A Real-World Look at SK15 Halogen Lamps
Let’s talk about SK15 halogen lamps. If you’re working with high-intensity heat, you know the struggle of finding a tube that doesn’t just snap the moment things get hot. That’s why we use high-purity quartz. It handles those brutal temperature swings without cracking under pressure. And that “SK15” name? It’s all about the connector. It’s a spring-loaded end-cap. Why does that matter? Because when these lamps heat up, they physically expand. The spring keeps the electrical contact tight so you aren’t dealing with flickering or power loss. Power, Voltage, and the Trade-off Depending on how much room you have in your machine, we can tweak the wattage and voltage. If you go with a high-voltage setup, you’re pushing more power through a thinner tube. It’s fast. Really fast. Your ramp-up time drops significantly. But here’s the catch: you have to be obsessive about your reflector alignment. If the lamp shifts even a little, you’ll get hotspots. Those hotspots can eat through the quartz or ruin whatever material you’re heating. The Secret Sauce: Gas and Coatings Inside the tube, there’s a specific mix of halogen gas. Without it, the tungsten filament would basically evaporate and smudge the inside of the glass. The gas keeps everything crystal clear, which means the lamp lasts a lot longer. Plus, if you’re working with something specific—like PET or PVC—we can add specialized coatings to the quartz. It basically tunes the heat to match your material, making the whole process way more efficient. Getting Them Into Your Line You’ll mostly see these in shrink tunnels or PET bottle blowing. Since the SK15 connector is a standard, they usually slide right into your existing SWIR arrays without any fuss. Just a heads-up on the setup: make sure your PID controllers are dialed in. Shortwave heat reacts instantly, and your controllers need to keep up. Also, keep an eye on your cooling fans. If they die, the ambient heat builds up and kills the filament. One last thing—double-check your voltage. Match it exactly to the lamp specs, or you’ll be replacing them way sooner than you want to.