Disk drive with forced convection cooling
AssigneeQuantum Corporation
InventorsPadmanabhan Srikrishna, Kumaraswamy Kasetty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A disk drive having forced convection cooling is provided herein. The disk drive includes a drive housing, a disk assembly, an actuator assembly, a fluid passageway and a fluid source. The drive housing defines a housing internal chamber which contains the disk assembly and the actuator assembly. The fluid passageway extends through the housing internal chamber near the disk assembly and the actuator assembly. The fluid source provides fluid flow through the fluid passageway to cool the housing internal chamber. This allows the disk drive to operate at cooler temperatures. As a result thereof, the disk drive is less affected by thermal expansion and the operational life of the components of the disk drive are increased.
Claims18
A disk drive comprising:
- a drive housing defining a housing internal chamber;
- a storage disk positioned within the housing internal chamber;
- a fluid passageway extending through a portion of the housing internal chamber, near the storage disk, the fluid passageway being in fluid isolation from the storage disk;
- and
- a fluid source which provides fluid flow through the fluid passageway to cool a portion of the housing internal chamber.
A disk drive comprising:
- a drive housing including a base, a pair of spaced apart housing end walls and pair of spaced apart housing side walls which define a housing internal chamber;
- a disk assembly positioned within the housing internal chamber;
- an actuator assembly positioned within the housing internal chamber;
- a shroud positioned with in the housing internal chamber, the shroud cooperating with the drive housing to define a fluid passageway which extends through the housing internal chamber, the fluid passageway being in fluid isolation from the disk assembly and the actuator assembly;
- and
- a fluid source which provides fluid flow through the fluid passageway to cool the disk assembly and the actuator assembly.
A method for cooling a drive housing of a disk drive, the disk drive including a storage disk positioned within a housing internal chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a fluid passageway which extending through a portion of the housing internal chamber, near the storage disk, the fluid passageway being in fluid isolation from the storage disk;
- and
- creating fluid flow through the fluid passageway to cool a portion of the housing internal chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.