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

Self-heating disk drive

In cold weather, the higher torque required for normal spinning operation of a spindle motor assembly in a direct access storage device due to the increased viscosity of the grease, is overcome by localizing the heating to the spindle motor assembly to reduce the viscosity of the grease, and then let a disk driven self heat during and after spin-up of the spindle motor assembly

Method and apparatus for enabling cold temperature performance of a disk

An optical disc drive comprises: a turntable for mounting an optical disc; a driving unit for rotating the turntable; and an optical disc heating means for heating a center portion of the optical disc. In the optical disc drive, an inner circumference temperature of the optical disc is maintained to be higher than a peripheral temperature of the optical disc by at least 50° C. According to this, a growth of a crack generated at a periphery of a hole of the optical disc is restrained thereby to effectively prevent a damage of the optical disc.

Optical disc drive

An adaptive spindle motor startup method includes applying an internal driving voltage to a disk drive, sensing an internal temperature of the disk drive, and controlling the startup of a spindle motor by adjusting a startup factor related to a startup current applied to the spindle motor corresponding to the sensed temperature. Thus, the delay of time to reach a target rotation rate is prevented in the spindle motor in an extreme environment, for example at temperatures lower or higher than 25° C. The overall startup time is efficiently optimized through the improvement of the startup method of the spindle motor.

Adaptive spindle motor startup method and disk drive using the same

A method and an apparatus for improving performance of a hard disk drive at low temperature are provided. The method includes: measuring an internal temperature of the hard disk drive; checking whether a measured internal temperature is not more than a predetermined critical temperature; if the measured internal temperature is not more than the predetermined critical temperature, driving a motor of the hard disk drive for a predetermined time and proceeding to the operation of the measuring of the internal temperature of the hard disk drive; and if the measured internal temperature is greater than the predetermined critical temperature, determining that reading/writing operations with respect to the hard disk drive are available.

Method and apparatus for improving performance of hard disk drive at low temperature

A disk drive system includes a base, a disk stack rotatably attached to the base, and an actuator assembly movably attached to the base. The disk stack is rotatably attached to the housing or the base using a hydrodynamic bearing. The disks are actually mounted or attached to a hub. An electric motor is formed inside the hub. Current is passed through the windings of an electric motor to rotate the hub. The windings are located near the bearing surface of the hydrodynamic bearings. Before applying a current which will start the rotation of the hub, a current is passed through the windings or coil of the electric motor to heat the lubricating fluid used as part of the hydrodynamic bearing. By heating the lubricating fluid, the start torque required to begin the rotation of the hub according to the start profile is reduced. The length of time for application of current at a level which heats the bearing surface and the lubricating fluid at the bearing surface may be controlled by a feedback control loop or may merely be a selected time which does not vary from disk drive to disk drive. Various indicators of the viscosity of the lubricant can be used to monitor the viscosity, if a feedback control loop is used. An adaptive program can also be used based on parameters such as temperature, sensing of winding current, and voltage. The current applied before startup can be alternating current or direct current.

Gene Emmett Milligan

Papers

Viscosity compensation by spindle motor pre-heating