Static - Procare

Static electricity can cause many problems in the I.T. industry:

Attraction of airborne dust and debris
Shocks to personnel
Damage to semiconductor devices
Upset of efficiency of microelectronic system operation

'Static electricity arises when materials in contact are separated and the speed of charge movement on either surface and away to earth is long compared to the time for the surfaces to move apart' - Dr. John Chubb, UM140 Issue 8: January 18th 1996.

Many operations in the I.T. Industry and indeed in normal life involve the contact and separation of materials which are poor or bad conductors of electricity. Common examples are taking off an acrylic jumper or walking across a carpet. The separation of such surfaces is often associated with retention of static charge. Voltages of up to 20,000 volts can be generated on our bodies as we go about normal daily activities.

An everyday exercise such as a walk across a data centre floor to change media can generate a charge of several thousand volts!

The creation of electrical charges may give us a shock, damage a microelectronic circuit or couple into a computer and cause malfunction and upset computer operation.

Static electricity on surfaces will also cause attraction of dust and debris from the air.

Controlling Static Electricity
'Procare Computer Cleaning is the only specialist cleaning company who seeks to locate and measure static conditions prior to treatment' - COMPUTER NEWS MONTHLY August 2001

Many materials are bad conductors of electricity - i.e. charge does not move easily over or through the material. To enable materials to dissipate static fairly quickly they need to have additives included in their manufacture or have surface treatment.

Procare, as a routine, will monitor static electricity within your facility via formally calibrated electrostatic instrumentation. Precision 'before and after' measurements will be logged and presented in our site report after each service.

All Procare services incorporate antistatic treatments. These include surface treatments to external fascias of hardware, furniture, fixtures, fittings, carpet tiles and hardfloor panels.