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Hard Disk Drive
Today's Trends
For hard disk drive manufacturers, that means making sure that as much data as possible can be reliably held on the surface of a media disk within the standardised internal packaging. Meanwhile, the operating environment is becoming ever more challenging, as costs are spiralling downwards in this competitive market. Resonance performance, torque ripple and manufacturing costs are being increasingly squeezed.
Meeting Market Demands of Electronics Customers
At Saint-Gobain we are helping manufacturers meet the needs of this changing marketplace by collaborating on their specific requirements.
RENCOL® Tolerance Rings are ideal precision components within a hard disk drive, mounting the bearing assembly or bearing cartridge into the drive efficiently and at a cost-effective price. The customisable components significantly improve resonance and torque ripple performance while providing the ideal balance between high performance and efficient assembly. Constructed from premium grade stainless steel, RENCOL® Tolerance Ring solutions are used in almost 60% of the world's 2.5" and 3.5" hard disk drives.
The rings come with long life built in, solving the problem of wear and damage by staying in place for the life of the drive and enabling optimum performance. That means consumers can be sure they are buying a more reliable hard disk drive at a competitive price.
HDD Applications
Benefits
- Low cost
- Increased resonance performance
- Reduced torque ripple
- Quick assembly time, leading to reduced manufacturing costs
- Allows for easy reworking
- Allows increased tolerances on mating components
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For the disk drive manufacturers trying to accommodate more and more data bits on the surface of a media disk, performance parameters are becoming increasingly stringent. Costs are continuously spiraling down, as performance increases. Resonance performance, torque ripple and manufacturing costs are being increasingly squeezed. |
RENCOL® Tolerance Rings/ interference bands can be used to mount the bearing assembly or bearing cartridge into the drive. This is a key link within the disk drive and allows the performance to be improved. |
| Hard Disk Drive Comparative Solutions | ||||
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| Spring Clip | Set Screw | Adhesive | RENCOL® Tolerance Ring | |
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Videos
View our collection of Hard Disk Drive videos to better understand how our products can make your job easier and save your money.
The set screw is the second most popular pivot attach method used in the HDD industry, after the tolerance ring.
For mass volume production, reducing assembly time is crucial to lowering operational costs, WIP, required floor space, etc. With the RENCOL® tolerance ring, it is possible to quickly and accurately assemble the bearing pivot into the arm with great repeatability.
A major percentage of the scrap costs incurred during the assembly process occurs by having to throw away crucial—and expensive—items such as the head, arm and bearing pivot if the overall drive fails. Most likely root cause is unfortunate mating of tolerances. When a RENCOL® tolerance ring is used, it is possible to replace components without wasting one component.
When adhesive, the closest technical rival to the RENCOL® Tolerance Ring, is used in the assembly, the cycle time increases dramatically. In addition to the time issues seen, in case of unfortunate mating of tolerances, the drive does perform well. Rework is almost not possible and expensive components are lost.