Getting Infrared Heating Right for Long Glass Tunnel Kilns
If you’re running a glass tunnel kiln, you probably know the struggle of dealing with heating zones that stretch past two meters. Standard lamps just aren’t built for that. They leave gaps. That’s why we build modular, continuous infrared units. The goal is simple: get rid of those cold spots so your glass stays consistent from start to finish. The battle against “Zebra Stripes” When you’re dealing with a run longer than two meters, keeping the heat even is a nightmare. If you just throw in a few lamps, you end up with the “zebra effect”—those frustrating hot and cold bands that can completely ruin a tempering job. We handle this by packing multiple high-output quartz tubes into one long, continuous reflector. We overlap the radiation patterns on purpose. It creates a solid wall of heat instead of a series of hot spots. It’s all in the reflector The reflector is where the real magic happens. We use high-grade anodized aluminum or gold-coated sheets to push every bit of IR energy back onto the glass. For those really long runs, precision is everything. We bend these reflectors exactly right so the focal point doesn’t drift as the glass moves from the first meter to the third. If you’re off by even a couple of millimeters, you’re basically throwing power and heat away. A quick reality check on installation We make these units “drop-in,” so you aren’t spending days messing with wiring. You can run them in series or parallel, depending on what your voltage looks like. But here’s the thing: pushing that much heat over a long span puts a massive strain on your cooling. If your ventilation isn’t strong enough to pull the heat away from the lamp ends, you’re going to fry your connectors. Before you flip the switch, double-check that your airflow can actually handle the total wattage. It’s a small detail, but it’s the difference between a smooth run and a premature lamp failure.