Precision Microrives Adds Ultra-low Profile Coin Brushless Vibration Motor For Handheld Alerting

April 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Precision Microdrives has recently added within its Precision Haptic™ range, an ultra low profile brushless coin vibration motor. This coin motor uses a brushless design where the commutation signals are generated by an integrated circuit that feeds a pair of stationary voice coils. The rotating portion contains a magnetic rotor plate with 4 integrated poles that is supported by a central bearing and has an eccentric mass on one side. The voice coils generate varying magnetic fields that interact with the magnetic plate, causing a rotation, and with the eccentric mass a vibration is generated.

The 310-109 coin brushless vibration motor, is Precision’s smallest coin motor in terms of volumetric space used, with dimensions of only Ø10mm diameter and 2mm high. It is electronically commutated and based on an Allegro hall-sensing motor driver IC. Brushless motors like this have the benefit of significantly extended running lifetime, and negligible EMI / RFI radio interference because there is no mechanical commutation mechanism and therefore no chance for sparking. This makes them ideal for demanding, long-life hand-held applications where the vibration motor is likely to see a large number of operational cycles between servicing.

Long-life miniature vibration motors like the 310-109 are used in demanding haptic feedback applications where the motor must function with high duty cycle loads between servicing intervals. Vibrating motors offer an excellent way to augment traditional alerting functions like buzzers, sounders, lamps and LEDS.

This operator alerting function is the basis for Precision’s Pico Haptic™and Precision Haptic™ range of vibration motors. This wide range of motors comes in many form factors and sizes to make design integration as easy as possible. Precision Microdrives offer a particularly wide range of PCB mounted vibration motors and coin vibration motors.

The brushless coin vibration motor is rated at 3v DC, with a working range between 2.5v and 3.6v. At 3v, the motor runs at 11,000 RPM (184 Hz), whilst typically producing 0.65g (6.38 m/s²) of vibration. The motor is based on a 4-pole neodymium magnetic plate which interacts with static voice-coils. Typical current draw is around 90mA which offers a vibration efficiency of 2.5 g/W output. Typical operating temperatures are -20°C to +70°C, though these can be extended by request, and the motor is quiet with a typical audible noise level of less than 50dBA. Like all Precision Microdrives coin motor products, this motor comes with AWG32 flying leads. These can be modified upon request, and the company also customise motors with connectors on request.

The main opportunity to use vibration motors in this way, and vibration tactile feedback in general (also known as haptic feedback) comes from scenarios where users can’t see or hear the device. The silent ringing-profile in cell phones and pagers is a great example of where vibration tactile feedback warns users in a wide range of situations, no matter where the device is actually located.

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About Precision Microdrives
Precision Microdrives carries the worlds most comprehensive range off-the-shelf range of DC vibration motors over 3 ranges, from 4mm diameter to 60mm diameter. All standard motors are available for same day dispatch, worldwide.

The company have successfully introduced many best practice methods of adding / integrating vibration motors into new and existing products. Our website offers a lot of that detailed best practice knowledge freely for easy and quick viewing.

The company are proud of their experienced customer engineering support team which offer help to designers, engineers and production teams, as they integrate vibration feedback into their designs and products. They can also guide customers through custom modifications from minimum order quantities of 100 pcs upwards. Precision’s engineering team can be reached directly via enquiries@precisionmicrodrives.com, and typically offer less than a 24 hour turn-around on technical enquiries.