Multi-body structural effects on the head-disk interface during operational shocks in hard disk drives

Over the past decades, there has been an increase in the demand for hard disk drives (HDDs) used in mobile computing devices. The work performance of a HDD mainly depends on its ability to withstand external disturbances in such applications. Studies of the HDD’s responses and failures during external shocks can be very beneficial for improving the HDD’s designs. Multi-body operational shock (op-shock) models are developed to study the HDDs’ responses during external shocks. Four models which include different components (a disk, a spindle motor, a base plate, a pivot and a head actuator assembly) are introduced in this study to investigate the effects of various components on the drives’ operating performance. It is found that the models must include certain critical components in order to give results for performance reliability when subjected to operational shocks.