Electrical resistivity

To determine the likelihood of electric discharges in installations, it is necessary to know

the resistivity of the dust used in the installation. The applied test equipment and procedure
are in concordance with IEC 61241-2.2.

Importance
The significance of electrical resistivity of powders and dusts in the context of process
safety is dual. First, the possibility of accumulating hazardous electrostatic charges and
voltages in an industrial process increases with increasing electrical resistivity of the dust.
Secondly, the chances that dusts which penetrate into electric and electronic equipment
give rise to short circuits and equipment failure, increases as the dust resistivity decreases.
From the point of view of the dust explosion hazard, both of these situations may lead to
generation of ignition sources.

Test equipment & procedure

The test cell consists of two metal electrodes resting on a non-conducting base plate. The
dust sample fills the gap (length 100 mm, height 10 mm, width 10 mm) between the
electrodes. The resistance of the dust sample is measured for a number of different voltages
applied across the gap. The resistivity of the dust is calculated from this measured
resistance.
A dust is considered to be conductive, and thus capable of short-circuiting electrical and
electronic equipment when admitted inside such equipment, if the resistivity is less than
10^3 Ωm.
Dusts can give rise to electrostatic discharges when the resistivity is higher than 10^10 Ωm.

Bibliography
 IEC 61241-2.2: Electrical apparatus for use in the presence of combustible dust,
section 2: Method for determining the electrical resistivity of dust in layers.
 Entwurf DIN VDE 0170/0171 Teil 1502: Elektrische Betriebsmittel zur
Verwendung in Bereichen mit brennbarem Staub - Teil 2: Untersuchungs-methoden
- Hauptabschnitt 2: Methode zur Bestimmung des elektrischen Widerstandes von
Staubschüttungen
 R.K. Eckhoff, Dust explosions in the process industries (1997)