Patent Application
20080256787
Approaches used in performing precise operations on components and component assemblies have necessarily adapted to rapidly changing events affecting factory processes. For example, as miniaturization has proliferated in the electronics market the sheer size of the components and assemblies has rendered some past measurement approaches obsolete. Also, although electronics packages are continually shrinking, the converse is generally true for the feature sets being offered. That is, a predominant demand driving the electronics market now and for the foreseeable future is for more complex and capable devices in ever-smaller sizes.
To keep pace with this evolving market, manufacturers have replaced static measuring tools and fixtures with highly complex processor controlled measurement systems. Successful efforts have also been employed to reengineer the factory to build quality into the process rather than inspect quality into the product.
These and other recent improvements in the art have significantly improved not only the ability to perform precise measurements, but have also forged gains in the often competing goals of enhanced quality and faster throughput. It is to the furthering of those efforts that the embodiments of the present invention are directed.
Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to instrumentation devices used in a manufacturing process.
In some embodiments an apparatus and associated method are provided for precisely positioning a datum surface of a component. The apparatus has a housing defining a tooling datum surface. A collet is supported by the housing, and is thereby selectively operable between an expanded mode and a retracted mode. In the expanded mode, a clearing disengagement is defined with the component. In the retracted mode, a contacting engagement is defined with the component as well as a longitudinal force that is transferred by the contacting engagement to the component capable of pressingly engaging the datum surfaces together. The apparatus further has a bias member urging the collet to the retracted mode.
These and various other features and advantages which characterize the claimed embodiments will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reviewing the associated drawings.
Referring to the drawings in general, and more particularly to
The drive 100 preferably includes a base 102 and a cover 104 (partially cutaway), which together provide a housing for a number of components. The components include a motor to which a clamp 106 is attached for fixing one or more storage mediums 108 (or “discs”) in rotation therewith. Adjacent the disc 108 is an actuator 112 that is pivotable around a spindle bearing 114 by selectively energizing a voice coil motor (“VCM”) 115.
The actuator 112 includes an arm 116 supporting a suspension 118 that, in turn, supports a head 120 (or “transducer”) at a distal end thereof in a data transfer relationship with the disc 108. The actuator 112, bearing 114, and head 120 are typically attached to the drive 100 as a subassembly component referred to as a head stack assembly (“HSA”) 122.
The suspension 118 has a spring section 134 that permits a predetermined flexure of the head 120 relative to the mounting section 130. The spring section 134 provides a preload bias of the head 120 toward the disc 108 when the disc 108 is not spinning, or in other words when the head 120 is in an unloaded state. The preload bias is countered by airflow pressure against the head 120 from the spinning disc 108 in the loaded state of the head 120. Balancing the preload bias and the airflow pressure results in a desired fly height of the head 120 adjacent the disc 108 in the loaded state. In the illustrated embodiments the spring section 134 defines an aperture 136 that reduces the cross sectional strength, and hence the rigidity, of the suspension 118 in the spring section 134.
A load beam 138 extends from the spring section 134. The load beam 138 has stiffening features, such as the formed rails 140, to ensure that all flexing occurs in the spring section 134.
A gimbal 142 is depicted as being attached to the load beam 138 at a distal end of the suspension 118. In alternative equivalent embodiments the gimbal 142 can be formed as a portion of the load beam 138, such as by etching it. A slider 143 is attached to the gimbal 142 and in turn supports the head 120.
In order to provide the desired fly height characteristics, the slider 143 is statically offset in relation to the mounting portion 130 within predetermined manufacturing tolerances. The unloaded position of the slider 143 is measured in terms of the pitch static attitude and roll static attitude. The pitch static attitude, or pitch aspect, is a measurement of the planar disposition of the slider 143 in relation to rotation around axis B. The roll static attitude, or roll aspect, is a measurement of the planar disposition of the slider 143 in relation to rotation around axis A.
It is imperative that the static offset of the slider 143 as well as the slider 143 pitch and roll static attitude, be verified during manufacturing. The present embodiments contemplate performing this verification after all the suspensions 118 have been longitudinally aligned and assembled into the HSA 122 level subassembly component of
The housing defines a passage 168 within which a collet 170 is longitudinally slidable. Preferably, the collet 170 is substantially cylindrically shaped, with a substantially solid shaft 172 at a proximal end and a hollow portion extending therefrom. At a distal end a number of longitudinal voids 174 define a plurality of segmented gripping members 176.
A bushing 178 is disposed within the passage 168 and provides a bore 179 sized for a close mating engagement with the shaft 172, thereby supporting the collet 170 in precise longitudinal movement within the passage 168. As the collet 170 moves downward from the position of
In the embodiments of
These embodiments are merely illustrative and not limiting of the embodiments contemplated by the present invention as recited by the language of the appended claims. For example, without limitation, the gripping members 176 in alternative equivalent embodiments might have mating surfaces or compressible materials that could be frictionally engageable with the thread on the protuberant feature 184.
Accordingly, the present embodiments generally contemplate the collet 170 being slidably supported by the housing 160 and thereby being selectively operable between an expanded mode, shown in
Staying with
A lever 196 having a cam surface 198 is articulated around a pivot 200 to impart a force to the shaft 172 in opposition to the spring 190 force, thereby placing the collet 170 in the expanded mode of
The structure described thus enables a method for precisely fixturing an HSA 122 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. First, the spring-loaded collet 170 is locked in the extended position by latching the lever 196. The protuberant feature 184 can then be receivingly engaged within the segmented gripping members 176 at the distal end of the collet 170. The lever 196 is then unlatched, permitting the collet 170 to longitudinally displace and simultaneously contactingly engage the collet flanges 185 against the undercut feature 186 to laterally and longitudinally fix the HSA 122.
As described, preferably the collet flanges 185 contactingly engage the undercut portion 186 of the protuberant feature 184. This permits using a relatively lower compressing engagement force than is otherwise necessary where the gripping members 176 only frictionally engage the HSA 122. It will also be noted that by locking the collet 170 in the extended position, the step of inserting the protuberant feature 184 into the gripping members 176 can be more readily observed when the datum surfaces 162, 164 are in contacting engagement with each other.
Some embodiments of the present invention contemplate instrumentation for precisely fixturing a head stack assembly having a housing defining a surface sized to provide unencumbered support to the head stack assembly, and means for cantilevering the head stack assembly against the housing with longitudinal and lateral fixturing forces. For purposes of this description and meaning of the appended claims, “means for cantilevering” expressly contemplates the described structure and equivalents thereof that permit attaching only one side of the head stack assembly to the housing for positive positioning purposes, such as for measurement or testing procedures performed on the head stack assembly. The term “means for cantilevering” expressly does not contemplate other attempted solutions that do not cantilever the head stack assembly from the housing datum surface, such as but not limited to previous attempted solutions that provide a top clamp that compressingly engages against the top side of the head stack assembly.
The skilled artisan will readily recognize the distinguishing advantages of the contemplated embodiments that provide complete unrestricted access to the cantilevered test object for processing purposes. The cantilevered attachment action furthermore provides not only an effective means for fixing the test component, but also a solution that is optimally efficient for maximum throughput velocity. Furthermore, optimal process results are obtained by fixturing the test component in a manner that is similar to how the component is ultimately attached in the final assembly.
It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of various embodiments of the invention, this detailed description is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of structure and arrangements of parts within the principles of the present invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. For example, the particular elements may vary in type or arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
In addition, although the embodiments described herein are directed to a moving media data storage device, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the claimed subject matter is not so limited and various other systems can utilize the present embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.
