Apparatus and method for integral filter and bypass channel in a hard disk drive

A bypass channel for directing airflow to a disk of a hard disk drive comprising:

• an outer bypass channel sidewall;
• an inner bypass channel sidewall, the inner bypass channel sidewall closer to said disk with respect to said outer sidewall;
• and
• a first filter portion integral with the inner sidewall, said first filter portion for filtering a first portion of the airflow to the disk of the hard disk drive wherein the first portion of the airflow passing through the contraction portion provides a suction such that the second portion of the airflow is drawn through the filter portion.

A hard disk drive comprising:

• a housing;
• a disk pack mounted to the housing and having a plurality of disks that are rotatable relative to the housing, the disk pack defining an axis of rotation and a radial direction relative to the axis, and the disk pack having a downstream side wherein air flows away from the disks, and an upstream side wherein air flows toward the disk;
• an actuator mounted to the housing and being movable relative to the disk pack, the actuator having a plurality of heads for reading data from and writing data to the disks;
• and
• a bypass channel formed in the housing for directing the air flows generated by rotation of the disks from the downstream side of the disk pack to the upstream side of the disk pack, said bypass channel comprising a first filter portion integral with a sidewall of said bypass channel, said filter portion for filtering a first portion of the air flow to the upstream side of the disk pack,
• wherein the first filter portion further comprises micro pores distributed over a portion of the bypass channel sidewall.