Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.

Kazuo Sakai

Masao Iwakura

Shigeo Nakamura

Takao Terayama

Shigenori Togashi

Hayato Shimizu

Yasuhiro Nemoto

Toshiaki Kobari

Masayuki Kaiho

Mikio Tokuyama

Shozo Saegusa

Yuzo Yamaguchi

Masahiko Sega

Toshihisa Okazaki

Satomitsu Imai

Shigeyuki Kobata

Nobuyuki Kaku

Kenmei Masuda

Fumio Takeda

Fujio Tajima

Tomokazu Ishii

Shigemitsu Higuchi

Taichiro Yamashita

Masataka Kawauchi

Ichiro Nakamura

Hideo Enoki

Hiroshi Ohki

Takayuki Munemoto

Kooetsu Okuyama

Kouetsu Okuyama

Hiroaki Ono

Hideki Tanaka

Takeshi Itoh

Kenji Ogiro

Tomomi Okamoto

Naoki Kodama

Hidekazu Takeda

Kyuichiro Nagai

Toshihiro Arisaka

Fumio Kugiya

Kazuo Nakagoshi

Takuji Ogawa

Shinsuke Nakagawa

Tomio Suzuki

Juichi Morikawa

Shinji Ozaki

Nobuyuki Okunaga

Kihachiro Tanaka

Fukuyasu Abe

Yoshiyuki Tanaka

Norihisa Yanagihara

Teizo Tamura

Kazuto Oyama

Masatoshi Ishikawa

Hajime Yokota

Hideharu Ono

Tomoki Shoji

Tatsuya Ishigaki

Kenji Toki

Masaru Orii

Toshiaki Kojima

Toshihiro Koyama

Tadashi Honzawa

Chuma Akira

A magnetic disk apparatus includes a plurality of magnetic disks driven to rotate by a spindle motor, arms supporting magnetic heads on the magnetic disks, an actuator for moving the arms on the magnetic disks by a voice coil motor, and a housing which surrounds the magnetic disks, the arms and the actuator. A shroud which arcuately surrounds the magnetic disks along the outer periphery thereof has an opened portion for inserting the arms is formed in a part of the housing. The shroud on an upstream side of the arms relative to airflow generated by the magnetic disks when rotating is provided with an opening having a greater width than that of a gap defined between the shroud and the outer periphery of the magnetic disks. An empty bypass channel is provided which communicates from the opening through a rear side of the voice coil motor to the downstream side of the arms.

Magnetic disk apparatus with shroud and having open space downstream of moveable arms in communication with bypass channel

A magnetic disk apparatus includes magnetic disks stacked on a rotating shaft, arms supporting magnetic heads, a rotary actuator for moving the arms, and a housing forming at least a part of an arcuate-shaped shroud which substantially surrounds a portion of side surfaces of the magnetic disks so as to define a gap between the shroud and the portion of the side surfaces of the magnetic disks. The arcuate-shaped shroud has portions delimiting an open space adjacent to another portion of the side surfaces of the magnetic disks which is located on a downstream side of the arms relative to an air flow which moves on surfaces of the magnetic disks. A bypass channel provides air flow to the disks in a region of the open space at a reduced pressure on the downstream side of the arms with respect to pressure at an upstream side of the arms.

Magnetic disk apparatus with air flow bypass channel

In a magnetic disc apparatus including a plurality of magnetic discs mounted on a spindle, arms supporting magnetic heads, a rotary actuator for the arms, and a housing having an arcuate-shaped shroud, the improvement wherein gaps between the shroud and the sides of outer peripheries of the magnetic discs are larger than 0.1 mm and less than 0.6 mm. An open space is located, downstream of the arms with respect to the air flow on surfaces of the magnetic discs, the open space being devoid of the shroud. An opening is provided in the shroud, upstream of the arms with respect to the air flow and having a greater width than a width of the gaps defined between the magnetic discs and the shroud, and a bypass channel is provided which communicates between the opening and open space.

Magnetic-disc unit with gap between disc and shroud

A magnetic disk apparatus arranged in a housing having a plurality of magnetic disks stacked on a rotating shaft, arms supporting thereon magnetic heads and adapted to be inserted between said magnetic disks, a rotary actuator for moving the arms, a housing forming at least a part of an arcuate-shaped shroud which substantially surrounds a portion of side surfaces of the magnetic disks so as to permit movement of the arms and which is concentric with the magnetic disks so as to define a gap between the shroud and the portion of the side surfaces of said magnetic disks. The gap defined between the outer peripheral end surfaces of the magnetic disks and the shroud is in a range of 0.1 mm to 0.6 mm.

Magnetic disk apparatus

A magnetic disk drive has a housing for a 3.5 inch form factor and disk media of a diameter for a 2.5 inch form factor. The smaller disk media rotate at a high speed while consuming low electric lower and generating less heat while providing for quick access speeds. Usually, when the magnetic disk media are rotated at a higher speed, the electric power consumption and heat generation are increased because of the load increase. This problem is avoided with the use of cooling fins placed about the periphery of the disk media. Further, the smaller size disk media enable a decrease in torque loss during on-load rotation with the media, and a decrease of electric current to the spindle motor during rotation.

Disc drive having 3.5 inch form factor housing and 2.5 inch form factor disk media

To suppress pressure fluctuation caused by insertion of arms between disks, which arms support thereon magnetic heads, to reduce disk flutter to thereby reduce disk driving power in a magnetic disk apparatus, there are provided an open space not covered by a shroud, which constitutes a part of a housing structure to cover a side surface of a disk stack, and provided on a downstream side of the arms relative to an airflow moving along surfaces of the disks as the disks rotate, and a channel, which connects a space on an upstream side of the arms and the open space not restricted by the shroud on the downstream side of the arms, the channel being provided with a linear section, which has a rectifying effect on the airflow.

Magnetic disk apparatus with shroud having opening downstream of moveable arm

A magnetic recorder in which magnetic signals are transmitted between a magnetic head device and a magnetic tape, comprises a capstan shaft for driving the magnetic tape when the magnetic tape is pressed against the capstan shaft, so that the magnetic tape runs on the magnetic head device. A pinch roller presses the magnetic tape against the capstan shaft. A main chassis has the magnetic head and the capstan shaft mounted thereon. The magnetic tape and the pinch roller are mounted on a side chassis, with the slide chassis being movable relatively to the main chassis in a feed path between a first position in which the magnetic tape is wound on the magnetic head device for transmitting the magnetic signals therebetween, and a second position in which the magnetic tape is separated apart from the magnetic head device. A positioning arrangement is connected to both of the main chassis and the slide chassis to restrain a change in positional relation between the main chassis and the slide chassis in at least one direction when the magnetic tape is pressed against the capstan shaft by the pinch roller, and is separated from at least one of the main chassis and the slide chassis in the at least one direction in at least a part of the feed path when the magnetic tape is prevented from being pressed against the capstan shaft by the pinch roller.

Magnetic recording having a slidable chassis

There is provided a magnetic tape device capable of highly accurate positioning at a high speed. For this purpose, the head is driven in the direction of the width of the tape by eliminating the friction between the tape the head. In order to allow positioning in the direction of the width of the tape, even if a servo signal cannot be read from a servo track, the absolute position of the head from a reference position is detected, and the head is controlled based on the absolute position.

Magnetic tape device and method of controlling magnetic tape device

A tape cartridge is received into one end of an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus conforming to an 8 inch Form Factor Size. A first reel is held inside this tape cartridge, and a tape wound onto this first reel is extracted from a cartridge including the first reel and threaded by a simple pivotal motion of a tape threading arm, and wound onto a second reel disposed at the other end of the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus. The pivotal center of the tape threading arm and a recording head are disposed at opposite sides respectively with regard to a line joining a first and second reel axes to facilitate a compact overall construction. Tape guides formed into cylindrical rollers and the recording head are disposed on the inner side of the trajectory of the tape threading to transfer the tape smoothly. The tape guides and the recording head may be arranged substantially in line. Also, the tape guides next to the recording head may be fixed rollers.

Information recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a tape

As a method of increasing the storage capacity of a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing information to and from a magnetic tape in a cartridge, there is a helical scan recording method in which the magnetic tape is diagonally wound around a drum which rotates a magnetic head. With an apparatus adapted to this method, the disposition of the cartridge and the take-up reel for taking up the magnetic tape on the same plane arises a necessity of considerably bending the magnetic tape at the drum portion and, accordingly, the magnetic tape is damaged. In order to prevent the damage of the foregoing type, the tape passage surface from the cartridge to the drum and the tape passage from the drum to the take-up reel are formed by an angle at which the direction in which the magnetic tape is moved is changed due to winding of the magnetic tape around the drum so that the magnetic tape is not bent excessively. A threading device capable of three-dimensionally controlling the position of the magnetic tape in accordance with a predetermined tape passage is provided for the apparatus structured as described above. The threading device is formed by a link mechanism to be moved along the locus of a cam groove so that the three-dimensional position control can be performed.

Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus

A load torque imposed on a take-up reel motor is estimated from the current in a take-up reel motor and the rotational speed of the take-up reel. The current value supplied to the take-up reel motor is adjusted on the basis of the estimated load torque. A tape feed rate detected is compared with a reference signal produced from a target tape speed signal. On the basis of the comparison result, the torque of the take-up reel motor is controlled in such a manner that the tape feed rate assumes a predetermined value. The gain of a speed control system for controlling the rotational speed of the take-up reel is adjusted on the basis of a detected period of tape speed.

Capstanless tape driving method and information recording and

A tape guide device having apertures formed in two tape-winding surfaces of non-rotatable curvature portions. A tape restriction is provided at a connecting portion of the tape guide device interconnecting the curvature portions. A flange is provided on one of the curvature portions for movement along an axis thereof to adjust the height thereof. The flange has an outer diameter greater than that of the one curvature portion. The curvature portions are integrated with each other. According this, an air film is generated between the tape and the tape-winding surfaces by discharging air from the apertures, thereby reducing the friction coefficient between the tape and the tape-winding surfaces to suppress the increase of tape tension. The tape is restricted to fluctuate in the direction of width. Further, the attitude and relative positioning between the curvature portions can be secured with high precision. As a result, the tape load during the tape running is reduced, thereby stabilizing the tape running and prolonging the lifetime of the tape.

Pneumatic static guide for a tape

In a tape loading device of the invention, a tape is taken out by tape guides mounted on an inclined loading ring, and the loading ring is rotated to wind the tape on a rotary drum from one side thereof. An auxiliary inclined guide is provided between the rotary drum and the leading tape guide. Only during a loading operation, the auxiliary inclined guide contacts the tape, while angularly moved about the leading tape guide. When the loading operation is completed, the auxiliary inclined guide is disengaged from the tape. With the provision of the auxiliary inclined guide, the tape is prevented from being twisted between the rotary drum and the leading tape guide.

Tape loading device and magnetic conversion apparatus

A magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus includes a head for performing recording/reproducing, a chassis for positioning the head, a cassette holder for positioning a cassette on the chassis, the cassette including an opening portion through which a recording medium is received or drawn out, a cassette holder supporting member for supporting the cassette holder on the chassis, and a casing which contains these component parts. The cassette holder supporting member has a substantially U-shape, facing three side surfaces of the cassette except the opening portion, and includes integrally formed fastening portions to be secured on the casing. The cassette holder supporting member is fastened to the casing through two fastening portions, and the chassis is directly fastened to the casing in one portion of the chassis.

Cassette holder mechanism for magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus

A magnetic recording and reproducing device and a magnetic tape library device are provided for properly recovering a function and issuing a warning when a failure of a magnetic head of the device takes place because of wear and dirt of the magnetic head. Further, a method for maintaining the magnetic head is provided. A wear sensor and a dirt sensor are prepared for sensing a wear amount of a state of dirt of the magnetic head. A head check controller operates to determine the wear amount of the magnetic head and the state of dirt based on the sensed result. In accordance with the determined result, the warning device is started for taking a precaution of preventing a head failure. As one aspect, the tape library device instructs to load the cleaning tape using a robot.

Magnetic tape library device and method for maintaining magnetic

Growing community of inventors

Ibaraki, Japan

Kazuo Sakai