Re-Workable Sealed Hard Disk Drives, Cover Seals Therefor, and Related Methods
Assigneeentrotech, inc.
InventorAndrew C. Strange
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Cover seals for sealing of a re-workable hard disk drive comprise: a metallic substrate; an outwardly exposed adhesive layer on at least a portion of a major surface of the metallic substrate; and an adhesive-free border comprising a fusible metal alloy layer surrounding the adhesive layer. The cover seals can be used to form sealed hard disk drives, wherein a cover seal is attached to an exterior surface of the cover of an enclosed hard disk drive housing so that an adhesive layer of the cover seal covers the entire junction where the base and cover components of the enclosed housing meet and a metallic joint adheres a perimeter of the cover seal to the base of the enclosed housing.
Claims20
A method of sealing a re-workable hard disk drive, comprising steps of:
- providing a base component of a housing of the hard disk drive;
- providing a cover component of the housing;
- mating the base component and the cover component at a junction to form an enclosed housing that encloses disk drive components for facilitating reading and recording of data at any desired location on at least one disk contained within the enclosed housing;
- filling the enclosed housing with a desired gaseous medium;
- providing a cover seal, wherein the cover seal comprises a metallic substrate and an outwardly exposed adhesive layer on at least a portion of a major surface thereof;
- adhering the cover seal to at least a portion of an exterior surface of the cover component of the enclosed housing so that the adhesive layer of the cover seal covers the entire junction where the base and cover components of the enclosed housing meet;
- optionally, testing the hard disk drive;
- optionally, re-working the hard disk drive by first removing the cover seal;
- optionally, after re-working the hard disk drive, applying a new cover seal to at least a portion of the exterior surface of the cover component of the enclosed housing so that the adhesive layer on the new cover seal covers the entire junction where the base and cover components of the enclosed housing meet;
- and
- metallically joining the cover seal and the base component to form a sealed hard disk drive.
A cover seal for sealing of a re-workable hard disk drive, the cover seal comprising:
- a metallic substrate;
- an outwardly exposed adhesive layer on at least a portion of a major surface of the metallic substrate;
- and
- an adhesive-free border comprising a fusible metal alloy layer surrounding the adhesive layer.
A sealed hard disk drive, comprising:
- a housing comprising a base and a cover;
- disk drive components enclosed within the housing for facilitating reading and recording of data at any desired location on at least one disk contained within the housing;
- and
- a cover seal attached to an exterior surface of the cover of the enclosed housing so that an adhesive layer of the cover seal covers the entire junction where the base and cover components of the enclosed housing meet and a metallic joint adheres a perimeter of the cover seal to the base of the enclosed housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.