JP2533982Y2 - Floating head load / unload mechanism - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load / unload mechanism for a floating head slider used in a magnetic disk drive.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a magnetic disk drive, a floating head slider having a magnetic head mounted on one end surface thereof is used. The floating head slider flies above the disk by the mechanical effect of a high-speed air flow generated by the high-speed rotation of the disk, and performs recording and reproduction while maintaining a slight distance between the magnetic head and the recording medium. When the floating head slider is held movably in the pitch, roll and perpendicular directions to the disk surface by a gimbal spring that moves the floating head slider to follow the surface protrusions and undulations of the disk while keeping the spacing constant. At the same time, a load spring is added to the gimbal spring to control the flying height of the floating head slider and to support the head for moving the magnetic head over an arbitrary recording track.

On the other hand, in the current magnetic disk drive, as a start / stop method, when the rotation of the disk is stopped, the floating head slider and the disk are placed in contact with each other, and the rotation of the disk is started. The so-called contact start / stop (CSS) system, in which a slider is levitated to perform a normal operation, and when the disk is stopped, the floating head slider is landed on the disk by lowering the disk rotation speed, is the mainstream. In the CSS system, the floating head slider and the disk surface are driven through each stage of contact, low-speed sliding, separation, low-speed sliding, and contact, which may cause friction and wear problems. Wear can also cause head crashes.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The CSS system has a feature that the structure of the mechanism is simple, but has the following problems.

[0005] That is, the first problem is a problem of contact sliding that inevitably occurs during CSS. When the rotation speed of the disk reaches a certain speed or more, a sufficient levitation force is generated in the floating head slider, so that the floating head slider and the disk surface are kept in non-contact. Immediately after the start of disk rotation, the floating force acting on the floating head slider is small,
Therefore, a state occurs in which the floating head slider and the disk slide while contacting each other. Such contact sliding also occurs when the disk stops, in which case the floating head slider transitions from a fluid lubricated state to a contact sliding state.

[0006] Usually, the floating head slider is made of a very hard material such as ceramic. On the other hand, the disk has a protective film made of carbon or the like to protect the magnetic recording layer, and a lubricant on the surface to reduce the frictional resistance during contact sliding with the floating head slider and to suppress wear. Have been. Due to the characteristics of magnetic recording, since they are formed of a thin film, their hardness is smaller than that of a floating head slider. Therefore, there is a problem of friction and wear at the time of contact sliding, and fine friction and wear powder generated at this time may hinder stable movement of the floating head slider, possibly leading to head crash.

The second problem is that the finishing accuracy of the lubrication surface of the floating head slider, which is required to be further reduced in the future, is required to be extremely smooth.
When the disk surface is required to have high flatness which does not hinder the low flying height of the floating head slider, the floating head slider and the disk may be attracted to each other when the disk is stopped. Once the suction occurs, the frictional force increases rapidly, and it becomes difficult to start the disk.

Therefore, in order to avoid the above problems,
There is a need for a disk drive start / stop system in which the floating head slider and the disk surface always operate in a non-contact manner.
This involves loading the floating head slider mounted on the floating head slider support through a process of approaching the surface of the magnetic disk medium and moving the floating head slider away from the surface of the magnetic disk medium by the force provided by some mechanism. Unloading is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a floating head load / unload mechanism which eliminates such drawbacks and enables dynamic load / unload to realize a complete non-contact start / stop between the floating head and the magnetic disk medium. Is to do.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a gimbal spring comprising a floating head slider, a tongue-shaped leaf spring supporting the floating head slider, and a gimbal spring joined to one end of the gimbal spring. A floating head slider support made of a leaf spring-shaped load spring for applying an appropriate load to the head, and a floating head holding mechanism that holds the floating head slider support and slides in contact with the load spring. Loading or unloading the floating head slider on the surface of the magnetic disk medium by causing the load spring of the floating head slider support to slide while contacting the floating head holding mechanism by the moving motion of the floating head slider support by Floating head loader A load mechanism, wherein, during a loading or unloading operation, a contact slide of a cut surface of the floating head holding mechanism when the cutting is performed approximately at a locus of a point where the floating head holding mechanism comes into contact with the load spring. It is characterized in that the profile of the point trajectory is formed as a partial function developed on the time axis of a sine wave regarded as substantially a single frequency in the frequency domain.

[0011]

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a floating head holding mechanism 10 that slides in contact with a load spring 2 included in a floating head slider support and supports the floating head slider support during a load / unload operation. The floating head slider support slides on the floating head holding mechanism by the rotary actuator to realize a load unload operation, and a point of contact with the load spring 2 of the floating head holding mechanism 10 at the time of load unloading The profile of the contact portion in the cross section of the floating head holding mechanism including the trajectory is shaped by a sinusoidal curve developed on the time axis.

As a result, the present invention enables dynamic load unloading that realizes complete non-contact start / stop of the floating head and the magnetic disk medium.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a floating head load / unload mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a general loading / unloading mechanism of a floating head called a ramp load type. The detailed operation principle is omitted, but a gimbal spring 1, a load spring 2, and a floating head slider 3 are shown. The floating head slider support comprising the rotating shaft 7
When the floating head slider support member is sufficiently moved to the outer peripheral track of the magnetic disk medium 9 by the rotational movement in the plane parallel to the surface of the magnetic disk medium 9 by the positioner actuator 8 with the Is lifted while contacting and sliding with the floating head holding mechanism 10, thereby performing the unloading operation of the floating head slider 3 and performing the loading operation in the reverse process.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the floating head holding mechanism cut along a chain line L shown in FIG. 1 and a cross section of the load spring 2 included in the floating head slider support during the load / unload operation. is there. Here, the chain line in FIG. 1 indicates the locus of the contact point of the load spring 2 that slides in contact with the floating head holding mechanism 10. In FIG. 2, the load spring 2 constituting the floating head slider support moves in the Y direction in the figure, and one point P of the load spring 2 comes into contact with the contact surface S of the floating head holding mechanism 10 with the load spring 2. When moving while sliding, the floating head slider 3 generates a velocity in the Z direction via the load spring 2 and a gimbal spring 1 joined to the load spring 2 (not shown). The speed that occurs in this operation is defined as the loading speed,
The unloading is performed by the operation completely opposite to the above description.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a floating head load / unload mechanism corresponding to FIG. 2 according to the configuration of the conventional example. In FIG. 3, the profile shape of the portion Q of the floating head holding mechanism 10 that slides in contact with the load spring 2 is different from that in FIG. 2, but the operation is the same as that in FIG.

Here, considering the load / unload operation from the viewpoint of the reliability of the head medium interface as a load / unload mechanism, the loading speed or unloading speed, which is an operation parameter, greatly affects the reliability. That is, an increase in the loading speed increases the possibility of contact between the floating head slider and the magnetic disk medium during the loading process.

From this point of view, when the loading operation of the floating head load / unload mechanism of the present invention of FIG. 2 is compared with the conventional system of FIG. 3, the operation mode is as shown in FIG. That is, when the load spring 2 slides on a plane with a constant inclination like the inclined surface Q of the floating head holding mechanism 10 in FIG. 3, an acceleration profile as shown in m in FIG. 4 occurs. Floating head holding mechanism 1 of FIG.
When the load spring 2 slides on a slope having a profile that realizes a partial shape of a sine wave, such as a slope S of 0, the acceleration is as shown in FIG.

As described above, from the viewpoint of ensuring the reliability of the head medium interface at the time of loading / unloading, the loading and unloading speeds, particularly the operating components in the medium vertical direction, are operated under substantially constant conditions. It is important. If the system consisting of the floating head slider and the spring system supporting the gimbal spring and the load spring has a sufficiently rigid structure, the load spring 2 is used as shown in FIGS.
Is controlled by the floating head holding mechanism 10, the speeds of the load spring 2 and the floating head slider 3 completely correspond to each other, and the speed of the floating head slider 3 can be easily controlled. However, since the structural system including the floating head slider and the spring system has a relatively flexible structure, it constitutes a vibration system having a primary resonance at several tens to several hundreds of hertz.
Therefore, even if the speed of the load spring that slides in contact with the floating head holding mechanism is controlled by the floating head holding mechanism, in some cases, a large vibration is generated in the floating head slider, and as a result, the speed of loading or unloading is reduced. Such fluctuations greatly degrade the reliability of the head medium interface.

In view of such structural mechanics, FIG.
In consideration of the above, in the case of the motion control such as the conventional profile m, since the frequency range is extremely wide, the vibration formed by the floating head slider and the spring system is easily excited. Therefore, due to unavoidable manufacturing variations, the loading speed or unloading speed of the floating head slider fluctuates greatly, and in some cases, the operation of the floating head slider becomes unstable during loading or unloading, and the floating head slider becomes unstable. It is also expected that a head crash due to the contact between the head slider and the magnetic disk medium will occur. For it,
The profile n in FIG. 4 basically has only a single frequency component, so that motion according to such a profile excites vibration unless the primary resonance of the system consisting of the floating head slider and the spring matches its frequency. Never. Therefore, by setting this profile away from the primary resonance of the system (even if variations are considered), the speed of the load spring 2 and the speed of the floating head slider correspond to each other, so that loading or unloading of the floating head slider can be easily performed. Speed control at the time can be performed, and therefore, stable load and unload can always be realized.

[0022]

As described above, the use of the floating head load / unload mechanism according to the present invention is very little affected by manufacturing variations of the floating head slider support, and the floating head slider related to CSS. Thus, the problems of frictional wear and adsorption between the magnetic disk medium and the magnetic disk medium can be avoided. Therefore, the generation of dust in the atmosphere in the magnetic disk device can be suppressed to a minimum, and the risk of head crash can be greatly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a floating head load / unload mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating the operation of the embodiment of the present invention in detail.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating an operation of a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention and the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gimbal spring 2 Load spring 3 Floating head slider 7 Rotation axis 8 Positioner actuator 9 Magnetic disk medium 10 Floating head holding mechanism

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A gimbal spring comprising a floating head slider, a tongue-shaped leaf spring supporting the floating head slider, and a plate for joining the gimbal spring to one end thereof and simultaneously applying an appropriate weight to the floating head slider. A floating head slider support made of a spring-like load spring; and a floating head holding mechanism that holds the floating head slider support and slides in contact with the load spring, wherein the floating head slider support is moved by a positioner actuator. A floating head load / unload mechanism that loads or unloads the floating head slider onto or from a magnetic disk medium surface by causing the load spring of the floating head slider support to slide while contacting the floating head holding mechanism by a moving motion. Oh, low At the time of loading or unloading operation, the profile of the contact sliding point locus profile of the cutting surface of the floating head holding mechanism in the case of approximately cutting along the locus of the point where the floating head holding mechanism comes into contact with the load spring, A floating head load / unload mechanism characterized by being formed as a partial function developed on a time axis of a sine wave regarded as a substantially single frequency in a frequency domain.