Seagate Technology Incorporated

Srinivas Tadepalli

Roy Lynn Wood

Xu Zuo

Cory Bert Welscher

Jon David Trantham

Walter Wong

John D Stricklin

YiRen Hong

Kenneth Lee Pottebaum

Mark August Toffle

ChoonKiat Lim

David S Allsup

Sandeepan Bhattacharya

Carl Fred Adams

James Hart Smith

Ram Mohan Rao

Antanas Daugela

Jonathan Pahl Jones

David A Olivero

Gregg Jon Severson

James Eiji Kaneko

Blaine Thomas Peterson

Yaling D Fan

Alan Hing-Bun Tsang

Narintr Narisaranukul

Cory Burt Welscher

In one implementation, a method and apparatus is provided for determining an active fly height setting for a transducer head from samples collected from a proximity sensor during less than a single revolution of a disc. Implementations of the method and system use adaptive discrete wavelet transform parameters generated from the collected samples to determine an active fly height setting for a transducer head.

Head to media proximity detection

An apparatus including a cantilevered head assembly is disclosed. The apparatus includes a flow control device to control flow proximate to the cantilevered head assembly. In one embodiment, the flow control device includes a blower assembly coupleable to a pressure source and/or vacuum assembly to limit flow disturbances proximate to the cantilevered head assembly.

Flow or windage control for a cantilevered head assembly

A data storage system is provided. The data storage system has an enclosure with at least one disc rotating about a central axis and having a corresponding airflow. The airflow is subject to contamination by particles. A particle deposition surface is located inside the enclosure of the data storage system having a surface roughness of at least 30-microns. The particles contaminating the airflow are deposited on the particle deposition surface.

Method of removing particles from an airflow and a data storage system including the same

The disc drive housing encloses a spindle motor carrying a disc having a data surface. An actuator assembly includes an actuator arm carrying a head. The housing includes a first surface portion adjacent to the data surface of the disc. The housing also includes a plurality of surface portions that define a recess, which allows the actuator arm to move over the data surface of the disc. The plurality of surface portions include a sloped surface portion sloping away from the data surface and preventing wind generated by the disc rotating about an axis from separating from the sloped surface portion. Alternatively, a disc drive includes a housing that defines a recess. The housing encloses a disc mounted on a spindle motor that rotates the disc about an axis and thereby generates wind within the housing. An upstream surface portion and a downstream surface portion of the housing both face toward a data surface of the disc. A discontinuity, such as a step, between the upstream surface portion and the downstream surface portion causes a wind recirculation region within the recess. The disc drive also includes an actuator arm that carries a head, which the recess allows to move over the data surface of the disc. An actuator limiting device prevents the actuator arm from entering the wind recirculation region.

Disc drive turbulent wind management

A suspension for supporting a head slider over a media surface. The suspension includes a load beam, a base plate interface region, and a base plate. The load beam has a proximal end, a distal end and longitudinal centerline. A localized stiffening portion is raised above the load beam, and is connected to the load beam by rounded side edges. The base plate interface region is coupled to a proximal end of the load beam, and provides a pre-load bend. Finally, base plate is coupled to the base plate interface region such that the base plate is coupled to a side of the base plate interface region that is opposite the media surface.

Aerodynamically shaped load beam having reduced windage and reduced off-track PES

A servo track writing apparatus for recording servo information or patterns on a disc or discs for a data storage device is disclosed. The servo track writing apparatus includes a shroud proximate to and downstream of a cantilevered head assembly to limit DC wander for writing servo information to disc or discs. In particular, the shroud is position in an operating zone or sector of the cantilevered head assembly or between an air dam and stripper of a servo track writing apparatus.

Servo track writing apparatus with a head assembly shroud

An airstream conditioning apparatus for a data storage device employing a spinning data storage disc and an actuator operatively interfacing in a data reading and writing relationship. The apparatus comprises an airstream stripper downstream of the actuator with respect to the direction of air currents generated by the spinning discs. The airstream stripper comprises a vane extending substantially radially from an outer radial portion to an inner radial portion of the data storage disc and adjacent the data storage surface. The vane is disposed substantially transverse to the actuator distal end along the radial path of actuator travel across the data disc.

Downstream finned stripper shroud airstream conditioning apparatus for a disc drive

An aerodynamic slider has at least one side surface that is continuously curved between the leading and trailing surfaces to substantially eliminate off-track forces on the side surface due to changing skew orientations. A slider profile is modeled, and a numerical simulation of airflow on the modeled profile is generated for each of a plurality of skew orientations within a range of skew orientations at which the slider will fly. The modeled slider profile is repeatedly adjusted based on the numerical simulations until a vibration analysis on the modeled profile indicates vibration does not exceed a predetermined minimum.

Aerodynamic sliders with curved side surface

A disc drive includes a base, at least one disc rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly rotatably attached to base and supporting a slider and a transducer at a distal end thereof. The slider and transducer are positioned to be in transducing relation with respect to the disc. An air dam is positioned over the disc and near an arc through which the slider and transducer are rotated. The air dam is positioned so as to produce an area of high pressure substantially about an area including a portion of the arc through which the slider and transducer are rotated. Surfaces are aligned with and extend in a coplanar relationship with the disc to transfer an outwardly directed airflow away from the disc without impinging turbulent flow on or at the disc edge.

Two-part flow conditioning apparatus for a disc drive

An airstream conditioning apparatus for a data storage device. The data storage device has an enclosure supporting a spinning data disc and an actuator operably interfacing with the data disc in a data transfer relationship. The apparatus comprises a shroud supportable in the enclosure only downstream of the actuator with respect to air currents generated by the spinning disc. The shroud furthermore comprises a fin extending from the shroud in planar alignment with the disc.

Downstream finned shroud airstream conditioning apparatus for a data storage device

An air current diverting apparatus for a data storage device having a rotating data storage medium in operable relation with an actuator assembly reading data from and writing data to the data storage medium. The air current diverting apparatus has an aerodynamic shroud comprising a base having a first end attachable to the actuator assembly, an upstream surface extending upstream of the actuator assembly, and a downstream surface extending downstream of the actuator assembly and substantially non-parallel to the upstream surface.

Aerodynamic air current diverting apparatus

A method and apparatus is described for reducing flutter and windage losses in disc drives. In one embodiment, a ribbed shroud is provided at the circumference of the disc assembly. One such disc-drive system includes a disc-drive housing, at least one disc mounted within the housing which rotates, a transducer having a read head positionable to read data from the disc, and a shroud structure near an outer circumference of the disc that reduces flutter and windage losses. In some embodiments, the shroud structure is ribbed. Also presented is a first method for reducing flutter and windage losses in a disc drive, including spacing a first shroud at each one of at least two different spacings from an outer-diameter edge of one or more discs within the disc drive, measuring a performance characteristic of the disc drive at each one of the at least two different spacings, and selecting one of the shroud spacings based on the measuring step.

Ribbed shrouding spacer and method for reducing flutter and windage losses in disc drives

A disc drive having reduced mechanical vibration is disclosed. An annular viscoelastic damper is sandwiched beneath the head disc assembly cover against the bearing assembly of the actuator to dampen mechanical vibrations transmitted by the cover to the actuator assembly. The damper is an annular disc made of a composite of a layer of viscoelastic polymer and a backing stiffening layer.

Hub cap actuator damper for disc drives

Apparatus for providing nominally laminar flow of air currents in a disc drive. An actuator supports a head adjacent a rotatable disc and includes a rigid actuator arm with opposing planar top and bottom surfaces and a pair of opposing tapered surfaces which taper to a trailing edge. The top, bottom and tapered surfaces define a cross-sectional enclosure to provide nominally laminar flow of air currents adjacent the actuator arm induced by rotation of the disc. A channel is formed in the enclosure by a plurality of adjoining recessed surfaces to at least partially recess a head conductor along the length of the actuator arm within the enclosure to prevent obstruction of the air currents by the conductor. The conductor is preferably a flex circuit with a semi-flexible dielectric layer which supports a plurality of conductive traces.

Actuator arm with tapered trailing edge and recessed head conductor

An apparatus and method for minimizing the effects of rotational and translational vibrations on a disc drive. A plurality of isolation devices are integrated into a base deck of the disc drive at industry standard locations. Each isolation device includes a rigid threaded collar into which a corresponding fastener is inserted to secure the base to a user environment, a compliant elastomer portion disposed between the collar and remaining portions of the base deck and a rigid stiffener which contacts and surrounds at least a portion of an outer surface of the elastomer portion. Stiffnesses of the elastomer portions are individually selected so that the plurality of isolation devices cooperate to reduce the effects of various translational and rotational vibratory inputs by bunching resonance modes within a selected frequency range.

Growing community of inventors

Eden Prairie, MN, United States of America

Srinivas Tadepalli