By introducing LED technology into your coating system and utilising Becker Acroma™ LED cure wood coating solutions, you can take advantage of the benefits on offer from this revolutionary technology.
Reduce energy consumption
Although very effective, most UV curing lamps are expensive to run compared to LED curing units. And, most UV lamps have a lengthy “warm up” cycle at start-up, which means they must remain on at all times during production, thus constantly drawing energy. LED units on the other hand can be turned on and off at will with no detrimental effect to the diodes. What’s more, LED technology generates about 40% energy savings.
Cut reject rate of pine and other resinous wood species
Most UV lamps produce a lot of heat. This can cause significant problems when coating Pine or other resinous wood species. With LED curing this problem is eliminated, as LED does not heat the substrate.
Reduce maintenance costs
It’s no secret that the effectiveness of most standard UV lamps declines over time. Measuring the UV energy output from each lamp is an expensive and time consuming process. However, it has to be done on a regular basis to ensure proper curing of the coating. This procedure is unnecessary with LED units as they last for tens of thousands of hours and do not fade over time.
Eliminate lamp-based down time
When a most standard UV coating lamps is no longer performing effectively the line must be shut down. When the lamp has cooled down, it can be exchanged for a new one, and, once the new lamp has reached operation-ready temperature, production can start again – a process that can take up to 15 minutes. LEDs, on the other hand, have such a long life that it will take years before they burn out. In fact, there is a good chance that they will last longer than the line itself!
Improve the working environment
Most UV lamps emit heat and generate harmful ozone, both of which cause a potentially unpleasant work environment for employees. Furthermore, the exhaust used to cool most UV coating lamps and evacuate ozone pollution is often noisy and monotonous. LED units however, do not emit heat or generate ozone, thus improving the working environment considerably.
Reduce environment impact
Most standard UV curing lamps contain mercury and other heavy metals, which makes disposing of them a costly and environmentally sensitive process. They also generate ozone and require large amounts of energy. LED do not generate ozone, and they use much less energy. All in all a much more sustainable solution.
Shorter production lines
Standard UV coating units require a reasonable amount of floor space. Most UV units in moulding lines, for example, measure about 2-3 meters in length per application. Moulding lines can really benefit from LED technology as the curing section can be cut down to about a third of the size.