Seagate Technology Incorporated

James Rex Staggers

Walter Wong

Paul Allison Beatty

Thomas M Durrum

Daniel Scott Thompson

Shantanu Dattatrey Joshi

A disc drive in which an actuator arm and a suspension are each metallurgically bonded to a coupling. The coupling comprises two materials, one of which is metallurgically compatible with the material of the actuator arm and the other is metallurgically compatible with the material of the suspension. The metallugical bonds may be formed using a welding process.

Direct joining of stainless steel suspension to aluminum actuator arm

The performance of a leaf spring disc clamp can be enhanced by utilizing a roughly triangular shape for the center aperture. Such a disc clamp exhibits a substantially more uniform distribution of clamping force on the data disc and thereby reduces the deformation of the disc. It has further been determined that a stiffening rib located adjacent to the rim portion which contacts the data disc also leads to more uniform distribution of clamping force. Lastly, vibrations in a leaf spring disc clamp from external shocks or drive operation can be reduced utilizing a dampening ring of visco-elastic material. The dampening ring can be fastened to the surface of the disc clamp or placed within a rib on the disc clamp.

Uniform loading damped disc clamp

A disk drive having a novel actuator assembly. The actuator assembly comprises a voice coil motor assembly, a pivotable actuator arm, and a head gimbal assembly including a read/write head. The voice coil motor assembly is attached at a back end of the actuator arm, and the head gimbal assembly is mounted on the actuator arm on a front end opposite of the back end. The voice coil motor assembly includes a voice coil interposed between two magnets and a top plate and a bottom plate. The voice coil motor assembly is secured to the base of the disk drive by posts. The actuator arm includes the back end, a pivot point and impeding apertures. The impeding apertures include two holes located near the back end of the actuator arm between the pivot point and the voice coil motor assembly and extend entirely through the actuator arm. The actuator arm may also include plugging members. The plugging members are inserted into the impeding apertures and extend entirely through the impeding apertures. The plugging members are of the same circumferential size and configuration as the impeding apertures. In operation, the voice coil motor assembly produces a force which pivots the actuator arm in order to position the read/write heads over individual tracks on the disk. The force produced by the voice coil motor assembly creates a vibration which emanates throughout the actuator arm and propagates toward the read/write heads. The vibration reaches the impeding apertures and is reflected back towards the voice coil motor. The vibration may also be dampened if plugging members are inserted in the impeding apertures.

Voice coil motor actuator vibration isolator

An improved disc clamping system for the elements of the disc stack in a disc drive to increase resistance to radial shifting of the disc stack elements. The increased resistance to radial shifting is achieved by increasing the coefficient of friction between adjacent disc stack elements, and the increase in the coefficient of friction is accomplished by controllably texturing the contact surfaces of various disc stack elements or combinations of disc stack elements. Surface texturing processes particularly suited to specific disc stack elements are disclosed.

Growing community of inventors

Berthoud, CO, United States of America

James Rex Staggers