Seagate Technology Incorporated

Xiaohong Sun

Xu Zuo

Lance L Thoresen

Mark August Toffle

Kurt J Korkowski

Shrouding a disc to attenuate excitation energy of windage created by rotating the disc, with a shroud defining an edge-wise gap between the shroud and the disc, and the shroud further defining surface-wise gaps between the shroud and opposing disc surfaces, wherein the surface-wise gaps are characterized by opposing parallel surfaces having protuberant features depending therefrom toward each other that define minimum clearances with the disc surfaces.

Shrouding a data storage disc with disc facing surfaces that define protuberant features

An endcap for use on an actuator arm carrying a single head gimbal assembly, the endcap comprising a body, and a shielding feature extending from the body for reducing windage excitation of the head gimbal assembly.

Endcap for reducing airflow excitation of head gimbal assembly

A windage management arrangement for attenuating fluid flow disturbances on an actuator and a moving disc, comprising in combination a fluid flow stripper upstream of the actuator and a disc edge damper downstream of the actuator. A method for managing fluid flow created by a rotating disc that is operably disposed adjacent to an actuator, comprising diverting an upstream portion of the fluid flow, with respect to the actuator, away from the actuator; and diverting a downstream portion of the fluid flow, with respect to the actuator, away from a disc edge.

Disc drive windage management arrangement with upstream fluid flow stripper and downstream disc edge damper

An actuator assembly is provided comprising a data transfer head moved by an actuator arm in a data storing and retrieving relationship with a data storage medium. Streamwise arranged aerodynamic fluid re-directing and drag-reducing features on a surface of the actuator arm modify frictional forces acting on the arm from a fluid flow created by moving the medium. A method is provided for improving nonrepeatable runnout disturbances in a data storage device by aligning the drag-reducing features of the actuator assembly with a direction of a mean flow direction of the fluid at an outer diameter of the storage medium to divert the fluid flow away from the head gimbal assembly.

Actuator with fluid-redirecting and drag-reducing surface features

Various embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to attenuating excitation energy of a rotatable storage medium using one or more plates each having a plurality of parallel channels to buffer fluid flow across an associated medium surface. A preferred embodiment includes a plurality of channels in facing relation to a common surface of a rotatable storage medium. Further included in a preferred embodiment, the plurality of channels are sequentially arranged into a first, second, and third channels with differing sidewall characterizations. In an alternative embodiment, a plurality of storage mediums which are axially aligned have a plurality of channels in facing relation to either a top or bottom surface of a rotatable storage medium.

Pressure equalizing fluid flow stripper apparatus

An actuator assembly including a body portion having at least one actuator arm extending therefrom is disclosed. The body portion includes a body damping assembly to control vibration modes of the actuator body. The damping assembly is coupled to the actuator body of a head actuator assembly to control vibration modes of the actuator body to reduce head positioning errors.

Actuator assembly including an actuator body damping assembly

Apparatus and method for damping operational vibration modes of an actuator assembly. The actuator assembly preferably supports a data transducing head adjacent a storage medium in a servo track writing environment. The actuator assembly further supports a circuit assembly comprising circuit board, card or other circuit portion to facilitate electrical communication with the data transducing head. A damping assembly is interposed between the circuit assembly and the actuator assembly to mechanically decouple the circuit assembly from the actuator assembly. Preferably, the damper assembly comprises one or more rigid damper plates and one or more viscoelastic layers therebetween to provide constrain layer damping. As desired, the plates can be provided with progressively larger thickness dimensions in a direction away from the actuator assembly.

Actuator assembly including a circuit assembly and a damper therefor

A disc drive includes a housing surrounding a voice coil in a voice coil cavity, and a disc in a disc cavity. The disc has data tracks and an outer diameter. The disc rotates to induce an airflow along the outer diameter. The voice coil actuates an actuator arm in the disc cavity to access the data tracks. An air dam is in the disc cavity upstream of the actuator arm. The airflow includes a straight line tangent airflow portion along a straight edge of a shroud that is free of obstructions and upstream of the air dam. The straight line airflow portion extends from an arc airflow portion around the outer diameter to the voice coil cavity along a straight line path tangent to the outer diameter.

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Prior Lake, MN, United States of America

Xiaohong Sun