Perform extra electro static tests on power buttons !

electricity I have noticed elecric devices like monitors and PCs to start behaving irregularly because of static electric shocks to the power buttons .

mptoms.

e devices in different places to suck/flow the static electricity out of th e device.

stand up. If these passangers are wearing cheap plastic shoes isolating the m from the floor and they touch pilots given them a pad on the back for job well done it is likely and possible that this static eletricity flows onto the pilot.

e next time the pilot touches a fly-by-wire control, static electricity cou ld flow in to this control causing bizar effects.

then touching another person with a metal key to send a large jolt of volts through the other human body. I am not sure if this will cause death in th e other person, but it may be possible and perhaps even hard to detect, tho ugh I suspect there might be burn and scourch marks.

ntually lead to permanent damage/death of the circuit.

buttons between humans and the electronics.

buttons to prevent this kind of electricity flowing into the rest of the d evice.

When equipment is tested for CE marking part of that process involves electrostatic discharge tests around switches, connectors displays etc. However, some equipment, usually imported, does not always appear to be tested properly. Aircraft are extensively tested as they have to be able to survive lightning strikes and (high power transmissions from radar systems at airports). Anyway, it is very unusual for passengers to be allowed into the cockpit nowadays. Electrostatic discharge can permanently damage components but the protection techniques are well known to designers and are not expensive to include. However, under extreme conditions some devices that meet the standards may still be affected, so perhaps you should try to reduce the amount of static you generate with a humidifier. Also, touch an earthed metal object like a tap before touching your equipment. It is not possible to charge a person to trillions of volts. Even at a few hundred kilovolts their hair would be standing on end. At slightly higher voltages there would be sparks coming from their nose and fingers and any other pointed parts of their body which would tend to discharge them very quickly.

John

You seem to put a bit of effort into these posts.

Why don't you google the specific issues, in the process, before posting?

ESD and transient effects, test standards and test methods are all easily obtainable, as are methods of abatement and varying immunity levels to be expected of equipment developed for different environments.

There are even consumer products designed to address issues presented by fuzzy chairs and other triboelectric generators.

Once eliminated, you could concentrate on real sources for the 'problems' that your equipment exhibits.

Unless you're actually zapping I/O pins or bare boards, ESD is unlikely to be a real issue. Failure to power-up can best be analysed AFTER a repair is effected.

RL

The problem with the CE marking is that it is just the manufacturer's declaration that the piece of equipment is compliant. I have used some weeks in the testing lab to make some equipment really comply.

There are manufacturers with quite flexible conscience. A piece of common knowledge tells that CE means 'China Export'.

Yes, it's just another way to say Can't Enforce.

I was designing circuitry in Sweden circa 1974 when the EU came out with a regilation about knowing the geneaology of every component we used. Well, for a 3-person company, this was hopelessly out of scale. But, nor did the EU have enough police to get to 300-person outfits, never mind 3, so we just checked the box, laughing.

Joe Gwinn

For a small company, it is important anyway that you're really compliant or prepared to disappear promptly.

I assume that the regulations have matured since 1974, because there was no way for a 3-person outfit to meet the then requirement. It was orders of magnitude too much work.

A big difference between US and Swedish regulations was that in the US, firms smaller that ~20 people were exempt. But in Sweden, it went all the way down to one employee. So there were lots of one-man companies that formed consortia when a larger job came along.

Joe Gwinn

Joe Gwinn