Heating Equipment
High-intensity electrical heating tubes constructed from high-purity silica generate short to medium wave radiation for rapid drying. Textile mills install quartz infrared lamps in pre-drying chambers to heat the wet fabric quickly and uniformly before it enters the hot-air oven. These heaters allow precise zone control across the width of the fabric.
System Mechanism
Electric current passes through a tungsten filament enclosed in a quartz tube filled with halogen gas, heating the filament to extreme temperatures. This process generates intense infrared energy that passes through the quartz tube with minimal loss. When the fabric passes beneath the quartz infrared lamps, the moisture in the fabric absorbs the radiation directly, causing rapid evaporation.
Since the quartz material has low thermal mass, the lamps can be turned off almost instantly when the conveyor line stops.
Operational Control
Integrating the lamp power supply with the speed of the fabric line prevents scorching during decelerations. Operators adjust the electrical voltage to the quartz infrared lamps to match the wet pick-up rate of different fabric weights. Reflectors mounted behind the lamps must be cleaned regularly to maintain their directional efficiency.
Air cooling systems protect the electrical terminals of the lamps from overheating.
Process Constraint
The high operational temperatures of these lamps can melt synthetic fibres if the fabric path deviates from the correct line. Their fragile construction makes them susceptible to mechanical damage from loose threads or fabric snags.
