Importance

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Abstract

An external disk drive assembly includes a molded plastic base; a sheet metal frame latched to the base; a power supply housing, a disk drive housing, and a disk drive controller card affixed to the frame; a forced air cooling fan mounted in a molded receptacle on the base; a cover removably secured to the base; and thin sheet metal plates inside the cover and base to provide electrical grounding and EMI and RFI shielding. The receptacle has oppositely-facing U-shaped walls matching the outer configuration of the fan housing. The sheet metal base has a retaining flange for extending over the fan housing. During assembly, the fan housing is simply dropped into the receptacle so the outer walls of the receptacle locate the fan housing relative to the base and frame. The frame is then latched to the base which locates the retaining flange over the top of the fan housing. The flange can carry a resiliently compressible shock and vibration isolator for contacting the fan housing to keep the housing in place and to prevent fan vibrations from being induced from the rotating fan blades into the frame. The fan housing is assembled in its operative shock and vibration-isolating position without external tools or fasteners. The invention provides advantages of reducing assembly time and labor costs and improving assembly reliability.

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First Claim