DELO has recently developed the DELOLUX 20 area lamp which irradiates adhesive layers evenly, for smooth curing of laminar bonding areas in just seconds. This newly developed LED area lamp perfectly complements DELO’s lamp family, which was introduced in 2009. LEDs have major advantages over classic discharge lamps, including long lifetime and stable light intensity.

The new lamp enables fast, even curing of bonding areas, while providing process reliability. The light spectrum wavelengths of 400 and 460 nm are optimized for DELO’s light-curing and UV-curing adhesives. Therefore, curing times on a scale of seconds are possible. Thanks to its compact design, the lamp can easily be integrated into production lines. “The light area very nearly equals the outer dimensions of the lamp head. Therefore, several DELOLUX 20 devices can be arrayed to evenly irradiate bonding areas of any size”, explains Peter Müller, R & D Equipment Technology Manager at DELO Industrial Adhesives. The low energy consumption and low maintenance costs reduce operating expenses.

Up to four DELOLUX 20 lamps can be independently controlled by means of an external control unit such as the DELO-UNIPRO. Thus, the irradiation time and intensity can be individually set for each process. The new area lamp is particularly suitable for fully automated production lines, glass bonding, display bonding and large-area applications requiring even and low-tension curing, as well as thick and laminar bonding areas. As the irradiation profile is very even and the heat emission is very low, and as it is possible to switch it on and off in milliseconds, the lamp ideally supports applications with DELO-KATIOBOND and preactivation of large areas.

LED curing lamps have essential advantages over classic discharge lamps. Conventional mercury discharge lamps do not allow short-term switching on and off. In addition, their bulb lifetime is limited to approx. 1,000 h. This immensely increases the additional expenses for operation and maintenance, regardless of whether adhesive is being cured at the moment or not. In contrast, LEDs can be switched on only when required. They normally have an actual usable lighting time of more than 20,000 hours. Thus, the adhesive can be efficiently cured, with permanently reproducible curing results thanks to the customized, narrow emission spectrum.