Do not try this at home |
Certified ESD guns are expensive. You need one to certify your electronics e.g. for sale in the EU, most likely one located in a certified lab. However, you might want to test your design yourself first, to get some initial confidence before wasting time and money bringing a bad design to the lab.
An ESD gun makes a specific, highly controlled discharge of high voltage over a very short amount of time (=low overall energy). One common standard is to use a model of an electrostatic discharge from the human body. You can make a non-specific, non-controlled discharge of high voltage using a simple device based on a piezo element struck with a pulse of force. As it happens, certain lighters make sparks using this principle, like the one shown in the picture.
You now have a thing that can make something similar to an ESD pulse. You can apply these pulses to a thing and see what happens.
The spark from the pictured device is on the order of 6-7mm, corresponding to some kilovolts. Mileage may vary with model and make of the lighter.