The generation of electrostatic charge is considered for the cases of standing up from a chair and removing a garment at dew points with temperature and relative humidity (RH) of −13.1°C (5°C, RH 25%), −10°C (27°C, RH 8%), −8.9°C (18°C, RH 15%), −1.7°C (38°C, RH 8%), 5°C (27°C, RH 25%), 5.6°C (18°C, RH 45%), and 13.9°C (27°C, RH 45%). Using ESD mitigation shoes/floors rather than non-ESD can reduce the voltages by a factor of ∼2 to 5 for garment removal and ∼2 to 7 for standing up from a chair. For the garment removal, the charge voltage will drop to 100 V within ∼0.5 to 6 s and within ∼1 to 30 min when ESD and non-ESD mitigation shoes/floors are used, respectively. For the standing-up form a chair, the corresponding times are ∼0.5 to 3 s and ∼1 to 4 min, respectively. For the extreme case at 22°C, RH 5%, the voltage can surpass +/− 20 kV. Finally, it is shown that the voltages a person will charge up to may vary by +/− 30% just because of different capacitances to ground. Residential home settings will lead to the highest voltages (60 pF test person to ground, U.S. wood frame house), while standing on a concrete floor only half of the voltage may be reached (120 pF).
Index Terms-Electrostatic charge, electrostatic discharge (ESD), environmental condition, ESD mitigation.
0018-9375