Tribology of helical scan tape drive systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 616-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Osaki ◽  
Tetsuo Endo
Author(s):  
E. Wisse ◽  
A. Geerts ◽  
R.B. De Zanger

The slowscan and TV signal of the Philips SEM 505 and the signal of a TV camera attached to a Leitz fluorescent microscope, were digitized by the data acquisition processor of a Masscomp 5520S computer, which is based on a 16.7 MHz 68020 CPU with 10 Mb RAM memory, a graphics processor with two frame buffers for images with 8 bit / 256 grey values, a high definition (HD) monitor (910 × 1150), two hard disks (70 and 663 Mb) and a 60 Mb tape drive. The system is equipped with Imaging Technology video digitizing boards: analog I/O, an ALU, and two memory mapped frame buffers for TV images of the IP 512 series. The Masscomp computer has an ethernet connection to other computers, such as a Vax PDP 11/785, and a Sun 368i with a 327 Mb hard disk and a SCSI interface to an Exabyte 2.3 Gb helical scan tape drive. The operating system for these computers is based on different versions of Unix, such as RTU 4.1 (including NFS) on the acquisition computer, bsd 4.3 for the Vax, and Sun OS 4.0.1 for the Sun (with NFS).


Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Osaki

Abstract Decreasing track width and tape thickness to increase the volumetric recording density of tape drive systems will result in the failure of tracking. The decrease in the tape thickness causes the vertical displacement of the tape forwarding position, which is controlled by pressing the lower tape edge against the lead of a stationary drum. The position of the upper tape edge is controlled by the height of the flanges of the roller guides beside the drum. The displacement of tape forwarding position causes the failure of tracking, especially with narrow track. The reduction of the static friction coefficient between the tape and the roller guides in a drive was found to be effective to reduce the excessive force with which the tape edges are pressed to the flanges or the lead, which will cause the displacement of the tape forwarding position.


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