Adjustment of robot joint gears using encoder velocity and position information

A new technique for the adjustment of joint gears in industrial robots is presented. Band-limited random excitation signals were injected into the drive system of the joint under test, and both the actuator shaft velocity and position were monitored. The coherence functions between the voltage at the terminals of the electric actuator and the position and velocity signals were determined. The change in the coherence functions was studied for various joint gear settings. An algorithm is proposed for determining the gear setting which results in the most linear operation of the joint drive system. This algorithm was tested on the adjustment of the gears of the wrist rotation joint of a PUMA 560 robot arm.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of shock response in 3.5 and 2.5 in. form factor hard disk drives

The shock performance of the head/disk interface (HDI) of 3.5 and 2.5 in. hard disk drives (HDDs) is investigated. The displacement of the actuator arm, the suspension, and the disk due to linear shock loads is studied experimentally for both non-operating and operating states of the disk drive. A finite element model of the disk drive was developed to simulate the shock response. Numerical simulation results and experimental results are compared and presented.     

Track-following control of a dual-stage hard disk drive using a neuro-control system

This paper describes the track-following control of a dual-stage hard disk drive system using neural-networks. A neural-network approach to on-line learning control, and a real-time implementation for a dual-stage hard disk drive, are presented. The use of the dual-stage actuator in hard disk drive systems has become a means of achieving increased servo actuator bandwidth. The dual-stage actuator presented here uses a voice-coil motor (VCM) as a coarse actuator, and a piezoelectric actuator (PZT) as a fine actuator. The control system consists of a series combination of both a plant with a feedback loop and a neural-network with a feedforward loop. The neural-network functions as the reference input filter, and it organizes a new reference signal to the closed-loop circuit. Numerical and experimental results for the track-following control system of the dual-stage hard disk drive show the validity of the proposed neuro-control system.     

Numerical study on the effects of linear protrusion on flow-induced carriage excitation force in hard disk drives

The positioning accuracy of magnetic heads needs to be improved to increase the recording capacity of hard disk drives. In our previous study, experimental results confirmed that the head-positioning error could be decreased by attaching linear protrusions on the leading edge of the carriage arms. However, the mechanism underlying the phenomenon has not been elucidated. In the present research, we evaluated the effect of leading-edge protrusions on the flow-induced carriage excitation force using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and the Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT). We prepared two carriage-arm models, with and without linear protrusions, on the leading edges of the arm, and performed the CFD analyses. Subsequently, we conducted a frequency analysis by applying HHT to the simulated disturbance torque time-series of each carriage-arm model and compared the results. Our results show that the leading-edge protrusions decrease the disturbance torque due to the flow fluctuation between the arm and disk and in the wake flow, although the low-frequency disturbance torque due to the pulsatile flow can be deteriorated.

     

Enhancement of PZT embedded swing arm actuator using integrated read/write performance and actuation

The current technological challenges associated with the rotary-type seesaw arm actuator for small-form-factor (SFF) disk drives are the small skew focusing, which causes off-axis aberrations and reduces optical quality. This article develops a novel design for a seesaw arm actuator and suspension assembly that is based on a micro-PZT actuator to position pickup head. Dual-stage actuation relaxes the dynamic requirement on the focusing stroke. The proposed actuator with a tilt-compensation mechanism uses a PZT bender to drive pickup head focusing. This combined system, optical module and dual stage actuator, is effectively self-aligned the optical axis for read/write performance in both experiment and simulation result. Finite element modeling and dynamic measurements reveal significant improvements in the actuator bandwidth with and without micro-PZT actuator compensation.     

Turbulence intensity inversion induced by the mass-reducing hole in an air or helium filled hard disk drive

Since its introduction, the mass-reducing hole in the middle of an actuator arm has been investigated as a source of turbulent flow in the space between a pair of co-rotating disks in an air-filled Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The present study investigates the effect of the mass-reducing hole by performing Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and numerical calculation in both air and helium. Helium was selected as an alternative medium due to its high kinematic viscosity which is expected to stabilize the turbulent flow around the actuator arm. A double-scale experimental apparatus was built to simulate a commercial drive. The same model was simulated numerically. The investigations were performed for two different positions of the actuator arm and two angular speeds of the disk (1,000 and 3,000 rpm; corresponding to 4,000 and 12,000 rpm in a 3.5-inch commercial drive). Experimental data was collected at the inter-disk mid-plane and ensemble-averaged to compute the turbulence intensity. The results show that, as expected, the helium flow induces lower turbulence intensity than the air flow at low speeds of rotation. In particular, the helium flow stabilizes the turbulent flow around the Slider Suspension Unit (SSU) more effectively than the air flow. However, at high speeds of rotation, the helium flow generates a higher level of turbulence intensity immediately behind the mass-reducing hole than the air flow. The physical mechanism of the switch is explained.     

Aerodynamic characteristics of carriage arm equipped on hard magnetic disks

In order to study aerodynamic characteristics of a carriage arm equipped on hard disk drives, water tunnel tests with ten times enlarged models of an actual arm were conducted based on Reynolds number similitude, which allows the time scale of the phenomena about 1,300 times slower than that compared with the phenomena under actual operation condition in the air. In the tests, flow visualization around the arm model with fluorescent dye injection and laser-light sheet technique was carried out. Fluid dynamic drag, lift and torque on the model were also measured. The effects of the oncoming flow velocity and profile, the installation angle and position of the arm and the configuration of the trailing edge of the arm on the power spectral density of the fluid dynamic force were investigated. As a result, predominant spectrum peak, the Strouhal number of which is about 0.24, is found in the power spectral density of dynamic lift force on the arm. The flow visualization confirmed that the dynamic lift with the spectral peak originates from the alternating vortex shedding from the trailing edge of the arm. The peak rapidly decreases as the installation angle increases while the velocity profile of oncoming flow and the position of the arm in the gap direction have little effect on the peak component. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the dynamic lift can be reduced by modification of trailing edge shape of the arm.     

Design of swing arm actuator for small and slim optical disc drives

Recent advancements in mobile devices have fueled a requirement for information storage systems with characteristics such as subminiature size, low cost, and minimum power consumption. Small optical disk drives could provide a good solution, because their storage media is cheaper than those of hard disk drives or flash memories. In this paper, we proposed the miniaturized swing arm type actuator that had a new focusing mechanism for small and slim optical disk drives (ODD). Initial model was designed by EM and structural analyses. Based on results of DOE, optimization procedures of EM circuits were performed with design variables using variable metric method (VMM). And, structural parts were designed to maintain the high sensitivity of the actuator. Finally, the swing arm type actuator for small and slim ODDs was suggested and its dynamic characteristics were checked.     

Excitation pulse shape effects in drop test simulation of the actuator arm of a hard disk drive

For a head actuator assembly (HAA) of a hard disk drive, the deflection of the tip of the arm relative to the pivot can be used as an indicator of its response to shock. To study the pulse shape effects in a shock analysis, the actuator arm of an HAA subjected to different acceleration pulse shapes, such as half-sine, triangular and dual-quadratic, was simulated by using a dynamic finite element package. It has been found that, for the three acceleration pulses, the peak displacements have opposite behaviors for 0.1- and 1-ms pulse widths. The above phenomena have been explained in terms of a power spectrum analysis. It has been found that the relative magnitude of the peak displacement of the actuator arm is mainly determined by the power magnitude of the acceleration pulse at the resonant frequency. A simple mathematical theory was developed to predict the location of a cross-over interval which divides the power spectrum curve into two major regions where opposite behaviors are observed. The theoretical pulse width is correlated with a pulse width based on a threshold value as normally used in experiments. B.J. Shi: On leave from School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong Institute of Architecture and Engineering, Jinan 250014, China     

Composite nonlinear feedback control for linear systems with input saturation: theory and an application

We study in this paper the theory and applications of a nonlinear control technique, i.e., the so-called composite nonlinear feedback control, for a class of linear systems with actuator nonlinearities. It consists of a linear feedback law and a nonlinear feedback law without any switching element. The linear feedback part is designed to yield a closed-loop system with a small damping ratio for a quick response, while at the same time not exceeding the actuator limits for the desired command input levels. The nonlinear feedback law is used to increase the damping ratio of the closed-loop system as the system output approaches the target reference to reduce the overshoot caused by the linear part. It is shown that the proposed technique is capable of beating the well-known time-optimal control in the asymptotic tracking situations. The application of such a new technique to an actual hard disk drive servo system shows that it outperforms the conventional method by more than 30%. The technique can be applied to design servo systems that deal with "point-and-shoot" fast targeting.     

Nonlinear modelling and control of the flow over aerofoils using CFD simulations

A simulation based approach for nonlinear dynamical modelling and feedback control of the drag to lift ratio for aerofoils is investigated through case studies involving NACA 23012, ag13 and b737a aerofoils. The flow around the aerofoils is studied via numerical solutions of the 2D Navier–Stokes (NS) equations. A standard computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver is extended to be able to measure desired feedback values and to apply a control input to the flow field. The proposed modelling and control approach is based on first determining the measurement points and injection points on the aerofoil for the control input. Then, to estimate the dynamical model, some input–output data are collected by injecting a chirp input flow to the field and saving the measurement data. Next a Hammerstein–Wiener (HW) type nonlinear dynamical model of the flow field is estimated using system identification. For control design, the nonlinear part of the model is eliminated by means of inverse functions, followed by the application of automated tuning methods to the linear part to obtain the closed-loop system. The results show that the designed feedback control system can reduce the drag to lift ratio considerably as compared to the unactuated case.     

A new direct Seek Control Design of Optical Disk Drives

This paper is concerned with the seek control of Optical Disk Drives (ODDs). We propose a direct Seek Control Scheme (SCS) that provides fast data access capability and robust stability for high-performance Optical Disk Drives. Although an optical disk drive has a significant advantage of random accessibility, increased rotational speed of a disk and limitations of mechanical structure always make it impossible for the conventional SCS to achieve stable and satisfactory seek performance. The conventional seek control technique utilizes only the coarse actuator without any maneuvering of the fine actuator. In this paper, we analyze the problems that may arise when the conventional SCS is applied to high-speed rotational ODD and propose a new SCS that employs both the coarse and fine actuators. With assistance of the fine actuator, however, the seek control system is designed such that its performance is guaranteed for various disturbances and mechanical limitations. Simulations and experiments show the improvements of the proposed direct SCS implemented on a practical DVD-ROM drive system.     

A reliable optical disk identification technique for protection purposes

Optical disks are commonly used for distributing software applications and digital content. This article proposes a new technique to stop piracy. The proposed technique identifies the optical disk and differentiates between the original disk and its copies. It can be used for software protection in order to provide strong security with a reliable performance. The proposed technique models and simulates the entire optical disk system in order to study the effect of physical differences between original disks and copies. The physical parameters of the original disks can be controlled while manufacturing; however, the parameters of the copies are constant. System simulations are performed to study the variations of disk parameters, drive configuration, and operating conditions. Further, practical experiments are conducted inside the lab to verify the simulation results. Finally, thousands of actual experiments are conducted to optimize the system performance and to decrease the failure rate.     

Finite element modal analysis of an HDD considering the flexibility of spinning disk–spindle, head–suspension–actuator and supporting structure

This paper presents a finite element method to analyze the free vibration of a flexible HDD (hard disk drive) composed of the spinning disk–spindle system with fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs), the head–suspension–actuator with pivot bearings, and the base plate with complicated geometry. Finite element equations of each component of an HDD are consistently derived with the satisfaction of the geometric compatibility in the internal boundary between each component. The spinning disk, hub and FDBs are modeled by annular sector elements, beam elements and stiffness and damping elements, respectively. It develops a 2-D quadrilateral 4-node shell element with rotational degrees of freedom to model the thin suspension efficiently as well as to satisfy the geometric compatibility between the 3-D tetrahedral element and the 2-D shell element. Base plate, arm, E-block and fantail are modeled by tetrahedral elements. Pivot bearing of an actuator and air bearing between spinning disk and head are modeled by stiffness elements. The restarted Arnoldi iteration method is applied to solve the large asymmetric eigenvalue problem to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the finite element model. Experimental modal testing shows that the proposed method well predicts the vibration characteristics of an HDD. This research also shows that even the vibration motion of the spinning disk corresponding to half-speed whirl and the pure disk mode are transferred to a head–suspension–actuator and base plate through the air bearing and the pivot bearing consecutively. The proposed method can be effectively extended to investigate the forced vibration of an HDD and to design a robust HDD against shock.     

Design of swing arm type actuators considering thermal and dynamic characteristics

The present state of the design of swing arm actuators for optical disc drives is to obtain the highly efficient dynamic characteristics within a very compact volume. As a necessary consequence, the need of the small form factor (SFF) storage device has arisen as a major interest in the information storage technology. Due to the size constraint, the thermal stability of the optical pick-up head is important: therefore, the actuator is designed to emit the heat, which is generated by the optical pick-up, along the structural body easily. In this paper, we suggest the miniaturized swing arm type actuator that has effective heat emission quality as well as satisfies the dynamic requirements for the SFF optical disk drive (ODD). The actuator is targeted to be installed in CF-II card size drive to be competitive with flash memory or mini hard disk drive used in mobile electric devices; therefore the dimension of the actuator is required as 11.0 mm × 2.5 mm × 25.0 mm (width × height × length). Because of its small size, the dynamic requirements are severe to ensure the enough gain-margin for the system control together with satisfying the DC/AC sensitivity conditions. Moreover, due to the small size, the maximum pick-up temperature is critical in design because the system has high possibility to reach the shut-down temperature. For the operating mechanism, it uses a tracking electromagnetic (EM) circuit for the focusing motion together and the initial model is designed and promoted by the design of experiments (DOE) only considering the dynamic characteristics. New concept design is suggested based on the topology optimization method considering the thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the new design is modified by DOE to maintain the high sensitivity and to have wide control bandwidth and decreasing mass and inertia. The final design of a swing arm type actuator for SFF ODD is suggested and its dynamic characteristics are verified.     

On Taylor vortices and Ekman layers in flow-induced vibration of hard disk drives

This paper is about flow-induced vibration (FIV) of disks in hard disk drives (HDD) influenced by two classical flow structures in fluid dynamics, Taylor Couette vortices (TCV) and Ekman layers. FIV is computed with a fully coupled commercial aerodynamics/structural code. The emphasis is on FIV of disks and geometries under conditions typical for high speed, server HDDs. In typical server drives computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis predicts the occurrence of TCVs in the disk to shroud clearance. TCVs typically do not occur in mobile and desktop drives. The main controlling non-dimensional parameters are the Reynolds number, the Taylor number and the aspect ratio of the disk to shroud clearance. The existence of Ekman layers on the disk surfaces is persistent. The Ekman layers and their radial return flow interact in a complex manner with the flow in the disk to shroud clearance. The turbulent viscosity between shrouded disks results from “bursting” phenomena that are typical for the flow field near the disk rims and shroud. The details of a turbulent burst are presented together with its momentary disk excitation effect. The benchmark case used is a fully shrouded set of two disks with a disk to shroud clearance and a disk thickness to shroud aspect ratio such that TCVs occur in the disk to shroud clearance. The TCVs interact with the Ekman layers such that the outer TCVs are continuously destroyed and recreated. An example is presented of fully coupled FIV of a two-disk axi-symmetric benchmark case. The two co-rotating shrouded disks attract aerodynamically: they deflect statically inward. The results also show the dynamic disk deformation dominated by the disk (0,0) “umbrella” mode. In addition, there is random disk deflection caused by the turbulent bursting. At server drive conditions and a 70 mm diameter disk the peak to peak deflection is approximately 20% of the mean deflection. Three dimensional effects are also presented such as wavy TCVs. In another benchmark with a cavity the flow near unshrouded disk edges is shown. In that case the pressure fluctuations can be an order of magnitude greater than in shrouded regions.     

Hard disk drive seek-arrival vibration reduction with parametric damped flexible printed circuits

Seek-arrival track-mis-registration (TMR) is one of the most critical dynamic design factors for modern hard disk drives to achieve high data transfer-rate performance goal. With its flexible structural nature, the flex cable itself inevitably renders low-frequency natural modes which have been a challenge with respect to balancing design efforts among servo control, mechanical design, and manufacturing process in disk drive industry. In this paper, particular focus will be given to vibration damping approach to reduce flex cable related seek-arrival dynamics in a state of the art magnetic disk storage drive. Experimental parameter studies of a typical constrained-layer damped flex cable vibrations are presented with cable exposed to various damper length and fold in different geometries. Effectiveness of the damper is also demonstrated by frequency responses with random excitation from actuator arm. Several design options toward reducing the flex circuit related arrival TMR will also be discussed in this paper.     

An adaptive local linear optimized radial basis functional neural network model for financial time series prediction

For financial time series, the generation of error bars on the point of prediction is important in order to estimate the corresponding risk. In recent years, optimization techniques-driven artificial intelligence has been used to make time series approaches more systematic and improve forecasting performance. This paper presents a local linear radial basis functional neural network (LLRBFNN) model for classifying finance data from Yahoo Inc. The LLRBFNN model is learned by using the hybrid technique of backpropagation and recursive least square algorithm. The LLRBFNN model uses a local linear model in between the hidden layer and the output layer in contrast to the weights connected from hidden layer to output layer in typical neural network models. The obtained prediction result is compared with multilayer perceptron and radial basis functional neural network with the parameters being trained by gradient descent learning method. The proposed technique provides a lower mean squared error and thus can be considered as superior to other models. The technique is also tested on linear data, i.e., diabetic data, to confirm the validity of the result obtained from the experiment.

     

Design of swing arm type actuator and suspension for micro optical disk drive

One of the trends on information storage device is focused on the development of micro-optical devices with optical flying head (OFH). Many different types of sliders for OFH and optical component systems have been introduced in the literature. However, the important issues on the mechanical system, which consists of suspension, swing arm and voice coil motor (VCM) part has not been discussed up to date. In this research, a swing arm type actuator with suspension for micro optical disk drive is designed and developed, basically focused on the mechanical issues, which should be solved for real application.     

模拟加速方法的设计和验证

为在直升机旋翼气动性能数值模拟时简化建模过程、缩减计算时间,利用用户自定义函数（User Defined Function,UDF）设计混合模型盘激励模型和线激励模型,并对简单旋翼的悬停工况进行模拟.与风洞试验结果的对比表明：所设计的混合模型在简化旋翼模型的同时,能有效地计算旋翼的气动特性,模拟旋翼悬停时的流场,具有正确性和可行性;盘激励模型作为定常计算模型能够较快地计算得到旋翼的气动性能,缺点是不能体现每个桨叶对流场的单独作用;所设计的线激励模型在计算时由于所用的诱导速度为平均值,所以计算结果中旋翼效率比实际值偏高;通过与粒子图像测速（Particle Image Velocimetry,PIV）测量结果对比发现,线激励模型能较好地模拟出桨尖涡的分布.