Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Tdk Corporation

Yoshihiro Ueno

Hideki Kuwajima

Kaoru Matsuoka

Tatsuhiko Inagaki

Hideyuki Hashi

Makoto Miyamoto

Zhisheng Deng

Zhi Sheng Deng

Deng Zhi Sheng

Makoto Umeda

Hironori Honsho

Masaru Nakakita

Takashi Honda

Katsuki Kurihara

Toshio Inaji

Fumio Shinano

Hiromi Kita

Koji Taniguchi

Shigeo Obata

Koichi Shinohara

Kenichi Sakamoto

Yoshihiro Ikawa

Masahiro Kuwabara

Hironobu Chiba

Kiyokazu Ishiyama

Minoru Kawauchi

An optical inspection device includes: an LED; a chart; a collimator; and a mirror. The LED irradiates the chart with light to deliver light rays to the collimator as on-axis light rays. This allows a pattern on the chart to be projected onto a center of an image sensor through the collimator and an optical system under inspection. The mirror reflects light rays delivered to the mirror through the collimator among the on-axis light rays. This allows the pattern on the chart to be projected onto a periphery of the image sensor through the optical system under inspection.

Optical inspection device having a mirror for reflecting light rays, a method of producing a lens using the optical inspection device, and an optical inspection method using the optical inspection device

The lens holding structure of the disclosure includes a lens; and a holding frame including a seat surface and holding the lens, wherein an inclination in a yaw direction and an inclination in a pitch direction of the lens in a state where the lens is brought into contact with the seat surface are substantially equal to an inclination in a yaw direction and an inclination in a pitch direction of the lens in a state where the lens is held by the holding frame, and a clearance is formed between the lens and the seat surface.

Lens holding structure and method of manufacturing lens holding structure

A head support device that is resistant to shock due to external impact, a disk device including the head support device, and a portable electronic device including the disk device are disclosed. In the head support device, a head support arm on which a head slider with a head is disposed through a flexible and elastic gimbal mechanism is formed rotatably about a rotary shaft as a horizontal rotating axis in parallel with a disk surface. The head support arm is formed such that it pivots, about a straight line drawn between apexes of a pair of pivots as a vertical pivot axis, vertically (generally perpendicularly) with respect to the disk surface. A gravity center position of a total mass of members, other than the head slider, pivoting about the vertical pivot axis is positioned near the vertical pivot axis.

Head support device, disk device having the head support device, and portable electronic device having the disk device

The present invention provides a head holding member and a head holding method of a head actuator having a very high impact resisting property, and having a simple construction, and a disk device using the head holding member and the head holding method. The head holding member resists an impact applied at a stopping time, and a stable operation can be performed at a power turning-on time.

Head holding member, disk device with the head holding member, and head holding method in the disk, device

A head support device of self-balancing type and a disk drive are disclosed. The head support device reduces manufacturing variation in a load and the number of components, and has stability and reliability, while being inexpensive. In this head support device, a flange and a nut cramp, via a collar, a head support arm having a reinforcing plate fixed thereto. The head support arm is supported rotatably about a line provided between contact points at which pivots contact the flange and in a direction perpendicular to a recording medium. A spring as an elastic member provides an urging force toward the recording medium, and is provided unitarily with the head support arm. Bent portions are provided on both sides of the arm composing the head support arm to a tab.

Head support device and disk device having the same

A head slider is designed to prevent collision against a surface of a disk due to an external impact and the like while a device is in use to avoid damages on an air bearing surface ('ABS') of the head slider and the surface the disk. This is achieved by a structure of the head slider which produces a large positive pressure on a positive dynamic pressure generating section when the head slider comes close to the disk. More specifically, the ABS of the head slider comprises three surfaces of different positional heights, and the positive dynamic pressure generating section having a height equivalent to a mid level surface of the second highest position is provided on a portion of the head slider made of a material of high brittleness at each of locations near both side edges lateral to a tracking width of a magnetic head. In addition, a head mounting pad bearing the magnetic head is so configured that a boundary between a high level surface in the highest position and a mid level surface is asymmetrical with respect to the lateral center of the head slider in a direction of the tracking width of the magnetic head.

Head slider with positive dynamic pressure generating section

A head support mechanism of the invention comprises a head () for recording on a disk or reproducing a disk, a head support member composed of this head () and a support arm () having this head () attached to one end portion thereof, a base arm () including a rotation support part () for supporting the head support member rotatably in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the disk, and an elastic member () of which one end portion is connected to other end portion of the support arm () and other end portion is connected to the base arm () for thrusting the head support member in the disk direction. Therefore, the support arm () can be formed of a member of high rigidity, and the slider () is prevented from colliding against the disk if an impact force acts from outside.

Head drive device including head support mechanism having support arm rotatable relative to base arm via rotation support part, and disk apparatus including the head drive device

A disk apparatus includes (a) an actuator having a head supporting arm with a tab formed on the arm and a voice coil fixed to the arm, which arm is rotatable on a horizontal rotary shaft as well as on a vertical rotary shaft, (b) a voice coil motor having an upper yoke with a magnet fixed to the upper yoke and a lower yoke sandwiching and confronting the voice coil, and (c) a ramp section guiding and holding the tab at a refuge place. When the actuator at the refuge place starts loading with a starter command, a pulsed driving current is applied to the voice coil temporarily for urging the tab against a tab-holding plane of the ramp section, thereby making use of repulsion force generated on the actuator, so that the tab can leave the refuge place efficiently for carrying out the loading operation.

Method of controlling an actuator, and disk apparatus using the same method

A low profile head support device has excellent shock resistance and can apply necessary and sufficient biasing forces to a head and a disk drive using the same. The head support device includes a head; head suspensionto suspend the head; base armpivotally secured to actuator axis, suspending the head suspension; pivot fulcrumto movably suspend head suspension; and spring memberto apply a biasing force to head suspension, wherein pivot fulcrumis disposed on base arm. The head support device can be used in various kinds of information devices such as data processing devices, magneto optical disk drives, optical disk drives or the like.

Head support device and disk drive using the same

A head support device is thin and assures excellent flexibility and shock resistance while applying a sufficient load to a head. A disk drive uses the head support device. The head support device comprises a support arm, a head disposed at one end of the support arm, which is mounted on a head slider so as to be opposed to a recording medium, an elastic member such as a plate spring which provides the support arm an activating force in a direction perpendicular to the recording medium when the support arm comes to a rotational center in vertical rotation against the recording medium, and a holder connected to the elastic member. When an external impact force is applied to the head slider, with a distance from an action point of load that activates the head slider toward the recording medium to an immovable point in the rotation of the head slider in a direction of pitch being Lo, and a length of head slider in a direction of air flow being Ls, then 0.5&#x3c;Lo&#x3c;Ls&#x3c;2.

Apparatus with head and head support device having rotation supporting point

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.

Head slider and disk drive apparatus

A flying head slider includes a first air bearing having plural step-faces and being prepared on a base surface at air inflow side, and a second air bearing being prepared on the base surface at air outflow side. The upper most surface of the second air bearing is lower than the upper most surface of the first air bearing.

Flying head slider with air bearing step face arrangement

A slider maintains a uniform flying posture and a predetermined flying height by suppressing variations of roll angle and flying height. At an air bearing surface of the slider, an edge line on an air influx end side and an edge line at a disk outer circumference side end are connected by an edge line having a recess angle &#x3b8; (rad) with respect to an abscissa. The edge line on the air influx end side and an edge line at the disk inner circumference side end are connected by an edge line having a recess angle &#x3b7; (rad) with respect to the abscissa, thereby forming a concave part, and when a distance 'x' from an air influx end to the concave part of the air bearing surface is standardized by a length L of the slider to make X=x/L, the recess angles &#x3b8; and &#x3b7; are as follows: 0.06&#xd7;&#x3c0;/X&#x3c;&#x3b8;&#x3c;0.12&#xd7;&#x3c0;/X, and 0.05&#xd7;&#x3c0;/X&#x3c;&#x3b7;&#x3c;0.13&#xd7;&#x3c0;/X.

Slider having a stable flying posture and disk device including the slider

A head slider has, on its front face opposing a disk, a positive pressure generating section and a negative pressure generating recess, and a sloped face slopping toward the air outlet side. By virtue of the sloped face, the negative pressure hindering with high-speed unloading operation of the head slider can be decreased quickly. Thus, at the time of unloading, an additional load is not necessary for the suspension, and the stroke of the suspension for raising the head slider can be shortened. Therefore, a disk drive which is thinner, smaller, and capable of high recording density can be realized.

Head slider with flotation improving section and disk drive apparatus using the same

A load beam is provided with a base plate and a slider. A magnetic head apparatus is fixed to a head arm via a base plate. In a mechanism or structure for supporting such a magnetic head supporting mechanism, an elastically deformable portion is provided between the base plate and the load beam. Thus, a floating structure that allows the load beam to swing is formed about the elastically deformable portion. In addition, a weight of the load beam is balanced with respect to the elastically deformable portion. Furthermore, a contact portion for applying pressure to the load beam is provided on the head arm so that a pressing load to a recording medium would be set by an amount of rotation of the load beam caused by the pressure applied by the contact portion.

Growing community of inventors

Osaka, Japan

Yoshihiro Ueno