Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080247078 | Altitude sensing systems and methods for fly height adjustment - Altitude sensing systems and/or methods for fly height adjustment in disk drive devices are provided. In certain example embodiments, a PZT-type pressure and/or altitude sensor may be located on the side of the disk drive proximate to the disk edge. When the disk rotates, the air flow generated by the disk will deform the PZT element of the sensor. The PZT element will generate a voltage in response to this deformation. Calibrations may be performed to compensate for altitude changes (e.g. the air inside of the disk drive will become thin and the air resistance will be reduced at higher altitudes). Also, the output sensitivity of the PZT element may change with the altitude change. After the altitude is sensed by the PZT element in the sensor, the servo motor may use this signal to calculate and/or adjust the dynamic fly height (DFH) and/or fly height of the read/write head. | 10-09-2008 |
20080247088 | Micro-actuator having at least one segmented flexible side arm, and method of making the same - Certain example embodiments described herein relate to a micro-actuator for use with an HGA and/or disk drive device. A substantially U-shaped frame may include a cavity capable of receiving a slider. The frame may include two segmented, flexible side arms and a bottom support arm at least partially defining the cavity. Each segmented side arm may have a PZT element mounted on an outer surface thereof facing away from the cavity, and each may include a lower portion proximate to the bottom support arm and an upper portion disposed at an end opposing the bottom support arm. The lower portion and the upper portion may be at least partially separated by a gap. Accordingly, micro-actuators having better resonance and servo performance, reduced difficulties associated with the slider/micro-actuator mounting process, and/or better shock performance may be provided. | 10-09-2008 |
20080266713 | Suspension, head gimbal assembly and manufacturing method thereof, and disk drive unit with the same - A suspension for a HGA includes a suspension flexure and an out trigger. The suspension flexure has a tongue region having a first flexure part in a tip portion thereof for mounting a trailing edge of a slider and a PZT mounting region for mounting PZT elements. One end of the out trigger is connected to the suspension flexure, and the other end of the out trigger has a trigger support portion which extends above the tongue region so as to support the leading edge of the slider. The structure of the out trigger is capable of stiffening the tongue region of the suspension flexure and, in turns, avoiding the deformation problem and the dimple separation problem during the manufacturing process or in vibration or shock events. The invention also discloses a HGA with the suspension, manufacturing methods of the HGA and a disk drive unit having such HGA. | 10-30-2008 |
20080297948 | Suspension, head gimbal assembly and manufacturing method thereof, and disk drive unit with the same - A suspension for a HGA includes a flexure having a tongue region and an out trigger. The out trigger has a pair of rigid beams and a pair of spring beams. The pair of spring beams enables the flexure to possess favorable flexibility and assists a slider to have enough displacement. The pair of rigid beams provides the flexure enough stiffness which not only successfully prevents the HGA with the out trigger from suspension deformation and dimple separation, but also assists to improve shock performance of the HGA. Furthermore, such configuration of the suspension provides the slider a good static performance and thus improves dynamic performance of the HGA. The present invention also discloses a HGA with the suspension, a manufacturing method of the HGA, and a drive unit with such HGA. | 12-04-2008 |
20090027807 | Head gimbal assembly having balanced weight, disk drive unit with the same and manufacturing method thereof - A HGA includes a load beam having a dimple formed thereon; a flexure including a suspension tongue and a support plate connected with the suspension tongue; and a slider having a leading edge and trailing edge opposite to the leading edge. The slider is mounted on the flexure such that the slider is supported by the dimple at the center of the slider. The leading edge is attached on the suspension tongue and trailing edge is attached on the support plate. A weight-balance structure is formed on the suspension tongue of the flexure to balance the weight of the HGA between a portion from the trailing edge to the slider center and another portion from the leading edge to the slider center. The invention also discloses various methods of manufacturing HGA with the balanced weight. | 01-29-2009 |
20090027808 | Performance test method of head gimbal assembly with precise positioning micro-actuator - A method of testing a performance of a HGA including a magnetic head and a micro-actuator for precisely positioning the magnetic head with respect to a magnetic medium is disclosed. The key of the method is to obtain three track center values under conditions of no driving the micro-actuator, driving the micro-actuator in a positive direction using an operating DC voltage, and driving the micro-actuator in a negative direction using the operating DC voltage respectively, and finally do calculation of the three track center values, thus successfully obtains the displacement performance of the micro-actuator in a simple way. The method is capable of testing the HGA's performance under lower operating voltage by moving the slider by a predetermined distance toward an off-track direction, which accordingly assists to identify three track center values and thereby ensures the method an accurate measurement. | 01-29-2009 |
20090154007 | Altitude sensing systems for flying height adjustment - An altitude sensor includes a support frame and a sensor unit mounted in the support frame. The support frame has an upper shield and a lower shield. The sensor unit includes a beam and a damper. The damper is configured to move up and down in response to the air flow, which drives the beam to move up and down accordingly. Distances from the damper to the upper shield and the lower shield are less than those from the beam to upper shield and the lower shield. The altitude sensor possesses super specific properties such as unlimited sensitivity to flying height because of no size constraints and unchanged sensitivity under a changing environment, a selfprotective mechanism to resist deformation in case of an accident, easy manufacture process as well as low production cost. The present invention also discloses an altitude sensor for use in a disk drive device and a disk drive device with the altitude sensor. | 06-18-2009 |
20090195938 | Piezoelectric micro-actuator, head gimbal assembly and its assembling method, and disk drive device with the same - A PZT micro-actuator for a head gimbal assembly includes a pair of separate PZT elements and each PZT element has a body and a plurality of electrical pads. The body has at least two electrode-piezoelectric combination layers laminated together. The at least two electrode-piezoelectric combination layers are physically connected with but electrically isolated from each other. Each electrode-piezoelectric combination layer has at least two of the electrical pads thereon. The electrical pads extend out from the body of the corresponding PZT element. All the electrical pads of each PZT element are offset a predetermined distance therebetween to be electrically isolated. The present invention also discloses a head gimbal assembly (HGA) with the PZT micro-actuator, an assembling method for the head gimbal assembly and a disk drive unit having such HGA. | 08-06-2009 |
20090207529 | Flexible printed cable, head stack assembly with the same and manufacturing method thereof - A HSA includes a plurality of HGAs and an FPC. The FPC includes a connector for connecting with a control system, a voltage trace and a ground trace. A common voltage end of the voltage trace has a plurality of first voltage pads and a plurality of second voltage pads arranged adjacent to the corresponding first voltage pads respectively and electrically isolated from the respective first voltage pads. Each of the second voltage pads connects with the micro-actuator of the corresponding HGA. A common ground end of the ground trace has a plurality of micro-actuator ground pads, each of which connects with a micro-actuator of the corresponding HGA. The second voltage pads and the corresponding first voltage pads are connected with each other after the micro-actuator are tested. The invention also discloses a manufacturing method of the HSA. | 08-20-2009 |
20090284871 | Head gimbal assembly and manufacturing method thereof, and disk drive device with the same - A HGA includes a suspension, a seed layer formed on a PZT holding region of a flexure of the suspension and a piezoelectric element deposited on the seed layer. The piezoelectric element is electrically connected with the suspension to form a PZT micro-actuator. The present invention simultaneously conducts the manufacture, mechanical assembly and electrical connection of the piezoelectric element and suspension, thus the present invention has simple operation process and short process time, high manufacture yield, sound mechanical, dynamic and static performance. In addition, the present invention firstly forms the seed layer on the flexure and secondly forms the piezoelectric element on the seed layer, wherein the seed layer is metallic material, metal oxide, non-metallic material, or inorganic salt, the seed layer enables to easily control the operation and assists to improve the performance of the HGA. Besides, the electrical connection between the piezoelectric element and the suspension could be performed by sputtering process, printing process, or plating process, thus the present invention has a less difficulty to operate and sound connection reliability. The present invention also discloses a method for manufacturing the HGA and a disk drive unit. | 11-19-2009 |
20090290263 | Piezoelectric element and manufacturing method thereof, head gimbal assembly, and disk drive device with the same - A piezoelectric element comprises a first laminated structure body and a second laminated structure body. Side surfaces of the first and the second laminated structure bodies that are parallel to a laminating direction both have at least a portion etched to form a recess so that a step distance is formed between sides of the two adjacent electrode layers that are parallel to the laminating direction. The design of the step distance of the present invention increases insulation resistance between the two adjacent electrode layers on the opposite surfaces of the piezoelectric layer, lowers reject rate, and reduce manufacture cost. The first and the second laminated structure bodies are symmetrically laminated and bonded together, thus optimizing force balancing performance. The recess of the first and second laminated structure body may be filled with insulation resin, which also increases insulation resistance between the two adjacent electrode layers of the piezoelectric layer. The present invention also discloses a method of manufacturing a PZT element, a HGA with the PZT element and a disk drive unit having such HGA. | 11-26-2009 |
20090316306 | Thin film piezoelectric element and its manufacturing method, head gimbal assembly and disk drive unit with the same - A thin film piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric thin film layer, a seed layer and an elastic substrate layer. The piezoelectric thin film layer is a laminated structure comprising a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer and a piezoelectric layer sandwiched between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. The seed layer is formed on the second electrode layer, and the elastic substrate layer is formed on the seed layer. The thin film piezoelectric element is a single layer structure and has an elastic substrate layer for supporting the single layer structure, thereby it has enough stiffness and flexibility to afford facilities for manufacture and assembly and to avoid film peeling and deformation, ultimately increasing the production efficiency and lowering the cost. The invention also discloses a method for manufacturing the thin film piezoelectric element, a head gimal assembly and a disk drive unit with the same. | 12-24-2009 |
20100214697 | SUSPENSION DESIGN FOR HIGH SHOCK PERFORMANCE SOLDERING BALL BONDING - Aspects of the present invention include a system and method for improving the reliability performance of hard disk drives by routing the traces connected to the slider from the trailing edge to the leading edge and having a portion of the traces being under the magnetic slider. Aspects of the present invention can also include routing the traces in a manner that lessens the stress experienced during vibration or shock events. | 08-26-2010 |
20100259851 | Vibration sensor, suspension, head gimbal assembly and manufacturing method thereof, and disk drive unit including the same - A vibration sensor for a slider includes a base portion, a loading portion adapted for supporting the slider mounted thereon and formed within the base portion, and at least two connection arms connecting the base portion with the loading portion. The vibration sensor of the present invention can sensitively sense a vibration of the slider, thus maintaining the flying height of the slider, and finally improving the performance thereof. The invention also discloses a suspension, a head gimbal assembly and a manufacturing method thereof, and a disk drive unit including the same. | 10-14-2010 |
20100259854 | Slider and micro-actuator assembly, head gimbal assembly, and disk drive unit with the same - A slider and micro-actuator assembly of the present invention comprises a substrate having a trailing edge and a leading edge opposite the trailing edge; a read/write transducer formed at the trailing edge of the substrate and a piezoelectric micro-actuator formed at the leading edge of the substrate. The piezoelectric micro-actuator connects with the leading edge of the substrate via two spaced insulation layers so as to form a space between the piezoelectric micro-actuator and the leading edge of the substrate, the substrate with the read/write transducer rotates against a center thereof when the piezoelectric micro-actuator is driven to generate a rotation torque to the substrate via the space. The structure of the slider and micro-actuator assembly prevents the read/write transducer from damaged and gets better operation performance when the piezoelectric micro-actuator is driven. The present invention also discloses a method for manufacturing a slider and micro-actuator assembly, a HGA with the slider and micro-actuator assembly and a disk drive unit having such HGA. | 10-14-2010 |
20110019310 | Head gimbal assembly, suspension for the head gimbal assembly, and disk drive unit with the same - A HGA comprises a slider and a suspension with a flexure having a tongue region for supporting the slider. A read/write transducer and a piezoelectric element are formed oppositely. The connecting points of the curve beams and the inner tongue of the tongue region are in mirror positions to a center point of the inner tongue, and the connecting points of each curve beam are located at opposite sides of a center axis of the flexure. The slider has multiple electrical pads electrically connecting with the read/write transducer. The inner tongue has multiple electrical pads. The flexure has multiple inner leads electrically connected with the electrical pads of the inner tongue formed on the curve beams. The structure of the HGA prevents the read/write transducer from damaged and cause the manufacture of the HGA simpler. The present invention also discloses a suspension and a disk drive unit. | 01-27-2011 |