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US 8,558,146 B2Granted
Position control with compensation for thermal cycling of a workpiece support
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsSteve Sheeran, Mark A. Toffle, Mark D. Anderson, Rodney D. Dahlenburg, Colin G. Presly, Paul J. Poisson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to establishing a desired position control over a workpiece by compensating for thermal cycling affecting a member supporting the workpiece during processing.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing having a support surface supportingly engaging an external surface of a spindle assembly, wherein the spindle assembly, in turn, operably positions a workpiece during a process;
- a substantially cylindrical heat source operably interposed in a conductive thermal transfer relationship simultaneously with both the support surface of the housing and with the external surface of the spindle assembly;
- and
- a workpiece position controller that selectively activates the heat source to conductively transfer heat in response to an indication that an observed temperature is less than a predetermined threshold value.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- (a) energizing a spindle supporting a workpiece to process the work piece;
- (b) de-energizing the spindle;
- (c) activating a substantially cylindrical heat source operably disposed in a member supporting the spindle if an observed temperature is less than a predetermined threshold value;
- (d) supporting another workpiece via the spindle;
- and
- (e) de-activating the heat source from conditional step (c) and repeating steps (a)-(d).
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.