Scaling of energy delivered through an electrostatic discharge to a small series load

Schrama, Claudia A. M.; Bavor, Calvin; Rose, John William; Flammer, P. David; Durfee, Charles G.

doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2025.104205

Scaling of energy delivered through an electrostatic discharge to a small series load

Journal Article · Tue Nov 18 23:00:00 EST 2025 · Journal of Electrostatics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elstat.2025.104205· OSTI ID:3005608

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Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States); University of Pavia (Italy)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

We study the energy delivered through a small-resistance series “victim” load during electrostatic discharge events in air. For gap lengths over 1 mm, the fraction of the stored energy delivered is mostly gap-length independent, with a slight decrease at larger gaps due to electrode geometry. The energy to the victim scales linearly with circuit capacitance and victim load resistance but is not strongly dependent on circuit inductance. This scaling leads to a simple approach to predicting the maximum energy that will be delivered to a series resistance for the case where the victim load resistance is lower than the spark resistance.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 3005608

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--25-22853; 10.1016/j.elstat.2025.104205

Journal Information:: Journal of Electrostatics, Journal Name: Journal of Electrostatics Vol. 138; ISSN 0304-3886

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Scaling of energy delivered through an electrostatic discharge to a small series load

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