Abstract

Recently, the need for subminiature storage systems has increased with the diversification of portable devices. An actuator for small optical disk drives has to satisfy performance requirements such as higher access speed, lower power consumption, and smaller size [1, 2]. The coarse actuators that are used in small optical disk drives can be classified into two types: rotary and linear. In rotary actuators, The actuator arm assembly carries not only the focusing mechanism but also the entire optical system. Therefore, the focusing mechanism and optical system must be lightweight. A new mechanism is required for the focusing motion due to the structural differences between rotary and conventional actuators [3]. In case of applying a rotary actuator to a coarse actuator, focusing mechanisms can be classified into two types by suspending types: hinge and suspension. The hinge type using voice coil motor (VCM) is moved like a seesaw motion. In this type, the hinge design and the selection of a material type are important for dynamic characteristics of an actuator [2, 4]. In this paper, we proposed the miniaturized rotary type VCM actuator that had an effective focusing mechanism and secured sufficient bandwidth for small form factor (SFF) optical disk drive (ODD). Initial model was designed by electromagnetic (EM) and structural analyses. Such a model was improved using design of experiments (DOE) procedure based on a Blu-ray disk (BD) 1x specifications. The improved dynamic performance of the redesigned actuator is evaluated by dynamic experiments.

© 2005 Optical Society of America