JP2001148186A - Impact resistant disk device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an impact resistance disk device which is superior in assembling characteristic, protability and cost and is small in size and weight and to realize the impact resistant disk device, with which downsizing and weight reduction of an information processing device body may be achieved and which is easily attachable and detachable to and from the information processing device. SOLUTION: This impact resistant disk device is constituted, by using a polyurethane sheet of a closed cell type commercially marketed as a buffer material as an impact absorption sheet 13, adhering this polyurethane sheet to a thin resin sheet 10 having folds and enclosing the disk device 9 with the resin sheet 10. As a result, thickness reduction, weight reduction and cost reduction greater than with the conventional impact resistant disk device can therefore be achieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk drive having a shock absorbing device, and more particularly, to a device which is easily affected by a shock, such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, an optical disk drive, and a magneto-optical disk drive. The present invention relates to a shock absorbing device suitable for a disk device capable of protecting the device from impact and safely storing the device in a state where the device is detached from an information processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information processing apparatuses such as notebook personal computers have become lighter, smaller and thinner, and are being used outdoors, for example, to improve portability. In such an information processing apparatus having portability, the above-described disk device is used as a storage device for storing information. Opportunities for attaching and detaching these storage devices from the information processing device at any time to increase the storage capacity or keep the stored information confidential are increasing. The removed storage device may be carried by itself or stored separately.

[0003] As a result, vibrations and shocks when the portable device is carried are applied to the storage device held inside the information processing device via the information processing device. Further, when the portable device is detached from the information processing device and carried, vibration and impact are directly applied to the disk device, so that the disk device is further damaged. In order to avoid such a situation, various measures have been taken to prevent the disk device from being damaged when the disk device is held or removed from the information processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional shock-resistant hard disk drive. In FIG. 6, 50 and 51 are gel substances, 52 is a hard disk drive, and 53 and 54 are outer boxes. The gel-like substances 50 and 51 are formed according to the outer shape of the hard disk device 52, and the hard disk device 52 is put in the gel-like material 50, and is covered with the gel-like material 51 from above. This was put in an outer box 53 and covered with a lid 54. The thickness of the gel-like substances 50 and 51 is about 10 mm, which is excellent in impact resistance but has a disadvantage that the thickness is large and bulky. In particular, in a small and thin notebook personal computer, not only the thickness but also the weight of the gel substance hinders portability. Further, the gel-like substance has a drawback that it is soft and difficult to handle.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small and lightweight shock-resistant disk device excellent in assemblability, portability and cost. It is possible to realize a shock-resistant disk device that achieves reduction in size and weight of the information processing device main body and that can be easily attached to and detached from the information processing device.

[0006]

The shock-resistant disk device of the present invention uses a closed-cell polyurethane sheet, which is commercially available as a cushioning material, as a shock-absorbing sheet, and forms a polyurethane sheet on a thin resin sheet with folds. The disk device is bonded and wrapped in a resin sheet.
For this reason, a significant reduction in thickness, weight, and cost can be achieved as compared with a conventional shock-resistant disk device.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is directed to a flat disk device, a resin sheet having a fold disposed opposite to the outer peripheral surface of the disk device, and a flexible closed cell. A shock absorbing sheet made of foam; and an outer box for storing the disk device, the resin sheet, and the shock absorbing sheet, wherein the resin sheet faces two or more surfaces facing an outer peripheral portion of the disk device. Form a surface,
A shock absorbing sheet is bonded to the facing surface, and the integrally formed shock absorbing frame is formed by bonding the shock absorbing sheet to a resin sheet formed with folds so as to wrap the disk device. Eliminate the need to use. As a result, cost reduction can be achieved, and assemblability and maintainability equivalent to using an integrally molded product can be realized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, one resin sheet has six surfaces facing the outer peripheral portion of the disk drive. The shock absorbing sheet can be assembled and removed by a single operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the resin sheet has a thickness of 0.1 m.
m, and the shock absorbing sheet is reliably supported by the resin sheet, so that the operability during assembly and disassembly of the disk device is good.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the disk device, the shock absorbing sheet, the resin sheet, and the outer box are provided with respect to two eccentric flat surfaces of the disk device. The disk device, the resin sheet, the shock-absorbing sheet, and the outer box are arranged in this order with respect to the other four surfaces, and the cross-sectional area of the outer peripheral surface of the disk device is small. With respect to the surface, good impact resistance can be obtained because the entire surface of the resin sheet receives the impact.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tab in which a part of the resin sheet extends from the facing surface and is drawn out, and the tab is an outer box. The shock-resistant disk device can be easily removed from the main body of the device by pulling the tab.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the resin sheet facing the upper surface and the lower surface of the disk device is continuous. The disk device can be pulled out of the outer box by pulling the resin sheet on the upper surface.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) According to Embodiment 1,
A hard disk device will be described as an example of a disk device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing the appearance of an impact-resistant hard disk drive according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
(B) is a perspective view of the hard disk drive, FIG. 2 is a front view of the expanded resin sheet, FIG. 3 is a front view of the resin sheet to which the shock absorbing sheet is adhered, and FIG. FIGS. 5 and 5 are perspective views illustrating the removal of the shock-resistant hard disk device from the information processing device.

1, 2 and 3, 1 is an impact hard disk drive, 2 is an upper case, 3 is a lower case, 5 is a tag, 6 is a signal cable, 7 and 8 are openings, 9 is a hard disk drive, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10
e, 10f are resin sheets, 11a, 11b, 11c, 1
1d and 11e are folds, 12 is a break, 13a and 13b
Reference numerals 13c, 13d, 13e, and 13f denote independent shock absorbing sheets attached to the resin sheet 10a, the resin sheet 10b, the resin sheet 10c, the resin sheet 10d, the resin sheet 10e, and the resin sheet 10f, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), a hard disk drive 9 according to the first embodiment has an aluminum case 2, 3 made of aluminum.
The signal cable 6 connected to the information processing device and the tag 5 for removing the shock-resistant hard disk device 1 from the information processing device are exposed through the openings 7 and 8 provided in the cases 2 and 3. I have. The hard disk drive 9 is a flat rectangular parallelepiped and has a disk, a drive motor, a recording unit, a drive circuit, and the like built therein, and is covered with a metal case. The gap between the hard disk device 9 and the cases 2 and 3 is filled with a cushioning material including a resin sheet 10 and an impact absorbing sheet 13 to protect the hard disk device 9 from impact.
The outer dimensions of the hard disk drive 9 are 7 mm in height and 70 m in width
m, length 100 mm, cases 2 and 3, t3 = 0.3 mm
This is a box made of aluminum plate.

The structure of the cushioning material will be described with reference to FIGS. The resin sheet 10 of the first embodiment has t2 = 0.2 m
m is a polyester film. A fold 11 is provided in the resin sheet 10, and when the resin sheet 10 is folded along the fold 11 at an angle of 90 °, a rectangular parallelepiped which is slightly larger than the hard disk drive 9 is formed. A cut 12 is formed in the resin sheet 10, and a tab 5 that rotates around the fold 11 when formed along the cut 12 is formed.

Here, the shock absorbing sheet 13 used in the first embodiment will be described. The material is a commercially available urethane foam, t1 = 3.5 mm with a skin formed on the surface layer.
And a flexible closed-cell polyurethane foam having a density of 0.06 g / cubic cm (closed cell rate: about 70%).
When the closed cell rate is 40% or less, when shock is applied, the air in the cells is extruded in a short time and loses the buffering ability. Closed cell rate 6
In the case of 0 to 80%, it takes a proper time to extrude the air in the air bubbles, and it takes a proper time to return to the original state, so that the buffer capacity is large (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-136084). ).

The shock absorbing sheet 13 made of the above material is
It is cut out according to the pattern of FIG. 2, cut into six pieces, and adhered onto the resin sheet 10.
The shock absorbing sheets 13a and 13b are provided in the hard disk drive 9
Of the shock absorbing sheet 1
The areas of 3a and 13 are the same as the areas of the upper surface and the lower surface. In FIG. 3, the shock absorbing sheets 13a, 13b
Is oriented in the direction of the paper. Shock absorbing sheet 13
c, 13d, 13e, 13f are the hard disk drives 9
3 and is slightly larger than the area of the side surface, and in FIG. 3, the respective bonding surfaces face the direction of the paper.

The resin sheet 10 and the shock absorbing sheet 13 are placed in the direction of FIG. 3, and the bottom surface of the hard disk drive 9 is overlaid on the resin sheet 10a. Resin sheets 10b, 10c,
By raising 10d, 10e, and 10f along the fold 11, the hard disk device 9 can be wrapped with the buffer sheet. The package is packed in the lower case 3, the upper case 2 is covered from above, and the signal cable 6 and the tab 5 are connected to the openings 7 and 8.
When pulled out, the hard disk drive 1 of FIG. 1 is completed.

The dimensions of the hard disk drive 9 are defined as height H,
The width W, the length L, the thickness of the shock absorbing sheet 13 are t1, the thickness of the resin sheet 10 is t2, and the thickness of the cases 2, 3 is t3. Shock absorbing sheets 13a, 13b, resin sheet 10
a, 10b are W × L, shock absorbing sheet 13c,
13e, the size of the resin sheets 10c and 10e is W × (H
+ 2 × t2), the size of the shock absorbing sheets 13d and 13f, and the size of the resin sheets 10d and 10f are L × (H + 2 × t2). The inner dimensions of case 3 are (H + 2 × (t1 + t
2)), (W + 2 × (t1 + t2)), (L + 2 × (t
1 + t2)).

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG.
Shown in The top and bottom surfaces of the hard disk drive 9 are in direct contact with the shock absorbing sheets 13a and 13b. On the other hand, the four side surfaces of the hard disk device 9 are in contact with the shock absorbing sheets 13c, 13d, 13e, 13f via the resin sheets 10c, 10d, 10e, 10f.
The height of the shock absorbing sheets 13 c, 13 d, 13 e, and 13 f is larger than the height of the side surface of the hard disk drive 9 by two shock absorbing sheets 13. In other words, the height of the hard disk drive 9 is 7 mm, which is twice 14 m.
m.

In general, a disk device is a flat rectangular parallelepiped, and has a smaller cross-sectional area on the side surface than the cross-sectional area on the top surface and the bottom surface. Therefore, the buffering effect is reduced with respect to impacts in the left, right, front and rear directions. In the first embodiment, a polyester film having t2 = 0.2 mm is used as the resin sheet 10. Since the resin sheet 10 has sufficient rigidity against an instantaneous force, the impact absorbing sheet 13 having a height L1 buffers the impact, and the breaking is twice as large as when the impact absorbing sheet 13 is bonded to the opposite surface. Area. When the side surface of the hard disk drive 9 is in direct contact with the shock absorbing sheet 13, even if the height of the shock absorbing sheet 13 is (H + 2 × t1), only a substantial amount of H is supported by the shock. . t2
Is less than 0.1 mm, the stiffness is weak and the effect of expanding the shock absorbing cross-sectional area is reduced.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the shock-resistant hard disk drive 1 according to the first embodiment is attached to the information processing apparatus 20. The shock-resistant hard disk drive 1 is designated by the storage frame 22. When the lid 21 is opened, the tab 5 is folded on the upper surface. When the connection cable 6 is pulled out from the connector and the tab 5 is pulled upward, the hard disk drive 1 can be removed. Removed impact hard disk drive 1
Is small, lightweight and fits in a pocket. In addition, since it has sufficient impact resistance, stored information is not destroyed even when it is carried naked.

The upper case 2 is opened and the resin sheet 10 is opened.
When b is pulled out, the hard disk drive 9 can be removed while being wrapped in the resin sheet 10. Resin sheet 10b
In the conventional device not provided with the connection cable 6, the connection cable 6 may be pulled out, and there is a concern that the connection cable 6 may be damaged.

As the resin sheet, polycarbonate, vinyl chloride or the like can be used.

As the foam, polyethylene foam or the like can be used.

In the first embodiment, the average distance from the outer peripheral surface of the disk device to the inner peripheral surface of the outer case is equal in six directions, and the average distance and the total thickness of (resin sheet + shock absorbing sheet) However, when the disk device has directivity to impact, the thickness of the impact absorbing sheet may be set according to the directivity.

Further, by making the total thickness of the (resin sheet + shock absorbing sheet) larger than the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the disk device and the inner peripheral surface of the outer case, the thickness of the buffer means can be reduced. When a hydrophobic urethane foam is used, the airtightness can be improved and the moisture permeability can be improved by compressing and filling the urethane foam.

[0031]

The shock-resistant disk device of the present invention has the following effects. (1) Since a resin sheet and a foam sheet, which are commercially available for general use, are bonded to form a buffer section, the cost is low, the size is small and the weight is small, and it is most suitable for mounting on a notebook computer. (2) Since the folds are provided in the resin sheet, the disk device can be easily attached and detached. (3) The tab is provided for easy attachment and detachment from the PC.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a shock-resistant hard disk drive according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a hard disk drive.

FIG. 2 is a developed front view of the resin sheet according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view in which a shock absorbing sheet is bonded to the resin sheet according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the shock-resistant hard disk device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the shock-resistant hard disk device attached to the information processing device.

FIG. 6 is an assembly view showing an example of the configuration of a conventional shock-resistant hard disk drive.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shock-resistant hard disk drive 2, 3 case 5 Tag 9 Hard disk drive 10 Resin sheet 11 Fold 13 Shock absorbing sheet

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A flat disk device, a resin sheet having a fold disposed opposite to an outer peripheral surface of the disk device, a shock absorbing sheet made of a flexible closed-cell foam, An outer box for storing the resin sheet and the shock absorbing sheet, wherein the resin sheet forms at least two opposing surfaces facing the outer peripheral portion of the disk device, and the shock absorbing sheet is formed on the opposing surface. An impact-resistant disk device that is bonded. 2. The shock-resistant disk device according to claim 1, wherein one resin sheet has six surfaces facing the outer peripheral portion of the disk device. 3. The shock-resistant disk device according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the resin sheet is 0.1 mm or more. 4. The disk device according to claim 1, wherein:
The outer peripheral surface of the disk device, the shock absorbing sheet, the resin sheet, and the outer box are arranged in this order, and the other four surfaces are arranged in the order of the outer peripheral surface of the disk device, the resin sheet, the shock absorbing sheet, and the outer box. 4. The shock-resistant disk device according to claim 3, wherein 5. The shock-resistant disk according to claim 1, wherein a part of the resin sheet has a tab extending from the facing surface and pulled out, and the tab is drawn out of the outer box. apparatus. 6. The shock-resistant disk device according to claim 5, wherein the resin sheets facing the upper surface and the lower surface of the disk device are continuous.