Step pad air bearing for load/unload mechanism
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsSoo-Choon Kang, Sanford Anthony Bolasna, Oscar Jaime Ruiz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A recording head for a disk drive with a load/unload mechanism has an air bearing on one surface. The air bearing comprises a patterned set of three air bearing pads, at least five shallow pockets and one deep pocket. A narrow gap extends from the deep pocket and separates leading ones of the air bearing pads and shallow pockets from each other. The air bearing pads have unique, step-shaped geometry and the rear pad is virtually free of any shallow area. This configuration gives the air bearing superior performance characteristics over prior art designs with load/unload mechanisms.
Claims25
A magnetic head for reading and writing to a surface of a rotating magnetic disk, comprising:
- a base having a first side and an opposite second side, the first side having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and two lateral edges extending therebetween;
- an air bearing formed on the first side of the base that is both longitudinally and laterally asymmetric;
- the air bearing comprising:
- a plurality of air bearing pads extending therefrom having step-shaped leading edge pads and a trailing edge pad;
- a plurality of shallow pockets formed in the air bearing at a first depth relative to the air bearing pads;
- a deep pocket formed in the air bearing at a second depth relative to the air bearing pads, the second depth being substantially greater than the first depth;
- and
- a gap formed at the second depth between the leading edge air bearing pads that extends from the deep pocket to the leading edge of the base, the gap having a transverse dimension that is less than a transverse dimension of the leading edge pads.
A magnetic head for reading and writing to a surface of a rotating magnetic disk, comprising:
- a base having a first side and an opposite second side, the first side having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and two lateral edges extending therebetween;
- an air bearing formed on the first side of the base;
- the air bearing comprising:
- two leading air bearing pads extending from the air bearing adjacent to the leading edge of the base;
- a trailing air bearing pad extending from the air bearing adjacent to the trailing edge of the base;
- at least five shallow pockets formed in the air bearing at a first depth relative to the air bearing pads;
- a deep pocket formed in the air bearing that substantially surrounds the air bearing pads and the shallow pockets, the deep pocket being formed at a second depth relative to the air bearing pads that is substantially greater than the first depth;
- and
- a gap formed at the second depth between the leading air bearing pads and two of the shallow pockets, the gap extending from the deep pocket to the leading edge of the base and having a transverse dimension that is less than a transverse dimension of the leading air bearing pads and the shallow pockets.
A device for reading and writing to recording media, comprising:
- a disk having a surface with a plurality of tracks;
- an actuator with a movable arm and a suspension on one end that is movable relative to the recording media for accessing the tracks;
- a load/unload mechanism located adjacent to the disk for engaging the actuator;
- a head mounted to the suspension for reading and writing to a surface of the recording media;
- the head comprising:
- a base having a first side and an opposite second side, the first side having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and two lateral edges extending therebetween;
- an air bearing formed on the first side of the base that is both longitudinally and laterally asymmetric;
- the air bearing comprising:
- three air bearing pads extending therefrom;
- a plurality of shallow pockets formed in the air bearing at a first depth relative to the air bearing pads;
- a deep pocket formed in the air bearing at a second depth relative to the air bearing pads, the second depth being substantially greater than the first depth;
- and
- a gap formed at the second depth between two of the air bearing pads that extends from the deep pocket to the leading edge of the base, the gap having a transverse dimension that is less than a transverse dimension of the air bearing pads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.