Abstract: Head gimbal assemblies are provided that comprise a slider, a load beam, a flexure, and a lifter tab. The flexure holds the slider against a pivot point of the load beam. The lifter tab extends from the load beam to engage a load/unload ramp. The load beam includes a base portion having the pivot point, a first side rail, and a first limiter stop. The first side rail is disposed adjacent to a transverse side of the slider while the first limiter stop is adjacent to a leading side of the slider. The first limiter stop extends from the first side rail and is essentially perpendicular thereto. The flexure includes a first leading edge tab that extends between the first limiter stop and the base portion of the load beam to limit the movement of the flexure especially during loading and unloading.

Abstract: Methods of manufacturing a load beam including a flexure/slider assembly are provided. A pre-form of a load beam has a base, a side beam extending from the base and a tab extending from the side beam, all substantially in a common plane. The flexure/slider assembly is attached to the base, then the load beam is bent in two locations, between the tab and the side beam, and between the side beam and the base. After bending, the tab and the side beam are substantially orthogonal to one another and both the tab and the side beam are substantially orthogonal to the base so that the base, side beam, and tab form a partial enclosure around the slider.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: In one embodiment the apparatus is a head gimbal assembly for use in a disk drive having a load/unload ramp, and includes a load beam having a pivot point, a flexure/slider assembly having a flexure and a slider, at least one limiter mounted between the flexure/slider assembly and the load beam, and a lifter tab extending from the load beam so as to be engagable with the load/unload ramp. The flexure is connected to the load beam and to the slider. The slider is positioned by the flexure to be capable of moving about the pivot point. The at least one limiter is positioned to limit movement of the flexure/slider assembly relative to the load beam. The head gimbal assembly can have a low profile by having the lifter tab extend from the load beam substantially at or below the upper surface of the load beam.

Abstract: The present invention is embodied in an actuator arm which is mounted to a primary actuator. The primary actuator positions the actuator arm, with a read/write head mounted to the actuator arm, across a data storage disk. The actuator arm comprises an inboard portion, an outboard portion and a pair of bimorph actuators. The inboard portion has a longitudinal axis and is attached to the primary actuator. The outboard portion has the read/write head mounted onto it. The pair of bimorph actuators are deflectable together in a common direction and are connected between the inboard and the outboard portions. Upon deflection of the bimorph actuators in the same direction, the outboard portion is translated along an at least nearly straight line transverse to the longitudinal axis of the inboard portion.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: Windage proximate to a spinning disk within a disk drive is directed through a plurality of apertures in a ramp situated near the outside diameter of the disk. A tab extending from a load beam that supports a slider rests on the ramp when the drive is not in use. When the drive is started the disk begins to spin and an actuator moves the load beam to bring the slider over the surface of the disk. As the load beam moves, the tab is guided along the ramp and cushioned by the air flow emerging from apertures in the ramp beneath it. When the drive is stopped the actuator brings the load beam back so that the tab engages the ramp. A cushion of air is again provided as the tab is moved along the ramp as the tab is returned to a parked position.

Abstract: The present invention is embodied in an actuator arm which is mounted to a primary actuator. The primary actuator positions the actuator arm, with a read/write head mounted to the actuator arm, across a data storage disk. The actuator arm comprises an inboard portion, an outboard portion and a pair of bimorph actuators. The inboard portion has a longitudinal axis and is attached to the primary actuator. The outboard portion has the read/write head mounted onto it. The pair of bimorph actuators are deflectable together in a common direction and are connected between the inboard and the outboard portions. Upon deflection of the bimorph actuators in the same direction, the outboard portion is translated along an at least nearly straight line transverse to the longitudinal axis of the inboard portion.

Abstract: The present invention is embodied in an actuator arm which is mounted to a primary actuator. The primary actuator positions the actuator arm, with a read/write head mounted to the actuator arm, across a data storage disk. The actuator arm comprises an inboard portion, an outboard portion and a pair of bimorph actuators. The inboard portion has a longitudinal axis and is attached to the primary actuator. The outboard portion has the read/write head mounted onto it. The pair of bimorph actuators are deflectable together in a common direction and are connected between the inboard and the outboard portions. Upon deflection of the bimorph actuators in the same direction, the outboard portion is translated along an at least nearly straight line transverse to the longitudinal axis of the inboard portion.

Abstract: The present invention provides passive and active damping systems for reducing or substantially eliminating undesirable vibrations from components of data storage and retrieval systems. The passive and active damping systems incorporate piezoelectric materials, and make use of an advantageous property of these materials, namely the ability to convert mechanical strains into electric potentials and vice versa. The passive systems of the present invention dissipate vibrational energy through an electrical shunt circuit. The active systems seek to cancel an existing vibration in a component by generating and applying an additional vibration to the same component, where the applied vibration is out of phase with the existing vibration and the two vibrations tend to add destructively. Active systems, in certain circumstances, may also be able to anticipate predictable vibrations and proactively cancel them, rather than merely reacting to vibrations after they arise.

Abstract: The present invention is embodied in an actuator arm which is mounted to a primary actuator. The primary actuator positions the actuator arm, with a read/write head mounted to the actuator arm, across a data storage disk. The actuator arm comprises an inboard portion, an outboard portion and a pair of bimorph actuators. The inboard portion has a longitudinal axis and is attached to the primary actuator. The outboard portion has the read/write head mounted onto it. The pair of bimorph actuators are deflectable together in a common direction and are connected between the inboard and the outboard portions. Upon deflection of the bimorph actuators in the same direction, the outboard portion is translated along an at least nearly straight line transverse to the longitudinal axis of the inboard portion.

Abstract: Amplifier chips for heads in a disk drive are interspaced adjacent to junctions between actuator arms and suspension arms that hold the heads. This allows decreased spacing between plural disks in the drive system and accelerated data rates. This also decreases assembly steps and damage to the chips as they are further removed from mechanical processes such as swaging that attach the suspension arms to the actuator arms. Damage to the disks or chips during operation is also averted, as the chips are removed from each other and from the rapidly spinning disk surfaces with which the suspension arms and heads are proximate. The interspacing can also improve performance characteristics of the preamplifier chips, which do not need to be made as thin in order to fit between disks, decreasing costs and problems such as overheating of the chips.

Abstract: A slider attaches to a low profile flexure to form a slider-flexure assembly. The flexure has no out-of-plane bends thereby minimizing slider-flexure assembly height. The slider has a top, a bottom, a leading edge and a trailing edge. The flexure includes a tongue having a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end of the tongue connects to the top of the slider. The proximal end of the tongue overhangs the leading edge of the slider. The flexure includes gimbal beams that diverge from the proximal end of the tongue so that the gimbal beams suspend the slider from beyond the leading edge of the slider, thus eliminating a need for out-of-plane bends in the flexure.

Abstract: A disk drive includes a pivot bearing and actuator arm. The actuator arm includes a stepped pivot bearing housing. The pivot bearing housing has a first nominal inside diameter and a relatively smaller second nominal inside diameter to align the pivot bearing within the bearing housing. The pivot bearing has a body and a head. The head press-fits within the first inside diameter and the body press-fits within the second inside diameter to align the bearing assembly in the bearing housing. The body diameter of the bearing assembly is smaller than the bearing housing first nominal diameter to enable the bearing housing to pre-align the bearing assembly with respect to the bearing housing.

Abstract: A load beam of a head suspension assembly includes a base plate attachment segment, and an intermediate region that extends integrally from the base plate attachment segment. A bend region extends integrally from the intermediate region for providing the load beam with a predetermined preload spring force and for increasing the lateral stiffness of the load beam. A forward section extends from the bend region, so that the center of gravity of the bend region and forward section is shifted toward the base plate attachment in order to improve the shock performance of the load beam, and so that a moment arm of the bend region and the forward section is shortened. In a preferred embodiment the intermediate region is wider than the base plate attachment segment.

Abstract: A load beam of a head suspension assembly includes a base plate attachment segment, and a bend region that extends from the base plate attachment segment for providing the load beam with a predetermined preload spring force and for increasing the lateral stiffness of the load beam. The bend region is defined by two side edges that are substantially symmetrical relative to a central axis of the load beam. In a preferred embodiment, the bend region is wider than the base plate attachment segment. A forward section extends from the bend region so that the center of gravity of the bend region and forward section is shifted toward the base plate attachment to improve the overall shock performance of the load beam. In one embodiment a central channel is formed at least partly in the forward section and is located in a nodal area of a first torsion vibration mode of the load beam.