Antistatic garments
Encyclopedia
Anti-static garments or anti-static clothing is required to prevent damage to electrical components or to prevent fires and explosions when working with flammable liquids and gases.
. ESD garments attempt to shield ESD sensitive devices
from harmful static charges from clothing such as wool
, silk
, and synthetic fabrics on people working with them. For these garments to work properly, they must also be connected to ground with a strap. Most ESD garments are not conductive enough to provide personal grounding so antistatic foot straps and antistatic wrist strap
s are also worn. ESD garments are considered an optional method to control ESD
.
An ESD protected area is a defined location with the necessary materials, tools, and equipment capable of controlling static electricity to a level that minimizes damage to ESD susceptible items. In the ESD protected area, all conductors in the environment, including personnel, shall be bonded or electrically connected and attached to a known ground or contrived ground. This attachment creates an equipotential balance between all items and personnel. Electrostatic protection can be maintained at a potential above a "zero" voltage ground potential as long as all items in the system are at the same potential.
Transportation of electrostatic sensitive devices also requires packaging that provides protection from electrostatic hazards in the transportation or storage system. In the case of an ESD protected area designed with continuous grounding of all conductors and dissipative items (including personnel), packaging may not be necessary.
The amount of static electricity we feel varies according to factors such as our body and foot size a larger body and bigger feet require more charge to be stored to produce the same voltage. The material our clothes are made from and the soles of our shoes can influence static electricity too. Weather affects it as well. There is more build-up of static charge when the air is dry. Most people feel harmless shocks at around 2,000-4,000 volts. However electrical components can be damaged by as little as a few volts. It is estimated that between eight percent and 33 percent of product losses—-the proportion of products which are rendered faulty—-are due to static electricity. Static electricity is generally harmless to the individual but if not controlled, electrostatic discharge
can cause product damage to electrostatic sensitive device
s and lead to machinery downtime, lost man-hours, returned products and warranty costs particularly in the semiconductor
and electronics
industries, which lead 5 billion USD of damage to products each year.
Electrostatic sensitive device
One of the ways to bond or electrically connect personnel to ground is the use of an ESD (Electrostatic Sensitive Device) garment. ESD garments have conductive threads in them, creating a wearable version of a faraday cageFaraday cage
A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure formed by conducting material or by a mesh of such material. Such an enclosure blocks out external static and non-static electric fields...
. ESD garments attempt to shield ESD sensitive devices
Electrostatic sensitive device
An electrostatic-sensitive device is any component which can be damaged by common static charges which build up on people, tools, and other non-conductors or semiconductors...
from harmful static charges from clothing such as wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
, silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, and synthetic fabrics on people working with them. For these garments to work properly, they must also be connected to ground with a strap. Most ESD garments are not conductive enough to provide personal grounding so antistatic foot straps and antistatic wrist strap
Antistatic wrist strap
An antistatic wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet is an antistatic device used to safely ground a person working on very sensitive electronic equipment, to prevent the buildup of static electricity on their body, which can result in electrostatic discharge...
s are also worn. ESD garments are considered an optional method to control ESD
Electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...
.
An ESD protected area is a defined location with the necessary materials, tools, and equipment capable of controlling static electricity to a level that minimizes damage to ESD susceptible items. In the ESD protected area, all conductors in the environment, including personnel, shall be bonded or electrically connected and attached to a known ground or contrived ground. This attachment creates an equipotential balance between all items and personnel. Electrostatic protection can be maintained at a potential above a "zero" voltage ground potential as long as all items in the system are at the same potential.
Uses
Antistatic garments are used in many industries such as electronics, communications, telecommunications and defense applications. As computers and electronics become ever more pervasive in consumer products so an increasing number of manufacturers will need to apply anti-static control measures. One such measure is antistatic apparel because people are the greatest source of static charge in the workplace.Transportation of electrostatic sensitive devices also requires packaging that provides protection from electrostatic hazards in the transportation or storage system. In the case of an ESD protected area designed with continuous grounding of all conductors and dissipative items (including personnel), packaging may not be necessary.
The amount of static electricity we feel varies according to factors such as our body and foot size a larger body and bigger feet require more charge to be stored to produce the same voltage. The material our clothes are made from and the soles of our shoes can influence static electricity too. Weather affects it as well. There is more build-up of static charge when the air is dry. Most people feel harmless shocks at around 2,000-4,000 volts. However electrical components can be damaged by as little as a few volts. It is estimated that between eight percent and 33 percent of product losses—-the proportion of products which are rendered faulty—-are due to static electricity. Static electricity is generally harmless to the individual but if not controlled, electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...
can cause product damage to electrostatic sensitive device
Electrostatic sensitive device
An electrostatic-sensitive device is any component which can be damaged by common static charges which build up on people, tools, and other non-conductors or semiconductors...
s and lead to machinery downtime, lost man-hours, returned products and warranty costs particularly in the semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
industries, which lead 5 billion USD of damage to products each year.
See also
- Antistatic deviceAntistatic deviceAn antistatic device is any item which has the effect of reducing static electricity charges on a person's body or equipment, either to prevent fires and explosions when working with flammable liquids and gases, or to prevent damage to static-sensitive objects such as electronic components or devices...
- Antistatic bagAntistatic bagAn antistatic bag is a bag used for shipping components, which are prone to damage caused by electrostatic discharge.These bags are usually plastic and have a distinctive color . The polyethylene variant may also take the form of foam or bubble wrap, either as sheets or bags...
- Antistatic agentAntistatic agentAn antistatic agent is a compound used for treatment of materials or their surfaces in order to reduce or eliminate buildup of static electricity generally caused by the triboelectric effect. Its role is to make the surface or the material itself slightly conductive, either by being conductive...
- Antistatic matAntistatic matAn antistatic floor mat or ground mat is one of a number of antistatic devices designed to help eliminate static electricity. It does this by having a conductive material embedded within the mat that collects the static. The mat would need to be grounded . This is usually accomplished by plugging...
- Antistatic wrist strapAntistatic wrist strapAn antistatic wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet is an antistatic device used to safely ground a person working on very sensitive electronic equipment, to prevent the buildup of static electricity on their body, which can result in electrostatic discharge...
- Antistatic bag
- Electrostatic sensitive deviceElectrostatic sensitive deviceAn electrostatic-sensitive device is any component which can be damaged by common static charges which build up on people, tools, and other non-conductors or semiconductors...