Category: Static Elimination

Removing Static in Pharmaceutical Packaging

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Static Eliminators
Variety of Static Eliminators from EXAIR

A pharmaceutical company contacted EXAIR about static issues in their packaging area. When static is created, it can become a real nuisance.  For this pharmaceutical company, it was greatly affecting the tablet filling station.  They actually had four major areas generating static in their process.  The first area was the preformed plastic trays at the start of their process.  They would purchase many sheets of plastic from their supplier and as they started to unpack the sheets, a large amount of static would shock the operators.  Another area was when the blister pack was being thermally formed.  As for the tablets, they too were generating static when they were being separated from the forming process and transferred to the delivery chute.  Like the same poles on a magnet, static charges with the similar polarity, will repel each other; causing the tablet to be rejected from the blister tray.   The fourth area that had static was at the rotating brush.  The brush was used to knock down any raised tablets inside the blister cavity.  As the plastic bristles were rubbing against the tray and tablets, static was being generated.  In order to keep this process running smoothly, they had to eliminate the static.

In evaluating the target areas to remove the static, I recommended the following solutions:

  1. Unpacking of the preformed trays: As the operators started to unpack the plastic trays, they would get a big shock. Static is being generated as the sheet are moving and sliding across each other. I recommended the model 111224 Super Ion Air Knife Kit.   The Super Ion Air Knife blows ionized air onto the surface. It can remove static and dust as far away as 20 feet. The operators could still perform their operation as the Super Ion Air Knife could perform its job. This will remove the static and also remove any plastic fragments or debris off the surface. Dirt and contamination is attracted to the material by static, and if the tray is not completely clean, the company has a potential to lose an allotment of product.
    Plastic sheets before EXAIR
    Static on Plastic sheets before EXAIR is 13,300 volts
    Tablet packaging after
    Static on Plastic sheets after EXAIR is 100 volts

     

  2. At the thermal forming machine: This machine uses a heated die to press cavities into a plastic film. As the tray is being made and pushed along, static is being created. I recommended the model 7012 Ionizing Bar.   This would neutralize that static before the tablets are being inserted.
    Thermoformed trays before EXAIR
    Static on thermoformed trays before EXAIR is 4,900 volts
    Tablet forming trays after
    Static on thermoformed trays after EXAIR is 200 volts

     

  3. At the tablet chute: As the tablets are being moved and transferred, a static charge is being generated on the surface. When the tablets are about ready to be dispensed, the repulsion forces would cause either a delay by sticking to a prior tablet or a shift in alignment; both causing the tablet to miss the cavities of the blister pack. I recommended the 7012 Ionizing Bar to mount near the end of the chute. The Ionizing Bar creates both positive and negative ions to remove any type of static that passes underneath it.
  4. The rotating brush: After the tablets are placed in the blister pack and before the foil is applied to enclose the package, a rotating brush with plastic bristles would rub on the surface of the plastic tray and the tablets. This would ensure that the tablets are lying flat in their cavities. This operation would regenerate the static. As you can see with the picture below, it was creating 1.5 Kilovolts of static electricity on the surface. I recommended another model 7012 Ionizing Bar to remove this buildup of static.
Tray/tablet after brushing before EXAIR
Static on Tray/tablet after brushing is 1500 volts
Tray/Tablet after brushing after EXAIR
Elimination of Static after using EXAIR results in no static charge

With any type of static issues, it is best to have a quantitative result of your process. The EXAIR model 7905 Static Meter can do this.  This pharmaceutical company was able to determine how much static was being generated in their process, and how effective in removing the static.  They were so happy with the results of the EXAIR Static Eliminators, they sent pictures to show.  As you can see, we were able to remove all static before their last step of applying the foil.  The rejection rate went way down and their process ran very smooth.  If you start seeing issues with static in your process, you can contact EXAIR and speak to one of the Application Engineers.  We have a large range of Static Eliminators that can help you.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

A Great Application For…Something Else

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Some applications just sound like textbook situations – a caller wants to remove static charge from, and blow off a large, flat surface. That’s PERFECT for the laminar, high velocity ionized air curtain produced by a Super Ion Air Knife. All you have to do is pick the length, and we have them from 3 inches to 9 feet long.

Large, flat surfaces - perfect for a Super Ion Air Knife, right?
Large, flat surfaces – perfect for a Super Ion Air Knife, right?

Twice in the past week, I’ve been interrupted in my zeal to present the Super Ion Air Knife in these ideal situations by:

“…but I can’t move the product – I need to have something portable.”

And that’s OK. This is where it’s good to have a variety of offerings, including the portable, versatile, high performance Ion Air Gun. It’s durable and lightweight, so, if you can’t move the part, you can easily move the Ion Air Gun AROUND the part.

While it might be a "perfect" application for a Super Ion Air Knife, the Ion Air Gun works better if the product is stationary.
While it might be a “perfect” application for a Super Ion Air Knife, the Ion Air Gun works better if the product is stationary.

EXAIR Application Engineers are trained, and focused on, providing solutions. Even when something sounds “textbook,” there’s usually another way (or several) to look at it. And we’re really good at that. If you’d like to find out how to fit an EXAIR product into your compressed air needs, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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EXAIR Has Solutions For Skin Problems (Really)

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The EXAIR Chip Trapper filters solid debris from your coolant that can not only clog the supply lines to the tooling, but also provide a LOT of surface area for the growth of bacteria. This can really foul the air in a machine shop, and sometimes, it can mess with your skin, causing a rash or infection. Honestly, this isn’t a HUGE problem…I’ve fielded a handful of calls about it over the years, though, so when I got the call from a machinist last week who wanted to talk about a possible solution for a skin problem, I immediately thought of the Chip Trapper.

Well, immediately after I thought about this old commercial (I’ve written before about how I watched way too much television growing up. Don’t judge.)

Turns out, though, his problem wasn’t bacterial – it was an allergic reaction he was having with a specific additive in the coolant used on a particular machine tool. He mentioned that it was a mist coolant application, so I immediately thought of the Cold Gun Aircoolant System.

Of, course, right after I thought about this commercial (seriously; stop judging.)

To my knowledge, it’s the first time we’ve ever applied a Cold Gun to solve a skin problem – we’re almost always looking at them to avoid the mess of coolant spray, or to increase tool life in situations where traditional machine tool coolant is impractical (or impossible) to use.

With four distinct models to choose from, we've got a Cold Gun System to meet your needs.
With four distinct models to choose from, we’ve got a Cold Gun System to meet your needs.

If you’d like to find out how EXAIR products can save you from:

*Excessive compressed air consumption
*High sound levels
*Static charge problems
*Heat damage to your electronics
*Labor intensive “bucket and ladder” bulk conveyance operations
*Trips to the dermatologist (no, really)

Then give me a call.  We can even talk about vintage TV commercials (I won’t judge either.)

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Static Problem in Plastic Tube Manufacturing is Solved

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

A common question that we get about Static Eliminators is “Where is the best place to install them within our process?” While there is a definite strategy to mount the Static Eliminator at the last possible point before the application problem occurs, in some instances, you still may have to use more than one Static Eliminator in different locations.

A customer was working with plastic tubes for packaging that were roughly 1” (25mm) in diameter by 6” (152mm) long. At the beginning of the process, an operator would remove the plastic tubes from boxes and manually stack them in a hopper.  They had a model 111012 Super Ion Air Knife mounted at the top of the hopper blowing down on the tubes.  This helped to remove the “shock” hazard that previously existed in loading the hopper.  To continue with the process from the hopper, the tubes are moved into an elevator and raised up to a feed chute in single file.  They would roll down a feed chute before they would be dropped onto a conveyor belt.  Just as the plastic tube would drop, static created from friction generated by the rolling action would cause one side of the plastic tube to “stick” to the prior tube, causing a jam in the system.

Jamming Area of Plastic Tubes
Jamming Area of Plastic Tubes

The customer was looking for a solution to stop the jamming. He had already mentioned that he was using the model 111012 Super Ion Air Knife at the hopper and wondered if it was working properly.  A quick question quickly verified its operation.  I asked if the operators were getting shocked from loading the plastic tubes into the hopper.  He stated that they were not.  So, the Super Ion Air Knife was removing the static charges as intended to keep the operators safe. The customer also sent pictures of the operation so I could better understand his process.  From the photos, the plastic tubes were right up against each other lengthwise in the chute.

Static charges were re-generating through the movement of the parts going through the loading elevator, moving up to the feed chute, and sliding down to the conveyor; the plastic tubes were rubbing and rolling against each other.  As with any non-conductive materials that are rubbed, slide against one another, or peeled, static electricity has a very good possibility to be generated or re-generated as in this case.  Even though the static was being removed at the hopper, the friction between the plastic tubes caused the static to regenerate.

Since static was affecting the feed of plastic tubes onto the conveyor, we needed to re-focus our attention in this area. The problem area in this application has now become the feed chute. After talking things over with the customer, model 111006 Super Ion Air Knife  was mounted above the end of the feed chute to provide an ionized airflow.  It would be facing the length of the plastic tube and angled upward along the incline of the chute, setting up a good counter flow between the parts and the ionized air.  Because static is a surface phenomenon, the ions have to hit the exposed surfaces to neutralize the charge. This arrangement would blanket the top surfaces of all the plastic tubes in the feed chute with ions as they roll by, neutralizing the charges before they became a problem at the end of the chute.

Super Ion Air Knife
Super Ion Air Knife

This is only one example of EXAIR Static Eliminators reducing a static charge in packaging applications. The product works well at eliminating the jamming, feeding, tearing, discharges to operators and other similar problems encountered within the packaging environment. Do you have a similar feeding application that you feel could use some help from static elimination?  If so, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us with your application questions today!

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb