Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – Means to assemble electrical device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-20
2004-11-30
Tugbang, A. Dexter (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
Means to assemble electrical device
C029S739000, C029S742000, C029S757000, C029S761000, C414S788200, C198S370010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06823581
ABSTRACT:
This application claims the priority benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-355838, filed on Nov. 22, 2000, and entitled “
A Base Plate Structure, A Transfer System, And Method And Apparatus For Assembling A Head Gimbal Assembly.”
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of assembling a head gimbal assembly (to be referred to as an HG assembly) for a hard disk drive. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus and method of assembling an HG assembly by using members in a series state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 25 through 29
, the construction of a HG assembly is shown.
FIG. 25
is a perspective view showing the appearance of an HG assembly
51
(a suspension section
59
to be described later) before a slider is attached thereto, and
FIG. 26
is an exploded view showing the configuration. The HG assembly
51
comprises a stacked layer structure of a base plate
52
, a load beam
53
, and a flexure
54
. A flat surface
53
a
of the load beam
53
is joined to an opposed flat surface
52
a
of the base plate
52
by a method to be described later.
In this case, positioning is accomplished such that an opening
53
c
of the load beam
53
is superimposed on an opening
52
c
of the base plate
52
, a reference opening
53
b
of the load beam
53
is superimposed on a reference opening
52
b
of the base plate
52
, and an edge
52
d
of the base plate
52
is aligned with an indicator line
201
along the longer sides of an oblong opening
53
d
formed in the load beam
53
. The load beam
53
is made of an elastic stainless steel having a thickness of approximately 0.038 to 0.05 mm, so that it is made thin, light, and can be kept sufficiently stiff.
Flanges
53
e
for strengthening the load beam are formed at the edges of a tapered portion
53
m
excluding an area near the oblong opening
53
d
. The tapered portion
53
m
extends longitudinally from the joined portion between the load beam
53
and the base plate
52
. The portion where the oblong opening
53
d
is formed corresponds to a hinge portion
53
f
. The hinge portion maintains resilience even after it has been bent, as will be described later.
A tapered oval-shaped guide opening
53
g
and a generally rectangular opening
53
h
are formed in the tapered portion
53
m
. A gimbal pivot
53
i
to be described later, that lifts upwards, is formed in the protruding portion that extends from the center of the hinge portion
53
f
side of the opening
53
h
to the center of the opening
53
h
, and a tab
53
j
is formed at the leading end of the tapered portion
53
m
through the medium of a warped support
53
k.
The flexure
54
is made of a stainless steel with desired elasticity and a thickness of approximately 20 micrometers, for example, and part of the flexure is fixedly joined to the load beam
53
. At this point, the reference opening
54
b
of the flexure
54
is superimposed on the reference opening
53
b
of the load beam
53
, and the guide opening
54
c
of the flexure
54
is superimposed on the guide opening
53
g
of the load beam
53
. The portion of the flexure
54
leading from an indicator line
202
is not joined so as to be movable.
An extendable joint
54
d
is formed in the flexure
54
. The joint is disposed in a position to be superimposed on the hinge portion
53
f
of the load beam
53
so as not to prevent the elastic action of the hinge portion
53
f
when the flexure is joined to the load beam
53
. An arch-shaped opening
54
e
is formed in the unjoined portion of the flexure
54
, and a flexure tongue
54
f
protruding toward the center of the opening
54
e
is formed in the center of the bottom close to the leading end of the flexure
54
.
An integral-type conducting lead
55
having four leads is also disposed on the flexure
54
. In the integral-type conducting lead
55
, four leads
55
a
to
55
d
(refer to
FIG. 26
) are provided so as not to touch to each other through a very thin insulating sheet
55
e
. One end of each of the leads is disposed on a connector portion
54
a
of the flexure
54
. These lead ends are aligned so as to form a multi-connector
55
f
. The other ends of the leads are formed such that they can be respectively connected to the pads for four bonding pads
56
a
to
56
d
(shown in
FIG. 29
) formed in the slider
56
.
The hinge portion
53
f
of the load beam
53
of the HG assembly
51
excluding the slider
56
, configured as described above, is bent by approximately 19 degrees, for example, as shown in the dot-dash line in FIG.
25
. This bending occurs due to plastic deformation, so that this bending angle is naturally maintained. Herein, the parts that exclude the slider
56
from the HG assembly
51
, shown in
FIG. 25
, will be referred to as a suspension section
59
.
In the slider
56
, a magneto resistive read head to be referred to as an MR head
57
for reading data and an electromagnetic induction-type write head
58
are disposed in predetermined positions. Incidentally, the heads in
FIG. 26
are just illustrated for reference, so that their positions in the drawing are not accurate ones. Each of the heads has two leads not shown, and leads are connected to the four bonding pads
56
a
to
56
d
shown in
FIG. 29
, respectively. The slider
56
is attached to the flexure tongue
54
f
of the flexure in
FIG. 27
to be described later, with an adhesive.
Next, the arrangement of a pair of flexure arms
54
g
and
54
h
formed on both sides of the opening
54
e
of the flexure
54
, a pair of openings
54
i
and
54
j
formed in the vicinity of the leading end of the flexure
54
, the gimbal pivot
53
i
formed in the load beam
53
, and the slider
56
attached to the flexure tongue
54
f
will be described.
FIG. 27
is a partially expanded view of the leading end of the HG assembly
51
before the slider
56
is attached, or the suspension section
59
.
FIG. 28
is a vertical sectional view of the portion indicated by an indicator line
203
in
FIG. 27
, as seen in the direction of arrow H.
FIG. 29
is a perspective view of the leading end of the HG assembly
51
with the slider
56
attached to the flexure tongue
54
f.
As described before, the gimbal pivot
53
i
(shown in
FIG. 28
) is formed in the load beam
53
. The flexure arms
54
g
and
54
h
of the flexure
54
, which extend without being joined elastically support the flexure tongue
54
f
coupled thereto. The flexure tongue
54
f
is brought into contact with and supported by the gimbal pivot
53
i
due to joining of the flexure
54
to the load beam
53
. The contact point is on an axis
200
X in
FIG. 27
, corresponding to the center line of the flexure
54
in the longitudinal direction. An axis
200
Y that passes through the contact point and is perpendicular to the axis
200
X is also shown in FIG.
27
. At this time of the contact, the flexure arms
54
g
and
54
h
are bent to some extent to press the flexure tongue
54
f
against the gimbal pivot
53
i.
The slider
56
is attached to the flexure tongue
54
f
such that its center is generally superimposed over the point where the flexure tongue
54
f
keeps in contact with the gimbal pivot
53
i
, as indicated by the broken line in FIG.
28
. The slider
56
can be thereby rotated to some extent with respect to the axes
200
X and
200
Y, and can be tilted to a predetermined degree in all directions.
The four leads
55
a
to
55
d
(in
FIG. 27
) are fixed to the flexure
54
up to a leading end
55
g
of the insulating sheet
55
e
. The four leads are also fixed to a platform
53
n
in the leading end of the flexure
54
through the insulating sheet
55
e
, on the opposite side of the flexuretongue
54
f
with the two openings
54
i
and
54
j
interposed therebetween.
From the leading end
55
g
of the insulating sheet
55
e
to the platform
53
n
, the four leads
55
a
to
55
d
are bent along the flexure arms
54
g
and
54
h
in pairs to shape like cranks, being suspended in air without being brought
Ishikawa Hiromi Ishikawa
Kidachi Takao
Nakamura Yukihiro
Ohyama Hisashi
Tomiyama Tadaaki
Amaniampong Duke
Dillon & Yudell LLP
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies - Netherlands B.V.
Raissinia Abdy
Tugbang A. Dexter
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