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US 7,095,592 B2Granted
Head slider and disk drive apparatus
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsYoshihiro Ueno, Tatsuhiko Inagaki, Zhi Sheng Deng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a head slider having excellent shock resistance, a head supporter, as well as a disk drive using the head slider. The head slider is characterized in a form of its opposite-to-disk surface, such that a fixed point is set at a position located outwardly of a rear end portion of the head slider and at a predetermined distance from a load application point, which load urges the slider toward a disk. When a shock force is externally applied to the head slider, the head slider is rotated about this fixed point such that at least one of pitch angle and roll angle is maintained positive. Because of this structure, a disk drive excellent in shock resistance can be provided.
Claims33
A head slider for traveling over a surface of a disk-shaped recording medium so as to perform at least one of recording information onto and playing back information from the disk-shaped recording medium via a transducer, comprising:
- a front end portion on a forward side with respect to a rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium;
- a rear end portion on a rearward side with respect to the rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium;
- an opposite-to-disk surface arranged to be opposite the disk-shaped recording medium;
- and
- a transducer on said opposite-to-disk surface, wherein
- (i) said head slider is constructed and arranged to travel over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, upon rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium, under a dynamic pressure produced from a viscous fluid flow accompanying rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium and a load urging said head slider toward the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (ii) said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have a fixed point set at a position located rearwardly from said rear end portion and at a predetermined distance from a point of application of the load, with said head slider being constructed and arranged to rotate around the fixed point, when each of a first shock force and a different second shock force is externally applied to said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, in a direction in which at least one of pitch angle and roll angle decreases while each of the pitch angle and roll angle remains positive.
4 more elements
A head supporter comprising:
- a head slider for traveling over a surface of a disk-shaped recording medium so as to perform at least one of recording information onto and playing back information from the disk-shaped recording medium via a transducer;
- and
- a slider holder fixing said head slider to one end thereof, and fixed to a beam at another end thereof, said beam for applying a load to said head slider via a pivot section, wherein
- (i) said head slider includes:
- (a) a front end portion on a forward side with respect to a rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (b) a rear end portion on a rearward side with respect to the rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (c) an opposite-to-disk surface arranged to be opposite the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (d) a transducer on said opposite-to-disk surface,
- (ii) said head slider is constructed and arranged to travel over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, upon rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium, under a dynamic pressure produced from a viscous fluid flow accompanying rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium and a load urging said head slider toward the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (iii) said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have a fixed point set at a position located rearwardly from said rear end portion and at a predetermined distance from a point of application of the load, with said head slider being constructed and arranged to rotate around the fixed point, when each of a first shock force and a different second shock force is externally applied to said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, in a direction in which at least one of pitch angle and roll angle decreases while each of the pitch angle and roll angle remains positive.
7 more elements
A disk drive comprising:
- a driver for rotatably driving a disk-shaped recording medium;
- a head supporter including
- (i) a head slider for traveling over a surface of the disk-shaped recording medium so as to perform at least one of recording information onto and playing back information from the disk-shaped recording medium via a transducer, and
- (ii) a slider holder fixing said head slider to one end thereof, and fixed to a beam at another end thereof, said beam for applying a load to said head slider via a pivot section, wherein
- (a) said head slider includes:
- (1) a front end portion on a forward side with respect to a rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (2) a rear end portion on a rearward side with respect to the rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (3) an opposite-to-disk surface arranged to be opposite the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (4) a transducer on said opposite-to-disk surface,
- (b) said head slider is constructed and arranged to travel over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, upon rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium under a dynamic pressure produced from a viscous fluid flow accompanying rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium and a load urging said head slider toward the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (c) said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have a fixed point set at a position located rearwardly from said rear end portion and at a predetermined distance from a point of application of the load, with said head slider being constructed and arranged to rotate around the fixed point, when each of a first shock force and a different second shock force is externally applied to said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, in a direction in which at least one of pitch angle and roll angle decreases while each of the pitch angle and roll angle remains positive;
- an actuator arm fixing said head supporter thereto, and supported on a shaft for rotation;
- and
- a positioning device for swinging said actuator arm.
11 more elements
A head slider for traveling over a surface of a disk-shaped recording medium so as to perform at least one of recording information onto and playing back information from the disk-shaped recording medium via a transducer, comprising:
- a front end portion on a forward side with respect to a rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium;
- a rear end portion on a rearward side with respect to the rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium;
- an opposite-to-disk surface arranged to be opposite the disk-shaped recording medium;
- and
- a transducer on said opposite-to-disk surface, wherein
- (i) said head slider is constructed and arranged to travel over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, upon rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium, under a dynamic pressure produced from a viscous fluid flow accompanying rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium and a load urging said head slider toward the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (ii) said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have a fixed point set at a position located rearwardly from said rear end portion and at a predetermined distance from a point of application of the load, with said head slider being constructed and arranged to rotate around the fixed point, when a shock force is externally applied to said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, in a direction in which at least one of pitch angle and roll angle decreases while each of the pitch angle and roll angle remains positive,
- wherein said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have the predetermined distance from the point of application of the load to the fixed point set at a predetermined ratio relative to a distance from the point of application of the load to an intersection of an extended line of said opposite-to-disk surface with the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, such that said head slider is allowed to rotate in a pitch direction around the fixed point, and
- wherein said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to satisfy, when the distance from the point of application of the load to the fixed point is denoted by L0, a length of said head slider is denoted by Ls, a pitch angle of said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium is denoted by θp, and a distance of said head slider, at said rear end portion while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, from the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium is denoted by X2,
- 1≦L0/Ld≦2.5,
- where Ld=(Ls/2)+(X2/tan(θp)).
8 more elements
A disk drive comprising:
- a driver for rotatably driving a disk having a magnetic recording layer formed only on one surface thereof, with a surface of the disk having no recording layer formed thereon having an oblique face extended from a predetermined circumferential portion around a center of the disk toward an outer circumferential edge portion of the disk such that thickness of the disk becomes smaller toward its outer circumferential edge at a predetermined rate;
- a head supporter including
- (i) a head slider for traveling over a surface of the disk-shaped recording medium so as to perform at least one of recording information onto and playing back information from the disk-shaped recording medium via a transducer, and
- (ii) a slider holder fixing said head slider to one end thereof, and fixed to a beam at another end thereof, said beam for applying a load to said head slider via a pivot section, wherein
- (a) said head slider includes:
- (1) a front end portion on a forward side with respect to a rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (2) a rear end portion on a rearward side with respect to the rotational direction of the disk-shaped recording medium,
- (3) an opposite-to-disk surface arranged to be opposite the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (4) a magnetic head on said opposite-to-disk surface,
- (b) said head slider is constructed and arranged to travel over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, upon rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium under a dynamic pressure produced from a viscous fluid flow accompanying rotation of the disk-shaped recording medium and a load urging said head slider toward the disk-shaped recording medium, and
- (c) said opposite-to-disk surface is configured to have a fixed point set at a position located rearwardly from said rear end portion and at a predetermined distance from a point of application of the load, with said head slider being constructed and arranged to rotate around the fixed point, when a shock force is externally applied to said head slider while traveling over the surface of the disk-shaped recording medium, in a direction in which at least one of pitch angle and roll angle decreases while each of the pitch angle and roll angle remains positive;
- an actuator arm fixing said head supporter thereto, and supported on a shaft for rotation;
- and
- a positioning device for swinging said actuator arm.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.