Hardik Shah

Graduation Semester and Year

2013

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Dereje Agonafer

Abstract

HDD is the largest digitally encoded data storage device. HDD is used to store digital data in data centers, computers and laptops. A typical HDD consists of a casing, an actuator arm, actuator axis, head, platters, power connectors, and jumper pins. The platter is made up of non-magnetic material and is covered by magnetic material, which stores the data. The magnetic heads are mounted on a moving actuator arm to read and write the data. One of the modes of failure of a HDD is corrosion. The parts of the HDD are corroded by coming in contact with the contaminants. Sulphur bearing gases, Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), are the main gaseous contaminants responsible for the corrosion in HDD in presence of certain humidity and temperature. American Society of Heating and Air-conditioning (ASHRAE) recommend an allowable relative humidity such as 50-60% in the environment where electronic equipment is used for avoiding corrosion in the equipment. The focus of this study is to determine the rate of corrosion computationally. A model is created which combines surface chemistry and transport species to predict the deposition rate of sulfate on platter when exposed to gaseous contaminants. A commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool is used for the analysis to determine the rate of deposition of contaminant on the platter. Rotational speeds of the platter and humidity factors that escalate the rate of corrosion are investigated in this study.

Disciplines

Aerospace Engineering | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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