We’re watching football again on the weekends (and on Monday, and Tuesday, and apparently Friday this year?) which means cooler fall temperatures are quickly approaching.
Static electricity is something that we talk about often here at EXAIR, particularly during the colder winter months. When an atom gains or loses an electron from its outer shell, it becomes electrically imbalanced. A material’s propensity to either gain or lose an electron is “ranked” on a list known as the Triboelectric Series. Static Electricity is generated in a few different ways: contact static build up, detachment static buildup, and frictional static build up.
Detachment static build up occurs when a material is in contact with another and these two surfaces separate from one another. During the separation, not all of the electrons are able to get back to their original molecule. This results in an instantaneous static charge as the electrons are transferred from one object to another in accordance with the Triboelectric Series. Due to the large surface area in most detachment static buildup scenarios, the amount of static generated is typically far greater than contact static buildup.
One of the most common types of detachment static buildup occurs as material separates from a roll. This typically occurs at a high rate of speed and the large surface area across the width of the roll presents an ideal situation for static buildup. This charge can cause the material to stick to itself and not come off the roll properly, creating issues down the line. This was exactly the case for a recent customer pharmaceutical company, manufacturing medicine used in the pet industry.
In many labeling processes, detachment static can build up to the point where it causes issues with label application. The label may not adhere to the container properly or the labels can stick to rollers or itself and cause operators to shut down the machine to fix. This leads to increased downtime, lost production, and excess waste in the process.
The solution was to install one of EXAIR’s Gen4 Ion Air Jets to saturate the labels with static neutralizing positive and negative ions. This quickly eliminates the charge (can neutralize 5kV in as little as 0.3 seconds) and stops the issues they were noticing with production. With much colder temperatures right around the corner, this was a welcome addition as the problem was going to quickly get worse as humidity decreases during winter.
Don’t wait until the problems associated with static return to seek out a solution. Contact an EXAIR Application Engineer for help discussing your process and how we could be of benefit to you.
Tyler Daniel, CCASS
Application Engineer
E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com
X: @EXAIR_TD
