JPH043594B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a flying slider having a magnetic transducer element used in a magnetic recording device.

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a floating slider has been widely used as a means to levitate a magnetic transducer used in a hard disk drive above a hard disk.

This is because it is important to levitate the magnetic transducer and the medium at a certain distance, and when this distance becomes extremely miniaturized, it becomes possible to record and reproduce at high density and high output, so various measures have been taken. It's here.

Conventionally, as a means for moving a magnetic medium between tracks, a rotary positioner system has been widely used in which an arm supported at one end is provided with a flying slider at the other end, and the arm is rotated.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional floating slider as described above, when the arm rotates, the direction of air flowing into the floating slider changes. Along with the flow in the longitudinal direction of the floating slider, a flow from the side surfaces (side flow) occurs.
This reduces the pressure on the air bearing surface and
The flying height decreases. This tendency is more noticeable when the flying height is lowered, and solving this problem is one step toward lowering the flying height. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a strong floating slider that solves the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above conventional problems, the present invention provides a step surface of a recess on the groove on the side rail of the positive pressure generating surface of the air bearing surface of the negative pressure type slider. The fluid lubrication surface on the rail is divided into two parts, front and rear.

Function The function of this stepped surface is to suppress the pressure and decrease on the fluid lubricating surface and reduce the drop in flying height even when the longitudinal direction of the slider and the fluid inflow direction are different.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a floating slider according to an embodiment of the present description. As shown in FIG. 1, the floating slider of this embodiment has a pair of side rails 2 and 3 on both side edges of a slider body 1, and a cross rail 4 arranged substantially perpendicularly between the side rails.
It has a recess 5 which serves as a negative pressure part and is formed in a region sandwiched between each rail. Tapered portions 6 and 7 are formed at the front ends of the side rails 2 and 3. Furthermore, groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9 are formed near the center of each of the side rails, which are shallower than the height of the side rails 2 and 3.

With the above configuration, when the slider touches the medium at a predetermined gap, positive pressure higher than atmospheric pressure is generated on the fluid lubricating surfaces of the side rails 2 and 3, and negative pressure is generated in the recess 5. By generating both of the above pressures, an extremely thin lubricating film of gaseous fluid is formed, and the slider book 1 floats stably above the magnetic medium.

However, when yawing occurs and the longitudinal direction of the slider body 1 differs from the air inflow direction as shown in Figure 2, the pressure generation situation on the air bearing surface changes significantly depending on the angle θ formed, and the flying height changes. changes occur. The third angle when this angle θ occurs
FIG. 3 shows how the pressure on the side rail 2, indicated by A-A' in the drawing, and the pressure on the recess 5, indicated by B-B' in the figure, change depending on the yawing angle θ. If the groove-like recesses 8, 9 are not present, the pressure will be significantly reduced depending on the yawing angle θ. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3A, the rate of decrease increases as one approaches the rear end of the slider body 1. On the other hand, when there are grooves 8 and 9, the pressure decrease is small as shown in FIG. 3B. In particular, there is almost no pressure fluctuation within the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9, and there is a slight pressure change in front of the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9. Although the change is somewhat large at the rear, the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9 are sufficiently smaller than at the inner position.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 3D, the pressure change in the recess 5 slightly increases as the yawing angle θ increases regardless of whether the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9 are present. By providing the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9 in this way, it is possible to suppress a decrease in pressure near the rear portions of the side rails 2 and 3, and it is possible to suppress a decrease in flying height due to a decrease in pressure. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the flying height and the yawing angle θ. At ultra-low flying height of about 0.1 μm, even at a 5-degree yaw angle, the flying height will decrease by more than 20% if there are no groove-shaped recesses, but if groove-shaped recesses 2 and 3 are provided, the flying height will be reduced by approximately 20%. 1/2
It can be kept below. The slider body 1 is made of a material such as ceramic or ferrite, and the groove-shaped recesses 2, 3 and 5 are formed by chemical, sputtering, or ion beam etching. The depth of the recess 5 is determined by the relationship with the disk circumferential speed, etc., and the depth of the groove-shaped recesses 8 and 9 is made shallower than the height of the side rails 2 and 3. This is to prevent too much air from flowing from the recesses 8 and 9 into the recess 5 which becomes the negative pressure section. In other words, if the depth of the recesses 8, 9 is made as deep as or greater than the height of the side rails 2, 3, the amount of air flowing from the recesses 8, 9 into the recess 5, which becomes a negative pressure section, will increase.
This is because the negative pressure generated becomes small and stable levitation cannot be obtained. Furthermore, as the amount of air flowing into the recess 5 from the recesses 8 and 9 increases, the air compressibility of the rear side rail becomes weaker, making it impossible to obtain stable flying characteristics.
Another reason for making the depth of the recesses 8, 9 shallower than the height of the side rails 2, 3 is that the recesses 8, 9
This is to reduce the pressure gradient in the width direction. The widths of the side rails 2 and 3 do not have to be constant. Furthermore, the depth of the recess 5 may not be constant.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention is capable of preventing a large drop in pressure at the rear when a yawing angle occurs because a groove-shaped recess is provided on the surface of the rail that generates positive pressure facing the medium. This makes it possible to stabilize the flying height.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view showing a floating slider according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which the same yawing angle occurs, and Figs. 3 A to D are a conventional example and this embodiment, respectively. FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing the pressure at each part of the floating slider of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a special diagram showing the relationship between the flying height and the yawing angle of the first embodiment of the floating slider of the present invention. 1...Slider body, 2, 3...Side rail, 5
...Recessed portion, 6, 7... Tapered portion, 8, 9... Groove-shaped recessed portion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cross rail is provided between an integrated side rail that generates positive pressure with the medium and the pair of side rails so as to be substantially orthogonal to the side rail, and a cross rail is provided between the pair of side rails and the cross rail, and the cross rail is surrounded by the pair of side rails and the cross rail. A floating slider having a negative pressure generating section, characterized in that a recess is provided so as to divide a pair of side rails into front and rear parts, and the depth of the recess is shallower than the height of the side rails. .