With infrared lamps heat transfer is easy. It requires no contact with the material and no intermediate such as air or water. High power can be transmitted; foils, plates and other material are heated in seconds.
There are a number of infrared types, the most common being short, medium & long waveform. Medium and long wave infrared lamp applications can be treated as a standard resistive load with no additional considerations.
With infrared lamps heat transfer is easy. It requires no contact with the material and no intermediate such as air or water. High power can be transmitted; foils, plates and other material are heated in seconds.
There are a number of infrared types, the most common being short, medium & long waveform. Medium and long wave infrared lamp applications can be treated as a standard resistive load with no additional considerations.



The graph above demonstrates how the inrush current remains high for a longer period if we use Phase Angle plus current limit, than with say Single Cycle.
Single Cycle technique is the most used to drive infrared short waveform. During the OFF time the SWIR elements become cold (due to their low inertia) with a resulting current peak when switched ON again. This current peak is a function of the number of Burst Firing cycles, for this reason the OFF time must be as short as possible to reduce this current peak. Phase Angle firing is not used because the supply voltage is normally less than nominal and therefore the elements never reach the working temperature.
So to summarise:
Care must also be taken with short-wave lamps that require very low voltages. This is a typical requirement in the motor industry and with the paint spraying/curing process.
Special thyristor sizing considerations must be made as the voltage supply can be lower than nominal values causing a lower peak but a very long overcurrent that can stress the thyristor semiconductors. Contact your nearest CD Automation outlet with your SWIR lamp specifications for help in sizing the correct thyristor power controller.
Typical infrared applications include the forming and processing of:
Product Suggestion:
For single phase loads we suggest REVEX 1PH for currents up to 210A, or REVO-C 1PH.
For 3 phase loads we recommend REVO-C 3PH.
