Measuring and testing – Surface and cutting edge testing – Roughness
Patent
1998-08-11
2000-08-01
Chapman, John E.
Measuring and testing
Surface and cutting edge testing
Roughness
G01B 528
Patent
active
060949732
ABSTRACT:
The invention uses piezoelectric sensors to test disk drives. Both contact start-stop and load-unload type disk drives may be tested. A piezoelectric sensor is affixed to a disk drive to test for disk drive mechanical integrity. One method of affixing the sensor to the disk drive is using a mechanical clamp. The clamp is intended for repeated use on many disk drives, and therefore its easy removal is important. An alternative clamping apparatus is a magnetic clamp. In use, the clamp affixes the piezoelectric sensor to a disk drive in an optimal location with optimal force. Affixed piezoelectric sensors are used to detect aberrant behavior generated by non-optimal disk drive performance. The clamp/sensor combination detects acoustic signal in a disk drive which is used to determine whether or not a disk drive has adequate head-disk clearance. The apparatus is flexible, allowing testing after assembly of head-disk assembly and before or after servowriting and final disk drive assembly. Furthermore, the piezoelectric sensors may be permanently affixed to optimal locations on disk drives using glue, epoxy, or other adhesives. The permanently affixed piezoelectric sensors provide the same information as more temporarily mounted sensors and, additionally, the permanently affixed sensors may be left on the disk drive and used to measure disk drive performance throughout the life of the disk drive. The sensors can provide output signal in a number of configurations, such as, having a single point signal with one electrode grounded, or a floating differential signal. This sensor signal is analyzed by sending the signal through a signal processing apparatus which examines specific disk drive performance parameters which are used to determine whether the disk drives being tested meet preset specifications.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4532802 (1985-08-01), Yeack-Scranton et al.
patent: 5168412 (1992-12-01), Doan et al.
patent: 5880587 (1999-03-01), Annis et al.
Chapman John E.
Dempster Shawn B.
Heller III Edward P.
Olson Jonathan E.
Seagate Technology Inc.
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