Patent ID: 7948733

Claim:
A static eliminator, which applies a high voltage from a high voltage circuit to a discharge electrode to generate ions so as to eliminate static electricity of a workpiece, the eliminator comprising: a resistor which is disposed between the high voltage circuit and a frame ground; a filter circuit which receives a value from the resistor and outputs a detected frame ground current value; an ion generation control device which receives the detected frame ground current value and adjusts at least one of a positive and negative voltage duty ratio and a voltage value to be applied to the discharge electrode such that the detected frame ground current value output from the filter circuit approaches a prescribed ion balance target value; a target value change device which changes the ion balance target value to a target value offset to such a degree as not to affect the ion balance of the workpiece; and an electrode contamination detection device which detects contamination of the discharge electrode in accordance with the quality of follow-up performance of the frame ground current that is after the change in the target value when the ion balance target value is changed by the target value change device, wherein the follow-up performance in the case of the discharge electrode with contamination has a frame ground current value that is less than in the case of the discharge electrode without contamination.