US 11,935,560 B2
Hard disk drive multiple contact disk clamp
Robert McNab, San Jose, CA (US); Rasool Koosha, Austin, TX (US); and Mukesh Patel, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Western Digital Technologies, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 14, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/135,065.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/335,661, filed on Apr. 27, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0352048 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. G11B 19/20 (2006.01); G11B 17/038 (2006.01)
CPC G11B 19/2009 (2013.01) [G11B 17/038 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A hard disk drive (HDD) comprising:
a plurality of disk media rotatably mounted on a spindle hub;
a plurality of disk spacers each interposed between adjacent disk media of the plurality of disk media;
a disk clamp coupled to the spindle and applying a clamping force to the disk media and the disk spacers to secure the disk media to the spindle hub, the disk clamp comprising:
a disk-facing side and a cover-facing side, and
multiple protrusions extending from a surface of the disk-facing side and in contact with a disk medium of the plurality of disk media, thereby applying the clamping force at multiple respective contact locations on the disk medium;
wherein:
each of the multiple protrusions comprises an annular protrusion circumscribing a hub of the disk clamp, and
the multiple protrusions comprise an inner annular protrusion having a first center height and an outer annular protrusion having a second center height greater than the first center height;
a plurality of head sliders each housing a read-write transducer configured to read from and to write to a respective disk medium; and
an actuator configured for moving the head sliders to access portions of the disk media.