UV LED Technology is arriving as the new approach for the curing of UV inks, coatings and adhesives. UV Process Supply has recently introduced the UV LED Cure-All. This lamp is powered by a UV LED array that is instant on/instant off, emits no heat and has a lamp life of over 50,000 hours.1. The design and engineering of UV LED curing systemsa. The structural makeup of a UV LEDi. Makeup of UV LED's1. AlN (Aluminum Nitride)2. GaN (Gallium Nitride)3. InGaN4. AlGaN5. AlInGaN6. AlInGaN/InGaN7. Organic LEDii. LED array options1. Wafer sizea. 50mmb. 100mm2. Flip chip vs. Mounted chip3. Geometryiii. Electrical specificationsiv. Light transmittance/ spectral output graphs1. Wavelength variancea. Upper range: 415nm, 400nm, 390nmb. Lower range: 385nm, 370nm, 365nm, 350nm2. Intensity varianceb. How to assemble arrays for large scale curing systemsi. Electrical requirementsii. Back-end heat dissipation techniquesiii. Light uniformity managementc. Wavelength Optimizationi. Mixture of chip/spectral output architectureii. Curing responsiveness to mixed outputiii. Curing effectiveness of intensity vs. wavelength2. UV LED technology vs. conventional UV curinga. UV LED benefitsi. Very low voltage requirements/electricalconsumptionii. 100% efficient in wavelength outputiii. No front-end heat generated, therefore no coolingrequirediv. Instant on and off capabilityb. Applications that benefitc. Speed and effectiveness3. Associated curing considerationsa. Improve cure rate/effectiveness via materialsi. Matching chemistry to lampii. Designing lamp geometry for curingiii. Secondary cure lampsb. Improve cure rate/effectiveness via techniquesi. Inert gas inclusionii. Pulsed lightiii. Modified intensity4. Industrial applications that this technology has been (and can be) applied to5. What the future holds for this technologyThis technology, while in its infancy, shows great promise to revolutionize the methods and effectiveness of UV curing. The very nature and size of the UV LED allows for increased flexibility, scalability and market reach. The limits of current UV curing can and will be expanded by these and other innovations.
Stephen Siegel, "Curing with UV LED's" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP19), 2003, pp 365 - 365, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2003.19.1.art00085_1