Pending Patent Docment 2

8/3/2019 Pending Patent Docment 2

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A Mountable Electrostatic Discharge Piece

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge5

(ESD) piece, more particularly to an electrostatic discharge

(ESD) piece which is mountable to a surface of a supporting

tool.

Background of the invention10

The importance of ESD (Electrostatic discharge) control in

today's micro-electronics is already a well known fact.

Manufacturers of microchips around the world are putting more

and more attention in this area to reduce microchips damage15

due to electrostatic discharge.

The intense market competition & the continual cost-down of

the consumer electronics products like TV, video, computer,

handphone & a host of other electronic devices has put great20

pressure for the manufacturers to aggressively seeking cost-

down in the use of various production and supporting materials

including the use of ESD Chairs.

The use of ESD chairs in a mass production operations in a25

typical electronics manufacturing environment is not only a


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high cost implementation, the replacement and the maintenance

cost to keep the ESD chairs in top conditions are also quite a

substantial long term investments.

One of the techniques to cut down the cost of ESD chair is the5

innovative use of an ESD chair cover. The use of an ESD chair

cover is disclosed under PCT no. PCT/MY2008/000198. However,

the use of an ESD chair cover as highlighted in PCT no.

PCT/MY2008/000198 lacks the feature for use in a cleanroom

environment. The many wrinkles, creeps and folds along the10

circular edge of the ESD chair cover actually can cause

accumulation of dust or dirt over time including the portion

underneath the perimeter edge of the chair seat thus causing

particles contamination issue for use in a cleanroom.

15

In addition to the shortcoming above, ESD chair cover cannot

be used on chairs with seat design physically moulded to the

back rest. Such limitation also applies to the chair seat and

back rest fabricated as one piece design structure.

20

The use of an ESD chair pad replacing the use of ESD chair

cover can help overcome the particle contamination issue in a

cleanroom as well as permitting a wider coverage of

applications in different chair designs, etc.

25


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An ESD chair pad can be cut, fabricated or die cut from a

standard roll of static dissipative/conductive mat and be

affixed onto the surface of a normal chair seat.

A logical solution is to attach a double sided adhesive tape5

at the bottom of the pad/mat to keep the pad/mat in place when

attaching on the surface of the chair seat.

Subsequently a ground cord is used to snap onto a snap-button

riveted on the mat surface prior to the sticking of such mat10

surface onto the chair seat surface. The ground cord connects

the surface of the mat to the underneath of the chair seat

where it is electrically connected to the ground in draining

away harmful static charge in a typical electrostatic

protected area (EPA).15

However, the use of adhesive tape not only cause transfer of

adhesive onto the surface (e.g. chair seat, table top, etc.)

after long term use and cause unnecessary contamination to the

workplace, it also lose its adhesive strength over time that20

eventually lead to delaminating issue & other logistic

problem.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a

mountable electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece which able to25

eliminate the need of cumbersome adhesive application during


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installation, therefore no unnecessary contamination to the

workplace due to the remains or the transfer of adhesive

residue.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide the5

mountable ESD piece which is very simple in design and quick

in installation, therefore saving time and workmanship

especially in a labour-intensive work environment.

Therefore, further research and investigation will be required10

to develop a workable and cost-effective solution to overcome

the above shortcomings.

Summary of invention

15

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it

discloses a mountable ESD piece comprises a pad, at least one

pair of slits which includes a first slit provided adjacent

one edge of said pad and a second slit provided adjacent the

opposing edge of said pad, and an ESD band having each end20

penetrates upwards from a bottom surface of said pad through

said each slit and continuously looping over said edge from

the adjacent slit of a top surface of said pad until both ends

are engaged together under said bottom surface to effectively

drain the static charge from said top surface of said25

supporting tool to the bottom surface and finally to the


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ground.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a top perspective view of a mountable5

electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece in accordance to the

present invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

10

In the following detailed description, numerous specific

details are set forth in order to provide a thorough

understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood

by those of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may

be practiced without these specific details. In other15

instances, well-known methods, procedures and/or components

have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the

invention. Reference will now be made in detail to the

preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of

which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.20

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a top perspective view

of a mountable electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece (10) made

in accordance to the present invention. The mountable ESD

piece (10) includes a flat pad (11) having electrostatic25

discharge capability, the pad (11) is provided with at least a


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pair of slits (12) wherein a first slit (12a) located adjacent

one edge (11a) of the pad (11) and a second slit (12b) located

adjacent the opposing edge (11b) of the pad (11), and an ESD

band (13) having each end (13a, 13b) penetrates upwards from

the bottom surface (11d) of the pad (11) through the5

respective slits (12) leaving a first portion (21) of the ESD

band (13) as a connecting strip (21) at the bottom surface of

the pad (11) and continuously looping over the edge of the pad

(11) from the adjacent slit (12) from the top surface (11c) of

the pad (11), till both ends (13a, 13b) are engaged under the10

bottom surface (11d) of the pad (11) forming a second portion

(22) of the ESD band (13) as a fastening strip (22). The ESD

piece (10) is mountable to a surface of a supporting tool (not

shown).

15

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the flat

pad (11) is preferably having the top surface (11c) includes

conductive or static dissipative property and the bottom

surface (11d) includes insulative property. The conductive or

static dissipative property is chosen from a wide array of ESD20

mats available in the ESD products in the market. The pad (11)

can be made of rubber, plastic, paper or a combination

thereof.

The ESD band (13) can be an elastic or non-elastic material25

with its ends engaged to each other and attached by an


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attachment means (14). The attachment means (14) is not

limited to the mechanical, heat, chemical or adhesive means to

provide a complete loop attachment system to effectively mount

the ESD piece (10) onto the supporting tool. The supporting

tool can be a chair seat, table or bench top, trolley top or5

any other panel surface in an ESD-sensitive production

environment in the electronics industry. The ESD band (13) can

be of any length and is adjustable so as to form a suitable

loop size to fit or suit the size of any supporting tool

object to be mounted.10

The supporting tool is an electrostatic discharge (ESD) or

non-ESD object. The ESD piece (10) of the present invention is

placed on the surface of the supporting tool having the

connecting strip (21) portion of the ESD band (13) in between15

the bottom surface of the pad (11) and the top surface of the

supporting tool and the fastening strip (22) portion of the

ESD band (13) is looped onto the bottom surface of the

supporting tool to form an electrically continuous loop system

to electrically connect the top surface of the pad (11) to the20

bottom surface underneath the supporting tool.

Two or more pair of slits can be made on the pad (11) to

enable more ESD bands to fix thereon in order to accommodate

different sizes and shapes of the supporting tools to be25

mounted to provide an unique system to drain static charge


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from the surface of the ESD piece (10) through at least one

ESD band (13) to the conductive path and finally to ground.

Optionally, a resistor (30) can be connected in series at any

point between the bottom surface of the pad (11) and5

connecting strip (21) portion of the ESD band (13). This is

achieved by the attachment of a resistor (30), preferably a

film resistor (30) under the pad and electrically connected to

the top with the help of sewn conductive threads (


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forms without departing from its essential characteristics.

The present embodiments is, therefore, to be considered as

merely illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the

invention being indicated by the claims rather than the

foregoing description, and all changes which come within5

therefore intended to be embraced therein.


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Claims

1. A mountable electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece (10)

comprising:

a flat pad (11) which includes static dissipative property;5

at least one pair of slits (12) which includes a first slit

(12a) provided adjacent one edge (11a) of said pad (11) and a

second slit (12b) provided adjacent the opposing edge (11b) of

said pad (11); and

an electrostatic discharge (ESD) band (13) having each end10

(13a, 13b) penetrates upwards from a bottom surface (11d) of

said pad (11) through said each slit (12a, 12b) parting a

first portion (21) of said ESD band (13) as a connecting strip

(21) portion which engages said bottom surface (11d) of said

paid (11) and continuously looping over said edge (11a, 11b)15

from the adjacent slit (12a, 12b) of a top surface (11c) of

said pad (11) until both ends (13a, 13b) are engaged together

under said bottom surface (11d) forming a second portion (22)

of said ESD band (13) as a fastening strip (22) portion,

whereby said ESD piece (10) is mountable on a top surface of a20

supporting tool and secured in place by looping said fastening

strip (22) portion over and onto a bottom surface of said

supporting tool to effectively drain the static charge from

said top surface of said supporting tool to the bottom surface

and finally to the ground.25


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2. The mountable electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece (10) as

claimed in claim 1, wherein said ESD band (13) is made of

elastic material.

3. The mountable electrostatic discharge (ESD) piece (10) as5

claimed in claim 1, wherein said ESD band (13) is made of non-

elastic material.


claimed in claim 1, wherein said ESD band (13) having its both10

ends (13a, 13b) engaged and attached by an attachment means

(14).


claimed in claim 4, wherein said ESD band (13) can be any15

length and said length is adjustable.


claimed in claim 5, wherein said attachment means includes but

not limited to the mechanical, heat, chemical or adhesive20

means.


claimed in claim 1, wherein said wherein said pad (11) can be

made of but not limited to rubber, plastic, paper or a25

combination thereof.


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claimed in claim 7, wherein said pad (11) having its bottom

surface (11d) includes insulative property.


claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting tool can be a

chair seat, table, bench top, trolley top or any other panel

surface in an ESD-sensitive production environment.


claimed in claim 1, wherein said ESD piece (10) further

comprising a resistor (20) connected in series at any point

between said bottom surface (11d) of the pad (11) and said

connecting strip (21) portion of said ESD band (13) and

electrically connected to the top surface (11c) of said pad15

with a sewn conductive thread (31).


claimed in claim 10, wherein said ESD piece (10) further

comprising an insulative spot (25) provided at said top20

surface (11c) of said pad (11) where said ESD band (13)

emerges from each slit (12a, 12b).


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Abstract

A Mountable Electrostatic Discharge Piece

A mountable ESD piece (10) comprises a pad (11), at least one5

pair of slits (12) which includes a first slit (12a) provided

adjacent one edge (11a) of said pad (11) and a second slit

(12b) provided adjacent the opposing edge (11b) of said pad

(11), and an ESD band (13) having each end (13a, 13b)

penetrates upwards from a bottom surface (11d) of said pad10

(11) through said each slit (12a, 12b) and continuously

looping over said edge (11a, 11b) from the adjacent slit (12a,

12b) of a top surface (11c) of said pad (11) until both ends

(13a, 13b) are engaged together under said bottom surface

(11d) to effectively drain the static charge from said top15

surface of said pad (11) to the bottom surface of the

supporting tool and finally to the ground.

Most illustrative diagram: Figure 1

Documents

Pending Patent Docment 2