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Method and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk driveMethod and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070253086, Method and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to manufacturing disk drives. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive. BACKGROUND [0002] Disk drives are manufactured in clean rooms in order to prevent damage to the disk drives from particles getting inside of the disk drives. Disk drives are also subject to being damaged from electrostatic discharge (ESD), which is the discharge of electrostatic charge between components that have different potentials, during the manufacturing process. In order to minimize the possibility of ESD, the relative humidity inside of a clean room is typically maintained at approximately 55 percent. [0003] However, it is desirable that the relative humidity inside of a disk drive after it has been manufactured is approximately 25 percent to 30 percent in order to avoid the failure of disk drive components, such as the magnetic read write heads, due to corrosion of the components. Desiccants are typically placed inside of disk drives in order to maintain a relative humidity of approximately 25 percent to 30 percent inside of the disk drive. However, since the clean room typically has a relative humidity of approximately 55 percent much of the life span of the desiccant is used up while the disk drive is being manufactured. Thus, the life of the disk drive is shortened. [0004] FIG. 1 depicts a plan view of a prior art disk drive in order to facilitate the discussion of using desiccants inside of disk drives. The disk drive 110 includes a base casting 113, a motor hub assembly 130, a disk 112, actuator shaft 132, actuator arm 134, suspension assembly 137, a hub 140, voice coil motor 150, a magnetic read write head 156, a slider 155, and desiccant 160. [0005] The components are assembled into a base casting 113, which provides attachment and registration points for components and sub assemblies. A plurality of suspension assemblies 137 (one shown) can be attached to the actuator arms 134 (one shown) in the form of a comb. A plurality of transducer heads or sliders 155 (one shown) can be attached respectively to the suspension assemblies 137. Sliders 155 are located proximate to the disk 112's surface 135 for reading and writing data with magnetic heads 156 (one shown). The rotary voice coil motor 150 rotates actuator arms 135 about the actuator shaft 132 in order to move the suspension assemblies 150 to the desired radial position on a disk 112. The desiccant 160 is typically placed near the voice coil motor 150. The actuator shaft 132, hub 140, actuator arms 134, and voice coil motor 150 may be referred to collectively as a rotary actuator assembly. [0006] Data is recorded onto disk surfaces 135 in a pattern of concentric rings known as data tracks 136. Disk surface 135 is spun at high speed by means of a motor-hub assembly 130. Data tracks 136 are recorded onto spinning disk surfaces 135 by means of magnetic heads 156, which typically reside at the end of sliders 155. [0007] FIG. 1 being a plan view shows only one head, slider and disk surface combination. One skilled in the art understands that what is described for one head-disk combination applies to multiple head-disk combinations, such as disk stacks (not shown). However, for purposes of brevity and clarity, FIG. 1 only shows on head and one disk surface. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] Embodiments of the present invention pertain to maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive. According to one embodiment, clean dry air is blow over a cover of the disk drive. The cover includes an unsealed servo write slot. The amount of clean dry air blown over the cover is regulated while a servo write process is performed so that a portion of the clean dry air is introduced into the disk drive BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0009] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention: [0010] FIG. 1 depicts a plan view of a prior art disk drive in order to facilitate the discussion of using desiccants inside of disk drives. [0011] FIG. 2 depicts a relative humidity maintenance system for a disk drive, according to one embodiment. [0012] FIG. 3 depicts a top down view of a dry air delivery system that has been dropped into a servo write cell, according to one embodiment. [0013] FIG. 4 depicts another relative humidity maintenance system that has been added to a legacy servo write system, according to another embodiment. [0014] FIG. 5 depicts test results of the relative humidity inside of a disk drive over time using a relative humidity maintenance system, according to one embodiment of the present invention. [0015] FIG. 6 depicts a bar graph indicating the relative humidity inside of a disk drive before using a relative humidity maintenance system and after the relative humidity maintenance system had been used during the servo write process, according to one embodiment. [0016] FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart describing a method of maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive, according to one embodiment of the present invention. [0017] The drawings referred to in this description should not be understood as being drawn to scale except if specifically noted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0018] Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with these embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention. Overview Continue reading about Method and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive... Full patent description for Method and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method and a system for maintaining an acceptable level of relative humidity inside of a disk drive patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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