Tag: ionization

Static and Variance

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Okay, folks, it is time we seriously discuss how dry it is here in the MidWest right now and how much static there is anywhere we go. The dry air is the lack of moisture due to heat being used inside facilities, and thus, the static ramps up. If you didn’t understand much of those statements then it is okay, we have a whitepaper that covers the basics. The seriousness of the static in my home has reached critical mass. We are past the funny shocks and hair standing on the end humor side of static. We have reached a critical mass where it is no longer funny, my coffee is being affected by the ambient level of static charge.

That’s right, the coffee grinder I received for Christmas is riddled with static. Now, it is still functioning, thank goodness for that. The container that houses the fresh ground, the nectar of the gods making crushed beans, is made of polycarbonate material and is prime to hold a static charge. As the dry coffee beans are ground into obliteration there is a tremendous amount of friction which causes a very high charge on the ground bean discharge that goes into a very dry non-conductive container. This means the grinds all pile up and then also cling to every single surface on the interior of the small container. That’s fine, it still does not affect the performance of the grinder. Then, when I open the lid there is a detachment that happens and a small amount of that highly charged ground bean will start to dance all over the surfaces of the container, including outside of it and onto the counter. The end result is I have to constantly wipe up coffee grinds and I am wasting the grinds that give me the caffeine I intend to consume.

The dilemma here is that I don’t want to run compressed air into my kitchen, already have one project going on in the house. Secondly, my wife would not think it would be as entertaining as I would. So, I need a non-compressed air-assisted static eliminator that can plug straight into a voltage available here in the US, and let’s face it, coffee is a global consumption so 120 VAC and 230 VAC would be preferred. Enter, the VariStat Benchtop Ionizer.

The Varistat would easily mount to the wall over my coffee generation station and could be adjusted from a gentle breeze to where it doesn’t disturb the coffee grinds all the way up to a forceful blast in case the need would arise. I could also vary the balance of the unit to meet the atmospheric and surface conditions of the container.

Okay, so I’m probably not going to buy a Varistat Benchtop Ionizer and mount it to my kitchen wall. I would easily recommend it to any kind of hopper loader or regrind operation where the static is causing the materials to cling to the containers or causing nuisance shocks. This unit is easily sat on a bench top or mounted to a wall or ceiling over a hopper or workstation. Thanks to the operation of standard 120 VAC or 230 VAC it can function nearly anywhere in the world that has electricity.

If you would like to discuss coffee, what my favorite roasts are, or more importantly how can we make this work in our building, just let me know if you have some questions and we will get back to you quickly.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Varistat Benchtop Ionizer Solves Static Cling Problem With Tape Backing Strips

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Technicians at an automotive manufacturing plant apply pieces of adhesive tape to parts. They cut the tape to length, remove the plastic backing strip, and stick the tape in place. Due to the static charge on the backing strip, it would stick to their hands when they tried to drop it in the trash can at their work station.

They purchased & installed an EXAIR Model 8600 Varistat Benchtop Ionizer above the trash can. As they peeled the backing strip off the tape, the constant stream of ionized air dissipated the static charge, allowing the strips to simply fall into the receptacle.

Lightweight and compact, the Varistat Benchtop Ionizer isn’t limited to benchtop installations.

Before installing the Varistat Benchtop Ionizer, the strips would also cling to the plastic liner in the trash can. Because the static charge has been removed, the strips don’t cling to the sides anymore, so when the liner bag is full, it’s easy to pull it out, tie it up, and not drop any strips that used to cling to the top of the bag.

The Varistat incorporates EXAIR ionization technology to supply a stream of ion-balancing airflow to remove static charge and blow away the particulate that the static charge was holding on the surface, with hands-free operation and without the need for compressed air. The Varistat is manually adjustable and provides full coverage static elimination for workbenches, parts assembly stations, web cleaning…anywhere that point of use static elimination is needed. It can reduce a 1,000V static charge to just 100V in 0.8 seconds, and is engineered to fit various industrial applications & unique processes with user-friendly features like an adjustable stand, selectable input voltage (120-240VAC), a variable speed fan, replaceable foam intake filters, and adjustable polarity for ionization balance (+/-100V, manually adjustable to <10V).

If you’d like to find out more about the Varistat Benchtop Ionizer – or any of our Static Eliminator Products – give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Static Eliminator Product Configurations

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I recently had the pleasure of discussing an Ion Air Jet application with an engineer at a company that makes medical devices. They needed to remove static charge, and statically clung dust, from certain parts as they’re being packaged and sealed. Because of the specific geometry of the parts, they wanted to use two Model 8194 Gen4 Ion Air Jets, aimed directly at the geometric features of the part where the clinging dust was most problematic. The engineer started the conversation with questions about two Model 8494 Gen4 Ion Air Jet Kits, and was quite pleased when I recommended only one Kit, and an additional Ion Air Jet.

The Model 7960 Gen4 Power Supply that comes with the Kit has two ports, so it can be used to energize any two EXAIR Gen4 Static Eliminators. That’s two Ion Air Jets, two 3″ Super Ion Air Knives, two 108″ Super Ion Air Knives, one Super Ion Air Knife and one Ion Air Gun, etc.

The only exception is our Super Ion Air Wipes, which come in two sizes: 2″ and 4″ (left). Since they have two emitter points and hence, two cables, they’ll use both ports on the 2-Outlet Model 7960 Power Supply (right). If you want to run two of them (or one of them and any two other Static Eliminators), you’ll want the 4-Outlet Model 7961 Power Supply (far right).

Why would you need more than one Static Eliminator? Well, the most popular answer comes from the fact that static charge is a surface phenomenon. You can expose one side of a statically charged film to ionization all day long, and it won’t change the static charge that resides on the other side one bit. Super Ion Air Knives and Ionizing Bars are oftentimes operated in pairs for this very reason.

Two Gen4 Ionizing Bars + one Power Supply = Static elimination on both sides.

It also may be necessary to eliminate static, on the same material, more than once. Remember, all it takes to develop a static charge is contact & separation of non-conductive materials. I worked with a user once who had a machine that die cut shapes from a sheet of open cell foam…similar to the stuff that you wrap fragile items in for moving or transport, but a little thicker. Anyway, this foam sheet came off the roll with enough static charge to make it bunch up instead of moving smoothly into the cutting chamber, so it passed through an “over/under” pair of Ionizing Bars (similar to the photo above). Then, the die cutting caused enough static charge to make the pieces stick to the dies (think “cookie cutters” because that’s EXACTLY what they looked like), so two strategically aimed Ion Air Cannons were used to blow the “cookies” into the collection bin at the outlet of the machine. It was pretty compact (the foam sheet was only 10″ wide, and the “cookies” were “bite sized”) so all four Static Eliminators were energized from one Model 7961 4-Outlet Power Supply.

The “one Super Ion Air Knife and one Ion Air Gun” that I mentioned earlier is another popular answer to that question. The laminar, even flow from a Super Ion Air Knife is ideal for sweeping across a flat surface, but if there are any features to your statically charged material that might be “hidden” from the Super Ion Air Knife’s curtain, another dedicated device can be used for static elimination and blow off from those areas.

EXAIR Gen4 Static Eliminators have 5ft (1.52 meters) cables, except for Ion Air Guns, which have 10ft (3 meters) cables. As long as the cables will reach the Power Supply, you’re in business. If the Static Eliminators will be farther away than that, though, you don’t necessarily have to use separate Power Supplies for them. We can make any Static Eliminator with a custom length cable, up to 50ft (15 meters) in length.

If static charge is causing you problems, we’ve got solutions. To find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Ion Air Jet Applications

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

While writing my blog last week on all of the features & benefits of the Gen4 Ion Air Jet, I couldn’t help but think of some of the very interesting and successful uses I’ve seen in my nine years (as of this past Monday) as an Application Engineer at EXAIR Corporation.  In honor of my workaversary, this week’s edition is Russ’ Top 9 Ion Air Jet applications:

  1. A medical device manufacturer uses Ion Air Jets to remove dust from plastic extrusion as it goes through a puller belt.  The small diameter (0.05″ to 0.10″) made the Ion Air Jet a more efficient fit than the Super Ion Air Wipe, which is commonly used for extrusions like this, but is most effective for larger diameters.
  2. A maker of large scale automated machinery has provided Ion Air Jets (as well as other EXAIR quiet, efficient, and safe compressed air products) on machines they’ve been selling their customers for years.  When they started machining their own plastic parts, the Ion Air Jet was their first thought for a solution when plastic chips started sticking to their drill bits.
  3. A commercial printer makes displays, signs, etc. from a variety of static-prone materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate, and styrene.  They use CNC routers to cut them to size & shape, form the edges, and add dimensional detail.  Ion Air Jets blow the dust & shavings away, and keep them away, greatly reducing the prep time between routing and assembly.
  4. A weather sealing/stripping manufacturer uses Ion Air Jets to remove statically charged dust from their rubber & foam product extrusions, allowing for increased line speeds and better cuts for the products they cut for specific seal packages for the residential & commercial door and automotive industries, among others.
  5. A major provider of electrical and electronic contactors uses Ion Air Jets to blow off contact strip as it rolls off large reels to remove protective film and static.
  6. A manufacturer of wire marking machinery installs Ion Air Jets on their machines that are used to print on products with especially static-prone jackets, to ensure clean and crisp markings
  7. A cable manufacturer that caters to the computer & electronic industries uses Ion Air Jets to remove static & dust as foil is applied to PVC coated wire.  This eliminates the static charge that was causing inconsistencies when the adhesive was heated to activate.
  8. A wholesale food equipment distributor uses Ion Air Jets to blow out bottles during the sterilization process, prior to filling.
  9. A maker of specialty polymers uses Ion Air Jets to keep fine powders from accumulating in the entries into their hoppers.

Some applications call for a fixed-in-place solution, like the (above, from left) Super Ion Air Knife, Super Ion Air Wipe, Ion Air Jet, and Ion Air Cannon.) Others are best suited to the hand-held convenience of the Ion Air Gun.  Whatever your static problem is, though, EXAIR has a solution for you!

If you have a problem with static, the Ion Air Jet is just one of the solutions EXAIR Corporation can provide.  If you’d like to find out more about how we can help, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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