Abstract:
A connector, and a hard disk drive having the connector, the connector including connecting pins arranges so as to be spaced apart from one another; and a connecting member to contact the connecting pins and cause an electrical short in response to no external force being applied to the connecting pins; wherein the electrical short is removed in response to an external force being applied to the connecting pins. The connecting pins are moved so as not to contact the connecting member in response to an external force being applied to the connecting pins.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0055890, filed on Jun. 27, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a hard disk drive, and, more particularly, to a connector connecting a flexible printed cable and a main circuit board, and a hard disk drive including the same. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   A hard disk drive is an example of an auxiliary memory unit which may be used in computers, etc. These devices are used to read data stored in disks, or to write new data to disks, by means of a magnetic head. The magnetic head is mounted on a slider so that, upon operating, it rises from the disk to reproduce data stored in the disk through reading it, or otherwise to write new data to the disk. Data on the disk that the magnetic head reads are converted into electric signals and transferred to a main circuit board via a flexible printed cable connected to the magnetic head. In addition, electric signals corresponding to data to be written to the disk are transferred from the main circuit board to the magnetic head via the flexible printed cable. The flexible printed cable and the main circuit board are connected to each other by means of a connector. 
     FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a connector provided in a hard disk drive according to the prior art. 
   The connector  10  as illustrated in the drawing includes a bracket  11  and a plurality of connecting pins  12  mounted in the bracket  11 . The bracket  11  is made from an insulating material, and the connecting pins  12  are made from a conductive material. The connecting pins  12  are arranged in two rows and spaced apart from each other so as not to contact each other. First ends of the connecting pins  12  are positioned to protrude at a certain height from the bracket  11 , so that these first ends are connected with terminals provided in the main circuit board with a relation of one-to-one correspondence. Further, the second ends of the connecting pins  12  are positioned opposite to the main circuit board so as to connect with the flexible printed cable. 
   The connector  10  as configured above has a problem in that, since the connecting pins  12  are exposed before connection with the main circuit board, electric current may flow via the flexible printed cable from the exposed portions to damage the magnetic head. To prevent this, according to the prior art, a short block  1  is mounted to the connector  10  in order to short between the connecting pins  12 . 
   The short block  1  comprises a conductive material, and, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , is formed in a rib shape such that it is inserted between the connecting pins  12  to contact them. Such a short block  1  electrically connects all of the connecting pins  12 , so that the connecting pins  12  can be shorted. The short block  1  mounted as discussed above should be removed before the connection of the connector  10  with the main circuit board, or for a servo track writing performed before the connection with the main circuit board. Herein, the servo track writing is an operation that previously records a servo signal on the disk in order to write information on the hard disk drive, or to read stored information. 
   However, to remove the short block from the connector as described above, an additional process is required, and if the servo track writing is performed without removing the short block, errors in the operation may be caused. Further, in the course of removing the short block from the connector, the connecting pins may be bent, which could result in an incomplete connection between the connector and the main circuit board. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides hard disk drives in which a short block is not needed for an electrical short between the connecting pins, thus reducing the number of processes involved and to improve connectivity to a main circuit board. 
   Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector including a bracket comprising an insulating material; connecting pins arranged in the bracket so as to be spaced apart from one another, and comprising a conductive material; and a common connecting portion extending in a direction that the connecting pins are arranged, and comprising a conductive material, wherein the connecting pins all contact the common connecting portion to form short circuits before an external force is applied thereto, and the connecting pins each are resiliently deformed to be spaced apart from the common connecting portion in response to an external force being applied. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hard disk drive including a base member; at least one disk rotatably mounted on the base member; a head stack assembly rotatably mounted on the base member to record data on the disk and to read data recorded on the disk; a voice coil motor to provide the head stack assembly with a rotating force using interaction with a coil provided in the head stack assembly; and a connector to connect between the head stack assembly and a main circuit board controlling the same, the connector comprising a bracket comprising an insulating material, connecting pins arranged in the bracket so as to be spaced apart from one another, and comprising a conductive material, and a common connecting portion extending in a direction that the connecting pins are arranged, and comprising a conductive material, wherein the connecting pins all contact the common connecting portion to form electrical shorts before the connecting pins are connected to the main circuit board, and the connecting pins each are resiliently deformed to be spaced apart from the common connecting portion in response to the connecting pins being connected to the main circuit board. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector comprising connecting pins arranges so as to be spaced apart from one another; and a connecting member to contact the connecting pins and cause an electrical short in response to no external force being applied to the connecting pins; wherein the electrical short is removed in response to an external force being applied to the connecting pins. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating an example of a connector provided in a hard disk drive according to the prior art; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating a state that a short block is mounted to the connector in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  are exploded perspective views illustrating the upper and lower portions, respectively, of a hard disk drive according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a partially enlarged perspective view illustrating a portion in  FIG. 4 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view illustrating the connector in  FIG. 5 ; 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a sectional view of  FIG. 6 ; and 
       FIG. 8  is a sectional view illustrating a state in which a main circuit board is connected with the connector of  FIG. 7 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
     FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view illustrating an upper portion of a hard disk drive according to the present invention, and  FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view illustrating a lower portion of the hard disk drive of  FIG. 3 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , the hard disk drive  100  of the present invention includes a base member  101  and a cover member  102  coupled together to form a sealed inner space therebetween. In the inner space, there is one or more disks  110  of data recording medium, a spindle motor  120 , a head stack assembly  130 , and a voice coil motor  140 . 
   The base member  101  and the cover member  102  may comprise, for example, stainless steel or aluminum, and may be coupled to each other by screws or other such adhesion methods. One or more disks  110  are mounted on the base member  101 . The spindle motor  120  is a device to rotate the disk  110 , and is fixedly mounted to the base member  101 . 
   The head stack assembly  130  is an element to record data on the disk  110 , or to read recorded data, and is rotatably mounted about a pivot axis  101   a  of the base member  101 . The head stack assembly  130  includes an arm  131  provided to the pivot axis  101   a , a suspension  132  coupled to a free end of the arm  131 , a slider  133  coupled to the suspension  132 , and a magnetic head  134  provided to the slider  133  to record and read data. The suspension  132  supports the slider  133  such that the slider  133  is resiliently biased toward the surface of the disk  110 . 
   The head stack assembly  130  is driven by the voice coil motor  140  provided to one side of the base member  101 . The voice coil motor  140  provides the head stack assembly  130  with a rotating force using interaction with a coil provided in a fantail  135  of the head stack assembly  130 . To be specific, when electric current is applied to the coil, the head stack assembly  130  is rotated in a direction in conformity with Fleming&#39;s left-hand rule by an interaction between a magnetic field formed by a magnet provided in the voice coil motor  140  and the electric current flowing through the coil. Thus, the slider  133  provided to a leading end of the suspension  132  is moved toward the spindle motor  120  on the disk  110  or toward the circumference of the disk  110 . That is, when the disk  110  begins to rotate with an operation of the hard disk drive  100 , the voice coil motor  140  rotates the arm  131  to move the slider  133 , to which the magnetic head is provided, over the data recording surface of the disk  110 . The slider  133  rises up from the data recording surface of the disk  110  at a height balanced by a lift generated by the rotating disk  110  and a resilient force by the suspension  132 . In this state, the magnetic head  134  provided to the slider  133  reads data from or records data to the data recording surface of the disk  110 . When the hard disk drive  100  stops the rotation of the disk  110 , the voice coil motor  140  rotates the arm  131  to move the slider  133 , to which the magnetic head  134  is provided, away from the data recording surface of the disk  110 . 
   A connector  170  is provided to a corner of one side of the base member  101 . The connector  170  is connected with a flexible printed cable  150  connected with the head stack assembly  130 , and, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , passes through the base member  101  to protrude downwards, and is connected with a main circuit board  160  positioned under the base member  101 . That is, the connector  170  is connected between the head stack assembly  130  and the main circuit board  160  to allow the head stack assembly  130  to be controlled by the main circuit board  160 . Meanwhile, the main circuit board  160  is also used in controlling the voice coil motor  140 . As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the main circuit board  160  has terminals  161  to correspond on a one-to-one basis to the connecting pins  174  provided to the connector  170 , which are described later. The terminals  161  each respectively contact the connecting pins  174  so that the main circuit board  160  and the connector  170  are connected with each other. 
   The connector  170  will now be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 6 . The connector  170  as illustrated in  FIG. 6  includes a bracket  171  comprising an insulating material, and connecting pins  174  provided in the bracket  171  and comprising a conductive material. Herein, the insulating material may be, for example, a resinous material, and the conductive material may be, for example, a metallic material. The connecting pins  174  provided in the bracket  171  are arranged in at least one row. The connecting pins  174  may be arranged parallel to each other in first and second rows. The connecting pins  174  are separated so as not to contact each other. In order to form a complete physical separation between the connecting pins  174 , partition members such as partition walls  172  are preferably, though not necessarily, formed between each of the adjacent connecting pins  174 . Such partition walls  172  may comprise an insulating material which may be integrally formed with the bracket  171 . 
   The bracket  171  has a common connecting portion  175  extending in a direction in which the connecting pins  174  are arranged, and which may comprise a conductive material. The common connecting portion  175  is disposed between the first and second row of the connecting pins  174 . The common connecting portion  175  contacts all of the connecting pins  174  before an external force is applied to the connecting pins  174 , i.e., before the connection with the main circuit board  160 , to cause a short between the rows of connecting pins  174 . The common connecting portion  175  may be coupled to a block  173  provided to the bracket  171 , which may comprise an insulating material, as illustrated in  FIG. 7 . The coupling of the block  173  and the common connecting portion  175  may be provided by one or more grooves  175   a  formed in the common connecting portion  175 , and one or more protrusions  173   a  formed in the block  173  so as to be inserted into the grooves  175   a . Also, it is possible to form protrusions in the common connecting portion  175 , and form grooves in the block  173 , so as to couple the common connecting portion  175  and the block  173 . 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the connecting pins  174  contacting the common connecting portion  175  have hook portions  174   b  at portions exposed outside from their body portions  174   a  where a force is applied, so that edge portions of the hook portions  174   b  contact a side portion of the common connecting portion  175 . Herein, in order to increase a contact area between the hook portions  174   b  and the common connecting portion  175 , the edge portions of the hook portions  174   b  are preferably, though not necessarily, curved. Such hook portions  174   b  can be resiliently deformed while an external force is applied thereto along with the connection with the main circuit board  160 . Also, the hook portions  174   b  can return to their original states if the external force is removed. In the event that the terminals  161  are formed in the main circuit board  160  as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the hook portions  174   b  are preferably, though not necessarily, partially protruded from inside of the bracket  171  at a predetermined height so as to be resiliently deformed inside the bracket  171  while maintaining the contact state with the terminals  161 . A shape of the hook portion  174   b  is not limited to these illustrated embodiments, but may be formed in various shapes to perform a function as described above. 
   The connecting pins  174  each contact the common connecting portion  175  before the connection with the main circuit board  160 , or before the performance of a servo track writing, thus to be shorted with other connecting pins, so that the conventional short block  1  as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is not required, end therefore an additional process for removing the short block  1  can be accordingly removed. In addition, as it is not necessary to remove the short block  1 , an incomplete connection with the main circuit board  160  due to curving of the connecting pins  174  can be prevented. As a result, connectivity between the connecting pins  174  and the main circuit board  160  can be improved. Further, as illustrated in  FIG. 8 , the connecting pins  174  contacting the main circuit board  160  are resiliently deformed while maintaining the contact state with the terminals  161 , provided to the main circuit board  160 , when connected with the main circuit board  160 , thus to be separated from the side portion of the common connecting portion  175  in response to a external force being applied. Consequently, the shorted state between the connecting pins  174  can be released so that the connecting pins  174  can perform their original functions. Meanwhile, in the course of the separating of the connecting pins  174  from the common connecting portion  175  as discussed above, the width of the block  173  can be formed substantially identical to that of the common connecting portion  175  such that the edge portions of the hook portions  174   b  are smoothly and slidably moved from the side portion of the common connecting portion  175  to the side portion of the block  173 . However, the invention is not limited to this discussed embodiment. 
   As described before, according to the present invention, the connecting pins are shorted together by the common connecting portion before the connection with the main circuit board, and, if connected with the main circuit board, the shorted state by the common connecting portion can be released. Thus, the conventional short block is not required so that an additional process for removing the conventional short block is accordingly not required. Further, due to not having to use, and therefore remove, the conventional short block, the incomplete connection with the main circuit board due to curving of the connecting pins can be prevented. 
   Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.