Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Tomokazu Ishii

Fujio Tajima

Kooetsu Okuyama

Hideki Tanaka

Kazuo Sakai

Kenji Toki

Shigemitsu Higuchi

Shozo Saegusa

Takao Terayama

Tetsuya Hamaguchi

Kenmei Masuda

Fumio Takeda

Shinsuke Higuchi

Takayuki Munemoto

Takeshi Yoshida

Shigeyuki Kobata

Nobuyuki Kaku

Fu-Ying Huang

Takeshi Itoh

Kenji Ogiro

Akihiko Aoyagi

Qinghua Zeng

Taichiro Yamashita

David W Albrecht

Fukuyasu Abe

Masaru Orii

Kouetsu Okuyama

Tadashi Honzawa

The invention is a hard-disk-drive (HDD) assembly that includes a flame having the exterior dimensions of a particular form-factor HDD, an HDD with a form-factor smaller than the frame, a pair of mount assemblies that support the HDD entirely within the larger form-factor frame, and an electrical cable located entirely within the frame and having one end connected to the HDD and the other end exposed to the frame exterior at the position determined by the specifications of the larger form-factor. The HDD assembly thus presents a smaller form-factor HDD as a fully plug-compatible alternative to a larger form-factor HDD. The mount assemblies have spring-like cantilever arms in contact with damping material to provide a highly-damped nonlinear spring system that provides mechanical-shock resistance for the HDD in a direction normal to the planes of the disks and high stiffness in a direction parallel to the planes of the disks.

Hard disk drive (HDD) assembly of small form-factor HDD shock-mounted in frame having dimensions of larger form-factor HDD

A magnetic disk drive having a disk for storing information, a spindle motor for rotating the disk, a head for recording information into the disk and reproducing information from said disk, a suspension supporting a slider provided with the head, a carriage supporting the suspension, a voice coil motor for exerting a rotational torque to the carriage so as to locate the head on the disk, a base and a cover, and a ramp serving as a guide for unloading the head from the disk. A part of the suspension slides over the ramp so as to effect the unloading operation and the position or the posture of the ramp is changed by sliding movement of the part of the suspension over and with respect to the ramp during the unloading operation.

Magnetic disk drive with a movable ramp mechanism for relieving impact upon loading and unloading

A magnetic disk drive provided with a loadunload mechanism of the rampload type is disclosed, in which even if loading and unloading operations are frequently repeated, damage to a head due to impingement during the unloading operation is eliminated, and a ramp and the lift-tab of a suspension are less liable to wear, and an operation failure or malfunction due to wear debris is eliminated, thereby providing the drive of high reliability. The ramp is supported for minute displacement, and the posture of the ramp is changed during the unloading operation. The restraining members for restraining the posture of the ramp are provided, and the cushioning members are provided at portions that the ramp and the restraining members come into contact with each other. There can be achieved a drive of high reliability in which even if the loading and unloading operations are frequently repeated, damage to the head due to impingement of the lift-tab during the unloading operation is eliminated, and the lift-tab and the ramp are less liable to wear, and an operation failure due to wear debris is eliminated.

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 servo-mechanism control system calculates an operation value to be applied to a control object from a desired value of a control output and a detected control output of the control object, and drives the control object based on the calculated operation value so that the control output becomes equal to the desired value. The control system is less sensitive to the variation of characteristics of the control object and disturbances, and stable control is accomplished by a simple circuit arrangement. A mathematical model and its inverse function, which are based on the assumption that the control system is not subjected to the variation of characteristics of the control object and disturbances, are used to calculate a model-based control output. In error of the operation value is calculated from the difference between the model-based control output and the detected control output by using the inverse function of the mathematical model, and the operation value applied to the control object is modified by subtracting the error from the calculated operation value. Alternatively, the model-based operation value is calculated from the detected control output by using only the inverse function of the mathematical model, and the operation value is modified based on the difference between the model-based operation value and the calculated operation value.

Control method and apparatus for a servo- mechanism

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

In a servo system using a discrete signal relative to a position, a time delay and an error upon detecting a speed due to lack of positional information are eliminated to achieve a positioning to a target position in a short time. A pulse signal X.sub.P relative to a position is used to establish synchronization with an observer which is adjusted to match with an actual apparatus comprising a load, a motor and so on, and an estimated speed value or an estimated position value generated by the observer are used to determine an operating signal for the servo system.

Servo control method for a servo system

A servo-mechanism control system calculates an operation value to be applied to a control object from a desired value of a control output and a detected control output of the control object, and drives the control object based on the calculated operation value so that the control output becomes equal to the desired value. The control system is less sensitive to the variation of characteristics of the control object and disturbances, and stable control is accomplished by a simple circuit arrangement. A mathematical model and its inverse function, which are based on the assumption that the control system is not subjected to the variation of characteristics of the control object and disturbances, are used to calculate a model-based control output. An error of the operation value is calculated from the difference between the model-based control output and the detected control output by using the inverse function of the mathematical model, and the operation value applied to the control object is modified by subtracting the error from the calculated operation value. Alternatively, the model-based operation value is calculated from the detected control output by using only the inverse function of the mathematical model, and the operation value is modified based on the difference between the model-based operation value and the calculated operation value.

Control method and apparatus for a servo-mechanism

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Ibaraki, Japan

Tomokazu Ishii