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:
Nov. 02, 1999
Filed:
Aug. 15, 1997
James M Adley, Hutchinson, MN (US);
Questek Innovations, Inc., Waconi, WI (US);
Abstract
A disk drive system includes a base, a disk rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly pivotally attached to the base. The actuator assembly moves the transducer to selected areas of the disk where information representative of data is to be written or read. The actuator assembly maintains the transducer in a transducing relationship with the disk. The actuator assembly includes an arm and a head gimbal assembly. The head gimbal assembly includes a suspension. The arm has a length from the point where it pivots to the end of the arm. The length of the arm is greater than 1.5 times the length of the suspension. The ratio of the length of the arm to the length of the suspension is in the range of 2.0 to 10.0. The arm is made of a composite material that includes elongated stiffening fibers. The resulting composite has a stiffness to mass ratio higher than aluminum, steel, or magnesium. An actuator arm made of the composite material having the high stiffness to mass ratio resonates at a frequency greater than 3 kHz, which is outside the operating range of the actuator servo bandwidth. The arm and the suspension can be thought of as having a fixed length for a certain design. The length of the arm, made of the high stiffness to mass material, is extended and the length of the suspension is shortened to form an actuator assembly of the overall length with higher than previously obtainable resonance frequencies.