SAFETY CONTROL OF INCENDIARY DISCHARGE OCCURRING FROM ACTIVE ELECTROSTATIC ELIMINATOR

An active electrostatic eliminator of corona type is useful to reduce electrostatic charges on non-conductive materials, but it rarely gener ates dangerous discharges including the incendiary one and causes vari ous hazards in industry. Therefore, safety problems of the active elim inator have been often discussed in the case of using it in explosive atmosphere. The purpose of this study is to offer practical data for d esigning the eliminator of the explosion-protected type operating safe ly in explosive atmosphere. Experiments were made on incendiary discha rges occurring from the active eliminator when it operated abnormally, and methods of controlling safely the incendiary discharge were inves tigated experimentally. It became clear that the incendiary discharge was able to be controlled by suppressing corona discharge currents and by absorbing instantaneously electrostatic energy stored on the elimi nator when the active eliminator operated abnormally. Results obtained from experiments are presented in this paper.