Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Fluid bearing head support – Disk record
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-28
2002-07-30
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Fluid bearing head support
Disk record
C360S236400, C360S236600, C369S300000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06426850
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates mainly to a converter support structure gliding in contact over a recording medium. More specifically, the present invention relates to a gliding converter support structure for a magnetic recording device or an optomagnetic recording and reproducing device used as an external storage device for a computer, or as a recording and reproducing device for music or video signals or other information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A common example of a conventional gliding converter support structure is a magnetic core support structure for magnetic recording. Magnetic tape and flexible disks used to be the main media using such a structure, but recently minidisks (referred to as “MDs” in the following) are becoming increasingly popular as optomagnetic recording media for recording music. A prerequisite for MDs is the use of a gliding magnetic head slider for optomagnetic overwriting using a modulated magnetic field, and the disk has a gliding film for gliding. The following is a discussion of a magnetic head slider for MDs serving as a converter support structure.
A conventional gliding magnetic head slider for optomagnetic recording, particularly for MDs, is disclosed in Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 6-195851. Its overall structure is shown in FIG.
4
(
a
).
In FIG.
4
(
a
), numeral
101
denotes a slider means serving as a converter support structure, on which a magnetic core
102
serving as a converter, and a coil (not shown in the drawings) are installed. Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 7-129902 discloses details concerning the slider means
101
, which are illustrated in FIG.
4
(
b
). A cylindrical surface
101
a
is formed as a gliding surface on a surface of the slider means that opposes the disk. Numeral
102
a
denotes the magnetic pole of a magnetic core
102
that is exposed toward the side of the disk.
Publication of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 6-195851 discloses the relation between the cylindrical surface
101
a
and the magnetic pole
102
a
, as shown in FIG.
5
.
FIG. 5
is a drawing of the slider means
101
taken from the opposite side of the surface opposing the disk.
In
FIG. 5
, A denotes the tangent line to the disk track of the center point of the magnetic pole
102
a
, and B denotes the disk radius through the magnetic pole
102
a.
Contact region
101
b
is the region of the cylindrical surface
101
a
contacting the disk's gliding film. The contact line C
101
is defined as the line passing along the center of the contact region
101
b
. The contact line C
101
is arranged so that it defines a certain angle &phgr; with the tangent A through the center of the magnetic core
102
a
during regular contact with the disk. With such a tilted arrangement, the contact line C
101
can be arranged substantially parallel to the tangent direction of the disk track in the contact region
101
b
, which reduces the gliding width (that is, the width of the contact region
101
b
in the direction perpendicular to the gliding direction). In
FIG. 5
, the magnetic pole
102
a
is shown as if all parts on the side opposing the disk are transparent.
The slider means
101
, which includes the cylindrical surface
101
a
, is made of a resin material that is resistant against abrasion with the disk surface and very smooth, so that it prevents damage due to abrasion between the slider and the disk.
The pressing force of a spring portion
104
, which serves as a loading means, causes the contact region
101
b
of the cylindrical surface
101
a
to glide in contact with the gliding film of the disk, so that the magnetic pole
102
a
is positioned near the disk's recording film. The disk may be tilted due to surface warps and distortions, causing positional misalignments but, contact can be maintained because the gimbal
103
is deformed with respect to tilting around an axis orthogonal to the contact line C
101
in
FIG. 5
, and the contact region shifts with respect to tilting around an axis parallel to the contact line C
101
(rolling motion). In this situation, thermomagnetic recording is performed by applying to the recording film, which has been heated with focused laser light, a modulation magnetic field with a coil (not shown in the drawings) from the magnetic pole
102
a.
Together with the optical head, the slider means
101
can move over the disk in the radial direction B in
FIG. 5
, so that a recording magnetic field can be applied to any portion of the disk.
However, a conventional magnetic head as described above poses the following problems.
If C
102
is the line segment that passes through the center of the magnetic pole
102
a
in parallel to the contact line C
101
, then C
101
and C
102
are separated by the distance d. The value of d varies with shifts of the contact region
101
b
, but it is preferable that it is zero during regular operation.
The reason for this is that if the disk is tilted around an axis parallel to the contact line C
101
for an angle &thgr;, the contact line C
101
shifts, and the distance d changes. When the original of d is d
0
and the shift portion is d′, then the largest possible change of the distance between the magnetic pole
102
a
and the disk is (d′+d
0
)sin &thgr;.
This change of distance causes variations in the size of the magnetic field generated by the magnetic pole
102
a
, and a field that is too small may lead to recording errors. Therefore, it is necessary to run an additional current through the coil to compensate for the shift portion, which leads to an increase in the consumed power.
Moreover, since the gliding surface
101
a
is a cylindrical surface, the region of contact with the disk is large, and the viscous resistance with the gliding film of the disk is large, so that the load on the spindle motor increases and causes an increase in the consumed power.
Moreover, the cylindrical surface
101
a
easily gathers dust, and when dust has accumulated near the center of the contact region
101
b
for example, it causes a large positional change, changing the distance between the disk and the magnetic pole
102
a
. Since the contact region is large, the accumulation of dust occurs relatively easily.
As long as the direction in which the slider means
101
moves when accessing the disk in a radial direction is not orthogonal to the contact line C
101
, it is impossible to consistently match the direction of the contact line C
101
with the direction tangential to the track in the contact region. In other words, with this configuration, when accessing the disk in a radial direction, in almost all positions in radial direction of the disk, the contact line C
101
has a certain tilt with respect to the direction tangential to the track. This means that the slide width of the contact region
101
b
(that is, the width in the direction orthogonal to the slide direction of the contact region
101
b
) is always larger than the width of the contact region
101
b
in the direction perpendicular to the contact line C
101
, which becomes a cause for a large sliding resistance and the accumulation of dust.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to solve the above problems of the prior art, and to provide a converter support structure with a simple configuration, high efficiency, and low sliding resistance, that does not easily accumulate dust.
The following describes a configuration of the present invention that achieves these objects.
A converter support structure according to a first configuration of the present invention supports a converter for recording/reproducing while moving relative to a recording medium, and includes at least two protrusion portions for maintaining the converter in a predetermined position with respect to the recording medium by contacting the recording medium. The protrusion portions are arranged substantially in parallel to the direction in which the converter moves relative to the recordi
Enshu Hisayuki
Mizuno Osamu
Murakami Yutaka
Nakamura Tohru
Klimowicz William
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Merchant & Gould P,C,
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