UV Curing Conveyor Throughput — Parts-per-Shift Math for High-Volume Production
A UV curing conveyor's capacity is not a brochure number. It is a short calculation built from belt speed, part pitch, and the hours a line actually runs, and doing it before purchase shows whether the cure station or something else sets your output ceiling. Q: How many parts per shift can a UV curing conveyor process? A: Parts per hour equals belt speed (inches per minute) divided by part pitch (the center-to-center spacing of parts along the belt), multiplied by 60, then multiplied by the number of parts across the belt width. Multiply by productive hours per shift for the shift total. The cure dose required by the adhesive then caps how fast the belt can run. Step 1: Fix the Belt-Speed Ceiling From Dose Throughput math must start from cure, because the belt can only run as fast as the adhesive allows. On Incure's CDM™ conveyor the belt adjusts from 1.5 to 12.0 ft/min, but the usable top speed is whichever speed still delivers the required dose with the chosen lamp head. Published figures show how much this varies. At 12 ft/min the M51 focused-beam head still delivers 12,813 mJ/cm² UVA, while the single-assembly F100x2AC arc head delivers 1,050 mJ/cm² UVA at only 6 ft/min. If a process needs 2,000 mJ/cm², the M51 can run at the platform's full 12 ft/min, but the F100x2AC cannot reach that dose even at 6 ft/min. The dual-head F100x2A, at 2,100 mJ/cm² UVA at 6 ft/min, just clears it. Step 2: Convert Speed to Parts per Hour Once the speed is fixed, the conversion is mechanical. As a hypothetical, consider parts loaded on a 4-inch pitch, one part across the belt: At 6 ft/min (72 in/min): 72 ÷ 4 = 18 parts per minute, or 1,080 per hour. At 12 ft/min (144 in/min): 36 parts per minute, or 2,160 per hour. At 3 ft/min (36 in/min): 9 parts per minute, or 540 per hour. Part pitch is set by part length plus the gap your loading method needs, not by part length alone. A robot that places parts on a fixed index, or a fixture plate that holds several parts, will each give a different effective pitch. Step 3: Use the Belt Width The CDM™ uses a 9-inch belt, and each lamp head has its own maximum part width: 1 inch on the M51, 2 inches on the M62, 4 inches on the L64, 5 inches on the F400/F500 heads, and 8 inches on the L88, F100, and F200 heads. Small parts can run more than one across if every lane falls inside the head's usable width. Continuing the hypothetical: parts 1.5 inches wide on an L88 head (8-inch usable width) could run in multiple lanes across the belt. Three lanes at 4-inch pitch and 6 ft/min triples the earlier figure to 3,240 parts per hour. The same parts under an M51 cannot run side by side at all, because its cured zone is 1 inch wide. Step 4: Apply Real Shift…