Patent ID: 9171581
Filing Date: 2015-10-27
Classification: G11B

Abstract:
1. An assembly comprising: a load beam having an elongate length extending along an in-plane axis; a head coupled to the load beam through a gimbal spring to supply a load force to the head along an out-of-plane axis generally transverse to the in-plane axis; and a sensor device coupled to the load beam including a transducer element having a sensing axis orientated along the in-plane axis of the load beam to provide an electrical output responsive to force or strain imparted to the transducer element along the in-plane axis, wherein the load beam includes a proximal portion and a distal portion coupled to the head through the gimbal spring and the sensor device is connected to the load beam between the proximal and distal portions of the load beam; and sensor circuitry coupled to the sensor device through contacts coupled to the transducer element to process the electrical output responsive to the force or strain imparted to the transducer element to provide an output measure of friction force parallel to the load beam, wherein the sensor circuitry includes a detector component configured to utilize a reference signal to extract the measure of friction force from the electrical output from the sensor device, and wherein the detector component is a lock-in amplifier detector.