High performance ironing

14 December 2017



Manufacturers are responding to their customers’ concerns about energy wastage and increasing productivity. Tony Vince looks at the options


Today’s laundries are faced with an increasing demand for a high quality finish. In addition, the ironer has a tremendous impact on productivity for the whole laundry and both factors will have a strong influence on purchasing decisions.

Visitors to the Lapauw USA stand  at this June’s Clean Show were able to see two new ironers introduced to the market by Lapauw International last year.

The IronMAX is described as the latest generation in self-contained, gas-heated ironers from the company that invented them, while the IronPRO brings high production, high-quality chest heated ironing to on-premise laundries.

Customers who use the IronMax have seen an immediate increase in their productivity, according to Wim Demeyer at Lapauw International. Now in operation with various customers for over a year, these two ironers have already shown their full potential, says Demeyer.

A key innovation with the IronMax is the MaxSurface feature, with large bridges, each spanning over more than one metre. MaxSurface incorporates an innovative chest design, said to be twice as flexible compared with current chest technology, and provides better chest-to-roll coverage. The features maximise the ironing surface, providing up to 15% more surface, compared with current flexible chest ironers. This combined with the innovative parallel oil flow (MaxPower), and individual springs (MaxSuction) offer laundries with unrivalled production capacity.

The IronMax comes in 2-roll and 3-roll versions with 1,200 diameter and features standard modulating burner and PLC control system with touch-screen.

The IronMax has received the seal of approval from Michael Jones of Fishers laundry in the UK, one of the first to use the machine: “The Ironmax is performing very well. We will consider Lapauw for future projects also.”

With the IronPro, Lapauw has expanded its ironer range to the OPL laundries and small capacity ironing lines that require a high finish quality finish. Lapauw can offer an ironing range that starts at single roll, 500mm diameter ironers through to 3-roll, 1,600mm diameter ironers. The IronPro offers single roll chest heated ironing with roll diameters 500, 600 and 800mm and working widths from 2,200mm up to 3,300mm.

The Girbau Group supplies both the industrial laundry sector and the OPL/commercial markets, with divisions for each. Its ironer strategy recognises this and with the PB/PBP series, the Compact series and the PC series Girbau has covered the varying needs of each sector in terms of production and technical advances.

At Clean, Girbau Commercial division demonstrated its on-premise and industrial laundry products including the high-volume Girbau Industrial ironing system with the PC80 ironer at its centre.

Girbau has seen consistent growth across all the OPL ironer models it offers. The Compact 5-in-One is an ideal choice for larger OPL laundries where its unique combination of drying, high quality ironing finish, folding and stacking offers a high productivity solution.

The PB Series of flatwork ironers is suitable for commercial and hotel laundry applications. The PB series offers OPL laundries a range of ironing widths from 1.5 metres up to 3.2 metres.

The control system in Girbau Industrial’s PC ironer series features an energy optimiser mode that can be pre-set to switch the line into energy saving mode at the end of a shift. Girbau has introduced parameters that are adjusted to achieve better results with any kind of item, giving speeds up to 50m/min on the PC120 and up to 45m/min on the PC80. It also includes the Inteli concept, identifying settings via visual icons.

High customer expectations and a fierce competition on prices call for greater flexibility and cost efficiency, according to the Jensen-Group. The Jenroll Hybrid concept was presented to the American market for the first time at Clean Show 2017.

The Jenroll Hybrid ironer offers five-star ironing quality without tape marks at a speed of up to 50 metre/165 feet per minute or more. The Jenroll Hybrid is a space-saving solution combining a flexible chest section of 1,200mm/48inch diameter and a calendar section comprising three rolls of 800mm/32inch diameter, ensuring top-quality ironing in the first section, followed by a final drying of the linen in the calendar section without leaving any tape marks in the linen.

H J Weir has formed a working partnership with Laco Machinery, which enables H J Weir to commit to offering customers a complete ironer line combining H J Weir flatwork feeding and folding working with Laco ironers. The new King Ironer by H J Weir and Laco Machinery is to be available globally. H J Weir managing director, Ross Weir said: “I am looking forward to the synergy of two family businesses working together to enable us to share a network of distributors globally.”

H J Weir will have three fully trained service engineers that will be capable of assisting with Weir manufactured equipment and also Laco Machinery ironers.

The King ironer has a capacity of 430kg/hour, a successful patented flexible Air-Stream chest, working width from 2.5m to 3.5m, very low energy consumption and a 1-roll diameter 800mm with 1.94m ironing length.

The Laco Machinery ironer range features machines from 30 to 1,500kg/hour ironing capacity, making it one of the most complete on the market.

H J Weir offers the full range from roll diameters of 370mm right up to 1,200mm. The larger diameters are offered as 1,2 or 3 roll systems.

Ellis Corporation, the Illinois-based manufacturer of industrial laundry and water treatment equipment, is the US distributor of Vega Systems professional laundry equipment. Vega now produces a full range of multi-roll ironers with both steam and gas heating, with features such as extended gap-pieces and adjustable suction, adjustable bed pressure and adjustable precession per program.

On the Vegaroll S1200 steam heated chest ironer, the roll is fixed in the frame and the chest is flexible on one side of the frame. Pneumatic cylinders push the chest against the roll according to the pressure set in the PLC control system.

The Vegaroll Ecomax flatwork ironers are available in gas, steam, oil or electrical versions. The Vegaroll Ecomax 1200 is available in one, two, or three rolls, with working widths up to 4,000mm.

The Ecomax Steam version of the ironer is equipped with a flexible thick chest which is pressed around the roll by a independent hydraulic system, while the gas heated version of the ironer is equipped with a flexible thin chest made of carbon steel. All gas-heated models are fitted with Nomex ironer padding as standard.

The heavy-duty flatwork ironers from Stahl, the German laundry systems company have been joined by the Master range with roll diameters of 121cm – 201cm available in gas, thermal oil electric and steam based options. The Stahl Master ironers use a heated band design, which is said to increase the contact area by up to 20%. The “super trough” design optimises heat retention and allows even distribution.

GMP serves the OPL market and small-to-medium size industrial /commercial sector. The Italian company has introduced several technical innovations, the result of major research carried out by the specialist ironer manufacturer.

Its latest innovation is the upgraded version of its Tenax professional roller padding. It is a stainless steel lamellar spring padding, specifically made for smaller diameters and lower pressures when compared with the multiroller ironers. Tenax is designed with a specific thinner thickness and a modified shape that conforms to GMP rollers. Unlike traditionally used steelwool, Tenax remains unaltered over time, guaranteeing identical productivity and perfect contact surface along the whole ironer life. Thanks to its perforated structure, Tenax allows easy and quick removal of humidity from the ironing surface.

PRODUCTIVITY INCREASE


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