Magnetic head assembly with angled slots

A flying magnetic head assembly for use with a flexible magnetic disk is provided with a pair of angled or inclined pressure relief slots formed in a contoured face of the head which is configured to be spaced from the recording surface of the rotating disk by an intervening air bearing. The angled slot configuration exhibits low flying height and an expanded area of minimum spacing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to the field of magnetic data recording 
devices and, more specifically, to a flying magnetic head assembly for use 
with flexible magnetic data recording disks. 
Flexible disk files commonly are used as peripheral mass digital data 
storage units in micro and minicomputer systems. A flexible disk file 
comprises a magnetic recording medium, in the form of a flexible or floppy 
disk, and a disk drive unit which spins the disk and records 
(writes)/reads data thereon with a magnetic transducer incorporated in a 
head assembly. 
Commercially available 8, 51/4 and 31/2 inch flexible disk drives typically 
employ a button type of head assembly that makes contact with the magnetic 
recording layer coated on the disk. This is done to minimize the area of 
incident magnetic flux, thereby increasing linear bit density along the 
recording track. 
Abrasive wear at the head/medium interface generally is not a problem. This 
is because specified data transfer rates can be achieved at modest disk 
rotational speeds (300 RPM or thereabout) and the linear bit density 
(typically 8-10 KPCi for commercially available disks) can be obtained 
with magnetic layers having a sufficient amount of resin and lubricants 
incorporated in the binder system to resist abrasion at these speeds. 
However, with the rapid development of more powerful and faster computer 
systems, there is a pressing need to significantly improve the recorded 
bit density levels and data transfer rates of flexible disk files. 
To obtain higher density, the magnetic recording layer will have to be much 
thinner and therefore more fragile. Also, the rotational speed of the disk 
will have to increase significantly to accommodate higher transfer rates. 
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the combination of a more 
fragile recording layer and higher disk speed will present significant 
durability problems if the head assembly is designed to make frictional 
contact with the recording layer. A preferable approach is to bypass the 
wear problem by employing a non-contacting or "flying" head assembly that 
is separated from the disk surface by a submicron intervening lubricating 
air cushion or bearing. This approach is, of course, well known in the art 
of fixed or hard disk files which utilize flying heads. 
The objective of a flying head system is to avoid contact between the head 
and medium so as to prevent damage to either but yet minimize head/disk 
spacing or "flying height" to maximize bit density. It is equally 
important that the head be stable in its flight and maintain a constant 
head/disk spacing in the interest of read/write reliability. 
Although flying heads have been employed successfully in hard or rigid disk 
files, the aerodynamic design of such heads generally have been found 
inadequate for use with flexible disks. One reason for this is the 
substantial difference in the "flying environments". 
In a hard disk drive, the magnetic recording layer is supported on a rigid 
metal base which does not deflect when subjected to pressure loads 
developed in the air bearing. This means the recording surface is 
maintained in a fixed and well defined plane that provides a stable flying 
environment. 
On the other hand, the flexible disk has its magnetic layer supported on a 
compliant plastic film base and it tends to deform under pressure loading. 
Also, while it is intended that the plastic base be flat, in reality, 
flexible disks generally exhibit a small amount of warp or curl which may 
induce vibrations when the disk spins. Thus the flexible disk flying 
environment tends to be much more dynamic and complex. Other parameters 
that contribute to the complexity of the flexible disk flying environment 
include the stiffness of the medium; the response of the plastic base 
material to changes in temperature and humidity; the dynamic effects of 
the jacket or cassette in which the disk is enclosed; and head penetration 
and loading. 
Flying head assemblies used with flexible disks typically comprise a 
support structure which mounts the read/write transducer with the 
transducer gap disposed on a compound curve (e.g. spherical) contoured 
face of the head that confronts the disk to establish the head/disk 
interface. 
As is well known to those skilled in the art, in response to disk rotation, 
a thin layer of air adjacent to the recording layer surface is set in 
motion thereby establishing a Bernoulli effect air film which may serve as 
a lubricating air bearing between the head face and the recording surface. 
Generally, the hydrodynamic resistance of the air film, which increases 
with rotational speed, is sufficiently large so that the head must be 
urged toward the disk with the application of an external force to reduce 
flying height to submicron levels (4) microinches and below) required for 
high density recording. This causes the air layer to be compressed and 
substantially increases pressure at the head medium interface. In response 
to the increased pressure, the flexible medium tends to dimple or buckle 
forming a dome at the interface that conforms somewhat to the curved 
contour of the head face. Often, to achieve low flying heights in the dome 
region the head is operated in a penetration mode wherein the face extends 
through the nominal plane of the recording surface and into the dome 
region. 
It is preferable to minimize the loading force and amount of head 
penetration because at desirably low flying heights below 4 microinches 
because wear becomes an issue. At these very low flying heights 
unintentional contact may be made on an intermittent basis because of 
variations in coating thickness over the disk surfaces and/or variation in 
the plastic film base configuration which may be induced by changes in 
temperature and humidity or caused by manufacturing variances. 
One approach, known in the prior art, to obtaining smaller disk/head 
spacing without increasing head loading is to selectively reduce pressure 
in the air bearing at the disk/medium interface by providing a pair of 
parallel slots which straddle the transducer gap and extend longitudinally 
along the face in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of 
media movement past the gap (along the track). For a representative 
example of a flying head with parallel slots used to reduce flying height 
relative to a flexible disk, reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,163,267; 4,330,804; 4,375,656; and 4,396,965. 
Quantitively, the flying height characteristics of a head assembly is 
expressed in terms of the minimum spacing between the head face and disk 
surface. But it equally, if not more, important to examine this parameter 
qualitatively in terms of the area or zone of minimum spacing. If the area 
of minimum spacing (both in the radial and circumferential directions) is 
very small, the transducer must be precisely mounted on the support 
structure so that the gap is centered in the minimum spacing area to 
obtain the benefits of the low flying height. However, if the head is 
configured so that the area of minimum spacing is relatively large, 
manufacturing tolerances can be relaxed somewhat resulting in a 
substantial reduction in manufacturing cost. 
In a paper entitled "Design of Low Flying Heads for Floppy Disk Recording", 
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, Vol. Mag-20 No. 5, September 1984 by James 
A. White, the author discusses a computer model of the floppy disk/flying 
head interface. Simulations of spherical contour heads having a pair of 
parallel slots or a single transverse slot (perpendicular to the direction 
of media movement past the head) for ambient pressure relief at the 
interface are discussed. The results show both configurations produce very 
low clearances or flying height but neither produces a flat uniform 
clearance region (area of minimum spacing) in the vicinity of the 
spherical face apex where the transducer gap is normally located. 
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a 
magnetic head assembly for use with a flexible magnetic disk that is 
characterized by its low flying height and relatively large area of 
minimum spacing. 
Another object is to provide such a head assembly that exhibits these 
characteristics with relatively low head loading and penetration to 
minimize concern about head and/or disk wear. 
Yet another object is to provide a magnetic head assembly for use with a 
flexible disk that exhibits desirable flying characteristics at head/disk 
spacings below 4 microinches. 
Still another object is to provide such a head assembly which allows 
relaxation of gap position tolerances in the manufacturing process. 
Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, 
appear hereinafter. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides a magnetic head assembly, of the flying 
type, which is configured to be spaced from a recording surface of a 
rotating flexible magnetic recording disk by an intervening air bearing 
which influences minimum spacing and the area of such minimum spacing. 
The head assembly comprises a magnetic transducer having a transducing gap 
and means for supporting the transducer in a manner forming a head 
structure which includes a contoured face having the gap thereon and which 
is adapted to be spaced from the recording surface by an air bearing 
developed in response to disk rotation. The gap is located on a 
longitudinally extending line along the face which is substantially 
parallel to the direction of movement of the recording surface past the 
gap. 
The contoured face also has a pair of slots formed therein which are 
symmetrically disposed and angled with respect to the line for modifying 
air bearing pressure at the face/recording surface interface whereby 
minimum spacing is reduced and the area of minimum spacing is expanded. 
In the illustrated preferred embodiments the face has a spherical contour 
and the angled slots diverge when viewed from the upstream side of the 
face toward the downstream side. 
In one embodiment the angled slots intersect on the upstream side of the 
face and in another embodiment they do not.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a magnetic head assembly 10, embodying the present invention, 
which is adapted to be spaced from a recording surface of a rotating 
flexible magnetic recording disk by an intervening air bearing or layer 
which influences the minimum spacing between the assembly and surface as 
well as the area or region of such minimum spacing. 
Assembly 10 comprises a thin magnetic transducer 12, in the form of a 
conventional ferrite core having a transducing or flux gap 14 and windings 
(not shown) and a pair of transducer support members 16 and 18, formed of 
ceramic, glass or any other appropriate non-magnetic material, bonded to 
the opposite sides of transducer 12 in a manner forming a laminated head 
structure including a contoured face 20 having gap 14 thereon. It is this 
surface 20 of assembly 10 that is adapted to confront the rotating 
recording surface of the disk and interact with the air bearing layer to 
provide assembly 10 with its flying characteristics. 
It should be understood that transducer 12 may be of the thin film type 
rather than the illustrated conventional core type. 
In the illustrated embodiment, assembly 10 is a generally parallelpiped 
shaped structure in which the face 20 has been lapped and polished, or 
otherwise formed, to have a convex compound curve contour, preferably a 
spherical contour. The transducing gap 14 lies on a longitudinally 
extending line 22, preferably a centerline, along face 20 which is 
substantially parallel to the direction of tangential movement of the 
rotating recording surface past gap 14, indicated by the direction arrow 
24. In the illustrated embodiment gap 14 is located at its preferred 
location at the midpoint of line 22 whereby it is positioned at the apex 
of face 20. 
Assembly 10 also includes a pair of angled pressure relief slots 26 and 28 
formed in face 20 which are symmetrically disposed and angled with respect 
to the line 22 and function to modify air bearing pressure at the 
face/recording surface interface in a manner whereby minimum spacing is 
reduced and the area of minimum spacing is expanded in comparison to other 
head structures which employ a pair of symmetrically disposed pressure 
relief slots that are parallel to line 22. 
As best shown in FIG. 4, the symmetrical slots 26 and 28 straddle the gap 
14 and each is set at an equal angle .theta. with respect to the 
centerline 22 so as to diverge from the upstream side of face 20 (from 
leading transverse edge 30 rearwardly toward gap 14) to the downstream 
side (from gap 14 rearwardly toward the trailing transverse edge 32). 
In addition to the slot angle, the geometry of the slot configuration is 
also defined in terms of the lateral distance between the inner edges of 
the slots at the gap 14 shown as dimension d which is measured along a 
line perpendicular to line 22 at the gap 14. 
In the illustrated embodiments, the slots 26 and 28 are of a depth whereby 
they extend along the entire length of face 20 from the leading edge 30 to 
the trailing edge 32. In FIGS. 1 and 4, the slot angle .theta. and spacing 
dimension d are chosen so that the slots do not intersect each other on 
the upstream side. That is, there is a space between the inner edges of 
slots 26 and 28 at edge 30. 
FIGS. 2 and 5, on the other hand, show an alternative embodiment wherein 
.theta. and d are chosen so that the slots do intersect but do not cross. 
In this case, the intersection takes place between the apex and the 
leading edge 30. 
While slot angle .theta. and spacing d define the geometry of slot 
structure, some consideration also must be given to slot width and depth 
in that they relate to the volume of pressure modifying structure 
introduced into the moving air stream between face 20 and the rotating 
disk surface. 
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation showing the head assembly 10 in 
operative read/write relationship with a rotating flexible magnetic data 
recording disk 34. 
In the illustrated embodiment, disk 34 comprises a hat shaped metal hub 36 
having an annular flexible magnetic recording medium 38 attached at its 
inner edge to a peripheral flange 40 of hub 36. The hub 36 is mounted on a 
rotatable drive shaft 42 of a disk drive for rotating medium 38 in a 
substantially horizontal plane about a vertical axis of rotation 44. 
The recording medium 38 comprises a flexible plastic base having a magnetic 
recording layer coated on opposite sides thereof. In FIG. 3, head assembly 
10 is positioned with face 20 confronting a recording surface 46 of the 
recording layer on the underside of medium 38. 
Although not shown in FIG. 3 the disk 34 generally is enclosed in a jacket 
or cassette that has a pair of radially extending slots in the outer walls 
which provide access for the recording head. As will become apparent 
later, the disk 34 used for testing head assembly 10 were packaged in a 
standard 31/2 inch disk jacket. 
The head assembly 10 may be mounted on a fixed or gimballed support for 
radial movement relative to disk 34 in a known manner. It is well known in 
the art, when disk 34 is rotated, a thin film of air in contact with each 
recording surface is set in motion and generates a thin Bernoulli film 
that may be used to provide a lubricating air bearing between the head and 
disk which keep them out of contact to prevent damage to either. 
The air bearing provides a significant hydrodynamic resistance to reducing 
the head to disk spacing. As the head is moved toward the disk surface 46, 
the air in the bearing at the interface undergoes compression and the 
bearing pressure increases. Under this pressure loading, the flexible 
medium 38 tends to buckle or deform which creates a localized dimple or 
dome 48 over face 20. The interior of the dome is more or less spherical 
in that it tends to conform to the spherical contour of face 20. 
In light of the dome formation, the head assembly 10 generally must be 
advanced through the nominal plane of disk rotation and into the dome 
region to reduce the spacing between gap 14 and surface 46 to an 
acceptable submicron level (preferably below 4 microinches) needed for 
high density recording. When the face 20 extends through the nominal plane 
into the dome region it is said to be operating in a penetration mode. 
Positive penetration means the face has been advanced through the nominal 
plane toward the disk. At zero penetration, face 20 would be at the 
nominal plane. Negative penetration means that face 20 is backed off from 
the nominal plane. 
To reduce the spacing or flying height to acceptable levels, it is 
generally necessary to urge the head toward the disk (or urge the disk 
toward the head) with an externally applied force or load. In the 
illustrated embodiment the load is applied with an external low friction 
pressure pad 50 which engages the opposite side of medium 38 in vertical 
alignment with the penetrating face 20. In the interest of minimizing wear 
at low-flying heights, it is desirable to keep the loading force and 
amount of penetration as low as possible while maintaining a constant 
minimum head/disk spacing in the intervening air bearing 52 between face 
20 and surface 46. 
As noted earlier, not only is it important that the flying height of the 
head be low to maximize linear bit density, but the area of minimum 
spacing should be uniform over as large an area as possible in the 
vicinity of gap 14 to allow relaxation of gap position tolerances and 
thereby gain the benefit of reduced manufacturing cost of the head 
assembly. 
Measuring flying heights below 5 microinches and ascertaining the area of 
minimum spacing has been at best a difficult task. Such measurements 
typically have been made in the past using white light interferometry 
techniques. One disadvantage of this technique is that the gap between the 
head and disk is measured on a point-by-point basis and obtaining a plot 
of the area of minimum spacing involves measuring a plurality of different 
points in both the circumferential and radial directions. 
However, observation of flying characteristics is now made quite simple and 
accurate by employing a frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) 
imaging system that provides a realtime 3D contour map of the head/medium 
space or alternatively provides a 2D color contour map of the space 
wherein different heights in 1 or 2 microinch increments appear as 
different colors on a calibrated height scale. With such a system it is 
possible to resolve spaces as small as about 0.5 microinches. For detailed 
description of the FTIR imaging system, reference may be had to commonly 
assigned copending patent application U.S. Ser. No. 834,532 filed on Feb. 
28, 1981 by John Guerra and William Plummer and entitled "Optical 
Proximity Imaging Method and Apparatus". 
To evaluate the performance of head assemblies having angled slots versus 
those having parallel slots, simulated head assemblies of both types were 
fabricated from glass. 
The glass heads were fabricated from a 0.200 inch diameter rod which was 
lapped and polished at one end to provide a spherically contoured face 20 
having a relatively large radius of 2.3 inches. Vertical flats were formed 
on opposite sides of the rod and glass prisms were optically bonded 
thereto. The prisms serve as light entry and exit posts for a beam of 
light that is totally internally reflected from the interior surface of 
face 20. The total internal reflection gives rise to a evanscent wave 
field that projects outwardly from surface 20 into the air gap between the 
head and recording surface. 
The presence of the recording surface in the wavefield acts to frustrate 
total internal reflection which is evidenced by a gray scale pattern or 
patch that is indicative of the spacing at the head/medium interface. The 
various shades of gray in the pattern have been correlated to distance 
allowing this optical output to be electrically manipulated and displayed 
as a 2D or 3D scaled contour map on a real time basis utilizing the FTIR 
image system noted above. 
With the formation of the flats, the spherical face 20 has a longitudinal 
length of about 0.180 inches between the leading upstream edge 30 and the 
opposite trailing or downstream edge 32. 
For the angled slot configurations the slot width was 0.010 inches or 10 
mils and the depth was 0.005 inches or 5 mils at the apex. A 
representative example of a diverging angled slot configuration observed 
in which the slots do not intersect and are spaced apart at the upstream 
edge 30 include a head designated (d/0.degree.) 20/5.degree., where d 
equals the transverse distance, in mils, between the inner edges of the 
slots 26 and 28 at the apex where the gap is to be located, and .theta. is 
the angle in degrees between each slot and the longitudinally extending 
line 22 along which the gap is to be located. Representative examples of 
heads in which the slots intersect, but do not cross, at or near the 
upstream edge 30 include 10/5.degree., 10/10.degree., 15/10.degree. and 
20/15.degree.. 
For comparison purposes glass head structures having a pair of parallel 
pressure relief slots from therein were also observed. The slot width and 
depth were the same and the distance d between the inner edges of the 
slots were 10, 15, and 20 mils. Also the performance of parallel slot 
heads having narrower (5 mil) slots and wider (15 and 20 mil) slots were 
observed. 
These head assembly were tested with flexible disks packaged in a standard 
31/2 inch format jacket. The disk had a 3 mil flexible base and was coated 
on both sides with a magnetic recording layer having a thickness in the 
range of 0.5 to 1 microns and a surface roughness of approximately 200 
.ANG. RMS. 
The observations were made at a disk rotation speed of 1200 RPM, which is 
appropriate for higher data transfer rates, and the radial position of the 
head was varied over the entire data recording area between the inner and 
outer track positions. The head was loaded with a relatively light force 
of 5 grams utilizing a pressure pad 50 on the opposite side of the disk, 
and head penetration was set at 3 mils or less. It should be understood 
the FTIR system is useful for observing head spacing at other rotational 
speeds and loads. 
From observing color contour plots of the face/medium interface provided by 
the FTIR imaging system, it is apparent that the head assemblies having 
angled slots tend to fly at lower heights, approximately 2 microinches or 
lower, while the parallel slot head assemblies tend to fly a bit higher in 
the 2 to 4 microinch range. But, more importantly, the angled slot 
configurations tend to exhibit significantly larger areas of minimum 
spacing which appear to be centered on the apex. Not only is the area of 
minimum spacing expanded, but it exhibits good extention in both the 
radial and circumferential directions. In many instances the area of 
minimum spacing exhibits a symmetry about the apex extending 
longitudinally well forward and rearwardly of the apex and transversely to 
the inner edges of the angled slots 26 and 28. On the other hand, the area 
of minimum spacing observed in the parallel slot configurations, tended to 
be relatively small and not as well centered with respect to the apex. 
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the angled slot configurations 
set forth above may be modified by using different slot angles, dimensions 
and spacings, or different combinations of these parameters without 
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention involved herein. 
Because of this, it is intended that angled slot head assemblies described 
herein or shown in the accompanying drawing be interpreted as 
illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.