Self-heating disk drive
AssigneeWestern Digital Technologies, Inc.
InventorsRobert P. Ryan, Dalwinder Singh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a self-heating disk drive that comprises a voice coil motor (VCM), a spindle motor, and a temperature sensor. The VCM includes a VCM coil and the VCM is configured to move an actuator having a head attached to a distal end of the actuator. The spindle motor includes a plurality of spindle coils to spin a disk of the disk drive. The temperature sensor is used to read an internal temperature of the disk drive. Circuitry is configured to: command the application of current to the VCM coil without loading the head onto the disk and to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a manner so as not to spin the disk; and, if the internal temperature reading reaches a pre-determined spindle temperature, the spindle motor is allowed to spin-up the disk.
Claims42
A self-heating disk drive comprising:
- a voice coil motor (VCM) having a VCM coil, the VCM configured to move an actuator having a head attached to a distal end of the actuator;
- a spindle motor having a plurality of spindle coils to spin a disk;
- a temperature sensor to read an internal temperature of the disk drive;
- and
- circuitry configured to:
- command the application of current to the VCM coil without loading the head onto the disk and to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a manner so as to not spin the disk;
- and
- if the internal temperature reading reaches a pre-determined spindle temperature, allow the spindle motor to spin-up the disk.
A method to provide a self-heating disk drive in which the disk drive includes a voice coil motor (VCM) having a VCM coil, the VCM configured to move an actuator having a head attached to a distal end of the actuator, and a spindle motor having a plurality of spindle coils to spin a disk, the method comprising:
- applying current to the VCM coil without loading the head onto the disk and to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a manner so as to not spin the disk;
- and
- if an internal temperature reaches a pre-determined spindle temperature, allowing the spindle motor to spin-up the disk.
In a disk drive including a voice coil motor (VCM) having a VCM coil, the VCM configured to move an actuator having a head attached to a distal end of the actuator, and a spindle motor having a plurality of spindle coils to spin a disk, a processor-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following operations comprising:
- continuously monitoring an internal temperature of the disk drive;
- applying current to the VCM coil without loading the head onto the disk and to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a manner so as to not spin the disk;
- and
- if the internal temperature reaches a pre-determined spindle temperature, allowing the spindle motor to spin-up the disk.
A method to provide a self-heating disk drive in which the disk drive includes a spindle motor having a plurality of spindle coils to spin a disk and a temperature sensor to read an internal temperature of the disk drive, the method comprising:
- commanding the application of current to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a first out-of-phase manner such that the spindle motor generates excess heat in spinning the disk;
- monitoring the internal temperature;
- and
- if the internal temperature reaches a pre-determined temperature, commanding the application of current to the spindle coils of the spindle motor in a more power-efficient manner than the first out-of-phase manner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.