JP4724086B2 - Hydrodynamic bearing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hydrodynamic bearing device that supports a load by the pressure of lubricating oil filled in a bearing gap between a rotor shaft and a bearing member. The present invention relates to a pressure bearing device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as such a hydrodynamic bearing device, for example, a structure as shown in FIG. 6 is known. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a rotor shaft, and the rotor shaft 10 is configured by forming a flange 10B on the outer periphery of one end of a columnar shaft body 10A. On the other hand, 20 is a cylindrical bearing member into which the rotor shaft 10 is inserted, and one end thereof is sealed with a seal plate 30. The bearing gap 40 formed between the rotor shaft 10 and the bearing member 20 is filled with lubricating oil L, and the rotor shaft 10 is rotatably supported in the bearing member 20 by the pressure of the lubricating oil L. It is like that. A tapered oil supply port 50 communicating with the bearing gap 40 between the rotor shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 10 is formed on the end surface of the bearing member 20 on the opening side.

  Here, as a method for filling the bearing gap 40 of the fluid dynamic bearing device with the lubricating oil L, various methods have been conventionally employed.

  An example thereof will be described with reference to FIG. 7. U is an oil tank placed in a reduced pressure (vacuum) environment, and a large amount of lubricating oil L is stored in the oil tank U. And the opening side of the bearing member 20 to which the rotor shaft 10 is assembled is immersed in the lubricating oil L in the oil tank U in a vacuum environment, and then the environment in which the oil tank U is placed is returned to the atmospheric pressure state. According to this, the lubricating oil L can be filled in the bearing gap 40 having a very small interval without introducing bubbles that adversely affect the rotational performance of the rotor shaft 10.

  However, in the method as described above, since the lubricating oil L adheres to most of the protruding portion of the rotor shaft 10 and the surface of the bearing member 20, the cleaning becomes difficult. In particular, in a hydrodynamic bearing device used in a disk drive device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), if the cleaning of the lubricating oil is incomplete, the lubricating oil may adhere to the disk and hinder data reading and writing. Reliability will be impaired.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the bearing member 20 to which the rotor shaft 10 is assembled is placed in a vacuum environment with the opening side facing upward, and in that state, an appropriate amount of lubricating oil is supplied from the nozzle N of the dispenser to the oil inlet 50. After dropping L, a method of releasing pressure (returning to atmospheric pressure) as in the above example is generally widely performed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-174243 A

  According to the method as disclosed in Patent Document 1, since a large amount of lubricating oil does not adhere to the surface of the bearing device, there is an advantage that cleaning after filling the lubricating oil can be easily performed. The amount of lubricating oil to be filled in the gap depends on the size (opening diameter and depth) of the lubrication port. There is a problem that air corresponding to the shortage of oil is mixed into the bearing gap.

  To solve the above problems, the volume of the lubrication port should be made larger than the total volume of the bearing gap. However, it is difficult to form a large volume lubrication port with a small hydrodynamic bearing device. When the depth is increased, the support length of the rotor shaft is shortened and the rotational accuracy of the rotor shaft is deteriorated.

  In Patent Document 1, there is also an example in which an annular groove is formed around the lubrication port so that the bearing gap can be filled with lubricating oil without being insufficient, and the lubricating oil is held inside the inner periphery of the groove. Although it is disclosed, if all of the lubricating oil remains between the lubrication port and the groove without being filled in the bearing gap, it must be removed completely by cleaning, and if this is incomplete There is a drawback that the remaining lubricating oil adheres to the disk and other separate members.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above. The purpose of the present invention is to lubricate the bearing gap between the rotor shaft and the bearing member without contaminating the surface of the bearing member with the lubricant. An object of the present invention is to provide a hydrodynamic bearing device that can be satisfactorily filled.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention
It has a cylindrical bearing member 2 and a rotor shaft 1 inserted into the bearing member 2, and the bearing gap 4 between the rotor shaft 1 and the bearing member 2 is filled with lubricating oil L. In the hydrodynamic bearing device,
One end in the axial direction of the bearing member 2 is sealed and the other end is opened, and on the opening side, a tapered oil inlet 5 communicating with the bearing gap 4 is formed between the bearing member 2 and the rotor shaft 1.
An annular groove 6 is formed on the end surface of the bearing member 2 on the opening side so as to surround the oil filling port 5 and hold the lubricating oil L to be filled in the bearing gap 4, and an inner periphery 6 </ b> A of the annular groove 6 and the oil filling port While the outer periphery of 5 is substantially the same diameter,
The annular groove 6 is characterized in that an inclined surface 6C is formed between the inner periphery 6A and the outer periphery 6B, which is gradually dug down from the inner periphery 6A toward the outer periphery 6B.

  In addition, the outer periphery 6B of the annular groove 6 is characterized by being a wall surface 6D substantially parallel to the axial direction.

  The inclined surface 6C constituting the annular groove 6 has an angle of 45 to 80 degrees with respect to the axial direction.

  According to the hydrodynamic bearing device according to the present invention, the tapered lubrication port communicating with the bearing gap is formed between the bearing member and the rotor shaft on the opening side of the bearing member. By dripping the lubricating oil into the oil filling port in a vacuum environment, the lubricating oil can be smoothly introduced into the bearing gap by the atmospheric pressure, and the lubricating oil is surrounded by the oil filling port on the end surface of the bearing member on the opening side. Since the annular groove for holding the bearing is formed, the lubricating oil can be retained enough to fill the bearing gap with the lubricating hole and the annular groove without increasing the oil filling port. Therefore, air can be prevented from being mixed into the bearing gap due to insufficient dripping of the lubricating oil without deteriorating the rotational accuracy of the rotor shaft.

  In addition, the inner periphery of the annular groove and the outer periphery of the oil filler port have substantially the same diameter, and the annular groove has an inclined surface that is gradually dug between the inner periphery and the outer periphery from the inner periphery to the outer periphery. Therefore, when filling the bearing gap with lubricating oil, the lubricating oil in the annular groove receives the atmospheric pressure and flows into the oil inlet along the inclined surface without interruption, so there is not much lubricating oil in the annular groove. The lubrication port can be replenished to compensate for the lack of lubricating oil in the lubrication port. Even if the lubricating oil does not fill the bearing gap and remains slightly, this does not stay at the boundary between the annular groove and the lubrication port. Therefore, the remaining oil can be prevented from adhering to the disk or other members without cleaning.

  In particular, since the outer periphery of the annular groove is a wall surface substantially parallel to the axial direction, the lubricating oil is prevented by the wall surface, and the lubricating oil flows out from the annular groove before filling the bearing gap with the lubricating oil. Can be prevented. For this reason, the end face of the bearing member on the outer peripheral side of the annular groove is not contaminated with the lubricating oil, and an effect that the cleaning becomes unnecessary is obtained.

  In addition, since the inclined surface constituting the annular groove is a gentle slope having an angle of 45 to 80 degrees with respect to the axial direction, the lubricating oil can be smoothly transferred from the annular groove to the oil inlet by the action of atmospheric pressure. Can be done.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a fluid dynamic bearing device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a rotor shaft. The rotor shaft 1 is composed of a cylindrical shaft body 1A and a flange 1B formed on the outer periphery of one end thereof. In this example, the flange 1B is fixed to the shaft main body 1A as a separate component from the shaft main body 1A. However, both of them can be integrally formed.

  A cylindrical bearing member 2 rotatably supports the rotor shaft 1 inserted therein, and one end in the axial direction is sealed by a seal plate 3 facing the flange 1B of the rotor shaft.

  In particular, a minute gap bearing gap 4 having a capillary shape is formed between the rotor shaft 1 and the bearing member 2, and the bearing gap 4 is filled with the lubricating oil L and given to the lubricating oil L. A load acting on the rotor shaft 1 is supported by the pressure. As the lubricating oil L, mineral lubricating oil, fatty lubricating oil, hybrid lubricating oil, water-soluble oil, silicon oil, fluorine oil, or the like is used.

  4A is a radial bearing portion for supporting a radial load, and this radial bearing portion 4A is not shown for increasing the pressure of the lubricating oil L on the inner peripheral surface of the bearing member 2 between the shaft body 1A and the bearing member 2. A groove (for example, a herringbone shape) is formed, but such a groove may be formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft main body 1A or on both the shaft main body 1 and the bearing member 2.

  Reference numeral 4B denotes a thrust bearing portion for supporting a thrust load. The thrust bearing portion 4B is shown for increasing the pressure of the lubricating oil L on the axial end surface of the bearing member 2 between the flange 1B and the bearing member 2. A groove (for example, a herringbone shape) is formed. The thrust bearing portion 4B is not limited to forming a herringbone-shaped groove on the bearing member 2, and such a groove may be formed on the flange 1B side or on both the flange 1B and the bearing member 2. .

  On the other hand, on the opening side of the bearing member 2 that is not sealed by the seal plate 3, a tapered oil filler port 5 that communicates with the bearing gap 4 is formed between the rotor shaft 1 and the bearing member 2. In this example, the oil filling port 5 is formed by increasing the opening diameter of the bearing member 2 by tapering one end opening portion.

  An annular groove 6 that surrounds the oil supply port 5 and continues to the opening edge of the oil supply port 5 is formed on the end surface of the bearing member 2 on the opening side. The annular groove 6 serves as a sump for holding the lubricating oil L to be filled in the bearing gap 4 in cooperation with the oil supply port 5, and the inner periphery 6 </ b> A and the outer periphery (opening edge) of the oil supply port 5 are The diameter is approximately the same. In particular, the annular groove 6 is not a groove having a concave cross section, and an inclined surface 6C is formed between the inner periphery 6A and the outer periphery 6B, which is gradually dug from the inner periphery 6A toward the outer periphery 6B, and the outer periphery 6B. Is a wall surface 6D (separate wall surface) substantially parallel to the axial direction.

  That is, as is apparent from FIG. 2, the annular groove 6 has a triangular cross section with the maximum depth at the position of the outer peripheral wall surface 6D, and the angle θ of the inclined surface 6C with respect to the axial direction is 45 degrees to 80 degrees. The angle is preferably set to 45 degrees to 70 degrees.

  As is apparent from FIG. 2, an annular recess 1 </ b> C is formed on the outer periphery of the rotor shaft 1 protruding from the bearing member 2, and the end surface on the outer periphery side of the recess 1 </ b> C and the annular groove 6 in the bearing member 2. And an oil repellent R is applied. For the oil repellent R, a fluorine compound or a silicon compound is used.

  Here, the inner periphery 6A of the annular groove 6 and the outer periphery (opening edge) of the oil filling port 5 have substantially the same diameter. As shown in FIG. 3A, the inclined surface 6C of the annular groove 6 and the oil filling port 5 have a ridge angle 8A. In addition to the continuous ones to be formed, as shown in FIG. 3B, the continuous part of the inclined surface 6C of the annular groove 6 and the oil inlet 5 is a curved surface part 8B (Ru part).

  Further, as described above, the inclined surface 6C of the annular groove 6 and the oil filling port 5 are not completely continuous, and a narrow flat portion 8C is interposed between the both 6 and 5 as shown in FIG. , 5 may be discontinuous. That is, the inner diameter of the annular groove 6 may be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the oil filling port 5. However, if the width W of the flat surface portion 8A (difference between the inner and outer diameters of the oil inlet 5 and the annular groove 6) is increased, the lubricating oil will remain here and contaminate another part. Even when it exists, the width W is preferably 0.5 mm or less. When the angle α (90−θ) of the inclined surface 6C with respect to the plane perpendicular to the axial direction is small, the lubricating oil is smoothly supplied from the annular groove 6 to the oil inlet 5 even if the width W of the plane portion 8C is increased. When the angle α is large and the width W is not sufficiently small, the smooth flow of the lubricating oil is impaired by the flat surface portion 8C. In view of reducing the amount of the lubricant oil remaining on the surface as much as possible, the width W of the flat surface portion 8C is within an allowable range of 0 ≦ W ≦ 0.5 mm.

  Next, a method for filling the bearing gap 4 with the lubricating oil L will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, according to the hydrodynamic bearing device according to the present invention, the rotor shaft 1 is inserted into the bearing member 2, and the seal plate 3 is fixed to one end of the bearing member 2 on the flange 1B side. A bearing unit 7 not filled with the lubricating oil L is formed. And after apply | coating the oil repellent R to the recessed part 1C of the rotor shaft 1 and the end surface of the outer periphery side rather than the annular groove 6 in the bearing member 2, the bearing unit 7 is exposed to a reduced pressure (vacuum) environment, and the bearing clearance 4 After discharging the air, a predetermined amount of lubricating oil L is dropped from the nozzle N of the dispenser to the position of the oil inlet 5 while maintaining the vacuum state.

  The lubricating oil L is dripped in an amount corresponding to the maximum allowable volume in anticipation of the processing accuracy of the bearing gap 4, but the lubricating oil L in an amount corresponding to the maximum allowable volume of the bearing gap 4 can be held only by the oil inlet 5. Therefore, since the annular groove 6 is set to a volume that holds the entire amount of the lubricating oil L in cooperation with the oil inlet 5, the dropped lubricating oil L overflows from the oil inlet 5 and flows into the annular groove 6. It is held by the oil inlet 5 and the annular groove 6.

  Further, the height of the lubricating oil L is generally defined at the position of the recessed portion 1C by the oil repellent R applied to the recessed portion 1C of the rotor shaft 1, and the spread of the lubricating oil L with respect to the radial direction of the bearing member 2 is caused by the annular groove 6. The outer peripheral wall 6D and the oil repellent R applied to the end surface on the outer peripheral side are stopped.

  Thus, when the surrounding environment of the bearing unit 7 is returned to the atmospheric pressure state in a state where the bearing gap 4 is sealed with the fillet of the lubricating oil L, the lubricating oil L in the lubrication port 5 is pushed into the bearing gap 4. At the same time, the lubricating oil L in the annular groove 6 continuously flows into the oil inlet 5 along the inclined surface 6C.

  For this reason, the bearing gap 4 is filled with only the lubricating oil L without mixing air, but when the entire volume of the bearing gap 4 is the lower limit region of the allowable volume, the lubricating oil L is slightly in the annular groove 6. Will remain.

  However, the excess lubricating oil can be easily removed by cleaning, and enters the corner portion where the inclined surface 6C and the outer peripheral wall surface 6D intersect, so that the lubricating oil can be used at the time of use without removing the lubricating oil by cleaning. The possibility of leaking to the outside and adhering to another member such as a disk is extremely low.

  Here, in the present hydrodynamic bearing device obtained as described above, the relationship between the inclination angle of the inclined surface 6C constituting the annular groove 6 and the rotational accuracy of the rotor shaft 1 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the horizontal axis represents the inclination angle (θ shown in FIG. 2) of the inclined surface 6 </ b> C with respect to the axial direction, and the vertical axis represents the shake component (axial runout amount in the radial direction) of the rotor shaft 1.

  As is apparent from this figure, when the angle of the inclined surface 6C is 45 degrees or less, the rotational accuracy of the rotor shaft 1 deteriorates (that is, the deflection component of the rotor shaft 1 increases). This is because when the angle of the inclined surface 6C is 45 degrees or less, the lubricating oil in the annular groove 6 is pressed into the inside when the atmospheric pressure is applied and is not smoothly supplied to the oil filling port 5 side. This is probably because air was mixed in place of the lack of lubricating oil to be filled in the gap 4.

  Therefore, the angle of the inclined surface 6C in the annular groove 6 is preferably 45 degrees or more with respect to the axial direction. FIG. 5 includes data of 90 degrees, that is, a case where the lubricating oil is dropped from the oil filling port 5 without forming the annular groove 6. In this case as well, good rotation accuracy can be obtained, but according to this, the end surface of the bearing body 2 is contaminated with the lubricating oil around the oil filling port 5, and the cleaning and removing operation becomes difficult. Therefore, the formation of the annular groove 6 is extremely effective in that cleaning can be easily or unnecessary, but the annular groove 6 can smoothly fill the bearing gap 4 while holding a predetermined amount of lubricating oil. In view of the above, the inclination angle of the inclined surface 6C with respect to the axial direction is preferably set to 45 to 80 degrees, and more preferably set to 45 to 70 degrees.

  Although the present invention has been described above, the rotor shaft 1 may or may not have the tap hole 1D. The oil filling port 5 can also be formed by reducing the diameter of the shaft body 1A at the opening end position of the bearing member 2.

  Furthermore, the hydrodynamic bearing device according to the present invention can be suitably used not only for HDDs and other disk drive devices, but also for rotation drive units in devices that require highly accurate rotation.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a fluid dynamic bearing device according to the present invention. Partial expanded sectional view which expanded and showed the principal part of the bearing device Explanatory drawing schematically showing the part of the oil inlet and the annular groove Explanatory drawing of filling the bearing gap of the bearing device with lubricating oil Graph showing the relationship between the angle of the inclined surface forming the annular groove and the rotational accuracy of the rotor shaft Longitudinal sectional view showing a conventional hydrodynamic bearing device Explanatory drawing which shows the conventional filling method of lubricating oil Explanatory drawing which shows the other filling method of lubricating oil in the past

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rotor shaft 1A Shaft body 1B Flange 2 Bearing member 3 Seal plate 4 Bearing gap 5 Oil filling port 6 Annular groove 6A Inner circumference of annular groove 6B Outer circumference of annular groove 6C Inclined surface 6D Outer wall surface

Claims (6)

In the hydrodynamic bearing device having a cylindrical bearing member and a rotor shaft inserted into the bearing member, the bearing clearance between the rotor shaft and the bearing member is filled with lubricating oil.
One end in the axial direction of the bearing member is hermetically sealed and the other end is opened, and on the opening side, a tapered oil filler port communicating with the bearing gap is formed between the bearing member and the rotor shaft,
The end face of the opening side of the bearing member, the surround oil port annular groove for retaining the lubricating oil to be filled in the bearing gap is formed, the annular groove, the inner circumference and the oil port of its And continuously formed on the outer periphery of the oil inlet so as to form a ridge angle with the outer periphery of
The hydrodynamic bearing device, wherein the annular groove has an inclined surface that is gradually dug from the inner periphery to the outer periphery between the inner periphery and the outer periphery.   In the hydrodynamic bearing device having a cylindrical bearing member and a rotor shaft inserted into the bearing member, the bearing clearance between the rotor shaft and the bearing member is filled with lubricating oil.
  One end in the axial direction of the bearing member is hermetically sealed and the other end is opened, and on the opening side, a tapered oil filler port communicating with the bearing gap is formed between the bearing member and the rotor shaft,
  An annular groove is formed on an end surface of the bearing member on the opening side so as to surround the oil filling port and hold lubricating oil to be filled in the bearing gap, and an inner periphery of the annular groove and an outer periphery of the oil filling port The continuous part between is formed as a curved curved surface part that is convex toward the annular groove and the oil inlet,
  The hydrodynamic bearing device, wherein the annular groove has an inclined surface that is gradually dug from the inner periphery to the outer periphery between the inner periphery and the outer periphery.   In the hydrodynamic bearing device having a cylindrical bearing member and a rotor shaft inserted into the bearing member, the bearing clearance between the rotor shaft and the bearing member is filled with lubricating oil.
  One end in the axial direction of the bearing member is hermetically sealed and the other end is opened, and on the opening side, a tapered oil filler port communicating with the bearing gap is formed between the bearing member and the rotor shaft,
An annular groove is formed on an end surface of the bearing member on the opening side so as to surround the oil filling port and hold lubricating oil to be filled in the bearing gap, and the annular groove has an inner periphery and an oil filling port. While formed so that the width of the plane portion between the outer periphery is 0.5 mm or less,
  The hydrodynamic bearing device, wherein the annular groove has an inclined surface that is gradually dug from the inner periphery to the outer periphery between the inner periphery and the outer periphery.   The said annular groove and the said oil filler opening are the capacity | capacitances which can hold | maintain lubricating oil of the amount equivalent to the maximum permissible volume which considered the processing precision of the said bearing clearance in cooperation. 2. The hydrodynamic bearing device according to claim 1. The hydrodynamic bearing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an outer periphery of the annular groove is a wall surface substantially parallel to the axial direction. The hydrodynamic bearing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the inclined surface constituting the annular groove has an angle of 45 to 80 degrees with respect to the axial direction.

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