembly is raised, and the gimbal bar resists elasticity due to the contact between the magnetic head and the surface of the magnetic disk when the head assembly is lowered. Then, a stop plate having an end bent upward and separated from the lower surface of the gimbal bar is fixed to the clamp.

In the above, when the head assembly is of a linear type, the gimbal bar is clamped to the clamp portion in a direction coinciding with the radial direction of the magnetic disk. In the case of the in-line method, the gimbal bar is clamped to the clamp portion by a connection plate that is appropriately bent, with the direction corresponding to the circumferential direction of the magnetic disk.

[Operation] In the head loading configuration according to the above configuration, the tip of the stop plate fixed to the clamp portion is elastically urged downward by the up-down movement mechanism or the rotation mechanism when the head assembly is raised. The magnetic head is maintained at a constant height by contacting the lower surface of the gimbal bar. When a predetermined track is sought by the direct moving mechanism, the vertical moving mechanism or the rotating mechanism is operated to lower the head assembly. When the slider surface of the magnetic head comes into contact with the surface of the magnetic disk due to this descent, the gimbal bar is bent upward against the elasticity, the tip of the stop plate is separated from the lower surface of the gimbal bar, and the magnetic force is generated by the viscosity of the air of the rotating magnetic disk. It is maintained at a position where the flying force of the head and the elastic force of the gimbal bar are balanced.

The above stop plate is attached to the lower side of the gimbal bar if it is made of a thin plate having sufficient strength,
It does not interfere with other parts such as contacting the magnetic disk.

In the above description, with respect to the niria-type head assembly, the gimbal bar is clamped to the clamp portion in the radial direction of the magnetic disk, and the magnetic head performs linear seek movement by linear movement of the linear movement mechanism. For in-line head assemblies,
Since the gimbal bar is oriented in the circumferential direction of the magnetic disk by an appropriate connection plate, the magnetic head performs the in-line seek movement by the linear movement of the carriage mechanism. Here, since the respective parts of the head loading mechanism are the same except for the connection plate, the linear system can be changed to the in-line system by adding the connection plate and commonly used.

Embodiment FIGS. 1A to 1D show the structure of an embodiment of a head loading mechanism according to the present invention. In FIG. 1A, a linear type head assembly 2 includes a clamp 3
And the clamp portion is attached to the linear moving mechanism 4 via the vertical moving mechanism 6. The stop plate 7 is fixed to the lower side of the clamp portion, and the tip of the stop plate 7 contacts the lower surface of the gimbal bar 22 urged downward by elasticity,
The slider surface on the lower surface of the magnetic head 22 is maintained higher than the surface of the magnetic disk 1 by ΔZ. The magnetic head 21 is moved in the direction of the radius R of the magnetic disk 1 by the linear moving mechanism,
When a predetermined track is sought and stopped, the vertical movement mechanism 6 descends by △ Z ′ (> △ Z) as shown in FIG. When the slider surface comes into contact with the surface of the magnetic disk, the gimbal bar is bent upward by the pressing, the tip of the stop plate 7 is separated from the lower surface of the gimbal bar by δz, and the gimbal bar is in a position where its own elastic force and floating force are balanced. . Here, if a thin plate having sufficient strength is used as the stop plate 7, the height Zh in FIG.
For example, it can be attached even when it is very small such as 0.7 mm, and there is no possibility of contact with a magnetic disk or the like.
Next, FIG. 3C shows a case where a rotating mechanism 8 is provided between the clamp unit 4 and the linear moving mechanism 4 to move the head assembly up and down. As shown in FIG.
When the magnetic head is rotated by θ and stopped at the stopper 81, the magnetic head is lowered and the same floating movement as described above is performed.

2 (a), 2 (b) and 2 (c) show perspective external views of the head loading mechanism applied to linear and inline type drivers. FIG. 2 (a) shows the gimbal bar 22 with a magnetic disk. In the case of the linear system in which the direction is the radius R, the vertical movement mechanism 6 is used for the head assembly 2, and the operation is as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). FIG. 2B shows the rotation mechanism 8. When the drive arm 81 is rotated by .theta..theta. By an appropriate drive mechanism, the rotation unit 8 rotates to lower the magnetic head. FIG. 3C shows the case of an in-line head assembly 2 '. In this case, the head assembly 2' is placed in the circumferential direction of the magnetic disk, and the clamp portion 3 is moved up and down by a connection plate 9 having the illustrated shape. 6, the linear moving mechanism 4 moves in the direction of the radius R, so that the magnetic head 21 performs in-line seek. Although not shown, the rotation mechanism 8 shown in FIG.

In the above, with respect to the linear system of FIG.
If the connection plate 9 is added, the system is changed to the in-line system shown in FIG. 9C, and the driver can be used for both.

[Effects of the Invention] As is apparent from the above description, in the head loading mechanism according to the present invention, the magnetic head maintained at a constant height by the tip of the stop plate is moved to the slider surface when the magnetic head is lowered. Due to the contact of the surface of the magnetic disk, the tip of the stop plate is separated from the lower surface of the gimbal bar, and the magnetic head is maintained at a position where the floating force and the elastic force of the gimbal bar are balanced. However, head loading and seek movement can be performed by the linear movement mechanism, and the compatibility of the linear in-line system is possible by adding a connection plate, and the stop plate has a very narrow height tolerance. Mountable under the gimbal bar and abuts on magnetic disk There is a great effect that contributes to a miniaturized magnetic disk or magnetic head inspection apparatus without any hindrance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are structural cross-sectional views of an embodiment of a head loading mechanism according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a), (b) and (c) are inspections. FIG. 3 (a) and FIG. 3 (b) are perspective views of an embodiment of a head loading mechanism according to the present invention applied to a driver of an apparatus, and FIGS. (B) is an explanatory view of a problem of the conventional head loading mechanism. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Magnetic disk, 1a ... Track, 2,2 '... Head assembly, 21 ... Magnetic head, 22 ... Gimbal bar, 211 ... Slider, 3 ... Clamp part, 4 ... Linear movement mechanism, 41 ... support rod, 42 ... elliptical rotating part, 43 ... wire, 5 ... rotating mechanism, 6 ... vertical moving mechanism, 7 ... stop plate, 8 ... rotating mechanism, 81 ... stopper, 82 …… Drive arm.

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G11B 21/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A linear moving mechanism for moving a linear or in-line head assembly comprising an elastic gimbal bar and a magnetic head fixed to the tip of the gimbal bar in a radial direction of a magnetic disk mounted on an inspection apparatus. A vertical movement mechanism or a rotation mechanism for vertically moving the gimbal bar is provided between the linear movement mechanism and a clamp unit for clamping the base of the gimbal bar, and the vertical movement mechanism or The rotating mechanism contacts the lower surface of the gimbal bar urged downward by the elasticity when the head assembly rises, and the gimbal bar contacts the lower surface of the magnetic disk when the head assembly descends due to contact between the magnetic head and the surface of the magnetic disk. Bend upward against elasticity and separate from the lower surface of the gimbal bar The stop plate having a tip, characterized in that fixed to the clamp part, the head loading mechanism. 2. The gimbal bar is clamped to the clamp portion with respect to the linear type head assembly in a direction corresponding to a radial direction of the magnetic disk, and the gimbal bar is fixed to the in-line type head assembly. 2. The head loading mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the head loading mechanism is set in a direction coinciding with a circumferential direction of the magnetic disk, and is clamped to the clamp portion by an appropriately bent connection plate.