Dear ESD experts,
I would like to ask you few questions regarding our new design of material trolleys in our factory in CZ.
The shelves are universal and we are going to use them for Motherboards, HDD, PCBA cards etc. without the ESD bag protection.
It is necessary to cover the shelves when the trolley will be moved outside the EPA?
Should we install the ionizer to the top of the trolley to mitigate the ESD risk?
How about the automatic drive (trolley will be quite heavy and we are trying to find the best solution due to ergonomics).
Answers to questions below. I am assuming that these trolleys have ESD casters and you have compliant ESD floors installed in your EPAs so the ESDS product is grounded through the shelves to the rack, casters, floor, and then ground. If not, please let me know how you are grounding the trolleys.
It is necessary to cover the shelves when the trolley will be moved outside the EPA?
This depends on how much risk you are willing to take. If there is a chance that someone may handle the ESDS items while outside the EPA, then you should cover them. If they are moving from one EPA to another and there is no chance to handle them in transit, then you may be fine leaving them uncovered.
Should we install the ionizer to the top of the trolley to mitigate the ESD risk?
I don’t see why ionizers would be needed. If the trolleys are grounded, the ESDS items on the racks should not charge up when moved.
How about the automatic drive (trolley will be quite heavy and we are trying to find the best solution due to ergonomics).
I’m not sure what you are asking about the automatic drive. If you are asking if it should be grounded, I would say no. As long as the trolley is grounded through the casters, the automatic drive should not affect the grounding of the trolley.
Greetings of the day from India to all the members on this ESD Forum platform.
There is nothing much left as Our ESDA expert Andy Sir has already answered you.
Just to enjoy the discussion on this wonderful knowledge sharing/gaining platform as usual I wish to pen down a few a lines .
1.Fundamental thing is to make sure the trolleys are with ESD safe wheels and the floor is ESD safe grounded floor and comply with TR 53 requirements per ANSI ESD S 20 20 2021 that all the platforms of trolley to ground resistance meeting the requirement per test method ANSI ESD STM4.1.
2.As long as the trolley is moving within an EPA or between the adjacent EPAs, (as confirmed by Andy Sir ) no need for covering up with any static shielding bags but however; when taken outside the EPA in my opinion it is advised to cover them with Static shielding bags as things will be out of our control many a times.
3. As Andy Sir has said , there shall be no need to have the Ionizers on the trolleys as long as it meets the requirement mentioned in point 1 above…
4.Again , as Andy Sir has stated whether trolley movement by motor or manually does not matter as long as the trolleys are with ESD safe wheels on a grounded ESD safe floor and once again mandatory condition is to meet the requirement per point 1 above…
