Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For adjusting head position
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-17
2004-08-31
Korzuch, William (Department: 2653)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Head mounting
For adjusting head position
Reexamination Certificate
active
06785096
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head supporting mechanism for supporting a recording/reproduction use head that makes an access to a recording medium in an information recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A head for recording/reproducing data on and from an information recording medium in an information recording apparatus such as a magnetic disk apparatus is installed on a slider that allows the head to float over the recording medium with a fine gap in between. A head supporting mechanism is used for supporting this head slider. The head supporting mechanism is attached to an actuator arm that is driven by a voice coil motor (VCM) serving as a driving source.
A suspension arm is attached to the actuator arm that is driven by the voice coil motor so as to freely pivot thereon, and the head slider is attached to the suspension arm. A fine-movement actuator utilizing a thin-film piezoelectric element is interpolated between the actuator arm and the suspension arm so that the suspension arm is allowed to pivot by driving the fine-movement actuator, thereby allowing the head on the slider to land on a track.
Great shifts such as a seeking operation of the head slider are carried out by controlling the voice coil motor, and the tracking compensation for landing-on a track is carried out by controlling the fine-movement actuator.
However, recent developments of high recording density in recording media and the resulting high-speed rotation of the recording medium have taken place so fast that it is sometimes difficult for the head supporting mechanism of the above-mentioned arrangement to follow the developments.
In the case of the head supporting mechanism having the above-mentioned arrangement, the entire suspension arm including the head slider is driven by the fine-movement actuator. However, the suspension arm is considerably long, and has a great mass with a great moment of inertia. For this reason, in the tracking compensation for positioning the head on a target track when the head is lifted off track, it is difficult to properly provide a high-speed response with high precision.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a head supporting mechanism of an information recording apparatus that can achieve a high-speed responding property and a high-precision positioning control in the tracking compensation for a target track.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a head supporting mechanism that can improve the floating characteristic of the slider with respect to the recording medium.
Still another objective, feature and advantage of the present invention will be clarified by the following description.
In order to solve the above-mentioned subjects, the present invention relating to the head supporting mechanism is provided with the following means.
A slider-supporting beam is attached to an actuator arm that shifts relative to a recording medium. A slider supporting member is supported on a free end of the slider supporting beam so as to freely rotate thereon. A displacement member is connected to the slider supporting member, and based upon the operation of the displacement of the displacement member, the slider supporting member is allowed to pivot around the pivotal center together with the slider placed thereon. The displacement member is directly or indirectly attached to a slider supporting beam. The connecting point of the displacement member and the slider supporting member is placed at a position different from the pivotal center so that the displacement of the displacement member allows the slider supporting member to pivot around the pivotal center.
In other words, the head supporting mechanism of the present invention is provided with a slider on which a head for recording and reproducing data on and from the recording medium is installed, a slider supporting member for supporting the slider, a slider supporting beam the base side of which is attached to the actuator arm and the free end of which is provided with the slider supporting member so as to freely pivot thereon, and a displacement member which makes a displacement so that the slider supporting member is allowed to pivot together with the above-mentioned slider.
Here, the relative shifts of the actuator arm may be provided as rocking movements or linear shifts.
In accordance with the above-mentioned arrangement, the displacement member is operated so that the slider supporting member supporting the slider is allowed to pivot around the pivotal center with respect to the slider supporting beam. The slider is allowed to pivot together with the slider supporting member.
In the case when the slider supporting beam is connected to the actuator arm so as to freely pivot thereon and the entire portion of the slider supporting beam is allowed to pivot, the slider supporting beam including the slider that is to pivot has a greater mass. Moreover, the length of the slider supporting beam that corresponds to an effective radius of the displacement of the slider is greater. Therefore, when the slider supporting beam is allowed to pivot so as to make a displacement of the slider, a delay in response may occur.
In contrast, in the present invention, the slider supporting member is allowed to pivot around the pivotal center within the area range of the slider supporting member itself. The pivotal centers of the slider and the slider supporting member that are the subjects of the pivot need not be coincident with the center of gravity of the slider; however, they are certainly placed within the area of the slider supporting member. The slider supporting member is supported within the area range so as to freely pivot therein so that the effective radius of the pivot is sufficiently small as compared with the case in which the slider supporting beam is allowed to pivot. Moreover, the subjects of the pivot are the slider and the slider supporting member, and their masses are smaller than the mass of the slider supporting beam containing the slider. The moment inertia of the two members, that is, the slider and the slider supporting member, is smaller than the moment inertia of the three members, that is, the slider, the slider supporting member and the slider supporting beam; therefore, it is possible to set smaller the driving torque of the slider and the slider supporting member caused by the operation of the displacement member. Moreover, since they have a small dimension and light weight, it is possible to improve the response characteristic and precision in the tracking compensation for positioning to a target track when the head has a positional deviation from the target track. In other words, the present invention makes it possible to provide a head supporting mechanism of an information recording apparatus which can make a fine displacement on the head with high precision at high speeds.
In a preferred embodiment of the above-mentioned head supporting mechanism, the pivotal center at which the slider supporting member is supported to freely pivot thereon by the slider supporting beam is set to a position corresponding to the center of gravity of the slider or the vicinity thereof.
The displacement of the displacement member allows the slider supporting member to pivot around the pivotal center together with the slider; and in this case, when the pivotal center is set at the position of the center of gravity of the slider, it is possible to smoothly carry out the pivotal movement of the slider caused by the displacement of the displacement member.
In another preferred embodiment of the above-mentioned head supporting mechanism, a pair of the above-mentioned displacement members are placed in a symmetric manner. The pair of displacement members are placed symmetrically with respect to the center line along the length direction of the slider supporting beam passing through the center of rotation of the slider supporting member. Moreover, either one of the paired displacemen
Kuwajima Hideki
Matsuoka Kaoru
Blouin Mark
Korzuch William
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
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