• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.54-59
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• 2003

The discharge energy by electrostatic discharge of the charged human body is calculated under the assumption that the stored charge is dissipated completely. However, it is well-known that the charge is slightly remained after electrostatic discharge. Therefore, The Rompe-Weisel model of the discharge analysis, which has somewhat more of a physical justification than the conventional energy equation, is proposed. It is proposed that the electrical conductivity of the arc should be proportional to the energy density transferred to it by Ohmic dissipation. For the electrostatic discharge energy analysis, the Rompe-Weisel model was compared by quasi static analysis. As a consequence, a study on a reliable energy evaluation based on simulation models during electrostatic discharge is carried out in this paper and is adopted to estimate the explosion hazards of flammable gases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.15-22
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• 2011

Explosion and fire cause about 30 reported industrial major accidents a year by ignition source which discharge of electrostatic generated to flammable gas, vapor, dust and mixtures. It brings economically and humanly very large loss that accident was caused by fire and explosion from electrostatic discharge. Thus, it is very important that electrostatic discharge energy is to be control below not to be igniting flammable mixtures. There are two kinds of analysis model for electrostatic discharge, human body model and machine model. Human body model is available the parameter of human's electrical equivalent that capacitance is 100 pF, resistance is $1.5k{\Omega}$. To simulate and visualize the electrostatic discharge from human body need a very expensive and high voltage simulator. In this paper, we measured the value of capacitance and resistance concerned with test materials and sizing of specimen and the value of charged voltage concerned with test specimen and distance to develop an electrostatic charge/discharge simulating tool for teaching with which concerned industrial employee and students. The result of experiments, we conformed that the minimum ignition energy of methane-oxygen mixtures meets well the equation $W=1/2CV^2$, and found out that the insulating material and sizing of equivalent value having human body mode are the poly ethylene of 200 mm and 300 mm of diameter. Developed electrostatic charge/discharge simulating tool has many merits; simple mechanism, low cost, no need of electric power and so on.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.67-75
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• 1997

To establish testing method for ignition energy of explosive powders caused by electrostatic discharge, one testing method using a very small quantity of tested powders ( Frima ) was proposed, and the influence of discharge - limiting resistance connected in series into a capacitive discharge circuit on ignition energies of explosive powders was investigated using, as tested powders. As a result the minimum ignition energy was 9 mJ when discharge-limiting resistance was 300 k$\Omega$. The reason for the dependence of ignition energy on discharge-limiting resistance was thought to the difference in the type of electrostatic discharge, such as arc or glow discharge, from the observation of discharging wave forms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.74-79
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• 1998

To establish measuring method for minimum ignition energy of explosive powders caused by electrostatic discharge, A measuring method(Hartman) using a very small quantity of pine tree testing powder was proposed, and the influence of discharge current limiting resistance connected in series into a capacitive discharge circuit on ignition energies of explosive powders was investigated. As a result the minimum ignition energy was 42.25mJ when discharge current limiting resistance 300 $k\Omega$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.19-24
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• 2010

A large amount of electrostatic charges is often generated on polymer powders in fluidized bed and thereby may lead to electrostatic problems. In this study, to evaluate electrostatic hazards of powder in fluidized bed, the electric field(E[v/m]) and the charge amount(q[c/g]) during fluidizing were monitored. We also investigated the Minimum Ignition Energy(MIE [J]) of sample powder used in fluidized bed with the Hartman vertical-tube apparatus. The batch-type fluidized bed system and 2kg as Polypropylene(PP) resin powders were used in the experiments. The following results were obtained: (1) Even when a safe margin of several times was considered, the values of E obtained with PP powder in this paper did not exceed 3 to 5kV/cm, at which an incendiary electrostatic discharge could occur. (2) the ave. q was -0.26${\mu}$C/g during fluidizing. This value was high enough to cause electrostatic agglomeration and adhesion. (3) the entrained PP powder in upper column due to fluidizing could be ignited by electrostatic discharges of 71mJ.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2013

When flammable gases are mixed with air or oxygen in the explosion concentration range and are ignited by sufficiently large electrostatic discharge energy, they may explode causing severe disaster in workplace. The minimum ignition energy(MIE) of single gas-air mixtures has been already investigated by many research, but the MIE of mixtures of more than ternary gas mixture is not examined yet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the MIE of a ternary gas(methane, ethylene, hydrogen, propane) mixtures experimentally. The results of our experiment show that the ignition of a methane-ethylene-air, methane-hydrogen-air, methane-propane-air, ethylene-hydrogen-air, ethylene-propane-air and hydrogen-propane-air mixture due to electrostatic discharge energy primarily depends on that the mixture: the MIE decreases gradually with the increase of having the lower MIE than other mixture ratio in the normal atmospheric pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.22-26
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• 2010

The ignitability(minimum ignition energy, MIE) of a suspended dust clouds is very important aspect of technical safety indices. This paper reported the experimental results dealing with the influence of discharge circuit on the MIE of a suspended dust clouds. The movement of a suspended dust clouds was also observed with the high speed camera. The Hartmann vertical-tube apparatus(MIKE-3) described in the international standard of IEC and Polypropylene (PP, 50% volume-average, D50: $761{\mu}m$) resin powders were used in this experiment. The following results were obtained: (1) the MIE of a suspended PP powder depended markedly on the discharge circuit; in other words, when a resistor was connected in series with the discharge sparking circuit(RC), the lowest value(31mJ) of MIE was obtained for a suspended PP powder comparison with the other circuits(C circuit; 370mJ or LC circuit; 71mJ). (2) the discharge duration time is more important than other factors with regard to MIE of a suspended PP powder.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.257-262
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• 1998

In order to understand the characteristics of electrostatic discharge (ESD) by a charged human body, a dynamic analysis method based on RCL circuit and a quasi-static analysis method based on two-body model are introduced. In this paper, these methods calculate waveforms, discharge energy and potential difference to analyze the ESD phenomena from given initial conditions and geometry. Results are compared and discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.682-687
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• 2009

In order to investigate the effects of three different electrostatic discharge energies on gas explosions, a high-speed PIV system has been applied. The present study paid attention to the flame initiation by the gas explosions and its propagation at the existence of an obstacle within a chamber. Three different ignition energies such as 0.56 mJ, 52.87 mJ and 112.5 mJ were used. It is found that the ignition kernel is bent by the electrostatic discharge during the flame initiation. Tangential velocities of unburnt mixture ahead of initially propagating flame fronts are increased with increasing ignition energy, which makes the flame propagation faster before it reaches the obstacle. Although the flame speed was found to be less sensitive to the ignition energies, the flame developments were different. The effects of the energies on explosion pressures were also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.13-18
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• 2010

To investigate electrostatic ignition hazards of commercial gasoline used in the gas station, experiments were conducted dealing with the minimum ignition energy(MIE) of several kinds of gasoline under the various temperature. The conductivity of gasoline that was required for an accurate risk assessment as well as the MIE were also examined. The solvent ignitability apparatus which can heat up the inside of the vessels up to $210^{\circ}C$ was used in this study. Four kinds of premium gasoline and four kinds of regular gasoline, differing with respect to the companies, were used as test specimens. The following results were obtained: (1) all gasoline specimens were so sensitive that even an electrostatic discharge with a very low energy, such as about 0.5mJ, could ignite them. The ignitability of premium gasoline was constant irrespective of the companies. On the other hand, the ignitability of regular gasoline was variable depending on the company. (2) The MIE of all specimens depended markedly on the temperature; in other words, an increase in temperature decreases the ignition energy value. (3) The conductivity values of all specimens were low. Those must be taken into consideration in electrostatic risk assessment.