Anti-static cordless ESD wrist strap ...THAT ACTUALLY WORKS!!!

Heh. No, seriously.

And no need for 500uCu of Po-210.

When performing the VandeGraaff classroom hair-raise demo, I noticed something cool. The kids without any long hair, instead I always have them hold some rice crispies in their hand, and the cereal flies away via repulsion. Volta's Hailstorm. With one particular kid it didn't work at all. He had a sweaty crew-cut hairdo. Apparently the sharp, conductive hairs were acting as a wingtip static-discharger wick, and a fairly good one.

Years later an Israeli company sent me a sample of their camel hair carbon fiber dust-brush. Anti-static, for discharging the surfaces of slide film and vinyl records; avoids re-attracting dust. They mentioned that it could act as a "static discharge wick."

I tried it out, and yes it worked. If attached to a metal brace- let on your wrist, the sharp pointy carbon fibers would leak your body-charge away. But only down to one or two kilovolts. The sharp points require some voltage in order to produce a conductive corona. Enough volts still remain on your body to produce a tiny "click" spark whenever you touch grounded metal.

So, VERY NOT USEFUL for preventing electronics ESD hazard. Also, the retail price for the conductive-handle conductive-brushes was a bit steep.

Yet for the people who constantly experience the pain of huge 10KV millijoule sparks in winter (for example, when running on tread- mills, or when reaching for a can of soup at the grocery,) such a bracelet would end their pain. Aircraft static discharge wicks for peoples.

FINALLY someone has started marketing exactly this device!

formatting link

They use a strip of silver-plated conductive fabric with torn fiber ends. They work best if worn on the arm which approaches a large ground-plane (so the e-field becomes concentrated, so ion- leakage from the sharp conductive points will ignite at an unusually low threshold.)

Prices a bit steep though, for the jewelry-bracelet version. Buy some conductive fabric swatches from Sparkfun or Adafruit. Or a spool of "Static String" conductive fabric braid ($1/ft.) Make some bracelets as xmas gifts for your static-plagued elders.

formatting link

formatting link

(((((((((((((((( ( ( ( ( (O) ) ) ) ) )))))))))))))))) William J. Beaty

formatting link
beaty, chem washington edu Research Engineer billb, amasci com UW Chem Dept, Bagley Hall RM74 x3-6195 Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700

Reply to
Bill Beaty
Loading thread data ...

You could make it work down to essentially zero volts by making a floating ~2 kV supply and wiring it between two corona points. Once you're creating free air ions in enough quantity, they'll zero your net charge pretty well. You only need a microamp or so, which means that the battery life is potentially reasonable.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs 
Principal Consultant 
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC 
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics 

160 North State Road #203 
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 

hobbs at electrooptical dot net 
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.