Radial top cover gasket for disk drives

A radial top cover gasket is used for sealing a disk drive assembly. In one embodiment, a disk drive assembly includes a baseplate having a sidewall disposed about a periphery of the baseplate. The disk drive further includes a top cover that is disposed within the sidewall of the baseplate. A gasket is then radially compressed between the top cover and an inner face of the baseplate sidewall.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates in general to seals for disk drive assemblies, and in particular to top cover gaskets for disk drives.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Disk drives are typically sealed to protect the drive from dust, condensation and other sources of contamination. Various approaches to sealing disk drive assemblies are known. One such approach is the use of a tape seal that wraps around the outside periphery of the disk drive housing. However, sometimes the integrity of tape seals is not sufficiently reliable.

Another approach has been the use of a gasket that is formed in place on the underside periphery of the top cover. Once the gasket has been formed, the disk drive top cover is pushed down axially onto the top end of the baseplate wall, thereby compressing the formed-in-place gasket between the top cover and the top end of baseplate wall. One drawback to this approach is that a relatively thick baseplate wall (e.g., 2 mm for 1.8-inch drives and 1 mm for 1-inch drives) is required to accommodate the o-ring. This leaves less available space within the disk drive assembly for use by other components, which is particularly disadvantageous in the context of microdrives (e.g., 1-inch drives) where internal drive space is more limited. As such, what is needed is an improved top cover gasket which overcomes one or more of the aforementioned drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A radial top cover gasket for disk drives is disclosed and claimed herein. In one embodiment, a disk drive includes a baseplate having a sidewall disposed about a periphery of the baseplate. The disk drive further includes a spindle motor attached to the baseplate, a disk mounted on the spindle motor, and an actuator coupled to the baseplate, where the actuator has a head attached thereto for reading data from the disk. In this embodiment the disk drive also includes a top cover having a major surface and being disposed within the sidewall, and a gasket radially compressed between the top cover and an inner face of the sidewall.

Other aspects, features, and techniques of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art in view of the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The invention relates to a radial top cover gasket for sealing a disk drive assembly. In one embodiment, a disk drive assembly includes a baseplate having a sidewall disposed about a periphery of the baseplate. The disk drive further includes a top cover that is disposed within the sidewall of the baseplate. A gasket is radially compressed between the top cover and an inner face of the baseplate sidewall. This radial compression causes a reactionary force in the same plane in which the radial compression occurs, thereby forming a seal between the top cover and the sidewall.

As used herein, the terms “a” or “an” shall mean one or more than one. The term “plurality” shall mean two or more than two. The term “another” is defined as a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having” are open ended (e.g., comprising). Reference throughout this document to “one embodiment”, “certain embodiments”, “an embodiment” or similar term means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner on one or more embodiments without limitation.

The term “or” as used herein is to be interpreted as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” means “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C”. An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.

Referring now toFIG. 1A, depicted is a disk drive assembly100comprised of a top cover110sealed with a radial gasket120to a baseplate sidewall130.FIG. 1Bdepicts the top cover100prior to installation with the attached radial gasket120. As shown in bothFIGS. 1A-1B, the top cover110has a major surface140forming the exterior top surface of the disk drive assembly100.

FIG. 2Adepicts the top cover110ofFIGS. 1A-1Battached to one embodiment of a radial gasket120usable in a variety of disk drive assemblies, such as 1-inch drives, 1.8-inch drives, 2.5-inch drives and 3.5-inch drives. While the top cover110will typically be metallic in nature, it may be composed of other non-metallic materials (e.g., plastics, ceramics, etc.). With respect to the gasket120, in certain embodiments it will be comprised of an elastomer, such as fluorocarbon elastomer (FKM), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM).

As shown inFIG. 2A, this embodiment of the radial gasket120utilized a cleated design comprised of a top cleat135and a bottom cleat145, with a tapered end of the top cover110being disposed there between. As shown, the top cleat135may be flush with the major surface140of the top cover110, where the major surface140is oriented essentially parallel to a radial direction (r) and normal to an axial direction (a). While it should be appreciated that the gasket120may be attached to the top cover110using a variety of techniques, in certain embodiments the gasket120is attached using any one of injection molding, compression molding, thermoforming or dip molding. The gasket120may similarly be attached to the top cover110using an adhesive.

Referring now toFIG. 2B, depicted is the top cover110with attached radial gasket120in an installed position. As shown, when installed the radial gasket120undergoes radial compression between the top cover110and an inner face160of the baseplate sidewall130along the radial direction (r). As shown, the radial direction is essentially parallel to the major surface140and normal to the inner face160. This radial compression causes the radial gasket120to undergo a radial strain defined as the amount of deformation180that the gasket120undergoes during the installation process, divided by the un-deformed length170of the gasket120. In one embodiment, this radial strain is between 10% and 50%. Radially compressing the gasket120further causes a reactionary force190in the same plane as the radial direction (r), thereby forming a seal between the top cover110and sidewall130. In one embodiment, this seal is an airtight seal.

It should be appreciated that the aforementioned radial compression will tend to cause the radial gasket to deform (e.g., deformation180) in some manner, such as being folded back towards the top cover110as shown inFIG. 2B. However, in certain embodiments such deformation may occur without causing the gasket120to protrude above the major surface140of the top cover110. Similar, an installed gasket120may experience such deformation without protruding beyond the exposed end150of the baseplate sidewall130. As such, the outside dimensions of a disk drive assembly (e.g., disk drive assembly100) are unaltered by the gasket120.

Referring now toFIGS. 3A-3C, depicted are cross-sectional views of various embodiments of radial top cover gaskets prior to being attached to top covers.FIG. 3A, for example, depicts a radial gasket300having the same cleated-design ofFIGS. 2A-2B. In particular, gasket300is comprised of a top cleat330and a bottom cleat340, as well as a receiving portion310for accommodating a tapered end of a top cover (e.g., top cover110). Gasket300is also designed with an optional unfilled portion320, as shown inFIG. 3A, which in certain embodiments may facilitate a folding reaction in response to radial compression during installation, such as that ofFIG. 2B.

FIG. 3Bdepicts another embodiment of a radial gasket350in which, instead of a cleated-design, an insert portion360is used to attach the gasket350to a top cover. In one embodiment, the top cover would be designed to accommodate the insert portion360, such as into a recessed area into the side of the top cover. Gasket350is also designed with the optional unfilled portion320ofFIG. 3A.

FIG. 3Cdepicts yet another embodiment of a radial gasket370in which a cleat-design is used, as with gasket300ofFIG. 3A. However, in this embodiment gasket370does not include an unfilled portion (e.g., portion320).

FIG. 4depicts a cross-sectional view of the gasket120described above with reference toFIGS. 2A-2B. As shown, the radial gasket120forms an interface410between the top cover110and the inner face160of the sidewall130. This interface410, which forms a seal between the top cover110and the baseplate sidewall130, may have a width of between 0.2 mm and 10 mm. In addition,FIG. 4depicts the gasket120as having a height420measured parallel to the sidewall130. In certain embodiments, this height420may be between 5% and 50% of an overall height for the disk drive assembly into which the gasket120is installed (e.g., disk drive assembly100).

FIG. 5depicts another embodiment of how a radial gasket510, designed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, may be attached to a top cover520of a disk drive assembly. As shown, rather than employing a cleated-design to accommodate a tapered end of the top cover520, the radial gasket510ofFIG. 5is configured to receive a lip of the top cover520. As with the embodiment of the radial gasket120ofFIG. 2A-2B, gasket510may be attached to the top cover520using any one of injection molding, compression molding, thermoforming or dip molding. Gasket510may similarly be attached to the top cover520using an adhesive.