Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Institute for Information Technology Advancement

Min-pyo Hong

Yong-kyu Byun

No-yeol Park

Woo-sup Han

Byoung-gyou Choi

Jeong-seok Koh

Yong-Jae Kim

Kyung-ho Kim

Cheol-soon Kim

Yu-Sung Kim

Woon-bae Kim

Chang-woo Lee

Hwan-young Choi

Young Hwan Son

Dong-ho Oh

Sang-min Suh

Tae-Hwa Kim

Rae-Soo Park

Baek-ho Heo

Jeong-il Chun

Heung-seong Jang

Dongho Oh

An actuator latch system of a hard disk drive keeps an actuator of the hard disk drive in place in a state in which a read/write head mounted to a swing arm of the actuator is parked. The latch system has first and second protrusions at upper and lower parts of a rear end portion of the swing arm, and a latch lever having first and second hooks at upper and lower parts of a leading end of the lever. The latch lever, like the actuator, is mounted to a base of the hard disk drive so as to be rotatable about a respective axis.

Actuator latch system of hard disk drive including latch lever having first and second hooks disposed one above the other at a leading end thereof

A suspension assembly and an actuator having the same, which are of a hard disk drive (HDD). The suspension assembly includes a load beam coupled to an end of a swing arm of an actuator; a flexure attached to the load beam to support the slider; and a tip-tab which extends from a front end of the load beam to contact a ramp when the read/write head is parked, wherein a width of a contact part of the tip-tab that contacts the ramp is wider than other parts of the tip-tab. A width of a part of the tip-tab engaged with the load beam and a width of a front part of the tip-tab are smaller than the width of the contact part. The width of the tip-tab increases gradually from the front end of the load beam up to the contact part, and decreases gradually after the contact part.

Suspension assembly and actuator having the same in hard disk drive

An FPC holding mechanism of an actuator assembly of a hard disk drive (HDD) includes an FPC holder protruding from an arm-mold of the actuator assembly, and an FPC clip mounted to the FPC holder so as to be rotatable. The FPC holder defines a guide groove into which the FPC is inserted and a first side support plate facing one side surface of the FPC. The FPC clip includes a second side support plate juxtaposed with the first side support plate and facing the other side surface of the FPC, and at least two clip arms extending in a horizontal direction over upper and lower edges of the FPC, respectively. At least one of the clip arms has a hook hooked onto the first side support plate. The FPC holding mechanism thus prevents a portion of the FPC from moving in vertical and horizontal directions.

Flexible printed circuit holding mechanism of hard disk drive including FPC holder and FPC clip clipped to the holder, and actuator assembly including the same

An actuator latch mechanism of a hard disk drive (HDD) includes a latch lever and a magnetic latch carried by the latch lever. The latch lever is mounted to a base of the HDD so as to be rotatable and prevents an actuator arm from rotating from a position, at which a read/write head carried by the actuator arm is parked, to a read/write position at which the read/write head is located over a recording surface of a disk. A bobbin on which a VCM coil is provided extends from a rear end of the actuator arm. A permanent magnet of the VCM is fixed to the base as juxtaposed with the bobbin. The magnetic latch is carried by an arm of the latch lever and interacts with the (magnetic field generated by) the permanent magnet of the VCM to generate a net force which cause the latch lever to latch the actuator arm in place when current is not being supplied to the VCM coil, and interacts with both the (magnetic field generated by) the permanent magnet of the VCM and (the electromagnetic field generated by) the VCM coil when current is supplied to the VCM coil to produce a net force that causes the latch lever to release the actuator arm.

Actuator latch mechanism and hard disk including the same

An actuator latch system of a hard disk drive selectively locks in place and releases a rotatable swing arm having a front end portion supporting a magnetic head and a rear end portion on which a voice coil motor (VCM) coil is disposed. The actuator latch system includes a notch in the rear end portion of the swing arm, and a rotatable latch lever having a front end portion including a hook and a magnet. The hook is received in the notch in the rear end portion of the swing arm to arrest rotation of the swing arm in a predetermined direction. The magnet of the latch lever faces a section of the VCM coil such that when the hard disk drive is started, the latch lever is rotated by a force generated due to current flowing through the section of the VCM coil faced by the magnet and the magnetic field generated by the magnet. The rotation of the latch lever prevents the hook from interfering with the rotation of the swing arm in the predetermined direction.

Actuator latch system of hard disk drive

A method and an apparatus for improving performance of a hard disk drive at low temperature are provided. The method includes: measuring an internal temperature of the hard disk drive; checking whether a measured internal temperature is not more than a predetermined critical temperature; if the measured internal temperature is not more than the predetermined critical temperature, driving a motor of the hard disk drive for a predetermined time and proceeding to the operation of the measuring of the internal temperature of the hard disk drive; and if the measured internal temperature is greater than the predetermined critical temperature, determining that reading/writing operations with respect to the hard disk drive are available.

Method and apparatus for improving performance of hard disk drive at low temperature

Provided is a hard disk drive (HDD) assembly. The HDD assembly includes: a HDD including a base member, a cover member, a spindle motor, a data storage disk, and an actuator; and a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed beside the HDD and operating the HDD. The HDD assembly can be mounted on an electronic device, for example, a mobile phone. In this case, the HDD assembly is mounted between a main PCB and a back cover of the mobile phone using a first damping pad interposed between the cover member and the main PCB and a second damping pad interposed between the base member and the back cover. The PCB for the HDD is disposed on the main PCB of the mobile phone to be placed beside the HDD.

Hard disk drive assembly, mounting structure for hard disk drive, and mobile phone adopting the mounting structure

Provided are a hard disk drive (HDD) assembly and a mobile phone employing the HDD assembly. The HDD assembly includes: a HDD including a base member, a cover member, a spindle motor installed on the base member, at least one data storage disk mounted on the spindle motor, and an actuator pivotably installed on the base member and moving a read/write head to a predetermined position on the disk; a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed beside the HDD and operating the HDD; and a mounting bracket mounted on an electronic device while accommodating the HDD and the PCB, and including a first accommodating space adapted to accommodate the HDD and a second accommodating space disposed beside the first accommodating space and adapted to accommodate the PCB.

Hard disk drive assembly having mounting bracket and mobile phone employing the same

An actuator latch apparatus for a hard disk drive (HDD). The actuator latch apparatus includes a first latch formed on one end portion of a swing arm, a notch formed on the one end portion of the swing arm and spaced a predetermined interval from the first latch in a pivoting direction of the swing arm, and a latch lever pivotably installed on a base member. The latch lever includes a second latch contacting the first latch when the swing arm pivots in a first direction, and a hook engaging with the notch when the swing arm pivots in a second direction opposite to the first direction. Facing surfaces of the first latch and the second latch are inclined such that the first latch and the second latch slide into contact with each other when the swing arm pivots in the first direction.

Hard disk drive actuator latch apparatus having an inclined surface

A spindle motor assembly includes a spindle motor having a shaft and a hub that rotates on the shaft, and a hard disk having a data storage medium mounted in the form of a whole disk, and a fastener attached to the center of a bottom surface of the disk-shaped data storage medium that faces the spindle motor. The fastener is a screw or a nut. In the case in which the fastener is a screw, a head of the screw is attached to the bottom surface of the hard disk, and the body of the screw is received in a screw hole in the upper portion of the shaft of the spindle motor. In the case in which the fastener is a nut, the nut is engaged with an external thread on an outer circumferential surface of the hub of the spindle motor.

Hard disk and spindle motor assembly

A slim actuator and a micro-drive apparatus using the same are provided. The slim actuator includes a suspension having a head mounted at one end of the suspension to write/read data to/from a disk and a head gimbal assembly. The head gimbal assembly includes a unit-mounting portion having one end connected to the suspension, a fantail molding portion extending from the other end of the uni-mounting portion, and a voice coil which is mounted on the fantail mounting portion such that current flows in the voice coil. The voice coil rotates the suspension by an electromagnetic force created by interaction between the electric field of the current and an applied magnetic field. Thus, the slim actuator uses a single channel and has excellent resonance characteristics. Mobile micro-drive apparatuses employing the slim actuators can be obtained.

Slim actuator and slim micro-drive apparatus comprising the same

A mounting pad for a disk drive is provided. The mounting pad includes a sealing layer, which is formed on one surface of the disk drive so that a gap between a base and a cover of the disk drive can be sealed; an adhesive layer, which is formed on a surface of the electronic system facing the disk drive; and a vibration attenuation layer, which is interposed between the sealing layer and the adhesive layer to attenuate physical shocks and/or vibrations applied to the disk drive from the outside. Accordingly, it is possible to install the disk drive in the electronic system more firmly, attenuate physical shocks and vibrations applied to the disk drive from the outside, and seal a gap between the base and the cover of the disk drive.

Mounting pad for disk drive

A disk drive having an anti-shock structure is provided. The disk drive includes: a base member; a spindle motor supported by a spindle motor support formed on the base member, the spindle motor rotating a data storage disk; an actuator rotatably coupled to an actuator pivot supported by a pivot support formed on the base member, the actuator moving a read/write head to a position on a recording surface of the disk; and slots formed in the base member around the circumference of each of the spindle motor support and the pivot support, the slots for partially controlling the stiffness of the base member. The slots include a first slot formed on a circumference region of the spindle motor support near the pivot support, and a second slot formed on a circumference region of the pivot support opposite to the spindle motor support. Due to the structure of the disk drive, the spindle motor and the actuator pivot are inclined in the same direction when an external impact is applied. Therefore, a collision between the head and the disk, i.e., a head slap, is unlikely to occur, thereby minimizing damage to the head and the disk caused by the head slap.

Disk drive having anti-shock structure

A slim spindle motor and a micro-drive apparatus including the slim spindle motor are provided. In the spindle motor, a hub is rotatably mounted on a base plate by ball bearings. The hub is used to seat a disk thereon. A ring-shaped magnet is engaged to the outer boundary of the hub. A stator is formed by arranging a plurality of yokes in a round shape around the outer boundary of the ring-shaped magnet. The yokes include cores having curved ends to reduce the central axis offset between the yokes and the ring-shaped magnet. Most of the yokes include coils that cover the cores. Since the central axes of the yokes in the stator are made collinear with the central axis of the ring-shaped magnet, the slim spindle motor can operate stably.

Slim spindle motor and micro-drive apparatus comprising the same

A flexible printed circuit (FPC), electrically connecting a spindle motor on a base of a disk drive with a printed circuit board (PCB) outside of the base, and a disk drive including the FPC, are provided. The FPC includes a wiring portion having one end connected to the spindle motor; a bonded portion connected to the other end of the wiring portion and attached to the base; electrode supports, each having a predetermined elasticity and extending from an outside edge of the bonded portion; a wiring disposed along the wiring portion and the bonded portion; and first electrodes disposed on the electrode supports and connected to the wiring. The first electrodes contact second electrodes disposed on the PCB due to the elasticities of the electrode supports. The disk drive allows the spindle motor to be electrically connected to the PCB using only the FPC, i.e., without using a separate connector.

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Suwon-si, South Korea

Min-pyo Hong