Study on flow-induced vibration of head–disk assembly mechanisms in actual hard disk drive

Achieving ultra-high magnetic-recording density in hard disk drives (HDDs) requires clarification of flow-induced vibration issues. In particular, it is necessary to reduce the flow-induced disk vibration called disk flutter. Thus far, however, there has been no experimental research related to disk flutter in actual HDDs. For this study, therefore, the disk-flutter issues have been studied experimentally, using an actual 2.5-in. HDD with one disk and two magnetic heads. The aim was to study the effect of operating magnetic-head mechanisms on flow-induced disk flutter. This study evaluated disk flutter as well as static pressure distribution in the actual HDD, by taking measurements while changing the operating modes of the magnetic-head mechanism as well as the number of operating air-bearing sliders. The study demonstrated that the disk-flutter amplitude increases and its frequency decreases when the magnetic-head mechanisms are operating. It was also found that the amount of decrease in the disk-flutter frequency depends on the number of operating air-bearing sliders whose amplitude increase varies with the specific operating mode of the head mechanisms, such as whether it is in track-following or seek modes. In addition, operation of the magnetic-head mechanisms generated non-uniform static pressure distribution within the HDD. These factors suggest that a decrease in disk-flutter frequency results from the slider-coupled vibration and an increase in disk-flutter amplitude results from the static pressure changes as well as air-following changes, as these vary with the actual operation of the disk head mechanism. From these experimental results, it appears that the disk-flutter issues in actual HDDs should be considered as a system that includes the operation of the magnetic-head mechanisms and disk-coupled vibration.     

Probabilistic nearest neighbor query processing on distributed uncertain data

A nearest neighbor (NN) query, which returns the most similar object to a user-specified query object, plays an important role in a wide range of applications and hence has received considerable attention. In many such applications, e.g., sensor data collection and location-based services, objects are inherently uncertain. Furthermore, due to the ever increasing generation of massive datasets, the importance of distributed databases, which deal with such data objects, has been growing. One emerging challenge is to efficiently process probabilistic NN queries over distributed uncertain databases. The straightforward approach, that each local site forwards its own database to the central server, is communication-expensive, so we have to minimize communication cost for the NN object retrieval. In this paper, we focus on two important queries, namely top-k probable NN queries and probabilistic star queries, and propose efficient algorithms to process them over distributed uncertain databases. Extensive experiments on both real and synthetic data have demonstrated that our algorithms significantly reduce communication cost.     

Intensely irradiated steel components: Plastic and fracture properties, and a new concept of structural design criteria for assuring the structural integrity

In order to develop a systematic and reasonable concept assuring the structural integrity of components under intense neutron irradiation, two basic tensile properties, true stress-true strain (TS-TS) curves and fracture strain, were investigated on an austenitic stainless steel and martensitic steel. Application of Swift equation is confirmed to a large plastic strain range of TS-TS curves. Fracture strain ?_f data were well correlated as ?_f + ?₀ = const. where ?₀ is the pre-strain representing the irradiation hardening.Based on those formulations and available experimental information, several critical issues to be dealt with in developing the concept were identified possible reduction in ductility, significant change in mechanical properties, remarkable cyclic softening and other unique cyclic properties observed during a high-cycle fatigue testing, and the redundancy of the plastic collapse concept to bending. Existing structural codes are all based on the assumption that there will be no significant changes in mechanical properties during operation, and of high ductility. Therefore, a new concept for assuring structural integrity is required for application not only to components with high ductility but also components with reduced ductility. First, potential failure modes were identified, and a new and systematic concept was proposed for preventing these modes of failure, introducing a new concept of categorizing the loadings by stability of deformation process to fracture (as type F and M loadings). Based on the basic concept, a detailed concept of how to protect against ductile fracture was given, and loading type-dependent limiting parameters were set.Finally, application of the detailed concept was presented, especially on determination of loading type (in numerical approach, the formulation of TS-TS curves and fracture strain derived above are needed), and on how to determine the limiting parameters as allowable limits. Experiments were done to identify the loading type of a tensile loading acting on a structure with a discontinuity. Tensile loadings acting on an intensely neutron-irradiated flat plate with a hole in the center cause plastic tensile instability and necking at the minimum ligament section but do not initiate any surface crack at the initiation of necking.     

High-Speed Time Switch Using GaAs LSI Technology

A high-speed time switch using GaAs LSI technology is discussed. A new high-speed time switch structure consisting primarily of shift registers is proposed. This structure requires relatively minimal hardware in designing LSI. As the first stage of study, a GaAs 4-channel time switch LSI is manufactured using this structure. Switching speed of the LSI is 2 Gbits/s and the power consumption 0.64 W/chip. Largecapacity switch configurations using this time switch are proposed. This high-speed time switch makes possible the time-division switching of such services as T.V. and high-definition T.V.     

Weighted integral method in multi-dimensional stochastic finite element analysis

This paper, using the weighted integral method, proposes a new stochastic finite element method for estimating the response variability of multi-dimensional stochastic systems. Young's modules is considered to have spatial variation and is idealized as a multi-dimensional stochastic field. An essential feature of the proposed method is that the continuous stochastic field is rigorously taken care of by means of weighted integrations to construct element stiffness matrices, as the results, the issue involving the stochastic field is transformed into a problem involving only a few random variables. This may lead to substantial improvement in computational efficiency. Numerical examples show that the proposed SFEM is concluded as an efficient and accurate method.     

An advanced laser application for controlling of electric resistivity of thick film resistors

When electric resistivity of Thick Film Resistor (TFR) is adjusted to the desired value, laser beam is irradiated onto the resistor material so that a part of the resistor material is instantaneously vaporized and cut away. This conventional laser trimming method to adjust the resistivity of TFRs is an indispensable technique for manufacturing elec-tronic devices such as hybrid ICs. A peculiar phenomena was revealed by us, that is, when specially selected pulse laser beams were irradiated to TFR, the TFR was surface modified without cutting grooves, and then resistivity of the TFR was decreased. We completed the advanced laser process to apply this peculiar phenomena. 8 By comparing with conventional trimming processes, we can show prominent features of the advanced process, for example, resistivity of fine size TFR (300 micrometers-width and under) can be easily controlled. The decrease in resistivity of the TFR is considered to result from the decrease in specific resistivity of glass in the TFR. Because it is considered that the glass in the TFR is heavily doped with ruthenium impurities during the surface modification due to results of morphology observations and x-ray diffraction analysis. We have applied this advanced laser process to fine size TFR (300 micrometers-width), and developed high density hybrid ICs.     

Unbiased InP detectors in the submillimetre wave region

High sensitivity unbiased detectors employing Ni-nInP Schottky-barrier diodes have been developed in a submillimetre-wave region. The voltage sensitivities of 120 V/W at 300 GHz and 17 V/W at 450 GHz were obtained, which are about three times higher than those of the usually used unbiased Si point contact diode detectors.     

Temporal changes in vertical distribution of 137Cs in litter and soils in mixed deciduous forests in Fukushima,Japan

Downward migration of ¹³⁷Cs in soils was studied in three mixed deciduous forests c.a. 40 km northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant (FDNPP), Japan. We selected three different types of forest regarding to environmental condition such as slope inclinations and snow coverage conditions at the time of deposition. We examined temporal changes in the vertical distribution of ¹³⁷Cs from litter layers to 10 cm soil depth for two years (2.3 to 4.3 years after the FDNPP accident in 2011). At all three study sites, the ¹³⁷Cs in the litter layer had largely migrated to surface soil by 2013. After 2014, about 80% of the ¹³⁷Cs in forest soils (litter layer to 10 cm soil depth) remained within 0–5 cm soil layer. The vertical distribution had not changed substantially since 2014, suggesting that changes to the downward migration rates of ¹³⁷Cs in soils drastically decreased with time. In addition, small amounts of migrating ¹³⁷Cs could not be detected by the present method because there was a large spatial variation in the distribution of soil ¹³⁷Cs. The results showed similar patterns of soil ¹³⁷Cs distribution among the three study sites although there were differences in the environmental conditions.     

A copper/polyimide Metal-base packaging technology

A unique substrate MCPM (Mitsubishi Copper Polyimide Metal-base) technology has been developed by applying our basic copper/polyimide technology.¹ This new substrate technology MCPM is suited for a high-density, multi-layer, multi-chip, high-power module/package, such as used for a computer. The new MCPM was processed using a copper metal base (110 × 110 mm), full copper system (all layers) with 50-μm fine lines. As for pad metallizations for the IC assembly, we evaluated both Ni/Au for chip and wire ICs and solder for TAB ICs. The total number of assembled ICs is 25. To improve the thermal dispersion, copper thermal vias are simultaneously formed by electro-plating. This thermal via is located between the IC chip and copper metal base, and promotes heat dispersion. We employed one large thermal via (4.5 mm^?) and four small vias (1.0 mm^?) for each IC pad. The effect of thermal vias and/or base metal is simulated by a computer analysis and compared with an alumina base substrate. The results show that the thermal vias are effective at lowering the temperature difference between the IC and base substrate, and also lowering the temperature rise of the IC chip. We also evaluated the substrate’s reliability by adhesion test, pressure cooker test, etc.     

Technical investigation on small water leakage incident occurrence in mercury target of J-PARC

Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex experienced failures of two mercury targets, which were Target #5 and #7, in 2015 when the facility was operating with a proton beam power of 500 kW. The failures involved coolant water leak from the water shroud. In this paper, we investigate the root cause of the Target #5 failure. The results of the visual inspections, mockup tests, and analytical evaluations suggested that the water leak was caused by the possible combination of two incidents. One was the diffusion bonding failure due to the large thermal stress induced by welding of the bolt head during the fabrication process, and the other was the thermal fatigue failure of the seal weld due to the repetitive beam shutdown during beam operation. Though the investigation into the root cause of the Target #7 failure is still going on, these target failures point to the importance of eliminating initial defects and the need to secure the rigidity and stability of welded structures. The next mercury target, Target #8, was fabricated with an improved design and fabrication process to reduce the possibility of similar failures. The beam operation of this mercury target is planned to be started in October 2017.