f a s t

The
w a ve
e d i u m
m
E L U S
KR
a re d -
Infr
a t e r s
h e

• efficient

• responsive

• modular

• can be tailored to suit

the need
• economical

• environmentally friendly
KRELUS AG • Im Wechsel 23 • CH-5042 Hirschthal • Tel. +41 (0)62 739 30 70 • www.krelus.ch
 Applications
1 Embossing calender
2 Powder coating lines
3 Sheet fed offset printing
4 Embossing and laminating lines

Applications for KRELUS

Infrared Heating Equipment:
• in systems for textile, film, foil and 3
paper coating
• in thermoforming machines
• in sheet fed offset printing machinery
• in laminating systems
• in pre-drying and heating systems
• in general plastic processing plants,
e.g. embossing, laminating
• in process heating systems
• in the food processing industry
• in short – wherever high radiation
intensity, easy control, short reaction
times and custom-built solutions,
together with maximum economy are
required.
4
IR-Heaters

Custom engineered installations

Uniform full heat area
Long element life
Maximum wattage to 50 kW/m2
All voltages

Applications
– Evaporation of liquids
– Drying of inks
Picture top:
– Melting of plastics Custom made
– Installation in ovens and drying IR-heater
tunnels
– Speed improvement on existing
production lines Picture right:
Special module
heater

General description
The two most decisive charac-
teristics of our heaters, amongst
others, are:
1. long to medium wavelength
radiation with high intensity
output
2. quick response
To achieve optimum infrared radiati-
on on the product, the wavelength is
very important. High intensity is nee-
ded to get the required heating done
in a minimum distance along the
production line. A quick response
time is also imortant. The heater
must reach its full output rapidly
when the line is started, in order to
prevent production of incompletely
heated products. Complete and
accurate control is necessary to
avoid product damage as line
speeds fluctuate. The heater must
cool quickly to
avoid overhea-
ting the product
when the line
slows down or
stops. Our
system has the
unique combi-
nation of effi-
ciency and response time. back of the heater is effectively
blocked by the thermal insulating
The heaters are made out of a speci- material. The KRELUS heater opera-
al refractory insulating material and tes with a significantly lower power
specially developed metal foils. The consumption than other heating
temperature can rise to over 800°C, systems due to its large effective
when current passes through the radiating area.
broad metal-foil ribbons. The entire
area of the ribbon element glows
uniformly. The loss of heat from the
Radiant-heating
The wavelengths of the infrared
radiation emitted by our heaters are
2.6 to 9.6 µm and with the electronic
control, any wavelength in this range
can be emitted. Almost all the
materials to be treated show
excellent absorption of radiation
within this range (see graphic).
Infrared radiation within the medium
wavelength region produces equal
heating of all surfaces, no matter
whether they are light or dark.
Therefore, local overheating due to
variable absorption and colour
characteristics does not happen.
The heaters are effectively colour
blind.
The radiant wavelength approaches
the maximum theoretical value of a
temperature of 800 °C.

Diagram: Temperature in °C with corresponding wavelength

1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 Temperatur °C
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 3.0 3.3 3.7 4.3 5.0 6.0 7.7 Wellenlänge µm
Kurzwellen Mittelwellen / Medium waves / Ondes moyennes Langwellen / Long waves / Ondes longues
short waves wavelength µm
ondes courtes Bereich / range / gamme KRELUS longueur d’onde µm

Design flexibility
The KRELUS heaters are manu-
factured in various designs and
sizes and it is possible to join sever-
al heaters together to get a big
panel with uniform heating characte-
ristics.

It is also possible to arrange for

separate switching for the outer
zones on installation with higher
capacities. (See image right)
To make a suitable proposal we
require the following information:
• capacity desired
• voltages available
• space availability (dimensions)
• application – target

Custom made IR-heater with

specific size and capacity
Installation Temp. °C Typical heating diagram
The heaters are provided with M8-
threaded holes either at the back of 900

the panel or along the sides, whichever 800

is most suitable. The construction of
700
the supporting frame should take ther-
600
mal expansion into consideration, alt-
500
hough this is only minimal. The heater
frame is made from an extruded alumi- 400

nium. It is recommended that the hea- 300

ter be placed with its radiant surface 200
downwards or sideways in order to
100
avoid damage from failing objects. The
distance between the panel and the 0 t sec.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
product surface should be kept to a
minimum in order to optimise perfor-
mance. In most applications, the Typical cooling diagram
power supply is interlocked with the Temp. °C Off after 30 min. running at max. capacity
production line in order to switch off
the heaters as soon as the line stops. 900

800

Efficiency 700
The radiation acts directly from the ra-
600
diant surface towards the product to
500
be treated. There is no need for reflec-
400
tors. More than 90% of the heat gene-
rated is radiated from the front of the 300

foil towards the product. Tests have 200

shown that rod type heaters at maxi-
mum power and clean reflectors pro-
duce much less usefull heat on to the
product than a full area KRELUS
heater at the same temperature. Our
heater are so extremely efficient and
environmentally friendly that 90 to 95%
of their power consumption and
environment conditions, 90 to 95% of
the power consumption is converted
into radiated energy. Neither water nor
air cooling are required and this must
not to be underestimated when consi-
dering efficiency or economics.
100
0 t sec.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
KRELUS Infrared heaters
Ceramic heaters
Quarz-tube heaters
Response duct and the surroundings, but it is
At switch on, the heater can be seen normally 8 to 10 seconds (see gra-
to glow red within several seconds. phic). When switched off, the heater
The time to reach two thirds of the full temperature will decrease immedia-
capacity is 5 to 6 seconds. The time tely below the combustion temperatu-
to reach full output depends the pro- re of most materials (see graphic).
KRELUS-MINI

Full area Modulare

Infrared heater
• uniform setting
• edge zone setting
• individual setting

The KRELUS-MINI-IR-heaters com-

bine all the advantages of more than
20 years experience with KRELUS
INFRARED techniques.
Special advantages are:
• short reaction
ON ~ 10 s / OFF ~ 2 s
• high intensity
20 kW/m2, 26 kW/m2 and 32
kW/m2
• easy control
continuously 20 °C – 800 °C
• modular sizes
see overleaf
Assembling of individual modular heating zones

KRELUS IR-heaters emit their high

energy full area radiation from
special metal folis mounted onto an Absorption-range of various thermoplastics
efficient insulating material. The
Polyester
units are built in a stainless steel
framework.
Polyamide

The wavelength of the infrared radia- Polycarbonate

tion emitted by KRELUS IR-heaters PMMA

is in the range 2.6 to 9.6 µm and as PVC
a result of their electronic control Acetat/Butyr.
system any wavelength in the range Polystyrene
can be emitted. In this range, almost
ABS
all the materials to be treated show
Polyolefine
excellent absorption of radiation, (μm)
and consequently heat. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 wavelength

This graphic shows the best absorption ranges of various thermoplastics

KRELUS-MINI-IR heaters are available Transmission Transmission of PVC
%
in two sizes. These sizes are 248 x
100
248 mm and 123 x 496 mm. They
form a compact modular unit system 90

designed for assembly into any size of 80

heating area. 70

Applications currently using the 60

KRELUS IR-heater system include: 50
• thermoforming
40
• laminating
30
• textile, paper, film and foil coating
20
and processing
PVC
10
• general plastic treatments,
e.g. embossing 0 (μm)
wavelength
• in-process heating 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

• food industry 3.2 6.6 7.3

3.6
The heaters can be installed in a
variety of positions from the vertical to
the horizontal.
Absorption Absorption of white paper
KRELUS will also supply the appro- %

priate electronic control system. 100

For technical details see overleaf. 90
80 g/m2
80
Maintenance
70
There is virtually no maintenance
60
required as there are no moving parts.
Any necessary replacement of the 50

foils can be accomplished by custo- 40

40 g/m2
mers’ own personnel. An instruction 30
manual is supplied. 20

10
Electronic control
0 (μm)
The electronic control allows the
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 wavelength
output of the heaters to be regulated
continuously on the following Pictures top:
principles: Transmissions-, resp.
• manually by potentiometer absorption curves
• measuring temperature using a
probe
• optical pyrometer
• measurement of humidity using a
probe Picture right:
• machine speed, etc. Testing of a control
KRELUS AG How to find us
… is a small, innovative and dynamic company located in the
Aarau
heart of the central region of Switzerland. We have succeeded in
A1
developing an idea in the field of high power infrared radiation Aarau West
engineering which utilises novel technology and has established Zürich

us on the road to world wide success within the space of a few

Kölliken
Bern
short years. The use of modular design and unique construction
Muhen
techniques minimise any restrictions that might occur for indivi-
Muhen
dual system applications. The extremely fast reaction times of the
infrared heater, coupled with maximum possible economy, make
this system the most efficient and desired heating process for
most production requirements.

Hirschthal

Holziken

Schöftland
Schöftland
KRELUS AG Telefon: +41-(0)62 739 30 70
Im Wechsel 23 Fax: +41-(0)62 739 30 89
CH-5042 Hirschthal E-Mail: krelus@krelus.ch
Switzerland URL: www.krelus.ch Luzern