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:
Apr. 08, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2000
Wonshik Chee, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Haesung Kwon, San Jose, CA (US);
Pyongwon Yim, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention is a mechanism for making minute adjustments in the position of a read/write head for magnetically or optically reading from or writing to a data storage media. The head positioning mechanism (microactuator) will preferably be used in association with known disk storage actuation systems such as those typically used in current magnetic data storage devices such as hard disk drives, and optical data storage devices such as CDs. The microactuator comprises a slider support arm with a slider formed thereon, that is separated from an anchor structure by a gap. A pizoelectric element is positioned across the gap and is coupled at one end to the slider support arm, and at the other to the anchor structure. The anchor structure has greater resistance to bending than the slider support arm. Thus, when the piezoelectric element changes length, the slider support arm will tend to bend relative to the anchor structure, moving the slider on the slider support arm a controlled minute distance.