Swage Mount With Thickened Tip For Hard Disk Drive Robustness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing swage mounts in hard disk drives suffer from inadequate out-of-plane robustness, leading to costly yield loss and poor drive performance due to susceptibility to bending and twisting during shipping, handling, and assembly, and have manufacturing and reliability issues related to uniform thickness and fret-based manufacturing processes.
Innovation Solution
A swage mount design with a relatively thin flange body and a thicker 'T' shaped tip that extends from the flange body, providing increased out-of-plane robustness while maintaining in-plane compliance, allowing for higher manufacturing throughput, reduced costs, and improved drive performance by withstanding mechanical shocks and resonances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the swage mount uses uniform thickness design, then the manufacturing process is simple, but the out-of-plane robustness is insufficient leading to bending and twisting during shipping and handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by varying the thickness of different portions of the swage mount. The first portion (flange body) has a first thickness while the second portion (tip region) has a second thickness greater than the first thickness. This local variation provides enhanced out-of-plane robustness in the tip region without unnecessarily increasing the thickness of the flange body, thus resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and out-of-plane strength.
2Length of stationary object
If the swage mount flange body is made thinner to provide clearance from the disk, then the clearance is sufficient, but the out-of-plane robustness is reduced making it susceptible to deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by making the flange body thinner in the region that contacts the disk to provide sufficient clearance, while simultaneously making the tip region thicker to maintain out-of-plane robustness. This localized thickness variation allows the swage mount to achieve both adequate clearance and sufficient strength without compromising either requirement.
3Weight of moving object
If the tip is made thinner to reduce mass, then the in-plane compliance is improved for actuation, but the out-of-plane robustness is insufficient for withstanding loads during shipping and handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the tip region thicker than the flange body. This localized thickness increase in the tip region provides the necessary out-of-plane robustness to withstand shipping and handling loads, while the overall design maintains reasonable mass by not uniformly thickening the entire swage mount structure.
4Reliability
If the swage mount is made more robust to withstand out-of-plane loads, then the handling and assembly reliability is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by implementing a simple thickness variation geometry where the tip region is made thicker than the flange body. This straightforward structural modification provides enhanced out-of-plane robustness and handling reliability without introducing complex manufacturing processes or overly complicated structural designs, thus avoiding excessive manufacturing complexity and cost.
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 swage mount effectively withstands out-of-plane loads, reduces the likelihood of permanent deformation, and enhances drive performance by increasing twisting and bending yield loads, and maintaining in-plane compliance, thus improving handling and assembly processes and drive reliability.
Implementation Method 1
Piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) 17 may be provided as secondary actuators that mechanically position the head in a planar direction in response to applied electrical charge
Implementation Method 2
The flexure 25 locates the head rigidly in the x-z plane while allowing the head to rotate about the x and z axes
Data Source
AI summary
A swage mount is provided for attaching a head suspension assembly to a head actuator arm for a hard disk drive. The swage mount has a flange body with a thickness for providing clearance from the underlying disk. The swage mount may have a tip for in-plane movement. The tip may be âTâ shaped. The tip has a thickness that is greater than the thickness of the flange body for withstanding out-of-plane loads and for enhancing performance of the hard disk drive, for example, during reading/writing of data using the head. Mass properties of the swage mount, the twisting/bending yield load, modal frequency responses, and other performance metrics are analyzed to design the dimensions of the swage mount having favorable in-plane compliance and superior out-of-plane robustness.