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Active Correction of Dynamic Mass Imbalance for a Precise Rotor

Y. S. Ihn1 , J. K. Lee1 , D. H. Oh2 , H. S. Lee3 , and J. C. Koo1
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejon, Korea
Storage System Division, Samsung Electronics, Suwon, Korea
An adaptive mass imbalance correction method for a precision rotor that is formulated in frequency domain is introduced. Various
imbalance correction methods are developed and successfully implemented since mass imbalance of a precise rotor has been one of the
critical volume production issues for decades, especially in the data storage industry. Meanwhile the volume manufacturing tolerance
of the mass imbalance has been ever tightened as the data storage density has been increasing. Recognizing the limitation of the present
imbalance correction methods and the practicality of fine-tuned rotor balance for volume production, this paper delivers development of
an adaptive dynamic rotor balance scheme, which is of great worth. An application of frequency-based control method popularly used
for repeatable runout compensation for the mass imbalance enables reliable and accurate balancing of precision rotors. The use of least
mean squares algorithm for the formulation of the control law has improved the robustness of the imbalance correction and improved
manufacturing yields.
Index TermsLeast mean square, mass imbalance, precision rotor, runout.

I. INTRODUCTION

ROTOR designed in axis symmetry and fabricated with

homogeneous mass distribution with firm supports should
not generate radial vibration. However, ensuring the perfect balance in reality is a very challenging issue for not only the design
of the rotor but also its manufacturing. Especially even the insignificant amount of asymmetric mass distribution for a precision high-speed rotor may result in malfunction of a system or
a catastrophic system failure. Moreover, most of the precision
rotor system is normally organized with assembly of multiple
components, which must have various geometric clearances that
are made either deliberately from design or accidentally during
fabrication. Although the clearance usually aggravates the rotor
imbalance, a well-coordinated tactical counter misalignment by
utilizing the clearance would alleviate the system-level imbalance effect.
One of the most popular and straightforward balancing
method is the addition of a counter mass to the imbalanced
rotor that is typically used for the vehicle tire balancing. Note
that the added counter mass effectively compensates radial
imbalance so that the axial motion ( -direction) becomes more
stable. However, since the added counter mass can be located
off from the rotor mass center, it may create undesirable moments in - or -direction, which may erode system stability
margin especially in precision high-speed rotational dynamic
mechatronic systems where even a small-scale vibration is
prohibitive.
In the meantime, the counter mass addition scheme has been
extensively utilized in the hard disk drive industry, as it is the
most cost-effective and reliable balancing method for their disk
pack assembly process. In spite of the cost-effectiveness for

Manuscript received February 14, 2009. Current version published October

23, 2009. Corresponding author: J. C. Koo (e-mail: jckoo@skku.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2009.2029622

the hard disk drive implementation of the method, its limitation becomes more obvious when the cramped physical space
of modern hard disk drives is concerned. The highly confined
space of the hard disk drive allows only a coarse spatial resolution for the counter mass addition so that the balancing result
often does not converge into the desired boundaries.
As the coarse imbalance correction resolution had hampered
further improvement of rotor vibration reduction and had appeared as a clear obstacle for the attempt of higher data storage
density device development activity, some industry designers
initiated to consider a dynamic balancing method that deliberately counted on the assembly clearance and the material inhomogeneity. One of the most popular and productive methods is
application of an external impact on a rotating disk pack at a
certain time so that the mass imbalance can be adjusted [1][3].
This method provides a superior accuracy for the mass imbalance correction, for it guarantees asymptotically infinitesimal
spatial resolution.
There are few theoretical studies available for the enhancement of the method despite the many successful implementations of the impact method in many products. In addition, since
very few robust control techniques exist for the implementation
of the impact method, the actual implementation has relied on
the onoff or open-loop controls, which may require an excessive number of impact inputs for achieving desired accuracy.
And it sometimes leads the rotor system into a functional failure
due to the repeated shocks.
Recognizing the current limitations of the method in terms
of deficiency of a proper control method and its consequences
in volume productions, this paper develops a mathematical
background study about the impact corrective action and the
corresponding robust control method. An attempt is made
for building a mathematical model for the impact balancing
phenomena and a formulation of a frequency-domain control
law.
There are many similarities between the dynamic behavior
of the mass imbalance induced vibration and the position
error signal caused by a repeatable runout. That implies the
following two factors are to be considered for the design of

0018-9464/$26.00 2009 IEEE

IHN et al.: ACTIVE CORRECTION OF DYNAMIC MASS IMBALANCE FOR A PRECISE ROTOR

control system. The first, the reduction of mass imbalance,

could be done through the same strategy to the repeatable
position error signal control. Secondly, a frequency-domain
analysis might be more efficient than a time-domain control,
as the repeatable signal should be a multiple of the rotational
fundamental frequency. However, the control of the impact
imbalance reduction clearly departs from the typical repeatable
position error signal control through a periodic control gain
update as the imbalance amount changes.
The least mean squares (LMS) method provides many advantages for the repeatable runout control when it is combined with
frequency-domain controls such as the transient Fourier coefficient method [4], [5]. Combining the frequency-domain gain
update strategy with the conventional impact imbalance correction, this paper provides a monotonic decrease of imbalance
and fast convergence to a very low imbalance induced radial
vibration.
The succeeding sections of this paper are organized as follows. First, major parameters that affect rotor imbalance are
sought and reviewed. Next, a new control method for the imbalance correction is developed. Thirdly, a set of comparative
experimental verification tests is presented that compares imbalance reduction performances of the new and the traditional
method.
II. IDENTIFICATION OF MAJOR PLANT PARAMETERS
The control method developed here is formulated by applying
the LMS method to a frequency-domain control gain update as
the rotor spins. Again, the principle purpose of the control is
achieving a monotonic continuous decrease of the imbalance
amount for each impact input. Without the proper controls, the
imbalance may not be converging to a certain target value but
oscillating around a boundary limits.
Noting the similarity between the repeatable position error
signal and the imbalance induced vibration, this paper tries to
apply one of the repeatable position error signal control methods
to the control of impact mass balancing. There are of course
a few modifications on the original repeatable position error
signal control method for a proper treatment of impact inputs.
As the first step for the development of a control algorithm for
the imbalance correction, a study about the rotor mechanisms
and corresponding dynamics is to be reviewed in this section.
Realizing complexity on dual-axis alignment of a multiple
disk configuration that complicates mass balancing process, this
paper begins the control algorithm development from a one disk
case. Although the one disk case simplifies many issues on both
dynamics and statics, it still contains multiple masses and a few
different frictions. Of course, it should be admitted that there
might be some limitations on the direct application of the developed method to a multiple disk case. However, it does not
limit the contribution of this paper since the developed control
method could be easily applied with minimum modifications if
the multiple disk dual-axis rotor dynamics and friction effects
are well defined [6].
Schematic diagrams of a disk pack are provided in Fig. 1. A
disk and a spacer are stacked on a spindle motor. A clamp that
sits on the center of the spindle motor with a screw fixes those

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Fig. 1. Schematic cross-sectional view of a disk pack with (a) one disk and (b)
free body diagram of the one disk platform.

components together. An axial force induced by the screw

torque induces a normal force and corresponding frictional
forces at each contact surface.
Frictions involved in the disk pack assembly especially
during a disk slippage could be complex nonlinear phenomena,
as many parameters such as disk surface lubrication, spacer
or motor hub machining conditions, and temperature change
are participating. Despite the complicated friction happening
during the disk slippage, the threshold impact value that initiates the disk slip might be characterized more easily with
the maximum static friction [7]. Meanwhile, using a primitive
relation in dynamics, the disk radial motions can be defined as

(1)
where and are vector quantities of angular acceleration and
velocity, respectively. Another vector quantity represents the
eccentricity of a disk. The maximum static frictional force ,
which works as a norm for calculation of minimum impact force
for inducing a disk slippage, can be defined as

(2)
are the static frictional coefficients. The sign of
where
the force is to be determined with existence of the impact input.
Measurement of those static frictional coefficients of a disk pack
can be achieved with a force transducer and a standard material testing equipment [7]. Therefore, using (1), a minimum acceleration for disk slippage can be calculated, and the acceleration should be referenced for the control system calibration.
Although amplitude of the mass imbalance induced vibration
depends on the second term on the right-hand side of (1), contribution of the term to the determination of the minimum acceleration for disk slips is negligible. If the imbalance correction
process is performed at lower revolutionary speed, it is more
certain that the frictional forces be the major parameter for the
determination of the impact input.

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as described in the previous section. Upon every impact input

applied to a misaligned rotating rotor, the imbalance amount of
the rotor changes provided that the impact is greater than the
threshold value given by (2). In other words, if the first impact
is given with the right magnitude and at the right instant, the imbalance should be reduced. However, there is no guarantee that
the imbalance would be reduced again with a successive same
magnitude of impact input. Consequently, in order to achieve
a monotonic decrease of the imbalance, the input magnitude
should be updated with a proper control laws after every impact application.
For the generation of th impact input through a solenoid, an
should be defined as
electrical control input
Fig. 2. (a) Schematic illustration of impact imbalance and (b) correction
system block diagram of the system.

III. DEVELOPMENT OF CONTROLS

A. System Setup and Actuator Selection
One of the major challenges of the control system developed
here is an intelligent decision of accurate impact amount and
time in order to achieve a monotonic continuous decrease of
imbalance amplitude. A system for securing a hard disk drive
and applying impacts is organized and its schematics provided
in Fig. 2. For simplicity, a solenoid is used for the generation
of impact for a hard disk drive sitting on a linear-guard sliding
table. One of the alternative options for selection of the actuator
may be a piezomaterial based transducer. Although the piezotransducers normally provide a superior accuracy and a wide
bandwidth, they require heavy driving electronics for insuring
high-speed response at large payloads. Therefore, a complete
piezoactuator system that can be fit to the purpose of this paper
is usually very expensive. On the other hand, solenoid is an inexpensive and simple solution despite a few well-known drawbacks. However, noting a solenoid can provide a fairly consistent performance within a small travel range if a dependable
calibration of solenoid dynamics and a continuous working environments control such as temperature are accompanied, this
paper adopts a solenoid with bandwidth of 100 Hz for one-way
full stroke operation.
In the example cases shown later, since the rotors are spinning
at 3600 rpm and the armature traveling distance of the solenoid
is about 2 mm, the given 100 Hz bandwidth is enough for this
paper. Even further combining the response with a sort of calibrated trigger delay, the system assures enough actuation speed
with the given solenoid. Formulation of the delay into the control follows in the next section.

(3)
where
is the amplitude,
is the control input time, and
is the duration. 1 is a unit step function, which is deterand
. Although the
mined by
control input
can be adjusted by changing either the amor the duration
, control of the impact impulse
plitude
generated by the solenoid can be simplified by controlling the
magnitude rather than the duration when the rotation speed of
a rotor is set to a constant during the entire imbalance correction process because the available time window for the impact
application is to be predetermined and limited by the revolution
speed. Considering the actuator a solenoid bandwidth, we use
4200 rpm for most development and testing.
A simplified plant block diagram that eliminates detailed
driving electronics is given in Fig. 3. With a rearrangement of
can
the force balance given in (1), the impact force input
be determined by

(4)
Consequently

(5)
where
, the steady-state imbalance induced acceleration,
can be defined as

(6)
A trivial identity of

B. Impact Input Profile

In order to generate disk slippages using an external impact,
a proper amount of linear impulse should be given. The amount
of impulse which is a multiplication of duration time and force
can be determined with the engaging frictional situation and the
repetitive rotational vibration that is induced by the imbalance

(7)
yields the following relation:

(8)

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where is an update constant that should be determined by empirical methods. A succeeding calculation applying the convolutions to (11) yields

Fig. 3. Block diagram of plant.

(14)
that determines the control input magnitude. The corresponding
phase can be calculated as

Then for the case of

, (14) could be

(9)
Consequently, the input time for the (
culated

1)th impact can be cal-

(15)
As a result, the final form of the gain update rule is

(10)
(16)
is the precalibrated system time delay that is mainly
where
related to solenoid dynamics.
C. Gain Determination
As noted, the amplitude of impact should be adjusted after
every impact application in order to guarantee the monotonic
continuous imbalance decrease. As mentioned earlier, there are
many similarities between reduction of the repeatable disturbance and imbalance induced vibration [4].
Noting the LMS method provides an excellent control gain
convergence for the reduction of repeatable disturbances [5],
this work adopts the LMS method for a gain control main algorithm. Since the imbalance induced vibration signal has a single
distinct fundamental frequency, which is the rotational period,
the LMS formulation for the problem should be simple and obvious. A discrete form of the imbalance signal calculated from
the system block diagram shown in Fig. 2 is

(11)
where
is an impulse response function of the plant .
The control task of this paper has to reduce imbalance amount
by manipulating input amplitude
. In other words,
the objective is a determination of the accurate input impact
amplitudes after every impact so that the imbalance could be
minimized. The LMS method provides an efficient tool that can
be directly applied to achieve the objective. The input amplitude
can be updated at every time using a rule defined with

(12)
(13)

Use of (16) provides an efficient way to determine control

input magnitudes for a monotonic convergence to imbalance
target. Although the impact imbalance correction method theoretically guarantees a perfect balance [1], it is still a great
challenge for achieving the goal even with the presented control algorithm, as shown in the test results that will be given
in the following section. Meanwhile, there is some previous research and literature that elaborates the stability evaluation of
the LMS-based gain update rule defined in (16) [4], [5].
IV. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
Comparative empirical studies are performed in this section
for the verification of superior performance on monotonic
imbalance convergence of the method developed here. Since
the problem dealt with in this section contains many parameters
that could affect the test result, it probably requires a large
sample size to guarantee the test reliability. Meanwhile, a
well-coordinated sample preparation should be arranged in
terms of part level material finish, assembly condition, and
testing environment.
Some of the important typical examples are the followings.
First, if a disk-clamp assembly has gone though repeated shockinduced slips, surface frictional condition might differ from the
virgin material condition. Secondly, a reused disk clamp might
not provide enough clamping force even with the same clamp
screw torque, and that clearly affects the disk slippage threshold
impact input level. Thirdly, behavior of the imbalance change
upon each impact input relies on initial setup of the disk pack
assembly. In other words, if both disk(s) and clamp are initially
shifted to the same side before the first impact input, its imbalance correction results are different from the case when disk(s)
and clamp/spacer(s) are initially shifted to the other directions.
Considering the necessity of a statistical approach using a
good number of samples for the verification test, this test uses

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Fig. 4. Test result of HDA #1.

Fig. 7. Test result of HDA #4.

Fig. 5. Test result of HDA #2.

Fig. 8. Test result of HDA #6.

Fig. 6. Test result of HDA #3.

Fig. 9. Test result of HDA #6.

30 2.5-in drives. Before the assembly of the drives, key dimensions of every disk pack components are carefully inspected and
measured.
Six representative test results out of 30 are presented in
Figs. 49. The horizontal axis shows time of impact input,
whereas the vertical axis represents the normalized imbalance.
The first three samples in Figs. 46 show the cases where
severe oscillations of the imbalance amount upon each impact
application are monitored when the traditional constant shock
application method is used. However, using the proposed input
impact control method, the tests show a monotonic continuous decrease of imbalance amount. From all three cases, the
number of impact application is less than eight for settling in
the required specification.
The next three cases, shown in Figs. 79, demonstrate examples where the imbalance reductions are saturated and do not
move further by the traditional method. Like the previous three
disk files, these also respond faster to the new method.

A reason for the sudden increase of the imbalance amount

during impact applications using the new method as shown in
Figs. 7 and 8 deserve more elaboration. No obvious answers
are available at this moment in spite of a series of inspections
on parts, integrations, and control gain updates. However,
reassembly of the rotors eliminated the circumstances, which
means that the rotor balance problem and its process may be
analyzed better with addition of statistical method regardless of
the existence of balancing control algorithm.
In all six cases, the only way to make balance with the traditional method is that head disk assemblies have to be disassembled and reprocessed, which is prohibitive in mass production
process lines. However, the process improvement by the new
method seems significant.
V. CONCLUSION
A new control algorithm based on LMS gain update rule is
presented for impact-based imbalance correction method. Using

IHN et al.: ACTIVE CORRECTION OF DYNAMIC MASS IMBALANCE FOR A PRECISE ROTOR

the LMS approach, the presented method shows stable and reliable performances in providing monotonic continuous decrease
of the imbalance. It is certain that the new method will be more
effective not only in mass production yield increase but also in
overall product reliability extension.
In spite of the superior performance proven by many test runs,
it should be admitted that studies should be continued for guaranteeing better convergence speed. As appeared in some exemplary cases such as Figs. 7 and 8, the proposed method fails to
guarantee the absolute monotonic decrease of the imbalance. At
this moment, no clear reasons are available for the problem despite a series of inspections and reviews on the organizing mechanical components and the control gain update procedures.
Especially in the data storage device industry, there have been
many discussions on pros and cons of effectiveness of adopting
the impact-based imbalance correction method. And some severe skepticism for the application of the method in volume
production came out due to increased process time and the corresponding manufacturing cost. However, the impact method
seems to be the only viable solution for the next-generation rotor
design and production, as the industry requires very low-level
imbalance induced vibration. From this point of view, development of this method is worth attention. Its application in mass
production might provide higher production reliability at reasonable cost.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Korea Industrial Technology Foundation under the Human Resource Training Project for Strategic
Technology and by Gyeonggi Province Korea under the GRRC
program.
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[4] S. Snyder and C. Hansen, The influence of transducer transfer functions and acoustic time delays on the implementation of the LMS algorithm in active noise control systems, J. Sound Vib., vol. 141, no. 3,
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[5] D. Oh, J. C. Koo, and S. Suh, A robust adaptive feedforward method
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