GB2357368A - An actuator arm for a hard disk drive - Google Patents

An actuator arm for a hard disk drive Download PDF

Info

Publication number
GB2357368A
GB2357368A GB0026211A GB0026211A GB2357368A GB 2357368 A GB2357368 A GB 2357368A GB 0026211 A GB0026211 A GB 0026211A GB 0026211 A GB0026211 A GB 0026211A GB 2357368 A GB2357368 A GB 2357368A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
assembly
arm
actuator
ridge
disk
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB0026211A
Other versions
GB2357368B (en
GB0026211D0 (en
Inventor
Woo-Cheol Jeong
Woo-Sung Kim
Sung-Wook Kim
Jong-Hoon Jeong
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd filed Critical Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Publication of GB0026211D0 publication Critical patent/GB0026211D0/en
Publication of GB2357368A publication Critical patent/GB2357368A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2357368B publication Critical patent/GB2357368B/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B5/00—Recording by magnetisation or demagnetisation of a record carrier; Reproducing by magnetic means; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B5/48—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed
    • G11B5/4806—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed specially adapted for disk drive assemblies, e.g. assembly prior to operation, hard or flexible disk drives
    • G11B5/4813—Mounting or aligning of arm assemblies, e.g. actuator arm supported by bearings, multiple arm assemblies, arm stacks or multiple heads on single arm
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B5/00—Recording by magnetisation or demagnetisation of a record carrier; Reproducing by magnetic means; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B5/48—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed
    • G11B5/4806—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed specially adapted for disk drive assemblies, e.g. assembly prior to operation, hard or flexible disk drives
    • G11B5/4826—Mounting, aligning or attachment of the transducer head relative to the arm assembly, e.g. slider holding members, gimbals, adhesive
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B5/00—Recording by magnetisation or demagnetisation of a record carrier; Reproducing by magnetic means; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B5/48—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed
    • G11B5/58—Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed with provision for moving the head for the purpose of maintaining alignment of the head relative to the record carrier during transducing operation, e.g. to compensate for surface irregularities of the latter or for track following
    • G11B5/60—Fluid-dynamic spacing of heads from record-carriers
    • G11B5/6005—Specially adapted for spacing from a rotating disc using a fluid cushion
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00—Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/20—Disc-shaped record carriers
    • G11B2220/25—Disc-shaped record carriers characterised in that the disc is based on a specific recording technology
    • G11B2220/2508—Magnetic discs
    • G11B2220/2516—Hard disks

Landscapes

  • Moving Of Heads (AREA)
  • Supporting Of Heads In Record-Carrier Devices (AREA)

Abstract

The actuator arm includes at least one actuator beam 30 which has a ridge 44 that extends toward a disk 16 when installed into a hard disk drive assembly. The ridge 44 may impede a z-axis movement of the disk and prevent a data portion of the disk from striking other disk drive components when the drive is subjected to a shock load.

Description

2357368 AN ACTUATOR ARM The present invention relates to an actuator arm
assembly for a hard disk drive.
Hard disk drives typically contain a plurality of hard disks that are rotated by a spindle motor. The disks spin relative to a plurality of heads which can magnetize and sense the magnetic fields of the disk surfaces to store and retrieve binary information with techniques well known in the art.
The heads are typically gimbal mounted to a corresponding suspension arm. A head and suspension arm are commonly referred to as head gimbal assemblies (HGAs). The suspension arms are attached to an actuator arm which can pivot about a base plate of the drive. The actuator arm has a voice coil that is connected to a drive circuit (not shown) and coupled to a magnet assembly 8 of the drive.
The coil and magnet assembly are commonly referred to as a voice coil motor.
The drive circult provIdes a current which excites the voice coil motor. and causes. the actuator -arm to rotate about the base plate. Rotation of the actuator arm moves the heads relative to the surfaces of the disks. Data is typically stored onto the disk within annular tracks.
Movement of the heads allows the drive to access the different disk tracks.
An external shock or vibration load may cause the disks to move and strike the actuator arm. This contact may 2 corrupt the data stored on the disks. It would be desirable to prevent contact between the actuator arm and the data portions of the disks during a shock occurrence.
it would also be desirable to provide a relatively inexpensive solution to this problem.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an actuator arm for a hard disk drive assembly, comprising: a bearing mount; a voice coil portion that extends from said bearing mount; and an actuator beam that extends from said bearing mount and which has a ridge.
Preferably, said ridge is located adjacent to said bearing mount.
Preferably, said actuator beam has a plurality of ridges.
Preferably, said actuator beam includes a swage opening.
Preferably, the or each ridge is arranged, in use, to be adjacent to a non-data zone of a disk of the hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied to the assembly, to cause a disk of the assembly to contact said a=, such contact will occur between the non data zone and the zidge.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an actuator arm assembly, comprising: an actuator arm which has a voice coil portion and an actuator beam that extend from a bearing amount, said actuator beam having a ridge; a voice coil that is attached to said voice coil portion; and a head gimbal assembly that is attached to said actuator beam.
3 Preferably, said ridge is located adjacent to said bearing mount.
Preferably, said actuator beam has a plurality of ridges.
Preferably, wherein said head gimbal assembly includes a head that is mounted to a suspension arm which is attached to said actuator beam.
Preferably, wherein the or each ridge is arranged, in use, to be adjacent to a non-data zone of a disk of a hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied to the hard drive assembly, to cause a disk of the hard drive assembly to contact said arm, such contact will occur between the non-data zone and the ridge.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a hard disk drive, comprising: a base plate; a spindle motor that is mounted to said base plate; a disk that is rotated by said spindle motor; an actuator arm which has a voice coil portion and an actuator beam that extend from a bearing mount, said actuator beam having a ridge which extends.toward said disk; a voice coil that is attached to -said voice, coil portion; a magnet assembly that is coupled to said voice coil; and a head gimbal assembly that is attached to said actuator beam and coupled to said disk.
Preferably, said ridge is located adjacent to a non-data zone of said disk.
Preferably, said actuator beam has a plurality of ridges.
4 Preferably, said head gimbal assembly includes a head that is mounted to a suspension arm which is attached to said actuator beam.
Preferably, the or each ridge of the actuator arm is arranged, in use, to be adjacent to a non-data zone of a disk of the hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied to the hard disk drive, to cause a disk of the hard disk drive to contact said arm, such contact will occur between the non-data zone and the ridge.
For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a hard disk drive assembly of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a side view showing actuator beam ridges impeding the z-axis movement of a plurality of disks within the disk drive.
Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, Figures 1 and 2 shown an embodiment of a hard disk drive 10 of the present invention. The disk drive 10 includes a spindle motor 12 that is mounted to a base plate 14. The spindle motor 12 rotates a plurality of disks 16. The disks 16 rotate relative to an actuator arm assembly 18. The actuator arm assembly 18 includes a plurality of head gimbal assemblies 20 that are attached to an actuator arm 22. Each head gimbal assembly 20 includes a head 24 that is gimbal mounted to a suspension arm 26. Each head 24 is magnetically coupled to a disk surface 28.
Each head 24 may include a write element (not shown) and a read element (not shown) that are coupled to an electronic circuit(s) (not shown). The circuit and read/write elements can magnetize and sense the magnetic field of each disk surface 28 to store and retrieve data within the disk drive 10. The data is typically stored within sectors that extend along annular tracks of the disks 16.
Each head 24 typically includes an air bearing surface which cooperates with an air flow created by the rotating disks 16 to create an air bearing between the head 24 and the disk surface 28. The air bearing prevents contact and -wear between the disks 16 and the heads 24.
The actuator arm 22 includes a plurality of actuator beams which extend from a bearing mount 32. The head gimbal assembly 20 is swaged to the beams 30 by swage plates 33.
The actuator beams 30 are separated by slots 34 which allow the disks 16 to spin between the beams 30. The actuator arm assembly 18 -includes a bearing assembly 36 that pivotally mounts the arm 22 to the base plate 14.
The bearing assembly j6 extends through a bearing opening in the bearing mount 32 of the arm 22.
The actuator arm 22 has a voice coil portion 38 which extends f rom the be aring mount 32. A voice coil 40 is attached to the voice coil portion 38 of the arm 22. The voice coil 40 is coupled to a magnet assembly 42 and a 6 driver circuit (not shown). When excited by the driver circuit the voice coil 30 cooperates with the magnet assembly 42 to create a torque which swings the actuator arm 22 relative to the base plate 16. The pivotal S movement of the actuator arm 22 moves the heads 24 across the disk surfaces 28 to access different tracks of the disks 16.
The actuator arm 22 has a plurality of ridges 44 that extend from the actuator beams 30 adjacent to the bearing mount 32. The ridges 44 are located adjacent to non-data zones 46 at outer portions of the disks 16. The non-data zones 46 are located adjacent to data zones 48 of the disk surfaces 28.
- As shown in Figure 2, at least certain types of shock load may cause the disks 16 to move relative to the actuator a rm 22 - The ridges 44 will engage the non-data zones 46 of the- disks 16 and prevent contact between the actuator arm:22 and the data zones 48. The ridges 44 can thus prevent a corruption of data when the disk drive 10 is exposed. to a shock load. The ridges 44 should have a height which allows a sufficient clearance between the arm 22 and the disk surfaces 28 so that the disks 16 can spin between the beams 30. The ridges 44 may be formed by machining or casting processes known in the art.
As will be appreciated from the above, the present invention includes an embodiment of an actuator arm for a hard disk drive. The actuator arm includes at least one actuator beam which has a ridge that extends toward a disk when installed into a hard disk drive assembly. The ridge may Impede a z-axis movement of the disk and prevent a 7 data portion of the disk from striking other disk drive components when the drive is subjected to a shock load.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention need not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangement shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.
The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.
All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at. least some of such features 25. and/or steps mutually exclusive.
Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
8 The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extend to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.
9

Claims (18)

1. An actuator arm for a hard disk drive assembly, comprising:
bearing mount; voice coil portion that extends from said bearing mount; and an actuator beam that extends from said bearing mount and which has a ridge.
2. The arm of claim 1, wherein said ridge is located adjacent to said bearing mount.
3. The arm of claim 2 or 2, wherein said actuator beam has a plurality of ridges.
4. The arm of claim 1, wherein said actuator beam includes a swage opening.
5. An arm according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the or each ridge -1s arranged, in use, to be adjacent to.a non-data zone of a d-isk of the hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied to the assembly, to cause a disk of the assembly to contact said arm, such contact will occur between the non data zone and the ridge.
6. An actuator arm assembly, comprising:
an actuator arm which has a voice coil portion and an actuator beam that extend from a bearing amount, said actuator beam having a ridge; a voice coil that is attached to said voice coil portion; and a head gimbal assembly that is attached to said actuator beam.
7. The assembly of claim 6, wherein said ridge is located adjacent to said bearing mount.
8. The assembly of claim 6 or 7, wherein said actuator is beam has a plurality of ridges.
9. The assembly of claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein said head gimbal asBembly includes a head that is mounted to a suspension arm which is attached to said actuator beam.
10. An actuator arm assembly according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the or each ridge is arranged, in use, to be adjacent to a non-data zone of a disk of a hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied 2-5 to the hard drive assembly, to cause a disk of the hard drive assembly to contact said arm, such contact will occur between the non-data zone and the ridge.
11. A hard disk drive, comprising:
a base plate; a spindle motor that is mounted to said base plate; a disk that is rotated by said spindle motor; an actuator arm which has a voice coil portion and an actuator beam that extend from a bearing mount, said actuator beam having a ridge which extends toward said disk; a voice coil that is attached to said voice coil portion; a magnet assembly that is coupled to said voice coil; and a head gimbal assembly that is attached to said actuator beam and coupled to said disk.
.
12. The hard disk drive of claim 11, wherein said ridge is located adjacent to a non-data zone of said disk.
13. The hard disk drive of claim 11 or 12 wherein said actuator beam has a plurality of ridges.
14. The hard disk drive of cla-im - 11, 12 or 13, wherein said head gimba-I assembly includes.a. head that is mounted to a suspension arm which is attached to said actuator beam.
15. A hard disk drive according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the or each ridge of the actuator arm is arranged, in use, to be adjacent to a non-data zone of a disk of the hard drive assembly, such that if a sufficient shock load is applied to the hard disk drive, to cause a 12 disk of the hard disk drive to contact said arm, such contact will occur between the non-data zone and the ridge.
16. An actuator arm substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
17. An actuator arm assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
18. A hard disk drive substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
GB0026211A 1999-10-29 2000-10-26 An actuator arm Expired - Fee Related GB2357368B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US43045399A 1999-10-29 1999-10-29

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB0026211D0 GB0026211D0 (en) 2000-12-13
GB2357368A true GB2357368A (en) 2001-06-20
GB2357368B GB2357368B (en) 2002-03-20

Family

ID=23707630

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB0026211A Expired - Fee Related GB2357368B (en) 1999-10-29 2000-10-26 An actuator arm

Country Status (3)

Country Link
JP (1) JP2001155449A (en)
KR (1) KR100366376B1 (en)
GB (1) GB2357368B (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR100604878B1 (en) * 2004-07-07 2006-07-31 삼성전자주식회사 Base plate and hard disc drive therewith

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5754371A (en) * 1996-01-10 1998-05-19 Seagate Technology, Inc. Swage plate bumper for disc drive
WO1999009545A1 (en) * 1997-08-15 1999-02-25 Seagate Technology, Inc. Ramp load assembly for a disc drive

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4992899A (en) * 1988-04-04 1991-02-12 Kalok Corporation Low inertia, single component arm actuator for open-loop type disk drives
JPH03201270A (en) * 1989-12-28 1991-09-03 Alps Electric Co Ltd Magnetic disk driving device
JPH0676510A (en) * 1992-08-31 1994-03-18 Sony Corp Disk device
KR0121102Y1 (en) * 1995-08-25 1998-08-01 김광호 Actuator assembly of hard disk drive

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5754371A (en) * 1996-01-10 1998-05-19 Seagate Technology, Inc. Swage plate bumper for disc drive
WO1999009545A1 (en) * 1997-08-15 1999-02-25 Seagate Technology, Inc. Ramp load assembly for a disc drive

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2357368B (en) 2002-03-20
JP2001155449A (en) 2001-06-08
KR20010051140A (en) 2001-06-25
KR100366376B1 (en) 2002-12-31
GB0026211D0 (en) 2000-12-13

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PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 20141026