Equipment to detect bad isolator in hard disk drive testing process

Abstract

With increasing data capacity of hard disk drive (HDD) today, the testing time of a hard disk drive becames
longer.It takes approximately 25 - 30 hours. Vibrations during HDD testing process significantly contribute to
testing errors. Isolator and pocket slot were used to reduce the vibration. The physical property of isolators
was charged, that led to the results of HDD testing. Because of the error, the testing process needs to be
redone. As a result, the testing time is extended.This research developed a system to detect isolator function
using “Ariduino Due” microcontroller along with “Micro-electromechanical System – MEMS” accelerator
sensor. For the precise analysis, the statistical method called t test was used to group isolators by their
functioning conditions. It was found that, the measured vibration amplitude in any direction canbe used as
the criteria for identifying the isolator conditions. This detective system can determine the bad isolator at
early stage before the exceeding vibration will affect the testing process.