Heated gimbal for magnetic head to disk clearance adjustment
US7436631B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 30, 2004 |
| Grant date | Oct 14, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 18, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B5/5552
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A head gimbal assembly having a suspension and a read/write head is provided. The read write head is attached to a flexure tongue of the suspension. Heating elements on arms of the suspension, set on either side of the suspension tongue, are used to alter flight characteristics of the read/write read such as pitch and roll. Due to differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials that comprise the arms, the arms bend when heated. Varying the heat output of the heating elements changes the temperatures of the arms, which changes the degree to which the arms are bent. The heating elements can be portions of traces in a trace layer. Control circuitry is provided to control the heating of the heating elements to maintain desired values of the flight characteristics.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.