US 6,307,715 B1 · Head suspension having reduced torsional vibration

Abstract

A transducer suspension for a drive system has a beam which is bendable in a vertical direction for holding the transducer adjacent to the media, but is torsionally stiff for quicker access times and reduced noise and errors. This inherently contradictory performance occurs by joining a laterally elongated brace which is torsionally stiff about its elongated dimension across a pair of laterally disposed strips to cause the strips to flex in unison, allowing bending but reducing torsional motion in the suspension about an axis which is substantially perpendicular to the torsionally stiff axis of the brace. The torsionally stiff brace may take the form of a tube having a rectangular, triangular or circular cross-section, and may be formed of material cut from the suspension to define the hinge strips. The brace may have reduced longitudinal dimensions at the connections to the strips to further filter torsional versus bending vibrations. A plurality of braces joined to hinge portions may also occur in a single suspension for increased effect.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A suspension for an information storage system head, comprising:

a beam extending generally in a longitudinal direction from a mounting end to a transducer end and extending further in a lateral direction than in a direction perpendicular to said lateral and longitudinal directions, said mounting end being held relatively fixed in said perpendicular direction with at least said transducer end being actuable in at least one of said lateral and longitudinal directions, said beam defining a laterally extensive region of perpendicular flexibility with laterally opposed sections of said region being attached to a torsionally stiff brace extending much further in said lateral direction than a longitudinal extent of said attachment to said sections, with said brace longitudinally dividing said region of perpendicular flexibility, wherein said beam has a flexibility in moving said transducer end relative to said mounting end which is substantially greater in said perpendicular direction than in said lateral and longitudinal directions and has a preferentially increased torsional stiffness about a longitudinal axis compared to a bending stiffness in said perpendicular direction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Head suspension having reduced torsional vibration

Life of this patent

Head suspension having reduced torsional vibration

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18