IR Minebea's Glossary

It is a device to convert direct current electricity and electric power into alternating current electricity and power. A back light inverter is one specialized to light backlight. By developing and producing backlight inverters for applications ranging from 10-inch mobile PCs to larger than 60 inch LCD TVs, Minebea responds to a wide spectrum of needs.

For more detailed information, please click Back light inverters

Brush DC motors are the DC (direct current) motor with brush (a part supplying an electric current through a commutator to a turning armature). These motors are mainly used for driving digital AV equipment and PC peripherals, and for automotive electronic components.

For more detailed information, please click Brush DC motors

Bushings are used in a variety of mechanical moving parts on both rotary and fixed wing aircraft. They are used in helicopters, primarily in the main rotor axes, and in landing gear for fixed wing aircraft. Bushings apply originally-developed Teflon liner to the inside of the bore and edge faces to allow for rotation without the need for lubricating agents.

For more detailed information, please click Bushings

This Color wheel, a component of the DLP® projection system, is used in data projectors, projectors for home theater systems, and rear-projection TV sets. It can work in diverse configuration and optical feature environments in answer to the applications.

For more detailed information, please click Color wheels

Fan motors rotate fans to cool the inside of PCs and other office automation (OA) equipment by directing heat outside. Minebea Motor Manufacturing Corporation manufactures high-end fan motors with Minebea ball bearings, and fan motors with long-life sleeve bearings.

For more detailed information, please click Fan motors

Fasteners, including bolts, nuts and rivets, are mechanical components used to fasten one object to another.

For more detailed information, please click Fasteners

In a fluid dynamic bearing (FDB), a thin layer of oil or other lubricant is injected between the shaft and sleeve. The structure of the bearing features a rotating shaft, which generates a hydrodynamic force, causing the shaft to rotate. The non-contact construction of this bearing makes it particularly suited for improving rotational accuracy and enhancing quietness and robustness.

For more detailed information, please click Fluid dynamic bearings (in-house-production parts)

Used in bath scales, various other types of scales, game consoles, home appliances, load sensors, etc., these sensors are sensors for mass production that use strain gages.

For more detailed information, please click Force sensors

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) spindle motors are what cause the disks in HDDs to rotate. The precision of these motors determine the capacity and speed of HDDs, making these components critical to HDD performance. Accordingly, these motors must offer superior performance in terms of rotational speed and low Non-Repeatable Run Out (NRRO).

For more detailed information, please click HDD spindle motors

Built up from bearings and machined parts, and used in many areas of aircraft assembly joints, these parts allow for significant savings in assembly time and cost for our customers.

For more detailed information, please click Precision machined parts for aircraft

Minebea's lighting devices for fine color liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) for cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be classified into front light and back light types, according to types of LCDs. Both types of products comprise white light-emitting diode (LED) chips and transparent plastic panel made from micron-order prisms, boasting outstanding brightness and performance.

For more detailed information, please click Lighting devices for LCDs

Minebea manufactures load cells that use strain gage to convert tension, compression or mass into electric signals. Load cells, connected to various measuring devices for measuring purposes, display, record, control and keep track of the loads.
Applications are diverse varying from small sensors for use in electronic scales, bath scales, game consoles and home electronics to those for general industrial uses, such as truck scales, measuring systems in production lines and tank scales.

For more detailed information, please click Load cells

These bearings are used primarily in machine tools, which demand bearings made with materials and structures that deliver outstanding durability and resistance to heat.

For more detailed information, please click Machine tool bearings

Magnetic clutches use electric magnets produced to lock or unlock the engine and the transmission input shaft, facilitating or terminating the flow of power. Magnetic brakes use electric magnets to accelerate, decelerate or stop rotation.

For more detailed information, please click Magnetic clutches and brakes

These bearings are used in aircraft applications, which demand superior durability. Accordingly, these bearings have greater number of balls and are manufactured with more high-durability materials than small ball bearings.

For more detailed information, please click Medium- and large-sized ball bearings for aerospace use

Ball bearings are machinery components, which comprise an outer ring, inner ring, balls, retainers, shields and snap rings. Miniature and small-sized ball bearings mean ball bearings, up to 30mm in external diameter. Essential to high-precision rotary components, ball bearings determine rotational accuracy.

For more detailed information, please click Miniature & small sized ball bearings

Pivot assemblies are fitted into the base of actuators to position HDD magnetic heads. This product combines ball bearings between shaft and sleeve.

For more detailed information, please click Pivot assemblies

Polygon mirror rotates at high speed to scan laser beam radiated from LD (laser diode) into photoreceptor. These motors are used in laser writing in digital copiers and other such devices.

For more detailed information, please click Polygon mirror scanner motors

These motors are used in mechanical driving for photoconductive drums, paper feeds, and toners in copiers and other office automation equipments.

For more detailed information, please click Power brushless motors

Various composite assemblies using Minebea's precision bearings.

For more detailed information, please click Precision mechanical assemblies

The rotary angle detector, torque sensor to which motor technology is applied, mainly used for planes and automobiles.

For more detailed information, please click Rotation angle sensors

Used in aircraft components, such as wing flaps, engine and wing mounts and hatches, rod-end spherical bearings function as joints. These bearings are also used extensively in helicopters, trains, automobiles, electric power plant, construction machinery, ships, attraction equipment and space-related products.

For more detailed information, please click Rod end & spherical bearings

Roller bearings, which feature a roller housed between the inner and outer rings, are used primarily in aircraft engine.

For more detailed information, please click Roller bearings (Related to aircraft engine)

Roller bearings are self-aligning bearings with roller held by retainer between inner race and outer race. They can take the form of single or double row bearings. The main characteristic of this product is the low starting torque when compared to ordinary spherical and rod end bearings. The technology lends itself to critical aircraft applications such as flight control.

For more detailed information, please click Roller bearings (Related to aircraft flight control)

Small brushless motors are used in driving and electrical components for digital AV equipments and PC peripheral devices.

For more detailed information, please click Small brushless motors

We have stepping motors which are very small in diameter, used in lens barrels of digital cameras and optical aberration of Blu-ray disc drives. We also line up high speed motors which use silicon steel metal. These are used in paper-feeding devices of printers, copy machines and other office automation equipments.

For more detailed information, please click Small diameter / High speed PM stepping motors

These motors rotate at fixed angles by digitally controlled electronic pulses and are mainly used in the paper-feeding devices of printers, copy machines, facsimiles and similar equipment. Hybrid-type stepping motors combine a rotor with a permanent magnet and a magnetic body using ball bearings. PM stepping motors use a permanent magnet (PM) as a rotor.

For more detailed information, please click Hybrid type stepping motors

For more detailed information, please click PM stepping motors

Strain gages consist of a very fine and thin metallic foil etched in a grid pattern, which is bonded to a device and used to measure the strain, or amount of deformation of the device when load or pressure is applied. The resulting electrical output is proportional to the strain.
Because these strain gages are so small that they are negligible in mass, they excel in sensitivity, stability and fatigue with no inertial effect. They are also an easy-to-handle device, whose operating temperature range is wide. The strain gages can be used to measure the strain of all kinds of materials, regardless of metal or plastic.

For more detailed information, please click Strain gages

These motors are mainly used to create vibration in a broad range of applications such as mobile phone terminals and game machines.

For more detailed information, please click Vibration motors