No bright sparks with anti-static castors

January 4, 2015

Ross Castors

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Ever had that spark when you touch a door handle after walking across a carpet? Within the technological world of clean rooms this spark can be devastating.

Ever had that spark when you touch a door handle after walking across a carpet? Within the technological world of clean rooms this spark can be devastating. That’s why bright sparks in the industry are looking for anti static castors on all their moving machinery and equipment to prevent electrostatic discharge.

Clean rooms can vary in size from just one room up to entire manufacturing facilities, so having castors that do not produce sparks when moving around the plant is vital. That spark is called an electrostatic discharge, and you may think its nothing more than a little zap, but electrostatic discharge has to reach 3,000 volts before us humans can even feel it! A computer chip, on the other hand, can be damaged with as little as 10 volts of electrostatic discharge.

Anti static castors that absorb electrostatic discharge are therefore highly significant in the workplace of a clean room. Standard industrial castors would create friction between the wheel and floor; this would create static build up, which would become highly dangerous in such a sophisticated workplace. Static could bounce from castors to equipment in an instant. Multi million pound satellites could be damaged within seconds. Scientific experiments within a laboratory could be affected; the thought makes your hair stand on end!

So how do these magical castors work? Well the science bit is anti static castors house an electrically conductive rubber wheel which allows the passing of the static electricity. This specialised rubber wheels is usually recognisable by a small yellow dot on the tyre. This yellow marking on the castors is standard throughout the industry. These castors reduce the static build up between the wheel and the floor. That’s the simple version, and this technology is proving vital within such specialised manufacturing and scientific environments.

Clean rooms monitor the humidity within the manufacturing area to maintain it at a low level to control the electrostatic discharge build up. The air is filtered and although not necessarily a sterile environment, the levels of particles within the clean room are also monitored very carefully. Rubber wheeled castors provide anti vibration capabilities, which also reduce the static build up, and help prevent damage to sensitive products whilst they are on the move.

As the range of equipment varies within a clean room, so castor manufacturers vary the sizes of castors they offer. The castors can have anti static wheels as small as 75mm up to the larger 200mm diameter wheels, taking a maximum load of 250kg each. Anti static castors don’t just help move machinery around, smaller castors can also be fitted onto everyday items like office chairs. These versatile castors can also be fitted with brakes, to ensure maximum flexibility and manoeuvrability around the manufacturing site.

So the next time you are out and feel that small zap of static, remember that is actually 3000 volts of electrostatic discharge and it can cause huge devastation within the science and technology industries. If it wasn’t for anti static castors, more of our scientist would be blowing their fuses!