Tag: Ion Air Knife

The All-Around (Literally) Best Answer For Static Elimination: EXAIR Gen4 Super Ion Air Wipe

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Static charge is a surface phenomenon, which means it has to be addressed on the entire surface that it’s causing a problem on. For sheets, plates, films — anything that’s flat and stacked or rolled, really — EXAIR Gen4 Super Ion Air Knives are a popular solution. They generate a laminar, even curtain of ionized air that’ll dissipate the static charge on a surface up to 9 feet wide quietly, effectively…and quickly. For smaller pieces & parts, we’ve got Ion Air Jets and Ion Air Cannons that create a more focused stream of ionized air. For portability, the Gen4 Ion Air Gun is essentially a handheld version of the Ion Air Jet.

For pipe, hose, tube, wire, cable, extruded or molded continuous strands…anything that needs static elimination on all sides, really…EXAIR Super Ion Air Wipes are a great fit. They generate a uniform 360° ionized airflow to eliminate static on the surface of those kinds of products. They come in two sizes: one with a 2″ inside diameter, and one with a 4″ inside diameter. The split clamp design means you don’t have to ‘thread’ the material through…you simply undo the latch on one side and fit it back around the material or part. 

360° blow off AND fast, efficient static dissipation: EXAIR Super Ion Air Wipe.
Gen4 Super Ion Air Wipe

Both of the photos above show Super Ion Air Wipes used for plastic hose — and that is indeed a VERY popular application for them. They’re also successfully used for tubing, wire, pipe, extrusions, anything that can pass through the 2″ or 4″ inside diameter & needs to have static charge removed from it.

If you have problems with static charge, EXAIR has solutions. Give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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RoHS, EXAIR, And You

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The 20th century was an amazing time for technological advances. In just 70 years, the science & engineering communities went from believing that powered flight was impossible, to actually powering a flight that took three astronauts all the way to the Moon…and back. In the 50 years or so since then, the computers with the power required for space travel went from needing a whole room, to being able to fit on our desks, and eventually, our pockets.

All three of these: a state of the art computer from 1962 (left), the desktop computer I’m writing this blog on (middle), and a smart phone being used for its most popular function (right) all have about the same amount of computing power, believe it or not. (full disclosure: I believe it because I used my smart phone to look that up on the internet)

Along with these amazing advances in technology came exponential increases in the materials it takes to make devices like desktop (or laptop) computers and smart phones…and some of those materials don’t get along well at all with the environment, and by extension, those of us who live in said environment. This doesn’t normally matter as long as those materials are housed inside an operating computer or cell phone (or myriad other electronic devices), but it DOES become a concern when they’re disposed of. When stuff like that ends up in landfills, for instance, it has a bad habit of making its way into the water table…and that’s not good for anyone.

In 2002, the European Union (EU) started pursuing legislation to restrict the use of certain hazardous substances, to get out ahead of disposal issues by keeping them out of products from the very beginning. This led to the creation & implementation of the RoHS Directive. It’s been revised, amended, and updated over the years, because it turns out there are no viable substitutes for SOME of those substances in SOME situations. Among these exceptions:

  • Mercury is used extensively in a number of energy efficient CFL light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, so there are exemptions for that, and it works because there’s a whole industry devoted to the proper recycling of these products.
  • My personal favorite is the specific exclusion for lead in the manufacture of pipe organs. Seems that the lead based alloy that’s been used for centuries is critical to the tonal qualities of the sound that the pipes produce. Since disposal rates of these are negligible (the use of this alloy is one of the reasons they LAST for centuries), pipe organ pipes don’t have to be RoHS compliant.

Compliance with the RoHS Directive is so important to EXAIR, it’s part of our Sustainability Plan. All of our products that are subject to the Directive have certificates of compliance (available upon request) that document their compliance. Per the specifics of the Directive, these are comprised of certain products in our Optimization, Static Eliminators, and Cabinet Cooler System product lines:

  • Optimization:
    • EFC Electronic Flow Control Systems
    • Digital Flowmeters
    • Digital Sound Level Meters
    • Ultrasonic Leak Detectors
  • Static Eliminators:
    • Super Ion Air Knives
    • Standard Ion Air Knives
    • Ionizing Bars
    • Super Ion Air Wipes
    • Ion Air Cannons
    • Ion Air Guns
    • Ion Air Jets
    • Power Supplies
    • Intellistat Ion Air Guns
    • Intellistat Ion Air Nozzles
    • Static Meters
  • Cabinet Cooler System products:
    • Electronic Temperature Control Systems
    • Thermostats & Capacitors
    • Solenoid Valves

These are all of our products that are electrical or electronic in nature. Our broad line of engineered compressed air products are not subject to the Directive, as they have no electrical or electronic components. We DO make sure these comply with other regulatory directives, as applicable, such as:

  • Conflict Mineral Free: All compressed air products
  • CE: All products
  • UL: Static Eliminators and Cabinet Cooler Systems are UL Listed, HazLoc Cabinet Cooler Systems are UL Classified
  • ATEX: These are a brand new line (as of this writing) of Cabinet Cooler products

If you’d like to find out more about EXAIR’s commitment to compliance with any of these standards or directives, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Ionizing Points for Static Elimination Without Airflow

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I almost wore three socks this morning: one on each foot, and one inside the sleeve of my shirt. I don’t know if it got in there through the agitation & spin of the washing machine, or the tumbling action in the dryer, but I know how it stayed there through the removal from the dryer, folding, and placing in my shirt drawer: static charge. This was evident from the ‘snap, crackle, and pop’ it made when I pulled it out.

Static charge is all around us. It’s mildly annoying in the clothes we pull from the dryer or the packing peanuts we can’t shake from our hands when unpacking from that new whatever-I-just-ordered from that website. It’s surprisingly uncomfortable when we touch the light switch after walking across a carpeted floor. And it’s terrifying when a lightning bolt hits so close that there’s no discernible delay for the thunder.

It’s also prevalent in many industrial processes: molding, trimming, wrapping (or unwrapping), bag & bottle filling, printing…just to name a few. Some materials are more prone to it than others, but all it takes is contact, and separation, of non-conductive surfaces to generate a static charge. The faster and/or more frequent the contact & separation, the higher the charge, and oftentimes there’s no better way to build up static electricity than sliding or rubbing those surfaces together.

EXAIR has a wide variety of Static Eliminator solutions: Super Ion Air Knives for webs or sheets up to 9 feet in width, Ion Air Cannons or Jets for more focused, conical ionized air blowing, Ion Air Guns for handheld operations, Super Ion Air Wipes for tube, pipe, extruded shapes, etc., and Intellistat Ion Air Guns & Nozzles for laboratory or clean room situations. Two of our Static Eliminator Products – Ionizing Bars & Ionizing Points – require no compressed air at all for operation, and one of those is the point (‘pun intended’ or ‘spoiler alert’ – you decide) of today’s blog.

The EXAIR Gen4 Ionizing Point is compact, versatile, and easy to install. It’s perfect for applications where even a light breeze worth of air flow would be disruptive or problematic. It’s also great for ionizing an existing air flow, like in a blower duct or air conveyance line. If limited space is a problem, it’s got the smallest footprint of just about any static eliminator on the market.

The EXAIR Model 8199 Gen4 Ionizing Point packs a LOT of static elimination in a small package.

They have impressive static dissipation performance as well, as seen in the table below. The only maintenance that’s required is a periodic cleaning of the emitter point (with the Power Supply OFF, using a soft bristled, dry brush). Should the emitter point become fouled, it can also be easily replaced.

If you’ve got problems with static charge, EXAIR has a comprehensive offering of solutions…give me a call to find out more.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Super Ion Air Knives Remove Static, Improve Bottle Cap Production

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The leaves have all fallen. The sky, more often than not, is dreary. My winter coat is officially part of the “uniform of the day”. And I got shocked by the laundry room doorknob yesterday. All this means that winter is upon us (here in the Northern Hemisphere anyway), and as far as EXAIR is concerned, it’s “static season”. We’re seeing a definite uptick in the numbers of conversations we’re having about static charge-related issues…and solutions that we can provide.

I had the pleasure of speaking to a caller, last month, who works for the US division of a global manufacturer of bottle caps. A machine that sorts & orients plastic caps was particularly prone to static charge problems last winter, causing a marked decrease in their production, and they wanted to get out in front of the problem this year:

As the caps travel horizontally (white arrows), they pass under a static bar (supplied by the machine manufacturer) which provided some reduction in static charge, but was unable to keep up with the higher magnitudes of static charge experienced during the lower humidity winter months. Bottle caps (right) would pile up, slowing production.
A Model 112230 30″ Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife Kit replaced the OEM static bar, resulting in dramatic improvement…no more piling up of bottle caps.

The increased static charge (beyond the OEM static bar’s ability to handle) reduced production by 1/3. The Super Ion Air Knife restored operation to full capacity for this machine…and three others, once they saw the results of the first one.

If static charge is causing you problems with dust clinging to your product, your product clinging to itself, sheets mis-feeding, materials jamming, tearing, or curling, or nuisance shocks to operators, EXAIR has a variety of safe and efficient Static Eliminator solutions. To find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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