It is believed that with ongoing aging of the UV lamps, a decrease of UV power comes along. In Eltosch lamps, this effect will be minimized with a halogen circuit. In general, the lamps have to be exchanged after a life time of about 1000-1500h. A main requirement is the frequent cleaning of lamps and reflectors. The lifetime of the whole system and the used lamps is visible to the end user on our screen. The newest UV lamp should always be used in the first end dryer to achieve maximum UV power to start the polymerization.

Lamps and reflectors should be cleaned frequently with alcohol (IPA) and a lint free rag. Furthermore, it is necessary to remove all UV modules during conventional operation to prevent a contamination with spray powder.

Burnt in powder or emissions from special finishing processes result in matting of lamps and reflectors.
Frequent cleaning will increase the life time of lamps and reflectors.

Frequent cleaning of IR lamps is also important so the lamps can emit the full spectrum of their wave length.
Powder and other contaminants make the lamps blind. This decreases the lamp output significant.

Dryer systems are high end equipment and therefore frequent care and maintenance is essential.
The predetermined maintenance intervals should be followed closely to prevent faults and production interruption. 

Examples for contamination and wrong usage

Anilox roller:

Particularly in finishing processes, the anilox roller is a major component. Printing material, print job and inks are further factors with influence, which should be aligned together with the varnish supplier. Often it is possible to achieve improvement when exchanging the anilox roller. Intensive cleaning is a main requirement to achieve constant quality. The print press manufacturer or the roller manufacturer can give further information.

Spray powder:

Spray powder can be found at almost any printing press. Spray powder is available in many variants (starch, calcium carbonate, sugar derivative or coated powders) in different grain sizes. Spray powder is used as a separator between the freshly printed papers in the pile. It should prevent discarding and in the same way enable oxygen to accelerate the oxidative film building. For a good printing/ drying result it is necessary to select the right spray powder and grain size. Furthermore, it is important that the selected powder has a regular grain size to prevent pollution and other problems like discarding and irregular piles. In cooperation with the spray powder supplier, the right powder should be selected.

If you have any question regarding Infrared(IR)- , Hotair(TL)- drying or UV- curing, please do not hesitate to contact us:

phone :  +49 (0) 40 84 0007 0
email : info@eltosch.de