UV Curing Equipments / UV LED Equipments / UV LED Spot Equipments

UV Light Curing Conveyor Belt Speed — How to Calculate Dose Before You Run a Part

Faster production on a UV light curing conveyor starts with arithmetic, not experiments. If you can predict the dose a part receives at a given belt speed, you can set the line's speed from the adhesive's data sheet instead of guessing and scrapping parts. Q: How do you calculate UV dose on a curing conveyor? A: Dose (mJ/cm²) is irradiance (mW/cm²) multiplied by the time a point on the part spends under the lamp. On a conveyor, that time equals the lamp's illuminated length in the direction of travel divided by belt speed. Double the belt speed and the dose halves; halve the speed and it doubles. The Three Numbers You Need Every dose estimate on a conveyor comes down to three inputs: Peak irradiance of the lamp head at the working distance, in mW/cm². Illuminated length along the belt, in inches. Belt speed, converted to inches per second. Belt speed is usually quoted in feet per minute, so convert first. Multiply by 12 to get inches per minute, then divide by 60. On Incure's CDM™ conveyor, which runs from 1.5 to 12.0 ft/min, that gives a range of 0.3 in/s at the slowest setting to 2.4 in/s at the fastest, with the nominal 6.0 ft/min setting at 1.2 in/s. A Worked Calculation Using Published Head Data Take the CDM™ + M51 focused-beam head. Its published peak is 6,150 mW/cm² at 365 nm across a 5-inch illuminated length. At 6 ft/min (1.2 in/s), a point on the part spends 5 ÷ 1.2 = 4.17 seconds under the beam. Multiply: 6,150 × 4.17 ≈ 25,630 mJ/cm², which matches the 25,630 mJ/cm² UVA figure Incure publishes for that configuration at 6 ft/min. The same method checks out on a flood head. The CDM™ + L64 has a 6-inch length along the belt and 1,900 mW/cm² peak at 385/395/405 nm. At 12 ft/min (2.4 in/s), dwell is 6 ÷ 2.4 = 2.5 seconds, and 1,900 × 2.5 = 4,750 mJ/cm². At 1.5 ft/min (0.3 in/s), dwell is 20 seconds, and the result is 38,000 mJ/cm². Those are exactly the two ends of the L64's published dose range. Running the Calculation Backward The more useful direction is usually the reverse: start from the dose your adhesive needs and solve for belt speed. Required dwell (s) = required dose ÷ irradiance Belt speed (in/s) = illuminated length ÷ required dwell As a hypothetical, suppose an adhesive's data sheet calls for 15,000 mJ/cm² and you plan to use the L64 at 1,900 mW/cm². Dwell = 15,000 ÷ 1,900 ≈ 7.9 seconds. Belt speed = 6 ÷ 7.9 ≈ 0.76 in/s, or about 3.8 ft/min. If that speed is too slow for the takt time of the upstream station, the calculation has already told you the lamp head, not the belt, is the constraint — before any parts have been run. Email Us with your adhesive's dose requirement and target line speed, and Incure can run the numbers against each CDM™ lamp head. Arc Heads: Use the…

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June 8, 2024
Accessories / Eye Protection / Flood Lamps / UV Curing Equipments / UV LED Equipments / UV LED Spot Equipments

UV Light Curing Conveyor Changeover — Running Several Products on One Line

Most curing lines do not run one part forever. When a single UV light curing conveyor handles several products, the time and risk sit in the changeover — and a streamlined line is one where switching products is a short, documented routine rather than a fresh setup. Q: What changes when a UV curing conveyor switches from one product to another? A: Up to four settings can change: belt speed (which sets dose), lamp height (which sets working distance), the lamp head itself if the new product needs a different width, wavelength, or spectrum, and the fixtures or belt surface the parts ride on. The fewer of those that change between products, the faster and safer the changeover. Classify Each Changeover Before It Happens Not every switch is equal. Grouping your products by what actually changes lets you plan the line around the cheap changeovers and isolate the expensive ones. Speed-only change. Same head, same height, new belt speed. On Incure's CDM™, belt speed adjusts from 1.5 to 12.0 ft/min and directly sets dose, so a product needing more cure can often run on the same head at a slower setting. This is the fastest changeover available. Height change. Taller or shorter parts need the lamp repositioned to keep the working distance the dose was qualified at. LED heads on the CDM™ adjust from 0.5 to 2.0 inches; F400/F500 arc heads adjust from 3.0 to 6.5 inches. Head swap. A part wider than the current head's usable width, or an adhesive needing a different wavelength, means changing the lamp head. The CDM™ chassis accepts LED flood, LED focused-beam, and mercury-arc heads, so this is a head change rather than a second conveyor. Belt change. A product that rules out the standard polypropylene belt needs the stainless-steel wire belt of the CDM™ Compact, which is a separate chassis. Choose a Head That Covers the Whole Product Family The cheapest changeover is the one that never needs a head swap. Before buying, list every product the line will run and check each against the candidate head's limits: Width. Maximum part width is 1 inch on the M51, 2 inches on the M62, 4 inches on the L64, 5 inches on F400/F500, and 8 inches on the L88, F100, and F200. Wavelength. LED heads are factory-configured to one wavelength (365, 385, 395, or 405 nm). Every adhesive on the line must cure at that wavelength. Spectrum. If any product's adhesive is qualified on broadband mercury-arc cure including UVC, it needs an x2AC arc head. If one head clears every product, the line only ever makes speed and height changeovers. If no single head does, group products by head and schedule them in blocks so swaps happen once per block rather than once per order. Email Us with your product list and each adhesive's requirements, and Incure can check which CDM™ head covers the most of it. Build a Recipe Sheet for Every Product Each product needs a one-page recipe recorded at qualification, not…

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May 7, 2024