Tag: Ion Air Cannon

Hello Static

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

The late fall and early winter season has arrived in Cincinnati and the telltale signs are everywhere – falling leaves, falling temperatures, and falling humidity.  The latter of these signs is a precursor to an indirectly proportional occurrence – the increase of static.

Static occurs when a similar electrical charge exists between two insulators.  Most often, the charge on the surface of these insulators causes them to repel one another, stick together, or causes the charge to seek an any available path to ground.  One such insulator that can be found everywhere is air, and the other can take on a variety of forms.  It can be the cardboard box used to ship a product, geotextile material used to increase soil stability, or (as is the case below) a PET bottle travelling along a conveyor line.

Plastic bottles on conveyor
PET bottles travelling on conveyor between cleaning and filling stages

In the photo shown above the plastic bottles are being transferred from one stage of processing to the next, and when reaching the next stage of the process the bottles need to be filled.  But, due to the static charge created during transfer along the conveyor, the bottles are sticking together, creating a process disturbance.

In this application, suitable product selection choices are quite extensive.  Super Ion Air Knives can be used on each side of the bottles to remove the static charge, an Ion Air Cannon can be positioned between the conveyor and the filling station, Ion Air Jets can be installed along the conveyor, or (if the line speed is slow enough) Ion Bars can be installed  to remove the static charge.

As the humidity of the ambient air decreases with the season, static problems inevitably increase.  If you have a static related application problem, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer for a suitable solution.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

End User Finds Help With Multiple Applications Using EXAIR

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

In my blog last week I mentioned the various markets we serve at EXAIR and how, despite the cold weather in the U.S., demand for product like our Cabinet Coolers is still high in other parts of the world.  This week has been no different.  In fact, I’ve had an increase in the need of our overseas end users for Cabinet Coolers.  And, I’ve had domestic end users calling in for static related problems that notice our other products on the web and earmark them for later use.

For example, the same end user that needed our Ion Air Cannon to solve feed disruptions of a pill filling machine earlier this month (see blog here), had another application and gave me a call.  The new application needed to remove a powder from the exterior of an open container while eliminating static as the product travelled down a conveyor.  The open containers were filled with powder in a dedicated room, then conveyed through a wall to an encapsulate room.  With the current setup, powder is flooding the encapsulate room and this is an undesired occurrence.

So, the end user and I kicked around a number of ideas including using a Super Ion Air Knife for an air curtain, using Air Amplifiers to create a constant “dispersed footprint” of air at the opening between the rooms, and even discussed pressurizing the encapsulate room a smidge to keep powder from entering.

Ultimately, after working around space and budgetary constraints, we settled on the solution of using Super Ion Air Knives along the sides of the enclosures and operating at t low pressure, mounted in the encapsulate room and aimed into the fill room.  This solution aims to remove the static, blow off the unwanted powder from the containers, and provides a method to keep the powder out of the encapsulate room.

This application was sorted late in the day yesterday, the product was on the shelf and it shipped same day. I am confident our customer will be pleased with the results.

But, the bigger point that came about from this application was that our end user knew instinctively to contact EXAIR for assistance with their application.  If you need help with your application, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE

A Solar Panel/Static Elimination Case Study

Published on by Brian Farno2 Comments

Industry:
Solar Panel Manufacturing

Components/Products:
Solar panels being assembled.  Lens placement.

The Problem:     

                   A Solar Panel manufacturing facility was experiencing problems when trying to pick and place individual lens arrays from a stack and placing them on to a machine.  While in the stacked position the lenses were separated from one another with a sheet of foam to help protect them from scratching or other debris.  The problem they were having was the lenses would cling to each other in the stack along with the sheet of foam.  This would cause the machine to fault or the parts to mislead and in an even worse case it would drop the second lens it picked up causing a bad part.  The sheet of foam in between the process also required an operator to stand and remove each sheet or attempt to blow off each sheet prior to the next pick up.  This problem was becoming very time consuming and quite costly for the company. 

The Solution:

                  The problem was that of static electricity and a slight vacuum that is formed when lifting one sheet from another.  The solution was to install two EXAIR Ion Air Cannons, two Super Air Nozzles, and two 3” Super Ion Air Knives.  The Ion Air Cannons and the nozzles were mounted to the lens lifting apparatus so that it would blow from the narrow end of the lens across the face of the lens before, during and after pickup.  Once the lens is lifted the air nozzles and cannons blow the sheet of foam off the stack where the Super Ion Air Knives help to push it down into a scrap bin.  This also eliminates the static from the lens which ensures that no debris from the air will cling to the surface of the lens. 

       

A solenoid valve was installed on the supply air line so the compressed air will only be used when the lifting device is picking up a new sheet. 

Conclusion:             

                To conclude, the customer was experiencing a static electricity problem when lifting each lens from the stack.  Not only would the lenses stick together but the sheet of foam that kept the lenses separated would cling to the lens causing production to halt or an operator to stand by and manually remove the sheet.  The EXAIR solution that was provided utilized Ion Air Canons, Super Air Nozzles, and Super Ion Air Knives all tied into a solenoid valve for minimal compressed air usage.  Not only was the lens blown off and static eliminated to prevent debris from clinging to it but, the foam sheet was also blown to the end of the stack where it was caught in a waste bin.

Below are 2 videos from the shop floor of the system in motion.   The machine was still in testing phase which is why the Super Ion Air Knives are not permanently mounted and the scrap bin is not in location. 

If you have an application using our products or one that you need help with please contact us. 

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
Twitter: EXAIR_BF