Disk Drive Head Suspension Leaf Spring Gram Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
The miniaturization of disk drive head suspensions and the use of thinner stainless steel materials make it difficult to accurately radius form and maintain a stable gram load in the spring region, leading to instability and load loss during operation.
Innovation Solution
A disk drive head suspension with a leaf-type gram load spring that is fixedly connected to the base and beam regions, providing a stable gram load force without the need for a radius-formed spring region, allowing for accurate loading and manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the spring region is radius formed by rolling the stainless steel, then the suspension can be manufactured, but it becomes increasingly difficult to accurately radius form and gram load the spring region as the stainless steel thickness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring region is divided into multiple stacked leaf springs instead of being a single monolithic radius-formed structure. This segmentation allows each leaf spring to be individually formed and stacked, improving manufacturing accuracy and gram loading precision while maintaining ease of manufacture through modular assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-dimensional radius-formed spring to a multi-layered stacked structure of leaf springs. This dimensional change from a single curved beam to multiple stacked layers provides better control over gram loading accuracy and spring rate while facilitating manufacturing through separate formation and assembly of individual leaves.
2Volume of moving object
If thinner stainless steel is used to miniaturize the head suspension, then the suspension size is reduced, but the spring becomes more susceptible to load loss during repeated load/unload cycles
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple leaf springs are stacked together to form a composite spring structure. This composite approach combines the advantages of thin stainless steel (miniaturization) with enhanced reliability, as the stacked configuration distributes mechanical stresses across multiple layers, reducing load loss during repeated cycles and improving gram load stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the structural parameters of the spring by transitioning from a single thick spring to multiple thinner stacked leaves. This parameter change allows the use of thinner stainless steel for miniaturization while maintaining or improving reliability through the distributed stress configuration of the stacked structure, which reduces susceptibility to load loss.
3Device complexity
If a single radius-formed spring region is used, then the structure is simple, but the gram load becomes unstable over time during operation
Solution Approach 1:
The single radius-formed spring region is segmented into multiple individual leaf springs that are stacked together. This segmentation improves gram load stability by distributing the mechanical load across multiple independent leaves, reducing stress concentration and minimizing deformation over time, while the overall stacked structure remains relatively simple in configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances resonance frequency performance, reduces load loss, and maintains stability during operation, enabling efficient manufacturing and accurate gram loading, while avoiding issues associated with low spring rates and load instability.
Implementation Method 1
a spring region connecting the beam region to the base region. The spring region is commonly radius formed by rolling the stainless steel around a mandrel... This radius form in spring region provides a spring force known as the gram load
Data Source
AI summary
A disk drive head suspension having a leaf-type gram load spring. One embodiment of the suspension includes a base plate and a load beam. The load beam is formed from a single piece of stainless steel and includes a mounting region, a beam region, a spring region between the mounting region and beam region, and a leaf spring extending from the beam region. The mounting region of the load beam is attached to the base plate, with a proximal end portion of the leaf spring overlaying the base plate. The leaf spring can have a formed bend in the z-height direction and is forced into a loaded state before the proximal end is welded to the base plate.