Disk Drive Suspension Damper Material Single-Layer Viscoelastic
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing disk drive suspensions face challenges in minimizing flexure oscillation while maintaining necessary rigidity, particularly due to the limitations of conventional damper materials with multilayer structures that are difficult to deform and attach effectively.
Innovation Solution
A disk drive suspension design featuring a single-layer viscoelastic damper material attached to specific surfaces and areas of the load beam and outriggers, including curved surfaces and gaps, to effectively prevent oscillation and enhance rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the area to attach damper material in the outriggers is increased, then the effect of preventing oscillation is improved, but the rigidity of the flexure changes largely
Solution Approach 1:
The damper material is selectively attached only to specific surfaces (third surface and side surface) of the outrigger rather than covering the entire surface. This localized attachment provides oscillation damping where needed while minimizing the impact on overall flexure rigidity. The choice of specific surfaces allows the damper to function effectively without excessively reducing the structural stiffness required for gimbal motion.
2Reliability
If a common damper material with multilayer structure is used, then oscillation prevention is achieved, but the attachable portion is limited due to the rigid constrained plate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the constrained plate layer from the traditional multilayer damper material structure, retaining only the viscoelastic material layer. This simplification eliminates the rigidity constraint that limited attachment flexibility, allowing the damper material to conform to various surface geometries including curved surfaces and gaps while maintaining oscillation damping functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the structural parameter of the damper material from a multilayer configuration (with rigid constrained plate) to a single-layer viscoelastic structure. This parameter change fundamentally improves deformability and attachment flexibility, enabling the damper to adapt to different surface shapes and attachment locations without the constraints imposed by rigid plated structures.
3Strength
If the flexure rigidity is increased to ensure gimbal motion, then oscillation is reduced, but the attachment flexibility of damper material is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
By concentrating the damper material attachment on specific surfaces (third surface and side surface) rather than distributing it across all surfaces, the invention achieves effective oscillation damping with minimal impact on overall flexure rigidity. This localized approach allows the flexure to maintain sufficient stiffness for gimbal motion while still providing damping where needed.
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 effectively reduces flexure oscillation and maintains rigidity, as demonstrated by stable oscillation properties across various samples, with improved attachment flexibility and reduced particle absorption, enhancing the reliability of the disk drive.
Implementation Method 1
the damper material has a single-layer structure of a viscoelastic material
Implementation Method 2
a damper material has a multilayer structure of a soft viscoelastic layer and a rigid constrained plate
Data Source
AI summary
According to an embodiment, a disk drive suspension includes a load beam, a flexure including a tongue on which a slider is mounted and an outrigger connected to the tongue, and overlapping the load beam, and a damper material attached to the load beam and the outrigger. Further, the damper material has a single-layer structure of a viscoelastic material.