Patent Application
20160120075
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer storage devices and is more specifically related to rotating or solid state drives that are hardened to withstand electromagnetic pulses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the Manhattan project in the 1940s, governments and businesses have been worried about the effects of nuclear explosions on electronics. At first, the concern was limited to the damage cause by blast and radiation. Later, however, as microelectronics (e.g., transistor-based) technologies began to dominate military and civilian use over vacuum tube-based electronics (vacuum tubes being more resistant to EMP effects), the concern expanded to include a phenomenon called “electromagnetic pulse” (“EMP”). Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent by the US Government on nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s to determine the characteristics of electromagnetic pulses on various military aviation and weapons systems. Shielding was designed and equipment modified to avoid damage from a nuclear event. But this work addressed military requirements and not the needs of the private sector.
Generally, EMP protections are implemented at the “site” level, along with construction and design to protect a site from nuclear blast and radiation. Data centers are included among such sites, and there are numerous data center designs that are EMP protected. However, like most military implementations, these data centers are designed to generate power from within, so that EMP damage through the power lines can be eliminated. This solution is quite expensive, and not useful for personal computers. However, given the concerns over nuclear proliferation and the possibility of a terrorist nuclear attack, the interest in providing protection for critical data for non-military uses has become acute.
Most personal computer owners who attempt to address EMP risks use uninterruptable power supply (“UPS”) systems such as the Schneider Electric APC BACK-UPS PRO line of uninterruptable power supplies. These UPS systems include surge protection to block EMP impact on the connected devices. However, this APC UPS and most other surge protection devices protect against a relatively low number of joules (hundreds of joules) whereas a lightning strike or other EMP event could produce 5 billion joules of energy or more. With this amount of energy, the electricity could easily jump through all wires within the UPS, causing energy to follow to the connected devices.
The other option for the personal computer owner is to disconnect the hard drive by operating the computer wirelessly and with a battery. The disadvantages of this solution is that eventually the battery needs to be recharged, opening the system to EMP risk during the recharging.
The present invention eliminates the issues articulated above as well as other issues with the currently known products.
One aspect of the present invention takes the form of a data storage device designed to protect against EMP events through the incorporation of a fiber optics data cable threaded through a small serpentine hole in an EMP enclosure. A second small serpentine hole contains a light pipe for transmitting power over fiber to the inside of the EMP enclosure. The EMP enclosure incorporates one or more of a faraday cage, a lead radiation shield, and a steel magnetic shield. The data storage device could be a solid state hard drive or a rotating media hard drive.
Another aspect of this invention takes the form of a data storage device designed to protect against EMP events through the incorporation of a fiber optics data cable threaded through a serpentine hole in an EMP enclosure. Power is delivered to the data storage device through a dual battery device that is switched between a charging state connected to the outside of the EMP enclosure and directly connected to power the storage device. The EMP enclosure incorporates one or more of a faraday cage, a lead radiation shield, and a steel magnetic shield. The data storage device could be a solid state hard drive or a rotating media hard drive.
This invention allows for an EMP Protected Hard Drive to be actively used without the fear of corrupted or lost data. Most electronic devices would not survive an EMP event, or they would require proper inaccessible storage. The EMP Protected Hard Drive provides unique safety features never before seen in a hard drive, while operating efficiently and consistently.
The EMP Protected Hard Drive protects a rotating or solid state hard drive, or other similar electronic device, against an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) that could otherwise prove damaging. The invention consists of a faraday cage surrounding the hard drive, a power source capable of withstanding extreme power surges, and a fiber optics cable for transporting data to and from a processor. The hard drive is designed to endure the effects of an electromagnetic pulse from boosted electrical charges traveling through the power lines and electronic current radiating through the air; both of which are the main effects of an EMP strike. Some examples of an EMP strike are nuclear explosions, lightning strikes, and voltage spikes. In such situations, vital data stored on the EMP Protected Hard Drive would be safe and uncorrupted.
A faraday cage is a well-known enclosure designed to shield its product from airborne electromagnetic pulses. The cage does not, however, allow a user to interact with or power these devices. This invention is designed with the ability to actively use the hard drive while remaining protected from an EMP strike. Strikes occur extremely quickly and can vary greatly in magnitude. It is vital that The EMP Protected Hard Drive is designed to survive the most severe of situations, a close range EMP explosive, but it can also protect against other electronic surge situations.
While the discussions here discuss the protection of a hard drive, it is envisioned that one of ordinary skill in the art could incorporate other computer components in the EMP enclosure. For instance, the entire computer could be placed within the EMP enclosure, or certain parts of the computer could be included inside of the EMP enclosure. For instance, an entire laptop could be placed within the EMP enclosure with USB ports sent through the enclosure to attach to a keyboard, a mouse, and a screen.
Hard drives contain data that, in some situations, is tremendously important to a user. Whether it is financial, sentimental, or essential information, it needs to be safe and accessible at all times. All hard drives, like most electronic devices, are vulnerable to EMPs and electrical spikes that could corrupt the data and/or destroy the hardware. It is difficult to protect hard drives against such electric events because of the events unpredictable and instantaneous nature. EMP ignitions, lightning strikes, and voltage spikes are all capable of destroying electrical equipment in a matter of milliseconds.
In addition, the electronics necessary to operate the hard drive must be available after an EMP event. Designing a system that allows the data to survive but not the access circuitry will not solve the problem, so any circuitry outside of the EMP enclosure needs to be readily replaceable.
An EMP event could occur in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. During such an event, radiation would prove to be another danger to electronic devices. The bomb could create magnetic radiation and nuclear radiation; both potential threats to a hard drive. To protect against nuclear radiation, a lead layer 302 of suitable thickness could be added surrounding the cage 303. A thickness of 600 mils is preferred. Other materials that could replace the lead include concrete, tantalum, steel, or tin. To protect against magnetic radiation, a layer of steel 301, preferably hot rolled steel, of suitable thickness would be added. Iron or other materials could replace the steel to protect against the magnetic radiation. A thickness of 20 mils is preferred. This means the EMP Protected Hard Drive, in one embodiment, will be enclosed in three layers; a layer of copper mesh 303, then a layer of lead 302, and finally an outer layer of steel 301. Such an enclosure would protect the valuable information stored on the hard drive from almost any form of global attack or surge of energy. It would protect against everything from a localized lightning surge to an atomic bomb or solar flare. Without such an enclosure, in the event of a strike, all the electrical components in the hard drive could be destroyed; even if the hard drive was off and not in use.
In order to protect against an electromechanical pulse from a 20 Megaton through a 1 Kiloton atomic bomb blast, a design that incorporates a 15 mil copper thickness layer inside of a 600 mil lead layer inside of a 20 mil hot rolled steel layer is preferred. This will handle both a high (defined as greater than 19 miles), a medium, and a low altitude EMP pulse. Calculated for protection against the following environments. With a high altitude event, this design covers gamma and neutron radiation. This design covers medium altitude and surface events with the following approximate slant range (distance) vs yield.
For further information on the design of EMP enclosures, see A Review of Nuclear Explosion Phenomena Pertinent to Protective Construction by H. L. Brode and EMI Shielding Theory & Gasket Design Guide by Chomerics, Inc., incorporated herein by reference.
The EMP enclosure 300 for the EMP Protected Hard Drive could be designed in one of two ways. In the event that two batteries are used in order to power the EMP Protected Hard Drive, the EMP enclosure 300 would require two different enclosed areas; one area for the hard drive and one area for the capacitor and batteries (see
The final aspect of the EMP enclosure is the small opening for cables. The opening will be designed to only allow the power 202 and data transfer cables 203 to pass through. Keeping the size of this hole to a minimum is important for protecting the hard drive. Furthermore, it is recommended that the hole be serpentine as opposed to straight through the EMP enclosure to allow the shielding to absorb more of the energy from the EMP event. As seen in
In one embodiment, the ports for power and data could disconnect at the EMP enclosure, allowing a steel and lead cover to block the ports when the device is not in use. Alternatively, the device could include a storage compartment enclosed in a separate faraday cage, lead, and steel for the storage of cables when the device is not in use. A door in the storage compartment would allow the cables to be removed when needed. When not needed, the entire unit, including the cables, will be enclosed.
Electromagnetic events can lead to large voltage spikes which combine extremely elevated voltage and current over a short period of time. A voltage spike does damage by traveling through power lines, covering great distances and affecting every electronic device that is linked to the power grid. Most electronic devices are not designed to handle the levels of voltage and current that would be generated from an EMP. High voltage and excess current rushes through the wires, causing them to burn up. Semiconductors and CPU's melt quickly and easily due to their small pathways. A traditional power cord, connecting a device to the wall socket, has no defense mechanism for preventing the spike from reaching the hardware. A surge protector is commonly used to protect against energy spikes, however they can't guarantee protection against the voltage magnitudes associated with an EMP. Most, if not all, surge protectors warn users about close range lightning strikes and the possibility of damage. A high-end surge protector defends against upwards of 3000 joules. In the event of a direct lightning strike, no surge protector could defend against the millions or billions of joules involved. An energy spike from an indirect lightning strike can vary depending on distance from the source and intensity of the strike. Even an indirect strike could destroy a surge protected electronic device, such as a hard drive. In the event of an EMP attack, similar to a direct lightning strike, the power lines would feed electronic devices upwards of 50,000 volts; enough to burn through any surge protector and destroy the device. So we need to provide power to operate the disk drive and communications interface without requiring current to flow through the EMP enclosure.
One embodiment of this invention uses battery rotation along with possible surge protection. As seen in
The choice of battery is important because of the sealed EMP enclosure. Standard lead acid batteries off-gas hydrogen, creating a potential explosive situation within the enclosure. A preferable technology involves Nickel Metal Hydride technology, which does not off-gas explosive gases during charging. However, any number of battery technologies could be used without deviating from this invention.
The power system begins with the AC power 105 coming in from the power lines to the home or office. The AC power then continues on from the wall socket to an AC to DC convertor 107. The convertor is necessary for charging the DC batteries. The convertor powers the charging battery 102b. The powering battery 102a is powering the capacitor 104 and the hard drive 101.
The switches may require features that help defend against a jump of electricity from the one battery to the other. A large energy spike can lead to electric discharge capable of jumping from one conductive material to another, from the charging battery 102b to the powering battery 102a. In the event of an EMP event, the electricity may jump from one battery to another. If this occurred the hard drive 101 would be at risk of damage. This jump would be most likely to occur at the location of the switches where conductive materials are exposed. Keeping distance and nonconductive materials between the switches could help defend against jumps. Because of the concern for power jumps, the switches should be mechanically toggled using non-conductive rods, perhaps driven by electromagnets.
For instance, the switches could be tri-state switches, where each switch 103a or 103b could be connected to battery 102a or battery 102b or to neither battery. This could use an algorithm for switching where the power line side switch 103b would go to a neither connected state. Then the hard drive line side switch 103a would go to a neither state. Then the power line side switch 103b would switch to the discharged battery. Then, once the charged battery is clearly isolated from the power line 105, the drive side switch 103a would switch to the charged battery. This keeps the hard drive 101 isolated from the power line 105. The capacitor 104 powers the hard drive 101 during the transition.
Alternatively, the two batteries could be connected in series rather than in parallel. In this design, the first battery is switched either in a charging state, connected outside of the EMP enclosure, or it is in a discharge state, where it charges a second battery inside of the EMP enclosure. The second battery is always connected to, and always powers, the hard drive. In this design, there is no need for the capacitor to power the drive during the battery switch. The first battery in this design is in a portion of the EMP enclosure where it is isolated both from the outside environment and from the portion of the EMP enclosure that contains the hard drive. Thus the damage from an EMP pulse will be limited to the first battery should the EMP event occur while charging the first battery. If the EMP even occurs during the discharge state, there is no electrical connection to either battery.
Another way to power to the EMP Protected Hard Drive is through the use of Fiber Optics. Fiber Optics cables are flexible fibers made of extruded glass or plastic. These cables function as a light pipes, transmitting light between the two ends of a cable. Glass and plastic are nonconductive materials and therefor can't carry electricity. This removes the threat of large amounts of energy flooding the power cable and destroying a device. This also means the device will be able to collect power from a light source through the use of a solar cell type device.
This process is commonly known as Power-over-Fiber (PoF). Although the method has not reached mass commercial development, the technology has been confirmed. The system has been created by a laser generating light through a fiber optic cable that is picked up by a photovoltaic sensor that converts the light into electricity. Photovoltaic is a method for converting light radiation into direct current. The direct conversion occurs without any moving parts or emissions. It simply has a solar cell made of this photovoltaic material and converts light to electricity. The technology is designed for situations where a spark, short circuit, or magnetic interference would prove dangerous or damaging. PoF can be found in pacemakers, gasoline sensors, cellphones, etc. Although this technology is slightly unfamiliar, its current position is reason enough to believe it could be a great option in powering and protecting the EMP Protected Hard Drive.
According to the RP Photonics Encyclopedia (http://www.rp-photonics.com/power_over_fiber.html), for short-range transmission, laser diodes emitting around 750-850 nm can be used in combination with GaAs-based photovoltaic cells i.e., a semiconductor device based on a material such as gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, or indium gallium arsenide. The power efficiency of a photovoltaic cell can easily be around 40-50%, i.e. significantly higher than for a normal solar cell, because the photon energy of the light is well matched to the bandgap of the photovoltaic cell. The electrical-to-electrical efficiency can then be of the order of 20-30% for systems with a short fiber. Optical losses in the fiber, mostly due to scattering, limit the transmission distance and power efficiency of the system.
In one aspect of the present invention, as can be seen in
The photovoltaic cell 406 could power a battery or a capacitor or could directly power the hard drive 402, or the power from the photovoltaic cell 406 could power the hard drive 402 and recharge the battery at the same time. By incorporating a battery in this design, a means is provided to operate the hard drive 402 for a period of time after an EMP event even if the laser diode 407 is destroyed by the EMP event. While it is preferable to find a laser diode capable of producing enough wattage to power the hard drive, we envision that some implementations will include a number of laser diodes simultaneously transmitting light energy to one of more photovoltaic cells over one or more fiber optic cables. For example, the JDS Uniphase PPM-500-K is a photonic power module kit capable of delivering up to 500 milliwatt of electrically isolated power, more than enough power for a solid state hard drive.
Another way to power to the EMP Protected Hard Drive is through the use of mechanical energy transferred through EMP shielding structure 401 on a Teflon rod (or any other non-conductive material such as plastic, glass, wood, etc.). In this embodiment, the AC wall power outside of EMP shielding structure 401 is used to drive an electric motor that spins the Teflon rod. The Teflon rod goes through EMP shielding structure 401 and is connected to a generator on the inside of EMP shielding structure 401. As the motor spins the Teflon rod, the generator converts this rotational energy into DC power to supply power inside of EMP shielding structure 401 for the hard drive 402 and the communications electronics. In one embodiment, the generator maintains a charge on a battery that is used to power the hard drive 402 and the communications circuitry.
In order for the EMP Protected Hard Drive to be usable and safe at all times, data transmission from the hard drive to computer/processor cannot be a conductive material (i.e. cannot use electrical current through the EMP enclosure). This point to point communication channel has traditionally been formed with copper wire. Developing more rapidly in recent years is the use of fiber optics for data transfer. This option supplies many of the same benefits as listed above about Power-over-Fiber. Fiber Optic cables are made from glass and therefor would not absorb any effects of an EMP event.
Fiber Optic cables 106 also have the added benefit of being faster at data transfer than copper wire. Over recent years, many internet and service providers have begun to switch to fiber optic systems. Its long range and high frequency capabilities have proven to allow more data through their system and at faster rates. Being able to offer customers speeds up to a gigabyte per second it a huge selling point. The EMP Hard Drive could also benefit from these speeds, transfer data between the hard drive and the processor quickly.
In one implementation of the current invention, a Corning USB3 Optical Cable 106 passes through the EMP shielding structure along a serpentine path. The serpentine path of the fiber optic cable is designed to limit the energy that can get directly through small hole in the EMP shielding structure should an EMP event occur. One end of the Optical Cable is connected to the hard drive either directly or through a circuit board that converts USB to the interface needed by the hard drive. The other end of the Optical Cable is mounted on the exterior of the EMP shielding so that it can be connected to a standard USB cable for interface with a computer.
Alternatively, data could be transmitted by infrared through a small hole in the EMP enclosure or through a light pipe.
In another embodiment, data could be transmitted wirelessly using standard cellular protocols, WiFI or Bluetooth by sending an antenna through the EMP enclosure.
The EMP Protected Hard Drive could have the option for either the traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or the Solid State Hard Drive (SSHD). The HDD typically has higher storage capacity and is cheaper, while the SSHD has flash memory that is faster and more compact with no moving parts. Left exposed, both hard drives have their vulnerabilities to EMPs. A HDD may destroy the writing and reading components along with corrupting the data. A Hard Drive is also more vulnerable to data corruption due to the magnetic fields associated with an electromagnetic pulse effect on the magnetic media. Both situations depend on the magnitude and type of EMP event. Either way the EMP Protected Hard Drive is protected by a multilayer faraday cage and energy spike proof power source that do almost all of the shielding.
In the preferred embodiment, as seen in
A SSHD 402 uses a very small amount of energy, as low as 0.045 watt for a Samsung MZ-7TE250BW, generating much less heat than a HDD device. Furthermore, since the SSHD device 402 contains no mechanical parts, it is capable of operating at much high temperatures than a HDD device. This allows a design in a small space without concern about thermal damage.
Since a SSHD device uses only 45 milliwatt, readily available laser diodes 407 can be used to transfer power into the EMP enclosure 401. The higher power of a HDD could require a less common laser diode or a multiple laser diodes to transfer the 3-6 watts of energy required to run the HDD.
In
The foregoing devices and operations, including their implementation, will be familiar to, and understood by, those having ordinary skill in the art.
The above description of the embodiments, alternative embodiments, and specific examples, are given by way of illustration and should not be viewed as limiting. Further, many changes and modifications within the scope of the present embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the present invention includes such changes and modifications.
This patent application is a non-provisional application of, and claims the benefit of the filing dates of, U.S. Provisional Patent No. 62/062,999 filed on Oct. 13, 2014 entitled Electromagnetic Pulse Protected Hard Drive. The disclosures of this provisional patent application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62062999 | Oct 2014 | US |
