Seagate Technology Incorporated

Memorex Corporation

Seagate Technologies, Inc.

Sanjoy Ghose

Ramgopal Battu

Iraj Jabbari

Efim Bronshvatch

Gunter Karl Heine

Donald James Macleod

Thomas R Prentice

Miles L Peterson

Oswald Kuwert

Robin O Hammar

Iraj Jabari

Bernhard M Seeger

Enrique J Klein

A disc drive system having at least one hard disc of approximately 48 mm diameter having concentric tracks is supported by a hub positioned in a centrally located aperture of approximately 12 mm diameter. The disc is rotated at a constant speed by a brushless DC motor attached to the hub. A transducer means for communicating information with the hard disc is moved relative to the disc surface by a positioning means. The positioning means includes a voice coil motor for selectably and accurately positioning the transducer means over the tracks on the hard disc. The disc drive system is enclosed in a housing means constructed from ferrous material having a base portion and a shell portion. The positioning means has a shaft about which the positioning means rotates. To provide a small, rugged assembly, the shaft is mounted at each end between the shell portion and base portion of the housing. Additionally, the shaft of the brushless DC motor is mounted in the same manner. The miniature disc drive system of the invention is designed to be permanently mounted in a portable, lap-top or notebook computer. Alternatively, the design is adaptable to enable the disc drive system to be utilized as a portable memory unit which may be inserted and removed from a connector port in the host computer.

Miniature hard disc drive having low profile actuator arm voice coil and

The invention is a miniature disc drive system. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a positioner for positioning a transducer includes an actuator arm having the transducer mounted at one end and a voice coil motor (VCM) mounted at the other end. A pivot is centrally located along the actuator arm, whereby the VCM, when activated, can rotate the transducer over a disc or discs having approximately 45 mm diameters. The VCM is preferably a moving voice coil-type having a voice coil attached to the actuator arm and two magnets positioned above and below the voice coil such that the voice coil can freely move between them. One magnet is mounted to a base portion of a housing which encloses the entire disc drive system. The other magnet is mounted to roof portion of the housing. Thus, the housing is integrated into the active components of the disc drive and permits a significant size reduction to be achieved. Alternatively, a moving magnet VCM can be used, whereby two voice coils are mounted, one each to the roof and the base of the housing, respectively. A permanent magnet is attached to the actuator arm and moves freely between the voice coils. Selective activation of the voice coils rotates the actuator arm and positions the transducer over a desired track of the disc. The housing for both the preferred and alternative embodiments is approximately 50 mm.times.70 mm.times.19 mm and each embodiment is capable of storing 10 MB or more of data.

Miniature hard disk drive having linear loud-beam suspension and thin

Miniature hard disc system having single voice coil magnet motor

Insertable miniature hard disc drive having a reduced size transducer

A disc drive system having at least one hard disc having concentric tracks is supported by a hub positioned in a centrally located aperture. The disc is rotated at a constant speed by a DC motor attached to the hub. A transducer head for communicating information with the hard disc is moved relative to the disc surface by a positioning apparatus. The positioning apparatus includes a voice coil motor for selectably and accurately positioning the transducer head over the tracks on the hard disc. The disc drive system is enclosed in a housing having a base portion and a roof portion. The positioning apparatus includes a shaft about which the transducer head rotates to move the transducer from track to track. In one configuration, permanent magnets are attached to the base and roof, and a moving coil is interposed between them, the housing completing a magnetic circuit in the VCM. In one aspect the disc drive system is designed to be permanently mounted in a portable, lap-top or notebook computer. Alternatively, it is adaptable for insertion and removal from a connector port in the computer.

Miniature head disc drive system voice coil with single coil and dual

A read/write head gimbal is provided including a tab or extension on the end of the gimbal portion which is attached to the head/slider assembly, forming this tab such that, when the gimbal is assembled to the load beam, the formed tab passes through an opening created for this purpose in the load beam, and extends beyond the opening far enough to prevent its returning through the opening after the gimbal and load beam are spot welded together. The tab and opening in the load beam are dimensioned so that during normal read/write operations, there is no contact between the tab and the sides of the opening in the load beam. The tab/opening arrangement is such that shock forces in the direction of travel away from the load beam, or in parallel with the surface of the load beam bracing the gimbal, will result in contact between the tab and the sides of the opening in the load beam, thus preventing excessive motion of the gimbal which could result in permanent deformation of the gimbal.

Read/write gimbal with limited range of motion

In a disc drive with an integrated casting comprising the housing for the stepper and spindle motors, the transducer is mounted on a normal bearing pivot assembly lightweight actuator arm and biasing strip spring. One end of the strip spring is mounted to a block and the effective force of the spring is aligned with the actuator arm running toward the stepper motor. The other, or head end of the actuator arm contains a gear sector having gear teeth on its face which mesh with a pinion on a motor shaft so rotation of the motor shaft across the face of the gear sector causes movement of the head mounting arm. The actuator arm is formed of a self-lubricating polymer or other lightweight self-lubricating material. This way, wear on the gear is reduced; and as the teeth are worn, the gear is still tightly biased against the pinion to maintain accurate movement of the actuator arm with rotation of the pinion.

Rotary actuator

A pivot bearing assembly for a disc drive including the combination of a bearing surrounded on one side by a wishbone-shaped end of the actuator arm, and on the other side by a biasing spring metal strip whose ends are tightly attached to the split ends of the wishbone of the actuator arm. When the arm assembly is mounted in the disc drive, the bearing is mounted on its center of rotation, with the spring tensile force biasing the head of the actuator arm against the spindle of the stepper motor. By providing the distal end of the actuator arm with a gear sector having gear teeth on its face which mesh with a pinion on the motor shaft of the stepper motor, rotation of the motor shaft across the face of the gear sector causes movement of the actuator arm and with it the flexure and transducer across the surface of the disc. The head arm supporting the flexure and transducer extends from the side of the actuator drive arm at a point near the stepper motor driven end of the drive arm, reducing head arm length.

Design for an actuator arm for a disc drive

This invention provides a technique for effectively floating the rotor of a disc drive motor, thereby permitting small motions in the axial (non-critical) direction while maintaining significant stiffness in the radial (critical) direction. This is achieved by providing an electromagnetic actuator including a stepper motor having a housing, a stator located within the housing, and a rotor positionable relative to the stator driving a motor shaft to wind and unwind a band and thereby position the carriage. The drive shaft passes through ball bearings which support the shaft for rotation. The ball bearings themselves fit within an annular end bell portion of the motor housing which defines a channel for the bearing. An injected elastomer forms a tight-fitting ring between the bearings and the internal wall of the end bell, thereby radially supporting the outer race of the bearing. Preload springs are then installed on both sides of the rotor between the internal end walls of the end bells and both outer races of the bearing. The installation of these springs effectively floats the rotor to allow some distortion or movement of the rotor in the axial direction, while minimizing or eliminating the radial deflection components.

Bi-compliant rotor stepper motor for an actuator in a disc drive

In a disc drive, the normal bearing pivot assembly is replaced with a combination of a lightweight actuator arm and biasing strip spring. One end of the strip spring is mounted to a block and the effective force of the spring is aligned with the actuator arm running toward the stepper motor. The other, or head end of the actuator arm contains a gear sector having gear teeth on its face which mesh with a pinion on a motor shaft so rotation of the motor shaft across the face of the gear sector causes movement of the head mounting arm.

Integrated disc drive and actuators support

A slider for flying a magnetic head on a fluid bearing above moving magnetic recording media is disclosed in which a fluid bearing surface includes a generally planar fluid support surface extending generally transverse to the direction of movement of the media, a ramped leading edge and a cavity having a generally spherical surface formed in the fluid support surface and spaced from the leading edge thereof. A method of making such a slider is also disclosed.

Self loading slider for magnetic recording heads

According to the subject invention, the correction for thermal mistracking may be achieved by the incorporation of a compensating plate in the carriage, the plates' length and coefficient of expansion being selected to nullify the off-track shift with temperature. Mistracking which varies from the outside to the inside track, i.e., there is a change in stroke length of the carriage with temperature, is compensated for by selecting a pulley material from a material having a coefficient of expansion directly related to the coefficient of expansion of the material of the disc. The result of a proper selection is that the change in size with ambient temperature of the disc is correlated with the change in size of the band with the same temperature, so that the total effect is as close to a nullity as possible.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Cruz County, CA, United States of America

Sanjoy Ghose