Ultrasonic motor rotary actuator for hard disk drive
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsThan Zaw Myint, Xiong Liu, Shi Wei Brendon Leong, Yichao Ma
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Abstract
Described are piezoelectric ultrasonic motor (USM) assemblies to drive the rotary motion of an actuator arm assembly in a hard disk drive (HDD). Such USMs may be used in place of electromagnetic means such as a conventional voice coil motor (VCM). In particular, in accordance with various aspects, the present disclosure relates to the use of a USM that includes a ring-shaped piezoelectric element engineered to produce a traveling wave that actuates the rotation of a hub such as an E-block used in an HDD actuator stack. Such designs may be lighter weight, more cost-effective, more compact, and lower power than VCMs.
Claims20
A hard disk drive for using one or more recording heads to record data on spinning magnetic recording disks, the hard disk drive comprising:
- an actuator assembly including one or more actuator arms attached to an E-block housing rotatable around a pivot bearing affixed within the E-block housing, the one or more actuator arms each provided with an associated one of the one or more recording heads and configured to position the associated recording head relative to the spinning magnetic recording disks;
- and
- an ultrasonic motor assembly incorporated into the E-block housing and configured to rotate the pivot bearing, the ultrasonic motor assembly including a piezoelectric element capable of being operated in an ultrasonic frequency resonance mode to thereby generate a traveling wave, and a preload spring disposed between the piezoelectric element and a baseplate of the hard disk drive.
A rotary actuator assembly comprising:
- an E-block assembly comprising a housing having an exterior surface and a substantially cylindrical interior surface, a plurality of actuator arms extending from the exterior surface of the housing, and a pivot bearing fitted into the interior surface of the housing such that the E-block assembly is rotatable around a pivot of the pivot bearing;
- and
- an ultrasonic motor assembly incorporated into the housing of the E-block assembly and configured to rotate the pivot bearing, the ultrasonic motor assembly comprising a piezoelectric element capable of being operated in an ultrasonic frequency resonance mode to thereby generate a traveling wave, and a preload spring disposed to maintain engagement between the piezoelectric element and the pivot bearing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.