Monitoring Performance of UV Lamps on Printing Presses.

Of the several ways to measure UV energy, one provides a practical way to measure the lamp intensities and exposure energies of UV-curing printing press installations. The simple procedures used at GATF are described. Sufficient background is presented to illustrate mathematical and graphical determination of relative lamp intensities and relative exposure energies for any sheetfed press installation. Monitoring the amount of radiation to which paper is exposed when conveyed under the UV lamps can help establish the optimum operating conditions for curing. UV lamps have a limited lifetime. Monitoring their output intensity can help detect failure before it occurs. Having methods for measuring exposure energies can help determine whether the lamps are at fault when an adverse curing problem arises.