Conductive floors are essential to dissipate static discharge in sensitive production environments. They protect sensitive electronic components from damage and/or guarantee smooth production and occupational health and safety. Our solutions offer optimal protection for clean rooms and other challenging environments.
ESD cleanroom floors are crucial in the electronics industry, particularly in semi-conductor and microelectronic production. These specialized floors are designed to protect people and equipment from static discharge. Static electricity can damage or even destroy sensitive electronic components if discharged randomly. The damage, however, is the more hazardous because once the components have been installed and fail during use, it can lead to severe damage and defects.
Ground resistance: The ground resistance must not fall below 106 Ohm (1 Mega-Ohm)
System resistance: System resistance (man-shoe-floor) must not fall below 109 Ohm
Walking Test: The Walking Test must be <100 Volt.
* All three values have been measured and tested as per DIN EN 61340-5-1.
Explosion Protection
In pharmaceutical production facilities in particular many areas are heavily exposed to solvents. These tend to have a low combustion point, can rapidly accumulate in the air and then, with the right concentration, create an explosive atmosphere, like with ethanol. If a sudden static discharge ignites a spark, it could cause an explosion within the entire room air atmosphere posing considerable risk to the health and lives of employees and damaging buildings.
For this reason, conductive floor coatings must often be designed in accordance with EN DIN 1081 (ATEX-compliant)
Conductive floors are available for personal safety yet they are not regulated by any standards. The focus here is more on comfort and less on protecting lives. The aim is to avoid sudden “electric shocks”, which can occur when you get out of a car and touch the roof, for instance. While these may be harmless, they are still unpleasant – especially when they occur frequently at work, for example when handling stainless steel equipment.
Regular maintenance and inspection ensure that your ground resistance system works properly. There are several options here: conductive testing, visual inspections and cleaning with suitable agents.
Conductive floor coatings contain conductive filling material and form a continuously conductive layer. The coating is designed so that it has surface and volume resistance in order to dissipate electric discharges effectively without triggering a short circuit. Special connecting points, so-called grounding points, are regularly installed in the floor coating. They connect the conductive layer to the grounding system so that static electricity can be dissipated safely. It is also essential to wear ESD footwear otherwise the system is not effective.
