Killing static on bottle fill line

December 2006 Pneumatics & Hydraulics

A pharmaceutical company fills mouthwash bottles at a rate of 200 bottles per minute. Friction with the conveyor belt and guide rails produced a static charge on the bottle surface that resulted in two problems. First, the static electricity sent false pulses to an encoder responsible for monitoring material flow, causing it to shut the line down periodically. Second, the surface charge was so high that the liquid from the machine's fill spout would divert sideways down the side of the bottle instead of flowing straight down into the bottle mouth.

An EXAIR Super Ion Air Knife model 111012 305 cm with power supply was installed at the entrance to the fill table. The rapidly moving bottles passed under the sheet of ionised air and the surface static was completely neutralised. The falsing problem with the encoder was eliminated and the mouthwash went into the bottle where it belonged.

Static electricity can bring production to a halt as it did in this case. The speed of the filling operation required fast static decay over a large surface area - a situation a static bar alone could not remedy. The laminar airflow of the Exair Super Ion Air Knife delivers a flood of static eliminating ions to any surface the airstream touches, making it ideal for oddly shaped parts like bottles, crates or trays as well as flat surfaces like webs, sheet stock or conveyors.

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