AeroLED to lead the field for GEW at Labelexpo Europe

UK-based UV curing systems manufacturer GEW will highlight its full product range at its stand 4B53 in hall 4 during Labelexpo Europe 2023, with a focus on its air-cooled UV LED system AeroLED, which was launched to market in 2022.  

AeroLED’s ‘ArcLED’ compatibility, enables it to operate side by side with UV arc lamps on a press. Furthermore, AeroLED has been nominated as a finalist for the Innovation Award at the 2023 Label Industry Global Awards. 

This early success has been heightened by the All4Labels Group, who have partnered with GEW in an ambitious, global sustainability initiative which will see 74 presses retrofitted with UV LED curing systems across 13 sites in Europe and the UK. In all, over 600 lampheads will be upgraded from mercury arc to UV LED, and approximately 90 percent of all the lampheads used will be energy-saving AeroLED models, enabling All4Labels to achieve a CO2 reduction of 2000 tons per year. This upgrade program began in late 2022 and will be completed by the end of 2023.  

AeroLED is a high power system for full cure, printing, coating and converting applications up to 60cm wide. Using the same fan and ducting arrangement as GEW’s industry standard E2C system, printers can have total flexibility to switch between arc and LED curing on any station. Customers with GEW’s RHINO/RLT power supply platform can upgrade to LED in under an hour, by changing the cassettes and running a software upgrade.  

Jochen Christiaens, product manager for digital printing, narrow web and rigid plastics at Zeller & Gmelin, commented: ‘I witnessed GEW upgrade an 8-color 45cm machine fitted with E2C arc lamps to full AeroLED in less than 1 hour. This included the installation, software upgrade and testing. I did not believe it was possible in such a short space of time, until I saw it.’  

In an AeroLED system, air is extracted by a single centralized fan sited away from the press. There is no need for integrated fans or electronics in the individual lampheads. AeroLED features the same LED chassis and core components as GEW’s LeoLED lamphead.   

AeroLED’s efficient optical design delivers energy savings of up to 70 percent when compared to a conventional UV arc system, according to GEW. Two AeroLED systems have a lower electrical supply requirement than just one conventional UV arc system. 

GEW will also introduce ExciRay at Labelexpo Europe, which is GEW’s latest development in Excimer technology. ExciRay systems utilize dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamps to produce quasi-monochromatic vacuum ultraviolet radiation, typically at 172nm. This radiation is commonly used for mattification of surface coatings, modification of surface tension for improved adhesion or surface cleaning for semiconductor and medical industries. 

GEW ExciRay lamps, which are incorporated into the familiar NUVA2 cassette design, can be produced up to 255cm in length and can be custom integrated for specific applications, including provision for all required nitrogen inerting and control. They are also seamlessly integrated into the wider GEW UV system which may be required for gelling or final cure, so that GEW can provide a turnkey mattification solution for any process. 

Malcolm Rae, founder of GEW, has been announced the winner of this year’s Global Achievement Award, which will be presented at the Label Industry Global Awards on the first evening of Labelexpo, Monday September 111The award is the most prestigious accolade at the annual Awards and recognizes ‘an individual who has made a key contribution to the promotion and growth of the label industry and has been a high-profile industry influencer and motivator’.  

The Label Awards panel, which consists of the heads of major label industry organizations around the world, commented: ‘Malcolm Rae is a worthy winner of the Global Achievement Award. This recognises his unique contribution, through GEW, the company he founded, to the narrow web industry’s transition to UV curing and to the subsequent technological development of the UV curing industry.’