FEATURE Drying, Curing & UV Finding the cure: 25 years of GEW
What does an industry-leading manufacturing company do when it turns a quarter of a century old? The story of GEW not only tells us what the company has achieved in the past, it is also a hint at the direction in which it will travel in the years to come
“I don't care too much what happened in the past. I prefer to focus on what is coming next,” Sebastian Vettel once said. And
he is a four-time Formula One world champion. Throughout its 25 years in business, GEW has become successful through its market-leading UV technology designs and breakthroughs.
Malcolm Rae, the company’s managing
director, says: “As a specialist UV systems manufacturer, GEW is and has been actively engaged in researching the potential of UV LEDs for many years, but is also committed to further innovate mercury arc lamp technology for label printing, coating and industrial applications.”
GEW has developed several pioneering technology advances with the aim of providing printers, coaters and converters with some of the most advanced UV curing technology in the industry.
Energy management As every component in any system generates a loss, the cumulative effect of several weak links in the chain can considerably lower the efficiency of an entire system. In UV lamps a considerable amount of heat is generated as a side-effect of UV production when converting electrical power to UV light.
Excess heat generated by the system can
be reduced by correct geometry and careful material design. GEW’s reflector designs use dichroic reflector surfaces and GEW lampheads with their patented airflow and cooling of the glass reflectors from behind. Optimising existing resources and available technology are the keys to successful reduction of profit-gnawing wasted energy, time and materials. The reduced start-up times of high efficiency arc lamp systems and the instant switch on and off capability of LED systems can drastically grow actual machine production time.
Preventive maintenance GEW’s cassette-based lamp design minimises stoppage time. Indeed releasing a single Allen head bolt allows the lamp chassis to be removed from the casing and be replaced quickly and easily. Plug
14 February 2016 GEW’s LW1 LED UV lamphead highly accelerated life test
connectors ensure error-free, uncomplicated lamp changes and minimal press downtime. Unplanned machine downtime due to component failure can be eliminated with the help of GEW’s Embedded Service technology. RHINO powered UV systems are supplied, as standard, with the Embedded Service package, allowing remote monitoring of the system running conditions over the internet, so the manufacturer’s service engineers can detect and correct parameters before they can develop into a fault. This helps to ensure the entire UV system operates at peak performance. As a result, GEW is now able offer all RHINO systems with a comprehensive five- year warranty which gives users total peace of mind about their investment well into the critical payback period of their project.
The company’s HQ in Crawley, UK
Hybrid systems In recent years the use of LEDs in UV curing systems has become more and more common. Reduced heat radiation, instant on-and-off switching and the absence of moving parts are some of the apparent advantages; these have to be offset against the higher initial cost of this technology. However, the implications of the transition towards UV curing inks and varnishes are often not fully understood. GEW has addressed printers’ concerns with what is said to be the first fully flexible and futureproof hybrid UV curing system. GEW’s ArcLED hybrid systems with RHINO power supply (see page 16) are compatible with both conventional mercury arc lamps and LEDs and thus allow for convenient switching from one technology to the other, also with the option to upgrade later. The GEW hybrid system recognises which type of cassette is installed in the press and the RHINO ArcLED power supply adjusts automatically. LEDs are substantially more efficient than older UV systems but the differences compared to modern arc lamp systems in operation have to be closely looked at. The real energy advantage for LEDs is that they switch on and off instantly, not requiring the warm up and standby cycles of arc lamps.
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