Better Infrared Lamps for Your Sidel SBO 20 and Krones Contiform
Let’s be honest: keeping the heat consistent in PET blow molding is a total balancing act. One wrong move and you’re dealing with scorched preforms or inconsistent bottles. We built our replacement lamps for the Sidel SBO 20 Series 1 to hit those same thermal marks as the OEM gear, but without the eye-watering costs of those big maintenance contracts. They’re simple drop-in replacements. No fuss. The nitty-gritty on power The SBO 20 Series 1 is picky. It needs the exact right wattage and voltage to get the preform to that “sweet spot”—the glass transition temperature—without burning it. We’ve spec’d these lamps to take a punch, meaning they can handle those annoying high-voltage surges you get on industrial grids. If you’re running a 400V system, just make sure the wattage matches your tube length. If you don’t, you’re looking at a premature burnout. One tip: we’re aiming for high heat density here. But if you push the max wattage, keep an eye on your oven’s ventilation. If it’s clogged, you’ll overheat the housing. Quartz and the “Perfect Fit” We use high-purity quartz glass. Why? Because it lets short-wave infrared heat punch through the PET wall fast. Depending on which version of the machine you have, these come with an R7s or Sk15 contact fit. We don’t do “close enough” with our tolerances. A loose connection at the terminal leads to arcing, and that’s the fastest way to kill a lamp. Real-world use on the floor These lamps live in the heating oven, softening the preform right before the stretch blow. It’s a brutal environment. Constant heating and cooling takes a toll, which is why we obsessed over the seal between the quartz and the electrodes. Switching from OEM lamps to ours drops your cost-per-bottle, but your heat profile stays exactly where it needs to be. You get the same wavelength, the same intensity, and a lot more money left in the budget. Just do me a favor: tell your techs to wipe down the reflectors during the swap. You’ll get way more out of the new tube if the mirrors are actually clean.