Granted Patent B1

US 8,064,168 · App. 11/948,840 · Granted Nov 22, 2011

Abstract

Claims (71)

1. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis;

wherein the first laminated flexure comprises a stainless steel layer, a dielectric layer, and a conductive layer, and wherein the stainless steel layer is present in the first raised region but the conductive layer is not; and

wherein the dielectric layer is also not present in the first raised region.

2. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis;

wherein the first laminated flexure comprises a stainless steel layer, a dielectric layer, and a conductive layer, and wherein the stainless steel layer is present in the first raised region but the conductive layer is not;

wherein the first raised region defines a first raised region height that exceeds the sum of an average thickness of the dielectric layer and an average thickness of the conductive layer; and

wherein the slot defines a slot height, and the slot height is no greater than the sum of an average thickness of the stainless steel layer and the first raised region height.

3. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis; and

wherein the first raised region is disposed partially within the slot.

4. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis; and

wherein the out-of-plane bend is disposed outside the slot.

5. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis; and

further comprising a second HGA attached to the actuator arm, the second HGA including a second laminated flexure having a second flexure tail attached to the flex cable, wherein the second flexure tail is disposed partially within the slot, and the second flexure tail includes a second raised region that is in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end;

wherein a stainless steel layer of the first flexure tail is in contact with the second flexure tail at a tail-to-tail contact location that lies outside the first raised region, and the stainless steel layer of the first flexure tail at a location within the first raised region is in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end.

6. The HSA of claim 5 wherein the first raised region defines a first raised region height, the second raised region defines a second raised region height, and the slot defines a slot height, and wherein the slot height is no greater than the sum of the first raised region height, the second raised region height, and twice an average thickness of the stainless steel layer.

7. A head stack assembly (HSA) comprising:

an actuator including an actuator body and an actuator arm extending from the actuator body;

a flex cable attached to the actuator; and

a first head gimbal assembly (HGA) attached to the actuator arm, the first HGA including

a load beam,

a first laminated flexure attached to the load beam, and

a head attached to the first laminated flexure;

wherein the first laminated flexure includes a first flexure tail attached to the flex cable, the first flexure tail having a long axis approximately parallel to a side of the actuator arm;

wherein the actuator arm includes a slot in the side, the slot having a slot end, the first flexure tail being disposed partially within the slot;

wherein the first flexure tail includes a first raised region in contact with the slot adjacent the slot end, the first raised region including an out-of-plane bend with cross-sectional curvature along the long axis; and

wherein the raised region is hemispherical.

Assignments (7)