Degaussing (Demagnetising) Service

Degaussing (Demagnetising) Service

Master Instruments offers a battery degaussing service for applications requiring batteries with a low magnetic signature.

Degaussing machine in use
Degaussing machine in use
Degaussing machine in use
Degaussing machine in use
Degaussing machine in use
Degaussing machine in use

What is Degaussing?

Inside a battery pack the various components, especially the metallic components, form domains in which the majority of constituent atoms tend to have the same orientation. If several domains of the battery have the same orientation the battery will have a magnetic field

Degaussing is achieved by disordering the homogenous orientation of the domains which has the effect that the magnetic impact of them is neutralized. In other words it reduces the magnetic field, or signature of the battery. This is done by exposing the battery to a strong alternating magnetic field. Due to magnetic hysteresis it is usually not possible to reduce the field completely. Typically there is a very small field remaining, referred to as bias. However degaussing does reduce the magnetic field of batteries almost completely. Sufficiently to in turn prevent bias of compass data in sensitive instruments such as oceanographic ADCPs (acoustic doppler current profilers).

Applications and industries looking for low magnetic fields include:

  • Oceanographic and meteorological wave, tide, current, wind measurement
  • UAV / Drones
  • Military (Not Weapon)
  • Medical & Health
  • Personal Safety
  • Soanar
  • Sentinels
  • AUV & ROV's (Underwater Vehicles)
  • AWAC's (Airborne Warning & Control Systems)
  • Robotics
  • Beacons
  • Buoys
  • Data Loggers
  • Control Instrumentation
  • Pipeline Inspection
  • Oil Industry MWD tools (Measurement While Drilling)
  • ADCP's (Accoustic Doppler Current Profilers)
  • AST (Accoustic Surface Tracking)

Degaussing History

Degaussing is named after the unit of magnetism known as the gauss, which is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. It has an interesting history, having been used initially during WWII by the British navy to counter German magnetic mines which were primed to detect the concentration of the earths magnetic field caused by steel ships passing over them.

Electromagnetic coils were placed inside ships which could bias the ships magnetic field. This was too expensive and later techniques involved "wiping" or "deperming" ships by passing them through heavy duty electrical cables capable of carrying thousands of Amps. This is still done today by modern navies and more advanced solutions involving superconducting ceramic cables have been developed in recent years to counteract more advanced magnetic mines.

Degaussing was also used in television tubes and to wipe data from magnetic storage media.

 

Contact us to discuss how we can assist you.

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