Ever wonder what causes that annoying shock you get when you go to grab a plastic or metal piece. That is a phenomenon caused by static electricity. This static is an electrical surface charge that is generated and when two surfaces come in contact with each other and generate an electrical charge from friction, separation, or simple contact. If the material in question is not grounded properly the electrical charge will continue to accumulate until it comes in contact with a proper ground or the path of least resistance to discharge the built up static and return to a neutral state.

Static is generated on the atomic level from the exchange of valance electrons on each surface. The energy produced from the friction, separation or contact cause those valance electrons to enter an excited state; when in this excited state they begin to jump back and forth from atom to atom. When this happens, the atoms begin to accumulate either a positive charge if the atom lost electrons or a negative charge if the atom gained electrons. As the charge accumulates on the surface were the friction occurs if a ground source (i.e. piece of metal or a person) comes in close proximity to the charged surface an arc is generated between the two surfaces returning the originally charged surface to a neutral state.

Static can be harmful to both employees and product in an industrial environment. If a static arc is generated in the presence of either flammable, combustible, or explosive liquids or gasses the arc can cause an ignition of the material. Static can also cause the charged object to stick or cling to various surfaces causing clogs in pipes and issues when trying to separate the material one at a time. This phenomenon is called static cling.

Even though static is very easy to generate it can just as easily be dissipated; EXAIR’s line of static eliminating devices use a high voltage emitter point to generate a small zone of ions which consists of both positive and negative charges to dissipate the static build up on the surface. Also, when the various emitter points and ion bars are coupled with our compressed air products, the air carries the ions much farther and can dissipate static up to 20’ away. The best part is that about the line of our line of static eliminators is that they are shockless; this means that if somebody bumps into it, they won’t get shocked.

For more information on EXAIR’s Static Eliminators and any of EXAIR‘s Intelligent Compressed Air® Product lines, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or any of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Cody Biehle
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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