Vibro-loading of magnetic head assemblies for hard disk drives

Experimental results of a new load unload method, called vibro-loading, are reported. This self-loading method uses a negative-pressure slider without any additional mechanisms to carry the slider to the loading point. Vertical natural frequency vibrations of the suspension are excited by a voice coil motor. Experimental results show that low-level seek acceleration enables stable loading with a working distance of 100 mm.<>