Static Eliminators Essential To Packaging Operations
static elimination in packaging
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.
Problem
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.
Solution
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:
- 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:
- 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:
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.
