That makes sense, but it only addresses half of the ESD environment question, which is how high a potential can something be charged up to, and how long will it hold the charge. The other half of the question is the charge-generating mechanism. If the surfaces one walks on are largely metal or concrete, how does that effect the amount of charge relative to a carpet? And more importantly, whether the charging surface is carpet or concrete or metal, how can one simulate the charging mechanism in a repeatable fashion? How do you build a human body model not in terms of a capacitor and resistor, but in terms of modeling scuffing one's feet and measuring the resultant charge collection?
From: Mike Hopkins <michael.hopk...@thermo.com> List-Post: emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:18:24 -0400 To: "'Ken Javor'" <ken.ja...@emccompliance.com>, emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org Subject: RE: Defining an ESD Threat Simple thing to do is take an ESD simulator and try charging some objects in that environment and see if they will hold a charge.... In high humidity, I'd expect charges to bleed off very quickly on most objects, which is why the ESD threat would be low.... In low humidity, of course, the charged surfaces and/or objects would tend to hold a charge... If a person becomes charged due to triboelectric charging walking across a carpet, I don't know that a high humidity prevents charging -- but it will definately bleed a charge off quickly.... Maybe faster than the charging can take place??? None of this is quantitative, of course,,,, Best Regards, Michael Hopkins Control Technology Division Compliance Test Solutions Thermo Electron Corporation One Lowell Research Center Lowell, MA 01852 Tel: +1 978 275 0800 ext. 334 Mobile: +1 603 765 3736 michael.hopk...@thermo.com One Thermo, committed to integrity, intensity, innovation & involvement -----Original Message----- From: Ken Javor [mailto:ken.ja...@emccompliance.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:04 PM To: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org Subject: Defining an ESD Threat Esteemed List Members, I am working a problem where it would be helpful to define an ESD threat level in a particular high humidity, metallic surroundings environment - expectation is that ESD levels would be much lower than typical. I have a very high level concept of how it might be done, some kind of Van de Graf model of a human discharge. Someone somewhere might have done a similar test to arrive at threats for IEC 1000-4-2 or other standards. Any pointers on how to do this? Thank you, Ken Javor ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: emc_p...@symbol.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
