Article assembling device

Abstract: A device for mounting magnetic discs (1) on a spindle (4) of a magnetic disc file assembly has a disc transfer mechanism provided with a disc supporting surface (2A) operative to support a disc (1) in non-­ contacting and relatively movable relationship with a fluid film formed therebetween. The thus supported disc (1) is axialy aligned, by a positioning mechanism (3), with the spindle (4) and then released into engagement with the spindle. The floating support of the disc (1) allows the disc to be moved relative to the disc supporting surface (2A) first into alignment and then into engagement with the spindle (4) without any mechanical contact and friction between the disc supporting surface (2A) and the disc (1) to thereby prevent the production of dusty matters otherwise produced by mechanical contact between the disc and the supporting surface.

Description: The present invention relates to article assembling method and device capable of easily assembling articles without any contamination or damage of the articles even with a rather inferior accuracy of positioning of an article with respect to another article. In general, an assembly process includes operations for fitting articles to objects. Fitting of precision parts in particular requires a high degree of positioning accuracy. In order to facilitate fitting of a precision part, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 51-55076 discloses a device in which a mechanism for holding an article is coupled to a positioning mechanism through an elastic member so that the article can easily be fitted to an object even when the positioning mechanism has a rather low positional resolution and accuracy. A device is also known for fitting a disk on a spindle of a magnetic disk file assembly, in which, as shown in Nikkei Mechanical (No. 328, 1983), a disk mounting hand provided with a sensor and an inching mechanism holds and fits the disk on the spindle. The mounting hand has a suction pad capable of sticking to the disk and a 6-axis force sensor provided at a level above that of the suction pad so as to oppose the suction pad across the spindle hole formed in the disk. Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Nos. 62-211236 (defining the closest prior art) and 62-255335 disclose devices which are capable of holding plate-like members such as semiconductor wafer in a floating or non-contacting manner by combination of suction and jetting actions of a fluid. The known device disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 51-55076 in one had offers an advantage that an article can be fitted easily without requiring high positioning accuracy but, on the other hand, poses a problem that the article is undesirably forcibly pressed against or rubbed by a part to which the article is to be fitted by the force applied through the elastic member when the deviation of the article from the correct fitting position exists, resulting in generation of dust or scuffing and, hence, in contamination or damage of the article. The art shown in Nikkei Mechanical (No. 328, 1983) employs a compliance mechanism which performs positioning of articles in the directions perpendicular to the fitting or insertion direction so as to avoid any rubbing or scuffing during fitting. More specifically, the compliance mechanism includes a sensor capable of sensing any reaction force generated as a result of contact between the article and the object and an inching mechanism capable of operating in response to the output from the sensor indicative of the occurrence of such contact so as to finely adjust the position of the article thereby preventing article from being strongly pressed against the object. In this system, however, a contact inevitably takes place between the article, i.e., a disk, and the object, i.e., the spindle. In addition, a force greater than the resolution (several tens of grams) of the sensor is applied to the disk and a further greater force is applied to the disk due to delay of the action of the inching mechanism after the contact is sensed by the sensor. Consequently, damaging of the disk or the spindle and, thus, generation of dust is unavoidable. In general, assembly of precision parts strictly requires elimination of contamination and damage. For instance, a disk assembling process in the production of a magnetic disk device requires that generation of dust is minimized. Usually, a reading/writing head is held in a floating position at a level 0.25 to 0.5 mm above a rotating disk. Any dust existing between the head and the disk causes a head crush which disables the head to read and write. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide article assembling device and method which are improved to assure that a first article is easily moved into engagement with a second article in such a manner that, even if the first article is not exactly accurately positioned relative to the second article, any pressure-contact does not take place between the two articles to thereby prevent the articles from otherwise being spoiled or damaged by such contact. The above object of the present invention can be achieved by an article assembling device according to the present invention as defined in claim 1, which includes means for supporting an article in non-contacting and relatively movable relationship. The article supporting means is provided with a fluid bearing mechanism operative to form a fluid film between the article supporting means and the thus supported article. The article supporting means and the article supported thereby are moved into a position in which the article is aligned with another article. The thus aligned articles are then assembled together. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be made more apparent by the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the article assembling device in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a part of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an axial sectional view of magnetic discs and spacers mounted on a spindle; DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 showing an embodiment of the article assembling device of the present invention, there are shown an article 1 such as a magnetic disk which is to be fitted onto an object 4 such as a spindle of a magnetic disk device 5. Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the article 1 which is beforehand mounted on a table 8 is held by an article supporting mechanism 2 which is moved by a positioning mechanism 3 so that the article 1 is substantially axially aligned with the object 4 which is held stationarily. The following description of the embodiment will proceed on an assumption that the assembling device is used in a system for mounting magnetic disks on a magnetic disk device 5. The magnetic disk device 5 is placed on a pallet 6 and is conveyed on a roller conveyor 7. Although the positioning mechanism 3 is shown in Fig. 1 to be connected to the article supporting mechanism 2, this is only illustrative and the positioning mechanism 3 may alternatively be connected to a support or pedestal for supporting the object 4. An example of the article supporting mechanism 2 will be described with reference to Figs. 2 and 3. The article supporting mechanism 2 has a disk-shaped main part 2B having a plurality of article supporting surfaces 2A which support the disk 1 in a non-contacting manner, i.e., leaving a clearance 13 between itself and the disk 1. Each supporting surface 2A is provided with a fluid bearing which is composed of a fluid sucking system for sucking a fluid from the clearance 13 so as to maintain a sub-atmospheric pressure in the clearance 13 and a fluid supplying system for jetting a pressurized fluid into the clearance. The fluid sucking system has a plurality of annular grooves 19 surrounding the supporting surfaces 2A and communicating with a suction source 22 through fluid suction passages 20 in the main part 2B and through a conduit 21. The fluid jetting system has a plurality of openings 14 disposed at the centers of the respective supporting surfaces 2A and having orifices 15 which communicate with a source of a pressurized fluid through fluid supply passages 16 in the main part 2B and through a conduit 17. Stop members 23 are provided along the outer periphery of the main part 2B and capable of limiting the movement of the thus held article 1 along the supporting surfaces 2A. Referring now to Fig. 4, the object 4 to which the article 1 is to be fitted is provided at its end with a tapered surface 4A. The area of the tapered surface 4A as projected in the direction of the fitting movement of the article is greater than the amount over which the article 1 is movable in the direction parallel to the supporting surfaces 2A. The operation of this embodiment is as follows: Before a description is made of the whole fitting device, a description will be made of the principle of the non-contacting support of the disk 1 by the supporting surfaces 2A of the supporting mechanism 2. Referring to Figs. 2 to 4, an operation of the fluid suction source 22 causes a fluid to be sucked from the annular grooves 19 through the conduit 21 and the fluid suction passages 20 so that the pressure in the annular grooves is reduced to a level below the atmospheric pressure. In consequence, a vacuum force is generated to suspend the weight of the disk 1. Meanwhile, the pressurized fluid source 18 kept at a pressure higher than that in the annular grooves 19 supplies a pressurized fluid into the clearance 13 through the conduit 17, the fluid supply passages 16, the orifices 15 and the openings 14 to create a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure in the clearance 13. It will be seen that the pressure in the clearance 13 varies according to the size of the clearance 13, so that the pressure decreases and increases as the size of the clearance becomes small and large, respectively. In consequence, a balance is obtained between the force produced by the positive pressure supplied from the pressurized fluid source 18 and the force produced by the vacuum created by the fluid suction source 22 so that the disk 1 is held by the supporting mechanism 2 in a non-contact manner leaving a small gap between itself and the supporting surfaces 2A. After the disk 1 has been thus supported, the supporting mechanism 2 is moved by a positioning mechanism through an arm so as to locate or position the disk 1 substantially in axial alignment with the spindle 4. A description will now be made of the fitting operation. Referring to Fig. 4, the spindle 4 carries a plurality of disks 1 through the intermediary of spacers 9. Each disk 1 can be moved freely along the supporting surfaces 2A within a region limited by the stop members 23, because the disc is held in a non-contacting manner by the supporting surfaces 2A of the supporting mechanism 2 leaving a constant gap therebetween. Since the tapered surface 4A is provided on the upper end of the spindle 4, a movement of the disk 1 in the fitting direction, i.e., towards the spindle 4, causes the edge of a central hole in the disk 1 to engage the tapered surface 4A and a further movement of the disk 1 in the fitting direction causes the disk 1 to be automatically centered with respect to the spindle 4 by virtue of the guiding effect provided by the tapered surface 4. It is thus possible to fit the disk 1 onto the spindle 4 despite any slight mis-alignment of the fitting hole in the disk 1 with respect to the spindle 4. It will be understood that, since the disk 1 is allowed to move freely along the supporting surfaces 2A without encountering any resistance, no substantial contact pressure acts between the disk 1 and the spindle 4 during the fitting. Then, the disk 1 is lowered to a predetermined level and both the fluid sucking and fluid supplying operations are terminated so that the disk 1 is freed and left on the spindle 1 as a result of a subsequent lifting of the supporting device 2 by the arm of the positioning mechanism 3. If necessary, the supporting mechanism 2 can have a plurality of holes which blow air to the fitting portion, e.g., the edge of the central hole, of the disk 1 so that the disk can be fitted onto the spindle 4 in a completely non-contact manner. The positioning mechanism is capable of positioning the article, e.g., the disk, with respect to the object, e.g., the spindle, with a predetermined degree of positional accuracy. As will be understood from the foregoing description, the article holding mechanism or the fluid bearing on this mechanism allows a change of the position of the article with respect to the positioning mechanism, i.e., a movement of the article along the bearing surface relative to the positioning mechanism, in such a manner that the dimension of the clearance of the fluid bearing is held constant. It is, therefore, possible to easily fit the disk 1 on the spindle 4 without causing the disk 1 to be pressed onto the spindle 4, thus eliminating problems such as contamination or damage of the disk 1, even when the accuracy of positioning of the disk 1 with respect to the spindle 4 is not so high. Needles to say, the use of the fluid bearing which holds the disk 1 through a fluid film eliminates any contamination or damage of the disk which otherwise would be caused by a mechanical contact between the supporting mechanism and the disk. In addition to the first fluid bearing for supporting the article 1 to be fitted to the object 4 the article supporting mechanism 2 has a second fluid bearing for supporting a second article 9 which is to be fitted to the object 4 simultaneously with the article 1. The second fluid bearing includes a supporting surface 2C which is offset from the supporting surface 2A axially thereof defines in cooperation with the surface of the second article 9 a uniform clearance therebetween, a plurality of fluid jetting systems 44, each having an orifice 45, opening in the supporting surface 2C to apply a fluid pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to the second article 9 opposing the supporting surface 2C, and a plurality of fluid suction systems 49 each having a fluid suction opening 50 in the supporting surface 2C to apply a sub-atmospheric pressure to the second object 9. This embodiment is suitably used in, for example, mounting a magnetic disk 1 as the article together with the spacer 9 as the second article by a single fitting operation. This embodiment, therefore, offers a high efficiency of operation for mounting magnetic disks 1 together with spacers 9 on the spindle 4 of the magnetic disk device 5 in a manner shown in Fig. 4. As will be understood from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, it is possible to fit an article to an object without causing the article to be pressed onto the object, thus eliminating any contamination and damage of the article even if the accuracy of positioning of the article with respect to the object is not high.

Claims: A device for assembling a first annular article (1) and a second cylindrical article (4) together, said article assembling device including: means (2) for supporting said first article (1); means (6) for supporting said second article (4); means (3, 7) for moving at least one of said first article supporting means (2) and said second article supporting means (6) to a position in which said first and second articles (1, 4) are substantially vertically aligned; said first article supporting means (2) comprising a member (2B) having a first substantially annular article supporting surface (2A) for defining with said first article (1) a substantially planar space, first fluid jetting means (14) for jetting towards said first article (1) a fluid under a first pressure level higher than the atmospheric pressure, and first fluid sucking means (19) in said article supporting surface for sucking the fluid from said space to create therein a zone at a second pressure level lower than the atmospheric pressure whereby said first article (1) is supported by said first article supporting means in non-contacting and relatively movable relationship to said article supporting surface (2A); and means for controlling said fluid jetting means and said fluid sucking means such that, when said first and second articles (1, 4) are vertically aligned, the fluid jetting and fluid sucking operations are interrupted to allow said first article to move, by gravity, into engagement with said second article (4); said second article (4) having an upper end with a tapered surface (4A) for guiding said first article (1) when said first article is moved into engagement with said second article (4); characterized in that said assembling device further includes additional article supporting means (2C) for supporting, in non-contacting relationship, a third annular article (9) to be moved into engagement with said second article (4), said additional article supporting means comprising a second substantially annular article supporting surface (2C) for defining with said third article (9) a substantially planar space, second fluid jetting means (44) in said second article supporting surface (2C) for jetting towards said third article (9) a fluid under said first pressure level, and second fluid sukking means (49) in said second article supporting surface (2C) for sucking the fluid from said space to create therein zones at said second pressure level, and that said second article supporting surface (2C) is formed on said member (2B) in substantially concentric relationship with said first article supporting surface (2A), said second article supporting surface (2C) having an outer diameter not greater than the inner diameter of said first article supporting surface (2A) and axially offset therefrom a distance greater than the axial dimension of said third article (9), whereby said first and third articles (1 and 9) can be simultaneously supported on said first and second article supporting surfaces (2A and 2C), respectively, simultaneously moved into vertical alignment with said second article (4) and simultaneously freed to fall into engagement with said second article (4). The article assembling device according to Claim 1, further including means for forming flows of a fluid between said first and second articles (1 and 4) and/or between said second and third articles (4 and 9) while said first and third articles are moved into engagement with said second article (4). The article assembling device according to Claim 1, wherein said first article (1) is movable relative to said first article supporting surface (2A) in a direction substantially transverse to the direction in which said first article (1) is moved into engagement with said second article (4), and said article supporting means further includes means (23) for limiting the transverse movement of said first article relative to said first article supporting surface (2A). The article assembling device according to Claim 1, wherein said first fluid jetting means comprise fluid jetting openings (14), said first fluid sucking means comprise fluid sucking openings (19), and wherein said first article supporting surface (2A) includes a plurality of zones arranged circumferentially of said article supporting means and said first fluid jetting means and first fluid sucking means are disposed in each of said zones. The article assembling device according to Claim 4, wherein the first fluid jetting means disposed in each of said zones comprise at least one fluid jetting opening (14) formed in said first article supporting surface (2A) and the first fluid sucking means disposed in each of said zones comprise at least one fluid sucking groove (19) formed in said first article supporting surface (2A) and extending around said fluid jetting opening (14). The article assembling device according to Claim 4 or 5, wherein said second fluid jetting means comprise a plurality of fluid jetting systems (44) having orifices (45) formed in said second article supporting surface (2C) and arranged circumferentially thereof and said second fluid sucking means comprise a plurality of fluid suction systems (49) having fluid suction openings (50) formed in said second article supporting surface (2C) and arranged circumferentially thereof. The article assembling device according to any one of preceding claims, wherein said first article (1) is a magnetic disc, said second article (4) is a spindle and said third article (9) is a spacer.

Inventors: INOUYE HIROSHI, TOKISUE HIROMITSU TSUKUBA HAUS, INOUYE, HIROSHI, TOKISUE, HIROMITSU, TSUKUBA HAUSA 8-505
Applicants: HITACHI LTD, HITACHI, LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B23P19
IPC codes: B23P19, G11B17, B25J17, G11B23, B25J15