Services

Harold Walmsley Electrostatics Ltd provides a world class electrostatics hazard consultancy service that draws upon the knowledge and expertise of Dr Harold Walmsley who has over 30 years experience of working in this field. The main services offered include:

• Writing or updating guidelines and codes of practice on electrostatic hazards
• Designing and guiding programmes of measurement
• Identifying and improving test methods
• Model-based analysis of hazards
• Analysing the causes of incidents

In addition to the electrostatic hazard consultancy services, HWES Ltd can also provide consultancy on properties of petroleum-based fuels and solvents; particularly evaporation behaviour, formation of hazardous atmospheres and mixture strength.

To find out more on how HWES can help your business, send your enquiries to haroldwalm@gmail.com or click on our contact details page.

Codes of Practice and Guidelines

We have extensive experience in developing and writing codes of practice and guidelines on static electricity safety. Our services include the drafting of updates to existing codes of practice, developing new ones and interpreting the consequences of existing guidelines for practical processes.

Electrostatic Measurements

Good experimental design is important for static electricity test programmes to ensure that the data obtained is relevant to the problem being assessed and that it is generated in an efficient and accurate manner without artefacts.

Test procedures must minimise errors, maximise repeatability and avoid artefacts.

It is not always straightforward to interpret even good quality electrostatic measurement data in terms of consequences for operations of practical concern. A detailed understanding of exactly what has been measured is usually needed to quantify these consequences reliably and in complex cases, the interpretation may require additional theoretical modelling (e.g. to allow to for unavoidable differences in residence time between the test conditions and those in the practical process).

We have extensive practical experience of laboratory and field trial measurements in static electricity and offer consultancy and advice on the design and conduct of practical test programs, on the interpretation of results and on any associated modelling that may be needed.

Test Methods

Routine, hazard assessment tests are often used to qualify materials, components or systems as capable of safely controlling electrostatic hazards within the operating parameters of a process. In some cases, standard tests are available but in others, new tests or variants on existing ones (e.g. involving more relevant charging processes) may need to be developed. We have considerable experience of analysing processes to determine suitable test procedures.

Modelling Hazards

In order to approximately quantify the electrostatic hazards it is often useful to develop simplified models of the electrostatic behaviour of a process. The models need to cover:

• charge generation and dissipation,
• the links between charge and voltage or electric field
• the establishment of threshold conditions for the occurrence of discharges that could be incendive.

Our publication list shows that we have extensive experience in all these areas.

Analysing Incidents

We have many years of practical experience in assessing the causes of electrostatic ignition incidents that have occurred in the handling of liquid petroleum products and chemical solvents. In addition, our modelling skills have proved useful for quantitatively assessing and ranking alternative possible causes of incidents.