Motor

Abstract

An axial gap between an annular projection of a rotor hub of a rotary unit and a sliding seal is set to be smaller than an axial gap between an axially upper face of a shaft and a cover of the rotor hub and an axially gap between an axially lower end face of a sleeve and an axially upper face of a radially-extending part of a bush. Thus, only the annular projection and the sliding seal come into contact with each other, even if the rotary unit moves downward in the axial direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a motor according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, taken along a plane parallel to its axial direction.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the motor, surrounded by an ellipse of alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a movement regulating portion of the motor, surrounded by a circle of dotted line in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows relationships among gaps between a fixed unit and a rotary unit of the motor of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of the motor around a bearing.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a motor according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, taken along a plane including its axial direction.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion of the motor around a bearing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a motor manufacturing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an assembly diagram, showing Step S1 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an assembly diagram, showing Step S2 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is an assembly diagram, showing Step S3 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 12 is an assembly diagram, showing Step S4 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 13 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary conventional motor, taken along a plane including its axial direction.

Claims

1. A motor comprising a fixed unit, a rotary unit, and a bearing supporting the rotary unit in a rotatable manner relative to the fixed unit, wherein one of the fixed unit and the rotary unit has an approximately cylindrical bearing hole closed at one of its axial ends, and the other includes a shaft received in the bearing hole in a rotatable manner,the bearing contains gas as lubricating fluid in the bearing hole and includes a radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism which, by rotating in a predetermined direction, generates a radial supporting force and increases a static pressure of the gas between an axial end of the shaft axially opposed to the closed end of the bearing hole and the closed end of the bearing hole,the fixed unit includes a first contact portion arranged radially outside the radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism, and the rotary unit includes a second contact portion axially opposed to the first contact portion, anda size of an axial gap between the first and second contact portions is smaller than a size of an axial gap between the closed end of the bearing hole and the axial end of the shaft.

2. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the rotary unit includes a rotor hub for supporting a rotatable object, and the fixed unit includes a stator for generating a rotating magnetic field and a bush for holding the stator, andthe first contact portion is an axially upper face of one of the bush and the stator and the second contact portion is an axially lower face of the rotor hub.

3. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the rotary unit includes a rotor hub rotating around the rotation axis, and the fixed unit includes a stator for generating a rotating magnetic field, a bush for holding the stator, and a sliding member arranged on an axially upper face of the bush, andthe first contact portion is an axially upper face of the sliding member and the second contact portion is an axially lower face of the rotor hub.

4. The motor according to claim 3, wherein the sliding member is annularly arranged around the rotation axis.

5. The motor according to claim 3, wherein the sliding member is formed of fluorine resin.

6. The motor according to claim 3, wherein the sliding member is approximately annular or arc-shaped, andthe bush is provided with an annular cylindrical wall arranged radially inside the sliding member, the annular cylindrical wall extending toward the rotor hub.

7. The motor according to claim 3, wherein the stator includes a stator core and a coil formed by winding a wire around the stator core, the stator core having a plurality of magnetic steel sheets axially stacked and being secured to the bush, andthe sliding member covers at least a part of the axially upper face of the bush and at least a part of an axially upper face of the stator core.

8. The motor according to claim 1, wherein an axially extending gap is formed between a surface of the fixed unit and a surface of the rotating unit that are radially opposed to each other, is arranged radially outside the radial dynamic pressure mechanism to surround the radial dynamic pressure mechanism, and is connected to a gap formed between an outer circumferential surface of the shaft and a surface defining the bearing hole opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft, and the axially extending gap is in communication with outside air at one of its axial ends.

9. The motor according to claim 8, wherein another axial gap is formed between the axially extending gap and the gap between the outer circumferential surface of the shaft and the surface defining the bearing hole, and has an axial size larger than a size of the axially extending gap and a size of the gap between the outer circumferential surface of the shaft and the surface defining the bearing hole.

10. The motor according to claim 8, wherein the axially extending gap has an axial size larger than a size of the axial gap between the first and second contact portions.

11. The motor according to claim 1, wherein the rotary unit includes: a rotor hub rotating around the rotation axis and having a cover opposed to the axial end of the shaft and a hub cylindrical portion; and a hollow, approximately cylindrical sleeve secured to an inner circumferential surface of the hub cylindrical portion and having an inner circumferential surface that forms together with an outer circumferential surface of the shaft the radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism, andthe cover of the rotor hub is axially opposed to an axially upper face of the sleeve with an axial gap interposed therebetween.

12. The motor according to claim 11, wherein the rotor hub is provided with an increased-thickness portion between the cover and the hub cylindrical portion, the increased-thickness portion being radially opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft with a radial gap interposed therebetween.

13. The motor according to claim 11, wherein the rotary hub is provided with an increased-thickness portion between the cover and the hub cylindrical portion, the increased-thickness portion being radially opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft with a radial gap interposed therebetween, and an axially lower face of the increased-thickness portion is opposed to the axially upper face of the sleeve with an axial gap interposed therebetween.

14. The motor according to claim 13, wherein a step is formed in the axially lower face of the increased-thickness portion in such a manner that a part of the axially lower face of the increased-thickness portion radially outside the step is closer to the axially upper face of the sleeve than another part of the axially lower face of the increased-thickness portion radially inside the step.

15. The motor according to claim 11, wherein the rotor hub is provided with a recess that is concave radially outward, thereby forming a radial gap between an outer circumferential surface of the sleeve and the rotor hub.

16. The motor according to claim 13, wherein the rotor hub is provided with a recess that is concave radially outward, thereby forming a radial gap between an outer circumferential surface of the sleeve and the rotor hub.

17. A motor comprising a fixed unit, a rotary unit, and a bearing supporting the rotary unit in a rotatable manner relative to the fixed unit, wherein one of the fixed unit and the rotary unit has an approximately cylindrical bearing hole closed at one of its axial ends, and the other includes a shaft received in the bearing hole in a rotatable manner around a rotation axis,the bearing contains gas as lubricating fluid in the bearing hole, and includes a radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism which, by rotating in a predetermined direction, obtains a radial supporting force and increases a static pressure of the gas between an axial end of the shaft opposed to the closed end of the bearing hole and the closed end of the bearing hole,an axially extending gap is formed between a surface of the fixed unit and a surface of the rotary unit that are radially opposed to each other, and is arranged radially outside the radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism to surround the radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism, andthe axially extending gap is connected to a gap between an outer surface of the shaft and a surface defining the bearing hole and is in communication with outside air at one of its axial ends.

18. The motor according to claim 17, wherein one of the fixed unit and the rotary unit includes a hollow, approximately cylindrical sleeve having an inner circumferential surface opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft, the sleeve forming the radial dynamic pressure generating mechanism, andthe axially extending gap contains an outer circumferential surface of the sleeve.

19. A manufacturing method of a motor including a fixed unit and a rotary unit, the fixed unit including: a shaft serving as a rotation axis and having an outer circumferential surface as a bearing face; a bush holding the shaft; and a stator secured to the bush, the rotary unit including: a sleeve having an inner circumferential surface as another bearing face that is radially opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the shaft; a rotor magnet rotating around the rotation axis and opposed to the stator; and a rotor hub holding the sleeve and directly or indirectly holding the rotor magnet, the rotor hub including an inner circumferential surface for holding an outer circumferential surface of the sleeve and a hollow, approximately cylindrical rotor magnet holding portion for holding the rotor magnet, the manufacturing method comprising: holding the sleeve and the rotor magnet by a first jig that includes a sleeve positioning portion arranged coaxially with the rotation axis and radially and axially positioning the sleeve and a magnet positioning portion arranged coaxially with the sleeve positioning portion and radially and axially positioning the rotor magnet;applying adhesive on the inner circumferential surface of the rotor hub and the rotor magnet holding portion;holding the rotor hub by a second jig arranged axially above the first jig, the second jig arranging the rotor hub coaxially with the rotation axis; andmoving the second jig axially downward to bring the inner circumferential surface of the rotor hub into contact with the outer circumferential surface of the sleeve and bring the rotor magnet holding portion into contact with the rotor magnet.

20. The manufacturing method according to claim 19, wherein the rotor hub is provided with a radially-extending portion axially opposed to the stator and extending radially outward from the inner circumferential surface of the rotor hub,the first jig is provided with a positioning projection to come into contact with an axially lower face of the radially-extending portion, andthe second jig moves to bring the radially-extending portion of the rotor hub into contact with the positioning projection of the first jig, thereby determining positions of the sleeve and the rotor magnet relative to the rotor hub.