Heat-transfer Calculations at the Tape-head Interface of a Computer Tape Drive

Frictional heat generation can develop localized high temperatures at the tape-head interface of a computer tape drive and can seriously affect the performance of the drive. Using standard heat transfer theory, we calculated the magnitude of this “hot spotting” to be of the order of 21°C for an IBM 2400 series tape drive. In general, it is almost impossible to accurately measure hot spotting on a tape drive. A series of calculations was performed to investigate why this is so.