The plethora of static eliminator products today are partly thanks to the technological boom that has swept our world in the last thirty or so years. Static used to just be an annoyance that resulted from disproportionate atom combinations colliding and resulting in electric transference. For humans it was never very painful and therefore nothing more then an irritation. However, with the coming of this technological age, a number of very sensitive electronics were developed that could be seriously harmed by electrostatic discharge, and the static eliminator, in its many forms, was born.
The basics of a static eliminator are that they either ground the static charge or neutralize it, both of which are preferable to the static energy damaging expensive equipment. Just as innovation and creativity have fueled the technology that surrounds us, so to has that same creativity provided us with the solutions to static discharge. ESD products come in many shapes, size and styles, all designed to be static eliminators for different applications. Some are restricted to very specific environments, such as ground straps and corona treaters, but others are found in many commercial, industrial and even residential settings without anyone knowing that they are providing ESD protection.
Products that ground or neutralize electrostatic discharge that are found in most environments include anti-static mats, static brushes and anti static spray. The mats are often found in office buildings and homes to eliminate static when people retain contact with them, while anti static spray is sold in grocery stores and eliminates static cling from clothing coming out of the dryer as well as in more industrial applications. Static brushes are used in everyday cleaning. Then there are the more expensive and constricting ESD products like ground straps, which are attached to people’s wrists or ankles while they are working with particularly sensitive equipment, then also attached to an antistatic mat to ground any electric charge that might be in the room.
