Environmentally controlled media defect detection system for Winchester disk drives
AssigneeMicropolis Corporation
InventorVernon P. Magnuson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An environmentally controlled media defect detection system for Winchester disk drives includes a testing cabinet which is divided into two sections. The first section is maintained at an environmentally controlled elevated temperature for testing Winchester disk drives at elevated operational temperatures above ambient room temperatures. The second section is thermally insulated from the first section and contains a plurality of disk drive test units. One test unit is coupled to each Winchester disk drive being tested, and the test units have the ability to apply digital signals to the drive for writing and reading signals onto tracks of the drives, determining malfunctions, and imperfections in the disk media of the hard disk drive systems.
Claims9
A system for testing Winchester disk drives comprising:
- a testing cabinet including first and second sections;
- said first section including means for environmentally controlling the temperature therein at an elevated temperature,
- said second section being thermally insulated from said first section;
- said first section including a plurality of racks for receiving Winchester drives to be tested;
- said second section including a plurality of individual test units each coupled via separate coupling means to a corresponding one of said Winchester drives;
- said test units each including means for applying digital memory medium test signals to said drives, for reading said signals from said drives, and for determining malfunctions in each of said drives.
A system for testing the accuracy and precision of a disk drive for a Winchester hard disk system, comprising:
- an environmentally controlled testing cabinet, having a plurality of disk drive compartments for housing a Winchester disk drive;
- for each disk drive compartment, a corresponding test board compartment for housing a disk drive test board, each test board applying digital memory medium test signals to its corresponding disk drive and reading said signals from the disk drive to determine a malfunction therein;
- means for coupling each disk drive test board with its corresponding disk drive;
- an air flow means including a thermostatically controlled means for maintaining a predetermined selected temperature in said disk drive compartment;
- means for environmentally and thermally isolating the disk drive compartments from said test board compartments;
- so, that independent environmental control of the disk driven compartment can be separately maintained.
A system for testing Winchester disk drives comprising:
- a testing cabinet including first and second sections;
- said first section including a plurality of racks for receiving Winchester drives to be tested;
- said second section including a plurality of test units each coupled via coupling means to a corresponding one of said Winchester drives;
- said test units including means for applying digital memory medium test signals to said drives, for reading said signals from said drives, and for determining malfunctions in each of said drives;
- said first section including means for environmentally controlling the temperature therein at an elevated temperature, including:
- a plurality of ventilation fans for intake of ambient air and for circulation of said intake ambient air through a plurality of ducts and over each of said Winchester drives in said first section;
- heating means for heating said intake air as it circulates through said ducts;
- and,
- said heating means controlled by a thermostatic controller means;
- said second section being thermally insulated from said first section.
A system for testing the accuracy and precision of a disk drive for a Winchester hard disk system, comprising:
- an environmentally controlled testing cabinet, having at least one disk drive compartment for housing a Winchester disk drive;
- for each disk drive compartment, a corresponding test board compartment for housing a disk drive test board;
- means for coupling each disk drive test board with its corresponding disk drive;
- an air flow means including:
- a separate air circulation means comprising a plurality of air circulating fans for intake of ambient air and directing said ambient air into a plurality of air ducts;
- said air ducts directing said intake air uniformly to said disk drive compartment;
- thermostatically controlled heater means for heating said intake air in said air ducts to a pre-set temperature for maintaining said disk drive compartment at a uniform temperature;
- means for environmentally isolating the disk drive compartments from said test board compartments;
- whereby independent environmental control of the disk driven compartment can be separately maintained.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.