Mailing Equipment

Most people think of infrared dryers in terms of a glorified "heater" to help dry ink on their mailing pieces and glossy paper. While heat plays a role, there is a lot more science involved with drying difficult media at production speeds.

All of us have probably used the hair dryer, heat lamp, or paint gun in past years, and while these inexpensive options helped, they weren't very safe and they still had drying limitations.

Infrared Dryers dry ink more efficiently than a simple hair dryer, partially because of the size and wattage, but also because they focus a specific wavelength within the spectrum of light. At these wavelengths, the "light" is more targeted and directs greater overall energy output. Within the infrared spectrum there are also specific wavelength ranges, so at higher wavelengths you'll have a tendency to heat EVERYTHING -paper, ink, transport belts, etc. This is not very efficient, because you are not focusing the infrared light specifically on the ink that you intend to dry, and much of the energy is wasted on non-ink areas.

At lower wavelengths (medium wave), the heat is more intense and more focused, allowing the ink to dry more efficiently. As an example here, the first dryers I sold were 5,000 watt units that were 20" in length, but they operated at higher wavelengths. The next generation of dryers was only 4,000 watts, and 16" in length, but offered 30% faster overall drying. This was simply due to the change in wavelength.

Enter the new Adphos NEAR Infrared Dryer. The Adphos operates at a lower wavelength range than any of its predecessors. In fact, the range is so low that it's referred to as "Near Infrared", because it is technically out of the infrared range. At this wavelength, we've found that the light & heat is focused directly on the black ink. The white or light colored paper surrounding the address actually absorbs very little of the heat within this range- instead, most of the energy is focused on the "blackness" of the ink. What are the specific benefits?

1. Greater Production Speeds and throughput: You'll find that inks dry approximately 30% faster and more thoroughly than with conventional dryers (even faster if you have a very old dryer).
2. Reduced heating of your media, resulting in less paper curl and burning.
3. Ability to dry on a much wider variety of paper substrates - one customer expanded the number of substrates they could handle from 6 to over 30.
4. With the correct inks, you'll be more likely to run your work at full production speeds
5. Ability to use the new "writeable" UV coatings with HP inks
6. Energy Savings: Near IR requires about 30% less power than conventional dryers. This can translate into thousands of dollars per year in energy savings!

If you're interested in more information, call Addresser Based Systems anytime. I have specific data on the efficiency of this dryer, and can even estimate your total energy savings (based on your location). Aqueous and varnished paper is becoming less of a barrier - even with simple HP based inkjet systems! For more information you could also visit www.addresserbasedsystems.com