Actum Electronics recently installed 380 m² of SD (static dissipative) flooring in the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing area at TUB’s new office in Jet Park, Boksburg.
The flooring was installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions governing such flooring, as well as standard BS 8203:1996.
TUB’s five vertically integrated divisions provide design solutions, PCB solutions, harness solutions, pulse induction technology and quality assurance. The company serves the military, automotive, industrial, commercial, rolling stock (rail), renewable energy and security markets across South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, North America and Europe.
SD flooring is a hard wearing, homogenous contact sheet or tile floor coverings engineered for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection. SD floor coverings are chemically treated to discharge static electricity and must be used in a controlled environment with a relative humidity of more than 40%. Typical areas of use would be operating theatres, computer areas, instrument control rooms and production areas.
In TUB’s PCB manufacturing area, a conductive aluminium strip was placed on the cement sub-floor, in a grid of the recommended shape. Concrete is a poor conductor of electricity, so this type of floor covering needs to be laid using a conductive carbon-based adhesive to glue down the vinyl sheeting, and then earthed in order to drain the discharge.
Electrostatic discharge is a problem that cannot be ignored. Something as minor as the scuff of a shoe or the scrape of a chair creates an electron imbalance, and although the resulting discharge may be so small that the human body cannot feel it, it can nevertheless have serious consequences.
In electronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, ordnance manufacture and storage, ESD incidents can often cause material, component or system failures, which prove not only costly but also sometimes dangerous.
The Polyflor ESD range of flooring has been specifically engineered to combat this problem at the source, by facilitating a uniform flow of static electricity directly to a ground point. The range covers all major applications, and includes SD, EC (electroconductive) and conductive ROF floorings, each of which combines static control properties with hard wearing and decorative qualities.
Installation is critical and for this reason, Polyflor has partnered with the Altico division of Actum Electronics as its ESD flooring installer of choice. Actum offers a comprehensive range of static control solutions and can be enlisted to conduct audits of premises prior to specification, install flooring and finally test the flooring and provide certification.
Actum also offers ESD training, which enables employees to gain a better understanding of the basics of ESD, ESD standards, procedures and handling.
| Tel: | +27 11 608 3001 |
| Fax: | +27 11 608 1918 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.actum.co.za |
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