Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-08
2001-06-05
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S689000, C361S688000, C361S704000, C361S736000, C361S752000, C165S185000, C174S016300, C181S151000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243262
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer storage device, and more particularly, to a sound muffling and heat-discharging case for a computer storage device, capable of effectively processing noise and heat from a hard disk drive by simplifying a case structure housing the hard disk drive therein, thereby facilitating product fabrication.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a computer system includes a variety of storage devices therein and such devices are protected using appropriate cases.
According to noise level measurements of computers, it is known that a high level of noise is related to computer parts such as a hard disk assembly and a disk drive including a disk driving motor.
With reference to the accompanying drawings, a general hard disk drive will now be explained.
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view illustrating a general hard disk drive. The disk drive is normally in one unit and not generally disassembled. Here, the exploded view is provided merely to assist in understanding when noise occurs.
As shown therein, the hard disk drive includes: an upper cover
1
; a disk assembly
2
having a plurality of platters
2
a
for recording magnetized data therein; a head assembly
3
having a plurality of heads
3
a
to facilitate the data reading and writing of the platters
2
a
in correspondence to rotating positions of the platters
2
a
; a spindle motor
4
disposed at a lower portion of the disk assembly
2
and spinning the platters
2
a
; a base casing
5
housing the above elements therein and engaged by the upper cover
1
so as to protect the internally contained elements from the exterior environment; and a printed circuit board (PCB)
6
disposed underneath the base casing
5
, with the PCB component side
6
a
facing downwardly.
The thusly constituted hard disk drive generates noise when operating. Specifically, when inputting/outputting data into/from the disk assembly
2
, the spindle motor
4
is rotated to rotate the disk assembly
2
. That is, the noise occurs due to respective mechanical movements of the spindle motor rotation, the disk assembly rotation and the parts related to data input/output.
In such a conventional hard disk drive for a computer, the noise which occurs from its interior does not sound loud compared to a general noise level so that a noise reduction device is not installed so as to save production cost.
However, as computers are becoming more highly functional in recent years, the hard disk implements a high speed operation and accordingly noise and heat are on the increase. Further, as higher quality computer systems are required, the market demands lower noise computers.
As described above, the general hard disk drive is not provided with an additional device for solving the problems noise from the platter rotation, mechanical operation of the head assembly and spindle motor rotation, and the heat from PCB. As a result, users are disturbed by noise pollution and the generated heat may incur an erroneous operation of the computer system, thereby deteriorating product reliability.
In order to overcome such problems, there has been provided a sound muffling and heat-discharging case which houses a hard disk drive, and its structure will now be described with reference to FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of a conventional sound muffling and heat-discharging case and a hard disk drive provided therein as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,954.
As shown therein, a multi-layered muffling member
20
is formed covering a disk drive
10
and an outer casing
30
formed of an acrylic flexible material is disposed covering the muffling member
20
so as to sufficiently absorb noise and vibration from the hard disk drive.
The muffling member
20
includes a muffling element
21
having a high thermal conductivity for conducting away the heat generated by the hard disk drive. There is also provided a heat transfer member
50
such as a length of copper braid with its one end connected to the muffling member
21
and the other end thereof externally exposed through the muffling member
20
and the outer casing
30
so that the absorbed heat from the muffling member
21
can be discharged to the exterior of the outer casing
30
, In order to increase the discharge of heat being transferred to the exterior of the outer casing
30
through the heat transfer member
50
, a heatsink
60
is connected to the heat transfer member
50
.
The sound muffling and heat-discharging case structure according to the conventional art obtains decreased noise since the noise from the hard disk drive
10
is absorbed into the muffling member
20
and since the heat from the hard disk drive
10
is externally discharged through the muffling member
21
, the heat transfer member
50
and the heatsink
60
, so that the internal temperature of the hard disk drive is not raised.
However, such a conventional sound muffling and heat-discharging case structure for a computer storage apparatus disadvantageously requires many parts, thereby complicating the structure, and thereby increasing the necessary labor and production cost.
Further, the use of an additional heatsink disposed for heat discharge increases the product size and the heat-discharging effect tends to be deteriorated since there is provided only one heat discharge structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to overcoming the conventional disadvantages. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sound muffling and heat-discharging case for a computer storage apparatus capable of effectively processing noise and heat occurring from a hard disk drive while simplifying a case structure of the storage apparatus and thereby facilitating its fabrication.
To achieve the above-described object, there is provided a sound muffling and heat-discharging case for a computer storage apparatus according to the present invention which includes a casing having an opened upper portion and receiving peripheral parts of the storage apparatus therein, a cover having a severed side portion so as to partially expose the peripheral parts of the storage apparatus and serving as a heat discharging member and covering an upper portion of the casing, and a noise-absorbing element being provided along inner periphery of an each of the casing and the cover and shielding a noise from the peripheral parts of the storage apparatus.
The features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific example, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
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Choi Deok Gyu
Koo Jung Ho
Lee Hyun-Ho
Sung In Ha
Datskovsky Michael
LG Electronics Inc.
Picard Leo P.
LandOfFree
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