Leak detection system of hard disk drives with lubricant reservoir
AssigneeHitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
InventorsNorbert A. Feliss, Donald R. Gillis, Thomas A. Gregory, Sylvia Lui Lee, Vedantham Raman
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Abstract
A method for detecting leakage from a disk drive enclosure includes providing a lubricating composition having a lubricating material and a tag material therein. The tag material has a volatility characteristic that is amenable to analysis. The method includes measuring a concentration of the tag material in the vapor phase. By measuring a concentration of the tag material, a leak rate of the lubricating material can be determined. The lubricating composition may include a perfluoropolyether lubricating material and a halogenated sulfur tag material such as SF6 and/or S2F10.
Claims38
A method for detecting leakage from a disk drive enclosure, comprising:
- providing a disk drive enclosure having a lubricating material and a tag material therein, wherein at least a portion of the lubricating material and the tag material are in the vapor phase;
- and
- measuring a concentration of the tag material in the vapor phase.
A disk drive system comprising:
- at least one disk adapted to store data;
- at least one transducer adapted to read and write data to and from the disk;
- and
- a lubricant composition comprising a lubricant component adapted to lubricate the disk surface and a tag component, wherein the tag component has a volatility that enables the tag to be detected in the vapor phase.
A disk drive system comprising:
- at least one disk adapted to store data;
- at least one transducer adapted to read and write data to and from the disk;
- a first source of a volatile lubricant;
- and
- a second source of a tag component incorporated into a substantially non-volatile material, wherein the tag component has a volatility that enables the tag component to be detected in the vapor phase.
A lubricant composition for disk drive systems comprising a lubricant material and a tag material, wherein the tag material is adapted to be detected in the vapor phase.
A computer system comprising:
- a disk drive including a disk drive enclosure;
- a disk drive lubricant composition including a lubricant component and a tag component;
- and
- a sensor adapted to detect a quantity of the tag component in the vapor phase.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.