I was doing some exploratory tear downs, today, and I cut into an oscillating air purifier. Not much to say for it, aside from a brown board, a few feet of wire, and a motor weighing a couple pounds. But inside was also a blue and black component, free from the board, with two plug like pins on it. I thought it to be a relay and so I smacked it open to see if I could identify the contacts. Instead, I found two copper plugs on either side of a weird metallic brick, the size of a matchbook, which was firm but brittle like graphite. I couldn't pull it out because it kept crumbling.
Tomorrow, I'm going to research the part number. Any idea what I might have found?