Ikuo Nakano

Study of Lubricant Depletion Induced by Laser Heating in Thermally Assisted Magnetic Recording Systems—Effect of Lubricant Film Materials

Thermally assisted magnetic recording (TAMR) is one of the novel technologies that are employed for achieving magnetic recording densities higher than 1 Tb/in2. With regard to this novel technology, it has been suggested that there exists a critical head-disk interface (HDI) issue associated with the use of ultrathin liquid lubricant films on the disk surface. This problem is attributed to the fact that these films are heated to high temperatures by using laser beams in order to reduce magnetic coercivity. In this study, a fundamental research on the lubricant depletion caused due to laser heating in TAMR systems was conducted. That is, the effect of lubricant film materials on lubricant depletion was investigated. In this experimental study, four types of lubricant film materials-Zdol2000, Zdol4000, Ztetraol2000, and A20H2000-were used, and the differences in the characteristics of lubricant depletion for each tested lubricant film were investigated. The effect of the molecular weight as well as the end group of the lubricant on the lubricant depletion was discussed and clarified by analyzing the obtained experimental results. In addition, it was found that the depletion characteristics of ultrathin liquid lubricant films could be explained by using experimental results obtained from the thermogravimetric analysis for each bulk lubricant material.

Investigation on force transmission of direct-drive thorax unit with four ultrasonic motors for a flapping microaerial vehicle

We fabricated a trial version of a thorax unit with four ultrasonic motors (USMs) to simulate a dragonfly-scale flapping micro aerial vehicle (MAV). Each wing was directly driven by a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) transmission. An in-house tiny standing-wave USM capable of bidirectional rotation, which weighs just 0.13 g, was employed on trial. The transmission of the thorax unit converts the two USM rotations into strokes and flip motions of the wing. By implementing two 70-mm-long wings, we fabricated a prototype of a 4-DOF MAV and tested its performance. In a lift-compensated situation, upward, forward, and backward movements of the MAV were obtained. The flapping angular velocity was discussed based on quasi-static wing aerodynamics and was accountable for the motor power. Although the power of the USM should be improved, the quick wing drivability, adequate power transmission on the thorax unit, and potential of a 0.2 W motor power in a unidirectional-type USM promise the viability of a direct-drive multi-DOF dragonfly-scale MAV. Graphical Abstract