Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
If this is the case, then a drag chain will not be effective until the chain contacts the carpet at the field borders.
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Al/Eric
While the chain idea may seem counter intuitive, I've have got PMs from multiple teams saying it worked. Like Eric eludes, the FRP is like a series of capacitors connected by high value resistors. I know some of these bots are building incredible potential by being isolated, running high speed ball manipulation devices like tornado and belt drives and then being completely insulated by at least 3" due to the 6" plastic wheel. So remember that spark gap is all attributable to voltage potential and distance, even if the FRP isn't "real" conductive, a huge potential on a bot could be bleed off. Either a bot is going to build enough potential to have the spark jump from their frame to the FRP floor (which is a scary voltage thought) or they are going to have enough potential to jump from when they get near the grounded arena boundary. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the spark gaps we're getting at the arena boundaries exceed 1-2", big EMPs. You know air isn't really conductive, but I've seen alot of lightening in my time
It all comes down to the triboelectric series, anything we can do to encourage the static voltage potential to transfer will help the ESD/EMP effects.