Walking simulator for the electrostatic testing of floorcoverings

Abstract

The electrostatic characterization was performed using a walking simulator to validate it for a fully automated test procedure using different dwell times between moves and time of the test. An existing standard ISO 6356 measures the voltage created by a human walking on a carpet under controlled settings. To generate the electrostatic charge, a walking person executes the actual test process and manually calculates the findings. The newly constructed walking simulator, on the other hand, does not require a person to compute peaks and valleys for the created electrostatic charges, which improves precision, consistency, and reproducibility while also removing human error. The electronic platform is supplemented with an automated foot that walks on the floorcoverings for a fully automated exam. Three different dwell times between the moves of the automated simulator have been examined to see its effect on the electrostatic charge generation waveform amplitude and peaks values. We conclude that the thickness of the waveform is directly related to the dwell time between the move. The peaks voltage and the amplitude of the electrostatic waveform of the walking simulator are decreased with an increase in dwell times. The amplitude of the Electrostatic wave increases with the increase in testing time at the same frequency, pressure, and stepping height, which shows that the generation of electrostatic charges increases until a saturation point.