Automated rigid-disk finishing system providing in-line process control
AssigneeExclusive Design Company
InventorsFrank D. Ruble, John N. Walsh, Robert A. Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides an automated rigid-disk finishing system with "fly-by-wire" control of each of the relevant parameters involved in the texturing process. The system includes an abrasive tape, a means for forcibly pressing the tape against the substrate to cut microscopic grooves into the substrate's surface, and a control means for simultaneously controlling the speed and tension of the tape and for sensing the tension developed in the tape on both sides of the tape/substrate interface. The described system is thus capable of establishing tape speed and tape tension simultaneously, while providing a measure of the actual work being accomplished on the rigid disk surface.
Claims14
A system for texturing the surface of a rigid-disk substrate comprising:
- an abrasive tape;
- a force application means for pressing said tape against said substrate, thereby texturing said surface;
- a supply means for supplying said tape to said force application means;
- a collecting means for collecting said tape from said force application means;
- and
- a control means for simultaneously controlling the speed and tension of said tape, said control means including means for sensing the tension on a first section of said tape located between said supply means and said force application means, and on a second section of said tape located between said force application means and said collecting means, the difference between the tension of said first and second sections being indicative of the work being performed on said substrate.
A finishing machine for finishing the surface of a rigid-disk substrate used in digital magnetic recording systems comprising;
- a supply reel;
- a take-up reel;
- a motor for rotating said take-up reel;
- a roller assembly including a cylindrical roller positioned in close proximity to said substrate and a means for forcibly pressing said roller against said surface of said substrate;
- an abrasively-coated tape, said tape extending from around said supply reel to said take-up reel and passing around said roller and between said roller and said substrate such that said tape finishes said surface whenever said motor rotates said take-up reel and said roller is loaded against said surface by said pressing means;
- a brake for braking the rotation of said supply reel, thereby developing tension in a first section of said tape from said supply reel to said roller and in a second section of said tape from said roller to said take-up reel;
- first and second devices for measuring the tension in said first and second sections of said tape, respectively;
- control means coupled to said first and second devices for controlling said motor and said brake to simultaneously establish a constant velocity and tension in said first section of said tape when said roller is unloaded, and to maintain said constant velocity and tension in said first section after said roller is loaded against said substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.