Fluid Dynamic Bearing Spindle Motors for DLP

The small precision spindle motors in the high value-added products including the visible home appliances such as DLP projector require not only the energy conversion devices but also high efficiency, low vibration and sound operation. However, the spindle motors using the conventional ball bearing and sintered porous metal bearing have following problems, respectively: the vibration by the irregularity of balls and the short motor life cycle by the ball's abrasion and higher sound noises by dry contact between shaft and sleeve. In this paper, it is proposed that the spindle motor with a fluid dynamic bearing is suitable for the motor to drive the color wheel of the DLP(digital lightening processor) in the visible home appliances. The proposed spindle motor is composed of the fluid dynamic bearing with both the radial force and the thrust force. The fluid dynamic bearing is solved by the finite element analysis of the mechanical field with the Reynolds equations. The magnetic part of spindle motor, which is a type of Brushless DC Motor, is designed by the electro-magnetic field analysis coupled with the Maxwell equation. And the load capacity and the friction loss of fluid dynamic bearing are analyzed to bearing clearance variation by the fabrication error in designed motor. The design of the proposed motor is implemented by the load torque caused by the eccentricity and the unbalance of the fluid dynamic bearing when the motors are fabricated in error. The prototype of the motor with the fluid dynamic bearing is manufactured, and experiment results show the vibration, sound, and phase current at no load and color wheel load of the motors in comparison. The high performance characteristics with the low vibration, the low acoustic noise and the optimal mechanical structure are verified by the experimental results.

DLP용 유체동압베어링 스핀들모터