Stop the Burn-Outs on Your PET Blowing Lines
If you’re running SIG Blomax, Nissei ASB, or any of those high-speed lines, you know the headache. You’re in the middle of a run and—pop—another lamp goes. It’s frustrating. These infrared lamps take a massive beating from the constant heat cycles, and eventually, the structural fatigue just wins. We got tired of seeing those constant line stops, so we built a reinforced replacement lamp that actually holds up. The nitty-gritty on heat These are drop-in replacements. We didn’t mess with the wattage or voltage because the last thing you need is to stress out your power supplies. Now, high-wattage quartz tubes are great for getting PET preforms up to temp fast, but that speed puts a ton of pressure on the filament. Most filaments eventually sag and snap. To fix that, we added a reinforced support structure. It keeps everything steady, even when the thermal load is peaking. Where things usually break Most lamps don’t just “burn out”—they fail at the pinch seal or the connector. Especially in a high-vibration environment, that’s where the trouble starts. We used a hardened quartz envelope and toughened up the end-caps to stop that “broken tube” nightmare. We also tightened the tolerances on the connectors. Why? Because a loose connection creates arcs, and arcs fry your lamp ends. Simple as that. A quick heads-up Here’s the thing: there is a small trade-off. Because the quartz is reinforced, the emissivity is a little different than the OEM glass. You’ll probably need to tweak your heating profiles by about 2-5% during your first run to get your preforms exactly where you want them. Also, do yourself a favor and check your cooling fans. No lamp—not even ours—can survive if the housing gets too hot. Swap them in, dial in your heat, and just let the line run.