PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-8179673-B2
Application Number: US-34057408-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Portable computer hard drive structures

Abstract:
Portable computer structures are provided. The portable computer structures may include hard drive mounting structures. The hard drive mounting structures may include elastomeric support members. Each elastomeric support member may have a relatively rigid inner portion. The inner portion may include a hole that receives a hard drive mounting pin. Each elastomeric support member may also have a relatively flexible outer portion. The relatively flexible outer portion may be mounted within an opening in a plastic support member. The rigid inner portion may have a square outline and may be mounted within a square opening in the flexible outer portion.

Claims:
1. Mounting structures for a hard drive having at least one support pin, comprising:
 at least one support member having an opening; and 
 an elastomeric support member having an outer portion that fits within the opening and an inner portion that has a hole that receives the pin, wherein the outer portion is formed from a first material, wherein the inner portion is formed from a second material, and wherein the first material is more flexible and softer than the second material. 
 
     
     
       2. The mounting structures defined in  claim 1 , wherein the mounting structures are part of an electronic device having a housing and wherein the support member comprises a hard drive mounting bracket that secures the elastomeric support member to the housing of the electronic device. 
     
     
       3. The mounting structures defined in  claim 2  further comprising a fastening mechanism that attaches the hard drive mounting bracket to the housing of the electronic device. 
     
     
       4. The mounting structures defined in  claim 2  further comprising a fastening mechanism that attaches the hard drive mounting bracket to the housing of the electronic device and that allows the nondestructive removal of the hard drive mounting bracket from the housing of the electronic device. 
     
     
       5. The mounting structures defined in  claim 4  wherein, when the hard drive mounting bracket is attached to the housing of the electronic device, the hard drive mounting bracket and the housing of the electronic device bear against the elastomeric support member and secure the elastomeric support member in place. 
     
     
       6. The mounting structures defined in  claim 1  wherein the hole in the inner portion of the elastomeric support member is circular. 
     
     
       7. The mounting structures defined in  claim 1  wherein the elastomeric support member comprises a thermoplastic polymer support member that is formed in a two-shot molding process, wherein a first one of the first and second flexible materials is formed in a first shot of the two-shot molding processes, and wherein a second one of the first and second flexible materials is formed in a second shot of the two-shot molding processes. 
     
     
       8. The mounting structures defined in  claim 1  wherein the hard drive has at least four support pins and wherein the at least one support member comprises at least two support members each of which has at least two openings, the mounting structures further comprising:
 at least three elastomeric support members each of which has an outer portion that fits within one of the openings and an inner portion that has a hole that receives one of the support pins, wherein the outer portion of each of the elastomeric support members is more flexible and softer than the inner portion. 
 
     
     
       9. Mounting structures for a hard drive having at least one support pin, comprising:
 at least one support member having an opening; and 
 an elastomeric support member having an outer portion that fits within the opening and an inner portion that has a hole that receives the pin, wherein the outer portion is more flexible than the inner portion, wherein the elastomeric support member is split into a first portion and a second portion, and wherein the first portion and the second portion each comprises a part of the outer portion and a part of the inner portion. 
 
     
     
       10. Mounting structures for a hard drive having at least one support pin, comprising:
 at least one support member having an opening; and 
 an elastomeric support member having an outer portion that fits within the opening and an inner portion that has a hole that receives the pin, wherein the outer portion is more flexible than the inner portion, wherein the hole in the inner portion of the elastomeric support member is circular, and wherein the inner portion and the outer portion of the elastomeric support member have a rectangular interface. 
 
     
     
       11. The mounting structures defined in  claim 10  wherein the opening in the support member is rectangular. 
     
     
       12. Mounting structures for an electronic device having a hard drive and a housing, wherein the hard drive has at least one support pin, the electronic device comprising:
 at least one elastomeric support having an outer member that is secured to the housing and an inner member that has a hole that receives the pin, wherein the outer member is more flexible and softer than the inner member. 
 
     
     
       13. The mounting structures defined in  claim 12  further comprising:
 at least one support member having an opening, wherein the outer member fits within the opening. 
 
     
     
       14. The mounting structures defined in  claim 13  wherein the support member is removably secured to the housing by a fastening mechanism. 
     
     
       15. The mounting structures defined in  claim 12  further comprising:
 a hard drive mounting bracket that removably secures the elastomeric support to the housing of the electronic device; and 
 at least one screw that secures the hard drive mounting bracket to the housing. 
 
     
     
       16. Noise reduction structures for a hard drive that resonates at a resonant frequency during operation, comprising:
 a planar sheet that is mounted to the hard drive to alter the resonant frequency of the hard drive and that has an outer surface; and 
 a printed label that is mounted to the outer surface of the planar sheet. 
 
     
     
       17. The noise reduction structures defined in  claim 16  wherein the planar sheet comprises a copper sheet. 
     
     
       18. The noise reduction structures defined in  claim 16  further comprising adhesive between the planar sheet and the hard drive that secures the planar sheet to the hard drive, wherein the planar sheet alters the resonant frequency of the hard drive by lowering the resonant frequency. 
     
     
       19. The noise reduction structures defined in  claim 16  further comprising adhesive between the planar sheet and the hard drive that secures the planar sheet to the hard drive, wherein the planar sheet alters the resonant frequency of the hard drive by lowering the resonant frequency to below 80 Hz.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 61/105,041, filed Oct. 13, 2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This invention relates to electronic devices and, more particularly, to hard disk drive structures for electronic devices such as portable computers. 
     Designers of portable computers are faced with competing demands. For example, it is generally desirable to reduce the weight of a portable computer, so that a user is not burdened by an overly heavy device. At the same time, durability and aesthetics should not suffer. Often, weight can be saved, but only at the expense of reducing the size or strength of device components. Similarly, it may be possible to improve device appearance, but only at the expense of making a device more fragile and susceptible to damage. For example, it may be difficult to form robust hard drive mounting structures. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved hard drive mounting structures for electronic devices such as portable computers. 
     SUMMARY 
     Portable computers with improved hard disk drive subsystems are provided. 
     A hard disk drive subsystem may be provided that exhibits enhanced durability. The hard drive subsystem may have mounting structures that help to protect the drive from damage. 
     The hard drive mounting structures may include elastomeric support members. Each elastomeric support member may have a relatively rigid inner portion. The inner portion may include a hole that receives a hard drive mounting pin. Each elastomeric support member may also have a relatively flexible outer portion. The relatively flexible outer portion may be mounted within an opening in a plastic or metal support member. The rigid inner portion may have a square outline and may be mounted within a square opening in the flexible outer portion. 
     A noise reduction structure may be provided that helps to reduce vibration and associated noise in a hard drive. The noise reduction structure may have a planar member such as a copper-weighted sheet, a stainless steel-weighted sheet, or any other structure that has a suitable weight. The member may be mounted to the planar surface of a hard disk drive with adhesive. 
     Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative portable computer in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an interior portion of a portable computer showing an illustrative hard disk drive mounting location in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of illustrative structures that may be used in mounting a hard disk drive in a portable computer in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 4 and 5  are partial cross sectional perspective views of illustrative hard disk drive mounting structures in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an illustrative noise reduction structure that may be mounted to a hard disk drive in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention relates to portable computer structures. Portable computer structures may be provided that enhance the functionality of a portable computer while retaining or even improving desired levels of durability and aesthetics. 
     An illustrative electronic device such as a portable computer in which the portable computer structures may be provided is shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , portable computer  10  may have a housing  12 . Housing  12 , which is sometimes referred to as a case, may be formed from one or more individual structures. For example, housing  12  may have a main structural support member that is formed from a solid block of machined aluminum or other suitable metal. One or more additional structures may be connected to the housing  12 . These structures may include, for example, internal frame members, external coverings such as sheets of metal, etc. Housing  12  and its associated components may, in general, be formed from any suitable materials such as such as plastic, ceramics, metal, glass, etc. Ad advantage of forming housing  12  at least partly from metal is that metal is durable and attractive in appearance. Metals such as aluminum may be anodized to form an insulating oxide coating. 
     Case  12  may have an upper portion  26  and a lower portion  28 . Lower portion  28  may be referred to as the base or main unit of computer  10  and may contain components such as a hard disk drive, battery, and main logic board. Upper portion  26 , which is sometimes referred to as a cover or lid, may rotate relative to lower portion  28  about rotational axis  16 . Portion  18  of computer  10  may contain a hinge and associated clutch structures and is sometimes referred to as a clutch barrel. 
     Lower housing portion  28  may have a slot such as slot  22  through which optical disks may be loaded into an optical disk drive. Lower housing portion may also have a touchpad such as touchpad  24  and may have keys  20 . If desired, additional components may be mounted to upper and lower housing portions  26  and  28 . For example, upper and lower housing portions  26  and  28  may have ports to which cables can be connected (e.g., universal serial bus ports, an Ethernet port, a Firewire port, audio jacks, card slots, etc.). Buttons and other controls may also be mounted to housing  12 . 
     If desired, upper and lower housing portions  26  and  28  may have transparent windows through which light may be emitted (e.g., from light-emitting diodes). This type of arrangement may be used, for example, to display status information to a user. Openings may also be formed in the surface of upper and lower housing portions to allow sound to pass through the walls of housing  12 . For example, openings may be formed for microphone and speaker ports. With one illustrative arrangement, speaker openings such as speaker openings  30  may be formed in lower housing portion  28  by creating an array of small openings (perforations) in the surface of housing  12 . 
     A display such as display  14  may be mounted within upper housing portion  26 . Display  14  may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, or plasma display (as examples). A glass panel may be mounted in front of display  14 . The glass panel may help add structural integrity to computer  10 . For example, the glass panel may make upper housing portion  26  more rigid and may protect display  14  from damage due to contact with keys or other structures. 
     Computer  10  may have input-output components such as touch pad  24 . Touch pad  24  may include a touch sensitive surface that allows a user of computer  10  to control computer  10  using touch-based commands (gestures). A portion of touchpad  24  may be depressed by the user when the user desires to “click” on a displayed item on screen  14 . 
     Part of the interior of housing portion  28  of portable computer  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , hard disk drive  34  may be mounted within housing portion  28  using support members  36  and  38 . Support members  36  and  38  may be formed from plastic or other suitable materials. Members such as members  36  and  38  are sometimes referred to as hard drive mounting brackets or support structures. Hard drive  34  may be mounted between front edge  58  of housing portion  28  and midwall  32  or may be mounted within housing portion  28  at another suitable location. Midwall  32 , which may be formed from metal or other suitable materials, may be attached to housing portion  28  using screws, adhesive, welds, or other suitable attachment mechanisms. Members  36  and  38  may also be attached to housing portion  28  using adhesive and welds. To allow hard drive  34  to be removed for servicing, it may be advantageous to attach members  36  and  38  to housing portion  28  using a fastening mechanism that allows the nondestructive removal of hard drive  34 . As an example, fasteners such as screws may be used. In the  FIG. 2  example, screw  48  is used to attach member  36  to housing portion  28 . Screws may also be inserted in holes in member  38  such as holes  60  to attach member  38  to housing portion  28 . 
     An exploded perspective view of a portion of computer  10  in the vicinity of hard drive  34  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , hard drive  34  may be mounted in recessed region  40  of housing portion  28 . Hard drive  34  may have threaded holes  44  into which hard drive mounting pins (screws) such as pins  42  may be screwed. 
     The exposed tips of pins  42  may be received by mating holes in members  46 . Members  46 , which are sometimes referred to a snubbers or bumpers, may be resilient. Upon impact, portions of members  46  may compress, thereby allowing the tips of pins  42  to move slightly. This absorbs part of the force of impact and prevents damage to hard drive  34 . For example, upon an impact to device  10 , the movement of pins  42  within members  46  may help to prevent damage to hard drive  34  by isolating hard drive  34  from the force of the impact. 
     Members  46  may be formed using a two-shot plastic molding process. An outer portion of each member  46  may be formed from a relatively soft elastomeric material, whereas an inner ring portion may be formed from a relatively harder material. Members  46  are recessed into holes  54  in member  38  and holes  56  in member  36 . The members  46  that are associated with member  38  may each be provided as a single structure. The members  46  that are associated with member  36  may each be formed from two smaller half members  46 A and  46 B. The use of half members  46 A and  46 B allow the upper half members  46 B to be removed when it is desired to release pins  42  (e.g., to remove hard drive  34  from computer  10  for servicing). 
     The cross-sectional view of  FIG. 4  shows how each of the two-part elastomeric members  46  may have an upper half portion  46 B and a lower half portion  46 A. Within each elastomeric member, outer ring portion  50  may be formed from a material that is soft enough to compress when hard drive  34  is subject to a sharp force (e.g., when computer  10  is inadvertently dropped or computer  10  is inadvertently struck against an object). Pins  42  are typically formed from metal or other rigid material. It can be difficult to form a well controlled interface between the relatively small round outer surface of pins  42  and a hole formed in a soft elastomer. Elastomeric support members  46  preferably have relatively rigid inner ring members  52  that help transfer force between pins  42  and soft outer ring members  50 . It has been demonstrated that this type of arrangement makes it less likely that an unintended impact to device  10  will cause damage to hard drive  34 . 
     Members  46  may be held in place by member  36  and lower housing portion  28 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , member  36  and housing portion  28  may bear against members  46 A and  46 B and thereby hold members  46 A and  46 B in place. With one suitable arrangement, lower half portion  46 A can be mounted to structure  37  while upper half portion  46 B is mounted to structure  36 . In this type of arrangement, when member  36  is detached from device  10 , members  46 A and  46 B may be split so that hard drive mounting pins  42  can slide out of the hole in the relatively rigid inner portion of member  46 A (e.g., portion  52  of member  46 A) and hard drive  36  can be removed from device  10 . 
     In general, members  46  may be formed from any suitable material. For example, members  46  may be formed from an elastomeric material such as elastomeric foam, silicone, rubber, silicone rubber, a thermoplastic elastomeric (TPE) such as a thermoplastic polyurethane polymer, etc. 
     While members  46  are illustrated herein as being substantially rectangular in shape, members  46  may be formed in any suitable shape. For example, members  46  may be formed in shapes such as a circle, a square, a triangle, a rhombus, an ellipse, an oval, etc. If desired, outer ring portion  50  may have a different shape than inner ring portion  52 . For example, the interface between inner ring portion  52  and outer ring portion  50  can be circular while the outer portion of outer ring portion  50  is square. 
       FIG. 5  shows a cross-sectional view of the elastomeric support members  46  associated with member  38 . Members  46  of  FIG. 5  may be formed from unitary (non-split) structures. If desired, members  46  of  FIG. 5  may be split into structures of the type shown in  FIG. 4  and members  46 A and  46 B of  FIG. 4  may be formed using a single-piece design. The arrangement of  FIGS. 4 and 5  is merely illustrative. As shown in  FIG. 5 , member  38  and lower housing portion  28  may bear against members  46  and thereby hold members  46  in place. 
     Moreover, each member  46  may be provided with additional materials (e.g., using a three shot process). The arrangement of  FIGS. 4 and 5  in which each member is formed from a more rigid (less flexible) inner shot of material and a less rigid (more flexible) outer shot of material is merely illustrative. 
     If desired, a noise reduction structure may be provided that helps to reduce vibration and associated noise in hard drive  34 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , hard drive  34  may be provided with a planar noise reducing member  62 . Member  62  may include a planar sheet  62 . Sheet  62  may be formed of copper or other relatively dense and heavy structure. Sheet  62  may be mounted to the planar surface of hard disk drive  34  with a layer of adhesive  64 . A printed label may be provided on the outer surface of noise reduction sheet  62  if desired. Because sheet  62  is relatively heavy, the inclusion of sheet  62  alters that resonant frequency of hard drive  34  and helps to ensure that hard drive  34  does not resonate and produce sound in a sensitive frequency range (e.g., the human vocal range, which is approximately 80 Hz to 1100 Hz for the average human, and the human auditory range, which is approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz for the average human). This helps to lessen the sonic impact of hard drive  34  during operation. 
     Hard drive  34  is described herein as an example of an illustrative component that can be mounted to the housing of device  10  using members  46  (e.g., members with a relatively soft outer portion and a relatively rigid inner portion). In general, any suitable component can be mounted to the housing of device  10  by members  46 . For example, a battery, a main logic board, a circuit board, a display, and any other suitable components may be mounted to the housing of device  10  using members  46 . 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20081219
Publication Date: 20120515
Grant Date: 20120515
Priority Date: 20081013
Inventors: REID GAVIN
HOPKINSON RON
TAN CHENG P.
BROCK JOHN
LIGTENBERG CHRIS
ANDRE BARTLEY K.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G06F1/1616", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/187", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1616", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1658", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/187", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 42098650