Patent ID: 7357577

Claim:
A hydrodynamic bearing arrangement comprising a spindle motor to drive a disk of a hard disk drive, the bearing arrangement having a shaft ( 1 ) and a bearing bush ( 2 ; 20 ), which, supported by a lubricant circulating between their bearing surfaces, are rotatable with respect to each other, a covering cap ( 30 ) being provided that covers an end face and regions of an outside diameter of the bearing bush adjoining this end face, a free space ( 5 ) being provided between the bearing bush and the covering cap, the free space being connected to a bearing gap ( 4 ) and at least partially filled with lubricant, characterized in that a channel ( 21 ) running substantially in the longitudinal direction of the bearing bush is provided on the outside diameter of the bearing bush ( 20 ), one end of the channel leading into the free space ( 5 ) and allowing a filling level of the lubricant in the free space to be measured, characterized in that the free space ( 5 ) is formed on the one hand by an axial spacing between the bearing bush ( 20 ) and the covering cap ( 30 ) and on the other hand by an annular recess on the outside diameter of the bearing bush ( 20 ).