Static Ground

[Minuteman]

Have you ever installed ground rods and braided ground mesh to prevent static build up on industrial equipment?

We do some work at a factory. Monday, they had a small fire outside of the paint booth. There is this overhead conveyor chain that parts are hung on until dry. There is about 10 years of over spray of the powder coat that is outside of the paint booth. Some investigating engineer thinks the fire was sparked by static.

In the morning, an apprentice and I will go there and install 4 rods and the braided mesh. Unless one of y'all has a better idea?

 

[benaround]

Mike,

Why the ground rods ? I don't know, but, I would say to ground it to the

Electrical system ground to keep the potential at the same level. JMO.

edit for more info: Mike, I just did a Web search for 'static grounding systems' and there is some good stuff

out there made exactly for your situation. I'm sure you could impress the customer with these items. Good Luck.

 

[Lxnxjxhx]

A conductor with a rectangular cross section has lower impedance per foot than a round one, other things being equal.
If you want to avoid shocks, you're supposed to bleed off the charge slowly with a one megohm resistor, or some such arrangement. This is what they do for workbench surfaces for working on sensitive electronic circuits.