When LED lamps were introduced into the sector for digital UV curable printing the technology had a mixed reception.
However, the advantage of using an efficient, low energy source in place of conventional mercury arc lamps is now proving itself time and time again across the wide format printing industry. Users want to be able to print direct to an ever more diverse range of materials without compromise, they need consistency in curing and they want to save money without output quality suffering in any way.
For EFI, LED technology has become a key element in a growing number of its wide-format and narrow-web devices, and its use is now incorporated in its wide format, VUTEk and Jetrion inkjet printers. Positive response from the market continues to increase exponentially as an increasing number of companies opts to move away from mercury arc lamps, thanks to the proven benefits available in LEDs.
The benefits of utilising LED technology lie beneath the surface as well as being immediately obvious. The most obvious advantage to most users is that, by using cooler curing lamps, the range of materials available for printing is immediately broadened. Unlike mercury arc lamps where intense heat is generated during the curing process, LEDs run at significantly lower temperatures. This prevents heat damage to thin and sensitive media, removing problems associated with damaged surfaces, as well as eradicating printhead crashes that can result from working with a substrate that has buckled.
Similarly, where mercury arc lamps have an average usage time of 1000 hours with diminishing efficacy during this period, LED lamps offer a far more generous life-span running into tens of thousands of hours. Additionally, they provide consistent power regardless of their age, and this enables users to generate print with correctly cured results every time.
LED curing lamps require no warm-up times, either, and this means that they don’t need to be left powered up between jobs. Along with reduced costs during the printing process, this also helps to reduce overall energy usage. A recent energy assessment carried out by FOGRA has determined that EFI’s wide format printers that incorporate LED curing technology show energy reductions of up to 82%. This comparison is with devices that use traditional mercury arc lamps and, based on these calculations, users can expect to reduce their energy bills by around €16,000 each year, a finding that impacts favourably when pricing up jobs.
Growing numbers of companies upgrading their wide format printing machines are now turning to LED curing for the advantages that will bring them overall benefits. Many of these users admit they were going to continue with mercury arc technology but, having seen the versatility available from ‘cool curing’ lamps and weighed up the benefits, they changed their minds. And all state this is a decision they don’t regret as consistently high quality results across ever more diverse materials demonstrate.
