JPH0119223Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (a) Technical field of the invention This invention is an automatic cleaning method that can clean the magnetic head, which is the most important component of a floppy disk device, without using a dedicated cleaning disk and moreover, before starting use. Regarding the mechanism.

(b) Background of the technology Floppy disks, which have traditionally been used as recording media in small electronic computers, are widely used because they are easy to handle, but because of their high recording density, it is necessary to keep the magnetic head clean at all times. It is necessary to keep it.

However, manual cleaning by an operator is inefficient, and there is a risk of damaging the magnetic head and components placed around it during cleaning. There is the inconvenience of having to keep a disk on hand. For this reason,
There is a strong demand for the development of an auto-cleaning mechanism that can automatically clean the magnetic head by inserting an ordinary floppy disk into the device.

(c) Prior art and problems Figure 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional method of cleaning a magnetic head. Figure 1a is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of a cleaning-only disk, and Figure 1b is a diagram showing a method using a cleaning-only disk. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view for explaining a cleaning structure of a magnetic head. In the figure, 1 is a dedicated cleaning disk, 2 is a cleaning zone provided in a part corresponding to the read/write zone of a normal floppy disk, 3 is a center hole into which a drive shaft is inserted, 4 is a jacket, and 5 is a cleaning zone. is a read/write window provided in a part of the jacket, 6 is a magnetic head, 7 is a floppy disk pressing pad, 8
9 indicates a drive shaft, and 9 indicates a head load mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 1a, the cleaning-only disk 1 has a structure in which a cleaning zone 2 is formed by etching the read/write zone of a normal floppy disk, but other parts are is exactly the same as a normal floppy disk.

The conventional cleaning method will be explained below using FIG. 1b.

Set the cleaning-only disk 1 into the disk device. With this, center hole 3
The drive shaft 8 of the floppy disk device is inserted inside, and the two are connected.

The drive shaft 8 is driven, and the cleaning disk 1 starts rotating.

The head loading mechanism 9 operates to drive the magnetic head 6, which is in contact with the cleaning zone 2 of the cleaning disk 1 within the read/write window 5, in the direction of arrow A or in the direction of arrow A'.

By reciprocating the magnetic head 6 once in the direction of arrow A-A', the magnetic head 6 comes into contact with the cleaning zone 2 and is cleaned by removing contaminants adhering to its surface.

However, such conventional cleaning methods require a dedicated disk 1 for cleaning, which must be kept on hand at all times, and furthermore, the dedicated cleaning disk 1 must be set in the device each time head cleaning is performed. This caused problems in that the operator's work became complicated.

(d) Purpose of the invention The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional methods. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic cleaning mechanism (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning mechanism) for a magnetic head, which automatically cleans the magnetic head.

(e) Structure of the invention As shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the cleaning mechanism according to the invention moves the magnetic head 6 outside the read/write area of the floppy disk 10 which is positioned at the fixed operating position. A cleaning section 16 for cleaning the head surface is provided on the path, and
First and second induction sensors 14 and 15 are provided at the starting and ending positions of the cleaning section 16, respectively, to detect the approaching state of the magnetic head 6;
Furthermore, in response to the output of the switch 12 that detects the operating position of the floppy disk 10, the head loading mechanism 9 is driven to move the magnetic head 6 to the cleaning section 16, and the first
and a head load control section 40 that drives the head load mechanism 9 based on the outputs of the second induction sensors 14 and 15 to reciprocate the magnetic head 6 on the cleaning section 16.

(f) Embodiments of the invention The present invention will be explained in detail below based on embodiment figures.

2A and 2B are views for explaining an embodiment of the cleaning mechanism according to the present invention, in which FIG. 2A shows a plan view of the main part, and FIG. 2B shows a side sectional view of the main part. Note that the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. In the figure, 10 is a normal floppy disk, 12 is a microswitch that detects the operating position of the floppy disk 10, 12' is an actuator of the microswitch,
16 is a cleaning sheet for the magnetic head 6, 14
1 is a first induction sensor that operates when the magnetic head 6 is located at the starting end of the cleaning sheet 16;
5 is a second induction sensor that is activated when the magnetic head 6 is located at the end of the cleaning sheet 16;
Reference numeral 13 denotes an induction mask that activates the first induction sensor 14 when the magnetic head 6 is located at the starting end of the cleaning sheet 16 and activates the second induction sensor 15 when the magnetic head 6 is located at the end of the cleaning sheet 16; 20 is the orbit of the floppy disk, 21 is a stopper for positioning the floppy disk at an operating position, 25 is a scanning plate equipped with the magnetic head 6 and the guiding mask 13, 26 is a drive shaft for driving the scanning plate 25, and 27 is a Guidance guide, 30 is a casing of a floppy disk device, 4
0 indicates a head load control section, respectively.

The operation of the cleaning mechanism according to the present invention will be explained below.

The floppy disk 10 housed in the jacket 4 is inserted along the track 20 in the direction of arrow B.

When the floppy disk 10 reaches the operating position and the tip of the jacket 4 comes into contact with the stopper 21, the tip of the jacket 4 presses the actuator 12' and the micro switch 12 is activated.
Turn on the circuit.

When the circuit of the micro switch 12 is turned on, a command is issued from the head load control section 40 to the head load mechanism 9, and as a result, the drive shaft 26 is rotated, for example, to the left.
The scanning plate 25, which is engaged therewith, is driven along the axis of the guiding guide 27 in the direction of arrow C.

The scanning plate 25 moves in the direction of arrow C, and the scanning plate 2
When the magnetic head 6 mounted on the scanning plate 5 reaches the starting end (the left end in the figure) of the cleaning sheet 16 and comes into contact with it, the scanning plate 2
The guidance mask 13 mounted on the guide 5 is detected by the first guidance sensor 14 . However, the scanning plate 25
ignores this and moves further in the direction of arrow C. Incidentally, the magnetic head 6 is cleaned by removing contaminants adhering to its surface in the process of coming into contact with the cleaning sheet 16 and moving.

When the magnetic head 6 reaches the position where the induction mask 13 is detected by the second induction sensor 15, that is, the end of the cleaning sheet 16 (the right end in the figure), the head load controller 40 sends a scanning signal to the head load mechanism 9. A command is issued to reverse the driving direction of the plate 25 in the direction of arrow C'.

In response to this reversal command, the scanning plate 25 changes direction and is driven in the direction of arrow C'. Thereafter, when the first induction sensor 14 detects that the magnetic head 6 has passed the starting end of the cleaning sheet 16, the head load control section 40 outputs a READY signal, indicating that the magnetic head 6 has entered the standby state. Let me know.

This signal causes the magnetic head 6 to start read/write operations according to a predetermined program.

In this way, this mechanism
Since the magnetic head 6 can be automatically cleaned immediately before the read/write operation by 0, the cleaning efficiency is very high.

(g) Effects of the invention As explained in detail above, the cleaning mechanism of the invention is configured to automatically and safely clean the magnetic head in response to the loading of a floppy medium at the beginning of use. This has a great effect in that it is possible to clean the magnetic head without using a dedicated disk.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1A and 1B are a perspective view and a schematic plan view of a main part for explaining a conventional cleaning method for a magnetic head, and FIGS. FIG. In the figure, 1 is a dedicated cleaning disk;
2 is the cleaning zone, 3 is the center hole,
4 is a jacket, 5 is a read/write window, 6 is a magnetic head, 7 is a pad, 9 is a head load mechanism, 10
is a floppy disk, 12 is a micro switch, 13 is an induction mask, 14 is a first induction sensor,
15 is a second induction sensor, 16 is a cleaning sheet, 20 is a floppy disk orbit, 24 is a floppy disk operation fixed position stopper, 25
is a scanning plate equipped with a magnetic head and an induction mask, 2
6 is a drive shaft, 27 is a guide, 30 is a floppy disk housing, and 40 is a head load control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A switch 12 for detecting the operating position of the attached floppy disk 10, and a magnetic head 6.
In a floppy disk device equipped with a head load mechanism 9 that drives the magnetic head in the radial direction of the floppy disk 10, the magnetic head is located outside the read/write area of the floppy disk 10 positioned at the operating position. A cleaning section 16 for cleaning the head surface is provided on the movement path of the magnetic head 6, and a first and second cleaning section 16 for detecting the approaching state of the magnetic head 6 is provided at the starting end and the terminal end of the cleaning section 16, respectively. Induction sensors 14 and 15 are provided, and the magnetic head 6 is moved to the cleaning section 16 by driving the head loading mechanism 9 in response to the output of a switch 12 for detecting the operating position of the floppy disk 10. and a head load control section 40 that drives the head load mechanism 9 based on the outputs of the first and second induction sensors 14 and 15 to reciprocate the magnetic head 6 on the cleaning section 16; An auto-cleaning mechanism for a magnetic head, characterized in that the magnetic head 6 is automatically cleaned when a disk 10 is installed in a floppy disk device.