His consulting work ranges from complete, detailed finite element and MATLAB models of
structures, to specific problem solving; to consulting at an overview level, assisting
management in assessing program status.
You may navigate Mike's resumé by scrolling down this page or clicking on the text
links above.
i. Professional Experience
December 2007 – April 2009: Consultant for Hitachi GST, San Jose, CA and Fujisawa, Japan
Consulted with Hitachi GST, the original IBM Disk Drive company which was purchased by Hitachi in 2003.
Designed piezo-actuated microactuators and performed finite-element dynamic analyses of hard disk drive components and complete drives using ANSYS with post-processing using Matlab (see "
Publications" for my ANSYS/Matlab book)
June 2007 – November 2007: Consultant for Western Digital Corp., San Jose, CA
Performed finite element analysis of hard disk drive components and complete drives.
January 2006 – May 2007: Patent Litigation Work, Morgan-Lewis
Expert witness for disk drive component patent litigation case.
January 2004 – January 2006: Consultant for SAE Magnetics, HK
Analysis and design assistance for suspensions and microactuators, including instruction on modeling and analysis techniques.
Provided complete micro-drive finite-element models.
March 2000 – December 2003: Consultant for Maxtor Corporation, then Senior Member of Technical Staff, Director, Manager of Mechanical Analysis Group
Managed a group responsible for finite element analysis, Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) analysis,
and servo/mechanical analysis.
March 2000: Published book "Vibration Analysis Using Matlab and Ansys", CRC Press
Jan 1995 – December 2000: Quantum Fellow, Mgr of Mechanical Analysis, Quantum Corporation, Milpitas, Ca.
Dec 1993 - Dec 1995: Full-Time Consultant, Quantum Corporation
Started the Mechanical Analysis group at Quantum, Milpitas, staffing a 9-person department with
a mix of experienced disk-drive engineers and PhD’s from UCB and Stanford, responsibilities
included:
- architecting, designing and selecting manufacturing partners for Quantum’s Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) spindle motor technology
- electromechanical analysis and troubleshooting on Quantum’s voice-coil motor and spindle motor designs
- designing and providing analysis tools for Quantum’s proprietary suspension designs
- trouble-shooting group for mechanical problems arising in development or manufacturing
- taught Quantum’s finite-element engineers how to use the Ansys finite element program, using a unique technique for developing models developed during my consulting practice.
- defining analysis and test techniques for solving difficult resonance problems involving slider-suspension assemblies and for setting up specialized test equipment and procedures at all vendors to control critical processes, preventing reoccurrence of the problems
- developed Matlab based nonlinear flexible-disk rotor dynamics code for HDB’s, utilizing stiffness and damping versus eccentricity results from Quantum’s proprietary Reynolds Solver
- developed techniques using finite element codes for analyzing and understanding the dynamics of slider-suspension assemblies and complete drives during shock loading
1983 – Dec 1993: Consulting Engineering Practice, Mountain View, Ca
Developed a private consulting engineering practice, primarily in the hard disk and optical disk drive industries. Provided services to over 35 different companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia over a period of ten years.
Actively involved in solving problems in all phases of product life – development, prototyping and production.
Started the consulting practice by developing a computer program for analyzing ball-bearing stresses, displacements and stiffnesses. The bearing program led to providing finite-element analysis services for devices containing ball-bearing components, such as spindle motors and actuators for hard- and optical-disk drives.
Developed test and analysis techniques for explaining vibrations of disk stacks and slider-suspension assemblies. Developed a methodology of combining bearing analysis results and finite element results to predict the preload change in bearing assemblies caused by temperature changes and different materials.
Developed a technique for simplifying the results from complicated finite-element models of dynamic systems, allowing state-space models of the significant dynamics to be developed for use in predicting servo response, led to publishing vibration simulation book in March, 2000.
1981 – 1983: Mechanical Design Engineer, Director of Engineering, International Memories, Inc., Cupertino, Ca
Architected and designed the complete mechanical system for the IMI 5000 series of disk drives. The drives were qualified for and used in IBM’s AT Personal Computer systems.
1979 – 1983: V.P. of Engineering, Dastek Corporation, Los Gatos, Ca
Directed the development of the Dastek disk drive, a 14” rack-mounted drive that was designed to exploit the use of thin-film heads.
1967 – 1979: IBM Corporation, San Jose, Ca
Started as a Junior Engineer in 1967 and left IBM for a start-up company in 1979 as a Senior Engineer, IBM’s highest technical level.
Designed and have the patent for the damped head-arm assembly for the 3330 Disk Drive.
Performed world’s first finite element analyses of a complete suspension assembly in 1971 using the Nastran finite element code.
Developed and have patents on the basic architecture of the 3380 Head-Disk-Assembly and on its damped actuator system.
Responsible for interfacing with the 3380 servo group on all servo-related mechanical issues.
Led three task forces over a period of three years that led to the development of the classic 3370 suspension design, still in use 35 years later.
From 1977-1979 managed the mechanical engineering group for the 3370 Disk Drive.
In 1979, was appointed to third-level management position in charge of IBM’s Printer Technology, left the company before moving to the position.
ii. Education
- 1971 – Master’s Degree in Applied Mechanics, Stanford University, Stanford, Ca
- 1967 – B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Tex
iii. Publications
- 2000 - Authored book entitled "Vibration Analysis using Matlab and Ansys",
published by Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, ISBN 1-58488-205-0
iv. Professional Activities, Patents, Honors
- Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer, California since 1977
- IBM First Level Invention Award, 1978
- Quantum First Level Invention Award, 1996
- 17 Patents Issued, 1 pending
| 4,144,466 | Damping vibrations in voice coil actuator |
| 4,263,629 | Disk file with symmetrical hollow base |
| 5,027,241 | Data head load beam for height compacted, low power fixed head and disk assembly |
| 5,031,061 | Disk drive hub assembly |
| 5,208,712 | Data head load beam for height compacted, low power fixed head and disk assembly |
| 5,282,103 | Magnetic head suspension assembly fabricated with integral load beam and flexure |
| 5,291,355 | Micro miniature hard disk drive |
| 5,299,081 | Magnetic head suspension assembly |
| 5,423,612 | Hydrodynamic bearing and seal |
| 5,471,734 | Method for characterizing and controlling in-plane stiffness of load beam within head-gimbal assembly of a hard disk drive |
| 5,526,208 | Flex circuit vibration sensor |
| 5,558,445 | Self-contained hydrodynamic bearing unit and seals |
| 5,634,724 | Hydrodynamic bearing for spindle motor having high inertial load |
| 5,657,187 | Load beam having tuned resonance mode performance for supporting a read/write head |
| 5,876,124 | Hydrodynamic bearing unit |
| 6,088,192 | Roll-biased head suspension for reduced track misregistration |
| 6,861,854 | Peizoelectric microactuator and sensor failure detection in disk drives |
To get in touch with Mike, please visit the
contact Mike page of this web site.
