Large area ultraviolet-based cure processes are a function of intensity, wavelength, temperature, and cure time. Material and chemistry formulations impose a limit on the intensity level and variation across the large cure area. Manufacturing equipment employs one or more UV light sources to provide the UV energy to these large areas. Variations and non-uniform aging among these lamps often generates sub-optimal cure yields on the manufacturing floor.
AccuMeter Network is an in-situ radiometer network intended for monitoring the UV and thermal energy for large area UV cure application. A large network of these of sensors can be strategically placed in different regions of the cure area to collect and store the temperature and intensity of the curing light. The intensity sensors are UV enhanced and NIST calibrated to measure the cure light irradiance in watts per square centimeter (W/cm2) at the customer's desired wavelength. AccuMeter Network also contains a K-type thermocouple temperature sensor to measure the thermal energy at various region of the cure area.
Companion PC software communicates with all of the AccuMeter Network sensors to acquire, display, and store the intensity and temperature data at various regions of the cure area. AccuMeter Network technology empowers manufactures to validate a new UV cure installation or verify an existing installation to increase manufacturing yields and reducing operational costs.