Teledyne 651 S i c P r i n c i p l e s o f S t a t i c C o n t r o l, General Rules

Teledyne API Ultrafine Particle Monitor - Model 651Primer on Electro-Static Discharge

B a s i c P r i n c i p l e s o f S t a t i c C o n t r o l

It is impossible to stop the creation of instantaneous static electric charges. It is not, however difficult to prevent those charges from building to dangerous levels or prevent damage due to electro-static discharge from occurring.

General Rules

Only handle or work on all electronic assemblies at a properly set up ESD station. Setting up an ESD safe workstation need not be complicated. A protective mat properly tied to ground and a wrist strap are all that is needed to create a basic anti-ESD workstation (refer to Figure 10-2).

P ro te c tiv e M a t W ris t S tra p

G ro u n d P o in t

Figure 10-2

Basic Anti-ESD Work Station

For technicians that work in the field, special lightweight and portable anti-ESD kits are available from most suppliers of ESD protection gear. These include everything needed to create a temporary anti-ESD work area anywhere.

•Always wear an Anti-ESD wrist strap when working on the electronic assemblies of your analyzer. An anti-ESD wrist strap keeps the person wearing it at or near the same potential as other grounded objects in the work area and allows static charges to dissipate before they can build to dangerous levels. Anti-ESD wrist straps terminated with alligator clips are available for use in work areas where there is no available grounded plug.

Also, anti-ESD wrist straps include a current limiting resistor (usually around one meg-ohm) that protects you should you accidentally short yourself to the instrument’s power supply.

•Simply touching a grounded piece of metal is insufficient. While this may temporarily bleed off static charges present at the time, once you stop touching the grounded metal new static charges will immediately begin to re-build. In some conditions, a charge

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