Ionic dust repeller?

[zachtheterrible]

Not sure if this is plausible so I was hoping someone could tell me. My truck is black, and as you all know when a vehicle is black, it seems to show up the tiniest amounts of dust. So I was thinking maybe there is some sort of ionic dust repeller or something that I could attatch to the body of my truck when it's just sitting. Good idea? impossible? Yep, just me being lazy and not wanting to wash my vehicle :lol:

 

[Someone Electro]

Do you want to get an REALY natsy shock evry time you toch it?

Because you would need to charge up the whole truck to 10s of kilovolts.Not very easy.

But could make an good car alarm LOL :lolThe thief would be the siren)

 

[zachtheterrible]

So that's the only way to do it huh? aw well :roll:

 

[Someone Electro]

No build a thingy that cleans it for you.Homemade automated car wash meaby?

 

[zachtheterrible]

Hold on a second, before I toss this idea in the trash I got to thinking- Wouldn't there be a way to do this with static electricity or something so that there isn't any current behind the 10kilovolts? Therefore you'll get a tiny shock if you do touch the vehicle.

What about them ionic breeze thingies? I'm sure that the high voltage in there doesn't have enough current to do much more than give you a static electricity shock . . .

 

[JimB]

Zack, be aware that the tyres (or in your case tires) may be slightly conductive.
This is to stop the car building up a static charge as it is driven along the road.

If you want to try to charge up your car, you may have to drive it onto some insulating pads first.

JimB

 

[awright]

Keeping car clean with static electricity

If you statically charge your car, the first thing that happens is than any speck of dust in the vicinity is attracted to the charged surface. Notice how dusty the face of your TV CRT becomes after a while?

Theoretically, after first being attracted to the surface, upon contact the dust mote should become charged to the voltage of the charged surface. Since like charges repel each other, the dust mote should then be ejected from the surface. However, my observation is that stuff just sticks to the surface. Apparently, the repelling force of the like charges is insufficient to overcome the residual "stickiness" (that's a technical term you don't need to worry about understanding) of the dust to the surface. So it just waits for you to get annoyed enough to wipe it off, like the dust on your TV faceplate.

The technique used in clean rooms to avoid dust being attracted to semiconductor wafer surfaces is to use an ion generator to spray ions around the region to be protected. This works for semicondustor chips in a lab (notice how much static charge generating equipment ends up in surplus stores), but may not work for an automobile due to sheer size and square footage to be covered and wind blowing the ions away. I'm not sure how it works, but I believe it has to do with the charged particles of both polarities attracting and neutralizing oppositely charged dust particles so they are not attracted to the objects at ground potential. Then the unused ions drift away, doing no harm except perhaps creating a little unexpected euphoria or depression somewhere.

This technique requires the use of AC high voltage so that ions of both polarities are produced (since you don't know the polarity of the charge on each of the dust particles). The high voltage is connected to a "rake" of needles mounted uniformely along a bar connected to the high voltage source. The rake may be enclosed in a tube that also conveys air past the rake to blow the ions out over the problem area and to protect the curious from the high voltage. Needles are used because the small radius of the tip results in a high potential gradient at the tip thet aids in emitting the charges.

The high voltage generator for this type of application is typically a 6 or 7 KV transformer with a current rating of just a few ma. IT MAY ALSO HAVE A BUILT IN CURRENT LIMITER (RESISTOR) TO PREVENT LETHAL OR PAINFUL SHOCK! Don't just use any high voltage transformer, like a neon sign transformer, unless you know exactly what you are doing and its hazards.

Try a google search for "static eliminators," or "static control," or the like to find suppliers and read their tutorials on the subject. I THINK I remember seeing high voltage static control transformers offered several years ago in the catalog of C&H Sales Company in Pasadena.

Be safe.

awright

 

[Someone Electro]

Dust probobly gets discharged back in to air agen and flys back on the surface.Since dust is very small this makes it aper sharp and shap objects discharge in air prety easaly.