Nidec Corporation

Kunio Sakurada

Akihiro Kimura

Teiichi Hirono

Kyoko Horise

Akinobu Sumiji

Hiroshi Morishita

Hirotaka Tamekuni

Takehito Tamaoka

Yoichi Sekii

Junya Mizukami

Tomohiro Yoneda

Kazuhiro Sato

Takayuki Oe

Akihiro Yudate

Sho Nakamura

Mitsuya Kusuhara

Kazuya Sato

Ryota Ogino

Takeru Omura

Manabu Komori

Daisuke Fukuoka

Akihisa Moriguchi

In an aerodynamic bearing, an outer peripheral surface of a shaft and an inner peripheral surface of a sleeve face each other in a radial direction. The sleeve includes a through hole penetrating the sleeve in the radial direction. A space on a radially inner side of the sleeve communicates with an external space of a motor through the through hole. A stationary portion includes a wall portion radially overlapping the through hole with a gap interposed therebetween on a radially outer side of the through hole.

Motor and fan motor

A blower includes an impeller that is rotatable about a central axis extending in a vertical direction, a motor that rotates the impeller, and a base portion on which the motor is mounted. The impeller includes a cup portion that covers the motor, and blades extending radially outward from the cup portion and arranged in a circumferential direction. A gap is provided between the cup portion and the base portion such that the gap becomes narrower in an outward direction with increasing distance from an interior of the cup portion.

Blower

A bearing apparatus includes a cylindrical sleeve, a shaft rotatably inserted in the sleeve, lubricating oil arranged in a gap defined between an inner circumferential surface of the sleeve and an outer circumferential surface of the shaft, a seal member arranged at an axially upper end portion of the sleeve projecting from the sleeve, and an annular member fixed to an outer circumferential surface of the axially upper end portion of the shaft to rotate together with the shaft. The annular member includes a projecting portion projecting axially downward. The seal member and an axially lower end portion of the projecting portion overlap each other when viewed in at least one of the axial direction or a radial direction.

Bearing apparatus, motor, and fan motor

A base plate is arranged to define a portion of a housing of a hard disk drive, and includes a base body defined by casting, and an electrodeposition coating film arranged to cover a surface of the base body. The surface of the base body includes a coated surface covered with the electrodeposition coating film, and a flat worked surface exposed from the electrodeposition coating film. The worked surface may include a gate position to which a gate has been connected at the time of the casting. At least a portion of the worked surface is covered with an impregnant.

Base plate, hard disk drive, and method of manufacturing base plate

A bearing apparatus includes a first cup portion defining a portion of a stationary portion of a bearing apparatus includes a first circular plate portion and a first cylindrical portion projecting downward from an outer edge portion of the first circular plate portion. A rotating portion of the bearing apparatus includes an annular recessed portion arranged to accommodate at least a lower end portion of the first cylindrical portion. The stationary portion includes a second cup portion including a second circular plate portion arranged to extend radially outward from an outer circumferential surface of a stationary shaft below the first cup portion and a second cylindrical portion arranged to project upward from an outer edge portion of the second circular plate portion. One of the first and second cup portions is integral with the stationary shaft defining a single monolithic member, and the other is fixed to the stationary shaft.

Bearing apparatus, spindle motor, and disk drive apparatus

A bearing apparatus includes a stationary shaft, a first annular member, and a rotating member. The rotating member includes a first inner circumferential surface arranged opposite to the outer circumferential surface of the stationary shaft, and a second inner circumferential surface arranged opposite to an outer circumferential surface of the first annular member. A lubricating oil is arranged in a gap between a surface of a stationary member and the rotating member. On an upper side of an upper surface of the lubricating oil, the first annular member and the rotating member are arranged radially opposite to each other with a slight gap defined therebetween, so that a labyrinth seal is defined. The labyrinth seal and a fixing range over which the stationary shaft and the first annular member are fixed to each other are arranged to overlap with each other in a radial direction.

A dynamic pressure bearing has a reduced axial dimension and is constructed to ensure smooth feeding of a lubricating oil. The dynamic pressure bearing includes a communicating hole and at least one tapered seal, and is constructed such that an opening angle of one of the at least one tapered seal through which oil feeding is possible is in a range of about 30 degrees inclusive to about 180 degrees exclusive, a tapered seal wall surface depth Wof the tapered seal is about 0.3 mm or more, and a sum of distances over which the lubricating oil travels from both sides of an end portion of the communicating hole in a cross-section beyond a wall surface of the communicating hole along a wall surface opposite the end portion of the communicating hole exceeds an inside diameter of the communicating hole.

Dynamic pressure bearing and spindle motor using the same

A bearing mechanism includes a shaft portion, a sleeve portion, a lower opposing portion, a lower outer annular portion, and an upper opposing portion. The sleeve portion includes a sleeve body and a lower thrust plate. A radial dynamic pressure bearing portion is defined in a radial gap. A lower thrust dynamic pressure bearing portion is defined in a lower thrust gap. A lower seal portion is defined in a lower seal gap located between the sleeve portion and the lower outer annular portion. An upper seal portion is defined in an upper seal gap continuous with an upper thrust gap. The sleeve portion includes a first communicating channel in communication with the upper seal gap, and a second communicating channel located between the sleeve body and the lower thrust plate. A lower mouth portion of the first communicating channel axially overlaps the lower thrust dynamic pressure bearing portion.

Bearing mechanism, motor, and disk drive apparatus

A fluid dynamic bearing includes: a shaft arranged along a center axis; an annular portion expanding radially outwards from the shaft; a sleeve having a top surface opposed to an under surface of the annular portion to support the shaft and the annular portion in a relatively rotatable manner; and a lubricating fluid interposed between the shaft and annular portion and the sleeve. The fluid dynamic bearing further includes a substantially annular edge surrounding the center axis on the under surface and a solid lubricating film on the radially outer side of the edge.

Production method of fluid dynamic bearing, fluid dynamic bearing, spindle motor, and disk driving apparatus

A bearing mechanism includes a shaft portion, a sleeve portion, and an opposing portion including a surface arranged opposite to an end surface of the sleeve portion on one of upper and lower sides with a thrust gap defined therebetween. The thrust gap includes a thrust dynamic pressure bearing portion defined therein. The sleeve portion includes a sleeve body and a thrust plate fixed to an end portion of the sleeve body on the one of the upper and lower sides. The sleeve body includes an annular surface arranged opposite to the thrust plate, and an annular body projecting portion arranged to project in an axial direction inside of the annular surface. An outer circumferential surface of the body projecting portion and an inner circumferential surface of the thrust plate are arranged to be in direct or indirect contact with each other.

A bearing mechanism includes a shaft portion, a sleeve portion, a lower opposing portion, a lower outer ring-shaped portion, and an upper opposing portion. A lower seal portion serving as a pumping seal portion is provided in a lower seal gap between the sleeve portion and the lower outer ring-shaped portion. An upper seal portion is provided in an upper seal gap joined to an upper thrust gap. The lower portion of the sleeve portion includes a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion positioned below the large-diameter portion. The sleeve portion includes a communication path joined to the upper seal gap. The communication path includes an opening portion opened in a border between the large-diameter portion and the small-diameter portion. The outer peripheral portion of the lower opposing portion includes an outer periphery protrusion portion radially opposed to the small-diameter portion and axially opposed to the large-diameter portion.

Bearing mechanism, motor and disk drive apparatus

In a bearing apparatus, a first cup portion defining a portion of a stationary portion of a bearing apparatus includes a circular plate portion and a cylindrical portion projecting downward from an outer edge portion of the circular plate portion. A rotating portion of the bearing apparatus includes an annular recessed portion arranged to accommodate at least a lower end portion of the cylindrical portion. Accordingly, it is possible to limit the axial dimension of the bearing apparatus while also enabling a radial dynamic pressure groove array. Additionally, one end of a through hole defined in the rotating portion is arranged to open into the annular recessed portion.

A bearing apparatus includes stationary and rotating portions. The stationary portion includes a stationary shaft and a first cup portion. The rotating portion includes an annular recessed portion and first and second inner circumferential surfaces. Lubricating oil is arranged in a gap between the stationary and rotating portions. An upper surface of the lubricating oil is located between the second inner circumferential surface and an outer circumferential surface of the first cup portion. A lower surface of the lubricating oil is located between the rotating and stationary portions. The rotating portion further includes a through hole filled with the lubricating oil. One of the first cup portion and the rotating portion includes a pumping groove array arranged thereon to cause the lubricating oil to flow toward one end of the through hole during rotation of the rotating portion.

A bearing apparatus includes a shaft, a thrust cup including an annular potion and a cylindrical portion, a rotating member including a through hole defined therein, and a lubricating oil. A second gap defined between a lower surface of the rotating member and an upper surface of the annular portion of the thrust cup includes a first region in communication with a capillary seal portion, and a second region positioned radially inward of the first region and having an axial dimension smaller than that of the first region. A lower end portion of the through hole is open at a location radially outwardly away from a boundary between the first and second regions, so that a local circulation of the lubricating oil arises within the first region during rotation of the rotating member.

In a bearing apparatus, a first cup portion defining a portion of a stationary portion of a bearing apparatus includes a circular plate portion and a cylindrical portion projecting downward from an outer edge portion of the circular plate portion. A rotating portion of the bearing apparatus includes an annular recessed portion arranged to accommodate at least a lower end portion of the cylindrical portion. Accordingly, it is possible to limit the axial dimension of the bearing apparatus while also enabling both a radial dynamic pressure groove array and a pumping groove array to have a sufficient axial dimension. Additionally, one end of a through hole defined in the rotating portion is arranged to open into the annular recessed portion, so that any air bubbles introduced into a lubricating oil by the pumping groove array can be efficiently caused to flow downward through the through hole and out of the bearing apparatus.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Kunio Sakurada