JPH071614B2 - Head support for magnetic disk - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head supporting structure for reading a recording from a rotating magnetic disk. More specifically, a slider provided with this magnetic head is a magnetic disk rotating disk. The present invention relates to a structure of a gimbal portion that is a dynamic pressure air floating slider that floats along with an air flow that flows along with the above, and that elastically supports the slider while allowing the attitude of the slider to change.

[Conventional technology]

A supporting structure of a dynamic pressure air floating slider provided with a magnetic head for reading a recording from a rotating magnetic disk will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is a plan view of the entire apparatus. The disk-shaped magnetic disk 1 is rotated at high speed in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The recording recorded on the magnetic disk 1 is read by the magnetic head. This magnetic head is provided in a dynamic pressure air levitation slider 2 that floats by hitting an air flow that flows as the surface of a magnetic disk 1 moves. The slider 2 is provided at the tip of the load arm 4 via a gimbal portion 3 that allows the slider 2 to change its posture. The load arm 4 is for applying a constant pressing force to the surface of the magnetic disk 1 against the floating force of the slider 2. The rear end of the load arm 4 is attached to the front end of the head arm 5, and the head arm 5 can be rotated around the shaft 6.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the load arm 4 to which the slider 2 provided with the magnetic head 7 is attached via the gimbal portion 3 as seen from below. FIG. 10 shows the gimbal portion 3 of FIG.
It is the figure which looked at the structure of from the side. FIG. 11 is a view seen from below with only the gimbal portion 3 of FIG. 10 removed. The gimbal portion 3 elastically supports the slider 2.
This elastic support allows the slider and the magnetic head 7 to be prevented from being subjected to a large force by allowing the slider to change its posture due to the turbulence of the air flow when it hits the air flow and floats. . As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the structure of the gimbal portion is made of a thin plate material as a whole, and has a cutout portion 8 formed by cutting off three parts from the center to the tip. As shown in FIG. 8, the separating portion 8 is formed by two separating lines 9 along the longitudinal direction of the gimbal portion 3 and a central separating line 10 continuous with the two separating lines. When the gimbal portion is viewed from the side, as shown in FIG. 10, the separating portion 8 is located below the other portions, and the gimbal portion has a three-dimensional structure. The rear end side of the gimbal portion 3 is fixed to the lower surface of the tip end of the load arm 4 by spot welding 11 and a holding portion 12
Has become. The lower side of the separating portion 8 serves as a support portion 13 which fixes and supports the slider 2. A substantially hemispherical pivot 14 is provided on the upper surface of the separating portion 8 so as to come into contact with the eaves portion at the tip of the load arm 4 to support the slider 2 by a point. And as mentioned above (10th
The slider 2 is elastically supported by the three-dimensional structure of the gimbal portion. That is, changes in the attitude of the slider such as rolling, pitching, and yawing can be tolerated.

Note that US Pat. No. 4,620,251 exists as a publication that describes a technique similar to the conventional technique described above.

In the gimbal portion having such a structure, the gimbal portion 3 is attached to the tip of the load arm 4 extending in the radial direction of the rotating magnetic disk 1, and the air flow that flows along with the movement of the surface of the magnetic disk is separated from the separating portion 8. It is effective when used in a state orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. However, as shown in FIG. 9, the conventional gimbal portion 3 is provided even in the in-line type load arm in which the load arm 4 is projected rearward in the rotational direction of the magnetic disk 1, that is, the load arm is projected along the air flow.
Since the above structure is adopted as it is, the following problems occur. It should be noted that such an in-line type load arm is often adopted at the same time as a linear load arm (straight type head) that can reduce the inertial mass of a rotating head arm (including the load arm). There is.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

That is, the structure of the conventional gimbal portion shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 is buckled to the root 8'of the separation portion 8 when the longitudinal direction of the separation portion 8 of the gimbal portion is used along the air flow. It caused deformation. Explaining with reference to FIGS. 10 to 11, at the moment when the magnetic disk 1 starts to rotate in the direction of the arrow, a large static frictional force acts in a tangential direction on the slider 2 that has been in contact with the magnetic disk 1 until then. Further, even when the rotation speed is low, the slider slides without floating, so that a dynamic friction force acts. When the frictional force is generated, a tensile force acts on both end portions of the gimbal, but the cut-off portion 8 in the folded state is in a compressed state. Since the entire gimbal portion 8 has a thin plate structure of about 50 μm, the gimbal portion 8 has a property of being strong against a tensile force but immediately buckling against a compressive force. When buckling, there was a problem because permanent strain remained.

An object of the present invention is to realize a highly reliable magnetic disk head support structure in which the gimbal portion does not buckle and deform.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, the gimbal portion has a holding portion on the rear end side that is fixed and held at the tip of the load arm, and has a supporting portion on the front end side that fixes and supports the slider. There is a plate-shaped elastic portion between the elastic portions, the elastic portion is arranged along the air flow from the air inflow side toward the air outflow side, the holding portion is arranged on the air inflow side, and the support portion Are arranged on the air outflow side.

[Action]

In the conventional gimbal portion (see FIG. 10 and FIG. 11), the root portion 8 ′ of the separating portion 8 is folded back, and first, the first cantilever portion from the holding portion 12 toward the air outflow side. 3'is present, and further, there is a second cantilever portion 3 ", that is, the separating portion 8 from the first cantilever portion 3'toward the air inflow side. Thus, the first cantilever portion 3'is provided. The tensile force acts on the strip-like portion 3'and the compressive force acts on the second cantilever portion 3 ".

On the other hand, as in the present invention, the elastic portion is arranged along the air flow from the air inflow side toward the air outflow side, the holding portion is arranged on the air inflow side, and the support portion is arranged on the air outflow side. You can create a place where compressive force works,
Therefore, buckling deformation can be prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As a first embodiment, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a load arm having the gimbal portion, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the gimbal portion, and FIG. 1 is a side view of the gimbal portion. It should be noted that the same numbers as in the related art are given and the description thereof is omitted. As shown in FIG. 2, the separating portion 8 is fixed to the lower surface of the load arm 4 by spot welding 11. The supporting portion 13 that adheres and supports the slider 2 is an outer edge portion 21 outside the separating portion 8. The outer edge portion 21 is cantilevered from the air inflow side to the air outflow side along the air flow (see FIG. 1).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When a frictional force acts on the slider 2, a tensile force acts on the elastic portion which is the base 21 ′ of the outer edge portion 21. The force acting on the supporting portion 12 fixed to the lower surface of the load arm 4 and the supporting portion 13 itself to which the slider 2 is adhesively fixed can be ignored. And there is no region where a compressive force acts as in the past.
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to provide the gimbal portion 3 having extremely high reliability without causing permanent strain due to buckling deformation of the gimbal portion 3. Further, the shape of the load arm 4 of this embodiment is substantially linear as shown in FIG. 3, and the mounting state of the load arm 4 is provided so as to project from the air inflow side to the air outflow side along the air flow. When the in-line type load arm is used, no compressive force is generated in the load arm, which has the effect of increasing the reliability of the magnetic disk head support as a whole.

Next, the gimbal portion of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a side view of the gimbal portion, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the gimbal portion. The positional relationship between the load arm 4 and the slider 2 is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment, but the gimbal portion has a simple linear shape like that of the outer edge portion 21 of the first embodiment. The load arm 4 is fixed to the holding portion 12 by spot welding 11 and is adhered to the slider 2 by a supporting member 13, and a pivot 14 is provided at the center of the upper surface of the supporting portion.
Is provided. The root of the support portion 13 becomes an elastic portion. Also in this second embodiment, since the frictional force applied to the slider 2 acts on the entire gimbal portion 3 as a tensile force,
This has the effect of not causing buckling deformation. Further, in this embodiment, the gimbal portion 3 is simple, and there is an effect that the cost can be reduced and the mass production can be realized.

Further, FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the gimbal portion 3 of the third embodiment. The third embodiment corresponds to the support portion in the second embodiment.
A window portion 31 is formed at the root (elastic portion) of 13.
Due to the presence of the window portion 31, the elasticity of the gimbal portion that allows the attitude change of the slider becomes more suitable. However, even if the window portion is not formed as in the second or first embodiment, sufficient elasticity can be maintained by making the gimbal portion thinner.

Next, a plan view of the fourth embodiment is shown in FIG. In the fourth embodiment, the support portion 13 in the third embodiment has the same width as the other portions. By making the widths the same, the size of the window portion 31 is further increased so that the same elasticity as in the third embodiment can be maintained.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the magnetic disk head support of the present invention, even when a frictional force is generated between the rotating magnetic disk and the slider and a force is applied to the gimbal portion, only a tensile force is generated in the gimbal portion and a compressive force is generated. Since this does not occur, it is possible to prevent buckling deformation from occurring in the gimbal portion or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a side view of a gimbal portion showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an entire load arm to which the gimbal portion of FIG. 1 is attached. 4 and 5 are side views of the gimbal portion showing a second embodiment of the present invention,
5 is a plan view of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a plan view of a gimbal portion showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of a gimbal portion showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a plan view of the entire apparatus showing a conventional magnetic disk head support, FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the load arm of FIG. 8, FIG. 10 is a side view showing the gimbal portion of FIG. FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the gimbal portion of FIG. 1 ... Magnetic disk, 2 ... Slider, 3 ... Gimbal part, 4 ... Load arm, 5 ... Head arm, 6 ... Axis, 7 ... Magnetic head, 8 ... Separating part, 9,10 …… Separation line, 11 …… Spot welding, 12 …… Holding part, 13 …… Supporting part, 14 …… Pivot, 21 …… Outer edge part, 31 …… Window part.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A slider is provided with a magnetic head for reading a recording from a rotating magnetic disk, and the slider is a dynamic pressure air floating type slider which floats by hitting an air flow flowing with the movement of the surface of the magnetic disk. , The slider is elastically supported by a gimbal portion that allows the slider to change its posture, and the gimbal portion is held at the tip of a load arm, and the load arm resists the levitation force of the slider and causes the slider to surface the magnetic disk. In the magnetic head support body that applies a constant pressing force in the pressing direction, the gimbal portion has a holding portion on the rear end side that is fixed and held at the tip of the load arm, and fixes and supports the slider. Has a supporting portion on the tip side, and a plate-like elastic portion exists between the holding portion and the supporting portion, and the elastic portion is the air flow. A magnetic disk head support, wherein the holding portion is arranged on the air inflow side, and the supporting portion is arranged on the air outflow side. . 2. The in-line according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the load arm is linear, and the load arm is attached so as to project from the air inflow side toward the air outflow side along the air. Head support for magnetic disk that is a mold load arm.