Infrared Application of the Month:
Heating Adhesive Paper Prior to Rolling
A manufacturer of adhesive sheet material discovered that the surface of the sheets often broke into pieces when being cut to form rolls. Production time was being lost, and as a result production costs increased. The application experts at Heraeus Noblelight proposed a carbon modular infrared system that would heat the sheets prior to the cutting step. The new system eliminated the product breakage and allowed production throughput to be doubled.
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Infrared Application of the Month:
Heating Plastic Foil After Laminating
A process that creates plastic foils includes several steps. First the plastic sheeting is fed through a pair of rollers for the laminating process. The manufacturer discovered that even though the plastic had been preheated, this step caused significant temperature loss, rendering the sheeting too cool to allow proper fixation of a decorative coating. Heraeus Noblelight provided a modular system comprised of QRC Metal-free heaters that quickly and evenly raised the foil to the required temperature for this critical final step in the process. The system helped increase production speed and yielded a more consistently high quality finished product.
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Tech Center Spotlight: Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCRs)
A silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) is a solid state switching device designed to provide fast, infinitely variable proportional control of electric power. The SCR gives maximum control of your heat process, and it can extend heater life many times over other control methods. Thanks to its solid-state construction, a properly used SCR can cycle on and off more than a billion times.
Advantages of SCR Controls over other temperature control methods
- Improved response time.
- Closer process control, infinite resolution from 0-100%
- Extended heater life.
- High reliability, reduced maintenance costs.
- Silent operation. No arcing.
- Reduced peak power consumption.
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Stock Designs:
Nano XP Infrared Heater
Nano XP Heaters feature extremely high linear power combined with a Nano diffusion layer as a primary reflector, giving this new infrared source a significant edge in many heat processing industries that need to operate under extreme process conditions. The Nano XP is the latest in a long line of significant technology advancements at Heraeus Noblelight. The heater provides extremely high linear power combined with a Nano diffusion layer as a primary reflector. The new Nano XP reflector is not made of gold or metal oxides but of a unique layer of nano synthetic glass. This material is extremely heat-resistant (up to 1000°C), as well as being resistant to attacks from acids, lye and other aggressive substances.
Learn more about the Nano XP Stock Infrared Heaters from Heraeus Noblelight.
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Technical Learning: Is IR Right for My Application?
Electric IR is a special kind of heat source, in that it is a relatively high-temperature source that can be turned on and off almost instantaneously.
Wherever a heat source is needed, electric IR can probably be used. Within each of the categories previously
discussed, major categories are literally hundreds of specific applications. In fact, the number of specific applications is growing as more uses are found for this special heat source. In addition to more traditional uses for electric IR, such as automobile body finishing, relatively new uses, such as drying silk-screened inks on clothing continue to be developed.
Assessment of Your Application
When choosing an electric IR system for your application, you should evaluate both the technical and the economic feasibility.
Technical Aspects
To determine the technical feasibility, gather certain information about your product and your process. This information will help you determine the size (length and height) of the oven, the power density required, and other aspects needed to specify the correct oven.
Economic Considerations
To evaluate the economic feasibility of electric IR, a number of issues need to be considered. The following issues must be addressed to determine the cost of doing business with and without electric IR:
- Remaining life of the current heating equipment
- Current heating capacity
- Energy source for the current heating method
- Annual energy costs of the current heating method
- Current energy charge
- Percentage of material wasted by the current heating method
- Scrap value of the material
- Embedded cost in the scrapped part; material
- Annual labor costs associated with the heating operation
- Annual production throughput
- Space requirements for the current heating equipment
- Annual cost of floor space
- Installed replacement cost for the current heating process
- Payback period required to justify the installation of a new electric IR system
- Expected capacity of the plant in five years
These economic issues can be condensed into five basic costs associated with electric IR heating:
- Equipment
- Labor
- Energy
- Scrap
- Floor space
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That's it for this month's issue of Application Notes for IR Heating. Feel free to encourage your colleagues to subscribe. Just click HERE to send them an invitation to subscribe. It's quick, easy, FREE, and no-obligation.
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