Apparatus and method for controlling vapor phase within an enclosure
US5229899A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 8, 1992 |
| Grant date | Jul 20, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 8, 2012 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B33/1446
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The vapor drain is a device that permits steady state control of the composition of the atmosphere within a substantially sealed enclosure. For any fabricated enclosure the will be sources of vapor phase molecules: molecules evaporating from a deliberately installed lubricant reservoir, molecules outgassed from components, and molecules diffusing in from the outside world. The purpose of the vapor drain is to minimize the second two classes of molecules in the composition of the enclosure atmosphere as they are considered to be contaminants. An example application is a rigid disk magnetic data storage device which requires a monomelecular layer of lubricant on the disk and slider surfaces. The vapor drains suppresses the contaminant population by capturing a portion of all three sources of molecules in the vapor phase. The vapor drain is a filter which has an active element of at least one of activated carbon, silica gel, activated alumina, synthetic zeolite, and other material with a large surface to volume ratio with the ability to adsorb vapor components from the atmosphere.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.