Xenon short arc lamp bench test

Here we're running an Osram 1.6kW xenon short arc lamp on the bench, using a home built igniter, and a couple of Delta-Q battery chargers as a power supply. The lamp needs about 64A, and our chargers only put out 40A, so we're limited to about 1kW with the lamp dropping 25V. We also have no cooling yet, so the run time is limited to a few seconds.

We did get the lamp running, but the arc was slightly unstable, probably due to the lack of arc stabilization magnets when running the lamp horizontally.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• xenon
• short
• arc
• lamp
• bench
• test
• osram
• film
• projector
• projectionist

[BenHutchinson1]

Why did the lamp flicker after it was started?

And what kind of "battery" were the "chargers" made for exactly?

It would take more than just a few seconds for the glass to break even when the lamp was uncooled. Plus many xenon short arc lamps actually can run uncooled. In fact only mercury short arc lamps need cooling from what I've read.

[tesla500]

I think the flickering was a combination of the camera adjusting to the bright light, and some arc instability due to operating the lamp horizontally without magnetic arc stabilization.

These chargers are normally used to charge a lead acid golf cart battery or similar type of battery at 48V. They can each put out 20A.

The lamp barely got warm during the test. The datasheet says it needs 6m/s forced airflow for continuous operation. Perhaps other models can run without forced air cooling.

[turgi65]

I would worry about the chargers not handling the overload current...they don't look cheap to me..:P.

[tesla500]

They're good chargers, they have a proper constant current mode, so they handle overloads perfectly.

They're about $700 each if you bought them new, but I work at the company that makes them, so I was able to get them for free.

[BenHutchinson1]

Get them from the company you work for, for free? Isn't that called stealing from your employer?

[tesla500]

No, it's called raiding the recycling bin.

These were all going to be scrapped, they can't be sold to customers for various reasons. Most of them were used for testing, and when that testing is done, they have to be scrapped because they're no longer new chargers.

[dnl5649]

use a small 70 amp stick welder like what i use in my vids,

with the pulse caps to give it that extra kick of power

[danielgosson]

There seems to be alot of stray HT & leaking sparks. Great experiment.

[vblogrsRLzrs]

great way to catch a sun tan

[form109]

another awesome video!!