Vibration and noise analysis of computer hard disk drives

✍ Scribed by N. Tandon; V.V.P. Rao; V.P. Agrawal

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 482 KB
• Volume: 39
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0263-2241
• DOI: 10.1016/j.measurement.2005.10.006

✦ Synopsis

Vibration and noise generated by some computer hard disk drives of different speeds have been analyzed. The vibration natural frequencies of disk platters were computed theoretically and by FEM. These were also verified experimentally by modal testing. The first four natural frequencies of the disk platters measured experimentally were 359, 525, 650 and 1080 Hz. The overall vibration amplitudes of rotating disk platters were also measured with the help of capacitance type of probe. Sound power levels of hard disk drives without covers were evaluated in seek and idle modes. The contribution of noise produced by different sources within the drives to total noise was assessed to find major noise sources. The measurement results showed that the major noise source in the lower speed hard disk drive was the actuator arm fly over the platter whereas in the case of higher speed drives, the main source was the disk platter air flutter noise. A weighted noise generated by the hard disk drives was mainly in the frequency range of 2-8 kHz.