by Andy on August 24, 2012
Have you heard of our Metro ESD Upgrade Promotion? Until the end of December 2012 we are providing a free ESD-safe upgrade with the purchase of each eligible Metro shelving kit. Now is the perfect time to order shelving to store your static sensitive products.
For any stationary Metro shelves you order you will receive a special conductive sleeve that ensures connectivity between the shelves and the posts. This allows you to easily ground your Metro shelving unit through the posts, either by positioning your shelves on ESD-safe flooring or by using a ground cord.
When ordering mobile Metro shelves you will not only receive the conductive sleeves, but you also will get a clamp-on ground cable. This ground cable will let your mobile shelves maintain connection to your ESD-safe flooring, keeping your shelving unit static safe.
Visit www.All-Spec.com or call customer service at (800) 537-0351 today to order your new Metro shelving unit and receive your free ESD-safe upgrade!
by Andy on March 30, 2012
There are many considerations when creating an ESD-safe work place and one of the biggest is reducing static electricity from humans. Wrist straps are the most common method of grounding an operator at a workstation, but there are some options to look into when purchasing them. An important, but often overlooked, factor is how the snaps are made.
Machined snaps are made by grinding or cutting a piece of metal into the shape needed. They benefit from increased precision, but can cost more than formed snaps.
Formed snaps are made by stamping a shape into a piece of metal. These can be made much faster and easier, so they tend to be cheaper, but you lose out on the exactness of the machined snaps.
Overall, formed snaps are good for most non-critical applications, especially if you normally sit at your workstation. If precision is important or if you find that your wrist strap accidentally disconnects, then you may want to look into machined snaps.
By using wrist straps with machined snaps you can prevent many accidental disconnects, and also have assurance that the snap will consistently provide a path to ground. Gene Bliley wrote an article for Evaluation Engineering on reducing accidental release problems for his company. It is an interesting read and shows how effective using machined snaps can be if you are having problems with formed snaps. There are many options on the market to get machined snap wrist straps, and if you want more protection some companies offer magnetic snaps.
Has your company had any problems with their ESD-safe program? Leave a comment on what the problem was and how your company fixed it!
by Guest on February 8, 2012
(Special thanks to the ESD Association for sending us this article, originally posted in the IN Compliance magazine December 2011 issue)
Industry standards play a major role in providing meaningful metrics and common procedures that allow various manufacturers, customers, and suppliers to communicate from facility to facility around the world. Standards are increasingly important in our global economy. In manufacturing, uniform quality requirements and testing procedures are necessary to make sure that all involved parties are speaking the same language. In ESD device protection, standard methods have been developed for component ESD test models to measure a component’s sensitivity to electrostatic discharge from various sources. In ESD control programs, standard test methods for product qualification and periodic evaluation of wrist straps, garments, ionizers, worksurfaces, grounding, flooring, shoes, static dissipative planar materials, shielding bags, packaging, electrical soldering/desoldering hand tools, and flooring/footwear systems have been developed to ensure uniformity around the world.
For more on the ESDA’s annual progress report, plus a listing of current ESDA standards committee documents, click here.
by Andy on November 14, 2011
Over the last two weeks we have gone over the human body and charge device models of ESD classification. This week is the last in our three part series, and we are going over the machine model.
The machine model is the most straightforward of the three ESD classifications. It shows how sensitive a device is to other charged devices in the area. For instance, if there are charged wires around your work station and they touch your ESD sensitive device, machine model classification tells you how much voltage can discharge from the wire to the item before it is affected.
To the left are the classification levels for the machine model. When testing products to place them in a specific class you typically charge a probe to the voltage range you want to test, then touch it to an ESD sensitive part of the device. Then test the item to see if this discharge caused damage.
This marks the end of our ESD classification series! If you need any more information on the ESD classification systems then check out www.esda.org. They have documents on the classification models, as well as a glossary of terms and a lot of other information. Starting next Monday we are going to shift gears and start to talk about electrical testing equipment, such as the new Monroe Electronics meters we will soon be adding to our site. Also make sure to check out the first two parts of our ESD classification series, linked below.
Read Part 1 of “What are the ESD Classifications? Human Body Model”
Read Part 2 of “What are the ESD Classifications? Charge Device Model”
