International Business Machines Corporation

Norman Kermit Frater

Oscar Jaime Ruiz

Thomas Mark Hoffmann

Gary L Heitkamp

Peter William Kanas

William Harlow McConnell

John Philip Hollowell

Rudy Vadillo

Diane Sprandel O'Regan

Hsuehmin Li

Alan P Giorgi

Enrique Eduardo Sanicky

David Gerson

Donald Harold Ingalls

Bradley John Kriehn

Surya Narayan Pattanaik

Brad Vaughn Johnson

Wing Chun Shum

William Woodrow Brooks, Jr

Robert B Watrous

Stanley S Hoo

Charles D Cullom, Iii

Erik Baserman

Gregory G Gill

A head suspension assembly including a load beam having predefined gluing regions for gluing a bundle of wires thereto. For each gluing region, the load beam is partially-etched with the pattern that includes a plurality of grooves. Preferably, the pattern within the gluing region includes a set of parallel grooves. The gluing regions can be formed at very little cost because partial etching can be performed simultaneously etching other features on the load beam. Advantageously, the gluing regions provide enhanced adhesion between the wires and the load beam which reduces the possibility of failure during manufacture, thereby reducing costs.

Apparatus and method for adhesively connecting wires to a suspension arm

A uniquely configured flexure tongue of a head/gimbal assembly (HGA) provides for parallel positioning of a slider air bearing surface (ABS) during merge and a limitation of pitch of the slider during non-merge. A cantilevered end of the flexure tongue is provided with a finger extension which can be employed for merge operations and a remainder cantilevered end portion adjacent a base of the finger can be employed for limiting pitch of the slider. When a merge comb engages multiple flexure fingers of multiple suspensions in a head stack assembly the air bearing surfaces of the sliders are positioned parallel with respect to one another. This allows maximum disk stack density when a head stack assembly is merged with a head stack assembly. The flexure finger allows various arrangements to be employed for implementing a merge. The present invention also cooperates with a prior art roll limiter so that during merge a three point fixation normalizes a slider at zero pitch.

Shock protected high stack density suspension system

The invention is several alternative means of differentiating head/gimbal assemblies that share a common arm. The alternative means are for at least one of the assemblies that shares a common arm (1) using a different design; (2) varying the length from the mounting section to the slider; (3) changing the shape of the spring section; (4) varying the use and shape of raised flanges; (5) varying the use and shape of stiffeners; (6) using different openings (i.e., cut away portions); (7) using different formed features; (8) using various mass appendages; and (9) using a varying pattern of adhesive or glue dots.

Multi-mode suspension populated actuator for a disk drive

A transducer suspension system for a data storage disk drive device has electrical wires strung along the top surface of the suspension. The wires bend around the distal end of the suspension and are connected to electrical pads on the transducer slider below. The height of the wires is reduced by swiping the wires in a lateral direction using a two-finger member. The swipe operation bends the wires down to reduce the overall height and reduces the stress created by the wires in the electrical pad bonds and allows the slider gimbal the freedom to move.

Transducer suspension system

In a disk drive system transducer suspensions are swaged to the actuator arms. The end actuator arms in the arm stack experience unbalanced forces which detrimentally effect the flying height of the transducers. A compensating swage plate is swaged on the opposite surface of each of the end actuator arms such that these unbalanced forces are canceled and the transducer maintains the proper flying height.

A suspension for use in a magnetic disk drive comprised of a load beam having a first wing and a second wing which wrap around the actuator arm and provide a site for attachment of a wiring tail. A mount plate is positioned over the actuator arm for securing the load beam to the actuator arm. The first wing and the second wing are positioned within the thickness of the actuator arm so that the thickness of the actuator arm/load beam assembly is minimized and the shock loading threshold is increased.

Disk drive suspension for increasing the arm to disk clearance

A suspension is provided with a load beam which has a forward end portion which has a curved edge. Low profile wires from a slider of a head gimbal assembly (HGA) of the suspension extend across a top surface of the load beam in contact or in close proximity to the curved edge. When the slider pitches and rolls over the surface of a rotating magnetic disk, when the head element is accessed to read and write information from tracks on the disk, and when there are air flow forces, the wires move across the curved edge without any damage due to fretting. The forward end portion of the load beam is bent downwardly toward the HGA to provide the desired curved edge. When the slider pitches and rolls a flexure to which it is attached requires space for flexing, the space being located between the flexure and the load beam. In order to prevent intrusion into this space the forward end portion of the load beam is provided with a reduced thickness relative to the remainder of the load beam so that when the forward portion is bent downwardly to provide the curved edge it does not extend below a bottom surface of the load beam. The forward end portion can be provided with a reduced thickness by offset masking the top and bottom surfaces of thin metal stock followed by double etching. The double etching results in a thickness of the forward end portion which is substantially 50% the thickness of the remainder of the load beam. The forward end portion can then be bent to provide the curved edge by a die stamping process.

Suspension with wire protection which does not impact slider movements

A head suspension assembly includes a load beam having predefined gluing regions for gluing a bundle of wires thereto. For each gluing region, the load beam is partially-etched with the pattern that includes a plurality of grooves. Preferably, the pattern within the gluing region includes a set of parallel grooves. The gluing regions can be formed at very little cost because partial etching can be performed while simultaneously etching other features on the load beam. Advantageously, the gluing regions provide enhanced adhesion between the wires and the load beam which reduces the possibility of failure during manufacture, thereby reducing costs.

Load beam with grooved wire-gluing region

A head gimbal assembly for disk drives is attached to an actuator arm using an adhesive. An etch pattern is formed in the mount plate of the head gimbal assembly, defining a mating surface area. An actuator arm is received by the mating surface area, the two members are suitably aligned, and an adhesive is introduced into the various channels that comprise the etch pattern through an access opening that is located outside of the mating surface area. By locating the access opening outside of the mating surface area, the adhesive may be introduced after a final alignment is achieved between the head gimbal assemblies and the actuator arms. Such manner of attachment may be used with individual actuator arms as well as when connecting head gimbal assemblies to an actuator comb assembly.

Adhesively attached hard disk head suspension and etching process

A method of manufacturing a transducer suspension system for a data storage disk drive device having electrical wires strung along the top surface of the suspension, by bending the wires around the distal end of the suspension and connecting the wires to electrical pads on the transducer slider below. The height of the wires is reduced by swiping the wires in a lateral direction using a two-finger member. The swipe operation bends the wires down to reduce the overall height and reduces the stress created by the wires in the electrical pad bonds and allows the slider gimbal the freedom to move.

Method of manufacturing a transducer suspension system

A low profile, miniaturized rigid disk dam storage drive includes a micro-swaged connection that mounts the transducer carrying load beams to the respective actuator arms. The micro-swage plate, that is laser welded to the load beam, includes a swage boss that does not exceed 0.3 millimeters in length. The outer periphery and the distal end surface of the tubular swage boss are tapered to counteract rotation and shearing of the boss during swaging. In applications where the smooth exterior swage boss surface does not provide sufficient torque-out capability, the periphery of the boss is formed with axially extending irregularities to enhance the torque-out capability without increasing the pull-out force that would be necessary for disassembly and rework. The preswaged boss configuration includes frusto-conical peripheral and distal end surfaces to afford a swaged configuration with a generally radial end surface and maximum swaged contact through the available length of the swage boss.

Swaging appartus with a tubular boss having axially extending surface

A slider-suspension assembly for a data-recording disk file is provided having a spacer device separating the slider from the suspension. The spacer device includes one or more solder bumps having a height that is precisely controlled to provide the desired spacing. The spacing device prevents contact between the slider and the suspension.

Adjustable solder bump spacer for slider-suspension attachment

A suspension system comprises a load beam connecting a transducer element to a support member. The load beam has a stiffener member which forms an enclosed interior chamber. The stiffener member adds rigidity to the suspension. The transducer element is connected to the load beam by a pivoting assembly. The pivoting assembly is comprised of a plurality of thin plate members which are stacked together. The result is a low profile suspension system.

A head suspension assembly comprises a load beam, flexure, and a transducer assembly. The transducer assembly is attached to a gimbal section of the flexure. A flexible section comprising two legs, supports the gimbal section. Two longitudinal grooves are etched into the center portions of each of the legs. A flexure is obtained which provides for adequate vertical bending, while at the same time provides rigidity to prevent horizontal bending.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Norman Kermit Frater