Abstract: A brushless DC motor provided with nine slots and eight poles includes a stator including a stator core having pole teeth on the outer circumference thereof and a coil wound around each pole tooth; a rotor disposed at an outside position of the outer circumference of the stator via a gap and having a multiply magnetized permanent magnet with plural magnetic poles; a pole tooth surface formed at a portion of the pole tooth and facing an inner circumference of the rotor; a recessed portion formed on the pole tooth surface; and a slot formed between the adjacent pole teeth and extending a first angular range around a rotational center of the rotor; in which the recessed portion extends in a second angular range around the rotational center of the rotor, the second angular range is 1.2 to 3.0 times the first angular range, the recessed portion has a radial depth which is 0.

Abstract: A spindle motor includes: a stator yoke having a circular cylinder shape; a rotor magnet disposed opposite to the stator yoke with an air gap therebetween; a sheet-like coil disposed at a surface of the stator yoke opposing the rotor magnet; and a bearing structure, wherein the sheet-like coil includes a plurality of individual coils having a spiral-shape and arrayed in a circumferential direction, and a pattern made of a same material as the individual coils and disposed between two adjacent individual coils.

Abstract: A brushless DC motor is provided and includes: a stator assembly; a rotor assembly including a sleeve; a case assembly; and a circuit board assembly which has an electronic component mounted thereon. The case assembly is provided with an opening, the electronic component passes through the opening so as to protrude inside the case assembly, and a groove is formed at an axial end of the sleeve of the rotor assembly in order to prevent the electronic component from making contact with any part of the rotor assembly. Thus, the axial dimension of the brushless DC motor that includes the electronic component disposed to protrude inside the case assembly can be successfully reduced in such a manner that the electronic component is accommodated within the groove. Further, no electronic component is disposed around the outer circumference of the stator assembly and therefore the radial dimension also can be kept small.

Abstract: A brushless DC motor includes a housing having an upper and a lower housings, a stator including a stator core and a coil wound around the stator core, a rotor rotatably disposed in the stator, an annular terminal block disposed at an axial side of the stator and having an axially protruding terminal connected to an end of the coil, a disc-shaped substrate holding the annular terminal block with the stator and having a sensor IC and a driving circuit, the substrate provided with a fitting portion closely fitted by the terminal, wherein the terminal of the terminal block is closely fitted into the fitting portion of the substrate and the end of the coil is electronically connected to the substrate via a portion in which the end of the coil is connected to the terminal.

Abstract: In a small diameter stepping motor including two stator units each including a bobbin formed of an insulating material, each bobbin includes: a circular hollow cylinder portion having a winding; two flanges disposed respectively at the both ends of the cylinder portion; and a terminal structure disposed at one of the two flanges and including two terminal blocks and a pair of electrical contact members at which the lead-out lines of the winding are terminated, wherein the two terminal blocks are circumferentially shifted in position from each other with respect to the cylinder portion axis extend axially outwardly, and the terminal blocks of one bobbin intermesh with the terminal blocks of the other bobbin such that the terminal blocks of the one bobbin overhang a part of the winding wound on the other bobbin and vice versa when the two stator units are coupled to each other.

Abstract: A vibrating motor has a shaft, a stator including a yoke having pole teeth extending toward an axis of the shaft from an inner circumference and coils wound around the pole teeth, a rotor including an eccentric weight formed on a radially outer surface of the shaft, and a permanent magnet integrally formed with the eccentric weight, and a bearing device rotatably supporting the rotor maintaining clearance between the inner circumference of the pole teeth and the rotor. The rotor has a structure in which the shaft, the eccentric weight, and the permanent magnet are integrally formed with each other by a thermoplastic magnetic material composing the permanent magnet.

Abstract: A brushless motor includes: a stator assembly including a stator core which includes a plurality of pole teeth each having a winding therearound; and a rotor assembly including a magnet which has a ring shape, is rotatably disposed so as to oppose the pole teeth of the stator core and which is circumferentially magnetized with a plurality of magnetic poles with opposite polarities alternating with each other, wherein the number of the pole teeth of the stator core is twice the number of the magnetic poles of the magnet such that each magnetic pole opposes a pair of adjacent pole teeth, one pair of adjacent windings have the same number of winding turns and the same winding direction as each other, and wherein another pair of windings located next to the one pair of windings have a winding direction opposite to the winding direction of the one pair of windings.

Abstract: A motor includes a stator having boss portions on an end plate thereof, a front plate provided on an upper surface of the stator, and a band connecting the stator and the front plate. Recess portions are formed adjacent to an outer peripheral edge of the front plate, and a protruding portion is provided in each recess portion. The band has a bottom plate part and attachment parts. The bottom plate part includes notched portions. Each attachment part includes an engagement portion at a tip end thereof which includes a notched portion. The notched portions of the bottom plate part are fitted with the boss portions of the end plate, and the notched portions of the engagement portions are fitted with the protruding portions of the front plate to form engagement hooks at most tip ends of the engagement portions, respectively, thereby connecting the stator and the front plate.

Abstract: A stepping motor includes: a cylindrical rotor assembly disposed around the rotation axis; a stator assembly including two stator units disposed around the rotor assembly and axially coupled to each other; and a terminal structure disposed at the axial center of the outer circumference of the stator assembly. The terminal structure includes: a terminal block cluster composed of four terminal blocks; and four terminals fixed respectively to the four terminal blocks. The four terminals each include: an internal connection portion to which one of two wire ends of the winding is connected; and an external connection portion which is disposed substantially parallel to the internal connection portion and which is connected to a driving circuit disposed externally. The four terminals are arranged in a line along a direction substantially orthogonal to the rotation axis, and the internal connection portion and the external connection portion are aligned along the rotation axis.

Abstract: A bobbin includes a spool portion having a hollow circular cylinder shape and adapted to have a wire wound thereon in multilayer alignment; a flange integrally disposed at one end of the spool portion; and a terminal block integrally disposed at the flange and adapted to terminate the wire, wherein a formula: D×N?D/2?L<D×N+D/2 is established where L is the effective length of the spool portion, D is the diameter of the wire, and N is the number of turns of the wire for the first layer of the multilayer alignment.

Abstract: An actuator includes: a rotary shaft allowed to axially and including a threaded portion at a protruding portion thereof and two idle regions disposed respectively at both ends of the threaded portion; a movable structure adapted to travel along the rotary shaft; a stopper means facing the end of the protruding portion of the rotary shaft and configured to restrict the axial movement of the movable structure located at the idle region; an open space disposed between the stopper means and the end of the rotary shaft and configured to allow the rotary shaft to axially move; an urging means for urging the movable structure toward the motor; and a recovery means for urging the movable structure toward the threaded portion by a magnetic thrust force exerted by cutting off power supply to the motor when the movable structure is in contact with the stopper means.

Abstract: A stator assembly is provided and includes a laminated core and a one-part insulator having cover walls for covering edges of the laminated core, wherein first projections and a second projection both having a height smaller than the difference between the height of the cover walls and the thickness of the laminated core are formed on one side surface of the insulator in such a manner as to make contact with a part of one axial end side surface of the laminated core, whereby a gap which corresponds to the projection distance of the first and second projections and which serves as a clearance space for chips scraped by the edges of the laminated core from the surfaces of the cover walls is provided between the insulator and the laminated core, resulting in ensuring that the insulator is snap-fitted on the laminated core in good shape.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus performs color conversion processing on an input image. The image processing apparatus includes a block pallet conversion unit, a first color converting unit and a restoration unit. The block pallet conversion unit converts the input image in units of blocks into (i) pallet color information including pallet colors number of which is less than pixels included in one of the blocks and (ii) selection information used to select one of the pallet colors for each pixel. The first color converting unit performs color conversion on the pallet color information obtained by the block pallet conversion unit. The restoration unit selects for each pixel, based on the selection information, one of the pallet colors of the pallet color information, which is color-converted by the first color converting unit, to restores an image.

Abstract: A stepping motor includes: a stator which includes a cup-like first (outer) yoke having a plurality of notches formed at its bottom plate, a second (inner) yoke, and a bobbin having a coil wound therearound and housed in the annular hollow space formed by the first and second yokes; and a pair of bearings each of which includes a hollow-cylindrical main body and a flange structure having a plurality of protrusions, and is attached to the stator such that the protrusions engage with the notches of the first yoke thereby preventing the bearing from rotating relative to the first yoke, and such that the protrusions make contact with a flange of the bobbin thereby precisely positioning the bearing relative to the first yoke with respect to the axial direction, which prohibits any portions of the bearing from protruding axially outwardly beyond the bottom plate of the first yoke.

Abstract: A fan apparatus is provided and includes: a housing having a hollow cylindrical shape; a circuit board holding structure which is disposed in the housing so as to be located at the radially central part of the housing and which includes a plurality of slits extending axially; a circuit board disposed inside the circuit board holding structure in parallel with the axial direction; a plurality of fixed blades disposed so as to bridge between the housing and the circuit board holding structure; and a motor which includes a rotary shaft and an impeller and which is disposed at the front end of the circuit board holding structure, wherein the impeller is connected to the rotary shaft so as to move air.

Abstract: An actuator includes: a rotary shaft allowed to axially and including a threaded portion at a protruding portion thereof and two idle regions disposed respectively at both ends of the threaded portion; a movable structure adapted to travel along the rotary shaft; a stopper means facing the end of the protruding portion of the rotary shaft and configured to restrict the axial movement of the movable structure located at the idle region; an open space disposed between the stopper means and the end of the rotary shaft and configured to allow the rotary shaft to axially move; an urging means for urging the movable structure toward the motor; and a recovery means for urging the movable structure toward the threaded portion by a magnetic thrust force exerted by cutting off power supply to the motor when the movable structure is in contact with the stopper means.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus performs color conversion processing on an input image based on an attribute of the input image, such as if the image is text or a drawing. An image is reduced, and the color conversion is performed. The color converted image is then enlarged. The image is then output by a computer or stored.

Abstract: A motor for driving a color wheel includes: a main body including a rotor with a shaft, a housing having a cylindrical shape, and a front plate disposed at one axial end of the main body, from which one end portion of the shaft protrudes; a color wheel attachment structure fitted around the protruding end portion of the shaft; at least one position signal generating means disposed at a surface of the color wheel attachment structure facing the front plate; a relay board extending radially outwardly from inside the main body so as to protrude from the circumferential wall of the housing and functioning to guide out lead wires of windings of the motor; and a rotational position detecting means disposed at a portion of the relay board located inside the main body, and facing the position signal generating means thereby receiving a signal from the position signal generating means.

Abstract: A spindle motor includes: a stator yoke having a circular cylinder shape; a rotor magnet disposed opposite to the stator yoke with an air gap therebetween; a sheet-like coil disposed at a surface of the stator yoke opposing the rotor magnet; and a bearing structure, wherein the sheet-like coil includes a plurality of individual coils having a spiral-shape and arrayed in a circumferential direction, and a pattern made of a same material as the individual coils and disposed between two adjacent individual coils.

Abstract: A rotor includes: a magnet having a circular cylinder shape and having a hole formed through its axial center, wherein the hole has in axial cross section a regular polygonal shape having flat portions and angle portions, and wherein a recess having a truncated cone shape is disposed at an axial end of the magnet such that the recess has its maximum diameter portion located at the axial end and has its minimum diameter portion communicating with the hole; and a shaft fitted in the hole of the magnet, wherein the outer circumference of the shaft makes contact with the flat portions of the hole of the magnet thereby forming a plurality of gaps between the outer circumference of the shaft and the angle portions of the hole of the magnet, and adhesive is filled in the gaps.