With the growing demand for sustainability, efficiency, and quality in the market, label and packaging printing manufacturers are looking for a UV LED solution to meet their curing needs. By adopting UV LED curing technology, printing companies can reduce their carbon footprint by declining energy consumption, preventing pollution, and reducing waste, meanwhile increasing profit.
In addition, LED curing also has other advantages, including cost savings and reliability. UV LED technology can obviously save operating costs, that is because it can improve production efficiency, prolong normal running time, no need to replace lamps, and printing products have a longer life. The development of LED technology has also driven its adoption. These products are more efficient than previous generations, and printers in various markets from digital inkjet to screen printing, flexography, and offset printing have driven the adoption of LED technology. These advancements have also extended to inks and substrates.
LED UV Curing Systems For Printing
Over the past 5-10 years, advances in technology have sparked a great deal of interest in LED curing and left printing companies eager to improve the flexibility of their curing platforms. Many companies have transitioned from traditional UV platforms to LED, or have adopted a hybrid approach, using both UV and LED technology on a single press to leverage the technology that best suits the application. At the same time, UV LED curing is proliferating, and more efficient power and cooling designs allow higher irradiance levels to be achieved with less or the same power consumption, which also improves the sustainability of the technology.
Compared to traditional UV systems, LEDs are better at curing inks. In addition, the UV LED system can be turned on and off instantly. This eliminates the preheating, standby, and cooling states associated with traditional UV systems, saving valuable production time and energy. In addition, the UV LED cap has a long service life, which reduces maintenance and eliminates consumables. UV LEDs also do not emit heat-producing infrared wavelengths or produce ozone. The UV LED system also eliminates the use of mercury. In contrast, the quartz tube of an arc lamp system contains a small amount of mercury.
However, the use of LED curing technology also has economic benefits. Reduced energy consumption coupled with extended LED module life can lead to significant cost savings in the long run, and higher irradiance levels mean that fewer modules are required to cure the ink film, further reducing operating expenses. With reduced light maintenance, downtime is also reduced, allowing processors to maximize uptime and profitability.
For many processors, switching to UV LED curing technology is also a “wise” choice. Intelligent UV LED curing systems provide process stability and real-time monitoring for printers and manufacturers. The latest technology can be adapted to the latest trends in manufacturing. Customers increasingly need process control through real-time monitoring of UV LED curing lamps to better support industrial manufacturing. Overall, feedback from processors who have made the transition has been very positive.
