Fujitsu Corporation

Toshiba Storage Device Corporation

Other

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Nhk Spring Co., Ltd.

Shinji Koganezawa

Tomoyoshi Yamada

Yoshifumi Mizoshita

Keiji Aruga

Yasumasa Kuroba

Takao Sugawara

Hiroyuki Mase

Masaru Matsumoto

Toru Kouhei

Takahiro Imamura

Yukihiro Uematsu

Masao Tsunekewa

Tetsuya Suzuki

Hiroshi Takekawa

Toru Kohei

Junichi Inoue

Ryuma Sakamoto

Hisashi Nakano

Tadayoshi Noguchi

Toru Watanabe

Hitoshi Kanai

Takeaki Shimanouchi

Ryosuke Koishi

Hideki Kashima

Mitsuaki Yoshida

Hiroyuki Iwahara

Shinji Hiraoka

Masao Tsunekawa

Yoshitaka Suzuki

Takuma Kido

Yusuke Nojima

Kenichi Makino

Shuichi Heya

According to one embodiment, a head suspension assembly includes an arm includes upper and lower surfaces, a suspension extending from the arm, a head supported by the suspension, and restriction plates bonded on the upper and lower surfaces of the arm. The restriction plates includes extending portions projecting from the arm to a downstream side of an airflow, respectively, and the extending portions are bent in a direction in which the extending portions approach each other.

Head suspension assembly and disk device with the same

According to one embodiment, a micro actuator device, includes: a first piezoelectric element superposed on a first lower support plate coupled to a fixed plate; a second piezoelectric element superposed on a second lower support plate in parallel with the first lower support plate coupled to the fixed plate; a first upper support plate interposing the first piezoelectric element between the first upper support plate and the first lower support plate, and generating strain equal to strain of the first lower support plate when a tensile force of the first piezoelectric element acts on the first lower support plate; and a second upper support plate interposing the second piezoelectric element between the second upper support plate and the second lower support plate, and generating strain equal to strain of the second lower support plate when a tensile force of the second piezoelectric element acts on the second lower support plate.

Micro actuator device, head suspension assembly and storage medium driving device

A receiver receives an acoustic wave in an atmospheric pressure measuring apparatus. Since a variation in the intensity of an acoustic wave reflects a variation in the atmospheric pressure, the atmospheric pressure can be measured based on the intensity of the acoustic wave received at the receiver. The atmospheric pressure can in this manner easily be measured with a simplified structure.

Atmospheric pressure measuring apparatus and method of measuring atmospheric pressure

A plate member is made of a metal material lighter than stainless steel in a suspension for a head slider. This leads to a reduction in the weight of the suspension. The natural frequency of the suspension is thus raised. Moreover, the viscoelastic member is interposed between the front surface of the plate member and the back surface of the flexure. This structure allows either the plate member or the flexure to act as a base and the other to act as a constraining member. In other words, the plate member, the flexure and the viscoelastic member in combination act as a so-called vibration damper including constraining layers. The viscoelastic member serves to further suppress vibration of the plate member and the flexure.

Head suspension including flexure having as elastic bending section

A piezoelectric element of a piezoelectric actuator is clamped by two electrodes, each of which has a conductive layer on a insulating layer. At least a connection terminal is formed by extending the conductive layer outside the insulating layer.

Piezoelectric actuator head suspension unit employing piezoelectric actuator, and magnetic disk drive employing head suspension unit

Disclosed herein is a head actuator for a head provided so as to accessible to a disk-shaped recording medium rotating above a base. The head actuator includes a main actuator driven so as to rotate above the base, and a microactuator driven so as to swing relative to the main actuator. The head is mounted on the microactuator. The main actuator and the microactuator are controlled so that the head is moved in a substantially radial direction of the recording medium and positioned over a desired track of the recording medium. A primary resonant frequency of mechanical characteristics of the main actuator is set to 100 Hz or higher. This setting may be achieved by increasing a preload in a ball bearing of the main actuator, for example, to thereby increase the rigidity of a nonlinear spring of the ball bearing. In the case that a disturbance acts on the main actuator, the above setting allows a reduction in displacement of the microactuator required for positioning of the head over the desired track.

Head actuator

An acceleration sensor, for detecting the acceleration of a motion made by a head actuator that includes a carriage which is borne on a base of a disk drive so that it can pivot and a head suspension fixed to the distal part of the carriage, is formed using at least one shearing piezoelectric element having an electrode formed on both sides thereof. One of the electrodes is attached to the distal part of the carriage with a suspension base between them, while the other electrode is attached to the proximal part of the head suspension with a head mounting block between them. The shearing piezoelectric element is realized with one shearing piezoelectric element that is polarized in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal directions of the carriage. Consequently, a large output is produced with only a small weight added to the carriage of the disk drive.

Acceleration sensor and disk drive employing it

A pair of slits are defined in a slider body of a head slider so as to extend from a trailing end surface to the leading end on the slider body. A movable block is established in the slider body between the slits. The slits ensure the extent of movement for the movable block. Elongated plates enable a relative displacement between the movable block and a stationary block. A head element is mounted on a trailing end surface of the movable block. The thickness of a non-magnetic layer corresponds to the gap length of the head element. The gap length of the head element can easily be controlled based on deposition of the non-magnetic layer. The thickness of the non-magnetic layer can be reduced in a relatively facilitated manner, so that the gap length of the head element can easily be minimized.

Head slider having microactuator

The operation of the changing mechanism is set to enhance the intensity of the urging force if the acceleration sensor detects an impact. The head slider is urged against the surface of the recording medium with the urging force of a larger intensity. Accordingly, the head slider is allowed to keep contacting the recording medium irrespective of the impact. The head slider is thus prevented from jumping up from the surface of the recording medium. A collision is surely avoided between the head slider and the recording medium. In addition, the head slider is urged against the surface of the recording medium when the recording medium stands still. The head slider is completely prevented from dropping onto the recording medium.

Head slider receiving variable urging force in recording medium drive

A fine positioning mechanism is provided in a disc drive for driving a head that records data onto and reproduces data from a disc. The mechanism includes a base fixed to an arm and a suspension, the base connecting the suspension to the arm, the arm swinging around a rotary shaft, and the suspension supporting the head. A drive part is located above the base, for deforming the base, the drive part including a shear type piezoelectric element that is polarized in a direction orthogonal to a thickness direction of the piezoelectric element, and deforms top and bottom surfaces of the piezoelectric element perpendicular to the thickness direction when voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element in the thickness direction.

Disc drive magnetic head fine positioning mechanism including a base connecting a suspension to an arm, and having a piezoelectric drive element adjacent thereto

The small and light piezoelectric actuator of the present invention is capable of highly precisely positioning a magnetic head assemblies, etc. The piezoelectric actuator comprises: a movable member to which a head suspension is fixed; a fixed member fixed to a carriage arm; piezoelectric elements provided between the movable member and the fixed member and capable of adjusting a position of the head suspension by their deformation; and an electrode member electrically connected to one of electrodes of each of the piezoelectric elements. The movable member is adhered on the piezoelectric elements and electrically insulated from the other electrodes of the piezoelectric elements. The electric conductive layer of the electrode member and the other electrode of each of the piezoelectric elements are electrically connected to cables, which are provided to the head suspension so as to actuate the piezoelectric elements.

Piezoelectric actuator

A head suspension supporting a head at the tip end is allowed to swing at the tip end of a carriage in a recording disk drive. A microactuator is interposed between the head suspension and the carriage. A resistor is connected to the microactuator in serial. The microactuator is allowed to function as a capacitance. A combination of the microactuator and the resistor enables establishment of a so-called low pass filter. A high frequency noise involuntarily introduced in the driving voltage for the microactuator can be eliminated or removed from the driving voltage. Elimination of the high frequency noise enables a reliable prevention of the mechanical or physical resonance or vibration in the head suspension. A tracking action of the head related to a target recording track can reliably be stabilized.

Head assembly employing microactuator in recording medium drive

A head drive device for positioning a read and/or write head for reading and/or writing information to and from a disk coated with a recording medium, the head drive device including a carriage, a main actuator for moving the carriage, a plurality of heads for reading and/or writing information to and from the disk, and a vibration control portion comprising a plurality of micro-actuators positioned between the carriage and the heads, such that when the main actuator and a first micro-actuator are driven to enable precise positioning of a desired head with respect to a surface of the disk a second micro-actuator is driven so as to offset vibrations generated at the carriage by the operation of the desired micro-actuator.

Magnetic head drive device

A head carriage assembly drive system has a head carriage assembly having a head, a head carriage for moving the head in a radial direction of a rotating disk, a first drive unit for generating the power to rotate the head carriage and a second drive unit having a torque constant smaller than the torque constant of the first drive unit. Mainly the first drive unit is operated in a low-frequency band and mainly the second drive unit is operated in a high-frequency band, thereby reducing overall power consumption during tracking.

Head carriage assembly drive system and disk drive

An actuator includes a shear-type piezoelectric element of predetermined thickness and an opposed electrode formed on two electrodes in spaced relationship on a base member. The opposed electrode is displaced in accordance with the direction of polarization of the shear-type piezoelectric element upon applying a voltage between the two electrodes. The opposed electrode thus constitutes an operating section of the actuator. The actuator can be incorporated as a part of the head actuator to constitute a head-positioning mechanism capable of displacing the head by a minuscule distance independently of the operation of the head actuator.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Shinji Koganezawa