Single pulse degaussing device with rotary actuated chamber access doors
A single magnetic pulse degaussing apparatus for use in erasing information contained on magnetic recording or storage media. A degaussing chamber for receipt of magnetic forces above 2.0 Tesla is accessible by upper and lower rotary actuated doors. The internal flux of a coil is measured by the current passing through the coil during the discharge cycle to provide a flux versus time measurements. The measurements are inserted into a performance verification algorithm to assure sufficient time for media destruction has taken place before releasing the media from the degaussing chamber.
1. A single magnetic pulse degaussing device comprising:
a housing having a front wall, a back wall, opposing side walls, a bottom gate and a upper gate forming an interior chamber,
a coil wound around an opening to said interior chamber, said coil coupled to a capacitor to provide a single magnetic pulse degaussing current having magnetic forces approximately to 2.0 Tesla into said interior chamber for degaussing of media;
a microcontroller having a high speed ADC (analog to digital converter) and DMA (direct memory access) electrically coupled to said coil for measuring current and determining performance of the degaussing of media by a verification algorithm;
a first rotary actuator having a first cam arm with a bearing sleeve for engaging a slot in said bottom gate, said first rotary actuator moving said bottom gate positioned beneath a lower opening between an open position for access to said interior chamber and a closed position;
a second rotary actuator having a second cam arm with a bearing sleeve for engaging a slot in said upper gate, said second rotary actuator moving said upper gate positioned above an upper opening between an open position for access to said interior chamber and a closed position;
whereby media positioned within said interior chamber through said upper gate and receives a single magnetic pulse to degauss the media wherein said microcontroller analyzes the current rate to report if the media received sufficient induced magnetic field for a sufficient period of time for complete degaussing, upon verification of complete degaussing said bottom gate is opened for removal of the degaussed media.
2. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 1 wherein each said gate is moved at a rate of velocity dependent upon the rate of the position command change sent to the rotary actuator from the microcontroller.
3. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 1 wherein torque to each said rotary actuator is proportional to current to each said actuator.
4. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 3 wherein the current is limited to each said actuator by a series resistor.
5. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 3 wherein the current is limited by an active current limiting circuit.
6. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 1 wherein said capacitor is further defined as multiple paralleled electrolytic capacitors, wherein each said capacitor is monitored for temperature and current to determine degradation.
7. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 1 wherein said housing is constructed and arranged to fir into a 19-inch rack mount frame.
8. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 1 wherein said microcontroller is coupled to the internet to allow for remote configuration and examination of said device.
9. The single magnetic pulse degaussing device according to claim 8 wherein said examination includes remote querying of system performance, system usage, and system status.