Disk drive with viscoelastic damper disposed between...

Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For shifting head between tracks

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C360S097030, C360S244500

Reexamination Certificate

active

06498704

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to the field of disk drives and, more particularly, to damping vibrations in a at least one load beam or suspension which extends toward a computer-readable storage medium disk and which carries a transducer or head to read and/or write information from/to such disk.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Vibrations are an area of concern in disk drive designs, particularly in relation to portable computers. One type of damping system which has been employed in previous disk drive designs is illustrated in
FIG. 1
which, as noted thereon, is admitted to be prior art. The disk drive
2
of
FIG. 1
includes a disk
6
which has a plurality of concentric tracks (not shown) for storing information thereon and which rotates about an axis
8
at typically high speeds. Information is stored onto and read from the disk
6
by a read/write assembly
12
. Components of the read/write assembly
12
include a rigid actuator arm
14
which extends from a location beyond a perimeter
10
of the disk
6
to a location “over” the disk or toward but not typically to the rotational axis
8
of the disk
6
(i.e., a reference ray extend perpendicularly from the disk
6
will intersect the actuator arm
14
), a flexible suspension or load beam
18
which is fixedly attached to the actuator arm
14
in cantilevered fashion and disposed in opposing relation to one of the two primary data storage surfaces of the disk
6
, and a transducer or head
22
which is attached to the load beam
18
and which interfaces with the disk
6
to read and/or write information from/to the disk
6
in a manner known in the art (e.g., by rotational motion of the actuator arm
14
by a voice coil motor to vary the position of the head
22
relative to the disk
6
during rotation of the disk
6
). Common practice is for the head
22
to be mounted on the load beam
18
via a slider, gimbled connection, or the like (not shown).
Some disk drive designs which employ a gimbled connection of the head
22
to the load beam
18
have experienced problems with vibrations in this region. The disk drive
2
includes what is commonly referred to as a constrained layer damper
26
to provide sheer damping capabilities or damping of vibrations which are directed generally parallel with the surface of the disk
6
in relation to such a gimbled interconnection. Components of the constrained layered damper
26
include a metal layer
34
which is interconnected with the load beam
18
by an adhesive layer
30
. One shortcoming associated with damping mechanisms of this type is that it increases the manufacturing costs of the disk drive. For instance, it is common to remove the load beam
18
from the clean room to install the constrained layer damper
18
, such that the load beam
18
with the constrained layer damper
26
mounted thereon must be re-cleaned before reentering the clean room for continuation of the assembly of the disk drive
2
. Labor-intensive operations are also involved with the actual installation of constrained layer dampers
26
. One such constrained layer damper
26
is required for each load beam
18
of the disk drive
2
which may include a relatively large number of disks in a stack. All of these factors contribute to the overall cost of the disk drive
2
. Another problem with these types of vibration damping systems is that constrained layer dampers
26
really only provide sheer damping capabilities. No significant damping is provided in relation to any motion of the head
22
toward the disk
6
by constrained layer dampers
26
. Finally, the constrained layer damper
26
is mounted toward the end of the cantilevered connection of the load beam
18
to the actuator arm
14
. This increases the gram-loading of the load beam
18
and thereby the control of the position of the head
22
relative to the disk
6
.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to damping vibrations in disk drives. A first aspect of the present invention relates to what is commonly referred to as a depopulated disk drive which includes at least two disks which define a computer-readable storage medium system of sorts. Each of the disks is a separate computer-readable storage medium (e.g., magnetic) for the storage of information thereon. These two disks are separated by a space and are typically mounted on a typically vertically disposed spindle for rotation within a typically horizontally disposed plane. Other spindle/disk orientations may be utilized. A pair of load beams or suspensions are disposed within the space between the two noted disks. Each of these load beams has a transducer or head mounted on typically an end portion thereof which projects toward one of the disks. These heads thereby project in at least generally opposite directions. Typical functions provided by the noted heads are to read and/or write information from/to their corresponding disk. Movement of the load beams relative to the disks is provided by a load beam drive assembly (e.g., actuator arm with voice coil) and is used to vary the radial position of the heads relative to their respective disk and access different storage regions of the disks. Linear actuators could also be employed. Notably, a damper is disposed between and more preferably couples the two noted load beams. Again, this first aspect of the present invention is applicable to depopulated drives having more than two disks. In such disk drives, preferably each pair of load beams which is disposed within a common space between two adjacently disposed disks includes a damper of the type presented by this first aspect. Moreover, the load beam associated with the end surface of each of the disks on opposite ends of the disk stack may also include such a load beam damper as well, such as in accordance with the third aspect of the present invention which is addressed below.
Various refinements exist of the features noted in relation to the first aspect of the present invention. Further features may also be incorporated in the subject first aspect as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. Contact between the head and its corresponding disk usually exists when the disk drive is “off” (e.g., when the computer-readable storage medium disks are not spinning). Each of the noted load beams may include a hinge and a spring, or a hinge/spring assembly, which collectively allow their corresponding head to be biased toward their corresponding disk to maintain this type of contact. During rotation of the computer-readable storage medium disks (except possibly at the initial startup where a lift-off mechanism may be employed to displace the heads from their corresponding disk), however, the resulting air cushion of sorts above the rotating disks maintains their corresponding heads a predetermined distance thereabove (“fly height”) by a controlled flexure of the load beam (e.g., about the hinge and based on the biasing forces generated by the spring). As such, the load beams are flexible and also commonly referred to as suspensions. The damper associated with a particular load beam may be a different structure from the load beam's hinge and spring flexure system of sorts. Moreover, preferably the damper is disposed at a location which is at least generally proximate where the noted load beams interconnect with the load beam drive assembly and which is typically a cantilevered interconnection. In the case where the load beam drive assembly includes a rigid actuator arm or actuator arm block which accommodates a plurality of load beams for simultaneous movement thereof, preferably the damper between the noted pair of load beams also interfaces with the actuator arm through an abutting engagement therewith.
At least a certain amount of bias may be provided by the damper, such as for maintaining the same in a certain positional relations

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