Humidity control in a sealed housing
OwnerNeal Gundersoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method for providing relative humidity control in a sealed housing, and apparatus formed thereby. A water vapor emission assembly, such as a desiccant, is placed within a housing in a first gas atmosphere such as ambient air. The first gas atmosphere is subsequently replaced with a second gas atmosphere, such as an inert gas atmosphere (e.g., helium). The second gas atmosphere has an initial relative humidity less than a desired relative humidity. Upon replacement, water vapor from the water vapor emission assembly is emitted to achieve the desired relative humidity within the second gas atmosphere. The housing is preferably characterized as a housing of a data storage device.
Claims28
A method comprising:
- placing a water vapor emission assembly within a housing in a first gas atmosphere;
- and
- replacing the first gas atmosphere with a different, second gas atmosphere having an initial relative humidity less than a desired relative humidity, wherein water vapor from the water vapor emission assembly is subsequently emitted to achieve the desired relative humidity within the second gas atmosphere.
An apparatus comprising a sealed housing which retains an inert gas atmosphere and a water vapor emission assembly within the housing which emits water vapor into the inert gas atmosphere to substantially maintain a desired relative humidity within said housing, the apparatus formed by a process comprising placing the water vapor emission assembly within the housing in a first gas atmosphere, and replacing the first gas atmosphere with the inert gas atmosphere having an initial relative humidity less than the desired relative humidity, wherein the water vapor from the water vapor emission assembly is emitted to achieve the desired relative humidity within the inert gas atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.