	US 7,502,196 B2
	Head actuator design for a low profile tape drive
Ashok B. Nayak, Glendora, Calif. (US); and James M. Decot, Fountain Valley, Calif. (US)
Assigned to Certance LLC, San Jose, Calif. (US)
Filed on Apr. 28, 2008, as Appl. No. 12/110,620.
Application 12/110620 is a continuation of application No. 11/224882, filed on Sep. 12, 2005, granted, now 7,379,259.
Prior Publication US 2008/0198495 A1, Aug. 21, 2008
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G11B 21/02 (2006.01); G11B 5/55 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 360—75 [360/78.02; 360/261.1; 360/291]

11 Claims

1. A tape drive, comprising:

a head actuator for a read/write head;

a suspension system on which the head actuator is mounted; and

a damping system coupled to the head actuator to dampen suspension system resonance, the damping system including one or more position sensors mounted on the head actuator;

flexible printed circuits coupled to the read/write head, wherein the damping system includes a servo system responsive to signals from the one or more position sensors to control movement of the head actuator, and wherein the one or more position sensors are coupled to the servo system via the flexible printed circuits;

a printed circuit board, wherein the head actuator has a fine positioner and a coarse positioner, and further comprising fine and coarse positioner loops coupled between the fine positioner and the coarse positioner respectively and the printed circuit board, the fine and coarse positioner loops being combined into a single loop carried by the flexible printed circuit wherein the single loop comprises adjacent portions of flexible printed circuits, attached to opposite sides of the read/write head, simultaneously moving when the read/write head is being moved by the fine or coarse positioner;

wherein the one or more position sensors are configured to generate a position signal proportional to motion of the read/write head in a transverse direction;

wherein the servo system has a velocity determination module that differentiates the signals generated by the one or more position sensors and derives read/write head velocity information from the differentiated position signals;

wherein the servo system has a servo control signal module that generates servo control signals to dampen suspension resonance based on the read/write head velocity information.