Suspension assembly with adjustable gramload
AssigneeMaxtor Corporation
InventorMichael Mallary
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A suspension assembly that supports a head adjacent to a rotating storage disk is provided for use within a single or multi-platter disk drive. The suspension assembly includes a generally elongated loadbeam that has an electrically grounded baseplate at a first end thereof and a gimbaled flexure portion for supporting the head over the rotating storage disk at a second end thereof. A power conductor electrically interconnected between a power source and the loadbeam enables the power source to heat a predetermined portion of the loadbeam to adjust the gramload of the suspension assembly for controlling the fly height of the head.
Claims72
In a disk drive having one or more storage disks and a suspension assembly for suspending a head at a flying height over the storage disk, a method of adjusting the flying height conprising the steps of:
- rotating the storage disk;
- moving the suspension assembly and head over the rotating storage disk;
- detecting the existence of thermal asperities on the storage disk;
- and
- providing electrical current to a portion of the suspension assembly without providing the electrical current to the head when thermal asperities are detected.
In a disk drive having one or more storage disks and a suspension assembly for suspending a head at a flying height over the storage disk, a method of adjusting the flying height conprising the steps of:
- (A) rotating the storage disk;
- (B) moving the suspension assembly over the storage disk;
- (C) detecting the existence of thermal asperities on the storage disk;
- (D) moving the suspension assembly to electrically communicate with an electrode if thermal asperities are detected;
- (E) applying electrical current pulses to the suspension assembly without providing the electrical current pulses to the head to alter a gramload of the suspension assembly for adjusting the flying height;
- and
- (F) repeating steps B-E until thermal asperities are not detected.
In a disk drive including a storage disk, a suspension assembly and a head, wherein the suspension assembly suspends the head over the storage disk, a method of adjusting a flying height of the head over the storage disk as the storage disk rotates, the method comprising:
- detecting an asperity on the storage disk using the head;
- and
- providing electrical current to the suspension assembly in response to detecting the asperity, thereby altering a gramload of the suspension assembly and altering the flying height, wherein providing the electrical current excludes providing the electrical current to the head.
The method of claim 20, wherein the electrode is positioned peripherally adjacent to the storage disk.
The method of claim 20, including altering a bits-per-inch recording density at which data is recorded onto the storage disk by the head in response to altering the flying height.
In a disk drive including a storage disk, a suspension assembly and a head, wherein the suspension assembly suspends the head over the storage disk, a method of adjusting a flying height of the head over the storage disk as the storage disk rotates, the method comprising:
- detecting an asperity on the storage disk using the head;
- and
- providing electrical current to the suspension assembly in response to detecting the asperity, wherein providing the electrical current heats a low anncal temperature material on the suspension assembly, thereby annealing the material, reducing the gramload of the suspension assembly and increasing the flying height.
In a disk drive including a storage disk, a suspension assembly and a head, wherein the suspension assembly suspends the head over the storage disk, and the suspension assembly includes (1) a loadbeam that is elongated, substantially planar and includes first and second ends, wherein the loadbeam includes a windowed portion and a pair of planar legs adjacent to the windowed portion, (2) a baseplate coupled to the first end, wherein the baseplate is electrically grounded and includes a central bore for mechanically coupling with a pivotable actuator assembly, and (3) a gimbaled flexure portion coupled to the second end, wherein the gimbaled flexure portion supports the head, a method of adjusting a flying height of the head over the storage disk as the storage disk rotates, the method comprising:
- detecting an asperity on the storage disk using the head;
- and
- providing electrical current to the suspension assembly that traverses the planar legs in response to detecting the asperity, thereby altering a gramload of the suspension assembly and altering the flying height.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.