My contribution to ESD wisdom will be today's anecdotal tale. I have a little plastic-housing, desktop thermometer that reads outside temp and humidity through a 433 MHz data link (its only compliance mark is an "FCC" logo. I also have a high voltage electronic bug zapper (assumed voltage of 5-10 kV, about the size and shape of a tennis racquet, no compliance markings other than "China"). I was flailing the bug zapper back and forth above my desk, finger pressing the HV button, when I finally caught up to a housefly. The fly was suitably zapped, with the bug zapper electrode array about 1 foot above my thermometer. However, the radiated EMP of the bug execution totally scrambled the microprocessor in the desktop display, requiring me to R&R the batteries to get it working again. I wonder if anyone has ever looked at the radiated ESD pulse from one of these electronic bug zappers? Is there any requirement that defines a standard bug or bug simulator?
Ed Price WB6WSN Chula Vista, CA USA -----Original Message----- From: Cortland Richmond [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2016 12:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Fwd: ESD, part of our training Enjoy! On 11/1/2016 8:53 AM, N. Shani wrote: > Well, I don't know if he's an idiot or a fool: About 30 years ago, we got a brand-new ESD test gun at Wang Laboratories in Massachusetts, and I found it necessary to prove that the simulator delivered a similar waveform as a human. I got to be the human. My technique was to discharge the tip of the gun to a Pellegrini target feeding a 1 GHz delayed sweep 'scope. These were the days when one needed a Polaroid camera (with 3000 speed film) whose shutter was triggered from the sweep. We had a linoleum floor with no attention paid to ESD discharge, so it was pretty easy to charge myself up to 5 kV and discharge the potential from my outstretched finger to the target. None of us will be surprised that it was a very close resemblance to the waveform the simulator produced. However… A lot of us got into this line of work by playing. Yes even as I dictate this, I can hear people thinking "Oh, that's what he's going to do!" We'll see. I put the sharp-pointed contact discharge tip on the simulator, and set up the gun at 25 KV continuous, aiming it to the mechanical doors some 5 m away and locking down the trigger. When high-ranking visitors decided to drop by and interrupt every kind of test, some of them classified, they would perforce have to walk through the area iwhere ions were most plentiful, and the accumulated charge would make them jump. This had the desired effect. The number of visitors dropped precipitously. Did you get it right? Cortland Richmond - ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) 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]>
