Posted to News on 5th Aug 2013, 16:19
Improved line speed and quality with Heraeus infra-red drying
Increased line speed and improved adhesion quality are the two main benefits arising from the installation of a Heraeus Noblelight infra-red drying system at the Renfrewshire factory of Smith & Mclaurin. The system was easily retrofitted after successful on-site trials.
Smith and McLaurin Ltd is a manufacturer and supplier of self-adhesive label, ticket and tag materials. Based in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, the company sells material in roll form to printers and converters who produce finished label ticket and tag products for a wide variety of end users, including supermarkets, pharmacy chains, logistics companies and food manufacturers.
An important part of the production process is the application of a silicon backing to the label strips. The silicone is applied with adhesive to the label strip backing and the adhesive is dried and cured. This had previously been carried out by a 20-year-old infra-red and warm air oven system, but increased demand for the product meant that there was a necessity to increase the line speed and the existing infra-red oven was incapable of meeting the new requirements.
Having had previous success with a carbon infra-red (CIR) system on another line, Smith & Mclaurin engineers contacted Heraeus and a 192kW CIR oven was retrofitted immediately before the existing warm air oven. The CIR system consists of two 96kW modules, fitted over the line, each with 15 medium wave emitters in 10 controllable zones, allowing the power to be increased from zero to 192kW in 10 equal steps to meet specific production requirements.
Iain McCourty, Engineering manager at the Renfrewshire site comments: "The success of this second infra-red installation further increases our confidence in the technology. The ability of the Carbonmedium wave system to provide heat instantaneously and uniformly through the applied coatings has ensured that we can now increase line speed. At the same time, the controllability of the system means that we are obtaining a much more reliable, and hence better quality, adhesive cure."
Heraeus specialises in the production and application of high quality energy sources covering the electro-magnetic spectrum from ultraviolet to infra-red. For more information about the Heraeus Noblelight infra-red drying system please visit www.heraeus-noblelight.com.
