Rotogravure Printing

Problems and solutions for static electricity in Rotogravure Printing

Rotogravure printing is specially developed for large, to very large graphic runs by using a rotogravure press. During the gravure printing process the printing cylinder rotates in the ink pan where the engraved cells fill with ink. As the cylinder rotates clear of the ink pan, any excess ink is removed by the doctor blade. Further around, the cylinder is brought into contact with the substrate, which is pressed against it by the rubber covered impression roller.

An electrostatic charge is created on the surface of the material, as it travels through the printing machine with continued contact and separation events, complicated by the speed of the process. The surface charge can build to potentially hazardous levels at the rotogravure print section, where the use of solvent based inks creates a dangerous situation. A spark from an electrostatic discharge can ignite the solvent/oxygen mixture, which ultimately can cause a fire. ATEX approved static eliminators will neutralise these static charges before and after the print station, allowing for static free and safe rotogravure printing. Simco-Ion also recommends static control equipment at the unwinder and winder sections, to avoid shocks to operators and the attraction of dust particles, caused by static electricity.

At the winding section the material can once again create high static charges due to the pressure rollers and causing operators to get shocks when near to the material and creating the telescoping effect on the end rolls.

As the distance to the material changes at the winder, a ThunderION 2.0 IQ or Performax Easy IQ static eliminator is required to effectively eliminate the static charges created during the final winding. Additional demands like a predefined static level or ensuring personnel safety, by using a IQ Manager System with inline static measurement and Closed Loop Feedback-technology, is possible.

The Manager IQ can be directly connected to the printing line PLC via Fieldbus connection. An alarm alerts the operator in case the electrostatic charge reaches a dangerous level.

The Manager IQ System provides all essential information to increase personnel safety and reduces the chance on fires to a minimum, so high quality and competitive rotogravure printing is guaranteed.

Commonly Used Products

Performax IQ Easy

High performance combined with optimal static control. This is the new standard for antistatic bars. In combination with the Manager IQ Easy the Performax IQ Easy anti-static bar will ensure a very high efficiency of static neutralisation. Within the IQ Easy Platform up to thirty ionisation and charging devices can be connected in a network. Through the Manager IQ Easy it can be set up as a pro-active static neutraliser using the patented Up-stream static charge evaluation technique. Adding a Sensor IQ Easy to the system enhances the efficiency by measuring the downstream residual static charge and regulating the ionisation efficiency in real time to ensure a very low residual static charge.  The glassfiber reinforced profile offers a very rugged structure even up to 5 metres in length. The Performax IQ Easy has an integrated high voltage power supply and requires only a low voltage input of 24V DC. It is equipped with a standard M12 connector for the 24V DC input. Two 3 colour high brightness LED visualises bar ON (green), WARNING (orange) or bar ALARM (red). The Performax IQ Easy bar has light slanted ends and protection classification IP66 wich allows easy cleaning. Universal mounting brackets are supplied for various mounting options.

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