Disk drive measuring stroke difference between heads by detecting a difference between ramp contact

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/040,960, filed on Sep. 30, 2013, entitled “DISK DRIVE MEASURING RADIAL OFFSET BETWEEN HEADS BY DETECTING A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAMP CONTACT,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and servo sectors. The servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo control system to control the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.

FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format 2 as comprising a number of servo tracks 4 defined by servo sectors 6₀-6_N recorded around the circumference of each servo track. Each servo sector 6_i comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to symbol synchronize to a servo data field 12. The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a servo track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 6_i further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., N and Q servo bursts), which are recorded with a predetermined phase relative to one another and relative to the servo track centerlines. The phase based servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations. A position error signal (PES) is generated by reading the servo bursts 14, wherein the PES represents a measured position of the head relative to a centerline of a target servo track. A servo controller processes the PES to generate a control signal applied to a head actuator (e.g., a voice coil motor) in order to actuate the head radially over the disk in a direction that reduces the PES.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format comprising a plurality of servo tracks defined by servo sectors.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a data storage device in the form of a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a plurality of disk surfaces wherein a head is actuated over each disk surface by a voice coil motor (VCM).

FIG. 2C shows top and bottom heads according to an embodiment each comprising a slider coupled to a suspension and a lift tab at the distal end of the suspension for contacting the ramp.

FIG. 2D is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein the heads are moved toward a ramp and a stroke difference between the heads is measured based on when the ramp contact occurs.

FIG. 3A shows an embodiment wherein the heads are moved from an inner diameter of the disk to the ramp.

FIG. 3B shows an embodiment wherein the heads are moved from a radial location identified by a reference track to the ramp.

FIG. 4A shows a head according to an embodiment comprising a write element, a read element, and a touchdown sensor.

FIG. 4B is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein an interval for each head to contact the ramp is measured after calibrating a repeatable seek trajectory.

FIG. 4C illustrates a difference between measured ramp contact intervals for first and second heads which represents the radial offset between the first and second heads.

FIG. 5A is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein while moving the heads toward the ramp a back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage generated by the VCM is sampled/stored and then post-processed to estimate a distance of movement for each of the heads.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example BEMF voltage signal generated by the VCM while moving the heads toward the ramp, and the corresponding touchdown signals when each head contacts the ramp.

FIG. 6A shows an embodiment wherein the control circuitry toggles between evaluating a first contact signal generated by the first head and a second contact signal generated by the second head.

FIG. 6B is a flow diagram according to an embodiment wherein the control circuitry real-time detects when each head contacts the ramp in order to disable the touchdown sensor, and then post-time detects when each head contacts the ramp by post-processing the stored sample sequence of the contact signal.

FIG. 7A shows an embodiment wherein the control circuitry processes a measured repeatable runout (RRO) of a reference track to servo a first head at a substantially fixed location as the disk rotates, and then measures a stroke (or stroke difference) by moving the first and second heads toward the ramp from the fixed location.

FIG. 7B shows an embodiment wherein the control circuitry measure a stroke (or stroke difference) multiple times by moving the first and second heads toward the ramp from a reference track starting from different rotation angles of the disk.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 2A-2C show a data storage device in the form of a disk drive according to an embodiment comprising a plurality of disk surfaces including a first disk surface 16₁ and a second disk surface 16₂. A first head 18₁ is actuated over the first disk surface 16₁, and a second head 18₂ is actuated over the second disk surface 16₂. A ramp 20 is located proximate an outer diameter of the disk surfaces. The disk drive further comprises control circuitry 22 configured to execute the flow diagram of FIG. 2D wherein a stroke difference between the first and second heads is measured (block 28) by moving the first and second heads toward the ramp (block 24) and detecting when the heads contact the ramp (block 26).

In the embodiment of FIG. 2A, each disk surface may comprise servo data such as a plurality of servo sectors that define a plurality of servo tracks, wherein data tracks may be defined relative to the servo tracks at the same or different radial density. The control circuitry 22 processes a read signal 30 emanating from a head to demodulate the servo sectors and generate a position error signal (PES) representing an error between the actual position of the head and a target position relative to a target track. The control circuitry 22 filters the PES using a suitable compensation filter to generate a control signal 32 applied to a voice coil motor (VCM) 34 which rotates an actuator arm (e.g., 36A) about a pivot in order to actuate the heads radially over the disk surfaces in a direction that reduces the PES. The servo sectors may comprise any suitable head position information, such as a track address for coarse positioning and servo bursts for fine positioning. The servo bursts may comprise any suitable pattern, such as an amplitude based servo pattern or a phase based servo pattern.

Each head (e.g., first head 18₁) at the distal end of the actuator arm may comprise any suitable components. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2C, each head comprises a slider (e.g., first slider 38₁) coupled to a suspension, wherein the suspension comprises a lift tab (e.g., first lift tab 40₁) at the distal end of the suspension for contacting the ramp 20. In one embodiment, the stroke difference between the heads may provide information about certain manufacturing defects of the disk drive. For example, the stroke difference may indicate a manufacturing defect in the ramp 20 (e.g., a tilt), or a manufacturing defect in the actuator arm and/or suspension (e.g., a tilt). The stroke difference may also reflect a defect in one or more of the disks, such as a vertical offset relative to the ramp 20, a tilt in one or more of the disks, or a warping/wobbling of one or more of the disks. These and other manufacturing defects may cause each head to contact the ramp 20 at different times during an unload operation due to the stroke difference between the heads as measured from a reference location. In one embodiment, the measured stroke difference between the heads may exhibit a particular signature corresponding to each type of manufacturing defect. Accordingly, in one embodiment the signature of the measured stroke difference may be used to discard or rework defective disk drives, and/or used as feedback to modify and improve certain manufacturing processes.

FIG. 3A illustrates an embodiment wherein the control circuitry 22 rotates the head stack assembly shown in FIG. 2B until it presses against an inner diameter crash stop so that the heads are positioned at a starting reference position near the inner diameter of the disk surfaces. The control circuitry 22 then rotates the head stack assembly in the opposite direction so that the heads moves toward the ramp 20. While moving the heads toward the ramp 20, a first interval is measured until the first head 18₁ contacts the ramp 20. The control circuitry 22 then rotates the head stack assembly back until it again presses against the inner diameter crash stop, and then performs the same operation in order to measure the second interval for the second head, and so on for each head. After measuring the interval for each head, the control circuitry 22 may evaluate the intervals in order to measure the stroke difference between the heads.

The interval required for each head to contact the ramp 20 may be measured relative to any suitable reference point. FIG. 3B illustrates an embodiment wherein the heads may be moved starting from a radial location on one of the disk surfaces (e.g., the first disk surface 16₁) which may be defined by suitable reference servo data, such as a reference servo track 42 defined by servo sectors. In one embodiment, the reference servo track 42 may be written to the first disk surface 16₁ prior to servo writing the disk surface with, for example, servo sectors that define concentric servo tracks as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the reference servo track 42 may comprise one of the concentric servo tracks after having servo written the first disk surface 16₁. In one embodiment, the control circuitry 22 positions all of the heads at the reference position by servoing the first head 18₁ over the first disk surface 16₁ until the first head 18₁ is positioned over the reference servo track 42. The control circuitry 22 then moves all the heads toward the ramp 20 while evaluating a suitable contact signal generated for one of the heads that indicates when the head has contacted the ramp 20.

In one embodiment, when moving all the heads relative to a reference point on the first disk surface 16₁, the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise any suitable servo data disbursed at any suitable frequency on the first disk surface 16₁. For example, the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise multiple reference servo tracks (such as reference servo track 42 in FIG. 3B) that are spaced radially across the disk surface. When the first head 18₁ is moved toward the ramp 20, the periodic servo data written on the first disk surface 16₁ may be read by the first head 18₁ in order to adjust a seek trajectory for the heads during the seek toward the ramp 20. In this embodiment, the interval for each head to contact the ramp 20 may be measured relative to the last reference point read from the first disk surface 16₁. In one embodiment, the servo data on the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise a spiral track, wherein a reference point may be generated each time the head crosses the spiral track. In yet another embodiment, the servo data written on the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise a full set of servo written concentric servo tracks such as shown in FIG. 1, wherein the reference point for measuring the interval may be the last concentric servo track detected on the first disk surface 16₁ before each head contacts the ramp 20.

Any suitable contact signal may be generated in order to detect when one of the heads contacts the ramp 20. For example, in one embodiment the read signal emanating from the head may indicate when the head contacts the ramp 20. In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4A, each head may be fabricated with a suitable write element 44, a suitable read element 46, and a suitable fly height sensor or touchdown sensor 48 (e.g., a capacitive or magnetoresistive element) for generating a contact signal that may indicate when each head contacts the ramp 20. In yet another embodiment, the disk drive may employ a suitable microactuator (e.g., a piezoelectric actuator) for actuating each head over the respective disk surface in fine movements, wherein the microactuator may actuate the head in any suitable manner, such as by actuating a suspension relative to the actuator arm, or actuating the head relative to the suspension. In one embodiment, the control circuitry 22 may be configured to sense a contact signal generated by the microactuator which may indicate when the head contacts the ramp 20.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry 22 may evaluate the ramp contact signals generated by all of the heads concurrently while moving the head stack assembly toward the ramp 20 in a single pass. In alternative embodiment, the control circuitry 22 may evaluate the ramp contact signal generated by a single head which requires the head stack assembly to be moved toward the ramp in multiple passes (one pass for each head). This embodiment is understood with reference to the flow diagram of FIG. 4B wherein first a repeatable seek trajectory is calibrated for moving the heads from the reference point toward the ramp (block 50). Any suitable technique may be employed to calibrate the repeatable seek trajectory, such as by performing multiple seeks from the reference point to the ramp 20 and adjusting the seek trajectory (e.g., acceleration, constant velocity, and deceleration segments) until the seek time becomes substantially constant. In one embodiment, when calibrating the repeatable seek trajectory, the seek time is evaluated for a single head, such as the first head 18₁ in the embodiments of FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B, wherein the seek time may be measured as the interval between the beginning of the seek until the first head 18₁ contacts the ramp 20. In another embodiment, the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise reference servo data, such as one or more concentric servo tracks or a spiral track. When calibrating the repeatable seek trajectory, the seek trajectory may be adjusted each time the first head 18₁ crosses over the reference servo data. In this embodiment, the interval for each head to contact the ramp 20 may be measured relative to the last reference point on the first disk surface 16₁ during the seek before the heads contact the ramp 20.

After calibrating the repeatable seek trajectory at block 38, an index i is initialized to the first head (block 52) to select the first head to measure the first interval required to move the head from the reference point until contacting the ramp. The selected head is then moved to the reference point (block 54) and then moved toward the ramp (block 56) while measuring the i^th interval until the i^th head contacts the ramp (block 58). The index i is incremented (block 60) and the flow diagram repeated for the next head until an interval has been measured for each head. The relative stroke difference between the heads is then measured based on the measured intervals (block 62).

FIG. 4C illustrates a first interval (t1) measured for the first head 18₁ and a second interval (t2) measured for the second head 18₂. Referring to the example of FIG. 2C, a manufacturing defect as described above may cause the second head 18₂ to contact the ramp sooner than the first head 18₁, and therefore the second interval (t2) is shorter than the first interval (t1). The difference between the first interval (t1) and the second interval (t2) represents the stroke difference between the first head 18₁ and the second head 18₂. In one embodiment, the difference between the intervals may be converted into a physical distance based on the seek trajectory used to move the heads toward the ramp 20, or in an embodiment described below, based on a back electromotive force (BEMF) voltage generated by the VCM 34 which represents the velocity of the heads over the intervals.

In one embodiment, while moving the heads toward the ramp 20 the control circuitry 22 may sample a contact signal generated by one or more heads as well as sample the BEMF voltage generated by the VCM. After the heads have been unloaded onto the ramp 20, the control circuitry 22 may post-process the contact sample sequence and the BEMF sample sequence in order to measure the stroke for the corresponding head. An example of this embodiment is shown in the flow diagram of FIG. 5A wherein prior to moving the heads (or while moving the heads) a touchdown sensor in at least one head is enabled (block 64). While moving the heads toward the ramp 20, the contact signal generated by the touchdown sensor is sampled and stored as a contact sample sequence, and the BEMF voltage generated by the VCM is sampled and stored as a BEMF sample sequence (block 68). After the heads have been unloaded onto the ramp (block 72), the BEMF sample sequence is filtered using a suitable non-causal filter (block 74) in order to attenuate noise in the BEMF sample sequence so as to provide a more accurate velocity measurement of the head. The contact sample sequence for each head and the filtered BEMF sample sequence are then post-processed to measure the stroke difference between the heads (block 76).

FIG. 5B illustrates an example first contact sample sequence 78₁ generated for the first head and a second contact sample sequence 78₂ generated for a second head, as well as a BEMF sample sequence 80 generated by sampling the BEMF voltage of the VCM. In this embodiment, the first and second contact sample sequences 78₁ and 78₂ were generated concurrently (or interleaved) and therefore both contact sample sequences correspond to the same BEMF sample sequence 80. FIG. 5B illustrates how the BEMF voltage of the VCM may vary while moving the heads toward the ramp, and therefore integrating the BEMF sample sequence over the intervals before contact provides a relatively accurate estimate of the distance traveled by each head even though the velocity of the heads may vary over the intervals. Referring again to the example of FIG. 5B, integrating the BEMF sample sequence over the interval between the ramp contact 82₁ of the first head and the ramp contact 82₂ of the second head provides a measurement of the stroke difference between the heads. In one embodiment, post-processing the BEMF sample sequence 80, such as by filtering the BEMF sample sequence with a non-causal filter to reduce noise, provides a more accurate estimate of the velocity over the interval, thereby improving the stroke difference measurement.

FIG. 6A illustrates an embodiment wherein while moving the first head and the second heads toward the ramp, the control circuitry 22 configures a multiplexer 84 to toggle between evaluating a first contact signal 86₁ generated by the first head 18₁ and a second contact signal 86₂ generated by the second head 18₂. The stroke difference between the first head and the second head is then measured based on when the first contact signal 86₁ indicates contact with the ramp 20 and when the second contact signal 86₂ indicates contact with the ramp 20. This embodiment expedites measuring the stroke difference by interleave processing the contact signals from at least two heads (e.g., top and bottom heads) while moving the heads toward the ramp. In other embodiments, the control circuitry may further expedite the process by toggling between three or more heads during a single move of the heads toward the ramp. Also in these embodiments, measuring the stroke for two or more heads during a single move of the heads toward the ramp may increase the accuracy of the measurements (as compared to measuring the stroke for each head over different move operations that may experience different disturbances).

In one embodiment, the stroke difference for each head may be measured relative to the stroke of a reference head (e.g., the first head 18₁). For example, in one embodiment the stroke difference may be measured relative to a reference head and a target head each time the heads are moved toward the ramp. Accordingly this embodiment requires N−1 move operations in order to measure the stroke difference for N−1 target heads relative to a reference head (where N is the total number of heads).

In an embodiment that employs a touchdown sensor 48 to generate the contact signal, the touchdown sensor 48 may be damaged (e.g., due to electrical overstress) if it remains enabled while the head slides along the ramp 20 after contacting the ramp 20 during the unload operation. Accordingly, in one embodiment the touchdown sensor 48 may be disabled after contact with the ramp 20 is detected, thereby helping to prevent damage to the touchdown sensor 48. The touchdown sensor 48 may be enabled/disabled in any suitable manner, such as by enabling/disabling a bias signal (e.g., voltage or current) applied to the touchdown sensor 48.

This embodiment is understood with reference to the flow diagram of FIG. 6B wherein after enabling one or more touchdown sensors (block 88), the head are moved toward the ramp (block 90). While moving the heads toward the ramp, one or more contact signals generated by the touchdown sensors are sampled to generate contact sample sequence(s) (block 92). The contact sample sequence(s) are evaluated in real-time to detect whether the corresponding head has contacted the ramp (block 94). When the head contacting the ramp is real-time detected, the corresponding touchdown sensor is disabled (block 98), wherein in one embodiment the touchdown sensor is disabled after a margin delay (block 96) that ensures enough samples of the contact signal are taken. In an embodiment wherein two or more contact signals are evaluated during a single move toward the ramp, the process is repeated from block 94 to detect ramp contact and disable the touchdown sensor for the other heads. After the heads have been unloaded onto the ramp (block 100), the contact sample sequences are evaluated to post-time detect when each head actually contacted the ramp (block 102). That is, in one embodiment the post-time detection algorithm at block 102 is more accurate than the real-time detection algorithm at block 94.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry 22 may be configured to real-time detect one of the heads contacting the ramp based on a left peak function (LPF):

L ⁢ ⁢ P ⁢ ⁢ F ⁡ ( n ) = ∑ i = 1 + D M + D ⁢ ( x n - x n - i ) 2 M
where x_n represents a sample of the contact sample sequence at time n, M represents a smoothing factor, and D represents a transient exclusion offset. In one embodiment, the real-time detection of the head contacting the ramp occurs when:
LPF(N)>G²
where N represents the point of contact within the contact sample sequence and G represents a minimum jump in the contact sample sequence before and after the ramp contact.

In one embodiment, control circuitry 22 may be configured to post-time detect one of the heads contacting the ramp based on a left peak function (LPF) and a right peak function (RPF):

L ⁢ ⁢ P ⁢ ⁢ F ⁡ ( n ) = ∑ i = 1 M ⁢ ( x n - x n - i ) M ⁢ ⁢ and ⁢ ⁢ R ⁢ ⁢ P ⁢ ⁢ F ⁡ ( n ) = ∑ i = 1 M ⁢ ( x n - x n + i ) M
where x_n represents a sample of the contact sample sequence at time n, and M represents a smoothing factor. In one embodiment, the post-time detection of the head contacting the ramp occurs when a difference between LPF(n) and RPF(n) reaches an extremum (minimum or maximum).

In one embodiment, at least one of the disk surfaces (e.g., the first disk surface 16₁) comprises a plurality of eccentric tracks due, for example, to a non-centric alignment of the disks when clamped to a spindle motor. In one embodiment, the control circuitry 22 is configured to measure a repeatable runout (RRO) of a reference track representing the eccentricity of the reference track. The RRO of the reference track is processed to servo the first head at a substantially fixed location as the disk rotates. An example of this embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 7A wherein the first disk surface 16₁ may comprise an eccentric reference track 104. The RRO for this servo track 104 may be measured, for example, by evaluating the PES when servoing on the reference servo track 104. The control circuitry may then cancel the measured RRO from the PES so that the heads may be moved toward the ramp 20 from a fixed location 106 as the disk rotates. That is, the heads may be moved from a substantially concentric servo path 106 such as shown in FIG. 7A so that the heads move from essentially the same fixed location toward the ramp 20 regardless as to the rotation angle of the disk.

In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7B, the control circuitry 22 may be configured to measure the stroke difference between, for example, the first and second heads multiple times by moving the first and second heads toward the ramp 20 from a reference location 108 starting from different rotation angles of the disk. For example, in one embodiment the measured stroke difference between top and bottom heads may vary relative to the rotation angle of the disk due, for example, to a warping/wobbling of the disk.

In another embodiment, the control circuitry may measure the stroke of each individual head by moving the heads toward the ramp 20 from the reference location 108 multiple times starting from different rotation angles of the disk such as shown in FIG. 7B. The difference in the measured stroke of each head relative to the rotation angle of the disk may be processed, for example, to measure the eccentricity of each disk (i.e., the in-plane runout of the disk such as shown in FIG. 7A). In another embodiment, the control circuitry may measure the stroke of each individual head at different rotation angles of the disk by moving the heads toward the ramp 20 starting from a fixed location 106 such as shown in FIG. 7A (i.e., after canceling the RRO of the eccentric reference track 104). In this manner, the difference in the stroke measurement for each head relative to the rotation angle of the disk may be processed, for example, to measure the vertical runout of the disk due, for example, to warping/wobbling of the disk.

Any suitable control circuitry may be employed to implement the flow diagrams in the above embodiments, such as any suitable integrated circuit or circuits. For example, the control circuitry may be implemented within a read channel integrated circuit, or in a component separate from the read channel, such as a disk controller, or certain operations described above may be performed by a read channel and others by a disk controller. In one embodiment, the read channel and disk controller are implemented as separate integrated circuits, and in an alternative embodiment they are fabricated into a single integrated circuit or system on a chip (SOC). In addition, the control circuitry may include a suitable preamp circuit implemented as a separate integrated circuit, integrated into the read channel or disk controller circuit, or integrated into a SOC.

In one embodiment, the control circuitry comprises a microprocessor executing instructions, the instructions being operable to cause the microprocessor to perform the flow diagrams described herein. The instructions may be stored in any computer-readable medium. In one embodiment, they may be stored on a non-volatile semiconductor memory external to the microprocessor, or integrated with the microprocessor in a SOC. In another embodiment, the instructions are stored on the disk and read into a volatile semiconductor memory when the disk drive is powered on. In yet another embodiment, the control circuitry comprises suitable logic circuitry, such as state machine circuitry.

In various embodiments, a disk drive may include a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, etc. In addition, while the above examples concern a disk drive, the various embodiments are not limited to a disk drive and can be applied to other data storage devices and systems, such as magnetic tape drives, solid state drives, hybrid drives, etc. In addition, some embodiments may include electronic devices such as computing devices, data server devices, media content storage devices, etc. that comprise the storage media and/or control circuitry as described above.

The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method, event or process blocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processes described herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate. For example, described tasks or events may be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, or multiple may be combined in a single block or state. The example tasks or events may be performed in serial, in parallel, or in some other manner. Tasks or events may be added to or removed from the disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and components described herein may be configured differently than described. For example, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged compared to the disclosed example embodiments.

While certain example embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular feature, characteristic, step, module, or block is necessary or indispensable. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the embodiments disclosed herein.