Slider Air Bearing Design Enhancements for High Speed Flexible Disk Recording

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 522-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
James White
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Hydrodynamic Pressure ◽  
Flying Height ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
Mechanical Shock ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
Slider Air Bearing ◽  
Flexible Disk ◽  
Air Film

The current effort was motivated largely by the fact that computing and communication platforms are becoming more portable and mobile with increased demands for both speed and disk storage. This work makes use of an asymmetric opposed slider arrangement to provide both static and dynamic improvements to the recording head air bearing interface for high speed flexible disk applications. The combination of a longitudinally slotted rail opposed by an uninterrupted rail that functions as a noncontact hydrodynamic pressure pad causes the disk to deflect at the submicron level over critical areas of the slider interface. This allows the required static minimum flying height to be focused over the recording transducer while higher clearances are positioned elsewhere, resulting in minimized exposure to contact between slider and disk. The high stiffness and low flying height of the air film at the recording element together with the low stiffness and high flying height of the opposing air film provides a noncontact air bearing interface that is especially immune to mechanical shock. A computer code called FLEXTRAN was developed that provides both static and dynamic numerical solutions of the air bearing interface composed of two opposed gimbal mounted sliders loaded against a high speed flexible disk. Simulations of the asymmetric opposed slider configuration are presented and compared with those of other slider air bearing designs.

Design of Optimized Opposed Slider Air Bearings for High-Speed Recording on a Metal Foil Disk

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
James White
Keyword(s):  
Data Storage ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Floppy Disk ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Flying Height ◽  
Metal Foil ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
Mechanical Shock ◽  
Air Bearings

A metal foil disk offers some of the best characteristics of both the hard disk and floppy disk for digital data storage. The current work defines an opposed slider air-bearing arrangement that provides advantages when used with a high-speed metal foil disk in either a fixed or removable format. Use is made of the fact that the opposing sliders interact through their influence on the flexible disk that is sandwiched between them. Asymmetry of opposing air bearings is created by etching the air-bearing pad opposite the recording element pad to a depth sufficient that the flying height and air film stiffness of the opposing pad reach desired levels. The result is an air-bearing interface with low flying height and high stiffness over the recording element directly opposed by a high flying height and low stiffness on the other side of the disk. This air-bearing interface was found to provide an enhanced dynamic flexibility to the metal foil disk when it is subjected to mechanical shock. As a result, the opposed slider arrangement with metal foil disk is able to avoid contact and impact when subjected to substantial levels of mechanical shock. Thus, wear and damage to slider and disk surfaces are reduced as well as the possibility of lost recorded data. This should make the metal foil disk a strong candidate as a rotating storage medium for mobile and portable applications where a shock environment is common. Computer simulation of the new air-bearing configuration will be presented and discussed. The current work is related to but distinct from that reported recently by White (2005, ASME J. Tribol., 127, pp. 522–529) for a Mylar disk.

Performance of Sliders Flying Over Discrete-Track Media

2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 712-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Li ◽  
Junguo Xu ◽  
Yuki Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Estimation Method ◽  
Simulation Method ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Flying Height ◽  
Height Loss ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
Slider Air Bearing ◽  
Discrete Track ◽  
Flying Attitude ◽  
Manufacturing Variation

A simulation method in which grooves are virtually distributed on the slider air bearing instead of on the grooved medium surface has been developed and used to investigate the performance of sliders flying over the surface of a discrete-track medium. The simulated flying height loss due to a discrete-track medium coincides well with the measured data, whereas the average-estimation method overestimates flying height loss. Among the characteristics of a slider flying over the surface of a discrete-track medium that were studied are the flying attitude, the effect of groove parameters on flying profile, and the flying height losses due to manufacturing variation and altitude. The results indicate that when a slider is flying over the surface of a discrete-track medium, it will have a higher 3σ of flying height, be more sensitive to altitude, and will have a greater flying height loss.

Efficient Techniques for the Computation of the Nonlinear Dynamics of a Foil-Air Bearing Rotor System

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai Pham ◽  
Philip Bonello
Keyword(s):  
Harmonic Balance ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Nonlinear Effects ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Computational Burden ◽  
Rotor Systems ◽  
Symmetric Rotor ◽  
The Time Domain ◽  
Air Film

The foil-air bearing (FAB) plays a key role in the development of high speed, economical and environmentally friendly oil-free turbomachinery. However, FABs are known to be capable of introducing undesirable nonlinear effects into the dynamic response of a rotor-bearing system. This necessitates a means for calculating the nonlinear response of rotor systems with FABs. Up to now, the computational burden introduced by the interaction of the dynamics of the rotor, air film and foil structure has been overcome by uncoupling these three subsystems, introducing the potential for significant error. This paper performs the time domain solution of a simple rotordynamic system without uncoupling the state variables. This solution is then used as a reference for the verification of two proposed novel methods for reducing the computational burden: (a) use of harmonic balance; (b) use of Galerkin transformation. The applicability and accuracy of these two methods is illustrated on a simple symmetric rotor-FAB system.

The Effect of Disk Warpage/Skew on the Deflection and Vibration of a Flexible Disk Spinning Above a Baseplate and in Contact With a Point-Head

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Y. Wu ◽  
G. G. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Film Thickness ◽  
Rotational Speed ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Point Contact ◽  
Angle Variation ◽  
Coupled Equations ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Small Change ◽  
Flexible Disk ◽  
Air Film

A flexible disk, with small initial warpage/skew, is spinning in close proximity to a stationary baseplate. The partial differential equation for the disk deflection is coupled to the Reynolds equation of the stabilizing air-film. Disk warpage/skew produces a small change in the deflection which rotates with the disk. These deflections are obtained by linearizing the coupled equations about the axisymmetric configuration corresponding to a perfect disk. Numerical solutions are obtained and compared for different values of rotational speed and air-film thickness. The results show that among the three skewed/warped disks modeled, the skewed disk (i.e., the plane of the disk is skewed with respect to its axis of rotation) produces the largest deflection change (axial runout). With the effect of a point-contact head included, the existence of disk warpage/skew causes the head to produce a spatially-fixed harmonically varying force. The total disk motion is determined by superposition of the deflection pattern fixed on the disk and the space-fixed head-induced vibration. The disk pitch angle variation at the head is obtained and the results are compared for various values of the rotational speed and air-film thickness.

scholarly journals Performance Analysis of Hydrodynamic Pressure Finger Seal by Wall Slip Effect

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yan-chao Zhang ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
Dong-ya Zhang ◽  
Ming-hu Yin ◽  
Ya-hui Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bearing Capacity ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Dynamic Pressure ◽  
Hydrodynamic Pressure ◽  
Wall Slip ◽  
Leakage Rate ◽  
Slip Effect ◽  
Wall Surface ◽  
Air Film

Hydrodynamic pressure finger seal1 is a kind of flexible noncontact dynamic sealing device with good application potential. It relies on the ultrathin dynamic pressure film effect produced by the rotation of finger boot and rotor to realize the design of noncontact and low leakage and is suitable for high-speed dynamic sealing parts. However, under the high-speed condition, there is a wall slip effect when the gas flows in the microchannel with a thickness of about 10 μm between the finger boot and rotor, which affects the stability of the dynamic pressure air film and also affects the change of the air film bearing capacity and the leakage rate of the finger seal. Therefore, based on the theory of microflow, the interstitial flow field model of finger seal under fluid dynamic pressure is established, and its slip effect under high speed is analyzed. The results show that the slip ratio of the sealing medium temperature of 500°C and 0.1 MPa conditions reached 27.28%. When considering the slip effect of the wall surface generated by the gas under shear driving, the gas film bearing capacity decreased and the leakage rate increased. When the pressure difference between the upper and lower reaches of the seal is 0.1 MPa, and the rotor line speed is 400 m/s, the gas film bearing capacity decreases by 17.39% after considering the slip effect of the wall surface, and the leakage rate increases by 14.06%. The results provide an important reference for the structural design and leakage control of hydrodynamic finger seal.

Modelling on Predicting Pressure Distribution and Capacity of Foil Thrust Bearing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Xu ◽  
Fenzhu Ji ◽  
Yu Zhou ◽  
Fanyong Wu ◽  
Shuiting Ding
Keyword(s):  
Bearing Capacity ◽  
Pressure Distribution ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Thrust Bearing ◽  
Rotation Speed ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
Environment Temperature ◽  
Foil Thrust Bearing ◽  
Cfd Method ◽  
Air Film

Air bearing is future main supporting way of high-speed machinery such as turbocharger, micro gas-turbine engine. Foil bearing is a new type of air bearing which is lubricated by the thin-film air with its self-adapting elastic foil structure. It has many significant advantages such as non-pollution, longer working life, higher reliability, and lower friction loss. Different from foil journal bearing, in present the study of foil thrust bearing is extremely insufficient, especially about how to accurately predict the pressure distribution and efficiently improve the bearing capacity. The pressure distribution prediction of foil thrust bearing air film directly impacts the bearing stiffness and damping design, and then influences bearing capacity. The Reynolds equation commonly used to do such estimation is not accurate enough since the influence of temperature on air property parameters is ignored. The inaccurate prediction leads a catastrophic reduction to the bearing performance. In order to solve this problem, we propose a model to accurately predict the pressure distribution and capacity of foil thrust bearing using CFD method, as well estimating the relationship between air film clearance thickness, rotation speed, environment temperature and the capacity. Firstly, we simulate the pressure distribution of air film and then evaluate the simulation result by constrained experiments. We also correct the simulation by using modified air parameters obtained from experiment. The experimental results indicate our corrected simulation model is accurate with error less than 4%. Secondly, we compare simulation and experiment pressure results under different conditions. The model accuracy sensitivity varies within 10% under different rotation speed, air film clearance thickness and environment temperature. Finally, we use corrected model to analyze capacity impact parameters. We find the capacity of bearing increases with the decreasing of average air film clearance thickness under fixed speed of the thrust disc. The smaller clearance thickness is, the more influence its variation has on the bearing capacity. Meanwhile, the capacity of the bearing decreases with the reducing thrust disc speed under constant clearance thickness, and it decreases more obviously in the lower speed. The capacity reaches its largest under 200 °C and it falls with the increases or decreases of environment temperature. The model in this paper provides important theoretical foundation when designing the stiffness, damping and temperature control of each bearing area.

Air Bearing Interface Characteristics of Opposed Asymmetric Recording Head Sliders Flying on a 1 in. Titanium Foil Disk

2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
James White
Keyword(s):  
Data Storage ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Hard Disk ◽  
Titanium Foil ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Storage Device ◽  
Air Bearing ◽  
Mechanical Shock ◽  
Recording Head ◽  
Disk Interface

The current effort was motivated by the increasing appearance of data storage devices in small portable and mobile product formats and the need for these devices to deliver high storage capacity, low power requirements, and increased ruggedness. In order to address these requirements, this work considered the storage device to utilize a 1 in. titanium foil disk and a pair of opposed femtosized zero-load recording head sliders with asymmetrically configured air bearing surfaces. A titanium foil disk, due to its reduced thickness and relatively low mass density, requires less operational energy than a hard disk while providing storage densities and data transfer rates typical of a hard disk. The zero-load sliders were chosen in order to make negligible the air bearing interface normal force acting on the disk surface that can lead to high speed disk instability. The asymmetry of the slider air bearing surfaces, together with the disk dynamic flexibility, greatly improves the ability of the slider-disk interface to absorb substantial mechanical shock and other dynamic effects without the associated contact and impact typically observed with a hard disk. The current project evaluated the characteristics of this slider-disk air bearing interface for both static and unsteady operating conditions. Time dependent studies included a numerical simulation of the dynamic load process and the response to mechanical shock. A comparison with the performance of a hard disk interface was also included.

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