Vibration analysis of axially moving magnetic tape with comparisons to static and dynamic experimental results

The demand for greater storage capacity is prompting the development of data storage tape with greater volumetric and areal density. As the data tracks on these tapes become narrower, minimization of the lateral tape motion (LTM) becomes more important to prevent loss of data due to read/write errors. In order to identify and minimize sources of LTM, a vibration model is developed which simplifies the tape drive to a fixed-fixed Euler-Bernoulli beam model with axial velocity. The effects of varying axial velocity, tension, free span length, and tape thickness were investigated. The calculated natural frequencies are compared to those obtained by both static and dynamic experiments. Effects of varying the length, tape thickness, and tension were studied in the static experiment while the effects of changing speed and tension were studied in the dynamic experiment.