Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has released an LED-UV (ultraviolet ray) ink-drying system using light-emitting diodes (LED) which the company claims enables significant energy saving in printing.
The company says the new system is suitable for installation on larger sized sheet-fed presses that can accommodate sheets up to 1,050mm wide. It is also installable on tandem perfector offset presses which are capable of one-pass printing of front and reverse sides of sheets without sheet tumbling.The LED-UV system will enable significant reductions of 70 to 80 per cent in electricity consumption, compared with UV ink-drying systems that use UV lamps, according to MHI.
As well as reducing electricity consumption, MHI says its drying system offers other advantages including:
- No ozone generation: environment friendly and eliminates need for exhaust ducting
- Compact auxiliary equipment: reduced installation space
- Lower heat: fewer adverse effects on materials such as films and on printing press
- Instant light on/off: no latency time (UV lamps require 4 minutes to light)
- Longer operational life (about 15 times UV lamps): reduced frequency of lamp changes
The company also says that the LED-UV ink-drying system enables immediate transfer of sheets to the next finishing process and when equipped on the DIAMOND V3000TP tandem perfector offset press, further enhances the overall productivity afforded by one-pass printing.
MHI concludes that it will vigorously conduct marketing activities to expand sales of the LED-UV drying system by firmly recognizing the customer's diverse operational conditions needs of their printing plant.
