I have limited to no knowledge but I'll tell you what I did:
- anti-static paint primer (in other words conductive enough to move charge) on any forward facing fiberglass surface
- highly conductive epoxy used to attach a bond wire between any control surface and the thing its hinged to.
- static wicks on trailing edge of control surfaces electrically connected to that bondwire (if glass surface) or the carbon itself.
The charge accumulates near the front of the surface in question. So in the case of your vstab, you need the anti-static paint to get it to migrate back. and then you have to conduct it to the wick.
If you search the archives you'll find the part number on the paint. Desoto/PPG
On Apr 7, 2013, at 11:02 AM, John Barrett wrote:
This question has to do with the rudder in the IVP. It’s written that because the rudder is fiberglass, wicks aren’t effective due to non conductivity.
A build shop installed wicks on my rudder and they ran ground wires to those wicks from a/c ground. It seemed logical that this would make them useful, but last night I had a discussion with Dan Newland who got involved in static discharge problems on a satellite project in his working days and he scratched his head at the notion. Said he wasn’t sure but would guess that the wicks are not going to be useful in that configuration.
Anyone on the LML have knowledge that bears on the subject? I would like to learn more.
Thanks
John Barrett, CEO
Leading Edge Composites
PO Box 428
Port Hadlock, WA 98339