Ian, This question was posted on Interference Technology's Testing forum. The following reply was from one of our readers.
Safety/EMC Standards frequently omit the "and" in a list of items such as you excerpted here from 61000-4-2 - they only put an "or" in where they truly mean it to be interpreted as such. The "and" is implied and Contact ESD must be done on all conductive surfaces, and Air ESD on all insulating surfaces. If your product has both surface types, you should not omit either test scenario. Your local EMC/ESD lab should confirm this. Thanks, Kate Savo Interference Technology Forums Editor www.interferencetechnology.com/ 484-688-0300 ext 26 [email protected] From: Gordon,Ian [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 7:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [PSES] ESD testing All Is it necessary to apply both air & contact discharges to equipment given the following?: Looking at 61000-4-2 I believe the critical part is the first paragraph of section 7 ".Test set-up". .....application of discharges to the EUT in the following manner: a) contact discharge to the conductive surfaces and coupling planes; b) air discharge at insulating surfaces. it does not say for air discharge at insulating AND conductive surfaces. The table in section. 8.3.1 is just for conductors but is essentially a restatement of the above. I cannot see any other part of the spec that implies the opposite. Ian Gordon --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and are provided solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any copying, disclosure, distribution, or use of this e-mail, its attachments or any information contained therein is unauthorized and strictly prohibited and you should please contact the sender immediately and delete this e-mail and any attachments from your system. No responsibility is accepted for any virus or defect that might arise >from opening this e-mail or attachments, whether or not it has been checked by anti-virus software. - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]> - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
