Tag: static electricity

EXAIR Webinar 11/7/18 2pm EDT: Understanding Static Electricity

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

Halloween has passed, temperatures are dropping, and you’ve had enough of constantly raking up leaves. It’s clear to everyone that summer is over (much to my dismay). As temperatures decline, so too does the amount of moisture in the air. As this happens, issues related to static electricity begin to increase. If you’ve ever walked across a carpeted surface, only to be shocked as soon as you touch a doorknob, you’re familiar with the effects of static electricity. In addition to painful shocks, static can contribute to a variety of problems within industrial processes.

We’ve talked here on the EXAIR blog about several of these different applications. Some examples include: removing static on plastic packaging, stopping dust from clinging to product, or aiding in part removal in an injection molding application. These types of applications can certainly occur year-round, but the absence of humid conditions dramatically increases the potential for them to occur.

summer static
In this photo, a static charge present causes the plastic particles to cling to the end of a suction wand.

They key to combating static electricity is first understanding how it it’s generated and how to test for it. To help you gain some more knowledge about static electricity and the problems it can cause, EXAIR is hosting a FREE webinar this week. Within this webinar you’ll learn how to identify a static charge, the series of events that are causing the charge, as well as various ways to eliminate this nuisance.

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Brian Farno, EXAIR’s Application Engineering Manager, will be conducting the webinar at 2:00 ET on 11/7/18. Immediately following the presentation will also be a brief Q&A. If you can’t attend, don’t let that stop you from registering! A link to view a recorded version of the webinar will go out to all registered participants whether you’re able to attend live or not.

Click here to register and view details on this upcoming webinar. Make sure you’re educated on the issues associated with static electricity before it’s too late!

Tyler Daniel
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com
Twitter : @EXAIR_TD

What is a Super Ion Air Wipe?

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Rendering Of The GEN4 Super Ion Air Wipe In Action

 

EXAIR’s GEN4 Super Ion Air Wipe provides a uniform 360° ionized airstream that is simple to clamp around a part for reducing static electricity and cleaning contaminants. It is great for use on pipe, cable, extruded shapes, hose, wire and much more. We offer the GEN4 Super Ion Air Wipe in either 2” or 4” inner diameter, it is powered by compressed air and an external power supply. The GEN4 Super Ion Air Wipe generates both positive and negative ions that are transmitted the emitter points located on the i.d. of the wipe. Since static charges can be either negative or positive it is easy to eliminate both states of charge due to the mixed polarity of ions being generated. The power supplies are available with either 2 or 4 outlets (can power up to 2 or 4 GEN4 Static Eliminators simultaneously) and are UL recognized, CE and RoHS compliant. The power supplies also have a selectable input voltage for either 115 or 230VAC.

Another great feature of the GEN4 Super Ion Air Wipe is the split collar design that utilizes a clamp and hinge making it easy to clamp around the surface of the material moving through it eliminating the need for time consuming “threading”.

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How does the Super Ion Air Wipe work? The Super Ion Air Wipe envelopes the part passing through it with a stream of compressed air to strip contaminants and bathes it with ions to diminish any static charge. The airflow follows the surface of the material passing through it and can be effective up to 15′ (4.6m) away from where the Super Ion Air Wipe is located. The optional pressure regulator allows for fine adjustments of the air volume and velocity and the optional shim set allows for large air volume and velocity adjustments.

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How The GEN4 Super Ion Wipe Works

 

If you would like to discuss reducing static and/or cleaning of continuous runs of  materials, I would enjoy hearing from you…give me a call.

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer
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Atomizing Spray Nozzles from EXAIR

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Do you ever need to spray a liquid?  If so lets look at two of EXAIR’s Atomizing Spray Nozzles or ASN for short.  The first model we will discuss is the AD1010SS Internal Mix Deflected Flat Fan Pattern.

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AD1010SS Internal Mix Deflected Flat Fan Pattern

To begin with all EXAIR ASN’s are made from SS for durability and liquid compatibility.  As its name implies it creates a flat fan pattern that exit’s the nozzle perpendicular to the air & liquid inlets as shown above.  This unique design lends itself nicely to applications with space constraints.  The AD1010SS is the ideal choice for coating the inside of enclosures or ductwork.  It is compatible with liquids up to 300 centipoise and the air and liquid are mixed in the air cap.  The AD1010SS is designed for pressure fed applications not requiring independent air and liquid control.  What is meant by that statement is that if you vary either the air or liquid pressures you change the spray pattern and volume.  See the chart below for clarification on pressures, volumes and spray patterns.

AD1010SS Pressures
AD1010SS Chart

Next we will look at EXAIR model AT1010SS internal mix 360° hollow circular pattern ASN.

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AT1010SS 360° Circular Spray Pattern Nozzle Can Be Used To Coat Inside Diameters Or Cover A Broad Area Of Over 4′

The AT1010SS internal mix 360° nozzle is designed for applications where the spray pattern must be oriented away from the nozzle in all directions.  360° nozzles are ideal where a smooth, even coating is needed on the ID of a pipe or similar ductwork.  It is compatible with liquids up to 300 centipoise and the air and liquid are mixed in the air cap.  The AT1010SS is designed for pressure fed applications not requiring independent air and liquid control.  As above if you vary either the air or liquid pressures you change the spray pattern and volume.  See the chart below for clarification on pressures, volumes and spray patterns. They also work great for operations where a mist over a broad area is needed, such as dust suppression, humidification and cooling.  See the chart below for clarification on pressures, volumes and spray patterns.

AT1010SS Chart
AT1010SS Chart

If you would like to discuss EXAIR’s Atomizing Spray Nozzles or any EXAIR compressed air product, I would enjoy hearing from you…give me a call.

Steve Harrison
Application Engineer

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Basics of Static Electricity

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Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are in the middle of winter and that means extremely dry air, and frequent shocks when reaching for a door knob after walking across a carpeted surface.  While a shock is mildly uncomfortable and can be annoying to us, the presence of static electricity in an industrial manufacturing process can be much more problematic.

Problems that static cause range from operator discomfort to increased downtime to quality issues.  Dust can cling to product, product can cling to itself, rollers, frames, or conveyors. Materials may tear, jam, curl and sheet fed items can stick and mis-feed. Hazardous sparks and shocks can occur, possibly damaging sensitive electronics.

EXAIR has put together a useful tool, the Basics of Static Electricity white paper with Interactive Regions to help a person learn more about static.

Basics of Static Electricity

 

Topics covered include Electron Theory, Causes of Static Electricity, Triboelectric Series chart, and Types of Static Generation.  Also, the white paper covers the areas of How to Control Static Charge Buildup, Determining the Source of the Static Buildup, Eliminating or Minimizing the Source Causing the Buildup, and Treating Static Buildup.

The Treating Static Buildup is a comprehensive review of the EXAIR Static Elimination products and how each technology is best applied to different processes and applications.

To receive your copy of the Basics of Static Electricity white paper, click the photo above or the link here.

If you would like to talk about static electricity or any of the EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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