GB2340675A

GB2340675A - Connector assembly for the recording heads of a hard disk drive

Info

Publication number: GB2340675A
Application number: GB9918887A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kelly Williams
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 1998-08-11
Filing date: 1999-08-11
Publication date: 2000-02-23
Anticipated expiration: 2019-08-11
Also published as: GB2340675B; KR100357863B1; DE19937954A1; GB9918887D0; KR20000017255A

Abstract

A connector 10 has a bracket 14, connector pins 12 and a flexible circuit board 16 soldered to the pins 12. The pins 12 may be insert moulded with the bracket 14. A turn tab 24 can be provided to allow the connector 10 to be connected to the drive unit. Releasable fastening means 32 can be supplied as can a sealing O-ring or gasket 36. The connector 10 can be part of a head subassembly (figure 3), and a method of assembly is supplied.

Description

2340675 CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY FOR THE RECORDING HEADS OF A HARD DISK DRIVE

BACKGROUND TQ THE ID=NTIO

The present invention relates to a connector assembly for a hard disk drive.

Hard disk drives contain one or more magnetic recording heads that are coupled to a rotating magnetic disks. The magnetic recording heads are mounted to an actuator arm that is pivotally connected to a base plate of the drive.

The actuator arm has a voice coil motor which rotates the arm and moves the heads across the surfaces of the disks.

is The actuator arm, heads and disks are typically assembled into a sealed enclosure commonly referred to as a hard disk assembly (HDA).

Many disk drives contain a printed circuit board that is located external to the HDA. The printed circuit board contains integrated circuits that operate the disk drive.

The magnetic recording heads are typically coupled to the printed circuit board by a flexible circuit and a connec tor which is mounted to the base plate of the drive.

Figure 1 shows a recording head connector assembly of the prior art. The assembly includes a connector 1 which has a plurality of pins 2. The connector 1 is inserted into a slot 3 of a bracket 4 and secured by a header 6. A flexi- ble circuit board (not shown) is soldered to the pins 2. The flexible circuit is typically held in place by a 2 pressure sensitive adhesive. The header 5 is also mounted to the bracket 4 with an adhesive. It has been found that the adhesives may outgas chemicals that can contaminate the disks of the drive. It would be desirable to provide a connector assembly that eliminates adhesives in the assembly.

The connector is typically attached to the base plate of the disk drive before the flexible circuit board is soldered to the pins. The flexible circuit board is typically coupled to the heads and actuator arm before being attached to the connector. The base plate/connector assembly and the head/flexible circuit assembly are typically stored and shipped in separate containers. The head/flexible circuit assemblies are more carefully packaged and handled than the base plate assembly. It has been found that the pins of the connector may become bent during the storage and shipping process. It would be desirable to attach the connector to the head subassembly before being assembled into the hard disk drive so that the connector is carefully packaged and handled.

SU RY OF THE INVENTIO The present invention is a connector assembly for a hard disk drive. The connector assembly comprises a bracket, a plurality of pins that are attached to and extend through the bracket and a flexible circuit board that is soldered to the pins. In a preferred embodiment, the pins are insert moulded into the bracket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

3 The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an exploded view of a hard disk drive 5 connector assembly of the prior art;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a connector assembly of the present invention; Figure 3 is an exploded view of a hard disk drive with the connector assembly shown in Fig. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIO

One embodiment of the present invention is a connector assembly for a hard disk drive. The assembly includes a plurality of pins that are insert moulded into a bracket.

The bracket is mounted to a base plate of a hard disk drive. The pins are typically coupled to a connector that is mounted to a printed circuit board assembly of the hard disk drive.

A flexible circuit board is soldered to the pins. The flexible circuit board couples the connector and printed circuit board assembly to a plurality of magnetic recording heads of the hard disk drive. The flexible circuit board is connected to the bracket by the solder joints of the pins. There is no requirement for adhesives in the present invention. The connector assembly will thus not outgas adhesive chemicals like assemblies of the prior art. Additionally, insert moulding the pins into the bracket reduces the number of parts for the connector assembly, thereby lowering the complexity and cost of mass producing the assembly.

4 Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, Figure 2 shows a connector assembly 10 of the present invention. The assembly 10 includes a plurality 5 of pins 12 that extend through a bracket 14. The bracket 14 is typically constructed from a moulded plastic material. The pins 12 are preferably insert moulded into the bracket 14. Insert moulding the pins 12 eliminates the need for a separate connector or header that must be attached to the bracket 14.

A flexible circuit board 16 is soldered to the pins 12. The flexible circuit board 16 contains patterned metal routing traces 18 and solder pads 20 that are attached to a sheet of dielectric material 22. The solder pads 20 are soldered to the pins 12. A portion of the flexible circuit board 16 is bent by a turn tab 24 of the bracket 14.

As shown in Figure 3, the bracket 14 may be mounted to a base plate 26 of a hard disk drive. The pins 12 extend through an opening 28 in the base plate 26 and are typically plugged into a mating connector (not shown) that is mounted to a printed circuit board assembly 30. The bracket 14 may be secured to the base plate 26 by a pair of fasteners 32 that extend through bracket openings 34. The bracket 14 may be sealed to the base plate 26 by an O-ring 36.

The disk drive typically contains an actuator arm 38 that is pivotally connected to the base plate 26. A number of flexure arms 40 are attached to the actuator arm 36. A magnetic recording head 42 is mounted to the end of each flexure arm 40. The flexible circuit board 16 is typically attached to the actuator arm 38 and electrically coupled to the magnetic recording heads 42. The flexible 5 circuit board 16 electrically couples the recording heads 42 to the connector pins 12 and the printed circuit board assembly 10.

The recording heads 42 are located adjacent to a number of magnetic disk 44. The disks 44 are rotated by a spin motor 46 that is mounted to the base plate 26. The actua tor arm 38 includes a voice coil 48 that is coupled to a magnet assembly 50. The magnet assembly 50 is mounted to the base plate 26. The coil 48 and magnet 50 create a voice coil motor which can be activated to rotate the actuator arm 38 and move the heads 42 across the surfaces of the disks 44. The disks 44, heads 42, etc., can be enclosed by a cover 52 that is attached to the base plate 26.

The flexible circuit board 16 can be soldered to the pins 12 and coupled to the recording heads 42 before the bracket 14 is mounted to the base plate 26. The recording heads 42, actuator arm 38, flexible circuit 16 and bracket 14 can all be assembled as a unit that is stored and shipped as a separate head subassembly. The subassembly is typically specially wrapped and handled to insure that the heads 42 and pins 12 do not become damaged during the shipping process.

6

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A connector assembly for a hard disk drive, compris- ing:

a bracket; a plurality of pins that are attached to and extend through zhe bracket; and a flexible circuit board that is soldered to the pins.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 in which the pins are insert moulded into the bracket.
3. An assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the bracket has a turn tab.
4. An assembly according to any one of claims 1-3 further comprising an O-ring that is coupled to the bracket.
5. A head subassembly for a hard disk drive, compris ing:

an actuator arm; a flexure arm attached to the actuator arm; a magnetic recording head mounted to the flexure arm; and an assembly according to any preceding claim in which the flexible circuit board is coupled to the mag netic recording head.
6. A method of assembling a hard disk drive, comprising 7 securing, to a base plate of the hard disk drive, a bracket of a head subassembly, the head subassembly having a flexible circuit board that is coupled to a magnetic recording head, the flexible circuit board being 5 soldered to a pin that extends through the bracket.
7. A hard disk drive connector assembly substantially as described herein with reference to FIGs. 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.
8. A hard disk drive head subassembly substantially as described herein with reference to FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings.
9. A hard disk drive assembly method substantially as described herein with reference to FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings.