Prediction method of oil leakage of FDBs using numerical analysis

 Application of a spindle motor using a fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) to hard disk drive (HDD) presents some technical problems. Oil leakage from FDB is one of serious problem that must be solved. In this paper, we discuss a technique used to predict oil leakage from FDB spindle motors based on results of lubrication analysis of FDBs. We conducted oil leakage measurement using FDB spindle motors differing in specifications for FDBs. Then, we analyzed the lubrication in FDBs fitted to the spindle motors used in the measurement. Analysis results were compared with oil leakage measurement results. An analysis result that showed a correlation with the amount of oil leakage was determined as an evaluation item. Use of this evaluation item makes it possible to predict the occurrence of oil leakage with a high accuracy. Received: 5 July 2001/Accepted: 1 November 2001     

Optimization of 3.5-in. HDD spindle motors for OP-vibration performance: theoretical prediction and experimental verification

The purpose of this paper is to optimize OP-vibration performance of 3.5-in. hard disk drive (HDD) spindle motors through theoretical prediction and experimental verification. OP-vibration performance of HDD is closely related to the first rocking vibration of spindle motors because excited frequencies of 3.5-in. HDD from the environment are mostly below 500 Hz and the first rocking vibration is the only resonance in the corresponding frequencies. Therefore, minimizing first rocking vibration leads to improve OP-vibration performance of the spindle motors. In order to minimize the first rocking vibration key parameters of FDB spindle motors were selected from a previous work done by Heo and Shen (Microsyst Technol 11:1204–1213, 2005). Then, the selected parameters have been optimized to minimize the first rocking vibration through a theoretical model developed at University of Washington. Then, experiments with ten prototype FDB spindle motors have been conducted to verify the theoretical results. Each prototype motor has different spindle parameter configurations including bearing coefficients, bearing locations, and center of gravity location, etc. Also, this paper demonstrated that radial measurements of spindle rocking vibration have better correlation with OP-vibration performance than axial measurements through PES measurements. Finally, the optimized design has been manufactured by a motor maker and has also successfully verified the theoretical prediction experimentally.     

A parametric study on rocking vibration of hard disk drive spindle motors with fluid-dynamic bearings and rotating-shaft design

This paper presents a thorough parametric study to identify critical parameters controlling rocking vibration of hard disk drive (HDD) spindle motors. The spindle motors studied are of rotating-shaft design with fluid-dynamic bearings (FDB). The rocking vibration of interest results primarily from first three pairs of (0,1) unbalanced modes (also known as rocking modes, pitch modes, or gyro modes) and half-speed whirls. The parametric study shows that the transverse mass moment of inertia of the rotating part is the most critical parameter affecting the rocking amplitude. Also, FDB in-line stiffness dominates the amplitude of the half-speed whirls. Surprisingly, FDB in-line damping coefficient can considerably affect the amplitude of the second (0,1) unbalanced mode. Finally, bearing locations are very critical parameters for rocking amplitude of FDB spindles. Unfortunately, there is not a set of optimal bearing positions that will minimize vibration for all (0,1) unbalanced modes.The work was completed when the first author was a graduate student at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

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On investigation of vibro-acoustics of FDB spindle motors for hard disk drives

The present work investigates vibro-acoustic behaviors of the fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) spindle motors for hard disk drives (HDD) through the sound spectra and the frequency response functions (FRF) of the motor structure. The quantitative evidence on the significance of the acoustic noise originated from the electromagnetic source is deduced from the sound spectra that were measured in two distinct cases of the spinning motor: in the normal operation and at the moment immediately after the power supply was disconnected. It is found that the effect of electromagnetic noise source is more dominant than the combined effect of the mechanical and aerodynamic sources. In addition, it is identified that, within the audible range of frequency, the frequency range of 13.4–20 kHz deems important to the noise problem as it is the main contributor to the acoustic noise for the FDB spindle motors. Moreover, the structural resonances that can be identified via the FRF are found to play an important role in the noise emitted by the motors. The concurrence of resonance and excitation frequencies clearly intensifies the sound spectrum, resulting in high discrete peaks, hence higher decibel level.     

Quantitative study of lubricant puddling at the head/disk interface

 This paper presents a new methodology to quantify the micro-level lubricant accumulation (lubricant puddling) on a magnetic recording hard disk for flyability testing. After flying over the disk for certain period of time, the head was parked on the disk for certain time duration to allow the lubricant picked up on the head to flow to the disk surface. Using the optical surface analyzer with proper calibration and background removal, the volume of lubricant in a lubricant puddle on the disk has been measured accurately. The effect of various factors, including lubricant type, thickness, the way of head parking, and head parking duration, on lubricant puddling has been investigated. This method is a useful tool for flyability study and other studies that need to quantify the volume of localized lubricant accumulation on the disk. Received: 5 July 2001/Accepted: 11 December 2001     

A miniature spindle motor with fluid dynamic bearings for portable storage device applications

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a miniature axial-gap spindle motor for small-form-factor optical storage applications. The motor features a fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) and is characterized by a high mechanical rigidity, excellent dynamic characteristics, and a zero cogging torque. The performance of this FDB motor is evaluated experimentally using a laboratory-built prototype. The results show that the motor has an excellent dynamic response, a small axial repeatable runout, a small tilt angle, a high rotational speed, and a low operating current. Furthermore, with overall dimensions of just 15.5 × 3.3 mm, the FDB motor is around 80% smaller than that presented by the current group in a previous study (Liu et al., J Magn Magn Mater 304:362–364, 2006). Consequently, the proposed motor represents an ideal solution for both existing and emerging miniaturized portable storage device applications.     

Magnetic field analysis of induction motor for optimal cooling duct design

It is important to understand the leakage flux distributions to get a better design of induction motors. Computer simulation using the finite element method (FEM) is an important tool for achieving this objective. This paper presents a method for calculating the steady-state leakage flux distributions in induction motors. FEM is used here to study the field behavior of an induction motor in terms of magnetic vector potential (MVP), which allows the easy determination of flux and flux density. Because of complexity of the domain, triangular elements, due to their flexibility to fit in any irregular geometry are used. With the help of MVP distribution obtained use of these elements have been made to study the effect of shape of the cooling duct on the rotor laminations of an induction motor. An optimum modified shape of ventilating hole is thus obtained without having any adverse effect on MVP and flux density.     

The optimal helium fraction for air–helium gas mixture HDDs

Helium-filled drives have recently been commercialized to enable a high recording density. However, because the use of helium increases production costs, binary gas mixtures such as air–helium have been investigated. In this paper, the dominant performance metrics of hard disk drives (HDDs) are the windage losses, the flow induced vibration (FIV), the lubricant transfer and lubricant depletion. These were investigated for air–helium gas mixtures as a function of the helium fraction. The frictional torque was empirically derived in both the laminar and turbulent regimes. The windage loss and the FIV of a helium-filled drive were found to be similar to that using an air–helium gas mixture with a helium fraction of 0.75. On the other hand, the quantity of accumulated lubricant and the maximum lubricant depletion in a helium fraction of 0.75 were superior to those in a helium fraction of 1.0. Further investigation of performance metrics should be carried out. However the performance metrics considered here showed that a helium fraction of 0.75 was favorable to a helium fraction of 1.0.     

MEMS lubricants based on bound and mobile phases of hydrocarbon compounds: film deposition and performance evaluation

The concept of a thin layer of mobile hydrocarbon-based lubricant providing protection by replenishment to a surface already protected by a chemically bound material has been explored for the first time, for application to silicon-based microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems. Several bound/mobile pairs of lubricants were evaluated to study the effects of bound phase end group and mobile phase chemical functionality on wettability and performance. The bound species studied were derived from 1-decanol and 1,7-heptanediol. Mobile phases investigated were, a pentaerythritol ester, a multiply alkylated cyclopentane, Pennzane, and a polysilane developed for spacecraft application. Hydrocarbon lubricant performance was evaluated using electrostatic motors run in dry air, and was compared with that provided by Fomblin Zdol under identical conditions. Motors with hydrocarbon coatings showed substantial improvement in performance over uncoated motors, and for some bound/mobile pairs, was equal to Zdol within experimental error. We believe that for silicon-based devices, hydrocarbon coatings will be preferable at least for some applications, as the degradation observed due to aging of a fluorinated lubricant in direct contact with a silicon surface is absent.     

CUDL language semantics: Updating FDB data

The semantics for data manipulation of the database language CUDL - Conceptual Universal Database Language - designed to manage dynamic database environments, are presented. This language conforms to the FDB (Frame DataBase) data model, offering a simple, easy and efficient platform for the use of the FDB model. Otherwise the management and operation of FDB data is laborious and time-consuming and it requires from the user a very good acquaintance of the proposed model, the structures and organisation of it as well as the processes of the management of elements that compose it. In this paper we present in depth the semantics of the way of handling the data, in order to search and transform information, in an FDB data source. We present the analysis of simple and complex cases that led us to synthesize valid and simple semantic rules that determine the data manipulation operations. The more sophisticated and demanding constructs, used in the language, for query specification, query processing and object manipulation are discussed and evaluated.     

Simultaneous optimization of a two‐link flexible robot arm

Integrated structure–control design of a two‐link flexible robot arm is investigated in this article. The whole arm consists of two flexible links, a fixed joint, a moving joint, and a tip load. The arm is driven by the torque motors at the two joints to reach predefined tip positions and to suppress residual flexural vibrations. The links of the arm are modeled using the finite element method and the cross‐sectional dimensions of the beam elements are used as structural design variables. A sliding mode controller and a linear stabilizer are used to regulate the arm position. The structural and the control parameters of the whole arm system are optimized simultaneously using a genetic algorithm and the performance is compared with that of an arm with uniform links and an optimized control system. The simulation result shows that faster regulation and less weight of the arm system can be achieved by simultaneous optimization. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Piezoelectric micromotors for microrobots

The authors have begun research into piezoelectric ultrasonic motors using ferroelectric thin films. The authors have fabricated the stator components of these millimeter diameter motors on silicon wafers. Ultrasonic motors consist of two pieces: a stator and a rotor. The stator includes a piezoelectric film in which bending is induced in the form of a traveling wave. A small glass lens placed upon the stator becomes the spinning rotor. Piezoelectric micromotors overcome the problems currently associated with electrostatic micromotors such as low torque, friction, and the need for high voltage excitation. More importantly, they may offer a much simpler mechanism for coupling power out. Using thin films of lead zirconate titanate on silicon nitride membranes, various types of actuator structures can be fabricated. By combined new robot control systems with piezoelectric motors and micromechanics, the authors propose creating micromechanical systems that are small, cheap and completely autonomous     

Lubricant bonding, chemical structure, and additive effects on tribological performances at head–disk interfaces

 The lubricant film for head/disk application consists of bonded fraction and unbonded (mobile) fraction. It is well known that the mobile fraction of the lubricant film can replenish the surface sites where the lubricant film was depleted, thus, the surface wear is postponed or alleviated. With a continuous decrease in the head disk spacing, however, too much mobile fraction of lubricant may cause head slider lubricant pick-up, and deteriorate the interface. Two perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricants of Z-tetraol and Z-DOL are discussed in this paper. Lubricant Z-tetraol is characteristic of stronger bonding to a carbon overcoat, lower vapor pressure, and higher thermal stability but less mobility than Z-DOL. It is found that, for CSS (contact-start-stop) durability, the interfaces with Z-tetraol show no worse in performance than those with Z-DOL, and less head slider lubricant pick-up on those with Z-tetraol. Based on the above-mentioned, it is possible that the interfaces relying more on the lubricant bonding strength and chemical structure stability are more beneficial to tribological performances than those relying more on the lubricant replenishment. The effects of lubricant additive X1P mixed to Z-tetraol, and Z-DOL, respectively are also studied on tribological performances. Stiction, CSS durability, and head slider lubricant pick-up are discussed among lubricants Z-tetraol, Z-DOL, Z-tetraol/X1P and Z-DOL/X1P. Statistical t-test, F-test, and Weibull analyses are applied to CSS data to differentiate CSS durability performances. Additive X1P is found to enhance CSS durability for both lubricants. Lubricant Z-tetraol/X1P is recommended for the best tribological performances, followed by Z-DOL/X1P, Z-tetraol, and Z-DOL. Received: 7 August 2001/Accepted: 11 December 2001 Authors would like to thank Vidya K. Gubbi, Youmin Liu, and Gunter P. Barth at Seagate, Fremont, CA, for media supplies, lubricant properties, and head slider lubricant pick-up measurements. Authors also thank Gunter P. Bath, Frank Chang, Roger Y. Shih, Hamid R. Saman, Caroline Tjengdrawira and Sam Liang at Seagate for fruitful discussions.     

Improvement of component mode synthesis model for vibration analysis of hard disk drives using attachment modes

I improved the component mode synthesis (CMS) model for free and forced-vibration analyses of hard disk drives using attachment modes. The convergence and the accuracy of the proposed CMS model was improved substantially by applying an attachment mode to a FDB shaft and a pivot shaft in the stationary part model. Different formulations were used for the FDBs and the pivot bearings because of their different damping properties. In the proposed formulation, additional general coordinates corresponding to the attachment modes of the FDB shaft are introduced into the system coordinates; on the other hand, the attachment modes of the pivot shaft moderate the stiffness and damping properties of the pivot bearings. To check the improvement of the convergence and the accuracy, I performed the free and forced-vibration analyses using the previous and proposed CMS models and a full finite element (FE) model. The convergence of the natural frequencies and the frequency response function (FRF) of the disk/spindle system were extremely improved. Moreover, the FRF of the head actuator better matched the full FE model than the previous CMS model when the same number of component modes are used.     

定子斜槽月球车驱动电机性能的快速计算

通常采用3--D有限元方法分析斜槽电机的性能,但3--D模型剖分单元数目庞大、计算时间极长,对计算机性能要求也较高.为快速且准确地预测月表极限温度下月球车车轮驱动用斜槽电机的性能,提出了2--D几何模型耦合恒流源电路模型处理多截面模型中分段电机同槽导体电流相等以及定子斜槽的方法,并研究了计算精度的影响因素.针对一套永磁无刷直流电机方案,计算了齿槽转矩、空载感应电势和电磁转矩,并结合转子典型位置下气隙磁场沿电机轴向的分布特征以及谐波分析结果评估了计算精度.该方法的计算量较小,计算结果与3--D模型仿真结果、实测结果的比较表明了该方法的有效性.     

A novel dynamic modelling approach for parallel mechanisms analysis

A novel approach (recursive matrix method), which is used for kinematic and dynamic analysis of a 3-DOF parallel mechanism with revolute actuators, is established in this paper. The active links of the mechanism are actuated by three electric motors and have three independent motions. Knowing the evolution of movable platform, first we develop the positions, velocities and accelerations of all elements of the mechanism. An inverse dynamic problem is solved using the principle of virtual work. Finally, recursive relations and graphs for the torques of three actuators are determined. It showed the efficiency of the proposed method by the example.     

Evaluation of ultraviolet assisted bonding between lubricant and diamond-like carbon through spreading of molecularly thin perfluoropolyether lubricant

This paper deals with the evaluation of ultraviolet assisted bonding of perfluoropolyether lubricant to the diamond-like carbon surface of a magnetic disk. Spreading of lubricant from a quasi step-shaped boundary between lubricated and non-lubricated zones was measured with irradiation time, and diffusion coefficients were obtained using a modified Boltzmann–Matano method, which enabled us to approximately calculate the coefficients under the initial condition of a non-step-shaped boundary. We found that irradiation is effective for bonding the lubricant, and that a very thin layer of the lubricant abutting the surface exhibits faster diffusion.     

Experiments on slider lubricant interactions and lubricant transfer using TFC sliders

Future magnetic storage density targets (>4 Tb/in. ²) require subnanometer physical clearances that pose a tremendous challenge to the head disk interface (HDI) design. A detailed understanding of slider-lubricant interactions at small clearances and contact is important to not only address magnetic spacing calibration and long term HDI reliability but also to meet additional challenges imposed by future recording architectures such as heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). In this work, the behavior of the disk lubricant is investigated through controlled tests using TFC sliders which are actuated to proximity (i.e. backoff) and into contact (i.e. overpush) on one specific half of the disk per rotation by synchronization with the spindle index. Observations for lubricant distribution in contact tests (i.e. overpush) reveal an accumulation of lubricant on the disk near the onset of contact suggesting a migration of lubricant from the slider to the disk as the slider approaches the disk. Experiments also reveal that there is a similar deposition of lubricant even in the absence of contact for backoff tests. Furthermore, light contact tests result in significant lubricant rippling and depletion with associated slider dynamics. The lubricant rippling frequencies correlate well with the slider’s vibration frequencies. Interestingly, strong overpush may lead to stable slider dynamics (for certain air bearing designs) that is also associated with noticeably lower lubricant distribution (compared to the light contact case), and the greatest lubricant changes are observed only at the onset and the end of contact. This paper reveals the complex nature of slider-lubricant interactions under near-contact and contact conditions, and it highlights the need for further studies on the topic to help design a HDI for recording architectures of the future.     

Surface characterisation of the Dome Concordia area (Antarctica) as a potential satellite calibration site, using Spot 4/Vegetation instrument

A good calibration of satellite sensors is necessary to derive reliable quantitative measurements of the surface parameters or to compare data obtained from different sensors. In this study, the snow surface of the high plateau of the East Antarctic ice sheet, particularly the Dome C area (75°S, 123°E), is used first to test the quality of this site as a ground calibration target and then to determine the inter-annual drift in the sensitivity of the VEGETATION sensor, onboard the SPOT4 satellite. Dome C area has many good calibration site characteristics: The site is very flat and extremely homogeneous (only snow), there is little wind and a very small snow accumulation rate and therefore a small temporal variability, the elevation is 3200 m and the atmosphere is very clear most of the time. Finally, due to its location, it is frequently within view of many satellites. VEGETATION visible blue channel data (0.43-0.47 μm) of a 716×716 km² area centred on the French-Italian Dome Concordia station, during the 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2001-2001, and 2001-2002 austral summers were cloud masked and atmospherically corrected. The snow surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function is very high with little spatial and seasonal variability, which is a major advantage for sensor calibration. The inter-annual variation is found to be very small, proving that the stability of the site is very good.     

A conservative semi-Lagrangian method for oscillation-free computation of advection processes

The semi-Lagrangian method using the hybrid-cubic-rational interpolation function [M. Ida, Comput. Fluid Dyn. J. 10 (2001) 159] is modified to a conservative method by incorporating the concept discussed in [R. Tanaka et al., Comput. Phys. Commun. 126 (2000) 232]. In the method due to Tanaka et al., not only a physical quantity but also its integrated quantity within a computational cell are used as dependent variables, and the mass conservation is achieved by giving a constraint to a forth-order polynomial used as an interpolation function. In the present method, a hybrid-cubic-rational function whose optimal mixing ratio was determined theoretically is employed for the interpolation, and its derivative is used for updating the physical quantity. The numerical oscillation appearing in results by the method due to Tanaka et al. is sufficiently eliminated by the use of the hybrid function.