Cleaning of magnetic head

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Cleaning of chip reading contacts

Cleaning cards for hybrid plug-in chip card readers

These are plug-in card readers where in one slot the microchip and the magnetic stripe can be read. During the reading the debit or credit card nearly entirety vanishes inside the card slot.

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Cleaning of magnetic heads:

Everywhere, where the payments can be made by a credit or debit card, the payment authorization is made by a magnetic head or chip reading contacts.

It is very important to clean magnetic heads regular and preventively, to prevent the hardening of metal oxide residues together with dust and moisture on the surface.

A few years ago DISKO developed a high-frequency technique to attach the microfiber top layer of the dry cleaning card to a limited number of areas on the card core. Because the microfiber top layer is essentially separated from the core, the cleaning card has considerable elasticity. During cleaning, the magnetic head presses on the microfiber top layer (all card reader magnetic heads are spring mounted), while the microfiber cleaning cloth wraps itself around the head (see diagram). As a result, also the sides of magnetic heads are cleaned thoroughly.

The DISKO cleaning cards are covered with a highly effective dirt-absorbing and cleaning microfiber top layer on both sides. As a result, the card can be used 4 times (front/back and top/bottom of each card), providing an excellent price-to quality ratio.
DISKO microfiber cleaning cards can be used in stripe and insert readers (with the exception of card readers in ATMs and other cash machines).

Cleaning of chip reading contacts:

In the majority of payment terminals the chip reading contacts are landing contacts. This means that, after inserting a smart card (debit card) the chip reading contacts are brought into contact with the microchip of the smart card and automatically removed from the card as soon as it is ejected from the card reader. Therefore no friction occurs between chip reading contacts and the microchip on the smart card. This prevents the surface of the card and the card reader chip contacts from being damaged. However, this technology does not prevent skin oils, dust and dirt from depositing on the chip contacts. Because chip contacts are particularly sensitive to dirt, payment transactions may be interrupted.

In recent years, DISKO has developed a high-quality cleaning card (patent nr. EP0789313) with a moving slide system and a top layer made from elastic microfiber cleaning cloth for optimal cleaning of chip contacts. The microfiber cleaning cloth is welded to the movable slide using a high-frequency technique.
After full insertion of the cleaning card the chip reading contacts automatically will be pressed against the microfiber top layer of the card. Now, for cleaning the contacts, the body of the cleaning card should be held with one hand. The movable slide should be moved backwards and forwards a number of times with the other hand. As a result, the microfiber top layer of the cleaning card is moved over the chip reading contacts to clean them. The cleaning card, used dry with no chemical cleaning products, can simply be removed from the card reader after cleaning.

Each card can be used 12 times, providing users an excellent price-to-quality ratio.