Rotating mass balancing system
US5824898A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 28, 1996 |
| Grant date | Oct 20, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 28, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B19/20
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
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.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.