Claims
- 1. An actuating suspension assembly used for a disc drive comprising:
a suspension load beam having a front end connecting to a slider assembly carrying a transducer head and having a rear end; and actuation means for selectively applying an alteration gram load on the suspension load beam during operation of the disc drive.
- 2. An actuating suspension assembly used for a disc drive having a rotating disc, the assembly comprising:
a suspension load beam having a front end connecting to a slider assembly carrying a transducer head and having a rear end; and a microactuator placed on the suspension load beam for bending the suspension load beam at the front end during a sustained period of data read/write time to achieve a desired average fly-height which is different from an unaltered average fly-height which would have been achieved without operation of the microactuator.
- 3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the desired average fly-height is lower than the unaltered average fly-height.
- 4. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the assembly is used during a disc rotation period in which the disc rotates continuously, and the microactuator bends the suspension load beam and maintains the desired average fly-height substantially during the entire disc rotation period.
- 5. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the microactuator does not vertically bend the suspension load beam at the rear end thereof.
- 6. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the microactuator is placed on a topside of the suspension load beam.
- 7. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the microactuator is placed close to the rear end of the load beam.
- 8. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the load beam connects to the slider assembly via a gimbal and the microactuator is placed as far as possible away from the gimbal.
- 9. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the microactuator is a bimorph piezoelectric microactuator.
- 10. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the microactuator is a d31 piezoelectric microactuator.
- 11. The assembly of claim 2, further comprising:
a sensor to sense a change of fly-height during a disc rotation period; and a feedback circuit to send a signal to the microactuator to adjust the fly-height as a function of the sensed change of fly-height.
- 12. The assembly of claim 11, wherein the sensor is piezoelectric and senses a distortion of the suspension load beam caused by the change of fly-height.
- 13. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the piezoelectric sensor is an integral part of the microactuator.
- 14. The assembly of claim 2, further comprising:
microactuation means placed on the suspension load beam for laterally fine positioning the transducer head by laterally bending the suspension load beam.
- 15. The assembly of claim 13, wherein microactuation means is an integral part of the microactuator.
- 16. An actuating suspension assembly used for a disc drive having a rotating disc, comprising:
a suspension load beam having a front end connecting to a slider assembly carrying a transducer head, a rear end and a longitudinal length measured from the rear end to the front end; and a microactuator having bidirectional bendability placed on the suspension load beam, the microactuator having a longitudinal length substantially shorter than the longitudinal length of the suspension load beam, being capable of bending the suspension load beam at the front end without bending the suspension load beam at the rear end thus facilitating adjustment of fly-height of the transducing head.
- 17. The assembly of claim 16, wherein the microactuator bends the front end of the suspension load beam vertically downward during a disc rotation period to achieve a low fly-height which is lower than an unaltered average fly-height which would have been achieved without the microactuator.
- 18. The assembly of claim 17, further comprising:
a sensor which senses a change of fly-height during a disc rotation period; and a feedback circuit to send a signal to the microactuator to adjust the fly-height in response to the sensor such that the fly-height remains substantially constant at the desired average fly-height during the disc rotation period.
- 19. The assembly of claim 16, wherein the microactuator is a d31 piezoelectric microactuator.
- 20. The assembly of claim 16, wherein the microactuator is a bimorph piezoelectric microactuator.
- 21. The assembly of claim 19, wherein the microactuator is placed on a topside of the suspension load beam, the topside facing away from the disc.
- 22. The assembly of claim 16, further comprising:
microactuation means placed on the suspension load beam for laterally fine positioning the transducer head by laterally bending the suspension load beam.
- 23. The assembly of claim 21, wherein microactuation means for lateral positioning is an integral part of the microactuator.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] This application claims priority from Provisional Application No. 60/256,223 filed Dec. 15, 2000 for “Piezoelectric Bimorph Microactuator for Dynamic Controlling Head-Media Interaction and Fly-Height” by Shaoping Li, Charles Potter, Wenzhong Zhu, and Tom Rasmussen.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60256223 |
Dec 2000 |
US |