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Separated pivot-shaft actuator for small skew angle in hard disk drives

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Abstract

A large skew angle in a hard disk drive (HDD) adversely affects the flying stability of the head sliders and the off-track capability of the read/write head. A novel actuator in the form of a separated pivot-shaft actuator (SPA) with a small skew angle is proposed in this paper. The SPA was particularly designed for a four-disk 3.5-in. HDD and has a skew angle of ±1.6°, which is approximately one-tenth of that of a conventional voice coil motor. The SPA was numerically analyzed by a finite element method, and its mechanical characteristics were compared with those of a long-arm actuator (LAA) (which is a strong candidate for a small-skew-angle actuator) with respect to the seek performance and frequency response. It was found that the SPA had a higher resonant frequency, which enabled the achievement of a wider servo-bandwidth compared to the LAA, and that the average seek time of the SPA was significantly shorter than that of the LAA.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Storage Research Consortium (SRC) of Japan. The authors would also like to thank the members of the Mechanics and Servo Group of the SRC for the fruitful discussions held with them.

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Correspondence to Shinji Koganezawa.

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Koganezawa, S., Tani, H. & Tagawa, N. Separated pivot-shaft actuator for small skew angle in hard disk drives. Microsyst Technol 22, 297–303 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2516-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2516-5

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