JPH04181572A - Floating head load unload mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent attraction between a floating head slider and a disk by enabling a lamp clip which can retain a signal line to be connected to a load spring and then providing a floating head support retention mechanism so that it can contact the lamp clip. CONSTITUTION:A lamp clip 5 which retains a signal line 13 is connected to a load spring 2. The clip 5 is slanted gradually for a plane of the spring 2 at a section in longer direction of the spring 2. When a floating head support is rotated by an actuator 8 with a rotary axis 7 as a center at the time of unloading, a floating head support retention mechanism 10 contacts the clip 5 and the spring 2 is subjected to displacement in Z direction forcibly due to inclination of the clip 5, thus enabling a floating disk slider 3 to be kept non- contact with a surface of a magnetic disk medium 9 and preventing wear and attraction due to the contact start/stop system.

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 device.

(Prior Art) A magnetic disk drive uses a floating head slider with a magnetic head mounted on one end surface.The floating head slider uses the mechanical effect of high-speed airflow caused by the high-speed rotation of the disk to move the disk Recording and playback is performed while maintaining a small gap between the magnetic head and the recording medium, and the floating head slider moves to follow the protrusions and undulations on the disk's surface while keeping its spacing constant. The gimbal spring allows the magnetic head to move freely in pitch, roll, and perpendicular directions to the disk surface, and at the same time controls the flying height of the floating head slider and allows the magnetic head to move over any recording track. A load spring that supports the head is added to the gimbal spring.

On the other hand, in current magnetic disk drives, the starting and stopping method is that when the disk stops rotating, the floating head slider and the disk are placed in contact with each other, the disk starts rotating, and as the rotational speed increases, the floating head slider floats. The mainstream is the so-called contact start/stop (CSS) method, in which normal operations are performed on the disk, and when the disk stops, the disk rotational speed decreases to cause the floating head slider to land on the disk again. In the C8S method, the floating head slider and the disk surface are operated through the following stages: contact, low-speed sliding, separation, low-speed sliding, and contact, which can lead to 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]

Although the C8S system has the advantage of a simple mechanism configuration, it has the following problems. The first problem is the contact sliding problem that inevitably occurs during C8S. When the rotational speed of the disk reaches a certain speed, sufficient buoyancy force is generated in the floating head slider, so the floating head slider and the disk surface are kept in non-contact, but immediately after the disk starts rotating, it becomes floating. The floating force acting on the head slider 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 made of carbon or the like to protect the magnetic recording layer, and a lubricant on the surface to reduce frictional resistance and suppress wear when sliding in contact with the floating head slider. However, due to the characteristics of magnetic recording, they are formed of thin films, so their hardness is lower than that of a floating head slider. Therefore, there is a problem of frictional wear during contact sliding, and the fine frictional abrasion particles generated at this time may impede 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, and at the same time, the disk surface also hinders the low flying height of the floating head slider. Because high 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 system for starting and stopping the disk device in which the floating head slider and the surface of the disk 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 first invention includes a floating head slider, a gimbal spring consisting of a tongue-shaped leaf spring that supports the floating head slider, and a gimbal spring joined to one end of the gimbal spring.
At the same time, there is a floating head support made of a leaf spring-like load spring that applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider, and a floating head support that holds the floating head support when the magnetic disk drive is not in operation and supports the floating head and the head slider. It has a floating head support holding mechanism that keeps the floating head slider included in the support in a state away from the magnetic disk medium surface, and the floating head slider is moved away from the magnetic disk medium surface by the moving movement of the floating head support. A floating head loading/unloading mechanism for loading or unloading the floating head slider, the air intake side leading edge of the air bearing surface of the floating head slider is directed toward the distal end portion of the floating head support, and the air bearing surface of the floating head slider is configured to A magnetic recording/reproducing transducer is installed at the rear edge of the air bearing surface of the floating head slider, and is connected to the magnetic recording/reproducing transducer. The signal line is guided to one end of the floating head support along the surface of the load spring on the side where the rad slider is present or a side surface continuous thereto, and is led from the end side of the floating head support. A lamp clip has a cross section taken along the longitudinal center line of the load spring toward the other end and has a gentle slope with respect to the plane of the load spring, and is coupled to the load spring, and the lamp clip is connected to the signal line. The floating head support holding mechanism is arranged so as to be able to come into contact with the floating head support by movement of the floating head support.

The second invention includes a floating head slider, a gimbal spring consisting of a tongue-shaped leaf spring that supports the floating head slider, and a gimbal spring joined to one end of the gimbal spring.
At the same time, there is a floating head support made of a leaf spring-like load spring that applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider, and a floating head support that holds the floating head support when the magnetic disk drive is not in operation and is included in the floating head support. a floating head support holding mechanism that keeps the floating head slider separated from the surface of the magnetic disk medium;
A floating head loading/unloading mechanism for loading or unloading the floating head slider onto or from a magnetic disk medium surface by a moving movement of the floating head support, the mechanism comprising: a floating head support holding mechanism of the floating head support; The floating head support is characterized by having an embossment with a depth gradually increasing from one end toward the other end substantially along the longitudinal direction of the load spring of the floating head support at the contacting portion.

〔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 floating head loading/unloading according to the first invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a floating head support constituting this embodiment.

The floating head support body includes a floating head slider 3, a gimbal spring 1 that supports the floating head slider, and a plate spring-like load that connects the gimbal spring to one end and applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider 3. Consisting of a spring 2 and a spacer 4, the first
A lamp clip 5, which is not visible in the figure, is joined onto 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 lamp clip 5 joined to the load spring 2 has an inclined direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the load spring 2, and the height of the inclined surface gradually increases from one end to the other end. The inclined surface is inclined with respect to the load spring 2 and is convex on the side facing the magnetic disk medium 9.

The floating head slider 3 has its leading edge 20 as an air bearing.
toward the opposite side of the load spring 2 from the spacer 4,
It is connected to the gimbal spring 1. A magnetic recording/reproducing transducer 11 is provided at the trailing edge 21 of the floating head slider 3 in close proximity to its air bearing surface. Signals recorded and reproduced on a magnetic disk medium (not shown) are connected to a signal line 13.
During this process, the signal line 13 is covered by a tube 12 and held by a lamp clip 5 on the side of the load spring 2 where the floating head slider 3 is present.

3, 4 and 5 are a plan view and a sectional view for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS.
The figures each show that the floating head support shown in FIG. 3 as a center line is rotated, and
1 and L2 as the center lines, respectively.

It is shown as a cross section along L2. FIG. 3 explains the positional relationship between the floating head support and embossing included in the embodiment of the present invention and the floating head support holding mechanism, and FIG. 4 shows the situation during normal magnetic disk drive operation. FIG. 5 shows that the floating head slider 3 is retracted from the surface of the magnetic disk medium 9, and
The floating head slider 3 is shown in an unloaded state.

In FIG. 3, the load spring 2 that includes the lamp clip 5 is movable along a trajectory R by the rotational force of an actuator 8 (not shown), with the center C of a rotating shaft 7 (not shown) as the center of rotation. Here, R is a rotation locus of an arbitrary point on the load spring 2. The straight line is a line segment connecting the center of the load spring 2 and the center C during normal magnetic disk drive operation. The straight line L1 is a line segment connecting the center of the load spring 2 and the center C when the floating head support body is rotated clockwise around the center C of the rotating shaft 7 (not shown) by the rotational force of the actuator 8 (not shown). FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a cross section cut along this line segment L1. The straight line L2 connects the center of the load spring 2 and the center C when the floating head support is rotated clockwise by a larger angle around the center C of the rotating shaft 7 (also not shown) due to the rotational force of the actuator 8 (not shown). This is a connecting line segment, and FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along this line segment L2. The straight line S is perpendicular to the line segment and is a tangent to the locus R. Straight line X indicates the longitudinal axis of floating head support holding mechanism lO, which is set at an angle to line segment S. Focusing on the distance between the center C and the intersection of this line segment It's in the middle.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line segment L1 in FIG. 3, which is the center line of the load spring 2 in a state in which it is rotating around the center C in FIG. In this state, the floating head slider 3 is in a steady floating state. Here, the lamp clip 5 joined to the load spring 2 has a structure in which the height increases along this line segment L1 from one end to the other end, in this case from the floating head slider 3 side to the other end. be. Therefore, at the side where the lamp clip 5 has the smallest height, the height from the magnetic disk medium 9 to the lamp clip 5 is the thickest, hl, while at the other end, where the height is the largest, the height is greater. small h
It becomes 3. Further, a floating head support holding mechanism 10 is installed outside the magnetic disk medium 9, and the height of this floating head support holding mechanism from the magnetic disk medium 9 to the top surface on the magnetic head support side is defined by h2. Ru. Here h
3 is sufficiently smaller than h2, and conversely, hl is sufficiently larger than h2.

In this state, a slight gap exists between the upper surface of the floating head support holding mechanism 10 and the load spring 2 including the lamp clip 5. Therefore, the floating head slider 3 is in a loading state.

FIG. 5 shows that the load spring 2 rotates by a larger angle around the center C in FIG. 3, and the line segment L2 shown in FIG.
FIG. Here, h2 indicating the height of the upper surface of the floating head support holding mechanism 10 is the same as the height h2 shown in FIG. Here, the height h2 is sufficiently larger than the height h3 in the steady state shown in FIG. When you rotate your body,
Due to the existence of an angle between the straight line S and the straight line X shown in FIG. 5, the lamp height at the point where the floating head support holding mechanism 10 and the lamp clip 5 joined on the load spring 2 come into contact increases as shown in FIG. 2 is forcibly displaced in the Z direction in the figure, and as a result, the floating head slider 3 is unloaded from above the magnetic disk medium 9.

Also, if this sequence is performed in reverse, that is, the center line of the load spring 2 is changed from line segment L2 to line segment L1 in FIG.
The floating head slider 3 is loaded onto the magnetic disk medium 9 by rotating the magnetic head support in the direction shown in FIG.

Therefore, the surfaces of the floating head slider 3 and the magnetic disk medium 9 can always be kept in non-contact, thereby avoiding the problems of frictional wear and adsorption associated with C3S, and at the same time avoiding the risk of head crash due to dust in the atmosphere. can be significantly improved. At this time, the rotation direction of the magnetic disk medium 9 shown in FIG. 1 is defined as clockwise.

In this case, the lamp clip 5 and the magnetic head support holding mechanism 10 that inevitably occur during the load/unload operation
A small amount of dust may be generated depending on the slippage between the floating head slider 3 and the magnetic disk medium 9, but even in such a case, the air flowing between the floating head slider 3 and the magnetic disk medium 9 exists upstream of the point of contact between them. Therefore, there is very little possibility that dust will mix with it, and the risk of head crash can be reduced.

Of course, the length of the lamp clip on the load spring used in the present invention is appropriate for the device.

Needless to say, it is preferable to use a material having a certain height.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a floating head loading/unloading mechanism according to the second invention, and FIG. 7 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 that supports the floating head slider, and a plate spring-like load that connects the gimbal spring to one end and applies an appropriate load to the floating head slider 3. It consists of a spring 2 and a spacer 4, and an emboss 25 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 holding mechanism 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 approximately parallel 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.

8, 9, and 10 are a plan view and a cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 9 and 10 respectively show straight lines in FIG. The figure is shown as a cross section along straight lines L1 and L2, respectively, when the floating head support shown as the center line rotates and reaches a point with the center line being the straight line L1 and the straight line L2 shown in the figure. be.

FIG. 8 explains the positional relationship between the floating head support and embossing included in the embodiment of the present invention and the floating head support holding mechanism, and FIG. 9 shows the situation during normal magnetic disk drive operation. FIG. 10 illustrates 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.

In FIG. 8, the rotary spring 2 including the emboss 25 is rotated around the center C of the rotating shaft 7 (not shown), and is moved along a trajectory R by the rotational force of the actuator 8 (not shown).
can be moved along. Here, R is a rotation locus of an arbitrary point on the load spring 2. The straight line is a line segment connecting the center of the load spring 2 and the center C during normal magnetic disk drive operation. The straight line L1 is a line segment connecting the center of the load spring 2 and the center C when the floating head support body is rotated clockwise around the center C of the rotating shaft 7 (not shown) by the rotational force of the actuator 8 (not shown). , and the cross section cut along this line segment L1 is the fourth
It is a diagram. The straight line L2 is caused by the rotational force of the actuator 80 (not shown) caused by the floating head support to rotate around the rotation axis 7 (also not shown).
This is a line segment connecting the center of the cord spring 2 and the center C in a state where the cord spring 2 is rotated clockwise by a larger angle around the center C, and FIG. 5 is a cross section taken along this line segment L2. The straight line S is perpendicular to the line segment and is a tangent to the locus R. Straight line X indicates the longitudinal axis of floating head support retention mechanism 10, which is set at an angle to line segment S. This line segment X and the line segment explained earlier, line segment Ll
Then, focusing on the distance between C and the intersection with line segment L2, we find that L
is the largest, L2 is the shortest, and Ll is in between.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line segment L1 in FIG. 8, which is the center line of the load spring 2 in a state in which it is rotating around the center C in FIG. In this state, the floating head slider 3 is in a steady floating state. Here, the emboss 25 formed on the load spring 2 is the line segment L
1, the depth increases from one end to the other end, in this case from the floating head slider 3 side to the other end. Therefore, at the shallowest side of the emboss 25, the height from the magnetic disk medium 9 to the emboss 5 is the thickest, hl, while at the other end, where the depth of the recess is the deepest, the height is smaller. It becomes h3. Also,
A floating head support holding mechanism 10 is installed outside the magnetic disk medium 9, and the height of this floating head support holding mechanism from the magnetic disk medium 9 to the top surface on the magnetic head support side is defined by h2. Here the height h3 is the height h2
It is assumed that the height hl is sufficiently smaller than the height h2, and the height hl is sufficiently larger than the height h2.

In this state, a slight gap exists between the upper surface of the floating head support holding mechanism 10 and the load spring 2 including the embossing 25. Therefore, the floating head slider 3 is in a loading state.

FIG. 10 shows that the load spring 2 rotates by a larger angle around the center C in FIG. 8, and the line segment L shown in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2; Here, h2 indicating the height of the upper surface of the floating head support holding mechanism 10 is the same as the height h2 shown in FIG. Here, the height h2 is sufficiently larger than the height h3 in the steady state shown in FIG. When the body is rotated, the distance between the center C and the point of contact with the load spring 2 on the floating head support holding mechanism 10 becomes shorter due to the existence of the angle between the straight line S and the straight line X shown in FIG. As a result, the floating head support holding mechanism 1
The depth of the emboss at the point where 0 and the emboss 25 formed on the load spring 2 come into contact becomes deep as shown in Fig. 10, and therefore the height h2 remains unchanged, so the load spring 2 is forced in the Z direction in the figure. As a result, the floating head slider 3 is unloaded from the magnetic disk medium 9.

Also, if this sequence is performed in reverse, that is, the center line of the load spring 2 is changed from line segment L2 to line segment L1 in FIG.
The floating head slider 3 is loaded onto the magnetic disk medium 9 by rotating the magnetic head support in the direction shown in FIG.

Therefore, the surfaces of the floating head slider 3 and the magnetic disk medium 9 can always be kept non-contact, thereby avoiding the problems of frictional wear and adsorption associated with C5S, and at the same time avoiding the risk of head crash due to dust in the atmosphere. can be significantly improved.

It goes without saying that the embossing on the load spring used in the present invention should have a length 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 the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the floating head loading/unloading mechanism according to the first invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a floating head support configuring the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 is a plan view explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view explaining the normal operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a loading and unloading operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the floating head loading/unloading mechanism according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a floating head support configuring the embodiment of FIG. 6; , FIG. 8 is a plan view explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 9 is a sectional view explaining the normal operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 10 is a loading diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an unloading operation. 1... Gimbal spring 2... Load spring 3... Floating head slider 4... Spacer 5... Lamp clip 6... Carriage 7... ... Rotating shaft 8 ... Actuator 9 ... Magnetic disk medium 10 ... Floating head support holding mechanism 11 ...
・Magnetic recording/reproducing transducer 12...Tube 13...Signal line 20...Leading edge 21...Rearing edge 25... Embossing agent Patent attorney Rock Yoshiyuki Sa 9, Magnetic Tisf Media Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8

Claims (2)

[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 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 slider having an air intake side leading edge of an air bearing surface of the floating head slider. A magnetic recording/reproducing transducer is installed at the trailing edge of the air bearing surface of the floating head slider, and is installed so that the flow direction of the air bearing surface of the floating head support is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the load spring. A structure is provided in which a signal line connected to the magnetic recording/reproducing transducer is guided to one end of the floating head support along a surface of the load spring on the side where the floating head slider is present or a side surface continuous thereto. and is connected to the load spring, with a cross section along the longitudinal center line of the load spring from one end side of the floating head support toward the other end having a gentle slope with respect to the plane of the load spring. The floating device has a lamp clip, the lamp clip is capable of holding the signal line, and the floating head support holding mechanism is arranged so as to be able to come into contact with the floating head support by movement of the floating head support. Head load-unload mechanism. (2) 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 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 having an embossment having a concave depth that gradually increases from one end to the other end substantially along the longitudinal direction of the load spring of the floating head support at a contacting portion.