I'm not familiar with any standards that require air discharges to metallic surfaces. (However, I'm not familiar with every ESD standard in the world.) Air discharges are usually only performed on insulated surfaces, seams, keypads and semi-insulated surfaces.
As a matter of fact, I do contact discharges on painted metal surfaces, as long as I can push the tip of the gun through the paint. The contact discharges are more repeatable than air discharges; that's why they are used. Ask around and check your standards. You may not need to do air discharges to metallic surfaces. Contact discharges may be good enough. Chris Maxwell Nettest Utica, NY USA From: owner-emc-p...@listserv.ieee.org [mailto:owner-emc-p...@listserv.ieee.org] On Behalf Of Vinod Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 3:12 AM To: emc-p...@ieee.org Subject: Few questions on ESD testing Dear Group, I have a few questions on ESD testing. 1. When ESD testing a communications equipment, it is passing the tests at 4KV( Contact Discharge) and 8 KV (Air Discharge) without any bit errors on the line. However, when an Air Discharge is done on metallic surface, we are getting errors at times. Few discharges caused system hangs without any permanent damage. Is it mandatory under the EN 61000 tests have no bit errors for Air Discharge on metallic surfaces? 2. The above errors happen when the discharge is made on the rear side of the system. Since, the system itself is categorised as rack mounting do we need to do these tests towards the rear? 3. The system has passed Radiated susceptibility tests as per EN61000 standard. Do you still suspect the arcing discharge creating issue rather than the ESD effect. Regards Vinod This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html 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 This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html 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
