Abstract:
To provide a protection structure for a disk drive and an electronic apparatus. The protection structure being designed not to damage a disk set in the disk drive even when a space provided to protect the disk drive is reduced.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a protection structure for a disk drive housed in an electronic apparatus, as well as an electronic apparatus having such a protection structure.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    In a computer apparatus are often housed such disk drives as a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive (FDD), a CD-ROM drive, a digital video disk drive (DVD drive), etc. And, this computer apparatus is generally provided with a protection structure for a hard disk in each of those disk drives. Hereunder, a description will be made for a conventional technique of such a computer apparatus, which is a lap-top personal computer (hereafter, to be referred to a lap-top PC) with respect to a hard disk drive, which is one of the above described disk drives.  
           [0005]    As shown in FIG. 8, a hard disk drive  84  is housed in a palm rest (housing)  82  of the conventional lap-top PC  80 . And, as shown in FIG. 9, the housing portion of the hard disk drive  84  is decided by a housing member  86 . The housing member  86  has a guide member  90  for guiding the hard disk drive  84  to the housing position.  
           [0006]    And, a horseshoe-like supporting member  92  is provided between the hard disk drive  84  and the palm rest  82 . This supporting member  92  supports the palm rest  82  from inside.  
           [0007]    As shown in FIG. 10, this supporting member  92  is in contact with both of the periphery of the case  85  of the hard disk drive  84  and the inner surface of the palm rest  82 . A predetermined space D (usually, 2.5 mm or so) is formed between a case  85  of the hard disk drive  84  and the inner surface of the palm rest  82 . Consequently, the palm rest  82  is prevented from coming into contact with the hard disk drive  84  even when the palm rest  82  is recessed inside due to a shock, etc. Consequently, a hard disk  94  can be prevented from damages.  
           [0008]    In some cases, the palm rest  82  is made of such a material as magnesium or the like having high stiffness properties so as to eliminate the supporting member  92  and reduce the number of parts to be employed for the lap-top PC apparatus. In this case, however, the high price of the magnesium is an obstacle. And, even when such the countermeasure is taken, forming of the predetermined space D is still indispensable.  
           [0009]    The lap-top PCs are now getting smaller and thinner in size. Consequently, it is strongly demanded to reduce the space D between the hard disk drive  84  and the palm rest  82  respectively.  
           [0010]    If the space D is reduced more, however, the palm rest  82  might come in contact with the hard disk drive  84 , causing the hard disk  94  to be damaged when the palm rest  82  is recessed inside due to a shock, etc.  
           [0011]    Under such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a protection structure for a disk drive, which can prevent a disk from damage even when a space for protecting the disk drive is reduced. It is another object of the present invention to provide such an electronic apparatus as a personal computer provided with such a protection structure, thereby the lap-top PC can be designed smaller and thinner in size.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0012]    The protection structure for a disk drive according to the present invention protects a disk drive housed in the housing of the subject electronic apparatus, leaving a space from the inner surface of the housing. And, the protection structure is characterized by a reinforcement member provided for reinforcing the housing between the inner surface of the housing and the disk drive.  
           [0013]    The above described disk drive may be a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, a digital video disk drive, or the like.  
           [0014]    Because the housing of the electronic apparatus is reinforced from inside by the reinforcement member, the housing is suppressed from deformation even when such a load as an impact force is applied to the housing from outside.  
           [0015]    Consequently, the space between the housing and the disk drive can be reduced within a range that can protect the disk inside the disk drive from damages. reinforcement member is often made of such a material as metal, etc. having high stiffness properties than those of the housing.  
           [0016]    As a preferred embodiment, the reinforcement member has a recess portion to the disk drive and a load applied to the housing from outside is supported at the periphery of the recess portion.  
           [0017]    Consequently, the above described space can be easily reduced by using a simple-structured reinforcement member.  
           [0018]    The recess portion is, for example, a dome portion formed in a dome shape. This is why the reinforcement member can be simplified in shape significantly. This dome portion is usually provided in an area corresponding to the disk in the disk drive.  
           [0019]    In this case, a curve portion may be formed at the inner surface side of the housing so as to be matched with the shape of the dome portion. Consequently, the space between the disk drive and the outer surface of the housing can further be reduced. And, this is very effective to design such an electronic apparatus as a lap-top PC, etc. thinner in shape.  
           [0020]    A plurality of ribs may be formed at least at the periphery of the dome portion so as to be extended radially from the center of the dome portion to the periphery. Consequently, the durability load of the dome portion can be improved more. In addition, the shape of the dome portion is protected even from an excessive force applied thereon, thereby the disk is prevented from serious damage.  
           [0021]    The outer periphery of the reinforcement member may come in contact with the guide member provided along the side surface of the disk drive. Consequently, the reinforcement member can be supported by the guide member.  
           [0022]    Furthermore, the outer periphery of the reinforcement member may come in contact with the guide member via a shock absorber. In this case, the shock absorber can ease an impact force applied to the reinforcement member.  
           [0023]    This shock absorber may be a space, for example, formed by folding an end of a metallic plate. In this case, if the outer periphery of the reinforcement member is made of a metallic plate, such a shock absorber can be formed very easily.  
           [0024]    If the guide member has an engaging recess portion and the reinforcement member has an engaging projection portion formed at its outer periphery, the reinforcement member can be attached in one step, and the guide member can stand a force applied to the reinforcement member.  
           [0025]    Furthermore, if the guide member has an engaging recess portion, a through-hole is formed at the outer periphery of the reinforcement member so as to correspond to the engaging recess portion, and an engaging projection portion is formed inside the housing so as to be engaged with the recess portion via the through-hole, then the reinforcement member can be attach only by pushing it to both of the housing and the guide member.  
           [0026]    The personal computer of the present invention has such a protection structure for a disk drive according to the present invention.  
           [0027]    Consequently, it is possible to reduce the space formed between the housing of the personal computer and the disk drive, so the personal computer can be designed smaller and thinner in shape.  
           [0028]    Furthermore the electronic apparatus of the present invention is also provided with such a protection structure for a disk drive according to the present invention.  
           [0029]    Consequently, the electronic apparatus can be designed smaller and thinner in shape just like the personal computer of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a protection structure of a lap-top personal computer in a first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a reinforcement member coming in contact with a guide member;  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 3 is a plan view of the reinforcement member in contact with the guide member shown in FIG. 2;  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 4 is a side cross sectional view taken along line  4 - 4  of FIG. 3.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 5 is a side cross sectional view, similar to FIG. 4, of a variation of the protection structure in the first embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 6 is a top view of a shape of a reinforcement member for a protection structure of a lap-top personal computer in a second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a shape of the reinforcement member of the protection structure of the lap-top personal computer in the second embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional lap-top personal computer;  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a protection structure of the conventional lap-top personal computer; and  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 10 is a side cross sectional view of the configuration shown in FIG. 8.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0040]    Hereunder, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0041]    As shown in FIG. 1, a protection structure  20  in this embodiment is provided for a lap-top personal computer (hereafter, to be referred to as a lap-top PC)  22 .  
         [0042]    Inside a palm rest (housing)  24  of the lap-top PC  22  is housed a hard disk drive  26 . The housing position of the hard disk drive  26  is decided by a housing member  28 . The housing member  28  has rail-like guide members  30 A and  30 B for guiding the hard disk drive  26  to the housing position.  
         [0043]    Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, a reinforcement member  32  is provided between the hard disk drive  26  and the palm rest  24 . The reinforcement member  32  comprises a dome portion  34  for covering an area corresponding to a hard disk  27  (see FIG. 4) in the hard disk drive  26 ; a flat plate-like ring portion  36  continued to a periphery of the dome portion  34 ; and an external periphery  38  continued to the outer periphery of the ring portion  36 .  
         [0044]    As shown in FIG. 4, the dome portion  34  is protruded to the palm rest  24  and the extreme top portion  34 T of the dome portion  34  comes just above the center portion  27 M of the hard disk  27 .  
         [0045]    The palm rest  24  has a curve portion  24 C, which is formed by curving the inner surface of the palm rest  24  so as to be matched with the shape of the dome portion  34 . This curve portion  24 C is designed thin, so that the subject lap-top PC  22  can be designed thinner in shape.  
         [0046]    At one end of the outer periphery  38  is formed a shock absorber  38 S. This shock absorber  38 S comes in contact with the top end of the guide member  30 A. This shock absorber  38 S has a space  40  formed by folding an end of a metallic plate.  
         [0047]    In this case, the shock absorber  38 S can ease an impact force applied to the dome portion  34 . This impact force is also eased by the guide member  30 B in which a through-hole  42  (to be described later) is formed. The reinforcement member  32  is made of a processed metallic plate (SUS 304  ½·H) . Consequently, an end of the metallic plate is folded so as to form this shock absorber  38 S easily and simply. engaging through-hole  42  (see FIG. 1) is also formed at the top end of the other guide member  30 B. And, a projection portion  44  is formed at the outer periphery  38  so as to be corresponded to this through-hole  42 . Consequently, the reinforcement member  32  can be attached to the housing member  28  just pushing it when the lap-top PC  22  is manufactured. In addition, it is effective to support a force applied to the dome portion  34  at the guide member  30 B.  
         [0048]    Furthermore, another through-hole  46  is formed slightly away from the through-hole  42  at the top end of this guide member  30 B. And, a through-hole  38  is formed so as to correspond to this through-hole  46  at the outer periphery  38 . And, a projection portion  50  is formed under the palm rest  24  so as to be engaged with the hall surface of the through-hole  46  by passing through the through-hole  48 . Consequently, the guide member  30 B and the palm rest  24  work together to fix the reinforcement member  32  to the housing member  28  easily and reliably.  
         [0049]    As shown in FIG. 4, the ring portion  36  of the reinforcement member  32  is slightly in contact with the case  25  of the hard disk drive  26 . Consequently, if the dome portion  34  is pressed from above by a force U applied to the palm rest  24  from outside, the reinforcement member  32  is supported lightly by the case  25  of the hard disk drive  26  at the ring portion  36 , as well as it is supported enough by both the guide members  30 A and  30 B.  
         [0050]    If an external pressure is applied to the case  25  at this time, the case  25  is apt to be deformed most easily in its center, but it is not deformed so easily at the periphery of the case  25  that supports the ring portion  36  lightly. Consequently, the case  25  supported lightly as described above is hardly deformed with the pressure from the ring portion  36  of the reinforcement member  32 . The hard disk  27  in the case  25  is thus protected surely from damage.  
         [0051]    In this embodiment, the maximum value d of the space to be formed between the case  25  of the hard disk drive  26  and the reinforcement member  32  can be reduced more significantly from the conventional one due to the configuration, operation, etc. described above, so that the hard disk  27  can be protected from damage even when the palm rest  24  receives an external impact force, etc.  
         [0052]    Hereunder, a description will be made for the effect of the above space with reference to its concrete values. As shown in FIG. 4, the maximum value d of the space is 1.25 mm, which appears in the center of the dome portion  34 . The thickness t of the curve portion  24 C in the center of the dome portion  34  is 0.8 mm and the thickness of the dome portion itself is 0.4 mm. Consequently, the distance L 1  between the case  25  and the outside of the palm rest  24  is 2.45 mm. On the other hand, in the case of the conventional lap-top PC  80 , as shown in FIG. 10, the space D between the case  85  and the inner surface of the palm rest  82  is 2.5 mm and the thickness of the palm rest  82  is 1.5 mm (the average thickness is 1.5 mm). Thus, the distance L 2  between the case  85  and the outside of the palm rest  82  is 4.00 mm.  
         [0053]    Consequently, the present invention can provide a lap-top PC  22  that can be designed much thinner in shape than the conventional one.  
         [0054]    A withstand load test was conducted to check the withstand load of the lap-top PC  22  provided with the protection structure  20  by applying a pressure U (see FIG. 4) to the palm rest  24  from outside the curve portion  24 C. As a result of the test, it was found that the withstand load was 18 kgf.  
         [0055]    On the other hand, if the space D between the case  85  of the hard disk drive  84  and the inner surface of the palm rest  82  is assumed to be 1.25 mm in the conventional lap-top PC  80  (FIG. 10), then the withstand load is about 9 kgf. Consequently, it is found that the withstand load could be improved to double in the PC provided with the protection structure  20  of the present invention even when the space is the same between both PCs.  
         [0056]    As shown in FIG. 5, the reinforcement member  32  may be replaced with the reinforcement  62  in the lap-top PC  22  as shown in FIG. 5. The reinforcement member  62  is not in contact with the case  25 . This reinforcement member  62  does not have the ring portion  36  as described in the first embodiment. The periphery of the dome portion  63  is continued to the outer periphery  64 . If a pressure U is applied to the dome portion  63 , therefore, the reinforcement member  62  is supported completely by the guide members  30 A and  30 B.  
         [0057]    Consequently, the hard disk drive  26  does not receive any force. the protection structure in the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the protection structure in this embodiment uses a reinforcement member  72  instead of the reinforcement member  32  in the first embodiment. Although the dome shape differs between the reinforcement members  32  and  72 , other configuration items are identical in both reinforcement members.  
         [0058]    The dome  74  of the reinforcement member  72  has a flat top portion  76 . And, ribs  78  are formed radially from around the flat portion  76  to the periphery of the dome portion  74 .  
         [0059]    The ribs  78  are molded with use of dies, then subjected to press working so as to form string-like projections, that is, linear projections of 0.1 mm or under in height on the surface (the surface in the bulging direction) of the dome portion  74 .  
         [0060]    Consequently, the durability of the dome portion  74  is improved more than that of the first embodiment. Consequently, the shape of the dome portion  74  can stand any excessive force to be applied to the dome portion  74 , thereby the hard disk  27  is prevented from serious damage.  
         [0061]    And because the dome portion  74  has the flat top  76 , the height of the dome portion  74  is lowered than that in the first embodiment. In addition, the shape of the palm rest (not illustrated) at the inner surface side is matched with the reinforcement member  72 , especially with the flat portion  76  in this embodiment. Consequently, the lap-top PC can further be designed thinner in shape.  
         [0062]    The above embodiments described with respect to a hard disk drive are just examples, and the scope of the interests of the present invention is not limited only to those embodiments, of course.