International Business Machines Corporation

Western Digital Corporation

Frontier Wind, Llc.

Pemstar, Inc.

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Symbol Technologies, LLC

Benchmark Electronics Limited

Peter E Brooks

Lance A Gabrielson

Nathan John Burgess

Myron Floyd Miller

Carl D Wittenberg

Gerald Daniel Malagrino, Jr

James M Rigotti

Gregory Michael Frees

Daniel Robert Stacer

John R Reidenbach

Thomas Jay Green

Jeffrey E Mason

David F Glaess

Kevin Jon Pitkin

Mark E Troutman

Mark Braithwaite

Jerome McConnell

Kimberly G Jan

A fiber optic connector assembly has an MT connector. The MT connector has a housing. A first slot is formed in a front surface of the housing. The first slot extends across a width of the front surface of the housing and partially down a length of the housing. A pair of slots is formed in a rear surface of the housing. The pair of slots extends across a width of the rear surface of the housing and partially down the length of the housing. An aperture is formed through a side surface of the housing and between the pair of slots. The aperture extends completely through the housing. An opening is formed in a central area of the rear surface of the housing and in communication with the aperture. A channel is formed between the first slot and the aperture connecting the first slot to the aperture. At least one securing pin is formed within the first slot.

MT connector assembly and method therefor

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for actuating one or more load management devices on a wind turbine and/or a wind turbine blade. Each actuator may exhibit one or more beneficial qualities including appropriate actuation speed/force characteristics, size and/or weight characteristics, and/or increased reliability and consistent operation in a variety of operating conditions. According to some aspects, the actuator may be a direct pneumatic actuator, a ramp slide pneumatic actuator, a scissor actuator, a linear induction actuator, a belt actuator, a closed cam follower actuator, a screw drive actuator, a solenoid actuator, a rack and pinion actuator, a cylindrical cam follower actuator, a Y-belt actuator, an offset rotary drive actuator, a tape style actuator, a rigid tape actuator, a deformable membrane actuator, a memory alloy actuator, and/or a crank slide actuator.

Actuation mechanisms for load management devices on aerodynamic blades

A mounting arrangement for a load compensating device is provided. The mounting arrangement includes a cover sheet connected to a housing via a plurality of protrusions. The cover sheet may form a portion of a surface of an airfoil rotor blade. The housing may include a plurality of clamps extending outward from the housing and configured to contact an inner surface of the airfoil rotor blade. By tightening the clamps onto the interior surface, the device is mounted to the blade and the cover sheet may deform to correspond to the airfoil geometry of the airfoil rotor blade. The mounting arrangement may further include a mounting plate configured to permit the housing to float within the aperture formed in the airfoil rotor blade, and a tab arranged on one end of the mounting plate to distribute centrifugal force to the surface of the airfoil rotor blade.

Mounting arrangement for load compensating device

A taut, torsional flexure is used in a compact drive for scanning light and is of beneficial use in a lightweight, compact image projection module, especially for mounting in a housing having a light-transmissive window, the module being operative for causing selected pixels in a raster pattern to be illuminated to produce an image of high resolution of VGA quality in color.

Taut, torsional flexure and a compact drive for, and method of, scanning light using the flexure

A dispensation device having a nozzle defining a chamber and a dispensation orifice which communicates with the chamber. A transfer pin is moveably received within the chamber and moveable between a retracted position and a dispensing position. In the dispensing position, a portion of the contact end extends out of the chamber through the dispensation orifice. A driven element contacts the transfer pin, with the drive element magnetically coupled to a driven element. A drive element is oriented to magnetically move the driven element and thus magnetically position the transfer pin.

Fluid dispenser

The subject invention includes a coupling device for coupling a tooling arm to a robotic arm assembly. The coupling device includes a sensing mechanism which monitors relative distances within the coupling device in order to detect displacement in the coupling device. The coupling device also includes an adjustment method for setting the level of force required to execute a breakaway between the items being coupled, while providing a minimum magnetic holding force great enough to assure that robotic arm accelerations and de-accelerations can not cause the inertia or momentum to dislodge the tooling arm from the robotic arm assembly.

Magnetically attached robotic breakaway

A disk drive is usable in a chassis having first and second guide channels mounted on side surfaces of the chassis. The disk drive includes a head disk assembly that includes first and second side walls. The disk drive further includes first and second side rails and a securing system for securing the side rails to the side walls. The first and second side rails engage the first and second guide channels, respectively, for supporting the disk drive within the chassis. The securing system includes an engagement mechanism and a double-sided adhesive resilient mechanism. The engagement mechanism projects between the first and second side rails and the first and second side walls, respectively, of the head disk assembly. The double-sided adhesive resilient mechanism is adhesively attached between the first side rail and the first side wall and between the second side rail and the second side wall for mounting the first and second side rails to the first and second side walls, respectively, of the head disk assembly. The securing system provides for relative movement between the side rails and the side walls to accommodate the side rails engaging the guide channels in the chassis. In one embodiment, the relative movement is a damped relative movement.

Disk drive including resilient securing system providing relative movement between side rails and head disk assembly to accommodate side rails engaging guide channels in a chassis

A spindle motor for a disk drive includes a shaft, a stator, a hub, an upper bearing, a lower bearing, means for defining a gap and an ionization source. The stator is concentrically positioned about the shaft. The upper and lower bearings rotatably maintain the hub relative to the shaft and each include a plurality of balls, each ball made from a high resistivity material. The ionization source ionizes air in the gap for allowing static electric charge to dissipate through a conductive path provided by the ionized air in the gap.

Disk drive spindle motor with embedded ionizing source for static charge

A method of centering a disk pack on a base rotatably supporting the disk pack includes performing a series a steps while the disk pack is rotating. A reference timing signal is generated. A first imbalance in the rotating disk pack is detected, and a first imbalance signal is produced. The first imbalance signal is correlated with the reference timing signal to produce a first correlation value, which indicates a location of the first imbalance relative to the reference timing signal. Based upon the first correlation value, a first impact is applied to the base, causing the base to shift relative to the disk pack. As a result of the first impact, the first imbalance moves to a second imbalance. The second imbalance is detected, and a second imbalance signal is produced. The second imbalance signal is correlated with the reference timing signal to produce a second correlation value, which indicates a location of the second imbalance relative to the reference timing signal. A phase compensation value is also determined, based upon the first and second correlation values. The phase compensation value indicates a phase difference between an actual location of the first imbalance and a desired location of the first imbalance when the first impact was applied. Based upon the phase compensation value, a second impact is applied to the base, again causing the base to shift relative to the disk pack.

Method of centering a disk pack of a disk drive

A head disk assembly includes a base, a cover attached to the base and a spindle motor mounted to the base. The spindle motor includes a shaft, an inner cylindrical portion surrounding the shaft, and an outer cylindrical portion surrounding the inner cylindrical portion. The outer cylindrical portion has an annular surface and the inner cylindrical portion has a cylindrical surface which extends above the annular surface. The head disk assembly also includes a disk mounted on the spindle motor such that the disk surrounds the outer cylindrical portion; the disk includes a recording surface which is substantially co-planar with the annular surface. The head disk assembly also includes a disk clamp for clamping the disk to the spindle motor and a washer positioned between the disk clamp and the recording surface for transferring radial loads to the inner cylindrical portion of the spindle motor. The washer includes an inner perimeter which defines a plurality of segments, each segment bounded by a pair of openings and each segment having a contact surface such that each contact surface contacts a respective portion of the cylindrical surface of the inner cylindrical portion.

Head disk assembly having a washer between a disk clamp and disk and

A system for balancing devices having motors and rotating masses to be coupled to the motors utilizes a momentum transfer mechanism to shift the rotating mass based on sensed imbalance. In this manner the mass is shifted to a position which accounts for the inherent imbalance in both the motor and the mass. A controller receives imbalance information from a velocity sensor and controls a solenoid to strike a base coupled to the motor to shift a lightly clamped mass relative to the motor. In one embodiment, a disk drive has disks initially biased by the system against a hub, and then shifted during rotation to create a disk drive having concentrically aligned disks offsetting imbalance inherent in a motor used to rotate the disks. In one embodiment, the disks are held to the hub by a clamp having screws. The screws are driven simultaneously through the same angle of rotation to ensure that the axial clamping force of each one is substantially equal. In a further embodiment, the screws are formed of a heat shrink material, and shrunk following initial light tightening to provide consistent axial clamping force.

Rotating mass balancing system

A direct access storage device includes a base, a spindle and a hub supporting at least one data storage disk. The hub is mounted for rotation about the spindle by a motor having a bearing assembly. The device also preferably comprises an enclosure which contains the spindle and the hub. An annular member is secured to the hub and surrounds the spindle. The annular member has an upper and lower portion defined by a radial cavity which is open to the spindle. The lower portion is closer to the bearing assembly than the upper portion. The upper portion is exposed to ambient gas within the enclosure. Each of the upper and lower portions have an inside diameter surface facing the spindle with a gap therebetween. The upper portion has a vent hole in fluid communication with the radial cavity. The vent hole is positioned away from the end to the radial cavity to define a containment volume. The gap between the inside surface of the upper portion and the spindle is larger than the gap between the inside surface of the lower portion and the spindle. The gap between the inside surface of the upper portion and the spindle accommodates passage of gas therebetween. The gas passes between the inside surface of the upper portion and the spindle, into the radial cavity and through the vent hole.

Seal for disk drives

A head disk assembly ('HDA') comprises an enclosure including a base and a pivot bearing cartridge having a shaft and a outer shell rotatable about the shaft. The outer shell has a cylindrical surface. The shaft is affixed to the base at a predetermined location. The enclosure has an internal volume with a limited height above the predetermined location. The cartridge has an elongated portion in the volume, the elongated portion having a height approximately equal to the limited height. The HDA further comprises a plurality of rotating disks, each having at least one recording surface. The HDA further comprises an arm stack comprising a plurality of arms, and a plurality of head gimbal assemblies. Each arm has a stacking portion and a cantilever portion. Each head gimbal assembly has one end attached to the cantilever portion of a respective arm and has an opposite end positioned adjacent a recording surface. Each stacking portion includes a first spring element and a second spring element, the spring elements being positioned to define a generally C-shaped bearing surface, the first spring element including a first compression-receiving surface and the second spring element including a second compression-receiving surface, each C-shaped bearing surface contacting a portion of the cylindrical surface. The HDA further comprises an overmolded coil assembly that includes a coil portion and an arcuate wall portion, the coil portion projecting perpendicularly from the wall portion and the wall portion including a first compression-supplying surface and second compression-supplying surface. The arcuate wall portion compressively locks the plurality of arms to the cartridge with each of a plurality of spaced-apart portions of the first compression-supplying surface compressively abutting the first compression-receiving surface of each arm in the arm stack, and each of a plurality of spaced-apart portions of the second compression-supplying surface compressively abutting the second compression-receiving surface of each arm in the arm stack. The arcuate wall portion has a height approximately equal to the height of the elongated portion of the cartridge, and the height of the arm stack is approximately equal to the limited height.

Stacked arms assembled in a head disk assembly

A disk drive includes a disk, a magnetic transducer, and a rotary actuator arrangement for positioning the magnetic transducer over a selected area of the disk. The rotary actuator arrangement includes a head stack assembly including a body portion and a plastic arm having an arm surface, a first end and a distal end, with the first end being attached to the body portion. The head stack assembly further includes a load beam for supporting the transducer. The load beam has a plurality of mounting sites, an arm-facing surface, and a retention surface. The head stack assembly further includes a plurality of plastic binding structures that secure the load beam to the arm. Each plastic binding structure has a shaft portion projecting through a respective one of the mounting sites, has a bonding portion forming a homogeneous plastic bond with the arm surface, and has a retention portion abutting the retention surface; whereby the load beam is securely attached to the plastic arm.

Head stack assembly incorporating plastic binding structure and method

A spindle motor shaft having variable geometrical features for adjusting the torsion mode frequency of the shaft/stator assembly. The variable geometric features allow the torsion mode frequency to be tuned away from the driving force frequency of the motor. Variable geometrical features for the shaft may include circumferential grooves, radial slots cut through the shaft, or transverse holes disposed along the axis of the shaft. The radial slots have a longitudinal axis that is parallel to the axis of the shaft. Where circumferential grooves are used, the circumferential grooves may be designed to form a locator region along the shaft axis to promote axial alignment of the shaft and stator. Thermal track-misregistration (TMR) or screw torque problems are not introduced in the process of reducing or eliminating the acoustic problem thereby establishing a torsion mode frequency which is not subject to change due to temperature or time. Further, the removal of material from the shaft reduces the torsional stiffness of the shaft and lowers the torsion mode frequency of the shaft. Finally, the use of circumferential grooves prevents the wicking of excess epoxy up the shaft by the movement of the stator during the assembly/manufacturing process, which may lead to an undesirable increase in the stiffness.

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Peter E Brooks