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Meech Shows how to Control Static at Emballage

Product News Friday, February 11, 2011: Meech International Ltd.

Visitors to the Emballage packaging exhibition, November 22nd – 25th, Paris, will be able to hear about the latest industry-leading solutions for controlling static in the production line or printing press by visiting the stand of BST France (6D127), where Meech International will be showing several new systems. UK manufacturer Meech has pioneered industrial pulsed DC static control systems for the last 15 years and is also a major producer of non-contact and contact web cleaning and air technology products, all designed to increase profits by improving productivity.

“One of the most common causes of lost productivity across a wide range of sectors in the graphic arts industry, whether this is offset printing, converting, digital output, finishing or inkjet is static, which can easily build up unnoticed in equipment and materials,” says business unit director for static control, David Rogers. “Even when sheets are sticking or misfeeding, static is often not initially considered by the operator.”

Amongst the products launched recently by Meech is the 904CM, a simple but highly effective monitoring unit for its AC ionising systems, of which many thousands are in use around Europe in the graphic arts, packaging, converting, plastic and pharmaceutical industries. The 904CM is straightforward to fit and provides accurate monitoring of the performance of the emitter pins incorporated within the ionising bars.

“Companies increasingly want to monitor the performance of their static control systems so that cleaning can be carried out when needed, but without incurring unnecessary stoppages. It’s difficult to tell visually that bars need dirt and paper dust removed and normally the first indication are problems in quality or throughput levels because static levels have become too high.”

Controlling static in hazardous areas of the factory is crucial to safety and the introduction of the 977HL Pulsed DC Controller for hazardous area ionisers brings to the market a unique method of monitoring performance and controlling static levels in these potentially dangerous environments, while ensuring maximum productivity of the press or production line.

“Eliminating sparks caused by the build up of static is vital in processes where chemicals such as solvents are used. There is a risk that the vapours produced could be ignited. A significant proportion of fires and explosions encountered across various industries are the result of a spark created by static,” says David Rogers.

“In these hazardous areas of production, Pulsed DC static control systems can be an ideal method of static control and they generally perform highly efficiently. However, ionising bars lose their effectiveness when contaminated with dirt and dust and, if not cleaned, their ability to control static could be reduced to a dangerous level.”

The new 977CM from Meech not only monitors performance but alters automatically the voltage to the bars to compensate for any contamination affecting output. When further adjustment is not possible, the performance will start to be adversely affected. At which point, an alarm alerts the operator to the fact that the bars need cleaning.

BST France represents Meech static control systems in France and works closely with the European office, Meech Elektrostatik, which is based in Stavelot, Belgium. Meech Elektrostatik provides sales and service support across all Meech technologies throughout Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and Benelux.