Risun Expanse Corp. Is the Giant of Micro Vibration Motors

Since establishment in 1999, Risun Expanse Corp. has been on a journey to develop motors of smaller sizes and integrated with more functionalities under the philosophy of "making motors an integral part of people's daily life."

To make that philosophy realizable, the company has invested around NT$150 million (US$4.5 million at US$1：NT$33) in the developments of micro motor technology and specialized manufacturing and measuring systems for the motors. The devotion finally paid off as Risun was granted the first US patent for DC brushless vibration motor in 2003 and became the first company in the world to commercialize it.

Put aside its button size, the company's micro motors underscore smooth vibration frequency, continuous ripple vibration, power economy and long life span. By diameter, they come in 10 millimeter, 13 millimeter and 17 millimeter, with only four millimeters in thickness. Their innovative technologies have been protected by patents from Germany, the United States, Singapore, South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan. The vibration cooling module based on the micro vibration motor technology is reportedly the first of its kind in Asia to be granted with the U.S. patent.

Risun's vibration motor of 10mm in diameter operates at 2.8, 3.3 and 4.5 volts, suitable for applications in cell phones, vibration razors, hand-held massagers, vibration cooling modules, massaging eyeshades, and, massaging seats and massaging waist belts. The 13.2mm vibration motor operates at 2.8 and 3.3 volts, fitting into vibration razors, massagers, massaging seats, massaging eyeshades, massaging waist belts, and vibration cooling modules.

In addition to micro vibration motors, Risun has developed seven other products based on the DC brushless motor technology. The derivative products are 10-mm 3-phase sensorless vibration motors, 13.2-mm single shaft-driving motors, 13.2-mm dual shaft-driving motors, 15-mm and 18-mm DC atomic coolers, as well as single and dual micro-blowers.

The atomic coolers are designed mainly for cooling VGA cards of notebook computers, memory modules of personal computers, smart phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).The micro blowers of both types are ideal cooling solutions for memory modules, notebook computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

C.C. Huang, Risun's founder who has been in motor industry for over 30 years, points out that although the history of motors as a role of helping push forward civilization has exceeded over 100 years, the major application of motors still lies in industry. With the development of miniaturization technology, he added, motors have come in smaller sizes and blended into people's daily lives, making people's lives more refined now than before. That is just what Huang has preached about since he opened business in 1999, "motors should be an integral part of people's lives".

Huang also points out that seniors' healthcare issue needs to be highly addressed with the advent of aging population. He believes that massaging can have the same effect as real exercises on seniors by embedding Risun's brushless vibration motors into personal accessories such as clothing, belts, and shoes.

Risun has performed an experiment to provide a living proof for that. A brushless vibration motor with a rotation speed of 10000rpm and a no-load vibration intensity of 2G at a frequency of 160Hz was attached to the top of an object weighing 100g. After a short period of operation, the measured vibration intensity of the vibration motor was damped to only 0.9G. Apparently, the experiment demonstrated that about 1.1G of vibration intensity from vibration motor had been absorbed by the weighing object, an analogy to what Risun's brushless vibration motor would exert vibration force and thus the massaging effect on the human body.

Power economy is another competitive edge held by Risun's brushless vibration motor, as it can perform a continuous operation for at least 24 hours powered by only two triple-A batteries, as compared with only 10 hours performed by typical brushed vibration motor with the same power.

Due to the improved motor design, the efficiency of Risun's DC brushless motors can be as high as 85%. The required motor efficiency in EU and USA ranges from 70% to 75%.

All of Risun's motor products are CE certified and conform to RoHS, making them totally meet the requirements of environmental preservation and healthcare.

The company has teamed up with some 20 local manufacturers including suppliers of components, cosmetics, shoes, and eyeshades to develop more refined applications for Risun's motors. A recent French buyer has embedded Risun's atomic coolers into their specialized watches for sampling and analyzing the toxic gaseous content in the air. A German supplier for automobile interior has contacted Risun for trans-national cooperation.

Huang always says that his company and motor products can help businesses with more added values through cooperation.

Risun has been focusing on research and development and the current R&D team consisted of 6 engineers can integrate expertises from mechanical engineering, electromagnetics, electrical engineering, and electronics. Apart from the in-house design capability, the company works with the government-backed Industrial Technology and Research Institute (ITRI) for motor-related projects of emerging technology on a regular basis.

The lack of existing test standards to follow and the measuring and detecting instruments due to the almost weightlessness of miniature motors has made R&D very difficult, which means that Risun has to develop everything all by herself, including the driver and sensor ICs, the automated manufacturing facilities, and the specialized measuring and analyzing systems.

Also, having no established quality-control model to emulate, the company has to work out a set of QC standard on her own. Currently, each piece of motor product has to be inspected on-line and once again before shipping. The final inspection includes the check on rotation speed, power, and packaging. On top of that, the temperature tolerance is also a critical issue to be addressed as the company's motors have to be shipped to countries of various latitudes. They are designed to be able to maintain normal operation under temperature ranging from minus 25 degree Celsius to plus 70 degree Celsius.

So far, the company has set up a QC system capable of inspecting the electrical characteristics, performances, and material characteristics for motors. The main inspection instruments include micro-meters, Gauss meters, tachometers, and vibration analysis software and hardwares.

Thanks to the stringent quality policy, Risun has been certified with ISO9001: 2000. Also, the company has won several awards by her outstanding R&D achievements, one of which is awarded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan for her superb excellence in technological innovation.

Besides Research and development, the other four core values of Risun are Initiative, Sincerity, Unyielding, and Novelty. Taking the first letter from each of the five core values and putting them together will just comprise the word RISUN, meaning "rising sun" and the indicator of the company's ambition to pursue the goal of world's No. 1 brand name in DC brushless micro-motors.

Taking a broad view for future, Risun's vision is to start out from Taiwan into the global market, and inspire herself to exploit the most advanced energy technology to design and manufacture the brushless voice-coil motors, the brushless vibration motors, and the atomic coolers featuring in lightness, low profile, delicacy, and miniaturization. All products of Risun will be embedded into healthcare products to better people's life and prolong life expectancy.