1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and method for controlling hard disc drives. More particularly this invention relates to the shrinking of a hard disc drive printed circuit board (PCB), resulting in improved cost, performance and signal noise.
2. Description of Related Art
In the related art, there is a hard disc assembly (HDA), which includes data storage platters, platter motor, read write heads, voice coil motor, and a hard disc drive controller printed circuit board. The hard disc drive controller printed circuit board (PCB) is used to control the read/write mechanism and the motor that spins the glass, ceramic or aluminum platters, which are coated with magnetic material. The electronics on the PCB also assemble the magnetic domains into bytes for reading and writing data. Underneath the PCB are the connectors for the motor which spins the platters and a filtered vent hole that allows internal and external air pressures to equalize. The board also contains the connector for a high speed linear motor such as a voice coil motor (VCM) 14 which is used to move the read/write arm over the spinning platters 15. As shown in
In the prior art, the PCB is about the size of a 2.5-inch hard disc assembly, because the 10 connector and the RW connector are on opposite ends of the HDA. In other words, the prior art printed circuit board must be as large as the hard disc assembly, since the 10 connector and read/write connectors are on opposite ends of the HDA.
Below are some related prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,980 (Kameda) describes a connector structure whereby a hard disc drive is mounted on a substrate without useless open space remaining on the substrate, and allowing miniaturization of the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,662 (I-Shou) discloses a detachable hard disc driver mounting structure, comprising a hard disc drive received inside a sliding case and fastened in a receiving chamber inside a computer mainframe through plug-in connection. I/O pins are made on the hard disc drive at one end for connecting to the mother board of the computer mainframe through an I/O bus line connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,026 (Lee et al.) describes a connector apparatus of a hard disk drive allows a connector to automatically contact a flexible printed circuit board upon combining a printed circuit board with a head/disk assembly. The connector apparatus includes a printed circuit board with the connector mounted thereon, and a head/disk assembly with the flexible printed circuit board mounted thereon.
It is the objective of this invention to provide a device and method for controlling hard disc drives.
It is further an objective of this invention provide a device and method to shrink the hard disc drive printed circuit board in order improve price, performance and signal noise.
The objects of this invention are achieved by a hard disc drive assembly (HDA) printed circuit board (PCB) which contains an input/output (IO) connector, a read/write (RW) connector, which is on the same end of said PCB as said IO connector, a voice coil motor (VCM), a hard drive integrated circuit (IC), and a hard drive latch, whose form factor allows the VCM to be placed close to the side of the hard drive assembly (HDA), wherein said hard drive integrated circuit can be placed next to said RW connector and next to said hard drive latch.
The IO connector 21 is shown in
The VCM has been designed to be shorter using many innovative aspects. A single magnet is used on the bottom side of the voice coil, instead of two magnets on the top and bottom side of the voice coil. There are side legs on the steel plates. These side legs help carry the magnetic flux so the plates can be thinner. Since this design uses only one memory platter, there are only two Read/Write heads needed, resulting in less mass. This less mass allows for a thinner coil. All of these items above help to achieve a shorter VCM.
In addition, a hard drive latch 27 is redesigned to allow room to move the VCM closer to the side of the HDA to allow the hard drive IC to fit next to the read/write connector for shorter signal traces. The latch is not on the PCB but inside the HDA.
The inertia latch 27 operates on the Read/Write head 28 side of the actuator pivot 29. The latch is designed to prevent the actuator heads from leaving the ramp and landing on the memory discs. This will cause damage to the heads and disc resulting in data memory loss. When a clockwise rotary shock is applied to the hard disc drive the actuator and Read/Write heads 28 will rotate counter-clockwise. The latch will also rotate counter-clockwise and engage a catch in the actuator preventing the Read/Write heads from going off the ramp onto the memory disc. When a counter-clockwise rotary shock is applied to the hard disc drive the actuator and Read/Write heads will rotate clockwise away from the disc into a soft stop without damage. The prior art uses the same principles but operates on the VCM coil side of the actuator pivot. This requires space on the left side of the VCM which moves the VCM to the right and does not leave enough room for the IC to be close to the Read/Write connector. There is no prior art which has a latch operate on the Read/Write heads side of the actuator pivot.
This new tighter placement of the VCM is the key to allowing the read/write connector 22 to be placed very close to the IO connector 21. The close placement of these 2 connectors is the key to the new smaller PCB shown in
A cable from the computer plugs into the IO connector and is the means for the computer to talk to the hard disc drive. The Read/Write connector carries the signals from the Read/Write heads and the memory disc to the PCB. The power to the VCM coil also goes through the Read/Write connector. In prior art, the PCB always had a large cut-out for the VCM which would not allow the IO connector to fit on that end. The Read/Write connector needs to be close to the Read/Write heads and the VCM.
The main advantage of this invention is the new PCB, which is 40% smaller than the prior art. The resultant HDA is much cheaper than the prior art. Also, the smaller PCB allows for shorter signal lines between the read/write connector, the integrated circuit (IC) and the IO connector. The shorter signal lines allow for higher data rates and less head and IO signal noise on the hard disc assembly. This results in a more reliable, higher quality and faster HDA product.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with Reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those Skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without Departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.