JPH05151737A - Actuator locking mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the actuator locking mechanism which is small in the number of parts, can prevent the malfunction entailing the generation of harmful external force, is suitable for the reduction of the size and weight of a recording and reproducing device and is low in cost. CONSTITUTION:An arm 4 is rotated by the action of an elastic material member 7 and the positions of members 2, 3 for locking mounted to the actuator 1 and an arm 4 are parted from each other at the time of operating the actuator 1. The guide part 5 on the arm 4 moves to the actuator 1 side and the guide part 5 is pressed interlocking with the operation that the actuator 1 moves to the locking position at the time of the non-operation of the actuator 1. The arm 4 is, therefore, rotated and the members 2, 3 for locking approach each other and are magnetically sucked and attracted to each other, by which the actuator 1 is mechanically fixed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an actuator lock mechanism for fixing an actuator of a recording / reproducing apparatus such as a magnetic disk device when it is not in operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent compact recording / reproducing devices, recording is performed when the recording / reproducing device is not operating in order to prevent the recording / reproducing head from damaging the surface of the information recording medium due to disturbances such as vibration during movement. An actuator lock mechanism is used to mechanically fix the actuator that moves the reproducing head. As a conventional example of the actuator lock mechanism, FIGS. 6 and 7 show an actuator lock mechanism used in a magnetic disk device.

FIG. 6 shows a magnetic disk device having an actuator lock mechanism having an electromagnetic solenoid 22 and a ratchet 23. When the actuator 21 is operating, the electromagnetic solenoid 2
By energizing 2, the ratchet 23 is removed and the actuator 21 is made free. When the actuator 21 is not operating, the actuator 21 is returned to the lock position by an appropriate method, and the electromagnetic solenoid 22 is powered off and locked by the ratchet 23.

Although this method is reliable, it requires a relatively large mechanical component such as a solenoid and also requires an electric element (not shown) for controlling the solenoid. In addition, manufacturing costs will increase.

FIG. 7 shows a magnet lock mechanism utilizing a magnetic attraction force. In the magnet lock mechanism shown in the figure, a magnetic piece 24 is attached to the actuator 21, and a lock portion for attracting and attracting the magnetic piece 24 is provided on a part of a magnet 25 constituting a magnetic circuit in an actuator driving motor. It is a thing.

When the actuator 21 is moved to the lock position by an appropriate method when the actuator 21 is not in operation, the magnetic piece 24 approaches the lock portion of the magnet 25 and a magnetic attraction force is applied to the magnetic piece 24. 25 is adsorbed. When the actuator 21 is operating, the actuator driving motor is energized to release the lock, and a repulsive force larger than the magnetic attraction force at the time of locking is generated to separate the magnetic piece 24 from the magnet 25. This method has the advantage that the magnetic disk device can be miniaturized because an electric element dedicated to control is unnecessary and a solenoid is not used.

However, even if the actuator 21 is unlocked, a magnetic attraction force tends to act at a position not far from the locked position, and this magnetic attraction force acts as a harmful external force when the actuator 21 operates.
When the actuator 21 is locked, there is a drawback that malfunctions such as off-tracks are likely to occur in the recording area near the innermost circumference of the magnetic disk near the fixed position of the magnetic head. In particular, in a recent magnetic disk device or the like which requires high density recording, there is a high risk of malfunction even with a small external force.

[0008]

As described above,
The conventional actuator lock mechanism has many parts,
This is an obstacle to downsizing and weight saving of the recording / reproducing apparatus, and the conventional so-called magnet lock mechanism has drawbacks such that malfunction is likely to occur due to harmful external force due to magnetic attraction.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, has a small number of parts, and can prevent malfunction due to the generation of harmful external force, and is a low-cost actuator lock mechanism suitable for downsizing and weight saving of a recording / reproducing apparatus. Is intended to provide.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, first and second locking members, at least one of which is a magnet, are provided so that mutual magnetic attraction and attraction are possible. An actuator provided movably for moving the recording / reproducing head to a predetermined position on the information recording medium, and having one of the first and second locking members attached thereto, and rotatable near the actuator And an arm to which the other one of the first and second locking members is attached, and an arm to which the arm rotates so as to separate the positions of the first and second locking members from each other. The elastic member for urging and the operation for moving the actuator to the lock position are interlocked with each other to a position where the first and second locking members can mutually attract and attract each other. To provide an actuator locking mechanism which is characterized by comprising a guide portion provided on the arm to rotate against the arm on the resilient force of the elastic member.

[0011]

When the actuator is operated, the arm member is rotated by the action of the elastic member so that the locking member attached to the actuator and the locking member for generating the magnetic attraction force is guided to the mutually distant position, and the guide portion is moved. Moves toward the actuator.

When the actuator is not in operation, when the actuator is moved to the lock position by an appropriate method, the guide portion comes into contact with and is pushed by the actuator, which causes the arm to rotate against the elastic force of the elastic member. However, since the locking members approach each other, the two are magnetically attracted and attracted to lock the actuator.

When the lock is released, the actuator driving motor is energized to generate a separating force larger than the suction force at the time of locking, and the locking members are forcibly separated from each other. When the actuator is separated and the rotational force due to the action of the elastic member is stronger than the magnetic attraction force between the locking members, the arm is rotated again, and the locking members are moved to the positions separated from each other. This state is maintained during operation.

During the operation of the actuator, since the locking members for generating the magnetic attraction force are separated from each other, no harmful external force acts on the actuator.
Since the locking members approach each other, a sufficient locking force can be obtained even with a small magnetic force.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an actuator lock mechanism according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition,
Although an embodiment relating to the magnetic disk device will be described here, the present invention is not limited to the magnetic disk device shown in the embodiment, but can be applied to general recording / reproducing devices such as an optical disk device. First embodiment

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment in which the actuator lock mechanism according to the present invention is applied to a magnetic disk device, and FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the actuator lock mechanism in this embodiment.

In the magnetic disk device, the actuator 1
The magnetic head 11 attached to the tip of the actuator 1 is in contact with the non-recording area of the magnetic disk 12, which is an information recording medium, during non-operation. Therefore, the surface of the magnetic disk 12 may be damaged by the magnetic head 11 due to disturbance such as vibration during movement. To prevent this, the actuator 1 for moving the magnetic head 11 is usually fixed by a lock mechanism so that the magnetic head 11 does not move.

In this embodiment, a magnetic piece 2 is provided on the actuator 1 as a locking member, and a locking magnet 3 for magnetically attracting the magnetic piece 2 is attached to a rotatable arm 4. At least one of the two locking members may be a magnet, and is not limited to the combination in this embodiment.

When the actuator 1 is moved to the lock position, the arm 4 comes into contact with the actuator 1 and interlocks with its operation to move the lock magnet 3 to a position where it can be attracted to the magnetic piece 2. A guide unit 5 is provided.

Further, a rotating portion 6 which supports the arm 4 and constitutes a center of rotation thereof, and a spring 7 which urges the arm 4 to rotate in a direction of moving the lock magnet 3 away from the actuator 1 when the actuator 1 operates.
Further, an arm support base 10 including a stopper 8 and a stopper 9 provided to keep the arm 4 from rotating is provided.

The operation of the actuator lock mechanism will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. When the operation of the actuator 1 is started, the actuator driving motor including the drive coil 13 is energized to forcibly release the lock and free the actuator 1. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the actuator lock mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The numbers given in the figure are those in FIG. 1 and FIG.
It corresponds to the number of.

When the actuator 1 is operating, the arm 4 is rotated about the rotating portion 6 by the rotating force of the spring 7 and is restrained by the stopper 8. The spring 7 can be replaced by another elastic member. At this time, since the lock magnet 3 is separated from the actuator 1, no harmful magnetic attraction force is generated between the lock magnet 3 and the magnetic piece 2.

When the actuator 1 is not operating, first,
The actuator 1 is moved to the lock position by energizing the drive motor. At that time, the guide portion 5 is brought into contact with and pushed by the actuator 1, and accordingly, the arm 4 rotates against the elastic force of the spring 7, and the lock magnet 3
Approaches the actuator 1, and the magnetic piece 2 and the lock magnet 3 on the actuator are attracted to each other. When the attraction surfaces of the magnetic piece 1 and the locking magnet 3 are made wider to some extent, both are attracted and fixed, and the actuator 1 does not move even if some external force acts.

When the lock is released, the drive coil 13 is energized to drive the actuator driving motor to generate a separating force larger than the attracting force at the time of locking, so that the magnetic piece 2 is moved from the locking magnet 3. Forcibly separate.

At this time, since the arm 4 is restrained by the stopper 9, it does not rotate in conjunction with the operation of the actuator without releasing the lock, and the magnetic piece 2 is smoothly separated from the lock magnet 3. Be done.

The guide portion 5 and the stopper 9 also serve as a hard stop for preventing runaway due to malfunction of the actuator 1. In order to absorb the impact at that time, a cushioning member such as rubber may be provided at the tip of the guide portion 5. Further, since the arm 4 operates in the magnetic circuit of the actuator driving motor, the material thereof is preferably a non-magnetic material such as stainless steel or aluminum alloy.

In the above-described first embodiment, the embodiment relating to the swing-type actuator has been described, but the actuator system is not limited to this case.
It can also be applied to the lini method.

Further, if the elastic force of the spring 7 can be adjusted so that the arm 4 can be stopped at a position where the guide portion 5 comes into contact with the actuator 1 and a predetermined function can be achieved,
The stopper 8 is not always necessary in the structure of the actuator lock mechanism.

As shown in the above embodiment, when the actuator lock mechanism of the present invention is used, harmful external force due to the magnetic attraction force does not act at all, and there is no fear of malfunction, and the number of parts can be reduced to save space. As a result, the size and weight of the magnetic disk device can be reduced. Second embodiment

FIG. 4 shows the construction of another embodiment of the actuator lock mechanism according to the present invention. In the figure, parts having the same functions as those of the parts described in the embodiment in FIG.

In this embodiment, the magnetic piece 2, the locking magnet 3, and the rotating portion 6 are arranged on the same straight line, and the moving direction when the actuator 1 is unlocked is the same as the collinear direction. It is a feature.

Therefore, when the operation of the actuator is started, the rotation and movement of the arm 4 are suppressed by the rotating portion 6, and
Even if there is no stopper corresponding to the stopper 9 shown in (1), the arm 4 does not rotate in conjunction with the operation of the actuator 1 without being unlocked, and the lock can be unlocked smoothly. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the actuator lock mechanism shown in FIG. When the actuator 1 is in operation, the arm 4 is rotated about the rotating portion 6 by the rotational force of the spring 7 and is restrained by the stopper 8.

Since the moving direction of the lock magnet 3 at the time of unlocking is a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the actuator, the attraction surfaces of the magnetic piece 2 and the lock magnet 3 are separated relatively quickly. become. Therefore, no harmful magnetic attraction force acts on the magnetic piece 2 on the actuator 1.

When the actuator 1 is not in operation, by moving the actuator 1 to the lock position by an appropriate method, the guide portion 5 first comes into contact with the actuator 1 and is pushed, and accordingly, the arm 4 elastically moves the spring 7. Rotating against the force, the lock magnet 3 approaches the actuator 1, and the magnetic piece 2 on the actuator and the lock magnet 3 are attracted to each other.

If the sizes of the attraction surfaces of the magnetic piece 1 and the lock magnet 3 are made wider to some extent, both are attracted and fixed, and the actuator 1 does not move even if some external force acts. When releasing the lock, energize the drive coil 13,
The magnetic piece 2 is forcibly separated from the lock magnet 3 by driving the actuator driving motor to generate a separating force larger than the attraction force at the time of locking.

As described above, in the second embodiment, since the moving direction of the lock magnet 3 at the time of unlocking is perpendicular to the moving direction of the actuator 1, the magnetic piece 2 and the lock piece 3 are locked. The attraction surface with respect to the magnet 3 will be separated relatively quickly. For this reason, it is possible to provide an actuator lock mechanism in which no harmful external force due to the magnetic attraction force acts and the malfunction can be prevented more reliably than in the first embodiment.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a low-cost actuator lock mechanism that has a small number of parts, can prevent malfunction due to generation of harmful external force, and is suitable for downsizing and weight saving of a recording / reproducing apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram when a first embodiment of an actuator lock mechanism of the present invention is applied to a magnetic disk device.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an actuator lock mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an actuator lock mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an actuator lock mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an actuator lock mechanism in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an actuator lock mechanism used in a conventional magnetic disk device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a conventional actuator lock mechanism using a so-called magnet lock.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 21 Actuator 2, 24 Magnetic piece 3 Locking magnet 4 Arm 5 Guide part 6 Rotating part 7 Spring 8, 9 Stopper 10 Arm support stand 11 Magnetic head 12 Magnetic disk 13 Drive coil 22 Electromagnetic solenoid 23 Ratchet 25 Magnetic circuit configuration Magnet for

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first and second locking member, at least one of which is a magnet, so that mutual magnetic attraction and attraction are possible, and a recording / reproducing head is moved to a predetermined position on an information recording medium. It is movably installed to
An actuator having one of the first and second locking members attached thereto, and an arm rotatably supported in the vicinity of the actuator and having the other one of the first and second locking members attached thereto The elastic member that urges the arm to rotate the first and second locking members so as to rotate in a direction in which the positions of the first and second locking members are separated from each other, and the operation of moving the actuator to the locked position
And a guide portion provided on the arm for rotating the arm against the elastic force of the elastic member to a position where the second locking member can mutually attract and adsorb. Characteristic actuator lock mechanism. 2. The first and second locking members and a rotating portion which supports the arm and constitutes a rotation center of the arm are arranged on the same straight line, and a moving direction of the actuator when unlocked is the same. The actuator lock mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the actuator lock mechanism is aligned with the straight line direction. 3. When the actuator is moved to the lock position, the guide portion is provided at a position where it can be interlocked with the movement operation of the actuator to hold the arm that rotates by the action of the elastic member. 3. A stopper according to claim 1, wherein the stopper is provided.
The actuator lock mechanism described.