Feasibility Study on the New Structure of a Spindle Motor for Hard Disk Drive

This paper presents the new structure of a spindle motor for hard disk drive (HDD). It can produce axial force as well as torque without a pulling plate or a pulling magnet required for the normal operation of a hydrodynamic bearing in rotating-shaft structure. The proposed models have different air gap length along the axial direction by changing the thickness of permanent magnet (PM). One has a single slope and the other has double slopes on the surface of PM. For the design of the proposed models, variables are defined and its effects on the motor performances are investigated by 3-demensional finite element analysis (FEA). The equi-performance curves are investigated for the main characteristics of the spindle motor such as generated torque, axial force and torque ripple ratio. The validity of the proposed models is verified by the feasibility study and performance evaluation.