Rehm Launches Compact Vertical Drying System

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Rehm Thermal Systems has launched a new vertical drying system for the coating process of assembled circuit boards. The Alteco vertical dryer not only offers the best drying and curing processes, but is also extremely compact and space-saving. Featuring a vertical transport, the Alteco replaces a comparable 40 m-long horizontal furnace with a system length of just 4 m.

"All industries that utilize coating processes and work with sensitive flat modules with protective coating can benefit from this system," says Michael Hanke, general sales manager at Rehm Thermal Systems.

"Our customers can save valuable space in their production halls with this innovative system concept. That allows existing resources to be used optimally, while improving the production routine," adds Peter Schiele, sales manager at Rehm.

Two transport variants are available for Alteco. Firstly, a fixed transport width in which the circulating product carriers are set to a fixed position, and secondly, a flexible transport width in which the circulating product carrier transport automatically adjusts to the respective PCB size. This means that several painting lines can feed different products with a mix of different PCB transport widths. This is specially designed for the drying process of flat modules with a maximum height of 50 mm.

An important aspect for every manufacturer of highly complex electronic components is the flexibility of the equipment used. Rehm's vertical drying system enables flexible, high-performance drying and curing processes for all protective coatings and casting compounds, which can be cured with convection heat. In the furnace inlet, the PCBs are loaded onto product carriers. These pass through the drying process in the system in a vertical direction and are stacked on top of each other during the curing process. The drying process is then carried out in two process towers, which are each divided into many heating zones. The downstream, segmented cooling section ensures gentle and uniform cooling of the assemblies for subsequent production steps.

"Alternatively, the cooling section can also be integrated in the vertical system.This principle is ideally suitable for assemblies that require shorter process throughput times due to their lower mass or which are not processed directly afterwards and can therefore cool down in downstream magazines," says Schiele.

Electronic components manufacturers are always confronted with the challenge of focusing on the efficiency of the entire production chain, short lead times and short set-up times while guaranteeing 100% reliability and quality of the manufactured components. 

"Alteco allows simultaneous drying of different painted boards or boards of different sizes. This means that several production lines with different products can be covered by one vertical stove and fed into a reliable drying process while taking up very little space," says Hanke.

About Rehm Thermal Systems

As a specialist in thermal system solutions for the electronics and photovoltaics industry, Rehm is a technology and innovation leader in state-of-the-art, cost-effective manufacturing of electronic assemblies. We are a globally active manufacturer of reflow soldering systems with convection, condensation or vacuum, drying and coating systems, functional test systems, equipment for the metallisation of solar cells as well as numerous customised systems. We have a presence in all key growth markets and, with more than 25 years of industry experience, we are able to implement innovative production solutions that set new standards.