Patent ID: 8451578

Claim:
An ionizer module for ionizing a stream of air in a hard drive particle cleaning system, the ionizer module comprising: a shell; an inlet nozzle arranged in a first end of the shell and configured to be coupled to upstream tubing for supplying a stream of air into the shell; an emitter ring mounted on an inner surface of the shell, the emitter ring comprising a plurality of emitter points positioned along an inner surface of the emitter ring, wherein the emitter ring is configured to be coupled to a power source for ionizing the stream of air in the shell; a diffuser arranged on the inner surface of the shell between the first end of the shell and the emitter ring, wherein the diffuser is configured to provide an even flow of the stream of air across the plurality of emitter points; and an outlet nozzle arranged in a second end of the shell opposite the first end of the shell and configured to be coupled to downstream tubing for supplying the ionized stream of air into a hard drive.