Drying & Curing By Robert Rae, managing director, sales at GEW.
he use of LED technology in the UV curing process is rising rapidly. The drivers behind the adoption of UV LED are becoming far more compelling; UV manufacturers are quick to point out the energy savings that can be achieved by switching from conventional UV arc curing over to UV LED, and with energy costs rising globally at an alarming rate, the shift to LED is gathering new pace. The company’s recent showing at the Labelexpo exhibition in Chicago further highlighted this increased demand. We found a dramatic increase in the level of enquiries about our LED systems at the show, and the energy savings they bring. UV LED is no longer just a technology for the future, it has become an essential technology for the present day. This change has been driven by the recent and dramatic increases in global energy prices, creating an unprecedented demand for low- energy, sustainable LED solutions. Technological advancement is leading to ever more efficient and cost-effective UV LED products. The opportunities are huge and it is clear that UV LED will soon become the dominant technology in our market.
LED products use tens or even hundreds of UV LEDs built onto highly specialised circuit boards, to create individual LED modules.
UV LED powers ahead T
Multiple modules are mounted together to create a light array which can be varied in length. GEW offers LED arrays in widths from 15cm to 250cm, and multiple arrays can be used for greater width requirements. GEW also offers a variety of product form factors, power levels and wavelength ranges to satisfy many different application requirements. For those that are unsure about transitioning fully to LED, there is a gradual path that allows more flexibility – the combined use of conventional UV arc and LED technologies on the same press. This is made possible through hybrid technology such as GEW’s ArcLED system, whereby arc and LED lamphead cassettes can quickly and easily be interchanged on the same print station. Both arc and LED cassettes are compatible with GEW’s Rhino power supply unit (PSU) and fit in the same housing, to enable a fast changeover. The Rhino PSU enables any combination of curing technologies to be used, by instantly and automatically switching the supply to either DC power for LEDs, or high voltage AC power for arc lamps. This hybrid operation has been commonplace in flexo printing, due to the number of inks and particularly coatings, that have been either unavailable for LED curing or have been prohibitively priced. However, the
landscape is changing rapidly, LED
inks and coatings are now far more widely available and cost-effective.
GEW has two UV LED systems in its product range: launched early in 2022, AeroLED is its air- cooled option, representing the next generation for UV LED curing. AeroLED eliminates the need for a chiller by air-cooling from a single remote fan to bring UV LED within affordable reach for all. LeoLED, released in 2019, is GEW’s water- cooled solution, delivering maximum power and UV dose for more demanding applications. Both models are compatible with GEW’s renowned ArcLED system.
Our LeoLED water-cooled LED system has already been delivering huge operational cost savings for many of our customers since its launch in 2019, and now the even lower power consumption of AeroLED is taking these savings to another level. AeroLED has more than enough power for most narrow web applications and the lampheads are now ArcLED compatible, which means they are easily interchangeable with GEW’s conventional E2C lamps. In a nutshell, an AeroLED upgrade can be achieved in less than one day and offers the fastest, most affordable route to LED printing. GEW’s reputation for build quality, reliability and service is second to none. As part of this service, all GEW UV LED curing systems are continuously monitored over the internet. This Remote monitoring enables encrypted system performance data to be sent live to GEW and ensures the fastest and most precise service response available. The full service history of every lamp is recorded and viewable by GEW engineers in the UK, including all parameters, faults and operator commands.
A preventative maintenance program will recommend software or hardware updates and can highlight and correct out-of- tolerance parameters before an issue arises on site. Remote monitoring also enables comprehensive monthly system performance reports to be sent to the customer. These include energy use and machine uptime, so that press productivity can be monitored more closely than ever before.
GEW’s water-cooled LeoLED UV curing system at work Xwww.
gewuv.com/LED
12
October 2022
www.convertermag.com
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