KR100555516B1 - Filtering apparatus for disk drive - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a filtering device for filtering foreign matter inside a disk drive. The disclosed filtering device comprises a disk mounted on a spindle motor to rotate and a foreign material inside the disk drive having an actuator for moving the read / write head to a predetermined position on the disk and a lamp for parking the head off the disk. In order to filter, it comprises a filter holder protruding from one side of the lamp, and a filter attached to the filter holder for filtering foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disk drive. The filter holder may be integrally formed with the lamp by plastic injection molding, and the filter holder may be formed in a flat shape at the same height as the disk to guide the flow of air according to the rotation of the disk toward the filter. Can be. Such a filtering device not only effectively filters foreign matter inside the disk drive, but is also integrally formed with the lamp, thereby facilitating handling and assembly.

Description

Filtering apparatus for disk drive

1 is a plan view schematically showing the structure of a conventional hard disk drive.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a suspension portion of the lamp and the actuator shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a micrograph showing particles of the end-tab region shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a simulation result of a flow velocity distribution of particles around and on a surface of a rotating disk in the conventional hard disk drive shown in FIG. 1.

5 is a plan view illustrating a disk drive provided with a filtering device according to the present invention.

6 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the filtering apparatus illustrated in FIG. 5 in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 7 is a disc radial vertical cross-sectional view of the filtering device shown in FIG. 5.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110 ... base member 112 ... spindle motor

120 ... disk 130 ... actuator

131 pivot bearing 132 swing arm

133 Suspension 134 Slider

135 ... end-tap 136 ... VCM coil

137 Lower York 138 Magnet

140 ... lamp 141 ... ground

142 Screw 150 Actuator latch

160 ... FPC Bracket 162 ... Flexible Printed Circuit

170 ... Filtering unit 172 ... Filter holder

174 Filter insertion slot 176 Avoidance groove

178 ... filter

The present invention relates to a disk drive, and more particularly, to a filtering device for filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive.

A hard disk drive (HDD), which is one of information storage devices of a computer, is a device for reproducing data stored on a disc or recording data on a disc using a read / write head. In such a hard disk drive, the head performs its function while being moved to a desired position by an actuator in a state in which the head rises a predetermined height from the recording surface of the rotating disk.

1 is a plan view schematically illustrating a structure of a conventional 2.5 inch hard disk drive, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a suspension portion of the lamp and the actuator illustrated in FIG. 1.

1 and 2 together, the hard disk drive includes a spindle motor 12 installed on the base member 10, one or more disks 20 fixedly mounted to the spindle motor 12, and data of the data. An actuator 30 is provided for moving a read / write head (not shown) for reproduction and recording to a predetermined position on the disc 20. The actuator 30 includes a swing arm 32 rotatably coupled to the pivot bearing 31 installed on the base member 10, and a slider mounted at one end of the swing arm 32 to mount the head ( A suspension 33 for elastically biasing the 34 against the surface of the disk 20 and a voice coil motor (VCM) for rotating the swing arm 32. The voice coil motor is attached to a VCM coil 36 coupled to the other end of the swing arm 32, a lower yoke 37 installed below the VCM coil 36, and an upper surface of the lower yoke 37. A magnet 38 is provided. Although not shown, the voice coil motor may include an upper yoke installed at the top of the VCM coil 36 and a magnet attached to the bottom of the upper yoke.

The voice coil motor having the above-described configuration is controlled by a servo control system and swings in a direction complying with Fleming's left hand law by the interaction of a current input to the VCM coil 36 with a magnetic field formed by the magnet 38. The arm 32 is rotated. That is, when the power of the hard disk drive is turned on and the disk 20 starts to rotate in the direction of arrow D, the voice coil motor rotates the swing arm 32 in the counterclockwise direction (arrow A direction) to read / write. The slider 34 on which the write head is mounted is moved over the recording surface of the disc 20. The slider 34 rises a predetermined height from the surface of the disk 20 by the lifting force generated by the rotating disk 20, and the head mounted on the slider 34 in this state is A function of reproducing or recording data is performed on the recording surface.

On the other hand, when the hard disk drive is not operated, that is, when the rotation of the disk 20 is stopped, the head is parked at a position off the recording surface of the disk 20 so that the head does not hit the recording surface of the disk 20. . The head parking system can be largely divided into a contact start stop (CSS) method and a ramp loading method. The CSS method is a method in which a parking zone in which no data is recorded is provided on the inner circumferential side of the disk 20, and the parking zone is brought into contact with the parking zone. However, according to the CSS-type head parking system, the parking zone should be provided on the inner circumferential side of the disk 20, which reduces the data storage space. Therefore, in recent years, in response to the trend of increasingly high data recording density, a ramp-loading head parking system capable of securing a wider data storage space has been widely adopted.

The lamp loading method is a method in which the lamp 40 is installed on the outer side of the disk 20 and the head is parked on the lamp 40. To this end, an end-tab 35 is formed at the end of the suspension 33 in contact with the support surface 41 of the lamp 40. The end-tab 35 is generally convex toward the support surface 41 to reduce the contact area with the support surface 41 of the lamp 40.

When the power of the hard disk drive is turned off and the rotation of the disk 20 stops, the voice coil motor rotates the swing arm 32 clockwise (arrow B direction) and thus the end-tap 35 ) Is unloaded from the disk 20 onto the support surface 41 of the lamp 40. On the contrary, when the power of the hard disk drive is turned on and the disk 20 starts to rotate, the end-tab 35 is supported by the rotation of the swing arm 32 as described above. From 41 is loaded onto the disc 20.

In the state where the read / write head is parked on the lamp 40 as described above, the actuator 30 is arbitrarily rotated by an external shock or vibration applied to the disk drive so that the head leaves the lamp 40 and the disc 20 ) Can be moved to the recording surface. In such a case, the head may be in contact with the recording surface of the disk 20 and the head and the recording surface of the disk 20 may be damaged. Therefore, when the rotation of the disk 20 is stopped and the head is parked by the lamp 40, it is necessary to lock the actuator 30 at a predetermined position so as not to rotate arbitrarily. For this purpose, the actuator latch 50 is provided. .

In addition, at one corner of the base member 10, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 62 connected to the actuator 30 is connected to a printed circuit board (not shown) disposed under the base member 10. The FPC bracket 60 is installed.

However, foreign matters such as particles or gas are generated inside the hard disk drive having the structure as described above. These foreign substances occur mainly in the following situations. When the end-tab 35 moves toward the disk 20 or above the support surface 41 of the lamp 40, sliding friction between the end-tab 35 and the support surface 41 of the lamp 40 is achieved. This will happen. When this friction is repeated, the support surface 41 of the lamp 40, which is generally made of plastic, is worn and particles are generated. 3 shows the particles attached around the end-tab 35. When the head floats on the surface of the disk 20, the head collides with the surface of the disk 20 by external shocks or vibrations, and particles are generated due to friction and wear of the head and the disk 20. Done. In addition, there are many parts of the hard disk drive made of plastic such as an electrode coating or nickel coating, and a coupling portion of the VCM coil 36 of the actuator 30 and a lamp 40. After a certain time after the burn-in process for the servo compensation, defect free, and head performance verification, or after the disk drive is started, the disk drive becomes hot. In this hot state, gas is generated in the parts. These gas molecules undergo Brownian motion inside the disk drive, causing chemical reactions or collisions with each other, which can result in particles of hundreds of nm in size.

The particles generated as described above flow in the hard disk drive along with the air flow caused by the rotation of the disk 20. The size of this flowing particle varies from several nm to several hundred nm. The gap between the head and the disk 20, that is, a particle larger than the flying height of the head, collides with the head to change the posture of the head, so that the head contacts the disk 20 and thus the disk 20. Scratches the recording surface, damaging the magnetic signal. In addition, the collision of particles and the head may damage the read / write sensor of the head and lose its function. On the other hand, particles smaller than the height of the head invade between the head and the surface of the disk 20 to damage the head or to scratch the surface of the disk 20.

In recent years, hard disk drives have been developed for ultra-light weight, high capacity, and miniaturization, and have greatly increased track per inch (TPI) for increasing storage capacity of the disk 20, and the head injury has gradually decreased. Accordingly, the head may be easily damaged by smaller particles, and the magnetic signal on the surface of the disc may be easily damaged by smaller scratches.

Therefore, in order to prevent the above problems, it is necessary to collect and remove foreign substances such as particles or gas generated inside the disk drive. In the related art, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a circulating filter 70 is disposed at one corner of the base member 10 to filter foreign substances such as particles contained in air flowing inside the disk drive. However, there is a disadvantage in that the circulating filter 70 disposed at the position as described above does not obtain a satisfactory filtering effect as described below.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a simulation result of a flow rate distribution of particles at a surface of and around a rotating disk in the conventional 2.5 inch hard disk drive shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, a flow of air is formed inside the disc drive by the rotation of the disc, and the particles inside the disc drive also flow with the air flow. The flow velocity of the particles is almost proportional to the flow velocity of the air. Accordingly, as shown, the closer to the outer peripheral side of the disk, the faster the flow rate of the particles and the closer to the inner peripheral side of the disk, the slower the particle flow rate. By the way, it can be seen from FIG. 4 that there is little air flow in the region R _{1 in} which the conventional circulating filter outside the disk is disposed, and thus, particles are hardly introduced into the circulating filter. Therefore, the conventional circulating filter has almost no function in collecting particles.

The present invention was created to solve the above problems of the prior art, and in particular, to effectively filter the foreign matter inside the disk drive and provides a filtering device for a disk drive integrally formed in the lamp to facilitate handling and assembly. There is a purpose.

The present invention to achieve the above technical problem,

Filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive having a disk mounted and rotated in a spindle motor, an actuator for moving the read / write head to a predetermined position on the disk, and a lamp for parking the head off the disk. In the filtering device,

A filter holder protruding from one side of the lamp; And

And a filter mounted on the filter holder to filter foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disk drive.

Here, the filter holder may be formed integrally with the lamp by plastic injection molding.

In addition, the filter holder is preferably formed in the shape of a flat plate at the same height as the disk to guide the flow of air according to the rotation of the disk toward the filter.

In addition, the filter holder is preferably extended along the outer periphery of the disk in a state spaced apart from the outer periphery of the disk by a predetermined interval.

A filter insertion slot into which the filter is inserted may be vertically penetrated through the filter holder.

The filter insertion slot may be formed outside the operating range of the actuator, it is preferably formed long in the longitudinal direction of the actuator in the parked state on the lamp.

Preferably, a top surface and a bottom surface of the filter holder are provided with a avoidance groove having a predetermined depth to avoid a collision between the slider and the filter holder by an external impact on a portion corresponding to the slider while the head is parked by the lamp. The evacuation groove may be replaced by a through hole.

The filter is preferably installed such that one end thereof is adjacent to one side of the lamp.

Such a filtering device is disposed in an area in which a lamp having a relatively large amount of flow air is installed to effectively filter foreign matter inside the disk drive, and is integrally formed with the lamp to facilitate handling and assembly. Further, since the flow air flows smoothly into the filter by the filter holder formed in a flat plate shape, turbulence generation at the disc edge portion and thus vibration of the disc are reduced.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the filtering device of the disk drive according to the present invention. Like reference numerals in the following drawings indicate like elements.

5 is a plan view showing a disk drive with a filtering device according to the invention, Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view showing an enlarged view of the filtering device shown in Figure 5, Figure 7 is a disk of the filtering device shown in FIG. It is a radial vertical cross section.

5 to 7 together, the filtering device 170 according to the present invention is employed in a disk drive for reproducing data stored in the disk 120 or recording data on the disk 120, the inside of the disk drive This will filter out floating particles.

The disk drive includes a base member 110, a spindle motor 112 for rotating the disk 120, an actuator 130, a lamp 140 and a filtering device 170 according to the invention. .

The spindle motor 112 is installed on the base member 110 of the disk drive. At least one disk 120 is installed at the hub of the spindle motor 112 to rotate together with the hub.

The actuator 130 is for moving a read / write head for recording and reproducing data to a predetermined position on the disk 120. The actuator 130 includes a swing arm 132, a slider 134 on which the head is mounted, And a suspension 133 and a voice coil motor. The swing arm 132 is rotatably coupled to the pivot bearing 131 installed on the base member 110. The suspension 133 is coupled to the distal end of the swing arm 132 to support the slider 134 elastically biased toward the surface of the disk 120. The end-tab 135 is formed at the end of the suspension 133 in contact with the support surface 141 of the lamp 140 to be described later.

The voice coil motor provides a driving force for rotating the swing arm 132 and is controlled by a servo control system, and is a mutual relationship between a current input to the VCM coil 136 and a magnetic field formed by the magnet 138. The action causes the swing arm 132 to rotate in the direction of Fleming's left hand law. The VCM coil 136 is coupled to the rear end of the swing arm 132, and the magnet 138 is attached to the upper surface of the lower yoke 137 installed under the VCM coil 136. Specifically, when the disk drive is turned on and the disk 120 starts to rotate, the voice coil motor rotates the swing arm 132 counterclockwise (arrow A direction) to rotate the head 120. On the recording surface. On the contrary, when the power of the disk drive is turned off and the rotation of the disk 120 stops, the voice coil motor rotates the swing arm 132 clockwise (arrow B direction) so that the head rotates the disk 120. Try to get out.

In this way, the head outside the recording surface of the disk 120 is parked in the lamp 140. The lamp 140 is installed on the base member 110 to be adjacent to the outer edge of the disk 120. When the disk 120 stops rotating, the swing arm 132 is rotated in the direction of arrow B by the voice coil motor, so that the end-tab 135 formed at the end of the suspension 133 is ramped 140. Is parked on the support surface 141. In addition, as described above, the disc drive has an actuator latch 150 which locks the actuator 130 from being arbitrarily rotated by an external shock or vibration applied to the disc drive while the read / write head is parked by the lamp 140. ) Is provided.

Meanwhile, the FPC bracket 160 is installed at one corner portion of the base member 110 adjacent to the actuator 130. The FPC bracket 160 is for connecting a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 162 connected to the actuator 130 to a printed circuit board (not shown) disposed under the base member 110.

As described above, foreign matters such as particles or gas exist in the disk drive having the above-described configuration, and the filtering device 170 according to the present invention is provided to filter such foreign matters. The filtering device 170 according to the present invention is disposed in a region in which the amount of flowing air is relatively high and the flow rate of air is relatively high in the outer region of the disk 120 to increase the foreign matter trapping efficiency inside the disk drive. Referring to FIG. 4, the air flow rate and the particle inflow rate in the region R ₂ , in which the lamp 140 and the FPC bracket 160 are installed, of the outer region of the disk, are compared with the region R _{1 in} which the conventional filter is installed. You can see that there are many. Accordingly, the filtering device 170 according to the present invention is provided in the space between the lamp 140, the actuator 130 and the FPC bracket 160.

The filtering device 170 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention described above includes a filter holder 172 and a filter 178 mounted to the filter holder 172.

The filter 178 filters out foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disk drive, and a porous filter material such as a sponge, for example, a filter medium through which air can pass to filter foreign matter from the flow air. Is done.

However, in order to install the filter 178 in the space between the lamp 140, the actuator 130, and the FPC bracket 160, a structure for supporting the filter 178 is required. However, it is difficult to form such a support structure in the base member 110 due to the shape change of the base member 110, the degradability of the filter 178, the instability in the support of the filter 178, and the like.

Accordingly, in the present invention, a support structure for supporting the filter 178, that is, the filter holder 172 is integrally formed with the lamp 140. In detail, the filter holder 172 protrudes from the one side of the lamp 140 toward the actuator 130. This structure may be achieved by integrally forming the filter holder 172 and the lamp 140 by plastic injection molding. Therefore, when the lamp 140 is fixed to the base member 110 by using the screw 142, the filter holder 172 may also be firmly fixed to the base member 110.

According to such a structure, there is an advantage that the handling and assembly of the filtering device 170 according to the present invention is easy, and there is little burden of additional cost in its manufacture.

The filter holder 172 may have various structures capable of firmly supporting the filter 178. Preferably, as shown, the filter holder 172 has a flat plate shape. A filter insertion slot 174 is vertically penetrated through the filter holder 172 having a flat plate shape, and the filter 178 is inserted into the filter insertion slot 174 in a vertical direction to be firmly supported.

The filter holder 172 is disposed at the same height as the disk 120. That is, the flat filter holder 172 is disposed on the same plane as the disk 120. The filter holder 172 preferably has the same thickness as that of the disk 120, and in the case where there are a plurality of disks 120, it is preferable that a plurality of filter holders 172 are provided. In addition, the filter holder 172 may be extended as long as possible along the outer circumference of the disk 120 within the limit of the interference with the actuator 130 in a state spaced apart from the outer circumference of the disk 120 at a predetermined interval.

According to the filter holder 172 having the shape as described above, the flow of air formed by the rotation of the disk 120 can be smoothly guided toward the filter 178. Conventionally, air flowing from the inner circumferential side to the outer circumferential side of the disc 120 forms turbulence as the space suddenly widens at the edge portion of the disc 120, and the turbulence of the disc 120 is caused by the turbulence. However, according to the present invention, since the filter holder 172 is provided on the same plane as the disk 120 adjacent to the edge portion of the disk 120, the flow of air formed on the surface of the disk 120 is filtered. It can be smoothly connected to the surface of the holder 172. Therefore, generation of turbulence can be minimized, and vibration of the disk 120 caused by such turbulence can also be reduced. In addition, more flow air may flow into the filter 178, so that the collection efficiency of the foreign matter by the filter 178 may be further improved.

The filter insertion slot 174 is formed outside the operating range of the actuator 130 to avoid the filter 178 fitted therein from interfering with the actuator 130. In addition, the filter insertion slot 174 is preferably formed long in the longitudinal direction of the actuator 130 in the parked state of the lamp 140. This is to allow more air to flow into filter 178 and pass through filter 178. As more air passes through the filter 178 as described above, the efficiency of removing foreign substances in the disk drive by the filter 178 is improved.

In addition, the filter 178 is preferably installed such that one end thereof is as close as possible to one side of the lamp 140. Accordingly, the amount of flowing air exiting between one end of the filter 178 and the ramp 140 can be minimized.

On the other hand, the upper and lower surfaces of the filter holder 172, the avoidance groove 176 of a predetermined depth may be formed in a portion corresponding to the slider 134 while the head is parked on the lamp 140. Since the gap between the slider 134 and the filter holder 172 is increased by the avoidance groove 176, the slider 134 collides with the filter holder 172 during vibration of the slider 134 due to an external impact. Can be avoided.

In addition, the avoiding groove 176 serving as described above may be replaced with a through hole (not shown) formed to pass through the filter holder 172.

Hereinafter, the operation of the filtering device 170 according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described.

When the power of the disk drive is turned on and the disk 120 starts to rotate in the direction of arrow D, the voice coil motor rotates the actuator 130 counterclockwise, that is, in the direction of arrow A. FIG. At the same time, a flow of air is formed by the rotation of the disk 120, which flows into the filtering device 170 according to the invention. At this time, the flow air can be smoothly introduced into the filter 178 by the flat filter holder 172 disposed at the same height as the disk 120. Accordingly, occurrence of turbulence at the edge portion of the disk 120 is minimized, and vibration of the disk 120 caused by such turbulence is also reduced. As such, the air smoothly introduced into the filter 178 passes through the filter 178, at which time foreign matter such as particles or gas incorporated in the flowing air is filtered out by the filter 178. Therefore, damage to the surface of the disk 120 and the head due to the foreign matter is prevented, thereby improving the performance and reliability of the disk drive.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, this is merely illustrative, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the appended claims.

 As described above, the filtering device of the disk drive according to the present invention is disposed in an area where a lamp having a relatively large amount of flow air is installed, thereby effectively filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive. Therefore, damage to the disk surface and the head due to the foreign matter is prevented, thereby improving the performance and reliability of the disk drive.

In addition, since the filtering device according to the present invention is formed integrally with the lamp, not only is it easy to handle and assemble, but also there is almost no additional cost in its manufacture.

In addition, according to the filtering device according to the present invention, since the filter holder is formed in the shape of a flat plate at the same height as the disk, the flowing air smoothly flows into the filter due to the rotation of the disk, thereby generating turbulence at the edge of the disk. The vibration of the disk due to turbulence is suppressed.

Claims (12)

delete delete delete delete Filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive having a disk mounted and rotated in a spindle motor, an actuator for moving the read / write head to a predetermined position on the disk, and a lamp for parking the head off the disk. In the filtering device, A filter holder protruding from one side of the lamp; And And a filter mounted to the filter holder to filter foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disc drive. The filter holder is formed in a plate shape at the same height as the disk to guide the flow of air according to the rotation of the disk toward the filter, And a filter insertion slot through which the filter is inserted, vertically penetrating through the filter holder. The method of claim 5, And the filter insertion slot is formed outside the operating range of the actuator. The method according to claim 5 or 6, The filter insertion slot is a disk drive filtering device, characterized in that formed long in the longitudinal direction of the actuator in the parked state of the lamp. Filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive having a disk mounted and rotated in a spindle motor, an actuator for moving the read / write head to a predetermined position on the disk, and a lamp for parking the head off the disk. In the filtering device, A filter holder protruding from one side of the lamp; And And a filter mounted to the filter holder to filter foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disc drive. The filter holder is formed in a plate shape at the same height as the disk to guide the flow of air according to the rotation of the disk toward the filter, The upper surface and the lower surface of the filter holder is formed with a avoidance groove of a predetermined depth to avoid the collision of the slider and the filter holder by an external impact on a portion corresponding to the slider in the state that the head is parked by the lamp. The filtering device of the disk drive. Filtering foreign matter inside the disk drive having a disk mounted and rotated in a spindle motor, an actuator for moving the read / write head to a predetermined position on the disk, and a lamp for parking the head off the disk. In the filtering device, A filter holder protruding from one side of the lamp; And And a filter mounted to the filter holder to filter foreign matter contained in the flow air inside the disc drive. The filter holder is formed in a plate shape at the same height as the disk to guide the flow of air according to the rotation of the disk toward the filter, And a through-hole formed in the filter holder to avoid collision between the slider and the filter holder by an external impact in a portion corresponding to the slider while the head is parked by the lamp. The method according to any one of claims 5, 8 or 9, And the filter is installed such that one end thereof is adjacent to one side of the lamp. The method according to any one of claims 5, 8 or 9, And said filter holder is integrally formed with said lamp by plastic injection molding. The method according to any one of claims 5, 8 or 9, And the filter holder extends along the outer circumference of the disk at a predetermined distance from the outer circumference of the disk.

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