Seagate Technology Incorporated

David Gordon Qualey

David Allen Sluzewski

Adam Karl Himes

Kevin Jon Schulz

John Stuart Wright

James Morgan Murphy

Peter Crane

Dadi Setiadi

Richard August Budde

Sandeepan Bhattacharya

Gordon Merle Jones

David Gerard Wobbe

Stefan A Weissner

Kevin Jon Schultz

Haiming Zhou

Kevin John Schulz

A test fixture for testing a head gimbal assembly having a flex circuit with a plurality of circuit pads, prior to installation of the head gimbal assembly into a disc drive. The fixture comprises a contact board having a plurality of electrically conductive contact points on a surface thereof, the contact points arranged to contact the circuit pads of the flex circuit. The fixture further comprises a clamp assembly connected to the contact board, the clamp assembly having an activation end, an opposite engagement end, and a pivot axis extending orthogonal to an axis defined by the activation end and the engagement end. The engagement end has a non-conductive engagement surface configured to contact the head gimbal assembly on a surface opposite the plurality of circuit pads.

Fixture for testing flexible circuit

Vibration of a transducer slider can be used during slider fly height calibration to detect contact of the transducer slider with a disc surface. Amplification of the vibration may cause the transducer slider to tap the disc surface rather than drag across the disc surface when detecting contact with the disc surface. Amplification may be achieved by applying an in-phase AC signal to the transducer slider at the same frequency as the vibration of the slider. Reduced contact between the slider and the disc surface reduces wear on and the possibility of damage to the transducer slider and/or the disc surface. Once the fly height of the transducer slider is calibrated, the AC signal may be shifted out-of-phase with the slider vibration to dampen the slider vibration.

Induced transducer head vibration

A slider scale package assembly in a head gimbal assembly (HGA) for electrically coupling a slider/magnetic recording (MR) head to a head interconnect circuit in a disc drive includes a flex circuit attached to the back of the slider/MR head which turns the slider/MR head into the slider scale package with at least one repositioned interconnect pad disposed at the back of the slider/MR head. The flex circuit further includes a conductive material, one end of which is electrically bonded to a bond pad of the slider/MR head, and the other end is electrically bonded to a conductive material of the head interconnect circuit via the interconnect pad. A plurality of flex circuits can be made in a sheet format and dividable into a plurality of individual flex circuits to be attached to a plurality of slider/MR heads. The bonding of the conductive material of the flex circuit to the slider/MR head and the bonding of the interconnect pad of the flex circuit to the conductive material of the head interconnect circuit can be done in a separate automated process.

Head gimbal assembly with flex circuit arrangement between slider and head interconnect assembly

A system and a method for increasing suspension resonance frequencies of a head suspension assembly of a disc drive includes, in one example embodiment, attaching a base plate to an actuator arm assembly of the disc drive such that the base plate including the actuator arm assembly are in actuating relationship with a rotating disc of the disc drive. A two-piece suspension member having a first and second pieces is attached to the base plate. A gimbal is attached to the two-piece suspension member such that a predetermined bendable area is formed between the first and second pieces and on the gimbal having a stiffer preload bend radius. A stiffer preload bend radius provides a higher stiffness-to-mass ratio without increasing the spring rate of the head suspension assembly to increase suspension resonance frequencies of the head suspension assembly to fall outside a bandwidth of a servo drive to reduce off-track motion of the head suspension assembly during track follow-and-seek operations of the disc drive.

Resonance four piece suspension

Passive damping of a disc drive structural member is achieved using a tuned resonance passive damping circuit. This circuit can, for example, be connected to a head gimbal assembly that has a piezoelectric micro-actuator. The circuit can be tuned to the sway frequency of the micro-actuator. The circuit is configured to dissipate mechanical energy as heat, effectively damping the structure to which it is attached.

Passive damping method and circuit for data storage device actuator

A dual-acting disc drive micro-actuator is formed of a stack of adjoining layers. The stack includes first through fifth layers. The first layer includes first and second spaced apart top electrodes. The second layer includes a first piezoelectric element electrically coupled to the first and second top electrodes. The third layer includes a center electrode electrically coupled to the first piezoelectric element. The fourth layer includes a second piezoelectric element electrically coupled to the center electrode. The fifth layer includes a first bottom electrode electrically coupled to the second piezoelectric element. The first and second piezoelectric elements are expandable and contractible in a common length direction in response to respective electrical fields applied between the center electrode and the first top electrode, the second top electrode and the first bottom electrode.

Combined servo-tracking and preload-controlling microactuator

The present invention is a package for incorporating a micromotor into a head gimbal assembly. The head gimbal assembly includes a slider package and a micromotor package assembled on a load beam. The slider package and micromotor package include circuitry which allow a read/write signal to be conducted from the read/write head on the slider to the load beam. Solder joints form the electrical and mechanical connections between the load beam, the micromotor, and the slider.

Interconnect designs for micromotor, magnetic recording head and suspension assemblies

A microactuation system is disclosed for selectively altering a position of a transducing head carried by a slider in a disc drive system with respect to a track of a rotatable disk having a plurality of concentric tracks. The disc drive system includes a load beam having a base for attachment to an actuator arm and a head suspension for supporting the slider over the rotatable disc. A microactuation system includes a piezoelectric element attached between the base and the head suspension of the load beam and beams or hinges connecting the head suspension to the base. The piezoelectric element is deformable in response to a voltage applied thereto. The beams are sufficiently compliant to permit movement of the head suspension with respect to the base upon deformation of the piezoelectric elements.

Piezoelectric microactuator suspension assembly with improved stroke length

A disc drive has a recording disc rotatable about an axis and a slider supporting a transducing head for transducing data with the disc. A dual-stage actuation assembly supports the slider to position the transducing head adjacent a selected radial track of the disc, and includes a movable actuator arm and a load beam connected to the actuator arm. A flexure is connected to the load beam for supporting the slider, and includes first conductive traces terminating at first bond pads and at least one second conductive trace electrically connected to the transducing head. A microactuator includes a rotor operatively connected to the slider for radially moving the transducing head and a stator connected to the flexure at the first bond pads.

Gimbal flexure for use with microactuator

A disc drive flex circuit head interconnect includes a base insulating layer. At least one flexible electrical conductor is attached to the base insulating layer. The electrical conductor has first and second ends, the first end is adapted to couple to a head, and a second end adapted to couple to an actuator board through a slot in the actuator board. An insulating spacer covers at least a portion of the electrical conductor and extends beyond at least one edge of the base insulating layer near the second end of the conductor. A disc drive incorporating the interconnect and a method of interconnection is also provided.

Growing community of inventors

Apple Valley, MN, United States of America

David Gordon Qualey