Electronics manufacturers must adhere to specific ESD, or electrostatic discharge, protocols in order to maintain a safe working environment and ensure product quality. These guidelines are in place to make sure everyone stays safe. Here’s a look what ESD is and how manufacturers can adhere to the rules concerning it:
What is ESD and how does it occur?
An ESD event occurs when an electrostatic charge rapidly transfers between two objects. This transfer is usually caused when two objects with a notable potential difference in electrical charge contact each other. However, ESD events can also happen when two objects close to one another create a highly charged electrostatic field. (Source)
In an electronics and manufacturing environment, an ESD event of any size can have negative consequences. Electronic components can become damaged, impacting functionality and creating long-term problems and additional costs required to repair the resulting issues.
Is your workstation safe?
Manufacturers must ensure that workstations are static-safe. Electric components should only be handled in an ESD Protected Area (EPA). Inside an EPA electrostatic fields and voltages are kept at low levels. An EPA can be any area, including but not limited to single workstations or complete manufacturing floors. An EPA must be properly marked as such.
Components must be protected with specialized packaging that uses a layer of conductive foam when removed from the EPA. Per Advanced Power Technology, a protection is placed just above the conductive foam to prevent an exterior shock on the pins during shipment. This protection prevents vibration between the package and the power modules, thus avoiding any possible buildup of static electricity and ESD damage. The package must be opened on an EST protected workstation and employees that handle the package must be wearing protective gear.
What additional safety precautions should be taken?
Personnel who handle power modules must wear proper attire at all times. This includes a grounding wrist strap or ankle strap, which dissipates a static charge to the ground, a closed smock, dissipative gloves, and anti-static mats. ESD-safe jackets also reduce the likelihood of ESD events.
Also, regular testing is important. A ground/polarity tester verifies that a working environment is ESD-safe. It plugs in to an electrical outlet and allows you to verify that the outlet is wired correctly. Most of the other static-safety devices that you’ll want to use are going to rely on the grounded outlets to dissipate charge effectively, so testing your outlets is very important. (Source)
Following ESD-safety best practices reduces the risk of workplace injury and maintains production efficiency without increasing costs.