JPH08138338A - Magnetic disk unit - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide a magnetic disk device having a support mechanism capable of stably flying a miniaturized magnetic head slider. A magnetic head is mounted on the head slider, the head slider having a slider surface facing the disk in a non-contact manner, an electromagnetic transducer portion having a plurality of recording / reproducing signal lines, and a signal line attached to the head slider. The support mechanism has a support arm having a signal transmission circuit, and the head slider protrudes from the support arm and is connected to each of the terminals so that the head slider is connected to the disk. The head slider is supported so as to be able to follow, and its base end is supported by the support arm by being connected to the signal transmission circuit of the support arm, and is electrically conductive.
It has a plurality of gimbal springs made of a material that has excellent heat dissipation properties and is flexible and has high-precision spring rigidity, and a carriage that swings a support arm.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic disk device equipped with a magnetic head for recording and reproducing information on a magnetic disk, and more particularly to a magnetic head support mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the size of a small disc, for example, has been 2.
A magnetic disk device having a size of 5 inches or less has been attracting attention as a data storage device for a small-sized laptop personal computer, a notebook personal computer, and a portable personal computer. Along with this, the magnetic disk device has an increased storage capacity and is made thinner, and there is an increasing demand for a magnetic disk device having a structure that can withstand an external impact. Further, in order to achieve higher recording density, head sliders are becoming more and more low in flying height and have a smaller shape.

A conventional magnetic disk device will be briefly described. A magnetic disk device is one or more magnetic disks capable of recording / reproducing, a spindle motor that rotates the magnetic disk at a high speed of several thousand revolutions per minute, and a sub-micron level on the recording surface of the magnetic disk during high speed rotation. It is composed of a magnetic head slider that has an electromagnetic conversion portion that floats at a height and writes or reads data, an actuator that positions the magnetic head slider to a desired recording track, and the like.

Next, a conventional support mechanism for a magnetic disk drive will be described with reference to FIG. The head slider 1 has an electromagnetic transducer 2 for recording / reproducing only, and four signal terminals (not shown) are provided on each side 3 of the head gap. A thin copper wire 4 is wired for each terminal in order to transmit a signal to the actuator side. These copper wires 4 are protected by an insulating tube 5 and joined to a terminal portion of a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter referred to as FPC) (not shown) on the actuator side.

On the other hand, the head slider 1 follows a undulation on a disk (not shown) with a constant flying height.
It is supported by a gimbal spring 6 made of stainless steel having a thickness of 30 to 60 microns. The gimbal spring 6 is welded to a load pressing spring 7 made of stainless steel of about 50 to 90 microns for pressing a load of about 3 to 10 g in the flying direction of the head slider 1. The load spring 7 is attached to an actuator arm (not shown) by a mount support portion 8. The actuator arm is provided on the opposite side of the head slider 1. The head assembly 9 is
Gimbal spring 6, load spring 7, and mount support 8
It consists of and. The length of the electromagnetic transducer portion 2 and the mount support portion 8 of this magnetic head is about 18 mm.

By the way, recently, the head slider 1 has been downsized, and a 50% head slider having a width of 1.6 mm and a length of about 2 mm has been put into practical use. Further, the head slider is becoming smaller, and the length is now 1.
A 25% head slider having a width of 3 mm and a width of 1 mm has appeared.

By reducing the size of the head slider in this way, it is possible to obtain the effect of reducing the fluctuation of the flying height of the head slider due to the waviness of the disk and the effect of reducing the head mass and moving the head at high speed.

However, as the size of the head slider becomes smaller, the slider width of the head becomes narrower. Therefore, the force generated by the dynamic pressure air bearing in the rolling direction (rotational direction orthogonal to the running direction) is generated by the flying of the head slider. Becomes smaller. This reduces the spring constant in the rolling direction due to the dynamic pressure air bearing of the head slider.Therefore, if the current suspension is used, a predetermined head flying height cannot be obtained due to an error in mounting the suspension and the head slider, and the Densification cannot be achieved.

Further, the personal computer itself has been downsized, and it has become freely portable. The external storage device must be such that the head slider does not leave scratches (indentations) on the disk due to shocks during transportation. For this reason, attempts have been made to reduce the size of the head to reduce the mass, but in reality, the equivalent mass of the suspension itself greatly affects the indentation on the disk at the time of impact. In this way, the indentation on the disk by the head slider destroys the data at that location, and the reliability of the device becomes poor.

Further, the electromagnetic transducer portion dedicated to recording or both recording and reproducing has a coil portion formed into a thin film, and heat is generated in this portion. However, as the head slider becomes smaller, the surface area of the head slider becomes smaller and the amount of heat generated in the electromagnetic transducer portion becomes difficult to dissipate. In the conventional suspension, the head slider and the gimbal portion are fixed with an organic adhesive, so that the heat is hard to escape to the stainless portion having high thermal conductivity. Thus, when heat is generated in the electromagnetic converter portion, the coil resistance value of the electromagnetic converter portion is increased, and the signal S / N is deteriorated. Further, when the head slider becomes small, the signal line from the head slider electromagnetic transducer part may change the flying height of the head slider. These factors are detrimental factors for high density because they deteriorate the signal quality.

By the way, regarding a small head slider having two electromagnetic transducer portions dedicated to recording and reproducing,
“Development of Integrated Suspension System for
a Nanoslider with an MR Head Transducer ”(Takesh
i Ohwe, IEE TRANSACTIONSON MAGNETICS, VOL.29, No.
6, Nov. 1993). In the device described in this prior document, a thin film gap dedicated to recording and an M thin layer dedicated to reproduction are used.
It has two R gaps, a terminal is provided on the air flow outflow end side (electromagnetic transducer portion) of the head slider, and is supported by a gimbal-integrated suspension made of thin stainless steel. To connect this signal line, put polyimide as an insulating layer on thin stainless steel, and form a pattern for transmitting 4 signals dedicated for recording and playback on it, and protect it on it. It has a structure in which polyimide is laminated as a layer.

Other magnetic disk devices for forming a signal line on such a stainless steel suspension are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 6-68445 and 5-3037.
30 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-135308.

However, in these devices, the magnetic head support mechanism is almost the same as that of the conventional suspension, and there is a problem that the equivalent mass of the suspension cannot be reduced without deteriorating the impact resistance.

An outline of the equivalent mass of the suspension will be described. Assuming that the load spring of the suspension portion has a uniform width, it is about 1/3 of the length. Since the suspension load spring portion in this case has a substantially triangular shape, the suspension load spring portion is smaller than ⅓ and is about ⅕. The sum of the equivalent mass of the load spring and the mass of the head is the total mass. When an external shock acceleration is applied when the disc is stationary (non-operating),
Than the head pressing load (load from the load spring)
When the product of the impact acceleration and the mass is exceeded, the head floats above the disk. Then, the head may damage the disk due to the springback of the load spring after the disk lifts. Therefore, when the device receives an external impact, the head may damage the disk. Also, even when the disc is rotating,
The head slider may collide with a slight protrusion on the disk. At this time as well, it is considered that the equivalent mass of the suspension portion largely affects the magnitude of damage to the head slider or the disk, as in the non-operating state. As described above, the mass of the suspension may cause destruction of recorded information or device failure due to damage of the electromagnetic conversion portion of the head.

Further, there is a polyimide portion on the surface opposite to the air bearing surface of the head slider on which the head slider is attached to the gimbal portion. Since the thermal conductivity of polyimide is different from that of stainless steel or copper by about 100 times, it is difficult for the heat generated in the electromagnetic conversion portion of the head slider to dissipate. Therefore, in these embodiments, the signal quality may be deteriorated.

Furthermore, when a polyimide, copper foil, and FPC having a sandwich structure of polyimide are laminated on a stainless steel gimbal portion having a thickness of about 30 to 60 μm, the copper thickness is mainly controlled at the stage of laminating copper. It is difficult, and the spring constant in the head rolling direction and the pitching direction as the gimbal portion may vary. This means that the flying postures of the head sliders that fly extremely low vary among the head sliders, and there is a possibility that high density cannot be achieved.

A magnetic head conventionally used in a fixed magnetic disk device is composed of a slider portion on which a transducer portion is mounted and a suspension portion made of a leaf spring that supports the slider portion. The slider part floats above the magnetic disk at an interval of about 100 nm due to the dynamic pressure bearing effect of air.

The suspension portion supports the slider portion through the gimbal portion at the tip, bends in a V shape in the non-restrained state, and when mounted on the magnetic disk, the slider portion faces the magnetic disk direction. It is structured to give a pressing force to.

The suspension portion is composed of a gimbal portion, a beam portion and a preload spring portion. A slider portion is fixed to the gimbal portion and is rotatably supported by the gimbal portion. The preload spring portion is formed in the vicinity of the fixed portion of the magnetic head, and applies a pressing force to the gimbal portion at the tip of the rigid beam portion that is hard to deform and the slider portion fixed to this. How to give the pressing force to the slider part is to add to the slider part via the gimbal part,
In some cases, the beam portion is in a position parallel to the slider portion, and the beam portion pushes the gimbal portion fixed to the slider portion to apply a pressing force to the slider portion.

If the positions of the magnetic disk and the magnetic head have an error due to an attachment error or the like, the pressing load deviates from the design value. Conventionally, when the flying height of the magnetic head was large, the fluctuation of the pressing force was negligible. However, when the flying height has fallen below 100 nm in recent years, the fluctuation of the pressing force due to mounting error cannot be ignored. It was

Further, in recent years, the size of the slider portion has been reduced in order to increase the recording density, and the size of the suspension portion has also been reduced as the size of the slider portion has been reduced. The reason for this is that as the size of the slider portion becomes smaller, the rigidity of the dynamic pressure air bearing portion used to levitate the slider portion lowers, and the rigidity of the suspension portion supporting it also needs to lower.

However, when the size of the suspension portion is reduced, there is a problem in that the characteristics of the suspension portion vary due to manufacturing errors when manufacturing the suspension and the magnetic head, and the flying height of the slider portion fluctuates. For the gimbal part fixed to the slider part, where the pressing force is applied from the beam part, the position error of the pressing point affects the floating posture, and for the one that applies the pressing force through the gimbal part, the pressing force is excessive against the gimbal part rigidity. Then, the gimbal portion is deformed and the frequency characteristic is deteriorated, and the positioning accuracy is deteriorated.

Further, two or more magnetic disks are usually mounted on a spindle motor with a spacer having an appropriate thickness, with a space between the spacers. Therefore, two magnetic heads are back-to-back and fixed to one arm of the actuator, and are arranged between the two disks.
As a method of fixing the magnetic head to the arm, a method of inserting a cylindrical boss portion into the arm and expanding the boss portion from the inside and press-fitting is often adopted. Therefore, the thickness of the press-fitted arm needs to be at least twice the height of the boss. However, 2.5
With the miniaturization of devices such as inch magnetic disk devices, the disk spacing has become narrower, and it has become impossible to obtain the necessary arm thickness. To avoid this, two bosses with different inner and outer diameters are prepared, a large boss is press-fitted, and a small boss is press-fitted into the inner diameter. In this case, the arm thickness is not so different from the case of one boss, but since two bosses are press-fitted together, press-fitting is difficult and defective products are likely to occur.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-281481 and 2
As disclosed in JP-A-281482 and JP-A-4-195976, it has been proposed to apply a pressing force applied to a magnetic head by a force generating mechanism arranged between suspensions. JP-A-2-28148, 2-
Japanese Patent No. 281482 uses a bimetal or a shape memory alloy as a force generating mechanism and does not deform the elastically deformed portion of the suspension portion when no load is applied, but deforms the elastically deformed portion of the suspension portion when applied and is used as a curved surface. are doing.
The resonance frequency of the suspension part is low in the vertical direction and high in the in-plane direction. When the elastically deformed portion of the suspension portion has a curved surface, the resonance in the up-and-down direction appears in the in-plane direction and the low resonance frequency also appears in the in-plane direction. When the resonance frequency is low, there arises a problem that the positioning accuracy of the magnetic head deteriorates. In JP-A-4-195977, a pressing force is obtained by using a spring, but during operation, the elastically deformed portion of the suspension portion is also deformed and used as a curved surface. As a result, the resonance frequency is lowered and the positioning accuracy is lowered.
Also, this patent does not mention the mounting position of the spring,
According to the disclosed drawings, it is near the arm part where the whole is fixed. At this position, the influence of the magnetic head mounting error largely appears in the pressing force, and the flying height changes as described above.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-92977, a thin leaf spring is attached near the center of the suspension, but this is to obtain damping and no mention is made of the load. In addition, the mounting position is the center of the suspension where large damping is obtained.

Similarly, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-81805 discloses a spring member arranged between the slider portions, but the spring member does not apply a pressing force to the slider portion during use, and the spring member is not used during use. It doesn't work.
In these devices, the spring member is located between the suspension parts, but does not preload the slider part at all.

[0027]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and reduces the fluctuation of the pressing force due to a magnetic head mounting error and a magnetic head manufacturing error, and reduces the magnetic head. The rigidity of the gimbal portion to be supported is softened to reduce variations in the flying force and the flying posture of the magnetic head. It also supplies a magnetic head that can be placed in a small disk space. Further, the resonance frequency is increased to improve the head positioning accuracy.

Further, according to the present invention, the above problems of the head support structure of the conventional type suspension can be solved to support a small head to achieve a high recording density and to improve signal quality and impact resistance. An object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized magnetic head support mechanism and a magnetic disk device that can be used.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic disk device that can apply an appropriate load to the magnetic head regardless of manufacturing errors in the suspension and the like.

[0029]

A magnetic disk device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a magnetic disk device having a magnetic head supported by a support mechanism, and the slider head of the magnetic head is not in contact with the disk. And a head slider arranged facing each other, and provided on the head slider,
An electromagnetic transducer portion having a plurality of signal lines for both recording / reproduction, reproduction only or recording only, and a terminal attached to the head slider and connected to each of the signal lines, The support mechanism supports the head slider so that the head slider can follow the disk by having a support arm having a signal transmission circuit and a tip portion thereof protruding from the support arm and connected to each of the terminals. However, the base end of the support arm is connected to the signal transmission circuit of the support arm to be supported by the support arm, and is made of a material that is conductive, has excellent heat dissipation characteristics, and has flexible and highly accurate spring rigidity. A plurality of gimbal springs and a hand for swinging the support arm so that the head slider moves in the radial direction of the disk along the disk surface. And having a, the.

The support arm is made of a non-conductive plastic molded body that is molded so as to wrap around the base end portion of the gimbal spring, and the gimbal spring is preferably joined and fixed to the terminals of the head slider by soldering.

The gimbal spring is preferably made of a copper alloy such as phosphor bronze or pure copper. A signal transmission circuit is formed on the longitudinal side surface of the support arm, and the base end of the gimbal spring bends substantially 90 degrees with respect to the length of the support arm, is soldered to the signal transmission circuit, and is transferred from the electromagnetic conversion portion via the gimbal spring. It is preferable to transfer the signal to the signal transmission circuit.

It is preferable that the plurality of gimbal springs have substantially the same size and are attached symmetrically to the support arm. The support arm is preferably made of a liquid crystal polymer material.

When two head sliders are arranged on each of a plurality of disks, it is preferable to support a gimbal spring for supporting these two head sliders by one supporting arm.

The terminals are preferably attached to the back surface of the head slider. The terminals are preferably attached to the side surface of the head slider that is orthogonal to the slider surface.

It is preferable that the tip end portion of the gimbal spring is in contact with the back surface of the head slider, and the gimbal spring applies a pressing force to the head slider.
Further, it is preferable that a base end portion thereof is supported by a support arm and a tip end portion thereof is in contact with a back surface of the head slider, and that the head slider has a load pressing spring for applying a pressing force toward the disk.

It is preferable that the tips of the load pressing springs are arranged between the tips of the gimbal springs.
The protruding portion of the gimbal spring protruding from the support arm is preferably coated with an insulating coating for preventing short circuit.

The number of gimbal springs is preferably the same as the number of signal transmission circuits. The tip portion of the gimbal spring preferably has a first portion extending along the length of the support arm and a second portion extending in a direction perpendicular to the length of the support arm and connected to a terminal of the head slider. .

The signal transmission circuit is preferably a flexible printed circuit in which the circuit is printed on a flexible substrate. Further, the signal transmission circuit is preferably provided on one longitudinal side surface of the support arm, or on both longitudinal side surfaces.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the equivalent mass of the structural portion supporting the head slider can be reduced with respect to the small head slider having the electromagnetic conversion portions dedicated to reproduction, recording, and both recording and reproduction. This can prevent the head slider or the disk from being damaged by an impact from the outside of the apparatus or a protrusion on the disk.

Further, since the small head slider has a gimbal structure which also serves as the signal line of the electromagnetic conversion portion, the head slider can be stably floated above the disk. As described above, since the stable flying posture of the head slider can be secured, high-density recording is possible and the capacity of the device can be further increased.

Furthermore, since a gimbal spring made of copper / phosphor bronze having a good thermal conductivity is directly soldered to the head slider surface, the heat generated in the head slider is transferred to the gimbal portion having a good thermal conductivity. Escapement and signal quality are not degraded, and high recording density can be achieved.

A magnetic disk device according to a second aspect of the present invention is a magnetic disk device having a magnetic head for a fixed magnetic disk device, wherein the magnetic head has a slider part mounting a transducer part and a suspension part supporting the slider part. And a preload spring provided between the pair of suspension parts when the pair of slider parts and the pair of suspension parts are arranged at symmetrical positions,
The suspension part has an elastically deformable part formed only by a flat surface, the preload spring applies a biasing force between the suspension parts, and the slider part generates a pressing force toward the disk. And

It is preferable that the preload spring contacts the suspension portion first from the longitudinal center of the suspension portion.
It is preferable to have one mount portion that supports a pair of suspension portions.

It is preferable to have one mount portion that supports the positioning plate portion and the suspension portion. According to the second aspect of the invention, the relative error between the magnetic head mounting point and the magnetic disk is relatively large, about 0.2 mm, but the spacing between the magnetic disks into which the magnetic head is inserted is determined by only the spacer, and is 0.02 mm. It can be managed with a high degree of accuracy. Therefore, when the preload spring is placed between the two suspension parts, the error in the pressing force generated by the preload spring changes at the position of the preload spring and is maximum at the fixed point of the suspension part, but it becomes the minimum near the center of the slider part. Become. Since the center of the suspension part is about half of the maximum value, the error of the pressing force can be less than half of the maximum value when the contact part between the preload spring and the suspension part is located in the center of the suspension part first.

The elastically deforming portion of the suspension portion is for absorbing the positional error between the magnetic disk and the magnetic head fixing point. In the conventional magnetic head, this portion is bent into a curved surface to obtain the pressing force of the magnetic head, but in the curved surface, the vertical direction of the suspension portion and the planar direction are coupled to each other, and a low resonance frequency in the vertical direction is likely to appear in the planar direction. If the elastically deformed portion is formed into a flat surface and is used as it is during operation, the upper and lower sides and the plane direction are completely independent, and the vertical direction does not affect resonance characteristics in the plane direction. Therefore, the resonance frequency of the magnetic head is increased and the positioning accuracy is improved.

The suspension is fixed to the mount portion, but both the suspension portion and the mount portion can be fixed by spot welding or the like without requiring the thickness of the mount portion. The mount part is fixed to the actuator arm part by a cylindrical boss part, but since the boss part is only one half of the conventional one, the thickness of the arm part can be made as thin as half of the conventional one and it can be placed in a small disk space. Can also be placed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the magnetic head is used where only one transducer is required for the uppermost surface or the lowermost surface of a plurality of magnetic disks mounted in one device. The preload spring portion is fixed not to the suspension portion but to the positioning plate portion. The positioning plate portion and the suspension portion are fixed to the mount portion. The positioning plate portion is made of a relatively thick plate material and serves as a reference position for the preload spring portion. In the present invention, the influence of the magnetic head mounting error cannot be eliminated, but the stable flying posture of the slider portion can be realized as in the previous invention.

[0048]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First,
An embodiment of the first invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 11 of the magnetic disk device has a rectangular box shape with an open upper end. Case 11
The upper end opening of is closed by the top cover 13 via the packing 12. The top cover 13 is the housing 11
Is fixed by a plurality of screws 13a. It is desirable that the housing 11 and the top cover 13 be formed of a strong iron-based metal. The dimensions of the entire device are 70 mm width, 100 mm length, and 13 mm height.

A plurality of magnetic disks 1 are provided in the housing 11.
5, a disk drive mechanism 16 for rotating and driving each magnetic disk 15, a carriage 18 for supporting a plurality of head support mechanisms (head assemblies) 31 in parallel and rotating the magnetic disk 15 in the radial direction of the magnetic disk 15, A voice coil motor 19 for driving the carriage 18,
Further, the preamplifier 20, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 26 for transmitting signals of the electromagnetic converter portion, etc. are housed. Further, on the back surface of the housing 11, a microcomputer or memory for controlling the entire apparatus,
A printed circuit board 21 on which other electronic components are mounted is screwed.

Each magnetic disk 15 is composed of a glass substrate having a central hole and magnetic layers formed on both sides of the glass substrate, and has a diameter of 65 mm (2.5 inch). These magnetic disks 15 are coaxially fitted to hubs 22 of a spindle motor (not shown) which is a drive source of the disk drive mechanism 16, and are stacked at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the hub 22. Also the hub 22
An annular fixing ring 23 is screwed to the upper end of the magnetic disk 15 between the fixing ring 23 and a flange (not shown) provided at the lower end of the hub 22. Then, each magnetic disk 15 is rotationally driven by a spindle motor at a speed of 4200 rpm. On the other hand, the carriage 18 includes a cylindrical carriage base 25 rotatably supported by the housing 11 and a plurality of head assemblies 31 extending in parallel from the carriage base 25 toward the magnetic disk 15. It is attached. One head slider 32 is attached to each of the upper end and the lower end of the disk, and two head sliders 32 are attached to the other middle part.

The portion where the head assembly 31 is attached to the carriage base 25 will be described with reference to FIG.
In the head assembly 31, the tip end portion of the gimbal spring 38 is mechanically and electrically connected to the head slider 32, while the base end portion of the gimbal spring 38 is molded on an arm 40 made of a non-conductive material (plastic). A pivot bearing (not shown) is attached to a hole on the base end side of the arm 40, and the arm 40 is connected to the carriage base 25 via the pivot bearing so that the carriage 18 can swing. A spacer (not shown) is inserted between the arms 40 and 40,
A plurality of arms 40 are stacked in multiple stages. Alternatively, a coil bobbin (not shown) of a voice coil motor (not shown) for swinging the carriage 18 is laminated. These are fastened by a plurality of screws 44.

Example 1 As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
The electromagnetic converter portion 33 of the head slider 32 includes a reproduction-only portion 33a and a recording-only portion 33b, and each portion 33
Since two signal lines 35 are connected to a and 33b, the total number of signal lines 35 is four. The head slider 32 is made of ceramic. The electromagnetic converter portion 33 is formed as a thin film. On the back surface 36 of the head slider 32
Each signal line 35 is formed up to the vicinity of the four corners. Terminal portions 37 made of a conductive material are provided at these four corners.

The head slider 32 is supported by a gimbal spring 38. The number of gimbal springs 38 is four, which is the same as the number of signal lines 35. The gimbal spring 38 is made of copper,
It is made of a thin plate of phosphor bronze or stainless steel and is electrically conductive. Four gimbal spring members 38a ₁ , 38a ₂ ,
38b ₁ and 38b ₂ are formed in such a shape that they can be flexibly deformed in the rolling direction and the pitching direction of the head slider 32 in order to float the head slider 32 from the disk 15 in a stable state. That is, each gimbal spring member 38a ₁ , 38a ₂ , 38b ₁ , 38b
_{The reference} numeral ₂ is curved in an L shape in a horizontal plane, and the respective tip portions thereof extend toward the side portions (longitudinal side surfaces) of the head slider 32. In order to obtain a highly accurate spring rigidity, it is preferable that the protruding length of the gimbal spring 38 from the arm 40 be as short as possible. Gimbal spring members 38a ₁ and 38a
The tip portions of ₂ , 38b ₁ and 38b ₂ are joined to each terminal portion 37 of the head slider by using gold or a normal solder material. The gimbal spring 38 is used to prevent short circuit.
May be coated with a non-conductive coating material.

The tip of the load pressing spring 39 is in contact with the center of the back surface of the head slider 32 so that a certain amount of load is applied to the head slider 32 in the flying direction. The abutting tip of the load pressing spring 39 is formed as a smooth dome-shaped projection. The load pressing spring 39 may be made of the same conductive material as the gimbal spring 38, or may be made of a non-conductive material such as plastic or ceramic. The load pressing spring 39 is an arbitrary member in the present invention, and the gimbal spring 38
When a certain amount of load can be applied to the head slider 32, the gimbal spring 38 can be used as a substitute.
9 is unnecessary.

Gimbal spring 38 and load pressing spring 3
The base end of 9 is embedded in an arm 40 made of a non-conductive plastic material. These embeddings are done by molding the arm 40 or by gluing the insert. Each gimbal spring member 38
The base ends of a ₁ , 38a ₂ , 38b ₁ and 38b ₂ curve inside the arm 40 and are soldered to the circuit of the FPC 26. An electromagnetic conversion signal from the head slider 32 is transmitted to the circuit of the FPC 26 by the gimbal spring 38. In this embodiment, the circuit of the FPC 26 is provided only on one side surface of the arm 40.

According to the above embodiment, the head slider 32
Gimbal spring 38 and load pressing spring 39 for supporting
Since the mass of the head can be reduced, the shock resistance of the device is improved and a stable head flying posture can be obtained.

Further, since the gimbal spring 38 has an excellent heat dissipation characteristic, the heat generated by the head slider 32 is dissipated through the gimbal spring 38, and can be stably reproduced even during long-term continuous operation.

(Embodiment 2) As shown in FIG.
Two are formed on each of the two longitudinal side surfaces 41 of the head slider 32, and the electromagnetic conversion portion 33 is formed via the signal line 35.
Are connected to the respective terminals 37. The tips of the gimbal spring members 38a ₁ , 38a ₂ , 38b ₁ , 38b ₂ are bent downward by 90 degrees. These bent tips are respectively joined to the terminals 37 by using gold solder or ordinary solder material.

(Embodiment 3) As shown in FIG.
The base end of the gimbal spring 38 embedded in 0 is provided symmetrically. One gimbal spring member 38a ₁ , 3
The set of 8b ₁ is connected to the circuit of the FPC 26 on the right side, and the set of the gimbal spring members 38a ₂ and 38b _{2 on} the other side is the F side on the left side.
It is connected to the circuit of the PC 26. Each member 38a ₁ , 3
8a ₂ , 38b ₁ and 38b ₂ size (shape and length)
Are the same.

Thus, each gimbal spring member 38a
_{By making} the sizes of ₁ , 38a ₂ , 38b ₁ and 38b ₂ equal, even if the environmental temperature outside the apparatus changes, the respective elongation amounts become the same, and the head slider 32 stabilizes on the surface of the disk 15. Can surface.

(Embodiment 4) As shown in FIG. 7, the load pressing spring 39 may be omitted. If the constituent members of the gimbal spring 38 are symmetrical, the gimbal spring 38 alone can apply a desired pressing force to the head slider 32. That is, the gimbal spring 38 is a transmission path for transmitting a signal and also functions as a member that supports the head slider 32 and further applies a desired pressing force to the head slider 32.

(Embodiment 5) As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9,
The double-sided magnetic disk drive of this embodiment has two head sliders 32a and 32b. The upper and lower head sliders 32a and 32b are inserted between the two magnetic disks 15 to read the magnetic information of each disk 15. The head sliders 32a and 32b are a combination of two head sliders of the third embodiment shown in FIG. In this embodiment, one load pressing spring 39
a applies a pressing force to the upper head slider 32a, and the other load pressing spring 39b applies a pressing force to the head slider 32b. It should be noted that one load pressing spring 39 has two upper and lower head sliders 32a and 32a.
You may make it give a pressing force to b simultaneously. When there are two head sliders, it is possible to use only one arm made of a non-conductive material to which the gimbal spring or the load pressing spring is attached, so that the disc gap can be narrowed and the attachment to the carriage can be improved. In addition to being easy, stable head flying can be secured, and the signal quality is improved.

In the above embodiment, the electromagnetic converter portion is
I explained separately for playback only and recording only.
Even if it has an electromagnetic transducer part for both recording, the same effect can be obtained by using a structure having a conductive gimbal part equivalent to the signal line.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the equivalent mass of the structural portion supporting the head slider can be reduced with respect to the small head slider having the electromagnetic conversion portions dedicated to reproduction, recording, and both recording and reproduction. it can. This is due to the impact from the outside of the device and the protrusion on the disc.
It is possible to prevent damage to the head slider or the disk.

Further, since the head slider has a gimbal structure which also serves as a signal line of the electromagnetic conversion portion, the head slider can be stably floated above the disk. As described above, since the stable flying posture of the head slider can be secured, high-density recording is possible and the capacity of the device can be further increased.

Furthermore, since the gimbal spring made of copper or phosphor bronze having a good thermal conductivity is directly soldered to the head slider surface, the heat generated in the head slider is easily dissipated from the gimbal spring (the amount of heat radiation is large). It is possible to increase the recording density of the device without degrading the quality (low noise).

Next, the embodiment of the second invention is shown in FIG.
~ It will be described with reference to FIG. (Embodiment 6) As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, in the magnetic disk device 50, two slider parts 32a and 32a are provided.
b is supported by each suspension portion 56. A transducer portion (not shown) is mounted on each slider portion 32a, 32b. The two suspension portions 56 are supported by the mount portion 54.
Further, a cylindrical flange boss 52 projects from the mount portion 54 and is fixed to an arm (not shown) of the actuator by press fitting. The central portion of the mount portion 56 is removed in a rectangular shape for weight reduction. The suspension portion 56 is made of a thin metal plate such as a stainless steel plate or an aluminum plate. The suspension part 56 has a hinge part 58, a beam part 60, a gimbal part 62, a load part 64, and a pivot part 68.

In order to simplify the explanation, only one slider portion 32a will be explained below. Slider part 32
The a has an air bearing on the side facing the magnetic disk 15, and has a thin rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole. The transducer portion (not shown) is formed on the rear end face of the slider portion 32a. The slider portion 3 is provided on the gimbal portion 62.
2a is fixed. The pivot portion 68 has a hemispherical shape. The slider portion 32 is provided through the pivot portion 68.
A pressing load is applied to a by the load portion 64. The gimbal portion 62 is made of a Y-shaped metal thin plate, and two symmetrical Y-shaped upper pieces are connected to the beam portion 60, and one Y-shaped lower piece is fixed to the upper portion of the slider portion 32a. Since the rotation spring constant of the gimbal portion 62 is proportional to the square of the width of the spring portion, the rotation spring property about the central axis of the suspension is very small.

The beam portion 60 includes a gimbal portion 62 and a hinge portion 5.
Both ends are bent by a metal plate connecting 8 to form a U-shaped cross section, which has high rigidity and is hard to bend. The hinge part 58 is composed of two long plates symmetrically arranged, one end is fixed to the mount part 54, and the other end is connected to the beam part 60. The beam portion 60 and the like rotate around the hinge portion 58. The hinge part 58, the beam part 60, and the gimbal part 62 are made of a single stainless steel thin plate, and the hinge part 5 forming an elastically deformable part.
8 and the gimbal portion 62 are formed on the same plane. Therefore, the resonance of the suspension portion 56 in the vertical direction and the resonance in the plane direction are completely separated, and the resonance frequency in the plane direction can be made sufficiently high.

The load portion 64 is fixed to the beam portion 60 by spot welding or the like. The load portion 64 applies a pressing force to the slider portion 32a via the pivot portion 68. The gimbal portion 62 allows the slider portion 32a to rotate around a point where it abuts against the load portion 64 on the top of the pivot portion 68.

As shown in FIG. 14, the base end portion of the load portion 64 is restrained by the beam portion 60, and the tip end portion of the load portion 64 is in a state where it can be freely displaced without being restrained. A U-shaped preload spring 66 is inserted between the base ends of the pair of restrained load portions 64. The load portion 64 has a Z-shaped step portion 64a.
Is formed, and the U-shaped opening of the preload spring 66 is located at the step 64a. The U-shaped closing portion of the preload spring 66 is located at a proper position on the base end portion of the load portion 64 on the boss 52 side. The preload spring 66 is made of a highly rigid thin metal plate such as stainless steel. The preload spring 66 has a step 64
It is fixed to the inner surface of the load portion 64 near spot a by spot welding or the like. Since this position is close to the slider portion, the displacement applied to the preload spring 66 is almost equal to the mounting error of the magnetic disk 15 and is as small as about 0.02 mm. Therefore, the variation of the pressing load generated by the preload spring 66 becomes very small, and the fluctuation of the flying height of the magnetic head also becomes small.

Since the hinge portion 58 does not generate a pressing load and only allows rotation, internal stress is less likely to occur, and the width / thickness can be reduced to soften the magnetic head mounting error. Further, the hinge portion 58 has a large torsional rigidity because the two spring portions are arranged at positions separated from each other in the left and right directions. Therefore, a highly accurate positioning servo system is provided.

Since the beam portion 60 has a U-shaped cross section, it has a large bending and torsional rigidity and acts like a rigid body, thereby increasing the resonance frequency of the entire magnetic head. A high resonance frequency results in a highly accurate positioning servo system.

Hinge portion 58, beam portion 60 and gimbal portion 6
2 is an integrated member made of one stainless thin plate. That is, the stainless thin plate is formed by etching, and both side portions of the beam portion 60 are pressed and bent by 90 °.

The mount portion 54 is made of a thin stainless plate, and a suspension portion 56 is spot-welded at a plurality of points on one end of the mount portion 54 so as to be vertically stacked. (Embodiment 7) As shown in FIGS.
Is fixed to the beam portion 60 via a preload spring 76. The load part 72 is made of a flat plate. The preload spring 76 and the load portion 72 are substantially symmetrical with respect to the central axis of the suspension portion 56 in a plan view. The preload spring 76 has the load portion 72.
It is sandwiched between the beam portion 60 and the beam portion 60 from both sides and constrained, and a pressing force is applied to the load portion 72 of the suspension. Preload spring 76
Has an X-shape in which the tip end and the base end cross each other and are replaced. That is, the preload spring member 76a located on the lower side at the base end side is continuous with the upper pivot portion 68a on the front end side, and conversely, the preload spring member 76b located on the upper side at the base end side is located lower at the front end side. It is continuous with the pivot part 68b. The portion where the pivot portion 68a comes into contact with the load portion 72 is formed into a smooth curved surface. Further, the height of the pivot portion 68a is set to be approximately the same as the thickness of the preload spring 76. (Embodiment 8) As shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the magnetic disk device 80 has a positioning plate portion 81 in the suspension portion 56. A preload spring 86 is fixed to the positioning plate portion 81. The suspension portion 56 has an elastically deformable portion without a curved surface as in the case of the sixth embodiment (FIG. 11), and is used in a flat state even when used.
In this case, the influence of the magnetic head mounting error with the magnetic disk 15 cannot be eliminated, but the resonance frequency of the suspension portion 56 in the plane direction can be increased, so that the device 80 becomes a highly accurate positioning servo system. Similar to the beam portion 60 (FIG. 11) of the sixth embodiment, the positioning plate 81 has both sides bent in a U-shape to enhance the rigidity of the suspension portion 56. The bent portions on both sides of the positioning plate 81 continue to above the mount portion 54 to be fixed. When a biasing force is applied to the suspension portion 56 from the preload spring 86, only the suspension portion 56 is pressed toward the magnetic disk 15.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce variations in pressing force due to magnetic head mounting errors and magnetic head manufacturing errors, and to reduce variations in levitation force. Further, the resonance frequency can be increased and the positioning accuracy can be improved.

[0077]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the equivalent mass of the structural portion for supporting the head slider is reduced for a small head slider having an electromagnetic conversion portion for reproduction only, recording only and both recording and reproduction. You can This is due to the impact from the outside of the device and the protrusion on the disc.
It is possible to prevent damage to the head slider or the disk.

Further, since the head slider has a gimbal structure which also serves as a signal line of the electromagnetic conversion portion, the head slider can be stably floated above the disk. As described above, since the stable flying posture of the head slider can be secured, high-density recording is possible and the capacity of the device can be further increased.

Furthermore, since the gimbal spring made of copper or phosphor bronze having good heat conductivity is directly soldered to the head slider surface, the heat generated in the head slider is easily dissipated from the gimbal spring (a large amount of heat is dissipated). It is possible to increase the recording density of the device without degrading the quality (low noise).

According to the second aspect of the invention, the fluctuation of the head slider pressing force due to the magnetic head mounting error and the magnetic head manufacturing error is reduced, so that the variation of the magnetic head flying force can be reduced. Also, the resonance frequency can be increased to improve the positioning accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an entire magnetic disk device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a small magnetic head support mechanism of the magnetic disk device according to the embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a small magnetic head support mechanism of the magnetic disk device.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a head slider portion and a gimbal spring portion of a small magnetic head support mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a small magnetic head support mechanism of another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a small magnetic head support mechanism of another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a small magnetic head support mechanism of another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing a double-sided type small magnetic head support mechanism of another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a partial side view schematically showing a double-sided type magnetic head.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing a head support mechanism of a conventional magnetic disk device.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device according to an embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the head support mechanism of the magnetic disk device as seen from the slider surface side.

FIG. 13 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the head support mechanism of the magnetic disk device as seen from the slider back side.

FIG. 14 is a partially enlarged side view showing a preload spring provided in the suspension portion of the magnetic head.

FIG. 15 is a side view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device of another embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device of another embodiment as seen from the slider surface side.

FIG. 17 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device of another embodiment as seen from the slider back side.

FIG. 18 is a side view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device of another embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a head support mechanism of a magnetic disk device of another embodiment as seen from the slider back side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15 ... Magnetic disk 15d, 110 ... Insulating layer 26 ... Flexible printed circuit (FPC) 31 ... Head support mechanism (head assembly) 32 ... Head slider 33 ... Electromagnetic transducer part 35 for recording / reproducing 35 ... Electromagnetic transducer signal line 36 ... Head slider rear surface 37 ... Terminal 38 ... Gimbal spring 39 ... Load pressing spring 40 ... Head supporting arm 54 ... Mount portion 56 ... Suspension portion 58 ... Hinge portion 60 ... Beam portion 62 ... Gimbal portion 64, 72 ... Load portion 66, 76 , 86 ... Preload spring 68, 68a ... Pivot part 81 ... Positioning plate

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic disk device having a magnetic head supported by a supporting mechanism, wherein the magnetic head is provided with a head slider whose slider surface faces the disk in a non-contact manner. A recording / reproducing dual-use, or an electromagnetic converter portion having a plurality of signal lines dedicated to reproduction or recording, and a terminal attached to the head slider and connected to each of the signal lines, The support mechanism includes a support arm having a signal transmission circuit, and a head slider protruding from the support arm and connected to each of the terminals so that the head slider can follow the disk. By supporting the base end of the supporting arm by connecting to the signal transmission circuit of the supporting arm. A plurality of gimbal springs that are held, are conductive, have excellent heat dissipation characteristics, and are flexible and have a high-precision spring rigidity, and that the head slider moves in the disk radial direction along the disk surface. A magnetic disk drive comprising: means for swinging the support arm. 2. A magnetic disk device having a magnetic head for a fixed magnetic disk device, wherein the magnetic head has a slider part on which a transducer part is mounted, a suspension part for supporting the slider part, and a pair of slider parts. A pair of suspension parts and a preload spring provided between the pair of suspension parts when the suspension parts are arranged at symmetrical positions; The magnetic disk device, wherein the preload spring applies an urging force between the suspension parts to generate a pressing force toward the disk by the slider part. 3. A magnetic disk device having a magnetic head for a fixed magnetic disk device, wherein the magnetic head has a slider part on which a transducer part is mounted, a suspension part for supporting the slider part, and the slider part for the suspension part. And a preload spring provided between the positioning plate portion and the suspension portion, wherein the suspension portion is elastically deformable and is formed only by a flat surface. A magnetic disk drive characterized in that the preload spring applies an urging force between the suspension parts to generate a pressing force toward the disk by the slider part.