JPS63276754A - Both-face head supporting mechanism for magnetic disk drive - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a read/write action by fixing one edge of a common supporting spring between the upper and lower arms of an arm supporting body, stretching other edge to a head side and fixing it to a carriage. CONSTITUTION:A both-face head supporting mechanism protrudes and forms fixing parts 36a and 36b in an arm supporting body 16 direction from double wing parts 20a and 20b of a T-shaped common supporting spring 20 and fixing holes 40a and 40b are provided on the fixing parts 36a and 36b. For this reason, the flexible area of the common supporting spring 20 is encroached and obtained to both wing parts of the common supporting spring 20, and the distance up to the head side edge part of the common supporting spring 20 and the turning center is widely decreased. In short, a distance III from a head up to the turning center is also decreased, the moment in a head descending direction is made smaller as well, consequently, the weight of a balancer 30 is decreased, the distance IV from the turning center to the balancer 30 can be decreased and the device can be miniaturized and lightened.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a double-sided head support mechanism for a magnetic disk drive;
In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement in a double-sided head support mechanism that swingably supports an arm support relative to a carriage.

[Prior Art] Various magnetic disks are used as external storage elements of computers, and are put into practical use as hard disks or floppy disks.

Information is magnetically recorded concentrically on the surface of these magnetic disks, and information can be read at random at will.In order to perform such read/write, magnetic disk drives are equipped with magnetic disks that are magnetically recorded in the radial direction of the rotating magnetic disk. A head support and feeding mechanism is provided for moving and positioning the read/write head to a predetermined track along the track.

Usually, the hard disk is rotatably fixed in a sealed state inside the disk drive body, while the floppy disk can be inserted into the disk drive at will, but in either case, the read/write head is attached to the surface of the disk. The head support mechanism must be reliably maintained at a predetermined minute interval or closely, and this type of head support mechanism has a large effect on read/write characteristics.

In particular, floppy disks in recent years have rapidly become smaller from the conventional 8-inch type to 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch types, and their information recording density has increased significantly. Correct positioning in contact is extremely important.

On the other hand, magnetic disk drives are also required to be miniaturized, and portable or transportable small, high-density magnetic disk drives always provide stable read/write performance.
The head support mechanism plays an extremely important role in maintaining the light characteristics.

That is, if a so-called off-track occurs, in which the read/write head deviates from a predetermined track in the radial direction of the magnetic disk, sufficient reading output cannot be obtained.
There is a problem that read/write is easily caused.

The assembly of such an off-track read/write head not only prevents time misalignment, but also the inclination of the head to follow the vertical waviness deviation that occurs when the magnetic disk rotates. Various types of head support mechanisms have been proposed to suppress such off-track.

The first conventional method is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4. 151. 573
No. (Special Publication No. 5g-15866), in order to bring the head into close contact with both sides of the floppy disk, the lower head is immovably fixed to the carriage, and the sumo wrestler's head is gimballed to the arm. .

According to this first conventional method, since the lower head is fixed to the carriage, its read/write surface provides a reading reference surface for the floppy disk, and the flexible floppy disk is moved by the loading pressure applied from the upper head. The floppy disk is forced to the lower head surface, thereby eliminating the waviness of the floppy disk.

The second conventional method is a method in which double-sided heads follow the magnetic disk surface, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4;
As shown in No. 355,339 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56-98746), both heads are rotatably supported with respect to a carriage, so that both heads independently follow the vertical undulation deviation of the magnetic disk. It has a configuration.

[Points to be Solved by the Invention] Problems of the Prior Art However, in the first method, the floppy disk always follows this reference surface so that the lower head provides a fixed reference surface. The problem was that the lower head and disk surface were particularly worn.

Furthermore, when a floppy disk is inserted into a drive, the height of the disk varies considerably due to manufacturing or assembly errors. For this reason, in the first conventional method, floppy disks with such vertical variations are brought to a common single reference surface, so that the lower head of each floppy disk is prevented from digging into the disk surface, which is usually known as penetration. This forced deformation of the disk not only causes the above-mentioned wear, but also has a large negative impact on the reading quality, resulting in a relatively large amount of off-track for each magnetic disk. Ta.

In addition, in the conventional second method, although the followability of the magnetic disk is improved, since the swing arm is integrally supported in a cantilever manner with respect to the carriage, the swing arm is There was a problem in that the weight of the structure caused a non-negligible difference in posture, and the cantilever support reduced earthquake resistance.

In other words, in the second conventional method, when the magnetic disk drive is placed vertically (the disk runs along a vertical surface), the swinging arm does not support the head and its own weight; When the disk is placed along a horizontal plane), the head position will sink to some extent due to the weight of both swinging arms, and the position of contact between the head and the disk will change depending on the orientation of each magnetic disk drive. As a result, read/write quality may be affected.

In addition, conventional cantilever swing arm pairs are easily affected by vibrations, and even a small acceleration generates a large couple force from the cantilever fulcrum, which adversely affects read/write operations or in severe cases. However, there was a problem in that the equipment could be damaged.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to make a double-sided head follow the vertical waviness deviation of a magnetic disk, minimize the amount of off-track, and further reduce the wobble. To provide a small and lightweight double-sided head support mechanism that can effectively suppress weight imbalance caused by cantilever support of an arm.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve the above object, the present invention includes upper and lower arms, an arm support, a carriage, and a common support spring.

The upper and lower arms respectively support upper and lower heads that sandwich the magnetic disk at opposing positions from both sides.

The arm support supports the upper and lower arms at their tail ends so as to be relatively swingable.

The carriage is formed to be able to reciprocate along the radial direction of the magnetic disk.

Furthermore, the common support spring has one end above the arm support.
It is fixed between the lower arms, and the other end extending toward the head from the support fixed end is fixed to the carriage. and,
The common support spring is formed into a substantially T-shape, and the support spring is provided with a carriage fixing part that protrudes from both wing parts toward the arm tail end and is fixed to the carriage, and the leg part of the support spring is attached to the arm support. Fixed to.

Further, the head side end portion of the common support spring is disposed close to the magnetic disk in the mounted state.

[Function] As described above, in the double-sided head support mechanism of the magnetic disk drive according to the present invention, the upper and lower arms are each integrally supported by the arm support, and both the upper and lower heads are integrally supported by the magnetic disk drive. It is possible to follow the vertical waviness deviation of That is, the arm body made up of the upper and lower arms and the arm support moves in correspondence with the magnetic disk via the upper and lower heads, and as a result, the amount of off-track becomes uniform on the upper and lower sides. Therefore, unlike the conventional separately supported arms, it is possible to easily suppress the amount of off-track on both sides within a predetermined value.

In addition, since the arm support body is supported by the carriage by a single common support spring, the common support spring can be placed on the same plane as the disk surface, and the upper and lower head surfaces are The fulcrum coincides with the disk surface, making it possible to minimize head tilt.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, as described above, the arm support itself swings to follow the vertical undulation deviation of the disk, so any head can be fixed to the arm, simplifying the structure and assembly work. can be converted into Also, unlike conventional devices, this type of fixed head does not provide any fixed reference surface for vertical waviness deviation of the disk.
For example, avoid adding unnecessary penetration (
, off-track, etc. due to wear of the media (disc) or forced deviation of the disc does not occur.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the common support spring that supports the arm support body is formed in a substantially T-shape, and the carriage fixing part protruding from both wing parts toward the arm tail end is fixed to the carriage, and the leg part is fixed to the carriage. The common support spring is fixed between the upper and lower arms of the arm support, and the head side end of the common support spring is placed close to the attached magnetic disk, so that the effective fulcrum and center of gravity of the arm body are This makes it possible to make them coincident with or close to each other, and it is possible to greatly improve the posture difference and earthquake resistance, which are the drawbacks of conventional cantilever arm bodies.

Moreover, the moment acting on the common support spring in the head downward direction is reduced, making it possible to reduce the weight of the balancer, which is usually fixed to the tail end of the arm support, or to reduce the distance from the substantial fulcrum of the arm body to the balancer. It becomes possible to do so.

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively suppress the off-track amount and weight imbalance while making the double-sided head follow the vertical undulation deviation of the magnetic disk, thereby making it possible to reduce the size and weight of the device. can.

[Example] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a side view of a double-sided head support mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a top view of the double-sided head support mechanism.

In this embodiment, a mechanism suitable for a magnetic disk drive that reads/writes a micro-floppy disk (3.5 inches) is exemplified.

As is clear from the figure, the double-sided head support mechanism 10 is
It includes an upper arm 12, a lower arm 14, an arm support 16, a carriage 18, and a common support spring 20.

An upper head 2 is provided on the lower surface of the tip of the upper arm 12.
2, and a lower head 24 is disposed on the upper surface of the tip of the lower arm 14, respectively.

A floppy disk 100, shown by a chain line in FIG. 3, is removably mounted between the upper and lower heads 22, 24, and is driven to rotate for reading/writing by a drive motor (not shown). The floppy disk 100 is housed in a cartridge 102 made of plastic or the like, and the upper and lower heads 22 and 24 can come into contact with the floppy disk 100 through openings formed at corresponding positions in the cartridge 102, respectively.

The arm support 16 swingably supports the upper arm 12 and positions and fixes the lower arm 14 at a predetermined position. That is, the upper arm 12 is elastically supported by a leaf spring 26, and is further elastically biased downward, that is, in the direction of the lower arm 14 by a loading spring 28.

Note that a balancer 30 is arranged behind the arm support 16, and connects the joint point with the common support spring 20 and the upper and lower arms 12.
．． 14 and the arm support 1δ are sufficiently close to or coincident with the center of gravity of the assembly (arm body).

The carriage 18 is supported so as to be able to reciprocate by a guide rail (not shown), and is positioned at a predetermined position by, for example, a stepping motor.

Support legs 34 for fixing the common support spring 20 with fixing screws 32 are provided on both sides of the carriage 18, and the entire carriage is preferably formed by injection molding of plastic.

A characteristic feature of the present invention is that the common support spring is formed into a substantially T-shape, and the support spring is provided with a carriage fixing part that protrudes from both wing parts toward the arm tail end side and is fixed to the carriage. The leg portions of the springs are fixed to the arm support body, and the common support spring 2o according to this embodiment is also formed in a T-shape, and each wing portion 20a, 20b is fixed with a carriage protruding toward the arm tail end. parts 36a and 36b are provided,
The fixing parts 36a and 36b are provided with fixing screws 32 on support legs 34a and 34b extending from the sides of the carriage 18, respectively.
a, 32 b.

The leg portions 20c of the common support spring 2o are integrally molded with the arm support 16 by injection molding by a well-known insert molding method.

The double-sided head support mechanism according to this embodiment is roughly constructed as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

First, when the floppy disk 100 has a waviness deviation in the vertical direction, the arm support 16 moves toward the carriage 18.
shows the deviation due to the deflection of the common support spring 2o,
The head 22.24 easily swings to follow the displacement of the floppy disk 100 via the arm 12.14.

In this embodiment, the gap between the mounting surface of the support spring 20 of the arm support body 16 and the support leg 34 of the carriage 18 is extremely small, for example, set to 1 mar. As a result, since the common support spring 2o has high rigidity, the arm support 16 will not move up and down due to the deformation of the spring 20 even when supported by the spring, and will not move up or down due to the limited flexure of the spring 20. It performs only a rocking movement and can always be restored to a predetermined position.

On the other hand, while the gap between the arm support 16 and the carriage 18 is extremely small, each spatula)'22.
The distance to 24 is long enough, so floppy disk 1
Even if there is a slight bending force at the time of vertical waviness deviation of 0.00, both heads 22 and 24 can reliably follow this deviation.

Further, according to this embodiment, the common support spring 2o extends in the direction of the head 22, 24 from the arm support 16, and the other end is fixed to the carriage 18. As a result, the arm 12
．． Unlike the conventional cantilever support structure, the overall center of gravity of the arm support 14 and the arm support 16 is set close to the actual fulcrum of the arm support 16, and the unbalance of the arm support 16 can be eliminated, thereby eliminating posture differences. Alternatively, it is extremely useful for improving earthquake resistance.

Next, the action of the common support spring 2o, which is characteristic of the present invention, will be explained based on FIGS. 1 and 2.

Here, FIG. 1 shows the structure of the lower arm 14 and arm support 16 using a common support spring according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows the same part using a general common support spring. ing. In each figure, parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 3 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and explanations thereof will be omitted.

First, the general common support spring 2° shown in FIG. 2 has fixing holes 40a in both wing portions 20a, 20b for screwing to the support legs 34 of the carriage 18.

40b is formed.

Therefore, the substantial flexible range of the common support spring 2o is from the joint between the wing parts 20a and 20b of the spring 20 and the leg part 20c formed in a forked shape, to the leg part 2'Oc and the arm support. This is the region 1 up to the joint portion of the body 16, and the intermediate portion thereof becomes substantially the center of rotation of the arm support 16.

Here, since the head side end of the common support spring 20 approaches the cartridge when a floppy disk is inserted, the common support spring 2o must be arranged so as not to interfere with the insertion of the floppy disk.

On the other hand, the flexible region I of the common support spring 20 described above cannot be significantly shortened in order to maintain its predetermined flexibility. The distance covered had to be relatively long.

As a result, a relatively large balancer 30 is required at the rear of the arm support 16 in order to counter the moment acting on the rotation center in the head downward direction, which hinders the miniaturization and weight reduction of the double-sided head support mechanism itself. It had become.

On the other hand, the double-sided head support mechanism according to the present embodiment shown in FIG.
, 20b, the fixing part 3 is placed in the direction of the arm support 16.
6a, 36b are formed in a protruding manner, and fixing holes 40a, 40b are provided in the fixing portions 36a, 36b.

Therefore, the flexible region of the common support spring 20 is obtained by cutting into both central parts of the common support spring 20 in the mechanism shown in FIG. The distance to the center of motion is significantly reduced compared to the example shown in FIG.

That is, in this embodiment, the distance (2) from the head to the center of rotation also decreases, and the moment in the head downward direction also decreases. Therefore, it is possible to reduce ff1ffi of the balancer 30 or to reduce the distance (2) from the center of rotation to the balancer 30, making it possible to reduce the size and weight of the device.

In this embodiment, the head side end portion of the common support spring 20 is bent almost vertically downward, and both wing portions 20
The intensities of a and 20b are maintained.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of essential parts of a double-sided head support mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and portions corresponding to those in FIG.

The characteristic feature of the embodiment of this magazine is that the common support spring 12
0 is buried in the arm support 116 up to the head side end.

Therefore, both wing portions 120a, 12 of the common support spring 120
0b protrudes from the side of the arm support 116.

Therefore, in the common support spring 120 according to the illustrated example, the root portion of each wing portion 120a, 12Qb attached to the arm support body 116 rotates due to torsional elastic force.

As a result, the center of rotation of the arm support 16 is located at both wing portions 120.
a, approximately coincides with the horizontal center line of 120b, and the common support spring 1
The center of rotation is near the front end of 20.

Therefore, the distance V from the center of rotation to the head can be further reduced than in the embodiment shown in FIG.

Moreover, the common support spring 120 can be formed into a flat plate shape, making it easy to manufacture.

In addition, according to each of the above embodiments, the common support spring 20 is approximately T.
The wing portions 20a and 20b are fixed to the support legs 34 of the carriage 18 with screws, respectively, so that the lower arm 14 can be made partially thin, or the lower arm 14 can be made thinner. Fixing screw 32 to arm 14
There is no need to provide a penetration opening, and the strength and durability of the lower arm 14 are greatly improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, one end of the common support spring is fixed between the upper and lower arms of the arm support, and the other end is extended toward the head and fixed to the carriage. It reliably follows the vertical waviness deviation of the magnetic disk,
A good lead/ride effect can be achieved, and off-track can also be minimized.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the carriage fixing part is provided that protrudes from both wing parts of the common support spring toward the tail end of the arm, the distance between the head and the center of rotation of the arm support can be shortened, and the distance between the head and the center of rotation of the arm support can be shortened. It can be made smaller and lighter.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the main parts of the double-sided head support mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a target diagram for explaining the present invention in detail, and FIG. 3 is the double-sided head according to FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is an overall top view of the double-sided head support mechanism according to FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of essential parts of the double-sided head support mechanism according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 10...Double-sided head support mechanism 12...Upper arm 14...Lower arm 16...Arm support 18...Carriage 20...Common support spring 22...Upper head 24...Lower Head 36... Fixed part 100... Floppy disk.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Holding the magnetic disk in opposing positions from both sides.
an upper arm and a lower arm each carrying a lower head; an arm support that supports the upper and lower arms so that they can swing relative to each other on their tail end sides; and an arm support that can reciprocate along the radial direction of the magnetic disk. a carriage, one end of which is fixed between the upper and lower arms of the arm support,
a common support spring, the other end of which extends from the support fixing position toward the head side and is fixed to the carriage; the support spring is formed into a substantially T-shape, and an arm is attached to the support spring from both wing portions. A carriage fixing part is provided that protrudes toward the tail end and is fixed to the carriage, and the legs of the support spring are fixed to the arm support, and the head side end of the common support spring is disposed close to the magnetic disk in the mounted state. A double-sided head support mechanism for a magnetic disk drive. (2) A double-sided head support mechanism for a magnetic disk drive according to claim (1), wherein the head-side end of the common support spring is bent at a substantially right angle. (3) In the double-sided head support mechanism according to claim (1), the common support spring from the leg to the head side end is embedded in the arm support, and both wing parts of the support spring are disposed from the side of the arm support. A double-sided head support mechanism for a magnetic disk drive characterized by a protruding feature.