Why is humidity important in the printing industry?
Paper and cardboard are highly hygroscopic materials. Air humidification has a very important impact on their shape and size. The offset printing or digital printing environments have in common the high temperatures developed by the machinery which inevitably results in the collapse of the relative humidity values in the department. At the same time, the dryness of the air produces a rapid rise in electrostatic charges, which lead to serious problems in the handling of sheets such as synthetic films. The printing machine manufacturer Heidelberg, European market leader in offset printing machines, advises its customers correct relative humidity in the printing environment. Otherwise, in addition to incurring frequent paper jams and material losses, it is not possible to exploit the same machines for their real production capacity and quality
How to misting it in the press department
In closed environments and with intensive use of printing machinery, high pressure adiabatic humidification systems must operate in a specific way according to environmental requirements
Direct or indirect nebulization
Misting can be direct or indirect. The first consists in spreading the flow of cold vapor which evaporates instantly in the room with special nebulizing fans. The second solution involves nebulization inside the ducts of the Air Handling Units (AHU or AHU), in the specifically predestined evaporation section
The correct installation of the nebulization
The positioning of the misting fans must be at a suitable height to guarantee correct evaporation even in the presence of low temperatures. The speed of evaporation in fact depends on two factors: the starting humidity and the air temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the evaporation process will be rapid and non-invasive. Considering that the greatest use will be in the winter period, it is advisable to keep the speakers at no less than 4.0 meters. of height
Reverse osmosis is essential
By operating for many consecutive hours, the quantity of atomised water is significant and involves an important consideration regarding the quality of the water. In the presence of calcareous water, a slight but widespread dustiness is produced in the environment and there is a frequent need to clean the nebulizer nozzles. For this reason, the adoption of a Reverse Osmosis system is strongly recommended and allows you to avoid the presence of fine dust and drastically reduce the maintenance of the nozzles which, although very simple and fast, can interfere with the printing activity However, it is not always advisable to use the osmosis system often present in the graphic industries.
Remote control: web interface
Natural Cool produces and distributes the only misting units for professional humidification, equipped as standard with a web interface that can be managed via local intranet. In this way it is possible to monitor each parameter and operating value of the entire nebulization line, in real time. The web interface is operational on every platform and device, and allows you to manage the system from a smartphone, tablet or PC.
