Durable, low-vibration, dynamic-contact hard disk drive system

Abstract

A disk drive system for contact recording has a flexure beam holding a transducer at one end, the flexure beam being oriented substantially along the direction that the transducer slides on a rigid magnetic disk. The transducer has a protrusion which contacts the disk and separates the rest of the transducer from the moving air film that adjoins the spinning disk, the protrusion containing a magnetic pole structure that communicates with the disk during sliding. A preferred embodiment employs a gimbal structure which allows limited movement of the transducer relative to the flexure beam and three disk-contacting pads extending down from the transducer to make contact with the magnetic disk, at least one of the pads containing a magnetic pole structure and two of the pads trailing the third pad. An adapter provides a connection between a rotary actuator and the beam that allows the beam to approach the disk at a predictable oblique angle. The adaptor and the beam provide energy absorbing features that reduce vibration and divert shocks.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.