Tag: ionizing point

Gen4 Ionizing Points: Overview

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Model 8299 Ionizing Point

As the weather gets colder, and the air gets dryer, static electricity can become a real nuisance in production plants.  Machines will start jamming, alignments will be difficult, debris will collect on surfaces, and hazardous sparks can shock staff.  EXAIR manufactures a large line of Gen4 Static Eliminators to remove this static nuisance.  We offer them with air to remove static at a distance and to create a force to clean.  We also offer them without air to help eliminate static in tight spaces or for when airflow may disrupt a material flow.  In this blog, I will cover our single point unit, the model 8199 Gen4 Ionizing Point. 

Our Ionizing Point is rugged for tough industrial applications.  The high voltage cable is constructed with a PVC coated, armored cable to withstand many common hazards like pinch points and cuts, thus protecting the internal conductors.  The Gen4 Ion Point is also UL component recognition for the US and Canada, and it is also CE compliant to the applicable European directives for safety as well as electromagnetic interference. 

The solid, stainless steel emitter point is also removable.  This helps to insure continuous problem-free operations.  Once the emitter point wears due to normal use, it can be replaced very simply and economically by simply unscrewing the old one and threading in a new emitter point.  The Gen4 Ionizing Point comes standard with a 5 foot (1.5 meter) long high voltage cable.  However, other cable lengths up to 50 feet (15 meters) are available upon request.  The end has a saddle for mounting through the side of air moving ducts or for simple placement near a static issue.

To operate the Ionizing Points, a Gen4 Power Supply is required to create ions with a high voltage signal.  The AC waveform of the signal creates positive and negative ions to remove either polarity of static.  EXAIR offers two different models; the model 7960, which has two output ports, and the model 7961, which has four output ports.  They can operate more than one Static Eliminator to help save money when the application solution is ideal for operating multiple units in the same vicinity.  The features of the Power Supply are that it has a selectable primary voltage of 115Vac or 240Vac, it generates 5,000 volts, and it has shunt circuitry to provide for safe reduction of output when the power supply “sees” a shorted condition on the secondary.

Gen4 Ionizing Points

The Gen4 Ionizing Point is designed for small target areas or for duct mounting. Static is created by rubbing, hitting, and peeling of non-conductive materials.  The Gen4 Ionizing Point can be used directly for slitting, label peeling, or small print areas for quality.  A series of them can be used for ionizing a ducted airflow to tackle problems within air conveying systems. 

Duct mounting

Now, how about a free promotional item?  For qualified purchases of Gen4 Static Eliminators, including the Gen4 Ionizing Point, EXAIR will ship a model 7929, AC Sensor, for free with your purchase, a $65.00 value.  If you are an end-user and located within the United States or Canada, you can take advantage of this offer until March 31st, 2025.  If you wish to speak to an Application Engineer about your application, we will be happy to assist you with a solution to eliminate static. 

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

Ionizing Points for Static Elimination Without Airflow

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

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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Static Eliminators Essential To Packaging Operations

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I had a headache the other day. Of all the things that can make me grumpy, nothing makes me grumpier than a headache. Luckily, there are over the counter medications that work quite well, and quickly, to boot.  And I had a brand new bottle of them in the cabinet.

When I opened the package and removed the tamper-resistant plastic band on the cap, it stuck to my hand when I went to drop it in the trash can.  This raised my grumpiness just a touch.  I shook my hand to try and get it off, and it fell behind the trash can.  My grumpiness elevated a bit further.  I hit my head (you know, the one I was trying to cure the pain in?) on the counter while bending over to retrieve it.  That activated my grumpiness alarm, which sounds just like mild profanity.  My wife silenced that alarm pretty quickly.

The plastic band stuck to my hand, of course, because it’s made of a non-conductive material, and peeling it from the bottle cap, which is also a non-conductive material, generated a static charge.  As a subject matter expert on the topic of static elimination, I am quite familiar with the phenomenon, the problems it causes, and, more importantly, the numerous ways to apply solutions to those problems:

  • One such solution was related to my problem with the tamper-resistant seal.  A mouthwash manufacturer was actually having trouble getting those seals ONTO the bottles on their packaging line.  The bottle caps themselves had so much static charge on them that they repelled the seal as the machine tried to drop it in place before heat shrinking it.  An Ion Air Jet solved the problem:
Gen4 Ion Air Jet ensures bottle caps & necks are static free for application of tamper resistant seals.
  • Speaking of plastic bottles, the finishing process after extrusion can leave small bits of plastic particulate behind, and static charge can keep them on the bottle.  This was a great fit for an Ion Air Cannon:
Gen4 Ion Air Cannon eliminates static & dust prior to filling bottles.
  • Sometimes, air flow isn’t necessary, like in the case of a film that is eventually made into single-use condiment packages, with a static charge that was high enough to fry the print heads that apply the label text.  An Ionizing Bar protects those print heads:
Initial static charge of almost 17kV (left) is almost completely dissipated by the Ionizing Bar (center) to just 0.04kV (right)

EXAIR Corporation’s Gen4 Static Eliminator product line offers a wide variety of options for total static control.  If you need to get rid of nuisance shocks, clinging dust, tearing, jamming or curling of material, misfeeding sheets or rolls, or any of the numerous other problems that static charge can cause, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Static Elimination for Tight Spaces or Areas Sensitive to Airflow

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If you’re having problems with static build up on small and/or lightweight materials where even the smallest amount of airflow can disturb the product, EXAIR has the perfect solution, the EXAIR Gen4 Ionizing Point.  The Gen4 Ionizing Point is a single point ionizer that lends itself naturally to winding, rewinding, slitting or a myriad of other applications.  It can even be mounted through the wall of a duct to neutralize static charges in an existing air or conveyance duct.

Gen4 Ion Point 1
EXAIR’s Ion Point In Action

The Gen4 Ionizing Point is very powerful and robust solution that can dissipate 5,000 volts in .24 seconds from 2″ (51mm) away!  The Gen4 Ionizing Point features an electromagnetically shielded high-voltage cable that is armored to protect against abrasion and cuts and its integrated ground design does not require a separate ground connection.  For even more convenience the Gen4 Ionizing Point is replaceable if the point should ever become dull or bent.

Ionizing Point Performance

Its smaller footprint naturally lends itself to installation into the limited space normally associated with smaller applications.  The stainless steel, and replaceable, emitter point is mounted in a saddle that is 1.77″ (45mm) long by 1″ (26mm) wide and includes two .20″ (5mm) mounting holes that are 1.44″ (37mm) apart for easy mounting.

Gen4 Ion Point 3

Gen4 Ionizing Points are supplied power by either the model 7960 power supply which can operate up to two ionizing products or the 7961 that can operate up to four ionizing products.  Both models feature selectable voltage to run on either 115 VAC or 230 VAC.

The Gen4 Ionizing Point is the perfect solution for spot static elimination without air assistance.  Most importantly both the EXAIR Gen4 Ionizing Point and Gen4 power supplies are UL component recognized to US and Canadian safety standards, and are CE and RoHS compliant.

g4_7960-7961emoti600x
All EXAIR Gen4 Static Eliminators use one of two Power Supplies – your choice of the 2-port Model 7960, or the 4-port Model 7961.

When you are looking for static relief application assistance or expert advice on safe, quiet and efficient point of use compressed air products give us a call.   We would enjoy hearing from you!

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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