International Business Machines Corporation

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Hitoshi Tsujino

Akihiko Aoyagi

Jun Ishikawa

Hiroyasu Tsuchida

David W Albrecht

Hirokazu Tanizawa

Mutsuro Ohta

Takeji Sumiya

Masahiko Katoh

Kohji Serizawa

Naoaki Kanada

Tatsuo Takagi

Tzong-Shii Pan

Masaki Kobayashi

A David Erpelding

Surya Narayan Pattanaik

Shingo Tsuda

Shinichi Kimura

Tatsuo Nakamoto

Tomoki Hiramatsu

Kohichi Suzuki

Takahisa Okada

Hiroyuki Akiyama

Keiichiroh Yoshida

Kazuhiko Takada

Motoji Takemoto

Toshihiko Yuki

Keiichiro Yoshida

Katsumasa Nakatsukasa

Yoshiroh Amano

Seiichi Yasufuku

Nobuyuki Hashi

Embodiments of the invention provide a disk device capable of diminishing oscillation of a disk caused by an air flow which is created with rotation of the disk. In one embodiment, a magnetic disk device comprises a rotatable magnetic disk, a base and a top cover for housing the magnetic disk inside, a flow uniforming wall disposed along an outer periphery of the magnetic disk, and a circulation filter for collecting dust present within the device. The flow uniforming wall is positioned in opposition to the outer periphery of the magnetic disk and has a step height at a position other than the position opposed to the disk outer periphery, with an opening being formed by a gap between the step height and the top cover. This opening serves as an inlet port to admit an air flow created with rotation of the magnetic disk, and the circulation filter collects dust contained in the admitted air flow.

Disk device with reduced flutter

Embodiments of the invention provide a disk drive suppressing a surface deformation of a top cover. In one embodiment, the disk drive includes a base and a top cover. The base accommodates a head assembly, a circuit unit, and a recording medium. The top cover is supported by the base at a plurality of inner points of support and peripheral edge points of support on a peripheral edge portion near a portion accommodating the head assembly and the circuit unit. The top cover covers the accommodating portion of the base. A vibration suppression member for suppressing vibration of the top cover is disposed in a polygon. The polygon has, as vertices, a plurality of inner points of support and, among the peripheral edge points of support, the peripheral edge points of support near the portion accommodating the head assembly and the circuit unit. The vibration suppression member is disposed at a position in the polygonal portion corresponding to an area near a loop of vibration in a surface of the top cover.

Disk drive with vibration suppression member disposed near head assembly

A carriage assembly capable of suppressing flutter of actuator arms and magnetic disk is to be provided. In one embodiment, the carriage assembly comprises a first actuator arm having a windward side face, a leeward side face, an outer surface and an inner surface, and a second actuator arm having a windward side face, a leeward side face, a first inner surface opposed to the inner surface of the first actuator arm and a second inner surface positioned on the side opposite to the first inner surface. The first actuator arm is formed with a slant face extending from the windward side face toward the inner surface and the second actuator arm is formed with a slant face extending from the windward side face toward the first inner surface and a slant face extending from the windward side face toward the second inner surface.

Arm chamfer for comb type actuator in rotating disk storage device and carriage assembly

Embodiments of the invention provide, in a compact magnetic disk drive, a stable structure capable of reducing self-oscillation occurring from disk spinning, while suppressing generation of dust and dirt. In one embodiment, a magnetic disk is mounted on a hub of a spindle motor. A clamp is further attached to secure the magnetic disk in position. A plurality of opening portions are formed in the clamp around an axis. A counterweight formed of an elastic material is mounted in the opening portion by being press-fitted therein. The counterweight is less likely to generate dust and dirt through friction during insertion and looseness. A gap is provided between the clamp and the hub at locations near the opening portions. The counterweight has a protruded portion on a side surface of a circular column portion. The protruded portion slides into the gap between the clamp and the hub, counteracting a tendency of the counterweight to drop out of position.

Magnetic disk drive with adjustment of rotational balance

Embodiments of the invention improve the impact-resisting performance of a disk drive. In a head actuator assembly according to an embodiment of the invention, the difference in resonance frequency between an arm bending mode and a coil bending mode is set at a predetermined value or less. Since there is a phase difference between these two modes, an oscillation gain in the arm bending mode can be greatly decreased by approximating the two resonance frequencies to each other. Consequently, it is possible to suppress collision of a head with a recording disk caused by an external shock and thereby improve the impact-resisting performance of a disk drive.

Disk drive, and actuator and head actuator assembly

Embodiments of the invention provide a suspension assembly offering large peel stiffness, small pitch stiffness and small roll stiffness. In one embodiment, the suspension assembly includes a load beam and a flexure. The flexure is connected to the load beam at a first fixing pointand a second fixing point. The flexure is provided with a first loop spring structure including a pair of supporting armsand a pair of strip-shaped main arms. In addition, the flexure is provided with a second loop spring structure including a pair of supporting arms and a pair of strip-shaped auxiliary armshaving a path length longer than that of the main arms. The flexure is further provided with a flexure tonguesupported by a pair of tongue supports. The loop spring structure composed of the main arms dominantly gives the flexure tongue stiffness.

Suspension assembly and rotary disk storage device

In a hard disk drive, there are provided a head assemblythat drives a magnetic headthat reads and writes data on a recording disk, and a flange section that extends toward the periphery on the sleeveof a pivot memberthat supports this head assemblyso that it is free to pivot; and planar sectionsA andB are formed on the peripheral surface of this flange section in order to adjust the balance of the center of gravity of the head assembly.

Disk drive apparatus having a pivot for supporting a head assembly to allow free pivoting

A flexible cable assembly (FCA) has a flexible cable, first and second brackets attached to the flexible cable, and a band for holding the first and second brackets while the flexible cable is folded back and the first and second brackets overlap. The band is detachably mounted to the first and second brackets to facilitate efficient manufacturing and disassembly methods. The FCA may be implemented at various manufacturing stages including the head suspension assembly (HSA) or the entire hard disk drive (HDD) assembly.

Flex cable, head suspension assembly, and hard disk drive

A ramp structure for a data storage device has a load/unload ramp and a disk attached to a spindle. The ramp structure has a first rigid support structure , a second rigid support structure separated from the first rigid support structure, a bridge that connects the first rigid support structure to the second rigid support structure, and ramp units attached to the first rigid support structure. The rigid support structure has a thermal expansion coefficient selected so that the ramp-disk spacing is constant during changes in temperature. By placing the parts of the first rigid support structure and the second rigid support structure sleeve in an injection molding die and carrying out an insert molding, the ramp unit has an accurate and stable size.

Disk drive ramp structure having integrated discrete rigid support elements for data storage device

A hard disk drive has a base bottom surface and a male connector to which at least one protruding pin is attached. The pin has a longitudinal axis that is substantially parallel to the base bottom surface and is exposed toward the base bottom surface. A female connector cover portion covers at least a portion of a plane above a female connector. The plane is substantially parallel to the base bottom surface. The pin of the male connector is inserted into a pin-receiving portion of the female connector by guiding the base bottom surface along and on an insert-guidance surface. The female connector is mounted on the insert-guidance surface and has at least one pin-receiving portion corresponding to the pin of the male connector so that the pin of the male connector can be received. The female connector cover functions as a forcible guide in mounting the hard disk drive to prevent damage at the external interface between the pins of the male connector and its mounting location.

Apparatus and method for attaching a hard disk drive to a personal computer system

An arm assembly for a disk drive device in accordance with the present invention comprises a plurality of arms arranged in parallel to each other, one end of each of said arms supporting a read/write head, and each of said arms having an extended plate which cantilevers from one of side edges of said arm, said extended plate being capable of deflecting in a direction which is vertical to a plane of said arm, and rotationally gimbal to a limited degree about two axes in the plane of said arm, a plurality of first connecting pads provided on each of said extended plates, said first connecting pads being connected to said read/write head, a circuit board which engages with said cantilevered extended plate and is provided with a plurality of second connecting pads characterized in that the plane of said circuit board is approximately orthogonal to said extended plate and is so located with respect to said extended plates of said plurality of arms to align said second connecting pads to said first connecting pads on each of said extended plates.

Arm assembly for a disk drive device and a method for fabricating the same

An actuator arm assembly comprises stacked suspensions, spacers, a pivot, washer and nut. The pivot and washer have hold portions for engagement during assembly to prevent misalignment of the suspensions. The suspensions, spacers, and washer each have alignment apertures for receiving an alignment bolt for maintaining proper alignment of the suspensions.

Actuator arm assembly for a magnetic storage device

A head support arm of a disk drive device of the present invention comprises: an arm member having a rear portion with a pivot center and a front portion, a suspension load beam member having a rear portion fixed to the front portion of the arm member and a front portion supporting a head/slider assembly, and a flexure attached to the suspension load member, and is characterized in that the suspension load beam member has a first datum feature, a second datum feature and a third datum feature, the first datum feature is located in a hinged portion that applies a load force to the head/slider assembly, the first datum feature is located in proximity and adjacent to a dimple for providing a gimbal motion of the head/slider assembly, the first datum feature has a V shaped portion, the second datum feature is a slot and is in proximity and adjacent to a spacer mounted at the pivot center of the arm member, and the third datum feature is a slot and is in proximity and adjacent to a front end of the arm member.

Disk drive head support arm and arm assembly utilizing plural datum

The present invention provides a stacked type actuator arm assembly equipped with a structure for easily fixing lead wires between a coil and a flexible cable. A stacked type actuator arm assembly that is used in a magnetic disk storage is equipped at the coil support portion of a coil support spacer with a small hole through which lead wires and are inserted. Since the spacer is stamped from a flat sheet, a structure for holding the lead wires cannot be freely formed as in a die casting method, but formation of the small hole according to the present invention is easy. During manufacturing, after the lead wires and have been inserted through the small hole, if they are processed in the following fabrication step, there is no possibility that force will be applied to the boundary portion between a coil and the lead wire extending from a wire of the coil which would peel a wire of the coil off. In addition, in the magnetic disk storage being operated, there is no possibility that the lead wires will move and then touch other components.

Actuator arm assembly and wiring aparatus used in a disk storage system

In attaching a load beam to a carriage, the swage attachment is used between the carriage and a mountplate, while the load beam is attached to the mountplate by welding and other binding means, to create a structure in which the load beam does not come into direct contact with the swage part, so that a structure is obtained in which the load beam is hardly subject to deformation or other direct influences from the swage operation. In addition, by forming the attaching plate side of the load beam to envelope a carriage, or by extending both sides of the load beam from the central portion in the longitudinal direction toward the carriage, a structure improved in the stability of load beam attachment is obtained.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Hitoshi Tsujino