Passive-Damping of the Axial Run-Out for High Speed Rotating Flexible Optical Disk Using the Idea of Damping Orifice

In the present work, the idea of damping orifice is applied so as to reduce the axial run-out of a high speed rotating flexible optical disk. A track or more of rectangular-edge orifices is inscribed in a rigid flat stabilizer near the outer region of the disk that exhibits large vibration amplitudes. The effects of the orifice geometry, number of orifices per track, and the number of tracks are investigated experimentally. The results from this study show that the introduced new design of the stabilizer can reduce the axial run-out of the disk at 10,000 rpm to within 10 \mbox{$\mu$m} over its entire span using two tracks of damping orifices near the disk rim. The study proved that the introduced orifices in the flat stabilizer effectively enhance the damping capability of the air-film to dissipate the vibration energy of the rotating disk.