Microactuation mechanism with piezoelectric element for magnetic recording head positioning for spin stand

Abstract

A microactuation mechanism with piezoelectric element for positioning the magnetic head element is presented for high-density magnetic recording. The microactuation mechanism can be used in both magnetic disk drive and spin stand testing setup. A head-carrying cartridge used for carrying magnetic read/write head in the spin stand level is designed with the feature to mount piezoelectric microactuator(s) for microactuation. The static and dynamic behaviours of the head-carrying cartridge are evaluated by finite-element modelling. A modified design is proposed with much improved dynamic performance. The designs are prototyped and tested. Experimental dynamic testing and control implementation reveal that the proposed designs can be used for microactuation under high track density magnetic recording spin stand platform. © IMechE 2006.