Disk drive gasket

Abstract: A gasket (11) for a disc drive has a polyolefin layer (12) and opposing layers (13,14) of a polyolefin foam material formed on either face of the polyolefin layer (12).

Description: The present invention relates to gaskets. More specifically, though not so limited, the present invention relates to gaskets for sealing and damping vibrations in a magnetic disc drive casing. Disc drive machines record and reproduce information stored on magnetic media. Conventional Winchester-type disc drives include a plurality of vertically aligned rotating information storage discs journalled about a spindle motor assembly with a housing. Magnetic discs each have at least one associated magnetic head that is adapted to transfer information between the disc and an external system. Each head is carried by an elongated flexure arm. The flexure arms are vertically aligned and are each attached to a common head positioner assembly. The head positioner assembly is adapted to move the heads back and forth in unison across the face of the vertically aligned discs. The head positioning assembly may be either rotationally actuated along an arc, or may take the form of a linear carriage that is free to move back and forth along a single axis. In either case, the head positioner assembly is adapted rapidly and precisely to position the heads relative to the magnetic discs. Rapid movement of the various components, including the spindle motor, the head positioner assembly and the discs tend to generate a wide variety of undesirable vibrations in the disc drive. The housing of a disc drive is typically divided into upper and lower casings which are sealed together with a gasket to prevent the introduction of particle-laden air into the disc drive. The gasket also serves to damp vibrations within the housing. However, conventional gaskets that are thick enough to provide good damping and sealing characteristics tend to bulge outward when compressed between the upper and lower casings. Additionally, conventional gaskets lack any structural rigidity and thus are difficult to position on the casing for production. The extra time spent at repositioning gaskets in the middle of the production line increases both the time and cost involved in producing disc drives. Another important consideration in the production of hard disc drives is the elimination of particulate contamination. These discs require low levels of particulate contamination to prevent physical damage to the read/write heads as well as to the disc surface. Although careful attention is paid to the cleanliness of all components installed in the interior of a disc drive, it is essential to prevent the intrusion of atmospheric contaminants into the drive cavity during drive operation in manufacturing and in customer service. The computer industry employs gaskets to seal the gap between the base and top cover of a conventional box-like structure used to contain magnetic recording elements. Flexible foam or rubbery materials have been used as gasket material. A gasket using such rubbery material is disclosed in US-A-4,896,231 for a Backbone Gasket for Disc Drives. State-of-the-art foam gaskets can contaminate the drive cavity from the use of inorganic filler compounds, such as koalinite, clay or calcium carbonate. These filler compounds are often present on the surface of the cut edge of the foam gasket and when shed are a source of particulate contamination. Furthermore, organic adhesives are required to bond the foam gasket to other surfaces. These adhesives are often a source of contamination by outgassing or migration. Since foam gaskets are often fabricated by skiving sheets from thick buns followed by die-cutting the sheets, the cut surface is an additional source of contamination by shedding exposed loose particles as well as a cause of poor sealing because of the presence of open cells and blow holes. An additional shortcoming of the foam and rubber gaskets of the prior art is that they are labour intensive in their manufacture, requiring multiple reeling and unreeling steps. Such a gasket is disclosed in US 4,896,231 where the gasket comprises a central stiffener layer made from VALOX and outer layers of elastomeric material. The stiffener is provided to strengthen the elastomeric materials and reduce flow of the gasket under compression. However gaskets as disclosed in US 4,896,231 utilizing ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) in a laminated gasket are susceptible to lateral shifting with respect to the liner sheet especially during thermal cycling under vertical pressure (the compression of the gasket between the upper and lower casting members). To alleviate this lateral slippage a plurality of adhesive strips (eight) are bonded to the edges of the gasket at strategic locations. The foam and rubber gaskets, as mentioned above, possess open cells and blow holes because of their inherent structure and die cutting procedures. These open cells and blow holes harbour contaminants which necessitate a washing and drying of the gasket components after assembly and before installation. These extra manufacturing steps significantly increase the cost and time required to complete gasket assembly. Disc drive assembly time is also extended because of the lack of rigidity in foam gaskets. A more rigid gasket is desired without the problem of lateral shifting and slippage as experienced in the prior art. It is also desired that the gasket can be easily installed in one quick movement and readily aligns with the upper and lower faces of the casing members. The present invention seeks to provide a disc drive gasket of a material having a high compressive strength to produce a leak proof seal. The present invention also seeks to provide a disk drive gasket which outgasses only water at 70°C. The present invention also seeks to provide a disk drive gasket with good structural rigidity. According to one particular aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gasket for a disk drive, formed by a single layer of polyolefin foam formed of cross-linked polymer chains. According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gasket for a disk drive, which is defined by the features of claim 2. According to another particular aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a gasket for a disk drive, characterised by forming a polyolefin rigid sheet and forming two further layers of a cross-linked polyolefin foam material on opposite faces of the polyolefin rigid sheet. Further, a disk drive system with the features of claim 9 is provided. Preferably at last part of the outer surface of at least one of the opposing layers may comprise a substantially non-porous skin. The opposing layers may be formed by extrusion. Preferably, the thermal expansion coefficients of the polyolefin layer and the opposing layers may be substantially equal. Preferably, the cross-linked polymer chains may be formed by radiation curing. In addition, the foam material may contain substantially no filler material. Preferably the foam material may outgas substantially only water at 70°C. The opposing layers may be flame bonded to the polyolefin layer. The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a top view of a disc drive incorporating the present invention, with its upper casing removed; Figure 2 is a side view of the disc drive shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top view of a disc drive gasket according to the present invention; Figure 4 is a side view of the disc drive gasket according to the present invention; Figure 5 is a graph illustrating the relative compressive strengths of several foam materials having different densities. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a disc drive incorporating a gasket according to the present invention includes a housing 5 having upper casing member 7 and lower casing member 9. The gasket 11 is disposed between the top and bottom casing members 7 and 9 to provide an airtight seal and to provide some damping for vibrations within the housing. A disc drive system suitable for incorporating the teachings of the present invention is shown in diagrammatic form. A plurality of information carrying magnetic discs 20 are journalled about a spindle motor assembly 30 within a housing 5 having upper and lower casing members 7 and 9, respectively. Each magnetic disc 20 has a multiplicity of concentric information storage tracks for recording information. A head positioner assembly 40 is rotatably actuated between the upper and lower casing members 7 and 9 in one corner of the housing 5. The head positioner assembly 40 carries a plurality of flexure arms 50 that each carry a magnetic data head 52 for reading information from, and writing information onto, the magnetic discs 20. The head positioner assembly 40 also carries a servo arm 54 which carries a servo head 55 for accurately positioning the data heads 52 relative to the information storage tracks 22. A voice coil motor 60 is adapted to rotate the head positioner assembly back and forth such that the heads move in unison across the information storage discs. A magnetic latch 70 holds the head positioner assembly 40 in place when the disc drive is not in use. Figures 3 and 4 show a gasket 11 according to one aspect of the present invention. The gasket 11 is disposed between the top and bottom casing members 7 and 9, as indicated in Figure 2, to provide an airtight seal and to provide some damping for vibrations within the housing. The gasket 11 is configured generally to have the same surface dimensions as surface 15 (illustrated in Figure 1). The gasket 11 has a plurality of bore holes 19. These bore holes 19 fit about the six illustrated screw holes 16 which are utilized in mounting the lower casing member 9 to the upper casing member 7. The gasket 11 is preferably comprised of three layers. A first and second layer of polypropylene foam 13, 14 are utilized to provide the sealing and damping function of the gasket 11. A rigid sheet 12 is provided which is made of a higher density polypropylene. The rigid sheet 12 provides lateral stability to the gasket 11, particularly during thermo cycling. As indicated in Figure 4, the rigid sheet 12 is sandwiched between the top foam layer 13 and the bottom foam layer 14. Generally, the rigid sheet 12 and the foam layers 13 and 14 have the same surface configuration (for the surface illustrated in Figure 3), i.e. the rigid sheet 12 has bore holes 19 in alignment with those of the foam layers 13 and 14. In the fabrication process of the gasket 11, the polypropylene foam layers 13 and 14 are flame bonded to the rigid sheet 12. Flame bonding produces a good seal between the two surfaces without decomposing either material. The top and bottom layer 13 and 14 are constructed of polypropylene foam which is radiation cured and comprised of cross-linked polymer chains. Cross-linked polymers are immobilized chains which do not flow, even at high temperatures, thus making the gasket 11 of the present invention more stable than prior art gaskets which melt or become brittle at high temperatures. Alternatively, in small disc drives, the gasket may comprise a single layer of polyolefin foam without a reinforcing layer. Furthermore, unlike the rubber gaskets of the prior art which are cut on all sides and, therefore, have open cells on all surfaces, the polypropylene foam of the top and bottom layers 13 and 14 is fabricated by extrusion and has smooth, unporous top and bottom surfaces. Although the "sides" of the gasket 11 (those surfaces created by cutting the extruded foam material into a gasket shape) may have open cells, the elimination of open holes on the major surfaces of the gasket 11 greatly reduces the amount of contaminants induced into the disc drive environment. The amount of contaminants is further reduced by the use of polypropylene foam because it does not require the fill material added to rubber based gaskets to provide extra strength and rigidity. Figure 5 shows a comparative graph of the compressive strength of various foam materials. Compressive strength at 50% deflection is an important characteristic because it is directly proportional to sealing ability. The greater the elastic compressive strength of a material, the more leak-proof a seal created by that material will provide. The graph of Figure 5 illustrates polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM) and polyurethane (PUR). Polypropylene has a compressive strength of approximately 320 kPa (46 pounds per square inch) at 130 kg/m 3 (8 pounds per cubic foot). It is evident from the graph that polypropylene provides the greatest compressive strength per level of foam density and hence forms the most leak-proof seal at room temperature as well as at 60°C. Although the use of polypropylene foam has been described, other polyolefins may be used. Generally, a polyolefin material for use in the present invention should have the following characteristics: (1) high compressive strength; (2) cross linked polymer chains (ideally formed by radiation curing); (3) contains no filler material; (4) be extruded to form surface skin (no open cells); and (5) be capable of flame bonding to a polyolefin sheet. It should be appreciated that the actual materials used to form the foam layers may be varied within the dictates of the above teaching. Furthermore, the gasket may be used in conjunction with any disc drive.

Claims: A gasket (11) for a disk drive, formed by a single layer (12) of polyolefin foam formed of cross-linked polymer chains. A gasket (11) for a disk drive formed by a polyolefin layer forming a rigid sheet (12) and two further layers (13, 14) of a cross linked polyolefin foam material, said two further layers (13, 14) being formed on opposite faces of the polyolefin layer. A gasket (11) as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that at least part of the outer surface of at least one of the said two layers (13, 14) comprises a substantially non-porous skin. A gasket (11) as claimed in claim 2 or 3, characterised in that the thermal expansion coefficients of the polyolefin rigid sheet (12) and the two further layers (13, 14) are substantially equal. A gasket (11) as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, characterised in that the two further layers (13, 14) are flame bonded to the polyolefin rigid sheet (12). A method of forming a gasket (11) for a disc drive, characterised by forming a polyolefin rigid sheet (12) and forming two further layers (13,14) of a cross-linked polyolefin foam material on opposite faces of the polyolefin rigid sheet (12). A method as claimed in claim 6, characterised by flame bonding the opposing layers (13, 14) to the polyolefin foam layer (12). A method as claimed in claim 6 or 7, characterised by forming the opposing layers (13, 14) by extrusion. A disk drive system having a recording media within a sealed housing having top and bottom casing members, a read/write head for transferring information between said recording media and an external system and a head positioned assembly for locating said head relative to said recording media, characterised by a gasket as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 for sealing a connection between said top and bottom casing members. A disk drive system as claimed in claim 9 when dependent on any of claims 2 to 5, wherein the said two layers (13, 14) have a compressive strength of greater than 208k Pa (30 p.s.i.) for a foam density of 130kg/m 3 (8 p.c.f.).

Inventors: REINISCH RONALD F, REINISCH, RONALD F.
Applicants: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY, SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Application year: 1991
Main classification: G11B33
IPC codes: G11B33, G11B25