JPH0242614A - Magnetic head cleaner and cleaning of magnetic head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable cleaning to be performed effectively by employing a strip of uniform polymerized substance provided with one or both of cleaning properties consisting of a cleaning surface with a proper roughness and a cleaning surface with a transversal groove. CONSTITUTION: The first cleaning property is provided with a mat finish 8 on the cleaning surface 4, while the second cleaning property a set of horizontal and vertical grooves 14 on the cleaning surface 4. The average roughness of the mat finish 8 is desirably about 0.1-1.0μm; this surface structure is effective for the cleaning of a magnetic head such as a VCR magnetic head 10. Thus, the cleaning can be effectively performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application] The present invention finds use in video cassette recorders and players (collectively referred to as VCRs), audio tape machines, computer floppy disk drives, and other similar equipment. It relates to substances used to clean magnetic heads.

L. Prior Art Magnetic heads must operate under very adverse conditions. Some equipment, such as audio tape decks, have a stationary magnetic head, so the tape scrapes against the surface of the stationary magnetic head. Other devices, such as VCRs, have rotating magnetic heads, so both the tape and the head move. Although the tape and rotating surface move in the same direction, the surface speed of the VCH's magnetic head is much higher than the speed of the tape, so the tape and magnetic head still rub against each other. The magnetic head of a computer floppy disk drive is positioned along a radial path, and the floppy disk rotates at a high speed just below or above the magnetic head.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The magnetic head becomes contaminated with an abrasive magnetic coating in a binder that is adhered to the substrate. For video tapes or audio tapes, or plastic disks in floppy disks, the substrate is a plastic membrane. One method of removing contaminants is to clean with a cleaning tape or disk that has a much higher abrasiveness than that found with traditional tape or floppy disks. One example of such a cleaning tape includes a retaining film having magnetic iron oxide deposited on its surface for cleaning the magnetic head. One drawback of this type of layered cleaning tape is that it is very abrasive, which is harmful to the magnetic head being cleaned.

It has been found that cleaning tapes having an abrasive magnetic coating attached to a twisted retaining membrane are not suitable for use with cleaning liquids, as cleaning with such tapes must be done in dry conditions. ing.

Another conventional magnetic head cleaning method is to use a fibrous material attached to an opaque membrane substrate, with cleaning occurring on the fibrous side. Although this type of magnetic head cleaning has lower υM wear than the abrasive cleaning tape, this magnetic head cleaning method also has some drawbacks. Because the cleaning tape is layered, unlike cleaning tapes with a uniform structure, there can be problems with the construction. With fibrous materials, the edges are clean and
Particular attention must be paid to the edges of the tape to ensure that there are no torn fibers.

A third type of cleaning tape uses strips of fabric, such as nylon, to clean parts of magnetic heads and parts of Fronby disk drives. When used in a VCH, the cassette with fabric cleaning tape is modified so that an end-of-tape signal is never provided to the VCR by breaking the optical path extending through the conventional cassette. (There is no need to do so with the two types of cleaning tapes mentioned above, as they are sufficiently opaque.)
This type of cleaning tape not only has problems associated with torn fibers, but also requires the VOR to be stopped when the cleaning tape approaches the end, since the vCR cannot know when the cleaning tape is at its end.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a cleaning surface having an appropriate roughness;
Magnetic head cleaning materials and methods are provided that utilize a uniform strip of polymeric material that has one or both of the cleaning attributes of a cleaning surface with transverse grooves.

It has been found that a plastic film with a matte surface with an average roughness of about 0.5 μm performs well in cleaning magnetic heads. The preferred roughness range is about 0.1-1.
It is 0 μm. This cleaning effectiveness is achieved without the abrasiveness of magnetic coatings or the drawbacks found with fabric-type cleaning tapes. The cloak surface can be formed by embossing the desired surface characteristics on the surface of a film of polymeric material.

Membranes of polymeric materials containing fillers such as silicon dioxide can also be used to provide effective cleaning. Films of polymeric materials with a matte finish formed by embossing techniques do not contain exposed hard particles, unlike cleaning tapes on which magnetic iron oxide is adhered. The abrasiveness of the film is considered to be low. The inclusion of particles in the polymeric material results in a uniform material in which the particles at the surface of the material (to be cleaned) are not exposed and are surrounded by the j- of the polymeric material. particle type (e.g. hard,
The abrasiveness can be controlled by selecting the size and amount of iron oxide particles (soft), but because they are surrounded by a polymeric material (unlike layered iron oxide particles and exposed iron oxide particles) Additionally, the abrasiveness of the material can be kept low regardless of the hardness of the particles. Cloak finish polymeric films containing magnetic or non-magnetic materials may be less abrasive and still provide effective cleaning.

The cleaning attributes of the lateral grooves are achieved by forming the lateral grooves on the cleaning surface of the cleaning tape, typically by embossing. The shape of the cross section of the transverse grooves can be different, the depth of which is approximately 1-5 μm.

Preferably, the width is about 2 to 10 μm, and the groove spacing is about 5 to 20 μm. A set of parallel grooves generally perpendicular to the direction of tape motion provides the desired mechanical cleaning characteristics necessary to remove contaminants from the recording. Longitudinal grooves can also be used. These longitudinal grooves are particularly useful when cleaning liquid is applied to the cleaning surface of the cleaning tape. These grooves facilitate the movement of cleaning liquid (by capillary action). The grooves function similarly to grooves on the surface of the tape to distribute the cleaning liquid over the surface of the tape.

The cleaning tape can include one or both of the cleaning attributes. Unlike conventional tapes that use abrasive magnetic coatings, the cleaning tapes of the present invention can be used wet or dry, ie, with or without cleaning liquid.

With the present invention, contaminants removed from the magnetic head (and other feed components) are effectively retained by the cleaning material. The matte finish and grooved finish retain removed contaminants much better than traditional cleaning tapes, which have an iron oxide layer attached.

Preferably, the present invention exhibits low abrasiveness. Under certain circumstances it is possible to desire higher abrasiveness. The present invention, which includes a uniform polymeric material that has a matte finish, involves chemically removing a layer of polymeric material from the surface of the particles or removing hard, large particles within the polymeric material by rubbing the particle surface to expose the particles. Such high abrasiveness can be achieved by means such as using abrasives.

Based on the choice of polymeric material, the resulting tape may or may not be sufficiently opaque for use in conventional VCR cassettes. If not made opaque, it is desirable to deposit a thin layer of carbon on the back side of the tape (the side that does not rub against the magnetic head). Thin carbon films have been found to be effective in making the tape sufficiently opaque without significantly affecting the effectiveness of cleaning the backside of the tape as it passes through the various feed components.

Another advantage of the present invention is that some of the problems associated with conventional multilayer fabric cleaning media are eliminated. The effects of abrasiveness on the magnetic head can be minimized without requiring the use of highly abrasive coatings. The lack of layers, fabric fiber contamination, and other problems associated with multilayer cloth cleaning media (as opposed to uniform polymeric cleaning media) are eliminated. Further, the cleaning attributes can be used alone or in combination, and depending on the situation, cleaning liquid can be used and the next can be used without using it. This gives the designer great flexibility depending on the particular type of magnetic head being cleaned and the environment in which the magnetic head is used.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a portion of a cleaning tape 2 with a cleaning surface 4. FIG. The thickness 6 of the cleaning tape 2 is exaggerated for illustration purposes. The cleaning tape 2 is composed of a uniform polymeric material, is not layered, and contains two cleaning attributes. The first cleaning attribute is having a matte finish 8 on the cleaning surface 4. For the second cleaning attribute, the cleaning surface 4 includes a set of transverse grooves (to effect cleaning) and, optionally, longitudinal grooves 14 (to assist in the distribution of the cleaning liquid used over the cleaning surface 4). . These grooves are also shown in FIG. Matte finish 8 is not shown in FIG. 3 to clearly show grooves 12 and 14.

The average (rma) roughness of matte finish 8 is approximately 0.1-1
．． 0 μm is preferred, and about 0.5 μm even more preferred.

This surface texture has been found to be effective in cleaning magnetic heads, such as VCR magnetic head 10. Ilmington, Praue, USA (Wi 1mln)
ICI America (ICI) located in
America) MEL INEX 377
The membrane sold as 378/75 or 378/75 has the desired surface texture to provide an effective cleaning surface without the drawbacks of conventional cleaning tapes. This film is non-magnetic (
silicate) with fillers. The amount of filler and particle size are
Provides the desired matte finish that cleans effectively without being overly abrasive.

The lateral grooves 12 are deep enough to provide an uneven cleaning surface 4 for removing contaminants from the magnetic head 10. In one embodiment used in a VCR magnetic head, the longitudinal spacing 20 of the lateral grooves 12 is about 5 to 20 mm.
The μm5 width is approximately 2 to 10 μm.

The depth is approximately 1-5 μm. Useful six-elliptic cross-sectional shapes 123-12a for the lateral grooves are shown in Figures 4A-4E. For many applications, the lateral groove 12 is the cleaning tape 1.
perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of 2. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the VCR magnetic head is typically oriented at a small angle 22 relative to the cleaning tape 2. Conventional vCR
So that angle is about 7 degrees. The transverse grooves 12 oriented parallel to the axis 24 of the magnetic head 10 and thus perpendicular to the direction of movement between the surface 26 of the magnetic head 10 and the cleaning surface 4 of the cleaning tape 2 are therefore It is oriented with respect to the longitudinal axis of the cleaning o 12 at an angle 28 which is a supplementary angle. The angle 2B is typically 83 degrees.

The longitudinal direction #114 is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cleaning tape 2 and is useful for distributing the liquid cleaning agent onto the cleaning surface 4 of the C1 cleaning tape 2. As shown in FIG. 3, it is expected that the longitudinal grooves 14 are not continuous along the length of the cleaning tape 2. If a cleaning liquid is used, the cleaning liquid can be applied by a cleaning liquid applicator 30. VC
In the cleaning tape 2 used for H, it is preferable that the lateral spacing 32 is about 5 to 20 μm. The vertical groove 14 has a cleaning action of t1! , it is not necessary to make the depth of the longitudinal grooves 14 the same as the depth of the transverse grooves, since this is rarely done. vCR
When using the cleaning tape 2 to clean the magnetic head 10, the depth of the vertical groove 14 is 1 to 5 μm and the width is 2 to 10 μm.
It is preferable that

The present invention may also be used to clean the magnetic head of a computer floppy disk drive using a cleaning floppy disk 42 as shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the cleaning disk 44 is circular rather than linear.
It is incorporated as two integral parts. That is, cleaning strip 44 is a uniform material throughout its thickness. The thickness is exaggerated for illustration purposes. Except that cleaning strip 44 is circular, it is substantially identical to cleaning tape 2 of FIG. 1 and has similar elements identified by like reference numerals.

The tape used for VCH includes a transparent leader at each end. Detection of the transparent leader indicates that the end of the tape has been missed, and the tape is then rewound and stopped once rewound is complete. A thin layer 38 of a light-absorbing material, typically carbon, is applied to the back side of the cleaning tape 2 so that when the cleaning tape 2 is used in a VCH, the VCR is removed from the transparent leader at the end of the tape in a conventional VCH. The cleaning tape 2 is made sufficiently opaque so that it cannot be mistaken for the cleaning tape 2. Of course, cleaning tape 2 can use its own transparent leader, and tape 2
The light absorbing material layer 38 is not necessary if it is itself sufficiently opaque.

When using it, if it is used for a VCR, cleaning clothes 1j
The cleaning tape 2 is loaded into a conventional VCR tape cartridge 48 with the cleaning tape 2 oriented so that the ili 4 contacts the magnetic head 10 of the VOR. Then, V
The CR (not shown) is placed in a playback mode to allow the cleaning surface 4 to scrub the surface 26 of the magnetic head 10. Contaminants on the surface 26 are released to create a matte finish 8
and are collected by the transverse grooves 12 and transferred from the surface 26 to the cleaning surface 4.

Cleaning liquid from return liquid applicator 30, which is incorporated as part of cartridge 48, also aids in stripping contaminants. After the long cleaning tape was moved, the IJ Tsuji 48 was removed from the VCR and the recorded tape cartridge was removed from the VCR to check the cleaning effect.
Play with R. Preferably, this check is performed with a test tape. The test tape allows the VCR user to check the effectiveness of the cleaning, the quality of the reproduced image, and head alignment adjustments if necessary.

The present invention has been described above with respect to a cleaning tape 2 that includes two cleaning attributes: a matte finish and grooves. However, the invention can be practiced using only one of the cleaning attributes (or with additional cleaning attributes).

In this specification, cleaning tape 2 has been assumed to be a uniform polymeric material. The term polymeric material refers to a non-fabric-based material and is different from traditional cleaning tapes that include an abrasive magnetic coating as the cleaning surface, and traditional cleaning tapes that include a fabric or fabric layer as the cleaning surface. So, the cleaning surface is not layered. Depositing a thin carbon layer on the back side of the cleaning tape does not affect its uniform polymeric nature. Also, to refer to a substance of a certain length, "
The term "strip" was used. As is clear from FIG. 5, the strips are not necessarily straight, but can also be strips, similar to the annular areas on a floppy disk.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

(1) The depth of the lateral groove is approximately 1 to 5 μm, and the width is approximately 2 to 5 μm.
2. A cleaner according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal spacing of the lateral grooves is about 5 to 20 μm. (3) A cleaner according to claim 1, further comprising a cleaning liquid on the cleaning surface. A cleaner (5) strip according to claim 1, wherein the cleaner comprises said transverse grooves and further comprises longitudinal grooves dimensioned to enhance the movement of cleaning liquid over the cleaning surface by capillary action. The substance is a length of membrane for cleaning VCRs, the cleaner as described in item 3 above, on the back side of which is deposited a carbon layer which renders the membrane generally opaque.The cloak finish and transverse grooves are magnetically A cleaner (7) according to claim 1, wherein the strip of material is sized to retain contaminants removed from the head on the cleaning surface, the strip having solid particles surrounded by it forming a matte finish surface. 3. The cleaner of claim 1, wherein the IJ tube has solid particles surrounded by it forming a matte finish surface.

(9) The cleaner α of claim 2, wherein the substance comprises one matte surface; the cleaner αυ of claim 8 further comprising a cleaning liquid on the matte finished surface; the depth of the lateral grooves in the groove region is about 1 to 5 μm; , a width of about 2 to IO μm.
11 above, wherein the longitudinal spacing of the lateral grooves is about 5 to 20 μm;
A cleaner according to claim 12, wherein the matte finish and the lateral grooves are dimensioned to form a retaining film on the cleaning surface of contaminants removed from the magnetic head. 4. The cleaner a9 of claim 3, wherein the head rotates about an axis, the head having a tape contacting periphery moving tangentially in contact with the tape, the line being perpendicular to said tangential direction. The cleaner according to claim 13 further comprising a cleaning liquid on the first surface.
171 The cleaner according to claim 16, wherein the first surface is further formed with longitudinal grooves dimensioned to enhance the movement of the cleaning liquid over the cleaning surface by capillary action. 18. The cleaner of claim 17, wherein an opaque carbon layer is deposited on the second surface of the sliver of material. 5. The cleaner of claim 17 further comprising the step of depositing a cleaning liquid on the cleaning surface prior to the scrubbing step. Method described.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the rubbing step is carried out by gently moving a magnetic head in the IJ.

C! 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of applying a cleaning liquid to the cleaning surface prior to the scrubbing step.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view of a strip of cleaning tape' containing matte finish attributes and groove cleaning attributes; FIG.
A simplified schematic diagram showing the movement direction and orientation of the OH magnetic head, cleaning tape, and cleaning liquid applicator.
4A to 4E are cross-sectional views showing five types of cleaning tapes with different cross sections as shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a strip of cleaning material that is part of a floppy disk, which is Bi-shaped rather than the elongated slender l-IJ tube shown in FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 2.φ..Cleaning tape, 4..Cleaning surface, 8..
・Matte finish, 12...Horizontal grooves, 14"...Longitudinal grooves, 3゛0...Cleaning liquid depositor, 38...Light absorbing material, 44...Cleaning strips .

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) Fewer of the following cleaning attributes: a) the cleaning surface has a matte finish with an average roughness of about 0.1 to 1.0 μm; b) lateral grooves are formed on the cleaning surface; 1. A magnetic head cleaner for removing contaminants from a magnetic head, comprising a strip of uniform polymeric material having a cleaning surface and a cleaning surface. (2) A magnetic head cleaner comprising a uniform strip of polymeric material having an average roughness of 0.1 to 1.0 μm with a matte finish. (3) a magnetic strip comprising a uniform strip of polymeric material having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface including a laterally oriented grooved region; head cleaner. (4) The following cleaning attributes: a) The cleaning surface has a matte finish with an average roughness of about 0.1-1.0 μm, b) The cleaning surface has a depth of about 1-5 μm and a width of about 2-5 μm. 10μ
selecting a strip of uniform polymeric material having at least one transverse groove formed therein, the length of which is lateral, and arranging the strip of material such that contaminants on the magnetic head are transferred to the cleaning surface; A method for cleaning a magnetic head, comprising the steps of: rubbing the cleaning surface and the magnetic head together; (5) selecting a strip of uniform polymeric material having a matte-finished cleaning surface with an average roughness of about 0.1-1.0 μm, so that contaminants on the magnetic head are transferred to the cleaning surface; a method of cleaning a magnetic head, comprising: rubbing the magnetic head against a cleaning surface of a strip of material; (6) selecting a strip of uniformly right polymeric material having a cleaning surface formed with transverse grooves with a depth of about 1-5 μm and a width of about 2-10 μm, and passing it over the magnetic head; A method for cleaning a magnetic head, comprising: rubbing a cleaning surface against the magnetic head such that contaminants on the magnetic head are transferred to the cleaning surface by the action of the grooves.