Abstract
A hard disk drive with a multiple disk stack normally utilizes disk separator plates near the disk surfaces to reduce wind induced vibrations in the disks and the read/write heads. The manufacturing methods currently used to make these separator plates, metal casting and machining, or injection molded plastic, or extruding and machining, or cold forging tends to be expensive and creates unwanted weight and bulk without the desired precision. Stamping disk separator plates from metal provides exceptional dimensional control at reduced cost, but cannot readily provide the thicknesses required. Stamping and extruding the offsets, or stamping and folding the offsets, is a manufacturing process that provides the required dimensions for the offsets, and dimensional control and reduced cost.
Claims
1. A disk separator plate for hard disk drives, comprising: a separator plate having a top and bottom surface and external edge with multiple mounting apertures in the separator plate, stamped from a single sheet of metal; and an extruded offset boss surrounding each one of the plurability of mounting apertures extending from the top surface of the separator plate for a predefined distance.
2. The disk separator plate of claim 1 wherein each extruded offset boss has a larger diameter at the predefined distance than at the surface of the separator plate.
3. The disk separator plate of claim 1 further comprising a counterbore of the inner diameter of the offset boss for a predefined distance at the bottom surface of the separator plate, the counterbore sized to receive the outer diameter of an extruded offset boss from another separator plate.
4. A disk separator plate for hard disk drives, comprising: a separator plate having a top and bottom surface and external edge with a plurality, of tabs at predetermined locations on the external edge of the separator plate, each tab having a top and bottom surface and a mounting aperture, the separator plate stamped from a single sheet of metal; and an extruded offset boss surrounding each one of the mounting apertures in the plurality of tabs extending from a top surface of the tabs for a predefined distance.
5. The disk separator plate of claim 4 wherein each extruded offset boss has a larger diameter at the predefined distance than at the top surface of the tab.
6. The disk separator plate of claim 4 further comprising a counterbore at the inner diameter of the offset boss for a predefined distance at the bottom surface of the tab, the counterbore sized to receive the outer diameter of an extruded offset boss from another separator plate.
7. The disk separator plate of claim 4 wherein the offset is formed by bending each tab a predefined distance from the edge to form an offset of a center height.
8. The disk separator plate of claim 4 wherein the offset is formed by bending each tab to fold over itself to form an offset of a certain height.
9. The disk separator plate of claim 4 wherein the offset is formed by clamping a U-shaped piece on each tab to form an offset of a certain height.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The exact nature of this invention, as well as the objects and advantages thereof, will become readily apparent from consideration of the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof and wherein:
(2) FIG. 1 is an illustration of a hard disk drive with a disk separator plate located therein;
(3) FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of a prior art separator plate;
(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of a prior art separator plate;
(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of a prior art separator plate;
(6) FIG. 5 is a side view illustration of a stack of prior art separator plates assembled in a hard disk drive;
(7) FIG. 6 is a side view of a hard disk drive with separator plates, according to the present invention;
(8) FIG. 7 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate according to the present invention;
(9) FIG. 8 is a perspective illustration of disk separator plates according to the present invention;
(10) FIG. 9 is a perspective illustration of separator plate offsets, according to the present invention;
(11) FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate, according to the present invention;
(12) FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration of the counterbore in a disk separator plate, according to the present invention;
(13) FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of the nesting of two disk separator plates, according to the present invention;
(14) FIG. 13 is a perspective illustration of stacked disk separator plates, according to the present invention;
(15) FIG. 14 is a perspective illustration of stacked disk separator plates, according to the present invention;
(16) FIG. 15 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate, according to the present invention;
(17) FIG. 16 is a perspective illustration of stacked disk separator plates, according to the present invention;
(18) FIG. 17 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate, according to the present invention, before an offset structure is formed;
(19) FIG. 18 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate, after the offset structure is formed;
(20) FIG. 19 is a perspective illustration of a disk separator plate with an alternate offset, according to the present invention;
(21) FIG. 20 is a perspective illustration of the offset assembly of FIG. 19;
(22) FIG. 21 is a perspective illustration of the offset assembly of FIG. 20 in a finished state; and
(23) FIG. 22 is a perspective illustration of stacked disk separator plates utilizing the offset assembly of FIG. 21.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
(24) FIG. 6 illustrates a stack of separator plates 61, 63, 65, manufactured according to the present invention, attached to a housing 59 of a hard disk drive. The upper separator plate 61 and the lower separator plate 65 create the required offset between separator plates 61 and 63, 63 and 65, and 65 and the base 66 respectively, by offset forming the ends of the separator plate 61 and 65 a certain distance to create the offset 71 for separator plate 61 and the offset 73 for separator plate 65. The center separator plate 63 is not bent and has no offset. The stack of separator plates 61, 63, and 65, is assembled on a standoff 68 which is part of the frame 59 of the hard disk drive housing. The stack is fastened down by a fastening bolt 67.
(25) The disks (not shown) that rotate in the spaces between the separator plates 61 and 63, 63 and 65 and 65 and the base 66, are attached to a rotating spindle 69, in a manner well known.
(26) Manufacturing the separator plates of FIG. 6 by stamping and then forming the ends to create a standoff has proven to be a less expensive method of manufacturing, while at the same time producing a more accurately dimensioned disk of separator plates. Moreover, much less raw material is required since the raw material thickness is close to the smaller plate tip thickness 72, instead of the larger offset thickness 71.
(27) FIG. 7 illustrates a disk separator plate manufactured by stamping the shape of the plate 75 out of a preferred metal such as aluminum, along with the tabs 77, 81, 79. The offset on the tabs is formed by offset forming, essentially two right angle bends. Pins 76 and 82 are extruded during stamping to provide location alignment.
(28) FIG. 8 illustrates two disk separator plates mounted together. A top plate 75 is mounted to a bottom plate 83 to create a gap 80 within which a disk rotates. The tabs 85, 89, and 87 are joined together so that the alignment pins and holes 76 and 78, line up.
(29) FIG. 9 schematically illustrates the offset bends 84 and 86 in the upper disk separator plate 75 and the lower disk separator plate 83 that create the respective tabs 85A and 85B. These tabs are mated together to form tab 85.
(30) Besides creating offsets in the stamped plates by offset forming, the present invention creates offsets by extrusion from thinner raw material. Extrusion of an offset boss is illustrated in FIG. 10, which shows a disk separator plate 91 having tabs with extruded offset bosses 93, 97, and 95 which create the offset structure. It is contemplated that the top face of the disk separator plate around the perimeter of the offset boss 93 has a counterbore 101 with a diameter slightly larger than the extruded boss (FIG. 11) to provide location alignment with the separator plate above.
(31) FIG. 12 schematically illustrates how two extruded offset bosses nest. The top plate 105 with offset boss 107 is supported by the bottom plate 103 with offset boss 109, nesting offset boss 107 in the counterbore 101.
(32) It is contemplated that rather than creating a counterbore in the face of a separator plate around each offset boss, the extruded offsets could be made larger in diameter than the apertures through the boss.
(33) FIG. 13 illustrates three separator plates 113, 115, and 117 each having extruded bosses as offsets 119, 121, and 123 respectively. The aperture 125 through offset boss 119, for example, has a smaller diameter than the external diameter of offset boss 119, as do each of the other separator plates 115 and 117. The result is the three separator plates can be simply stacked one on top of the other, with the bottom of the boss of one plate 119 sitting on the top surface of disk separator plate 115, and the bottom of offset boss 121 sitting on the top surface of separator plate 117.
(34) A slight variation of this construction is illustrated in FIG. 14, which shows separator plates 127, 129, and 131 having offset bosses 133, 135, and 137 that are extruded and then flared in a slightly upside-down V-shaped cross section with the top of the boss being smaller in diameter than the bottom. Thus, separator plate 127 with a V-shaped extruded offset boss 133 has a larger diameter at its base than at the top. The aperture 139 which passes through boss 133 has a smaller diameter than the top of boss 133. As a result, the separator plates 127, 129, 131 all have the same footprint and each sit on top of the separator plate below it. These V-shaped offset bosses allow use of the full offset height when large aperture 139 lead-in radii are required to generate enough material volume to create the required offset height. Without the flare, bosses 133 and 135 would recess into the apertures and reduce the stack height.
(35) The present invention also contemplates the creation of offsets in stamped metal disk separator plates by double internal tabs. As shown in FIG. 15, a disk separator plate 141 has the tab internally cut 143 to create legs 144 and 146. These legs are then bent again at top surface 141 of the disk to create the offset and bent at the end of the legs to create feet 145, 147. These feet extend beyond the diameter of the aperture 143.
(36) This permits stacking of the disk separator plates as illustrated in FIG. 16. Disk separator plate 141 is stacked on disk separator plate 149, which is, in turn, stacked on disk separator plate 157. The offset legs of disk separator plate 141 rest on the top surface of disk separator plate 149 because of the feet 147 and 145 created by the bend in the legs 144, 146. The feet of disk separator plate 149, feet 155 and 153 sit on the top surface of disk separator plate 157. The feet 161, 163 of disk separator plate 157, sit on top of another disk separator plate, or a fastening protrusion on the frame of a disk drive.
(37) The present invention also contemplates the creation of offsets by folding tabs in parallel. As illustrated in FIG. 17, a disk separator plate 165 is stamped from a metal to create the shape of the disk separator plate, as well as a tab configuration 167. This tab configuration will create the offset required. Two overlapping folds accurately align the apertures 169, 171, and 173 in the tab 167. FIG. 18 shows the tab 167 after the parallel folds are completed. Aperture 173 is on the bottom, aperture 171 is in the middle, as the result of first bend 177. Aperture 169 is on top, as the result of second bend 165. Aperture 169 can also be pierced through all three layers after folding. Offset height can be reduced as required by corning the three folded tabs during stamping.
(38) The present invention also contemplates the creation of offsets in a stamped disk separator plate by attaching a separate piece formed around a fastening tab of the stamped separator plate.
(39) FIG. 19 illustrates a disk separator plate 181 having a fastening tab with an aperture 189 and a ridge 183 on the tab. A bent clip 185, having an aperture 187 in the top and bottom legs of the clip, is formed to fit over the tab so the apertures 187 and 189 align, as illustrated in FIG. 20. Upon alignment, the clip 185 is crimped and/or corned to the tab of disk separator plate 181 to create the required offset height, as illustrated in FIG. 21.
(40) Disk separator plates manufactured in FIGS. 19-21 can be stacked as shown in FIG. 22. Disk separator plate 193 with its offset clip 195 is stacked on top of disk separator plate 197 with its offset 199. The apertures 201 of both offsets align with considerable precision. Disk separator plates using an attached offset can be easily stacked to any required height.
