CN1941155B - Cover member with air guide and hard disk drive - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a cover member including an air guide and a hard disk drive including the cover member. The hard disk drive includes: a housing including a base member and a cover member; a spindle motor mounted on the base member; a data storage disk mounted on the spindle motor; and an actuator rotatably mounted on the base member, which includes a A read/write head that records data on a disc or is used to reproduce data recorded on a disc. The cover member includes an air guide protruding from a bottom surface of the cover member toward the surface of the data storage disk to guide airflow generated by rotation of the disk to the outside of the disk, and the air guide has a width that varies along a rotation direction of the disk. Through the air guide formed on the cover member, the airflow generated by the rotation of the disk can be guided out of the disk, and the air flow is fast, so that the particles on the disk can be efficiently discharged from the disk.

Description

Cover member with air guide and hard disk drive

technical field

The present invention relates to a hard disk drive, and more particularly, to a cover member having an air guide for guiding airflow around a disk to the outside of the disk, and a hard disk drive including the cover member.

Background technique

One of information storage devices of a computer, a hard disk drive (HDD), is used to reproduce data stored in a disc or to record data on a disc by using a read/write head.

A conventional HDD includes a housing having a base member and a cover member, a spindle motor mounted on the base member, one or more data storage disks fixedly mounted on the spindle motor, and read/write heads to be used to reproduce/record data An actuator that moves to a predetermined position on the disc. By this actuator, the read/write head is moved to a predetermined position and floated at a predetermined height from the recording surface of the rotating disk.

In the HDD having the above structure, when the disk rotates, air flows inside the housing. The air flow circulates inside the housing, whereby particles in the housing circulate with the flowing air and are filtered through a filter installed at a predetermined position inside the housing.

In a conventional 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch HDD, the diameter of the disk is large, and the rotation speed of the disk is high; that is, about 5,400 rpm or 7,200 rpm, so that air flows sufficiently due to the rotation of the disk.

However, in a small and thin form-factor (SFF) HDD, the diameter of the disk is small, ie, 1 inch or less, and the rotation speed is slow, about 3,600 rpm. Therefore, the air flow due to the rotation of the disk is insufficient, so the particles on the disk cannot be easily discharged from the disk. As such, the particles may stick to the disk surface, thereby damaging data recorded thereon, or may stick to the read/write head, degrading the performance of the read/write head. Also, particles may collide with and damage the read/write head.

Contents of the invention

The present invention provides a cover member having an air guide that guides air flow generated due to disk rotation to the outside of the disk, thereby efficiently removing particles from the disk, and an HDD including the cover member.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cover member for a hard disk drive, the cover member comprising: an air guide protruding from a bottom end surface of the cover member toward the surface of a data storage disk, which will The airflow generated by the rotation of the data storage disk is guided to the outside of the data storage disk, wherein the air guide part has a width that varies along the rotation direction of the data storage disk.

A width of the air guide may gradually increase from an upstream end of the air guide through which air is guided toward a downstream end of exhausted air.

The inner circumference of the air guide may be formed concentrically with the rotation center of the data storage disc, and the outer circumference of the air guide may be formed to have a radius gradually increasing from the rotation center of the data storage disc along the rotation direction of the data storage disc.

An inner circumference of the air guide may be adjacent to an outer circumference of a spindle motor for rotating the data storage disk.

The upstream end of the air guide may be inclined with respect to the direction of air flow.

The air guide may be integrally formed with the covering member. The air guide may be formed when a pressing process is performed to form the covering member.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hard disk drive (HDD) including: a housing having a base member and a cover member; a spindle motor mounted on the base member; at least one data storage disk mounted on the spindle motor and an actuator rotatably mounted on the base member comprising a read/write head for recording data on or reproducing data recorded on the data storage disc, wherein the cover member includes a read/write head from the cover member An air guide portion protruding from the bottom end surface toward the surface of the data storage disc, which guides airflow generated by the rotation of the data storage disc to the outside of the data storage disc, and has an air guide portion that varies along the rotation direction of the data storage disc. width.

A width of the air guide may gradually increase from an upstream end of the air guide through which air is guided toward a downstream end of the discharged air.

The HDD as described above, wherein the inner circumference of the air guide is formed concentrically with the rotation center of the data storage disc, and the outer circumference of the air guide may be formed to have Increased radius.

The HDD may further include: a filter installed adjacent to a downstream end of the air guide to collect particles in the air passing through the air guide.

The filter may include an absorption filter provided on the bottom surface of the covering member in front of the downstream end of the air guide.

The absorption filter may be a recirculation filter provided on the base member in front of the downstream end of the air guide.

Description of drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

1 is an exploded perspective view of an HDD having a cover member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the bottom surface of the covering member in Figure 1;

3 is a plan view for illustrating the operation of the air guide in FIG. 1; and

Figure 4 is a partial perspective view of the base member depicted in Figure 1 with another filter.

Detailed ways

1 is an exploded perspective view of an HDD including a cover member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a bottom surface of the cover member in FIG. floor plan of the operation.

1, the HDD according to the present invention includes a housing 110 having a base member 111 and a cover member 112, a spindle motor 130 installed in the housing 110, a data storage disk 120 and an actuator 140 having a read/write head.

A printed circuit board 160 for driving the HDD may be connected to the bottom surface of the base member 111 , and a plurality of circuit devices 162 are mounted on the printed circuit board 160 .

One or more disks 120 are mounted on the spindle motor 130 as data storage media. A spindle motor 130 is mounted on the base member 111 to rotate the disk 120 .

The actuator 140 moves a read/write head that records data on the disk 120 or reproduces recorded data at a predetermined position on the disk 120 , and is rotatably installed on the base member 111 . In more detail, the actuator 140 includes: a swing arm 142, which is rotatably connected to the actuator pivot 141 mounted on the base member 111; a suspension 143, which is connected to the end of the swing arm 142 to face The surface of the disk 120 is oriented away from a slider 144 on which the read/write head is mounted, and a voice coil motor (VCM) 146 used to rotate the swing arm 142 . The VCM 146 includes: a VCM coil 147 connected to the other end of the swing arm 142, and a magnet 148 facing the VCM coil 147.

The VCM 146 is controlled by a servo control system, and by the interaction between the current input to the VCM coil 147 and the magnetic field formed by the magnet 148, the swing arm 142 is rotated in a direction according to Fleming's left hand rule. That is, when the disk 120 starts to rotate in the direction indicated by arrow D in FIG. Record the upward movement of the surface. By the lifting force generated by rotating the disk 120, the slider 144 floats at a predetermined height from the surface of the disk 120, and in this state, the read/write head on the slider 144 reproduces data from the data recording surface of the disk 120, or Data is recorded on the data recording surface of the disc 120 . Conversely, when the HDD is not operating, that is, when the disk 120 is not rotating, the VCM 146 reversely rotates the swing arm 142 so that the slider 144 on which the read/write head is mounted can be separated from the data recording surface of the disk 120.

The cover member 112 is connected to an upper portion of the base member 111 by a plurality of connection screws 119 to protect the disk 120 , the spindle motor 130 and the actuator 140 . The covering member 112 is generally formed of stainless steel or aluminum, but is not limited thereto. For example, the covering member 112 may be manufactured by pressing a stainless steel plate.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 , the cover member 112 includes an air guide 114 for guiding an air flow generated by the rotation of the disc 120 to the outside of the disc 120 . The air guide 114 is disposed on the bottom surface of the cover member 112 to correspond to the surface of the pan 120 , and protrudes from the bottom surface of the cover member 112 toward the pan 120 . In more detail, the air guide part 114 extends along the rotation direction (D) of the disc 120 and substantially forms a circular arc. More specifically, the width (W) of the air guide 114 varies along the rotation direction (D) of the disk 120 . That is, the width W of the air guide portion 114 gradually increases from the upstream end portion 114a through which the air is guided toward the downstream end portion 114b through which the air is discharged.

In more detail, the inner circumference 114c of the air guide 114 is separated from the outer circumference of the spindle motor 130 by a predetermined distance. That is, the inner circumference 114c of the air guide portion 114 is formed concentrically with the rotation center of the disk 120 . The inner circumference 114c of the air guide part 114 may be as close as possible to the outer circumference of the spindle motor 130 . The outer circumference 114d of the air guide part 114 may be formed to have a radius gradually increasing from the rotation center of the disk 120 along the rotation direction of the disk 120 . Consequently, along the direction of rotation D of the disk 120 , the distance between the outer edge of the disk 120 and the outer circumference 114 d of the air guide 114 becomes smaller and smaller.

In addition, the upstream end portion 114a of the air guide portion 114 is inclined with respect to the direction (F) of the airflow so as to sufficiently guide the airflow toward the outer periphery 114d.

The air guide 114 may be integrally formed with the cover member 112 . That is, when the cover member 112 is manufactured using a pressing process, the air guide 114 may be formed simultaneously with the cover member to protrude from the bottom surface of the cover member 112 . In this way, an additional member for forming the air guide portion 114 is not required, so that the manufacturing cost and weight of the covering member are not increased.

However, the air guide 114 is not limited to the above example, and may be attached to the bottom surface of the cover member 112 as an additional member.

The operation of the air guide part 114 will be described below with reference to FIG. 3 .

When the spindle motor 130 starts to rotate the disk 120 in the direction D of the airflow (F), the airflow (F) is generated in the same direction as the rotation direction D of the disk 120 . The air flow F is guided by the inclined upstream end portion 114 a of the air guide portion 114 toward the outer periphery 114 d of the air guide portion 114 . In addition, along the rotation direction D of the disk 120 , air flows between the outer periphery 114 d of the air guide 114 and the side wall of the base member 111 . As the distance between the outer circumference 114 d of the air guide part 114 and the outer edge of the disk 120 becomes narrower along the rotation direction of the disk 120 , the air is gradually guided to the outside of the disk 120 . Furthermore, as the distance between the outer periphery 114d of the air guide 114 and the side wall of the base member 111 becomes narrower toward the downstream end 114b of the air guide 114, the air flow F becomes faster and faster. Therefore, the particles on the disk 120 can be effectively discharged to the outside of the disk 120 by using the airflow F, thereby avoiding damage to the disk 120 and the read/write head due to the particles and performance degradation of the disk 120 and the read/write head.

In addition, the covering member 112 may further include a filter 116 adjacent to the downstream end portion 114 b of the air guide portion 114 . More specifically, the filter 116 may be an absorption filter, which may be attached to the bottom surface of the covering member 112 so as to be located in front of the downstream end portion 114 b of the air guide 114 . Therefore, the particles discharged from the disk 120 by the flowing air can be effectively collected by the absorption filter 116 .

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of the base member 111 with another filter.

Referring to FIG. 4 , a recirculation filter 118 may be installed on the base member 111 of the HDD to filter particles discharged from the tray 120 using flowing air. A recirculation filter 118 is located in front of the lower end 114 b of the air guide 114 and may be supported by a filter clip 117 fixedly mounted on the base member 111 .

Additionally, a recirculation filter 118 may be used instead of, or in addition to, the absorption filter 116 in FIGS. 1 to 3 .

As described above, according to the present invention, the airflow generated by the rotation of the disk can be guided to the outside of the disk through the air guide provided on the cover member, and the airflow is faster than in the related art. Therefore, the particles on the disk can be efficiently discharged from the disk, so that damage to the disk and the read/write head due to the particles and degradation of the performance of the disk and the read/write head can be avoided.

In addition, particles discharged from the disk can be efficiently collected by the filter installed adjacent to the downstream end of the air guide member formed on the cover member.

While the present invention has been shown and described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Variations.

Cross references to related patent applications

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0081319 filed in the Korean Patent Office on September 1, 2005 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/712,855 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on September 1, 2005 , the entire description of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Claims (18)

1. A cover member for a hard disk drive, the cover member comprising: an air guide protruding from a bottom surface of the cover member toward a surface of the data storage disc, which guides airflow generated by rotation of the data storage disc to the outside of the data storage disc, Wherein, the width of the air guide portion gradually increases from an upstream end portion of the air guide portion through which air is guided toward a downstream end portion where air is discharged. 2. The cover member according to claim 1, wherein an inner circumference of the air guide is formed concentrically with a rotation center of the data storage disk, and an outer circumference of the air guide is formed to have a direction extending from the rotation center of the data storage disk. The radius increases gradually with the direction of rotation of the data storage disk. 3. The cover member of claim 2, wherein an inner circumference of the air guide part is adjacent to an outer circumference of a spindle motor for rotating the data storage disk. 4. The covering member according to claim 1, wherein an upstream end portion of the air guide portion is inclined with respect to a direction of air flow. 5. The covering member of claim 1, wherein the air guide is integrally formed with the covering member. 6. The covering member of claim 5, wherein the air guide is formed when a pressing process is performed to form the covering member. 7. The covering member of claim 1, wherein a filter is attached to a bottom surface of the covering member in front of a downstream end portion of the air guide to collect particles in the flowing air. 8. The covering member of claim 7, wherein the filter comprises an absorbent filter. 9. A hard disk drive comprising: an enclosure including a base member and a cover member; a spindle motor mounted on the base member; at least one data storage disk mounted on the spindle motor; and an actuator rotatably mounted on the base member, comprising a read/write head for recording data onto the data storage disc or for reproducing data recorded on the data storage disc, Wherein, the cover member includes an air guide protruding from the bottom surface of the cover member toward the surface of the data storage disc, which guides the airflow generated by the rotation of the data storage disc to the outside of the data storage disc, and wherein the air guide The width of the portion gradually increases from an upstream end portion of the air guide portion through which air is guided toward a downstream end portion where air is discharged. 10. The hard disk drive according to claim 9, wherein an inner circumference of the air guide is formed concentrically with a rotation center of the data storage disk, and an outer circumference of the air guide is formed to have a rotation center of the data storage disk. The radius that increases gradually along the direction of rotation of the data storage disk. 11. The hard disk drive of claim 10, wherein an inner circumference of the air guide part is adjacent to an outer circumference of a spindle motor for rotating the data storage disk. 12. The hard disk drive of claim 9, wherein an upstream end portion of the air guide part is inclined with respect to a direction of air flow. 13. The hard disk drive of claim 9, wherein the air guide is integrally formed with the cover member. 14. The hard disk drive of claim 13, wherein the air guide is formed when a pressing process is performed to form the cover member. 15. The hard disk drive of claim 9, further comprising: A filter disposed adjacent to the downstream end of the air guide for collecting particles in the air passing through the air guide. 16. The hard disk drive of claim 15, wherein the filter comprises an absorption filter disposed on a bottom surface of the cover member in front of a downstream end portion of the air guide. 17. The hard disk drive of claim 15, wherein the filter comprises a recirculation filter provided on the base member in front of the downstream end of the air guide. 18. The hard disk drive of claim 9, wherein the data storage disk has a diameter of 1 inch or less.

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