Product Information

Disc Drives

Effective impact absorption for hard disk drives.

Shock Absorbing Dampers

These shock absorbing dampers protect hard disks in PCs and video cameras from the impact of accidental dropping and other causes.

Shock Absorbing Dampers
  • Vibration Isolation Rubber Materials Featuring Both Shock-Absorbing and Vibration-Isolating Characteristics.

    Large-capacity hard disk drives are used in many PCs and video cameras today. Since hard disk drives are vulnerable to impact, shock-absorbing dampers are essential for protecting valuable stored data. Yamauchi has developed dampers that not only provide a shock-absorbing function but also effectively isolate constant external vibration. Our shock-absorbing dampers are used by almost all video camera manufacturers, and are evaluated highly in the market.

CHARACTERISTICS

Protecting HDDs and Contributing to Stable Operation.

Shock-absorbing dampers are usually made of low-hardness elastomer or gel materials. Yamauchi shock-absorbing dampers are made of rubber. They not only absorb impact effectively using limited space, but also isolate vibration in normal product use. Yamauchi shock-absorbing dampers are evaluated highly by customers.

Excellent Processing Flexibility for Molding Rubber into Complex Shapes.

Rubber is much more flexible than gel materials so it can be formed into complex shapes. Since Yamauchi shock-absorbing dampers can be processed into various complex shapes, they can provide the impact-absorbing performance required by each product in an ideal way. Rubber materials also provide stable performance over a long time as compared to general shock-absorbing gel materials because of their bridge formation of three-dimensional network. Yamauchi shock-absorbing dampers help to improve the reliability of hard disk drives.

Shock Absorbing Dampers photo
  • Impacts can be simulated by CAE. Theoretical simulation allows a detailed examination of materials and shapes before producing molds.
  • Image analysis using a high-speed camera lets us visualize the impact-absorbing effect at the prototype production stage.

TECHNOLOGY

Relationship Between Loss Coefficient and Change of Speed.

The graph #1 shows changes in the force of an impact received by a material (red) with a small loss coefficient and a material (green) with a large loss coefficient. The larger the loss coefficient, the more efficiently the impact energy changes to heat. As you can see in the graph, the loss coefficient results in a low impact value and a shorter duration of effect.

Graph #1: Relationship Between Loss Coefficient and Change of Speed.
Graph #1

The video #1 shows how a damper absorbs impact. Click the Play (▸) button to view.

Video #1

Inquiries and Document Requests

PDF documents showing the latest product lineup (material grades) can be downloaded from the following links.

To inquire about this product or request additional documents, please contact us via the inquiry form by clinking the link below.