Transforming Technologies is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Guild of Guild Manufacturing Solutions as the Independent Manufacture’s Representative for Florida.
Michael Guild has over 20 years experience serving the electronics industry in Florida. Guild joins a group of independent sales representatives guided by Roger Chinn, Transforming Technologies Eastern Regional Sales Manager.
Michael Guild can be reached directly at mike.guild@att.net or 407-808-3631.
BEMCOT M-3 static dissipative cleanroom ESD wipers are suitable for nearly all manufacturing and optical cleaning applications.
Bemcot wipers are for quick and easy wiping in cleanrooms, automotive manufacturing, electronics screen printing and other working environments that demand the lowest levels of lint and particles. BEMCOT is characterized by its low particle generation, high absorbency, high purity, high chemical resistance, high heat resistance, anti-static, ecoefficiency, enabling the high level of performance required for wipers for cleanrooms.
Bemcot wipers can be used in various industries such as semiconductor, optical, medical, cosmetics, food & beverage, printed circuit boards, building maintenance, automobile, aircraft, LCD, magnetic tapes, oil, tools, equipment, glass, optics, etc.
Features
Made of proprietary 100% filament rayon that absorbs 13 times its weight in liquid
Nonwoven, soft, and low-linting wiper with excellent antistatic and heat resistance properties
No bindersâ€â€safe to use with different solutions
Designed for use on sensitive electrical equipment, and in compact disk and magnetic tape industries
Apertured surface promotes particle removal
Static dissipative ESD wipes for all electronic manufacturing and optical cleaning applications
100% knitted polyester
No carbon or metal fibers
Less than 100 volts tribo-charge
Good solvent resistance, lint-free
Complies with ANSI/ESD S20.20 ( per ANSI/ESD S11.11 & ANSI/ESD DS11.12 )
Transforming Technologies is pleased to announce the appointment of Kirby & Dermarest as the Independent Manufacture’s Representative for Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.
Kirby & Dermarest is a team composed of Steve Kirby covering Oregon and SW Washington and Alan Siebenthall covering Washington and British Columbia, Canada. As a Manufacturers Representatives, Kirby & Dermarest bring to high technology companies an array of products utilized in the design, manufacture and test of circuit board assemblies, hybrid circuits, and semiconductors.
Kirby & Dermarest can be reached at http://www.kirbydemarest.com
There are THREE types of Static Control Garments that are compliant to the ANSI/ESD S20.20-2014 Standards.
1) Static Control Garment – Level 1
These smocks are primarily designed to shield the technician’s clothing from the ESD Sensitive product. They DO NOT come with a ground snap and DO NOT require a ground cord. When these static control garments come into contact with the users skin (the user’s skin is about as electrically conductive as the garment) the static charge is equalized and goes to ground via the technician’s primary ground source (normally an ESD wrist strap and or ESD heel grounders).
2) Groundable Static Control Garment – Level 2
These smocks are primarily designed to shield the technician’s clothing from the ESD Sensitive product but they also provide redundant protection in the unusual event the smock does not make contact with the users skin. The ESD smock has a snap on the hip that can connect a  ground cord to create a path to electrical ground. A Groundable Static Control Garment is NOT recommended as the technician’s primary ground source (an ESD wrist strap and or ESD heel straps are still required).
3) Groundable Static Control Garment System – Level 3
These smocks are designed to act as a primary ground source for the technician (they can act as a replacement for a wrist strap). In addition to grounding the technician, they will also help to shield the technician’s clothing from the ESD sensitive product. They are reliant on good skin to smock contact. Hence, they may come with ESD cuffs or snap style cuffs that fit snugly around the users wrist.
Question: We are currently experiencing difficulties with static electricity in our paint booth. All of our products cannot be cleaned well enough before topcoating and we are looking into several solutions, but wondering which actually works. I also can’t get the color to go on evenly. The sprayed paint seems to dance before landing on the sheet in funny patterns.
Answer:
In the painting industry, electrostatic discharge is a constant challenge in a world where perfection is the only option–and dust and static are a constant. Static attracts dust and unwanted particles, making it very difficult to keep surfaces clean, causing blemishes in paint finishes and other work surfaces. It’s absolutely essential to eliminate static from the environment–at every stage of painting–in order to avoid costly reworking.
Specialty ionizers for the auto body industry are used to eliminate surface contamination. These ionizers allow you to keep the surface clean so you can avoid unnecessary reworking and buffing, saving both time and money. The guns work twofold: as a forceful blow off gun that easily removes particulate from surfaces and as a neutralizer to remove the charges responsible for the attraction of contaminants to product surfaces in the first place.
Anti-static wipers have been developed to clean off surfaces and can be used to clean surfaces as well. Static is caused by friction, so wiping down surfaces to remove dirt can actually make the static problem worse.  The anti-static wipers are made with a specially designed fabric that will not tribocharge and will not lead to more static buildup.
The Wireless Wrist Strap – Dream or Nightmare?
The wireless wrist strap has been available for over 10 years.  We have seen them used in the field and have received several inquiries about their performance.
In this blog, we test and report on the effectiveness of the wireless wrist strap. Our results indicate wireless wrist straps fail to ground operators or keep operators sufficiently neutral. Read why the wireless wrist strap system results in a potential nightmare of problems.
Background: The Wireless Wrist Strap Dream
It would be nice to be able to effectively drain the charge from a person without them tethered to a work station with standard wrist straps or other ground connection.  ESD flooring and footwear is an option, however it can require a significant investment for it to be effective.Hence, the dream of the wireless wrist strap.
So what about the wireless wrist strap? The advertising says “This compact wrist strap eliminates static without the need for a pesky grounding cord. This allows you freedom of movement so you can leave your work area without needing to unclamp yourself and lose your anti-static protection.â€Â It also states that the band “…ensures that you have a much smaller static build-up and dissipates it quickly.â€Â
Dreams vs. Physics
That all sounds wonderful in theory, unfortunately it does not work as advertised.  If you are following an ANSI/ESD S20.20 program in order to keep human body voltage less than 100 volts, it will not meet the requirements of the standard.
The standard states “All personnel shall be bonded or electrically connected to the grounding/equipotential bonding system when handling ESDS items.†The standard goes on to list the requirement of a resistance between the operator and ground of less than 35 megohms. This requirement seems quite impossible to meet with the wireless wrist strap.
Resistance to Ground of person wearing a corded wrist strap
Resistance to Ground of person wearing wireless wrist strap
But what if you are not tied to the industry standard and just want to make sure that you are not generating excessive voltage that could harm electronic devices or assemblies? The voltage generated and stored on the person is what is important. So let us conduct another measurement that compares the voltage generated on a person that is a: not grounded, b: grounded through a conventional wrist strap/cord system and c: a person wearing the wireless wrist strap.
The Walking Test
For this test we will use the Warmbier WT5000 walking test instrument.  This instrument measures and records the voltage on a person while walking or simply standing. To measure the voltage we held the test electrode on the instrument and repeated the six step walking test described in ANSI/ESD STM97.2 – Voltage Measurement in Combination with a Person.
Figure 1: Standard shoes, tile floor, with no wrist strap
You see that from Figure 1 that the voltage on the person wearing standard shoes on a tile floor and no wrist strap was greater than -500 volts.  This voltage is well in excess of the damage thresholds for many devices today.   Next we will try the same floor and footwear but the operator will wear a standard wrist strap with coil cord (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Standard shoes, tile floor, wearing corded wrist strap
In this case you should notice that the voltage is minimal.  The peak voltage was -1.41 volts and the valley was +0.46 volts.
Finally, we test the same floor and footwear with the wireless wrist strap (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Wireless wrist strap
The graph in Figure 3 shows that while wearing the wireless wrist strap, voltages of greater than
-100 volts were reached within one second of the test and peak voltages exceeding -500v were reached in less than 10 seconds.
Wireless Wrist Straps are Unacceptable
So in addition to not being electrically bonded to ground, the wireless wrist strap does not prevent charge build-up or decay charge at a rate that is acceptable for handling electronic devices.
It would be nice to be able to handle electronic devices without that bothersome coil cord getting in the way or without having to invest in a flooring and footwear system, however the reality is that a person must be physically and electrically attached to ground to drain charge from their body.
Transforming Technologies provides comprehensive knowledge of electrostatic issues, effective solution-oriented products and outstanding, friendly service.
 Because customer needs periodically include requirements for consultation, training, auditing or verification, we offer Professional ESD Services such as trainings or audits.
Please contact us for more information on our professional services and insure that your static control program is as effective and efficient as possible.
 General Static Charge Audit
Find out if your facility has static charge in locations that can be harmful to your manufacturing process. The work includes benchmarking of each step of the production line, measuring electric fields and electromagnetic interference caused by electrostatic discharge. A report is supplied with interpretation of results and assessment of the magnitude of each item found.
Additionally, this service can also include a search for ESD induced transient EMI. This can be important in facilities with lots of computer-driven robotics or automated testing. This type of EMI can disturb microprocessor operations resulting in locked up or stopped robots, other robotic unexplained behavior or cause good parts to test bad.
Includes a complete static charge audit and detailed review of each step in the manufacturing process. If you prefer, the study can focus on one part of the manufacturing process, for example photolithography.
Where problems are identified a selection of choices of solutions are recommended. In addition. The study focuses on identifying the steps required to achieve best practices concerning personnel grounding, garments, equipment grounding, hand tools, chairs, work surfaces and automated handling procedures. A report is supplied with recommended upgrades to the facility intended to improve facility ESD safety.
Find out if the ionizers in the process are working properly and if they are correctly designed in so that they can achieve the results required, If the ionizers are in need of maintenance or adjustment you will know it. If ther ionizers can be made to work better, you will receive recommendations. If the ionizers used are the wrong type or if additional ionizers are required, the report will include these facts.
Ionizer Service: Clean and Calibrate
Corona ionizers collect material from the environment much like a dust precipitator. That material lowers the efficiency of the ionizer and must be removed. Also as tools and fixtures are moved in the cleanroom, the balance of the ionizer is effected. For both of these reasons and because the control circuitry in the ionizer drifts over time, the ionizers require maintenence.
No ESD control program can succeed without the help and cooperation of the production team. LBL offers a seminar to teach the people manning your production floor about static charge and how the various steps in a control program work.
LBL understands the complex issues that arise from being in charge of quality management and safety. LBL will work with senior management to consolidate best the practices and drive standardization across the organization.
Wether you are just starting your ESD control program or static discharge has been a main concern for years, LBL understands that every static problem is unique, ranging from the simple to the incredibly complex. Contact LBL to discuss any issues, big or small that you may have.
Introducing Transforming Technologies ESD Mat Selection Guide
Whether it be an ESD Table Mat or an ESD Floor Mat, making the best choice can be difficult. With the help of our new ESD Mat Selection Guide, we have condensed all the selection criteria such as material construction, resistance ranges, surface, color, style, or size into two separate charts for your convenience.
ESD garments, also commonly known as ESD smocks, ESD lab coats or ESD jackets, are designed to be antistatic, low tribocharging and offer protection from electrostatic fields generated by clothing on the user’s body. ESD garments are worn where ever static damage is a concern.
How Do ESD Garments Work?
ESD garments are constructed out of polyester or cotton (or a blend of both) that impregnated with a grid of woven conductive fibers. The grid creates a “Faraday Cage” effect around the body of the operator that shields charges generated from the operators clothing from damaging ESD sensitive devices.
ESD Garments as part of a complete ESD program.
ESD garments are a recommended addition to a program that already includes typical grounding measures, such as wrist straps and heel grounders. This is because of the potential hazard of the operator’s clothing. The ESD TR20.20-2008 states: “While a person may be grounded using a wrist strap or other grounding methods, that does not mean that insulative clothing
fabrics can dissipate a charge to that person’s skin and then to ground. Personnel clothing usually is electrically separate or isolated from the body.†“Groundable Static Control Garment System, Garments that are used to establish the primary ground path for a person shall provide a resistance of less than 35 megohms from the person to the groundable point of the garment.â€Â[ESD TR20.20-2008 section 5.3.13 Garments]
Any facility that mandates ESD garments demonstrates a commitment ESD protection.
Styles of ESD Garments
ESD Garments come in many shapes and sizes. Typical distinctions are collar type, sleeve terminations  and lengths. Collar options typically include lapel, v-neck or military style. Sleeve terminations are either a three snap cuff that adjusts for a proper fit or an ESD cuff that allows for hands free grounding. There are three lengths of jackets, waist length, 3/4ths and full length. Fabrics composition will vary by manufacture but there are typically a polyester fabric or a cotton polyester blend.
The SRM330 Lightweight Travel Surface Resistance Meter Kit
The SRM330 Surface Resistance Meter is the ultimate travel kit for testing materials for electrical re-sistivity/resistance according to EOS/ESD, CECC, ANSI, ASTM test procedures. The 9V battery powered SRM330 is equipped with built-in parallel electrodes for quick surface resistance measurements (table matting, floor matting, etc.) and includes two lightweight “travel” electrodes that eliminate the cumbersome weight of standard kits. When pressed, the travel electrodes simulate the 5lbs of pressure necessary to measure resistance point-to-point (RPP) or resistance-to-ground (RTG).
The SRM330 meets periodic test requirements per Compliance Verification ESD TR53 and conforms to ANSI/EOS/ESD (S4.1, S7.1, S12.1, S2.1).
For price and availability on the Ranger series constant monitors or for information on any products in Transforming Technologies full line of ESD products, please call 419-841-9552 or email info@transforming-technologies.com.
and the lowest levels of lint and particles. BEMCOT is characterized by its low particle generation, high absorbency, high purity, high chemical resistance, high heat resistance, anti-static, ecoefficiency, enabling the high level of performance required for wipers for cleanrooms.
