Patent ID: 7175712

Claim:
An ultraviolet (UV) curing apparatus for applying UV light to UV photo initiators in UV curable inks, coatings, or adhesives on products, articles, or other objects, comprising: at least one UV light-emitting device comprising a panel with a set of staggered rows of UV light emitting diode (LED) assemblies comprising UV LED chips connected to cathode pads and anodes including a first row of UV LED assemblies and a second row of UV LED assemblies, each of the UV LED chips of the UV LED assemblies in the first row are spaced apart from and positioned in offset staggered relationship to each of the UV LED chips in the UV LED assemblies in the second row and said panel having a first, a second, a third and a fourth side; a conveyor for moving the UV curable inks, coatings, or adhesives, on the products, articles or other objects; and a panel-moving mechanism operatively connected to said light-emitting device for causing movement of said panel in an elliptical path in proximity to the photo initiators while UV light is emitted from the staggered rows of UV LED assemblies to uniformly apply, distribute or sweep UV light on the UV photo initiators and uniformly cure the UV curable inks, coatings, or adhesives, on the products, articles, or other objects; said panel-moving mechanism including a first spring mounted adjacent said first side of said panel; a first shaft; a first cam eccentrically mounted adjacent said third side of said panel on said first shaft; and a first driver for rotating said first shaft to rotate said first eccentrically mounted cam and move said panel in a path against said first spring; a second spring mounted adjacent said second side of said panel, a second shaft; a second cam eccentrically mounted adjacent said fourth side of said panel on said second shaft; and a second driver for rotating said second shaft to rotate said second eccentrically mounted cam and move said panel simultaneously in a second path against said second spring; and said UV LED assemblies on said panel-moving mechanism are positioned approximately 0.001 inch to 0.3 inch from said UV photo initiators.