Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For moving head into/out of transducing position
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-08
2004-07-20
Evans, Jefferson (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Head mounting
For moving head into/out of transducing position
C360S254700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06765762
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-079197, filed Mar. 19, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of disk drives, and more particularly to a disk drive in which the parking ramp is prevented from contacting a surface of a disk even when the disk drive receives vibration or shocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In disk drives, a representative example of which is a hard disk drive, a head (more precisely, a slider having a magnetic head element mounted on it) reads data from and writes data on a surface of a disk, i.e., a data-recording medium. Each head is mounted on an actuator comprising a voice coil motor (VCM) that is a main component. The actuator moves the head to a target position over the surface of the disk, under the control of a micro-controller (CPU). More specifically, the actuator moves the head to a position at which the head should read or write data from and on the data-recording area of the disk. The disk is rotated by a spindle motor.
A type of a disk drive is known, which comprises a loading/unloading mechanism (also known as “ramp loading mechanism”). The loading/unloading mechanism is configured to park the head outside the disk during any non-operation period. During the non-operation period, the head neither reads nor writes data from or on the disk. The non-operating period includes a period during which the disk drive is activated, a period during which the power switch of the disk drive remains off, and a period during which data is transferred from the disk drive to the host system.
As
FIG. 5A
shows, the loading/unloading mechanism has a parking ramp
20
that is a member for parking the head
2
. Parking ramps of various structures are available. Nonetheless, every parking ramp is designed to hold the head
2
unloaded from the surface of the disk
1
and to load the head
2
above the surface of the disk
1
. More specifically, the parking ramp
20
has inclined surfaces
20
A and horizontal surfaces
20
B as is illustrated in FIG.
5
B. Either inclined surface
20
B may support an actuator. The horizontal surfaces
20
B oppose each other, with an outer peripheral part of the disk
1
lying between them.
As
FIG. 5A
shows, too, the actuator has a suspension
3
that holds the head
2
. The distal end of the suspension
3
functions as a parking tab
30
. To achieve the unloading of the head
2
, the actuator moves from any position over the disk
1
toward the outer periphery of the disk
1
, until it reaches the marking ramp
20
. The parking tab
30
then rides onto the inclined surface
20
A of the parking ramp
20
and is lifted upwards. The head
2
held by the suspension is therefore parked at a prescribed distance from the surface of the disk
1
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 4B
, the disk
1
has, on one surface, a data-recording area
10
A, a loading/unloading area
10
B and an outermost area
10
C. The data-recording area
10
A is a circular region, extending for some distance in the radial direction, from the center of the disk
1
toward the outer periphery thereof. The loading/unloading area
10
B is an annular region that surrounds the data-recording area
10
A. The outermost area
10
C is an annular region, too, which surrounds the loading/unloading area
10
B and usually remains unused.
In the loading/unloading area
10
B, the actuator parks the head
2
on the parking ramp
20
, accomplishing the unloading of the head
2
. The actuator moves the head
2
from the parking ramp
20
to the loading/unloading area
10
B to achieve the loading of the head
2
. Namely, the actuator moves the head
2
between the data-recording area
10
A and the loading/unloading area
10
B.
The loading/unloading mechanism can maintain keep the head
2
out of contact with the disk
1
during the non-operating period that includes the period of activating the disk drive. This helps to improve the surface condition (surface smoothness) of the disk
1
, successfully decreasing the flying height of the head
2
. In other words, the distance between the disk
1
and the head
2
can be reduced to position the magnetic head element at a short distance from the surface of the disk
1
. As a result, it is possible to enhance the read/write characteristic of the head
2
. Hence, the density at which the head
2
record data on the disk
1
increases.
When the disk drive receives external vibration or mechanical shocks, it vibrates, inevitably undergoing deflection. Consequently, a part of the disk
1
(particularly, the outer peripheral part) may contact or hit a part (particularly, the distal part) of the upper horizontal surface
20
B of the parking ramp
20
, as can be understood from FIG.
4
A. If the parking ramp
20
frequently contacts the loading/unloading area
10
B of the disk
1
, the following problem will arise.
As the parking ramp
20
repeatedly contacts the loading/unloading area
10
B, the surface of the disk
1
is damaged and scratched, generating dust or forming projections on the disk
1
in some cases. The head
2
, which remains at a low flying height above the loading/unloading area
10
B, is very likely to contact the dust or the projections. If the head
2
contacts the dust or the projections, it will be damaged.
It is therefore necessary to prevent, as much as possible, the parking ramp
20
from contacting the loading/unloading area
10
B of the disk
1
even if the disk drive receives external vibration or shocks. The parking ramp
20
scarcely contacts the data-recording area
10
A. This is because the data-recording area
10
A, which is the most important surface area of the disk
1
, lies outside the region in which the parking ramp
20
is located.
A disk drive that comprises a stopper or an arm has been proposed, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,453,889 and 6,091,569. The stopper or the arm controls the deflection of the disk or protects the data-recording area of the disk when the disk drive receives external vibration or shocks. However, neither the stopper nor the arm can prevent the parking ramp
20
from contacting or hitting the loading/unloading area
10
B of the disk
1
when the disk drive receives external vibration or shocks.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a disk drive comprising a parking ramp, in which the parking ramp is prevented from contacting a disk, particularly the loading/unloading area thereof even if the disk drive receives external vibration or shocks.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk drive including a parking ramp that is configured to avoid contact with the loading/unloading area provided on the surface of a disk.
The disk drive comprises: a spindle motor; a disk which has a data-recording area, a loading/unloading area and an outermost area and which is rotated by the spindle motor; an actuator which holds a head for reading and writing data on and from the disk, which moves the head over the disk and which performs loading/unloading of the head; and a parking ramp member which is arranged near the outermost area of the disk, which has a parking part and a surface. The parking part of the ramp member is configured to hold a part of the actuator while the head is being unloaded from the data-recording area. The surface of the ramp member faces the loading/unloading area and outermost area of the disk and is spaced therefrom by a prescribed distance. The surface of the parking ramp member is spaced from the loading/unloading area of the disk by a first distance and from the outermost area of the disk by a second distance that is shorter than the first distance.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4933785 (1990-06-01), Morehouse et al.
patent: 5231549 (1993-07-01), Morehouse et al.
patent: 5453889 (1995-09-01), Alt
patent: 5757587 (1998-05-01), Berg et al.
p
Evans Jefferson
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
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