If your company is involved in any type of finishing, such as Powder Coating or Liquid Finishing products and parts, then you will either be subcontracting the work out, or will have your own in house finishing system. Alternatively, you may be thinking of moving from a liquid finish to a powder finish. Whatever your situation, the drive for cutting the cost of manufacturing is ever present, so this article will outline the various finishing oven technologies available, to help you choose either a new system, or upgrade your existing facility.
Production bottlenecks often occur as a result of tougher production demands, where the existing drying system can no longer keep pace. This can often be solved by an infrared booster section, which is positioned in front of the existing drying system.
An IR booster section rapidly brings the product up to temperature allowing line speeds to be increased accordingly. For some products this can equate to savings of up to 50% of the time required to dry or cure the coating.
The use of IR booster ovens is flexible. They can be placed before, or between existing ovens.
Heraeus Noblelight supports the coating and finishing community through our leading-edge electric and gas catalytic infrared technology platforms. Our goal is to help you exceed your quality and efficiency goals and our front-line sales and applications teams invite you to make use of our application centers:
• to test new configuration paradigms and
• to determine which infrared technologies are right for your application
More about gas catalytic IR for different coatings or substrates
A Gas Catalytic IR Pre Gel oven is an oven that sits just in front of a conventional convection Oven. It is designed to allow the newly applied powder to gel and start the flowing process of the powder as it starts its chemical change under heat. It is not designed to completely cure the powder, as this process is completed in the convection oven.
Pre Gel ovens can be used in the following instances:
Perhaps the most important factor to consider when purchasing a new powder coating oven, is the initial Return On Investment (ROI). Then, the long term cost of operation. Do your calculations carefully, talk to as many different operators of the different technologies as you can. It is vitally important to run trials of your products. Do not forget to factor in the ongoing "Total Cost of Quality". Lastly do not forget to consider the overall reduction in your Carbon Footprint.
