10 | ST43401N/ND, ST43402ND User’s Manual, Rev. B |
Air-flow requirements
The enclosure design must ensure adequate cooling for the drive. Note that the fan in the power supply cools only the power supply’s internal parts.
The drive’s product specification (document 64403603) describes how to evaluate the air-flow design. The evaluation consists of ensuring that the case temperatures of certain critical components remain within acceptable limits during drive operation.
We recommend orienting the drive or directing the air flow in a way that creates the least amount of air-flow resistance while providing air flow above the circuit boards and around the head and disc assembly (HDA). Also, choose the shortest possible path between the air inlet and exit. This minimizes the distance traveled by air that is heated by the drive and by other nearby heat sources.
Figure 4 shows two design approaches with one or more fans used to generate airflow. The air-flow patterns can be created by the fans either pushing or drawing air. The overall flow pattern can be directed from front to back, back to front, or side to side.