Lubricant Migration Simulations on the Flying Head Slider Air-Bearing Surface in a Hard Disk Drive

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 3710-3715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Kubotera ◽  
David B. Bogy
Author(s):  
Alejandro Rodriguez-Mendez ◽  
David B. Bogy

During normal operations of a hard disk drive (HDD), a slider flies over the surface of a spinning disk lifted by a thin layer of air. The disk surface is coated by a molecularly-thin layer of lubricant to protect it against corrosion and reduce wear on the read/write head. The flying height of the slider should be as small as possible in order to achieve higher recording densities. In current HDDs the head-to-disk spacing is on the order of 1–3 nm [1]. At this ultra-low spacing lubricant from the disk often transfers to the slider’s air bearing surface (ABS) forming a thin film that imposes a significant degradation on its performance. Problems such as head instabilities, flying stiction, disk lubricant depletion and increase in head-disk spacing occur when lubricant is present on the ABS [2]. To avoid this condition, modern sliders should be able to remove the lubricant from the ABS as fast as possible. Hence, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the lubricant flow process and its driving forces.


Author(s):  
Yasuhisa Hattori ◽  
Hiromu Hashimoto ◽  
Masayuki Ochiai

Abstract The aim of this paper is to develop the general methodology for the optimum design of magnetic head slider for improving the spacing characteristics between head slider and disk surfaces under the static and dynamic operation conditions of hard disk drive and to present an application of the methodology to IBM 3380-type slider design. In the optimum design, the objective function is defined as the weighted sum of minimum spacing, maximum difference of spacing due to variation of radial location of head and maximum amplitude ratio of slider motion. Slider rail width, taper length, taper angle, suspension position and preload are selected as the design variables. Before the optimization of magnetic head slider, the effects of these five design variables on the objective function are examined by the parametric study, and then the optimum design variables are determined by applying the hybrid optimization technique combining the direct search method and the successive quadratic programming (SQP). From the results obtained, the effectiveness of optimum design on the spacing characteristics of magnetic head slider is clarified.


Author(s):  
Eric M. Jayson ◽  
Frank E. Talke

Hard disk drives must be designed to withstand shock during operation. Large movements of the slider during shock impulse can cause reading and writing errors, track misregistration, or in extreme cases, damage to the magnetic material and loss of data. The design of the air bearing contour determines the steady state flying conditions of the slider as well as dynamic flying conditions, including shock response. In this paper a finite element model of the hard disk drive mechanical components was developed to determine the time dependent forces and moments applied to the slider during a shock event. The time dependent forces and moments are applied as external loads in a solution of the dynamic Reynolds equation to determine the slider response to a shock event. The genetic algorithm was then used to optimize the air bearing contour for optimum shock response while keeping the steady flying conditions constant. The results show substantial differences in the spacing modulation of the head/disk interface after a shock as a function of the design of the air bearing contour.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 878-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric M. Jayson ◽  
Frank E. Talke

Hard disk drives must be designed to withstand shock during operation. Large movements of the slider during a shock impulse can cause reading and writing errors, track misregistration, or in extreme cases, damage to the magnetic material and loss of data. The design of the air bearing contour determines the steady-state flying conditions of the slider as well as dynamic flying conditions, including shock response. In this paper a finite element model of the hard disk drive mechanical components was developed to determine the time dependent forces and moments applied to the slider during a shock event. The time-dependent forces and moments are applied as external loads in a solution of the dynamic Reynolds equation to determine the slider response to a shock event. The genetic algorithm was then used to optimize the air bearing contour for optimum shock response while keeping the steady flying conditions constant. The results show substantial differences in the spacing modulation of the head-disk interface after a shock as a function of the design of the air bearing contour.


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