JPH02312075A - Floating head loading and unloading mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress the accurance of dust by embossing a part which abuts on a head support body holding mechanism at right angles to the lengthwise direction of a load spring, and evading frictional abrasion and suction. CONSTITUTION:When a device is not in operation, the floating head support body holding mechanism holds a floating head and holds a floating head slider 3 separate from the surface of a magnetic disk medium 9. Here, the embossment 5 provided to the load spring 2 crosses the lengthwise direction of the spring 2 at right angles and its hollow depth increases gradually from one end to the other end. At this time, the slider 3 floats over the medium 9 in a stationary state and the height of the holding mechanism from the medium 9 is prescribed. Here, when the prescribed value is exceeded, the spring 2 moves to maintain the prescribed value, so the frictional abrasion and suction between the slide 3 and medium 9 due to a contact stop CSS are evaded. Consequently, the occurance of dust can be minimized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a load-unload mechanism for a floating head slider used in a magnetic disk drive.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic disk drive uses a floating head slider having a magnetic head mounted on one end surface thereof. The floating head slider floats above the disk using high-speed airflow generated by the high-speed rotation of the disk, and records and plays while maintaining a small gap between the magnetic head and the recording medium. A gimbal spring is used to maintain a constant spacing while allowing free movement in each of the pitch, roll, and parallel directions. A load spring is added to the gimbal spring to support the magnetic head in order to move it onto any recording track.

On the other hand, in current magnetic disk drives, as a start/stop method, when the disk rotation stops, the floating head slider and the disk are placed in contact with each other, and the disk rotation is started and the floating head slider is levitated as the rotation speed increases. The mainstream is the so-called contact start/stop (C3S) method, in which normal operation is performed and the floating head slider lands on the disk by lowering the disk rotational speed when the disk is stopped. In the C3S method, the floating head slider and the disk surface go through the stages of contact, low-speed sliding, separation, low-speed sliding, and contact, which can cause friction and wear problems, and in some cases, the friction Head crashes can also occur due to wear.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The C8S method has a feature that the mechanism configuration is simple, but
It has the following problems. That is, the first is C8
This is a problem of contact sliding that inevitably occurs during S. When the rotational speed of the disk reaches a certain speed, sufficient levitation force is generated in the floating head slider, so the floating head slider and the disk are kept out of contact, but immediately after the disk starts rotating, the floating head slider The levitation force acting on the disk is small, so that the floating head slider and the disk slide while in contact with each other. Such contact sliding also occurs when the disk is stopped, in which case the floating head slider transitions from a fluid lubrication state to a contact sliding state.

Floating head sliders are typically made of extremely hard materials such as ceramics. On the other hand, disks have a protective film on their surface to protect the magnetic recording layer and a lubricating film with good sliding properties to reduce the frictional force during C8S, but their hardness is less than that of a floating head slider. small. Therefore, there is a problem of friction and wear during contact sliding.
The fine frictional wear particles generated at this time may impede the stable movement of the floating head slider, possibly leading to a head crash.

The second problem is that the finishing precision of the slider lubricating surface of the floating head slider, which will continue to be required to have a low flying height, is required to be extremely smooth. Because flatness is required, there is a risk that the floating head slider and the disk may stick together when the disk is stopped. Once adhesion occurs, the frictional force increases rapidly, making it difficult to start the disk.

Therefore, in order to avoid the above-mentioned problems, there is a need for a start/stop system for the disk device in which the floating head slider and the disk surface always operate without contact. There is a loading process in which the floating head slider mounted on the floating head support approaches the surface of the magnetic disk medium using a force provided by some mechanical system, and an unloading process in which the floating head slider is moved away from the surface of the magnetic disk medium. Loading is required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a floating head load-unload mechanism that solves the above problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a floating head slider, a gimbal spring consisting of a tongue-shaped leaf spring that supports the floating head slider, and a leaf spring that connects the gimbal spring to one end thereof and simultaneously applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider. a floating head support made of a load spring having a shape, and a state in which the floating head support is held when the magnetic disk drive is not in operation, and the floating head slider included in the floating head support is separated from the surface of the magnetic disk medium. A floating head loading/unloading mechanism having a floating head support holding mechanism that loads or unloads the floating head slider onto or from a magnetic disk medium surface by the movement of the floating head support, the floating head loading/unloading mechanism having a floating head support holding mechanism. A portion of the support that comes into contact with the floating head support holding mechanism is embossed with a recess depth that gradually increases from one end toward the other end in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the load spring of the floating head support. It is characterized by having.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The floating head load-unload mechanism of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. .

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a floating head loading/unloading mechanism according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a floating head support member constituting this embodiment.

The floating head support body includes a floating head slider 3, a gimbal spring 1 consisting of a tongue-shaped temporary spring that supports the floating head slider, the gimbal spring being joined to one end thereof, and at the same time applying an appropriate load to the floating head slider 3. It consists of a load spring 2 in the form of a leaf spring to be added and a spacer 4, and an emboss 5 is provided on the load spring 2 so as to be convex on the side where the floating head slider 3 is present.

The floating head support is held by a carriage 6, which in turn is connected to a rotation axis 7 by an actuator 8.
It has a structure that can be rotated around the center.

The floating head loading/unloading mechanism of this embodiment further retains the floating head support when the device is not in operation;
It has a floating head support holding mechanism 10 that keeps the floating head slider 3 included in the floating head support in a state separated from the surface of the magnetic disk medium 9.

Here, the embossing 5 provided on the load spring 2 is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the load spring 2, and the depth of the recess gradually increases from one end to the other end, and the recess is formed on the magnetic disk medium 9. It is convex on the opposite side. Further, R shown in FIG. 1 indicates a trajectory when the embossed portion 5 rotates around the rotation axis 7 due to the rotational force provided by the actuator 8.

3 and 4 are cross-sectional views for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and are explained using a cross-section taken along the locus R of the embossing 5 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 explains the situation during normal magnetic disk device operation, and FIG. 4 shows a state in which the floating head slider 3 is retracted from the surface of the magnetic disk medium 9 and the floating head slider 3 is unloaded. Explaining.

In FIG. 3, the load spring 2 including the emboss 5 is movable in the Y direction by an actuator 8 (not shown). At this time, the floating head slider 3 (not shown) is constantly floating above the magnetic disk medium 9. Here, the depth of the embossment 5 gradually increases along the Y axis from one end to the other, so that at one end of the embossment 5, the portion of the embossment 5 included in the load spring 2 is separated from the magnetic disk medium 9. The height up to the end is hl, and the height at the other end is h2. Further, a floating head support holding mechanism 10 is installed outside the magnetic disk medium 9, and the height of the upper surface of this floating head support holding mechanism from the magnetic disk medium 9 is defined by h3.

Here, if the height hl is larger than the height h3 and the height h2 is smaller than the height h3, when the load spring 2 moves in the Y direction, the emboss 5 and the floating head As the load spring 2 comes into contact with the upper surface of the support holding mechanism 10 and further moves in the Y direction, the load spring 2 also moves in the Z direction in the figure, as shown in FIG. When the load spring 2 moves in the Z direction along the surface shape of the embossing 5, the floating head slider 3 (also not shown), which is connected to the load spring 2 via the gimbal spring 1 (not shown), moves in the Z direction. The floating hent slider 3 is forcibly displaced, and as a result, the floating hent slider 3 is uncoded from the magnetic disk medium 9.

Furthermore, by reversing this sequence of operations, the floating head slider 3 is loaded onto the magnetic disk medium 9.

Therefore, the surfaces of the floating head slider 3 and the magnetic disk medium 9 can always be kept non-contact, and therefore, the C3S
At the same time, it is possible to avoid frictional wear and adsorption problems related to
The risk of head crash caused by dust in the atmosphere can be significantly reduced.

It goes without saying that the embossing provided on the load spring used in the present invention may have a shape and depth appropriate to the device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By using the floating head load/unload mechanism of the present invention, it is possible to avoid the problems of frictional wear and adsorption between the floating head slider and the magnetic disk medium related to C5S, and therefore the generation of dust in the atmosphere in the magnetic disk drive. can be suppressed to a minimum, greatly reducing the risk of head crashes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a floating head loading/unloading mechanism according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a floating head support configuring the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an implementation example. FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating the normal operation of the example, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating the loading and unloading operations of the embodiment. 1... Gimbal spring 2... Load spring 3... Floating head slider 4... Spacer 5... Emboss 6... Carriage 7... ... Rotating shaft 8 ... Actuator 9 ... Magnetic disk medium 10 ... Floating head support holding mechanism Representative Patent attorney Yoshiyuki Iwasa Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A gimbal spring consisting of a floating head slider and a tongue-shaped leaf spring that supports the floating head slider;
a floating head support body made of a leaf spring-like load spring to which the gimbal spring is connected to one end thereof and at the same time applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider;
a floating head support holding mechanism that holds the floating head support when the magnetic disk device is not in operation and keeps the floating head slider included in the floating head support in a state separated from the surface of the magnetic disk medium; A floating head loading/unloading mechanism that loads or unloads the floating head slider onto or from a magnetic disk medium surface by a moving movement of the floating head support, the floating head support retaining mechanism and the floating head support holding mechanism of the floating head support comprising: A floating head loading/unloading mechanism characterized in that the contacting portion has an embossment with a recess depth that gradually increases from one end toward the other end in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the load spring of the floating head support. .