Servo controlled lubricant thickness for near contact magnetic recording

Abstract

The lubricant film for a near contact magnetic recording device is maintained by a closed loop servo control for a recirculating lubricant supply system. A reservoir closely overlies the disk data surface and includes a heater for controlling the temperature difference between the reservoir and the disk surface. Decreasing the heater current reduces the film thickness and increasing the heater current increases the film thickness. A wick system gathers lubricant from within the disk enclosure, which may have been spun off the disk or condensed from the lubricant laden atmosphere and returns the lubricant by capillary action to the reservoir. Further, the reservoir includes two portions which are independently controllable. The first overlies the data band of the disk and the second overlies the start/stop zone and the head when the latter is not operational and parked at the nonoperating location. The start/stop zone reservoir can be used to increase the localized film thickness when the head is coming to rest on the disk surface and during start-up to prevent wear between head and disk.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.