How does a component generate vibration?
Power supply transformers are perhaps the biggest culprit – almost all of them “hum” or vibrate at the line current frequency (50 or 60 Hz, depending on where you are). Even when you can’t “hear” a transformer humming, the amount of vibration it conducts throughout an electronic component is considerable. Even if there is no transformer in the component, the junctions of transistors can become piezoelectric, generating vibration through the current-induced expansion and contraction of semiconductor material or very thin wires. Then there are the spinning disc motors in digital front-end equipment. These may sound quiet to your ear, but to microscopic circuit elements, they are huge, whirling power plants of considerable energy, sending waves and noise throughout the component. Further, the laser reader is constantly moving and itself “rocking the boat.” Airborne vibration in the form of sound waves from speakers or other sources impinges on the chassis, adding more vibration which no p
