Philips Infrared Ruby Industrial Reflector 250W R125
This lamp marks the pinnacle of developments in infrared reflector incandescent lamps, thanks to its bulb made of natural ruby coloured glass. The purpose of the coloured bulb is to reduce visible glare by around 75% while still transmitting maximum IR. Thanks to a filament operating around 2450K and peaking around 1150nm, it is intended for both industrial heating as well as in animal husbandry.

Ruby IR lamps have been made by several techniques over the years. Simple organic lacquers can be applied to low power lamps, but even the most durable silicone-based lacquers cannot withstand the heat of higher wattage lamps without degradation. One of the earliest solutions was the glass staining techniqe in the first IR Ruby lamp of GE in 1946. The glass bulb was coated with a salt mixture and heated to cause metal ions to diffuse into the glass and stain it to the desired colour. That process is slow and expensive, and was superseded by the elegant Philips technique in which a pellet of cadmium sulphoselenide was vaporised in the bulb to produce a rich ruby internal coating. However that process was terminated in the early 2000s due to environmental restrictions on the use of cadmium.

This introduced Philips to the small French company Vermont Glassworks of Montiaramey, which was specialised in the manufacture of natural coloured glass bulbs for electric lamps. Ruby glasses were traditionally achieved by selective light scattering of selenium and cadmium sulphide nanoparticles doped into the melt, but Vermont was successful to eliminate the toxic cadmium and replace this with a copper based mixture, thereby enabling the first cadmium-free high power infrared lamps.
Manufacturer: NV Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken
Lamp Power: 250 Watts
Lamp Voltage: 230 Volts
Lamp Current: 1.09 Amperes
Cap Type: E27s/27 Ni plated Brass + vitrite
Bulb Type: R-125 R-40 in eighths/inch
Bulb Finish: Aluminised Ruby soft glass
Filament Type: CC-9/6s Coiled-Coil Wreath
Atmosphere: 88:12 Argon-Nitrogen Red P & ZrAl getters
Radiant Energy: 175 mW/cm² @ 30cm distance
Luminous Flux: 30 lumens
Luminous Efficacy: 0.1 lm/W
Luminous Intensity: N/A
Beam Distribution: Approx 30° to 50% peak intensity
Colour Temperature & CRI: CCT: 2450K (Filament) Ra 65
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx: 0.650 CCy: 0.320
Lifetime: 5000 hours
Burning Position: Universal
Overall Length: 181 mm 71/8 inches
Factory: Weert The Netherlands
Date of Manufacture: 2003 November
Original Value:
References: 1) Philips Datasheet - Incandescent Infrared Industrial Lamps, 2005 EU.
2) European Patent EP 1,746,635, Red Glass, C.Lefèvre & F.Lepesqueux, Vermont Glassworks SA, Filed 22-Jul-2005.
3) Photoelectric measurement.