NEPCON JAPAN 2018, the largest exposition for electronics manufacturing and R&D technologies in Asia, started today (January 17, 2018) at Tokyo Big Sight. The three-day show has grown larger with approximately 2,600 Japanese and overseas exhibitors presenting their advancements in both the East and West Exhibition Halls this year. The number of attendees is anticipated to hit 127,000. The show is ready to witness Asia’s first large-scale dialogue between tech companies in 2018.  

Taiwan-based LED epi-wafer and chip manufacturer Epileds finished moving factories at the end of 2017. The installation of its newly purchased production equipment has begun. Because most of the equipment is used, the capacity growth is limited. In 1H18, newly added capacity from these machines is predicted to be gradually used for mass production. 

UV LED curing technology presents numerous opportunities for wide web applications due to all of its inherent advantages. Although most applications on the market today are in digital inkjet, screen, narrow web flexographic and sheet-fed offset printing, and structural bonding, Phoseon Technology sees growing interest in UV LED for wide web applications.

On 22st December 2017, Qingdao Jason Electric Ltd Co. announced that they have successfully demonstrated a 3 Watt high output power 275nm UV-C LEDs lamp, which is only after few months with their recent success on the 1 watt UVC LEDs Lamp development. 

The chip wavelength of LED can be adjusted to produce both visible and invisible light bulbs. In light of lower production cost, companies are developing more UV LEDs, further driving the growth of ultraviolet lamps. It is estimated the market value of ultraviolet lamps will continues to increase at a CAGR of 13.32% from 2017 to 2021.

The optical outputs of the new LEDs are expected to be greater than 120 mW at 300 ± 10 nm, 140 mW at 280 ± 10 nm and 80 mW at 260 ± 10 nm. The research group is also working on making significant improvements to the aging behavior of the LEDs so they can be operated longer and more economically.

The Dymax BlueWave MX-250 offers all the benefits of curing using UV LED technology, in a flood lamp configuration which has the power and control suitable for production.

Consumers globally are using touchscreen displays every day in a growing array of electronics, from TV to smartphones to mobile gaming consoles to in-car navigation systems. With heightened demand for touchscreens, electronic manufactures are increasingly turning to Phoseon Technology’s UV-LED curing for its many benefits in adhesives bonding applications.

Phoseon Technology believes it’s just a matter of time before UV LED cured low-migration inks, coatings and adhesives are widely adopted across global markets.

Taiwan-based LED epi-wafer and chip manufacturer Epileds registered a lower revenue in 3Q17 than that in 2Q17 and the revenue fell from a year ago because of seasonality and factory relocation. Epileds is predicted to continue moving factories and purchase infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) LED machines in 4Q17. Epileds will mainly buy used machines and modify them by itself. The revenue in 4Q17 is estimated to be similar to that in 3Q17. Epileds' annual revenue is projected to stay flat, but gross margin will improve, and profit will possibly bounce back. 

Kopp Glass announces the launch of a new interactive website that enables users to develop UV LED products with increased power, greater design flexibility, and better cure quality. The UV LED Optic Design Lab is a platform for engineers to learn about and design molded UV glass optics to optimize the performance of their UV LED systems.

LG Innotek announced that it will participate in ‘LED Japan 2017’, an exhibition held in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan between Oct. 4 and Oct. 6. It intends to show its unique UV LEDs to customers in Japan to make inroads into the Japanese market.

On September 22, 2017 (CDT), Nitride Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (“Nitride”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against Digi-Key Corporation d/b/a Digi-Key Electronics (“Digi-Key”), which sells UV-LED products on the internet that are manufactured by RayVio Corporation, a CA based UV-LED manufacturer (“RayVio”). 

Research published today in Scientific Reports shows that light from RayVio's 293nm ultraviolet (UV) LED is more efficient than sunlight at producing vitamin D3 in skin samples. Tyler Kalajian and his research team, led by Dr. Michael F. Holick, Ph.D., M.D., and supported by Boston University School of Medicine and a Boston University Ignition Award, found that skin samples exposed to RayVio's UV LED for just 0.52 minutes produced more than twice as much vitamin D3 as samples exposed to 32.5 minutes of sunlight.

Azar Printing purchased the 47th RMGT 9 Series press in the North America, and will be taking delivery of the unit in September immediately after the PRINT 17 trade show. The new RMGT 920PF-8+CC will replace two 4-Up presses — an older 8-color press, as well as a 6-color with coater press. The new press equipped with RMGT’s fully automatic plate changing, SMART Insta.Color make-ready technology and LED UV Curing for both 4/4 perfecting and LED-UV curable coatings will all represent firsts in the St. Louis marketplace.

Phoseon Technology is revolutionizing the narrow-web printing industry by combining flexography, which has been used for printing for more than a century, and UV-LED curing technology, which Phoseon first introduced to the narrow-web industry in 2009.

At FESPA Africa 2017, Agfa Graphics’ South African sales organization will present the new Anapurna H2500i LED wide-format hybrid inkjet-UV printer.

RayVio's portfolio of UVB and UVC LEDs are available for immediate shipment globally through Digi-Key Electronics, a global electronic components distributor, as the result of a new distribution agreement.

High demand for coated filaments across a wide and growing spectrum of applications, ranging from cell phones to fabrics, is causing manufacturers to increasingly turn to Phoseon Technology’s revolutionary UV LED curing because of the advantages it offers compared with traditional UV or arc light curing methods.

Phoseon Regional Sales Manager, Jennifer Heathcote, will discuss the latest UV LED curing solutions for printing applications at the upcoming TLMI printTHINK Summit 2017 event in Chicago, IL. Ms. Heathcote will be discussing how Phoseon LED technology is a perfect fit for printing applications due to the compact size, ease of integration, and high intensity output achieved through optimized LED thermal management. Users of Phoseon LED curing systems can process a variety of materials, including thin and heat-sensitive substrates, at maximum production speeds with low-input power.

A Baldwin Technology Company will showcase its leading LED-UV curing technologies at the upcoming PRINT 17 exposition, set for Sept. 10-14, 2017, at McCormick Place in Chicago. The company, which was formed in early 2017 by combining Air Motion Systems Inc. with the UV and IR divisions of Baldwin Technology Company Inc., is excited to reintroduce its new-but-familiar brand and products to the North American market.

AB Print Pack of Delhi has become the first packaging printer in India to have a press equipped with a two-module LED-UV curing system from AMS Spectral UV – A Baldwin Technology Company, according to the country’s exclusive provider of the leading LED-UV curing technology, APL Machinery of Faridabad.

LG Innotek today announced its release of the world’s first ‘Handrail UV LED Sterilizer’ which can fully remove germs from handrails of escalators using the powerful UV (ultraviolet rays) light.

SemiLEDs Corporation, “SemiLEDs” or the “Company,” a developer and manufacturer of LED chips and LED components, announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, ended May 31, 2017.

Larson Electronics LLC, an industrial lighting company, announced the release of a new 40 watt LED task light to be added to its catalog of products this week. This 365NM UV drop light (FTL-5-UV-LED-X24I-25) has been designed as a low voltage solution for work locations that require a food safe or wet location rating.

Continuing the pioneering trend; first to market with new technology and breakthrough sheetfed ink formulations, Flint Group announced the global launch of its latest version UV LED process inks, XCURA EVO.

Flint Group has helped The Print Academy in the UK greatly extend the capability of its 6 colour Heidelberg CD102 + coater with the retrofit of an AMS (Air Motion Systems) UV-LED curing system.

To shift or not to shift, that is the question. At this point within the LED industry, in terms of business transformation, companies are facing a turning point to shift business focus to new niche markets with high gross margins such as UV and IR LED, or to stay at LED lighting, where they began with; and of course, some chose to embrace all.

AMS Spectral UV – A Baldwin Technology Company reports that Kyburz Druckerie of Zurich, Switzerland has retrofitted an AMS LED-UV curing system onto its MAN Octoman commercial web press, replacing the former drying system and making it the first press configuration of its kind in the country. Installed with the support of AMS distributor Chromos AG, a video of the press running shared by AMS on its facebook page garnered more than 12,000 views in a week, showing that people around the world remain interested in the printing process, and how the printed works in their everyday lives are created. 

It is rare to find a printhouse as business- and customer-savvy as Southern Champion Tray of Mansfield, Texas. The leading manufacturer of paperboard packaging, who prints for the likes of Papa John's and Sodexo, boasts 90 years of experience, and as a third-generation company has operated through depressions, wars and times of general prosperity.