In this highly accessible video viewer favorite Kimberly Petraccaro explains, in clear, easy-to-understand language what ESD flooring is and what’s it’s used for (also called antistatic or static-control flooring). Drawing on a real-life example, she describes an electrostatic discharge (ESD) problem within a networked computer system and explains how static-control flooring solved the problem. She also provides a brief overview on how ESD flooring works.
Transcript
ESD Basics: What is Antistatic/ESD Flooring?
ESD Basics: What is Antistatic/ESD Flooring?
Hi, everyone. Some of you might already know me from some of my other videos. If not, I’m Kimberly Petraccaro, and I’m with StaticWorx.
Today, we’re going to talk about antistatic flooring. Antistatic flooring is flooring that helps with ESD. ESD is electrostatic discharge, and it impacts microelectronics.
So let’s put this into a real-life perspective. A few years ago, we were called to a really large investment firm. This investment firm was having trade delays because they were having delays in their computers, like computer delays. So we were called to the investment firm because, obviously, for any of you who are familiar with the stock market, prices are changing by the second. So that can’t happen because, you know, that second delay can cause an unfavorable price.
So we were called to the firm, and we spoke with them because what was happening is their computers were being impacted by static. Long story short, we worked with them to find a solution, a flooring solution for them. They ended up using ESD carpet tiles, and that problem quickly went away, right after installation, pretty much, right?
That would be a real-life example of static impacting computers or microelectronics. So where else would this be used? Data centers, flight towers, call centers, IT rooms, any military projects, dealing with explosives. Right, these are just to say a few.
So how does antistatic flooring play a part in that? Antistatic flooring does two things. What it does is, you and I, as we’re walking, we create what we call walking body voltage. The first thing that we touch, that voltage discharges from me to the object I’m touching. So what the antistatic flooring does is it prevents the voltage from building up on the person to start with as they’re walking, and then any voltage, that is on the person, it takes it from the person, brings it back safely to the ground.
So anytime that people have these microelectronics that they’re working on or that they are using in certain spaces, this antistatic flooring is a very favorable option to help prevent any kind of disasters. Thank you.
