A Better Way to Handle Your Krones Contiform Lamps
If you’re running a Krones Contiform line, you already know the headache. Maintenance is a grind. And when those OEM lamps start burning out? Your budget takes a hit. We decided to fix that. We build custom PET preform heater lamps that do exactly what the originals do, just without the eye-watering price tag. The science of the heat Here’s the thing about PET preforms: you need that shortwave infrared energy to hit just right. It has to get the plastic to the glass transition temperature fast, but if you overdo it, you’ll melt the neck finish. Not a good look. We focus on high wattage-per-centimeter. By tweaking the voltage and filament length, we make sure the heat hits the preform wall the second it’s needed. But a word of advice: if you’re on a 400V system, that’s a massive amount of power. Check your cooling blowers. If they’re clogged with dust, the housing will overheat and your new tubes won’t last nearly as long as they should. Built to actually last We use heavy-wall quartz glass because these lamps go through a lot of thermal shock—heating up and cooling down over and over. Depending on your setup, we use R7s or Sk15 connectors. They aren’t just about fitting into the socket; they give you a solid grip and a clean electrical path. That means no arcing at the terminals, which is usually where things go wrong. We also add a specific coating to the quartz. It shifts the emission spectrum so the energy actually sinks into the PET instead of just bouncing off the surface. Getting them in the machine These are total drop-in replacements. You don’t have to mess with your wiring or spend an afternoon digging through PLC settings. You get the same heat profile you’re used to, just for less money. One quick tip before you swap them all out: high-output lamps can be tough on your power supplies. Take a look at your contactors. If you see pitting, fix that first. It stops those nasty voltage spikes during startup from killing your new lamps prematurely.