Disk lubrication mechanism

Details Disk lubrication mechanism Disk lubrication mechanism

2001-03-16

2003-07-22

Lamb, Brenda A. (Department: 1734)

Coating apparatus

Immersion or work-confined pool type

With means for moving work through, into or out of pool

C118S503000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06596083

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to the manufacture of magnetic and optical recording media and in particular to a method and apparatus for applying lubrication to the surface of the media.
BACKGROUND
In a conventional contact start-stop (CSS) operation of a hard disk drive, the magnetic head slides against the disk surface when the disk is spun up and down. To protect the magnetic head and the disk surface from the frictional effects of CSS operations, the disk surface is lubricated in fabrication.
FIG. 1
illustrates a prior art apparatus
100
for lubing disks. A linear stage
102
lowers a mandrel
104
with a conventional disk
106
resting thereon into a lubrication tank
108
filled with lubrication solution
110
. The disk is then lifted out of the solution or alternatively the lubrication solution is drained, leaving behind a thin (1-10 nm) layer of lubrication on the surface of the disk. Disk
106
has, e.g., an inner diameter (ID)
114
of 25 mm and an outer diameter (OD) of 95 mm. An arrow
116
indicates the travel of mandrel
104
into and out of lubrication tank
108
. Mandrel
104
includes a notch
112
where ID
114
of disk
106
rests upon. As
FIG. 1
illustrates, lubrication solution
118
often collects around notch
112
and deposits excessive lubricant on disk
106
due to the improper drainage. While excess lubricant is a reliability and performance concern for media, the amount deposited on disk
106
is acceptable because it affects only a small percentage of the total area of disk
106
.
FIG. 2
illustrates the use of conventional apparatus
100
to apply lubrication to a disk
122
which has a small form factor. Disk
122
has, e.g., an ID
124
of 7 mm and an OD of 27.4 mm. Lubrication solution
118
again collects around notch
112
. Excessive lubricant on disk
122
near ID
124
produces an undesirable result. Compared to disk
106
, excessive lubrication
118
is of greater concern for disk
122
because disk
122
has a smaller surface area. Thus a greater portion of the surface of disk
122
will have excess lubrication
118
deposited thereon then will disk
106
. Disk
122
is also more likely to sway and tip over as it hangs from mandrel
104
because disk
122
is lighter. Furthermore, as the lubrication solution moves across the surface of the disk, surface tension imbalances may cause the disk to tilt. This phenomenon can slow down production and cause non-uniformity in disk lubrication.
Thus, what is needed is a system that lubricates a small form factor disk without excessive lubrication around its inner diameter and unwanted movement of the disk during processing.
SUMMARY
A system for processing a disk includes a tank, a base adjacent to the tank, a rotary actuator mounted to the base, and an end-effector mounted to the rotary actuator. The end-effector includes a plurality of fingers and an actuator linked to at least one finger. The actuator closes the fingers so they can be inserted into an inner diameter of the disk. The actuator opens the fingers so they can grip the inner diameter of the disk. Once the fingers have gripped the disk, the rotary actuator rotates the end-effector to a position above the tank. The disk can be brought down into the tank or the tank can be brought up to place the disk within the tank. The tank is then filled with a processing liquid to process the disk.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3075800 (1963-01-01), Kamp
patent: 4735540 (1988-04-01), Allen et al.
patent: 5879121 (1999-03-01), Kempf
German Utility Model G 93 07 263.5, Jul. 1993.

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