The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 2026
Filed:
Jan. 22, 2024
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Kia Moh Teo, San Jose, CA (US);
Hiroyasu Tsuchida, Fujisawa, JP;
Yanning Liu, San Jose, CA (US);
Haruhide Takahashi, Yokohama, JP;
Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A suspension assembly for a hard disk drive includes a load beam coupled with a corresponding flexure via a centerline weld at a distal portion of the flexure, where the flexure further includes a gimbal portion at least in part formed away from the load beam in proximity to the centerline weld. The gimbal portion may be formed away from the load beam by way of mechanical forming prior to welding to the load beam and/or at least lateral portions may be formed away from the load beam by way of laser irradiation to the flexure subsequent to welding to the load beam. In either case, clearance between the pivoting gimbal flexure and the corresponding load beam around the vicinity of the centerline weld attachment point is enabled, to provide freedom from interference between the parts and stable resonance modes throughout the media load z-height variations.