Disc arrangement on a hydrodynamic motor
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsRichard Gene Krum, Michael Moir
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for storing and removing data storage discs from a disc drive assembly. Embodiments of the invention include determining the zero location, storing the discs to the disc drive and unpacking the discs from the disc drive, wherein the step of storing the discs includes locating the discs around a center disc by alternating between placing discs above and below the center disc, and wherein the step of unpacking the discs includes removing the discs around a center disc by alternating between placing discs above and below the center disc.
Claims24
A method of populating a hub of a disc drive spindle motor with a disc stack having an odd number of data storage discs, the method occurring prior to assembly of the disc stack and comprising steps of:
- (a) determining a center position of the hub;
- (b) determining a position of a first disc to be substantially at the center position of the hub;
- (c) arranging the position of additional pairs of discs on the hub so that each additional pair includes a top disc positioned above the first disc and a bottom disc positioned below the first disc, the top and bottom discs each positioned substantially equidistant from the first disc, and each disc spaced from each adjacent disc by a predetermined distance;
- (d) determining a maximum number of discs that can fit on the hub given the position of the first disc and the predetermined spacing between adjacent discs;
- and
- (e) repeating the arranging step (c) until the maximum number of discs is reached.
A method of populating a hub of a disc drive spindle motor with a disc stack having an even number of data storage discs, the method occurring prior to assembly of the disc stack and comprising steps of:
- (a) determining a center position of the hub;
- (b) determining a position of a first disc to be below the center position of the hub;
- (c) determining a position of a second disc to be above the center position of the hub, the second disc spaced from the first disc by a predetermined distance, and the first and second discs positioned substantially equidistant from the center position of the hub;
- (d) arranging the position of additional pairs of discs on the hub so that each additional pair includes a bottom disc positioned below the first disc and a top disc positioned above the second disc, the top and bottom discs each positioned substantially equidistant from the central position of the hub, and each disc spaced from each adjacent disc by a predetermined distance;
- (e) determining a maximum number of discs that can fit on the hub given the positions of the first and second discs and the predetermined spacing between adjacent discs;
- and
- (f) repeating the arranging step (d) until the maximum number of discs is reached.
A method of depopulating a disc stack of a disc drive spindle motor so that the disc stack includes a desired number of data storage discs, the method occurring prior to assembly of the disc stack and comprising steps of:
- (a) vertically centering the disc stack about a center position of a hub of the spindle motor;
- and
- (b) removing one of a topmost disc and a bottommost disc from the disc stack.
A disc drive comprising:
- a spindle having hydrodynamic bearings;
- a cylindrical hub surrounding the spindle and engaging the hydrodynamic bearings to allow rotation of the hub about the spindle, the hub having a center position defined along a vertical dimension of the hub;
- and
- a stack of storage discs attached to the hub, each storage disc spaced apart from each adjacent storage disc by a predetermined distance, the stack of storage discs defining a center point that is positioned substantially at the center position of the hub.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.