Removable hard disk drive bay

A removable hard disk drive (HDD) bay has a casing, a door assembly and an extracting assembly. The door assembly has a pivoting member, a cover slidably mounted on the pivoting member, a retainer slidably mounted in the cover and selectively hooking the casing, and a driving member driving the retainer. The extracting assembly pivotally connects the door assembly to the casing. When the door assembly is opened relative to the casing, the extracting assembly extracts the HDD (AA) with a simple mechanism and the door assembly does not occupy any room in the casing. The casing does not have to reserve a room for the door assembly and a volume of the removable HDD bay is efficiently minimized.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a removable hard disk drive bay, especially to a hard disk drive bay that has a door assembly, which does not occupy any room of a casing when opened, and a simplified extracting assembly.

2. Description of the Prior Art(s)

Compared with a flash memory or an optical disc, a hard disk drive (HDD) has larger storage capacity and higher durability and reliability, and therefore has been a dominant data storage device in general-purpose computers in recent years. For the convenience of drawing the HDD from a computer case, the HDD is stored in a removable HDD bay and is mounted in the computer case along with the removable HDD bay.

With reference toFIG. 9, a conventional removable HDD bay comprises a casing71, a frame72and a door73. The casing71has an open end. The frame72is mounted around the open end of the casing71and has an opening721formed through the frame72and communicating with the open end of the casing72. An HDD is mounted through the through hole721of the frame72and is stored in the casing71. The door73is disposed in the opening721of the frame72, is pivotally mounted on the frame72and selectively hooks to the frame72to close the opening721of the frame72and to prevent the HDD from dropping out of the conventional removable HDD bay.

However, since the door73has a thickness, is pivotally disposed in the opening721of the frame72and occupies a room in the opening721of the frame72when the door73is opened, widths of the opening721and the frame72are larger than the open end of the casing71. Thus, when the door73is opened, a remaining width of the opening721is sufficient for the HDD to go through the opening721of the frame72.

Furthermore, an extracting mechanism with multiple extracting elements is further mounted on the casing71and is connected to the door73. When the door73is opened, the door73also drives the extracting elements to push the HDD out of the conventional removable HDD bay. However, the extracting mechanism of the conventional removable HDD bay is disposed on and along a sidewall of the casing71and also occupies a room in the casing71.

Therefore, the conventional removable HDD bay occupies a far larger room in the computer case than a volume of the HDD. Therefore, the conventional removable HDD bay is bulky and is not suitable for a small-sized computer case.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a removable hard disk drive bay to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a removable hard disk drive (HDD) bay.

The removable HDD bay has a casing, a door assembly and an extracting assembly. The door assembly has a pivoting member, a cover slidably mounted on the pivoting member, a retainer slidably mounted in the cover and selectively hooking the casing, and a driving member driving the retainer. The extracting assembly pivotally connects the door assembly to the casing.

When the door assembly is opened relative to the casing, the extracting assembly extracts the HDD with a simple mechanism and the door assembly does not occupy any room in the casing. The casing does not have to reserve a room for the door assembly and a volume of the removable HDD bay is efficiently minimized.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference toFIG. 1, a removable hard disk drive (HDD) bay in accordance with the present invention comprises a casing10, a door assembly and an extracting assembly60.

With further reference toFIG. 2, the casing10receives an HDD AA and has an open end11, a closed end12, a rear inner surface, a sidewall, a receiving recess13and a hooking hole14. The rear inner surface of the casing10is defined on the closed end12. The receiving recess13is elongated and is transversely formed in the rear inner surface of the casing10. The hooking hole14is formed through the sidewall of the casing10and is disposed adjacent to the open end11of the casing10.

With further reference toFIGS. 3 and 4, the door assembly is pivotally mounted on the open end11of the casing10and has a pivoting member20, a cover30, a retainer40and a driving member50.

The pivoting member20is pivotally mounted on the open end11of the casing10, is about half a length of the open end11of the casing10and has a sliding bracket21, a first pivoting panel22, a second pivoting panel23and a spring plate24. The sliding bracket21is U-shaped in cross-section and has an outer surface, a pivoting end and two opposite sidewalls211. The outer surface of the sliding bracket21corresponds to the open end11of the casing10. The first pivoting panel22is disposed at the pivoting end of the sliding bracket21, is pivotally connected to the casing10, is Y-shaped and has a proximal end, a distal pivoting end221and a distal connecting end222. The proximal end of the first pivoting panel22is bent and is attached to one sidewall211of the sliding bracket21to form a channel between the first pivoting panel22and a corresponding sidewall211of the sliding bracket21. The distal pivoting end221of the first pivoting panel22is pivotally connected to the casing10. The second pivoting panel23is disposed at the pivoting end of the sliding bracket21, is L-shaped, is pivotally connected to the casing10and has a proximal end. The proximal end of the second pivoting panel23is bent and is attached to the other sidewall211of the sliding bracket21to form a channel between the second pivoting panel23and a corresponding sidewall211of the sliding bracket21. Thus, when the pivoting member20pivots toward the casing10, a top panel and a bottom panel of the casing10are respectively received between the first and second pivoting panels22,23and sidewalls211of the sliding bracket21. The spring plate24is mounted on the outer surface of the sliding bracket21and has a stop241. The stop241of the spring plate24is mounted through the sliding bracket21.

The cover30is slidably mounted on the sliding bracket21of the pivoting member20, corresponds to and selectively covers the open end11of the casing10, and has an interior recess31, a first resilient element32and exterior recess33. The interior recess31is formed in an inner surface of the cover40and corresponds to the sliding bracket23of the pivoting member20. The first resilient element32is mounted in the interior recess31of the cover30and has two ends. The ends of the first resilient element32respectively abut the pivoting member20and the cover30and respectively abut the stop241of the spring plate24of the pivoting member20and the cover30. The exterior recess33is formed in an outer surface of the cover30.

The retainer40is slidably mounted in the exterior recess33of the cover30and has two opposite ends, a mounting rod41, a locking rod42and a second resilient element43. The mounting rod41protrudes from one end of the retainer40. The locking rod42protrudes from the other end of the retainer40, is mounted through the cover30and is selectively hooked in the hooking hole14of the casing10. The second resilient element43is mounted around the mounting rod41and has two ends respectively abutting the retainer40and the cover30. When the cover30covers the open end11of the casing10, the locking rod42is further hooked in the hooking hole14of the casing10and the cover30is securely attached to the casing10.

The driving member50is pivotally mounted on the outer surface of the cover30, corresponds to the exterior recess33of the cover30and has a driving rod51. The driving rod51is formed on an inner surface of the driving member50and is mounted through the retainer40. When the driving member50pivots, the driving rod51pushes the retainer40to slide and to press the second resilient element43of the retainer40.

With further reference toFIGS. 2 and 7, the extracting assembly60is pivotally mounted on the casing10, is driven by the pivoting member20of the door assembly and has a swing lever61and a transmission lever62. The swing lever61is pivotally mounted on the closed end12of the casing10, is selectively received in the receiving recess13of the casing10and has a pivoting end611and a swing end612. The pivoting end611of the swing lever61is disposed in the receiving recess13of the casing10and is pivotally connected to the closed end12of the casing10. The swing end612of the swing lever61abuts the HDD AA that is received in the casing10. The transmission lever62has two ends respectively connected pivotally to the distal connecting end222of the first pivoting panel22and the swing end612of the swing lever61.

With reference toFIG. 5, when the door assembly is closed relative to the casing10to hold the HDD AA in the casing10, the first resilient element32is pressed by the cover30and the second resilient element43pushes the retainer40to allow the locking rod42of the retainer40to engage the hooking hole14of the casing10. Moreover, with further reference toFIG. 7, the swing lever61is received in the receiving recess13of the casing10.

With further reference toFIG. 6, when the driving member50is pivoted, the driving member50drives the retainer40to press the second resilient element43and to allow the locking rod42of the retainer40to disengage from the hooking hole14of the casing10. Then, the door assembly is opened relative to the casing10.

With further reference toFIG. 8, as the door assembly is opened relative to the open end11of the casing10, the first pivoting panel22of the pivoting member20pulls the transmission lever62, and consequently, the swing lever61pivots to depart from the receiving recess13of the casing10and pushes the HDD AA out of the casing10.

The removable HDD bay as described has the following advantages. When the door assembly is opened relative to the casing10, the door assembly does not occupy any room in the open end11of the casing10. Furthermore, the extracting assembly60extracts the HDD AA with a simple mechanism also without occupying any room of the casing10. Thus, the casing10does not have to reserve a room for the door assembly and a volume of the removable HDD bay is efficiently minimized.