JP2006234077A - Sealing structure by gasket - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To be capable of securing excellent sealing performance and furthermore to enable us to manufacture a gasket 3 easily in sealing structure which seals with the gasket 3 between a base 1 and a cover 2 in small-sized precision apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: Sealing structure seals between the base 1 including a side peripheral wall 12 and the cover 2 combined to block a housed part A on the base 1 via a gasket 3 comprising a rubber-like elastic material. The sealing structure is integrally provided with the gasket 3 on end rim 12a of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 and at the same time is brought into close contact with inside surface 21a of a bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 in combination condition of the base 1 and the cover 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sealing structure in which a base and a cover are sealed with a gasket in a small precision device such as a hard disk drive device (hereinafter referred to as HDD) incorporated in a portable electronic device such as a digital camera or a mobile phone.

  The HDD must prevent dust and moisture that interferes with writing and reading of data on the magnetic disk from entering from the outside as much as possible. For this reason, a gasket is interposed between a magnetic disk, a base in which a data read / write head and its driving device are housed, and a cover for sealing the base.

  6, 7, and 8 are partial cross-sectional views showing the prior art of a sealing structure using a gasket, respectively. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 100 is a base in the HDD, and reference numeral 110 is a cover. In the base 100, a storage portion A in which a magnetic disk, a magnetic head (not shown), a driving device thereof, and the like are accommodated is surrounded by a side peripheral wall 101. Further, the cover 110 is manufactured by press molding of a metal plate such as stainless steel or aluminum, and has an endless shape made of a rubber-like elastic material on the inner surface thereof along the inner periphery of the side peripheral wall 111. The gasket 120 is integrally formed.

  The gasket 120 has a seal lip 121 that is in close contact with the upper end surface of the side peripheral wall 101 of the base 100. A liquid adhesive is applied to the inner surface of the cover 110, and the cover 110 is set in a mold. Then, the composition that becomes the material of the gasket 120 is injection-molded on the surface to which the adhesive is applied, so that the cover 110 is integrally formed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As a method for manufacturing the gasket 120, a liquid elastomer as a material of the gasket 120 is applied to the inner side surface of the cover 110 with a dispenser provided with a discharge nozzle in a single stroke, and this is crosslinked by ultraviolet rays or heat. A method of curing, or a method of forming the gasket 120 separately from the cover 110 in advance and attaching it to the cover by adhesion or the like later is also employed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2004-36630 A JP 2000-302160 A

  In recent years, with the rapid development of mobile technology for electronic devices, digital cameras and mobile phones have recently been increasingly required to have larger data storage capacity and lighter and smaller storage media. Development of an ultra-small HDD as a data storage medium is progressing. The HDD base 100 is conventionally made of aluminum die-cast, but for the disk size of 1.8 inches or less, a metal plate with a wall thickness t of about 0.2 to 0.5 mm is press-molded for the purpose of saving space. What has been done is the mainstream.

  However, as shown in FIG. 6 or 7, the seal lip 121 is brought into close contact with the upper end surface of the side peripheral wall 101 of the base 100 when the base 100 is a press-formed product of a thin metal plate as described above. The tightness of the lip 121 (the width of the sealing surface) is narrow, and the warp and burrs 101a generated in the press molding process remain on the upper part of the side peripheral wall 101 of the base 100, so that the gasket 120 is uniformly compressed all around. Difficult to do. For this reason, it has been difficult to ensure excellent sealing performance due to the occurrence of insufficient surface pressure and an excessively narrow width.

  In order to solve such a problem, it is effective to bend the seal flange 102 at the upper part of the side peripheral wall 101 of the base 100 as shown in FIG. As the ultra-small HDD becomes smaller, the processing becomes more difficult as the base 100 becomes smaller, and the size of the cover 110 becomes larger due to the formation of the seal flange 102, which hinders downsizing.

  In addition, when the gasket 120 is manufactured by extruding and applying a liquid elastomer from the nozzle of the dispenser to the inner surface of the cover 110 in a single stroke and cross-linking the liquid elastomer, The smaller the cover 110 is, the more easily the nozzle interferes with the side peripheral wall 111 of the cover 110. Moreover, since the molding surface of the gasket 120 is narrow, there is a problem that molding becomes difficult.

  Further, in the method in which the gasket 120 is formed separately from the cover 110 in advance, and is later attached to the cover 110 with an adhesive, the cover 110 and the gasket 120 are attached as the cover 110 and the gasket 120 become smaller as in the above-described ultra-small HDD. There is a problem that it is difficult to attach.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the technical problem is that an excellent sealing is achieved in a sealing structure in which a gap between a base and a cover in a small precision instrument is sealed with a gasket. Therefore, the gasket can be easily manufactured.

  As a means for effectively solving the above technical problem, the gasket sealing structure according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a base having a side peripheral wall and an inner peripheral storage portion of the side peripheral wall closed by the base. A sealing structure that seals between the covers that are joined together via a gasket made of a rubber-like elastic material, wherein the gasket is provided integrally with an edge of the side peripheral wall of the base, It is in close contact with the inner surface of the bottom wall of the cover.

  The sealing structure with the gasket according to the invention of claim 2 is such that an elastic layer made of a rubber-like elastic material covering the side peripheral wall of the base is integrally extended from the gasket described in claim 1.

  According to the gasket sealing structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the gasket is integrally provided at the edge of the side peripheral wall of the base and is in close contact with the inner surface of the bottom wall of the cover, the base However, even if the side wall is thin, a sufficient seal width is ensured and the entire circumference can be uniformly compressed, so that excellent sealing performance can be achieved.

  According to the sealing structure with the gasket according to the invention of claim 2, since the gasket has the elastic layer covering the side peripheral wall of the base, the base is small or the wall thickness of the side peripheral wall is thin. In addition, a molded body composed of a gasket and an elastic layer on the side peripheral wall can be easily molded. In addition, since the elastic layer can be provided with a buffer function, it is possible to effectively absorb the impact on the equipment in the storage portion defined by the base and the cover.

  FIG. 1 is a main part sectional view showing a first form of a sealing structure with a gasket according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a main part sectional view showing a shape change example in the first form. First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a base having a storage portion A in which a magnetic disk, a magnetic head (not shown) and its driving device are stored, and reference numeral 2 is a base 1 that closes the storage portion A. The base 1 and the cover 2 constitute an outer shell case of the HDD. The cover 1 is coupled through a plurality of screw members (not shown).

  The base 1 is manufactured, for example, by press-molding a metal plate such as stainless steel or aluminum having a thickness t of about 0.2 to 0.5 mm, and is bent substantially vertically along the bottom wall 11 and the outer periphery thereof. The planar wall (projected shape from above in FIG. 1) has a substantially rectangular shape.

  The cover 2 is also manufactured, for example, by press-molding a metal plate such as stainless steel or aluminum, and includes a bottom wall 21 and side peripheral walls 22 that are bent substantially vertically along the outer periphery thereof. The cover 2 is externally fitted to the base 1, that is, in the illustrated combined state, the side peripheral wall 22 of the cover 2 extends so as to surround the outer peripheral side of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1.

  A gasket 3 made of a rubber-like elastic material is integrally provided on the edge 12a of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1. For example, the gasket 3 is set in a predetermined mold (not shown) in which a base 1 pre-applied with a vulcanizing adhesive is set, and an end edge (end face) 12a of a side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 and a mold It is formed integrally with the base 1 by injecting unvulcanized rubber as a material of the gasket 3 into a cavity defined between the inner surface of the mold.

  The gasket 3 has a seal lip 31 protruding in the rising direction of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1, and is vulcanized and bonded to the edge portion 12 a at a base portion 32 whose thickness in the width direction is larger than the seal lip 31. Yes. When the base 1 and the cover 2 are coupled to each other by a screw member (not shown), the tip of the seal lip 31 is brought into close contact with the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 with a predetermined crushing margin.

  According to the first embodiment configured as described above, the seal lip 31 of the gasket 3 is brought into close contact with the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2, so that a sufficient seal width is ensured. In addition, the tight width of the seal lip 31 with respect to the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 does not change due to the warp or burrs of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 during press molding, so the gasket 3 is compressed uniformly over the entire circumference. As a result, stable sealing performance can be achieved.

  Further, for example, when the gasket 3 is injection-molded on the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2, there is a restriction on the mold shape due to the presence of the side peripheral wall 22, but according to this embodiment, the gasket 3 is attached to the base 1 Therefore, there is no restriction on the mold as described above. Therefore, even if the base 1 is small, the gasket 3 can be easily formed integrally.

  2 is basically the same as FIG. 1 described above, but the thickness t of the base 1 is thinner than that of the first embodiment, that is, the side peripheral wall 12 Since the width of the end edge portion 12 a is narrower than that of the first embodiment, the thickness in the width direction of the base portion 32 of the gasket 3 is formed substantially equal to the seal lip 31.

  2, the seal lip 31 of the gasket 3 is in intimate contact with the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2, so that the width of the edge 12a of the side peripheral wall 12 in the base 1 is the same as that of the first embodiment. In spite of being narrower than the one, a sufficient seal width is ensured, and the gasket 3 can be uniformly compressed over the entire circumference as in the first embodiment, so that stable sealing performance can be achieved.

  Next, FIG. 3 is a principal part sectional view showing a second form of the sealing structure by the gasket according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a principal part sectional view showing a shape change example in the second form. First, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the difference from FIGS. 1 and 2 is a rubber-like shape that covers the side peripheral wall 12 from the gasket 3 that is integrally provided on the edge 12 a of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1. The elastic layers 33 and 34 made of an elastic material are integrally extended.

  Specifically, the gasket 3 has a seal lip 31 protruding in the rising direction of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1, and the thickness in the width direction is larger than the thickness of the seal lip 31 and the thickness t of the side peripheral wall 12. The large base portion 32 is vulcanized and bonded to the edge portion 12a. Elastic layers 33 and 34 extend from the base 32 and are integrally vulcanized and bonded to the outer peripheral surface and inner peripheral surface of the side peripheral wall 12. Among these, the elastic layer 33 covering the outer peripheral surface of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 is at least the outer peripheral portion of the bottom wall 11 at the four corners in the planar shape of the base 1 (projected shape from above in FIG. 1). This portion is a mount portion 33a for supporting the base 1 and hence the HDD in a vibration-proof manner.

  Also in the second configuration configured as described above, the seal lip 31 of the gasket 3 is attached to the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 in a predetermined state when the base 1 and the cover 2 are coupled by a screw member (not shown). It will be in close contact with the crushing allowance. For this reason, a sufficient seal width is ensured. Moreover, even if the thickness t of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 is small, the thickness of the base portion 32 of the gasket 3 is substantially larger than the thickness t of the side peripheral wall 12 due to the elastic layers 33 and 34. Therefore, the thickness of the seal lip 31 can be increased to some extent to ensure a sufficient close width of the seal lip 31 with respect to the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2, and the entire circumference can be compressed uniformly. As a result, stable sealing performance can be achieved.

  Also in this embodiment, the gasket 3 is set, for example, by setting the base 1 pre-applied with a vulcanizing adhesive in a predetermined mold (not shown), and the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 and the inner surface of the mold. The unvulcanized rubber that is the material of the gasket 3 is injected into the cavity defined between the base 1 and the base 1 so as to be integrally molded. Since the thickness is larger than the wall thickness t of the side peripheral wall 12, the gasket 3 can be easily integrally formed even if the base 1 is small and thin.

  And since the elastic layer 33 of the gasket 3 has the mount part 33a which vibrates and supports the four corners of the base 1, it is not necessary to separately attach a buffer member made of a rubber-like elastic material.

  In the drawing, the outer peripheral surface 31 a of the seal lip 31 and the outer peripheral surface 33 b of the elastic layer 33 in the gasket 3 are closely fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the side peripheral wall 22 of the cover 2. As described above, the sealing lip 31 is sealed by the tip of the sealing lip 31 being brought into close contact with the inner side surface 21 a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 with a predetermined crushing margin, and the outer surface 31 a of the sealing lip 31 and the elastic layer 33 are sealed. The outer side surface 33b does not need to be tightly fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the side peripheral wall 22 of the cover 2.

  4 is basically the same as that of FIG. 3 described above, but the thickness of the seal lip 31 is formed to be equal to the thickness of the base 32. It is possible to ensure a larger close width with respect to the inner surface 21a of the wall 21.

  Next, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a third form of the sealing structure by the gasket according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the difference from the above-described embodiments is that the gasket 3 has a tip surface 3a facing the rising direction of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 in a coupled state of the base 1 and the cover 2 by a screw member (not shown). The ridge 35 facing the outer peripheral side of the side peripheral wall 12 can be in close contact with the inner peripheral surface 22a of the side peripheral wall 22 of the cover 2 while being in close contact with the inner side surface 21a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 with a predetermined crushing allowance. It is in the point which is comprised.

  The gasket 3 has elastic layers 33 and 34 integrally covering the outer peripheral surface and the inner surface of the side peripheral wall 12 as in the second embodiment, and the elastic layer 33 includes four corners of the base 1. A mount portion 33a for supporting the vibration-proof portion is formed.

  Therefore, according to this embodiment, basically the same effect as that of the second embodiment described above can be obtained. In particular, the gasket 3 has a distal end surface 3a facing the rising direction of the side peripheral wall 12 of the base 1 that is brought into close contact with the inner side surface 12a of the bottom wall 21 of the cover 2 and is compressed. The projecting ridge 35 facing toward the inner surface 22a is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface 22a of the side peripheral wall 22 of the cover 2, and the surface pressure increases, so that a wide seal width is secured.

It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the 1st form of the sealing structure by the gasket which concerns on this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the example of a shape change in a 1st form. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the 2nd form of the sealing structure by the gasket which concerns on this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the example of a shape change in a 2nd form. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the 3rd form of the sealing structure by the gasket which concerns on this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the prior art of the sealing structure by a gasket. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the other prior art of the sealing structure by a gasket. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the other prior art of the sealing structure by a gasket.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 11, 21 Bottom wall 12, 22 Side peripheral wall 12a End edge part 2 Cover 3 Gasket 3a Tip surface 31 Seal lip 32 Base part 33, 34 Elastic layer 33a Mount part 35 Projection A Storage part

Claims (2)

  A space between a base (1) having a side peripheral wall (12) and a cover (2) coupled to the base (1) so as to close a storage portion (A) on the inner periphery of the side peripheral wall (12). A sealing structure for sealing through a gasket (3) made of a rubber-like elastic material, wherein the gasket (3) is integrated with an end edge (12a) of a side peripheral wall (12) of the base (1). And a sealing structure using a gasket, wherein the sealing structure is in close contact with the inner surface (21a) of the bottom wall (21) of the cover (2).   The elastic layer (33, 34) made of a rubber-like elastic material covering the side peripheral wall (12) of the base (1) is integrally extended from the gasket (3). Sealing structure with gasket.

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