HP Scitex FB910 User's Guide
UV Bulb Expectations
For HP Scitex FB910 (ColorSpan 9840uv) and
ColorSpan Legacy UV Printers
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Introduction
Many customers have questions about the bulbs for the UV-curing lamps on the UV series of printers. This document
defi nes the factors that contribute to bulb wear and what to expect from your UV system.
Terminology
The UV lamp system consists of these parts:
Lamp Housings
The two ventilated boxes on the left and right sides of the carriage. Each lamp housing is conceptually equivalent
to a light fi xture in your home or offi ce: it is a reasonably permanent hardware item. The lamp housing is directly
connected to the electrical current and contains the necessary components to light up a UV bulb (see below). The
housing also has a self-contained cooling apparatus.
Lamp Cassette
A carrier for the bulb. The cassette is a circuit board and refl ector assembly and has the direct electrical connections
for the UV bulb. The cassette is a consumable item, but a reseller or authorized service provider can remove a used
bulb and install a new one into the same cassette several times before the cassette must be replaced, or the complete
cassette and bulb assembly can be replaced as a unit. Replacement of the cassette and bulb assembly can be performed by any operator and does not require a service visit.
UV Bulb
The actual “light bulb” that emits visible and UV light energy. Just like a light bulb in any fi xture in your home or
offi ce, the UV bulb is a consumable item and will eventually need to be replaced. Bulb life is a major topic of the
remainder of this document.
The photographs below show each of these items (FB910 has slightly different appearance but should be recognizably similar).
Bulb Life
Bulb life is defi ned as the period in which the bulb will emit enough ultraviolet (UV) light energy to cure the ink within
the available exposure time.
For the fi rst 200-300 hours of on-time, the energy emitted by the bulbs is constant. After that the energy emission
begins to decline. Between 300-500 hours of use, the decline is suffi cient so that most bulbs no longer emit enough
energy to cure output in the fastest printmodes with the lamp at its lowest power setting. If you are not printing in the
faster modes, the number of hours before this occurs may be higher; but see the “Additional Notes on Bulb Life” section (below) for important details. Whenever this point is reached, there are two options to extend the life of the bulb:
Lamp Housing on Carriage
Cassette Removed from
Housing
Bulb Removed from Cassette
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