Dust is the Enemy of every Machine, but also of People and our Environment, this is why Web Cleaning is important.

With Web Cleaning, dust and other contaminant particles can be efficiently removed from various substrates during manufacturing and postprocessing

In 1982, KELVA’s web cleaning systems were introduced to the world public at the “drupa” trade fair in Düsseldorf . The main objective of the KELVA cleaning technology was on the one hand to improve quality, but on the other hand also to reduce cleaning cycles and necessary maintenance work, as well as to reduce the amount of rejects. As dust is basically always generated where materials are processed reel-to-reel and massively shortens machine lifetime, reduction of any contaminating particles in due time is the means to save costs of maintentance, spare parts etc. and prevent from wasted material, time and energy.

Meanwhile all modern companies attach great importance to customer quality requirements at further processing as well as environmental safety and health protection. Where high dust load is present, the risks increase to harm employees. That’s also why dust removal is extremely important right from the start – whether in highly sensitive cleanroom production in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, where even the smallest concentrations of particles can lead to production stops, or in classic roll-to-roll processes, such as newspaper, film or textile printing. If only five particles per week are eliminated with a web cleaning system in for ex. pharmaceutical production, this can be match winning, as eventually an entire batch doesn’t has to be disposed.

It depends on the nature of the material whether non-contact cleaning or contact cleaning technology is the right choice.

Well equipped for delicate materials and applications with non-contact cleaners

For larger material widths, high web speeds and high dust loads, mainly the non-contact technology is being used. A non-contact system consists of the web cleaning head, antistatic equipment, a filter-fan unit and a control unit and does not touch the material web surface to be cleaned. The dust particles get extracted by the web cleaning head and collected in the filters. The fan supplies the system with blowing and suction air. The blowing air makes the material vibrating slightly and making it possible to easily extract the dusts. This process is supported by the use of antistatics, which neutralizes any static charge.

Simple and efficient: Contact cleaning for smooth, wear-resistant surfaces

In a contact web cleaning system, polymer rollers touch the material web to clean it and thus pick up the dust from the surface. The dust is then transferred to adhesive rolls. The adhesive rolls consist of pre-perforated sheets that have to be manually changed from time to time. Users can choose between single-sided or double-sided contact web cleaning. Such systems are compact, easy to operate and noiseless in operation, as noise protection is also becoming increasingly important in modern companies. Contact cleaning is used primarily in the label printing industry, for films and suitable papers.

An example from fiberglass production

Glass fiber mats are used to reinforce bituminous roof waterproofing membranes. Their production is associated with a high dust load for the employees, the production facilities and the machinery.

It is therefore essential that the entire working environment is dust-free in order to protect the health of the personnel. Non-contact web cleaner heads can be combined in individual numbers and sizes to fit the width aswell as the level of dust elimination.