Cooling Foundations: Elements of UV LED Curing

In the September 2025 issue of Industrial Print magazine, Excelitas Marketing Manager Stacy Hoge explores the key differences between air- and water-cooled UV LED technology in industrial printing. She explains that air-cooled systems offer easy, cost-effective integration into automated setups without the need for a separate chiller. Designed for versatility, they support high-performance pinning and full curing in digital printing applications.

For digital printers operating in cleaner environments, Hoge notes that air-cooled systems could represent the future. “For example, flatbed digital printing applications in a clean environment would operate ideally with an air-cooled system.”

By contrast, water-cooled systems deliver smaller form factors and higher peak irradiance. Built to be rugged and reliable, they excel in industrial printing environments with extreme temperatures or debris, and their quiet operation makes them ideal for situations where low noise is essential. 

In harsher industrial environments where debris and material are in the air, Hoge strongly recommends water-cooled systems. “Air-cooled systems have less protection and can get damaged more easily from these environments.”

Read the full article, “Cooling Foundations: Elements of UV LED Curing,” in Industrial Print magazine to discover the differences between these two approaches, the evolution of UV LED technology and the critical considerations for selecting the right system for your industrial printing application.