Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) question.

[Tobalcane]

I inherited shock test equipment that is very crude, but the company has been using it for years. The vibrator is fasten to a patio paver and in turn sits in a wooden box full of sand. The wood, sand, and patio paver are insulators, can they generate a static charge; are they ESD save? The vibrator is grounded, so I am not worried about "zaps", butI would rather be safe than sorry.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.



Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

 

[kelroy]

Well, at least in the aerospace world, we treat the wood as "static dissipative." Since sand is a bunch of little rocks all touching eachother, and concrete/rocks are dissipative (the reason why grounding to concrete/earth works), I would guess those would be "dissipative" too, although I have no direct reference. I know nothing of the other component. Also, static dissipative just means it's not totally conductive, but if you have a ground attached to it, it will dissipate the surface charge. Hope that helps.