Magnetic disk drive and method of controlling a movement of carriage in an unload operation of head

A magnetic disk drive comprising:

• a magnetically recordable magnetic disk;
• a motor mechanism for rotating the magnetic disk;
• a magnetic head for recording information in the magnetic disk, and reading the information therefrom;
• a carriage for supporting the magnetic head, which is movable in a radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• driving means for applying a driving force to the carriage so that the magnetic head is moved in said radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• a ramp located outside the magnetic disk, and having a retract portion which positions the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped;
• contact detecting means for detecting a contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• control means for controlling the driving means, said control means controlling a head load operation of driving the carriage so that the magnetic head is guided from the retract portion of the ramp onto the magnetic disk, and a head unload operation of driving the carriage so that the head is moved from the overhead of the magnetic disk toward the ramp, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp, and temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to a detection of the contact in an unload operation,
• wherein the driving means includes a current source generating a driving current, and a voice coil motor having a voice coil generating a driving force in accordance with the driving current, and
• the contact detecting means includes a detecting circuit which detects a back electromotive voltage induced in the voice coil of the voice coil motor, and converts the detected back electromotive voltage into a speed signal corresponding to a moving speed of the carriage, and further, outputs the speed signal,
• wherein the contact detecting means includes discriminating means which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of one of a magnitude of an external force acting on the carriage and a change of the external force in the head unload operation,
• wherein the control means includes gain changeover means which changes a feedback gain from a first gain into a second gain larger than the first gain in accordance with a ramp contact discrimination from the discriminating means.

A magnetic disk drive comprising:

• a magnetically recordable magnetic disk;
• a motor mechanism for rotating the magnetic disk;
• a magnetic head for recording information in the magnetic disk, and reading the information therefrom;
• a carriage for supporting the magnetic head, which is movable in a radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• driving means for applying a driving force to the carriage so that the magnetic head is moved in said radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• a ramp located outside the magnetic disk, and having a retract portion which positions the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped;
• contact detecting means for detecting a contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• control means for controlling the driving means, said control means controlling a head load operation of driving the carriage so that the magnetic head is guided from the retract portion of the ramp onto the magnetic disk, and a head unload operation of driving the carriage so that the head is moved from the overhead of the magnetic disk toward the ramp, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp, and temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to a detection of the contact in an unload operation,
• wherein the control means generates a first control signal having a first controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor,
• the contact detecting means includes discriminating means which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor from the control means, and
• the control means further includes feedforward compensating means which generates a second control signal having a predetermined feedforward manipulated variable in accordance with the discrimination from the discriminating means, and adds the second control signal to the first control signal so as to generate a third control signal in which the second controlled manipulated variable is added to the first controlled manipulated variable, and feeds the third control signal back to the voice coil motor.

A magnetic disk drive comprising:

• a magnetically recordable magnetic disk;
• a motor mechanism for rotating the magnetic disk;
• a magnetic head for recording information in the magnetic disk, and reading the information therefrom;
• a carriage for supporting the magnetic head, which is movable in a radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• driving means for applying a driving force to the carriage so that the magnetic head is moved in said radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• a ramp located outside the magnetic disk, and having a retract portion which positions the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped;
• contact detecting means for detecting a contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• control means for controlling the driving means, said control means controlling a head load operation of driving the carriage so that the magnetic head is guided from the retract portion of the ramp onto the magnetic disk, and a head unload operation of driving the carriage so that the head is moved from the overhead of the magnetic disk toward the ramp, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp, and temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to a detection of the contact in an unload operation,
• wherein the control means generates a first control signal having a first controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor,
• the contact detecting means includes discriminating means which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of one of a magnitude of an external force acting on the carriage and a change of the external force in the head unload operation, and the control means includes feedforward compensating means which feeds a second control signal in which a predetermined feedforward manipulated variable is added to the first controlled manipulated variable, to the voice coil motor in accordance with the ramp contact discrimination from the discriminating means.

A magnetic disk drive comprising:

• a magnetically recordable magnetic disk;
• a motor mechanism for rotating the magnetic disk;
• a magnetic head for recording information in the magnetic disk, and reading the information therefrom;
• a carriage for supporting the magnetic head, which is movable in a radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• driving means for applying a driving force to the carriage so that the magnetic head is moved in said radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• a ramp located outside the magnetic disk, and having a retract portion which positions the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped;
• contact detecting means for detecting a contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• control means for controlling the driving means, said control means controlling a head load operation of driving the carriage so that the magnetic head is guided from the retract portion of the ramp onto the magnetic disk, and a head unload operation of driving the carriage so that the head is moved from the overhead of the magnetic disk toward the ramp, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp, and temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to a detection of the contact in an unload operation,
• wherein the control means generates a control signal having a controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor, and
• the discriminating means is composed of:
• first discriminating means which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the speed signal from the detecting circuit;
• second discriminating means which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the controlled manipulated variable from the control means;
• and third discriminating means which finally makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the discriminating result from the first and second discriminating means.

A magnetic disk drive comprising;

• a magnetically recordable magnetic disk;
• a motor mechanism for rotating the magnetic disk;
• a magnetic head for recording information in the magnetic disk, and reading the information therefrom;
• a carriage for supporting the magnetic head, which is movable in a radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• driving means for applying a driving force to the carriage so that the magnetic head is moved in said radius direction of the magnetic disk;
• a ramp located outside the magnetic disk, and having a retract portion which positions the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped;
• contact detecting means for detecting a contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• control means for controlling the driving means, said control means controlling a head load operation of driving the carriage so that the magnetic head is guided from the retract portion of the ramp onto the magnetic disk, and a head unload operation of driving the carriage so that the head is moved from the overhead of the magnetic disk toward the ramp, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp, and temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to a detection of the contact in an unload operation,
• wherein the control means generates a control signal having a controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor, and
• the discriminating means includes external force calculating means which calculates an external force acting on the carriage on the basis of a speed detection signal from the detecting circuit and the controlled manipulated variable from the control means.

A magnetic head unload method of retracting a magnetic head supported by a carriage for moving the magnetic head in a radius direction of a magnetic disk and for writing information to the disk and reading the information therefrom, to a ramp having retract portion which arranges the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk from the overhead of a magnetically recordable magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped, comprising:

• an unload operation start step of giving a driving force to the carriage so that the head is moved toward the ramp during rotation of the disk;
• a contact detecting step of detecting contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• a control step of controlling the driving force,
• the control step temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to the contact detection, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp,
• wherein the control step includes a step of generating a control signal having a controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor, and
• the contact detecting step includes a discriminating step which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor in the control step,
• wherein the control step includes a gain changeover step of changing a feedback gain from a first gain into a second gain larger than the first gain in accordance with a ramp contact discrimination in the discriminating step.

A magnetic head unload method of retracting a magnetic head supported by a carriage for moving the magnetic head in a radius direction of a magnetic disk and for writing information to the disk and reading the information therefrom, to a ramp having retract portion which arranges the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk from the overhead of a magnetically recordable magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped, comprising:

• an unload operation start step of giving a driving force to the carriage so that the head is moved toward the ramp during rotation of the disk;
• a contact detecting step of detecting contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• a control step of controlling the driving force,
• the control step temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to the contact detection, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp,
• wherein the control means includes a gain changeover means which changes a feedback gain from a first gain into a second gain larger than the first gain in accordance with a ramp contact discrimination in the discriminating step.

A magnetic head unload method of retracting a magnetic head supported by a carriage for moving the magnetic head in a radius direction of a magnetic disk and for writing information to the disk and reading the information therefrom, to a ramp having retract portion which arranges the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk from the overhead of a magnetically recordable magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped, comprising:

• an unload operation start step of giving a driving force to the carriage so that the head is moved toward the ramp during rotation of the disk;
• a contact detecting step of detecting contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• a control step of controlling the driving force,
• the control step temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to the contact detection, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp,
• wherein the control step includes a step of generating a first control signal having a first controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor,
• the contact detecting means includes a discriminating step which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of the controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor in the control step, and
• the control means further includes a feedforward compensating step which generates a second control signal having a predetermined feedforward manipulated variable in accordance with the discrimination in the discriminating step, and adds the second control signal to the first control signal so as to generate a third control signal in which the second controlled manipulated variable is added to the first controlled manipulated variable, and feeds the third control signal back to the voice coil motor.

A magnetic head unload method of retracting a magnetic head supported by a carriage for moving the magnetic head in a radius direction of a magnetic disk and for writing information to the disk and reading the information therefrom, to a ramp having retract portion which arranges the magnetic head outside the magnetic disk from the overhead of a magnetically recordable magnetic disk so as to prevent contact of the head with the disk while rotation of the disk is stopped, comprising:

• an unload operation start step of giving a driving force to the carriage so that the head is moved toward the ramp during rotation of the disk;
• a contact detecting step of detecting contact of the head with the ramp;
• and
• a control step of controlling the driving force,
• the control step temporarily increasing a driving force given to the carriage in response to the contact detection, and sliding the head along the ramp so that the head is guided to the retract portion of the ramp,
• wherein the control step includes a step of generating a first control signal having a first controlled manipulated variable fed back to the voice coil motor,
• the contact detecting step includes a discriminating step which makes a decision that the head contacts with the ramp on the basis of one of a magnitude of an external force acting on the carriage and a change of the external force in the head unload operation, and
• the control means includes a feedforward compensating step which feeds a second control signal in which a predetermined feedforward manipulated variable is added to the first controlled manipulated variable, back to the voice coil motor in accordance with a ramp contact discrimination in the discriminating step.