Case Study: Vinyl Walcovering Printing Solution
Process Information:
Existing station printing line is at least 60 years old and the interstation hot air dryers are in poor condition and never had independent temperature or air flow control. The existing drying system would get the job done at 15 yards per minute which was acceptable before new “tip printing” and “wash coatings” became necessary to incorporate into the product mix on the last printing station.
Problem:
When applying the new tip printing and wash coatings it became apparent that the existing hot air oven section for “wash coat/tip print station unit was not up to the task of drying the inks and coatings at a productive speed. Customer needed a solution that would get them back to 15 yards per minute (or more). They needed a reliable and repeatable solution that required a minimal investment, minimal downtime for installation, and they absolutely were not interested in investing any money, time or effort to upgrade or modernize the existing drying system.
Solution:
Working with Radiant Energy Systems, ATD created an SFA3ER IR & Air Impingement system to satisfy the tip printing and wash coating requirement for the customers 57 inch wide material. The oven is compact: overall dimensions only about 70 inches in the cross machine direction, 50 inches in the machine direction and 20 inches deep. The system was easily mounted onto overhead press frames, the supply & exhaust blowers are an integral part of the oven so very little ductwork was required. The system is about 80 kW, includes product temperature feedback control so the process drying result is repeatable and reliable and the power & control panel was designed for a convenient wall mounted location next to the existing press line controls.
Result:
The tip printing or wash coating operation can now easily run at the required 15 yards per minute and only requires about 70% of the heating power capability of the SFA3ER drying system so higher speeds are available in the future. The customer realized their process drying goal with room to grow, investment cost was minimal, downtime for installation & start-up was minimal and the installation was simple.
