IR booster speeds production
July 1st 2006

An infrared system from Heraeus Noblelight has allowed the production of metal housings at a Belgian compressor manufacturer to be made significantly faster, removing the bottlenecks that used to occur when drying lacquered components.

The system, which was easily retrofitted into an existing oven, comprises short wave infrared emitters to heat up powder lacquer quickly and uniformly, and medium wave emitters to cure the lacquer.

A Belgian company makes metal compressors for small cooler units and these are coated with a powder lacquer during manufacture. To ensure that the coating process did not restrict manufacture, modifications were carried out to the dryer.

Existing long wave infrared emitters were replaced with medium wave twin tube emitters from Heraeus and an infrared booster with high power, short wave emitters was fitted in the line in front of the oven. The infrared booster brings the product to correct temperature and the dryer, fitted with the medium wave emitters, holds this temperature for as long as necessary. Curing can take place at a higher temperature and this has improved production line speed from 0.8 to 1.2m/min.

In addition, the new emitters ensure a uniform heat distribution so that any cold spots are eliminated.

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