CouplerTec’s Patented Capacitive Coupling Technology interferes with the electrical charge between Iron and Oxygen so it becomes hard for these elements to combine to form rust. In other words, the technology interferes with the metal’s ability to react with Oxygen.
CouplerTec’s Capacitive Coupling Technology achieves this by creating a negative (-) electrostatic surface charge on the metal surface of the protected structure. The (-) Oxygen atom is repelled by the (-) electrostatic surface charge.
This (-) electrostatic surface charge is created by building a Capacitor within the protected structure. A capacitor is an electrical component used to store a charge, consisting of two conducting surfaces separated by a nonconductive dielectric. The CouplerTec system consists of two components that we use to build our Capacitor within the protected structure.
The first component is our CouplerTec Electronic Module which is connected to a 12V power source, either a 12V Battery or 12V power pack plugged into mains power (mainly used for static structures).
The module draws a very small charge from the power source and transforms this into an output voltage of 400V (Peak) and from 200V (RMS typical), strong enough to easily be read on a volt/multi-meter. The CouplerTec module generates frequency signals in the 200KHz range. The voltage and frequency created by the module is then transferred to the second component, which is our Capacitive Coupler.
The Capacitive Coupler is a conductive plate which is affixed directly onto the painted surface of the structure using a high bond adhesive. The Capacitive Coupler, when charged by the voltage now acts as the positive plate’ of the Capacitor that we are building. The frequency applied to the Capacitive Coupler combined with Capacitance induces the electrostatic charge to the metal surface of the structure. This then makes the structure act as the negative plate of the Capacitor. Electrons are accumulated between the Positive and Negative plates of the Capacitor. The frequency which induced the charge also disperses these electrons across the surface of the structure.
The structures paint work becomes the ‘dielectric’ which in turn will hold the electrons on the metal surface and stop them from flowing away. Should a protected structure’s paintwork become compromised (e.g. stone chip or scratch) resulting in exposed bare metal, then over time a very thin layer of surface rust may eventually form on the bare metal surface. This layer of surface rust takes the place of the paint work and becomes the dielectric, which in turn holds the charge static. The surface rust will turn a dark brown colour, this is non-active ferric oxide and will not progress any further.
